【•ｃｈａｒｍｅｄ•】- 𝐚 𝟗𝟎'𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐢 𝐚𝐮

【•Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ６•】

Niki's POV
December 29, 1998
9:26 A.M.

The sound of morning birds chirping outside of his window roused Ni-ki from his slumber. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes as the bright sunlight that poured into his room blinded him temporarily. He didn't even remember when he went to sleep, and he was still in his clothes that he wore the previous day.

The memories of what had happened last night came back to him: Getting home late, and being scolded by his sister. He remembered Konon calling their mother, and how upset he knew she would be, and his eyes flitted instantly to his dresser where his SNES lay...or previously had laid. He sighed as he gazed at the now empty dresser. He had expected it, but seeing the sight still made his heart twinge with sadness.

Ni-ki swung his legs from off of his bed and got a new change of clothes, trudging sleepily to the bathroom. Once he got there though, the sound of the shower running got closer, and the door was closed. He could see the bathroom light peeking from under the crack of the door, and his younger sister's loud singing assaulted his ears as he stood next to the bathroom. Balling up his fist, he pounded on the bathroom door, and the singing ceased immediantly.

"Sola, get OUT!" He yelled, clutching his clothes under one arm.

"I just got in here!" Sola exclaimed, her voice falling under the shower water.

"Well then hurry up!" Ni-ki grumbled, crossing his arms as he quickly stepped back into his room. As Ni-ki sat back down onto his bed, he heard footsteps coming upstairs. They had a specific sound to them that alerted him exactly who it was. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, preparing himself for the worst. Unfortunately, all the noise he had made had traveled downstairs, letting his mother know that he was now awake and that she could hound him for what happened yesterday as much as possible.

Sure enough, his mother stepped into her son's doorway and put her hands on her hips, that same disappointed look that all mothers had scrawled across her face when their child did wrong doing. She shook her head, her slightly curled brown hair bouncing across her shoulders.

"What were you thinking? I was worried!" She said in Japanese, her voice exasperated and tired. Ni-ki still had head against the wall, but his eyes were open now. The dust that was collecting on the ceiling fan looked quite interesting right now...

"Nishimura, look at me when I'm talking to you." His mother stated, more firmly this time. Ni-ki obeyed, lifting his head from the wall and staring at his mother with a tensed face.

"What you did last night was wrong, and you know it was. What's gotten into you? Are you insane? For goodness sake, I'd thought you got kidnapped!" His mother scolded, and Ni-ki's gaze slowly dropped to his fidgeting hands, the guilt he had felt previously washing over him once more.

His mother sighed, taking her index and thumb to pinch the bridge of her nose. She sounded tired.

"And yet... I cannot be that upset with you." She said quietly, her eyes panning upwards as she looked at her son. Ni-ki's eyes darted up instantly, slightly confused. What did she mean? His usually strict mother would've grounded him for week, but a feeling in his soul said that it wouldn't happen this time.

"I was a teenager once, and trust me. I've gotten myself into much more trouble than you have." She chuckled to herself, her head raising as the memories of her younger days. Shaking her head, she gazed back at Ni-ki with gentle, but still stern eyes. "You go out, have fun, and lose track of time. So I understand how the situation of last night could have happened."