A/N- A short note before the chapter begins. Yes, this was originally a Male Reader story but I've decided to change it to post it on here. And yes, this is MY story, I didn't steal it, I can prove it if you like. Anyway, on with the chapter.
"What are we playing?"
"It's a game called Vote Rock-Paper-Scissors." Mary told him. "Are you familiar with the rules."
"No. I've never heard of it before." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll need you to explain the rules to me."
"Of course." She smiled at him. "It's quite simple really. First off, everyone in the class will either draw a rock, paper or scissors and put it into a ballot box where we can't see it. We will then draw three cards at random from the box and play." She explained. "It'll be a best of three each time we play, with the box being emptied and bew cards being made after each turn."
"So this game is based completely off of luck and guessing what the other player has." Yuuto summarised. "It's intriguing, I'm used to playing games with more skill involved, but I guess this is a nice change of pace."
"It's not all based on luck, there's a degree of skill involved as well." Mary informed him. "It's all about reading your opponent, or trying to fool them into playing a weaker card than they should have."
"Is that because it's completely random what everyone chooses to put into the box?" He asked, getting a nod from Mary in response. "Hmm, that makes it more interesting than I thought, there isn't any probability since it's completely random."
"If you say so." Mary drawled on, acting bored. "Shall we start the game?"
Nodding his head, Mary snapped her fingers yet again, the game being finalised and all thirty students minus Ryota who was still getting water for Mary drew either rock, paper or scissors and queued up to put their papers into the ballot box.
Waiting patiently for everyone to finish up, Mary was the first to draw her three cards, with Yuuto following, drawing one of each card.
"That's surprising, the chances of me drawing all three are pretty low, and the chances of her drawing all three are even lower." He wagered up what to choose, he'd be surprised if she drew a scissors as well as him, so paper was the logical choice here.
"Are you ready to choose?" Mary asked, getting a nod from him in reply. "Okay then, rock, paper, scissors!"
They both held out their choice, Y/N with a paper in his hand, and Mary had a rock in her hand, meaning that Y/N had won the first round.
"Well done." Mary congratulated him, showing that she had another rock and a paper. He showed her his hand too, making her a little surprised at his hand. "It's very rare to get all three in one go, you really must be lucky."
"I don't know about that. It must be really rare to draw three different cards in this one, but there's definitely a little skill involved." He scratched his cheek, a little nervous to be honest.
"Oh well, let's move on to the next round." The ballot box was emptied, being refilled before he knew it, with Mary picking another three before he picked his three.
He had three papers this time, it was a throwaway hand unless she played rock, which she wouldn't. She knew what she was doing, it was painfully obvious, no matter how much she tried to play it off, she was very good at gambling.
"Rock, paper, scissors!" They both said, revealing their chosen cards to each other.
Mary produced a scissors to his paper, meaning that she had won the second round. "Hard luck." She showed him her other two cards, two rocks to his two other papers. "Looks like it's going down to the wire, are you enjoying yourself?"
"I am, this is actually quite fun." He admitted. "Though I'm still not sure about gambling with real money yet, this is quite a fun game to play though, I must admit that."
"That's fine." She shrugged, waiting for everyone to finish up with their final votes. "How has your first day been so far? Surely coming to a school like this you must have a background in gambling."
"Well I did, but it was never for huge amounts of money." He told her. "It was mainly because I wanted to help my mom pay for food and rent. Coming here was never on my mind until I got a letter from the girl, Sayaka I think her name was."
"Really?" Mary raised her eyebrows at him, taking her final three cards from the box. "Usually you would have to apply to get to this school, you must have caught someone's eye."
"But I don't know why." He replied, taking his own three cards, a scissors and two papers. "All I'm really good at is art, I've never been interested in gambling for fun, besides, I promised my mom I wouldn't gamble here."
They prepared their last hands, deciding which card to pick. "Rock, paper, scissors!" Mary showed a rock, while he showed a paper, winning the friendly match two to one.
"Well done." She congratulated him on his victory. "I didn't expect to lose, how about we gamble for money now? It's nothing like the chump change you're probably used to, this is life changing money we're talking about here."
The door to the classroom opened, in walking Ryota with the water that Mary had asked for, but she was a little alarmed at the table set up, and the fact that Y/N was sitting across from Mary. She was the best gambler in the class, he didn't stand a chance against her.
"Your water Miss Saotome." She handed the blonde girl the water, still worried for the boy's wellbeing.
"About time!" Mary snatched the bottle out of Ryota's hands. "What took you so damn long? Me and Yuuto just played a friendly game of Vote Rock-Paper-Scissors while you were away. I was just about to ask if he wanted to play for money."
"Don't do that Yuuto." Ryota tried to warn him. "Mary is-" She was cut off as Mary slapped the back of her head, making Ryota flinch in pain.
"Quiet Suzui." She commanded her to be silent. "I was talking to Yuuto, how rude of you to interrupt."
