Matryo-ress (Volume 2)

Chapter 6 - Showtime

After the intense game of roulette against Rime, I went outside to smoke a cigarette to calm down after one of the best matches in my entire existence. I felt the cold breeze brush against me as I inhaled death on a stick into my lungs. Does Rime like smokers? Maybe I should try and stop, I'm pretty much killing myself the slowest way I can with this thing, even though it's so small. I blew out smoke, which got carried away with the wind.

I looked up into the night sky and admired the stars scattered around. It seems there's a full moon tonight, it's bright as well. The light from the moon reminded me of the red pupils of Rime's eyes as they shined into mine, and the stars reminded me of our green and red chips laid out randomly across the table as we eagerly awaited our fate. Everything reminds me of her now, what has happened to me?

Suddenly, I see a familiar face jump in front of me out of nowhere.

"Hey Kloves! Whatcha up to?"

Nearly scared to death, I jump back and drop my cigarette on the ground. After taking a moment to look at who it was, I realized who it was.

"Quip, don't jump out at me like that!"

"Sorry, haha, did I scare ya?"

"Yes, you did."

"Yay! Jeehee, I scared ya! That means I can scare anyone and the whole world!"

"Sure you can."

This childish idiot who almost made me need a new pair of pants is Quip Towell. Him and I go way back, I remember when he was just a baby and I wasn't even out of school. I babysat him, despite the person I was accused of being back then, and was asked to do so by his mother. His father was a jester and he took after him, despite his mother becoming heavily disappointed in him for doing so and then throwing him out for it when he was old enough to go into the world on his own.

"Hey, Kloves, you look a little red. Are you sick or something?"

"Huh? Oh, no. I'm perfectly fine."

"Then why is your face red?"

I knew the answer to Quip's question, but didn't feel he should know it.

"I don't know."

"Oh, okie dokie then."

Quip stuck out his tongue in boredom since he had nothing more to say, and I put out my unfinished cigarette that I had accidentally dropped on the ground. Then suddenly, Quip looked alarmed.

Curious, I asked, "Buddy, you okay?"

"There's an intruder..."

"Where? How do you know?"

I don't know why I asked such a dumb question like "how do you know" when it's Quip I'm dealing with here.

"At my home...my jester senses are going off..."

"At your home? Quip, you better go find out who it is, and be quick about it."

"You got it, Kloves!"

With determination, Quip ran off to his home. I mainly told him to go investigate to get him out of my face, but also because he would have done nothing about it if I didn't tell him to do so. Then, after he left to go see who was invading his home, I was met with another familiar face. It was none other than Rime Kakebami.

"Oh, hello, Klover!" Rime exclaimed while running over to me with joy.

"Hey there, Rime."

"I just wanted to thank you for such a stimulating game tonight, I had lots of fun!"

"It's nothing, I enjoyed gambling with you too."

"I'll definitely be back tomorrow night for another match, okay?"

I took a deep breath in, and then exhaled. I need to get this off of my mind before I become almost as crazy as she made me during that roulette match earlier.

"Actually, I have an offer for you, Rime."

"Hm?"

"Would you like to have a private match with me in my office, my dear?"

I looked at her with a grin, I could tell she was intrigued.

"It's getting late, but...I don't mind. I'd love to play another game with you! May I ask what game we will be playing?"

"I'll tell you when we get there, okay?"

I could tell she understood what I was planning to do, and she went along with it. I can't control myself, this woman has driven me to madness...I am madly in love with Rime Kakebami.