His footsteps crunched beneath the fuzzy red carpet of the casino, though it doesn't seem to be noticed by the two loud people dropping cards on a table.
Yuki walked closer to the unsuspecting two people.
"Hahaha! How about that, Kobazing? I've won again!" Satsuki cheered at the top of her lungs with a prideful laugh.
"D-damn it! I can't admit it-- one more game!!" Haruhiko stammered urgently as his fingers gripped the table desperately.
Yuki cocked and eyebrow up. He better not be seeing what he thinks he's seeing. The audacity after they kicked him out.
"What are you both doing?" Yuki asks, keeping himself cool, though his face showed much accusation. But it doesn't seem like the two players have noticed.
"Oh! It's Maeda! Maeda has appeared! What should we do, Kobazing?" Satsuki asks with much surprise as the pilot barely looked at the boy next to him. Not focusing on the luckster much at all.
"W-what are y--! Don't call me Kobazing anymore!" Haru squawks back in a seemingly panicked tone.
"Are you guys playing poker?" Yuki asks, but it's more of a tone where he'd definitely lecture the two over how they're wasting their time.
"Are you guys even investigating?" Yuki added, his tone sounding more demanding and frustrated than he'd like to show.
"I-I don't care, now that you're not with us either." Haru mumbled, as he looked away awkwardly.
"We're suspicious of you in the first place..." Haru added on quickly as if to add decency to what he previously said. It's times like these that he now knows why Rei, Kinji and Tsurugi went their separate ways.
"I guess we'll be stuck here forever." Yuki deadpanned with a sigh as he nursed his aching head. He definitely needs to find Kanata to ask her for some painkillers or headache meds because it's getting to a point that he might throw up unannounced.
"And-- and-- anyways-- do you think you can talk with us so casually?"
Yep. Yuki knew. He knew. He's never leaving this place.
He is going to be trapped in this place forever with a bunch of idiots who doesn't know what they're doing. At least Teruya seems to have the somewhat decency to investigate, and Mikako is reliable despite how quiet she is, he thinks, anyway. It's hard when you know basically nothing about someone.
"Listen, I know you have your doubts about me because of the dumb motive thing, but trust me, I know myself best. Do you really think if I knew everything beforehand, puppeting the strings and all, I'd be in this horrible game?" Yuki asked rhetorically as his wrist swayed to convey his statement. Haru and Satsuki both looked at the ginger for a moment.
"Maeda does have a point. An impostor would never decide to put themselves in danger just for fun!" Satsuki exclaimed with a cheer.
"Unless for stimulant or something..." Haru muttered with a grumble, making Yuki raise a brow.
"I'm not that much of a freak. I'm not like you, Kobashikawa." Yuki spoke with a sigh, his hand resting idly on his hip as Haru's face went a panicked shade of purple.
"What?! I-I never said it like that!" The pilot retorted, making Yuki roll his eyes.
"You thought about it, I know you did." Yuki replied with a huff.
"A-and in any case! He's probably just doing that to lower our guards!" Haru spoke back in reply to Satsuki, who tilted her head in trying to understand the pilot's words.
"Kobashikawa, come on. I may act moody sometimes but it's not like I didn't want to be with all of you. We shouldn't be divided in times like these." Yuki insisted, gripping onto the side of the table the other two were on.
The pilot gave a sigh as he looked away.
"I know... just until yesterday, we've been a functional working team despite all that's happened... we've been together for this long..." Haru said with a tone that sounded resistant over the words he's saying.
"But I just can't... I can't trust you because I can about everyone, because I care about that note. And things might get dangerous if we let you back in..." Haru muttered.
"B-besides! At the time, Monokuma was also aware of this, and because of the knowledge he gave us, there's no other person to doubt... except you..."
Yuki crossed his arms as he looked away, another sigh escaping his lips as it blended into a frustrated hiss.
"But I don't know..." Yuki huffed under his breath as Satsuki went to shuffle the cards once more.
"Wanna play poker, Maeda? There's so many fun games here!" Satsuki perked up cheerfully with her usual optimistic smile, bright enough to blind him.
"Hey-- this is a serious moment!!" Haru squawks out in a panic before continuing.
"Are you ignoring my comments!?"
"And Satsuki, you know now's not the time for that." Yuki said with a softened gaze. Seeing Satsuki happy, even if it does make the ginger slightly offended with how lightly they're taking the situation, does calm his nerves enough to not get frustrated.
"Why is there a casino at school? I'm pretty sure that's illegal..." Yuki muttered under his breath afterwards, taking a moment to get a full view of the entire room filled with different slot machines and games.
"Come on Maeda! Just one game!!" Satsuki whined dramatically as she looked at the lucky student with puppy dog eyes mixed with delightful excitement.
Yuki raised a brow as he glanced at both Haru and Satsuki. They're treating him weirdly better than Tsurugi, though.
"Are... you guys really suspicious of me... or not?... you guys have been sounding unsure... yet you're still being awfully stubborn in letting me in." Yuki hummed as he put a finger on his chin, looking the other two students with skepticism.
