Kakegurui: Ten Consecutive Guaranteed Hits

Volume 1 Chapter 57: Cheating is a Daily Routine

On his way to the classroom, Kiyohei opened the paper bag given to him by his father. Inside, he found exactly five million yen in cash. When combined with the money his brother had transferred, it added up to a total of fifteen million yen, roughly equivalent to just below 99 thousand in USD.

In his previous life, Kiyohei had no idea how long it would take him to save up such an amount, but now, he could obtain it just by visiting home. Although this amount was insignificant compared to his total assets, most of which were in Bitcoin and the stock market's gray area, it was still quite useful for his visible accounts, which held only a few million yen.

With this money, he didn't have to worry about his father suspecting anything, and he could be a bit more liberal with his spending. The stack of five million yen bills he held in his hand was too thick to fit in his wallet's inner pocket, so he carried it into the classroom and placed it in his backpack on his seat in full view of everyone.

Even though five million yen was a tempting amount of money, nobody in this school would intentionally steal it. Even as "livestock," they had some room for survival, but getting caught stealing money would mean real trouble.

Many people saw Kiyohei carrying in the money and couldn't resist inviting him to join in the gambling. Even though most students in this school came from affluent backgrounds, they were still underage, and their families wouldn't provide them with significant disposable income. A few million yen a month was the most they could get.

In a school where even class time was spent gambling, a few million yen was not considered much. Although the school year had just begun, many students had already lost most of their money. Gamblers like Kiyohei, who had a few million yen to play with, were highly welcomed by others.

This was exactly what Kiyohei wanted to see. He hoped to gamble with more people and accumulate the 300th safety net as soon as possible.

He also wished for a miraculous draw, but his luck was not that great, so for now, he could only hope for good results when the safety net came.

The gambling session passed by quickly. The fifth person had already sat down in front of Kiyohei. They were playing a common casino game called "Poker." The rules were simple, and it only required a standard deck of playing cards without the jokers.

Before the game began, each person had to put in a chip as a bet. Then, everyone drew three cards, and if they felt their hand wasn't good, they could fold. Those who believed their hands were good could raise, and others could call. During the betting phase, if someone felt their hand was weak or didn't want to bet too much, they could also fold.

In the end, those who hadn't folded entered the showdown phase, and the player with the strongest hand won and could take all the money on the table. The determination of the hands was quite complicated, but I won't go into detail here.

This game could be played by 2-6 people, but Kiyohei chose to play with two people. The reason was simple—playing with two people would end the game faster, allowing them to move on to the next round quickly.

Kiyohei actually wanted to play a faster game like dice, but the other students didn't want to leave the outcome of their gambling to luck. This was the mindset of most gamblers; they believed that when playing poker, the cards were in their hands the whole time, while in dice games, they had to watch helplessly, so they preferred games with more interaction.

In reality, both poker and dice games were the same, as the outcome was decided when the cards were dealt. The only difference was that they could participate more in poker and had more control over the game. This was the perspective of most gamblers.

Another game was about to begin.

In the previous round, Kiyohei lost to his opponent. This time, after receiving his cards, his gaze seemed to stay on his own cards, but in reality, he was closely watching his opponent's hand.

His opponent glanced at their own cards, frowned slightly, as if they weren't pleased with their hand, but they still chose to raise, saying, "I raise by twenty thousand."

"I'll call," Kiyohei replied without even glancing at his own cards, his voice steady.

His opponent hesitated for a moment, seeming a bit tired, and covered a yawn with his right hand near his mouth.

When he put his hand down, it discreetly grazed the edge of his left hand's sleeve, and then he said, "Hold on a second."

This was precisely the moment Kiyohei had been waiting for. He put down his own cards, stood up, and grabbed the cuff of his opponent's clothing. He didn't give his opponent any chance to struggle and swiftly pulled out two cards from the sleeve.

"You were cheating," Kiyohei said as he sat back down at his seat, speaking calmly. "I don't think I need to explain anything, right?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have cheated," his opponent said in a remorseful tone. He dropped his cards and left Kiyohei's gambling table with the one hundred thousand yen he had won dishonestly, looking quite dejected.

Seeing through the cheating, Kiyohei didn't feel any joy. Instead, he sighed in resignation. "Ah... the students in this school are just too much. Instead of gambling purely on luck, they all want to cheat for victory. Seven people came to gamble with me this morning, and five of them were caught cheating."

‘Really, can't they just play a fair game? Someone always has to cheat…’

This school had very lax regulations on cheating and even seemed to encourage it, which led many to entertain dishonest thoughts. This was a headache for Kiyohei.

In one morning, he had participated in 46 games, won 14 of them, and lost half due to the opponents cheating. Once caught, all the money they had won had to be returned to the one they cheated.

So, Kiyohei, although not winning many games, still managed to earn 350,000 yen. He just wanted to gamble happily and comfortably, brushing up on his safety net easily, instead of constantly monitoring the actions of others and trying to catch them cheating to recover the money he lost.

It was quite exhausting.

He took a mint from his pocket, tore open the packaging, popped it into his mouth, closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then opened them. His mind was clear again.

Kiyohei didn't want to continue gambling, so he stood up, supporting himself on the gambling table.

"If anyone still wants to gamble with me, I'm very welcoming. The minimum can be a hundred yen, and I won't turn anyone away. But put away your dishonest intentions in front of me, and don't cheat. Otherwise, I won't gamble with you again."

Kiyohei's gaze swept over the people who had been gambling with him, and they averted their eyes.

"...This won't happen again," Kiyohei said calmly.