You were currently on your way to the next Neko club meeting. Asriel seemed to have recovered from his previously disheartened mood and was pretty much back to his old self. Those things he shared with you a few days ago, they kept you awake for longer that you wanted to admit. You could hardly imagine all the stuff he had to go through and there was still a lot he hasn't told you yet. It made you wonder whether knowing what happened to your past self was really worth it or not. Maybe it would be for the best if you simply dropped the topic.

Your small trip through the colorfully decorated hallways ended at the most bleak looking door of them all. The exterior of the Neko club looked as boring and empty as ever. It was supposed to be that way so it wouldn't draw in unwanted attention, but the lack of decoration made it stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe it's about time for the club to settle on some decorations to help disguise the club. With that in mind, you knocked on the door and were promptly met with Felix's face.

"Hey ____, how have you been?" he greeted you with the same caring smile you've seen so many times before.

"I've been doing fine, though I was kind of busy lately," you casually responded as you entered the room. "I did manage to pick up some information that could turn out to be important."

"Well, you better take that straight to Leo then. Talk to you later," he gave you the smile with the slightly tilted head that gave most other students weak knees.

Felix grew quite popular lately, though you could perfectly see why. Most people would refer to him as cute thanks to his looks and personality and they were right, for the most parts. He's much more that meets the eye and can quite easily use his charm in his favor. And you knew from personal experience that he has no qualms about expressing his affection and if it wasn't for the fact that everyone believed you're dating Asriel he'd probably be all over you. You felt almost sorry for whoever was going to end up having him as their boyfriend. He might seem innocent at first, but he can be quite demanding if he really wants something.

You walked over to Leo, who currently seemed to be consoling Lilly again. It seemed as if other students once again decided to pick on her since she looked like she's been crying for the past minutes. You were almost about to turn around and talk to someone else, seeing that Leo was obviously busy, but he saw you and motioned for you to come closer. Although reluctant, you decided to step closer.

"See Lilly, this is ____. He might not look like it, but he's among the strongest, if not THE strongest of us. If there's anyone picking on you, don't be afraid to call him. He'll help you in no time, right ____?" Leo was speaking in an unfamiliar soothing voice, proving even further that he's nowhere near as dangerous as he seems to be. He did put you in a rather unpleasant situation by assuring Lilly that you'd help her. He was right, but putting you in this situation was still rather rude of him.

"Yeah, that's right. If anyone ever decided to pick on you again, let me know and I'll deal with it. I promise," you replied in a calming matter as you knelt down, holding out your hand.

"Thanks," Lilly's voice sounded almost like a whisper as she looked at you from between her silvery hair. She took your hand in hers and shook it slightly before quickly retracting again, staring off to the side. "But what are you going to do to them? They might be bad people but that doesn't mean I want to see them hurt."

"I'll make sure they get expelled. This place has a zero tolerance policy against the bullying of Nekos in place and on top of that, I'm friends with the headmistress son. If those bullies keep doing what they're doing, they'll get what they deserve," you kept your calming voice, hoping you wouldn't end up scaring Lily.

With Leo's and your reassurance, Lily began to visibly ease up and almost began smiling again.

"We got your back Lily, never forget that," Leo further reassured her as he gave her a friendly pat the back, further bolstering her resolve.

Leo was about to return to the others, but you quickly pulled him towards a more secluded part of the room. While this did draw in the attention of some club members, you didn't want to spread unconfirmed information that could cause panic among everyone.

"Sorry for pulling you aside like that, but I have some information I need to share with you. It could be a lead to von Kaiser," you instantly switched back to a more serious nature, further drawing in Leo's attention. "We're going to have a new professor join the college. His name is Eckhart Liogan."

Leo looked at you with a questioning expression. "And you suspect him to be von Kaiser?"

"I don't have any concrete proof, or any proof at all, but something tells me he might be related to him in some way," despite having no proof, you sounded rather sure about your assumption.

"____, I get. We're all a bit on edge but don't you think you're being a little bit rash? It's just a new professor. I think you're simply jumping to conclusions. There's no way von Kaiser would make himself this obvious," Leo didn't seem worried at all and he was probably right. If von Kaiser would make himself this obvious this soon, he'd be dead before he could make a name for himself around the college.

You sighed deeply and shook your head, hoping you could simply shake off your paranoia. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Leo! ____! Stop flirting with each other and get over here, we're about to play a round of poker," Lucky called from across the room, brandishing a deck of cards and a small bag filled with plastic chips.

