Today was quite special. Fuju Academy didn't have many classes. Once a week, the school tolerates a kind of freedom, letting students focus on club activities and other stuff. In a way, it functions like a weekend, except they're still in school.
Three people had their heads down on the table and looked deflated—like balloons after a party. It's like witnessing the children of Minami-sensei, sulking after a scolding. Though it looked like they were just slacking off, they were mentally reeling from their recent losses.
Shin observes them for a while, resting his creamy cheek on his palm. 'If this keeps up, they might end up depressed.'
"Are you guys still not convinced?" he asked.
They just glared at him and kept their heads down. They decided to challenge him... As for the outcome?
Shin didn't cheat, of course—but he still won by a wide margin. Chitose protested again, even after clearing his name. So they swapped cards. Shin used her, Mr. Kids, and still ended up winning, though just barely.
Ironically, when she used Pervy, her luck tanked. She kept rolling tiles with the lowest amount of porn mags, and it continued that way until the game ended. Compared to Mr. Kids, her total gains didn't even reach a quarter. That upset her even more—it meant what he said earlier was right.
To appease them, Shin proposed a rematch. "How about another game, using all our total porn mags as stakes?" he offered.
Their dead-fish eyes suddenly came to life. They eagerly leaned in.
"What kind of game? Rock-paper-scissors? Anything's fine, as long as that pervy card isn't involved!" Chitose demanded.
"Sure, sure…" he said with a sigh. "Ever heard of the Bet Game? Shin asked, stretching his point finger.
"Bet Game?" Sakura echoed.
"No, what is that?" Roka asked, curious.
"Well… the Bet Game is kinda like poker," he explained. "However, each player gets five cards. The player with the highest combination wins. There's no middle pot—just straight duels."
"That simple? What about the betting part?" Chitose narrowed her eyes.
"As for the bet—starting from the first player up to the banker—we each choose whether to bet a 'chunk' or go 'all in.' Participants can also fold if they wish."
"Each player must start with a minimum of 50 porn mags. The first player can bet everything or a chunk, which is at least double the starting bet. The same rule applies for the others until it reaches the banker. If a player wins, they only take back what they bet. The rest rolls into the next round's pool."
"So, let's say I'm first and the total is 1000. I bet 100, and I win. I only take 100, and the remaining 900 becomes the next prize pool?"
"Exactly."
Sakura gave him a quiet, meaningful glance. Roka was still processing the rules. Chitose, as expected, was looking for loopholes—probably hoping to spot something exploitable.
"So if the first two fold, and only the third and banker remain, that's fine. But if only the first player and banker are left… wouldn't the banker have the advantage, since the first player only bets a small amount?"
"Good catch," he nodded. "In that case, that's likely a one-on-one duel with a banker. The banker will always be the last to bet."
"However, if no one challenges the banker or only a single player remains, either of the two takes the entire bet without revealing their cards. Also, there's a special rule: if you don't have anything, not even a pair, you can take back the bet."
"I see… So in other words, our real enemy isn't each other—it's you," Chitose declared.
"Correct. But if you want to collect more porn mags, you'll have to fight among yourselves first."
They exchanged glances, silently agreeing. He could feel their gaze sharpening—all of them wanted to take him down. Shincan can only sigh. 'Too bad. I wouldn't have proposed this game if I wasn't confident I could win.'
To clarify things further, he listed the card rankings, from highest to lowest:
Card Rankings:
1. Royal Straight Flush – Highest: Diamond A, K, Q, J, 10; Lowest: Spade A, K, Q, J, 10
2. Straight Flush—Highest: A, 2, 3, 4, 5; Lowest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
3. Four of a Kind (Quadra) – Highest: A,A,A,A,K; Lowest: 2,2,2,2,3
4. Full House – Highest: A, A, A, K, K; Lowest: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3
5. Flush—Highest: All Diamonds; Lowest: All Spades
6. Straight – Highest: A, 2, 3, 4, 5; Lowest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
7. Three of a Kind—Highest: A, A, A; Lowest: 2, 2, 2
8. Two Pair—Highest: A,A + K,K; Lowest: 2,2 + 3,3
9. Pair—Highest: A, A; Lowest: 2, 2
Note: In this version, the ace is always the highest card. If two players have the same hand, the tie-breaker goes to the highest individual card. If still tied, suits are ranked: Spade < Clover < Heart < Diamond.
"So… are you guys ready to fight?" he asked, poking at their pride.
"YES!" they shouted in unison.
"This time, to prevent cheating, I'll let Kenji shuffle and deal the cards. You can all watch me the whole time."
"Okay!" they agreed immediately. After all, why reject a supposed advantage? But… was that really an advantage?
Current Porn Mag Count:
* Me: 12,000
* Roka: 8,000
* Sakura: 7,900
* Chitose: 300
"Since Chitose's total was so low, I decided to be generous. I'll give you 3,000 mags for free. Otherwise, you can't even join."
"...Fine. Thanks..."
They had an extra fresh deck ready. Kenji split it and started shuffling. Meanwhile, Shin kept a sharp eye on every movement—this was his only path to victory.
The base deck order was Spade, Clover, Heart, and Diamond—[A, 1, 2, ..., K].
Kenji's shuffle was flawless, overlapping cards in a perfect interweave. That's expected—he learned from a professional, which is him.
