Robbery (1)
X, Isn’t Replacable (1)
Volume 1
Takano Masamune
Chapter 1: Robbery (1)
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‘I can’t believe I’m doing this…’ Pesco thought to himself as he looked at the building standing in front of him. It was one of the older ones so he wasn’t concerned about security. But his mind was nervous none the less…
This was the first time he was going to rob someone…
‘I need to do it fast and leave even quicker…’ He walked through the door as casually as if he himself lived there, unsurprisingly there was no one there. Nobody batted an eye as he walked in. In fact it was so quiet that it made him feel even more unsettled.
He already knew the man in the apartment had left, he had studied the place and noticed this person always left at the exact same time each day. Thus he had chosen his target. There was also another reason however…
Pesco found that particular man that lived there, Gregory to be a very kind and delightful person. Someone that always smiled, someone that he looked up to just a little bit… maybe because of his desire to be like him and live as happily…
Entering the man’s apartment was a relatively easy job as well. There wasn’t any special security system, nor cameras, even the lock wasn’t anything particularly special…
‘Alright, I’ll start from the drawers to everything else… just as I’ve learned…’ Pesco wasn’t confident in himself, he was only 15 years old after all, there was little he could do but wonder about for a few seconds, just taking in the scenery. He headed to the bedroom and began going through whatever he could, until his entire body froze, he heard noise from behind him.
“What are you doing?” A voice standing at the door asked as he looked at the kid. The man seemed to be about his mid twenties, his voice a bit deeper and icy than his looks would presume it to be. It was Gregory the owner of the house.
“I’m… searching for money…” Pesco admitted stupidly as he slowly looked at the man, he was both intimidated and incredibly scared while staring at him. He felt as if his soul would leave his body if he looked at him for too long. He felt frozen in place at that moment.
“Ah, money… alright…” The man at the door casually entered and began looking in the wardrobe, he looked carefully making sure not to miss a single thing in the process. He seemed somewhat careless in his manner as if he too was there to rob the house, although he lived in it to begin with.
“Huh?” The kid stared at the other confused for a bit, thirty seconds passed and he hadn’t heard anything from the older man.
“Come on, search up, if you find anything you have to share though! Cause I don’t really have anything on me…” The man said with a sort of exhausted sounding voice as he continued searching. He moved across the room looking at different places.
Pesco instantly recognized the person as the owner of the apartment. “You… live here right? Then why are you searching?” He asked sort of nervously as he couldn’t completely grasp what was happening yet. He watched the man continue to search while talking to him.
“See kid, I don’t know why you chose to rob my place out of anyone in this building… but I’m broke for all it’s worth. Though I thought it would be nice if there was a secret stash of cash that I didn’t know about…” The man although his voice was deep, spoke in such a childlike manner that it was surprising. He was a man approximately in his thirties yet he seemed youthful both in his approach to life and his manner of speech and behavior. Almost like someone that rather than never growing up, remained with a pure view of the world even in his adult years.
“So you don’t have anything?” Pesco asked rather innocently while dropping to his knees completely. He felt like crying, it was embarrassing, it was saddening to the point he couldn’t contain his face from being contorted into an ugly grimace.
“Not a single dime!” The older man stood up with a bright smile on his face as he admitted to that, almost as if it was some incredible achievement that he was proud of. Now that he stood in the light it was easier to see him. He was tall, his face had several wrinkles on it. Although you wouldn’t have been able to tell he was a 30 year old man if you didn’t see his face. His hair was black and very curly, those curls weighting down, they weren’t styled properly. His eyes were in a shade of light green with a tint of hazelnut that seemed to make them exotic. The corners of his eyes wrinkled in a smile that seemed genuine and incredibly kind despite the unfortunate circumstances.
As Pesco looked up at the man he was even more confused. Why did that person out of all people look like that? He didn’t seem bothered nor did he seemed concerned, if anything he looked…
“You came back from work earlier than usual…” Pesco mumbled under his breath in a somewhat gasped manner. He stared at the man as he slowly tried to get up. He didn’t feel like running away, as if the situation itself was so bizarre that he couldn’t leave without at least attempting to understand it.
“I know what you’re thinking kid… Oh, he’s an old man that doesn’t have anything. See, I might be all smelly, sweaty and dirty from work but I’m happy…” The man spoke in a careless voice that didn’t suit his overly serious looking stature. But he wasn’t an overly serious man… in fact it seemed like he took things around him more lightheartedly than most people did. He seemed more relaxed than most people were as well. “Money doesn’t really mean everything in this world, kid…” He continued as if trying to teach the younger boy a lesion. “Stealing isn’t the way to go about acquiring it either. So you better leave and not try to do this again. Next time you might not be as lucky to leave with just a warning.” He spoke a bit more lowly than before a he pointed to the door and made adequate space between himself and the boy allowing him to leave.
Pesco nodded his head as he walked to the door. This was one of the weirdest interactions he’s ever had, this was one of the strangest things that’s ever happened to him and yet he left feeling as if he had been at school learning the latest lesion… it was a strange experience…
But before he could walk through the door he stopped as he glanced back. The elder man instantly noticed that and turned to the boy with a questioning look on his face. “Is there anything you want to say?” He asked, as he did so, the chain around his neck dangled a bit. There was a green pendant attached to it, it seemed feminine and gentle, by the looks of it, it was very old as well. It seemed like the only somewhat expensive item in that apartment was that one necklace…