Waifu Wars: A Food Wars Fanfic

Ch. 119 Casino Night, Part Three: Raising the Stakes

Erina Nakiri took a deep breath and then sat down in the chair across from Kirari Momobami. Kirari had already made herself comfortable at the green felt table; she sat with her shapely legs crossed, and her hands clasped together atop them. Another Hyakkou student, dressed in red and black, carefully poured her president a cup of tea. Erina's trusted aide, Hisako, did the same for her.

This table had been meant for one of Team C's dice games, but was easily converted by Totsuki staff members after Erina accepted Kirari's challenge. It mattered little that there was one less table for them to attempt a profit; everyone in the room was fixated on the duel about to take place. The other tables were inactive.

"Hey, Konishi! We should change up our rotation. Let's double the kitchen staff and move everyone else to serving duty. We've got an audience, and they need to eat!" said Ikumi, taking control from her inept captain. This was a daily occurrence at the Don RS, so she was used to handling a leadership role.

"Yes, Nikumi! I'm on it!" said Konishi, rushing to find the nearest idle member of his team.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Anything for you, Nikumi!"

For the visiting students of Hyakkou, gambling was the main draw of Casino Night. The host students of Totsuki, however, were only concerned with passing their challenges and surviving to cook another day. It made no difference if their guests were gambling or not; they simply had to readjust their strategy.

Erina must have done this to save them. By agreeing to Kirari's challenge, she's preventing her from interacting with Team C's staff members, and making it impossible for her to issue any more complaints. And it benefits Team C that none of the other guests are gambling...their hands are free to eat with, thinks Torrey, not daring to break the silent tension in the room.

"Hey, Kohai," said Rindo, nudging Torrey on the elbow.

"Yeah?"

"Is Nakiri really that good at cards? I mean, I've never seen her play."

Torrey thought back to the time that Erina had spent at Polaris, specifically at her welcoming party when they had stayed up late playing cards together. The games they played were hardly suitable for gambling.

"Well, she beat everyone from the dorm at Go Fish," said Torrey.

"Go Fish? But that game doesn't take any skill at all!" said Rindo, incredulous.

"Yeah...she was acting so confident at the time, I guess I just figured she really was a pro," said Torrey, scratching his head.

"Those types of games are the most fun, though!" said Yumeko Jabami, suddenly beside Torrey.

"How does everyone keep sneaking in here?" said Torrey.

"Hehehe, hello again Torrey-san. And who might this be?" said Yumeko, looking up at Rindo inquisitively with her big brown eyes.

"His date," said Rindo, eyeing Yumeko with suspicion. "Aside from that, how the heck are you gonna say that a game that doesn't require any skill is actually fun? That makes no sense!"

"You see, a game of pure chance embodies the spirit of gambling. Risking everything on a game like that, well..." said Yumeko. Small beads of sweat began to gather on her pale skin. She bit her lip, and her large eyes that had appeared brown only a moment ago were now the color of bright crimson.