Stuck

I Might've Overreacted A Little

I tried my best not to listen in to what they were saying, I knew I'd only feel worse and I had enough to worry about as it was. I did catch some snippets of their conversations, and they didn't help to ease my mind, because I heard things like:

"The loser dies."

"Are you sure you're the weaklings here?"

"Can you prep some for me? I'd rather not die."

"10,000 votes? That's 2,400 hours! You'd be trapped at the academy until you're an old granny!"

"You had a 100% chance of losing right from the start!"

Luckily I could tell that the last one was Mary, meaning my friends wouldn't be dying today. Still, Yumeko certainly wasn't getting any better, and we needed to get this gamble over with as soon as possible. 

"Just play your cards already!" I yelled. "Yumeko's still dying over here!" Luckily that got them to shut up pretty quickly, and they played their cards with the same smaller girl who lost in the second round losing again. I hope the antidote actually works with two doses of that poison. 

Even Mary said that she didn't need to prick her finger again, especially as she had passed out already, but her sister, I think it was? Anyway, her sister pricked her finger on it anyways, saying that they didn't want Mary telling people that she'd let them off easy. 

They left, and we rushed Yumeko to the infirmary. Ryota had to carry her there because I definitely can't carry a deadweight human that far, and neither could Mary, so we ran ahead and tried to find someone who knew how to administer the antidote. 

We ended up bumping into someone named Rei, who apparently knew what to do, and Mary also seemed to know them. So we rushed back to the infirmary with our makeshift doctor. 

Rei gave Yumeko the antidote, and almost immediately she started to look better. 

"She's finally starting to get her color back," Ryota sighed. 

"Relax, she'll be fine," Rei said. "But that wouldn't have been the case if you two hadn't won. It's a serious poison. Thankfully, though, the antidote seems to be working properly."

"I have to admit, I had my doubts about it being genuine," said Mary. 

"Well, I'll leave you be for now."

"Thank you, Rei! You really helped us. We wouldn't have known how to administer the antidote without you," Ryota exclaimed.

"Yeah, you really saved her!" I added. 

"Of course. I'm glad that I could be of assistance. Goodbye," Rei said, and left. I sat down next to Yumeko, just feeling relieved that she wasn't dead. For once, I could barely even think.

"Mary!"

"Huh?"

"Thank you for everything! You're the only reason we managed to save Yumeko," Ryota said. 

"Yeah, cause us two idiots suck at gambling!" I joked. 

"I... Well, c'mon! It's not like I could just let her die!" And there's the tsundere. 

"I guess that's true. I'm just so relieved, you know? I mean, Yumeko's really amazing." And there goes Ryota, gushing over Yumeko again. Though I have to admit, I do see the appeal. "You wanna guess what she told me when the poison began to kick in? She said I should call you, because then things would get really interesting."

"Oh..."

"Okay then, I think you guys are kind of having a moment, so I'm gonna head out," I said. Which yeah, there's definitely some fondness, but I said that mostly just to get Mary flustered. It worked better than I thought, because both of them turned redder than I'd ever seen them. Ah, young love.

Speaking of which, I'd like to see what Kirari's up to. That ended up not being too difficult, because there was a huge crowd around one of the tables, one that usually only shows up when one of the student council members is gambling. 

"Jomaru has two pairs: ace high," I heard. I'd never heard of that guy before and I thought maybe he was a part of the clan, that is until I heard who he was up against. "Kirari also has two pairs: ace high, but the kicker is a nine. And the kicker clinches it, Kirari is the winner!" 

I walked up to go congratulate her, but before I could, that Jomaru guy beat me to it. 

"Impressive, Kirari. You had me in the palm of your hand right from the beginning until the end!" Sayaka was nearby, taser ready, but I had a different idea. 

I ripped the stupid rose out of his hand and crushed it under my foot. 

"Get the fuck away from her," I said. I seriously couldn't believe this guy had the nerve to flirt with her. I mean honestly, what about her implies that she's straight??

"Uh, why is that?" he asked. 

"Because she's fucking taken, that's why." That was when Sayaka closed in with the taser. 

"Aaaand that's my cue to exit. Good luck!" 

"Hey, how long are you gonna be doing this? I'm kind of bored." Yeah, I know, I'm a whiny baby, but I need attention! How else am I supposed to get it?

"That depends on if anyone else is up for it," she replied. "This has all been completely dull so far. I want a real challenge. Someone please rescue me from this!"

"Of course you'd say that," I sighed. There was no way she'd stop now. 

"We'd be happy to play you." It was that guy from the Momobami clan with the weird hair. 

"Well, then. Looks like I can have some fun!"

They started to play, and this guy actually had a decent amount of chips on him. That's when I realized he was one of the people in the top ten, yeah, that Rin guy. 

Of course, Kirari went all in right away, because that's just how she is. He folded on the first one, but they played three more rounds after that, and each time Kirari bet all of her chips. They started another, and as I could've easily predicted, this was Kirari's move:

"All in."

"Now I get it! You can make your opponent fold right away by going all in, but all you get is the ante. So then that's the highest risk for a low return. Sorry, but that's very foolish," Rin said. "But, you have more chips than us so our only option against your all in is to do the same thing. In other words, it's patently obvious that you're forcing us into a sudden death challenge. This isn't about poker at all, you just want to see if we're up for this kind of gamble or not. Did I hit it? Be honest!"

"Oh yeah, things have finally gotten interesting!" Oh boy, this is gonna give me a whole lot of anxiety. "Let's have some fun!" she said. 

He laughed. "How typical. Alright, if that's how it is, then I'm out."

"What??" she exclaimed. 

"We're not duty-bound to comply with this, or at least not for the time being. Let's go, Sumika."

"Great!" I said. "We should go too." Although I have to admit, the look on Kirari's face when Rin quit was pretty cute. 

"Ugh. That was rather disappointing. But, I suppose you're right," Kirari said. 

"Good! Now can we please go? There's way too many people here for my liking." Jesus. Why am I being so whiny? Ah, yes. That'd be the bottom in me. 

She stood up and took my hand. "Yes, alright. Let's go."

A/N: sorry this took so long, i had a huge case of writer's block and on top of that my parents insisted that we have a lot of family time. thank you for yelling at me, i told you it works! love you all, and i'll try to update again soon <3