"Didn't think I'd gotten enough fame for you detective's to start coming after me."
"You've cause quite a ruckus, but you wouldn't mind if we had a little fun with this, do you?"
...
The sounds of my sneakers running echoed through the alley. Never has a detective chased me down before. I was careful. I always was. Did I leave something behind? Was I too obvious? Did they recognize me? Not even a police officer was able to come after me because I'd already have left. Who is this person?
'Curse you, stamina. If only I had more, then I wouldn't be so out of breath. Why must the gods forsake me like this? This is fucking stupid!'
I kept running and running. The hair tie that kept my hair in a ponytail started to slip. Leaving it behind would leave evidence. I tugged it out of my hair along with my mask. Wearing it while I'm running probably isn't a good thing. Hearing the detective's voice telling me to stop made me panic. I couldn't think, my body won't move right. What's wrong with me?
"Y/n, you should really stop stealing. You're going to ruin your future!"
I groaned. This wasn't the first time Kokomi has brought this up. She's always worried about my future. My life's a mess and it'll probably stay that way.
"So what? I was fucked up the moment dad became all depressed and stuff. It's not like if I stop stealing I'll magically get a job and dad's crazy debt will disappear." I replied, taking a bite out of a piece of bread I stole.
"Y/n! Did you just give a negative comment to Kokomi?!"
Gorou slid into the room, glaring at me. Kokomi and I waved at his usual greeting. He's always been so protective of Kokomi, that it's kind of funny. I know the two are childhood friends, but sometimes I feel like he overdoes it a little. He sat down next to us, took one look at the bread I was holding, and snatched it away.
"Hey! That was the last piece of bread I had!"
"I'm not letting you keep eating food that doesn't belong to you. Like Kokomi said, you shouldn't steal anymore! We could help you."
The two were always so serious about this, but what else could I do? Most jobs won't accept me because of my "lack of education" and the jobs that do accept me, give me little payment. As if dad's large debt wasn't already enough, Inazuma's rent is so high! Like what the fuck do you need so badly that us civilians have to pay so much? I frowned and left Kokomi's house.
"She's going to go steal again isn't she?" Kokomi sighed as the two watched me leave.
I had run into a dead end and to make matters worse the detective stood where I had just come from. He began to walk closer to me and upon instinct, I walked closer to the wall behind me, holding my bag tightly.
"Well, it seems my intuition was right on the dot again!" The detective said with a smile. He had auburn hair and green eyes. I immediately recognized him as Shikanoin Heizou, known to be one of the greatest detectives in all of Inazuma.
"Didn't think I'd gotten enough fame for you detective's to start coming after me."
The man did not respond, but continued to smile as he walked up to me. "Alright. How about we strike a deal? You return all of the items you stole and I'll let you off the hook. Sounds good?"
"Even if you left me off the hook, I'd still die of starvation so I think I'll pass. Thank you very much."
At this point he had gotten really close. There was barely any room between us. He looked me up and down before smirking. "Aikawa Y/n, 19 years old. One of the top students in school, only to be rejected by all colleges because of her father's increasing debt. Would you like me to continue?"
My eyes widened in shock. How much did this guy know about me? I mean he's a detective, yes, but do detectives really just take one look at a person and immediately know everything there is to know about them? With a look of defeat, I raised my hands in the air.
"Okay, I get it. I'll return the stuff."
Heizou smiled and turned around, leading me back to the grocery store. Once my usual path appeared, I glanced at his back before dashing toward my escape route. I pulled on my mask and hid.
Nearby, I could hear Heizou sigh. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten too careless..."
I heard him look around for a while and once he wrote down a few things and walked away, I made sure the coast was clear before running towards my home.
My house is basically a small abandoned wooden shack that I had renovated. From the outside, you probably wouldn't even want to go in from how old and dirty it looked, but on the inside thanks to my amazing handiwork it looked like a small cozy home. I dropped my bag of stolen goods onto the table before flopping onto a small pile of blankets I used as my bed.
Rolling onto my side, I glanced at a small family photo. My mom smiled happily in a wheelchair, dad stood next to her looking like the happiest man in Inazuma, and a 5 year old me standing in the middle, holding a small stuffed deer in my hands.
A/N: I'm quarantined and I was bored so I decided to publish today... Don't blame me for being impatient. 😒
Also please tell me someone noticed the foreshadowing I added in the family picture- I was actually proud of myself with that.
If you saw my announcement, I decided to go with Modern AU. Originally I was going to do it in the Teyvat timeline, but I wasn't sure about how I could write it. I hope someone hasn't done this already-
Anyways, thank you for reading chapter 1 of "Why don't you steal me?"
