"Hmm..."
He only has 12 chips left, and he's going all in?
'Not that I mind.'
I tilted my head slightly and spoke.
"You could take it slow."
"Ah, we've been at this a while."
"Yeah, man! Why the check when you know? Let's just finish this since we're all in!"
The Public Administration guys pounded the table.
The Magic Department student laughed and explained.
"No, the max for the first bet is 2 chips! He's going to call anyway, so what's the difference between me checking or adding 4 more chips to the pot? And remember, you guys checked first too~?"
So he went all in now.
Going all in is allowed, but otherwise, you can only bet 2 chips on the first bet. That was the rule I read.
If it had been his second turn, he could have raised my bet by 10 chips, but it's his first turn. The structure forces him to bet only 2.
I wouldn't raise without chips, so the pot for one round would be a mere 4 chips.
That's what happened in round 3.
So he just went all in.
'He must really want to finish this quickly.'
If this happens, unless I fold, he'll end up with a total of 122 chips.
"So, what will you do? Fold?"
"No."
I pushed the chips in front of me.
"I'll see it through."
For a moment, I saw his eyes waver.
Then he raised one corner of his mouth in a smile and turned his head away.
* * *
"I'll see it through."
Lucas Ascagnien pushed all his remaining chips into the center of the table.
'Strange.'
He's acting this calm even when he's obviously going to lose?
Well, he has been like that all along. It's not strange now.
I looked at his face and asked.
"You must be pretty tired too. It has been a while, hasn't it?"
"Maybe."
"..."
Not very friendly.
I shrugged my shoulders and smiled.
"Let's reveal the cards."
At the dealer's words, I spread my cards.
J, K, J, 8, J, 3, 6.
The suits didn't meaningfully overlap, but with three Js, it was a triple.
The dealer looked at my cards and said.
"Triple Js."
Ascagnien had one J, so four of a kind was impossible.
I was actually hoping for a 3-2 combination, a full house of triple and a pair, wanting to aim higher...
'Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But at least I got a triple, so that's good.'
I rested my chin on my hand and watched Ascagnien flip his cards.
'Q, 2, J... and another Q.'
So there was another Q in the hidden cards.
He had a pair of Qs after all.
Now I see why he came out confidently.
A pair of Qs is valued higher than my visible pair of Js.
'Simple.'
The type who doesn't even consider what might be in the opponent's hidden cards.
Of course, having seen the same behavior over dozens of previous rounds, it wasn't surprising.
Pair of Qs or whatever, this is still a triple here.
"Ah!"
While I was thinking otherwise, one friend shot up from his seat.
"It's a two pair with Q and 2? No! Wait, ah, damn...!"
Even if he got two pair, I have a triple, so what...
The moment I took my hand off my chin to look at his hand, the dealer spoke.
"Full house, Qs and 2s."
"...!"
He got the full house?
In my fluster, I leaned on the table and stood up. The chips I had pushed over toppled from the impact.
Clatter—
'Then my chips...!'
The 35 chips in the pot and the 75 chips I had left, all 110 chips, went to Ascagnien.
One friend thumped my back.
"Hey, you...! Why did you go all in?!"
"You should've just raised in the fourth round and cleaned him out...!"
Ascagnien, still with that blank expression, sat with his arms crossed, looking down at his cards, then smiled and raised his head.
"So my chips become 122."
"..."
"Correct."
While everyone was too stunned to answer, the dealer student nodded. Then, to wrap up the game, he gave the final announcement.
"The final winner is Lucas Ascagnien. We have our first poker champion of the morning!"
Bang—!
He shouted loudly towards the first floor below the stairs and pulled a paper firecracker from his pocket, setting it off. Ascagnien, who probably hadn't expected this far, now looked at the student with a bewildered expression.
"Don't worry. We'll clean up."
"...Ah, yes... Please do."
"How do you feel? We'll put your name up now."
"How do I feel... I was a bit surprised everyone had more tenacity than I thought..."
Tenacity?
I frowned slightly at this absurd situation.
Only then did something flash through my mind.
Could it be...
'Was he waiting for us to get tired all this time?'
We might be overestimating him, but if his raises with weak hands, his immediate raises after consecutive folds, and his calls against my aggressive raises were all to shatter our vigilance...
Now I understand why he kept making such desperate moves each time.
That must have been his strategy to survive thinly and for the long haul until the very end.
'Doing that could also make his moves unpredictable when luck finally came.'
If you wait long enough, luck eventually comes. And that time was now.
I could only laugh.
I wondered why he kept doing this, but no, I thought it was because his brain wasn't working...
Ascagnien rested his chin on his hand, pondered, then smiled not at the dealer but at us.
"Thanks for the fun game, seniors."
"...Huh."
His name shimmered with magic on the first floor visible below the stairs.
Ascagnien gave a nod with his eyes, got up from his seat, and walked past us.
* * *
"Ya~ I knew he'd win!"
"What do you mean you knew? You were biting your nails the whole time beside me."
Behind me, Elias and Leo were lightly bickering.
I brushed the pollen off my clothes and left the building.
My name had gone up on the honor board a moment ago, but I asked them to take it down. As a result, it didn't completely disappear but was anonymized.
I checked the possibility of change once more after coming out, and sure enough, there was no change.
"By the way, did you see that third-year guy's annoying smile when he showed his triple? Ugh, I wanted to hit him, but Luca did it for me."
"...'Guy'? That's the vice-class president of third-year class 2. We might run into him later, so don't say things that could cause unnecessary trouble."
