“This must be rigged! I poured so much money into this and now a legendary S comes out so easily?! It just doesn’t make sense!”
Could it be because the big screen showed that S-rank while our faces, mine and Nagisa’s, looked like they were thrown on a giant billboard?
Just a moment ago, a certain girl was joyfully burning her cash at another gacha machine.
The problem child of Millennium Seminar, Kurosaki Koyuki, approached us with a sulky expression.
Dressed as a bunny girl and sporting twin tails that resembled rice balls, she had these weird eyes that almost looked like they were glowing, and the bridge of her hair was kind of painful to look at.
“…rigged?”
“Oh, my bad. I meant manipulated!”
That wasn’t exactly what I meant, but she definitely messed up her words. I’ve never seen the term ‘rigged’ used in Kivotos.
“Hey! This situation is strange in many ways! I’ve poured money like it’s water, used all the cash I had including bonds, and yet that S was elusive until just now…!”
Suddenly, Koyuki rushed over and started shaking my body back and forth.
…Should I give her a light tap on the head?
Nah, she’s totally a kid. Her behavior suggests she’s about ten years old.
But still, she’s interrupting my precious moment with Nagisa, and it’s seriously infuriating…
Wait. If I subdue her here and send her off to Millennium, I would solve this little problem for free…
“What, what’s with that look?! It’s so creepy, I feel like my life is being threatened by some ominous gaze…!”
“Hey, Koyuki-chan.”
“Huh? Wait, how do you know my name? Who are you?!”
“I won’t let go of this hand unless I summon the Millennium folks.”
“Gah! That can’t be! There are Millennium people on this ship? Who is it? Please, anyone but Senior Noa! I really don’t want to deal with her; she’s scary! Senior Yuuka nags too much, and Rion wouldn’t come all the way to this place… No way, it can’t be.”
Koyuki’s pupils were shaking violently. Instead of losing her grip on my arm, she clamped down even harder.
“No, please, not the C&C seniors! I just escaped from Millennium; I don’t want to see their faces again!”
“Well, if you don’t want to date my Neru-chan, I suggest you let go of my hand.”
“Ah… Haha, this is a bit embarrassing! I let go, so you won’t call them, right?”
With an awkward chuckle, Koyuki showed me her palm as she spoke. Up until this point, she seemed like just a chattering and lively junior, but…
Once you see through to reality, it completely flips the impression—it’s like a horror story.
“Heueng… hmm, what should I do~?”
“Hey, Mika-san. Do you know this person…?”
“…Ah.”
In response to Nagisa’s question, who had gotten up from her seat, I briefly hesitated. In her hand was a glorious coin representing the S-rank.
Honestly, it wouldn’t be hard to give a straightforward answer. I could just say I heard about this troublemaking junior while on the phone with Noa.
But then, if Koyuki becomes wary, what if she runs off and C&C comes over only to leave empty-handed? Something like that could trigger a butterfly effect.
After a moment of thinking, I decided to take a shameless route.
“No? Just a kid I’ve never seen before, Nagisa-chan.”
Yeah, just for now. Instead, I packed my gaze with a meaning of ‘I’ll tell you later’ and directed it toward Nagisa.
I don’t know if she understood, but Nagisa tends to catch on, so maybe I can trust that.
“Is that so… then that’s good. I thought Mika-san was still up to her old tricks of charming people without me knowing.”
“…”
Nagisa’s bone-crushing remark hurt a bit. Yeah, I didn’t intend to, um… really.
“How can I look anywhere and not see that it’s a lie? How do you know my name when you claim you don’t know me? And treating me like a kid is unacceptable?! Do you not realize I’m someone who has even knelt before the prestigious Millennium Seminar?”
“Well, I don’t think they would’ve taken in someone using academy bonds to play gacha…”
“Hahaha! What are you talking about?! What’s the big deal about using bonds? Money is meant to be spent, right? It’s common sense; you don’t mean to say you don’t know that…?”
…Right, Koyuki’s true colors are just like that. It makes sense that she gets scolded by Noa, nagged by Yuuka, and chased by Neru.
Even I, despite being in a different seat, wouldn’t use academy funds for personal affairs.
Sure, I could say one excuse is that we have a reputation to maintain, but still… recently, I’ve been donating some of it to Trinity.
…Wait a minute.
Is it a characteristic of Millennium students to use academy funds as they please? Even Rion’s embezzlement…
No, no. Rion actually has some circumstances; she had a solid reason for prepping for a crisis. The real issue is that her methods are overly selfish and factually incorrect, which is rather unfortunate.
Anyway. Taking this Koyuki who’s burning money and escorting her back to Millennium, or just calling them over would resolve yet another issue…
To be honest, it’s a hassle. It’s not that serious of a matter, and it feels a bit tiring to interfere even during this leisure time.
Saying it’s a sheer coincidence that our schedules overlapped would be a lie; still, it truly is the most convenient timing to take a break for hard-working Nagisa.
