Chapter Text
Having been blessed with the window seat and in-flight wifi, Koizumi Hanayo had nothing to worry about...except for maybe the plane crashing, going into turbulence, being held hostage by a madman or losing her shoe underneath her seat.
Currently going through her disgustingly cute slides for the umpteenth time while her speech played out in her head, Hanayo stretched out her neck and did her best to ignore the rumbling snores from the dormant volcano that was her business partner and best friend, Hoshizora Rin.
The plane trip was not long, only a couple of hours, but the two would have to bolt from the airplane to the courtesy taxi and head straight to their meeting. So Hanayo wanted to be as prepared as she could be before the mad rush started and before Rin would awake and erupt.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are getting ready to land in a few minutes, so please return to your seat and fasten your seatbelt. Thank you for flying with us today.”
Sure enough, the second the plane touched down, Rin had jolted awake. With a snort and a ‘nya!’ Ruffled her hair and blinked the mass of sleep from her eyes.
“Mornin Kay...shpin,” her voice was still slurring from sleep, but Hanayo didn’t seem to mind. Rin would be fully functioning within the next thirty seconds.
Hanayo still leaned over and adjusted the yellow tie her co-worker was wearing.
“It’s actually just past noon, Rin-chan,” Hanayo corrected her with a smile, but squeaked when the plane hit the ground. The sound of the wheels screeching made Hanayo scrunch up her face and clasp her hands over her ears.
“There’s nyathing to worry about Kayo-chin,” it was Rin’s turn to smile as she placed a hand on Hanayo’s lap.
“We’re on the ground, safe and sound,” Rin went for a sing-song tone as the plane slowed down drastically.
Upon being stationary, the seatbelt sign flicked off and the passengers began their automatic routine of getting off the plane. Hanayo and Rin stood up and stretched, feeling the static in their legs and their sleeping feet waking up.
With their bags collected and breath freshened from tic tacs, the two young businesswomen scurried out of the terminal and peered around for their valet. Upon finding the sign that said ‘The Ricest Ramen,’ the two followed the valet and were loaded up into a small taxi.
They went straight to their meeting a planned, delivered the presentation, and then headed back to their hotel. The boss had said that they were being put up in a nice place.
Hanayo did not expect a palace.
Her jaw dropped upon seeing the gigantic white structure. Rin looked like she was about to cry from joy. Their company new how to treat them well, but this was just insane.
“Caesar’s Palace,” the valet put the taxi in park and helped them with their bags. He was also nice enough to help them check in, since Rin was just about ready to sprint around the entire lobby and Hanayo looked on the verge of fainting. After saving the valet’s number to their phones, Rin led Hanayo to the elevator and punched the ‘up’ button.
“This place is huge! It’s probably bigger than our apartment building, old high-school and parent’s houses combined!” Rin was practically bursting at the seams with excitement.
Hanayo just looked around, worried about the inevitable aspect of getting lost in this huge place.
“So, what did you wannya do tonight, Kayo-chin?” Rin rested her chin on her hands as she lay stomach first on the bed that was bigger than her bedroom at home. Hanayo sat at her computer, noting down the feedback from their business presentation earlier that day.
“I’d actually like to have room service and stay in, maybe watch a movie,” was the meek answer that made Rin pout.
“Kayo-chin, we’re in Las Vegas! The city that never sleeps! We should be going out and having fun!”
“Rin-chan we have to present tomor-”
But Rin had already grabbed Hanayo’s hand and dragged her out of the room.
In order to please Hanayo, Rin took them both to dinner and a show within the palace. What she had failed to realise was that the show consisted of sitting at a round table eating gigantic portions of food while watching girls in very revealing clothing and gigantic feathers parade around on the stage with their legs kicking out.
“I never knew someone could bend their body like that! That blonde one and the one with that weird thing in her hair were nyamazing!” Rin gushed and went on to babble about what they had just seen as they left the hall. Hanayo was full from dinner, but Rin had other plans.
“R-Rin-chan, I really don’t want to go to the casino,” Hanayo whined, digging her heels into the ground in protest.
“C’mon Kayo-chin! Rin wants to try the slot machines!” Rin dragged her through the large archway.
It was no use, Rin was just too strong for the girl who could barely do one chin up in physical education back at highschool.
They were in the casino, and Hanayo instantly thanked God that she wasn’t epileptic. Flashing lights, vibrant colours, every three seconds there was a ‘ding!’ from a machine.
“Rin-chan, this place is giving me a heada-” Hanayo turned to look at Rin, but her orange-haired friend was no longer by her side. She had dashed off to the slot machine area, leaving Hanayo all alone.
With a whine, Hanayo retracted into herself, not wanting to stay. She fumbled in her pocket for the card key to her room, but whined again upon realizing that she had given it to Rin.
