Chapter 2: Overbetting

AN: I'll be jumping right into the deep end of the pool with poker stuff. If you find yourself a bit confused or lost, I'll certainly be presenting things in a more accessible manner down the line.

I'm just adjusting to using the Japanese names of the characters, hopefully it goes well. In this fic, I'm using their dub names as nicknames for a few of the characters, just so that's clear now.

OOO

The incessant clicking and clattering was starting to get to Hikari. And that was quite an achievement, given how occupied her mind currently was with her circumstances.

She was inside the Sasaki manor, finally, occupying the role of table servant as she had been told. This seemed to be the game room, occupied by various tables with assorted objects on top of them. Other colorful objects were put up on the walls. She didn't know what any of it was or how it was used, and she certainly wasn't going to care right now. Also sporadically placed on the walls were decorations, paintings and trinkets, none of which Hikari had the time nor the mindset to really look at.

Only one of the tables was occupied at the moment, a large oval-shaped one near the entrance to the room with chairs all around it. The surface was covered in a green felt. Each chair was occupied by a well-dressed young adult. Hikari had been told to kneel on the floor a couple feet away from the table, keep her head down, and be ready to jump up the moment anyone had an order for her.

They were all playing a card game. How the game worked was the last thing Hikari cared about right now. It involved a stack of cards, and each player had several stacks of small, circular chips in front of them.

And it was those damned chips that were causing her aggravation. Most of the players constantly played with their chips, clicking them against each other, stacking them, re-stacking them, every action coming with a series of obnoxious sounds.

Of course, she wasn't nearly dumb enough to complain about it.

"Glass of the dark, the four and a half percent," a voice came from the table. Hikari immediately jumped up, briskly walking over to the near corner of the room. Several large wooden barrels with metal taps near the bottoms were positioned there, with stacks of upside-down drinking glasses next to them. She grabbed one of the glasses and moved to the third barrel from the left, labeled '4.5% DARK'. She twisted the tap and a stream of dark liquid poured out from the tap and into the glass.

When the glass was filled to capacity, she turned the tap off, a head of foam topping the container of liquid. She quickly walked it over to the table, careful to not spill a drop.

"Right over here," one of the players said, waving his hand at her. A thin young man with a clean head of blue hair. His hairstyle actually made her think of her own a little bit. As she quickly took the glass over to him, she examined the occupants of the table for the first time.

Hido, of course, was there. The rest she had never seen before. To the right of the blue-haired one who had just placed the order, there was a woman, big thick glasses on her face, long lavender hair reaching her shoulders. Next to her was a tall man with slightly dark skin, an unlit cigarette held between his lips. A man with short blond hair, a large man with a bald head, a blonde-haired woman with a large chest, a dark-skinned man with very short black hair, and a short woman with a brown ponytail. All of them wore expensive-looking clothing. Not too different from the sorts of people she would frequently see when she was serving her previous masters.

Without lingering too much on thoughts of examining the people she was serving tonight, she got the glass over to the blue-haired man. He took it, a small smile cast her way before he turned his attention back to the table.

"I was intentionally flatting and hoping someone would squeeze," Hido said, tossing two cards over towards the woman with the brown ponytail. "I had this great plan, and of course, she just has to have aces." He gestured over towards the girl with lavender hair, scowling.

"Honestly, I'm impressed you didn't get felted," said the blond man. "Good pot control, could have easily gone broke with queens in that spot."

Hido growled. "Why would you say that, Takeru? W-why would you say something like that?"

"No, I'm serious, checking the flop saved you quite a bit of money," Takeru insisted. "I-it's a good play."

"Yeah, good play." Hido rolled his eyes. The woman with the brown ponytail, holding the stack of cards, began distributing them out to the players face down, moving around the table. "I'm stuck eighteen thousand already tonight, I wanna hear someone tell me about how good I played it to save seven thousand? No, to hell with that!"

Takeru gave a small grimace. "Okay, okay, sorry."

The blonde woman flipped her two cards over towards the woman holding the stack of cards, keeping them face down. "So anyway, I just thought it was a weird thing to say, he didn't even have to say it."

The man with short black hair also tossed his two cards towards the middle of the table. "You know, I wonder if he's right. Thinking about it, I don't know if you're losing anything, but you might gain some exposure."

"I mean, maybe. Don't you think some people might find feet gross? I think some people do," she replied.

"Raise it to six hundred," Hido said, seemingly not a part of the conversation at hand, tossing a green chip and a white chip towards the center of the table.

Hikari went back to her spot on the floor, kneeling and waiting for another order. Listening to these people engage in such casual conversation made her feel all the worse. She was literally serving this table for her life and her brother's life, and the people right next to her had no clue how high the stakes were for her. And if they did know, they probably wouldn't even care. Hearing them joking around and talking about things she had no understanding of and playing a game just hammered all this home.

Earlier in the day, while a couple of older women had helped her clean up, she had put things together. There was no winning here. Taichi was obviously in no shape to do much of anything, much less work efficiently, and wouldn't be for quite some time. There was no such thing as medical leave, or any half-decent medical care, for slaves. Hikari could see Hido playing a sadistic little game that couldn't be won. Surely, even if she performed her serving duties to his satisfaction, he'd just let Taichi prove himself completely incapable of working before disposing of him anyway. And as for what would happen with her, she wasn't sure.

She still felt like she needed to give her best effort to please Hido, just to have a chance. But she had a feeling there was no scenario where Taichi made it out with his life. And her feeling of extreme helplessness was only increased by hearing such casual banter.