"What's the dynamic between you two?" Yuuto asked them. "Are you two a couple? Because it doesn't seem that healthy to me."
"What?! No!" Mary shrieked out loud, nearly bursting everyone's eardrums in the class. "Suzui isn't even my friend. She owes me money, five million Yen to be exact." Mary explained. "She can't pay her debt, so she is required to wear the pet tag around her neck and serve me until she pays back what she owes, or until she works it off."
"So she's like your slave then?" Yuuto summarised.
"Ye-"
"No." Mary hit Ryota on the head, much harder this time to stop her from talking yet again. "The treatment of ones pet is entirely up to the owner. You aren't used to the customs here, so I'll let it slide this time."
Yuuto frowned a little, Mary was using Ryota as a personal assistant, it didn't sit right with him, but he was new to the school, so he would have to get used to it.
"So, about the game?" Mary brought it up again. "Do you want to play?"
"How much?" He asked, it would need to be a lot for him to consider it, considering he would be breaking his promise on his first day.
"120 chips valued at ten thousand Yen each for you and me each." She told him. "A total pot of two point four million Yen. Like I said, life changing money."
He debated the ups and downs in his head. He couldn't pay the money back if he lost, and he would end up as a pet to Mary if he did, but the money, it was a lot, especially if he won.
"... Alright. I'll play you." He agreed to the game.
"Excellent." Mary clapped her hands excitedly. "This is going to be great!" She thought to herself.
Everyone had gathered around them, surrounding the two in a circle, both of them being given 120 chips at ten thousand each, both of them sitting in silence while the votes were put into the ballot.
"Since you're new, I'll let you decide how much to start with." Mary offered to him.
"Okay then, five chips." He said, pushing five of his chips to the middle, Mary repeating his action easily.
The first round was a draw, both of them showing paper, and the second round was a draw too, both of them showing a rock, countering each other perfectly. On the last one he showed a rock, while she showed paper, immediately giggling to herself as she took his chips over to her side.
"Well, looks like I'm in luck." Mary smirked at him. "Want to keep going?"
"I do." He nodded, pushing forward a decent pile of chips this time. "Twenty five chips."
"Two hundred and fifty thousand already?" Mary grinned, she was definitely going to have a new pet by the end of lunch. "Alright then, twenty five chips for me as well." She pushed her chips forward, matching his bet easily.
He won the first round this time, showing a paper to her rock, though Mary won the second round, showing a scissors to his paper. In the last round he was confident she had a scissors this time, so he played a rock, only for her to play a paper, winning all of the chips in the pot.
"You're on a losing streak Yuuto." Mary smiled, twirling a chip between her fingers. "Are you sure you want to keep playing?"
He had caught on to what she was doing after she played paper when she should've in theory played scissors. She was cheating, he hadn't worked it out exactly, but someone was telling her what cards he had, so he decided to chance his luck completely.
"All in." He pushed every chip he had forward, wagering every penny Mary had given to him.
"Alright then, I only have to match that, but I'm feeling nice. All in as well." She pushed her larger stack of chips forward, a total of two point four million up for grabs.
His strategy was a little different this time, instead of looking at his cards, he placed them all face down on the table, not even taking a glance to see what he had. This way he could ensure that Mary couldn't know what he had for sure, she would have to guess, which evened out the odds... at least until you got to the fact that he was betting everything on picking the right card by complete chance.
"Uh... aren't you going to look at your cards?" Mary asked, but all she got was a no in response. "How are you going to know what to pick though?"
"I'm not going to know." He informed her. "It's completely down to luck now, I'll pick whatever I want to pick."
"Stay calm Mary, no need to panic." She tried to reassure herself. "There's more paper than anything else in the box, so the likelihood of him drawing a scissors and playing it randomly is extremely low. Just play scissors if you get it, and paper when you don't. He can't win like this, not with the odds stacked against him like this."
"Rock, paper, scissors!" Mary showed the scissors in her hand, while Yuuto turned over the card on the left, showing that it was a paper, giving the first round to Mary.
"Phew." She breathed a huge internal sigh of relief. "He didn't really think he could beat me did he? Now I just have to draw a scissors once more and I win. Like taking candy from a baby."
The next round came by quickly, and to her surprise, Mary drew another scissors, and unless he miraculously picked rock, she would win. The odds were massively in her favour, all she had to do was trust her gut instinct and she'd have a new pet.
"Rock, paper, scissors!" She showed her scissors, and he flipped over the card on the left once again, showing a rock.
"That wasn't supposed to happen!" She was a little annoyed, but he was just lucky, that's all, there was no way he could win... right?
"Looks like I'm in luck this time." He commented, putting the other cards away without even looking at them. "This is it huh? Everything riding on one choice each."
"Do you really think you can win choosing by random?" Mary asked him, picking her three cards from the box examining them carefully, two papers and a rock. "Maybe you should look at your cards, you don't want to lose knowing you could have chosen differently."
