Nothing but false stoicism,
And half the year's already gone.
What's changed? Who did you love?
Now the dreams in my head are crumbling apart...
But I'll be fine somehow.-----
It was the most absurd coincidence Koishi could think of. The girl she?d been sent out to look for, and not only had she found her she was a dormant Siren.
She was finding it easier and easier to believe that Yukari was planning this all by the minute.
Mokou and Sango were only slightly less shocked by this new revelation, but their attention was still focused on the game itself. Sakuya had just made a dramatic declaration, one that threatened to turn the tide of battle in only two hands.
Tewi?s eyes widened as Sakuya?s threat carried across the table. There was no way Sakuya could bring her claim to fruition - she only had a quarter of the chips in play, so to win that quickly she?d need to go all-in on both hands, have Tewi call her both times, and then go on to win them both. Tewi was in no way forced to play either hand, and if she didn?t have a hand she was confident in nothing was stopping her from folding and waiting until something better came about.
And yet, there was a voice at the back of Tewi?s head telling her not to play this cautiously. Firstly, folding a hand after a claim like that was running away, and she wasn?t ready to give some total unknown the pleasure of seeing her run away from a fight. Secondly, the odds were against Sakuya to begin with - if Tewi won either of these hands, the game was over and Sakuya would go home broke.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it wasn?t possible for her to lose a showdown when the cards were on the table and everything was on the line. There was no need to think about it any more than that.
The next hand began.
*The cards were shuffled. The dealer seemed slightly disturbed by the sudden change of events, but besides the occasional awkward cough he did what he could to keep his nerves to himself. Only slight inaccuracies in his throwing of cards across the table gave him away.
Sakuya looked down at the cards she?d been offered for less than an instant. It was enough for her to decide the hand was worth risking everything on as she pushed her stack into the middle of the table. She?d made the threat of winning in two hands, and she was sticking to it. There was an almost sadistic glint in her eyes as she looked across to Tewi, leaning over and grinning wildly.
?Well? Are you going to play or not??
Tewi was admittedly stunned by Sakuya?s actions. To put millions of yen on the line after only a moment of contemplation - Sakuya was either the bravest gambler she?d ever seen, or a complete and utter lunatic. Perhaps a bit of both? You couldn?t survive in a world like this without losing a little bit of your sanity.
It was a hard choice, one she pondered over for almost a minute. She looked down at her cards for a moment, her eyes glancing over to the dealer. There was something about that look that felt strange to Koishi - it wasn?t as formal as it should have been, given the circumstances. It was friendly, almost familiar, but the dealer didn?t react to it.
She measured out the toll in her own stack, matching it to the letter. She still hadn?t decided on whether to play, and spent a moment trying to read some sort of emotion in Sakuya?s eyes. Even without the glasses to cover them, the mysterious blonde still had enough nerve to keep her cards to herself.
Tewi grit her teeth slightly. Maybe this wasn?t mahjong, but the invisible concept of flow still held meaning to her. If she let Sakuya take a foothold by being scared off here, that was her cue to stage a comeback. Her hand was good enough to be worth playing, especially if she had a little help from her friends.
?...Well, you get points for guts, I?ll say that much. But Lady Luck only has one girl she gives a damn about, and it?s me.?
With one large, triumphant motion, she pushed her payment into the table alongside Sakuya?s.
?Miss Inaba calls the bet.?
Tewi rose to her feet. This was the good part. The rush of adrenaline that came with fortunes being won and lost. She picked up her cards and flung them upright back onto the table. A king and a jack - alone, not a particularly impressive hand, but if she were to hit either of them it would be difficult to beat.
Sakuya, almost as a deliberate opposite of her opponent, sat back on her chair as if nothing had happened. She didn?t so much as reveal her cards, and this quickly earned her stares from both Tewi and the dealer.
?...Miss Izayoi, if you?d reveal your cards, please??
Sakuya looked up, almost puzzled, before shrugging nonchalantly.
