Disclaimer: The author does not own any of the trademarks used in this story.

Author's Note: Been a big fan of both the anime and the show and am glad to finally dip into writing about it for a change. I've had this simple concept brewing for a while, but it wasn't until I paired it with a Christmas theme, and watching Ultimate Russian Roulette during the lead up, that I found the impetus to finally proceed with it. Granted that it's my first time writing for this franchise, I admittedly don't have a good grip of the characters yet so expect them to taste differently. I have not read the manga or finished the anime as of this writing, so if there's any continuity problems and whatevers, my DMs are open so please keep me honest about them so I can mend this. Rated T because people should always think twice about rolling gacha. Thank you for viewing and hope you enjoy!


Gacha for Christmas

"What kind of Christmas present do you get for someone who can afford every luxury she could possibly want?"

About two dozen sighs have escaped Ryota's lips since the final Westminster chime of the semester tolled at Hyakkaou Academy, driving further the notion of his luck (or what little there was of it) dissipating into the winter cold. He'd been wracking his brain for ideas all day as he mulled that very question over, but as expected of someone well beneath the pedestal the giftee was perched in, he couldn't come up with anything that felt like a good fit. And that was only half his problem. He hadn't even considered the fact that the giftee wouldn't think twice about staking every luxury she has for the momentary thrill of a flutter? That's an even bigger head scratcher he wished he didn't have to think about...

On his way home, Ryota would sometimes take a route leading through a quaint shopping arcade. Embodying the spirit of the old downtown district aesthetic with a few modern touches here and there, it was a departure from the kind of places a high-society girl like Yumeko would be accustomed to. While there were a few franchise shops scattered between the influx of independently-owned establishments, the only places that carried any luxury goods nearby would be the secondhand store on the far end of the street, and the pawnshop some two blocks away. He could already hear Saotome and Sumeragi calling him cheap in chorus for trying to get a present for a girl attending Hyakkaou in a place as homely as this shopping arcade. There's also the likelihood of him and Yumeko not meeting again until the start of the next semester. "By now she's probably packing her bags and gearing up for a white Christmas at the Rockefeller Center or something," he mumbled, allowing another sigh to dissipate into chilly ether. He might as well put off getting a gift until later when he's more prepared, but that felt too disingenuous even for him. Yumeko would definitely know.

"Oh well, guess I got nothing to lose at this point," Ryota said to himself as he forged past the still-unlit banner. No matter how he looked at it, he had a much better chance of finding something simple, yet earnest right here, under his wheelhouse, than going to some far trendier spot that was way too big for his own britches.

The first shop to catch Ryota's eye was a bakery three doors to the right of the entrance gate. A sign propped up close to the entrance listed limited-time offerings of gingerbread cookies and holiday-themed confections. "Food is probably the safest bet," Ryota thought while eyeing the Yule log cake drawn on the sign in colored chalk - apparently the most popular item on their holiday menu judging from the items customers were leaving the bakery with. With the critical hours of Christmas Eve just a few ticks away, a line had already gathered in front of the bakery, extending all the way to the neighboring doors.

"...Probably a little too safe," Ryota deemed, discouraged by the clamor of people looking to get their fix in time. Still, he managed to pick up at least a spark of an idea. "Maybe I should treat her to a dessert bar or a cake buffet. I can probably find a good deal somewhere," he pondered as he inched away before an attending staff emerged from inside the bakery to take orders. Calling to mind the 5000 yen chilling in his wallet - a paltry sum compared to the amount casually trading hands at Hyakkaou during a game of blackjack or paper sumo, he clenched his teeth and shot the suggestion down. "No. If I take her anywhere remotely decent, chances are, I'd be the one who gets treated."

Up next was a sporting goods store a little further down the road. Particularly, it was the poster outside announcing a buy one-take one deal on ice skates that pulled him aside. Undoubtedly a ploy to attract more couples in while clearing out their backstock of winter gear, he thought. And sure enough, couples were coming in and leaving with big bags in hand. "How about I take her ice skating at the park?"

While Ryota was busy pondering Yumeko's shoe size, a bitter wind walloped him from his right flank, like divine intervention suddenly reminding him of the reception such proposal would most definitely garner. At that moment, an image of Yumeko shuddering, not so much of the cold as the sight of the snowboards and ice skates displayed behind the glass occurred to him. It was all he needed to deem the idea his worst yet. "No. If I try to trick her into skating, she'll probably do good on never speaking to me again," he mumbled before hurrying along, promising himself never to wager on getting Yumeko to do sports ever again. Teaching her how to skate, and holding her hands while doing so, was a pipedream at best.

