145 Self-Doubt Engulfs Miharutaki
Thinking about how his endurance had been honed by Yumeko's crazed antics over the weekend, Hikigaya let the corners of his mouth curl into a slight smirk and shouted arrogantly, "Hey, Miharutaki-senpai, if you can't take it anymore, just call STOP."
"Tch—"
"Cut the crap, Hikigaya Hachiman. Since you haven't chosen to run away, I won't either."
Miharutaki ultimately chose to trust the information she had gathered.
Eliminating all other possibilities, what remained had to be the truth. Hikigaya's microexpressions and body language were exactly like hers—he must have also rolled seven rounds of heads.
'Trying to use taunts to lure me into surrendering the game, huh? How sly, Hikigaya Hachiman.'
"Alright, then, sixth round—begin!"
This time, Lady Luck did not favor Miharutaki.
Her luck ran out, and the sixth roll finally landed on a six.
Miharutaki's expression froze, and a feeling of regret, as if waking from a dream, surged through her.
'If I had known I would roll a six this round, I should have called STOP at the end of the last round...'
But she quickly rejected that thought herself.
There are no "ifs" in this world—every decision made is the best possible choice. Perhaps the overwhelming psychological pressure of this gamble had pushed even a seasoned gambler like Miharutaki into entertaining such absurd thoughts.
Once she regained her composure, terror as if plunging into an icy abyss overtook her. Thinking about what would happen after losing—becoming Hikigaya Hachiman's personal livestock—she felt a deep and crushing helplessness.
If that happened, she would be utterly broken.
"Both players have rolled sixes. The game is over."
"This round is a draw. We'll do one more sudden-death round!"
Upon hearing Yomozuki Runa's words, Miharutaki unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness—Hikigaya had also rolled a six in the eighth round, same as her.
"But you know—"
Yomozuki Runa, with her small body, climbed onto the table and leaned like a ghost right in front of Sakura's face: "Sakura~ I'll give you a little piece of info."
"Hachiman actually rolled a six on his very first roll."
"You've been—"
"—getting worked up all on your own~"
Miharutaki's pupils shrank sharply. A terror like having her clothes forcibly stripped and being mercilessly toyed with rushed over her.
Her face stiffened. "You're saying he rolled a six on the first round already..."
Subconsciously, Miharutaki recalled everything she had observed—Hikigaya's behavior was so natural, so confident... And yet he had already rolled a six in the first round?
Keep in mind—they had both bet everything they had!
How could he remain so calm?
Was my observation wrong...?
Miharutaki fell into endless self-doubt.
Yomozuki Runa, contentedly licking her lollipop, thought to herself that even she was surprised by Hikigaya Hachiman's reaction.
But facts were facts—under immense psychological pressure, the first to crack was Sakura-chan. Luna greedily drank in Miharutaki's bewildered, fearful, and anxious expressions like a child admiring a new toy.
'In this gamble, only the one with more points wins. Even after rolling a six in the first round, he kept acting naturally, continuing to throw...'
'Under conditions where if Miharutaki-chan had called STOP, he would have immediately lost, he still stayed calm enough to bet on the slim chance of a draw...'
'Hikigaya Hachiman, you're really something.'
Yomozuki Runa secretly marveled. In Hikigaya, she saw a shadow of President Momobami.
If Momobami was pure madness, Hikigaya was pure rationality.
In a hopeless situation, he grasped the only chance of survival, and his acting had fooled everyone. In a way, extreme rationality and extreme madness were two sides of the same coin.
"Alright then, let's move on to the next round!"
Hikigaya Hachiman crossed his arms naturally, closely observing Miharutaki's every reaction.
This kind of gamble relied on momentum. Once a person's spirit was broken even once, it was almost impossible to recover. Moreover, Miharutaki's willpower was never that strong to begin with.
This kind of gambling—for the sake of someone else, betting everything—was ultimately a self-satisfying emotional gesture.
Hikigaya sneered at this.
Such a Miharutaki had no real resolve to win.
Since this was a private, off-the-record gamble, there were no bystanders around to cheer her up, no one to shout "friendship" or "bonds" like some protagonist in a shounen' manga, suddenly unleashing a miracle comeback.
That kind of thing—absolutely impossible.
'From here on, no matter how bad my luck gets, my victory is assured.'
Having figured everything out, Hikigaya Hachiman had no intention of letting up. On the contrary, he intended to completely crush Miharutaki's self-confidence.
"So, Miharutaki-senpai, starting to regret it?"
"For someone like Mibuomi Aoi, you went and bet everything against me... Now, you're about to become my personal plaything~"
Hikigaya deliberately emphasized the words personal plaything.
"You don't still believe that Mibuomi Aoi created the Full-Bloom Association to help ordinary students escape being livestock, do you?"
"His true goal was to use the Full-Bloom Association as a stepping stone to become Student Council President—to rule Hyakkaou Academy, Miharutaki-senpai."
Bang!
Miharutaki slammed both hands on the table, gritting her teeth: "Stop talking nonsense! Aoi has worked so hard to help the unlucky students who fell into the livestock system—you have no idea!"
"He even planned an uprising against Momobami Kirari for the sake of liberating the livestock—you don't know anything!"
"No, I know."
Hikigaya sneered: "Unwilling to let anyone stand above him, willing to do anything to seize power—even putting on a hypocritical mask totally opposite to his real nature..."
" Mibuomi Aoi is a very weak man."
"You bastard!"
"Yeah, I'm a bastard—but soon, you'll be a bastard's personal livestock."
Hikigaya licked his lips at just the right moment, infuriating Miharutaki so much her whole body trembled.
Amidst her rage, she again felt fear. She could not even imagine what kind of hell awaited her after she lost.
"Alright, alright, enough arguing!"
"Let's settle this with the final round!"
Yomozuki Runa hurriedly intervened, separating the two who were about to clash.
At her command, the dice machines spun up once more.