269 Gilbreath Shuffle × Masters of Luck
Just as Yumeko was about to agree, Yomotsuki Runa stepped forward.
"Although I don't object to you using the antidote as a wager, at Hyakkaou Private Academy, everything must be decided through gambling."
"I can host a gamble where the antidote and withdrawal from the presidential election are the stakes. The outcome will decide everything."
"But if you're trying to force little Yumeko and Hikigaya to withdraw through such despicable means... I won't allow it."
Hearing these words, Inbami Miyo frowned deeply.
"Tch. Troublesome girl."
But she didn't argue further with Runa, knowing that Runa represents absolute neutrality.
Offending her could mean that the Hundred Devouring Family's future activities at the school would face backlash and restrictions.
Besides, behind this girl stands Momobami Kirari.
If things got out of hand and reached Kirari, it would be even worse.
With that in mind, Inbami Miyo nodded. "In that case, wagering the antidote is acceptable."
"Anyway, in a gamble that tests teamwork, our sisters are unbeatable."
"If no one objects, then the gambling rules will be updated from now on."
At that moment, Yobami Miri raised her hand.
"Since we're using the antidote as a wager, let's modify the rules."
"One antidote will count as 100 votes."
"We have four such antidotes~"
"So that's 400 votes~"
"And one more thing — anyone who quits the game, or whose total value exceeds nine..."
Finally, the seemingly loli-like Yobami Miri bared her cold fangs.
She pulled a box of sharp silver needles from her bag, reflecting a cold and dangerous gleam: "These will be used to pierce the center of the finger. They're coated with the same poison that made Hikigaya suffer."
"Dangerous, but not fatal~ The effects will be less severe. Think of it as punishment for the losers or those who run away."
"We sisters will not back down on these conditions. Please understand."
"I see."
Yumeko straightened her back, placed her hands on her knees, and her long, dense black hair danced even without wind, swaying with the red gleam in her eyes.
She had entered the depths of her gambling trance.
"So this means folding is not allowed. No matter how good or bad your hand is, you must gamble to the bitter end."
"This kind of gamble excites me — risking not only my freedom but also my bodily safety as a wager~ But—"
"Yobami Miri, you disgust and enrage me beyond words."
"Heh~" Miri shrugged, unfazed by Yumeko's rage.
She raised a finger and continued: "This is a four-player gamble. Because of Hikigaya's accidental poisoning, we need one more player to take his place."
"So, Yumeko, in Hyakkaou Academy, can you find someone willing to risk their life to win the antidote with you?"
"By the way, it can't be someone from our Hundred Devouring Clan~"
Yumeko didn't reply to her.
Instead, she pulled out her phone and quickly typed and sent a message.
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.
.
At that moment—
The baseball club activity room was shrouded in an invisible cloud of gloom.
With the coma of the Ougatou sisters, the members of Hikigaya's little group were equally distressed.
Being used as test subjects and stepping stones like this felt terrible...
What was different today was that former Public Morals Chairperson Juraku Sachiko had also shown up at the clubroom.
In front of the other girls, she was toying with Sado Mikura's hair.
Kokoro Aiura sat nervously on the other side. Saotome Mary paced back and forth anxiously. Miharutaki Sakura, seated at the head, looked in confusion at the sudden appearance of Juraku Sachiko.
"Juraku, why are you here today?"
"I just had a feeling something interesting might happen." Juraku Sachiko gently stroked Sado's hair.
At that moment, Saotome Mary's phone suddenly vibrated.
She stopped pacing, opened the message, and stared in disbelief at Yumeko's text: "This... can't be."
"What's wrong?" Miharu Sakuraki asked with concern.
"Hikigaya... he's been poisoned and is in a coma. Now Yumeko needs a new partner to gamble with the these sisters, but... it could be life-threatening."
Saotome Mary swallowed hard, her expression stiff.
She hadn't expected things to escalate to a life-or-death gambling level.
The clubroom suddenly fell silent as they exchanged glances.
