CHAPTER 30 - Interesting Reaction

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Head Guard , Keibi Shichiya, June 29 2206, Somewhere above the sea just between the 2nd Japanese Empire and the Communist Dynasty of China, Earth

*chik*

*chik*

*chik*

*chik*

*chik*

*chik*

*chik*

*chik*

*AHEM!*

The loud cough interrupted the clicking noise, and as Shichiya stared in front of him he saw the cause of the annoying clicking noise staring at him back with a bored expression.

"Rei-sama, you seem to have something that you are in deep in thought about." Shichiya prodded at Rei's thoughts.

It wasn't quite uncommon to see the girl in front of him to be always doing constantly annoying, yet small things with such a look on her face, and even though he fully knew why she was doing such a thing it was still a part of his job description to confirm if it was actually anything else that was on her mind.

"Its nothing Keibi-san, I'm just bored."

'Sigh ... just as I thought ...' Keibi said as he imagined facepalming inside his mind, because it would be rude to do so in real life right now.

"Plane rides like this are so boring ..." Rei simply said as she continued staring out the window, not even turning her head to look in Shichiya's general direction.

"Rei-sama, if I may just remind you, this is your first time on a plane, and just 20 minutes ago you've been staring at the window like a drug-user's first time actually trying drugs." Keibi emphasized the words first time.

"Well, yeah, and now I'm fucking bored of it!" Rei smashed her fist on the plastic table in front of them, and for a moment it seemed like it actually shook the plane Shichiya was riding on even though that was actually a sign of annoyance rather than actual anger.

But even if the feeling of the plane shaking while sharing said plane ride along with Rei filled him with some degree of anxiousness, he still had something that he had to address …

"Rei-sama it's unlady-like to swear, please fix that habit."

"Don't wanna."

"Please, for Doctor Akagi?"

"Fuck no." Rei said as she put her feet up on the table.

Shichiya sighed at Rei's response.

Ever since Rei was first introduced into the internet and found out about the existence of such words, all the adjectives she had been using to express her feelings have been mostly been based around those words.

'I'm fucking bored of this, can we fucking move on? I already understand everything anyways.'

'There's this guy who was being a fucking asshole, I'm going to kill him later.'

'Hey Keibi, look at this fucking good cat I found! Let's eat it later!'

"Fuuuuuuuuu ..." Shichiya actually facepalmed as he breathed through his nose audibly enough for Rei to actually hear.

... not like Rei actually cared though.

"Okay but could you just stop clicking the pen then?" Shichiya put up his hands and stuck them together, seemingly making a gesture like he was begging for Rei to stop.

"Fuck no." Rei said as she continued clicking the pen, but even faster.

*chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik *

Shichiya this time actually breached his forms of etiquette and actually sighed.

The noise was driving him crazy, he supposed that he could try and just try to put on his air pods and then listen to music on his phone, but ...

'I forgot to charge them!? Shichiya screamed inside his head as he tried to connect the air pods to his phone but was repelled by the crisis of his forgetful ass forgetting to charge his air pods before he got on the plane with Rei, forcing him to instead listen to the constant clicking noise.

*chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik *

"Okay, so how about this then ... let's play a game." Shichiya relented to the sheer number of chiks.

"A game?" Rei's eyes stared away from the pen, and meeting Shichiya's eyes of expectancy.

Shichiya felt the girl's eyes staring a hole through his soul, and he could tell that he got the interest of the little girl in front of him, however, whether the girl in front of him retains that interest depended on his next words, and just like an expert fisherman Shichiya threw out the most irresistable bait he could manage.

"Yes, it's an interesting game."

"An interesting game!?" Rei's red eyes sparkled for a moment as her face instantly transformed from one of boredom to one with complete excitement and anticipation on her face.

Rei was immediately, and instantly lured into Shichiya's trap, considering that she was a total sucker for interesting things.

"And not only that, if you win, I'll even give you an interesting piece of information!" Shichiya sealed the deal with some more interesting bait ...

"Interesting information!?"

And just like that Shichita successfully put hammered the nail in the coffin.

"Yes, however if I win then you'll have to stop that noise."

"It's simple ..." Shichiya took a coin from out of his pocket.

*fwing!*

And then flipped it into the air, and then reaching out to interrupt it's trajectory with both his hands, preventing the coin from ever reaching the table.

"What hand is the coin in?" Shichiya said as he extended both his closed fists in front of Rei, who had a deep smirk in front of her face, as if she was reacting to some corny joke.

