The first round of the competition ended in a draw.
After Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Kamishita Nagi each retrieved their chips, they once again selected a set from their Tetra and pushed them to the middle of the table.
"The second round of the competition begins. Kamishita Nagi, you bet first this time." Mikura looked at Kamishita Nagi.
"Then… I'll bet one chip this time," Kamishita Nagi smiled, placing one chip in the center.
"Ayanokoji, it's your turn now."
"I bet 2 chips." Ayanokoji placed down two chips.
Meari and the others stood not far away, watching Ayanokoji's actions and quietly analyzing: "This time, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't go all in directly. It seems he didn't play Blackjack directly."
"That's right, but what about Kamishita Nagi…?"
They looked at Kamishita Nagi, and to their surprise, Kamishita Nagi actually pushed all four of his remaining chips forward.
"I'm all in."
Kamishita Nagi looked at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka provocatively: "Ayanokoji, you'll call, right?"
All in, again all in?
Togakushi Yukimi pushed up her glasses, frowning slightly: "Could it be that Kamishita Nagi will play Blackjack this hand?"
Kurume thought the same.
She nodded: "It's very possible."
"In the first round, Ayanokoji seized the initiative. Although he temporarily suppressed Kamishita Nagi's momentum, he revealed a piece of information about Ayanokoji: that he will choose to go all in when he is confident."
"If Kamishita Nagi noticed this, he might directly play Blackjack in the second round to quickly end the game."
Hanatemari Kazura pondered: "If Kamishita Nagi has Blackjack, the best way to play this gamble would be…"
"I choose to fold."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka confirmed Hanatemari's guess with his actions.
Once a player folds, the chips already placed on the table are lost to the opponent.
As the winner of this round, Kamishita Nagi, taking advantage of the situation, deliberately widened his eyes and feigned surprise: "No way, no way, why did you fold? Ayanokoji, do you really think I have Blackjack?"
Without waiting for Ayanokoji to answer, he suddenly burst into laughter: "Sorry, you guessed wrong, Blackjack is still in my hand!"
He extended his finger, pointing at the three remaining stacks of cards in front of him, a teasing smile on his face.
"Guess… is it this set, this set, or this set?"
Blackjack is [A + J], only two cards in total, but with interference cards, it's impossible to distinguish which is Blackjack from the number of cards.
Kamishita Nagi's actions were truly infuriating. Kurume was so angry that she rolled up her sleeves, wanting to rush over and confront him, but Meari quickly and deftly stopped her.
"What are you doing? They're still gambling. We can't disturb them."
"That Kamishita Nagi is a small-minded person who got lucky!" Kurume said furiously: "He just won a small hand, why is he so smug?"
Meari shook her head helplessly: "Don't be so anxious. This is his provocation, he just wants to make Ayanokoji lose his composure. Didn't he use it several times before? And you can still get provoked?"
"I know, I know, but I just can't help it…" Kurume mumbled, and after Meari let go of her, she didn't rush forward again.
Although Meari said this, she also felt a faint worry in her heart and pondered to herself.
As they had guessed before, there was a best match in this game. If both of them used the best match, then both sides' Tetra would be the same. If they folded directly, they would lose chips, which would be very disadvantageous for subsequent confrontations.
Moreover… folding meant that the Tetra of both sides would not be revealed, which was especially disadvantageous for Ayanokoji.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka not immediately calling the bet indicated that his Tetra was not "Blackjack," because Blackjack was the strongest Tetra, and if he had used Blackjack, he wouldn't have needed to hesitate at all.
On the other hand, Kamishita Nagi now had no way to confirm whether he used Blackjack in the second round, which would create a gap in information…
Ayanokoji now had to constantly think in the subsequent rounds whether Kamishita Nagi still had Blackjack. This would put Ayanokoji Kiyotaka at a disadvantage everywhere.
Hanatemari Kazura suddenly tugged Meari's arm and whispered: "Meari, is it possible that Kamishita Nagi has already used Blackjack? Is he just bluffing now?"
Meari shook her head.
"There's a possibility, but we can't be sure. This is Kamishita Nagi's cleverness, deliberately setting up a smokescreen with an exaggerated expression to prevent us from discerning his true intentions."
"Meari, if it were you, what would you choose?"
"...I should, probably, be the same as Ayanokoji, and choose to fold. After all, this is a big gamble involving forty million yen." Meari slowly exhaled.
In this match, she wished she could take Ayanokoji's place.
Meari had tried her best to think, but she was only observing as a bystander right now. If she were truly in Ayanokoji's position, she didn't know if she would be able to think so calmly.
Kamishita Nagi smugly pocketed the two gold coins, secretly delighted.
This [best match] was a gamble of predicting the opponent's psychology. The person who could see through the opponent's thoughts would win in the end.
Although he was caught off guard by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka at first, he had now taken the initiative.
Blackjack?
Of course, he didn't release it in the second round; that was his trump card.
He was just acting earlier.
Just like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, he also deliberately showed an attitude of staking everything in the second round.
But in reality, what he took out was just 21 points.
He understood as soon as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka only added two bets in the first instance; according to Ayanokoji's temperament in the first round, if he had a Blackjack, he would definitely go all-in directly, instead of making such a probe.
Since he figured out his cards, he didn't have to worry when raising the bet, so he simply went all-in directly.
Even if Ayanokoji Kiyotaka followed with an all-in, and they both went all-in together like in the first round, his 21 points would still be invincible.
In fact, the result was much better than he expected; Ayanokoji, fearing he would learn a lesson in this round and directly release "Blackjack," preferred to play it safe and fold.
As Kamishita Nagi was feeling pleased, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka chuckled softly, unexpectedly pouring cold water on his smugness.
"Kamishita Nagi, you're very happy right now, aren't you? But have you ever considered... what I played just now was actually my smallest card, 11 points?"
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