Nobody knew her name, yet the moment she walked into the room, they were all spellbound. It was impossible not to be, even for somebody with Runa's neutral disposition. Even she couldn't deny the new girl was a looker.
But it wasn't just that. In an almost indiscernible way, she stood out from everybody else.
Perhaps it was the erect line of her posture, contrasted by the melodious sway of her hips, the two ostentatious braids, meticulously curled around her head. A hairstyle which, had it been anybody else, Runa would have called them out as stupid. On her, it simply looked regal.
Then again, perhaps it was the easygoing, half-tug of a smile at the corner of her blue lips, perfectly contrasting against her piercing, ice-blue eyes.
Detached would have been an accurate way to describe her then, and it still holds true now.
Runa could practically sense their gazes on her, as her shoes padded down onto the pristine marbled floors. The rumours flying around were practically palpable.
"Who is she?"
"Where did she come from?"
"Is she rich?"
"Damn. She's fine!"
The newcomer seemed not to notice as she swept up the entire room in her piercing gaze, a placid smile present.
Mid-semester transfers in Hyakkaou were pretty much unheard of, as new students tended to fall into the lowest part of the hierarchy by default, so either this girl was incredibly stupid, or simply unaware.
Probably the former.
"Ahem. Class. Please welcome our new student..." The teacher waved her hand, a little pathetically, as if trying to recall her name.
"Momobami Kirari. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." The new girl finished off, flashing her pearly whites.
Runa recognised that smile: a shark's smile. And a honey-sweet voice to match.
"Yes. Class, I trust you will welcome Momobami-san accordingly. Yomozuki?"
Right.
Since Runa had volunteered herself as dealer for the exam gamble, which ended in a three-way tie, she had been voted as Class President. A rather unfortunate position which made her responsible for all the grunt work in the class.
Which included showing the new student around, she supposed, swirling her sour candy around in her mouth.
Runa gave a nod of acknowledgement to the teacher, before bounding to her feet, maintaining a saccharine mask of cheeriness.
"Yomozuki will show you around the premises." She continued curtly, addressing Momobami-san. "Any questions you have, you can ask her."
"Is that so?" Momobami's voice was light, airy- but her gaze spoke volumes. Sharp, hungry. That of a predator. Something interesting in the mundaneness that was Hyakkaou.
"Mhm!" Runa grinned at her, popping out the candy as she spoke. "Follow me, Momobami-san."
With a few bounding steps and a wave of the hand, the two left the room.
"So sorry," Momobami-san said, as the two fell into a rhythm, "I didn't quite catch your name?"
"Oh, that's all right! Yomozuki Runa." Runa said, still grinning.
"Yomozuki Runa..." she seemed to mull the name over in her head before continuing. "Very pretty name you have. Do you mind if we drop the formalities, Runa-chan?"
The what?
For a moment, Runa froze in shock, the sour sweet clattering out of her mouth and onto the sparkling floors of Hyakkaou. She turned her head and levelled her gaze with the ridiculously proud newcomer. Or, at least, attempted to. Her height was always a detriment when it came to having people take her seriously.
Her first instinct was to blurt out "Of course not!", but something in those icy eyes stopped her from doing so.
"I think we'll be good friends, you and I," Momobami continued, arms swinging by her side leisurely. "Don't you think?"
It wasn't a question, and nor was she expecting Runa to give an honest answer.
She swallowed. "Sure, why not?"
"Good." She nodded to herself, before adding as a slight afterthought, "Runa-chan."
Runa tensed, waiting for Momobami to ask her to address her by her first name.
She didn't, instead choosing to continue the path of conversation in a different direction.
"So, Hyakkaou... what do you students do here?" There was an implication in her voice that had Runa do a double-take, before collecting herself again.
"We, we study, Momobami-san. What else? Nya-ha!" She flashed another one of her winning smiles at her, the same cutesy smiles she used to get away with eating candy in class or forgetting homework or perhaps turning a blind eye to loophole cheating in gambles.
"Of course, of course," Suddenly, she stopped, turning to face the shorter girl, blue eyes boring into Runa's hazel ones. "Tell me.. is there nothing else? Like... gambling, perhaps, Runa-chan?"
She gulped. Dammit.
"Well, umm, I suppose?" She offered weakly, before quickly slipping back into her façade. "Not that I would know much! I usually play my own games, although I do deal sometimes."
"Hm." She seemed satisfied with the answer. "Thank you, Runa-chan. I can just feel that the two of us... will be best friends in no time."
Somehow, she made even that sound threatening.
"Musubi-san, correct?"
It was lunchtime, and the new girl was already making a move. Runa assumed she had quickly deduced the divisions of wealth in the class, with awkward potato-head Musubi and his gaggle of boys making it first.
Still. Runa couldn't figure out her game.
"Y-yes?" He looked up from his lunch, cheeks reddening as he did a once-over of Momobami-san. Internally, Runa rolled her eyes.
Of course.
Momobami pretty much appeared to be his type, which honestly? Was probably literally any pretty girl out there.