?Oh, if you don?t mind, I?d like to keep my hand hidden until the last moment. Adds to the tension, I find. And besides, the cards are hardly going to change, so it doesn?t make any difference, does it??
It was a childish - and, in all fairness, illegal - request. The dealer had every right to insist that she reveal her cards, but that would seem pedantic at best. At worst...
Koishi-san, I think she?s onto something. The boss just noticed something...The words popping up in Koishi?s head pulled her away from the game. Sango?s eyes had been focused intently on Sakuya up until now, but they were now focused on the dealer, lifting the deck up from the table and preparing the first three cards.
Huh? What do you mean?Watch the dealer. Carefully.The request puzzled Koishi for a moment, but she decided to comply. She watched the dealer?s hand as he first discarded the top card on the deck - a measure to prevent cheating, apparently. He made to draw the next card in one fast, fluid motion.
She only saw it because she was looking for it. It was a masterful move, the sort that took years of practice. Rather than removing the top card on the deck, the dealer momentarily snuck his hand into his sleeve, emerging a moment later with a card in his hand. He drew another two from the deck itself, placing all three of them on the floor.
The one he?d smuggled into the deck was a king. The second, a jack; the third, a seven.
?YES!?
Tewi made no effort to hide her satisfaction, shouting at volumes that would?ve been considered offensive from any other player. Two pairs on the flop? She was pretty much won already.
No-one watching was willing to join her in her celebration. Koishi had only caught on by watching that hand closely, but there was no denying what she?d seen.
The dealer was cheating. And he was throwing Tewi the cards she needed to win.
...Of course.It had bugged Koishi earlier that the casino was running an event like this without taking any of the proceedings, but this explained everything. The casino had already decided who was going to win the No-Limit Festival, and it was one of their own. Nitori had passed the message on to Sango and given Mokou a helpful nudge to figure it out herself, with the end result being that even Koishi could see what was happening.
Koishi cringed. Sakuya had been fighting a losing battle from the start. The group running this game had no intention of letting her anywhere near that money - now collected in one large suitcase sitting at the side of the table.
The dealer seemed certain that he?d done his job properly now, and visibly relaxed as he played the last two cards. As if to rub in the blow, the last of them was another jack, giving Tewi a Full House. She hadn?t just won, she?d dominated.
?How?s that? Bet you don?t wanna show those cards of yours now, do you?!?
There was no response for a moment. Sakuya?s head was bowed downward, covering her face from view. Koishi didn?t want to imagine what she must have looked like. She was crying, almost definitely-
?-Heh.?
That wasn?t crying. It wasn?t sadness of any sort coming from Sakuya there. It was...laughter. Tiny, smug giggles slipped out of her mouth, growing larger until she was laughing full-force. Tewi didn?t take that response well.
?H-Hey, what do you think?s so funny?! Show your hand already!?
Sakuya was still laughing, almost uncontrollably now. She had to physically stop herself by putting a hand to her face, and even that took a moment.
?Ah, sorry. When something amuses me, I have a habit of getting carried away. And really...after a display like that, I can?t not laugh at you.?
With her other hand, she saw fit to tip her cards over onto the table.
Two kings.
?Wha-!??
Tewi managed a tiny gasp as she saw what Sakuya had been hiding. The rest of the group surrounding the table couldn?t produce even that. With two kings in her hand, Sakuya managed to produce a full house as well - but with three kings instead of three jacks,
hers was better than Tewi?s.
And it was all on a massive risk. If Sakuya had been holding onto any other hand, she?d have had no way to win that hand. If she?d been made to show her cards, the dealer would have just dealt around it and played enough Jacks for Tewi to win. There was no cunning play in what Sakuya had pulled off there - it was sheer, miraculous luck.
Sakuya removed her hand from her face, looking at Tewi with a devilish glint. There was something else other than happiness in that smile - she was smiling almost knowingly, like she was aware of something she wasn?t supposed to be. It was enough for Koishi to guess that Sakuya had been in on the casino?s cheating for a while - and it was why she?d hidden her cards the whole time.
