The gamble of a lifetime

Aoi was glaring daggers into him. He just avoided her gaze, too tired to deal with it. He had struggled to sleep even after his eventful walk. Something was messing with his head, he decided. It was really starting to get to him, too. Leon was prattling off about some hairstylist he had a crush on. Makoto just focused his eyes on his next target. He knew he'd decided not to activate challenges without reason, but it was too convenient.

"Hey, Celeste." He blurted out, cutting Leon off in the middle of his sentence. "I wanna challenge you to a game."

"Hm?" She looked up from her tea. "A game, you say? Why?"

"Uh, I..." He hadn't thought this part out. The action was just to challenge her to a gamble, he figured just saying that would suffice. "Well, I'm supposed to be lucky, right? I wanna see how much luck plays into gambling..."

"I see. I must admit I have been curious about the same ever since we met." She smiled. "Very well, what game would you like?"

"Poker." The word left before he thought of it.

"Mm, child's play." She appeared a deck from nowhere. "Action Successful. Passive Trigger Unlocked: Daring Better. Clean-up Time: One Minute."

The completion caught him off guard. He realized Celeste dropped the accent when saying that. One minute felt drastically shorter now that he'd had longer clean-up times. Makoto quickly fished out his pad but in his haste accidentally dropped it. He climbed under the table, grabbing it. He barely had enough time to get back to his seat before everyone unfroze.

"Hm... but what should we bet for?" Celeste stroked her chin.

"Aren't bragging rights enough?"

"Pssh! As if." She cackled. "If I win, you must drop your pants and touch yourself in front of me."

The crowd around started to mumble. "Isn't that too far?" "Grody, I wouldn't wanna see a guy do that." "Now that's a good bet!"

"Uh, oh... that's probably what Daring Better means." He frowned. "I, uh... okay I'll take it, but only if you do it if you lose."

"Of course, it's only natural." She smiled. "Hifumi dear, would you shuffle these?"

"Y-Y-Yes Miss Ludenberg!" He stammered, fumbling his large hands over the deck.

"It's only fair for a neutral party to deal, wouldn't you agree?" She asked, he nodded. "Alright, enough pig. Deal already."

"Oink!" He cried, almost dropping the deck. "Okay, h-h-here you go." The fanfic author dished out two cards to each of them.

Makoto took in a deep breath. He was against a professional, any emotion in his face could betray him entirely. With his face as stone-blank as possible, he peeked at his cards. A two and a four, off-suited. Worthless. "Uh... so how are we doing this?"

She glanced at her cards. Her expression didn't change. "We play with the hand we're dealt. Of course, you could fold, but you'd be jerking yourself off as a coward and a loser."

"F-Fine, I'll play it." He cursed himself for stuttering. Hifumi dealt out the first two cards. Ace, eight, three. Nothing for him. "Um, check."

"Let us say I raise you. The loser must strip naked while they do it."

This passive trigger was definitely lowering her inhibitions, if it left her any at all. "Um..." If he folded now, he would at least keep his clothes on. "Yeah, I call."

"Guys this is starting to go too far." Sayaka frowned. "Let's just call it off."

"Shut it." Celeste snapped. "Hifumi, turn."

The large boy flipped a king. Useless again. "I'll... check again."

"Raise. Whoever loses must remain naked all day."

Makoto froze. She had to have something good. Even with her betting clouded, a gambler's instinct is never to raise the stakes without something to back it up. But maybe as the Ultimate Gambler, she could fight that instinct enough to be bluffing. "Call, I guess..."

Hifumi slapped down a five. Makoto had nothing. He frowned, betraying his own emotion. "Check..."

Celeste put on a smile. "Raise, you must bring yourself to, mhmm, completion with only your butt. In front of me, you have to finger your tight, little asshole." Makoto froze.