Kiyotaka will have his first gamble next chapter lmfao XD
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Kiyotaka POV
The second day of school finally arrived in the blink of an eye. Since dormitories aren't included within the school premises, Tsukishiro look for a small complex apartment near the school for me to stay.
A normal walk going to school will take 30 minutes if there's no vehicles stopping you on tracks, and a run or jog will take around 10 to 15 minutes depending on the person's speed and stamina.
And, of course, I will pay for it. They're too stingy despite my father's treasure. Well, I indeed have his card, but can't they answer the payment for themselves?
As for me though, the distance isn't really that much of an issue, but the neighbour's making weird noises in the middle of the night.
I mean, for goodness sake, can't they at the very least, lower their voices so that they won't disturb the peace of the people, especially me?
And to tell you the truth, in the room next to me on the right, not only one moan of a girl can be heard, but two or sometimes three. But, that's a story for another time.
It's been roughly 15 minutes ever since I left my room, the view of the river flowing peacefully under the bridge attracted my attention from afar. The school can also be seen from here.
With my new uniform on, hands on my pocket with my bag hanging on my shoulders, I crossed the big steel gate of Hyakkaou Private Academy with Ryota, whom I only met coincidentally today.
"G'morning, Ayanokoji."
"Morning."
A simple exchange of greetings happened between us as we walked down the path of the school building. It's not an exaggeration to say that I've earned all of the stares from the crowd. Maybe because I now wear their uniform? Do I perhaps, look weird?
I inspected Ryota from top to bottom, staring his appearance while returning the gaze to myself. I did the same to me, and I saw no reason for them to stare at me.
"What is it?" Ryota asked, curious about my weird movements.
"Ryota, is there a dirt in my clothes? Or maybe some on my face? A paper behind my back?"
Of course, there's no way that would happen, as I've met no one but him today. And he wouldn't do something like that anyways, as it is impossible to do that without my notice.
I've made sure to clean the clothes, too. I thoroughly washed myself earlier in the bath, just as what I'm doing like before.
I know it may sound stupid, but I really can't think of a reason for them to stare at me.
He stopped at his tracks, and I did the same. Staring at his weird way to inspect my appearance with his hand on his chin, I sighed at his antics that earned the glare of most of the girls around.
"There's nothing of that sort. Why?"
"Because people have been staring at me for a while. Is there a reason for that?"
Actually, I'm not even sure if the gazes are really on me. But I'm pretty much confident that the movements of their eyes and the speed of our walking is match.
If it isn't, however, then that's that.
"You're one hell of a dense person, aren't you?"
"Huh?" I tilted my head sideways, clueless on what he meant by 'dense'.
"Good morning, Suzui-san! Kiyotaka-san!"
Our conversation got interrupted by the sudden appearance of Jabami, who's running towards us as her boo- I mean, Jabami run towards us as her gentle hair sway with the air.
"G-Good morning, Jabami-san."
"Good morning, Jabami."
As we returned the greetings at her, she finally catched up to us enough to engage a conversation.
"Ara~, that won't do at all. We've become friends, haven't we?"
"Huh?" Ryota replied, clueless.
He dares call me dense, and yet here he is, oblivious about what Jabami said.
It's certainly true that we've become closer in just a single day, especially this two. Ryota finally relinquished his title as a pet since he paid back his large debt with the help of Jabami, who gave him a handful of money yesterday for giving her a 'fun' time.
Jabami then, turned her gaze at me, looked up to my face and brought hers on mine. A smile appeared on her face as she gestured her index finger to herself, a tint of blush forming on her cheeks.
""Yumeko"...Call me that."
"Okay..." I said, staring her at the eyes, not minding her chest pressing at my arms.
She just realized that now, as she pulled back away with her face turning crimson red.
Strange though
Why do I feel like something bad will happen to me? I can hear a bunch of people, boys and girls alike, mumbling 'kill him/her' from afar.
We made our way towards the room with awkward silence. I and Jaba- Yumeko received a few greetings on the way, while Ryo- Suzui only walk with us a few meters behind with sweats on his cheeks.
He scratched his cheeks while diverting his gaze away. He must've want to say something, but having trouble to do so.
"Um..." he started. "I owe you a great debt... Yumeko. I won't be able to pay back 5 million yen right away, but I will eventually..."
That 5 million, just as I said earlier, is the money Yumeko gave him yesterday.
"Fufufu... That was a gift for you, do not worry about it."
Not minding their conversation at all, I opened the door of the room then proceeded to enter a few seconds before them.
Though, upon entering, unusual giggles can be heard on the back part of the room. With a slight thud, Saotome let go of her brown bag upon seeing the sight of her table.
There, a doll in her appearance can be seen destroyed with red markers drawn on the face, looking as if blood gushing out on it. Its leg broken and nails buried on the doll's hands.
