Gambling In Love

Chapter 30: For Who I Am

Uh.. I created a discord about a month ago for people who read my stories since I wanted to chat with and get to know some of y'all. A lot of people in the server are already close since it's been so long, but you all are more than welcome to join. You can chat with me or others make new friends and shit.

Here's the link! : https://discord.gg/BEQpV4Ccx7

Enjoy the update even though it's almost been 2 months.... sorry for that by the way LMAO

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The gamble lagged on for hours. Mary watched Ririka gamble as all kinds of emotions stirred in her. Mostly anticipation and fear, but there was also a lot of admiration. She always believed that Ririka had great gambling ability, maybe even better than Kirari, but Ririka had decided to give up on it... until this moment.

By the time the gamble was over, Ririka was pronounced as the winner, much to everyone else's dismay. Mary's head almost exploded when Rin tried to convince them that the match was invalid. The election monitor there wasn't actually on the committee, which made their whole match null. However, Ririka then revealed that she'd been on the phone the whole time with an actual election monitor.

It amazed Mary how Ririka had not only been logical, but she was also extraordinarily persuasive. She got the three girls gambling with them to turn on Rin and Ibara which Mary would've never considered. It wasn't until Ririka actually started explaining her thought process that all of it clicked for her.

She and Ririka both told them that Rin was against them! The whole time, he'd been screwing with them. He had individual plans shared between the people in the bet aside from Ririka, telling them they'd be sure to win if they sabotaged the people beside them. Mary had to admit, on Rin's part, it was a genius move politically. However, from a moral point of view, it was an awful thing to do.

The only aspect of the gamble that they lost was the fact that they'd missed the part in which they would only receive money as compensation, not votes. However, Mary wasn't swayed. She was still in a comfortable second place, with a decent distance between her and Rin and a small gap between her and Kirari.

Ririka collected her winnings while hiding a smug smirk. It had been years since she'd gambled, and she almost forgot how thrilling it was. It still was not something she'd be doing again any time soon unless she was forced to, but maybe she'd do it again one day.

"So..." Mary trailed off as she and Ririka left with their winnings, "What was that about making a deal with Kirari?"

"Ah, that," Ririka sighed as they walked through the hallway, heading back to their respective homes, "In all honesty, I worked with you out of choice. The offer Kirari made me was just a bonus."

"What did she offer you?" Mary asked.

"She told me she'd stand up to our parents," Ririka said with a soft smile, "We'd been too young and cowardly to do it sooner, but we graduate this year. Kirari's ready to stand up to them, so I can live my adult life as me. The only thing I had to do was help you become student council president in her stead."

"Wow," Mary mumbled in awe before exclaiming and hugging her friend, "That's great, Ririka!"

"Yeah," Ririka agreed with a bright smile.

Mary, however, was not only just happy for her friend. She was ecstatic. Ririka's words meant that Kirari wanted her to win. She was only a small margin away from the platinum-blonde, and she was sure she could bridge it soon enough. She had very little faith that she could beat Kirari, but she also knew that even if Kirari managed to keep first place, she'd graduate this year.