OOO

~Takeru~

"Sure, but it's not like the photos are focusing on the feet specifically, they're just present in the picture." Takeru grabbed a green chip and a white chip from the many stacks in front of him and tossed them towards the center of the table. "I think most people wouldn't even really think about it, but if you're into it, it might draw your attention a little more."

"Are you complaining about it? Do you not like it?" Ken asked.

"Oh, no, definitely not, it's not a problem. I don't even like wearing shoes," Daisy said, tucking a couple strands her long blonde hair behind her right ear. "It was just kind of a funny thing to say, I thought. He could have just said, take your shoes off for the photoshoot, and I wouldn't have even thought about it. But he chooses to specifically say that he believes that a lot of people have a bit of a foot fetish and don't want to admit it."

"Two players," Juliet announced, taking the first card off the top of the deck in her hand and setting it to the side, then taking the next three cards off the top and setting them face-up on the center of the table next to each other.

Nine of clubs, nine of diamonds, four of diamonds.

Juliet gestured towards Hido, who took a few seconds to observe the cards before making a move towards his pile of chips. "Eight hundred." He tossed a green chip and three white chips to the middle of the table.

Juliet turned to Takeru, gesturing now to him.

"So when do the advertisements actually get put up?" Sammy asked, pulling the unlit cigarette from his mouth for a second before putting it back in.

"I think about three weeks, they'll put the posters up in the stores. They'll show up in magazines next month."

"I still feel like it's a big scam," Miyako chimed in. "They'll take those photos you did for them and they might use them thousands of times over multiple years. Getting paid a flat fee is bullshit."

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, so terrible, I only got paid twenty-five grand for one day of work, I feel so wronged."

"Twenty-five grand?" Daryl repeated from the seat to the left of Daisy. "I would have guessed five at best, that's pretty incredible."

"Well, they can't mess around with me because of my mother," Daisy pointed out. "It's not worth saving a few thousand dollars if it means possibly irritating her."

"I have a hard time picturing your mom getting upset about anything. That's just kind of a hard thing to imagine from what I've seen of her," Yuma said with a small laugh.

"That's because you never saw her near the end of her first marriage," Daisy said, grimacing slightly.

During the conversation, Takeru had been staring at the flop, shuffling some chips together with the fingers of his right hand. He grabbed two black chips from the top of one of the stacks in front of him, followed by three white ones from another stack. He could sense Hido starting to frown as he put the small handful of chips together.

"Pot," he said quietly, tossing the five chips into the middle. The moment they hit the felt, Hido slammed the table hard with his right fist.

"LITERALLY every time the flop is paired tonight, he has trips!" he snapped. The light conversation around the table stopped, everyone looking at Hido.

"W-what happened?" Yuma asked. "What's going on?"

Hido gritted his teeth, looking over at the chips Takeru had just put in. "Fourth time tonight, we've been playing for less than a hour, he has it again!"

"Wow, I was totally not even paying attention," Miyako said, leaning in to look at the flop. "What's the deal?"

Hido sighed. "I bluffed on a flop that was good to bluff on, and he has a nine." He quickly took his two cards and tossed them over to Juliet. "Every time the flop is paired, he has trips. Fourth time tonight. Like, every time I bluff, I run into a monster."

"One thing I noticed, is that every time you're in a hand, and someone else is in the same hand, they always have a better hand than you," Daisy said dryly, trying to not laugh as she said it.

"Yeah. It does seem like that, doesn't it?" Hido said.

"Okay, does everyone except Hido realize Daisy is trolling him, or does Hido realize it too and is just playing along?" Ken asked, earning a disdainful look from Hido. The entire table shared a small laugh as Juliet pushed the pile of chips in the middle over to Takeru.

"I'm actually offended that you don't think I have it in me to bluff you in that spot," Takeru said as he began stacking the chips by color in front of him.

Hido needed a second to consider Takeru's words before turning to him, eyes widening, realizing what had happened. Takeru took his two cards and flipped them face up on the table, exposing the seven of spades and the two of hearts.

"Ohhhh shit!" Daryl said, jumping up from his seat and clapping. "You were floating him preflop with seven deuce, that's sick!"

"Oh, that's pure!" Akira said, grinning widely. Juliet took the two cards back into the deck, shuffling it.

"Wow," Hido said under his breath. "Called a preflop raise with seven deuce. Didn't raise me, called me."

"That's two hundred from everyone," Takeru said, motioning his finger around at the table. Each player grabbed two white chips from their respective stacks and tossed them over to Takeru, with Hido taking his time. "Come on buddy, we're playing the bounty, we agreed before we started."

Hido grunted, before quickly grabbing two white chips and throwing them in front of Takeru. He took the bounty and stacked the chips in front of him.

"I just can't believe you tried it on Hido," Miyako said, holding her hands over her chest, still in slight surprise. "You're always talking about how he's such a calling station, I just thought you'd never try to bluff him."

"I was only gonna try it if the flop was dry," Takeru said, unable to not grin at his own tricky play. "And I knew if I raised preflop he was just going to ship it with anything decent."

"I had ace king of spades," Hido grunted as Juliet began dealing the cards again. "If I had any pocket pair bigger than a ten, I'm snap-calling, how can you try that move?" He still sounded disbelieving that he had been had so badly.

"I know you're on tilt, so your range is wider," Takeru said coolly as he looked down at his cards. Nine of hearts, five of spades. "And you're incredibly unbalanced on paired flops." The action folded around to him, only Yuma having entered the hand so far, and he threw his hand into the muck as well. "Fold."

"What do you mean?" Hido asked, turning to Takeru, interest piqued.

Takeru gave a small sigh. "I shouldn't be telling you this, since it's a huge leak in your game that I can exploit, but it's kind of sad at this point. So I will." He turned to Hido.