Everyone knew they had the resolve to risk their lives in a gamble. But the question was—who should go?
Excluding Nishinotouin, this was a gamble concerning the lives of three people.
Even with the resolve, it required matching skill.
With that in mind, even Sado Mikura's gaze subconsciously shifted toward Juraku Sachiko.
But she quickly snapped back and defended her master: "What are you all staring at! There's no way Juraku-sama would risk her life in a gamble like this. Don't even think about it!"
"No," Juraku Sachiko tugged gently at the leash in her hand and said charmingly, "it's exactly that kind of gamble that I'm interested in."
She stood up slowly and looked around at the other girls: "Looks like I came at the right time. If no one has objections, I'll go face the In-Yobami sisters."
"To achieve their goal through poison — even I want to make them taste defeat. Fufufu~"
And so, with her graceful figure swaying, Juraku Sachiko led the girls toward the gambling room.
.
.
.
"What's the matter, Yumeko? Can't find someone in this academy willing to risk their life to gamble?"
Yumeko closed her eyes, unaffected by the provocation.
She believed that Saotome and the others would come.
"So, you're betting Hikigaya Hachiman's life, is that it?"
When that cold and arrogant voice rang out, Yumeko opened her eyes again to see the tall Juraku Sachiko standing with her arms crossed, like a ferocious beast at the top of the food chain, exerting immense pressure on Inbami and Yobami.
The two sisters exchanged glances, seeing confusion and uncertainty in each other's eyes.
What's with this pressure? Who is this woman?
Yobami Miri forced a smile: "This must be... the former Public Morals Chair, Juraku-san, right? Coming to stand up for your successor? Very admirable. But I must remind you, if you lose this gamble... it may cost you your life~"
"That's none of your concern."
"You want votes, right?"
Juraku Sachiko raised one finger: "Seven hundred votes — the votes I control from the third-year students. That's an extra wager. If you lose, you atone. If you win, the votes are yours."
The In-Yobami sisters exchanged a glance and nodded decisively: "Deal."
Votes were their lifeline now.
Even if they had to use poison, they had to get as many votes as possible.
Don't be fooled by how united the Hundred Devouring Clan seemed.
In truth, they were all scheming.
Waiting for a chance to handle Hikigaya and Yumeko was just her opportunity to extract a massive number of votes.
"Eh~ Who would've thought Sachiko-chan would join the gamble? Then let's get started."
Soon, Yomotsuki Runa reiterated the rules.
Under the gaze of Hikigaya's little group, the gamble resumed.
Inbami Miyo hugged herself, suppressing her trembling excitement.
How wonderful~ risking their lives so decisively.
This wasn't recklessness — it was like a dream.
They were seduced by the fairy tale of saving their friends.
But the result was just handing over a ton of votes.
But this is the real world — not a fairy tale.
Things like that don't happen.
Ah~ gambling is so boring.
In the end, the one who controls life and death is the one who wins!
"This time it's Inbami's turn. Pick a number."
"Twenty-seven."
"Okay! Then split the deck into 27 and 13 and shuffle."
The cards danced in the air.
Yumeko remembered Hikigaya's warning.
Her crimson snake-like eyes stared coldly at Runa's hands.
So that's it—
Gilbreath Shuffle!!
Yumeko's pupils shrank. If it weren't for Hikigaya's warning, it would've taken her a few rounds to notice this technique.
"In that case..."
Yumeko said nothing until Runa finished dealing the cards. Then she smiled brightly: "Sachiko-nee, it's a bit forward of me, but for the next round of gambling, may I take the lead?"
"Hm?"
Juraku Sachiko blinked.
That kind of request would normally be considered an insult to a gambler.
Each gambler comes to the table with their own beliefs and skills.
Letting someone else take the lead? As if she, Juraku Sachiko, was a novice who needed help to win?
But her lips curled into a smile: "Looks like you've already found a surefire method to win before I have. In that case... I'll accept~"
Juraku Sachiko felt the offense, but that didn't mean she wouldn't cooperate.
