Gamble Fish

Gamble Fish (ギャンブルフィッシュ) is a Japanese manga written by Aoyama Hiromi and illustrated by Yamane Kazutoshi. Gamble Fish is serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion. As of January 2010 fifteen tankōbon collecting the chapters were released, the first one on June 8, 2007, and the last one on January 8, 2010.

Plot
The story follows 14-year-old Tomu Shirasagi, son of the infamous swindler Yumeichirou Shirasagi. He goes to Shishidou academy, a school attended mainly by the rich and influential, from a public High School, instead of a private one, for which he is snubbed (mostly by the male students with the female students having some kind of interest with him, though secretly), but not for long. He quickly reveals that he is not a normal student, but an expert con artist in an encounter with Shishidou Mika, the great-granddaughter of the dean. He earns two allies in his roommate and class representative Mizuhara and also in Kimura Natsumi, a first-year student and self-proclaimed idol of Shishidou Academy. As the series progressed, a darker side of the academy comes to light, as it is revealed Shirasagi's father disappeared investigating the academy and that students who focus on things other than studying disappear and are jailed by Abidani without anyone investigating.

After a series victories against some of the school's students, he is challenged by three members of Abidini seminar. This was turned into a large event, with the entire school as the audience. The first member, Hiruko Nana, who pretended to be Megumi Akino in order to earn the trust of Tomu, revealed the first challenge, after poisoning Yuka Tsukiyono, rendering her unable to attend the match.

Main

 * Tomu Shirasagi
 * The main protagonist of Gamble Fish. It is learned that he has already crushed two schools and, apparently, plans to add Shishidou Academy to that list. In order to do so he quickly makes a name for himself by humiliating the dean's daughter, calling her his "bait" as a wall to capture the "fish" who he gambles. This act helps set Tomu's plans in motion as he is quickly challenged by Aota whose loss consequently sets off a chain of subsequent challenges. So far Tomu has defeated all his opponents through a variety of tricks and tactics. To the point that he was able to win against Rio, billiards world junior champion, in a game of billiards despite having played the game for only 10 days. Tomu is primarily opposed by the dorm dean Abidani and the dean's granddaughter Mika. His abilities are his keen eyes for detail, strategic mind, but most of all his unbendable determination and confidence that gives him the luck he needs at the most dire of time.


 * In chapter 53, Tomu reveals that he comes from a clan with a lineage who at one point had influence with many major political types during the Feudal era of Japan. However, that influence was eventually lost to new merchants and the Shirasagi clan went into hiding. Even in hiding, they were hunted down for their clan prize, the Twin Herons, a sword guard depicting two mirror image Herons that is apparently worth ten billion yen in modern days. It is to recover this prize, his father, and his clan's pride that is the real reason Shirasagi came to Shishidou Academy and the reason that Shirasagi declared he would gain ten billion yen from the school before he was through there. During each challenge he always emits a smile of confidence though this does not always stay in most challenges, he primarily does this to show his calmness and throw off his opponent. Hanasaki is one of the few to make him say romantic words and show some feelings of love for her, though it is not that heavily hinted Tomu is also in love with her, he may have done it out of pity of her traumatic past.  But he has also showed that he cares for Emily when she first was very affectionate to him, though he never blushes at her even if it's the most intimate moment. It was never really confirmed, Tomu really just went with the flow but never lost his guard for Abidani might have something planned with Emily involved in it which wasn't true, acting as if they were a couple, giving her a bouquet of roses when she return to school after going in the hospital and being her date when she held a party at the academy, but he never did called her "darling" back. but when Mizuhara asked if he has also fallen for Emily, he replied that indeed that the fight she gave really did moved him, but continued that in the end she's no more than a friend to him. He then confronted Emily after a discussion with Mika about Emily being suspected of lying and holding something(s) back from him, but Emily replied ti him that she would never lie ti him and said that she purely came to the academy just to see him after what Abidani said to Emily about him which made her very interested with him. Tomu then showed the picture Emily winning the tennis match, but Emily objected that she has never seen that image before and has no memory of her winning a tennis match and told tomu that Mika created that site because she was jealous of her. Emily then pleaded to tomu that she is innocent and had never lied to tomu in any way. But Emily unintentionally mentioned that she can give him the Twin Herons but this backfires and Tomu angrily asked why she knew about this and suspected that Abidani told her, which Emily said she did but she kept quite about it. But Tomu doesn't believe her and tells her to go out, but Emily kept on saying that she never betrayed him. But Tomu went over the line and lied to her that she never had any interest with her and lied to her that because she came from a wealthy family he only treated her nice so that he can use her. This makes Emily furiously saying to him that she should have just shot at him the first day she met him now that she now who he really is, and said that he's the same as all the other "beasts" who swarm up to her only wanting wealth and power and said that she all she wanted was someone to love her, implying that many swains may have tried to win her hand for the money. She then butted him with her revolver and told him this was the end of her love and the end of his life and ran away crying. Tomu knew she was innocent and that Abidani was all behind of that.


