"Come on Nagito!" I said as Nagito and I walked through a casino.
"Dakota, I have no intention of doing this, its against the law and were too young to even be here." Nagito said as he followed after me, looking around the place with a blank face.
"Can you think about it real quick? Your luck can save lives, you know that right?" I replied, smirking. "Saving lives will bring hope to everyone."
"Hope is awesome." Nagito shot back quickly, a smile on his face.
My smirk grew as I got him. "You want to bring the world hope, right? This is your chance!"
Nagito frowned as I said that. "I do, but I am not bringing hope the right way. It should be done the right way!"
I rolled my eyes and threw my arm around his shoulders. "I know we're doing the right thing here, by taking money from people who have done bad in there lives. Hope is powered up with us bringing the people hope."
Nagito looked at me in confusion, but decided to shrug it off. "Alright, what is this plan of yours? It better be a good one."
I nodded my head, acknowledging that I had a plan. "Trust me on this. Your luck, will be the weapon of destruction..."
Nagito cut in quickly, silencing me. "If it involves hurting people, then you can leave me out of it, I don't want to-"
"NO!" I yelled, before getting back to a conversational tone. "No, you don't have to hurt anyone, Ok?"
"So, we just play a game of poker?" Nagito questioned.
"Yes, a game of poker, nut just any poker game either. This isn't about some lunch money type deal. Look, there's this high stakes poker game every week up stairs, the owners pent house. Half the Council attends and so does the owner. There's a minimum stake of a million yen..."
"A million!" Nagito yelped, stopping in his tracks. "Are you out of your mind. I don't have a million yen, and even if I did, I wouldn't risk it on poker."
"I have the money. We go in, then win. If it all goes wrong, then I'll go with plan B." I said, gaining his attention.
"What's plan B? because plan B sounds better than me right now."
"Need to know basis." I said with a shrug. "Let's go get our money!" I declaimed and set off, dragging Nagito with me.
Several hours later
"Where do you think you are going?" The guard at the door questioned in an authoritative voice.
"We are here for-" Nagito started.
"Nope, private Council meeting." The guard cut off, not even looking up.
"Ya, were the meeting!" I said, with him stepping aside.
"Huh, how did you do that?" Nagito asked as we slipped by.
"Dakota, why are you here?" The old man asked as we took a seat at the table, with me ignoring Nagito's question.
"Yagura." I said, knowing the old man, was a major gambler. "Just here for a friendly game!" I answered cheerfully.
Yagura sighed inwardly. "It's a little late, Dakota. Shouldn't you go to the school?"
"Oh, so you've been keeping tabs on me, Old Man? Of course you have, I'm a threat to you and your company." I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Yo, Yagura!" Called a women from the table. "Are you gonna talk to your mascot all day or can we start?"
"It's a game, so there isn't any harm in us joining!" I said in amazement. "Yagura, you need to relax! You always said you needed a bit of free time!" I said as I looked at the table. It was a large dining table usually used for the restaurant customers who came in large parties. I stared at the long wooden surface, now covered with green cloth and at the stacks of cards and poker chips.
"It is a grown up game, Dakota." Yagura said sarcastically. "Are you ready for this kind of game?"
"Aww, but it looks like fun." I pouted. "Scared to lose to a kid?"
"Money, brat! You have to lay down one million yen if you are going to play this game." The women demanded, with me tossing it too her.
Yagura frowned at the sight of the money and quickly ran his hand threw it, counting it up and finding it to be the correct amount.
"What the hell, fellows." Another man said, nodding to the women, a man with two scars on the right side of his face and his dark hair pulled back in a pony tail, and another women, with blond haired. "Is it play time?"
"Sure. It's your money, so I guess you can do what you want with it." He saw Horizon, a man of the council, nod slightly in understanding and Urumu, another member of the council, smile. I also saw Yagura's eyes narrow.
The first few hands moved slowly with small pots. The pots began to rise towards their usual level, ten thousand ryou chips moving across the table. The play was calm and Yagura had to look to his own cards. No one had gotten any spectacular hands yet, nothing better than a pair or three winning any hands. There was a moment's of excitement when Horizon and Nagito spent almost a minute staring at each other, gauging the their confidence in their hand. Horizon folded on his pair of threes, which was a pity because Nagito had a five, seven, eight, ten and jack. So far, Nagito raked in the biggest pot so far.
Even with a big win, Nagito didn't seem to be doing so well with what looked to be the same amount he started with. Yagura gave him a strange look. "Boy, are you sure you want to keep playing?"
"I'm ok! I'm feeling the power of hope right now!" Nagito said, looking at the other players.
I, unfortunately, was not doing anywhere near as well as I thought I should be. I was down by about half of my initial stakes and was getting nervous. 'I need a big pot, or plan B and get out of here,' I thought to myself as I looked at my hand for the next game.