“The left!” Rei said as she pointed her hand towards the left closed hand of Shichiya, who then smiled while as he opened his left hand, revealing a coin.

“Pfffffft, this is too easy, where’s the interesting part!?” Reic said as she slapped both of her hands on the table in front of Shichiya, her face red mixed with the feelings of anger and disappointment.

"Yes yes, it will come right now." Shichiya said as he tossed the coin in his hand again, and then swiped it off from it's falling trajectory with both his left and right hand.

*fwing!* Shichiya once again flipped the coin into the air, and then hastily and seemingly catching it with both his hands, and then extending both his closed fists towards Rei who now had a disinterested expression on her face.

"The right." Rei said as nerves became visible on her forehead, the clear sign of a unique mix of strong emotions consisting of annoyance and anger.

And as Shichiya, upon hearing those words couldn't stop but feel a smirk coming up on his face which couldn't be restrained by his inner will at all, and as such, Shichiya opened his right hand as directed by Rei, and then revealing ...

Nothing.

“Huh?” Rei’s eyes opened wide in surprise as she saw the result which baffled her.

"You are leaving the nest Rei-sama, and although your eyes may be all-seeing, there are just some things that aren't what they seem at first glance." Shichiya said as he put the coin back on his pocket, and then staring back into Rei's eyes and continuing his words.

"People will use schemes to trick you, try to hide their true intentions behind a wall of kindness, and cheat you out of things that may seem a hundred percent winnable at first glance." Shichiya now referencing his earlier offer of an interesting game, luring Rei into a game which she would have had a hundred percent chance of winning had he not cheated.

"You must take care to always look beyond what is being seen with the eyes, as plans are hidden all too easily despite how perceptive one is." Shichiya turned a failure of Rei's perception into a lesson, which was the interesting lesson he was going to give to Reichel anyways had she, by some miraculous phenomenon, actually managed to see through his little party trick.

Shichiya once again looked at the ceiling of the plane, thinking about the steps that brought him there, the number of times a person with a facade almost put him off-track, and then back to Reichel's face which was staring at him as if all the things he just said earlier were said in some unknown language that even Rei couldn't decipher.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Rei said with a confused tone.

"It's nothing." Shichiya said as he sighed and then once again reclined on the backrest of his chair, visibly looking exhausted.

His eyes drifted slowly to a close, until his attempt to sleep was suddenly interrupted by a clicking noise.

*chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik *

"I thought we agreed that when you lose you would stop clicking that damn pen!?" Shichiya finally snapped in annoyance, the clicking sound finally driving him into negligence.

"No, you cheated." Rei said as she continued clicking away yet again.

'... Fuck.'

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Earl's Daughter, Yuriko von Sora, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 22, Sora General Store Branch #3, Deutsche Empery

"You cheated didn't you?" Reichel simply said as she pointed a finger towards the figure of Yuriko, who was now hyperventilating with shaking eyes as if she criminal convicted of a gruesome crime against all of humanity, with Reichel looking at her with eyes of anger, hatred, and even disgust.

'C-Cheated? How do I even cheat in a game that I've only just seen a few minutes ago!?' Yuriko thought about the situation which was happening right now.

In essence, she was being told that she was committing such a dishonorable act such as moving against the rules inside her own territory by a visitor.

If this was her home country of Kyuushu then Reichel's head could but seperated from her head in a terrifyingly efficient fashion and then put on display at the town square to serve as a lesson, but fortunately the Deutsche Empery wasn't anything like that of the sort.

The silence lingered for more than just a few seconds, until ...

"Pfffffft ..." Reichel broke it by gathering sounds and feelings of laughter as her serious face suddenly transformed into a more heartily acceptable one as she smirked.

'Huh?'

"Fu ... hahahahahaha ..." Reichel started giggling as she slapped her the surface of the table, making the slightly large sound of a thud premeate throughout the premises.

"Pfffft ... Hahahahaha!" Yuriko for some reason, started laughing too, but unlike Reichel who seemed like she was laughing because she was happy, Yuriko was laughing because of the absurdity of the situation.

"HEE HEE HEE-- HO HO HO HO!" Reichel's laugh even started deviating from her usual laugh, which meant that she found the situation to be quite amusing.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yuriko, started laughing loudly enough for them to be heard outside the store, making people walking by outside the building stare at the building in curiosity for a few seconds, before inevitably walking away.

The two women inside the store laughed so hard that tears actually started to come out of their eyes, and their sides started to hurt.

