Chapter 79 – Is Jabami Yumeko a Masochist?!
"Yumeko~ don't struggle too badly."
Ikishima Midari panted heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She clicked the magazine into place and pointed the cold barrel of the gun at Yumeko Jabami.
However, as the one whose life was at risk, Yumeko showed no fear. She calmly stared down the barrel of the gun.
"Ikishima-san, I don't recommend you pull the trigger," Yumeko said.
"Because... this is my handgun~"
"Take a good look at the muzzle. Out of the six bullets, I've loaded three lipsticks and three live rounds."
"In other words, there's a 50% chance the gun will explode and injure you."
"You will have to bear this risk alone..."
Before Yumeko could finish her words, Ikishima Midari, with a speed too fast for the eye to catch, once again pointed the gun at Yumeko and unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.
Click.
A crisp sound echoed through the interrogation room.
But no bullet was fired.
"Tch, it's empty," Midari clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.
Yumeko closed her eyes, unfazed. "I lied to you. I didn't load any bullets at all."
"Hah? Are you serious?!"
"Yumeko, you're so boring."
Midari sulkily sat back down and casually tossed the gun under the table.
This scene was witnessed by Hikigaya Hachiman through the monitoring system. His suspicions grew even stronger.
'Ikishima Midari has been intending to lose this game from the very start.'
If one were to ask why...
Hikigaya lowered his gaze, focusing on the ESP card marked with the wavy lines.
In other words, no matter how Hikigaya arranged the ESP cards, regardless of the outcome, Midari would choose to point a gun with no bullets at Yumeko.
This was a death game where Midari was seeking her own demise.
'She wants to find an executioner to kill herself, and Yumeko is the target she's fixated on.'
'If it's Yumeko, she must have figured it out by now.'
.
.
.
"Ikishima-san, why did you propose this game to me?" Yumeko asked calmly.
"Hah? Isn't it obvious? Of course, it's for the thrill, for the stimulation! This kind of experience, one that ordinary people can't even imagine, is just so addictive, Yumeko!"
After a brief flush, Midari's face darkened with disappointment.
She mumbled, "But... it's no good, Yumeko. At this school, gambling with just money means nothing to me. Whether I win or lose doesn't matter. Money doesn't stimulate the release of dopamine for me at all."
"Only... only..."
Midari suddenly stuck out her tongue and pulled up the eye patch covering her left eye.
From Hikigaya's perspective, it was unclear exactly what happened. However, he could clearly see a subtle change in Yumeko's calm face.
Surprise? Sympathy? And a hint of... fear?
"My left eye has no vision at all. Do you know why, Yumeko?"
"It was taken by the president, as a gambling stake!"
"Since that day, I realized that only a game where my body is the stake can excite me! Yumeko, as someone like me, you must understand how I feel, right?"
"So, I absolutely have to enjoy you before the president ruins you!"
"Ah~ Superb~ My brain is starting to go numb. Now I finally understand why people love gambling."
"To feel pain, to chase death—this is Ikishima Midari's kind of gambling!"
Yumeko Jabami's expression remained cold, and this time, she didn't go wild with Midari: "Sorry, but no. Also, Ikishima-san, what you're doing is utterly boring."
The second round of the game began immediately, with Ikishima Midari again loading six bullets into the handgun in front of everyone.
Hachiman Hikigaya paused for a moment, then continued to arrange the pieces in the same pattern as the previous round.
If it were Jabami, she would definitely be able to catch on to the clues of this game.
Now, the goal for the two of them was to continue tying the game and avoid the fate of Ikishima Midari being killed.
'This guy… if you want to die, find a quiet place and die by yourself. I don't want to see Jabami's hands stained with blood.'
Hachiman Hikigaya casually placed his hands behind his head: "I say, the footage passed from this camera must have been reversed, right?"
"What... What did you say?" Hachiman's sudden remark caused the two beauty committee members, dressed provocatively, to panic.
Hachiman said nothing further, his gaze fixed on the screen of the camera.
As expected, Jabami reproduced the same arrangement from the previous round.
And Ikishima Midari only got four cards right.
In other words...
"Yo, yo, yo, Yumeko, you won this round. Go ahead, shoot me!"
Ikishima Midari clearly became excited, panting heavily. One hand was rubbing her breast, and the other was reaching for her skirt. Her single eye was fixed on the gun that Yumeko was pulling out from under the table. The hollow muzzle seemed to have infinite power, as if it would swallow her whole.
It felt as though in the next second, it could shoot a bullet that would take her into blissful ecstasy.
"Well then, Ikishima, are you ready?"
"Hey, hey, Yumeko, hurry up and shoot me!"
"There's a fifty percent chance I'll die. It's so exciting, so satisfying! So, so satisfying!"
Jabami Yumeko's face remained cold, her eyes slightly squinted. She watched Ikishima Midari's frenzied expression and exuded a chilling murderous intent. Without hesitation, she raised the gun and pulled the trigger, aiming at Ikishima Midari.
Pata—
"Die, die, die, die... die!"
The moment the trigger was pulled, Ikishima's single eye bulged out, revealing the whites of her eyes. Drool uncontrollably spilled from the corner of her mouth. The wet, sticky liquid dripped onto the floor as she collapsed weakly, kneeling toward Jabami Yumeko.
It took a while before her bulging eye finally returned to its normal position.
With a dazed look in her single eye, she gazed at Yumeko: "Yumeko, I was right about you! The way you pulled the trigger so decisively, without any fear before firing—you're truly a born sadist, aren't you?"
"That's great! As long as you're here, I know I'll die satisfied, Yumeko."
"Sadist, you say? How rude, Ikishima-san."
Jabami Yumeko calmly pointed the gun at her own temple, pulling the trigger without hesitation, six times in a row. However, the gun did not react at all.
"Because this is my gun."
"Eh? How do you...?"
"Are you wondering how I knew? Bullets have weight, don't they?"
Yumeko picked up a bullet from the table, caressing its cold surface: "On the first day of school, Hikigaya-kun taught me what it means to 'remember the touch'."
"Now that I think about it, it's actually pretty interesting."
"Although I can't remember the weight to the same extent as Hikigaya-kun, if there are six bullets, it's easy to remember them with focus, right?"
"One bullet weighs about 15 grams. Six bullets together already weigh about one-tenth of the gun itself."
"With that much difference, of course, I could remember."
Important Announcement!
I Posted a new Fanfiction!
It's a crossover between Oregairu and Classroom of the Elite
The Return Of Hikigaya Hachiman in the Classroom of the Elite
Summary:
During the unanimous special exam in the second year at Advanced Nurturing High School, Hikigaya Hachiman was expelled.
After successfully making it through university entrance exams... he was rewarded with a big truck.
You can find the fanfiction here: https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-return-of-hikigaya-hachiman-in-the-classroom-of-the-elite_32602834508344205
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