new kind of bet

"Ryouta, I'm boooored!"

A sigh escaped the mouth of Ryouta Suzui as he lifted his eyes from the book he was reading to stare at the girl sitting across from him. Yumeko Jabami was half-lying on the table, her chin resting on a book, her arms splayed out across the tabletop. Currently, the two of them were in the library, and Yumeko had been complaining that she was bored for the better part of an hour now.

"Sorry, Yumeko," he told her sincerely, "but I really need to get this down."

She openly pouted, looking put out. "You do know it already; your grades are great. You shouldn't still need to be studying."

An appreciative smile made its way across his face at the compliment. "Thanks, but I need to make sure I'm ready for the exam."

Despite Hyakkaou Private Academy centering mostly around gambling, the school still had standard tests and exams. And, currently, Ryouta was trying to study for one. He may not be the best gambler around, but he was good at academics.

An annoyed grumble escaped Yumeko. "Everyone is studying. Even Mary and Itsuki are too busy to do anything."

Ryouta chuckled. "It's a big exam, Yumeko. Everyone wants to make sure to get good grades. You can still flunk out of the school, no matter how good you are at gambling. How about we study together?"

Closing her eyes, she stubbornly looked away. "I know the material. And I already studied today. Can't you at least take a break?"

Her face suddenly lit up, and she began rummaging through her bag. Ryouta wondered what she was looking for, and wasn't the least bit surprised when she pulled out a deck of cards and held it out to him, looking excited. He knew what was coming before she even asked.

"Come on, Ryouta, how about you put the studying on hold for awhile and play a few games with me?" she asked with a sweet smile.

Ryouta found it very hard to say no to that smile, but, unfortunately, had to decline. "I promise we'll play later, Yumeko. Right after I finish studying, we can play whatever game you want for the rest of the day."

Her face fell. "Oh, come on, please! Take a little break to refresh your mind. Just one or two games?"

"Later, Yumeko, I promise."

She pouted again, looking disappointed. Then she seemed to get an idea, and reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin. "How about this. We'll flip for it. If I win, then we play a few hands; no money involved. If you win, then you can keep studying; I'll even study with you."

"Yumeko…" he sighed. Of course she would leave it up to a gamble.

"Ok, here it goes!" She flicked the coin into the air, where it spun around. Catching it, she flipped it over and slapped it down against the back of her other hand, then gave Ryouta an expectant look. "Your call. Heads or tails?"

"Yumeko," he said again. He was about to turn her down again, but seeing the way she looked at him like that, he couldn't refuse her this, and so he let out a resigned sigh. "Ok, heads."

Beaming, she lifted her hand, and her smile grew even larger when the coin was revealed to be tails. "Yay, it's tails! I win! I guess it's break time for you."

Before he could say anything, Yumeko had cleared all the books and notes from the table and taken the cards from the case. She must have really wanted to play, and Ryouta resigned himself to her antics, deciding that he could spare the time to play a few hands with her.

He did briefly wonder if she had somehow cheated at the coin toss, though he didn't see how, but immediately dismissed the idea. Even though cheating was allowed at Hyakkaou Academy, as long as your opponent didn't actually catch and call you out on it, Yumeko wasn't the type of person to cheat, no matter how much of a disadvantage she was at. She absolutely loved playing against the odds and beating them, and would never lessen the enjoyment of the challenge by cheating.

"Ok, so what are we playing?" he asked as he watched her shuffle the deck.

"Hmm…" she muttered thoughtfully. "How about a simple game of Basic Poker? Best of three games. We don't need an actual dealer; I'll just hand out the cards, and we'll pick from the pile when we want new cards."

Ryouta nodded. "Ok, sounds good."

Her smile widened, and a playfully mischievous twinkle appeared in her eyes. "But to make the game more interesting, if neither player has a winning hand, rather than simply having the high card determine who wins, we'll add up the sum of all the cards in our hands, and the one with the higher sum wins. However, face cards will have a value of zero in these instances, and Aces will be worth one, so think carefully about your hand."