You and Leo simply shrugged and joined the others by the table, the others being Lucky, Felix, Chloe and a stranger, dressed in a suit paired with white gloves. The remaining club was busy doing something else, some talking about Anime while others were keeping themselves busy in other ways.

"Game of the day is simple, classic poker. No wildcards. Oh, and ____, let me introduce you to Alister. He's been a good friend of me during the experiment. He'll be our dealer for today," Lucky gave a quick rundown and introduced you to his friend.

"So you are ____, I've already heard about you. Only good things, I assure you. As Lucky already said, I am Alister. It's pleasure to meet you," the rather sophisticated Neko held out his hand and introduced himself.

"Likewise," you answered with a firm handshake.

"I assume you all know the rules? Good," Lucky simply assumed everyone was familiar with the rules of poker and placed his bag of plastic chips on the table. "Alright, chips come in five colors. Green, blue, red, purple and black. Green ones are the least, black the most valuable. Chips will be equally split between the players. Whoever runs out of chips is out. Last player standing wins.

While Alister was busy shuffling the deck, Lucky began to hand everyone their chips. Judging by his technique, Alister has done this numerous times before. The way the cards flew back and forth between his hands almost made him look like a magician. From forming arcs of cards to cards, cascading down from one hand to the other. He showed off every trick he had up his sleeve. Once the cards were shuffled thoroughly, everyone had to throw their ante of 2 green chips into the pot. Shortly after, the cards were dealt.

You picked up your cards and felt fairly confident but tried to your expression as neutral as possible. Three sevens, queen of clubs, three of diamonds, this should put you in a favorable position. With your own cards checked, you decided to scan the expressions of your opponents. Leo's and Chloe's expression remained neutral. Felix looked rather annoyed, probably due to being dealt an unlucky hand. Lucky seemed almost overconfident and promptly threw in five of his blue chips, causing Felix to fold. Leo raised, throwing in an additional blue chip. You called and Chloe decided to fold.

With the first betting round behind you, it was time to discard undesired cards and hope for the best. Lucky kept his hand and Leo discarded two of his cards. You discarded your queen of clubs and hoped for the best, only to be met with the queen of spades instead.

You were still sitting at your three sevens, which wasn't bad but also not that good. Not wanting to risk too much this early, you decided to open the round with two blue chips. Leo and Lucky called and the showdown approached.

"Now I'm going to show you why people call me Lucky," Lucky pridefully boasted, seemingly forgetting that pride comes before the fall.

"The scientist that created you probably predicted that you'll never get lucky, so they decided to call you Lucky just to mock you," Leo decided to use the opportunity to dish out against Lucky, all as a gesture of friendly banter.

"And let me guess, they call you Leo because you last as long as lions do?" Chloe jumped in, directly attacking the lions pride.

"Come on now Chloe, we all know you're salty because your courtship dance hasn't attracted any mates yet. And they probably won't anytime soon either" you finished the round of friendly banter with a playful jab towards Chloe.

It was time to show your cards and hope for the best. Leo could only bring a single pair to the table, while you and Lucky both had three of a kind. It seems as if Lucky was indeed lucky today, seeing that he had three eights, beating your three sevens.

"Told you I'd be lucky. They call me lucky Lucky for a reason you know," he decided to show off a little again, complete with a small victory dance.

Chloe simply began laughing at his silly behavior. "Lucky Lucky, are you serious?" she tried to contain her laughter by covering her mouth, but that quickly turned her face into a tomato.

"I've never heard anyone call you that," Leo seemed rather amused too, which was quite rare thanks to his usually serious attitude.

"Really? People used to call me like that all the time, right Alister?" Lucky, unwilling to accept this minor defeat, turned towards Alister for confirmation.

"I cannot, in good conscience, lie to the others. As much as I dislike it, I have to disagree with you. I do not recall anyone referring to you as 'lucky Lucky'," Alister politely shut down Lucky, which didn't seem to please him at all.

"Seriously? You're my friend. You're supposed to back me up, not stab me in the back," Lucky pouted, as he turned his back towards the table in mock offense.

"Lucky, May I ask you to return your attention to the game," Alister kept his polite demeanor, making you wonder whether this was the kind if behavior that was forced upon him.

Lucky sat down again, with his expression back to normal and Alister dealt the next hand. This time, you seemed to have completely run out of luck. The cards you were dealt were completely useless and severely limited your options. You could either fold, bluff or pray to the gods of RNG for good luck.

