"… And that's what really happened, um, sirs and ma'ams."

The principle, Mr. Nozomi, her mother, Yaya's Teacher Mrs. Hina, and Yaya herself, all stared at a red faced Naoka who was desperately using every mental faculty she had available to keep herself from breaking eye contact, running out the room crying, or calling upon demonic deities to erase her from existence. No one really said anything for a while, and Naoka was getting worried. Not even Yaya, who had already knew what happened and was simply hearing it again in story format this time, responded. All minus the Ace chair and Mrs. Fuuka Kouga simply gave the girl a blank, confused stare as if to ask "…Really?"

Naoka, however, was more focused on what her sentence was to be…

…D-do they believe me? Am I not in trouble? Am I not going to have to dye my hair, change my name, move to the Himalayas, live in a cave for the rest of my natural lift, then hire a body double to cremate my corpse afterward and spread my ashes off the mountain side?

Eventually, Hina cleared her throat, and Naoka steadied herself to prepare for the best or the worst "…So let me get this straight, half my class was sent to the infirmary because you tried making cookies by using salt and powdered milk?"

Naoka tried not to flinch "W-well yes, that's correct."

"And you were making these cookies because you wanted to apologize for-"

"My daughter had nothing to apologize for," Her mother said curtly, eyes fixed into an icy stare that tried showing calm but couldn't hide the bubbling magma dripping out "She simply wanted to clear up all the misunderstandings that have been occurring between her and her classmates, and I suggested making cookies, to help ease things between them and get off to a better start."

Nozomi muttered something to himself before jumping in "W-well then, if this entire fiasco was your idea, why did you let her make them by herself." He said hotly, crossing his arms "F-frankly, even though I'm not a parent myself, I would never be careless enough to leave a child alone in the kitchen when she has no idea what she's doing. E-even if poisoning the other students was accidentally, you're lucky she didn't burn the house down too while she was at it."

Naoka looked down while her mother seemed to get more irritated, and Nozomi flinched away from the fiery frigid glare he was given the second the words tumbled out of his mouth "As I said before, I was called in to the station unexpectedly and no one else was available to take my place, and my husband, though he was with her for a bit, had to drop off his story scripts at his publisher's office. If possible, I would have stayed home and helped her."

Nozomi took a step back, but then stood forward again "W-well yes, but that doesn't excuse-"

She quickly cut him off "Also, Naoka knows how to make food on her own, so I printed out the recipe for her and gave her a few instructions before leaving, though I did say I would get off as quickly as I could so I could help. However, it's still possible to make a mistake even with the recipe, child or adult, something even I can attest to."

Nozomi flinched again under the brunette woman's gaze and tried to argue, but she refused to let up, even while her daughter was silently begging her to not to "And I'm sure you can attest to it as well, . Surely you, an adult with no family and was once a child yourself, can admit to occasions where you've burned food or put in the wrong ingredient even when you had clear instructions – frankly speaking of course."

Nozomi tried to regain ground "I-I see, that true but that doesn't-"

"So please don't presume my daughter, a child, is malicious enough to purposely endanger the lives of others." She continued, ice suddenly dripping into her voice now "She's capable of simple human error, but she's not foolish enough to use the kitchen by herself if she doesn't know what she's doing or doesn't feel confident enough to do it without us around. We've taught her that."

"I-I see-"

"I also hope you're not assuming that I and my husband are those types of parents who leave their child alone on a whim whenever it fancies us. We both love Naoka deeply and do whatever we can to take care of her even with our schedules…"

The principle sighed like he was watching two rather rowdy students bullying each other in an already concluded squabble, and decided it best to intervene.

"No one is arguing against that ," he said rather calmly, trying to keeping his voice leveled and neutral "And the fact that you're here and the other visits you and your husband have made speaks magnitudes of how much you both care for your daughter." He then leaned forward, hands clasped together "What I think Mr. Nozomi's trying to ask though, is even if Naoka was sure how to make the cookies and neither of you were available, why she chose to use salt and powdered milk to replace the ingredients she didn't have instead of waiting until she had everything, or waiting for one of you to come home and get them for her?"

Everyone turned to Naoka, who tried to not turn her attention anywhere else.

