Hakari/Gambling spirit

"Huh? What's that you're wearing?" Naoya asked.

Seeing the confused look on her brother's face, Naoko raised a brow.

"What do you mean? You told me to wear a suit, so I'm wearing one." She replied.

Naoya looked at his sister's suit and frowned.

'Suit pants? Is that really how a lady should dress?' He thought.

"And what's that?" He said, pointing at the piece of black cloth wrapped around Naoko's neck.

Naoko only tugged at the cloth with her finger, revealing the scar she got when first using cursed energy.

"Really, those scars are only a stain on your pretty face. You should have them fixed, you'll never find a man like that." Naoya said, earning himself a kick.

"I can't fix them. And even if I could, I wouldn't." Naoko said. 

"You could fix them with reverse cursed energy. If you tried, that is." 

"You know damn well I can't use that." She scoffed. "If you take the positive extreme of my flames, what are you left with?"

"Ice?" 

"Possibly. Though it's more likely I can't use it at all." She said while walking side by side with Naoya.

"So even the little genius has stuff she can't do." He said.

Naoko only shifted her eyes to the side to glare at him.

"You should really focus on yourself, brother. There's plenty of sorcerers out there who'd either kill you given the opportunity or won't even spare you a second thought." 

"Hm, and what category do you fall in, my dear sister?" 

Naoko paused.

"Who knows."

They both walked in silence, not uttering another word. On the outside, Naoko wore her usual neutral expression while Naoya had his usual confident smirk.

However, the whole conversation made Naoya sick to his stomach. For him to be looked down upon the same way he looked down upon his elder brothers. It was a feeling his pride would not allow him to accept.

Yet, whenever he looked at Naoko, his very own sister, he didn't know what to feel. Pride or envy, love or hatred, admiration… or fear. For the second time, Naoya understood that to every rule, there is an exception.

The Zenin family valued cursed techniques above all else, that's why someone like Maki, one of the stronger members of the clan, was shunned due to her lack of cursed energy. 

However, there was one person who bent all the rules to her whim, the only exception to any and all rules, Naoko. Despite possessing no innate technique, she was allowed into the Hei, a place only reserved for those possessing powerful cursed techniques, something which was unprecedented in the history of the Zenin family and something Naobito received heavy backlash for. There was not a single member of the Zenin clan who did not hate and look down on her for it.

'In some aspects, she's similar to Toji. But at the same time, the two could not be any more different.' Naoya thought. 'She's something else.'

*

"Really?" Naoko asked as they exited a black van. "Did it ever cross your mind that I'm a minor? And how in the world is this a fancy place?" 

In front of them stood a rather unassuming three storey building nestled between two others, its only discernible feature being the excessive advertising for pachinko machines. Otherwise, it would just be another building on the side of the road in Tokyo.

"Oh since when did you have a stick shoved so far up your ass?" Naoya jokingly said. "Take it easy, what do you think our family's been doing for hundreds of years?" 

Naoya walked in first, opening the automatic doors and ushering Naoko in too.

As soon as they entered, the cacophony of thousands of pachinko machines all going off at once quickly overwhelmed their senses. It took a minute to get adjusted.

"Hm? Tsk." Naoya clicked his tongue. "Jujutsu high kids got here before us." 

Naoko moved her head in the direction Naoya was looking. Jujutsu technical high was something she had heard of before in passing, but not in full detail. She was curious about a highschool specializing in dealing with curses.

'It would be nice, going to highschool. I haven't gone to school once in either of my lives.' She thought, looking at a person dressed in a strange uniform talking to an employee standing in front of a door.

The person wore a deep blue asymmetrical jacket with a high collar, held together by two pins on the left side which were engraved with some kind of symbol.

Getting a closer look, Naoko noticed the person's long black hair with bangs covering their forehead. As she did, the person slightly turned around to look at her and Naoya, a hateful scowl forming on the person's face as soon as their gazes met.

"That's a student at Jujutsu high. I forgot her name though." Naoya said, nodding towards the scowling woman. "It looks like the higher ups gave the first years the same mission as us."