"To five hundred," Daisy said, tossing one green chip towards the middle of the table.

"You always bet paired flops, like eighty percent of the time," Takeru said. "It's just this massive leak in your game. I know you're bluffing most of the time and I can just push you over."

"You're feeling nice today, TK," Sammy said. "I would never have told him. Not in a hundred years."

"Well, it's just starting to depress me almost. He does it over and over again, and thinks people can't pick up on it."

"Two players," Juliet said, again burning a card before flipping the next three over. Jack of diamonds, ace of diamonds, nine of clubs. Daisy quickly tapped her fingers on the table a couple times, checking over to Yuma.

"That play's never going to work unless you're balanced," Takeru continued. "If it's a good flop for you to bluff, it's just as good a flop for me to bluff too."

Hido gave a little grunt of annoyance before standing up. "I'm just gonna go rebuy now." He turned towards a cabinet against the wall, near where the servant girl was kneeling. Yuma tapped the table with his fingers a few times as well.

"Rebuying after forty-five minutes," Ken muttered as Hido opened the cabinet and grabbed a rack of various-colored chips. "Sometimes there's just nothing you can do."

Another card from the top of the deck was discarded, and the next one was flipped up next to the first three. Three of clubs.

"Hey, everyone in this game has had to rebuy faster than that at least a few times," Hido retorted, bringing the rack over and flipping it on it's side, letting the chip stacks fall out onto the table. "Don't tell me I'm wrong, I know for a fact people have had to rebuy after two hands on multiple occasions."

Takeru turned to look over at the servant girl on the floor. "Water, and some peanuts." Immediately, she jumped up to her feet and made her way over into the near corner. Takeru sized her up, noting the ginger gait she had, almost as if she was in pain, and the tremendous rush she was in to fill the glass with water.

Daisy silently tossed four white chips into the middle of the table.

"Four hundred," Juliet said, turning to Yuma.

"New girl? Haven't seen her before," Takeru asked, turning to look at Hido.

"And you won't see her again," Hido replied tartily. "She's just filling in for the night, since the house slaves around here are a bunch of worthless cows."

"I think the role fits her," Takeru said as she raced back over, carrying the glass and a small bowl of nuts. He felt a small twinge of some discomfort, getting to look at her straight on. Her motions seemed robotic and forced, eyes almost unfocused. He had been around thousands of slaves in his life, and rarely were they all that happy with their lot in life, but this one in particular looked pathetic and hopeless. It wasn't a pretty thing to look at. "She makes sense doing something like this."

Yuma tossed his cards towards Juliet, surrendering the hand, and the small pile of chips was sent over to Daisy.

"Well, she's a field slave. And after today, she'll be going back to the field, and that's that," Hido said, finality in his voice, turning to shoot Hikari a look as she kneeled back on the floor.

"I gave you such a good price and everything, I wanted you to call so bad!" Daisy said with a wry little grin, pushing her cards over to Juliet. "Such a big hand I had, I wanted you to raise!"

"Ace jack of clubs?" Takeru said without breaking stride.

Daisy blinked down hard a couple times. "Oh my God, he reads me when he's not even paying attention, I must be so bad at this game."

"No you're not," Takeru said. "It's just kind of obvious." He cleared his throat as Juliet shuffled the deck.

Moments later, a new hand was dealt out, each player getting two cards as always. "So anyway, what does she do out in the field?"

Hido scoffed in annoyance. "What all the other field slaves do. You know how a farm works, right?" Hido threw his two cards back over to Juliet.

Takeru rubbed his chin, looking back over at the slave girl. She was shaking a bit. "I...she just doesn't really look the part."

"Make it...six hundred to go," Ken said, tossing a green chip and white chip into the center of the table.

"Well, we bought her to work in the field, so that's what she's going to do, or else," Hido said, visibly agitated. "Are you taking a survey? Do you actually give a shit for some reason?"

Miyako and Sammy folded their cards back over to Juliet. Takeru finally took a look at his two cards. King of clubs, king of spades.

"I just think it's a little odd," Takeru said casually, taking his time with the decision of calling or raising. "Out there she must be...half as productive as the others." He leaned back and looked over at her. "No offense meant, sorry."

She looked up and over at him, bewilderment and confusion painted on her face.

Hido glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, causing her to quickly look away. "You're right on that one. Useful as tits on a boar out there," he grumbled. "But if she doesn't find a way to pick things up, it'll be her who suffers, not me."

"I understand," Ken said, propping his right elbow on the edge of the table and putting his palm against his cheek. "It's kind of like when you have a poker hand that you know is losing, but you call the bet anyway." Ken gave a small smirk. "You know, like a...calling station might do."

The whole table minus Hido gave a good laugh at this. Even Hido couldn't resist a small smile after a moment, begrudgingly acknowledging the humor.

"Okay, that was actually a little funny," Hido conceded. "Not THAT funny, though." He looked back at the slave girl. "She was one of the slaves getting sold when the Ripley estate had that big sale a handful of months ago. We needed a couple new field hands, so I bought her brother. They told me that if I bought her as well, they'd discount me a third of the price. Not turning down value like that."

"It's not value if she's only giving you half production out there," Sammy said, taking the cigarette and tucking it behind his right ear. "TK, it's on you."

"I know," Takeru said, taking a black chip and a green chip from the large pile in front of him. "Raise to fifteen hundred."

"Yikes," Daryl said, quickly folding his hand over to Juliet. Those acting behind quickly followed suit, the turn quickly going back to Ken.

"Aw man. This sucks," Ken lamented. "I don't know what to do. It's just me and him, right?"

"Yup," Miyako replied. "Nine hundred to call."