Ryouta considered this new rule for a few moments. Usually in Poker, you would want to try to hang onto face cards, as they had the higher value. However, with this new rule, in the instances where both he and Yumeko didn't have a winning hand, then the face cards would work against them when adding up the total number of cards. In that case, would it be better to try and get rid of any face cards he got and try and win a hand with only the number cards, or should he risk hanging onto them and hope of possibly getting a higher winning hand with them?

Deciding he could make that decision depending on what he was holding further into the round, he gave Yumeko a smile. "Ok, but what if on the off chance when we both have nothing, the sum of both our cards is the same?"

Yumeko looked thoughtful for a moment as she considered this possibility. "Hmm… Well, if that does happen, then we'll simply go back to the high card winner rule, excluding face cards of course since they'll still be worth zero. And if the high card we both have happens to be the same, then we'll go to the second highest, then the next one, and so on."

Ryouta nodded. "Ok, sounds simple enough. The only way it would end in a tie is if we both have the exact same hand; and what would the odds of that be?"

Smiling, Yumeko nodded as she dealt out the cards until they were each holding five, then set the rest of the deck down on the table. "Yes, what would be the odds."

Ryouta examined his hand, trying to keep his face neutral. Right away, he noticed that he had a Five of Diamonds and Five of Clubs. There was also a Queen of Diamonds, but since he already had a winning hand, albeit a rather low one, he didn't need to worry about it working against him.

He glanced at Yumeko, but her face was completely unreadable. While Ryouta wasn't the greatest gambler himself, he did have a very distinct eye of reading a game and what was happening during it when he was on the sidelines.

Gambling may not have been his forte, but it was most definitely Yumeko's. There was nothing she enjoyed more. The higher the stakes, the better. In fact, Ryouta often found himself having to act as her voice of reason when she got too caught up in a game and the stakes became irrationally high. Not that she listened to him all that often though. It was a real good thing she was from a multi-millionaire family, otherwise she might find herself in trouble financially. But then again, at Hyakkaou Academy, you could find yourself losing far more than money; even having your very life signed away, and Ryouta did not want to end up as a house pet again, having to serve someone else like he was their slave.

But even though Yumeko tended to be reckless in her gambling, Ryouta absolutely loved watching her gamble. He loved seeing the pure delight and jubilance she took in the game, and even found himself enjoying gambling vicariously through her. In fact, ever since he had been forced to choose the deciding card in the game between Yumeko and the student council president, Kirari Momobami, there were times when he found he got a similar twisted type of enjoyment when he gambled for high stakes.

But this was no high-stakes gamble. This was a simple card game among friends where there were no consequences for losing. And so, Ryouta held onto his two Fives and Queen, and exchanged his other two cards.

The two new cards he got were worthless, so it looked like he would have to rely on his two Fives. Yumeko ended up exchanging three cards, her face revealing nothing other than the happy content smile that had been present since she dealt the cards.

Her gaze rose up to meet his. "You ready?"

There was a strange seriousness in her voice that Ryouta found himself wondering about. She usually only displayed this type of behavior when betting. But this was just for fun; she'd said as much, so there was no reason to take it so seriously.

"Um, yeah," he replied, and showed his hand. "I have two Fives."

Yumeko smiled. "Oh, wow, good for you," she said cheerfully, and showed her own hand. "I have nothing. I wondered if we would have to use the higher sum rule, but it looks like you won this one."

He chuckled, wondering if he had just imagined the serious edge her voice had taken as he returned his cards to the pile. Yumeko told him that he should deal this time since he won, and he did so, shuffling the deck and handing out five cards each. Yumeko scooped up her hand, humming happily to herself as she swayed back and forth in her seat like an excited child.

"You really love all kinds of gambling games, don't you," he said in amusement. "Even when no one is betting anything."