Chiyo, having been pushing the pots higher, with two further raises before the hand got to me. Raising again, I pushed a third of the remaining chips in. Most of the table was still in when it came time to discard and get a new card with most of the players tossing away one or two cards. I tossed the two of spades away and saw I got a Queen of Diamonds, giving me a flush.
Several players began to fold, narrowing the field down. Nagito, after a moment of thinking over his cards, raised. I pushed the rest of my chips in in order to match the current bet.
At the end of this round of bets only six players remained in play. Chiyo looked at his cards again, looked at the others still in and raised again, a smirk on his lips. Ino folded, followed quickly by another council member. Nagito smiled as he pushed in the last of his chips on the table to the pot in order to call.
All eyes went to me and the empty spot in front.
"I fold, and done as I have nothing left." I said, tossing the cards down on the table.
"Ok, so are we done betting?" Nagito asked.
"I believe so." Chiyo said. "I'll begin." Chiyo gave a long smile. "Flush of spades, King high."
Nagito turned to me. "Hey, how does a pair of threes count against that?"
"It doesn't beat it." I said with a sigh. Now it was time to go with plan B.
"What if I had two pairs of three?" Nagito innocently asked.
The entire room fell silent at that question as Nagito revealed his hand. A wild haired woman that was idly playing with her chips dropped the one in her hand. The sound of it hitting the ground broke the spell of silence Nagito's announcement created.
Four threes stared back at the assembled players and Chiyo's hands began to visibly shake before she took a hold of herself. "Well, congratulations, young man." She said, pissed. "It would seem that you win."
"Good job man, its all up to you from this point on." I said, giving him a thumbs up.
Considering the small size of the bets, Nagito's pile of chips was not depleted much and was still far ahead of where he began the game. Some of the losses came from mistakes he made, twice folding on what was likely to be winning hands. Then I noticed a slight nod from Chiyo as she checked her newly dealt hand. I doubted it was a coincident that Ino, the women opening the betting, bet high or that Shik not only checked that bet, but raised the stakes higher.
Nagito barely looked at his hand and pushed a million ryo into the pot, betting rather recklessly. Chiyo hesitated, double checking her hand. She hadn't been winning much that night, but steeled her nerves and pushed half her remaining chips into the pot to continue. Cards where discarded and dealt to those still in and Nagito casually tossed away four cards. Chiyo nearly choked, trying to avoid laughing at the thought of him raising, despite having nothing in his hand.
Ino and Shik raised again, more conservatively this time around, after spotting the smile and slight nod from Chiyo and were glad for the agreement the three had. Kuroda, a women of the council, hesitated for a moment before folding. Yagura folded, disappointed that he failed to get the flush or straight he was hoping might win him the hand. Everyone turned to look at Nagito as he stood up in his chair and leaned forward. He surprised everyone by pushing forward all his chips before sitting back down with a happy smile.
"Careful Nagito, that is a big bet." Yagura warned, only getting a grin in reply.
Chiyo paled at seeing that bet, unable to match it with the chips she had on the table. The odds of anyone beating a full house was a long shot. It was the best hand of the night other than Nagito's earlier four of a kind, but that wouldn't matter if she couldn't match the bet. She had no choice but to fold.
"I'm out." Chiyo said as she leaned her head back. Ino and Shik frowned, having to fold as well, meaning that they also couldn't add more to the pot as it was all in already, same for every one else.
Nagito grinned. "This means I win, right?" He asked, laying down two queens and a joker followed shortly by a pair of threes.
There was a chuckle from Kuroda that quickly developed into a full belly laugh. "Well played. That is indeed a winning hand alright." She said, rubbing her eyes.
"Well, I guess that's it, we all lost our money to this kid." Yagura said, looking at Nagito. "I'm calling you out boy, there was no way you got most of those hands!" He yelled, pointing at Nagito.
"That's where you're wrong." I said, gaining his attention. "He didn't cheat once, I on the other hand, did." I said, shocking them.
"You were one of the first ones out, there was no way that you cheated!" Yagura yelled, pointing at me.
"I did cheat, by giving myself a worse hand!" I confessed, shocking them. "No one expects a cheater to give themselves a bad hand, so I did it anyways to save my money!" I said, with Yagura taking a step back.
"You mean-"
"That's right, Nagito and I are working together!" I revealed, with most of them shrugging.
"Eh, we saw that one coming." Chiyo said, not caring.
"As for helping Nagito, I never once helped him!" I informed, shocking them again. "Nagito only won because of the main thing that's involved with Poker!"
"He counted-"
"WRONG!?" I interrupted again, pointing at Ino. "HE HAS THE POWER OF LUCK ON HIS SIDE!?" I said, shocking them. "Because Luck is everywhere, you can not accuse him of cheating!" I said, with them falling to there knees.
"The hell just happened?" Yagura questioned as we took all the money and placed it in a bag that I brought with me.
"We'll take our leave, have a good day." I said, with both of us running.