"W-well," Naoka started, "I-I didn't want to bother them while they're at work, a-and dad's usually really tired when he gets back from his publisher, so I decided I could handle it myself…"

She then bowed apologetically "I'm really sorry. I know it doesn't change anything or make what happen less worse, but I really am! I never wanted any of this to happen!"

Hina simply nodded "But why not just buy cookies from the store or something? Surely that would have been easier?"

"It wouldn't have been the same…" She said quietly, and everyone seemed to stare harder, making her suddenly feel flustered at herself and began fiddling with her skirt hem "P-plus, I figure the ingredients were similar enough that it wouldn't be that big of a difference…."

"No offence, to either of you," Hina said, rubbing her temple before tucking in a stray blonde lock "But even my baby nephew knows powdered milk and salt aren't good substitute for making anything." She looked at the girl for a bit before sighing "…But, as your mother said - people make mistakes, so I shouldn't judge. I accept your apology."

Naoka took a deep sigh of relief as the woman smiled, crossing her arms suddenly "Still, I'm pretty shocked – who'd think to make salt cookies in lieu of sugar."

"We already know that answer…" Nozomi mumbled, and Naoka's mother gave him a scolding look.

"Now now, there are a lot of famous chefs who used to experiment with their ingredients," The principle laughed hartily "This may be a good sign for her future career!"

Okay, I get it! I made a really poor choice in confectionaries and I'm certainly not going to make it as house wife at this rate, but we haven't addressed the real topic – do I have to runaway cross-country or not?

"U-um," She whispered, getting everyone attention "Not to sound rude, but, a-am I still in trouble?"

Hina stared at her again (What was with all this staring?) before turning to the principle with a quick nod, who nodded in return.

"No," He said, arms folded in front of him imposingly "Yaya and your mother already confirmed your story, and despite claims of the opposite-" There was a silent throwaway glare from her mother at Nozomi, who looked away stubbornly "-You don't seem to be lying, so there's no reason to punish you…"

"So Naocchan's not in trouble anymore?" Yaya asked, titling her head rather cutely at the elderly man

The principle let off a nervous cough "I'm not finished."

Naoka froze. She didn't like the sound of that tone.

"You're not in trouble, but you'll still have to address Miss Yukiki's classmates once they recovered and apologize," Naoka's mother looked ready to argue, but he was quick to counter "Not because you did something wrong, but because in spite of your intent, a lot of students still got sick and have missed school because of this incident. It would actually benefit you a lot if you told them what you've said today if you really want to clear things up. Understood?"

Naoka's face went blank. While the adults tried to determine what was happening to her, inside she was jumping for joy so high she would have jumped straight through the roof if she could – she wasn't in trouble! No detention! No expulsion! No having to pull a fly by night and disgracing her family to the point she'd be removed from the registry and shame descendents with the mere mention of her name - just a tiny apology! Yes, the rumors weren't going to die down anytime soon and probably had to deal with the angry glares of their older siblings for a bit, but at least she didn't have to go to detention or find her doppelganger or trade faces with someone!

"Miss Kouga?"

"Uuh-" She murmured, falling out of her temporary stupor quick enough to realize everyone was waiting for her to reply "Y-yes, I completely understand!"

"Perfect, you can return to class now," The principle nodded and turned to Yaya "You as well Miss Yuiki."

"Okay! Come on Naocchan!" Yaya smiled, and grabbed the girl by the arm before skipping out the room

"O-oh, sure!" She said, waving her mother goodbye as she was dragged out the door "Bye Mom – I'll see you at home!"

Her mother gave a curt nod and smiled as her daughter disappeared into the hallway.

Once Naoka had reentered the classroom, Nozomi had shown up behind her a few minutes later and lessons had resumed. That hadn't stopped students from whispering though. Needless to say, a lot of them were surprised to see Naoka return from the principles office in one piece (Or at all for that matter). There was talk of suspension, expulsion, arrest, lockdown, house arrest, and apparently some were even expecting her to have an armed guard or two escorting her around the halls from now on…

There was also mention of losing lunch money and a pool, which was confusing because she couldn't figure out how lunch money and swimming had anything to do with her "punishment".

