At the card table—
Because she had already gone all-in, Hiyori Shiina was chatting with Symon in her mind until the dealer revealed the last community card. Only then did she turn her attention back to the table.
The ones still playing were Ryūen and Katsuragi. The community cards on the table were:
DQ, D9, D8, D6, D8
As the final card was dealt, a playful expression appeared on Ryūen's face. He reached out, pushed all 500,000 of his chips to the center of the table, and said casually, "All-in!"
Katsuragi couldn't help but frown, picking up his two hole cards to double-check them:
DQ, DQ
His hand was quite strong—a combination of three Queens and a pair of Eights—giving him a considerable chance of winning. However, the possibility of losing was also not low.
Symon calculated in his mind and analyzed casually, "This board looks pretty dangerous. A full house, a flush, four-of-a-kind 8s, and you can't rule out a Diamond straight flush... The probability of a monster hand is too high."
Hiyori Shiina nodded at his words. Watching Katsuragi's brow furrow deeper, she said softly in her mind, "From the looks of it, Katsuragi-san probably won't take the risk..."
As soon as she thought this, Katsuragi did indeed turn his two cards face down and push them toward the dealer—he folded.
At the same time, Ryūen glanced at his final opponent, Hiyori Shiina. With a sneer, he casually flipped over his two cards—DK, D7.
The corners of Ryūen's mouth curved into a pleased arc. "So? Any regrets?"
"Heh heh~!" Ibuki couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Katsuragi was momentarily speechless. After a brief silence, he shook his head and said, "No. From a rational perspective, the probability of failure was too high. I don't regret my decision."
Hearing this, Ryūen raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more. He looked up at Hiyori Shiina, signaling for her to show her cards.
Hiyori Shiina nodded, flipping over the two hole cards she hadn't even looked at herself and placing them on the table:
D10, DJ.
Seeing this, the dealer silently collected the cards from the table. He picked out seven red chips from the pot and passed them to Hiyori, pushing the rest toward Ryūen.
Just a straight flush, he thought. In all my years of dealing, what kind of hand haven't I seen? Nothing to make a fuss about...
Three minutes later, the dealer raised an eyebrow. He collected two Jacks from in front of the girl and pushed 3 black chips and 5 red chips toward her. Merely four Jacks, he thought. I've seen it all.
Another three minutes passed. The dealer took a handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and collected the pair of Queens from the girl's hand, pushing 13 black chips and 10 yellow chips in front of her...
I take back what I said before. This is a scene I truly have never witnessed!
...
—
Meanwhile, on the other side—
In the casino's surveillance room, the first-year homeroom teachers were seated on sofas. On the coffee table before them were ballpoint pens and student files as they observed the students on the monitor screens.
Hoshinomiya-sensei was sprawled limply on the sofa, complaining, "Is an exam like this really okay? The kids in my class are all good children. What about you, Sae-chan?"
"Class D will probably descend into chaos because of this."
Click! Sae Chabashira lit a cigarette and spoke in a calm tone, "Throwing the students into a dyeing vat like this... this supplementary exam is truly unabashedly malicious."
Kazuma Sakagami pushed up his glasses, a barely perceptible smile on his face. "At the very least, it gives us a reference to continue our end-of-term evaluation work, doesn't it?"
Not long ago, he had witnessed Hiyori Shiina's absurd luck firsthand, losing nearly half a month's salary. Now, seeing others jump into the pit, he naturally wasn't worried at all.
"Sigh... but look..."
Hoshinomiya pointed at a monitor screen, looking at Kanji Ike who was kneeling in front of a slot machine, clutching his head and wailing. With an innocent expression, she said, "It's only been a short while, and it looks like someone from Class D has already lost everything."
"It doesn't matter."
Sae Chabashira exhaled a smoke ring and said, as if nonchalantly, "Compared to my class, perhaps you should be more worried about yours. After all, Class D didn't have many private points to begin with."
After she spoke, the three homeroom teachers in the room fell silent, each recalling the point situation in their respective classes:
Class A had yet to be unified, with each student holding around 300,000 points on average. In this situation, there was no choice but to trust in the students' individual character.
Class B's situation was slightly better. Currently, 8 million private points were held by Kanzaki, but because Ichinose was too benevolent, her classmates also held around 100,000 private points each.
Class C's situation was even worse than Class B's. After the Uninhabited Island Exam and the VIP Exam, Ryūen had distributed 4.5 million points among his classmates. If they could hold onto even half of that after these three days, it would be considered a good outcome.
Hoshinomiya-sensei clutched her head. "It's scary just thinking about it. Don't say any more, Sae-chan."
"Alright, let's end this topic here."
Mashima-sensei tapped the table with his hand and stated calmly, "According to the plan, the exam will officially begin in three days. Please submit your respective class's group lists as soon as possible, and adhere to the confidentiality agreement."
Hoshinomiya: "Hai~"
...
____
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