Work Text:
The young woman, supposedly at ease within her small apartment, kept her eyes glued upon her door. Idly, she kept tapping her fingers upon her phone, the details of a successfully completed transaction blinking on the screen.
So engrossed she was in the midst of her thoughts and anxiety, she didn’t quite notice that the other person in her apartment was studying her features with startling intensity.
After what seemed like an indeterminately long amount of time, he spoke.
“Look, if you’re going to be staring at the door the entire time, I’m going to assume that you’re not doing your job.” The young teenager, calm and somewhat irritated, flicked his finger over the screen of his phone as he addressed the young woman.
She rolled her eyes before settling down into the chair opposite the blond before casually tossing her phone onto the bed behind them. Although her actions were somewhat calm and measured, she still sent unnecessary looks of anxiety and worry towards her apartment door. As she finally situated herself at her table, her fingers began tapping against the grain of the wood, anxiety still clearly evident in her actions.
“I don’t know if you realize this, but you’re still not doing your job.”
“For a person who’s currently failing one of your classes in school, you sure are cocky about it.” The young woman muttered. She faced away from the apartment door, finally, before facing the teenager. “Let me see your last few essays and worksheets from last term.”
At that, the blond visibly glowered at her for a second before digging into a light blue backpack. Rustling assaulted both of their ears before he finally pulled out a sheaf of slightly crumpled documents from a folder that had seen better days.
The young woman frowned. “You should take better care of your things.”
“Have you seen my phone or my laptop? Not a scratch on them.” The young teen tapped the screen of his phone with a light smirk on his face that did nothing but mildly annoy the woman. “Besides, using outdated methods like worksheets and physical copies of essays hurts the environment. Think of the trees!”
“Says the person who relies on technology for practically everything, Hacker. ” If the nickname was meant to offend then she was sorely mistaken. Instead, Hacker’s shoulders visibly relaxed and the mild look of apathy that he normally wore on his face had morphed into a full blown smirk, if not a satisfied smile. “Don’t tell me you haven’t learned your lesson.”
Hacker laughed, the derision in his voice clear as day.
“Says the person who is abnormally good at getting people to do things for her.”
The young woman rolled her eyes. “I don’t recall being nice and polite being manipulative.”
The blue in Hacker’s eyes gleamed. “Manipulative, huh? A fitting trait for a swindler such as yourself.”
Swindler busied herself with organizing the essays that Hacker had given her. For those who didn’t know her well enough, they would have thought that the young woman wasn’t perturbed by his choice in words. In fact, casual onlookers would have noted her relaxed nature and persistence in perusing Hacker’s schoolwork..
Despite that, however, Hacker’s eyes were sharp. Irritation was as clear as oil trying to interminable with water. Swindler may have tried to shove her true feelings down, it did little to mask the discomfort tensing her shoulders and the way she handled his papers were a little more forceful than necessary.
It was quite clear what she was thinkinng.
If there was one thing she didn’t like, it was being called something that she was clearly not.
Oh, if only she knew.
Regardless of the case, the young blond teenager leaned back in his chair and pressed the home button on his cell phone. He was planning on perusing a few apps and messaging a few acquaintances that he made online, but found himself foiled when one of the Swindler’s hands neatly took his device away from him. Like her own phone, she tossed it aside so that it landed on the bed. Disgruntled, but not too surprised by the turn of events, Hacker leaned his chin against the flat of his palm.
“Well? What’s your diagnosis?”
Swindler snorted.
“I’ve barely read the first paragraph and noted the comments that your teacher made. It does not help—“ She emphasized with a pointed look towards the teenager. “—that your handwriting is beyond the means of human comprehension.”
Hacker shrugged, completely unfazed by the fact that the young woman was busy notating certain words and phrases in a separate notebook. Surprise, surprise. The cover of the notebook was a faint shade of rose pink, akin to the outfit that she liked to wear whenever she got off work at the Seal Center.
“There would be no need to decipher any of it if the teacher actually let us type it instead of hand write it.” At the Swindler’s unimpressed glare Hacker rolled his eyes before deciding that a change in topic was in order. Perhaps then she would finally let this farce of a tutoring session drop. “Anyway, what’s with you?”
Hacker was trying to refer to Swindler’s weird actions from earlier (concerning the door), but she relayed no answer.
