Meari smiled and subconsciously reached out her right hand to rub the Luck Rabbit Foot around her neck.
Ririka also noticed the white pendant on her chest and curiously asked, "What is that?"
"This is a gift from my friend!" Meari said cheerfully.
"Is it a boyfriend?" Ririka asked deliberately.
"No, it's just a very good friend. We haven't reached that stage yet!" Meari quickly explained.
Not yet... does that mean they might become that kind of relationship in the future?
The person who gave her the gift must be Ayanokoji Kiyotaka... Ririka realized this from Meari's shy yet joyful expression.
Ririka didn't envy Meari receiving a gift from Ayanokoji at all; her own drawer at home was full of gifts Ayanokoji had given her.
However, Ririka was indeed a little depressed.
Since she was young, when other boys thought that being with girls would make them lose their masculinity and deliberately stayed away from girls, Kiyotaka, on the contrary, loved to play with girls and often generously gave them gifts to make them happy.
She didn't expect that even after losing his memory, he would still be like this, surrounded by girls. His personality seemed to have not changed at all...
Seeing Ririka lost in thought, Meari thought she was feeling discouraged by her first-round loss, and kindly comforted her, "Anna, don't be disheartened. I had the advantage because I got the rabbit. You will definitely get the rabbit in the next round too."
Meari didn't think her victory in this game had much to do with her own operations; she purely won this round due to "hero" counter-picking.
Throughout the game, Ririka lost without making any significant mistakes. Although operation was important, in this game, hero selection was clearly more important.
Meari looked up at the smiling staff and grumbled inwardly.
This game is too unbalanced; it's completely about luck...
Of course, she only thought this to herself; she wouldn't take advantage and then act humble.
"I'm fine, let's continue." Ririka smiled slightly, seemingly unconcerned about the first-round loss.
In the second round, as if Meari's words had "come true," when the coin was tossed, Ririka really got the [rabbit].
Meari didn't expect her words to come true and was stunned for a while.
She was annoyed but could only control the three hounds to pounce on the rabbit—
"Second round, the winner is Anna Kinomiya." The staff announced.
The result was not much different from the previous round. Although Meari also had the hounds surround the rabbit, preventing it from escaping the board, at the same time, she couldn't find an opportunity to capture the rabbit.
Ririka controlled the rabbit to nimbly dodge and jump, just like Meari in the first round, always keeping the hounds one step behind the rabbit.
Finally, the thirty rounds ran out, and the rabbit won.
In this round, Meari became even more convinced that the outcome of this game depended on drawing the identity. As long as she got the [rabbit], she could win the entire match.
"Please, bring me luck, let me draw the rabbit..." Meari murmured in her heart, touching the Luck Rabbit Foot.
This time, the rabbit's foot still brought her luck, and Meari drew the rabbit again.
The moment the result came out, Meari's happiness was evident; it was as if she had already won this game.
She didn't care about anything when rolling the dice to choose the starting position, casually throwing the dice—her starting position was the rabbit's home.
In Meari's opinion, the starting position didn't affect anything. Anna's starting position in the previous round was the rabbit's nest, but she still won, and she would definitely win this round too!
While Meari was full of confidence, Ririka saw that the rabbit's starting position was in its nest, and her heart also settled.
"Meari, I'm sorry, but I'll take the victory in this match..."
Ririka apologized to herself silently, then made her central hound move forward, with Meari pressing on, looking like she was going to grab the middle lane.
But because the hounds had the first move, the rabbit could never grab the middle lane no matter what.
After Ririka once again controlled the central hound to press forward, Meari settled for the next best option and moved to the lower lane.
At this point, Ririka, uncharacteristically, didn't move the lower hound, but instead moved the upper hound, bringing it to the upper lane.
At this moment, although Meari didn't know what Ririka was trying to do, she still cautiously retreated to her home.
Ririka then made another move that Meari couldn't understand: she actually had the hound occupying the middle lane move to the lower lane, giving up the middle lane position.
Although she didn't quite understand Ririka's actions, Meari knew that taking a step forward at this time was absolutely correct. She controlled the rabbit to move to the central first tower, covetously looking at the middle lane in front of her.
Of course, Ririka couldn't let Meari do that. She recalled her upper hound to guard the middle lane.
Meari, on the other hand, leaped upward, arriving at the upper lane.
Ririka's expression remained unchanged. She controlled her hound at the lower second tower to move to the central second tower. Even if the rabbit moved one step further, it could still block the rabbit's path.
And Meari didn't try any further, jumping back to the middle lane.
Ririka once again controlled the hound at the central second tower, moving it to the upper path. Meari, in turn, repeatedly jumped back and forth, again arriving at the upper path.
Of course, Meari didn't think Ririka would let her pass easily, nor did she think she could escape from the encirclement of three hounds. She was just trying to run down the turns, exactly as she had done before.
However, she suddenly noticed something was off. This turn seemed a little different from before...
She saw Ririka once again control the upper hound to move one step forward, and Meari's rabbit now had only two paths it could take: one was to return to the middle lane, and the other was to return to its home.
At this moment, the hound placed at the lower second tower became a thorn in her side; once she moved down, that hound could tightly latch onto her.
She now had only one path she could take, and that was to return to her home.
However, Meari wasn't overly worried. If the upper hound continued to advance, seemingly surrounding her, then as long as she jumped forward, it would be Ririka's turn in the next round.
Hounds can only move forward, not backward, and one hound must be controlled each turn.
She would definitely create an opening for herself.
As Meari thought this, she inadvertently glanced at the hound in the exact center of the board, and her expression instantly changed.
Wait, she seemed to have forgotten something. She was still one step away from the middle lane. If the opponent gave up the middle lane and used the hound in the middle to fill the gap in the upper lane, she seemed to be finished...
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