Ken sighed. "Pot's already...twenty-four hundred." He grimaced, looking over at Takeru. "I don't want to play a bloated pot out of position with the chip leader."

"What does it matter if he's the chip leader?" Sammy asked. "It's a cash game, you can just rebuy if he busts you."

"Yeah, but I don't want to get busted either way!" Ken objected. "Besides, I...actually didn't bring any more money with me today."

"Yeah, and your credit is obviously no good here," Yuma said dryly. "We all think you're broke, you definitely can't just rebuy and promise to bring the cash next time."

"Maybe he accidentally set those truckloads of money he has back home on fire," Daisy followed up on Yuma's joke. "One of his little science experiments goes wrong, millions goes up in flames!"

"Okay, either way, I'd rather not have to rebuy, and this spot is just gross," Ken said. "I can't fold either, I have such a good hand, this might be my best hand for the next two hours for all I know!" He grimaced. "How much you got there, TK?"

Takeru surveyed the depths of his chip stacks. "Uh...I've got like...fifty-five grand behind."

"See, he's already doubled up today." Ken looked over his smaller stack of chips. "I've got like...twenty-eight thousand. I could double up through him and he'd still have a small profit on the day, that's what's so sick about it."

"If you do double up, why would you even care about that?" Hido asked.

"Point is, I can't even really hurt him, but he can hurt me." Ken sighed again. "I'm tempted to just shove. At least then I don't have to play out of position." He looked back over at Takeru. "Alright." He grabbed a green chip and four white chips and tossed them into the middle. "I call."

"Two players," Juliet said quietly, taking the chips into the middle of the table.

"And for the record, Hido, I kind of like her too," Ken said, gesturing his head over towards the slave girl. "She looks nice, she fits the role well."

Miyako gave Ken a dirty look. "Seriously? I mean, I'm right here."

"Oh, don't be like that," Ken said dismissively. "I just...I think I like her more than the usual girl when we play here." He shrugged. "Don't take it too seriously."

Juliet put down the flop. Two of spades, two of diamonds, two of clubs.

"Oh, this is gross," Ken said, smirking despite himself. He reached forward to tap the table. "I don't like that flop. I check, please bet so I can fold." He turned to Miyako. "Honey, if he bets, you have to make me fold."

"Check," Takeru said, looking over at Juliet. "Come on, we both know that whatever you have, that was a great flop, don't even try that."

"Yeah, I know, it's a great flop for my hand, that's why I hate it!" Ken said. "You're not getting me to bet, I'm not betting! I check in the dark."

Juliet put down the turn card. Queen of spades.

TK looked down at the community cards, clasping his hands in front of his face, in thought.

"Just to be firm," Hido suddenly interjected. "To close the matter. Ken, I don't tell your family how to put together computers. TK, I don't tell your family how to run their casino." He pointed over at the servant girl. "She's a field slave. That's how we use her, that's what she's going to do, and if she can't keep up, then she'll pay the price. End of discussion."

Takeru popped a few peanuts into his mouth. "Fair enough." He grabbed two black chips from the top of one of his stacks. "Two grand." He tossed them towards the middle of the table.

"Oof," Ken said, a nervous smile on his face as he looked at the community cards. "Two thousand."

"Is this where I'm supposed to make you fold?" Miyako asked sarcastically.

Ken grimaced. "Technically, yes. But I'm getting better than two and a half to one on my money, I can't fold now." He grabbed a stack of black chips and began playing with them on the table, shuffling them around. "I might even need to raise."

The rest of the table had gone silent at this point, watching the action develop between the two.

"I can't fold," Ken muttered. "Okay, you know what?" He took two of the black chips he was playing with and tossed them into the middle. "I just call."

Seven thousand three hundred in the pot," Akira said under his breath. "Wish I could be part of it."

Juliet discarded the top card, then put down the river. Seven of diamonds.

"I check," Ken said quickly, pointing over at Takeru. "Now give me a good price and I'll pay you off. Go on, take my money."

"I'm all-in," Takeru said immediately, drawing a gasp from Miyako and a little shocked yelp from Daisy.

"No, you're not!" Sammy said, looking over at Takeru. "Oh, I love you guys. This is so beautiful."

"More than triple the pot?" Daisy said in disbelief. "The heck is going on here?"

"NOW can I make you fold?" Miyako asked, looking back at Ken, who looked shocked at the immediate shove from Takeru. "I think I might make you fold regardless of what you say."

"H-hold on," Ken said, grabbing more black chips and beginning to play with them, stacking and cutting them repeatedly on the table. "Now I'm not sure."

"So you have something?" Hido asked. "You're last to act no matter what, you can say whatever now."

"Yes, I have something." Ken put his hand up to his mouth. "If he bets four or five thousand, it's an easy call. If he bets eight or ten thousand, it's an easy fold. Twenty-six thousand, I don't know." He shook his head. "Now I'm wondering if he has ten-nine or jack-ten and is just trying to buy the pot." He looked up at the ceiling. "He might have jack high."

"You can beat jack high?" Daisy asked, a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"I have jack high crushed," Ken said. "Yeah, I may as well just say what my hand is at this point, right?"

"Everyone knows your hand already," Takeru said. "Unless you're just messing around."

"What's my hand?" Ken asked.

"Well, it's either ace queen or king queen," Takeru replied. "Anything else and this whole hand makes no sense."

Ken grabbed his two cards. "Guess it doesn't matter now," he said, flipping them face up on the table, exposing the ace of hearts and the queen of hearts.

"Oh, you have a queen?" Daryl said, looking over at Ken's cards. "Well what are you waiting for?"

"Can I have those cards?" Yuma said. "I want those cards, I'll snap-call with them."

