Although the girl was on Yumemi's side, the answer was what it was, and even if she was reluctant, she had to announce it.
She showed the answer on the envelope to everyone; as she had said, Ayanokouji Kiyohira's wasabi cake was in plate C.
Not in plate B, but in plate C...?
Upon learning this, Yumemi didn't immediately feel defeated; instead, her curiosity surged.
Yumemi turned off her earpiece and looked at Ayanokoji with a thirst for knowledge: "Ayanokoji, how did you do it? Why did you show no reaction at all even though you ate wasabi?"
She had trained herself for a week to barely suppress her physiological reactions; she really wanted to know what method Ayanokoji had used.
"Well... it's a secret." Ayanokoji shook his head mysteriously: "We're opponents now, I can't tell you."
The "secret" in Ayanokoji's mouth was naturally the existence of the system.
After learning that he was going to challenge the wasabi cake, Ayanokouji Kiyohira found a candy in his mailbox item that could temporarily make a person lose their sense of taste and smell, then materialized it in his hand and ate it.
The sensation of taste occurs when food stimulates the taste receptors in the oral cavity, which then transmit information through a neural sensory system to the taste center in the brain, and finally, through the analysis of the brain's comprehensive neural central system, taste is produced.
The same goes for smell.
The candy Ayanokouji Kiyohira ate inhibited the excitability of the neural sensory system, preventing the transmission of nerve impulses, making him truly "eat like chewing wax" when he ate these three cakes; he himself didn't know what differences there were in the taste of these cakes.
However, when he ate the wasabi, because wasabi also produces a stimulating "spicy taste," Ayanokouji Kiyohira still felt a slight stinging sensation from his tongue and nasal cavity.
And this spiciness was completely tolerable for Ayanokouji Kiyohira, allowing him to remain composed.
It would indeed be quite difficult for Yumemi to determine the location of the wasabi cake from his reaction.
How stingy, not telling... Yumemi pouted.
Although she lost the first round, she wasn't too worried.
After all, she was the one posing the challenges; she could completely choose games that were advantageous to her, as long as she won the subsequent ones.
Yumemi invited her two friends off the stage and had them take the tableware away.
The next game wouldn't require the two of them.
"The winner of the first round is this lucky audience member, Ayanokouji Kiyohira. The second round's game is—[Old Maid]!"
Old Maid is a very common game with simple rules: take out a deck of cards, remove one Old Maid card, and after shuffling, the two players start drawing cards from each other. If a matching pair is drawn, they continue drawing. If not, it's the other player's turn to draw.
When all the cards are drawn, whoever is left with the single Old Maid card is the loser.
When Yumemi announced the name of this game, Ayanokouji Kiyohira chuckled again.
He wondered what Yumemi was thinking; the second game was also within his area of expertise.
The game of "Old Maid" might seem to rely solely on luck, but another important factor that determines the outcome is observation.
When a participant holds the unique "Old Maid" card, they might not realize it, but their body's various unconscious movements can actually reveal their thoughts. When a person is thinking, their body will make tiny movements, and these movements have a discernible pattern.
So sometimes there's no need to guess where the Old Maid card is; by simply observing the opponent's micro-expressions, one can completely ascertain the card's location.
This was also Ayanokouji Kiyohira's specialty.
Yumemi had essentially walked right into a trap.
Yumemi took a deck of poker cards from a staff member, unwrapped the plastic seal in front of all the audience members, and after removing the blank cards and one gray Old Maid card from the deck, she began to shuffle. She then divided the cards into two roughly equal piles and let Ayanokouji Kiyohira choose first.
Ayanokoji chose the pile with fewer poker cards.
Next, both of them needed to first remove any duplicate cards from their hands, leaving only single cards.
Unfortunately, Ayanokoji found that his hand contained the extra "Old Maid" card. In the end, Ayanokouji Kiyohira was left with 13 cards, while Yumemi had 12 cards.
This meant that Yumemi had the initial advantage and would start drawing cards first.
"Hehe... I'm going to start drawing!"
Yumemi licked her lips, looking intently at the poker cards in Ayanokoji's hand as if she were about to taste a delicacy, then extended her slender finger and began to draw a card from Ayanokoji's hand.
Yumemi drew very decisively in each round, without hesitation.
This was a game where two people drew Old Maid cards from each other, so unless the Old Maid card was drawn, the opponent would always have a corresponding card.
It's like billiards; once a ball is pocketed, unless there's a mistake, it's always the opponent's turn.
If one's luck was good enough, they could even "clear the table," leaving the opponent with only the Old Maid card.
However, it seemed Yumemi's luck wasn't that good; her unhesitating drawing method still led her to draw the Old Maid card.
Yumemi let out a regretful "Tsk," but still obediently tidied her cards and placed them on the table for Ayanokouji Kiyohira to draw.
Yumemi also knew that when on the defensive, every move could reveal one's thoughts.
This was a test of "acting skills"; she put on an expressionless, poker face, giving Ayanokouji Kiyohira no information to analyze.
Indeed, Yumemi's expression was spot on; her expression didn't change as Ayanokouji Kiyohira drew each card.
However, besides expressions, various subtle body movements can also reveal the owner's mood.
Ayanokouji Kiyohira noticed that when his finger brushed over the cards from the center-left position, Yumemi's pinky finger pad would unconsciously tense up.
But when his finger hovered over other cards, her pinky didn't have this reaction.
This was a sign of a nervous reaction; this movement was very subtle, so much so that even the person themselves wouldn't notice it, but Ayanokouji Kiyohira was able to determine the location of the Old Maid card through her unconscious micro-movement.
So, Ayanokouji Kiyohira deliberately ignored the left side and started drawing cards from the last card on the right, successfully matching one card after another...
When Yumemi was finally left with only three cards, she realized something was wrong.
Ayanokouji Kiyohira must have known the location of the Old Maid card!
"Wait a moment!"
Yumemi quickly put the remaining cards in her hand under the gambling table and started shuffling, hoping to create confusion and make Ayanokouji Kiyohira draw the Old Maid card.
Even though there were only three cards, no matter how she shuffled, the position changes were limited to only a few variations, yet she shuffled for a full minute before slowly putting her hand back on the card table.
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