Volume 5, Jinnai Shinobu's Apocalypse — Side A — OP_code "Personal_apocalypse". Part 1-16
This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu
Part 10 (Day 10/04 03:00 - 03:09)
It was a one-on-one game, but we still used a fresh pack of the casino’s cards and the dealer still dealt them to us. Kodama Ryou had suggested it as a way to make things more exciting, but it likely had more to do with his confidence in his means of cheating with an Usuhiki Warashi and the fact that he didn’t want to touch the deck himself and allow people to claim he was cheating that way.
Five cards had already been dealt to me and the dealer slid just as many to Kodama Ryou.
This was my second time in the casino.
The first time I had watched from the second floor as he won multiple games in a row.
“Wow, he’s really winning. But the dealer is handling all the cards and it doesn’t look like he’s doing something as cheap as swapping out cards with identical ones up his sleeve. I don’t see any chance for him to be doing any kind of sleight of hand.”
“Then has he bribed the dealer?” Madoka had asked.
“I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“You can’t see the dealer’s face over the phone, but it’s pale as can be. He looks about to cry. The more Kodama Ryou wins, the more people will suspect the dealer, so I can’t blame him.”
“Then what is it?”
“If he’s using a Youkai’s occult power, it isn’t as simple as seeing his opponent’s cards. He isn’t the type to win by folding at the optimal time. He enjoys building up a powerful hand.”
“Then can he create the cards he needs like a fox or tanuki turning leaves into coins?”
“Or he can freely swap out all of the cards.”
Later, the fox, tanuki, and badger had told me Kodama Ryou was cheating using an Usuhiki Warashi which was a symbol of fortune.
There were no legends about the Usuhiki Warashi “counterfeiting” coins out of leaves.
That Youkai more generally brought fortune and prosperity to the house it lived in, but that was too vague.
That could not have been what he was using.
However, there were stories about the pranks pulled by the Usuhiki Warashi and the Zashiki Warashi. For example, when the children were playing in the yard, an extra one would appear it at some point. The adults could tell there was an extra child by counting them, but they could not tell which one was actually a Youkai.
Is this a Package that mixes in new cards without anyone noticing?
I briefly entertained that idea but then rejected it.
That was only a momentary misunderstanding. Even if a Zashiki Warashi could slip in amongst the children playing in the schoolyard during recess, it could not fully blend in as a classmate. It would eventually be found out and eventually vanish. In a casino where cheating meant instant death, I doubted he would use that trait “as is”.
Which meant…
It isn’t that powerful. It’s a method of mixing in the cards without changing the number.
Their other pranks were sneaking into the futon that someone was sleeping in, flipping over the pillow, and pulling on the blanket, so they all had to do with the bed.
While they could move the pillow or blanket, they could not hide them anywhere. Nor did the sleeper go missing or lose their life.
The Zashiki Warashi was a Youkai that could move a pillow or blanket without changing the “number” and not even their owner could do anything to stop it.
In other words…
He isn’t actually increasing or decreasing the number of cards. He ignores the laws of physics to pull out whatever cards he needs to win and slips them into his own hand. This Package lets him freely swap out the cards.
In that case, he would have complete control over all fifty-three cards, but he wouldn’t be able to directly influence the cards that either I or the impartial dealer could see. If the card changed while we were looking, it would cause a panic.
He himself could only see the five cards in his own hand, so that was risky. He wouldn’t know where the cards he wanted were, so there was a danger of swapping out his opponent’s card while they were looking.
He had to have a safety.
He didn’t know where the cards were, but if it was being observed by someone, the card wouldn’t come to him even if he wanted it.
But other than that, he could get his hands on any of the cards.
He could build his hand from the five he was dealt and any of the cards in the face-down deck the dealer held. He could create as many royal flushes and five of a kinds as he wanted. There was no way to get a fair game out of this.
But…
“Three of diamonds, nine of hearts, three of clubs, jack of hearts, and queen of hearts.”
The atmosphere immediately froze over.
All I had done was give a casual comment with my cards fanned out, but it silenced even the gallery who were ready to taste the sweet nectar of schadenfreude.
“What?” asked Kodama Ryou while blinking in confusion.
“It’s a jinx for good luck. …You said this needs to be a real battle, right? Well, I want to really corner myself here. I want to see what I find if I keep going, so I set myself up. Have I approached your realm now?”
“Well, um, that’s not really what-… Listen. When I rolled the die earlier, we decided to allow two card exchanges, remember? And yet you…”
“Ha ha! That would be too boring!!”
I was clearly bad at this, but anyone could tell I was looking down on him.
“Okay, I revealed everything, so what are your cards?”
“Do you really think I need to tell you? I am going to play normally and-…”
“Oh, so you’re backing down?”
I cut him off.
If I’d used this tone of voice with an upperclassman at school, I could hardly have complained if they punched me.
