Thank you.

Her mother didn't scold him afterwards, and later, he admitted his doings and apologised.

That incident developed trust in Kanako about his parents, and he became free to tell anything to them without worry, the good and the bad.

In an act of desperation, he only had one option. But he was a little scared.

"Should I call mom? Or should I not?"

He pondered on these options, and became confused.

"Ah danggit! Im calling!", he said, becoming confused.

"Oh shit, I actually called! And it has started ringing!"

His mom, in the meantime, was washing the morning dishes, while her phone she kept on the dining table rang.

"Who could it be at this time of the day?", she approached her phone.

"Kanako? Its rare for him to call in the middle of the class. Is something wrong?"

She picked up the phone.

"Hello mom."

"Kanako? Is something wrong? You usually don't call in the middle of the class?"

"Yeah..."

"Whats wrong?"

There was silence between them, as Kanako was trying to get his courage. His mom realised something off, as she wiped off her wet hands on her apron and sat on the chair.

"Actually mom..."

"Hm?"

"I... I... skipped school..."

"Huh?!", she was shocked. The usual and obedient Kanako couldn't do this kind of things like skipping school. She lost her composure a bit, but then calmed down and decided to give her son some room for explanation.

"But why? What happened?", she asked.

"A friend of mine... she was absent from school for 5 days straight for no reason. I decided to check up on her and went to her house, and found her bruised and with a fever."

"I see..."

His mom pondered about his actions, trying to judge if it was right or wrong and eventually decided upon an answer.

"Mom... did I do something wrong?", Kanako asked, in a low voice.

His mom giggled a little. And then she decided to ask him a question as an answer.

"Kanako. Tell me this. Why did you decide to skip school?"

"To help my friend?"

"Or did you do so to do something bad? Like gangs and drugs or others?"

"No way! You know I hate those stuffs!"

His mother giggled even more, "Then I think you get the answer!"

"But I want to get the answer directly from you."

"You did not do anything wrong. You would have done wrong if you didn't decide to check up on your friend."

"I am not a bad guy right?"

"You are not. And thank you for trusting me and telling me this. It must have been hard to open up, right?"

Kanako silently agreed.

"Thank you."