"What, so you've seen him often in the student council?"
"I saw him occasionally until last year."
"Really? Ah, anyway, I should've taken a picture of those guys' expressions earlier!"
Elias shook his head and giggled.
At his characteristic laugh, Leo chuckled lightly.
"Yeah."
"Huh?"
"...What exactly do you and Lucas think of me? I can guess what you're thinking."
Leo gave a hollow laugh and shrugged.
"Why, did Luca say something about you too?"
"Earlier at the art club, they said they'd give an extra stamp if I drew a picture, so I did, and he seemed a bit surprised."
"Well, he probably didn't expect you to use such a loophole."
I answered simply.
No need for a long explanation. Elias's interest was already elsewhere.
"Oh, they give two stamps? I should go try too."
And so, we left the exhibition hall again in just five minutes.
Elias, who had received his stamp, skimmed through the visitors' drawings and asked.
"So~ which ones are yours? Ah, this is Leo's drawing."
Elias pointed at the drawing of Pie.
Pie, who hadn't seen Leo's drawing earlier because we went to find Elias, shot up from my shoulder.
"Me?! That's not me!"
Before I could answer anything, Pie jumped to Leo's shoulder.
"...Can you actually recognize his drawing?"
Leo carefully peeled Pie off his neck, who was holding on, and sat him on his shoulder. It looked like he was being grabbed, but it was just because his arms were short; it seemed like a sort of hug.
'He expresses things like a human...'
Did he learn that from living with humans instead of his own kind?
"Did you recognize it? The rabbit seems happy. So where's Luca's drawing?"
At Elias's question, I pointed to a drawing attached in the middle of the wall.
"Here."
"Oh."
Elias, narrowing his eyes, lost his words, tilted his head, and gestured.
"Okay, got it. It's... original."
"..."
The words were nice, but judging by his body language, it didn't seem like much of a compliment.
"It's pretty average. Look around."
"But what's this? The kid has spikes."
"You can tell it's a lion just by looking."
"Hmm?"
At my answer, Leo showed a strange reaction.
"..."
What am I supposed to say here?
At Leo's reaction, I left Elias, who was laughing as if he was choking, and just went outside. Leo shouted after me.
"Wait, Lucas! I didn't mean it like that! Don't worry, you're not the only one who draws like that. And we don't even have an art subject."
Is he mocking me...?
This guy's habit of saying whatever comes to mind is showing again.
Elias's laughter grew louder.
Anyway, it was true that I was never particularly strong in music and art subjects, so it was fortunate they weren't looking at arts and sports.
I gestured to Elias, who had now just plopped down by the entrance, and Leo, who followed me out.
"Enough, let's do something else."
* * *
It's about time to look for Narké.
After a simple meal and buying Pie a snack, it was already past noon, nearing 1 PM.
There's a play at 10 PM, so there's still plenty of time, but since Narké has a lead role, it's safer to find him early considering rehearsal time.
While pondering whether to send Pie out again, Elias pointed to a booth that had just opened. Something resembling a shooting range was set up in the spacious public training ground.
"Want to do that?"
"What about your crutch?"
"Aha~"
At Leo's words, Elias gritted his teeth as if he was sick of the leg issue. Then he shook his head, went over, and examined the fake guns rolling around in front of the booth.
"This is a knockoff of a Gewehr. I vividly remember getting scolded to death about five years ago for using magic to lift it because it was heavy."
"..."
Leo shook his head at Elias's choice of words.
The craftsmanship was poor; it really seemed like a toy made to just look similar.
When I picked up a gun, Leo's eyes widened.
"What, you're going to do it too?"
"Yeah. It's just for a bit anyway."
"We have plenty of time, so it doesn't matter, but do you know how to handle it?"
Wondering if this was also mockery, I remembered that Luca is 17.
'No.'
Anyway, kids from ruling families enlist young and train every vacation, so about half the Magic Department students at the Second Academy would know how to use old-style weapons.
The problem is that Luca couldn't join the military.
It was an unusual case for a mage from a ruling family.
Even though it's a toy, it's better not to do something that would arouse unnecessary curiosity.
Having made up my mind, I handed the gun to Leo and stepped out.
"You're right, I don't know. You do it."
"What."
I gestured to Leo and stepped back.
Leo, with a disgruntled face, received safety gear from the student at the booth and started shooting.
Whether he properly participated in the occasional old-style training, his accuracy was quite high.
'Should I look for Narké in the meantime?'
When I asked Pie again, Pie stretched out an arm and pointed into the distance.
At the same time, someone turned their head and looked our way.
"Lucas! I see you over there~"
Narké handed the gun back to the student at the booth and smiled brightly.
Pie shouted.
"Narké~!"
"Hi Pie~ Ah, I promised to buy you a snack. Let's go eat later."
"I already bought him one earlier."
"Ah, really? Thanks."
But...
I glanced at where Narké had been and asked.
"...Are you allowed to do things like this?"
"Huh? It's fine~ No one knows."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
He's having a good time on his exchange.
"So, how many did you hit?"
"All misses. Ah, I think I could get used to it if I did a bit more, what a shame. The Knight Department kids are definitely sweeping all the prizes."
"Really? Probably because they've been doing only that since they were kids."
"Right! Haha, I've only ever held a wand, it's so different."
Narké laughed while looking at the crowd that had gathered.
Then he asked me.
"More importantly, you have something to tell me today, right?"
—-----------
T/N:
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