them • kakegurui x female reader

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"weirdest welcome i ever got." you mumbled, your hand still squeezed into her's as you tried your best not to trip on the stairs she was dragging you up.

"trust me, i'm not welcoming you- i'm saving your life. well, your ability to have one. " nanami glanced back at you, her emerald green eyes surprisingly filled with importance.

you reached the top, completely out of breath, but nanami finally let your hand go, and you fell down in a cushioned armchair.

"now, explain what this is about?" you demanded, holding your head up with one hand. you had come to school early, and maybe there was enough time to sleep before first period..

nanami wrung her hands, glancing over the balcony, back at the first floor. a few students sat in chairs, most glancing around nervously or with a weird air of confidence.

"i'm really sorry about that- i just really wanted to save you before they could find out there was a new student."

"who's they? and why does it matter, everyone will know i'm new in a little bit."

nanami sighed, but to her credit she patiently held up a weird tag hanging around her neck. her fingers hesitated before touching it, though, as if she was scared of it.

"see this? this is a housepet tag."

"weird fashion accessory, whatever. why did you pull me up here?"

"i don't think you understand- i don't want to wear this. i have too. it shows i have a debt to the student council." nanami mumbled, letting go of the tag as if it weighed more than a laminated piece of paper should.

"at this school, i'm no longer considered a human until i can pay up."

your brow wrinkled slightly- sakura had told you gambling payed a large part of the school, but to take it as far as denying someone's humanity..

"how much are you in debt? if it's a few thousand, i can probably help you out-"

"about ten million yen." nanami chuckled sadly.

your eyes almost popped out of your head, and suddenly you felt a burst of energy. "what? that much? what kind of gamble did you do-"

"it's not what kind of gamble, it's almost any gamble. this school is a place favoring only the high stakes bidders- if you don't like it, and try to be timid, you'll only become like me."

"what? can't i just avoid the gambles?"

"no.. well, possibly, but you only had a few thousand yen, right?"

"well.. yeah, my parents do give me a lot of allowance. why? i'm not going to gamble it.. "

nanami pulls you out of your chair again, and with her on the edge of the balcony. she put her elbows on the railing, and then points to a small white board on the bottom floor.

"see that? that's the donation chart. it comes out twice every month."

"yeah? i don't plan on donating."

"you're required too. well, you have too, otherwise you'll become a housepet. the people with the lowest donations, or the ones who don't donate at all, are housepets."

"there  are roughly 2500 students attending- the bottom ten percent becomes housepets. normally you can easily pay off the debt they give- I think as long as you pay the amount of the person closest to the bottom ten- the person who just made it out, you should be good."

"but the real issue is if you're already in the negative number, well, you need to pay off the person you're in debt too before you can donate to the student council. but the student council will begin giving you debt anyways, so once you get stuck.. the debt gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger."