Chapter 17: Sneak and peek

"What do you even expect to find?"

"Oh, a fucker like him has all the good and nasty shit. Golden toilets, money in every drawer, swords and guns, porn…"

Tsubasa threw her a bewildered look. "Why is it always something sexual with you whenever you open your mouth?"

Kanade shrugged. "Blame yourself. I am not the one with the suppressed urges."

The younger girl sighed exhausted. "Yeah, yeah."

The two girls walked through the halls, passing painting after painting, locked door after looked door. The halls were empty. Not empty in the literal sense, as there were affects, items, drawers everywhere, but empty in a domestic sense. The place felt dead, almost, as if no one actually lives in this place, just… exists.

"It's your grandfather, what did you expect? His pathetic life is nothing more than work and maybe jacking off to dead animals or something."

Tsubasa sighed. It almost became a habit around Kanade. Finally, they reached an unlocked door. Carefully, curious, Tsubasa checked her surroundings for any of the guards wandering this godforsaken fortress, and silently entered.

It was the bedroom. Or rather, a bedroom.

"Oh, baby. We hid the fucking jackpot!"

Tsubasa threw her a confused look. "What? Why? This is a bedroom."

Kanade snorted. "Haven't you seen any movies? This is where guys like him hide their most valuable shit. Gold, money, drugs. Close to the heart."

"Hm," was all the younger girl could reply.

"Take a peek around", Kanade urged her. "You'll see I am right."

And so Tsubasa did. She opened up the drawers and closets placed on every wall in the room, but only found clothes. Old, worn and smelling of mothballs. She felt a pang of disappointment, until she opened the nightstand.

"Bingo", Kanade cheered.

In the drawer was money and jewelry. A lot of it. Almost filled to the brim, and ran the risk of spilling out onto the expensive carpet. Seems like her grandfather kept all his valuables here, where he slept. Fitting for his paranoid ass.

"Take some", Kanade said.

Tsubasa turned around, in her face a mix of confusion and shock. "What? I can't just steal from him!"

"Oh, come on," Kanade replied. "He won't notice. Besides, that asshole deserves it that someone takes him down a peg or two, don't you agree?"

Tsubasa didn't answer, but behind her eyes, her thoughts processed what she said. She shifted her focus back to the open drawer, hesitated for a second, and then grabbed a handful of bills and shoved them into her jacket's pocket.

Kanade laughed triumphantly. "Hell yeah, that's my girl. Feels good, doesn't it?"

Yes, it did. It was wrong, illegal, she knew it, but by God, was it exciting. She was about to grab another handful, when she saw something shimmering at the bottom of the drawer. It looked like metal. Carefully, she swiped away the money and jewelry on top. And what she saw made her eyes go wide with fright and equal curiosity.

"Wow", Kanade whispered, equally in awe.

It was a gun. A pistol, to be precise. Silver, shiny, and really heavy, as Tsubasa found out trying to lift it. It had engravings in it, and seemed to be loaded, as a magazine seemed to be inserted. At least, she assumed. She'd never actually seen one in real life, only in games, movies or pictures.

"See? I told you we'd find guns and shit in here", Kanade reminded her excitedly.

Tsubasa's eyes were glued to the weapon in her hands. "Why does he have that?"

"Who knows? Maybe he likes shooting people." Kanade gasped. "Do you think he has some dead bodies hidden somewhere?" She dashed around the room, peeking on top of the closet, under the bed and drawers.

Tsubasa scoffed. "Now you are getting ridiculous, don't you think?"

Kanade peeked up to her from the other side of the room. "Maybe. But I would trust that geezer to do that."

Tsubasa's eyes focused back on the gun in her hands. Her mind ran circles around what she said. Could she be right? Her grandfather was a weird fuck, yes, but would he murder someone?

She couldn't reasonably deny that thought.

Mostly because she didn't really know what to think right now. Here she was, holding a deadly weapon in her hands, talking to a girl in her head.

Involuntarily, she laughed. "Yeah, maybe he would do that."

Kanade clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Nothing here, it seems. Shit. I thought he might have at least some fucked up stuff under there."

"Where? Under his bed?"

The redhead nodded. "Yeah. I assumed he had at least something spicy. We could have blackmailed him or some shit."

Tsubasa's eyes widened in shock. "Blackmail? Don't you think that would go a little bit too far?"

"The guy is a shithead, you know it. He has a fucking gun. How do you think he got it, huh? The black market, of course! Probably sold some poor kid for it or something."

Kanade's words made the weapon in her hands seem to become heavier. She had a point. Where did he get it? The more she thought about it, the more she really did not want to know the answer.

Carefully, she laid the gun back into the drawer and closed it, hoping she left everything how it was, as to not raise any suspicion, should the old geezer use this bedroom today, for some reason.

Besides the money in her pocket, of course. She planned to keep that.

"So," Kanade began, her voice full of excitement. "Let's get out of here and see what else we can find."

Their expedition brought them to many a room filled to the brim with knickknack, golden statues and somethings, paintings that looked as expensive as they looked ugly, clothes that were more dust than fabric, and bathrooms, which seemed to be designed by blind chimpanzees. The entire house was uninviting; alienating to the point of hostility. If behind one of those old doors was a prison or a hole to another dimension full of war and death, Tsubasa would honestly not be surprised, all things considered.

But sadly, they found nothing crazy or weird. Just your usual old geezer stuff. Tsubasa was honestly a bit disappointed. Sure, she found money and a cool gun, and one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but she could dream, right?

"Boring…" Kanade groaned. "I thought we'd find some more cool shit. But all we found was that gun and cash."

Tsubasa threw her a displeased look. "Ever heard of gifted horses?"

"It's 'gift horse', you idiot. At least get your facts straight before you try and be a smart ass."

"I know that. I was referring to the many things we already found. Multiple horses."

Kanade laughed humorlessly. "Still stupid."

There were steps getting closer behind her. She turned around in the massive hallway just in time to see her father appearing around the corner. The tense look on his face immediately disappeared the moment he saw her.

"There you are", he sighed. "I thought you wanted to wait." He rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I… sorry, I wanted to look around a bit."

"It's fine. I was just concerned because you were nowhere to be found. Your grandfather and I are done with our discussion. Let's go home."

Tsubasa rested her hand on her pocket. The content was heavier than she thought.

She nodded.