Ken stretched his back out. "Hold on, I need a second."

"This is kind of a big moment, so I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't talk strategy with him while the hand is alive," Takeru said. "Just, you know, it's on him."

Ken sighed heavily. "He knows what my hand is. He puts me all in for more than triple the pot." He licked his lips, then took a drink out of his glass of beer. "Doesn't mean he can beat it. If he thought I had a queen, he'd think I wouldn't be able to fold it. So he'd go for maximum value. Of course, he knows that I know that, so he could be bluffing."

Takeru reached over and took a sip from his glass of water, letting Ken ponder his decision.

"Oh man. This sucks," Ken said. "I'm gonna be genuinely mad if I call and he shows seven-two offsuit again." He ran his fingers through his blue hair. "That'd be pretty dirty." He leaned forward towards the board. "Okay. Aces, kings, queens, sevens, any hand with a deuce in it. Can't beat any of those hands. If he has a queen, we split the pot. What else would he do this with?"

"I love watching this stuff," Daisy said, a small smile on her face. "The two greatest poker minds around, going back and forth in a big pot."

Ken gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, I wish. If I had the best poker mind around, I would have made the right decision by now. Okay, any other hand is a bluff. He wouldn't do this with two jacks unless he was turning them into a bluff. So...all I can beat is a bluff." He looked up at Takeru. "He could definitely be bluffing. That overbet looks like it could be."

Ken looked down at his chip stack. "If I fold I'm still up two hundred tonight." He shook his head. "I really just think he has aces or kings. It's just, he checked the flop, would you do that with aces or kings?" After a couple more seconds, he picked up his two cards and threw them towards Juliet.

"Oh my god, he threw it away," Sammy said in mild shock. "He threw away a double-up."

"How do you fold that freaking hand?!" Yuma said.

Ken grabbed two white chips from his pile. "TK, I'll give you two hundred to show me what you had."

"If he has seven deuce, he'll show anyway," Miyako pointed out.

"I don't have seven deuce," Takeru said quickly. "I think."

Ken gave a disbelieving little head shake. "Okay. I'll give you two hundred to show. If you show seven deuce, the two hundred counts as the bounty."

"Why would I lie at this point? Hand's over. And I can't believe you folded, I missed out on so much value." With a shrug, he flipped over his two cards, exposing the two black kings.

"Wow!" Daryl gasped. "He nailed it!"

Ken tossed two white chips over to Takeru, then put his hands up in the air. "Best laydown of the night!"

Juliet pushed the pot over to Takeru, who quickly began stacking them in front of him. "I can't believe you got away from that, I overbet thinking you'd call anything." He shrugged. "Should have just bet five thousand."

"I never could have folded that hand, I can't lie," Daisy said. "I think if it's anyone else in that situation, it's a call."

"Hey honey!" Ken turned to Miyako. "I was supposed to go broke that hand!" He pointed over at Takeru. "But he forgot one thing. I can dodge bullets, baby!"

Hido turned to look at the servant girl. "Hey," he said, causing her to jump to her feet. "The green bottle in the cabinet on the bottom shelf. Pour out eight shots."

"Oh, finally we get comped a little bit here," Sammy said, peering over Miyako's head to look at the girl following her orders. "What, you mix some stuff in your bathtub?"

"That's Cada Elixir, so I don't want to hear you complain about the 'comps' around here again after today," Hido said.

"Trying to get everyone drunk so you have a chance to win," Ken said wryly. "I gotta admit, I respect the strategy."

Takeru turned to look at Hikari, getting eight shot glasses out on a brass tray. Still the same forced, robotic movements from her, if anything more pronounced now. Perhaps having half the room talking about her had shaken her even more.

"That bottle is worth more than your life," Hido snapped over at her as she popped the cork out of the top of the bottle. "You spill one drop, I'll chop off your hands."

Takeru raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Hido before looking back to her. She certainly carried herself like someone who was facing extreme punishment if she slipped up in the slightest, so her demeanor made a little more sense.

"My father made a deal with the Cada breweries and they gave us a bunch of vintage bottles as a gift. He gave me this one, said it might be a nice thing to share with you guys." He smirked. "Don't know why, you guys are such pricks to me all the time."

"We're all pricks to everyone," Daryl countered. "It's just your turn in the barrel. TK, on you."

Takeru turned back to the table and looked down at his two cards. Jack of spades, six of spades. He tossed them back over to Juliet, turning back to watch the girl carefully carry a tray of full shot glasses over towards the table.

OOO

"I think that's one of the best days anyone's ever had at this game," Daisy marveled as Takeru lined his stacks of chips up in front of him. "What did you end up with?"

"I think this is the best I've ever done playing with you guys. At least top three," Takeru agreed. "Looks like...one hundred and twenty two thousand, six hundred."

"You nearly...quintupled up," Hido said, nodding to himself. "Credit where credit is due."

Sammy stood up. "Did anyone else profit today? I know I definitely didn't."

Juliet reached into a large wooden chest underneath the table, filled with stacks of green slips of paper about three inches thick, held together by rubber bands. She took out five of them and brought them up to the table. She tossed four of them over to Takeru, then undid the rubber band on the fifth.

"Thank you so much, you were great tonight." Takeru watched her count out bills from the fifth stack, removing twenty-four bills and giving Takeru the remainder. Takeru quickly took five of the bills and tossed them back to Juliet.

"Thank you so much, sir," Juliet replied, taking the five hundred dollars and slipping it into a pocket on the chest of her shirt.

"Yeah, you should tip her well tonight," Yuma said, standing up from the table and stretching out. "I'm at...seventeen thousand, eight hundred." Down over eight grand, I actually feel kind of lucky anyway."