She closed her eyes in delight. "Of course I love them!" She opened her eyes again, only now there was a sharpness in them, the playfulness from earlier gone. "But I do have other interests too, you know."

That serious edge to her voice had returned, and he definitely hadn't imagined it this time. And what was up with the way she had looked at him just now? It was a little unsettling. But then her eyes went back down to her cards, and her usual pleasantness had returned.

Ryouta's gaze shifted to his own cards. He had nothing, just a bunch of random numbers of various suits. There was one face card though, a Jack of Spades. He'd best get rid of that in case he couldn't form a winning hand.

Or perhaps not. Taking a second look at his hand, he saw that he had a Nine and a Seven as well. If he kept those two and the Jack, he could try for a Straight. Of course, if he didn't get the Straight, the Jack would be zero for when he added up his hand. That would put him at a big disadvantage.

He mentally shrugged it off. There weren't any stakes in this game, so he might as well take the risk. If he got an Eight or a Ten, or a Ten and a Queen, he could pull off the Straight. His chances of winning probably weren't all that different than if he tossed the Jack.

Tossing the other two cards, he pulled from the pile. Much to his surprise, he didn't get the Straight, but he did get two more Nines. That gave him a Three of a Kind. A lower hand than a Straight, but still a winning one.

Next he watched Yumeko. She was still looking at her hand. Her face was neutral, but if she was taking this long to decide, she must be thinking hard about what to do. Unless, of course, that was just an act to make him think that. But then, like him, she too tossed aside two cards and drew too more.

"You ready?" he asked.

She beamed at him. "Yup, I've got a Flush!"

Ryouta laughed as he observed her hand of a five Diamond suit. "Well, that definitely beats my Three of a Kind."

Yumeko's face lit up. "Looks like I win this one. Oh, it looks like you were just two cards away from a Straight. Were you going for that, or did you already have the three Nines and were going for a Four of a Kind?"

He couldn't help the smile that crept up his face; it figured that she would see his game plan. Yumeko always seemed to notice everything when it came to gambling, even the smallest detail. "No, I was going for the Straight, but ended up with the two extra Nines. Even if I had gotten it though, you still would have beaten me."

"I guess so. That's one win for you, and one win for me. Time for the tiebreaker! My deal."

She gathered up the cards and shuffled them, then dealt them each five cards. Ryouta gathered his up and looked at them. He resisted the urge to raise his eyebrows in interest as he saw that he had a second chance to get a Straight, the cards he could use being a Four, Five, and Seven. If he got a Three and a Six, or a Six and an Eight, he could win, considering she didn't pull off a higher Straight or a more valuable winning hand.

"Hey, Ryouta," said Yumeko, her tone sounding more serious again, "since this is the tiebreaker, what do you say to a little wager?"

It was tempting not to chuckle. He should have known that she wouldn't be able to resist betting for long. She was a compulsive gambler after all. He'd even go as far as to say that she was an addict.

"I thought you said we weren't going to play for any money," he joked.

She was looking at him now with that hungry look she got when playing a game with the promise of high stakes. "Not for money. We'll bet something else."

He cocked his head to the side curiously. "Ok, what'd you have in mind? Like the loser treats the winner to lunch or dinner or something?"

She giggled in a way that suggested that she found what he said to be cute, but the smile on her face was becoming somewhat demented, predatory even, just as it always did when she played for high stakes. "No, I was thinking of something a little more meaningful and personal."

He sweat-dropped. There was really no reading her intentions. All he knew was that she wanted to proceed with her suggestion, and wanted him to agree. "Um, ok. So what did you have in mind?"

She giggled again, only now her laughter took a slightly menacing tone, and her eyes seemed to glow red in that way they did when the light hit them at certain angles. "How about this." She slowly raised her hand and touched it to her chest. "If you win, then you can do whatever you want to me."