"W-well..." Haru stuttered his words as he looked away. Satsuki furrowed her brows slightly over that, her eyes darting away.
"I already told you guys, I'm innocent. I don't know why I'm here but... I do want to escape with all of you." Yuki said firmly. His hands lowered into determined fists.
Silence filled the air once more as nobody dared to say another word.
"...............Maeda..." Haru ultimately broke the silence, finally sustaining eye contact with the luckster.
"So are you gonna play poker or not?" Satsuki asked with a tilt of her head. A wave of disbelief startled into Yuki's expression as he turned to the clown. She's really serious about this?...
"Hey! Not while this is happening!" Haru whined as he stared back at the clown, who merely just shrugged.
"And you know, we need to investigate and all." Yuki says with a shrug.
"Been meaning to share some new stuff I found."
"You found new stuff?" Satsuki asked with interest, scooting her chair closer to the table as he did so. Yuki nodded at the blue haired girl as he patted the right side of his blazer.
"There's a lot I've gotten, first come first serve." Yuki said it a rather more playful tone to match Satsuki as he put a finger to his lips with a smirk. Haru stammered in bewilderment.
With a grumble and a sigh, the pilot snapped his fingers.
"Alright Maeda! how about this," The pilot stood up to face the ginger fully, catching the luckster's attention once more.
"Beat the two of us in poker, then we'll stop doubting you and unite again!" Haru offered with a grin. Yuki blinked at the pilot for a moment, astonished by this revelation. Is that how light he sees the situation? It just takes beating them in poker.
Oh god, but his luck is bad... Yuki knows that well, he's absolutely dogwater, even when it comes to card games...
With a long pause of silence as Yuki thought about these two's seriousness in his head and weighing his options, he decided this would be the best course of action if he wants to get everyone to share their information and be on the save level.
"....Alright, best of two?"
Yuki knew his luck was, well, your average Joe. When he got the invitation to be the ultimate lucky student, he's tested his luck time and time again, but nothing. He always thought the title would've made him special, but all he could hope for now is for his average Joe luck to somehow carry him through a win.
Except... he actually does?
"Four kings!?" Yuki's jaw dropped at the sight of his cards, Haru had to stand and lean over in full disbelief as four kings laid in his hold-- first try. Not even his great great grandfather had this much luck!
"How come those four cards pop out there!?" Haru exclaimed in disbelief as Yuki shrugged the same frantic way.
"I-I don't know!? I don't remember my luck being this good!" Yuki responded with a nervous excitement. It was terrifying knowing he got something higher than a full house at best and on his first try too. It excited him slightly, this is a luck that he'll probably never have in his lifetime again.
As the cards were shuffled, the three went to continue another round for a while before another lucky draw seems to have presented itself to him. WHAT!? Yuki might have to remember which God he prayed to when he first entered this killing game because what the HELL?
"Let's go!! A flush!" Haru laughed pridefully as he laid his deck out on the table. Yuki shifted nervously in his seat.
"I think my luck today might be making up for the past whole years of my life..." Yuki muttered, thinking back to how all those instances before, this was the one time he's somehow got good cards back to back.
Haru stared at the cards Yuki laid out on the table. Words stutter out of the pilot's mouth as he tries to process this information in a frozen shock.
"Holy moly, straight flush." Satsuki says with an astonished gasp. Yuki would have to agree. Even when playing any type of cards, his luck has not been this great.
"Four Ks on the first round, then a straight flush on the second round..." Yuki spoke, wide eyed with disbelief.
"I must be dying soon..." Yuki muttered in a humorous tone-- which, he really shouldn't be joking about, but his disbelief was too much to make him care.
"I mean, you did come to Hope's Peak because of that..." Satsuki said with a puzzled shrug.
"U-Ultimate lucky student... Unbelievable... Did I touch the feathers of a sleeping lion!?" Haru stammered in pure shock that made the ginger jump out of his seat from disbelieving horror.
"What!? No-- no, no, no, no--! No you guys! I'm not lucky- not at all I'm just as lucky as your average Joe! This must just be rare occasion-- this has never happened to me either!" Yuki tried to retort, but the curiosity and interest in both of his classmates already came into full effect that whatever he'll say about the matter, won't be heard.
"You just updated to being a gambler now!" Haru said in a breathless shock. Yuki frantically shook his head, not believing these were happening, not believing that this is really happening and he actually got a super lucky draw twice.
"By the way Kobazing, you lost! So you gotta keep your promise, right?" Satsuki hummed as the pilot sighed a groan of defeat.
"But..." Haru started, noticing slightly how the lucky student went and stared at him expectantly.
"U-uhm-- s-sorry! Give me some time to think--!!" Haru stammered before dashing out the casino. Yuki blinked in surprise for a moment before glancing over at Satsuki, who shook her head and reassured the ginger that his efforts aren't in vain. With a small defeated chuckle, Yuki thanked the clown for her trust in him and went about his way.
It was weird, it really was. Seeing himself get luckier than he has in his entire years of living over these two rounds of poker. But possibly, that's all there is to it.
He shouldn't think deeply about it, it possibly won't ever happen again.