 * Kazuki Mizuhara
 * Tomu's first ally and close friend who proves invaluable through several schemes. He is the class representative and first met Tomu when he was assigned to conduct Tomu's orientation. He is short, wears glasses and has a haircut which earns him the nickname "mushroom head". Although he has shown disapproval for some of Tomu's tricks and tactics, such as cutting one of his fingers off in order to seal Yuka's "magic", he has remained a steadfast reliable friend to the point that he has directly helped Tomu execute one of his tricks. He admires one of Tomu's trait of courage. Due to him always being called "mushroom" or "mushroom head", a lot of people doesn't realized what's his real name (Or everyone for the matter in chapter 40), even people said that they thought that was his real name and another said that he didn't realized that was his name even though they were classmates.


 * Natsumi Kimura
 * A first-year who develops a crush on Tomu. She wanted to become Tomu's manager but was initially manipulated by Yuka to surprise and beat Tomu in an unofficial match. However, she apologized to Tomu and quickly became a valued partner in Tomu's winning streak. Her uncle is Tatsuhiko, a former billiards pro. She often acts as the announcer for the Gamble Matches. In chapter 35, she has openly and publicly stated that she is in love with Tomu. She even showed that she is willing to do what Tomu wants when he told her to continue to stripped down when she got penalized when she got the answer wrong in the contest, which was the Tomu Team Versus The Abidani Seminar, a contest which she stated "A girl in love is invincible!" which is referring her being in love with Tomu makes her invincible if she is determined to win for Tomu. But for the time being, her love for Tomu is unrequited which is not a surprise since Tomu has yet to show any real interest in any of the girls he had encountered.

Antagonists

 * Reiji Abidani
 * The sadistic dorm dean who seeks Tomu's expulsion (or death). Abidani is drawn as a devilish character, and hence acts as such, to the point that at one point he swooped down in on one of Tomu's matches in a devilish manner. Furthermore, Abidani has been shown whipping students and enjoying gory acts, such as sawing off Tomu's finger when he bets it in order to continue playing, even manipulating a girl he supposedly sees as his own daughter for his own schemes. Abidani employees a number of people to take Tomu up on his claim that he will beat them at whatever game they choose, if they bet double what his last opponent bet. So far he has only sent Tsukiyono Yuka the magician against Tomu. Because of this, Tomu openly questioned if Abidani is a coward for not facing him himself. It is later shown he runs a specific class called the Abidani Seminar, in which the "bad" students are jailed for as long as he wishes and regularly tortures. Most of the students believed this to only be a horrible rumor till Tomu's Gamble Battle against three of its members. Though he openly despises Tomu, believing him to be unworthy to attend Shishidou Academy, he appears to respect him, for his skill in cunning and trickery, along with his willingness to do whatever it takes to win. He has knowledge of Tomu's father's wereabouts, leaving Tomu to believe he has him imprisoned in the Abidani Seminar. This is later confirmed in chapter 52 when Abidani honors his loss at end of the 3 matches between the Abidani Seminar and team Shirasagi. It is later shown he even teaches some of his students better ways of being a criminal. Despite all of this, he is very dedicated to the rules set before each match, and will enforce the rules, even on the person he hired, if they fail or attempt to cheat. However he will turn a blind eye if the cheating cannot be proven as well as allow if the contestants figure a way around or bend the rules.

It is later revealed he is able to get away with all the things he does at the school is because he performs in Gamble Matches for the Class Reunion which rakes in staggering amounts of money for the school. Backed by this he pretty much has no limits to what he is allowed to do to the students.


 * Isamu Shishisdou
 * Mika's great-grandfather and headmaster of the Shishidou academy. Despite being 95, he is physically imposing and every bit as manipulative as Abidani.