She also wanted to see what Yumeko's winning method was.
On the way there, she had analyzed the rules.
Aside from perfect coordination, there shouldn't be a guaranteed win.
Even coordination wasn't enough — luck also played a part.
Luck, huh... Juraku Sachiko thought deeply.
She and Yumeko had never played together, so there was no coordination.
That left only luck.
"So, Jabami Yumeko found a way to control luck?"
How interesting.
This is getting really interesting.
270 Duel of Revealed Hands
Just moments ago— Yumeko, through a hint from Hachiman Hikigaya, had already seen through Yomozuki Runa's shuffling trick ahead of everyone.
The Gilbreath Shuffle.
The principle involves arranging a deck in alternating red and black cards, splitting them into two stacks such that the bottom card of each is a different color, shuffling the two together, and then revealing pairs from the bottom.
Every revealed pair will always consist of one red and one black card.
By repeating a pattern like spade-heart-club-diamond and doing a random cut, then stacking a few cards on top, and shuffling the two stacks together, the final result will appear random but will always contain one of each suit in every set of four cards.
The same principle applied here, to a gambling game with numbers 0–3.
If cards are dealt in order, one can fully deduce what cards each player holds.
In this game, each round features exactly four cards with the same number, randomly distributed among sixteen cards.
Yumeko's gaze was uncharacteristically calm—so calm even she hadn't realized it.
This was the only gamble where she didn't want to rely on chance, she simply wanted to win.
The unfortunate test subjects of her pure calculation were the In-Yobami sisters.
Yumeko was ready to crush them without reservation using pure deduction.
"Yumeko, are you just putting on a show?"
Inbami Miyo chuckled dismissively. She didn't believe Yumeko could win a game where luck made up 40% and synergy made up 60%.
Fingers, glances, beginnings—all just coded games between children.
But after being split into Inbami and Yobami houses, such games were no longer just games.
If their signals were exposed to their families, it would no longer end with a simple scolding.
She and her sister Yobami Miri were tightly bound by their respective families.
Their silent communication, their coded exchange, was their only way to express true feelings.
Even during suffocating family meetings, they could exchange information just by locking eyes.
Their technique had reached the level of telepathy.
In a game purely reliant on synergy, there was no way they could lose.
If this were a "Hidden Rules" gamble, they'd have already transmitted all the information the moment the rules were drawn—there would be no time for deduction by someone like Hikigaya or Jabami.
"Whether it's a show or not, you'll know soon enough, Inbami."
Yumeko now looked at her opponent like she was filth lower than a frog's piss.
The sweetness from their first meeting was entirely gone. Her reverse scale had been touched.
"Sachiko-nee, please reveal your hand." "This is for the win~"
"Hmm?" Juraku Sachiko hesitated at first, but quickly complied and revealed her cards without asking questions.
She chose to trust Yumeko completely, even though losing could mean suffering a coma-inducing poison.
Even in this life-threatening gamble, she gave Yumeko her full, unreserved trust.
Perhaps there was a level of tacit understanding between them after all— At the very least, born from their encounter through Hikigaya, there was undeniable trust.
"Hey, wait." Yomozuki Runa raised a hand in protest: "That's obviously cheating! Revealing hands is against the rules!"
But then she crossed her arms and turned her head haughtily:
"Well~ If it was an accident, I won't press the issue."
As a supposedly neutral dealer, she still had her biases.
"Ah~ fine then~"
Juraku Sachiko tilted her head, relaxed her fingers, and let her cards fall dramatically onto her chest and then the table—face up:
[2-1-1-1]
A clearly weak hand.
Had she kept it hidden, she might have survived a round or two.
But now that it was revealed, the In-Yobami sisters could target her immediately.
Still, Sachiko didn't care.
Her beast-like eyes devoured Yumeko's expression as if feeding on the mental energy of her strategic focus.
"What are these two up to?" The sisters exchanged glances, confused.
"One dares to speak. One dares to listen. To reveal one's hand in front of us sisters is as good as giving away every hand but one."