"Dude." Sera-san, on of his cronies, nudged him slightly, wearing a stupid grin on his face. "I think she digs you! Or me..."
"I hear you're quite the ladies man, are you not?" Momobami continued smoothly, eyes trained on Musubi.
Is she trying to worm herself into the higher ranks?
"I- well- I-" he turned brick red, before exhaling rather loudly, but Momobami didn't seem perturbed in the slightest.
"I want to get to know you better, Musubi-san." She continued methodically, voice impossibly light and sweet as she almost imperceptibly glanced at Runa, who swallowed. Oh.
"So what do you say to a little friendly gamble?" Mischief danced in those icy eyes, but Musubi was too taken to notice.
"Of-of course! You're such a-a traditional, feminine woman- how could I refuse?" He blabbered, exhaling once again, not unlike a whale heading above water for air.
Barely noticeable disgust momentarily flashed across the girl's face, before she continued in a calm, yet detached manner. "How would you feel about a game of cheat, Musubi-san? Runa-chan can deal."
Instantly, the bunny-hoodie girls' ears perked up at the mention of her name.
"What? Me? The dealer?" She exclaimed, kicking back her chair.
Momobami-san giggled. "Ah, so you were listening! Yes, you can be our dealer. After all, it's something you do quite often, is it not?"
Crap. She had boxed her. But Runa didn't mind all that much. It would be interesting to see how the new girl played, and whether she would land in huge debt because of it. Musubi-san was known quite well for getting big.
But somehow, she didn't think that would be happening.
"Alright. Sure, why not?" Runa found herself saying, and, much to her disgust, moving towards Momobami-san and- ugh- Musubi, who in turn wrinkled his nose at her. Runa knew she didn't fit into his category of a traditional woman, with her love of animal hoodies, lollipops and video games, but he could at least be less crass about his preferences.
"So." She pulled her gaze away from Musubi, and towards Momobami. "Anybody got a deck? Or two, I guess."
"Right here, Runa-chan." It was like she was trying to make a point by calling Runa by her first name.
"Oh, no need!" Momobami-san's opponent exclaimed. "I will provide the decks myself, like any good gentleman ought to do for his lady." With his fat fingers, Musubi pulled out two worn decks. Something Runa instantly was suspicious of. Momobami didn't bat an eye.
"Alright. We'll use yours, then. Runa-chan, if you wouldn't mind...?"
Right. The rules.
"Oh, of course not!" Runa clapped her hands together. "The rules for cheat are very simple, really. Momobami-san, hand me a card?"
Wordlessly, the other girl gave her a card- a 3 of clubs. Runa put it down on the table face-up.
"This will be our starting card. Each player may put down any cards ranging from the number just below the number of the starting card to the number just above the starting card. You may put down 1, 2, 3 or 4 cards."
"Simple enough." Sera chuckled, eyes flitting between Momobami-san and the decks of cards.
Suspicion clouded Runa's mind at the movement of his eyes, but like any neutral dealer, she pushed it aside. Besides, since no cheating had undergone yet, it wasn't her place to say anything.
"Ah, but here's the kicker!" Runa continued in her cheery falsetto. "Really, you can put down whatever cards you want, since they're going to all be facedown. The aim of the game is to guess whether your opponent is cheating or not."
She had done this so many times for Sacchan, it was honestly tiring.
Runa swore that Sachiko had to be cheating, but every time she looked she couldn't discern anything that looked like it. But this time, it felt different. Sachiko was a bored girl, whom everybody feared. The outcome of her games were the same: they bet high, her opponent gets desperate and goes all in, Sacchan ruins their life, and then moves on.
But here? Runa didn't even know who to bet on.
"You may begin."
"I'll start." Musubi-san proclaimed, oozing with confidence. "2 twos."
"Cheat." The answer was shockingly fast. Slim, manicured hands turned the card over to reveal... 2 twos.
"Hm. Bad luck for me." Momobami shrugged, before taking all three cards and putting down an 8 of hearts face up. "Say, Musubi-san, we never decided on the stakes, did we?"
"No, I suppose not..." the awkward boy pushed up his glasses. "1 seven."
"Cheat." Again, the same answer. Runa turned the card over and, lo and behold, 1 seven. But Momobami didn't look fazed in the slightest. She picked out an ace of spades and put it face up. "How about... 5 million yen?"
"What?" Runa and Musubi exclaimed at the same time.
"Oh? Not high enough? How about 10 million then?" Momobami shot him the same shark smile. By now, pretty much the entire class had gathered to see the new girl gamble, so the pressure for both of them was really on.
"I, um, accept." Musubi said, panting. The sweat was soaking through his shirt. "3 kings."
"Good. Let's play, then."
Half the deck was burned through and neither had called a cheat.
All planned, of course. Because Musubi wasn't about to lose- not even to a beautiful woman like Momobami-san, and preferably not to a woman at all.
