Kakegurui: Ten Consecutive Guaranteed Hits

Volume 1 Chapter 32: Did Mary Cheat Too?

Seeing Mary's clueless expression, Tsuzura thought she hadn't heard clearly and gathered her courage to say it again. "Mary, I'm actually very slow, not sharp during gambling, and I keep losing to others. That's why I've been labeled as a 'stray cat,' and no one wants to be friends with me. It would be great if you'd be my friend..."

Tsuzura's words were sincere, but upon hearing them, Mary Mary's face darkened. She didn't respond or reject the offer.

Waiting for a while and seeing no response from Mary, Tsuzura's hopeful eyes gradually dimmed. She lowered her head and laughed self-deprecatingly. "I understand, I guess this was just a delusional wish. Someone like me surely doesn't deserve to be your friend... Sorry, please forget I said anything, just pretend I never said this."

After saying this, Tsuzura hurriedly fled, not giving Mary any chance to respond or stop her.

Mary didn't try to stop her either; she just watched her leave silently, her gaze flickering.

"...Mary, are you okay?" Kiyohei waved a hand in front of her.

Kiyohei Kiyotaka felt something was off. Mary wasn't the type to be mean, so why didn't she accept Tsuzura's offer to be friends?

Kiyohei thought they were already friends... What had happened between them?

"Ah... I'm fine. Let's go eat," Mary snapped out of her thoughts and smiled at Kiyohei.

However, her smile seemed forced no matter how you looked at it.

In the school's official introduction, it was mentioned that most of the school's chefs graduated from a school called "Tōtsuki Academy." Graduates from this school possessed exceptional culinary skills and had their unique cooking styles for any dish.

Outstanding graduates were even sought after by Michelin-starred restaurants right after graduation.

Kiyohei thought that the prices in the school restaurant, specifically designed for the rich second-generation students, should be quite high. However, besides dozens of chefs specifically preparing expensive dishes like Kobe beef and Australian lobster for the wealthy students, there were also a few chefs providing regular home-cooked meals for ordinary students.

These chefs also graduated from Tōtsuki Academy, but their dishes had no premium markup in price and were priced at levels that regular high school students could afford.

Kiyohei asked one of the chefs with red hair, and he generously mentioned that apart from the menu items, they could make anything you desired if the kitchen had enough ingredients. Moreover, the price would only be a symbolic charge for the ingredients.

"This school does seem to be quite particular about its cuisine," Kiyohei commented.

As they sampled the dishes in front of them, Mary continuously praised them, exclaiming, "The quality of these dishes is remarkable. You'd probably have to pay ten times more outside to get dishes of this caliber!"

Having won 250,000 yen in the gambling match, Mary generously declared that she would treat everyone to lunch.

The two of them ordered five or six dishes, and the total price was less than 5,000 yen, which made Mary very satisfied. Although the prices were not high, the taste was the best she had ever had – of course, her family's financial situation was average, and she hadn't eaten many good things before.

"Why does a prestigious school like Hyakkaou Private Academy have such a culture of gambling?" Mary sighed. "If there were no gambling, there would still be students trying their best to get in here. Even with good food, it would still be just prison food."

Mary regretted signing the agreement in her acceptance letter. She had to stay in this school for three years, or else she would have to pay a huge fine of 10 million yen. Even if she were to sell herself to the red-light district, she would have to work tirelessly for a year or two to earn that much.

If she wanted to earn that money quickly, she had no choice but to rely on gambling. However, she felt that using gambling as a means to leave a school that glorified gambling might be a bit ironic.

"Perhaps it's because of the gambling culture that this school has such excellent chefs," Kiyohei said, not surprised at all.

In Macau, many casinos were lavishly decorated and provided entertainment such as live performances and free dining and transportation for their customers. Some casinos even had sexy dealers dealing cards online, eventually ending up with fewer clothes on. These thoughtful services were all aimed at attracting and retaining high-stakes gamblers, believing that these services would bring in greater profits.

Hyakkaou Private Academy was more like a massive casino centered around a school. The children of wealthy individuals were like gamblers, carrying huge amounts of betting funds, and they were provided with attentive services as a matter of course.

Students like Mary, who had some intelligence but lacked sufficient funds for gambling, were more like additions to the gambling atmosphere. They wouldn't affect the overall situation, but sometimes they could be unexpected.

Kiyohei suddenly asked, "By the way, did you figure out how Kokoro cheated?"

Mary choked on her food and coughed as she hurriedly drank water, trying to catch her breath. She complained indignantly while eating, "If I had known, I would have bet more and let Kokoro pay dearly for cheating!"

"Actually, you cheated too, didn't you?" Kiyohei suddenly said.

Mary was flustered and nearly choked on her food again. She coughed and quickly patted her chest.

Kiyohei handed her a glass of water and said, "Kokoro believed that she had marked the playing cards and was confident no matter what cards she got. So she generously let you handle the dealing. At first, you didn't do anything suspicious, just dealt the cards normally. Until you pretended to be angry and checked the cards, you hid a '3' card and deliberately placed two joker cards in a suitable position while shuffling the deck. Kokoro, being overconfident from her consistent victories, didn't notice you tampering with the deck while shuffling."

"When you said, 'Gambling is all about luck,' it sounded great, but you had already set up everything secretly to ensure you got those two joker cards when dealing."

Kiyohei's explanation was completely accurate. Mary had indeed set up the situation that way.

While speaking, Mary had recovered from her coughing fit and smiled sheepishly. "Hehe... I didn't expect you to find out."

Mary tried to defend herself in a low voice, "Since Kokoro cheated, I didn't think there was anything wrong with me cheating a little too..."

"I'm not here to criticize you. Why are you feeling so guilty?" Kiyohei shook his head and earnestly advised her, "I just want to tell you that if you want to cheat, you have to be careful not to be caught. Otherwise, someday you might end up like Kokoro today, being exploited for your cheating by someone else and ending up losing."