What Meari experienced was not complicated; Ayanokoji quickly deduced the general sequence of events from their conversation.
Meari met her old friend, Hanatemari Kazura, in her new class.
Seeing her being bullied by classmates because of her "livestock" status, she couldn't stand it and stood up for her, being forced to gamble with the person who was bullying Hanatemari.
The result... Meari was utterly defeated and lost a large sum of money.
Hanatemari Kazura's words were also very clear: Saotome had already been targeted when she arrived at Hyakkaou Private Academy as a new student.
And not because she stood up for her.
Meari took a deep breath, and her expression relaxed considerably.
She also understood that she shouldn't have pointed the finger at Hanatemari. It was just that she had just lost a large sum of money and was very angry, desperately wanting to find a target to vent her anger, which was why she gave Hanatemari the cold shoulder.
She knew she had misunderstood Hanatemari, but she couldn't pretend as if nothing had happened and reconcile with Hanatemari.
The atmosphere between the two girls became stiff. It was still Ayanokoji who spoke to lighten the mood.
"Saotome, don't get agitated yet. I probably know what happened. First, let me ask, how much money did you lose?"
Saotome clicked her tongue and said in annoyance, "200,000 yen."
She got angry when she mentioned money—angry at herself.
Her family's financial situation wasn't very good. Although she had earned some money by working part-time during the holidays, that money was all spent on buying cosmetics to keep up appearances, making herself look more like a young lady.
When she came to Hyakkaou Private Academy today, she only had 10,000 yen in pocket money. However, when she sat down at the gambling table, she found out that the minimum bet for one game was 10,000 yen.
What was she thinking? She had no money, yet she sat at the gambling table, thinking she could use that 10,000 yen to make a fortune, and she just couldn't stop gambling!
Saotome couldn't direct her anger at Hanatemari anymore, so she turned her attention to the woman she had gambled with.
"That's right, it's all that Aiura Kokoro woman... She definitely had ill intentions!"
Saotome said through gritted teeth, "She deliberately used words like, 'Since you're a young lady, these tens of thousands of yen must be small change to you, right?' to corner me. And she even hypocritically lent me money, just to make me incur debt!"
Aiura Kokoro was the girl Saotome Meari competed against.
The more Saotome thought about it, the angrier she got. Now that she thought about it, perhaps the few times she won when she first started gambling were all her deliberately going easy, just to let her taste the thrill of winning money and get deeply involved, constantly fantasizing about turning the tables and gambling non-stop!
"By the way, Ayanokoji, didn't you also participate in gambling?"
Saotome suddenly looked at Ayanokoji, "How much money did you lose?"
Saotome and Ayanokoji were both new students. She thought Ayanokoji had also lost a lot and wanted to empathize with him, sharing in their misfortune.
However...
"Although I gambled, I didn't lose," Ayanokoji shook his head, somewhat speechless. Why did Saotome start asking questions assuming he had lost?
"You didn't lose any money?!" Saotome exclaimed in shock.
What did he mean? Did it mean she was the only one who lost like an idiot?!
"Although I didn't lose, I didn't win either. I just won back the money I lost," Ayanokoji added the latter half of his sentence.
"Oh, I see. So you didn't win either..."
The light in Saotome's eyes instantly vanished. Leaning against the wall, she casually asked, "How much did you lose before?"
"Four hundred thousand."
"Four hundred thousand!? How did you win back so much after losing it?" Saotome suddenly turned her head to look at Ayanokoji, re-examining him.
Not just Saotome Meari, but even Hanatemari Kazura, who was standing beside them, looked at Ayanokoji with a surprised expression.
Although he didn't look like it, could it be... Ayanokoji was actually an incredibly skilled gambler?
Ayanokoji recounted the events in an understated manner.
"Actually, until the last round, I was still down 400,000. Then, I suggested a sudden-death match, and he agreed. So I gambled with him one last time. And then, I won, winning back all the money I had lost."
"That simple?" Meari blinked in disbelief. Ayanokoji made it sound too easy.
"Gambling is inherently simple. You're not overthinking it, are you?"
Ayanokoji shrugged, "As long as there are no issues with both players in the game, then what determines victory or defeat is only luck and cheating."
"Cheating..." Saotome murmured the word, and suddenly her eyes lit up. "Ayanokoji, do you mean that the person I gambled with might have cheated?"
"I don't know about your side, but the guy I gambled with definitely cheated. It was precisely because he cheated and arrogantly believed his chances of winning were high, that my proposed gamble seemed like a free handout to him, which is why he accepted my challenge."
Ayanokoji said very humbly, "He didn't expect my luck to be a little better than his, and I won against him."
The more Saotome thought about it, the more something felt wrong. At the gambling table, that guy seemed to read her mind, always outplaying her with every card.
She had actually considered the possibility of cheating during the game, but she had no evidence, and the other party kept urging her to play, making time very tight. She didn't have time to properly think.
Now that she thought about it, Aiura Kokoro definitely had a problem. Gambling, to put it plainly, was a game of luck. Her intelligence wasn't higher than Saotome's, so how could she accurately guess what cards Saotome was going to play?
"That's right... Aiura Kokoro definitely cheated! Otherwise, it would be impossible to win so many consecutive rounds!"
That guy was truly a scoundrel, cheating like that! Saotome no longer held a grudge against Hanatemari; she directed all her resentment towards Aiura Kokoro.
"Saotome, have you thought about winning your money back?" Ayanokoji suddenly asked.
"I would like to win it back, but I don't have any capital," Saotome said despondently, leaning against the wall.
She knew that if she lost, she just needed to win it back, but she had no capital at hand. Even if she was angry, it was just powerless rage.
"Then, shall I lend you money?"
"You lend me?" Saotome looked at Ayanokoji in surprise.
"You want to win, don't you?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at Saotome's golden eyes, filled with vexation, as if he could feel an emotion called unwillingness from them. "You want to get your revenge, don't you?"
Saotome felt as if she had been seen through by Ayanokoji. That's right, she really wanted to win. She wanted to use a gambling victory to teach Aiura Kokoro a harsh lesson. She wanted to loudly mock Aiura Kokoro!
"Why do you want to lend me money?" Saotome looked at Ayanokoji in confusion. "You're not trying to make me a gambling addict who falls into huge debt, are you?"
"It's just empathy between similar people. After all, like you, I'm also a transfer student, and I can't just stand by and watch you get bullied. Besides, aren't we friends? If I can help you, I definitely will," Ayanokoji said with a smile.
Friends. So Ayanokoji already considered her a friend...
After experiencing the bitter taste of cold defeat, Saotome finally gained strength from Ayanokoji's words, feeling a warm current flow through her body.
"Are you very rich?"
"My father gave me a sum of money before I came," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took out his wallet, feeling quite emotional.
He had originally thought his father was being generous and gave him extra money for dating, but he didn't expect it to be a survival insurance for him.
If he had to gamble every day and pay monthly contributions, the money his father gave him wouldn't last long at all.
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