“No, no. Don’t worry about it. It makes sense. I was the one that chose to reveal my cards, so you do your best with your method. That’s what I want to learn from, after all. You hunch forward, carefully hide your cards from view, and win that way.”
“Ah?”
“I’m saying not to worry about it. You know this is a serious match too, right? So who knows who’ll win. It’s entirely possible you’ll lose everything to the amateur kid and break down crying. If you’d rather hunch over like that to avoid the possibility of having an embarrassing cellphone photo spread around the world, then that’s just how you want to live your life. You can do this at your own pace, teacher.”
I heard a quiet wave of laughter and remembered what Madoka had said.
“Con artists will do whatever they can to nonchalantly escape any disadvantageous situation, but it might be surprisingly easy to get him caught with no way to escape.”
“Eh? Why? What do you mean?”
“Think about it. Even if he’s surrounded by his supporters, how many do you think are actually rooting for him from the bottom of their hearts? The place has to be filled with people whose smiles hide a desire to see him pathetically crawling on the ground. A champion who always wins is boring. Anyone hanging around a casino to see others ascend to heaven or be cast into hell will want to see a hard-fought battle, not a stable victory.”
I could not help but remember that comment.
I was in enough of a trance to ignore the game before my eyes and lose myself in the past.
Kodama’s eyes rolled around to secretly view the passionate and sneering gallery.
“When did you get them on your side?” he asked.
“What are you talking about? I’m only looking at you right now.”
For some reason, my direct response received a mouthed protest from the turtle shell bondage Indoor Youkai instead of from the con artist.
Ahh, a wonderful view no matter where I look. I’m in such a good mood!!
This game had begun as a chance for the top player to crush a conceited brat and the gallery had wanted to see me suffer.
However, people’s hearts changed easily.
They would soon realize whose defeat would be more exciting and enjoyable.
Kodama Ryou clenched his teeth and threw his cards face-up on the poker table.
“Queen of diamonds, king of diamonds, king of clubs, six of spades, and king of hearts!”
“Oh? You were dealt a three of a kind? Swap out one and you could get four of a kind or a full house. Swap out two and you could even get five of a kind. I would expect no less of you, Kodama-san. You didn’t need to hide that at all.”
But this would prevent him from swapping out the five cards in his hand.
The only cards he could use his Usuhiki Warashi Package on were the ones in the dealer’s deck.
And his biggest chance was coming.
“Then let’s get on to the first exchange.”
He made that overly dramatic statement as if challenging me or trying to overturn the atmosphere that was threatening to envelop him.
His voice dropped almost to a whisper.
“If I win here, I will take everything from you: your money and that Youkai. …Don’t forget that. I’ll give you a nice lesson, but this is still a legit game played in a casino.”
…
Don’t let him draw you in. Don’t let him.
Don’t look down at the bottom of the cliff. Remembering the risk is meaningless.
Shrug and laugh it off! Laugh and keep moving!!
“Ha…ha ha. Don’t try anything too blatant like exchanging all five cards and just so happening to get a royal flush. I think the dealer might stab you if you did.”
I gave one last warning.
He remained smiling, but now exchanging all five cards would be suicide. He would almost certainly be accused of cheating.
Which meant…
If he has any sense, he’ll remove the queen of diamonds and six of spades and give himself a king of spades and a joker for a five of a kind with the four kings and a joker. The only way I can hope to match that is with a royal flush of spades, but that will be impossible if he has the king of spades. And unlike with other hands, he doesn’t have to worry about me getting a five of a kind with a higher number. After all, you need a joker for five of a kind and there’s only one of those in the deck.
When planning with Madoka, we had obviously not been able to predict what cards we would get, so I had to make up the rest on the fly.
The protection of money goddess Kotemitsu Madoka-chan had just about run out.
Figuring out the rules behind Kodama Ryou’s cheating was fine, but that alone wasn’t enough. No matter how much we planned and prepared, I still ultimately had to defeat him on my own.
Kotemitsu Madoka’s plan and the help of the Zashiki Warashi and the fox, tanuki, and badger waiting outside would be of no help unless I overcame this.
If I lost, I would sink and all would be lost.
Slowly, I took a deep breath and spoke.
“Then two. The three of diamonds and three of clubs.”
“Ha ha!!”
The snakeskin guy laughed loudly and even clapped his hands.
“C’mon, now. I already have three kings, so why are you getting rid of your two of a kind? That’s just going to leave you with nothing. Or do you think you’re giving yourself a handicap? Or maybe you’re trying to provoke me?”
“This is fine. Two threes would be too boring.”
“That leaves you with…oh. The nine of hearts, jack of hearts, and queen of hearts. Which means… Ha ha! Don’t tell me you’re trying to get the ten and king of hearts for a royal flush or maybe the eight and ten for a straight flush! That’s getting a little too greedy!!”