Her proposition hung in the air. For several long seconds, Ryouta could only stare, nearly dropping the cards he was holding in the process. Yumeko's seemingly glowing red eyes drifted to his hand as she watched the cards he was holding shift in his grip.

"Careful, Ryouta," she told him, not the least bit shy or bothered by what she had just suggested. "You don't want to drop your cards and ruin our game."

He snapped out of his stupor and gripped his cards so tight that he nearly bent them out of shape. He couldn't have heard her right. He must have misunderstood what she meant. "Uh, Y-Yumeko, what do you mean when you say 'do whatever I want to you' exactly?"

Her smile widened in that playful yet frightening way. "Just what I said. You can do whatever you want to me. And I do mean whatever you want."

Sweat began running down his face as he realized that he hadn't misinterpreted what she had suggested at all. He knew exactly what she was referring to.

A million and one thoughts began flying through his head as he found his gaze drawn to her body. Yumeko seemed to have expected this and moved to sit in a sexy suggestive manner that showed off her aspects, her eyes seemingly glowing bright red in the light. She was serious. She was actually putting her body on the table for him in this bet.

The morality of such a bet began bouncing around in his head. He knew of Yumeko's compulsive gambling, her desire to play for such drastically high stakes. He couldn't use that against her like that, could he?

"Yumeko, I…" he said, trying to find his voice, "I can't take advantage of you like that."

Her insane gambling smile shifted to a genuine one of appreciation as her free hand reached across the table to touch his. "Aww, you're really sweet, Ryouta." Then her gaze darkened again, and her gambling smile returned. "But you don't have to worry about that. After all, I'm the one who put the offer on the table all on my own, and I wouldn't do that for just anyone. Especially since it would be my first time."

His eyes widened in astonishment. Yumeko was a virgin? Then he definitely couldn't take advantage of her. "Yumeko… I can't."

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed in a voice that ordered on excited hysteria, just as it always did why she tried to convince her opponent to partake in higher stakes. She was in full gambling mode now, her eyes glowing brightly, her cheeks darkly flushed, beads of sweat running down her forehead and cheeks in her excitement as she practically crawled across the table. "How can you say no to such high stakes? A bet like this is truly something worth gambling for. Don't you want to come on this journey with me? Lets let fate decide the outcome! A single win will determine everything!"

Ryouta's hands had now become so sweaty that he could barely hold onto his cards. Truthfully, he didn't know why this surprised him. When it came to gambling, Yumeko Jabami was completely insane. She was brilliant, for sure, but whenever she gambled, all rationality seemed to go out the window as she took such delight in it that it literally bordered on sexual ecstasy. He'd seen her do some truly crazy things when it came to gambling. Once he'd seen her bet her very fingernails, even an entire finger. She'd even bet her entire future according to the student council's life plan for her.

Yet every time, she had seemed no less than absolutely jubilant during it, even when she was at risk of losing everything. It was that very thing that she found so thrilling. She was fully aware that this was not normal behavior, but that didn't stop her from enjoying it, though she did feel regret that she didn't feel any guilt for the lives she ended up destroying when she beat her opponents during such games.

"Come on!" she encouraged him in a way that could almost pass for bullying had the choice not been up to him. "Don't be such a killjoy. Let's get our gambling freak on. I'll even go first."

An internal war began raging within him. He was a healthy young man, and Yumeko was a gorgeous young woman. Any red-blooded male would find her irresistible. But more than that, she was the girl that he was crushing on hard. To actually have her offer herself to him like this was, of course, all too tempting. He couldn't deny that he wanted her; he just didn't think it would be due to the result of a bet.

There was another reason he hesitated though. Like her, he too didn't have any experience. Some would call him old-fashioned, or even pathetic and wimpy, but he wasn't the type of person to go around sleeping with just anyone. Besides, it may be cliché, but he wanted his first time to be with someone special. And while that person was definitely Yumeko, the circumstances were not exactly what he expected. Yumeko deserved her first time to be special as well, not on a whim with someone as the result of a bet.