𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕆𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕗𝕖 [Sora X fem!Reader] (No Game No Life)

Chapter 15

[You can do that, Steph?!]

(Y/N) Pov:

Steph's gonna try to cheat. We all know that. Shiro was still sleeping as I nuzzled my head on hers, ready to fall asleep. "Hit." said Sora boredly, getting a card from Steph. I tried to keep my eyes open, which was quite hard. "Stand." I watched as Steph laid down her cards, saying: "Taht's twenty-one." "Nineteen here." said Sora, letting his fall down. I finally closed my eyes, dozing off for a moment.

As I opened them again, I heard Steph saying: "Okay, time for the last round. It's obvious who's going to win, though." I sat Shiro down on the chair and walked up to the two playing. I sat on Sora's lap, leaning against his chest. He didn't mind me doing it. He said: "Blackjack is one of the few games where the player has the advantage." "Your point?" asked Steph. I said: "The dealer has to keep drawing if their hand's below seventeen. Meaning there's a good chance that they'll bust." Sora patted my (h/c) hair a little, saying: "Right. But that hasn't happened to you yet. Must be your lucky day." Steph gave out the cards. "Stand." said Sora without looking at his cards. "Looks like it's game over." said Steph, flipping her cards. "Yeah it sure is." said Sora, putting his head on mine and dropping his cards. Steph stared in shock as Sora said: "With a natural blackjack, the player gets 2.5 times his bet. I win." He put his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer and nuzzling his head in my neck. I closed my eyes again as Steph said: "No way. The human potential..." "What an empty victory." said Sora. Shiro woke up and said: "People with RLs only exist in urban legends, anyway." "I can't accept this! Just how in the world did I lose?!" asked Steph, nearly crying. Sora said: "Oh? Didn't you say blackjack was a game of pure luck?" She was clearly taken aback by that. I said: "Card counting..." "Card cou... What?" I sighed, and let Sora explain: "You assign a specific number to cards and count that. Cards with values between two and six get a '1'. Those with values of ten or eleven are '-1'. And seven to nine are ''0'. By tallying what kind of cards have already been played, you can estimate which cards are left and better predict what'll come up next." Steph cried scales, saying: "Using math in a game... I've never seen people do that. Wait, isn't that cheating?!" I smiled innocently, answering: "No. Cheating would be something like forced shuffling. Just what you did, right?" "You noticed? Even though you were asleep?!" I nodded, sticking out my tongue at her. Sora said: "It made counting so much easier." She was clearly taken aback by that, too, and said: "To think you turned my cheating against me." She turned around, walking away, but walking into something. I held a giggle in, leaning more against Sora. He asked: "Hey, where you going?" "I'm off to work." answered Steph. "You proposed a new policy the other day, remember? Talks with the nobles opposing it are about to start." Sora stood up, taking me with him. I pouted, but he quickly pulled me back into his arms, saying: "They took longer than I expected." I sighed, saying: "I'll act like a real Queen for once, then..." She turned around, looking at me with curiosity. I simply smiled at her, cheeks a little red of embarrassment.

Time skip: a short while later

"I-I'll make you regret this!" "Don't think you can get away with oppressing us nobles!" they screamed as they ran away, completely naked. Sora was covering my eyes, while I did the same for Shiro. He asked: "Former nobles, don't you mean?" He retracted his hand from my eyes, so I was able to see again. They were gone, so I let Shiro see something again, too. I looked at the table in front of us, saying: "You lost all your titles, land, assets, and rights, after all. I mean, sudden changes do meet some resistance eventually." Sora said: "If anything, it's strange it took them this long." Steph asked: "Still, wasn't that a little too heavy-handed? And that after I was handling it peacefully all this time." "Huh? 'Handling it'?" asked Sora. I simply said: "I just wanted to play another round, so..." "That's so like you... Well, I conducted large-scale trials of your policies in royalty-owned lands, and used the data to distribute commercial rights among the major noble families supporting my family. The profits made allowed me to keep the other major noble families in check while quietly splitting off the smaller factions supporting them, shaving away the opposition's influence. Had we managed to win over the nobles from earlier, we'd have flawlessly brought all the factions under our control. Huh? What's wrong?" The three of us shivered in fear. Th-That's amazing... "I-I don't think this is really possible, but could it be that you aren't actually an idiot?" asked Sora, hugging Shiro. "Just what did you think of me until now?!" "I mean, you're a Steph, aren't you?" "Is it just me, or did you use my name as an insult?!" Shiro said: "Shut up. You're only a Steph." "That's the most unfair insult in history! What did I do to deserve this?!" I smiled lightly at them, trying to sneak away. "And you stay here!" she said, pulling me back by my arm. I pouted, but listened to what she had to say. "Just so you know: I graduated at the top of my class in the country's most prestigious academy and have connections to all major noble families through my former classmates." Sora and Shiro dropped to the floor upon hearing that. Shiro murmured: "Graduated from school... Lots of friends..." Sora said: "Now that I think about it, she's a princess and is loaded." "She has big breasts too." "S-Sora, Shiro?" I looked to the ground. I do have a graduation, but... Let's just say it's not the best. As for friends... I have Shiro, Sora, Steph, and Tet. I dropped to the floor, hugging my knees close to my chest. I'm a sorrowful being! "We still haven't decided your penalty for losing that game earlier, have we?" asked Sora, glaring at Steph. Shiro said: "Steph's going down. No mercy." "Wha... Wai... No!"