I didn’t really think I could get that.
After all, he could freely control the remaining cards in the deck.
And sure enough, the two cards I was dealt were…
“What, you’re not going to go out of the way to announce these ones? Ha ha. Of course not!! You threw away your two of a kind and got nothing in return. Besides, that hand is only so valuable because it’s so hard to get.”
“Enough nastiness. Just keep playing.”
“Fine then. I’ll take two as well and get rid of the queen of diamonds and six of spades. Yes, that’s the standard course of action.”
That meant he really was after a five of a kind using the four kings and the joker. Not even a royal flush of hearts could beat that.
I could feel my heart racing even faster.
Was this really the way to go?
Had there been something else I could have done?
Doubts bubbled up inside my head, but the mine cart had already started rolling down the hill. There was no taking back the life placed inside it. I could only bet on this. I could only keep charging forward!
But there was a fork in the mine cart’s track.
If he completed his five of a kind during this first card exchange, I was done for.
But if he gathered one card at a time to complete it on the second exchange, I still had a way out, even if just barely.
Which would it be?
Which way would it roll?
“Kee hee.”
I heard laughter.
The ominous sound of teeth scraping together hurt my ears.
I felt like a cold hand was squeezing each and every organ in my body, one at a time.
The whispering of the gallery grew distant.
The man’s grinning face looked like it was made of melted wax and I immediately realized something.
The fox, tanuki, and badger must have seen this exact same expression when the patron they cared about more than anyone had been cast into the depths of the abyss.
“Perhaps I should call this riichi. I now have the king of spades in my hand. As long as I get the joker, I’ll have a five of a kind. Even if you do get a royal flush of hearts, you can’t win. And even if you forcibly try for the hand with spades instead, I already have the king of spades, so you can’t complete the one hand that can beat a five of a kind!!”
But.
But!
But!!!!!
“Heh.”
He’d done it.
He’d actually done it.
Instead of ending this on the first card exchange, that idiot was waiting until the second. He had likely thought getting his hand on that first exchange would still seem enough like cheating that he needed to get one of his two cards at a time. And that unnecessary concern had given me the chance I needed to turn this around!
“Heh heh. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”
“…? What? What is so-…”
“What’s so funny? Your little announcement just now.”
I could drop the act now.
I didn’t need to keep grinning like an idiot and speaking more politely than I was used to.
I completely changed my tone of voice.
Had he been confronted with so many unusual things that he had wanted a little bit of stability?
Or had his ability to control the cards I was dealt caused him to let his guard down? Deciding the number of card exchanges with a roll of a die had likely been “insurance” against doubts if he won too brilliantly after only the one exchange.
Either way, it was now my turn to go on the offensive!
“After all, I have the king of spades. I exchanged my cards first, so it makes no sense for you to have the king of spades in your hand.”
“What..?”
“Oh, c’mon. Why do you look so surprised? With a look like that, you would almost think you had known from the beginning what cards we would be getting.”
Kodama Ryou seemed to focus more on what I said than on my tone of voice or my attitude.
He seemed to be saying he had seen through my farce and that no one cared about that.
“Don’t make baseless accusations!! There’s only one king of spades and it’s in my hand, so you couldn’t possibly have it. Anyone could tell you that!”
“Fine then. How about we both show our hands at the same time?”
I waved my fanned-out cards toward him while making my suggestion and looking down on him.
“But what will happen then?”
“What do you mean?”
“What will happen to the game if the king of spades shows up in both of our hands? By the way, do you remember my hand? I’m going for a royal flush or straight flush of hearts, so the king of spades wouldn’t help me in the slightest. I have no reason to cheat and slip one into my hand.”
“…”
“But what about you? Oh, well I guess that goes without saying. You’re after a five of a kind using the four kings and the joker. You’re obviously the one who benefits from having the king of spades in his hand.”
I slammed one hand down on the poker table as I threatened him.
Yes, and I slammed my five cards down as I did so.
“So what will you do? Are you going to call this game off to see if one of us has been cheating?”
“…!!!!!!”
Most likely, quite a few things were spinning through Kodama Ryou’s head.
Had something gone wrong with his Usuhiki Warashi card-swapping Package?
Had an amateur high school boy slipped in a card he was hiding up his sleeve?
Was there only the one king of spades and I was only bluffing?
But he had a way of secretly checking on the truth.
Yes.
I had slammed my cards face-down on the table, so no one could see them.
That meant he could swap them out with his Usuhiki Warashi Package. By swapping out my cards and his cards, he could quickly determine whether I was bluffing or not.
But would he really take the bait?
He was sure to remember which two cards were the ones I had been dealt. By swapping them with two in his hand, he could determine whether I had a king of spades or not.
But that would mean getting rid of his nearly-completed five of a kind. He could swap out cards but not increase or decrease their number, so he had to break up his hand to use that paranormal power.
