Wrapping up Diakko Week with a quickie. My free day choice was a modern AU with delinquent Akko and student Diana. Hope you enjoy, and I hope you all enjoyed these prompts this week as much I enjoyed writing them!

Please review!

Day 7: Free Day

Crime of Passion

"Get back here you little thief!"

Laughing from the adrenaline rush, Akko pushed herself to run faster, the wallet she had just nabbed remaining tight in her clutches.

"You can't catch me!" she hollered behind her, her glee increasing as the man chasing after her gradually fell behind.

Akko vaulted over a small wall before she was outside the park boundary, zipping across the street and dodging traffic like a pro. After all, after years on the street, things like this become second nature.

Darting into an alley, Akko finally came to a stop, leaning heavily against the wall of a building as she caught her breath.

"Damn, I didn't think that old guy would be able to run that fast!" she chuckled as she opened the wallet up to see what was worth taking. "Either old people are getting faster, or I'm getting slower. We'll have to work on that. Score!"

Her third grab of the week ended up being her best loot yet as the man had been carrying fifty-eight dollars in cash. He even had a coupon for a free ice cream!

Akko stuffed her earnings into her hoodie pocket before discarding the wallet in a trashcan. She never took credit or debit cards, knowing their owner would be calling their bank and cancelling the cards first thing. Plus, Akko had learned how to make the cash she stole last. Even two dollars was a high prize to her, so she was simply over the moon that her most recent winnings made her weekly total over sixty dollars now.

She could actually treat herself to a dinner from an actual restaurant instead of the dollar menu at McDonald's!

If she could somehow find some more adequate apparel, of course, she thought dryly; knowing her overly large burgundy hoodie, ripped jeans, and ratty sneakers wouldn't even get her into an Olive Garden.

Plus a shower would probably be a good idea too.

Maybe she could break into another gym once it closed and use the showers there again. That was usually her go-to in this scenario.

Hoping most of the smell was coming from the garbage beside her, Akko stepped back out onto the sidewalk and blended into the crowds of people on their way to work or other business. Glancing up at the sky, Akko deemed it to be right around nine in the morning, and she grinned. Turning the opposite way, Akko's next destination was now set in her mind.

Soon enough, she was approaching a large building surrounded by quite the extravagant gate. Akko stared up forlornly at the words emblazoned on the welcoming archway.

Luna Nova High School.

Akko quickly scurried around the corner, knowing she stuck out like a sore thumb around all the students milling about in the courtyard, dressed neatly in their ironed uniforms and looking like the million dollars worth of their school's tuition. The dirty brunette, meanwhile, skirted the exterior of the school's boundaries before seeking out her favorite tree. With a running start, she was able to run up the tree's trunk just enough to grab hold of the lowest hanging branch.

Akko had herself well up in the tree in no time. Climbing was almost as second nature to her as running. Inching her way out onto her choice branch, Akko situated herself, letting her legs dangle off the limb, and watched.

School had never been an option for her. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was five, and she had been placed into an orphanage after their funeral. She was never adopted out, however, and eventually grew bitter, and decided that if no one wanted her, she might as well strike out on her own. As soon as she turned ten, Akko ran away, eventually finding her way to the city, where she had been ever since. She had been schooled at the orphanage, of course, and even after leaving, would make her way to the public library every now and then to make sure she kept up with the most basic of materials she felt a girl her age should know.

Even still, she had always had the strong desire to attend a real school, especially once she became of high school age. It wasn't even for the studies themselves that she wished to attend.

It was for the company.

Living on the streets meant living without friends. After all, who would want to be friends with a homeless girl? Akko tried not to dwell on her lack of friends too much, as the thought usually led her to become quite depressed to where she would simply huddle up in a dark alley and cry, letting her health go neglected for an extended period.

So instead, Akko had taken up to watching students from the outside, trying to imagine herself in their shoes and living vicariously through them. It was fun in its own way; she didn't have to worry about the workload, but she could still soak up the atmosphere all the same. Sometimes, when she was feeling incredibly bold, she would drop down from the tree on the other side of the fence and sneak up beneath an open window, where she could listen to the lecture firsthand; feel like she was actually there in the classroom instead of huddled outside.

Akko heard the school bell ring and she perked up, knowing the bell signaled the change of classes. She watched one classroom empty before it filled again with new students, and she saw some students come outside into the courtyard, where they would either take a seat at one of the many picnic tables, or simply choose to seat themselves under the shade of the building. Sometimes students even wandered to sit under the very tree Akko occupied, and she still marveled to this day how no one had ever had the inkling to look up and spot her.

Sometimes it paid to be invisible, Akko thought with a grim smile.

She hung around for another hour or so before deciding she was getting hungry, and that the sixty-plus dollars in her pockets were itching to be spent. As she ambled back down to the ground carefully, she was unaware to the footsteps coming up behind her.

"You do realize it's rude to spy on others, don't you?"

"Ack!" Akko squawked, quickly turning around to face her assailant.

She half expected it to be the old man she stole from earlier, but was struck dumb instead by the ethereal beauty before her.

A girl stood firmly rooted in place, cool blue eyes narrowed in suspicion, and arms crossed in derision. She bore the uniform of Luna Nova, and Akko quickly thought that in all her times spying, she hadn't seen one student pull off the look as well as this girl. The white button up fit her perfectly, the blue vest and skirt accenting the girl's eyes beautifully. Her hair was a stunning platinum blonde that shone like spun gold under the sun, and though those sapphire eyes were currently angrily focused on Akko, the brunette found she didn't even care; their intensity was so breathtaking.

"Well?" the girl chided after a minute of Akko's balking. "Do you have anything say for yourself?"

Blushing under the girl's stare, she couldn't find any smart way of working her way out of the situation, so instead she reached into her hoodie pocket.

"Free ice cream?" Akko held out the stolen coupon.

The blonde lost her haughty façade as it was her turn to gape, eyes wide and blinking incredulously at Akko.

"Seriously?"

Akko grinned as she chuckled.

She had a feeling this was the beginning to a beautiful relationship.