Chapter 336: Suffering From Success
The Mammon's Den had been on for hours now. Things were far different, most people's faces did not match that of when they entered. Some of them looked even happier as they lazed around and settled for whatever wins they had, others wore smiles on their faces as they looked for even more to gamble on and gain more points, but, that was by far the vast minority.
Most of the people looked like husks of their former selves, roaming around like zombies trying not to cry as they found themselves many points below where they started, while the rest were simply hanging onto their money scared as they contemplated whether to spend it.
The room had many seats and couches for people to relax but, they were instead mostly used by the crying and depressed losers contemplating their next move. However, there was one man that was an exception…
He sat on a corner couch with a deadpanned expression under his mask, dark, heavy bags under his eyes. The melancholic, stressful air was hovering right above him like a visible raincloud seen by all, which incited many whispers in his direction, all of them being undoubtedly false.
Indeed, this man was suffering, but unlike the others, he was suffering from success…
"Hey Fox, want a drink?"
He slowly lifted his tired neck off the couch and looked up to see where that familiar voice was coming from.
"Noir? Why are you here?" He lazily asked as he inspected her along with the drink in her hand.
"Joker is in a match right now and I thought I would check up on you… So, want a drink?" She smiled at him brightly, bringing her glass of liquid closer to him.
"Wow, that's quite nice of you… But, sadly, I don't drink alcohol…" He waved her off, but that only made her chuckle and smile even more.
"Oh! Don't worry! This is orange juice!"
"Oh…" He could not help but crack a smile through all his gloom. "You know me better than I thought you did…" He took the cup from her hands and took a massive sip as Hikari sat next to him on the couch.
"So… How's things going with Joker?"
"O-oh! Him? You shouldn't worry about him! He still hasn't even lost once! He's in the middle of an organized blackjack tournament reserved for all the people with the most coins. It's the final round and he hasn't lost a single time! There was one time his opponent got super lucky but he came back with three blackjacks in a row!" Hikari ranted with passion, tightly clasping her hands.
"Heh… Should have figured…" He mellowly smiled reminiscing about what transpired in the past few hours like it happened many moons ago.
After his initial two victories, against all of his warnings, Moby did not stop, but instead continued to push forward with no fear at all. He marched into every major gambling table and won every single one— It was to the point that his name and likeness spread throughout the entire casino and people avoided him like the plague seeing he had never lost. But, of course, there were always the few people that wanted to test their luck against him which allowed him to continue his domination.
No… What he did could not be called domination… Not at all, it was pure madness. Most of the matches he took were impossibly close and he barely managed to win, not to mention the fact that nearly all of them called him out for cheating only for him to be proved innocent mere moments later. That fact eventually took a toll on Regrit's heart, sanity, and mental health… He had seen his life flash before his eyes too many times in the span of a few hours for him to care anymore. He eventually decided that it would all be the same whether he was with him or not and It was all not worth the headache, so he retired on the couch to ease the pain and wait it out until the end.
"Wait, Noir, if he's in the final round of that tournament why are you not there to cheer him on?" He spoke, taking another sip of his drink as he stared towards the ceiling.
"Oh, well, I wanted to… But, he sent me here to check up on you saying he was going to win anyways… B-but, I also agreed and wanted to do it! It's not like I came here just because he told me to!" She nervously responded, becoming flustered seemingly out of nowhere.
'Damn she's shy… Has she lived in an asylum all her life or something?'
"Thanks, I guess… But why are you acting so shy all of a sudden? I don't bite. You should act more assertive or something..." He took his final sip of juice before slamming it on the table ahead of him and once again laying down on his couch. "Ahhhhhhh…."
"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm still working on that... But, I'm getting there! I-I think..."
"..."
"Hey, Noir, how much longer until this dream's over?"
"You mean when the event is over?"
"Yeah sure…"
"Well, I don't know, but it shouldn't be much longer than one or two hours…"
"Finally…"
"Huh," Hikari looked slightly confused. "Aren't you happy about all the points?"
"Of course, I am! I'm happy as hell! But, more than that, I'm just tired and want to rest… And besides, this doesn't even feel real… No way that man is that Lucky… I'm sure I'll wake up any second now and find myself still in bed…"
"... OUCH! What was that for!" He felt a sting on his torso.
"I'm sorry... I was just trying to be more assertive..." She nervously responded, scooting away from Regrit until she hit the other side of the couch.
"Yeah, but why?" He seemed slightly annoyed.
Well... I-... I just wanted to give you proof that you're still awake! You should have more faith in Joker! He can do anything!"
"..."
"BLACKJACK!! Here is your winner!! JOKER!! Joker is the winner of the grand prize!!" He looked up slightly to witness a sea of people jumping up and down cheering, and a blue-haired man with a demon mask brightly laughing as he celebrated and lifted up his earnings.
"Yeah… Of course, he can… I know that better than anyone else… I guess no matter how hard I work, I really will never catch up to him…" He mumbled faintly under his breath, his voice being drowned out by the exorbitant cheering of the people in the distance.
"Hey, did you say something?" Hikari asked leaning forward.
"Oh nothing, don't worry about it…"
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