As soon as their conversation finished, the woman darted towards the two with a sour expression.

"Huh? What the hell are the Zenin's hounds doing here?" She hissed.

"The better question would be; why are you here?" Naoya asked. 

'Her eyes…' Naoko thought, looking at the woman's star-shaped eyes.

"I don't talk to Zenin dogs."  

"Come on, we might be able to help out. Are you alone?" 

As Naoya bargained with the student, Naoko looked around to see if she could spot anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately she found nothing.

Just as the two began arguing, another person entered the scene.

"Kin!" The woman excitedly said. "Finally done?"

"Had to test my luck." The man replied. 

Naoya struck his palm with his fist.

"I remember now. You're Kiji Hikari, right?" He said as he turned around to face the tall, muscular man standing behind him.

He turned back around to look at the woman.

"As for you, I really don't know." 

"It's Kinji Hakari!" The woman yelled in protest, seemingly more upset over the man butchering her classmate's name rather than him completely forgetting hers. "Put respect on his name." 

Naoya only shrugged and smiled.

"Same difference."

Naoko scratched her ear while tuning out the conversation.

"Kirara, let's go." Hakari said, completely ignoring Naoya.

"Wait, Kin. The employee won't let me in." Kirara Hoshi replied.

Hakari cracked his knuckles.

"Then, we can just break in." 

"Wait." Naoya interrupted, drawing all eyes on him. "Be civil, I'll get you in, if you work with us."

"I ain't working with a Zenin." Hakari said. "You're nothing but a bunch of people stuck living in the past. If you don't live in the present, you'll never feel it. That's why I won't work with you." 

Naoya's brow twitched.

"Feel what, exactly?" He asked.

"The fever." 

"Yea, tell them Kin!" 

Naoya looked at the duo in disbelief and sighed.

"Look, we're on the same side here. I can get you upstairs, so let's just get this over with." He said. "I have places to be."

The two jujutsu high students looked at each other for a brief moment.

"I really don't wanna work with them, they're shady, right, Kin?" Kirara whispered.

Hakari looked at Naoya and his sister who was almost the same height as him.

"I think it's better if we do." He said. "The higher ups wouldn't have sent all of us here for no reason." 

Kirara looked at him with widened eyes.

"Yea! I always thought it'd be a good idea to work with Zenins." She said.

"Alright. We'll go with you."

While they were figuring out the terms of the deal, Naoko simply observed the two students.

'Kirara Hoshi.' She thought while looking at the woman.

She had a short, slim and feminine figure with long black hair and bangs covering her forehead. Her eyes were strangely star shaped and she had a few piercings dotting her lips and ears.

'Kinji Hakari.'

The other was tall and muscular with short black hair styled into a perm and magenta eyes. His skin was also tan, making him stand out quite a lot.

'How strange.' She thought.

Finally coming to an agreement, Naoya approached the employee standing between them and the door leading upstairs. Upon seeing him, the employee quickly gave them a 90° bow and ushered them inside.

"An illegal underground casino for rich people?" Naoko questioned while walking right behind Naoya on the narrow flight of stairs.

"Correct. Though in this case it would be more of an illegal overground casino." He said with a chuckle.

"Huh? So why didn't they let us in then?" Kirara asked.

"They've gotta separate their customers from the unwashed masses somehow." Naoya replied.

"As long as there's gambling." Hakari said.

"We're not here to gamble. There's a curse we have to exorcise. Special request by the owner." 

"The owner is a sorcerer?" Kirara asked.

"Barely good enough to see curses." 

"Alright, but why here?" Kirara asked again.

"That's a question with a simple enough answer." Naoya said as they rounded a corner to continue going up the stairs. "If cursed energy is linked to emotions, then a gambling floor where people lose their life savings is a perfect breeding ground for cursed energy and curses."

Hakari snorted.

"Only fools who don't know when to quit or when to bet big walk away unsatisfied." He said.

"Oh, we're here." Naoya said as he approached a door at the end of the stairs.

Opening said door, the party was met with all the bustling atmosphere you'd expect from a casino floor in Vegas, except everyone was dressed in the same fancy attire, everyone except the two jujutsu students.

