*** 9/25/2012 today's Shuujin-P's birthday. Speaking of which I can't wait to see the Prisoner / Paperplane manga on October. Herp derp derrrp I have nothing else to say here. oTL I forgot how I usually write my own fanfic's title. Is it bold and italic... Unh. LOL. ***

Chapter 4: Game On

"It's simple, really… What you REALLY need is luck to win everything. There are no special techniques or anything to learn; it's just a game of luck." Leon's a really odd fellow; Lui scratched the back of his neck. Something about him was just... Out of place, and he couldn't put a finger on it... He just didn't seem like a servant or sailor at all..

"Even so, do you think you can teach me? The basics, at least... A few rounds would be nice." Len sighed, Lui was his only hope there. Making a temporary friend in that ship would be a bit hard. For one, Kaito already gave him a warning earlier, that there were... "Suspicious people", what did he say again? Right... There would be a blood bath or some sort. Len had enough making friends for now, he might actually befriend the wrong person. Since Kaito didn't say anything about Lui he thought it was fine and Lui's on the clear. For now, at least.

Bottom line Lui was the only person who could teach him how to play Ship of Fools.

"I can't, I'm kinda busy… Wait, we're kinda busy. It's the first day on board, we can't just slack off like that."

"What are we supposed to do today anyway? We'll finish it fast so we can take a break for a minute or two." Len could see... Lui was a bit irritated. Just a little bit, as if he was trying to hide his feelings for his annoying offer.

"Today? Lots of things. Right now? We're supposed to do nothing right now." Lui paused for a second, and he continued before Len could persuade him any further. "And by nothing I mean, we have to wait and stand by until a passenger asks for assistance."

"Can't we do something while we wait?"

"Playing games here would just get us in to trouble. If you want it so badly, I can teach you later. Tonight. Promise." It's just a simple game, the crew on the ship must be really strict on these breaks or leisure time, Len guessed.

"One. No one is really watching us. Everyone else in the room here, they're servants just like us. Two, the game is tonight. I have to learn how to play now."

"Who are you going to play against anyway?" Friends already? Or maybe Leon was just... The gambling type. Do smart people gamble? No, wait, it was the glasses that made Leon look smart.

"The person we talked to earlier, the one who took me away while we were talking… The blue-haired friendly looking sailor." Hahah friendly looking. Len hoped Lui knew sarcasm when he heard one.

What came next was... A concerned look from Lui. Not concerned, it was a mixture of confusion and amazement. Len replied with putting on the similar face and expression. What's wrong with a friendly... Gamble game?

"...Are you sure about that? Really, really sure? You're about to play against that sailor?"

"I don't know many sailors." Len shrugged. "Yes, I'm playing against him. He's an unreasonable person and he wants to play against me, tonight. That game. And since I might actually lose something somewhat important to me-"

"You're not putting your life in the line here, right?"

"... If I say yes, will you help me?" The deal was; and this was in Kaito's exact words: "If I win and you lose, you'll shut up for the next ten days and do as I say". So technically his life and freedom depends on that game.

Wow Len just realized how important this game is to him. Who'd want to stay quiet for ten days and do what people tell you to do? Aside from Rin when they first met, but that didn't count. She wanted to work. Len didn't.

"Okay, fine. You owe me for this. We're just going to play a few rounds and we're done, got it?" Lui had never... Break the rules or slack off before. Not even his previous jobs... He's always the goodie goodie good boy who does everything the boss / superior say. This might actually be exciting... Unless they get caught of course.

Lui prepared five dice, a glass, and a spot where they could play together without being noticed. To Len's surprise, it wasn't the toilet (he had a hunch Lui was the paranoid type and would suggest to play in the toilet, which Len didn't really mind as long as Lui could teach him) it was their own room. It's the servant's bedroom, technically.

No, ...small isn't the right word. An overweight man would have trouble walking around there because of the lack of space. It gave out impression that the higher ups would only hire malnourished people. The servant's bedroom was filled with nothing but beds. The space between one bed and another is around, it's hard to say, but Len couldn't stretch out both his arms out. It was a double bed, with one at the bottom and one at the top; and Len doubted he could sit up straight with the upper bunk being so close to the bottom bed.

'Note to self... Tomorrow morning, don't sit up straight.' He'd hit himself that way.

