Kakegurui: Ten Consecutive Guaranteed Hits

Volume 1 Chapter 10: Have You Heard of the Self-Destructive Style?

"By the way, Ayanokoji-san, my name is Kuroki," he finally remembered to introduce himself at this point.

He took the deck of cards from the guy with the "Stupid Dog" tag around his neck, emphasizing it as he handed it to Kiyohei. "Take a look, this is a brand new deck of cards, opened right in front of you."

Kiyohei nodded and checked the cards. There were 54 cards, none missing, and the back pattern was the same. The cards seemed fine.

After Kiyohei finished inspecting, Kuroki took out the jokers from the deck and handed the remaining cards to the guy with the "Stupid Dog" tag, commanding him, "Hey, Kumagai, shuffle the cards for me!"

Kumagai, the male student, stood between the two of them at the gambling table and started shuffling the cards silently, like a dealer.

"Before we begin, let's talk about the chips. How about 10,000 yen per round? Is that okay?" Kuroki said, perhaps afraid that Kiyohei would give up the game due to the large stakes, so he mentioned this moderate amount.

10,000 yen... Kiyohei thought for a moment. In this school, that amount of money was practically nothing.

"Alright, no problem."

Kiyohei wasn't short of money; his wallet was still filled with the 2 million yen his father had given him today.

Seeing them starting the gambling, people around immediately became interested and gathered around.

Some initially wanted to stand behind Kiyohei, but after he mentioned that he didn't like having people standing behind him, there was no one behind him. However, there were several classmates standing behind Kuroki.

They crossed their arms and chatted without any concerns.

From Kuroki's stiff gaze, Kiyohei could tell that he also didn't want anyone standing behind him and pointing fingers. But for some reason, Kiyohei didn't speak up to drive them away.

After Kumagai finished shuffling the cards, he began dealing. He gave Kiyohei and Kuroki two cards each, one face-up and one face-down.

The face-down card was concealed, with the card's face directed downwards.

The cards were now in Kiyohei's hands. He sneakily glanced at his own cards. The face-up card was 9, and the face-down card was 10. After checking, he concealed them without showing any expression on his face.

This disappointed Kuroki, who had hoped to read something from Kiyohei's expression. Gathering his spirit, Kuroki smiled and said, "I won't take another card. What about you?"

In the game of Blackjack, the point calculation was as follows: cards numbered 2 to 9 were counted according to their face value, while the King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), and 10 were all counted as 10 points (often represented by the letter T). The Ace (A) could be counted as either 1 or 11 points, depending on the player's decision.

Kuroki's face-up card was a Jack, and Kiyohei's cards added up to 19, which was already a high value. However, if Kiyohei's face-down card was an Ace or a 10, he would lose this round.

"I'll stay," Kiyohei succinctly replied.

Kumagai, without showing any expression, dealt Kiyohei another face-down card. It turned out to be an 8, causing Kiyohei to go over 21, busting his hand.

"I lost," Kiyohei revealed his cards, calmly stating the result.

Kuroki burst into laughter. "Kiyohei-kun, your cards were already so big, yet you still wanted another card. I'm genuinely surprised by your courage."

He put down his own cards. His face-down card was only a 5, adding up to a total of 15, far smaller than Kiyohei's hand.

If Kiyohei had chosen not to take another card, he would have won this round. But now the tide had turned in Kuroki's favor.

Kiyohei inwardly sighed with regret, but he wasn't too saddened by the loss. He smiled and took out 10,000 yen from his wallet, handing it over to Kuroki.

"It's just a game. As long as we're having fun, winning or losing doesn't matter much," Kiyohei reminded him. "Shall we continue?"

So, he's from a wealthy family... Upon hearing Kiyohei's words, Kuroki's expression changed. He saw the thick stack of 10,000 yen bills in Kiyohei's wallet and couldn't help but inhale sharply. The words got stuck in his throat.

There must be a hundred or two hundred bills in that stack, and all of them are 10,000 yen bills...

Kiyohei himself felt helpless. He didn't intend to show off his wealth. It was just that mobile payment systems weren't widely used in Japan yet, and many places still only accepted cash or credit card payments.

As for the money in his wallet, it was simply for emergencies.

"You have a lot of money in your wallet. Is your family really wealthy?" Kuroki took the stack of 10,000 yen bills, pretending to ask casually.

"It's alright. My family has some assets. It's just a small amount to play with," Kiyohei smiled and reminded him. "Let's continue, shall we?"

So, he comes from a wealthy family... Upon hearing Kiyohei's words, the onlookers nearby made clicking sounds with their tongues.

Several people lost interest in him and walked towards other freshmen.

Similar to Kiyohei, other freshmen were also found by upperclassmen nearby, using various methods to involve them in gambling and playing dice or poker.

Those freshmen, like Kiyohei, had someone with a badge hanging from their chests, and the upperclassmen were not polite, treating them like servants.

Kiyohei was about to take another card when he saw everyone leaving. Perplexed, he asked, "Why did they all leave?"

"Don't mind them. They just wanted to see the regretful expression on your face after losing. When they realized there was no spectacle here, they naturally left," Kuroki shrugged, grinning at Kiyohei. "Kiyohei-kun, if I'm not mistaken, you were placed here because you cheated on the entrance exam, rather than passing it honestly, right?"

"...That's right."

The students at this school seemed to know the ins and outs of the entrance exams. Seeing Kuroki's confident demeanor, Kiyohei didn't continue to hide and simply nodded in admission.

"I knew it. How can a commoner carry so much money with them?" Kuroki nodded with satisfaction, stroking his chin as he smiled. "You probably already knew the truth about this school, and everything that happened earlier was just a performance, am I right?"

"No, I really didn't know..." Kiyohei smiled wryly.

If he had known that gambling was so prevalent here, he might have chosen a more ordinary school.

But... So these people just wanted to see him as a laughingstock?

Fine, then let them have their fill.

In his heart, Kiyohei sneered and started the next round of the gambling game.

After playing a few rounds, to everyone's surprise, Kiyohei always chose to take another card unless he had a significant advantage. However, his luck was not on his side, and he would bust almost every time, resulting in a series of losses.

Yet, he seemed to disregard the lessons and continued to play in the same risky manner, relentlessly asking for more cards.

Seeing Kiyohei's indifferent attitude towards winning or losing, Kuroki raised an eyebrow and asked, "Kiyohei-kun, don't you care about the outcome of this gambling game?"

"Well, 10,000 yen isn't much. It's no big deal even if I lose," Kiyohei shrugged, nonchalantly speaking as he requested another card.

It was a King (K).

With a hand that already had 15 points, adding this card would make him bust.

"I lost," Kiyohei admitted.

Even though he had clearly lost, Kiyohei displayed a radiant smile and once again took out a bill from his wallet, handing it over to Kuroki.

What's with this guy? This is so boring...

Kiyohei's self-destructive gameplay had no entertainment value whatsoever. He was simply playing recklessly with his wealth, and he maintained a calm and composed demeanor throughout.

It felt like watching a repetitive scene on loop, and the surrounding students who had anticipated a spectacle found it uninteresting. They began to distance themselves from the table and went to observe other people's gambling games.

Finally, they left... Kiyohei quietly celebrated in his mind, thinking, "Plan successful."

After learning from Kuroki that these students had only wanted to witness his embarrassment, Kiyohei lost any goodwill he had towards them. He deliberately employed this self-destructive gameplay to drive these people away.

Now, his surroundings were finally peaceful.