And so the list of rules had been expanded. I could easily understand why, though. After all, you could easily tell each other your cards if you came up with some kind of code. More importantly, however, the second rule — any team caught cheating will lose automatically — made it sound like you were allowed to cheat as long as you didn’t get caught.
“Alright then, shall we get started?” Setouchi called.
At this, Inaba’s lip curled in a tiny, almost imperceptible smirk.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I muttered to Enjouji. Would someone like Inaba Himeko really fight fair if her odds were merely 50-50?
“Yeah... We should be cautious, Chihiro-kun.”
And so the battle began.
“Ooh, it’s starting!”
“Finally!”
“Whoever wins this battle will get everyone’s flowers, so they’ll end up with... what, 40 or so?”
“Go for it, Uwa!”
“Enjouji-san!”
An audience had gathered in the classroom with us, many of them fellow second-years. From the looks of it, a lot of them were former competitors.
“If the second-years win this, it’ll be a real underdog story!”
“At this point, they’ve made it to the top ten!”
“Show them what the CRCIFIT is made of, you two!”
“Wait... Fujishima-san, I thought you said we were supposed to keep a low profile!”
Apparently Fujishima Maiko was among them... not that it mattered right now. I looked at my cards. Right off the bat, I had a three of a kind (sevens). And factoring in Enjouji’s cards, we could possibly end up with a full house or even a four of a kind.
As for Enjouji herself, she was looking down at her cards in bewilderment.
“Look, I know this is a lot, but quit looking around like that. They’ll think you’re cheating.”
“Since we’re going first, we’ll start things off with... this.” Shiroyama slid a stack of three chips over. This raised the bet to five chips total.
“Now it’s our turn. I figure we should call the bet. You’re cool with that, right?” I asked Enjouji. She nodded, so I slid three of our chips over.
“In that case, we’ll kick things up a notch,” said Inaba as she added five chips — two more than Shiroyama. “You don’t mind, right, Taichi? I should’ve asked sooner.”
“Nah, works for me,” he nodded.
Because all of our bets needed to match, the rest of us were now forced to either put in more chips or drop out entirely.
“Okay then... Let’s call it,” said Setouchi.
“Sure,” said Shiroyama.
They had chosen to continue with the hand.
“Then I guess we’d better call it, too.”
“A-Are you sure? Don’t you think Taichi-senpai and Inaba-senpai probably have a super good hand?”
“They don’t know each other’s cards, same as us,” I argued as I put in two more chips for a total of seven.
“You sure you don’t want to re-raise?” Inaba asked. But she wasn’t speaking as our affable senpai — she was treating us as the enemy, proof that she was taking this competition seriously.
“...Not on our first try, no.”
“Keep talking like that and you’ll never win, you know.”
I felt a twinge in my chest.
Then it was time to discard our cards, starting with Setouchi. When my turn came, I discarded two and drew two new ones: a king of clubs and a jack of hearts. I couldn’t immediately use them for anything, but they were both strong cards in their own right. Plus, I saw Enjouji discard a two of hearts and a five of spades, so in theory, it was possible she now had a king or jack in her own hand, too. Or maybe she had the fourth seven, which would give us a four of a kind.
“We’re going to check.” Evidently Setouchi/Shiroyama had no intention of raising.
And as for us...
“Do you think we should raise?”
“I... don’t know... I can’t really tell if what I have is good or bad...”
She made it sound like she had at least one set. In which case...
I bet two more chips.
“That’s it?” Inaba snorted.
“You raised by two last time!”
“Why are you so focused on me, hmm?”
“Wha...?” I started to argue back, but stopped. I couldn’t let myself get distracted.
Inaba seemed to be hassling us pretty aggressively... If anything, wouldn’t that suggest that she was overly focused on us?
“Okay then, our turn,” Inaba shrugged, and casually added twenty more chips—
“What?!”
“Huh?!”
“Oh my god!”
Two stacks of ten. The sight had us all agog. Even the crowd was murmuring. Their bet was now at 27.
“Th-This just turned into a huge bet all of a sudden...”
“She must have a really good hand...”
“You don’t mind, right, Taichi? Probably should’ve asked sooner.”
“Nah, works for me.”
Considering he didn’t know what cards she had, you’d think he would’ve been at least a little flustered, and yet he was perfectly calm.
“Your turn,” said Inaba as she gestured to Setouchi/Shiroyama.
“Wh-What do we do, Shiroyama-kun?”
“Uhhhh...”
They were still struggling to process what had happened.
“...I think it’s a little early to be betting that high. I know we’ve already put in seven, but...”
“Nah, you’re right. Let’s cut our losses and fold. We can always make it up later.”
And so they dropped out of the round. They would lose the seven chips they put into the pot, but Setouchi didn’t sound worried.
“Okay then. Chihiro, Shino, what about you?”
She had merely called our names, and yet it felt like she was crushing us. Was it their raw power that made me feel this way? Or just the pressure of a live audience? All eyes were on us, watching our every move. I could barely swallow.