Top. (Reader x Various Kakegurui)

64: Exchange

"Exchange, Yumeko?" Ririka asked.

"Hmm... let's see. Alright, I'll exchange two." Yumeko noted as she threw down two tens. This caused gasps to erupt throughout the crowd.

"Oh no." You raised your hands in sarcastic surprise. "What could she do next."

"What's with your mood, Princess? Why aren't you just enjoying the game?" Runa asked, handing you the popcorn. "Scared Kaede is going to lose?"

Yes.

"No." You shrugged. "I'm just tired of watching gambling today, I guess."

"Go home then." She said. "Don't ruin the fun."

You gasped in surprise. How dare she! Also, you would never miss Yumeko's games against this student council member, no matter how much you didn't want to watch it.

"Kaede." Ririka pushed him. "Your decision."

Then, Kaede laid out his cards.

"Huh." You gave a surprised noise. "Weird."

"Are you exchanging five then, Kaede?" Ririka asked.

"No exchange at all." He declared confidently with a straight face as the audience erupted

"I like that!" Yumeko giggled and blushed, causing your feathers to ruffle. The sight of Yumeko being turned on by Kaede and Kaede enticing Yumeko was wholly disturbing to you and you didn't like it one bit. "Is this how you throw down the gauntlet? Showing such swagger leaves me no choice but to give as good as I'm getting, you know. So, then! I'm going to bet 41 chips!"

That was everything.

You groaned at the scene in front of you. Kaede said he'd take care of it, but really was he going to just tease you on stage? Because that's what it felt like.

"I raise you one chip." He said normally.

"Jabami, your turn." Ririka noted.

"I have nothing." She smiled.

"Kaede, make your choice."

"Stronger hand." He decided quickly.

"That's it for the betting phase. Now then," Ririka began. "Show down!"

"It's garbage. Too bad." She shrugged.

"Wow." You sighed as Runa smiled. "That was unusually quick."

"Wait." Runa smiled again.

"Yumeko, you're out of chips. Do you wish to continue playing?"

"What?" Kaede looked surprised.

"Oh, Itsuki, do you mind?" Yumeko walked to the front of the stage with a microphone. "How much can you offer?"

"Itsuki?!" You sat up straight. "Seriously!?"

Runa looked over at your face and laughed.

Sayaka couldn't help but laugh a little bit too, until you glared at her while the heiress, ex-council member ran down.

"Itsuki, what do you think?" Yumeko asked as Itsuki examined the game.

"Uh..." She stumbled awkwardly in front of her ex-lover, Kaede and under the watchful eye of the council members and you. Mostly you.

"The other day, you said you wanted to be my friend. You said you wanted me to become the student council President! Friends help other friends in need, right? I've exhausted my funds and I don't know what to do. Can you help me out?" Yumeko had a pout to her voice and a blush on her cheeks.

"Itsuki, now that you've been abandoned by the student council president, have you aligned yourself with Yumeko?" Clearly he held no regard for his ex-lover. You watched as all regard she had perhaps once held for him, melted away. "Give it up. I can still let you off the hook. Or do you want to antagonize the student council. And even antagonize the Princess herself." His voice dropped to a whisper, but you thought you understood him say "further." It then raised back up. "It'd be just like you to make such a move. That's why I recommended you as a member of the student council and used you as I did for my own learning experiments."

You tuned in especially here. This was an explanation in a way.