He had one unneeded card still, but to be absolutely sure, he would have to swap out two. Either way, he would lose one of the cards he needed.
What would he do?
What would happen?
What would the snakeskin con artist choose?
“You got me.”
Kodama Ryou casually shrugged.
“I give up. I lied to shake you up a bit, but I never thought you had the actual card.”
“…!?”
It can’t be!!
I quickly checked the cards I had placed face-down on the table.
He had made the switch.
One of the five had transformed into an unfamiliar king of spades!
“Now that we’ve established you have the king of spades, can we get on with the game?”
He threw away his five of a kind?
Is he going for four of a kind with the joker now!?
And as I had explained myself, the king of spades was only a hindrance for me since I was going for one or the other of the highest two straight flushes of hearts.
He had worked through my accusation and stayed on the path to a powerful hand while also crushing my own possibilities.
And since I had said myself that I had the king of spades, I had no choice but to accept this unwanted gift.
“Now that we’re back on track, it’s time for the second card exchange.”
Kodama Ryou grinned like he was already imagining himself playing his four of a kind against my worthless hand.
This would end with the next exchange.
I could not fold here, so it would all be over soon.
“As before, you can go first.”
Part 11 (Day 10/04 03:09 - 03:20)
The Usuhiki Warashi Package allowed one to freely swap out any of the fifty-three cards on the table.
However, they would notice something was wrong if they tried to swap out a card being viewed by their opponent or a third party. That meant they could only use any face-down cards or the five in their own hand.
They did not know where any card was on the table until they used the Package.
Just by thinking about the card they wanted, the card would be automatically brought to the user’s hand. They could also force an unwanted card onto their opponent.
If the card happened to be viewed by their opponent or a third party, a safety would activate and stop the swap.
Based on my observations, those seemed to be the details of the Package that Kodama Ryou was using. Some of that might not have been exactly right, but it had to be on the right track.
“Two cards.”
“Heh heh heh!!”
As soon as I made my announcement, the snakeskin guy burst out laughing.
“Oh, oh? Oh, oh, oh, oh!? I can’t be sure, but what is this? I thought you were going for a royal flush or straight flush of hearts? You had three of the needed cards, so what’s going on? Are you throwing away the two cards you got in the first exchange and getting two new ones? So you gained nothing at all and have no real chance of winning? What could possibly be going on here!?”
“…”
I did not need to answer.
I simply tossed the two face-down cards toward the dealer.
Kodama Ryou showed no interest in the cards I was dealt in return.
“Then I’ll take one. Just one. I actually have two I don’t need, but there’s no point in exchanging the other one,” said the laughing con artist. “Oh, and you can’t change anything with baseless accusations after the fact. Just to be clear, I will get the joker and complete my four of a kind. That will end this. No matter what anyone says, the result can’t be changed after the second exchange is complete. It saddens me to think you can’t use those provocations of yours anymore. Here, one card. I’ll use this joker to kill you.”
He slid a random card toward the dealer and another was slid back toward him.
If that was the joker, he would have an irregular four of a kind made up of three kings and the wild card.
He was exactly right.
The old lady whose pension was stolen, the granddaughter suffering from a created illness, and most importantly my own life would all be over.
The con artist’s suit and shoes were covered in snakeskin and he always had a thin smile on his face, but a close look showed his fingertips were trembling. That tremor travelled up his arms and infected his entire body. Finally, his chair began to rattle below him.
“Wh-wh-why?”
“Did you see something strange?”
“Why!? How could I possibly have not gotten the joker!!!???”
Only after shouting did he realize what he had said. He cautiously looked to the gallery, but that no longer mattered.
The game was set from the moment he finished his second exchange.
“It’s not surprising you didn’t get the joker.”
I spoke casually because his life wasn’t worth anything with more weight to it.
“After all, it’s right here in my hand. And the system was made so it wouldn’t swap out a card your opponent or a third party was looking at, right?”
“…What?”
“And without the joker, all you have is three kings.”
As I spoke, I threw my fanned-out cards face-up on the table.
“I have the ace of diamonds, the joker, the ace of hearts, the king of spades, and the eight of spades. With the joker, that’s three aces.”
“What!!!???”
It looked like the con artist wasn’t the only one surprised.
A stir ran through the gallery as well.
“In poker, the cards get stronger from two to king, but the ace beats the king, right? That makes my three of a kind better than yours. The game is over, little boy.”
“No… Not that!! What kind of hand is that!?”
“C’mon. I had the joker from the very beginning and it isn’t that rare to end up with two aces. I don’t see anything wrong with this.”
“B-but…you…but! You were going for a royal flush or straight flush of hearts. You couldn’t get a hand like this after the two card exchanges!”
“Yes, how could this have happened?”
There was no real reason to answer.
I only had to point out the result.