?So what was that you said about Lady Luck favouring you again??
-----
Sakuya had managed to go from being miles behind to being slightly ahead in the space of a hand. She pulled in her new stack, twice as large as the one she?d put in a few minutes prior. The dealer hastily began pulling the cards back in, preparing them for the next deal. Koishi caught him slipping the fifth king in as well - he may have been able to sneak it out without much hassle, but putting it back in wasn?t quite as simple. As he picked the it up she caught a glimpse of the fifth king residing on the bottom of the deck, where it would be of no consequence for the next hand.
Tewi needed a while to regain her composure. She?d slumped back onto her chair, eyes glazed over, limp as a doll. The hand had been hers; she could practically taste it, feel the chips coming her way, and start cutting her share with Morichika. Now here she was, losing to an amateur playing petty mind games.
She gave another glare towards the dealer. The message this time was clear.
Pull no punches. This next hand is mine, and nothing is going to stop me.It was time to stop worrying about her hands looking unlikely. This amateur needed to be put down before things got out of hand. Morichika wouldn?t be pleased to hear she had lost him all this money. The consequences weren?t worth thinking over.
The dealer nodded, and his dealing style changed dramatically. Behind the dark glasses he was wearing no-one could see his eyes, but they were examining every card with immense care as he shuffled. The fifth king remained hidden in the palm of one of his hands, but with speeds too quick for anyone else in the room to interpret he ordered the remaining cards in just the right way. He knew the top dozen cards in the deck, and they were more than enough this time. Finishing his reordering, he placed the hidden card back on the bottom of the deck where it would be no trouble.
The old tactic of throwing in new cards when they were needed was out the window. This time they had to kill Sakuya stone dead in the water - lure her into the hand, then destroy her outright.
The cards were dealt again, two to each player. Tewi was the first player to act, looking down at her hand and pretending to examine it carefully. No-one around the table was falling for it this time around. Every-one had caught onto her cheating, but they were all equally powerless to stop it.
?Well, then. You said you?d win in two hands, right??
Tewi smirked, and pushed the rest of her chips into the table. She was looking to appeal to Sakuya?s ego, lure her into a hand she had no chance of winning.
There was no need. Sakuya would have played the hand whatever she?d been dealt. The momentum had shifted in her favour, and nothing was going to stop her now. She returned the gesture - giving her cards an almost uninterested glance before offering up her own stack in return. She wouldn?t lose outright if Tewi won the hand, but with so few chips left she?d be just about dead in the water.
?Indeed, and I pride myself as a lady of my word.?
Koishi had to resist the urge to scream. She knew it was a trap. There probably wasn?t anyone around the table who DIDN?T know that Tewi was up to something with this hand. And yet Sakuya had just walked into it without a care in the world. It wasn?t like she could wait it out, true - she?d have to call Tewi?s bets eventually - but doing it so effortlessly just made Koishi?s heart shiver.
?Miss Izayoi. Your hand, if you will.?
This time, the dealer wasn?t willing to let Sakuya keep her cards hidden. It had ruined their plans once before, and he wasn?t set to let it happen again. Sakuya looked down again at her hand, finally sighing as she turned it upright. Another pair - the king of clubs, and the king of diamonds. In any other instance, an excellent hand.
Tewi turned up the ace and queen of spades. Normally, a situation like this would involve Tewi begging and pleading for an ace to come up, or for enough spades to emerge for her to have a flush.
Then again, this hand was far from normal. And the flop that emerged from it was even less so.
King of Spades. King of Hearts. Jack of Spades.
Koishi raised an eyebrow.
Wait, that means four kings. Isn?t that really really good for Izayoi-san?Mokou was equally hopeful for Sakuya after a deal like that. After all, four-of-a-kind was really hard to get, so it had to be a really good hand.
Sango and Nitori didn?t share in their cheerfullness. Nitori?s face registered muffled disappointment, while Sango?s was one of sheer despair. They were half right - four-of-a-kind was an excellent hand in poker, almost the strongest in the game. There was only one hand in the game that could ever beat it - the straight-flush, five consecutive cards of the same suit.