Lucky seemed to feel lucky once again, and promptly decided to throw in seven of his remaining blue chips. Felix and Leo called and now it was your turn of action. You took the most risky route and raised by one red chip, which seemed to have intimidated Chloe a bit but she still called.

Once everyone discarded their undesired cards and received their new ones, Chloe immediately decided to back out and folded. Somehow you ended up with a single pair and decided to pull off an incredibly risky move. You raised by another two red chips. It seemed as if everyone fell for it, seeing that they all decided to fold. Just to taunt them a little, you revealed your cards once you reaped your rewards.

"Damn it! I should have called your bluff," Lucky seemed almost mad with himself, to which you simply responded with a sly grin.

The next hand was dealt and Lucky decided to immediately fold. Quite unusual of him. He must have been dealt some seriously bad cards. Leo's expression remained cold and neutral, but he raised the bet tremendously by throwing his only black chip in the pot. What made the entire thing even more interesting was the fact that Felix decided to call. You took a very close look at your cards and determined that it simply wasn't worth it. There was no way you could turn your current hand in your favor, seeing that you only had one pair. The risk was too high and so you decided to fold. All eyes were on Chloe now, who decided to raise the stakes even further. Moments later and the next showdown approached. Leo turned out victorious, revealing all four kings.

The game continued and chips were constantly changing owners. It was an almost perfect balance, where no one wanted to risk too much. Almost one hour in and everyone still had roughly the same amount of chips they started with. That was until Felix decided to go all in. His decision was met with wide eyes and great anticipation and the next showdown rapidly approached. No one had decided to fold during this round, causing the atmosphere to become even more tense to a point where it was almost electric. Everyone revealed their cards, and despite having a full house consisting of three jacks and two queens, Felix still lost to Chloe's four of a kind. With no more chips, Felix was the first to be eliminated from the game.

"Alright guys, our club meeting is coming to an end. This round is all or nothing, winner takes all," Leo announced, signaling the end of the game.

For one last time, Alister dealt the first set of cards that would determine who would emerge victorious. Everyone received their cards and yours looked rather promising. Ten, jack, queen and king, all of them hearts. It was risky, but seeing that everyone had to go all in, you decided that it was a risk worth taking. You decided to stake everything on the one card your were going to discard and hope for the ace of hearts.

"How about we make this last showdown a little more exciting? Don't flip over your new cards until the showdown. Keep them with their back facing up and flip them over once everyone revealed their current hand," Lucky decided to propose his idea for a more exciting showdown and everyone seemed to be in agreement.

Everyone discarded their unwanted cards and was dealt new ones, which were kept in front of them.

This was the moment, the final showdown. Everyone revealed their current card and placed them on the table. With only a single pair, Felix looked like he was out of luck unless he'd somehow end up with three of a kind. Leo seemed to have two pairs, which might even turn into a full house. Lucky was only one card away from a straight flush, much like you were.

"Alright, flip them over," Lucky sounded like he knew he was going to win.

Felix was the first to flip his card and his odd of winning actually increased. He now had three of a kind, which meant nothing until the very end. Next was Leo, who remained at two pairs.

You and Lucky exchanged a heated glare. This was a showdown between you and him. Both of you knew that one would emerge victorious. He placed his index and middle finger on his card and flipped it over, revealing the one card he needed.

"Straight flush, baby. That's lucky Lucky for you," he sounded like he had already won and began collecting the various plastic chips but you simply picked up your own card and took a good look at it.

"Not so fast, Lucky," you spoke in a calm and collected voice as you revealed your final card. "Royal flush."

It seemed as if Lucky froze in place while you placed your ace of hearts on the table, finishing your royal flush.

"No... This, this can not be. HOW?" Lucky sounded so defeated that you almost felt bad for him. He once more proved that pride comes before the fall.

"Heart of cards and such," you casually responded with some vague quote from an Anime you vaguely remember hearing some students talk about.

While Lucky was slowly accepting his defeat, you began to put the plastic chips back in the bag. This was your first time playing poker and you, through sheer luck, manage to win. Once the clean up was finished you handed the bag to Alister, since Lucky still seemed rather shaken.

"Congrats on winning ____," Leo complimented you on your victory.

"Thanks, though let's be honest. The only reason I won was because luck was on my side," you played down your achievement but appreciated Leo's good sportsmanship nonetheless.

"That bluff you pulled off, that wasn't luck that was skill. You tricked everyone into thinking you had the upper hand even though you had the worst hand of the round," Chloe jumped in on the conversation and reminded you off your bluff from earlier.