Ambling away from two shops none the wiser, Ryota's hope was growing bleaker. "I should probably go home before it gets even colder," he began to reconsider. He was about ready to wave the white flag on his campaign when he happened upon a Western-style book cafe he didn't quite recognize. "Wasn't this an internet cafe before?" he tried to recall. The unfamiliarity was superfluous though, ultimately failing to deter him from being enticed by the ambiance the contrast of the auburn brick exterior against a pallid backdrop. Peering from the glass windows, Ryota observed that the cafe sold not only books, but a few choices gift items and stationery as well. "Well, this one's definitely worth a look," he surmised. While he wasn't quite certain what genre of books Yumeko was into, Ryota felt confident that she liked to read, if the bits of wisdom she would often impart with him were anything to go by. "If there's anything safer to give Yumeko than food, it's probably a good novel."

As Ryota settled on browsing inside the cafe, two high schoolers emerged from his left and passed him by. Their black uniforms revealed they were from a public high school close to the neighborhood. But that wasn't what kept him from pulling the oak cafe door open. Rather, it was their exchange that had pried him off his rocker...

"Cool Jack Frost. You really lucked out, getting the rare one on the first roll," the guy with the long dyed hair while handing over what appeared to be a keychain, still mint inside its plastic bag, back to his friend.

"I just hope I still have some left when I meet my girlfriend later and give it to her. It's her favorite monster, after all," his taller friend with a cleaner hair cut replied while taking the item and putting it back inside a capsule shell.

"That...that was a gacha item, right?" Ryota pondered to himself. Now gifting someone a capsule item wasn't necessarily unheard of. Unusual, but not unheard of. And unusual, at least according to a post he'd read online in the lead-up to Christmas Eve, made for a great left field present to a rich girl. While he was normally risk-averse, it was enough mental gymnastics for him to walk back on the safe route he'd just found. "Looking for a bit won't hurt, I guess?" he decided, embracing the daring culture Hyakkaou fostered for once.

It took several paces and twice as many head turns in a span of fifteen minutes before Ryota managed to retrace the steps the high schoolers had taken. An entrance lined with gacha machines either side clued him into a one-story space that housed a bunch of gacha machines ranging from units carrying the latest gacha toys and keychains to older ones that could be found in dedicated collector havens like Akihabara, streets near less crowded stations or shopping arcades like the one he's at. Upon entering, Ryota was immediately awed by the vast selection of machines, ranging from various anime and game properties with a few odd ones peppered in like miniature bikes, structures and weapons. "Well, this is a lot to take in, for sure," he said to himself while looking for a place to start.

Trawling through the selection, his eyes zeroed in on one of the prizes advertised on one of the 500 yen machines: a hemisphere made of clear red plastic with a metallic flat base fastened to the chain. Inside the clear plastic was a glimmering geodesic dome that housed some sort of crest he hadn't seen before, perhaps something from a title he has yet to see. Liberated from any prior memory or knowledge to resonate with, Ryota looked closely at the item and was reminded of Yumeko. As cute as Yumeko truly is, her beauty takes on a more mischievous vibe whenever she finds herself entrenched into the insanity of a big gamble. Particularly in critical junctures where her eyes would brim with so much anticipation and fervor, it's as if they were ablaze in a similar reddish tint. While watching Yumeko mired in such quandaries never failed to give him a heart attack - even worse when, by some odd twist of fate, winds himself in the thick of it, looking back at the way she looked during those times, a part of him couldn't resist finding it... erotic and captivating.

For the first time since embarking on this fool's errand, Ryota felt he'd just found the perfect present to get. It wasn't going to be easy betting on what little luck he currently possessed, but he at least had ten chances at winning it. There were only five keychains in the line too, each of them bearing a different color and dome pattern. Somewhat confident with those odds, he rushed over to the counter and got all of 5000 yen changed.

"Here goes nothing. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll even get two." Although he'd never rolled for a specific prize before, it wasn't his first time trying a gacha machine. Figuring the experience wouldn't be much different, he composed himself and went for his first roll. He felt his hand shake as a capsule shell rattled down the chute and ultimately stopped right in the middle of the door. Half a minute later, Ryota mustered the guts to claim his first prize. Fumbling the capsule a bit, he twisted it open and found... A dud.

"W-well, that was only my first roll, so..." Ryota went for a second roll. This time he won... Another dud.

Shortly after, yet another dud fell through the chute.

Six duds later and Ryota fretted, having just poured most of his gift budget into the narrow vacuum with nothing but random keychains to show for it. He knew going in how dangerous it was to fall down this rabbit hole, but got carried away anyway as the coins kept dropping and yielding prizes. He thought about cutting his losses right then, but realized that going back to the book cafe with only 500 yen to spare wouldn't do him much good, at least not without breaking the bank. "What am I gonna do now? I think I just screwed myself over royally..."

"It's pretty exciting, isn't it? Down to your last coin, you either walk away without the capsule you want or keep trying and risk having to skimp during Christmas break. Even then, there's no way to know if there's still any of that coveted prize left inside."