Juliet reached back down into the chest, grabbing a stack.

"So what's your bankroll now?" Daisy asked, standing up as well and moving around the table, closer to Takeru. "Gotta be pretty good."

"Uh...like eight fifty," Takeru answered. "Not counting this, so...now it's nine seventy, about."

"How is it not way more?" Miyako asked, counting her own chips out. "I feel like I've lost more than that to you over the years. Like, just me."

TK snickered. "Yeah, I wish." He shrugged, shoving the large handfuls of money into a small bag looped around the back of his chair. "Sometimes I lose too, you know. Sometimes I run bad, sometimes I get unlucky, sometimes I play bad. And sometimes I spend some of my bankroll."

"On what?" Yuma asked, also doing a final count of his stack.

"Stuff. When I want something, and I have to exchange money to acquire it," Takeru stood up, looping the bag over his shoulder, then stretching his arms up above his head. "You know, how capitalism works."

"Yeah, but out of your bankroll?" Yuma continued. "Your dad sounds like a bit of a tightwad sometimes, but making you buy your own stuff with your bankroll?"

"Well, I like buying things with my money, it makes me feel good. And obviously I can afford it," Takeru countered.

"So...if you were like every other kid with wealthy parents in the world and just had them buy you everything, what do you think your bankroll would be?" Daisy asked. "Like, your culmulative poker profit."

Takeru thought for a moment, pursing his lips. "Probably around...three million."

"That's a little more believable," Miyako said.

"So if you run decently over the next month, you'll be able to do One Drop this year," Yuma said, mouth curled up into a small grin.

Takeru gave a little hiccuping laugh. "Oh yeah, One Drop, I'm all over that, brilliant idea."

"What, you're not doing One Drop?" Akira asked, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets.

"Gee, let me think. A million dollar buy-in, like twenty people cash at best. Yeah, I'll pass." Takeru took another drink from his half-empty glass of water.

"But what if I do One Drop?" Daisy asked, putting her hands up on her chest. "It's like, I'm gonna do One Drop and you're not even though you're ten times the player I am?"

"You're not doing One Drop," Takeru said.

"Maybe I will!" Daisy enthused. "Between the photoshoots and the commercials and the TV show cameos, the money adds up! I could sell half my share to my mom or something, maybe sell pieces of it to some others, I could come up with a few hundred thousand and sell the rest."

"But would you want to?" Akira countered. "Only the top twenty percent cash, and there's no dead money in a tournament like that."

"There'd be dead money in if I was in it," Daisy said jokingly.

"Oh, don't be like that," Takeru chided. "You're not dead money. Although there is definitely dead money in One Drop. Always a handful of billionaires who just want to gamble. But, yeah, don't do One Drop, seriously."

"What if each of us bought ten percent of your stake?" Sammy asked. "Come on, you should do it if that happens."

"I'm not giving Takeru a hundred grand, so that's out of the question," Hido quickly stated. "He's taken enough of my money."

"I'm not doing One Drop," Takeru said, finality in his voice. "I might do every other event this year though." He looked over at the servant girl on the floor. "Oh, and you were great tonight too, thanks."

She snapped her head up to look up at him, face blank, mouth agape slightly at being directly addressed. He smiled at her and winked, on a certain level enjoying her confusion. Hopefully, he had just made her day, or at least given her something different to experience, even if it was something small.

"Alright, alright," Hido said, pointing towards the door. "I'm down fifty grand tonight, so I can only play a gracious host for so long. Everyone go so I can go break something."

Takeru had his eyes on the girl as Hido officially ended the game night, and definitely saw her eyes widen a bit. She started to shake again as well. Takeru didn't need a calculator to put two and two together. Nor did he need one to add up a few other things in his head.

It was just so hard to tell right now, she looked so worn and scared. The months of hard labor outside definitely showed, her skin blotchy and discolored, her hair stringy. But maybe there was a nice looking girl underneath all of that, hidden by the abuse and poor utilization of her skillset.

And something struck a nerve with Takeru specifically. He was used to seeing people who were far less fortunate in life than he was, and it didn't really effect him anymore, but this girl...she looked so pathetic, it was almost like she was part of a different species that experienced a different array of emotions.

"Yo!"

Takeru snapped up, looking over to find Hido standing to his left, waving his hand towards him. "U-uh..."

"That's you too, high roller! Especially you actually, you're the one who got most of the money I lost." He waved both hands towards the door. "See you in a couple days, I need to lick my wounds privately."

Takeru looked around the game room, finding that everyone else had already grabbed their things, cashed out, and left. He had zoned out, looking at the servant girl for what must have been at least a few minutes.

"And what's your obsession with her?" Hido questioned. "Seriously, you got a thing for dirty, small, incompetent brunettes with bad skin now?"

Takeru put his hands in his pockets, turning to look at Hido. "I'll play you for her."

Hido stopped mid-wave towards the door, arms freezing mid-sweep. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"Her," he pointed at the girl. He noted with satisfaction that she had turned to look at him, eyes wide as saucers, mouth agape. Part of him almost thought of it as a game, giving her surprise after surprise. But he wasn't just trying to get a reaction. "I'll play you heads up for her."

Hido stared at Takeru, forehead wrinkled and eyebrow raised. He glanced over to the girl, then back to him. "I mean, are you serious right now?"

"Yeah," Takeru said, shrugging, acting as if this wasn't an odd offer. "Just you and me, we play a freezeout. You said earlier that that bottle of vintage liqour was worth more than her. That bottle goes for about ten grand, so she's...probably eight?" He nodded. "I'll put up fifteen for her."

