Part Five:
“How are we supposed to call dat?” Kaneo asked, “Dere’s only eight hundred in chips left!”
Sarah grinned, “I got plenty of paper here.”
Kaneo raised an eyebrow, “Well ain’t you a clever little ting?”
Sarah shrugged and focused on her cards. Everyone else turned to me, while I looked down sadly at my uncompleted straight. With a weary sigh I laid my cards down, “I fold.”
“Don’t worry, man!” Kenji stated, lightly patting my back as he declared, “I’ll carry on the fight in your name!”
I smirked and leaned back in my chair, “I know you will; all my hopes lie with you, now.”
“You’re fucked,” Kaneo quipped.
Kenji growled and leaned forward, “Not as long as I have somethin’ to say about it! Gimme that pad.”
Sarah tossed the pad over to Kenji, who overreacted and ended up jumping out of his chair trying to grab it. Somehow he kept his cards with him, and after groping around for the pad of paper, he dragged it under the table with him on the floor. After a few moments of furious scribbling he bounced back up and sat down, tossing the folded paper and his last two chips into the mix.
“I call with two hundred yen and the next op-ed column I write being on the subject of the winner’s choosing,” he stated. Grinning, he turned to Jacques and added, “Considering how popular my column is, that aughtta be worth forty-three hundred.”
Jacques leaned back into his chair to mull the value over, while Kaneo grinned and licked his tooth.
“You sure you wanna do dat? You already got half dah student orgs out for your balls on a spike.”
Kenji snorted and rolled his eyes, “The Third Estate will not be silenced! I refuse to hold back from revealing the truth of corruption and decadence that has seeped into the very fabric of our national educational system and seeks to destroy it with lies and overpriced textbooks!”
“Take a breath, man,” Oji said, “We’re on your side. So,” Oji turned to Jacques, “What say you?”
Jacques rubbed his chin for a moment, rolled his shoulders, leaned forward, and said, “The suggested value is accepted, if, in addition to the winner, you also write one on a topic of my choosing.”
Kenji gave Jacque’s left ear an appraising leer for a few moments, “…Done, as long as it’s understood that heeding the needs of my readership is
not the same as selling out.”
Everyone nodded –and Kaneo rolled his eyes- and Kenji nodded in satisfaction. Everyone turned to George, who tossed in his last two hundred yen chip and reached for his pocket. Pulling out his wallet, he looked inside, took out some cash, and tossed it into the pile.
“Call,” he declared.
Sarah rolled her eyes and sighed, “Aw c’mon, that’s no fun!”
“No, but it is practical,” George retorted, “Besides, the game’s not over yet.”
“Very true!” Jacques stated, “Unfortunately, I got shit for cards, so I fold.”
“Damn,” Kaneo grumbled, “Guess I’ll just have tah play dirty. Pad.”
Kenji tossed the pad at Kaneo, which hit him right in the head.
“Watch dah glasses!” he snapped.
“Sorry, man,” Kenji said.
“Nice shot, though,” George remarked.
Kaneo grumbled something and readjusted his glasses. Taking the pen Sarah offered him with a muted thanks, he started scribbling away. When he was done he folded the paper and added it to the rather odd looking pot, “I raise wit fifty-five hundred yen to dah charity of dah winner’s choice.”
“Interesting,” Oji remarked. Looking down at his hand, he reached into his pocket for his wallet, from which he produced not one, but two ten thousand yen notes, “Match and raised another ten thousand.”
Kaneo grinned and quipped, “Hope we’re not cuttin’ into your brownie makin’.”
Oji shrugged and looked to Sarah to make her move.
Sarah looked a little pale as she eyed the pot, and I was starting to think whatever she was plotting had gotten out of hand. The mousy little sophomore surprised me, however, by smirking and looking up at Jacques, “May I approach the dealer? I wish to enquire about the prospective value of something one-on-one.”
Jacques raised an eyebrow, “You may approach. Please keep your eyes on the ceiling.”
Sarah nodded and wearily hauled herself up, keeping her eyes carefully looking up as she shuffled over to the other side of the table. As she walked everyone carefully eyed her movements –especially Oji, whose gaze was a bit lower than everyone else’s. He caught himself and focused his eyes on his cards when Sarah leaned down to whisper to Jacques. As she did, Jacques started grinning, then full on smiled.
“I love it,” he declared, “I agree.”
Sarah grinned and made her way back to her seat, grabbing the pad on the way. Once she was sitting she started writing. While she scribbled away we eyed her hand carefully, unsure what she was planning. When she was done writing, she folded the sheet of paper and tossed it onto the pile.
“I call,” she stated, “One mystery paper, worth twenty-thousand yen.”
Kenji’s jaw dropped, George raised an eyebrow, Oji gulped, and Kaneo grinned and licked his tooth.
“Does our little underclassman tink she can play wit dah big boys?” he asked.
“There are no under or upperclassman here,” Sarah countered, “Only men. And a woman, this time.”
Kenji sighed and pulled out his own wallet, “To ensure the future of this university, I must learn what the mystery item is. So I call.”
George sighed down at his cards, “It’s too early for this kind of tension. I fold.”
Everyone turned to Kaneo, who chuckled and yanked out his wallet, tossing the cash onto the pile with a ring-glinted flourish, “Call. Ladies first, Sarah.”
Sarah smirked and revealed her hand, “Three Nine’s.”