"When can we start?"

"I don't want to get into trouble, so after three rounds, we're going back to work, okay?" They were the only two servants there in that room, no one else was there. Why worry? Because some other servant would go in and tell on them? That's the worst case scenario Len could think of, and it's not that bad.

"See these dice? I'm going to put them in the cup here. Here's what you need to remember, six means "ship", five means "captain", and four means "crew". The goal of this game is to get six, five, and four in order. It's common sense really, you need a ship first, then you need a captain to the ship, and lastly you need a crew; you can't do it any other order, it wouldn't make sense. You need to roll your dice three times, so, try rolling the dice in the cup now." Lui gave him the cup and let Len roll the cup. He got a five, one, one, two, and three.

"Not a very good start."

"I know I'm not a very lucky person." Len rolled the dice again. Four, six, two, three, and another two. On the bright side at least he got a six. "What now?"

"You should keep that ship. You have a crew, but you don't have a captain yet, so you're not allowed to take it. See, the goal of the game is to have the most score, and you can get this 'score' by the cargo. Once you have those three dice, you'll have two dice left, right? Those two dice'll be the score for your cargo. Easy, huh? All you need is luck. Continue the game." Len rolled the dice and got a one, four, two, five, and one.

"Great, you have a complete set!"

"Is that a good thing?"

"Not really, no. It's my turn now, so your score is zero since you don't have a cargo with you. Let's try it again, okay? Two more rounds." Lui rolled the dice and got a six, two, four, three, and five. A set in his first try, that was pretty lucky of him.

"There's no special skill here, is there?" Len knew he looked and sounded a bit hopeless (he knew Lui noticed it too). So overall he needed luck, which is something he couldn't grasp or learn, he could pray, but he doubted God would listen. Let's see, the worst case scenario to happen there... The worst that could happen in the game is if Kaito uses rigged dice and cheat. Len needed a strategy, a game strategy, his game plan... But what? It's a game of luck, he couldn't do anything but throw the dice! "If you know a good and effective strategy for this game, because, you know, my life depends on it, it'd be great to win." He continued.

"Can't you just cancel the game? It'd be easier for both of us if you cancel it!" Lui threw his cargo and got a six in total.

"The prize of winning the game, it's hard to ignore. Besides, I don't think I could say no to the challenge."

"Sorry Leon, but there are no tricks or anything. It's a dice game, and it's all up to luck." Lui's final score was seventeen, so of course he won that round. "At least you could play the game now, right?" He let Len roll the dice, and they start a new round to play.

"Do you think I'm ready?" Len rolled out his dice, and got a two, one, four, five, and three. Oh, so close. Just one six and he could get a complete set! Len put the dice back to the cup and tried to give it another throw.

"You're ready, you're just not lucky." It's good to hear that, at least he knew what to do so he won't look like a complete idiot during the real game.

8:25 PM
"... When we hear the bell, we'll stand up, salute, sit back down, pray, THEN we eat." They were in the dining room with some of the other servants; around half of them were there, with the other half out there serving the passengers on the main dining room. Len thought, in a way, the ship was really... Fancy. They even had a dining room for the servants. Sure, the passengers' and the sailors' dining room were far beyond their league, but it was really something. Len thought they'd just get bread or something without a table and chair, this was far more than what he expected. In a good way.

Len glanced over to the clock on the wall, he was getting a bit anxious. They didn't discuss anything about the place to meet, where to play... If this whole game thing turns out to be a hoax Len would really jump off the ship. On second thought maybe not, but he'd be really upset and angry about it. After playing with Lui, he won one out of three rounds with him. He won on his last try, and a part of him wondered if it was because Lui let him win out of pity (then again, it is a game of luck, and you can't control luck).

After a while the two of them heard a bell, rang by the head of the servant, and the noisy dining room fell silent. Everyone simultaneously stood up and saluted the head of servant and sat down and closed their eyes to pray. That's when Len felt something, someone, pulling his collar. Len opened his eyes to see Kaito, who signaled him to leave the dining room. He was a bit confused at first, though Len followed Kaito out anyway; they left the room before anyone opened their eyes from their prayer. Hopefully Lui wouldn't panic over Len's disappearance.