"Uh..." Hido said, trying to find words. He pointed at her with his thumb. "I mean, you can see her, right? You're looking at her right now, aren't you?"

"Sure am," Takeru answered, a thin smile on his face. "We play heads up, if you beat me I'll give you fifteen thousand dollars, if I beat you you give me her. You ran bad tonight, here's a chance to make some of it back with reduced risk on your part."

Hido's mouth twitched, fighting to make sense of this. The three people in the room kept glancing at each other, heads rotating around on swivels.

"W...why?" Hido asked. "You're telling me that this girl is worth fifteen grand to you? What is this?"

Takeru shrugged. "I think I can use her. I think I can utilize her better than you can. And she's obviously worth less than that to you, so it's a good offer for you."

"You don't need a doctor to examine her? You don't want to test her?" Hido asked, still wary of this strange offer.

"Yeah, we'll skip all that. Fifteen grand, no inspection. You wanna do it?" Takeru looked back down at her, not even one percent of the wholesale shock having left her expression.

"Uh...I mean, yeah, I'll do it, but...I gotta run it past my father." He pointed over his shoulder. "Technically she's his slave, but I imagine he'll be fine with it." He began backing towards the door. "Give me a few minutes."

He turned and quickly exited the room, taking larger steps than usual, closing the door behind him. Takeru turned to look down at the girl, again giving her a sly little smile.

The room was dead silent for a few seconds, broken only when Takeru took a few steps over towards one of the chairs around the table, spun it around to face away from the table, and sat down in it, putting his hands up behind his head. "Well come on, you must have some kind of opinion. At least something to say—"

"My brother," she said suddenly. Takeru's eyes snapped open, looking at her.

"Hm?"

"M-my brother, he's here too," she said, voice a little hoarse. "Him too, please."

"Not sure what I expected you to say," Takeru mused. "But I definitely didn't expect that."

"My brother's here," she continued. "T-they're gonna kill him for sure, he's half-dead already, I can't leave him here. Sir, please, add him in to the deal, it's his only chance."

"My my," Takeru muttered. "That's actually pretty amazing. You're actually asking me for something." He nodded. "I don't know if I've ever seen a slave ask for something from a non-slave, especially one who's obviously been mistreated as much as you. And right after I throw you a life vest too!"

"I-I'm sorry, sir, b-but...I can't leave my brother here," she lamented, sounding thoroughly miserable.

Takeru puffed a breath out of his nose. "What's your name?"

"Hikari," she answered quickly.

"Pretty name," he said, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. "You just said your brother was already half-dead, right?"

"Y-yes, sir," she admitted with the tone of one who clearly wished she could take that comment back.

"I mean, that's a big problem," Takeru said. "He's a...physical laborer type, I assume? Older brother?"

"Yes sir."

Takeru grimaced. "Well, I have some ability to relate." He shrugged. "I mean, not really, but I have an older brother too. But to tell the truth, I don't really have much need for that sort of slave, and right now there's really not much I could do, I'm sorry."

"P-please, I couldn't bear it if he got left here, I couldn't stand to be separated from him," Hikari continued to beg. He was certainly perplexed by her pushing the matter, and didn't quite know how to feel about it. "And if he stays here, they're going to kill him, they've been torturing him for days already. Please, I promise he'll find a way to be useful to you if you give him a chance." She clasped her hands in front of her chest, looking up at Takeru, eyes starting to water.

"Aw man," Takeru groaned, stretching his legs out and crossing one foot over the other. "What have I gotten into here?" He sighed. "Oh to hell with it, he's not beating me heads up anyway."

A second after those words had left his mouth, the door was flung over, Hido walking back in. "I've got the go-ahead, you've got yourself a deal!" He was genuinely excited. "We'll do it tomorrow night."

"Well, while we're here, why don't we up it a bit?" Takeru said, careful to keep his tone casual. "How about we throw in her brother? You said she had a brother, right?"

Hido opened his mouth to say something, but then immediately closed it, flinching back and looking over at Takeru. "...you...are you, what are you talking about?"

"You're putting her up in the bet," Takeru said, pointing at Hikari, who hadn't gotten up from the floor. "So I'm saying, throw her brother into the deal, I'll fatten up the juice on my end, and we play for that."

"You haven't even seen her brother!" Hido said, surprisingly indignant. "Haven't even been within a hundred feet of him at any point in your life probably!"

"I'll do it blind," Takeru said, shrugging. "Come what may, I'll take my chances."

Hido scoffed, shaking his head. "Look, man, I'd love to say yes, but...we go way back, we're good friends, I'm not gonna do that to you." He pointed with his thumb towards the backside of the house, over his shoulder. "Look, her brother, he's tried to escape twice in the last week. We've been torturing him and are gonna finish him off soon. He can't even walk right now, his days as a slave are done."

Takeru pursed his lips. "Well...then we'll say ten thousand for him." He nodded. "So twenty-five total from me."

"TK, did you not hear me just now? The stuff we've put him through, he can't walk, he can barely talk. If you took one look at him, you'd agree with me! I don't want to rip you off. Ten thousand dollars, he's not even worth ten dollars right now."

"What's been done to him, is it permanent?" Takeru asked speculatively.

Hido shrugged. "I...I mean, we're talking some non-trivial medical treatment. Cost time and money, and no small amounts of either. I guess he could work again with the right care, but why would you bother?"

"I'm willing to deal with that. Ten thousand," Takeru insisted. "If it's not permanent, I'll take my chances."

"Wow, this is...this is so weird." Hido shook his head. "Y-yeah, I'll...I'll do that in a heartbeat, yeah, absolutely, but...why do you...w-wait..." Suddenly, his gaze leveled over at Hikari. "D-did...did she say something to you?"

