Chivalry of a Dark Knight [Batman x Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry]

CH10: Lucky Roshi (prt 3)

Renren sighed and looked at Bruce apologetically.

"Sorry 'bout that, Senpai. He's been kinda cranky lately."

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to Renren.

"It's fine." he said.

"But if you gotta know, we've been hearing about a secret gambling ring here in Hagun and the Director sent us to look in to it."

"Secret gambling ring?" Stella asked, the sound of it piqued her interest.

"Uh huh. And like Senpai said, this Roshi guy is running the operation. He's the one they place bets with."

Bruce frowned and rubbed his chin in thought.

"So he's a bookie."

"Who is he anyway?" asked Ikki.

The normally energetic girl looked drained when she answered.

"That's what we're trying to find out. The whole thing's gotten pretty serious! A lot these students are under heavy debt because of the money they lost. They're pretty desperate; some of them resorted to stealing, others were even willing to do even stupider stuff. In fact just yesterday, we stopped a girl from taking her own life."

Ikki gasped and his expression turned completely forlorn.

"Was all this...because I won yesterday?"

Stella looked at him with sympathy and could only imagine what he was feeling. But just she was about to say something to comfort him...

"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Ikki." Bruce said. "Your win was well-deserved and these people have made bad decisions, that's all there is to it."

The F-rank exhaled, nodded and then gave him a grateful smile.

"Your right. Thanks, Bruce."

With jealousy gripping her, the red-haired princess couldn't help but feel miffed that Bruce once again stole Ikki's attention from her and suppressed a shriek in her throat while glaring at him.

"Actually Kurogane-kun, there was something I wanted to talk to you about...regarding your match." Renren said.

This definitely got the trio's attention and they listened to what she had to say.

"The thing is, there's rumors going around that the match yesterday was fixed."

"WHAT!?" Stella and Ikki balked.

"When we asked Kirihara about it, he claimed that he was threatened to the throw the match and that you knew about it."

Bruce was starting to get a clear picture of the situation. Because everyone thought Kirihara was a shoo-in to win, Roshi must have offered a lower payout in Kirihara's favor, which in turn prompted the players to bet high. This of course meant that Ikki's win resulted in them losing big. So when the word got out that Ikki cheated, it must've seriously enraged them.

And speaking of enraged, Stella of course didn't take Kirihara's claims too kindly.

"That lying bastard! Of course he would say that! He's trying to save face about losing to Ikki!"

"Look, I don't believe him either." Renren reasoned. "But the Student Council and the Selection Battle Committee are still talking to him and while they didn't decide anything, they were considering disqualifying both of you."

This sent both Stella and Ikki into silence, the latter's unsure what to think. He wondered, after everything that has happened, was it all for nothing? Did he lose his chance?