This continued on for quite a more while, until ever so suddenly ...

graaash!

The sound of flesh being cut premeated through the room, which instantly silenced the laugh of the two women.

'Eh?' It took Yuriko a few moments to stop, and then actually consider what happened in front of her.

Reichel, who was laughing so hard earlier, now had her right hand stuck to the table as her left drove a knife deeper down, eventually penetrating the wood of the table all the way up to the other side.

"W-Wha ..." Even after 5 seconds, Yuriko was still processing what exactly happened, and it wasn't until her hand slowly moved by itself and then wiped some spots of blood off her fair skin that it finally kicked in.

"S-Schwertspinne-san!" Yuriko tried to stand up, to try and stop the bleeding of Reichel's hand, until Reichel stopped her with a slow whisper that even she heard despite being focused on the crisis.

"Don't move, or I will be cutting off my hand."

Even though it quite wasn't a threat directed to Yuriko herself, she was quite easily pressured into doing things just so people she knows would be safe from any kind of harm, even if that harm was self-induced.

"Scream or move without my instructions, I will be cutting off your hand, blink twice if you understand."

*blink*

*blink*

"Now sit down without saying anything."

Yuriko tried to ponder for a while, deciding on whether she should actually follow that order, but as she saw Reichel plunging the knife down even deeper until it reached the handle she quickly followed.

Seeing that Yuriko complied fully and sat back down on the chair in front of her, Reichel removed the knife in a quick fashion, and then while blood was still dripping down from both her palm as well as the back of her hand, she pointed towards Yuriko and started speaking like she was reading from script.

"Good, now here's how it's going to go ..." Reichel said as she closed her right fist, making more blood pour down onto the table, and then grabbing a handkerchief to wrap up the bleeding wound.

"We'll be playing another round, it'll be the last one."

"I will be changing the rules myself as well, blink twice if you understand." Reichel told Yuriko, knowing full well that what she was going right now wasn't something like a funny game anymore, but rather a form of exploitation.

"Like I said earlier, we will be playing a bonus round, however the win condition is no longer on how your prediction is going to be correct or not, but rather if I find out how you are cheating or not."

"You can choose to not cheat during this round if you want, but simply know that I will know the answer regardless even if you do not, as I will simply reel back the memory I have of you playing the previous round inside my head and then deduce your method of cheating through pure memory."

'But I'm not cheating! My luck just seems to be booming today for some reason!' Yuriko was about to reply but then remembered Reichel's instructions to stay silent.

Yuriko thought that she was having a lucky day, but judging from the 'lucky' events that she had been led through all day then as a whole then nothing could describe her current day as anything but 'unlucky'.

'Just what is ... happening right?'

It was all a matter of luck and chance, that Yuriko managed to score 4 rounds in a row.

Did that mean that Yuriko had an absurdly high amount of luck? Not necessarily.

Yuriko's stat of luck was at "Above Average", which meant that though she was quite luckier than the average person, it wasn't anything special.

So what was it that caused Yuriko's lucky streak?

Well, the simple answer lied within Reichel.

Yes, the answer lied not in Yuriko, but rather inside Reichel herself!

Or to be more specific, her absurdly low status of luck!

Her luck stat of "Almost Non-Existent", which in turn made it seem like Yuriko's luck stat was at "Above High" instead!

... not that Reichel or Yuriko would know though, considering that not even Reichel can see her status.

*friiik*

Reichel pulled on the handkerchief that was tied around her right hand, tightening it around her wound so that it wouldn't spurt out blood anymore, before taking the cards herself and then reshuffling it honestly, not bothering to rig it or anything because the condition didn't lie within getting Yuriko's prediction wrong, but rather whether her eyes could live up to her own expectations and see the non-existent trickery that Yuriko was putting into play.

*frup frup frup frup frup* Reichel moved the cards at an imaginable speed, almost showing off her absurdly high dexterity, before finally putting down the shuffled deck of cards on the bloody table, and then taking a card for herself.

Reichel picked out the card from the deck, and with her signature poker face on she pointed towards the deck of cards and then said ...

"Dozo, Sora-san."

Yuriko simply sat there, which quite confused Reichel since she was expecting some sort of reaction, before Reichel finally received a ting! to her head and then opening her mouth to say ...

"You can move now." Reichel said to Yuriko, upon which Yuriko gasped for a large breath of air, implying that she wasn't even breathing when Reichel told her not to move.