"Yeah, that bluff was almost professional. Pair that with your poker face and you might be able to make big money," even Felix seemed to be impressed with you, not that this was something difficult to accomplish.

"Well, guess we'll call it a day here. See you next Saturday," Leo ended today's assembly with a smile plastered across his face.

You were halfway out of the door when someone tapped you on the shoulder, catching your attention.

"Hey ____, where do you think you're going? You still have a price to collect," Lucky seemed to have recovered from his little breakdown and seemed to be holding something in his hand. "C'mon, give me your hand.

Lucky grabbed your open hand and placed something inside it. Whatever it was, it felt flat, cold and surprisingly heavy. He then closed your hand and gave it a small pat.

"Well then, I'll be off. See you around," and with that Lucky stormed off, waving you goodbye as he disappeared into one of the various hallways.

You were a little confused. No one ever said there would a price to win and Lucky seemed to be in a hurry after he handed you your reward. Curiosity slowly began to take over and you knew that could only mean terrible things. Curiosity killed the cat after all. Damn that cat killing mars rover.

So you slowly opened your hand, revealing your price. It was as casino chip, identical in size to high value poker chips. The outer ring alternated between gold and silver while the middle part seemed to be made of platinum. That thing was even decorated with diamonds and rubies. Just where and how did he got that thing? Do you even want to know? What if he stole it?

"It seems as if the price Lucky gave you has you confused. Allow me to explain the meaning behind it," Alister approached you and nearly scared the living daylights out of you in the process.

Alister took the almost regal looking trinket from your hand and held it between his gloved fingers. "You see, before Lucky joined this college he's been frequently visiting casinos all over the city. During that time he became quite nefarious for his seemingly never ending streak of luck, causing some casinos to nearly go bankrupt. This token you're holding right now was given to him as a collective gift from the local casino owners. As expensive as this token might be, it was not meant to celebrate his luck. Quite the opposite to be exact. It turned into a symbol of disdain, a mark that branded him. He was no longer allowed in any of the local casinos."

Alister returned the precious chip to you and gave you and almost melancholic look, followed by a deep sight. "I can only assume the reasons why he would give this token to the winner of his little game. He wanted to close this chapter of his life and so he gave away the one thing that served as a constant reminder."

For a moment, Alister simply stared off into the distance, completely absorbed into his own thought. "Ah. You have to excuse me, I did not intend to keep you. I do hope to see you the next time the club meets. Until then, I bid you farewell." Alister left and you too, returned to your dorm.

The moment you opened the door, you were met with Asriel's curious gaze.

"Welcome back ____. Did anything special today?" he was as intrigued by the club as always.

You simply shook your head in response. "Not really. Played a round of poker with a few of the other members."

"Strip poker?" an impish grin began to spread across Asriel's face. He just had to suggest that.

You simply shook your head in bewilderment, waited for a moment to gather your thoughts only to shake your head again. "WHAT?"

"Come on, don't look at me like that. That's a totally normal thing students do," Asriel looked at you in innocence as he excused his suggestion.

"Maybe when you're drunk on a party. Say, is that the reason you don't drink? Did things become a little too embarrassing for you? Though knowing you, you'd probably try to loose if we were to play a game like that," you once again referred to the little incident back during the first few days.

Asriel crossed his arms and turned away from you, pouting. "You win this round, ____."

"Not only this one," you responded in an almost singing voice as you placed your new possession between your index and thumb. "Take a look."

Asriel turned around and, once he realized just what you were holding, nearly lunged at you, snatching the chip from your hand in the process.

"Where did you got that thing? It must be worth a fortune and a half," Asriel was quite amazed by your price, his eyes shimmering like the diamonds placed on the chip. "Who did you kill to get that thing?"

"Nobody. Lucky gave it to me after I won the game. According to his friend Alister it's a reminder of a darker chapter in Lucky's life," you replied as you took your chip from Asriel's hand.

"Oh, I see. But if it's such a grim reminder, why didn't he just sell it? I mean, he would've gotten rid of that thing and made tons of money from it," Asriel seemed a little oblivious as to why Lucky did what he did, not that you knew any better.

"I can only assume that the money he would have gotten out of that thing would be an even bigger reminder," you carefully assumed.

"Then why didn't he just throw that thing away? I mean, if it was such a grim reminder he should've thrown it away?" Asriel seemed just as clueless as you were. No matter how you spin it, Lucky's action make no sense.

Whatever might be the case, for know you'd hold on to the expensive little trinket. Either to confront him about it, or make sure it still safe in case he wants it back. And if he doesn't, you can still sell it for enough money to retire early.