Story: You Bet!: Storm Warnings

Part of the brief interlude between games and a lead up to the next one. Last updated here.



It was after school now, and the vanquished stood, defeated but still proud in front of her adversary’s home. She would bear this indignity, and bear it through to its ultimate conclusion no matter how harrowing and no matter how terrible. For all her planning and all her preparation the possibility of defeat had always been present, no matter how much she may have denied it publically.

The clouds above opened and it began to rain. Yet she remained still. Staring. Attempting to control her rage. Perhaps if she waited long enough it would be impossible to tell whether she cried, or whether her face was damp from the raindrops.

“Hey, weirdo!” said a shrill, irritating voice. “Are you gonna just stand there talking to yourself, or are you gonna budge so I can get inside!”

Yukako turned around to face the intrusion begging entry, no doubt the hellacious little sibling of her tormentor. A cute face that doubtless hid a thousand tiny deaths of mockery and snideness. Perhaps in her own way this being was a devil in disguise!

“I’ll ignore that for the time being,” the little imp said, rolling her eyes underneath the admittedly fashionable umbrella above her head. “Come on, I take it you’re here to see Shino, and... Wait a minute, don’t tell me. You’re not another one of his maids, are you?”

While Yukako did her best not to twitch, she simply could not help herself. “Yes,” she admitted. “To my shame, that is quite true.”

And then the devil herself manifested in full before her, and Yukako knew that there was no escape. Even so. She tried to flee, knowing it would be in vain and found herself being dragged, dragged into the very gates of hell itself by a laughing imp. What horrors would await? What terrors must she endure? All she could do was claw ineffectually at the doorframe and scream a loud “Nooooo!” that was drowned out by a thunderbolt!

Once she was inside the door swung closed with a mighty thud, propelled as though by magic. And Yukako’s suffering could begin!

<hr>
So here he was. No umbrella left in the rack. Rain pouring down from the sky. Thunderbolts hitting trees all around the school entrance. No way was he going out in that. Not a chance. No sir. He was going to stand right here and wait out the rain, not moving an inch until it finally passed him by.

“What’s the matter?” said a voice from behind him. “Not in a hurry to get home to your new maid?”

“Good to see you’re in such a good mood Toshiko,” Shino said, idly noting out of the corner of his eye that she was carrying an umbrella, and probably too pissed off to let him share it with her.

“And why wouldn’t I be in such a good mood?” Toshiko sniffed. “I mean, I only got dragged into one of your stupid bets against my will, almost stripped naked in the process in front of the whole school and got to watch as you reduced some poor girl to tears. Why! I’m surprised that neither her or Tomoko are waiting here handing you an umbrella personally!”

“Actually, she is currently preoccupied with other activities. She will be quite some time, I expect. But as for you, I expect there’s something you’re wanting to tell me. Am I right?”

The silence threatened to speak on her behalf, but Toshiko was hardly the sort to let others say what was on her mind. No, she was a fighter. Always had been. The idea of her picking a fight with him over something right now wasn’t exactly a comfortable thought either.

“How big is this harem you’re apparently building gonna be?” she asked.

“Harem?” he said in absolute genuine shock. “My goodness Toshiko, I assure you I’m building up no such thing. They made the bet-”

“And you accepted,” Toshiko firmly said. “You don’t have to accept these bets, you know. What’s more... One of these days you’re going to get in over your head and then where will you be? A win streak doesn’t last forever. Everyone loses eventually.”

Off she stormed into the storm leaving Shino sighing a disappointed, weary sigh. The thunder rolled around the building, and Toshiko stopped, visibly sighed and strode back into the building with a quick march. “I’m still angry at you,” she said. “Not so much that I would just leave you here stranded. So far as I’m concerned, you’re not even there at all. Got it?”

“Whatever you say,” Shino said. “But at least let me carry the umbrella.”

The walk home went by in silence with Toshiko pointedly looking in any direction except right at him. Still. It was kind of funny, the way she was almost leaning into him without seeming to notice. Not to mention how strange it was to notice how pretty she was even though she was so angry at him. There were times he just didn’t understand his friend, and all he could do was take it in stride. Speaking of, he managed to only slip up the one time on the way home, which was certainly a blessing and a half. Maybe his luck was changing?

“I’m home!” he called out, stepping inside and grateful for the much less moist air found on the inside. Well, maybe now he could work out what he wanted Tomoko and Yukako to do, and -

“So you see, even if the conscious mind doesn’t pick up on these details they do add to the overall effect.”

“Incredible, she said to herself, basking in the genius of the well earned cosplay legend. I could never have imagined there would be so much still to learn!”

He almost didn’t recognise her at first. No tears. No anger. Joy. Radiance. And a very fetching maid uniform. All these things combined to transform Yukako completely from the girl he’d met this morning into... Well, into quite an image, he had to admit. There she was, busily following after Shina taking notes on whatever fashion related nonsense spilled out of her mouth. Eating it up like a command from god. Well, maybe he could just have Yukako keep his sister busy? Maybe that was something worth winning the bet over...

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my room.”

<hr>
Ugh! Who was it that had all the rotten luck around here, anyway? The guy building a maid harem, or the girl that had to head out into the rain to pick up a few things from the shops? Even Shino wouldn’t take that bet, even if she put herself on the line. It wasn’t like she wanted to try on the maid uniform his little sister would make. The little squirt would probably make the skirt way too short just to tease the two of them, so that she couldn’t even walk without flashing her panties. Then as soon as she entered the room, Shino would walk over to her before she died of humiliation, cup her cheek and hold her. Just hold her. Like he did to Yumako earlier, and suddenly she’d be holding him back and everything would be -

Crash.

“Oh, goodness me!” a young man said. “I should have been more careful en passant! This powerful Queen of the martial arts circuit appears to have taken this gallant King of the chess club!”

Toshiko shook her head and looked down at the man picking up their dropped produce, idly recognising him as a student from their school. “Ah! S-sorry about that,” she said, leaning down to help him out. “My mind was a million miles away!”

“Nothing to worry about,” the young man said. “It was I that made the illegal move. You were doubtless concerned with the game played earlier, which I must confess I did check.”

“You... saw that, did you?” Toshiko said with a terrible blush, before something caught up with her in her mind. “Wait... did you say you were a part of the chess club?”

“Indeed, this humble Pawn of high school is in truth the King of the Chess Club. At your service, my Queen. How may I assist you?”

It was an idea. A terrible idea. An awful, manipulative, downright sinister idea. But... It would be better to have it happen this way rather than any other. It would be better for him to lose under a controlled circumstance than when it really counted... “How would you like to be able to beat - I mean, checkmate the so called King of Gambling?”