Tuesday.
Maths today. The one we'd all been quietly dreading since Sunday.
I picked her up straight after, no detour, no stopping for milk on the way home like I normally would. She was quiet in the seat beside me, staring out the window, answering in single words when I asked how it went.
By the time we got to the stairs at home, she wasn't holding it together anymore.
"I need a tutor," she said, halfway up, voice cracking on the word tutor like it cost her something to say it. "It was really bad. Like, really bad."
I didn't push for details. Just told her to go shower, and I'd sort something out.
I didn't actually know how, sitting there with my phone in my hand ten minutes later. Xiaohongshu first — typed in "HSC maths tutor" and the suburb, scrolled through a dozen posts, half of them ads dressed up as recommendations.
I called three numbers anyway. One agency wanted a term's fees upfront before they'd even match a tutor. One never called back. One offered group sessions only, six kids to a class, not what she needed with a week of trials still to get through.
None of it felt right. I sat on the edge of the bed after the third call, phone still warm in my hand, out of ideas.
I messaged Nizuo instead. Just a few lines — daughter struggling with maths, need someone one-on-one, do you know anyone.
She replied within minutes. A name, a WeChat ID, a line underneath: "Friend's son. Tutoring uni maths, does high school on the side. Good with anxious kids too, for what it's worth."
I stared at that last bit for a second. Anxious kids. She didn't even know that detail and somehow guessed it anyway.
I messaged the number straightaway. Ten minutes from us, it turned out, practically around the corner. We went back and forth for a bit and landed on a time — not this week, trials still had days to run, but early next week once the worst of it was over.
I put the phone down and just sat there.
It's such a small thing, a name passed along through someone else's phone. But I don't think I could have found that on my own tonight, not with a week to fill and a kid crying on the stairs.
Nizuo makes it look so easy. A name for anything, always someone who knows someone. I've lived in this area longer than she has and my own list is nowhere near as long.
I didn't say any of that to her. Just thanked her, three times probably, and left it there.