"I'm fine like this." He retrieved his cards, placing them flat on the table once again. "I have a feeling that Lady Luck is on my side."
"Rock, paper, scissors!" Mary played her paper card, fully expecting him to play a paper too, but she was flabbergasted to see he had played a scissors.
"W-What?" She couldn't believe it, he had won everything on a gamble like that? It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. It shouldn't be possible.
"So now you owe me two point four million Yen, correct?" He pointed out, but Mary didn't seem as eager as she was before playing.
"I... uh... well you see." She laughed a little awkwardly. "I can't exactly pay you back in full right now, I could if some people paid back their debts." She glared at Ryoto, who was standing directly behind him. "But I can't afford all two point four million right now."
"So... does that mean that you become my pet until you can pay me back?" He asked, tilting his head to the side, the entire class exploding into whispers and hushed mutterings as they realised he was correct.
"You wouldn't make me pay you back, right?" Mary didn't seem very hopeful though. "I thought it was just a friendly game, right?"
"I thought that the house always gets it's money, isn't that how casinos work?" He stood up from his seat, Mary instinctively doing the same. "That wouldn't be fair of me to forget about your debt."
"Oh no. He's gonna do something to me." Mary thought as he walked around the table towards her. "Me and my big mouth, what the hell was I thinking?"
He walked up behind her, with Mary preparing for the worst, expecting to be used as a stool or something, but what she didn't expect was for him to wrap his arms around her stomach and rest his chin on her shoulder, nuzzling his head against hers.
"H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Mary shouted at him, struggling against his hold a little, but not enough to break free. "Get the hell off of me!"
"But you said that the owner decides how to treat the pet." He reminded her, tightening his grip on her. "Do you not like the way I'm treating you? Should I be more affectionate?"
"N-No! Just... this is fine, no more." She admitted, her cheeks heating up as his affectionate personality was getting through to her.
"But it's not up to you, what if I wanted to go further?" He asked, nuzzling his cheek against hers, feeling the heat radiating off of her.
"Hey! Don't try anything! I'm warning you, you idiot!" She yelled, fidgeting in his grip.
"You're acting like a Tsundere from an anime Mary." He told her. "Has anybody told you that you look really cute like this? I think you'll make an adorable pet until you pay me back."
"S-Shut up you idiot!" Mary blushed even harder, struggling against him now, though technically she couldn't do anything to stop him, her pride was getting in the way. "Let go of me!"
"You're such a demanding pet Mary." He teased her, his iron grip not allowing her an inch of space. "When will you get that adorable tag around your neck? You'll look great in it."
"I will not look great in that thing!" Her nostrils flared at that comment. "You lucky bastard! How the hell did you beat me?!"
This continued on throughout lunchtime, with Yuuto latching onto Mary like a vice, refusing to let go no matter what she said. Him, Mary and Ryota ate lunch together, with Ryota finding it very intriguing how much Mary could yell and blush at the same time.
After school Yuuto had left Mary to her own devices, deciding that he shouldn't put her through his mild teasing anymore, though Ryota wanted to speak to him, so she went after him.
"Wait!" She called out to Yuuto, chasing him down the corridor. "Wait up!"
"Oh, hello Ryota." He turned and greeted her. "Is there something you need from me?"
"Yes." She confirmed, taking a moment to catch her breath. "You were amazing in there at lunch, taking on Mary like that." She told him. "I've never seen anything like it, you took such a huge risk, how did you know it would pay off?"
"Thank you Ryota, but I didn't know it would pay off, I was just riding my luck in that last game." He told her. "I knew Mary was cheating, she knew what I had, so if nobody could see what I had, nobody could signal to her what to play."
"But how did you figure it out?" Ryota asked him.
"I know it was you telling her what I had Ryota." He informed her.
"Sorry."
"Don't apologise, it's fine. You owe a debt to Mary and you have to do what she says." He waved it off. "I'm really glad that we're friends Ryota, Mary too, I can tell that I'm gonna have a great time here."
"That's the thing though, I'm thinking about leaving the school." She told him. "I can't afford to pay Mary back, and I'll most likely be stuck as a pet forever in this school."
"Hmm." He hummed, thinking about it for a moment. "I don't want you to leave Ryota, you've been very friendly to me so far, so if Mary ever becomes too needy with you, tell me and I'll sort her out, she is now my pet after all."
"Really?" She looked at him, wide eyed for a moment. "You'd do that for me?"
"Of course I would. I'd do it for all my friends." He told her. "Like I said, you've been very friendly to me so far, I'd hate to lose a friend on the first day."
"Wow, a-alright then, I'll stay." Ryota quickly agreed, delighted that she had someone else to call friend. "Thank you Yuuto."
"Don't mention it." He smiled at her. "I have to go home now, but I'll see you again tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, definitely." Ryota smiled as she watched him walk off. He was so nice and friendly, she was definitely glad she decided to stay, especially if he became her friend in the long term.