A hand Tewi was one card away from.
Sakuya raised an eyebrow, but it wasn?t from confusion. She looked over at Tewi with a hint of suspicion.
?I have to say, this hand seems rather...unlikely.?
Tewi tried her best to keep her excitement locked away, but it was a physical sensation now. She couldn?t keep herself still, waiting for the fourth card to be drawn; the card that would seal Sakuya?s fate and leave her with too few chips to even think of winning. Maybe she looked suspicious now, but what did it matter? Who?d believe the word of one gambler over the reputation and standing of the Rabbit?s Foot?
?Hey, y?know how Lady Luck works. Always saves the best for last.?
She snatched at her pendant so hard it practically snapped. Every nerve in her body was trembling now through sheer euphoria. She was going to savour seeing the smile slip from this girl?s face. She?d dream about it for weeks to come, remember it for the rest of her life, tell stories about it in her old age to anyone who cared to listen.
The fourth card was drawn, slamming onto the felt table with a tiny but dramatic slam. It was exactly what both players had expected. Initially Mokou and Koishi were confused by the sudden shift in atmosphere, but the dealer was kind enough to point out what had happened.
?The fourth card is the Ten of Spades. Miss Inaba has made a Royal Flush and has won the hand.?
The near instant shift from victory to defeat was enough to make Koishi feel ill. The colour flushed from her face, and her eyes started to mist up.
Y-You?re kidding me. There?s gotta be something she can do, right?Sango looked over to her, solemn. There was a long sigh as the dolphin shook her head.
?Fraid not. The Royal Flush is the best hand in the whole game. It?s over.Koishi could feel her hands starting to ball up. The casino was blatantly cheating now. No-one here honestly believed otherwise. But what was there they could do, accuse the casino of cheating? If they did that, they?d just get called out for trying to cheat and help Sakuya. This was no magical villain they were up against - this was sheer human greed, and no amount of dolphin riding would help with that.
?THANK YOU, LADY LUCK! I KNEW you?d show up when things mattered!?
Tewi pulled her chair away, shouting upwards to no-one in particular. It was only half-acted - she really was so excited she needed to scream to let it out, but luck had nothing to do with it. She glared over the table, looking at Sakuya?s expression, ready to savour the look of despair that had shifted onto her face.
She was disappointed to see nothing there. Sakuya continued staring blankly at the four cards on the table, seeming mildly frustrated at worst.
?Dealer. There?s still one card left.?
The dealer looked over, seeming surprised.
?U-Uh, Miss Izayoi. I assumed you would realise that there is no way you can win this ha-?
?Play it. There?s still room for a miracle.?
Every eye in the room turned to her in bewilderment. Was she the only one who didn?t realise she was dead in the water now? No-one said a word, but the condescending look on Tewi?s face said more than any word could have.
?...Oh, why not? Put the girl out of her misery.?
Tewi shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing that could go wrong here anyway, and she gave the dealer a nod of approval. He reached down, almost deliberately hesitating as he went for the last card. There was no sound in the room other than the ticking of a large clock in the distance.
Koishi?s mind was still spinning. Why was Sakuya so insistent on this? Everyone else had told her the hand was over, and she was inclined to believe them. Mokou and Sango were about as lost, but Nitori?s eyes were focused intently on the blonde now.
Sakuya?s eyes were focused on the dealer. She glared at the cards with a look that seemed set to kill, as if trying to manipulate them with her mind. She raised a hand upward, and clicked her fingers.
*The clock stopped.
So did everything else.
What the?!Koishi?s mind was still aware, but the rest of her body had frozen in place. She couldn?t move, she couldn?t speak, she couldn?t blink, she couldn?t breathe. The world around her had taken on an almost sepia tint, like a photograph catching the moment for posterity. At the corner of her eye, Koishi saw that the rest of the ?culinary staff? was frozen in place as well, and across from her the dealer?s hand hovered eternally over the deck. Tewi hung still, her face caught in a look of pure cruelty.