So, letting Koyuki be dealt with by C&C sounds like a plan. Yep.
Struggling during vacation? No, thanks.
“Hahaha. So, are you really in such a bad financial spot that you need to use bonds?”
“…Eh?”
“More importantly, about this S rank… Is it really that hard to pull?”
“Ex…?!”
“I pulled an A the first time and just pulled an S now… If it took all that money to get two pulls, just how unlucky is your luck? That’s a bit pitiful…”
“Cough…”
“Kugh.”
Huh?
Considering my comment was directed at Koyuki, it made sense that she felt like she was about to cough up blood.
But what I didn’t expect was… that Nagisa would join that wave and have to soothe her upset stomach as well.
Maybe, I lacked a bit of consideration for Nagisa, who ended up having the worst luck and desolate drawing results.
Rather than opening my mouth unnecessarily, I quietly patted Nagisa’s back, feeling a bit apologetic.
And while I was at it, I caught sight of a glimmer of moisture forming in Koyuki’s beady eyes.
“Ahhh…”
“…Ah.”
“Why is this happening…?! I spent a huge amount of money too! Why couldn’t I pull it?! Where’s the fairness in that!!!”
Wow. She looks super cute when she cries…
“It’s okay, Koyuki-chan. Yeah, having bad luck isn’t a crime.”
“AAHHH!!!”
“…”
…It seems like nothing I say here will fix the problem.
And more than anything, Nagisa’s gaze is quite intense. No matter how much I try to console Koyuki, it’ll just remind Nagisa how desperately unlucky she had been.
Time to make my exit.
“Hahaha, Well then, we should exchange those VIP tickets—”
“I also… I need those VIP tickets too! Let’s have a bet! I really need that!”
“…Huh? Why should I?”
“If I lose, I’ll kneel and lick your feet! I’ll do anything! But if I win, S-rank is mine! Not a bad deal, right?!”
How on earth is that not a bad deal, Koyuki?
“Forget it. I don’t gamble.”
I’d explicitly promised myself I wouldn’t take bets unless my opponent was Aco. Originally, I had resolved not to take any bets, but I couldn’t help it when it was with Aco because it was too fun.
“Are you scared you’re gonna lose to me? You’re so chicken!”
“…”
Stay calm. I must remain calm. Patience. Patience…
Ah, seriously. Seeing this, I’m beginning to think I’m no different from Neru. How can I be this easily flustered just because of her taunt?
As I was about to tell Koyuki, “What? Can’t hear you over your lucky lottery win!”, suddenly something interesting caught my eye.
“…Alright, I’ll take the bet. But I’ll decide the game.”
“Yay! Let’s have a fair match! I’ll win, just you watch!”
“The game will be… the punching machine. The one who scores higher wins.”
“That…?”
It just happened to be the punching machine that caught my eye.
That was a game in which even if I wanted to lose, it would be nearly impossible… a true embodiment of unfairness.
It’s a perfect establishment of a bet that both indulges Koyuki’s tantrum while also conveying a clear message that she better watch out. It’s an ideal opposition to relieve the stress caused by being called a coward.
And as long as I have that VIP ticket to exchange for the S-rank, I could get away with just about anything.
Essentially, even if I smashed that machine to bits, I could just pay a little for the damages, and it would be all good.
We naturally positioned ourselves in front of the punching machine to decide turn order.
“How about it? Want to go first? If I go, you might just lose all your motivation!”
“Eh… No way, you go first.”
“Alright, then I won’t hold back!”
Naturally, Koyuki was the one to go first. I mean, if I went first… there wouldn’t be a machine left for her to use.
“Here I go!!!”
And so, Koyuki took off nearly ten steps back from the punching machine and rushed forward, throwing a dropkick.
“Whoa——o…”
Ding ding ding ding!
[777]
“Hahaha! Jackpot! How’s that? Check out my amazing skill! At this point, I think you should just surrender!”
777 isn’t a bad score. Since the punching machine is designed to withstand strong students while fostering judgment, if Nagisa hits it, maybe she’ll be lucky to score around 300?
“…Well, yeah. I think I should probably concede.”
But my strength far exceeds that of the average strong student, so seeing Koyuki’s feeble struggling, I kept a cheerful smile as I stood in front of the punching machine. And then…
BAMMMM!!!
“…”
[999]
As I swung my arm, the machine got half destroyed, but once again, the highest score showed that it wouldn’t lie.
Koyuki’s jaw dropped as she watched me, and I noticed her sweating bullets, which was honestly quite adorable.
“Told you, probably should’ve guessed you’d want to concede. But you need to know I’m nice, so this time, I’ll just count this bet as a nullified game☆”
“…Oh, really?!”
“Haha! What? Do you think I’m lying? But if you act all brazen next time and say I’m a coward…”
“…”
The moment Koyuki’s face, which lit up brightly, turned utterly pale, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
In that moment, I think Koyuki felt an immense gratitude for not being my junior after all.
