2.4

"Now, then."

The girl picked up one of the abbles lying before her and deposited it into the bag at her side. Subaru was down to his last two chips, so to speak. When their game had begun, he had ten—he never imagined he'd go on an eight-in-a-row losing streak, leaving him in danger of losing the shirt on his back.

"Now you know what happens to those who challenge me. I am the pinnacle, and you are suited only to wriggling around at the bottom."

"Hey, isn't it a little extreme to treat me as the bottom of the pyramid just because I'm losing? Pride comes before the fall, you know…a fall to rock bottom!"

"You may rest easy. All is rock bottom except for me. The world has me, and all else is beneath."

Subaru wanted to refute her irrational logic, but that would only make him sound like a sore loser.

"Now then, what shall we do next? If you do not trust your luck at coin flips, a different wager is fine."

"Oh, now you've done it… I'm down in the bottom of the ninth, but I propose we do rock-paper-scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors…?"

When the girl raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term, it gave Subaru a tiny ray of hope.

"Rock-paper-scissors is a way to settle things. At the signal, you make a shape with your hand, and the stronger shape wins. There're three shapes: rock, paper, and scissors. Paper beats rock, scissors beats paper, rock beats scissors. Understand?"

"Oh, yes, I understand. A rather amusing game, it would seem. What is this signal?"

"Well, when you finish saying rock-paper-scissors, you show your hand when you get to the 'scissors' part. Oh, and if you both show the same hand, you say rock-paper-scissors again as the signal and do it over on the spot."

"That is all there is to it? Very well. I shall go with paper."

"You're already showing your hand?!"

Subaru shuddered at the breathtaking speed with which she strategized. He'd just finished explaining the rules, and here she was, picking it all up like a pro, poised greedily with victory in her grasp. He supposed he should praise her.

She said to him, "Let us begin, then. Rock…paper…"

Subaru felt nervous about falling behind.

"Ah, wait, time-out. I haven't decided what I'm gonna go with ye—"

With his thoughts still in a jumble, the girl reached the signal and raised her hand high.

"—scissors!"

The girl's hand indicated paper, just as she had proclaimed. Subaru's hand was rock. She commented, "It would seem that you owe me another abble, complaints about the method notwithstanding."

"It's not that! Statistically, people subconsciously keep their hand closed when they're tossed into rock-paper-scissors without warning! Ugh, I'm such an idiot!"

The strategist had been defeated by his own scheme. Subaru certainly looked defeated as he handed the girl her abble.

—With this, Subaru was down to his very last abble.

"Now, let us gamble for the last abble and bring this to a conclusion, shall we?"

"You wouldn't show mercy on me and let me keep the last one, would you?"

"All the abbles you carried belong to me. Leaving one in your hands is the same as leaving you all. It is all or nothing. That being the case, we may as well gamble for all the abbles on the final round. That goes for both of us," the girl added, meaning it would be her ten abbles against Subaru's one. It was truly emblematic of the girl's ruinous, high-stakes way of thinking.

He asked, "—How about rock-paper-scissors for the last one, too?"

"I have already made my decision. All that remains is for you to choose the method and present me with my abble."

The girl showed no doubt about her victory, nor any intention of letting Subaru go. In other words, he had no choice but to harden his resolve—to trap a Rakshasa by the vilest of means.

The two called out simultaneously, "Rock…paper…scissors!"

When both showed their hands, sound vanished from the world.

With her fist clenched in a rock, the trembling in the girl's red eyes only grew.

"Th-this is…"

"Listen and be amazed, look and be astounded! Behold, the ultimate combat technique—RoSciPer!!"

"What is that…thing?! You did not inform me such a hand was possible!"

"Shut up! I didn't mention it, but it's your fault you didn't ask! That part is rock, this here's scissors, and over there is paper! In other words, my hand's beaten your rock!"

"If such logic holds, a different part loses to my rock."

"Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! I can't hear you! My rock is borrowing power from the scissors and paper, forming the holy trinity of friendship, effort, and victory! It's all here, baby!"

Raising the hand of RoSciPer to the heavens, Subaru boldly proclaimed victory with his flagrant cheating.

He was well aware his logic was absurd, a desperately underhanded attempt to throw the wager itself into doubt. But the girl defied Subaru's expectations, sighing deeply as she said, "I see. Certainly, it is I who was in error. At the same time, I am amused at how my expectations have been surpassed… Very well, you have won. You may do as you please. Here you go." After her minimal warning, she abruptly stepped forward. Without thinking, Subaru, floored at how quickly she jumped to the next step, stepped back a distance equal to the one she had advanced.

"…Do not tell me that now it is time to feel my breasts, you have lost your nerve?"

"Huh?! I-I seriously don't know what you're talking about! Who's s-s-s-scared here?!"

"…Truly, you are a vexing man. I suppose such bashfulness is adorable in its own way, but…"

And there they stood, Subaru getting cold feet at the last moment versus the girl whose pride did not permit her to take back what she had offered. One advanced and the other retreated—a standoff that continued until outside forces intervened.

Abruptly, the girl's gaze left Subaru and focused on the entrance to the alley.

"—Mm, it seems this will become troublesome."

"Er? It looks like some pretty rough-looking dudes are coming this way."

"And the one at the vanguard is a commoner, I recall. Goodness, these fools do not interest me even slightly."

"What are they thinking, coming back after hearing Reinhard's name like that?!"

"It would seem they have called your bluff about being acquainted with the knight among knights. It is rather easy to understand. Even they have reputations to protect, so they have returned in greater numbers for retribution."

"Damn it, this day is just nothing but trouble!"

First, he had a close call back on the dragon carriage, then he had gotten on Emilia's bad side, and now this. Today's really not my day.

Since the girl was just standing there, Subaru grabbed her hand and dragged her along, carrying the bag of abbles as he rushed deeper down the alley.

She protested, "Hey, what are you doing? Do not touch me so carelessly."

"Now is really not the time! If you don't wanna get all beat up before marriage, run!!"

The girl wasn't very motivated to run as Subaru pulled her down the beat-up alley and plunged into the darkness. The men behind them pursued with a great shout and a flurry of footsteps.

Subaru, cursing the heavens for his truly unlucky day, kept running with a desperate expression on his face.