The first person to react to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's words was not Meari and the others, but Kamishita Nagi.
"Seriously, you clearly won, why do you want to eat yakiniku…? Haven't you mocked me enough?"
He grumbled, climbed up from the table, and handed a bank card, held between two fingers, to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Kamishita Nagi sighed, put away the slippery smile on his face, and said seriously, "I lost this gamble. I will honor my bet."
This card was a bank card containing 40 million Japanese Yen, the stake of this gamble.
Kamishita Nagi's expression still held unwillingness, annoyance, and regret, but at this moment, he still honored his bet and admitted his defeat.
"Alright, you're actually willing to concede…" Ayanokoji took the card and couldn't help but look at him with increased respect.
Many people would stubbornly refuse to admit defeat after losing a gamble. Kamishita Nagi, who was willing to admit he lost, was already considered to have good gambling ethics.
"I admit I lost, but I didn't lose to you, I lost to my overconfidence. I underestimated you."
Kamishita Nagi stared at Ayanokoji, took a deep breath, and said, "I will definitely win this money back!"
"Before you win it back, you should pay off your debts first." Ayanokoji kindly reminded him, and Kamishita Nagi's face immediately turned sour.
Even if Mibuomi Aoi would bear four-fifths of it for him, he still needed to pay eight million of the debt.
Eight million… How long would it take to save up that much money?
"Sorry, I lost." Kamishita Nagi came before Ibuki Jotaro and said with a bitter smile.
"I saw it." Ibuki Jotaro didn't say much to Kamishita Nagi. He looked at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and said in a deep voice, "You are very strong. I will challenge you tomorrow."
"No need to see us out."
Ibuki Jotaro and Kamishita Nagi left. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka then looked at Sachiko Juraku, "Senior Juraku, are you satisfied with the result of this gamble?"
"It was a good pastime. I enjoyed it very much."
Sachiko Juraku stood up and looked at Ayanokoji with interest, "Can you tell me, why did you dare to bet your 11 points in the third round? You were the one who had to make the first bet. Weren't you worried that Kamishita Nagi would call?"
The real reason, of course, was that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had activated the "safety net mechanism" and wasn't worried about losing.
Whenever Ayanokoji Kiyotaka went astray and was about to make a wrong choice in gambling, leading to a loss, the system would promptly correct his mistake.
In this 'best match' gamble, the system only spoke once, and that was in the third round.
For the rest of the time, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was basically in control, and the system assumed that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was making the correct decisions and did not interfere.
Of course, these things cannot be told to outsiders.
"Because… I believed I would win," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka answered Sachiko Juraku's question this way.
This wasn't a very good answer, but Sachiko Juraku nodded thoughtfully, "I see… Mikura, let's go."
Sachiko Juraku walked to the door of the room and suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, remember to find some time to give Mikura a tip. I don't think I need to say more about that, do I?"
When Mikura came to help before, she never asked for a tip.
However, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's victory in this game was, to some extent, based on Mikura's grouping.
If she had let Kamishita Nagi speak first, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would not have been able to take the initiative in the third round.
In a casino, winners always give some tips to the Dealer as a celebration. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka won forty million Japanese Yen in this round, so he should give Mikura some tips.
Even if Sachiko Juraku hadn't said anything, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already thought of finding Mikura privately under the guise of gratitude, but he didn't expect her to bring it up herself.
"I know that…" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied with a smile, winking at Mikura when no one was looking.
He had originally worried that Mikura would refuse him because of Sachiko Juraku, but now that he was approaching her, she had no reason to refuse.
After glaring fiercely at Ayanokoji, Mikura also left with Sachiko Juraku.
Now, only Meari and the other insiders remained in the room.
"This gamble was truly thrilling, Ayanokoji. Before your cards were revealed, I thought you were sure to lose," Togakushi Yukimi said with relief.
"The boss is very strong. A small fry like Kamishita Nagi definitely can't beat him!" Kurume quickly expressed her loyalty. If Meari didn't know Kurume was the most nervous, she would have believed it.
Meari walked up to Ayanokoji. She didn't praise Ayanokoji, but instead, she unhappily blamed him, "Ayanokoji, this was a big gamble of 40 million! How dare you gamble like that! Weren't you afraid of losing?"
While watching from the side, she was so worried she wanted to die, wishing she could gamble herself, and only relaxed after he won.
Ayanokoji had always advised her not to gamble, but wasn't he gambling quite happily himself, and with such a large amount that she couldn't even imagine?
She couldn't even imagine what would happen if he lost.
"They came to me on their own initiative, and I couldn't very well refuse," Ayanokoji shrugged helplessly. "I couldn't just hand over the patent rights, could I?"
"This is already a gamble of tens of millions. Even if you handed it over, you wouldn't be at a loss, would you?"
Meari personally analyzed for Ayanokoji, "Even if we continue to operate the casino now, the monthly revenue is only a few million.
Although you've received a lot of money from Mibuomi Aoi, under the Martin Gale Strategy, all the money you win will be lost if you lose once. It's better to hand over the patent rights to Mibuomi Aoi now, take the money, and stop running the casino!"
"You've already earned enough. There's no need to continue taking risks…"
Meari stood from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's perspective and considered his well-being. This touched Ayanokoji very much. He smiled helplessly and interrupted Meari.
"Meari, do you think I opened this casino because I lack money? With the funds I have, I could play a hand at any casino and earn more than what this casino makes in a month. I don't lack the hush money Mibuomi Aoi gave me."
"Then why did you open this casino?" Meari looked up and asked subconsciously.
She had always been puzzled. Opening a casino was a thankless task. Why would Ayanokoji do it?
"…"
In other aspects, Meari was very smart, so why was she confused about this question?
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sighed lightly, didn't answer the question, and turned to the girls with a smile, "Alright, we made a big profit today. The casino will be temporarily closed. Let's go eat yakiniku together. My treat."
When he said yakiniku, he meant yakiniku. He wasn't Sato Taro, so there was no need to worry about any death flags.
"Long live the boss!"
"Yay!"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and his group tidied up the casino and happily left.
Ten minutes later, a group of "players" who wanted to climb the ranks in the ranking match on Monday saw the "Closed for the day" sign on the door of the Chemistry Preparation Room and fell into contemplation.
Why didn't they say anything in advance about closing? Is this casino just so casual?
They're not open on a great Monday opportunity! Don't they know this is when they earn the most?
These people looked at the tightly shut doors and could only leave helplessly.
What Ayanokoji didn't expect was that his casual behavior instead solidified a belief in some people's minds—this casino is so casual, completely disregarding opening hours, it must be run by the Student Council!
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