After the first shuffle, the sequence became: First half: [As, Ah, 1s, 1h, 2s, 2h, ..., Ks, Kh]
Second half: [Ac, Ad, 1c, 1d, 2c, 2d, ..., Kc, Kd]
Kenji kept cutting and shuffling.
Watching over was mentally exhausting, but Shin kept track of every card using his photographic memory. Eventually, Kenji began dealing—starting with Chitose, then Sakura, Roka, and finally Shin.
Even without looking at their cards, he could guess what everyone had. He didn't lift a single card—since he had to make sure the deck order was unchanged.
'If I can still keep up, this plan would work, but if not, I have to take a different measure.'
"Let's begin," Shin said, after sorting his thoughts. Everyone set 50 mags down as the starting bet. "So how much are you going to bet?" he asked Chitose, giving her a provoking smirk.
"Hmm..." She felt annoyed with his smug attitude but still kept on observing him like a hawk eyeing its prey. She found it odd, since he hadn't even touched his cards from the start. "Aren't you going to check your hand?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Hmm…" Shin tilted his head. "...No need."
"...Huh?" she blinked, dumbfounded.
"My lucky card, Pervy, says my hand is strong enough to beat all of you."
He gestured at the Pervy card lying nearby like it was some holy relic. Shin was using it as a psychological tool, and it worked. Somehow, it became a lucky charm—so he only kept it close for theatrics.
"Hmph!" she scoffed. "We'll see about that!"
"I'll bet 100 porn mags," Chitose said, sliding her chips forward.
"In that case, I'll bet 100 too..." Sakura added.
"Me too..." Roka chimed in, waving her tiny hand.
"Aren't you guys just going with the flow!?" Here comes his usual Tsukkomi.
"In that case, I fold." Without hesitation, Shin backed down—leaving them stunned.
"..."
"You can do that!?" Kenji cried out.
"Of course, they planned to team up against me," he said with an indifferent expression. "So I have to give them a little trouble. Even if I keep folding, I only lose 50 per round… and I have 9,000 porn mags; I could last 180 rounds until I ran out of chips," he continued. "I also could just procrastinate until the bell rings..."
"Damn, that's way too dirty!!" Kenji shouted.
"Hey, hey—whose side are you even on!?" Takao asked, annoyed.
"No one, of course!" Kenji fired back.
The trio hadn't expected his sudden retreat, but the banker folding wasn't against any rule. It simply means giving them the battlefield.
Chitose bit her thumb, trying to think of a counter.
"Senpai got us, huh? Hahaha…" Sakura just laughed it off.
"Chitose, what should we do?" Roka, on the other hand, wavers. Are they really going to fight among themselves? Originally they wanted to drag this fight into three against one, but now things turn upside down.
"Wait a second... If he keeps backing down, we can still distribute the winnings among ourselves. Sure, draining him will take a while, but we won't lose. As long as Shin runs out, we win!" Chitose exclaimed.
"Oh, that's right!" Roka gasped. "It doesn't matter who wins each round—as long as one of us does, we can eliminate him eventually."
Roka and Sakura folded, letting Chitose win the pot by default.
'As expected of Chitose—your counter to my counter is pretty sharp,' Shin said inwardly, nodding in respect.
Chitose shrugged and smiled. "So, what are you going to do now? It's a long route, but it guarantees victory. If you keep on folding and folding, we could suck you dry. Besides, time's on our side."
He didn't answer her. And just kept watching Kenji shuffle the cards again.
The next round began. Everyone placed the starting bet again—150 porn mags per person. However, this time, none of them even bother to check their cards.
"Truly fascinating…" Shin whispered. "However, that strategy of yours, Chitose... Watch me destroy it completely—ALL IN!" He declared, pushing in 500 mags.
"What!?" They flinched, caught off guard. Panic set in. All three flipped their cards. Their expressions soured as if they'd just swallowed raw wasabi. They certainly didn't expect that he would fight back.
"Heh..." Shin let out a soft chuckle, feeling amused. "Well? Are you guys prepared to show your cards?"
Chitose gritted her teeth. And one by one they turn over their cards. Starting with Chitose, she had the lowest pair.
Meanwhile, Sakura also had a pair.
Roka held a pair of queens—it's a good card, but not a strong contender.
When it's his turn, Shin casually turns over his cards, which he didn't even check earlier.
"A pair of aces!?" That's the highest among pairs, and he got a strong kicker, the king of diamonds.
"Looks like I win?" he muttered, slowly dragging the chips.
The third round begins; everyone places the starting bet. "Well, the easiest way to defeat me is to go all in," he said. They gape at him, extremely astonished by the sudden revelation.
Chitose, as usual the strategist, sorted things out. "The highest starting bid is 200; if I go all out, it would be raised to 400, then Sakura can also go all in, increasing it to 800, and with the addition of Roka, the bet is now 1,600. If that happens, the banker could either take all in or chunk. No matter how you see it, we are only at a disadvantage, since you could just fold!" she exclaimed.
"What the hell, isn't that just digging your own grave!?" Kenji shouted.
"We were almost fooled by Shin-san!" Roka was flabbergasted; she didn't expect he would resort to such a tactic.
Shin only glanced at them, keeping his expression indifferent. "Don't worry. This round, I'm going all in," he said calmly. "If I go back on my word, then I'll quit this club and join my sister's instead!"
"How is that an oath!? You're clearly biased!!" Kenji retorted.