For as long as Kira Timurov can remember, her life has been dictated by her father's ruthless vision for their family legacy. At seven years old, she learned her future was already decided: an arranged marriage to Yumeko Jabami, the daughter of a powerful Japanese family. Summers were spent together under watchful eyes - some were bright with laughter, others heavy with resentment - until the bond between them frayed into wary silence. Years later, St. Dominic's Academy becomes their battleground. Kira, cold and calculating, refuses to be caged into a future she didn't choose. Yumeko, all patience and quiet defiance, wants only to reclaim the childhood friend she lost. But in a school where power is gambled and won at the table, every smile hides a strategy and every glance could be a wager. Told through the push and pull of the present and summers past, their story unfolds in high-stakes games, reluctant alliances, and moments neither of them can quite forget - a scraped knee and whispered comfort, a stolen kiss under drunken lights, a dare that lingers for years. As the games escalate and family pressures tighten, both must decide what they are willing to risk: the power they've fought for, or the person who's always been at the other side of the table. Because sometimes, even in an arranged marriage, you get to choose how you play the hand you've been dealt.

Adding all one shots from my AO3 under this one.

Kira Timurov climbs to control the chaos in her life - every hold calculated, every breath measured. Yumeko Jabami climbs for the thrill of not knowing what comes next. When Yumeko challenges her to a blindfolded trust climb, Kira agrees only to prove she can master even risk itself. But halfway up the wall, guided only by Yumeko's voice, Kira discovers that trust isn't something you command - it's something you surrender to.

At St. Dominic's, Yumeko Jabami's reputation precedes her: compulsive gambler, thrill-chaser, the "Kakegurui." Her world is built on risk, instinct, and the intoxicating rush of tearing through opponents one gamble at a time. But when her obsession turns toward Kira Timurov-the ruthless, elegant student council president known for her unshakable control-Yumeko discovers a game far more dangerous than cards or dice. What begins as a wager becomes an obsession. Yumeko thought she could tempt the untouchable queen and claim victory, but Kira rewrites the rules entirely. In her arms, even surrender feels like triumph. And the deeper Yumeko falls into the game, the more she realizes she never really understood the power of Kira's gravity.

"We've decided, together, that you two will be Ellie's guardians. Not because it'll be easy. But because you loved us, and you'll love her. In your own opposite, ridiculous ways." There was a long pause. The words sank in like slow poison. Kira's jaw tightened. Yumeko blinked fast, then laughed once - soft and broken. "Joint guardians," Kira repeated, each syllable measured. "That's absurd." "They trusted us," Yumeko murmured. "Mary trusted me. Riri trusted you." "They trusted us together," Kira said flatly, as if the word itself were a curse. "That was their first mistake." When tragedy names two ex-lovers as joint guardians of a baby girl, they're forced back into each other's orbit with no roadmap for how to coexist - or how to heal. Thrown together in a small house filled with memories, they navigate sleepless nights, quiet arguments, and unexpected laughter as grief slowly reshapes into something else. It is a story about the strange ways love returns - through duty, tenderness, and the fragile act of trying again.

Sent to St. Dominic's Academy to prove her worth, Kira Timurov expected a test of power - not a rival who could dismantle her composure with a glance. Yumeko Jabami is chaos incarnate: brilliant, dangerous, and impossible to predict. What begins as a battle for dominance spirals into curiosity, temptation, and the kind of connection neither of them can control. Between wagers, whispers, and power plays, winning stops being the goal - and starts feeling like a distraction. A slow-burn rivalry of control and surrender, where every gamble is a confession. A role-reversal AU where Kira is the transfer student and Yumeko reigns as president.

Kira Timurov has spent her life fighting for her father's approval, forged into steel by Arkadi's relentless expectations. Now, she finally has her chance to prove herself - leading her family's bid for a high-stakes gambling venture. Everything must be perfect. Everything must be controlled. Enter Yumeko Jabami - the heiress with a perfect smile, the media's darling, and Kira's greatest rival since their teenage years. Reckless where Kira is disciplined, fire to her steel, Yumeko has a way of pulling her off balance - on the boardroom floor and behind closed doors. What begins as rivalry and manipulation twists into something neither of them can deny: an obsession, a chemistry too sharp to ignore. Between power struggles, smear campaigns, and the ghosts of their fathers' empires, Kira and Yumeko find themselves torn between destroying each other and burning the world down together. They were raised to be heirs, pawns, enemies. Instead, they became fire and steel - rivals, lovers, unstoppable.

In the opulent halls of St. Dominic's, an exclusive private boarding school where status is determined by one's gambling prowess, two formidable forces collide.

The Student Council's retreat was a disaster. A complete circus of chaos. In the center of that chaos stood Kira Timurov and her newfound partner in crime Yumeko Jobami. It's now the start of the new semester. What does St. Dominic's School and Arkadi Timurov have planned for the unlikely pair. Mary still hasnt forgiven Riri after discovering the truth about Becky's death. Will Riri be able to not only reconcile with Mary but her own sister as well?