"Naoya, why did we have to take this mission now? It's a Friday night, practically prime time for casinos." Naoko said. 

"If we tried doing the mission while no one was around, the curse would easily spot us and ditch the place." Naoya said as he handed Naoko a pair of eyeglasses. "Wear these, curses tend to run away if someone's looking directly at them." 

"Don't you have any for us?" Kirara whined.

"Huh? Of course not." 

While talking, a female employee approached them with a smile on her face.

"Mister Zenin?" The woman asked.

"That's me, and these are my cohorts." Naoya said, nodding towards the jujutsu high students.

The woman eyed the students suspiciously.

"Unfortunately, the boss called for the Zenins specifically, so I am afraid that your companions will not be able to join you." She hesitantly replied. "Oh, but they can still enjoy our casino, seeing as they are your friends." 

"Friends? Well whatever, enjoy yourselves kids, don't get too carried away." He said to the students. Seeing Hakari roll his eyes and walk towards one of the roulette tables, he turned towards the employee. "Make sure they don't break anything." 

The woman only awkwardly smiled and showed Naoya and Naoko to the boss' office. Another door in the wall followed by a bunch of corridors was all it took to get there.

The office itself wasn't anything special. Just a bunch of paintings everywhere and a large mahogany desk facing the door.

"The Zenins." The boss said in a hoarse voice as the employee leading Naoya and Naoko took her leave. "I see you have brought company."

He stood up and gave Naoya a deep bow. His gaze met Naoko's, and a confused expression appeared on his face.

"And who's this?" The boss questioned.

"My sister. Originally, she was the one who had to handle the mission, unfortunately, I am here to take that from her as punishment." Naoya replied.

"I am thankful you decided to come, Mr Zenin." He said, but Naoko didn't miss what he meant. "Now, for the matter at hand. A cursed spirit has been spotted on the premises." 

"When and where did you first notice this cursed spirit?" Naya immediately began with the questions.

"Last night after closing. The same time I reported it. As for the location…" The man hesitated.

"This is crucial information." Naoya insisted. 

"And we'd like it as soon as possible." Naoko added.

The man's eyes jumped around the room as he tapped his finger on his desk.

"...everywhere" He meekly said. "B-but I haven't seen it since, so I didn't think it was that urgent."

'Fuck.' Naoya and Naoko thought in unison.

"Why didn't you close today?" Naoko questioned. "You should evacuate before people start dying, a curse powerful enough to be spotted by a moron like you has to be at least a 1st grade."

"Huh, what would you know? If I evacuate without a proper explanation, I-" His ramblings were interrupted by a snap and his desk igniting.

"Now." 

While he did that, Naoko and Naoya slammed the door to the office open and bolted towards the casino floor. To save time, Naoya picked her up and activated his technique.

*

5 minutes prior.

Kinji Hakari was standing over the roulette table with Kirara stuck to him like glue.

"Come on!" He said as he watched the ball spin around the roulette wheel.

"Kin, do you see it too?" Kirara asked, eyeing the table.

"Yea." 

"Why'd you play if you knew it's cursed?" 

"We don't know how the curse works. It could help you win every bet or it could steal your soul. Doesn't that sound exciting." 

The ball went round and round, not showing any signs of stopping. 

"Sorry sir, it's been doing this all night, just give it a moment." The employee manning the roulette apologetically said.

"It looks weak, you could probably exorcise it right now." Kirara said, sensing the curse's energy flow.

Hakari agreed and moved his arm above the roulette table and imbued it with cursed energy. As soon as he did, the cursed spirit inhabiting the roulette snapped its ugly head and stared at him with its bug eyes.

"Session started." It said in a robotic voice.

The meager cursed energy Kirara felt a moment prior was nowhere to be found. It was instead replaced with an overwhelming aura that made every non sorcerer around the table nauseous just by being in its presence.

"S-sorry sir, if I could just have a moment." The employee faintly said as he began walking towards the restroom. He didn't even make it three steps before collapsing on the hard marble floor.