When break time had arrived, Naoka was surprisingly unsurprised to be flanked by her classmates and buried under questions over what her fate was to be until Mine stepped in, forehead gleaming ferociously as Naoka desperately kept from hurtling herself out the window. The other students quickly quieted down and huddled behind her – it was amazing how quickly they forgot how scared they were of her when they had Mine leading the charge. Any time the brunette Class-Rep was sick or left the room or had family matters, everyone was practically hiding under their desk from Naoka. But the second she came in, eyes blazing with righteousness, everyone felt like they were Super Man and suddenly Naoka was the one cowering under her desk

"Talk fiend," She ordered, and the other girl flinched a bit "What was the verdict?"

Oh, not much, I just have to do some groveling, be careful in my next cooking venture, and deal with the fact you guys aren't going to believe what I say next…

"H-he said I wasn't in trouble…"

Everyone gasped while Mine slammed her hand down on the table (She seriously needed to be more careful – she could hurt herself like that…)

"IMPOSSIBLE!" She cried, jabbing a finger in her direction "How is it you escaped your rightful retribution for your heinous crimes against Seiyo elementary, the entire 4th grade Sun class, some of Galaxy Class, and JUSTICE!"

Maybe because there were no heinous crimes to be retributted for in the first place and most of the ones you're referring to are all in your head? "U-uh, I explained it was an accident and p-promised to apologize …"

"How is poisoning my little brother and his classmates an accident?" A bottle blond with long pigtails glared.

Rather simple if you could imagine "I-I made I mistake when I made the cookies…"

"Mistake, hah!" A brunette boy with large glasses guffawed "Next you'll tell us pixies made you break that six-grader's nose!"

And next you'll tell me zombies are making you act like a brat…"L-look, the principle-"

"Ate up all of your lies, we know," Mine huffed, shaking her head disappointingly "It's truly a sad day when even the faculty fails at reigning in a renegade student…"

If you're looking for renegades – try looking in a mirror sometime "Listen, I'd never-"

"Get caught! Of course not, you obviously must have done a fabulous job pulling the wool over their eye to prevent that!"

And your doing a fabulous job yammering away and not letting me get a word in edgewise "I-I had proof, and even A-Ace chair Yuiki was-"

"Still scared of you, the poor dear must have been terrified! Having to be face to face with her would-be assassin and not have the other chairs support! I'm surprised she didn't ask the police to be with her in fear you'd try again and have you charged for attempted manslaughter!"

Okay seriously – where are you getting these ideas from?! Do your parents work with those Major Case people or something? How I'm I a would-be assassin when there are no Assassinations or would-bes in the first place! "I-I wasn't-"

"Successful in your first mission, yes! But who knows when you'll take the initiative to strike again whilst our back are turned!"

Naoka tried desperately to speak up and clear up the newest rumor readying to plague her, but Mine kept cutting her off. And with each accusation the other students joined in the fray as well while her eyes misted over a bit.

Why are you just sitting there?

Naoka blinked, I…

Didn't the Joker tell you you had a right to speak up for yourself?

Mine pointed at her accusingly again as her voice died down again. Y-yes, but…

So stand up to them! Tell them off! Get heard already!

The other students were rallying closer, But what if…

Who cares about that! Don't let them accuse you!

Naoka's eye squeezed shut and her voice was becoming a inaudible whisper, "I…"

SPEAK UP!

Suddenly her chest felt warm – not like before when she passed out, but a different kind of warm. Like someone was giving her a big bear hug.

"Letting everyone jump to conclusions is the same as saying "I'm already guilty"! You can't let everyone decide who you are or what you did without putting up a fight! If you want to prove you're a good person, you need to act like you know it!"

Naoka slammed her hands down on her desk (trying not to wince from the stinging that enveloped her palms) and stood up -

"NOW LISTEN HERE!" She shouted, and everyone froze. "I didn't do anything wrong!" Mine looked rather frightened by her target's sudden growth of a spine, the students looked desperately for an escape route if she tried to grabbed at them, and Nozomi, who had just reenter to tell everyone break was almost over, seemed to just stare at her, making Naoka wonder if he was quietly approving of her sudden bravery or patiently waiting for her or any of them to give him an excuse to drag her back to the principle's office.

There were no responses, so she continued, though now took heed to lower her voice "The principle already decided – no, agreed, that I didn't hurt anyone on purpose or did anything to earn an expulsion. I still have to apologize to Yaya's class and the other fourth graders for accidentally getting them sick, but other than that, I'm innocent."