"I hope you don't mind skipping dinner, this is the only break time I got, and I treasure my beauty sleep so anything over 10:00 PM is something I can't really do." Kaito shrug and fastened his pace. "Let me guess, the servant next to you, he taught you how to play Ship of Fools already? He had, hadn't he?"

"Huh... so you knew." Len was still new in the ship, that doesn't mean he didn't know where Kaito was taking him. It was the same place they went earlier, the boiler. All that trouble to play a game of dice?

"You don't sound so confident." There was no use hiding it, Len didn't mind Kaito underestimating him... In a way, he could use it as an advantage.

"I prefer strategic games where I could actually think and not depend on luck itself."

"You're just saying that because you've never been lucky in gambling!" Kaito smirked.

"In some parts of the world it's considered illegal to gamble." They were near the boiler already, Len raised his voice so Kaito could hear him.

"Now you're just stirring the conversation away." Kaito opened the door to the boiler, let Len in, and locked it. Len noticed Kaito was prepared; a table for two, five dice, and a glass. No one could see anyone in the boiler, they're completely alone. The two of them sat down Len took a long deep breath. "Let's put our bets in, shall we? If I win, you'll shut up for the next ten days and do as I say. If you win, I'll tell you everything you want to know. It's that simple, we'll just play for one round, okay?"

"Are you sure one round is enough?"

"Sure it is! I'll go throw the dice first." Kaito put five in to the glass and rolled his first set. A four, four, one, five, and six. It's Kaito's first try and he already got a set. Is everyone else in the world just lucky, or is Len just really...

"Wait a minute, these dice aren't rigged, right?" Len interrupted as Kaito rolled his second dice; his score so far was nine.

"Of course not!" He rolled another and got a three. Sum them up together and Kaito's final score was twelve. Hnn... "And even if they are rigged, why would I tell you the truth?"

His smirk was annoying to look at.

Len gave him a brief glare and prepared his dice. Kaito didn't feel so nervous about it, he was probably sure he'd win... He rolled his dice, hoping to get a set on his first try. A one, six, six, two, and four.

"Tch." Len could only take his boat (six) in and had to let go of the crew (four). All he needed now was a five and a four. Before he rolled however, Len thought about chances and probability for a second.

'Assuming I'll get a complete set on my second throw...' The only way to beat Kaito was if... No, there was no way he could beat Kaito at that rate. What he could do was to make the score even. In order for that to happen, he needed a sailor and it's crew by his second throw, and a total of twelve points for the cargo on his third row. Len could get a twelve with the last two dice on six, so...

Six, three, four, three, and five.

Len gave out a sigh of relief and put the last two dice on the cup. He needed a twelve. A six, and a six. What's the probability of that happening? Hnn... 1/6? 1/3? 1/36?The odds were really low. He'd be lucky to get a six. He... Len couldn't think. He had his poker face on and he didn't show any facial expression or anything in the outside, but in the inside he was too busy calculating the odds. Why was he doing that anyway? It-

"Hurry up and throw the dice, Len." Kaito sighed. Len gulped and rolled his dice.

A two and a four.

Len's heart sank and he buried his face on his hands. He lost the bet, and he had to... Ughhhhhhhh.

"Looks like I'm the winner. So, so! Should I add a consequence on what would happen if you break your promise on the bet?" Thanks to this game Len wasn't in the mood to talk especially to him. "Hey, you could glare at me all you want, it won't change the fact that you lost and I won." Kaito was rubbing it on his face and nothing can be more irritating than this.

"I'll jump off this ship if I break my promise." Len wasn't really serious, still, Kaito nodded anyway. Len wondered if he's making a mental note, 'go check for troubles if Len's missing'.

"Okay then." He looked at his watch for a second before he continued. "You can still make it to the dining room to eat dinner. I'll just clean these up, so you can go ahead before your friend got a heart-attack."

Notes:

1. Ship of Fools' more notably known as "ship crew and captain". I just like the title "ship of fools" 'cause it's one of my favorite songs composed by Kajiura Yuki.

2. What Lui said: "Bell, salute, pray, eat" or something along the lines (?) is what sailors do. I don't remember much since it happened last year, but that was the order and sailors do that whenever we eat breakfast / dinner. I'm not sure if this applies to a cruise ship like this since I was in a navy ship, but let's just assume so. (and I still have the "it's fiction so anything can happen!" card with me.)

3. Gambling is bad, okay.