"Now that was something Yumeko might say if she was around," he thought. After all the battles they've fought together, her penchant for games must've been rubbing off of him that he found himself agreeing. "Yes. Yes it is... Kinda," he said to himself. Naturally he was hesitant, but his confidence received a much needed boost from the illusion of Yumeko giddily supporting him on from the sidelines that his weary mind had concocted. "I must be so out of it that I'm beginning to hear things." Ryota laughed bitterly at himself. Sighing yet again, he looked at the image being reflected against the machine as if to draw more inspiration from Yumeko's mirage. 'Go for it, Suzui-san!' she chirped, her hands balled up in anticipation. Only then did it occur to him how vivid the projection was... No... it looked a little too vivid even for an imagination that tended to go as wild as his. "Wait. First I'm hearing her voice, and now I'm seeing her too? Have I finally fallen down the deep end?" He tried winking it away assuming he was just tired, but when he opened his eyes, the reflection remained as if it had been indelibly stained behind the glass all along. When he finally did a double take to his side...

"EEEEEHHHH?! Y-Y-Y-Yu-Yu-Yume-Yumeko?! A-a-a-are you real?!" he blurted as his eyes tried to convince themselves that the Yumeko standing before him was tangible, her milky skin accentuating the white snow decorating the sidewalk and the roofs, and her raven locks glistening amid the muted winter light.

"Of course I am," Yumeko replied, looking at him innocuously.

"H-h-how long have you been standing there?!"

"I've been right behind you ever since we left school. You've been sighing the whole time. Didn't you know you're letting your luck slip away whenever you sigh?"

I guess that explains why I couldn't get the damn thing, he thought. "But what are you still doing here in Japan? I was sure you were going overseas."

"I told you I didn't have plans while we're having lunch. You don't remember?" Finally catching on with Ryota's lack of attention, her expression turned grim. "You weren't listening, were you..." Gone was her brimming exuberance, and in its place a condescending mask frowning upon someone who had the gall to bet against her without being prepared for the consequences.

Of course Yumeko would be able to tell. For her, he was probably the easiest to bluff into confessing. "I'm so sorry! My mind was... elsewhere." Ryota bowed apologetically, conceding defeat.

His gesture was enough to soften Yumeko's stance back into its earlier candor. "You don't have to apologize for anything, Suzui-san," she assured him, touching his right shoulder with her lithe hand. "I'm really grateful for all the fun times we've shared this year. As a matter of fact, I probably should be the one apologizing for the times my capriciousness may have troubled you. You must''ve been so tired of accompanying me all the time so I didn't say anything earlier."

"N-no! It's not like that at all! I-I'm totally having fun too! Every single time!" On reflex, Ryota grasped Yumeko's hand with his own as he met her gaze, the forwardness of the gesture wading past him. What he did notice however was the fact that the other hand was holding onto an auspicious-looking shopping bag. She definitely didn't have it earlier when they were at school. 'What's that?" he asked, pointing at the item.

"Oh. It's a Yule log cake from the bakery earlier. I got the last one!" Yumeko rejoiced at her purchase, lifting the bag up for him to see for himself.

Prying the mouth of the bag wide enough to see the box window, Ryota confirmed it was indeed the same cake that's been flying off the counters earlier. 'Whoa... You really got one," he said in awe. "You really have a knack for getting limited-time stuff."

Yumeko shook her head and smiled back at him. "I must've caught some of the luck you've been letting out. On that note, I was worried when you suddenly left, but fortunately you decided to stop and try one of these machines here."

Wrapping his mind around how long it must've taken Yumeko to reach the counter after falling in the same line he relented joining, and for her to eventually catch up to him, even Ryota was flabbergasted at the amount of time he'd dawdled just coming up with what to give her. "But wait... Why were you following me in the first place?" he asked.

"...After you showed me all sorts of interesting things all year, do I really have to say it out loud now?" she retorted, looking away and blushing a little. "I even bought this cake because you were looking at it with your mouth open..."

"Oh?" It took him a while to put two and two together. "Oh!" When he finally did, he couldn't help but smile from ear to ear as if intoxicated by a cocktail of sheer disbelief and joy. "L-looking forward to enjoying this with you later, then."

Yumeko, for her part, beamed back at Ryota. "Likewise. But first, you have to finish what you started." She pried her hand off his at last and put it back on his shoulder, this time urging him to once again face forward, back at the mechanical monster that had earlier devoured much of his hope. "Good luck, Suzui-san!"

"I... I suppose I do." Reprieving himself with a deep breath, Ryota resolved himself into taking one final chance. But perhaps he no longer had to hope for Lady Luck to finally smile for him ever so slightly... Now that she's right beside him cheering him on.


The End

written by tsukuy0mi47