A coach bus barreled down the lonely road, bouncing along every bump and pot hole in the road. Within the bus were mostly tourists, and a few new DWMA students, and speaking of the the new students...

"Alright! He's going all in with $30 dollars now! Will he be lucky enough to win his money back? Or will he lose even more?!"

A Japanese teen with dyed blue hair had the entire bus's attention with his makeshift game of Three card monte. He had swindled himself nearly $80 dollars so far, but would probably have had more if he didn't have to keep up appearances that this was a fair game.

The man he was facing off against was an American who had probably visited Nevada often by the look off things. He seemed like he was trying to get a few more money for the slots or whatever he was going to do later... Unfortunately, things definitely weren't going his way as this kid was obviously cheating him out of his money.

The boy, Kenji watched the embarrassed expression the man gave, as his shaking hand pulled out the last 3 sets of tens and placed them on the box. Before he went to shuffle them however, he gave a quick glance out the bus's windshield, checking out how much further it was to his stop. Not too far.

"Hey come on! You're making it really obvious that you are cheating when you look away like that!" The man cried out, grasping at straws figuratively and grasping at his sweaty shirt in reality. Whether it was because of how nervous he was, or just the heat of the desert, no one could really tell.

"Relax my man. I'm just checking how much further to my stop. As it turns out, you'll be my last game for now, so like here we go." The tall teen showed the man and the crowd around him the three cards that would be on the box, a king of clubs, a king of spades and the queen of hearts, all three bent in half vertically so there was no surefire way he could cheat.

Yeah right.

Kenji began to shuffle the cards around, skillfully swapping them around the cards while staring at the man directly.

"Take your pick." The man slowly reached his hand over to pick up the cards, only to be interrupted by the bus going over another pot hole and knocking everything to the ground. There were gasps and the occasional "seriously man?" but besides that, no one seemed to make a move. The cards all landed on their faces, so there was still a game to play.

"Want to go for one last gamble?" The blue haired man asked, with a laid back smile.

"You pick up the cards and put them back on the on the box without looking at them, and I won't reshuffle them, how about it?"

"Whatever you say man, it doesn't really matter to me." The man stated, immediately scooping down and picking them all up. Within a few moments he returned with the cards and placed them on the box, and true to word, Kenji didn't move.

The man picked the centre card, but made a request of his own.

"I'm feeling lucky. You draw it."

Kenji picked up the card and flipped it over, revealing...

A losing card.

The American man gave a loud shout and began cursing to high heavens. 

"What?! Impossible!!! I just saw that card! There's no way! He's cheating! He's definitely cheating!" He exclaimed, red in the face.

The entire crowd gave a small gasp, turning all eyes to the sweaty man.

"So you looked at the cards then? That's no fair." Kenji said in a relaxed tone, collecting the thirty bucks off the box and into his pocket. Kenji flipped the other two, with the winning card being on the left.

"I thought we had a deal, my man. How could you try that with me?" He put on a fake hurt expression and began packing up his things.

"Don't lie to me you bastard! I know you cheated!" He continued to curse futilely.

The bus came to a slowing halt, and the doors opened. Kenji managed to slip out of the crowding and make his way to the front.

"Not going to lie to you, you did catch me, I was cheating. I slipped another King of clubs beneath the winning card you chose from my sleeve, then I got rid of the other King of clubs and swapped the Queen of hearts with it when you went on your little tantrum. Thanks for the spending money though!" He explained with a toothy grin before rushing away from the bus. He stared at the towering shadow of Death city, sprinting towards it at full speed.

'Death city, eh? Kukukuku, let's see how much money I can squeeze from you...'

---

Fall had come around once again, and a new year had began at the Death Weapon Meister Academy. Students of all races, genders, and personality began to make their way up the academy's famous stairs - some even for their first times. Old friends rejoiced, weapon and meister partners greeted each other again and the stir of students made their way to the atrium, ready to hear their principal, and lord of the underworld greet them and prep them for the year. All seemed excited!... Well except for one boy... He frowned as he made his way up the steps. He crossed his arms and removed his sweater's hood from his head. Damn it was hot... It was obviously going to be hot as they were in a desert, even in September but the large body of people only added to the heat. Well... This many people meant that many wallets. Maybe even full wallets... Ooo!