"How did he do it...?" Roka asked, still baffled. Even if they tried to imagine how Shin pulled off the cheat, their minds came up blank.
Chitose took a deep breath to compose herself. "He memorized the sequence of the cards," she began.
"Sequence? What the hell is that? That's way too abstract!" Kenji protested.
"No, that's exactly the right word!" she snapped back. "The deck is arranged from 1 to K in suit order: spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds."
"If you split the deck in half, one part contains 1–K of spades and clubs, and the other part has 1–K of hearts and diamonds."
Everyone went silent, focusing on her explanation.
"Since Kazama's skilled at shuffling, when the two halves are merged, a pattern forms. That pattern creates a gap—one card from each half stacks together to make a new sequence."
"Even with Kazama's speed, small errors happen. Shin watches for those—when the cut isn't perfect, he notes the value of the misaligned card and mentally recalculates the deck's order."
"And he repeats this every single shuffle until the cards are dealt."
"On top of that, he has to keep an eye on us to make sure none of us reshuffles or interferes. One mistake could ruin his entire memorized order."
"..."
Speechless. Everyone was stunned.
It sounded simple in theory—but the application was utterly insane.
"So the reason why he never checks his cards..." Takao began, her eyes wide.
"Correct!" Chitose nodded. "He already knows what cards he has from the beginning!"
"THAT'S DISGUSTING!" Kenji shouted. "THE SKILL LEVEL! WHO DOES THAT IN A CASUAL PORN MAG GAME!?"
"And worst of all..." Chitose's eyes narrowed, glaring at Shin. "He used that dumb pervy card as a distraction—to make us think he was relying on luck when it was actually pure calculation."
"Plus, he's a psychological player too. Don't you get it? He declared 'all in' knowing full well that I had four-of-a-kind, and his own hand was zero. He did it precisely because he wouldn't lose anything!"
"..."
"...Shin-san," Roka whispered, utterly overwhelmed.
Sakura only smiled and stared at him with interest, her thoughts unreadable.
Kenji and Takao stared at Shin like they were looking at a demon in a school uniform.
"How can such a dirty player exist...? It's beyond dirty—it's evil-level strategy."
"Well, you got me," Shin said, raising his arms in surrender. "I set things up with a predetermined outcome—but I wasn't in full control. It was a gamble... and I just got lucky."
Then he looked at them. "Are you mad that I used such methods to win?"
"...No," Chitose responded first. Her voice was calm. "Actually, I wanted to ask—how are you feeling? Isn't that level of calculation exhausting?"
"..."
Shin paused, caught off guard. He didn't expect sympathy. He blushed slightly. "It's alright..."
"...?" It only lasted a second, but Roka, Sakura, and Chitose all caught the faint pink tinge on his cheeks.
"I never thought I'd see that kind of reaction from Shin-senpai~!" Sakura teased, grinning.
"Same here..." Roka added, looking at him like she'd just discovered a rare artifact.
Chitose, however, wore a different expression. "Your method is too extreme. Could you stop doing it? Roka will worry if you suddenly collapse."
"...Huh?" Roka, still floating in dreamland, was suddenly dragged back to reality. "Umm... what are you talking about...?"
She looked at Shin's face—still expressionless. And for some reason... That made her feel disappointed.
"If you can beat me," Shin said, raising the stakes, "then I'll stop using this method.
'This guy—does he take us for fools? Defeating him in the game when the outcome's already calculated… is like digging their own grave.'
"Don't take us for fools!" Chitose snapped.
"You're clearly fixing the match! Winner and loser—it's all decided by you!"
"Then let's make it fair," Shin offered calmly.
"You guys can set the game—with me as the only exception. If any of you win in a game of your choice, I'll stop using this method and grant one favor to the winner. Anything—so long as it's within human limitations."
"...Ho?" Chitose was caught off guard but quickly regained her composure. "And if you win?"
"Nothing much," Shin shrugged. "You just stop questioning my methods."
They glanced at each other, then gave a unified nod. "In that case—we accept!"
"I'd like to join too!" A new voice rang out. It was his older sister, Takao.
But the room fell silent.
"..."
"What? Do you have a problem!?" she snapped.
"Nope," Chitose smirked. "We're just curious—what would you ask him for if you win?"
"Uhm..." Takao fell into deep thought… but came up with nothing.
Shin, meanwhile, turned to Kenji. "Kenji, aren't you going to participate?"
Kazama sighed. "Nope. It's too damn tiring to compete with you weirdos," he said, pointing at the girls.
"Hmm... fair enough."
