Chapter Text
AFTER CHOICE POKER
What happened to you?
Itsuki Sumeragi was on the brink of tears. The plate of peeled apples wobbled precariously on the table. The torn Life Schedule lay, deathly silent, beside it. Itsuki’s teeth had utterly destroyed the papers, but Manyuda-senpai’s head was still bowed, as if in deference, and she couldn’t see past the fog that had completely misted up his glasses.
A choking barrier separated the two of them. Itsuki with her bandaged, bloody fingers trembling behind her back. Manyuda with his pathetic white hair, his hunched-over body, his voice.
“I have no right to walk the high road. Do with me as you see fit. My life does not belong to me anymore.”
Hollow. With no trace of the Manyuda-senpai she so admired when she applied to join the student council. No trace of that ambition she thought she shared with him.
“Well, now that you’re so defeated-” Itsuki let her anguish seep through her clear blue eyes, hoping even one little word could provoke Manyuda into answering with the fire he once had in him. How he used to calculate his opponents’ actions, even when faced with the unpredictable Yumeko Jabami. She needed to goad that out of him.
“You won’t mind being controlled by someone you used to look down on, will ya? I’ll be sure to run you ragged.”
Itsuki placed a finger under Manyuda’s chin, jerking it up and forcing him to stare directly into her eyes. For a moment the close proximity took her breath away, and she dimly registered the shaking distance between their lips - (Shut up, Itsuki. He does not view you as an equal, does he? Never has, never will. Even if you’ve won him, he gives up completely...that’s not a win you desire, is it?)
Clear cobalt met dull, glossy brown, and Manyuda’s eyes slid away in an unfocused manner.
“No. You’re right...” He trailed off.
“What?” Itsuki reeled back, sending pages of the Life Schedule scattering across the floor. “Is that the extent of your ambition?” With that, Itsuki ignored the pounding of her heart, the tearing of heartstrings that only she could hear, and choked down the sinking realisation that the senpai who became a beacon of power-hungry ambition for her was nothing but a shell of his former self, and
Itsuki slammed the door.
It was only when she lifted her head, her light brown curls tumbling over her shoulder, that she felt a wetness in the corner of her eye. She stumbled a bit, dashing a bloodied finger across the saltwater, and felt a sting of pain shoot through her nerves. But the pain wasn’t from her finger. It was all throughout her, some unknown bitter feeling that wracked her body and oh, how her chest ached.
The pain of losing an opponent.
The pain of winning over someone, and them giving up on life.
The pain of -
Itsuki Sumeragi thought, it was the pain of seeing a kindred spirit fall into ruin. Like Manyuda-senpai was the god of her ambition, and she the worshipper, and now the roles were reversed and why couldn’t he treat her as a rival, or else an accomplice towards achieving their singular goal of power?
Or so she believed. At that time, Itsuki Sumeragi was too inflamed by injustice and despair to listen to her heart. Her heart, beating furiously with a yet unnamed emotion.
To get Manyuda back, Itsuki needed to gamble. After all, this was Hyakkaou Academy, the centre of gambling, and what better than to join a high-stakes game? This time round, Itsuki had an idea as she straightened up from her position at Manyuda’s door. A game that she would definitely win, either way round. And to set up such a game,
“There you are!”
Itsuki glanced up at the familiar voice. “Yumeko?”
Perfect. Itsuki’s lips twitched up.
THE GREATER GOOD
“Do you love the guy in the glasses?”
A jolt of something went through Itsuki’s body. She felt heat spreading across her cheeks. Inflamed. The truth, out of someone else’s mouth. Up until this moment she was deluding herself that she wanted her accomplice back, she wanted to see Manyuda’s ambition and calculation and power dancing in his eyes again...but she knew that wasn’t the case.
Love. Itsuki tested the word in her mind, biting her lip. Miroslava Honebami’s words washed over her head. That was what it was, indeed. And so she’d betrayed Honebami, told her to put all her coins in when she just wanted Manyuda to win.
So, when the third-party bet was revealed, she watched the emotions on Manyuda’s face change. Shock. Anger. Disbelief. Then he squared up to Itsuki, and she stared back unflinchingly into his eyes.
I lose, Manyuda-senpai. But I also win. Look at how passionate you are. Look at the flame in your gaze. I gambled everything I had to see your expression at this moment.
So, as Manyuda ranted and raved about her helping him to win when in fact she could have easily caused his loss and won the third-party bet, and even used her words against her, “Is that the extent of your ambition, Sumeragi?”, Itsuki doubled over in laughter.
He still doesn’t understand.
“If you lost, then I’d win a huge number of votes. But if you won, then I’d know that at least you hadn’t gone senile.” She calmly replied. “This third-party bet was a win-win for me, Manyuda-senpai.”
Because I...I love you. I followed my heart instead of using my mind in the gamble. I wanted you, Kaede Manyuda, to get your old self back. Only then would we be true accomplices on the road to our ambition. Only then would I be able to have a bit of dignity in your eyes. I wanted to be the one to save you. From ruin and despair and a Life Schedule that you didn’t even try to fight against.
You’re the only one who understands me. And yes, that is my ambition. To gamble against you. To gamble with you. To stake our lives on a cause we believe in, and to win and lose spectacularly, because we’re prepared to take the high road and give our all.
Or are you?
Itsuki smiled a bittersweet smile, and lowered her head.
“You simply pitied me, didn’t you? I won’t allow you to sacrifice yourself to save me!”
Manyuda was still clenching his fist in anger, and Itsuki crashed out of her thoughts. Another wave of indignation swept over her.
“You still don’t get it, don’t you? Have some faith in me! By saving someone I believed in, I saved myself.”
Itsuki took in a deep breath, and placed her hand on Manyuda’s fist. He stilled, tensed under her touch, and Itsuki avoided glancing back at him. She was terrified of what she would see in his eyes. A million memories washed through her mind - her standing perkily at attention in front of Manyuda’s desk, presenting her CV for student council; Manyuda accepting her proposition, taking interest in her.
Manyuda looking down on her.
Manyuda, defeated by her, after the Choice Poker.
She’d wanted him to view her as his partner in ambition. Up until now, she still wasn’t sure of what he thought about her. It was only fitting for her to leave him a parting message, and maybe go pore over her nail collection, lose herself in little unimportant gambles until she erased this painful feeling of heartbreak out of her chest.
“So! I haven’t lost! The results of my gamble...all depends on you.”
Ambiguity. Itsuki prided herself on it. She wasn’t truly gambling for the president’s position after all, in the end. She was putting her heart at stake, gambling for Manyuda’s sanity. It was impossible for her to obtain anything beyond that, and so Itsuki slowly released her hand from Manyuda’s as she strode toward the door. The heat from Manyuda’s anger was still lingering at the tips of her mutilated fingers.
She could feel his gaze on her back.
Itsuki turned, and lifted her head regally. Her stare swept across the room. Determined.
“I, Itsuki Sumeragi, hereby retire from the presidential election.”
...and from you, Manyuda-senpai, for the greater good.