Words 'numbskull', 'loser', 'idiot', 'trash' and 'tiny tits' are also written on big complex kanji on the side of the desk.
In other words, her desk are now in a mess in a situation where it can be no longer use anymore. The table is destroyed, a hole is already dug on it, and the overall appearance of the table isn't decent any longer.
The students who did this; namely, our classmates, all laughed at her frustration, anger and all such emotions mixing on her face.
I let out a tired sigh, while the two persons behind me both have different reactions. Suzui is surprised, while Yumeko is plain concerned.
Saotome remained silent while pushing both of her hands on the desk, face downcast. Rage boiling down on the depth of her soul.
"Um... Saotome-san, what in the world is going on...?" Asked Yumeko.
I saw Saotome's body twitched upon hearing Yumeko's voice, the person who defeated her yesterday. And also the person who bring her on her current state.
"... Shut yer hole." she stated as she smashed her clenched fist on her table. "This happened, because I lost to you!" she shouted, rage eating away her sanity.
I'm not quite sure about pushing the blame on Yumeko though. It's not like I'm siding on her because we're somewhat close. It's just that.
Your plan is to simple to unveil
Anyone could predict that something is going on behind the scenes. It's only a matter of how they're going to figure that out, on what kind of method, the perfect timing of execution and cold reading.
Yumeko successfully did all of the steps. However, she wasted a lot of time and money just to figure that out, which is a problem itself. If Saotome is somewhat wise enough to notice that Yumeko knows about her plan, she can make a counter attack.
She didn't, and so, she couldn't. That's her mistake. It's all her mistake, so putting the blame on Yumeko is wrong.
That's why you should mature and live up to my expectations
Saotome has the potential, the only thing stopping her on attaining that supposed potential is her pride. She must get rid of that.
And if she couldn't?
I'll get rid of it myself, so that I'll have a great time playing with you
"...Really?"
I'm not sure if Yumeko sounds regretful about it or not, but her usual smile disappeared upon hearing Saotome's statement.
"I've got to do whatever I can to recover from this... Whatever I can..." she continued mumbling to herself while biting her nails in frustration.
"Can I talk to you guys for a sec?" Suzui said upon tapping my shoulders with a somewhat concerned face.
I nodded my head as confirmation, and Jabami did the same. I put down my bag on my desk, then we proceeded to leave the room in Suzui's lead.
I'm pretty much sure we will be going to the cafeteria by how it is supposed to be empty by now considering the time. The classes will start in about an hour, which is fairly enough time to talk.
We arrived at the cafeteria in half a minute. The place isn't really that big, but not that small either. The place are lined up with a few long tables and chairs near each other. Students are gathered mostly on the counter to buy available foods for today.
Not to be boastful or anything, but ANHS gives much better service than this.
We sat down on one of the many available tables and proceeded to calmly talk about the situation. I sat beside Yumeko, while Suzui sat across from us.
"What you saw back there was a 'tradition' of the academy." Suzui started, eyes downcast.
"Tradition?" Yumeko asked.
"Yeah. The most important thing about Hyakkaou is being good at gambling." he answered in a stammered voice. "Someone good at gambling will become popular. Meanwhile, someone bad at gambling will be persecuted."
"Huh..."
Suzui proceeded to calmy lower his head as he hold both of his hands in a clasped.
"It wasn't that bad really. In the past, that is..."
And that changed two years ago, when the current student council president took office.
Hyakkaou Private Academy has middle and high school students within. This girl managed to jump into the high school and assumed the role of president of the student council when she was in her first year.
And she carried out some "Reform". That's when the "Student Council Payments" and "Fido/Mittens System" came to be.
There's no real rules setup for what year you have to be when partaking in the council elections. However, this girl wasn't elected to her position, but instead, she gambled with the previous student council president with the position on the line.
Since she took office, the caste discrimination have gotten much worse. Of course, housepets are treated badly, but people bad at gambling face hardships as well.
"Though, Saotome's case is a bit extreme..." he stated. "Since she had everyone's help and still lost." with a clank, Suzui put back down his cup of water and to let out a heavy sigh.
Just upon hearing those words, I saw Jabami shuddered as she put both of her hands on her lap. Her face getting redder and redder as sweats fall on her face.
Is she scared?
"My goodness, the more you tell me about this place... The more clear it becomes that this is not a normal school."
Well, in the first place, it really isn't a normal school. If you are an acquainted with Yumeko and known her for a long time, in just a glance, you can confidently say that she isn't being herself.
She closed her lap with her hands on it, as if not wanting something to see the lower part of her body underneath her skirt.
Her blush are now spreading all over her face.