“This is over, so pull out your black card. Pull out that magic limitless card. You need to pay me my winnings. I bet a Zashiki Warashi on top of this junmai daiginjo from Noukotsu Village’s Jinnai Brewery, so I’ll be taking quite a lot.”
“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”
As the snakeskin guy blankly listened to me, he finally shouted a few words as if life had returned to him.
“That makes no sense.”
“It’s nothing compared to how much you’ve been winning around here.”
“But…this is…but!! Everyone here saw it, right? At the very beginning, you revealed your hand!! What more proof do you need? You clearly cheated somehow!! There’s no other way you could have ended up with that!”
“…Now you’ve said it.”
I grinned.
This was probably the first time I’d smiled in front of him.
Those were exactly the words I had wanted to hear.
I snapped my fingers and made a show of checking with the gallery and dealer.
“You there, you heard what he said, didn’t you?”
“Eh? What?”
“Dealer!! He said it. Check the rules. This fits the conditions perfectly!!”
Hearing that, Kodama Ryou began to tremble even more.
And he looked more surprised about the shaking than anyone.
“Wh-wha-what!? What have you done!?”
“You stepped on a landmine. Check for yourself!!”
Yes.
This casino had its own local rules:
If the joker is included in the deck, one of the players must announce it. The announcer’s winnings for that hand will only be 0.8 times normal (with the exception of five of a kind that can only be made with a joker).
If the winner forms their hand after discarding the joker, their winnings will be twice normal.
If a player is caught cheating, they will be penalized twice their bet amount. However, a simple bluff does not qualify as cheating.
Cheating is eliminated by the thorough management of the dealer, but it can also be directly pointed out by an opponent.
But if the loser accuses the winner of cheating and no cheating can be proven, the loser will be penalized one hundred times their bet amount for ruining the game and damaging the winner’s reputation.
If a player does not swap out a single card, their winnings will be 1.5 times normal.
“Whaaaaaaaat!!!???”
“You owe me one hundred times as much now. Everyone here can clearly tell I won and you lost. And now you’re accusing me of cheating to try to overturn that. This is just hard to watch, you fraud. You took a step too far because you were still looking down on me even after losing.”
“No, but, no!! I proved your hand made no sense! The loser can’t be penalized for revealing how the winner was cheating. …Guards!! Search him!! Hurry!!”
Kodama Ryou was as out of control as a toy chimpanzee with cymbals, but I simply raised my hands.
That seemed to clue the chimpanzee in that something was wrong.
As a guard began to check me, Kodama Ryou questioned me.
“H-how? How can you stay so calm?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Because unlike you, I wasn’t cheating.”
I grinned.
“Think back. Or have you altered your own memories? When the cards were first dealt, I did indeed reveal my hand, but all I did was tell you. You had to take my word for it. I didn’t actually show you my cards.”
“…Ah!!”
“You actually showed your cards, but that was probably to steal back people’s focus by doing something with an even greater impact. That makes it simple, doesn’t it? I didn’t actually have the cards I claimed I did.”
My real hand had been two threes, an ace, a joker, and some other useless card. That was actually a three of a kind with a chance for a full house, but it left me with no chance of defeating the snakeskin man and his ability to manipulate all of the hidden cards. Throwing away my two threes then had taken a lot of courage.
The real danger had been when he had sent me the king of spades. The Usuhiki Warashi Package could swap out cards and it still scares me to think what would have happened if he had swapped out the joker or an ace in place of the useless king.
He had to have gotten a card that was clearly not one of those I had announced. If he hadn’t thought it was one of the cards I got during the first exchange, he might have seen through my trick.
I had barely slipped through, but I had done it and won.
Finally, the man wearing gloves with a pentagram on them shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“You bastard! Check more carefully!! There has to…has to be something!!”
“There isn’t. And a simple bluff doesn’t count as cheating. The local rules say so.”
I made that clear just to be sure. The guard had to be allowing the Usuhiki Warashi. Had the con artist made sure the man wouldn’t say anything unnecessary?
I clapped my hands twice and announced Kodama Ryou’s execution.
“Now, then. It’s time you paid up my normal winnings times one hundred. Pull out your black card so I can take everything you’ve got.”
Cheers exploded from the gallery like after the winning point of a soccer match.
This was the moment where one side laughed and the other crumbled.
Part 12 (3rd person — Day 10/04 03:20 - 03:33)
Meanwhile, the fox, tanuki, and badger were waiting behind the casino.
After the Zashiki Warashi had been used as a decoy (without being told), Kodama Ryou and the guards had assumed nothing more was hiding out there.
The three of them were looking at the smartphone they had borrowed from the Zashiki Warashi.
“It says to go through with it.”
“W-will this really work?” worriedly asked the wet nurse tanuki.
