Shinomiya Kei POV
We were all getting ready for bed. Yuuichi-kun and Kiyotaka-san are just casually chatting as usual. You know sometimes I feel jealous seeing those two looking all buddy-buddy. I mean I've known Yuuichi-kun longer than that guy, but they seem to have a good understanding of each other's personality despite the fact they still don't know that much about each other.
I have to admit, Kiyotaka-san is one hell of a genius. But of course, I have yet to see the full extent of it. To be honest, if I wasn't in the same class as him. He would've been the best rival I've ever had. But I guess given that we are in the same class. I'll consider him as a friend and an ally for now.
As everyone got ready for bed, the door was forcibly opened, and it was Nagumo-senpai and three other senpais that arrived. Well, I guess this night might be interesting after all. Kiyotaka-san and Yuuichi-kun as well as the other boys saw them come in.
"Nagumo-senpai! what can we do for you?" I asked politely
"Oh, nothing much but I'm only here to play a game" he said
"A game?" Yuuichi-kun asked
"That's right" he said as he pulled out a deck of cards. Now this is really getting interesting
"If I lose, the 2nd and 3rd years will be making breakfast tomorrow, however if you lose, the 1st years have to do it instead tomorrow" he stated
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Togami said as he joins in
"No jokes, besides I'm just here to have fun"
"More like wasting our time, seriously I need my shut eye" Hikigaya said
"Shinomiya" he called me out
"Hmm?"
"How about I challenge you to a little game, since you've been up in my face even before the sports festival" he said
"Was I? ohh yeah, I did so because you're an arrogant idiot who decides to challenge the best class in all of ANHS" I said confidently but that stupid clown decided to laugh
"You really believe that your class is better than me? I don't know what Horikita-senpai see in this class but all of you are nothing compared to me" Hoh you have no idea just how wrong you are.
"Okay if that's what you think then let's begin. However, I'll be choosing the game" I said with a smile
"Ohh really now, alright then pick your game" Nagumo-senpai said
"It's simple, how about this one that I just came up with. I call it High Value"
"Hmm?"
"It's simple we shuffle the deck first and each of us draw up to 5 cards from the deck. We lay those cards facedown and then we each choose one card out of the 5 we have in our hand then we both flip those chosen cards faceup. The owner of the chosen card that has the highest value wins. We play until one of us get reaches 3 points. Also, we must discard that chosen card since it's already been used. Simple right?" I explained
"So, we both draw 5 cards and just choose one card per round?" He asked
"That's right but you are not allowed to look underneath the card until the player reveals the card at least on the first round." I spoke
"What do you mean? so there's more?"
"Correct, because here's the rest of the rules. From the 2nd round onwards. We can choose two actions. 1st is that we can draw one card from the deck per round but of course it should be face down so we both don't know what it is. 2nd is that we can choose to look underneath one card facedown card per round. So practically you can choose either to have an extra card to have more chances in drawing a high value card or you can look at one card that is facedown which allows you to strategically plan your next move."
"I see, so we can only choose one of those actions per round depending on the players strategy" Nagumo-senpai said
"Correct, but obviously that would all depend on luck. Because if you end up drawing a low value card, you might just lose or if you don't draw but you look at one of your cards. You'll miss your chance to potentially get a higher value card like a king or queen"
"Hmm interesting game you came up with. Very well then, bring us that table" Nagumo commanded the 3rd years to grab a nearby table. We both grabbed our chairs and sat on it.
"I'll shuffle if that's alright?" I asked
"By all means" Nagumo replied
"Also, one more thing. jokers will be considered the lowest value in this game, but it's the only card that can beat a king. Also, whoever ends up with the same value in that one card is considered a tie and will be discarded" I added another rule.
"I see"
I begin to shuffle; I noticed that Kiyotaka-san and Yuuichi-kun are watching. Good, because watch me make a fool out of this president. Right now, it looks like that I'm shuffling normally but you could say that I'm strategically shuffling it in a way that can give me cards that allow me to get an advantage from the start, but I have something else in mind since I want to embarrass him to the fullest.
After shuffling, I placed the deck on the table.
"First let's distribute our cards" I said as I gave one card to myself and gave the next to Nagumo and so on until we get five.
"So, this is a game of chance. You will have no clue which card is which until it is chosen and revealed" Yuuichi-kun said
"Yes, but since it's only the first round you cannot use the two actions that Shinomiya mentioned" Togami said
We laid our 5 cards face down on the table. Since I have no idea or at least I want Nagumo to think that I have no idea as which card is which. Let's toy with him a bit as I choose the card on my far right. Nagumo already chose his card.
"Alright now we open the card at the same time."
"3"
"2"
"1"
We both opened our cards and the result of the first round was I chose the ace of hearts while Nagumo chose the 8 of spades.
"Ha! looks like I win the first round" he said arrogantly
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Ayanokouji POV
As smart as Kei is, because this is a game of chance. there are different ways that you can win or lose a round. So far Nagumo has won the first round. That means both players now only have 4 cards.
"Time for the second round, we can now choose either to draw or look at one card." Kei said
"Fine I'll check one of my cards" Nagumo said as he chose one card from the 4. He chose the one on the far left.
"Then I'll opt to draw" Kei said as he drew a card.
"Wait, isn't this a bit risky?" Yuuichi asked
"Yes, but look at Kei" I said
"He seems pretty confident right now, I wonder why?" I asked
"You're right looks like Kei has a plan that we don't know about yet" Yuuichi seems to notice it too.
The second round begins. Kei has the hand advantage, but Nagumo has one card that he now knows. It will all depend on if Nagumo would use the information on that card he has right now.
