BET

20

【Ｒｕｎｎｉｎｇ　ｔｈａｔ　ｍｏｎｅｙ　ｍａ，　ｌｉｖｉｎｇ　ｌｏｓｅ，　ｐｌａｙｉｎｇ　ｈａｒｄＤａｍｎｅｄ　ｉｆ　Ｉ＇ｍ　ｇｏｎｎａ　ｌｏｓｅ　ｉｔ，　ｄａｍｎｅｄ　ｉｆ　Ｉ＇ｍ　ｇｏｎｎａ　ｌｏｓｅ　ｉｔ】

"I guess I'm doing you one last favour with that one. You're expelled."

That was the last thing that Shouta said to her, before he left. Y/N still felt like she was frozen in place. She was just standing there, not sure for how long. That sentence kept ringing in her ears over and over and over and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. I guess I'm doing you one last favour with that one. You're expelled. I guess I'm doing you one last favour with that one. You're expelled. I guess I'm doing you one last favour with that one. You're expelled. You're expelled. You're expelled. You're expelled. You're expelled. You're expelled. You're expelled.

Y/N should have been happy about that. After all, that was what she had wanted, wasn't it? She wanted to get it expelled, that was the whole point of this. But the way it happened just... she couldn't bring herself to be happy. Sure, she had won the bet, but at what price? She lost Shouta. She lost her own self-respect, too. She had been so selfish all this damn time and now she was paying the price for it. She couldn't be happy about winning her bet anymore. She wasn't even sure what to do now. Should she just... go home? Should she tell her friends?

Y/N took a deep breath. She felt like she was in a trance as she packed up her bag and made her way out of the coffee shop to get back home. She should probably call her friends, tell them what happened and then go back home and crawl under her covers and be miserable for the rest of the semester. Not like she had to go to school anymore or anything. She was expelled after all. There was no school she had to attend anymore. No more lessons, no more detention, no more stupid talks with Shouta... she'd miss the stupid talks with Shouta.

Damn it, she was going to miss him badly. She already did. Especially since she knew that she wasn't going to see him ever again, not even at school. It felt like a punishment that was way too harsh, but Y/N knew that she deserved every bit of it. She deserved to suffer for her own selfishness and stupidity. She deserved the worst of the worst. It still felt like it was incredibly harsh, however. Especially since she had started caring for Shouta so much lately. She had no idea how she was going to get over him. She'd have to do something to get over him as quickly as possible. Maybe she should go and find a job once she was back home. Maybe she should go and get drunk tonight... no. No, that seemed like a stupid idea. Not tonight. She had plenty of time to do that tomorrow, but tonight she would be too vulnerable for any of that.

Y/N sighed and fished for her phone in her bag, so she could call her friends and tell them what had just went down. At least she'd be able to collect the money from the bet. And at least she had learned a lesson, no matter how harsh it was. Y/N was pretty sure that she had fully deserved this and that she needed to learn this lesson, but that didn't change the fact that she was devastated by this. She knew that it could possibly end up like this, but she hadn't really thought that it would end up like this. She thought it was pretty unlikely that everything would come out in the worst possible manner. But here she was with a scenario even worse than she imagined.

She unlocked the screen of her phone with a sigh and went to find Akiko's number, so she could call her and tell her what had happened. She was sure that she was still with Yamaji and Kumiko anyway, so they could hear it all the same. Y/N dialled the number and waited while the phone rang, her heart suddenly coming back to life and beating faster and faster. Where she had been numb all this time, she was all of a sudden sweating and breathing heavily and feeling faint. She wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but she was much more uncomfortable now.

"Hello? Y/N? You still alive?" she finally heard Akiko's voice on the other end. Y/N wasn't even sure what to answer. She didn't feel very alive if she was honest. She felt like she was about to drop dead any minute. Maybe she should sit down somewhere and hope that she'd feel better then.

"Barely. Hang on, let me find somewhere to sit down." Y/N told her friend and quickly made her way over to a bench she saw on the side of the road. As she sat down she took a deep breath and could feel her heartbeat calming down a little again. Not that it helped her a whole lot.

"Okay. Okay. Man. That was not fun. I really fucked up with this entire thing, Akiko. I really, really fucked up." Y/N said. Akiko sighed on the other end of the line. She sounded like someone that was going to say that she told her so, but honestly, she had been involved in this bet as well.

"I know. I know, it was really stupid. What happened with your homeroom teacher? That guy did not look happy whatsoever." she replied. Oh God. Y/N thought that she was still somewhat under shock thinking back to Shouta, but... well, she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes when she tried to think of where to begin her recollection of what had happened and what Shouta had said.

"He... well, he expelled me." Y/N answered, before taking another deep breath. She could do this. She could get through this. She had managed to listen to it all when he had said it, but she didn't really have another choice then. She was probably under some sort of shock back then.

"He expelled you? Well, that's good news at least. At least you've won the bet then. Congratulations!" Akiko told her. Y/N felt more tears flowing down her cheeks. Of course, Akiko had no idea that this wasn't good news for her. Because she hadn't told her how she really felt about Shouta.

"It's not good news, Akiko. It's not good news... I just... I don't really know how to tell you this, but... well, I... I..." Y/N stammered. She couldn't say it. She couldn't tell her what was really going on. But it seemed like she didn't have to find just the right words. It seemed like Akiko already knew what she was going to say. And of course she did, she was her best friend, after all.

"You did have feelings for him, didn't you? And you lied to us, because you were embarrassed. That's why you're not happy about this, isn't it?" Akiko asked her. Y/N nodded, until she realised that Akiko couldn't see her, since they were on the phone. God, she was really stupid, wasn't she?

"I do. I think I fell pretty hard for that guy... not that I know much about him, but I just... I want him so badly and now that's all over. Whatever chance I might have had, it's over now. And I get it, I was lying to everyone from the start and what I said in the cafe was not fair at all, but who is going to believe that I didn't mean any of that? I wouldn't even believe myself." Y/N told her. She looked around herself wondering whether anyone was listening to her. She really hoped not.

"Look, Y/N, it is what it is now. You made a mistake, we all made a mistake. But look... go home and relax for the rest of the day and then see how you feel. Take some time for yourself. Maybe you can talk this over with him again at some point. Maybe you can find a way to give this another chance. And if not... well, then maybe it wasn't meant to be. Okay?" Akiko told her.

"Yeah, I guess it's the only thing I can do..."

"Are you okay being alone tonight or do you want me to come over and stay with you?" Akiko wanted to know.

"I think I can manage. Thanks for offering, though." Y/N replied. She honestly wanted to be alone, so she could sort herself out at least a little. She didn't need an audience for that and she didn't want one.

"No problem. I'll let you go then. And if you change your mind, just call me, okay?" Akiko said to her.

"Yeah. Yeah, thanks. You're the best. I'll talk to you another time, okay?" Y/N answered and hung up. She felt like talking to Akiko had calmed her down at least a little. She felt like she could get up and walk home now, at least.