Only Sakuya moved, calmly rising up from her chair and walking towards the dealer.
I-Izayoi-san is-?!Koishi couldn?t even pass her thoughts on to Sango any more, leaving her with nothing to do but watch the gambler?s every movement. Sakuya stopped just in front of the dealer, reaching out to the deck. She only made one change; taking the bottom card and placing it on the top.
But why would she do that? The bottom card?s the-Something clicked in the back of her head. Now Koishi?s mind was as frozen solid as the rest of her. She was shocked, amazed, and enawed all at once, but all of those emotions were caught in place until Sakuya had retaken her seat. Nonchalantly she sat back, clicking her fingers again.
The world shifted back into colour, and Koishi had to stop herself from gasping at what she?d just seen.
K-Koishi-san! Did you just...?!Sango turned to Koishi, her face trying to display about half a dozen different emotions at once. Koishi nodded, not doing much better in the contemplation department. They?d both seen exactly what had happened, and from the looks on their faces Mokou and Nitori had as well. Only the professor had maintained a sensible look, turning to Sakuya with something that resembled pride.
There was no doubt about it. Sakuya, consciously or otherwise, had stopped time and shifted the deck in her favour. The only two who weren?t aware of this were Tewi and the dealer, but they?d find out soon enough.
The fifth card was drawn and played.
?The last card is the Six of Di-?
The dealer?s voice cut out. He knew ahead of time which card would appear. Nothing of use to Sakuya, and nothing worth mentioning. He?d made sure of that. Doubly sure. More sure than he could ever be.
But that wasn?t the Six of Diamonds down there. It wasn?t even a diamond. It was a card that shouldn?t have existed, shouldn?t have been played, and shouldn?t have had any place down there.
It was the King of Spades. The second one.
Tewi?s face morphed within a second. The look of joyful glee shifted only momentarily to one of absolute horror, finally replaced with one of total fury.
?I...you...what...how?!?
Sakuya allowed herself a small grin at the rage that had overtaken her competitor. She spoke matter-of-factly, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary here.
?I believe that gives me a five-of-a-kind, correct? And that makes me the winner.?
Technically, she was right. In games where a joker was included, five-of-a-kind was perfectly possible, and was the true strongest hand in the game. True, there was no joker in the deck this time around, but there were five kings, and so what was there to argue about?
She stood up, no longer paying any attention to the chips on the table. Her attention now fell on the suitcase filled to the brim with money, which she saw fit to walk up to and take from its podium.
?W-W-Wait! You cheated! You must have cheated! How the hell do you expect me to believe there were two of the same card in the deck?!?
Tewi was almost in tears now. Her body was shivering again, but not in the good way. The dealer had no comment to offer, but he had slumped over the table with a look of total despair on his face. Sakuya looked back at her opponent, placing her free hand on her chin and pondering.
?I don?t see why I should be implicated in that. After all, both of the Kings of Spades were drawn from the deck, correct? If you wish to accuse anyone of cheating, it would be our dealer friend appreciating the smell of felt over there.?
With that said, Sakuya started casually walking toward the door as if nothing had happened. Millions of yen were in the suitcase she was hauling out, money the casino had been planning to take for itself all night long. Tewi?s arm finally managed to rise upward, shouting as it pointed towards Sakuya with enough volume to make Koishi cringe.
?S-S-Somebody, stop her!?
Two guards were standing watch at the entrance, and as they heard Tewi?s call for support they made their way into the casino started approaching Sakuya threateningly. Both of them were at least a foot taller than her, and much stronger to boot. For the first time all night, a frown jumped onto Sakuya?s face - maybe she was intelligent, but physically she wasn?t much to speak of.
Which is why it was a relief to see a girl in a red bunnysuit give one of them a well-placed kick between the legs.
?I saw you staring at me earlier, you goddamned pervert!?
From the fury in Mokou?s face, she wasn?t lying when she said that. The man let out a tiny whimper as he grabbed as his crotch, then crumpled to the floor without so much as a word.