Yuriko, in response to another display of fluency of her mother tongue, simply carried on in drawing a card from the deck with shaky hands, panicking even more ...

*fwip!*

'A nine of clubs.' Yuriko said as she gulped and then looked back at Reichel, who had her right hand curled up while holding her hidden card as she used it to support her head while extending out her left hand, as if beckoning Yuriko to hurry up.

"Well? Go on then ..."

"You're wasting my time." Reichel's words rolled of her tongue like an obvious threat, something that even Yuriko saw.

And as such, under the immense pressure which was Reichel's evil face, Yuriko panicked and then chose out her answer, which was then ...

"Equal!" Yuriko said, then after covering her mouth as if she her answer was unintended.

She was pressured into giving out an answer that she didn't think of, but now that she went over the math again, she finally came to be relieved by her answer.

Considering that what she chose was "Equal", there were only three other cards, which had to be of the same value, left on the deck, which was a mere 6% chance at most, compared to the 39% chance of Reichel's card actually being higher, or the even higher 54% chance that her card's value might be even lower.

'No ... equal is indeed the right answer!' Yuriko once again tried to believe in her logic, even though the mere probability-changing force, which was luck, managed to overturn it the last time she used it.

"We'll reveal our cards at the same time." Reichel spoke out suddenly, which made Yuriko comply instantly and derive her of her extra thinking time.

And instead of using her last brain cells on thinking of more things, she simply used them to pull out her best attempt at a war cry.

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!" The manliest groan of bravery that Yuriko had ever mustered her whole life, which still sounded quite feminine, displayed the intensity that she felt just as she was turning her card for Reichel to see, while also looking at Reichel overturn her own card.

And the result was ...

"Lower, your guess was incorrect." Reichel said while a frown slowly formed on her formerly emotionless face.

Yuriko's reaction however ...

'I did it!' 

Was the stark opposite of Reichel's, reclining her back and closely sticking it to the backrest of her chair, with her hand grasping her chest while a high speed of numerous breaths continuously came out from her mouth just as if she were having a heart attack.

But there was something more important than relishing in her attained victory, which was mainly ...

"C-Can I go now?"

To survive.

Yuriko wanted to get the hell out of there right now, escape through the back door and never come back again until she's readily sure that Reichel wouldn't ever come back to that place ever again, at least not while she herself is on duty.

However again ...

"What do you mean? It's not over yet."

Life was an ass.

"What!?"

"Did you forget? The win condition wasn't for you to lose ..." Reichel said as her frown grew even larger as she looked on Yuriko as some sort of insect.

And as the harsh words rolled off of Reichel's tongue, that's when Yuriko finally again remembered.

"... it's whether I find out how you were cheating."

*slam!* The sound of a hand slamming down on the table was heard, coming from Yuriko.

It was the first show of any kind of sincere resistance that she had ever shown since the start of her game.

"This is ridiculous! I wasn't cheating at all! What basis do you have on even accusing me of any sort of cheating whatsoever!?" Yuriko, despite her hands shaking, managed to gather up the final remaining remnants of her bravery to finally say what was on her mind, and usually this would have already knocked some sense intro Reichel, but then again ...

"Sit the fuck down, if you weren't cheating then surely I wouldn't find anything from memory that would tell me otherwise, no?" Reichel said with power and authority flowing from her words, which quickly made Yuriko's bravery evaporate within mere moments, making her sit down and wait.

Reichel inspected each card very closely, again, even sniffing it and even licking some of the cards, however when she couldn't find anything she became frustrated and shoved the cards aside, making them spill towards the floor amidst her furstration.

And then, straight after a few minutes of what seemed to be internal monologuing, cold sweat dripped down her forehead as she grabbed and pulled her hair in a matter that made it seem like something was driving her crazy.

And after a few more moments she finally manages to put up a few words, which sadly amounted to no more than nothing.

"You ... no that's not right ..."

She even started talking to herself, making it seem like she truly has gone crazy, and what was crazy that in the midst of all Reichel's actions, Yuriko was simply watching her as if she were indeed a crazy person.

"I ..."

And just as Reichel looked like she was about to break, something that was short of a very annoying miracle happened unexpectedly.

*BANG!* The door of the shop that Reichel and Yuriko were playing in slammed open loudly, making both of their attentions direct towards the entrance, where a man who seemed to be some sort of messenger was currently looking at Reichel with wide eyes.

"Frau Schwertspinne, Herr Blohm has demanded your most urgent summons!"

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