The Swindler turned over a page, completely flummoxed as to why Hacker’s essay began to devolve into rants that accused the region of Kansai of being led by a corrupt system. While she knew that there were faults to be had within Kansai, that didn’t meant that he could just… go off on tangents in the middle of an assignment that was supposed to be detailing his favorite hobbies.
Swindler took a second to think about that.
Actually, it was probably better that he not admit to his skills as an amateur hacker.
“I know that you enlisted me as your personal English tutor—“
“Unwillingly.”
“—but I get the feeling that you don’t want to pass the class.”
Hacker groaned, clearly tired of the conversation.. “I already know the basics of the English language. Besides it’s not like I’ll be able to move out of Kansai and to a country that happens to have English as its main language.”
The Swindler sighed, already too tired from having to deal with Hacker’s antics despite having dealt with him for less than half an hour. Instead, she focused on underlining a few passages from Hacker’s first few pages of his essay, taking note of the best and worst of what he had to say. After finishing up, she happened to glance up at Hacker’s considering face, his expression somewhat empty, yet calculating at the same time.
“Did you order food from that local delivery service?”
Wary, Swindler glanced to the side before nodding. Slowly.
“Did you order so that you could see that—“
“Can we go back to talking about your travesty of an English essay? I swear, I’m surprised that you haven’t been kicked out on the account that you constantly criticize the government and your teacher.”
Despite her attempts to swing the conversation in an opposite direction, the look on Hacker’s face spoke volumes about what he felt.
There was a smile, stretched wide and thin over his pale features. His eyes, usually so apathetic and icy calm, began gleaming with something akin to mischief and a knowingness that rankled at Swindler’s bones. He knew something, or had rather began connecting the dots that seemingly became truth for him.
And that, for why little weight it held, scared Swindler.
“It’s because of that guy again, isn’t it?”
A pretty pink flush colored the Swindler’s cheeks. “W-what? What do you mean?” Despite herself, the young woman began flailing about in a manner that not only confirmed Hacker’s suspicions, but also made her out to be completely embarrassing and hilarious.
Hacker leaned back against his seat and flashed his tutor a smirk that only served to irk Swindler further. “You met like… once, right? I didn’t think you were the type to believe in the whole ‘love at first sight’ kind of thing.”
The rose pink hue on Swindler’s face deepened further. If it was possible, she flailed further in her chair. If she was not careful, she would have surely fallen out of her seat and onto the hardwood flooring. Luckily for her, she managed to keep her bottom rooted to her seat, but the same could not be said for her dignity and self-worth.
“It’s not—! I can’t—!” Swindler shook her head before she quickly ran over to her bed where her backpack lay. Rapidly pulling out the contents, an array of things were hurled onto the floor and across her bed (“ Hey! Is that one of my drones?” “I’m not apologizing. ”) until she finally picked out a small item. Glinting in the light, it took Hacker a second to recognize it for what it was before he audibly sighed before allowing his head to drop against the wood of the table.
“You’re too kind for your own good.”
Swindler shook her head. “He needs this coin back.”
“It’s just a coin. He probably forgot about it… and what makes you think that he’ll be the one to come here anyway?” Hacker’s voice cut into Swindler’s thoughts. “For all you know, it could just be another random stranger. Are you planning on giving them the coin in the hopes that they give it back to your original delivery man?”
“He’ll be here,” Swindler claimed. “I just know it.”
“Women’s intuition isn’t one hundred percent accurate,” Hacker noted.
“But—” Swindler pointed out with a mischievious smile. “—there have been times when I’ve been right in the past, yeah?”
Hacker stilled, almost as if he knew that if pushed, she would definitely start listing all the times that she had been correct. Knowing her, she could easily paint things in a certain light that would have easily made her out to be correct, regardless of what actually transpired. Not wanting to pursue this line of thought, the young blond opted to rest his head amidst his arms.
“You’re still naive to think that the man you’re looking for would actually arrive.”
Just when Swindler was about to reprimand Hacker again, there was a knock on the apartment door. Casting a look towards her unruly student, Swindler motioned for Hacker to remain quiet. The teenager yawned, but nodded in affirmation.
“Just you wait,” Swindler muttered as she padded her way to the door. “He’s going to be here and I’ll be able to repay him.”
