"Now, then."
The girl picked up one of the abbles lying before her and deposited it into the
bag at her side. Subaru was down to his last two chips, so to speak. When their
game had begun, he had ten—he never imagined he'd go on an eight-in-a-row
losing streak, leaving him in danger of losing the shirt on his back.
"Now you know what happens to those who challenge me. I am the pinnacle,
and you are suited only to wriggling around at the bottom."
"Hey, isn't it a little extreme to treat me as the bottom of the pyramid just
because I'm losing? Pride comes before the fall, you know…a fall to rock
bottom!"
"You may rest easy. All is rock bottom except for me. The world has me, and
all else is beneath."
Subaru wanted to refute her irrational logic, but that would only make him
sound like a sore loser.
"Now then, what shall we do next? If you do not trust your luck at coin flips, a
different wager is fine."
"Oh, now you've done it… I'm down in the bottom of the ninth, but I propose
we do rock-paper-scissors!"
"Rock, paper, scissors…?"
When the girl raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term, it gave Subaru a tiny
ray of hope.
"Rock-paper-scissors is a way to settle things. At the signal, you make a shape
with your hand, and the stronger shape wins. There're three shapes: rock,
paper, and scissors. Paper beats rock, scissors beats paper, rock beats scissors.
Understand?"
"Oh, yes, I understand. A rather amusing game, it would seem. What is this
signal?"
"Well, when you finish saying rock-paper-scissors, you show your hand when
you get to the 'scissors' part. Oh, and if you both show the same hand, you say
rock-paper-scissors again as the signal and do it over on the spot."
"That is all there is to it? Very well. I shall go with paper."
"You're already showing your hand?!"
Subaru shuddered at the breathtaking speed with which she strategized. He'd
just finished explaining the rules, and here she was, picking it all up like a pro,
poised greedily with victory in her grasp. He supposed he should praise her.
She said to him, "Let us begin, then. Rock…paper…"
Subaru felt nervous about falling behind.
"Ah, wait, time-out. I haven't decided what I'm gonna go with ye—"
With his thoughts still in a jumble, the girl reached the signal and raised her
hand high.
"—scissors!"
The girl's hand indicated paper, just as she had proclaimed. Subaru's hand
was rock. She commented, "It would seem that you owe me another abble,
complaints about the method notwithstanding."
"It's not that! Statistically, people subconsciously keep their hand closed
when they're tossed into rock-paper-scissors without warning! Ugh, I'm such an
idiot!"
The strategist had been defeated by his own scheme. Subaru certainly looked
defeated as he handed the girl her abble.
—With this, Subaru was down to his very last abble.
"Now, let us gamble for the last abble and bring this to a conclusion, shall
we?"
"You wouldn't show mercy on me and let me keep the last one, would you?"
"All the abbles you carried belong to me. Leaving one in your hands is the
same as leaving you all. It is all or nothing. That being the case, we may as well
gamble for all the abbles on the final round. That goes for both of us," the girl
added, meaning it would be her ten abbles against Subaru's one. It was truly
emblematic of the girl's ruinous, high-stakes way of thinking.
He asked, "—How about rock-paper-scissors for the last one, too?"
"I have already made my decision. All that remains is for you to choose the
method and present me with my abble."
The girl showed no doubt about her victory, nor any intention of letting
Subaru go. In other words, he had no choice but to harden his resolve—to trap
a Rakshasa by the vilest of means.
The two called out simultaneously, "Rock…paper…scissors!"
When both showed their hands, sound vanished from the world.
With her fist clenched in a rock, the trembling in the girl's red eyes only grew.
"Th-this is…"
"Listen and be amazed, look and be astounded! Behold, the ultimate combat
technique—RoSciPer!!"
"What is that…thing?! You did not inform me such a hand was possible!"
"Shut up! I didn't mention it, but it's your fault you didn't ask! That part is
rock, this here's scissors, and over there is paper! In other words, my hand's
beaten your rock!"
"If such logic holds, a different part loses to my rock."
"Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! I can't hear you! My rock is borrowing power from the
scissors and paper, forming the holy trinity of friendship, effort, and victory! It's
all here, baby!"
Raising the hand of RoSciPer to the heavens, Subaru boldly proclaimed victory
with his flagrant cheating.
He was well aware his logic was absurd, a desperately underhanded attempt
to throw the wager itself into doubt. But the girl defied Subaru's expectations,
sighing deeply as she said, "I see. Certainly, it is I who was in error. At the same
time, I am amused at how my expectations have been surpassed… Very well,
you have won. You may do as you please. Here you go." After her minimal
warning, she abruptly stepped forward. Without thinking, Subaru, floored at
how quickly she jumped to the next step, stepped back a distance equal to the
one she had advanced.
"…Do not tell me that now it is time to feel my breasts, you have lost your
nerve?"
"Huh?! I-I seriously don't know what you're talking about! Who's s-s-s-scared
here?!"
"…Truly, you are a vexing man. I suppose such bashfulness is adorable in its
own way, but…"
And there they stood, Subaru getting cold feet at the last moment versus the
girl whose pride did not permit her to take back what she had offered. One
advanced and the other retreated—a standoff that continued until outside
forces intervened.
Abruptly, the girl's gaze left Subaru and focused on the entrance to the alley.
"—Mm, it seems this will become troublesome."
"Er? It looks like some pretty rough-looking dudes are coming this way."
"And the one at the vanguard is a commoner, I recall. Goodness, these fools
do not interest me even slightly."
"What are they thinking, coming back after hearing Reinhard's name like
that?!"
"It would seem they have called your bluff about being acquainted with the
knight among knights. It is rather easy to understand. Even they have
reputations to protect, so they have returned in greater numbers for
retribution."
"Damn it, this day is just nothing but trouble!"
First, he had a close call back on the dragon carriage, then he had gotten on
Emilia's bad side, and now this. Today's really not my day.
Since the girl was just standing there, Subaru grabbed her hand and dragged
her along, carrying the bag of abbles as he rushed deeper down the alley.
She protested, "Hey, what are you doing? Do not touch me so carelessly."
"Now is really not the time! If you don't wanna get all beat up before
marriage, run!!"
The girl wasn't very motivated to run as Subaru pulled her down the beat-up
alley and plunged into the darkness. The men behind them pursued with a great
shout and a flurry of footsteps.
Subaru, cursing the heavens for his truly unlucky day, kept running with a
desperate expression on his face.