Chapter 5: The Collapsing Declaration of Victory
The atmosphere in the classroom was tense to the breaking point.
What began as a simple game of "Voting Rock-Paper-Scissors" had evolved into a gambling table piled high with a mountain of chips.
"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're afraid to follow?"
Mary Saotome leaned her hands on the table, a frantic flame burning within her golden pupils.
She was no longer just playing for money; she wanted to utterly crush my spirit and savor the pleasure of dominating another human being.
"Ten million."
I stated the figure calmly.
The entire class fell into an instantaneous, deathly silence.
Even Ryota Suzui was so terrified that he collapsed limply into his chair.
Ten million yen. For a high school student, that is a life-destroying sum of money.
"Ha... Hahahaha!" Mary erupted into wild laughter. "Ten million? Do you even have it? Transfer student, stop bluffing!"
"I have it."
I pulled my student ID from my pocket. In this school, it serves as a universal pass and the vehicle for loan contracts.
"According to school rules, I can apply for a special large-scale gamble. As long as both parties agree, the debt takes effect immediately. If I cannot pay, my entire life plan—be it further education or employment, and even my personal freedom in the future—will belong to you."
I slammed the student ID onto the table with a dull thud.
"Do you dare to accept this stake?"
Mary's laughter stopped abruptly. She stared at me fixedly, as if trying to find even a flicker of fear on my face.
But the panic, the cold sweat, and the trembling from moments ago had vanished without a trace.
"Interesting... truly interesting!"
Mary licked her lips, her greed triumphing over her caution.
"Since you want to be livestock for the rest of your life, I'll grant your wish! Everyone—vote!"
The ballot box circulated through the classroom once more.
Mary's gaze swept across the room, specifically lingering on the two girls I had intercepted earlier. She was checking to confirm if terror was still an effective tool.
The two girls kept their heads down, dropping their cards in with stiff movements.
Mary withdrew her gaze, satisfied. She firmly believed that under her high-pressure rule, no one would dare betray her. The box would be filled almost entirely with the patterns she had dictated.
If following her previous logic, she would have everyone play "Rock" while she played "Paper" to win.
But this time, to guard against the possibility that I might guess her trick and play "Scissors," she changed the signal at the last moment. While shuffling the cards earlier, she used a gesture only her followers understood to issue a command: everyone play "Paper."
Since the box was full of "Paper," she assumed I would likely play "Scissors" to win.
To counter that, she only had to play "Rock" to beat me.
* Level 1 (Surface): The box is random.
* Level 2 (Cheating): The box is full of "Paper."
* Level 3 (Mary's Thought): If Ayanokoji is a fool, he'll play randomly. If he's resisting, he'll guess the box is rigged. If he thinks the box is full of "Rock," he'll play "Paper." Then I just need to play "Scissors" to win.
* The Reality (Mary's Final Decision): She is certain the box is full of "Paper." As a cornered gambler, I would surely try to catch that one-in-a-million chance to win, or try to blind-guess her move. But under this absolute control, whatever she plays has a high probability of winning or drawing. To ensure a kill, she decided to play "Scissors." Even if I somehow drew a "Paper," it would be a draw; but if I played "Scissors" to beat "Paper," it would also be a draw. And I would never play "Rock."
"Draw your cards."
We reached into the box simultaneously.
I gripped a card. It was the absolute "betrayal" I had purchased with money.
"Showdown!"
Along with Mary's high-pitched shout, we flipped our cards at the same time.
In Mary's hand was a card depicting sharp "Scissors."
The arc of victory was already rising at the corners of her mouth—
However, in the next second, that arc froze.
I placed my card gently on the table.
It was a crudely drawn circle.
"Rock."
Rock crushes Scissors.
"...Eh?"
Mary let out a single syllable of confusion.
The surrounding students were also stunned.
"R... Rock?" Mary looked at my card in disbelief, then snapped her gaze toward the black box. "How is that possible... the box was supposed to be full of 'Paper'! How could you possibly draw 'Rock'?!"
If the box had been full of "Paper," playing "Rock" would have been a suicide mission. The reason I dared to play "Rock" was because I knew poison had been mixed into the box specifically for her.
"Full of 'Paper'?"
I sat in my chair, hands clasped beneath my chin, my gaze as calm as a pool of stagnant water.
"Is that your confession of cheating, Saotome-san?"
Mary's face turned deathly pale. She realized she had slipped up, but that was no longer the point.
"Impossible... no one would dare defy me... no one!"
She lunged toward the ballot box like a madwoman, dumping all the cards out.
The papers fluttered through the air and fell to the ground.
The majority were indeed "Paper."
But amidst that pile of "Paper," several "Rock" cards were conspicuously mixed in. The number wasn't large, but under the secret operation between me and those two girls, I had intentionally felt for the "Rock" cards whose paper texture felt slightly different.
Those were the stones of betrayal, drawn by the hands of those two girls to repay their debt—for the sake of that 50,000 yen.
Mary slumped onto the floor, trembling as she lifted her head to look at the two girls.
The two girls did not avoid her gaze. Though they were still shaking, their eyes sparkled with a light called "liberation."
"Why...!" Mary roared at the top of her lungs.
I stood up, looking down at the girl who was once an invincible queen.
The previous cowardice, the panic, and the shabbiness of a minimalist had all vanished in this moment. In their place was a suffocating sense of pressure.
"Your greatest cause of defeat wasn't luck, nor was it strategy," I said softly, my voice carrying clearly into every corner of the room.
"It was your belief that fear can dominate everything. You thought that as long as you treated them like livestock, they would remain submissive forever."
I walked over to Mary, picked up a chip, and waved it before her eyes.
"However, when human beings are presented with a more direct profit, fear takes a back seat. Greed is always more powerful than fear."
"You... you bought them?" Mary's eyes widened, her pupils vibrating violently. "You were doing this from the very beginning..."
"I told you, I'm not very good at using my head."
I tossed the chip back to her with a crisp clatter. "But that doesn't mean I don't know how to use tools."
The debt of ten million changed hands in an instant.
Mary Saotome—the one who viewed her classmates as "livestock"—finally tasted the flavor of falling into hell.
I turned and picked up my bag, not giving her a second glance as I walked straight toward the classroom door.
This round, I won.