Miharu Taki Sakura didn't look closely, just pointed casually: "This one."
Meari saw that there was a printer in the room and asked, "Can I use the printer?"
"Yes."
Meari scanned the printer's QR code, connected to the printer via wireless network, and printed out three copies of the document. She handed two of them to the two people.
"These are the game rules. Please take a look. If you're not satisfied with the rules, you can speak up, and I'll be responsible for modifying them."
Miharu Taki Sakura lowered her head to read the document.
The rules of the game she chose were actually very simple: just use a set of Go pieces, both sides take turns rolling dice, and then take out a corresponding number of pieces from the bowl. The person who takes the last piece will lose.
Miharu Taki Sakura quickly realized that this was actually a variation of "Nim game."
Nim game is a turn-based mathematical strategy game played by two people.
Players take turns removing one or more pieces from a pile. The person who cannot remove any more pieces loses. When a specified number is designated, such a pile of pieces is called a Nim pile.
This game is very common in daily life. In elementary school and kindergarten, girls often play this game with one or more flowers, picking 1-3 different petals each turn. The one who picks the last petal wins.
In game theory, Nim game is a very important model, belonging to impartial games.
This is a turn-based two-player game where both sides are equal. Here, equal means that all available moves depend only on the current state, and not on whose turn it is. In other words, the two players are indistinguishable except for who goes first, making it a very fair game.
Miharu Taki Sakura felt this game was fair enough and nodded: "I have read the rules and agree to gamble with this game."
Although Nim game is very fair, there is a winning strategy in Nim game; if found, the second player always wins.
But the dice-rolling game Meari proposed was different.
No one knows what will be rolled each time the dice are thrown, so even if you know the winning strategy, if the number rolled by the dice is not what you want, it's impossible to truly "win for sure."
In other words, the introduction of the "dice" mechanism successfully transformed the Nim game from a game requiring extensive calculations into a purely luck-based game.
There is no room for technical calculation in the entire game; it is fair and just. In a casino, a game based on luck naturally attracts more attention.
Her luck should be good enough, right?
Meari subconsciously gripped the pendant around her neck—it was the Luck Rabbit Foot Ayanokoji had given her.
Luck Rabbit Foot, you must bring me luck…
...
Ayanokoji took a short nap. When he opened his eyes, he found that a few people were missing from the Cooking Room. Only Kurume Laiwei was still nearby, looking down at her phone.
"Where are the others?"
"Togakushi Yukimi is working next door. Meari and Hanatemari both took leave." Kurume didn't even look up, just kept tapping on her phone.
"Meari and Hanatemari, why are those two skipping work today?" Ayanokoji didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Yesterday, Meari and Kurume disappeared. Today, the person who left with Meari was Hanatemari Kazura.
Although he had few rules here, everyone was working for him after all, and running around all day wasn't a solution.
Meari hadn't worked for two consecutive days, and Ayanokoji was thinking about whether to deduct some of Meari's bonus as punishment.
However, Meari had just acquired a large sum of money through gambling, so she probably wouldn't care if he deducted her money.
If she didn't care about mental punishment, then he would give her some physical punishment...
Seeing Ayanokoji suddenly laugh nervously, Kurume shivered involuntarily. Although she didn't know what he was thinking, it definitely wasn't anything good.
Kurume quickly spoke, interrupting Ayanokoji's thoughts: "If I'm not mistaken, Meari must have gone to gamble with Miharu Taki Sakura to get your 80 million. Do you want to go and see?"
Ayanokoji had just interrogated Meari yesterday, and today she went gambling again. Kurume was very curious to see how Ayanokoji would deal with Meari this time, and whether Meari's favorability would decrease again.
But what Kurume didn't expect was that Ayanokoji didn't care at all and said casually, "Since she wants to go, then let her."
Kurume raised an eyebrow, saying in disbelief, "Meari went gambling in your name, and the bet was 80 million! Aren't you going to do something about it!?"
Ayanokoji smiled indifferently: "What is there for me to manage? My goal has already been achieved, so it doesn't matter even if she loses."
Anyway, this time Meari wasn't losing her own money, so let her gamble if she wanted to.
In fact, Ayanokoji's goal had already been achieved when Miharu Taki Sakura accepted the money, and he no longer cared about the ownership of those eighty million.
Why did Ayanokoji, who had previously concealed his relationship with Miharu Taki, suddenly expose the fact that they had dinner together last night in front of everyone?
Why did Ayanokoji hand over the eighty million to Miharu Taki Sakura in front of everyone, preferring to admit defeat rather than gamble with her?
Why did Ayanokoji not care about the ownership of the eighty million, showing a strong liking for her?
Because Ayanokoji had been planning for a long time and finally couldn't help but make his move.
In fact, Ayanokoji had also noticed through these past few days of gambling that Mibuomi Aoi's true intention was not the "Landlord patent rights," but something else.
The value of the patent rights, to be honest, even if Ayanokoji valued it highly, was only 50 million. In the eyes of others, the value of these patent rights was even lower, at most 30 million.
However, Mibuomi Aoi had already put up a much larger sum of money for gambling against him.
Moreover, he showed no signs of stopping, even successively sending two council members, and even the Zenshoukai's vice-captain, Miharu Taki Sakura.
Was he truly reluctant to lose these tens of millions, or did he have other motives?
Ayanokoji was very concerned about this point.
Even if he was confident in winning every gamble easily, it was better to be safe than sorry. Ayanokoji felt very uncomfortable not knowing Mibuomi Aoi's thoughts.
Last night, when he heard from Miharu Taki Sakura that Mibuomi Aoi wanted to invite him to join Zenshoukai, he further confirmed this point—this guy had other plans.
Therefore, Ayanokoji deliberately used the 80 million gambling fund today, and showed his affection for Miharu Taki Sakura, to probe Mibuomi Aoi's thoughts.
If he cared about this money, then giving the eighty million to him through Miharu Taki Sakura would be a good way to resolve the trouble with money.
If he cared about something else, then he would definitely send someone else to gamble with him.
At that time, he would have a good reason to say that he was not interested in money, and if they wanted to gamble, they should bring out other valuable things, otherwise, it was out of the question.
So... when Mibuomi Aoi noticed that he had feelings for his fiancée, what would he choose to do?
Whether his fiancée was more important or the thing he was plotting was more important, the answer would then be revealed.
This move is called "throwing stones to test the waters."
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