"I'm so glad that I transferred here...❤️"
( Holy shit I'm getting in love on this emoji ❤️❤️❤️❤️ )
There it is again, her thrilled persona. It's glad to know that she isn't afraid. Actually, cut that. It's actually dumb of me to think that she's afraid.
Why will you be afraid of the thing that you enjoy the most? I didn't put that thought in place. Anyways, Yumeko started bombarding Suzui questions about the customed gambling in this school. The original ones like the game she played yesterday, and the limits as to how much money we can wager, or if something other than money are available to bet.
It's all favorable for me as well if Suzui answers her questions. After all, gaining informations without doing any work is a blessing for me. Having informations in my hand is the only thing that I need to crush someone, and even the smallest details are deadly.
"Now then-" Suzui planned to continue his explanation about the tradition, but he got cut off by the sudden noice and chatter on a certain table near us.
I merely glanced at the direction of the voices, while the both of them turned their head away to them. There, a few people in the crowd are watching a certain female student playing against another student across her.
Seems as though they're playing some sort of card game with the girl having the advantage.
"Ah... That girl over there is basically the representative of all of the rich kids." he explained. "Her name is Itsuki Sumeragi. She's a first year." Suzui introduced the underclassmen and continued explaining every small details about her.
Itsuki Sumeragi- her father is the president of a prominent toy company in Japan. Not only she is really rich, but she's also good at gambling too. It seems that she's undefeated in card games.
Hmm, so that win of her right now is a mere walk in a park for her? Suspicious, yet interesting
"Undefeated? Amazing..." Yumeko mumbled with her hands on her mouth, forming a gap.
"Well, the student council is made up of the best gamblers in the school. Even if the claimed "Undefeated" title is an exaggeration, she's still very likely a very good gambler.
Thought so
"Now that's... Someone I definitely want to play against at least once."
Seems like Suzui got alarmed by her statement.
"Huh? No, it's best if you avoid doing that. The truth is, there's some strange rumors about her-"
Rumors?
"Jabami-senpai."
Suzui got cut off by the cute voice of the person in question. She appeared behind us and formed a smile on her face as we turned our head behind.
"Nice to meet you!" she greeted. "I know it's a bit sudden but, would you like to gamble with me?"
Once again, Suzui got alarmed for the second time around. I only narrowed my eyes from behind and stared at the scenario unfolding before me.
"Wha... What's with the sudden challenge?" Suzui asked.
"You're the talk of the school, Jabami-senpai." she explained. "About how on your first day here, you made a fool out of Saotome-senpai."
So the story had already spread, huh? Well, the faster it spread, the faster Saotome will mature, the faster she can entertain me in the future.
"I'm pretty good at gambling myself, y'see. So I thought it might be fun to compare our skills."
"Fufufu, that certainly sounds fun. What was your name again?"
"I'm Itsuki Sumeragi."
"Well, Sumeragi-san, I certainly found your proposal fun."
"Then-"
"-However, I must humbly refuse."
Strange. Yumeko turned down a game she found amusing. Is there a reason for that? Being afraid is out of the question, so why-?
"Wait, what? Why?"
"In exchange, I will like someone to play in my stead. Is that fine?"
Itsuki gave it a thought for a few seconds.
"Well... It's fine, I guess. I have a lot of opportunities to play with you in the future anyway, Jabami-senpai. If you recommend them, they must be good. So, may I know who will I play?"
Jabami giggled at her decision. Probably because she expected that Itsuki will provoke her to play the game, but she knew it won't work.
Pointing her index finger on the person beside her, this turn of events caught me off guard.
"That will be him." she exclaimed. "Is that fine, Kiyotaka-san?"
I see no reason to accept a challenge like this, especially if I don't really like it, nor if I'm not in the mood. But, having my first challenge here in the school with an underclassmen is certainly unexpected, especially for me.
And here I thought I'll play against someone in the same class or year level as mine. Well, actually, Itsuki isn't an underclassmen right? I skipped a year and became a second year thanks to Tsukishiro, but I'm still technically a first year so there's no real problem.
Also, gaining an experience with a veteran, may it be a loss or not, is good for me for the future. But if the stakes are high, then I must certainly win. I don't want to be a housepet not acquire a debt like Suzui here.
I let out an internal sigh at the unexpected turn of events.
"I don't really mind." I answered.
"Oh! Ayanokoji-senpai in the flesh!"
"What?"
What does she meant by 'in the flesh'? Am I some sort of famous artist here?
"Well, the girls and the boys alike in my year are all talking about a certain ikemen who has a unique feature." she said and stared at me while closing the distance between our faces. "So, that's you huh, senpai. You're just as the rumor says."
I don't know about that rumor. I haven't heard of it. And I don't want to hear it.
Am I actually playing against this weird underclassmen? I hope I won't end up being strange myself like her upon the end of this match.