Chapter 283: NO

The dealing was taken over by Igarashi Sayaka.

Looking at Rinji, who sat there with a smile on his face, she couldn't hide the tension in her heart.

With Kirari absent, she had no choice but to use this emergency tactic and involve herself in the gamble.

Kiwatari Jun was part of the student council's future development plan. They needed to leverage his identity as the son of a prefectural governor for certain advantages. So not only could he not die—he needed to survive long enough to be manipulated.

The student council intended to turn Kiwatari into a "livestock," while Rinji wanted to kill him in front of all the students.

Kiwatari, who always abused the privileges granted by the school to form cliques and bully others, had no idea that from the start, he was just a disposable pawn.

Sayaka's tension stemmed not only from the critical situation the student council was facing but also from Rinji's unsettling smile. It felt as though he didn't care whether or not she tried any tricks.

"Dealing continues."

She forced herself to stay calm and dealt each of them one more card.

Rinji lifted the corner of his card and saw a Jack of Diamonds.

Now his hand was: 5 of Hearts, 7 of Hearts, 8 of Spades, and Jack of Diamonds.

Four unrelated cards.

Even if he drew the perfect final card, he could only make a straight. The chance of winning was close to zero.

On the other side, Kiwatari was clearly in a much better position.

Though he tried hard to keep a straight face, Rinji could tell he had drawn a good card.

Earlier, when Sayaka entered, she had seen Kiwatari's hand from behind and knew what card he needed to win. She had tampered with the deck accordingly.

Though Rinji didn't catch exactly what she did, he didn't care.

The final card was dealt—this was the last one for both players.

Rinji received a 3 of Clubs.

Perfect. A complete mess.

This hand would lose in any normal match. There was no winning possibility at all.

Kiwatari, on the other hand, couldn't suppress his joy as a wide grin slowly spread across his face.

Since all the cards had been dealt and there was no betting involved, it was just a straightforward card comparison—no psychological warfare. A pure match of luck.

Seeing that, he didn't bother pretending anymore.

"Then... let's reveal the cards."

"I win!!!"

Kiwatari shouted excitedly and flipped over his five cards.

3 of Spades, 4 of Spades, 5 of Spades, 6 of Spades, 7 of Spades.

"A straight flush!!"

Not only the people inside the classroom, but all the students watching the broadcast were shocked by what they saw.

A straight flush requires five cards of the same suit in numerical order. The odds of drawing one in a game like this were only about 0.1%. It was extremely rare. Seeing one almost always made people suspect cheating.

"A straight flush, huh? Pretty good."

Rinji touched his face-down cards, still smiling.

Sayaka glanced at Rinji and the slightly awkward-looking Manyuda beside him. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and said, "Takamine Rinji, your plan was never going to work."

"Never going to work? Sayaka, do you know why I hate gambling?"

"What?"

"It's not because someone close to me suffered from gambling. I simply despise the behavior itself," Rinji said with a smile. "In a real battle, if I'm leading troops to capture a stronghold, I need a solid plan—how to suppress the enemy, minimize losses, save resources, and hold the position afterward. All of that matters."

"What are you trying to say..."

"What I mean is, if I treated that battle like a gamble, then I wouldn't be taking my soldiers' lives seriously. That's why, from the very beginning, my creed in life has never included gambling. I don't believe in 'if I win, that's great.' I only accept 'I must win.'"

Swish!

Rinji flipped over his five face-down cards.

10 of Hearts, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, Ace of Hearts.

Royal Flush.

"Impossible!!?"

Sayaka couldn't believe her eyes. The cards in her hand slipped and scattered onto the floor.

Rinji bent down to pick up the scattered cards, shuffled them casually, and handed them back to Sayaka.

"From the moment I decided to play this game with you all, the outcome was already determined."

Ignoring Sayaka's blank stare, Rinji shifted his gaze to the terrified Kiwatari Jun.

"Alright, now it's your turn."

"N-no… don't kill me!! It's just five hundred million yen, right? I can gather it!"

"Is that so? Then how long do you need?"

"Tomorrow! I can have it all by tomorrow!" Kiwatari screamed hysterically, as if clinging to a lifeline. "Just give me one day! I'll bring the money together!"

Of course, he couldn't. Even his family would likely be unable to produce five hundred million yen in a single day.

He just wanted a delay. If he could get home, he'd be protected—Rinji wouldn't be able to touch him then.

"One day is too long." Rinji smiled. "If you can't lay the money out in front of me within ten minutes, I'll collect the debt with your life."

"N-no… that's not…"

Bang!

Just as Kiwatari was stammering in fear, the long-absent Kirari Momobami walked in holding a suitcase.

"P-President… you're back."

Seeing Kirari return, Sayaka was first shocked, then overjoyed.

As long as Kirari was here, there was hope.

Kirari smiled at Rinji, placed the suitcase on the table, and opened it.

Inside were tightly packed stacks of 10,000 yen bills.

"Rinji, I've heard about your gamble with Kiwatari Jun." Kirari said with a smile. "Here's one billion yen. Will that be enough to spare him?"

Rinji glanced at the money, then at Kirari. He flicked his cigarette to the ground.

"One billion yen, huh. Double my asking price. Seems like a pretty fair deal."

Hearing this, a relieved smile finally appeared on Kiwatari's face.

He could live. Even if he became a 'livestock' under the student council, at least he would survive.

Bang!

A soft sound rang out. Kiwatari's smile froze.

Blood spurted from his chest, staining the money in the suitcase red.

"My answer is: NO."