"I'll select this one" Kei said as he chose the middle card as Nagumo chose his next card.
"3"
"2"
"1"
They both flipped their card and Kei had 5 of clubs while Nagumo had the queen.
"Hahahahaahah, that's two points. Now I'm already a step closer to winning" he said arrogantly
"Awww damn it why can't I get the right damn card" Kei said angrily, well this is unlike him.
"Looks like the "genius" can't even win a game of chance. Looks like this is my win"
"Looks like he isn't much of a genius after all huh?" Hashimoto said sounding amused
"Are you sure about that?" I heard Yuuichi's tone change.
"Listen, Kei maybe in a losing position but he's only getting started" Yuuichi said confidently
"You do realize he's in a losing position, how can he comeback from that?" Hikigaya asked
"Oh, you'll see, Kei always has a plan, just watch" Yuuichi said as he points at Kei.
"Not bad President-senpai, you really had me on the ropes. However, you will lose." Kei said with confidence
"Alright, then I'll finish this here and now" Nagumo said with a sinister smile as I noticed that his eyes are gazing on the card that he looked underneath. Could it be that the card Nagumo had there is a high valued card like a king? It's a possibility for sure. It's the 3rd and potentially final round for Kei. Even though Kei is on a 2-point deficit, he seems to somehow calm himself down.
"Alright I'll look at one of my cards" Kei said as he looked at one of his cards. I can see a small smirk forming in his face. I wonder what that card was?
"Time to begin" Nagumo said as he chose the card he recently looked before and Kei chose the card that he didn't look at? Was it a bad card that he didn't choose? But given that smirk, he could be creating a bluff of sorts.
"I'm guessing the card you looked at isn't the one you want?" Nagumo asked mockingly
"Hardly, in fact there's a reason why I didn't choose that card and you're about to find out"
This Kei sounds more confident than usual, in fact he seems like he knew what he was doing from the start. Wait could he be....
"This is your final round" Nagumo said with a proud tone
"Fine by me"
"3"
"2"
"1"
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"WHAT!? IT CAN'T BE!"
To everyone's shock except for me, Yuuichi, and even Koenji. Kei's card that was revealed was a joker and Nagumo's had the king which I anticipated that it would be.
"No no this must be a fluke, right?" Nagumo was in shock when he saw the card that was in front of him now
"Didn't you know, I had the joker the entire time" he said
"Wha-what does that mean? You cheated, didn't you?" Nagumo said
"Cheat? I have no idea what you're talking about" Kei said trying to play innocent
"See I told you" Yuuichi said
"Then how did you..."
"Shut up and play the game" Kei was now wearing a devious smile, different from his confident one as the fourth round begins and Nagumo chose to look at his two remaining cards, but I noticed he was sweating bullets. He definitely didn't have a high value card, so he chose the other card instead. Kei chose his next one with confidence and the result was the same as the last one. Kei beats him with 9 of hearts while Nagumo chose a 3 of clovers.
"This can't be..." Nagumo couldn't believe what he was seeing right now.
"What's wrong Mr. President-senpai? Why the long face?" Kei's grin was now visible. As they both ready up their last cards.
"What's wrong, not gonna pick up from the deck?" Kei asked with a mocking tone
"You're bluffing, that card could be a low value card that you chose. It's impossible that you can have it." Nagumo said
"Really? then let's find out if yours can beat mine."
The final round begins as they are now 2-2, one of these cards will decide the winner.
"3"
"2"
"1"
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Nagumo's expression completely changed. The card he had was a 2 of clubs while Kei had
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4 of spades
"This can't be, no I don't lose, I never lose!" Nagumo is slowly breaking down as the shock was felt across the room.
"Looks like I win" Kei said.
"No, I will not accept this. You clearly cheated!" he shouted
"To tell you the truth of course I did, slightly since you didn't even bother thinking of drawing another card which was a mistake on your end" Kei said as he began to explain his part
"You see, you already know that I looked at the cards before shuffling in case of anything suspicious but what I did was simple. I did a little false shuffling"
"False...shuffling?" Nagumo said while still in shock
"That's right, I saw that the king was on the top of the deck so what I did is that I did a specific kind of false shuffling to guarantee you to draw the most amount of high value cards which includes the king and mine to guarantee that I get to draw the joker to my hand. I allowed you to have those high value cards and mine with low value to give you some hope of winning, but I anticipated that by the second round you would look at one of your cards to see if it's a king and I noticed that look on your face when you saw that card on the second round which made me already realize that you had the king. As for the third round, I did pull a bluff with the card on my left which was the last card I used. I knew that I had the joker in the first place based on how I shuffled it. Thus, I predicted that you might believe that I was desperate and chose a different card but in reality, that was the card that I wanted to choose in the first place. And from there I knew that you would end up losing the first two high value cards and expecting you to play the king for the third round because you think that no card in my hand can beat it but as I already explained that didn't work out. The moment you played that king was the moment you already lost. And on top of that I knew that you end up becoming desperate and so you looked at the cards rather than drawing since you know it would be too risky and I took advantage of that risk. Because you wouldn't risk drawing, you played it safe which was your downfall. I knew that those cards were low value since you started losing composure by the 4th round. In short, yes, I played you like you were nothing"
Nagumo and the rest were speechless from Kei's ingenious plan to win the game. He was in Nagumo's head the entire time. Those two losses that Kei had was him just testing the waters. He allowed Nagumo to let his pride run wild until it came crashing down in an instant.
"Do you understand now?" Kei asked as he walks towards Nagumo who now looks defeated
"Even the almighty Student council president is no match for me, and you know why"
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"Because I'm a genius"