Hacker muttered something under his breath. If Swindler was paying attention, she would have heard him say something to the effect of “It’s only five hundred yen. What’s so special about it?”
Once she approached the door, the English tutor took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and glanced through the peephole. There, right in front of her eyes, was the man who had delivered last week’s take out. Breathing a sigh of relief, Swindler shot a triumphant smirk towards her student, only to be met with an irritated eye roll.
“Jerk,” Swindler muttered to herself as she pushed the door open.
The delivery man held up a plastic bag filled with the food that she had ordered. Although he was a man of few words and his expression was mostly stoic and blank, Swindler immediately brightened and tried to engage him in conversation.
“It's so good to see you again! I know that you probably don’t remember me—”
“I don’t.”
Swindler’s smile wavered as the sound of Hacker’s boyish chuckled filled the air. “—but I actually didn’t call for a delivery, You see, the last time you were here, I was watching you and then I noticed that—”
The man held up a hand, his noticeably apathetic expression slowly devolving into a disbelieving frown. “If you’re asking me out on a date, I’ll have to decline. I’ve had another customer earlier tonight and I wasn’t too impressed by her efforts.”
Swindler blinked.
“W-what? That’s not—”
Swindler groaned so loud, it only barely covered up the fact that Hacker’s loud guffaws were echoing into the halls of her apartment floor. Hoping that her neighbors wouldn’t register a noise complaint against her, the young woman reached into her pocket and pulled out the five hundred yen coin.
“Look! I noticed that you dropped this the last time you were here.”
Swindler offered it to him, her head bowed low and her hands holding the coin high. For a moment, she didn’t move, didn’t speak. However, that changed when she felt plastic dig into her palms and heard the sounds of his footsteps walking away from her. Surprised and somewhat irritated that her act of goodwill was being ignored, she immediately abandoned her post at her apartment and hurried after the man.
“Hey! What about your—”
The man continued walking away, but cast her a sidelong glance that conveyed a sense that he was somewhat baffled by her continued attempts.
“A dropped coin brings bad luck. You’re better off letting someone else have it.”
The young woman stopped in her tracks.
But only for a second.
In a burst of speed, she managed to not only keep up with the man’s long strides, but also supersede him so that he could have no choice but to stop when she stopped in front of him.
“Look, mister, just take the coin. Think of it as…. As a…” She thought for a second before settling on something to say. “A tip! For all your hard work!”
The man raised a brow.
“It’s only five hundred yen.”
Swindler’s eyes popped out of their sockets.
“Are you asking for more?”
The man shook his head before, in a show of good faith, said, “Will you leave me alone if I take the damn coin?”
She nodded resoutely. “Yes.”
The man took the proffered coin from the young woman. Just when she was about to thank him for giving in— finally —he began walking back towards the young woman’s apartment. Confused and somewhat frightened— why was a grown man, a complete stranger, walking towards her apartment? —the young woman quickly followed.
The man peeked inside and asked (without any sort of embarrassment or shame), “Hey, kid, want some money?”
“Do what you want.”
And the man flipped the coin straight into Hacker’s oustretched hand.
As the young woman gaped at the sheer audacity of the delivery man’s actions, he began walking back out. His face remained stoic as ever, but there was a strange twinge to his lips as he regarded her once more.
“You did say that you would leave me alone if I took it.”
“But that doesn’t mean—”
The man tuned her out as he strode towards the stairwell without a backwards glance.
The young woman, knowing full well that she was beat for the time being, stalked back inside. Upon her entering Hacker’s smile went from a small upturn of the lips to a full blown smirk that overtook most of the features of his face.
“Don’t say a word,” Swindler hissed as she plopped back into her seat. “Whatever you do, if you value your life, don’t—”
Hacker slid the coin over the table towards Swindler’s hand.
“What the hell.”
Hacker laughed. “Consider this a tip for all your hard work!”
Swindler held her face within her hands.
“I can’t believe I spent money just so I could get swindled into keeping the same coin that I was meant to return!”
Hacker hummed a little in what Swindler thought seemed like sympathy. “Think about this way, you’ll have another chance to get yourself a boyfrie—”
Swindler rolled up Hacker’s essay and threw it at him.
Hacker only laughed.