"Certainly. Win or lose, it's still in my favor," Shin replied calmly. "In that case, I'll put my lucky charm—Pervy—on the line."
"NOBODY WANTS YOUR PERVY, MAN!!" Kenji cried out.
"Well, that's true."
"..."
Chitose sighed and shook her head. "We believe you won't go back on your word. Just deal the cards."
"YOU TRUSTED HIM THAT EASILY!?"
Kenji still followed her command, grumbling as he dealt. Once done, Chitose reluctantly checked her cards. Her eyes widened in disbelief—but only for a moment. She quickly suppressed the tremble in her fingers, barely hiding a smile.
Inside, though, she was ecstatic.
'It's over for you, Shin! '
"I'm going all in," she declared confidently.
'He's going all in too—my victory is guaranteed. Even if I win just 200 porn mags, the pot's at 3,200. He is bound to lose; all we have to do is increase the pot in the next round and force him to fold.'
Following their strategy, Sakura and Roka also pushed their chips in. Judging from their confident expressions, all three girls were sure they held the winning hands.
But so was he.
"All in," Shin said plainly, pushing his chips forward.
Chitose smirked.
"Heh. Your time's up!" she declared, flipping her cards.
"A-All fours!?" Takao gasped.
"Certainly, you didn't hold back—going all out with full fours," Shin said, staring at the cards.
"What the hell is that awful pun!?" Kenji snapped.
Roka and Sakura were visibly shocked. None of them expected Chitose to pull such a strong hand. With that, victory seemed firmly on their side. And Shin? He was about to lose 1,600 porn mags.
Next was Sakura's turn. The air tensed with anticipation... but her cards were underwhelming.
"What the hell—A pair of eights!?" Kenji choked.
"Haha... I guess I'm too unlucky," Sakura laughed it off, unbothered.
Then came Roka. She flipped her cards: two pairs—a king and a queen. A strong hand, but not enough to surpass Chitose.
'For some unknown reason, she keeps drawing Queens…'
All eyes turned to Shin.
This time, Chitose didn't even bother hiding her excitement.
"Hah! What's wrong? Nervous now?"
She tried to rattle him, but Shin remained indifferent. He simply clasped his hands together, leaned forward on the table, and lowered his voice—acting like Sasuke.
"THIS GUY IS AURA FARMING!!" Kenji yelled.
But everyone ignored him. Their focus was now on Shin's unrevealed cards.
A heavy silence filled the room, the kind that made it feel like the fate of the world was being decided by high schoolers playing a card game.
...That's way too exaggerated.
Finally, Shin spoke. "Quadra..." he mumbled. "That's certainly a very strong hand."
No one replied, but the girls' morale spiked.
'Is he going to fold? 'They wouldn't admit it, but they were curious how he'd try to survive this.
Shin slowly raised three fingers. "Only three hands can beat that."
Everyone instinctively swallowed.
"There's the higher quadra... a straight flush... and lastly—" He looked down at his Pervy card, almost as if they were communicating. "—the Royal Flush."
A shiver ran down their spines.
'Is Chitose going to lose? 'Roka glanced at her, but Chitose's confident demeanor didn't falter. 'No. She still looks calm. She wouldn't bluff here. She has this.'
"The chances of getting a royal flush are slim," Shin continued, his gaze locking onto Chitose. "But not zero."
'Damn,' Chitose clicked her tongue internally but didn't let it show. 'He's bluffing. He has to be. Right? ' she asked herself, biting her thumb. She reviewed the cards again, counting and cross-checking possibilities.
Eventually, she calmed herself.
"Yes, but getting that is very unlikely!" she declared.
"Oh? How can you be so sure?" Shin asked.
"Because a royal flush needs a king—and three are already on the board. The only missing one is the king of diamonds. But the queen of diamonds is with Roka, paired with the queen of spades. No matter how you twist it, getting a royal flush is impossible!"
The others nodded in relief. Even Kenji exhaled.
"That's true," Shin said. "But... what if there's a miracle?"
"A miracle?"
"Yes. What if there's... two Queens?"
Slam! —"Impossible! That'd be cheating!" Chitose snapped.
"But you've been watching my hands the whole time. Did you ever see me touch my cards?"
"..."
"According to legend..." he raised his voice, suddenly dramatic, "Miracles happen when you pray and believe. As long as your heart is strong—nothing is impossible!"
"You sound like a blue-haired archpriest who scams people!"
"...Well, seeing is believing," Shin said, placing his hand over the cards. "Now behold the miracle! Witness it with your own eyes and remember this moment—the royal straight flush!"
