"Eek..."
"Who's there?!"
With the soft sound of the window being pushed open, a childish yet wary snort came from Rin Tohsaka at the end of the second-floor hallway. Hands on her hips, she watched the familiar Black Shadow climb over the railing instead of using the proper entrance, curling her lips and rolling her eyes.
"Tch, you. Why do you always sneak around whenever you come into my house?!"
"Ahem, ahem. It's called being vigilant. Safety first."
Caught red-handed, Samael gave a dry cough and defensively let his gaze wander.
However, the little girl whose soul was fundamentally the Venus Goddess was not so easily fooled. She looked Samael up and down with disdain, her eyes full of suspicion.
"I haven't even asked anything yet. Why are you in such a hurry to explain? Don't tell me you did something bad outside?"
"How could I?! Am I that kind of person?! Hey, hey, hey, kids shouldn't falsely accuse their elders!"
A woman's sharp sixth sense, along with the unspoken familiarity between troublesome friends, made Samael feel as though needles were pricking his back. He immediately denied it three times in a row, refusing to mention that he had just made a huge haul of cash from an underground casino.
After all, given Ishtar's nature, if he got exposed, her agreeing to split it fifty-fifty would already count as a rare attack of conscience.
If she had the chance, that crazy woman absolutely would not leave Samael even a single coin.
The ancient serpent still remembered that, on the eve of the War of the Covenant, he had handed over his share of the savings in the Treasury of Babylon to Ishtar for her to play with.
Although the woman had been moved to tears, and they had even rolled