"That still doesn't-"

"NO," she said firmly, and Mine looked frozen again "I didn't do anything bad on purpose – all I did was make a mistake when I made the cookies. No attempted murder, now evil coup, no nothing – just a simple mistake with the cookies, Okay?"

Suddenly, Naoka felt herself standing taller. Was this what is felt like – affirming yourself? Being able to make your case clear and simple and stop accusations cold. Suddenly, she didn't feel scared any more, or crushed. Suddenly, she wasn't Naoka, weak and wimpy transfer student – she was Naoka, brave Seiyo student and innocent victim of circumstance! Someone who stood up for herself, someone who fought when attack, someone who-

"Okay," Mine said, suddenly gaining back her bravado. "What was it then?"

Naoka blinked "What?"

"The mistake," she asked, impatiently tapping her arm. "What in the world did you do to make cookies knock out an entire class."

Everyone turned their gaze on Naoka, waiting for her answer.

And with that Naoka's brave rise ended as she immediately grew flustered and mumbled incoherently a bit before meekly squeaking out

"I-I didn't have any sugar or milk – S-so I used powered milk and salt instead…"

Yoru yawned as he floated listlessly around. Ikuto was busy with a test, so he set the little cat chara loose for the day to go scouting for potential eggs to steal or whatnot. However, his search came up empty and got bored after exploring, so now he found himself without much to do as he ended up at Seiyo. He'd already visited the cafeteria, spied on a classroom, hung around with some stray cats nearby, scared another class by making a pyramid using someone erasers, and was at a loss over how to entertain himself

I could go bother the guardians a bit, maybe play a prank on Kiseki, he thought, ears and tail twitching deviously. Oh, maybe I'll visit that Joker Guardian he's gotten interested in…

He mewled to himself happily, floating near an open window "Perfect! Her guardians seem like fun-Nya! Maybe I can even score some food while I'm at it…"

Then suddenly a cacophony of voices burst forth, shocking the poor blue and black cat boy as they hit him like a hurricane and sent him tumbling

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!"

Final bell rang as everyone bounded out their classrooms and teachers attempted to inform them on upcoming tests and due dates before they were out of earshot. Naoka had gathered her things and practically skipped out the door, a pep in her step as she headed for the exit. Things seemed to be really going her way now – While the initial fear and unrest has yet to dissipate, at lest two students came up to apologize for accusing her for the incident. Most of the returning fourth graders and a few of there siblings accepted her apology whole heartedly, but there were still some who were hesitant to say they could be all "buddy-buddy" now. Mine was still avoiding her though (but did come up to her during lunch to confusingly and cryptically say while she can't apologize now, she'll be able to face her soon), but other than that, everything seemed to be cleared up. The entire thing almost felt like a silly memory now

Joker Chair Hinamori was right! She smiled as she slipped out the door and made her way home, I just had to be confident and stand my ground.

As she turned the corner though, she was forced to stop dead in her tracks – for right there in front of her was Haruka Miyabi, immediately quivering as she tried to find a wall to hide behind before settling on using the groceries she was carrying as a impromptu shield.

The girl had gone MIA for most of the term after Naoka had "threatened" her into leaving school, having classmates bring her homework and taking cram school courses to make up for the material she was missing. She had been out of school for so long, even the teachers had nearly forgotten that she had ever attended Seiyo in the first place. Naoka almost didn't recognize her – luckily the tiny trademark blue crab hairpins in curly red locks made her rather easy to remember.

Naoka was about to simply make her way around her when she realized what an opportunity she had here…

This is your chance to clear the air with Miss Miyabi! If you got everyone to listen to you about the cookies, maybe you can make her stop being scared of you and go back to class. You can even return her eraser to her!

She gave a wide smiled (which seemed to terrify Miyabi more unfortunately) as she reached into her bag. She had been carrying the eraser around with the whole time in hopes of getting a chance to give it back to it's owner – that and everyone was too frighten of Naoka to deliver it for her whenever she attempted to ask, or saw it as an attempt to terrorize the girl further.

"M-Miss Miyabi" Naoka said, pulling out the cherry pink shell themed eraser "I-"

"I'M SORRY!"