“Hmm.” The fox tilted his head. “He explained this ahead of time, but I have trouble with those Western terms. Let’s see, it was Fleming’s…”
“Right hand. The left hand is used for the theory behind railguns.”
The fox grabbed at the badger for that bit of know-it-all-ism, but the tanuki stopped them before an actual fistfight broke out.
“Whatever the theory behind it, you know what to do, right? That’s all that matters.”
“Yes, that makes sense. But…”
“What else is there?”
“Can we really get back at loathsome Kodama Ryou with this children’s toy?”
At that point, they heard a girl giggling quietly.
“Who goes there!?”
The fox quickly turned around and saw someone running away.
It was a girl of twelve or thirteen. She wore a short mini-yukata with the shoulders slipped down like a courtesan, so her strange Japanese outfit looked something like a tube top dress with a tight skirt.
“Was that the Usuhiki Warashi? This isn’t good. Is that subspecies going to report on our actions!?”
“N-no,” said the badger to allay the wet nurse tanuki’s fears. “I think this is the opposite. That Usuhiki Warashi… That Zashiki Warashi subspecies is a Youkai of prosperity and she’s leaving the casino and thus her owner. That means only one thing for Kodama Ryou’s future.”
Part 13 (3rd person — Day 10/04 03:33 - 03:45)
“What are you waiting for? The guest gave you his card, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but I’m trying to make the pre-transaction confirmation.”
Kodama Ryou stood in a soundless world.
No, there was actually applause and a deluge of other sounds enveloping him, but it all seemed to so distant to him. His mind was in no state to comprehend the voices as voices, so it washed over him as mere noise.
It came out to several hundred million.
He was going to lose a full tenth of his total assets.
That was painful enough, but losing to an amateur high school boy was even worse.
“Heh heh… Heh heh heh heh heh heh…”
“N-no, wait, Miss Zashiki Warashi. We can talk this out! If humans and Youkai actually try to talk, they can get along! This was a necessary part of defeating that damn con artist, so- bgchah!?”
“Hey, Shinobu. Do you know what a Cobra Twist is? How about a Frankensteiner?”
“No, wait! You shouldn’t do a move like that in a yuka- gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!???”
As soon as she was released from the rope, the Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata began performing harsh pro wrestling moves and the high school boy could do nothing to escape them. Yes, he was only a kid. Normally, he would never have been able to deceive a professional (con artist) like Kodama Ryou.
His actions and words had been as exaggerated as a theatrical performance.
Kodama Ryou should have looked at it all more rationally. The boy had made a larger lie to hide a smaller lie. It was the same as scattering spices along a path to trick the police dog’s sense of smell.
It had been crudely done, but Kodama Ryou had taken it too lightly.
He had not followed through far enough to realize the boy had put together a plan where part of it was meant to be discovered.
And as a result…
(No.)
Once his thoughts reached that point, his Noh mask expression twisted.
(Something doesn’t fit. He blatantly said he was going to ruin me. Was that extreme statement really only a bluff meant to throw me off his scent? What if it meant something else…?)
Kodama Ryou lived for thrills.
When he had money, he had lots of it. When he had none, he had none at all. His scams, gambles, and art auctions were always an all-or-nothing affair and this was clearly during one of his “all” phases.
Even if that one hundred times penalty was added on, it would not take everything from him.
It would only rob him of a tenth of his money.
(There’s something more.)
Sweat dripped down his face.
(He isn’t done yet!! There has to be something more!!)
Suddenly, he heard a human voice.
“It doesn’t seem to be the computer. There’s been some strange noise on the line for a while now.”
“If the payment is slowed, we’ll lose the guests’ trust. Hurry up and figure out what’s causing it and take care of it.”
The black card.
That special credit card had no credit limit.
They were having trouble during the confirmation phase.
There was some unknown noise on the line.
“A-ahh.”
Kodama Ryou figured it out.
It all fit together.
There was a single way of robbing him of all his money regardless of how the game turned out.
He screamed at the top of his lungs and everyone’s focus turned toward him. But that was the least of his worries. He ran over to the foolish casino worker, punched him in the face, and grabbed back his black card. He took it back.
After hearing the commotion, the guards in black ran over.
Kodama Ryou pointed at the blond high school boy being beaten up by the Zashiki Warashi who had been released from her glass fiber bonds.
“Skimming!! He… He was waiting for the moment when money was transferred using my unlimited black card. He was trying to steal my card number and PIN!!”
“…”
“That way he could take all of my money regardless of how the game ended!! The strange noise during the confirmation is the proof! C-c’mon, hurry. Arrest him!! Protect my money from-…!!!!”
After shouting and shouting, he suddenly trailed off.
No one – not the gallery, not the dealer, and not the guards – was listening to him. His words were reaching them, but they were not paying any attention to them. Some shrugged and some sighed.
And then the blond high school boy formed a gun with one hand while having his teary-eyed head pushed into one of the glamorous Zashiki Warashi’s breasts by a headlock.