“Impressive,” Kenji stated, “But my Baby Straight is more impressive.”
Kaneo grinned and licked his tooth, “My Straight is higher.”
Kenji got up to lean over the table at Kaneo’s cards. Once he was able to focus on them he swore under his breath; Kaneo had managed a Queen-High Straight, which explained where the cards I needed had most likely gone.
“Very nice,” Oji said, “Unfortunately, I believe my Full House wins out.”
“Dafuck?!” Kaneo snapped.
Oji laid out his cards and smirked lightly. He had managed three Kings and two Fives.
“…You know what, I ain’t even mad,” Kaneo stated. With a weary smirk he added, “Good hand, man.”
“Thank you.”
Oji started scooping up his winnings while everyone else stretched in their seats. Sarah’s stretch became a loud yawn, and when she was done she stood up and grabbed her overstuffed pack.
“Well, that was fun,” she said, “Thank you for inviting me, but I better get going so I can sleep for the rest of the day.”
“Glad you had fun,” George said.
“Come by again,” Jacques said, “Since Kenji said he won’t flip out.”
“Just make sure you can pay your own way next time,” Kaneo said, “My generosity has its limits.”
Sarah chuckled and gave a mock salute, “Understood. Oh, Oji?”
Oji looked up from his pile of winnings, “Yes?”
“I like aquariums,” She stated, before hefting her bag on her shoulders and walking out.
Oji blinked dumbly as he watched her leave. Kaneo was the first to say something.
“What did she mean by dat?”
Jacques grinned, “Read the final paper she added.”
Oji pulled the papers from the pile and started unfolding them, since it was hard to tell which one was added when. When he got to the last one, his eyes widened and he gulped.
“Oh sweet Harold and Kumar,” he muttered.
“What’s it say?” Kenji asked.
“…’The winner of this hand is entitled to one weekend date with Sarah Shirazy, at the location of the winner’s choosing, on condition that the winner handles the majority of expenses and understands that this is not permission for physical contact not initiated by the previously stated Sarah Shirazy’….”
While most of us just stared at Oji in slack-jawed confusion, Jacques started snickering and Kaneo burst into full-on laughter, rocking back so far in his chair he ended up falling over onto the floor.
“That bitch!” he called from the floor, “She played us all like a kokyu!”
“…I don’t know what to believe any more,” Kenji lamented, “I need to amp up my research. Fast.”
Kaneo, still laughing, hauled himself up so he was kneeling in front of the table, “Dat was wort it all, right dere!”
“You okay, man?” I asked Oji.
“…I think I might throw up,” he replied.
“Sounds about right,” Jacques mused, “Ah, young love! So pure, so innocent!”
Kaneo snorted, “After tonight, I don’t tink dere’s anyting about dat woman dat’s pure. She’s nearly as underhanded as Kenji.”
“Hey!” Kenji snapped, “How dare you accuse me of such actions! You’re the one corrupted by The Man to serve his nefarious deeds!”
Kaneo rolled his eyes, “Says dah pawn of dah moronic masses.”
“Oh give it a rest,” George groaned before Kenji burst a blood vessel, “It’s three in the morning on a weekday, for God’s sake. Let’s all go sleep and worry about who’s been corrupted by what next week.”
“First we gotta snap Oji out of it,” I said; he was still staring at the paper.
“I got this,” Kenji said. Grabbing the last potsticker, he carefully aimed and threw it at Oji. Surprisingly it managed to actually hit him in the head before slipping into his lap. Giving a sniff, Oji tore his eyes from the paper and looked down at the food, which he promptly grabbed and ate.
“Better?” I asked.
Oji nodded and grinned stupidly, “Guess I have a date to plan.”
“Seems like,” Kaneo said, “Now not tah be rude, but I got a class in seven hours, so anyone who doesn’t sleep here needs tah leave.”
“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” Jacques added, “Oh, and thank Ikezawa for the potstickers for us.”
“I will,” I said, “Thanks for the brownies, Oji.”
“No problem,” he said, “…Where is the nearest aquarium?”
Lost in thought, Oji collected his winnings and shoved them into his pockets before wandering out the door. George took the little money he had left from Kaneo, stood up and stretched, thanked Kaneo and Jacques for their hospitality, and wandered back to his own dorm. Kenji and I did the same and left, wandering down the now empty and eerily silent hallway on our way to our own dorm room, which was two floors down.
As we wandered down the halls I sighed and mused, “Well that worked out surprisingly well. Oji sure has some incredible luck.”
Kenji nodded and scratched his chin thoughtfully, “Seems like it. Maybe I should look into his family history –there may be some sorta inherited clairvoyance or something.”
“Try to keep your delusions grounded in this reality,” I requested.
Kenji snorted, “Keep on doubting, man, but someday the time will come for the Reckoning, and I’ll be vindicated and shown for the genius that I was.”
“Sure, sure,” I said, “For now, the only thing I wanna be shown is my bed.”
+++
I apologize to the citizens of Osaka, New York, New Jersey, and south-eastern Pennsylvania for that accent.
Astute readers may notice this is a sort of sequel to the previous Movie Night. Astute readers may have also noticed my one shots getting insanely long. Hopefully you had fun in spite of that.
Now I must go and implement Operation: Summer Specials. For there is no peace among the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.
Just how I like it
.
Until next time. /smokebomb
. It was fun to write, though it had some challenges because of the number of characters involved.