"Huh!? What did you say!?"
"Who are you calling weirdos!?"
"DO YOU WANT TO DIE!?"
As Shin endured a comedic beating, he whispered toward Kenji: "Still... you want to take over the school, right? You haven't given up your ambition. Even though you failed to conquer the 14 Orchestras of Evil… Here's your shot—defeat the final boss." He glanced at Roka.
Kenji went deep into thought... and finally clenched his fist. "VERY WELL! I ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE AND WILL CLAIM VICTORY!!"
Just then, the door burst open.
"I'LL JOIN TOO!" shouted Inada.
"Who invited you!?" Kenji snapped.
"Am I not allowed? Then why is our captain here?" she countered, pointing at Takao.
"..."
Shin nodded. "Sure. I'm curious too. So, Inada—what would you ask for?"
"Oh..." She pushed her glasses up. "If I win, I want you to do... that."
"THAT!?" Kenji and Takao screamed. "What the hell is that!?"
Shin kept a straight face. "I see. That, huh? It's within human limits—so I can do it."
"AGAIN, WHAT THE HELL IS 'THAT'?"
More students suddenly appeared outside the classroom.
"If you're talking about that, we're joining too!!"
Kenji stared out the window, horrified. "WHO THE HELL INVITED YOU ALL!?"
Chitose casually stepped beside him. "Those of you who want to join and win so you can do that—you're free to enter. Let's make this a bigger competition!"
"YEAH!!!" Everyone shouted in unison.
Then Chitose pulled out a lottery box… from God-knows-where. "This will decide our first competition!" she announced, drawing a slip.
She opened it and read aloud: "Today's game is—P.U.S.S.Y.!"
"...WHAT!?"
"IT'S SHORT FOR PUSHING YOUR OPPONENT!"
"So it begins, huh? Is this the will of the world?" Shin muttered, observing the participants gathered in the arena.
The match hadn't even started, yet some were already sizing up their opponents. They were eager to win, despite having no idea what the actual prize was—they simply wanted to compete.
He recognized most of them: familiar faces from both manga and anime. But what stood out the most were the remnants of the 14 Orchestra of Evil. They had a deadly encounter recently—his memory of it was still fresh. These participants were the ones who hadn't ended up hospitalized.
"Are they here for revenge?"
He couldn't tell for sure. Still, he had already decided—he would eliminate them the moment the game began. His targets weren't limited to them, though.
From a distance, he spotted a robot standing motionless. Some people were visibly intimidated by its presence.
But Shin knew the truth. It only looked strong. Inside and out, it was weak.
"Barfy, huh..."
It's the person residing inside the robot, maneuvering it like a Gundam.
She had pink hair, styled in a single bun tied to the left side. A few strands framed her face. Her eyes were a beautiful brown, and her small, dark eyebrows matched her hair color and complemented her light skin tone.
"If Shinsen was sent here, then Sakai-senpai must be watching nearby too."
He muttered to himself and subconsciously glanced toward the third-year classroom. From this distance, he could barely make out several silhouettes behind a thin glass window. But even in shadow, he could recognize the long twintails.
"...That's Tama Sakai..."
He narrowed his eyes slightly—a subtle shift in his usually indifferent expression.
"Well, it's not surprising. She's always at odds with Chitose... she's probably here to sabotage them."
Meanwhile, in the third-year building...
"That guy... he's looking in our direction."
The speaker was none other than Tama-chan, the former student council president.
She had silver hair styled into twintails, secured with dark ribbons. Her bangs were swept to the sides, framing her face and matching her lavender eyes. She wore a dark gray sweater over a white blouse, its collar exposed and tied with a purple bow.
At first glance, her closed-mouth smile gave off a gentle, kind-hearted aura. She always wore a pleasant expression. But in truth, she was more of a brute than Chitose. In the anime, she knocked Kenji out without much effort—proof of her exceptional judo skills.
Standing to her right was a girl with blue-green hair that curled slightly inward at the ends, also framing her face. Her bangs were cut straight across her forehead. She had a mildly unimpressed expression, her mouth slightly downturned and her eyebrows subtly furrowed. Her eyes were a reddish-brown.
Like Tama-chan, she wore a white short-sleeved collared shirt. Her arms were crossed, reinforcing her serious demeanor. But what truly stood out was the tessen fan in her hands.
"...Yes. He's quite a well-known individual," she said calmly. "In the past, he's caused plenty of trouble. He's also the reason this game even started."
Clank!
The fan in her hand snapped shut with a clean metallic click.
"Then he's a perfect target... Let's just wait until the game is over."