"Yumeko is likely not lying. She probably did consider that she and Sachiko lacked synergy—so she chose this extreme approach."
But that only meant Yumeko wouldn't be the one poisoned.
She needed a sacrificial pawn.
"My hand: [3-2-0-0]" "Miri's hand (via eye contact): [3-3-2-0]"
Both sisters had 0s. Their other numbers were high, but they could still win.
"Betting: 300 votes." Yumeko opened the round.
Yobami Miri placed 3 antidotes on the table. Inbami Miyo added 1 antidote and 100 selection votes + 100 substitute votes. Even knowing her hand was trash, Sachiko bet 300 votes without hesitation.
"Then, Yobami-san will go first~"
"Start with 3, widen the field, then adapt based on Miyo's move?"
Good plan—but there's a better one.
The sisters continued exchanging information silently while Yumeko watched expressionlessly.
She clearly saw their communication but couldn't crack the code.
"3."
"Now it's Sachiko-nee's turn~"
Despite being a gambling expert, Juraku didn't hesitate.
She played 1.
She had begun to understand Yumeko's plan.
This was the synergy of seasoned players. Even without orders, she knew what to do.
Just as she was about to play, Miyo interrupted:
"Juraku-san, are you sure about this? Yumeko is sacrificing you to win. She revealed your hand just to make you the target. Her real goal is that man lying there—Hachiman Hikigaya."
"Your life doesn't even factor into her plans."
"How about this? Ignore Yumeko's instructions, and I'll give you two antidotes—one for you, one for Hikigaya. That way, you can walk away from this whole gamble safely."
From a rational point of view, accepting the antidote and avoiding the deadly risk made the most sense.
"You're noisy~" Juraku crossed her legs casually. "I'm here purely for the thrill of the gamble. After I win, you two will atone properly. Antidotes? I don't care."
"Tch. Really now?"
Miyo clicked her tongue.
Her verbal assault failed.
These two crazy women clearly couldn't be judged by normal standards.
"Fine. Then I'll take your life. I'll show you how the strong always crush the weak."
"Weak? Heh~"
Sachiko just laughed without rebuttal, then calmly watched Miyo play her card: 2.
"Oh! Third card is 2. The total is now 6 points! Looking safe so far~" Runa narrated playfully.
"Why 2?" Miri questioned via eye contact.
Because they couldn't afford to let Yumeko win yet—so better to eliminate Sachiko now. Total is 6. Whether Sachiko plays 1 or 3, she loses. Only way to survive? Play 2.
From Yumeko's perspective, to take down Miri, she'd play 3, raise the total to 9, and force Miri to play 0.
"Your turn, Yumeko."
Yumeko didn't rush. She asked:
"Inbami Miyo, what was it you said earlier?"
"The weak—like Juraku who obeys you—are obviously weak."
"This is Hyakkaou Academy. Disrespecting Sachiko-nee like that... will cost you dearly."
Yumeko gently drew a card and flipped it:
"I play 2. Checkmate~"
"Fourth card, total is 8. Whoa! This is getting dangerous!" Luna shouted.
"Aren't you worried, Yumeko? Sachiko might be in danger!"
Yumeko folded her hands on her lap and simply smiled.
Tch—what luck.
Miri looked at her hand:
[3-2-0]
Only option: play 0. Had Miyo played 3 earlier, the total would be 7, and Miri could've played 2 for a lethal strike on Sachiko. But alas, there's no "what if" in this world.
"0." Miri played her survival card. Now she, like Sachiko, was fully exposed.
It was like hot-potato with a bomb—one wrong move and it'd explode. But hoping your opponent has worse cards? That's already a sign of defeat.
"Yumeko, your calculation was perfect," Sachiko praised as she played 1.
Total value: 9.
"0." "0."
Miyo and Yumeko both played survival cards.
Now, it was Miri's turn again.
Her pupils shook.
"We... lost... Just like that... How...?"
"Your turn, Miri~ Got any 0s left?"