 * Mika Shishodou
 * Great-granddaughter of the dean of Shishidou Academy and a true beauty as well. Shirasagi continueously outsmarts her and uses her arrogance and rage at him to trick her into assisting his victory. Mika seeks revenge against Tomu, in order to regain her pride, and is the second force that opposes him outright. She asks her best friend Asahina Rio to challenge him which she accepts, though due to their pride and desire to beat Tomu once again proves to be her downfall, causing them to lose the match. Tomu doesn't consider much of a threat, as he can often manipulate her due to her anger towards him. However, from chapter 57, there are hints that Mika likes Tomu as she becomes a member of Tomu's team in the Emily Dawn Challenge. When Emily showed that she could be more popular than her, she became very jealous even taking Emily on a tennis contest which ended without a clear winner, but it backfired on her for Emily was able to counter her every move and after that people started to like Emily more after the match. She even went to Tomu's room and asked Mizuhara to step out to '"pollinate" or something' (Referring to him to being a "mushroom head"), she then asked shyly of what does Tomu think about Emily, implying that she really does have some feelings for him and became worried when Emily became too clingy to Tomu. Tomu replied that to him she is just a friend but Mika insisted that they're something more than that and tells her that her family is much more history and status than Emily's and telling him that why is it always Emily and hot her. Tomu replied that he is shocked (Not that much) and said that didn't she hate him, Mika shyly denied that and said that she didn't understand. Tomu said they couldn't be compared, saying that both of them are the same but very different. He said to her that he only liked her for her fighting spirit just as Emily loved him for his gambling spirit. But Mika revealed to Tomu that she wasn't an amateur and showed a picture of Emily with a trophy which she clearly won. But Tomu denies this and says that it wasn't that serious because it was for charity. But Emily came there and Mika went out, with Tomu asking what was Emily's true objective.

Abidani Seminar
The Abidani Seminar is the group of "bad" students that attend Shishidou Academy. In order not to affect the school's reputation of producing the best and brightest students, they are given to Abidani and sent to the secret Abidani Seminar which is located in a cave somewhere on school campus. They are then locked in jails and forced to study nonstop to the point they all look like ghouls. While in this Seminar, Abidani has complete control over the area, and can keep them in the Seminar for years on end, still unknown how he is able to do so without the parents' knowledge. However, despite all of this Abidani enjoys his "bad students" and their personalities, shown to be proud of their bad behavior and even have them fight for a chance to gain their diplomas. After their defeat, they seem to be somewhat more of a stable ground with Tomu and his friends, especially Hanasaki who warned Tomu about Emily Dawn.


 * Hiruko Nana
 * Described as the "Lolita Computer". She looks just like Megumi Akino and because of this, was used as a spy by Abidani to spy on Tomu's team, and sabotage it from the inside by poisoning Yuko. She specializes in disguises and mental arithmetic, along with Abidani describing her as "a little demon who uses her lovely form and her clear mind as weapons to bewilder men", which she used for her business in cosplay dating, learning everything from personality to small quirks for her clients. No one even knew she attended the school since she focused completely on her business rather than classes. Expecting to win, she hoped to take Natsumi with her after graduating and use her as a bargaining token to increase her prostitution business focused towards Lolicons. She likes to dress in a Loli-Gothic fashion. However it is revealed she has no confidence in her ability when the numbers exceed five digits, which is why she relied on taunting Natsum and poisoning Yuka. Despite her cruel personality, she has shown to be terrified at the thought of returning to the Abidani Seminar. She defeated Natsumi in the contest, but not without getting herself pretty much getting her pride broken but she regain some after her win. She is part of Tomu's team in Survival Flag for she was expelled from the Abidani Seminar, she actually liked the fact she was expelled because she is basically now free. She insists that she isn't working for Tomu and says that she only joined because she couldn't declined a request from Mayo, who was her best friend.