He flipped the cards.
A blinding light erupted from the table. A shrill ringing flooded their ears, like a flashbang exploding in slow motion.
"DAMN—IT'S TOO BRIGHT!!!"
The light lingered… then faded.
They stared at the cards. Their mouths twitched. Looking at his cards
[As, Kd, 2h, Js, 6c]
"...The hell is this 'Royal Flush'?" Kenji muttered.
"THERE'S NOT EVEN A FLUSH! LET ALONE A STRAIGHT!!"
"YOUR HAND IS BASICALLY NOTHING!!!"
"WE REALLY THOUGHT YOU PULLED A MIRACLE!!!"
Three consecutive tsukkomi exploded across the table.
Shin sighed. "As if that were possible. I'm not some god of gamblers or anything. How could I do such a thing?"
"..."
"...Wait a minute. What's going to happen now?" Roka asked, trying to relieve her confusion. "Since Shin doesn't even have a pair… we still win, right?"
"Nope." Chitose shook her head. "Even though I won the round, I can't take his 1,600 bet—because the value of his hand is zero. There's no competition. It's part of the special rule: if you compete with a zero hand, you don't lose what you bet."
"SUCH A RIDICULOUS RULE EXISTS!? WHY IS THAT ALLOWED!?" Kenji shouted.
Shin calmly shut him down with pure logic.
"Bluffing is allowed in poker, even in high-stakes tournaments where millions are on the line. And no one complains—because it's part of the game."
"And what we're doing is just a casual game. It's not that they can't bluff—it's that they didn't. If anything, they could've scared me off with the lowest pair. But they didn't. Why? Who knows. But in the end, the winner isn't just the one with the better cards—it's the one who plays better."
"..."
Despite their loss, Chitose still managed to secure 200 porn mags, leaving the pot with 1,200 remaining.
"Let's begin the next round," Shin said without a hint of concern—whether he won or lost. That alone added more fuel to the fire.
Chitose, on the other hand, was quietly seething. She hadn't expected things to spiral out of control like this. 'Damn. Just when I was certain of victory, he pulled something completely unexpected' she thought, biting her thumb.
'More importantly... How does he know the value of his cards without ever touching them? 'From the very start, Chitose had her suspicions. 'He's definitely doing something. But I couldn't figure out what.'
Replaying the events in her mind, she searched for a clue. 'He never touched his cards. What else...? He kept a close eye on Kazama's shuffle…'
'Shuffling?'
She narrowed her eyes. Shin had watched every shuffle intently—but not just casually. He had been focused. Far too focused.
Chitose turned her gaze to him. As expected, he wasn't paying attention to anything around him. His full concentration was locked onto Kenji's hands as he shuffled again.
'That was impressive, sure… but not enough to justify that level of attention.'
'Unless... unless he was trying to remember—her eyes widened.'
'Don't tell me... He memorized the entire deck? From the beginning? 'The realization sent a chill down her spine.
His gaze wasn't admiration—it was calculation. He wasn't impressed by Kenji's shuffle speed—he was tracking the cards.
'He's memorizing the order. Even with Kenji shuffling fast, he's keeping up.' It should've filled her with outrage. Instead, she felt something entirely different:
Admiration and disbelief.
Technically, it wasn't even cheating. He wasn't marking cards or switching them. He was just using skill—pure mental ability.
'How insane is that...? Even I couldn't pull it off! '
'Still... I can't just let him keep doing this. If he keeps it up, he might collapse from mental fatigue.' She could already see the signs—his body tensing slightly, fingers twitching from the strain. And they weren't even halfway through the game.
"Wait a minute, Kazama!" she suddenly called out, her voice loud and commanding.
Kenji froze mid-shuffle. Everyone turned toward her.
"What do you want now? Can't you see I'm working here?" he grumbled.
"Give me the cards," she demanded.
Kenji blinked, caught off guard. But before he could complain, someone else spoke.
"Oh?" Shin smiled knowingly. "Looks like you figured it out. As expected of the top student and student council president. You truly live up to your reputation." He even gave her a light round of applause.
"...?"
"What's going on...?" Takao mumbled.
While the two of them shared a silent understanding, the rest were left completely in the dark.
Roka was the first to voice it. "Chitose, what's happening?"
Chitose let out a deep sigh, but it felt good—like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt oddly at peace.
"Not much," she said calmly. "I just figured out how he's cheating."
"...Cheating?" Roka echoed, surprised.
"YOU FIGURED IT OUT!?" Kenji also shouted.
"Well—technically, it's not even cheating..." Chitose admitted, her gaze fixed on Shin.