There wasn’t anything for her to do: she couldn’t go back to her room, she was too scared to go out of the hotel (she couldn’t even find the damn exit,) and there was no way in hell that she would go to the slot machines.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hanayo spotted some tables. Her mind connected tables with chairs and a spot to sit and wait.
Like a baby doe, she stumbled over to the right where the tables were.
Upon inspection, Hanayo found the tables were not the regular cafe tables she was expecting. They also had no chairs. People were standing around the tables looking hungry, but there was no food on the tables. Just a green rectangle with a table and red and black squares. Next to the rectangle was a black bowl. Most of the tables were full, except for one in the very left corner of the area.
Only one person was standing there, and Hanayo felt her heart do a backflip.
The person was female, and seemed a little bit taller than Hanayo. She had dark purple hair in a long side braid and gleaming turquoise eyes. She wasn’t wearing a dress, like the majority of females in the casino, but a white shirt with a black vest and a little purple bowtie that Hanayo thought was extremely cute. There was a cheshire-like grin on her face as she played with a small round object with her fingers.
The woman caught Hanayo look at her, and she winked. Hanayo might as well have been shot.
“Well g’evenin’, ma’am,” her voice had a strange vernacular and was slightly nasally.
“H-H-Hello,” Hanayo’s small stutter was all she could muster. The twinkle in the woman’s eye was making it hard to focus.
“Would ya care for a game of roulette?”
The quizzical look made the woman’s grin broaden.
“Here, I’ll show ya how to play, dollface,” the woman flicked the small plastic object at Hanayo, who fumbled three times before catching. It was a little green token.
“Place that little fella anywhere ya want on the table,” a hand gestured to the table.
Hanayo looked down at all the numbers and writing, plus two squares of black and red. With a shaking hand, she placed the token down on the red square.
“A safe play, hey?” The woman moved forward a bit, and her nametag glinted in the light.
Nozomi.
“I don’t know...I...um,” Hanayo looked away, and Nozomi just chuckled.
“So now, I spin this little guy,” Nozomi threw the ball into the bowl and the loud noise made Hanayo cover her ears.
“Don’t worry, ya get used to it,” Nozomi winked. The ball slowed and landed on the number nine.
“Red nine, ya win!” Nozomi slapped her hand against the table and beamed at Hanayo.
“Ya just won a dollar.”
“A-A-A dollar?” Hanayo couldn’t process it. She had never won anything in her life.
“One whole dollar because ya outside bet paid off,” The croupier flicked a coin in Hanayo’s direction, and the other girl fumbled to catch it.
Violet eyes peered at the coin, akin to a dragon observing their treasure. Nozomi’s lip curled more as she pushed another pile of tokens towards Hanayo.
“Wouldya care to go again just for fun? No real bets?”
Hanayo looked from the shiny gold coin to the green tokens on the table. She wasn’t going to be finding Rin anytime soon, and she would easily get lost if she were to venture deeper into the hollows of this ridiculously huge palace.
“Sure,” Hanayo smiled back and leaned on her hip to get comfortable.
“Nozomi, are you behaving yourself?” A deep, serious voice sounded as a woman with long blue hair in a ponytail walked up to the roulette table. Her arms were folded and her brown eyes cast a steady gaze at the croupier.
“Of course I am, Umi-chan, why wouldn’t I?” Nozomi waved her hand and feigned as much innocence as she could. Hanayo didn’t see why she was doing this, Nozomi had not done anything to hurt her.
The woman named Umi raised a pierced eyebrow, then turned her gaze to Hanayo, who squeaked.
“Is she bothering you?”
“N-No not at all! She’s teaching me how to play roulette,” Hanayo stammered and balled her hands into fists out of fear.
Umi eyed her, then turned back to Nozomi, who batted her eyelashes coquettishly.
“Very well, but if Nozomi gives you any trouble, please let me know,” Umi bowed, the walked away coolly.
Nozomi stuck her tongue out then turned back to Hanayo with a chuckle.
“Umi-chan is very much a stick in the mud, nor does she give me enough credit.”
Hanayo shrugged and fiddled with the tokens on the table. She then took a deep breath and put her token on the ODD square.
“Aaah, ya placin’ a bet I see,” Nozomi grinned and got ready to spin the ball again.
“By the way, may I ask for ya name, dollface?”
“I-It’s Koizumi. Koizumi Hanayo,” Hanayo stuttered out her own name as Nozomi spun the ball.
“Hanayo-chan, what a pretty name for a pretty girl such as yaself,” Nozomi winked. She then gestured to her gleaming name badge.
“Name’s Nozomi,”
“Nice to meet you,” Hanayo bowed as the ball slowed and landed on fourteen black.
“Oh no, looks like ya didn’t get an odd number, that’s unlucky, Hanayo-chan,” Nozomi took the token off the table and placed it in the corner.
“Lucky there’s no money involved right now. Didya want to keep goin’?”
“Yes please,” Hanayo smiled and placed down another token.