Chapter 274: Russian Roulette

"Huh? Rinji, you're leaving already?"

As Rinji stood, Runa finally looked away from her console.

"Yeah. If you want snacks, just come by the Anti-Gambling Club."

"Okay~"

In the student council, Runa was the only one who could talk to Rinji like a normal person.

Her airheaded personality made her immune to fear, and her childlike appearance made it hard for Rinji to be harsh with her.

Though she looked like a kid, she was a third-year—two years older than Rinji.

"Hey!"

A girl suddenly stood up.

Student Council Beautification Council, Midari Ikishima.

Blind in one eye, with a nail embedded in her face, she approached Rinji with a creepy smile.

Besides Kirari and Runa, she was the only other council member who wasn't afraid of Rinji.

Unlike Kirari's scheming or Runa's obliviousness, Midari had been interested in Rinji since the first time he used violence.

"What do you want?"

"Heehee."

Midari let out a chilling giggle, then pulled a revolver from under her skirt and pointed it at Rinji's head.

"!!!?"

"Midari, what the hell are you doing!?"

The other council members panicked.

Kaede screamed. He had always hated this unhinged girl and never understood why Kirari let her into the council.

This woman—just like Rinji—was not normal.

Rinji narrowed his eyes at the revolver pointed at him.

"That's real, isn't it?"

"Of course it is," Midari said, her face flushed and twisted in excitement.

"Rinji, I've had my eye on you since the moment you got here. You're just like me, aren't you?"

"...Huh?"

"You've had enough of the boring gambling here at school too, right? How about we play something else?"

"Something else?"

Rinji looked at the gun pointed at his forehead and burst out laughing.

"I get it. Russian Roulette, huh? That's a fresh twist."

"Of course. It's so much fun~"

With a manic smile on her face, Midari stroked the eyepatch covering her left eye.

"After I lost to the president, I was told to pay with an eye. The surgery was supposed to be the next day, but I just took out my own eyeball with a pen. That's when I realized… money means nothing in gambling. What matters is pain!"

Her expression contorted with ecstasy, but Rinji remained completely unfazed.

He calmly reached up, grabbed her wrist, and disarmed her with a swift motion.

Opening the revolver's cylinder, he found a single bullet loaded among the six chambers.

"Smith & Wesson PC44, firing 11.17mm custom rounds. So your school even stocks firearms, huh."

"You know this model?"

"I used to sell them."

Rinji chuckled and pulled two more bullets out of his pocket.

"Funny coincidence. I happen to have two .44 rounds on me."

Kaede: "...Who the hell just happens to carry bullets in their pocket!?"

Ignoring the remark, Rinji loaded the two bullets into the gun, closed the cylinder, and handed the revolver back to Midari.

"Go ahead. Pull the trigger."

"Gladly."

Sayaka giggled and once again aimed the gun at Rinji's head.

"But are you sure about this? You originally had a one-in-six chance to survive. Now it's fifty-fifty."

"You're mistaken, Midari," Rinji said with a narrow smile.

"My survival rate is 100%. Yours, on the other hand, is 50%."

He pointed to his head.

If the trigger fires a bullet, he'll let her live.

But if nothing happens… he'll slit her throat with the small knife in his pocket.

"..."

"Wait, are you really going to get blood all over the student council office—"

"Shut up," Rinji interrupted. "Or you're next."

"..."

Kaede covered his head in despair.

Letting these two maniacs face off was a recipe for disaster.

Meanwhile, Midari trembled with excitement.

She looked at Rinji—unflinching despite having a gun aimed at his head—and her face flushed red. Her knees pressed together.

"You really are… the best man ever!"

She pulled the trigger.

BANG!!

The shot thundered through the room, smoke filling the air.

It was a live round.

The student council members all shut their eyes, expecting to see Rinji lying in a pool of blood.

"You got lucky," Rinji's voice rang out.

Their eyes snapped open in shock.

Rinji stood unharmed, holding the smoking bullet between his fingertips. Midari's gun still smoked.

"Really now? With a 50/50 chance, failing to hit me would mean your luck is garbage."

Rinji flicked the bullet aside.

"I told you, didn't I? My survival rate is 100%."

"...What the hell are you?"

"No idea. I guess I'm still technically human."

He didn't look like one.

From that moment on, the student council members began to see Rinji as something far more dangerous than before.

"Alright, game's over. I'm heading out now—"

"Wait!"

It was Midari again.

She handed the revolver back to Rinji.

"Now it's your turn."

"...Aren't you happy you survived?"

"This is a gamble," Midari laughed wildly. "You can't stop after just one shot. You haven't pulled the trigger yet."

"...Fine."

Rinji accepted the gun.

"You really have a death wish, don't you?"

Midari's forehead was sweating, but her manic smile didn't fade.

She wasn't interested in money or winning.

She was chasing the high of gambling with her life—experiencing life and death directly. Only then did she feel truly alive.

"If you want to die so badly, go to a warzone. Only in a place reeking of gunpowder and rotting corpses will you truly understand..."

Rinji pointed the gun at her.

"...just how precious life is."

BANG!!