"Oh no~ what should we do now?"
"Huh? What do you mean, what should we do?"
"Beg me~"
"Beg you?"
"Yes, if you want to get back the money you lost to the pachinko machine."
Hakuto's expression at this moment was utterly smug, but also incredibly excited. He had been waiting to see Nao like this for a long time—so long!
Nao looked at Hakuto's face and felt utterly defeated. She hesitated for a long time but still couldn't bring herself to say those three words.
"What's wrong? Is it too hard to say? You could also just praise me, you know!"
Hakuto didn't actually care whether Nao begged him or not. He just wanted to see her struggle! That conflicted and tormented expression!
"Praise? And how exactly do you want me to praise you?"
Hearing what Nao was thinking, Hakuto immediately demonstrated.
"Hakuto-sama is the greatest, most, most, most handsome man in the world!"
"That's all you need to say."
Nao instinctively rolled her eyes after hearing Hakuto's thoughts, her expression reaching peak exasperation.
"Ahh~ Hakuto is the greatest… in the world…."
At first, Nao tried to tell herself it was just like getting bitten by a dog—it would pass. But only now did she realize… This dog bite actually hurt.
Even if it was just in her mind, she still couldn't accept saying something that went so completely against her conscience!
"Louder, and get your thoughts straight! Think about your money! Your money was swallowed up by this pachinko machine! Don't you want to get it back?!"
Hakuto spoke with dramatic passion. Hearing that, Nao instinctively let out a sigh.
"Ah! I should never have agreed to come to the arcade!"
After complaining, Nao still went against her better judgment and, following Hakuto's template, forced the words out of her mouth.
"Hakuto… is the greatest… most, most, most… handsome…."
The last word, "handsome," was practically squeezed out through gritted teeth. She looked like she was about to pounce on Hakuto and bite him to death.
"Huh~? I can't hear you~!"
"Baka yarou!!"
…
Even though Hakuto kept teasing her, he had promised to help Nao, so he had to follow through.
Sitting down in front of the pachinko machine, he clicked his tongue.
"Tsk tsk tsk, how can someone even lose money on something like this?"
"You're asking for it!"
Nao aimed another punch at Hakuto's face, but once again, he dodged it effortlessly.
"You keep missing, yet you still keep trying. You remind me of a saying…."
Nao pulled back her fist. "What saying?"
"Knowing you can't win, but still fighting to the end—that is…"
Before Hakuto could finish, Nao threw another punch at his face, hoping to catch him off guard.
But he blocked it again.
"The foolishness of hot-blooded determination…."
Hakuto let go of her hand, pulled out a 10,000-yen bill, and fed it into the pachinko machine.
"Watch closely, foolishly hot-blooded one! Witness how Hakuto conquers this pachinko machine!"
"Yeah, yeah, Hakuto-sama is the greatest~" Nao responded in an extremely sarcastic tone.
About half an hour later, under Hakuto's precise control, their total pachinko earnings reached an impressive one million yen!
…negative one million yen.
"I seriously don't get it. How does someone even manage to lose money on something like this? And not just a little—one whole million?"
Nao, ever the natural-born cynic, couldn't pass up the chance to stomp on Hakuto while he was down.
"Hakuto-nii… did you lose money?"
"Hiss~ Winning negative one million could technically be considered a form of financial management…."
Hakuto stared at his bank balance, noticing the missing million yen with a hint of disbelief.
Even without using his ability, his calculation skills were top-tier. By all logic, he shouldn't have had any trouble with a mere pachinko machine.
But… he underestimated the nature of gambling. As expected, gambling is a game where nine out of ten people lose, especially when it comes to machine-based gambling.
To be honest, Hakuto wasn't particularly bothered by losing a million yen—it wasn't a significant amount to him. What really annoyed him was how his money had just vanished into thin air!
My money… my moneyyyy…
Now, Hakuto finally understood why so many people went bankrupt playing these games. Even he had lost a million in under twenty minutes—it was basically a money-eating monster.
"Mmpfh… don't force me to use my power."
"Oh ho~ The chibicon is about to unleash his ability!"
"Shut up! I'm going to make this arcade go bankrupt today! Then I'll donate all the winnings!"
Hakuto had no issue with gambling as a concept. But when the odds were rigged artificially, that was a different story.
It was just like those shady online gambling sites, where ten out of ten are controlled by algorithms deciding what cards you get. Luck and skill don't matter at all.
If they won't play fair, then I'll just break their rules!
With the intent of making this pachinko machine go bankrupt, Hakuto activated his ability.
Though, he didn't even use his full power. A mere pachinko machine wasn't worth it.
Under the influence of his supercomputer-like calculations, countless metal balls flowed out of the machine like a cascading waterfall.
"Ooooh~ Hakuto-nii, you're amazing!"
"Kids shouldn't watch this."
Hakuto didn't want Iori to develop an interest in gambling. After all, people gamble not just for fun but mostly because they want to win money.
With his ability in full effect, it took less than half an hour for Hakuto to recover his losses—and then make an additional 500,000 yen on top.
Not enough. Not nearly enough!
"Yosh! Today, I'm treating the kids at the orphanage to a feast!"
"Ohhh~ feast time!"
Nao was getting hyped too. After all, this pachinko machine had made her suffer, so she had no reason to oppose Hakuto's actions!
In the end, Hakuto won nearly ten million yen from the machine. If the arcade staff hadn't cut the power, he could've kept going indefinitely.
"Hakuto-nii… we won so much money. Won't the yakuza come after us?"
Hearing Iori's concern, Nao casually waved her hand.
"Huh~? The yakuza? He basically is the yakuza."
"Tsk, I just don't like delinquents, that's all. I'm actually a strong advocate for peace."
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