Chapter 303: The Biggest Winner

The chains binding Miyo and Miri fell away. As soon as Miyo was freed, she rushed to Miri's side and injected the antidote into her arm.

After frowning slightly, Miri opened her eyes.

"Big sis... did we win?"

"No, we lost."

But even in defeat, Miyo let out a long breath.

They were alive. That was enough.

Rinji tossed the remote aside and said to the two, "I bet over a hundred chips against your less-than-thirty. Technically, you're in debt now. I heard the Inbami and Yobami Family are pharmaceutical leaders in the Momobami clan. You know what to do."

"Yes, I'll tell the elders to transfer a portion of our patents and production licenses to you."

"That's enough."

Rinji clicked his tongue and turned to leave. "You two just barely scraped by with your lives."

Though they didn't understand why Rinji spared them, Miyo didn't try to dig deeper.

They had lost all their election chips and could no longer continue in the race.

"Big sis..."

"It's okay." Miyo patted Mitsuri's head. "We'll try again next time."

Thus, Inbami Miyo and Yobami Miri officially withdrew from the student council president election.

Rinji currently held 198 chips.

"Looks like I won, Momobami-san."

Shirogane Miyuki had his hands in his pockets as he turned toward Momobami Kirari, who sat sipping tea.

Rinji's move had been within his expectations, but Shirogane still felt a little nervous. Acting all confident in front of Kirari now felt a bit embarrassing in hindsight.

"Yes, you won, Shirogane-san," Kirari said with a smile, resting her chin on her hand.

"You're quite the interesting person. To tame someone as unruly as Takamine Rinji... you must have abilities beyond normal people."

"You flatter me."

Shirogane smiled.

"I only did what a student council president should do. Rinji is my treasurer—of course I should trust him unconditionally."

"Trust, huh? In a world of deception, you're certainly an oddity, Shirogane-san." Kirari chuckled. "But it's exactly because of such oddities that the world stays interesting."

She stood up and handed over a bag of chips.

"Per the rules, I've lost. These are yours."

"Wait, President..."

Igarashi Sayaka panicked at her motion.

That bag contained all of Kirari's chips. Handing them over meant...

She was stepping down from the election, giving up her bid for president.

"...What is this?"

Shirogane opened the bag to find it filled with chips.

He'd seen gambling movies before and recognized these as casino tokens. But Kirari called them votes?

"How much are these worth?"

There were no denominations printed, and he didn't know what they were for.

"If you're asking about money, they're worthless. They're votes, only useful in the school's game."

"I see."

Relieved, Shirogane relaxed.

So they were just plastic tokens—not real money. He figured he could donate them to Fujiwara's tabletop gaming club.

"Well, I have to pick up Rinji, so I'll be going."

"Come visit Hyakkaou Academy sometime," Kirari said from behind as he walked away.

As the door closed, she murmured to herself—

"After all, it will be your school someday."

Rinji walked out holding a bag of chips.

As he passed a hallway screen, he noticed something surprising—Momobami Kirari had vanished from the rankings. In her place was Shirogane Miyuki, wearing a Shuchiin uniform.

"President?"

"Rinji, there you are."

Still stunned, Rinji turned to see Shirogane approaching with a bag in hand.

"You're already here, President?"

"Yeah."

After meeting up, they headed toward the school gate.

Most students cleared the way when they saw them. Members of the Anti-Gambling Club bowed deeply toward Rinji.

They knew—it was time for Rinji to leave the school.

"You sure have a lot of respect around here."

"They're members of the Anti-Gambling Club," Rinji replied with a smile.

"I see," Shirogane nodded. Then, looking at him with a bit of relief, added, "I saw you gambling with those girls strapped to chairs with explosives. You scared the hell out of me."

"You watched my match?"

"Yeah. But I trusted you wouldn't do anything reckless."

"...Honestly, I was going to blow them up, but I decided against it." Rinji lowered his voice. "Since you came today, I didn't want you to see something too bloody."

"..."

Shirogane suddenly stopped walking. Rinji, puzzled, turned to see him staring seriously.

"Rinji, no matter who you were in the past, I promise I'll help steer you back on track."

Rinji's eyes widened slightly, then lowered his head. When he looked back up, he was smiling.

"Okay."

"Good. Let's head back to the council room. Everyone's waiting."

"Hold on, President," Rinji said, stopping him.

"What is it?"

"Let's play rock-paper-scissors. You throw paper."

"...Huh? Why?"

Though confused, Shirogane complied.

He threw paper. Rinji threw rock.

"You win, President."

Rinji handed over more than 190 vote chips.

That brought Shirogane's total to 430.

"Votes again... What's the point of these?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

Shirogane held the surprisingly heavy bag, still unsure what it meant.

What he didn't know was that he now held over half the votes in the Hyakkaou student council election.

It meant Shirogane Miyuki now had the power to control the entire Hyakkaou Private Academy and command the entire Momobami clan—a major influence in Japan's financial world.

Not that he had realized it yet.

[Note: Don't worry guys, it's equivalent exchange. Shirogane would have the benefits thrown at him by Rinji but in exchange, Rinji would have his sister Kei]