 * Yoizame Yoshio
 * Known as "Hell's Elite". He is described of having been "blessed" with a gift for brutal sadism.  Seeking blood and violence, he moved to America on his own when he was just 12 years old and distinguished himself among the street gangs there.  He returned to Japan and entered the Shishidou academy wanting to immediately join the Abidani seminar with hopes of becoming on of the top of the elite in the world of the outlaws, and dreams that after he graduates he will return to America to create a large crime syndicate. He is the only student at Shishidou that actually respects Abidani, seeing him as his true teacher to the point that he personally picked Mizuhara as his opponent, for Mizuhara unintentionally disrespected Abidani in a promotional poster by drawing Abidani's head attached to a cockroach's body. He is very skilled at Dice Stacking, able to stack 5 dice where they all matched along the sides as well as flip a sixth die to land on top of the tower. He has a noticeable habit of licking the blade of his Balisong. He was defeated by Mizuhara because he gave him time to practice (only 10 minutes) which gave Tomu plenty of time to make a plan in his head and secretly told Mizuhara his plan via through specific words, but because it was illegal for Tomu to give advice To Mizuhara since it was a 1 on 1 match, Tomu told that he was encouraging Mizuhara, which was the perfect alibi for Tomu to give Mizuhara the winning strategy. He is part of Tomu's Team in Survival Flag for he was kicked out of the Abidani seminar. He insists that he isn't working for Tomu and only wants to defeat Emily so that Abidani might rethink of kicking him out.


 * Hanasaki Mayo
 * The third, final and leader of Team Abidani Seminar. She has somewhat of a vampire-like appearance of light blue hair and skin. She is a gardener and joined the garden club, however she grew plants that were both illegal and poisonous. She wears long gloves to hide her burned hands, which she got when she was abused by her drunk father who died of a heart attack when she was twelve, though Tomu suspects she slipped some poison into his beer to cause that. During her match with Toumu she insisted that she was using "True" magic and not tricks, she even let Yuka check every bit of the arena for anything suspicious though Yuka couldn't find anything. After losing against Tomu, she tries to kill herself and Tomu by hugging him in place and letting Abidani drop the pot full of burning coal to drop on their heads, but both of them fell through the vent with the pot covering the hole into was Hanasaki's secret garden and private greenhouse. There, Hanasaki confessed to Tomu that she really didn't want him to get burned to death and told Tomu she is no different from a poisonous flower, doomed to be neglected forever. She also told him that the toxins she accumulated had been eating away her health, saying that she does not have enough to live but she doesn't care about it. Hanasaki confirmed Tomu's suspicion that his father was held in the academy. She then took out a vial filled with poison and drank it to end her life. However, Tomu kissed her to remove the poison from her mouth and tells her that she is no longer alone and that he won't let his precious companion die making Hanasaki fall for him. Tomu was the one who made her accept medical treatment in the end. Mayo told Yoizame and Hiruko to join Tomu's team since she cannot for she is still at the hospital

Other characters

 * Aoto
 * Shirasagi's first opponent and a 3rd year. He is in charge of the 3rd. year's Public Moral's committee. He is also one of Mika's "Bodyguards". Tomu challenges him to a game, which he then cheats at by not giving any "True" cards, but was still defeated because he insisted that the cards nurbers will be 20 giving him Tomu a hard time picking which one was "True" and which one was "False", but because of the numerous cards, Tomu was able to find it by searching the clock which was not included with the options. As punishment, Abidani whips him along with Kaizuka. Later, both are seen jailed by Abidani in the secret prison known as Abidani's Seminar.


 * Kaizuka
 * The dorm leader, who is friends with Aoto and also the captain of the ping-pong team due to his visual acuity or the ability to see things in a slowed down sense of time. He thinks this ability will give him an unbeatable advantage in a coin toss, but Tomu outsmarts him through mental tricks, drawing Abidani's attention. He is whipped by Abidani alongside Aoto and subsequently jailed.


 * Asahina Rio
 * Mika's best friend, billiards junior world champion and the daughter of a former luxury hotel owner who was bankrupted by a con she believes orchestrated by Shirasagi's father. This rage prompts her to challenge Tomu to billiards, a game of skill, thinking she can't lose. With Gokijima's help, Tomu wins, although he does run into a few problems along the way. After her defeat, Abidani has her sports scholarship revoked and she moves to Taiwan to study billiards. Tomu appears to feel some remorse, as he sends her a note vowing to avenge her family --- whilst swearing his father is innocent --- and sending up a bunch of balloons shaped like billiards balls, thus leading to believe she now has feelings for him too.


