When Club Is Over

Chapter 1. Yahtzee

   The dice rattle on the table as they fall out of the official game cup. Idia takes a moment to read the numbers printed on them before grinning his toothy grin at Azul across the table. He leans a little closer to be easily heard over the din of the board game club.

   "That makes a Yahtzee for me, first try. Noobs can't compare to my god-tier skills." He takes the moment to gloat, especially because Azul had made a fuss about how he didn't like playing chance games because of the unpredictability.

   The game ended with Idia having over 300 points and Azul sitting nicely at 156. As they pack up, Azul gets subjected to Idia's typical attitude about winning.

   "Wheehee, I told you Azul, chance games are S-tier. You're just mad that you can't plan it out and rig the whole game." He shuffled his way to the cabinet where he was going to put the shared Yahtzee game away and grab his limited edition Magical Life game, another chance game that the two had meant to play but hadn't yet. Azul called out to Idia as he was reaching into the closet, causing him to stumble a little in shock.

   "Idia. I hope we can play this again next week."

   Idia turns around to see Azul push up his glasses and have light glint off them, just like the antagonist in the anime he was currently watching, Help! I've Been Isekai'd Into A School And My Class Rival Is In Love With ME??! He had binged the whole thing the night before, and noticed how similar Azul looked to the class rival, especially when he ominously pushes up his glasses. In reality, Azul's glasses were just falling from how intensely he had been trying, and failing, to win at Yahtzee. Idia barely managed to keep from telling Azul about the anime, but since he had just finished the first watch-through and hadn't even read the manga yet, it was a little easier to keep it to himself.

   "OK?? That's major antagonist energy there, it's almost like you're getting ready to one-shot me in a battle of the ages. Meh heh heh..."

   Azul mostly ignores the mutterings of his clubmate, though it confuses him greatly. The two packed up their bags and began heading to their respective dormitories. As usual, Idia rushes ahead in an effort to avoid the majority of the other school students. Azul typically prefers to walk slower, more time for poor unfortunate souls to approach him and ask him for favors that they'll probably regret. Today, however, he was in as much of a rush as Idia. He mumbled to himself through all the halls, stopping momentarily at the mirror portal to Octavinelle when his vice-housewarden Jade ran into him.

   "Good afternoon Azul, I hope you had fun at your club today. We have a couple new people in need of your favors." Jade gives Azul his typical controlled smile, noticing how troubled he looks at the moment. "Would you like me to ask them to come back tomorrow? Perhaps during business hours?"

   Azul hums an affirmative before proceeding to his preplanned route of a direct beeline to his office, the dice from the Yahtzee game clinking softly in his jacket. As the bubble took him to Octavinelle's main entrance, he started mentally running the numbers for the angles and force required to make the dice fall the way he wanted it to every time. By the time he got to the locked doors of his campus restaurant, Monstro Lounge, he had figured the numbers required for rigging the dice game of chance in his favor.

   He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shiny ring of keys and unlocked the door. He made sure to lock it behind him again, and went straight to the V.I.P. section of the lounge, aka his office where his fellow students signed away their lives for simple things. He sat in his desk chair and pulled out the dice, prepared to practice rolling them until his fingers fell off. Well, maybe not that far. He had gotten quite attached to them, and how interesting it was that they didn't have webbing like his octomer form did. He threw the first die up, aiming to land on a 5. To his annoyance, it firmly landed with a 2 on its face. He groans, and threw it a little more gently. This time, the die rolled across the table and looked like it might make it to a 5, but landed on a 4. Azul repeated this process alone in the almost silence of his office for hours, ignoring the time on his clock glaring at him.

   He finally stops 30 minutes before class starts, slipping carefully out of Monstro Lounge into the flow of students heading to the mirrors to get lunch at the cafeteria. He had changed into his spare uniform in his office so nobody suspected anything, but the dark circles under his eyes were obvious to even the most oblivious onlooker. Thankfully, his two 'bodyguards', Floyd and Jade, were around to menacingly grin at everyone around. Until Floyd got bored and left, but that's just normal Floyd behavior. He went to all of his classes throughout the day and barely paid attention, all his focus on the little dice in his office. As soon as the last bell of the day rang, Azul all but ran to the Lounge to keep practicing his dice rolling.

   He had to pause for a couple hours when Jade brought in the prospect 'customers', that all ended up signing his contracts. One wanted a study guide for alchemy class, and the others wanted abridged versions of textbooks for various other classes. Even though it wasn't finals season yet, Azul still made a lot of studyguide contracts. The amount would only increase the closer the end of the year got, but for now he was fine and could stock up on blank contracts. When the customers were gone and the dinner rush calmed down a little, Jade brought a plate of the daily special for him to eat. After Azul had eaten and finished the homework due that week, he went right back to practicing his tosses. He would get this if it killed him, Sevens be damned.