Kazoku Futarikiri had never placed much value in labels - fat, skinny, loud, quiet, nice, mean. All they were good for was dehumanizing someone, trimming their existence down to a few adjectives.
But she was pretty sure she was a bad person.
Steal...
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Slipping out of school unnoticed was my top priority. After my conversations with Kuroo and Yaku I wasn't in the market to add to either of them. The only thing I was in the mood for was to pick Nikko up from school. Hopefully just seeing his smile would be like a reset button, transforming my less-than-stellar day into something more manageable.
I never understood why my parents couldn't have stayed for just a few more months, they had clearly already waited years. For as long as I could remember I would overhear them discussing where they wanted to go or what they really wanted to accomplish in life.
Apparently a family wasn't good enough for them. They didn't want Nikko or me. They did nothing for damage control, they just disappeared off the face of the earth.
I knew Nikko felt the affect even more than me. He hadn't brought up mom or dad in a while, but every so often I would catch him watching out the windows. Somewhere inside of him he still felt hope. If he could've wished them back home they would be there in an instant. He wanted a dad to play catch with and to get him into sports. He wanted a mom to fuss over him and make him real home cooked meals. As much as I tried, I could never fill that void. Only distract him from it.
That's why it was always his pick for board games or what he wanted to do with his free time. All I wanted was some solace for us.
I should've known life wouldn't be that kind. As soon as I saw the bedhead on the shadow approaching me, my heart fell into my stomach.
As soon as I got that money for him he would leave me alone, but it wasn't that easy. Of course I wanted to repay him, I wanted to repay everyone I stole from. Ironically the only way I could come up with that sort of money is stealing even more.
"Where are you headed today?" He rose a brow.
I turned my attention to the sidewalk, trying to keep whatever numbed emotions I felt at bay. "Home."
"Cool, I'll walk you." We were both silent, the only thing I heard was the wizzing of passing cars and our footsteps on the concrete.
"I don't have your money," I told him, "And I'd rather you not know where I live."
I could only imagine the look on his face. Probably something of arrogance or confusion. I couldn't find it in myself to glance up, that way, maybe if I lied, I wouldn't feel the need to look away.