Takeru remained cool on the outside, but his stomach did a small flip at the question. "W-...well..."

"Oh my God, you are shitting me!" Hido snapped, Hikari finally moving to flinch away from his accusing tone. "I mean, wow. She asked you to get her brother too?"

Takeru shrugged, looking away from Hido. "W-well, yeah, she brought it up."

"That's...wow, I thought I was mad before," he said, glaring daggers at Hikari. "With everything I told you last night, and AFTER you get handed a dream opportunity out of nowhere, you talk out of turn? You talk behind my back?!"

"What's the big deal even?" Takeru asked, voice still steady and calm, trying to keep things on track. "All she did was make it a better deal for you."

"The big deal?" Hido repeated increduously. "The big deal is, she is my slave, I gave her strict orders, and told her that she and her brother were both dead if she put a toe out of line! And now she's talking to my friends behind my back, and...and what the hell is wrong with you? She asks you to do something, and you do it? That's not how this is supposed to work?"

He lunged forward and grabbed Hikari's wrist, pulling her up into a standing position, drawing a moaning gasp from her.

"Well, I guess that's that. You'd think a slave of all people would know to not push a good thing, but you can't fix stupid. At least I know what I'm gonna be breaking tonight to get over losing all that money!"

"U-uh," Takeru said, standing up and putting his palms up towards Hido as he was pulling Hikari towards the door roughly. "Now, I believe we had an arrangement—"

"It's off," Hido grunted. "I'd rather follow through on my promise to her."

Takeru grimaced, watching Hido grab the doorknob. "You'd pass up a deal this good just for something like that?"

"It's the principle of the thing," Hido said through gritted teeth, stopping before he opened the door. "I was very clear with her, and she deliberately got out of line, I'd rather follow through."

Takeru's first instinct was to shrug and abandon this situation. He was already in deeper than he wanted to be, so pulling out and forgetting it might have been smart anyway. His family had plenty of slaves, and could always get more, and there wasn't anything special about this one anyway.

Well, objectively speaking.

And then, Hido opened the door, yanking a wailing Hikari out into the hallway, and Takeru felt the pull. It was the gambler in him, maybe. Perhaps the ego. Something like that. Might have even been the heart. He wasn't sure, but he just couldn't help but pressing his finger on the button a few more times, and see if something happened.

"One hundred thousand," Takeru said suddenly.

At this, Hido froze, Hikari's wrist still firmly in his grasp as the two were about to leave the room.

"What?" Hido said dumbly.

"Each. One hundred thousand, each." Takeru went over to the wall by the door and leaned up against it. "You put those two up, I put up two hundred grand. You beat me, it's all yours. I beat you, I get her and her brother."

Hido chuckled. "I...you're high. You'd never—"

"You've been running bad lately. Not just here, but all around." Takeru licked his lips, continuing to press the buttons until a reaction burst out. "You win one heads up match, and a few weeks of bad luck go away. And all you've got to risk is a couple broken-down slaves."

"That...that's insane," Hido said, nevertheless stepping back into the room and closing the door. "There might be...two slaves a year that go for a hundred grand on the central market, the best of the best of the best."

Takeru shrugged. "Then you should take the deal before I change my mind."

Silence, for several seconds, outside of Hikari breathing heavily.

"You're...you're serious?" Hido asked. "Two hundred grand, and all I've got to put up is her and her brother?"

"Can you afford to say no?" Takeru asked rhetorically.

Hido put his hand up on the wall, tapping it with his fingers. "My...my father would kill me if he found out I turned down a deal like that, I...I guess I don't have a choice." He looked up at Takeru. "But you're an absolute lunatic, this even crossing your mind for a second."

"Then I'm a lunatic giving you an amazing deal," Takeru said. "We'll play tomorrow, make sure Juliet knows."

"Hey, don't think that getting the same dealer means...means what happened tonight is gonna happen again," Hido said, releasing Hikari and letting her slump back to the floor. "I'm due for some good luck. All I need is a little luck. I've been working on my heads up game, so bring the money tomorrow, because it's mine. You wanna go crazy and risk your money like that, I'm happy to stand on the other side and pick it up."

Takeru nodded. "Now...she's already in non-ideal shape," he said, pointing at Hikari. "And her brother...well, you would know better than me how he is. So obviously, I wouldn't want anything putting them in worse shape between now and tomorrow."

Hido nodded, looking at Hikari. "Of course. I wouldn't do that to you."

"When I get here tomorrow I'm gonna have a look at her," Takeru continued. "If I think you've...shall we say, devalued her in any way, I'll turn right back around and take my money with me. And her brother had better still be alive."

"He'll be alive. I'll make sure he's kept alive. But even if you do win, and you won't, nursing him back to health is your problem." His eyes flashed. "And I'll keep her in a cell until tomorrow. Nobody'll do anything."

"I got your word," Takeru said factually. "I trust your word. When I come here tomorrow, we'll see if my trust is valid."

"Don't matter," Hido said, giving Hikari a nasty glance. "It just gives me more time to come up with what I'm going to do with her after I win."

He couldn't blame her for giving the significant shiver that she did at these words.

Takeru extended his hand towards Hido. "Tomorrow night. Heads up. Two hundred grand against her and her brother. Freezeout."

Hido took his hand. "It's on."

After shaking, Takeru spun away and headed for the doorway, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Make sure you bring all the money!" Hido said at his back. "You're gonna need it."

Takeru stalked up the hallway, sweeping away at a bit of sweat that had accumulated up on his forehead just beneath his hairline. He gave his head a good shake, blinking rapidly.

"What the hell am I doing?" he muttered to himself.