It was disgraceful enough that the current student council president was a woman, that the leader of the most successful club in school was a woman, that the most feared gamblers in the second year were both women. Women who, really, ought to have belonged at home, married, bearing their husbands' children, rather than doing the men's work.
So no, he wasn't about to lose, and yes, not calling any cheats was part of his strategy. He knew that Momobami-san was just playing it cool, really. She had essentially revealed her strategy in the beginning- call cheats when there was low risk. As soon as the stakes were raised, she had backed down.
Yet... something about the rigid, straight-backed way she carried herself struck a nerve with him.
"Three queens."
"Two kings."
"One king."
"Ace."
"Four twos."
"Ace."
"Three kings."
"Queen." His first cheat. But she couldn't know that, and she wouldn't risk it either. 10 cards left for both of them.
And he was going to win. Because these cards were specially marked. He knew exactly what cards she was holding now: a five, a jack, two eights, three sevens and a four. Momobami hadn't cheated yet, but she ought to be getting close to doing so.
He would win. Of course he would.
"Cheat."
It's smooth, that one syllable, as if coated with honey yet dripping with malice.
"Huh?" He blinked. Momobami hadn't called any cards previously, was she...?
"I said, cheat. Runa-chan?"
The giggly, glitzy dealer shot Musubi a sharp smirk, before revealing the card: a seven.
Musubi gulped. "Umm... that's-"
"A cheat! Yup!" Yomozuki grinned almost manically at him. "The deck is all yours, Musubi-san!"
Right. There's no way she can know. I can still win- slowly, but surely. If I just-
"Put a starting card down, Musubi-san. Don't keep me waiting, please." Almost the entire class was watching the match by now, eager to see if the new girl could best the kind of the class.
Musubi growled, before placing down one of his two fives face up.
"One five."
"One five."
"One four."
Nothing in sight, and Musubi wasn't willing to look through the entire pack to find it, so instead he just pulled the first two cards. "Uhh, two threes." He stammered, hating how his voice sounded. Because if he lost... well. 10 million yen was a lot of money. And given how almost two decks were in his hands, that now seemed likely.
Steely eyes glinted mercilessly, a look that in Musubi's opinion was far too masculine and determined to be worn on a woman.
"Cheat."
The cards were flipped over. A jack and a nine.
The dealer sucked in a breath, murmuring something to herself as she handed the stack of cards to Musubi.
But no matter. He just had to play his hand right, and call Momobami out on her cheating. Perhaps it would be a slow win, but a sure one.
He placed down his next card- a seven of hearts- upright.
Momobami was quick to make her move. "Two eights."
Not a cheat, he knew that. But she also had three sevens, which he couldn't let her use- or could he? If she used her three sevens, that would leave her with a jack, and she couldn't possibly win with that, could she? A grin found its way onto Musubi's face. He was in control.
"Two sevens."
"Three sevens."
"Two sixes."
"One five."
And there it was.
"Cheat!" Cheeks flush, he cried out, slamming the table and panting heavily. He had won this round, and now Momobami was stacked with more cards, and he could-
"No cheat." The dealer turned to him, still smiling in that annoyingly cheery fashion.
"Huh?" The scarlet hue of victory faded into a pale white.
"I said. No cheat." Yomotsuki's voice turned icy as she held out the card. A five of clubs.
"W-what? How? I-" Musubi broke into a coughing fit, small tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. 10 million yen was small fry to him, but knowing that everyone was watching too-
And then, the she-demon began to laugh. Well, not laugh, giggle, to be precise. An amused sort of expression crossed her statuesque features.
"Oh, Musubi-san, for someone who calls themselves a gambler, your cheats are pretty poor." She finally spoke.
...What? How-
"It was honestly surprisingly easy to figure out. The decks you gave me were marked, were they not?" She leaned forward a little, hand reaching up to clasp his sweaty jaw. "I thought it was a little suspicious when you insisted we use your cards, rather than mine. I had figured out the pattern in my deck almost instantly. Yours, however, could have been marked differently. I had to test that."
Her blue eyes bore into his brown ones, as if staring right into his soul. Even the dealer looked a little unnerved by the gaze she was fixing him with, but mostly she looked impressed enough to just let Momobami continue.
"You remember the beginning of the game, don't you?"
Oh. Oh.
Musubi's eyes widened. This girl...
"So, to counter your clever little strategy, I marked some of my cards myself."
"But... how did you..." he gulped as she leaned closer.
"Know that those were the exact cards I needed to play to fool you?" She booped his nose, a little tweak for a little pet. "That, was part of the gamble."
Momobami leaned back, looking pleased with herself in a way Musubi believed only men were meant to.
"I win. Pay up soon, because I really don't like to be kept waiting."
Notes: I adored writing this chapter. In case you didn't notice, there were quite a few parallels between this and the OG KKG scene where Yumeko enters the school. Runa is basically Kirari's bestie, except for that she isn't just a blank slate like Ryota.
Next chapter: Aoi decides to try his luck with the new girl, Sachiko proposes an absurd offer to an unwilling Sakura, Sayaka finds herself enamoured with Kirari