With a beautiful woman in one arm, he aimed the triumphant gesture at Kodama Ryou.
And he fired some powerful words.
“…Now you’ve said it.”
“Ah.”
“After everything is over, the loser has accused the winner of cheating. …Really? If you can’t produce any proof, you’ll get another one hundred times penalty. And two of those penalties on top of each other isn’t two hundred times. One hundred times one hundred is ten thousand. You understand the situation, don’t you?”
He was already losing a tenth of his total assets.
Kodama Ryou had determined that the boy had used a large lie to hide a smaller lie.
That had not been entirely wrong.
However, he had underestimated the scale of what the blond high school boy was trying to take from him.
Part 14 (3rd person — Day 10/04 03:45 – 04:01)
Incidentally, the Youkai hiding behind the casino had done something quite simple.
Jinnai Shinobu had given them the following advice ahead of time:
“Look, it’s right here. This is the wiring panel. It looks like they’re using metal wires instead of fiber optic, which is lucky. This comes from money-obsessed Madoka, so it’s gotta be right.”
“Understood. If we tear these to shreds, it’ll be a huge problem for the casino, right!? Then leave this to me and my wonderful claws!!”
“You foolish fox. The point is to interfere without damaging it.”
He had then pulled out a children’s toy.
“Have you heard of Fleming and his right and left hand rules?”
“Is he some important Westerner? Never heard of him!!”
“Don’t look so proud of that. His right hand rule goes like this. Say a wire is passing through a spring. Well, when power passes through the wire, it creates a magnetic field around the wire. And it’s based on this line.”
“?”
“The flow of electricity and the surrounding magnetic field are connected. Sending electricity through creates a magnetic field and creating a magnetic field around the wire creates an electric current.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you rub a powerful magnet up against it, you can disturb the signal running through the wire without cutting it. I’ll secretly send you an email to tell you when to start. After the game is over, we’ll give that con artist a lovely surprise.”
“Let’s do this!!”
“R-right! Leave it to a wet nurse tanuki like me!!”
“Hey, fox, are you sure this will work!?”
And thus the fox, tanuki, and badger interfered with the high-speed communications without leaving a mark on the cable and made Kodama Ryou suspect someone was skimming his black card’s number and PIN.
But as stated, the nondestructive magnetic method had not left any obvious marks. And of course, the Youkai had left by the time the guards in black had come to investigate.
And when they found no evidence, who would their suspicions turn to?
The frightening ten thousand times penalty said it all.
Part 15 (Day 10/04 04:01 - 06:30)
“Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!”
It was time for a party!
I remembered I had yet to eat any dinner and it was somehow four in the morning already, so a party was the only answer.
Time! To! Eat!!
Afterwards, we all (although I was the only non-Youkai of the bunch) rented out the second story of a club until morning and clinked together small bottles of cider. The glass table was covered in fried chicken, French fries, pepperoncino, and other greasy foods you would never think to eat at four in the morning.
I was aware this seemed ridiculously out of place, but shockingly, this was the cheapest plan available on Goldmine Island. A tiny-little restaurant could actually be more expensive, so you could see how screwed-up the casino island’s sense of money was. They didn’t have any normal family restaurants or karaoke boxes.
“U-um,” nervously began the wet nurse tanuki. “Should we really be doing this? The money we took from Kodama Ryou belonged to people he tricked across the country.”
“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine. We took as much as we could from his black card. We were at a table with a rate as high as four to five million, the Zashiki Warashi was added on top of that, and then came the fearsome ten thousand times penalty. That had to be far more than he’d ever stolen. The con artist is going to be in a hell of debt now. We can still pay everyone back after taking a bit off the top to pay for our trouble.”
“Oh? If we have extra, shouldn’t you give the victims back even more? For example, you could give them enough to pay for their sick granddaughter’s surgery in another country.”
The fox, tanuki, and badger fell silent for a while. They thought about what that meant and then silently lowered their heads.
“Stop that. We would have messed up somewhere without the information on the Usuhiki Warashi. And you were the ones that set up the final trick with the magnet, so we’re even here! The Zashiki Warashi and I just need this dinner…or is it a midnight snack? Or breakfast? Anyway, we’ll just eat as much as we want and then you all can return the stolen money to its rightful owners. So let’s get eating and drinking!!”
That must have cleared away their worries because the celebration really started afterwards. Foxfire flew around, the tanuki got on the table and beat her stomach like a drum, and the badger was entirely focused on mixing a ton of toppings in a bowl to create a badger udon. We were all doing different things.
“You are a crazy young man. You might be better at deceiving people than us.”
“Eh heh heh. It all began when I climbed the maple tree behind the house and transformed into the moon because the wife of the house was sad that it was raining on the fifteenth night.”
