Disclaimer: I do not own Zodiac PI.
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three!"
Lili stuck out a sideways peace sign as Hiro stuck out his fist. You see they were sitting in their English class enjoying their last day of school before spring break. Their teacher had decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle of trying to control them and had ultimately decided to give them a free period. With nothing better to do they had started to play rock- paper- scissors.
So far, Hiro had won seven consecutive games.
"I win again." Hiro said as his friend slumped her head in defeat. "I'm getting bored with this let's do something else."
Lili's head shot up. "No! I have to beat you eventually and I won't rest until that happens. So lift up that arm of yours and prepare to lose!"
He rolled his eyes but complied just the same. The blond rolled up the sleeves of her school shirt and stuck out her tongue in concentration. She had a good feeling about this one. And so the final round commenced.
"One… two… three!" Lili shouted the last part as she thrust out her fist. At the same time Hiro put out his palm. Rock versus paper. Hiro won once again. Lili stood up and pointed an accusing finger at her friend. "I should win this round because there's no way paper beats rock in any way."
"What on earth are you talking about?" He looked at his friend like she was crazy… which wasn't a bad assumption. "It's the rules. Rock beats scissors. Scissors cuts paper. Paper covers rock. It's pretty straight forward."
"Yeah but why does paper beat rock?" She stretched out the word why for emphasis. She than ripped out a piece of paper and stuck it right under his nose. "There's no way a thin thing like this could win against a nice heavy rock."
Hiro scoffed and pushed the piece of paper out of the way. "Well, it does in this case because I won. Take your defeat and get over it."
"I will not get over it because it simply doesn't make any sense!" Lili put her hands on her hips in the classic angry woman pose before continuing her argument. "The rock would dominate the paper. There's no question about it."
"We wouldn't even be having this conversation if you had been the one who chose paper and I had chosen rock. You would have been gloating about how you beat me." Hiro pointed out from his desk.
"Well duh!" Lili said as if it where the most obvious thing. "Of coarse I wouldn't be arguing about this and I would be dancing for joy about my victory but that's not the point."
"What do you mean that's not the point? It makes up the entire point!" Hiro told her. "If you had won the same way I had we wouldn't even be having this conversation."
"Obviously! The point is that you did win and I will continue to argue my side until you consent defeat or until I beat you at a game of rock- paper- scissors." Lili sat back down in the desk next to Hiro. "So what'll be? You gonna fight with your fist or your mouth?"
As you could imagine, these two had drawn the attention of their classmates. After all you can't be arguing, in loud voices, about why paper beats rock in the middle of class and not expect to have people staring. Though Hiro had chosen to ignore it and Lili was completely oblivious to the attention they were receiving.
As the two continued on with three more rounds their fellow peers started placing bets on who would win. Most of them bet on Hiro and only a handful on Lili. Come the fourth round only one person still had their money on her.
"One two three!"
Lili had scissors. Hiro had paper.
As he sat there in shock and disbelief she wasted no time in enjoying her victory. The blonde teen leapt from her seat and started a little victory dance. "Finally! It only took me twelve tries but I won! Life is good!"
Collapsing in her chair with a big grin on her face she leaned back and propped her feet up. It was only then that she noticed the crowd of student gathered around them. She gave them a nervous wave. "Uh… hi?"
The students dispersed, grumbling to themselves. Forming a small crowd around the teacher's desk they started paying up. Some gave her money while other's ponied up candy and other assortment. Over all she had collected quite a bit of merchandise.
You see that one person who had bet on Lili in the forth round was their English teacher. Splitting up her earnings she leaned back in her chair and smiled. As she counted up her money she started whistling the tune for Kenny Roger's 'The Gambler.'
You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them.
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sitting at the table.
There'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done.