Saotome Meari left after repeatedly promising that she would not become addicted to gambling. Kuroki Ya, who had returned to the classroom at some point and had been observing the situation from beside his friend, walked back at the opportune moment.
"Ayanokoji-kun, it seems that lady doesn't appreciate your good intentions."
Kuroki Ya sat down, marveling, "I know that person, Saotome Meari, right? She won against a classmate on her first day here and even humiliated them on the spot. Her reputation has spread throughout the entire grade."
Ayanokoji was startled for a moment: "Did this matter spread so widely?"
Ayanokoji thought that Aiura Kokoro losing to Saotome Meari, such an embarrassing matter, she would try her best to conceal it.
"After all, transfer students every year are key subjects of attention. She's a rare case of someone who won against the person she gambled with."
Kuroki Ya teased, "You also won, but since you didn't take a single penny from me, your victory wasn't recorded."
"Recorded? By whom?"
"By the Student Council, of course."
Seeing Ayanokoji's puzzled look, Kuroki Ya clapped his hands, feigning a sudden realization: "Oh right, Ayanokoji, you don't know yet, do you? The Student Council in our school is composed of the most top-tier gamblers, and everyone is very strong.
The Student Council has a special department responsible for recording each student's gambling level. If there are high-level students, they might be absorbed into the Student Council."
Ayanokoji thought of the Student Council President, Momobami Kirari, who had made a striking impression in the official website's introduction.
That beautiful girl with twin braids, the emerald green lipstick on her lips still left a deep impression.
Was her gambling ability also very strong?
"What about the Student Council President?" Ayanokoji asked casually.
"That goes without saying, she is the most powerful gambler in our school," Kuroki said, a complex expression of respect mixed with fear appearing on his face when he mentioned the Student Council President.
"President Momobami is an unprecedented genius. She transferred to this school a year ago and rose to prominence, defeating everyone in the entire school.
Her outstanding performance caught the attention of the former Student Council President. Originally, the former president wanted to absorb her into the Student Council, but she unexpectedly demanded to gamble with the former president directly and won the position of President.
She became the 105th President of the Private Hyakkaou Academy Student Council and immediately implemented the 'reforms' of the [Class System] and [Livestock System]."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had never heard of this matter before. When he heard this news, his first reaction was absurdity.
No way? Are the current class system and Livestock System, these survival-of-the-fittest systems, all implemented by that Student Council President?
Ayanokoji thought it was a reform carried out by the school's board of directors.
"Does the Student Council President have that much power?" Ayanokoji couldn't help but ask.
"Of course. It can be said that the Student Council President is the person standing at the top of this school, able to act unilaterally without anyone's consent and change policies at will."
Kuroki whispered, "At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the Student Council President's words are law. You could even say that if she told all the girls in the school to strip naked and stand before you, no one would object."
"No way?" Ayanokoji frowned: "The students in this school are either rich or noble. Would their families agree to such a thing?"
"I'm not entirely sure…"
Kuroki Ya shook his head with a bitter smile: "It is said that the Student Council President of Private Hyakkaou Academy holds significant status not only within the school but also in the outside world, comparable to a member of parliament."
This is a capitalist country, huh…
Ayanokoji remained silent for a long time, only able to come to such a realization.
It was almost lunchtime, and before leaving his seat, Ayanokoji casually asked Kuroki Ya a question he was very concerned about.
"By the way, Kuroki, what happens if you're caught cheating in this school?"
"…Are you talking about me?"
Kuroki Ya's eyes widened, thinking Ayanokoji was going to settle scores later. He quickly waved his hands and said, "If you discover the other party is cheating, as long as you make them admit to cheating, then this gambling match is ruled in your favor."
"Of course, the premise is that you catch the cheating on the spot during the gamble. If you only discover the cheating afterwards, no matter how much you lost, you cannot get it back from the other party."
As if afraid that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would ask him for money, he quickly added, "These are the rules set by the Student Council President, you know. Everyone who gambles in the school must abide by them."
"Just losing the current match? Is it that simple?"
Ayanokoji raised an eyebrow, quite surprised. The punishment for cheating here was too lenient, wasn't it? Not to mention cutting off a hand on the spot, there wasn't even a fine?
"Of course, before the match, you can also stipulate that cheating is not allowed, or state the consequences of cheating. As long as the other party agrees, it can take effect. Otherwise, the default punishment for cheating is just that light."
Kuroki explained, "The Student Council does not prohibit cheating. Everyone implicitly agrees that anyone who can't catch a cheater is a fool and deserves to be scammed."
"So, in a match, everyone could potentially cheat? I see…" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka mused.
Indeed, gambling does not prohibit cheating, it only needs to "appear fair."
After all, that's how society is. It's unrealistic to expect these young masters and ladies to navigate society purely by intelligence; they must be allowed to use some underhanded tactics.
Saotome Meari probably didn't know about this, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wasn't going to tell her.
As a friend, he had fulfilled his duty by trying his best to persuade her not to gamble.
If she didn't listen, Ayanokoji couldn't do anything about it.
Now that Saotome had just achieved a resounding victory and experienced gambling as a quick way to earn money, she was like Eve after tasting the forbidden fruit. No matter how much others tried to persuade her, she wouldn't listen to the advice.
Some truths, no matter how clearly or how many times they are explained, will be dismissed by the other party until they taste the bitter fruit.
To make Saotome Meari realize, perhaps what is needed is not persuasion, but a devastating defeat that will be etched in her memory, teaching her a lesson.
P.S.:
I owe you all an apology.
Someone in the comment section mentioned that I could attach character photos, which I honestly hadn't thought of before.
Many people watched "gambling abyss" a long time ago, and many others haven't seen the original work.
The timeline of this book starts a few months before the main storyline, so some characters who didn't appear in the main storyline will also appear. It's indeed confusing that I haven't uploaded character images.
Mainly, I used to write on Qidian, and this is my first time on Ciweimao, so I'm not very used to the image insertion function.
Actually, I tried uploading images at first, but Ciweimao only allows images under 500k to be uploaded. The compressed images were too blurry, so I only did it once and then gave up.
After this, I will attach character images whenever each character appears. I will also find some images to fill in the previous chapters, so that everyone has a general impression of the characters.
Next, I will also try to develop the image-posting function, and I will explain all the various settings of the original work in detail to give you a better viewing experience. You can completely treat it as a semi-original work.
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