Naoka blinked as the girl immediately teared up and looked away, holding the groceries out farther as if they would keep the lavender haired girl at bay "I-I'm just shopping! I-I promise I'll go back home! Just don't hurt me!"

Another owlish blink was given in response. She (or rather the rumors) must have really terrified this girl for her to react like this. "O-oh! No, you don't understand, I'm not-"

"I-I already stopped going to class…" Haruka whimpered, shaking increasing tenfold while tears being to dribble down her cheek "I've skipped my AV club meetings, stayed home from tests, missed class trips - I-I'm not even leaving my house anymore! W-what more do you want!"

Well, for starters, I'd like world peace, you to not be scared of me to the point of teetering into hikomori-ism – oh, and an autographed CD from Utau Hoshino. "L-look, I never told you to do any of that!" she cried, causing the girl to flinch as she reached out as gently as she could. "I'm not trying to harass you, I'm just-"

"What are you doing to Haruka!"

Both girls turned to see a lanky looking 6th grader with choppy reddish brown hair stomp over towards them, eyes flashing with anger as he stormed past Naoka (shoving her a bit in the process) and stood between her and Haruka, who suddenly clung to him.

"B-big Brother." She murmured weakly, causing the boy's eyes to soften with concern for a bit before turned back to Naoka with a rather hateful glare.

Naoka gulped, Stand your ground, stand your ground… "A-ah, I know this looks bad, but I'm not trying to-"

"SAVE IT!" he barked, causing Naoka to step back. "I already know what you're all about! You stay away from Haruka, you hear! She's got enough to deal with without you piling on!"

"B-but I-"

"You already had your fun with me last time, but leave her alone! if you even think about bugging her again, I'll make you wish they'd expelled you then, got it!"

Naoka was so startled all she could manage to do was nod before the two walked off, the boy dragging the girl behind him by the hand as they both disappeared behind the corner along with Naoka's high spirits. She gave a defeated sigh before she continued back home, feet scuffing the sidewalk a few times.

As she made it to the door though, she froze and realized something important.

"What did he mean by "had your fun with me"? Did I know him?"

A/N:

Thanks for reading. And thank you for your reviews – they helped push me to make the new chapter.

I apologize to the Yoru fans – I needed a patsy and I couldn't think of anyone else. I also apologize for the chapter taking so long – We had a black out last year and the computer that had all my fanfics on it had suddenly died TTOTT. Luckily, the hard drive survived and I was able to get everything back.

Oh right, some things you'll need to know:

-Naoka's story is taking place sometime after the first chapter of the second volume.

-Most of this Fic is going to be from Naoka's POV (So enjoy these shift changes while you can)

-And to answer Yannami's question – Not gonna say anything to spoil the story, but those guys will show, just not now. A few characters will be making cameos though (even from other animes).

Which reminds me, feel free to ask any questions you may have, and I'll reply in the author's notes.

Bonus: Removed Dialogue from Principal's Office visit.

"No offence, to either of you," Hina said, rubbing her temple before tucking in a stray blonde lock "But even my baby nephew knows powdered milk and salt aren't good substitute for making anything."

"It's still possible." The principle said, suddenly looking rather nostalgic "I remember my wife making a cake once and accidentally mixing vinegar in because she was busy trying to stop our kids from fighting. She tried passing it off as a new recipe because she was so embarrassed."

"Odd," Her mother replied, looking nostalgic as well "My mother did something similar with lemon juice and pancakes."

Yaya suddenly raised her hand rather innocently " – what about that time Ms. Tomoyo put Cayenne peppers in the cookies she made for Home Ec? Does that count?"

"No Miss Yuiki." The blonde teacher grimaced while Naoka's mother quirked an eyebrow and Nozomi scratched his cheek. "So many crying children that day…"

"H-hm, I forgot about that," Nozomi said "What was it she said happened? Something about allergies…"

"I believe she said it was her cat allergy," The principle answered before stroking his chin "Strange though, I don't remember her saying she ran into one."

"It must have been from before." Hina guessed

"Before what?"

"Oh, some students were using the classroom the day before and someone said they heard some weird noises." Hina said, waiving her hand dismissively while Yaya looked a bit nervous "I asked the girls who used it yesterday and they said a cat had snuck in and they had to chase it out."

All three adult "hmm"-ed while Yaya bunched up into herself and Naoka and her mother blinked.