Chapter Text
Behind the closed doors of the teacher’s lounge, things were getting heated despite it only being Otogiri’s first week.
“You can’t bet on a kid flunking out, Yamagiwa. How do we know you wouldn’t just rig their grades?”
Professor Yamagiwa looks like a balding volcano about to blow it’s top. “What about Oshima?! Most love confessions in a class? There’s no way any of us can beat the art room, and you KNOW most of them will be addressed to her!”
The demure art teacher smiles at him sweetly and blinks. “I never interfere with the hearts of students; I only try to encourage their expression!” She pouts, “It’s not my fault most of them have never been encouraged before.”
“Hussy.” The short guidance counselor Narita adjusts her glasses as she spits the insult out under her breath. Oshima gasps dramatically.
“Settle down now, settle down,” Their stalwart, stout principal was at least trying to maintain some order. He taps a piece of chalk against the nearly filled blackboard. “We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but this isn’t about that!” His eyes flash and he stands taller in front of the teaching staff, “This is about taking your chances with probability and putting your money where your mouth is! If you don’t feel like a winner, this game isn’t for you.”
Otogiri leans against the back wall as the other teachers argue and throw in more bets, nursing his fifth cup of coffee. It’s 6:30 a.m. on a Monday, week two at the new high school. Beside him, the guy he thinks is the gym teacher (he’s far too built to be anything else, though he knows looks can be deceiving) stands with his arms crossed, a grim but resolved expression etching dark lines in all the creases of his not wholly unattractive face.
Otogiri slides his eyes back to the front when he realizes he’s been checking the guy out, taking a deep sip of his coffee to bring him back to the betting ring. “So… is this a thing the staff does every year?”
“Mm.” The man grunts, not even looking over at him. “Yep.”
Otogiri blinks. “…Okay, you have to give me more than that. Have you gone in on anything? Is it even legal?”
That makes the man glance over at him, with a slight upwards twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Why, you an undercover cop or something?”
Otogiri grins back, “Nah, just the new math teacher. Sou Otogiri, pleasure to meet you.” He holds a hand out and the other man takes it, callouses rough against his palm.
“Kaoru Niou, head coach. Might see me sub here and there too.”
Otogiri raises an eyebrow at the sub coach, thinking he’d excel better as a dom, but keeps his thoughts to himself as they nod and break contact.
Niou gestures back to the board. “Principal introduced this a few years back, something about keeping up staff morale and making work “interesting”. You should go in on something if you want to make a good impression. But, I wouldn’t place too many bets, some might find it a touch unethical.”
He’s not wrong. Some of the categories up there were shameless: number of confessions, number of breakups, how high you could get your score on “rate my teacher”. But the one at the top, the one with the biggest pool in it so far, was “class couple”. It was big winnings if your class had a romantic relationship in it that lasted longer than 6 weeks.
Otogiri squints at the board, wishing he had put his contacts in earlier. But even if it’s blurry, it certainly looks like the new coach is a hypocrite.
“Mm. Not so unethical that you don’t have a bet down in nearly every romance category though, it seems.”
Niou startles, “Hmp, well, if it happens naturally who am I to stop it…” he scratches at the back of his neck, “Besides, you can’t exactly win unless you place something down, especially in those categories. The odds are too good.”
“Winning, huh?” Figures the sports coach was trying to find a way to beat the other teachers at their own game. Otogiri smirks. “The odds aren’t the only thing you should be looking at then. There’s a lot more involved if we’re talking probability.” He’s already running the numbers in his head. Bets always favor the house, but if he considers the point spread and can find the right patterns, he can figure out the most optimal ones…maybe Niou was onto something here. “Huh. Looks like the highest payout is for couples in freshman year.”
Niou nods. “Yeah. Highest risk since that group has the most unknowns. Wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a ringer. Ito over there,” he gestures to the home economics teacher, “she came with insider information last year and screwed all of us over with a dark horse.”
The sweet-faced mousey woman smiles and waves over at Niou and Otogiri when she notices him pointing. She doesn’t look cutthroat in the least.
Niou smiles stiffly and waves back at her, speaking to Otogiri through his clenched teeth. “I will not tolerate losing again this year. Especially to her.”
“What, is there a bigger prize than the cash?”
Niou nods. “The good staff parking stall, exclusive access to the only private bathroom on campus, and a letter of recommendation from the superintendent.” He glares at Ito who has already turned away, laughing with the other teachers. “That letter should have been mine last year. Damn superintendent barely considers true merit anymore, you need shit like this to get any kind of attention.”
Otogiri takes another sip of his coffee, considering all the odds and unknowns. Niou seems like he has a passion unlike anyone he’s ever met. Having someone like him around to talk to would be refreshing. Most of the other teachers were kinda bland by comparison.
Besides, he knew how to rig something like this from his days as a delinquent.
“You know, I’m teaching a freshman class.”
“Hah. Freshman math couples are rare, go easy for your first bet man. Try the third-year music class kids instead.”
Otogiri doesn’t reply right away. He’s thinking about the dark-haired daydreamer near the back of his class. The kid he’d had to call on thrice before he broke out of whatever spell he had fallen under. The kid who only had eyes for one other student in the room. Okuto Nakamura.
“I might, hmm. It would be a long shot, but I might have one of those dark horses. If the other kid notices him, it could be an easy thing. Near unbreakable, I’d say. And the other kids, lot of potential there in the other categories…”
He skims over the board again. His class numbers are better than Ito’s for winnings, but riskier, probably because no one expects any students will be thinking about romance in maths.
“What would you say to going in on a couple of these together, Niou? Increases our chances astronomically, and we could make bank. You could take the letter if we play this right.”
Niou turns and looks him up and down, eyes dark but considering of him and the proposition. Otogiri holds his gaze and tries not to break, but wow, he’s intense.
His heart beats, loud. Fifth cup of coffee always was the charm.
Niou nods. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Otogiri. Tell me about this dark horse of yours.”