Monday morning.
I headed to school half awake, hardly having slept─which made the events of the night before feel a bit dreamlike.
And in fact, they already belonged to a dream world.
That previous night was the last time the Reasonable Doubt Casino would ever open its doors─as Sotoin had announced after putting an end to Fudatsuki’s lucky streak and brilliantly seizing the right to run his casino.
“My friends, the fun and games are over. Please exit beautifully,” he pronounced from the epicenter of enemy territory, having claimed victory in what you might call the ultimate away game. Personally, I was shivering at the possibility that either the audience or staff might riot, but everyone took his (her) announcement that the venue was closing with surprising calm.
I guess they knew it was coming.
The defeat of the charismatic maestro equaled the end of everything─and indeed it was so.
Even as a first-time guest, I could tell at a glance that no one would be able to fill his shoes.
Or maybe they were just impressed by how Sotoin won.
In my rage, I signaled the suit and value of every card I saw to him, but he didn’t use that information to torture his opponent.
Instead, he quickly and cleanly brought the game to a close.
I doubt he possessed the subtlety to manipulate the flow of the game and get the audience riled up in the first place, but one thing I can say is that Sotoin didn’t humiliate the student council president of Kamikazari Middle School─and while I’m sure Fudatsuki’s pride was hurt all the same, the wound was as slight as it could have been.
Was that part of Sotoin’s aesthetic as well?
If so, then his generosity of spirit was immeasurably greater than my own, considering I’d abandoned myself completely to anger─but in any case, we managed to escape that “nest of vipers,” as the delinquent had called it, without any casualties (on the way home, Mr. Bare-Legs did violently tear off the pants that the child genius had sewn for him, but that’s another story).
For the record, the delinquent─who had demonstrated his trust in the leader by betting every yen on him that he’d taken out of an ATM on the way there─managed to win back everything he’d lost on our first visit and somehow come out even, which may be another sign of the leader’s skill in watching out for his subordinates.
Anyway─the next morning.
Monday.
I shook off my sleepiness, slipped out of my bunny suit and into my boy’s uniform, and headed to school─with my glasses on, of course.
By that point I was completely confused as to what I ought to be wearing, but at the very least, I knew my glasses were indispensable if I wanted every day to be everyday.
Since I’d used my eyes a bit too much the night before, the spot behind them was aching, but it wouldn’t last long─and anyway, my head probably hurt more.
Because even though we’d shut down the Reasonable Doubt Casino more or less according to plan, it wasn’t like everything was neatly resolved.
We’d prevented Fudatsuki from invading Yubiwa Academy’s territory or hooking our student body on the poisonous delights of gambling─but his economic activities were by no means limited to the casino.
We’d also succeeded in ending his tests, and now that word was out about a person with eyesight like mine, the company might have to start over from scratch in developing their invisibility suit─or their invisibility technology in general.
But we hadn’t severed the ties between Kamikazari Middle School and the Twenties─which meant the root of the problem still remained.
Both as student council president of Yubiwa Academy and vice president of the Pretty Boy Detective Club, Sakiguchi would no doubt continue to harbor a level of anxiety about this issue that equaled my anxiety about the age of his fiancée.
“Don’t look so down, Nagahiro. There’s more to see from that swindler. I’m certain another splendid showdown lies in store for us.”
The all-important club president was as light-hearted as always─but by “more to see,” did he mean Fudatsuki had beautiful aspects?
That scam artist?
Well… Regardless of what else there may or may not have been to see, now that he mentioned it, and now that the case was over, I realized Fudatsuki wasn’t driven simply by business and horse-trading and product tests after all.
I’d been so pissed off the other day that I hadn’t noticed─but he did have his own sort of line in the sand.
Perhaps it was only visible to him─perhaps the truth was that not Sotoin and not even I could see it─but looking back on recent events with a cool head, it seemed to me that while we’d implemented practically the only strategy available to us, Fudatsuki’d had plenty of options on the table.
And targeting my knowledge─or rather, lack thereof─was probably one of the riskier ones.
It was perfectly likely that I would go ahead and use my own dirty trick whether or not I realized he was using his invisible card scam.
He could instead have taken a firm stand and refused to bring Sotoin up on stage no matter how much he won, or he could have kicked the fake bunny girl (me) out of the casino.
And those were just the ones I came up with off the top of my head.
Instead, he chose a challenge and incited an incident.
Yes, I do believe this affair was the product of a playful spirit after all.
But if Fudatsuki got involved with the Twenties and even tangled with a private military contractor for the sake of amusement, then far from being reassured, I felt the situation was dicier than ever… For now, however, there was nothing more I could do.
Well, there was one thing─I might as well start by learning the rules of blackjack.