Hakair slammed his fist down on the curse in hopes of exorcising it before its cursed energy levels rose any higher. However, despite contact with Hakari's cursed energy imbued slam, the cursed spirit received no damage.

'Damn, it feels like there's an inscrutable barrier around it.' Hakari thought, staring at the chameleon looking thing.

Hakari looked around the room only to see that the majority of guests were either incapacitated or about to be.

"What's going on?" Kirara asked no one in particular.

"It's probably the cursed spirit, it reacted to my cursed energy and awakened." Hakari pointed to gambling tables similar to theirs. "There's at least 50 other curses." 

Suddenly, the chameleon looking cursed spirit rose from the roulette to face Hakari directly. At the same time, Kirara disappeared from his side and reappeared at a blackjack table behind him.

"Spin." The curse spoke.

Hakari looked between the curse, roulette table and Kirara. 

"Spin." The curse spoke again.

Shrouding his fist in cursed energy, he punched the curse floating a few inches in front of him, only for his punch to do no damage.

"Spin." The curse said, unbothered by the attempt at harming it.

Then a door opened, catching Hakari's attention.

"Don't step foot in this room!" He yelled, but it was too late, Naoya had already mapped out what he wanted his projection technique to do. Thus, he was unable to stop it.

Both Naoya and Naoko were similarly teleported to a slot machine and another roulette table specifically.

"Kirara! Can you hear me?" Hakari yelled out again, but to no avail, she couldn't hear him. The cursed spirits must've had some binding vows preventing communication between players as well as damage to themselves.

Hakari was the one who understood the situation best, the abilities of the curse were not dissimilar to his.

'Wait, if that's the case.' Hakari thought as he looked outside the windows, noticing the black veil. 'Domain expansion? When did they have time to cast it?'

Hakari had access to his own domain expansion, but unfortunately it was still incomplete and far too weak to use in a domain battle.

He looked over at Naoya who had already toppled over his slot machine.

'He must've lost. Is he dead? What happens when you lose?'

"Spin!" The curse said, louder this time.

Despite the dire situation he found himself in, Hakari smiled crudely.

"I haven't been this excited since that one time in Osaka." He said while grabbing the handle of the roulette wheel and placing all his chips on the green slot. "You chose the wrong person to gamble with!"

Spinning the wheel as hard as he could, Hakari watched the ball roll around the circular track for what felt like an eternity.

'This is it.' 

An European style roulette wheel has 37 pockets numbered 0 through 36. Players will usually play this game by betting on whether the ball will land in a red pocket (even) or a black pocket (odd) as that ensures them a probability closest to 50%, though the actual number is 48.3% due to the existence of a pocket numbered 0, which is usually painted green on the wheel. This ensures the house always has the edge over the player, as given an infinite amount of games, the house will end up with more money than the player.

However, Hakari completely disregarded the usual conventions of the game and bet on the number 0 anyway, something with a 2.7% probability of happening. In all cases, something with an exceedingly low probability usually had the highest payout, making the expected value of the bet the same as any other. That is the principle Hakari staked his bet on. He not only gambled on the roulette table, but he took a gamble that the rules of the domain expansion will favor him should he win his bet.

That was the thought process of a gambling fanatic.

As he watched the ball spin around the roulette, his heart started beating faster and his mind could only think of one thing, winning. He had successfully entered what he himself called, the fever. A fever which could only be tackled by gambling.

Though, of course, luck is a cruel mistress.

Hakari could only watch as the tiny ball slowed down to a halt and settled in a red pocket adjacent to the green one he needed to win.

Then, he felt his cursed energy being sapped away. Unlike his fallen companions, Kirara and Noaya, he still retained his consciousness, however with no cursed energy, he was just as helpless as them.

The curse was extra meticulous, allowing Hakari to keep the tiniest fraction of cursed energy equivalent to that of a civilian so as to not run the risk of granting him a heavenly restriction.

'Shit.'

At that point, for all intents and purposes, Kinji Hakari had lost.

*

"Hah? Who the fuck are you?" Naoko said as she stared head on at the ugly looking thing.