“There’s a historical play based off of us three, you know? But the director was clueless and changed the badger to a dog because he thought a badger was too confusing.”
After at most five minutes, we would find ourselves unable to settle down and would raise our bottles of cider again.
“Well, I don’t really get any of this, but cheers!!”
We repeated the process twenty or thirty times.
There were no problems.
We had taken all the money from Kodama Ryou, the old woman who had collapsed from worry and the sick granddaughter would have what they needed to recover, and all of the victims around the country were guaranteed all of their money back. That money had been left with an accountant Madoka knew. I didn’t know the details of gift taxes and whatever else, so I could only leave that up to a specialist. And I could trust someone a friend introduced more than I could someone completely unknown.
So if there was nothing else, this would all end with the happiest ending possible.
Only once the glamorous Zashiki Warashi called out to me did I realize I was resting on the glass table.
It seemed I had fallen asleep for a bit.
We had had a hell of a party, but I hadn’t had any alcohol. When I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t slept since the airplane ride the day before. I had forgotten thanks to the extreme tension of the poker match against Kodama Ryou, but the weariness may have rushed back as soon as that tension vanished.
The three animal Youkai were asleep on the sofa or the floor and the Zashiki Warashi pulled the smartphone from her cleavage and checked he time.
“If we don’t get back to the inn soon, we might miss breakfast.”
“My dad would probably get mad if I missed two meals in a row. But, ugh. Will I even have room for breakfast if we head back now?”
Sleeping a bit may have actually made things worse because I felt an oozing sense of tingling acid rising from my stomach. This was the problem with eating so much greasy food.
I slowly got up and called out to the other Youkai.
“Hey, fox, tanuki, badger. It’s time to wake up. We rented the place until morning, so if we stay any longer, they’ll charge us extra.”
“Mh? Did I fall asleep?”
The three of them got up while rubbing their eyes and then left the club’s VIP room with the Zashiki Warashi and me. There were still quite a few people on the normal dance floor. They didn’t look like the type to play video games, but they seemed pretty interested in cellphone avatars. They were all discussing the VR Casino City’s friend registration, costume trading, or virtual land sales.
Palm trees grew alongside the wide roads on this island, but the air was nice and chilly this early in the morning.
With the intense morning sunlight replacing the decorative casino lights, a sleepy atmosphere finally began to set in. Shiny, polished luxury sports cars drove by every now and then, but the drivers’ clothing didn’t match the cars. They were probably from a valet service and the actual owner was taking a limousine back to their inn with a young, drunk woman.
“I was expecting nothing but Italian and German cars on a casino island, but there’s a surprising number of Japanese ones.”
“That’s because Japan has some of the top brands for hybrids and electric cars. Teihin’s complete carbon frame car had a rush of preorders despite costing two or three hundred million yen.”
“Why do you know so much about this? You downloaded a stupidly expensive racing game app in my name or something, didn’t you?”
The three animal Youkai intended to leave Goldmine Island and return to Shikoku. They hadn’t come as tourists, so now that Kodama Ryou had been dealt with, they wanted to get back to their owner as soon as possible.
The three of them waved their short arms (or front legs?) as they left and the Zashiki Warashi and I started for the inn on the opposite side of Goldmine Island’s mountain.
“Shinobu, I’m not sure we’ll make it back in time for breakfast if we walk.”
“I got enough from those three to take a taxi, so we can hail a limousine if we see one.”
I had thought we would find one if we waited by the major road, but all of the limousines already had customers. It seemed we had hit the rush taking people back to the inns.
The Indoor Youkai gave a disappointed sigh as the limousines drove back and forth and my cellphone suddenly began to ring from my pocket.
I pulled it out and checked the screen, but I didn’t recognize the number.
“I apologize for calling so early in the morning. This is Okazaki from National Flight Airline’s Lost Baggage Management Center. Is this Mr. Jinnai Shinobu?”
“Oh, yes, it is.”
“I have a report concerning the baggage you lost while taking Flight 5511 yesterday. I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but your travel bag has been safely located and we would appreciate it if you could pick it up at our airport counter at your soonest convenience.”
“Eh? Oh, my bag? You found it!?”
“It has already been transported to the airport, so you can pick it up immediately if you wish. Just to be certain, we will need to confirm your identity at the counter, so please bring some form of ID with you.”
Some form of ID?
What would work? I don’t have a motorcycle license and I didn’t bring my passport since we weren’t leaving the country.
“Um, would my student ID work?”
“Ah ha ha. I would need to be a little more official than that. For example, a driver’s license or insurance card.”
An insurance card, huh?
Does my mom have mine?
As I wondered that, I saw an electrical car moving slowly along the road.
I casually glanced over at the slow black Japanese sports car from the sidewalk.
But then my eyebrows rose.
There was no one in the driver’s seat.
And before I could wonder why, the sports car seemed to swell out from within as it exploded from quite nearby.
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