Kakegurui: Ten Consecutive Guaranteed Hits

Volume 1 Chapter 36: There will come a day when everyone will look up to us

The rooftop of the teaching building wasn't deserted, but rather a small garden with some rare flowers planted.

Near the flowerbeds, there were many benches for resting. Unfortunately, not many people came here during lunchtime. From the perspective of Kiyohei and Mary, they could only see the solitary figure of Tsuzura among the flower handballs.

As expected, she was having lunch on the rooftop, just as the girl had said.

She placed the lunchbox on her soft thighs, using one hand to support it and the other to hold a pair of chopsticks. However, she didn't seem to have much appetite; the lunchbox remained mostly untouched.

Lost in thought, she gazed at the flowers in front of her, as if daydreaming.

"Hey, did you figure it out? Did you give her that?"

Kiyohei and Mary didn't directly show themselves; they were hidden, observing discreetly.

Mary rubbed her chin and pondered for a while, trying to recall what the gift she had given looked like.

"Well... it doesn't seem like it, really." After a while, Mary nodded and concluded, "The headband she's wearing is definitely newly bought. It has no resemblance to the one I gave her, apart from the color!"

Mary sighed in relief too; thankfully, it wasn't the same.

If the cheap thing she had given to Tsuzura had actually been worn on her head all this time, she wouldn't have known how to face her—Is the girl into me?

Mary considered herself a normally oriented girl; if Tsuzura had really been like that, she would have kept her distance.

Fortunately, it was just a misunderstanding.

Since it wasn't her gift, there was nothing to worry about.

"Hey, Tsuzura, why are you eating here?" Mary was the first to step out from their hiding place and approached Tsuzura.

Tsuzura instinctively looked up and saw the golden figure approaching her. She quickly set the lunchbox aside and stood up, her delight greater than her surprise.

"Mary!? How did you know I was here?"

"Well... I felt a bit guilty for not responding to you earlier, so I came looking."

Mary turned her face slightly, showing some guilt. "Sorry, I shouldn't have stayed silent before. I was just a bit shocked."

"It's okay, Mary. It's fine if you didn't respond to me. After all, I'm just a weakling..." Tsuzura gave a sad smile.

"..." Mary didn't know how to respond to that either. She quickly changed the topic, "Why are you having your lunch here on the rooftop? The cafeteria food isn't that expensive, right?"

"That's right, the cafeteria food is cheap. But, I don't have any friends, so if I go alone, it feels really lonely..."

Tsuzura picked up her lunchbox, her face once again showing a pleasing smile. "Mary, would you like to have some of my homemade lunch? I made it this morning."

"No, I'm full from the cafeteria." Mary instinctively declined.

Seeing Tsuzura's slightly embarrassed expression, she quickly tried to explain, "I really am full. To celebrate our victory, I ordered several dishes at the cafeteria with Kiyohei and there's still some left. You can ask him if you don't believe me."

As she spoke, she gave Kiyohei a meaningful look.

"Oh, right, right."

Kiyohei nodded absently and walked to the edge of the rooftop, gazing into the distance.

When they had been reading about the school introduction, they knew the school was large, but it was only from a high vantage point that they truly felt the vastness of the campus.

Supermarkets, gyms, student dormitories, club buildings, movie theaters, soccer fields, sports stadiums... There were many buildings with unclear purposes.

The most attractive thing that caught Kiyohei's attention was a corner of the school—a white tower surrounded by countless white flowers.

Woah…

Never know that this school has its own “Avalon”

Kiyohei wondered whether the maker is a super rich fan of Fate or not.

Tsuzura had been chatting with Mary for a while now, and she saw that Mary didn't reject her. She gathered her courage once again.

Lowering her head, like a boy confessing his feelings to the girl he loved behind a tree after school, she bowed at a ninety-degree angle and shouted, "Mary, can I be friends with you!?"

"Sure." This time, Mary didn't remain silent; she spoke up.

"Really?" Tsuzura raised her head in surprise, overflowing with joy.

"I can be friends with you, but I have a condition."

"What condition?" Tsuzura was prepared for anything. Even if Mary asked her to jump from here, she might do it without hesitation.

"Break free from being called a stray cat. You don't feel angry being called that every day? I would hate that. And I also dislike seeing my friend treated that way."

Mary paused for a moment and continued, "I've already talked to Kokoro, and she won't bully you anymore. But what I want isn't just not being bullied."

Mary took a deep breath, her gaze sharpening. She put her hand on Tsuzura's shoulder and said seriously:

"In order to not be seen as fools again, we will stand above others. Since this school's hierarchy is determined through gambling, let's use gambling to win!"

"Mary is truly amazing..." Seems like Tsuzura was stunned by Mary's words. She murmured to herself.

After a moment, she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll definitely help Mary achieve this goal!"

"Tsk." Mary clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, seemingly displeased with that response.

"Didn't you understand? I said 'we,' we will become winners!" Mary emphasized the word "we."

Her pupils seemed to burn with a spark of defiance. "I don't care whether you have a people-pleasing personality or dependency issues. From today onward, you're going to fix these problems for me!

"Someday, we will make everyone in this school look up to us! We will also become winners!"

Mary declared with determination.

It was the first time she had spoken so much to someone else, but these words needed to be said.

She didn't want Tsuzura to become so submissive, like the person she had once worked so hard to become—just like her past self.

She wanted to become a winner, to stand at the top of the academy along with Tsuzura.

Mary extended her hand toward Tsuzura. "So, what do you say? Are you willing?"

This was the first time she had reached out her hand to Tsuzura, and it might be the last.

Not letting her down, Tsuzura tearfully shook her hand, gripping it with excitement. "I'm willing, I'll work hard to break free from being a stray cat and stay by your side, Mary!"

Though her response still didn't completely satisfy Mary, well, it's fine... As long as she has the determination to break free from being a stray cat.

Mary let out a light sigh, feeling oddly happy.

It's like she had reconciled with her past through this, making Tsuzura, the person she used to dislike, into her friend.

Friend?

Suddenly, she realized something and quickly turned her head, only to find Kiyohei Aso standing not far away, leaning against the railing, holding his phone and smiling at her.

Had he heard all of her ambitious words? Would he think her speech was foolish?

Mary's face turned red instantly.

No, wait, why was this guy pointing his phone at her!?

Mary hurriedly ran over to Kiyohei's side, turned her head, and indeed, this guy had taken several pictures of her at some point without her permission. He had captured the moments of her reconciling with Tsuzura!

"Hey, why didn't your phone make any sound when you took photos!" Mary scolded Kiyohei's arm in annoyance. "Who allowed you to take these pictures?"

Mary wasn't really angry; she was just slightly embarrassed. How could this guy take photos of her without permission!? It's not that she didn't want to be photographed, but he could have given her a heads-up before doing it. What if he took an unflattering picture of her?

She still cared about her image.

"Sorry, sorry... The camera unexpectedly didn't make any sound when I captured the photos. Wouldn't that ruin the beautiful scene?" Kiyohei laughed, put away his phone, and didn't delete the pictures.

Although it was true that camera phones sold in Japan couldn't have their shutter sound disabled while taking photos, with enough money, you can always find a way.

"I really liked your speech, by the way. But, have you thought about how you're going to make money?" Kiyohei's tone turned serious as he asked.

This was the biggest challenge facing Mary.

However, Mary didn't continue pressing Kiyohei to delete the photos. She turned her head, stood side by side with him against the railing, and looked around the school.

She whispered, "In this school, there's more than one way to quickly make money, right? Gambling is one of them."