Sakuya?s face registered confusion for a few moments, until two hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from the still-standing bouncer.
?Don?t worry, we?ll get you out of here!?
That was confusing, for sure. The culinary staff were coming to her rescue? Perhaps they just wanted a share of the money after they?d made their escape. Either way, she wasn?t going to refuse them for now, and as the white bunny and the mer-maid carried her along to the exit she saw fit to keep up the pace.
That left one guard to quickly turn and chase the four girls currently running for the exit. He spun on his heels and charged, ready to knock the block off the first girl to come into reach.
Then he felt something prick the back of his neck, and suddenly every ounce of energy in his body disappeared. He fell to the floor like a rock, unconscious within seconds.
?Night-night, tough guy. Enjoy next morning?s hangover.?
Nitori smirked, still holding her arm out towards where the man had once been. She wasn?t that impressive magically, but handy devices like the dart-firing mechanism in her cuff made up for that. What the kappa lacked in strength, they made up for in sheer ingenuity.
Probably a bad idea to hang around, though. Hopping over the fallen men like a true bunny, Nitori slammed the door behind her as she made her way out of the casino. From then on it was a matter of catching up with the rest of the group as they charged onwards out of the district, into the main square. It was coming up to morning now, and in the early-day hubbub any other guards the casino sent out would lose track of them.
By the time they?d stopped running, Koishi was convinced her lungs had actually been set on fire. She grabbed at her knees, panting and wheezing, seeing that Sakuya across from her was no better.
?You really need to get some more exercise, Komeiji-san.?
Mokou seemed unfazed other than a layer of sweat. Nitori looked a little out of breath, and Sango just seemed more frustrated at having to use these lousy leg things. It took a minute or two for them to recover enough for any sort of conversation.
?...You...you four were a great help back there. I will admit that.?
Sakuya spoke gratefully, pulling herself up and bowing towards the group. Koishi was the first to respond, still gasping as she spoke.
?Don?t...mention it. We saw...what they were doing in there, and...?
Sakuya raised an eyebrow. She hadn?t expected an untrained hand to pick up on the casino?s cheating, that was for sure.
?...I assume you aren?t an ordinary catering company.?
?And proud of it! Now, shouldn?t you be heading home before those guards catch up with us??
Sakuya?s face expressed surprise for an instant as Nitori gave her a cheerful pat on the shoulder. She?d expected them to ask for a cut of the fortune she?d managed to take from the casino, but they were pressing her to make her escape without taking a single yen. Besides that, the one in blue made a good point - hanging around wasn?t going to help anyone.
?Hm, true. In that case, I offer you my heartfelt thanks, and bid you all a fond farewell.?
Turning on her heels, Sakuya walked out into the morning crowds. Within seconds, Koishi had lost sight of her. Mokou seemed to have had as much luck keeping track of her, though her brow was furrowed in disapproval.
?Shouldn?t we have talked to her? Y?know, about the whole time-stopping thing??
?We?ll have time for that later. We have a name to work with, so after I do some research on the Izayoi family we?ll just visit her and find out more then. Right now, I think you three need to have a good night?s rest. I?ll write you up as absent on the school register, so don?t worry about that.?
Now that she mentioned it, Koishi was having trouble keeping her eyes open. They?d stayed up all night for this - had Koishi ever done that before. She didn?t think so. Either way, she was going to take Nitori up on that offer, and wrapped her arm around Sango for support.
?Sounds like a plan. See you two later, then...?
Mokou offered a thumbs up, slightly more awake than Koishi was. Nitori seemed unfazed by her lack of sleep at all - these youkai and their endurance made Koishi jealous once in a while. Even Sango, currently making sure she didn?t collapse in the middle of the street, seemed better of than she was.
Why aren?t you tired at all, Sango-san?Uh, well, my job wasn?t that exciting, so I sorta turned my brain off. Half of it, anyway.Koishi chuckled to herself at the sound of that. Dolphins had all the fun.