 * Emily Dawn
 * She is an American girl and only daughter to an infamous munitions company dating back to the time of Rome. The family's wealth and power is said to be able to do what ever they want, even to elect a president. She further demonstrates her power when she openly stated when she held a gun to Tomu's head that even if she killed him right there no court would prosecute her. She is revealed to be related to Abidani by a cousin's marriage, whom he calls his daughter due to how he took care of her when she was young, and seems to genuinely care for Abidani. She is known to have a "love at first sight" personality, and upon seeing Tomu's gambler drive instantly falls in love with him, calling him "darling". She often dresses in a revealing cowgirl outfit, but in school she wears the standard female uniform, and appears to be a skilled marksman. Abidani sets in motion a series of events that results in Tomu rejecting Emily's feelings, causing the girl to develop a homicidal hatred of him. This was done so that Emily would support Abidani against Tomu with the full financial support of the Dawn Family. An ability known as Rainbow Dawn runs in her family, which she awakens during the challenge. This ability causes any male who looks into her eyes to fall under her command, making them helpless. It is later learned that Abidani had purposefully set up this challenge between her and Tomu in order to create a high pressure situation in Emily, which is how the Rainbow Dawn is awakened.

Tomu supporters

 * Yuka Tsukiyono
 * A magician from a family of magicians, she is contracted by Abidani to defeat Tomu, for her unparalleled sleight of hand tricks, which makes her think that she can't be beaten at any card game. She is Tomu's third challenger and bets against Tomu on a game of Black Jack. It is revealed that she wants to defeat Tomu because gamblers use similar tricks to magicians and that, due to her older brother's death, she feels magic is the only way to be close to him and is almost sacred. However, her ego gets the best of her in the belief her skill surpassed his, and despite Abidani's warnings, practically flaunted her cheating ways and gave Tomu too many chances. Tomu sacrifices a finger so that she can't shuffle the cards because the blood stain would not match up. At the end of the match Tomu's act of stopping Yuka from sacrificing her finger, as they are a magician's life, reminds her of her late brother and as such seems to have developed feelings for Tomu, and doesn't hesitate to flirt with him at any possible chance. She later becomes a member of Tomu's three man team against the Abidani Seminar Students for the Dice Game, revealing she also knows many cheating ways with dice, but she was poisoned (not fatally) by one of the Abidani seminar students leading her to run to the girls comfort room where she stayed there until the end of the contest. She also practices knitting as a way to strengthen her fingers.


 * Tatsuhiko
 * Natsumi's uncle and a former billiards champion. He refuses to teach Tomu, because he feels gambling is wrong. He is soon bested by Gokijima, a hustler, who has no qualms teaching Tomu, for the right price. After some persuasion from Natsumi, he helps in on of Tomu's tricks by chasing Gokijima away from Tomu and Rio's match which plays a large part in Tomu's victory.


 * Kaoru Gokijima
 * A rather obese and disgusting hustler who is manipulated by Tomu into helping Tomu win and receiving nothing. He is lecherous, greedy and shameless, but he is good at what he does, and he does appear again after Tomu's defeat of Rio. However, after his utter humiliation, he has been losing horribly. After being rescued by Tomu from Abidani and discovering the mass amount of money at stake in Tomu's war on Shishidou, he decides to support him.


 * Megumi Akino
 * First appeared in Chapter 32, she becomes the third member of Tomu's three man team for the Abidani Seminar Dice Challenge. She is known for being skilled at knitting, winning many Craft Contests. She shows up to join near the end of the month, wanting to do so earlier but was only recently able to gather the courage to do so. It is later revealed that she is also a mathematician, able to do 5 digit calculations in her head instantly, which Tomu sees as a great asset as they won't know the rules to the game till the start of the match. Her reason for joining is because she wishes to use the money won in the match (3,000,000 yen) to be able to study abroad as a knitting designer, as her parents wouldn't pay for it as they wish for her to attend medical school to continue the family practice. Natsumi gets easily jealous of her because she believes she has feelings for Tomu as well. It is later revealed she is currently being held in Abidani's reflection room and was replaced by the look alike Hiruko Nana from the Abidani Seminar, so it is currently unknown how much or if any of this profile is true.


 * Yumeichirou Shirasagi
 * Tomu's father, an unparalleled con artist and notorious swindler who taught Tomu all he knew. However, Tomu claims that his father isn't the type to swindle the innocent. It is later revealed that Yumeichirou has somehow been captured by Abidani and is being held at the academy. Later, Abidani reveals Shirasagi being held prisoner.


 * In chapter 53, Tomu reveals that his father had in fact come to the academy to reclaim the Shirasagi clans treasure, the Twin Herons, in a gamble with the school's founder. He apparently lost the gamble and that is when he was taken prisoner.