Dual Schemes and Victory

With the music stopping, the room fell into silence once more.

Star Color removed the blindfold, meeting Fuka Kiryuin's confident smile.

Unfazed, Star Color simply tilted his head and spoke.

"The first cup on the right. Open it."

Asahina Nazuna opened it, as if Star Color had a pair of special eyes that could see everything.

Even Asahina Nazuna didn't know what Star Color had done.

"I've already deduced your cheating method, you cunning junior."

"First, the music that played had dissonant notes. This Bluetooth Speaker probably isn't connected to Asahina Nazuna's phone, but someone else's. You have another accomplice, don't you?"

"An accomplice not even the referee Asahina knows about."

Kiryuin looked down at Star Color from above, legs crossed, exuding a composed confidence. Their auras clashed, involuntarily reminding Star Color of the 'long-dead Hanako' from his class.

(Sakayanagi Arisu: You bastard! I'm not dead!)

"No, not at all."

"Just like a villain's feeble excuse in an anime. There might be a Micro Camera in this room. And the dissonant notes in the music from the speaker were actually a code. If I extrapolate, a code built from musical notes, used to cheat or even communicate."

A look of embarrassment crept onto Star Color's face.

Kiryuin's killing intent grew more pronounced. Her death-smile face leaned closer to Star Color.

"Next round, no playing the speaker! If you can still answer correctly, then this lady will be at your disposal. If you get it wrong, even little Asahina won't be able to save you."

Fuka Kiryuin clenched one hand into a fist and used the other to press her knuckles, producing a crisp, terrifying crack.

"Senior... are you a violent maniac?"

Star Color swallowed hard. Internally, he frantically cursed Nagumo Miyabi himself, warmly wishing his mother and father good health, not even sparing his future children.

Though this woman had a nasty personality, she still had methods worth [taming]. She barely met the requirements, but she couldn't compare to those two from the [Gambling Officer] era...

If those two had come, they'd probably beat these brats into Two-Dimensional Foil and send them off to a beautiful Another Dimension.

"Do you think this lady is a violent maniac?"

Kiryuin's death-smile face drew even closer.

Star Color's cat-like lips immediately sealed shut, cold sweat streaming down as he shook his head.

Then his vision plunged into darkness—

Kiryuin was like the Grim Reaper gripping Star Color's throat. He felt a terrifying aura and trembled.

Star Color was like a helpless lamb driven into a corner, drooled over by a bloodthirsty leopard.

No sound... can't hear... his fortune was great misfortune.

Kiryuin sat back.

"Click~ click~ click~."

Star Color's lips trembled... and let out a clicking sound.

"Scared? Or sending some signal? If any outsider dares to intrude on this game, I'll break both your legs and theirs."

Kiryuin toyed with beads, watching Star Color. She began shuffling the cups, changing their positions, lining them up diagonally, then spoke as if victory was assured.

"Guess, junior. This is your last chance."

Star Color's lips trembled until he heard Kiryuin's words, then a sinister smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

From the very start, the one with the fortune of [great misfortune] was you, Fuka Kiryuin.

"Kiryuin Senior~"

"You never put beads in the cups at all."

Star Color didn't remove the [Blindfold]. No one could see what emotions were in his pupils at that moment.

Fuka Kiryuin even hallucinated. It was as if Star Color's body was covered in eyes. An indescribable, eerie, incomprehensible Monster.

"How is that possible?!"

Even Asahina Nazuna covered her mouth, staring in shock at Star Color, who had completely turned the game around.

How had he done it? What was Star Color's trick?

[Earlier—Piano Club]

"Star Color-kun, why are you recording these piano pieces?"

Asahina Nazuna sat beside the piano, having just finished recording the pieces she needed on her phone.

Star Color's slender fingers paused on the keys.

"To win."

"Just play these pieces, Senior Asahina, and don't do anything else. I don't need you to cheat for me. But please don't reveal that the music was specially recorded. The more someone thinks, the more likely they are to fall into the trap I've designed."

Seishiki turned to look at Asahina Nazuna.

His violet pupils were bizarre and bewitching—a color that devoured everything, impossible to look away from.

"Even if the opponent uses violence, Senior Asahina only needs to watch."

Because only Seishiki, who had confirmed the [victory condition], would step onto the [gambling table].

"Senior Asahina handles the melody; I'll handle the miracle."

Though she was nothing but a fragile lamb, in that moment she seemed to transform into a monster, an unspeakable fang pressed against Fuka Kiryuin's throat.

That was a distortion born of crossing the [far shore] while lingering in the [present world]. How could such [abnormality] appear in someone so neither male nor female, utterly unimaginable as a man!?

Peering into that fathomless malice and evil, Nagumo Miyabi seemed merely [gentle] in comparison to this bastard Seishiki Otonashi. His physique and looks were at a level that even Fuka Kiryuin would despise and reject.

Yet inside, there lurked some unfathomable [eeriness]—

"How... did you do it?"

"Gyah! It's tied too tight, I can't get it loose by myself!"

Seishiki put both hands behind his back, flustered and unable to undo the tightly knotted bindings. The image of a monster came crashing down.

"Let me help you."

Asahina Nazuna stood behind Seishiki and gently untied the knot.

"Finally, I can see the light."

Seishiki let out a long breath.

Fuka Kiryuin grabbed Seishiki by the collar.

"How exactly did you pull it off!"

"If Senior would join the Board Game Club and become the [host] of the gambling games, I'll tell you."

Seishiki's small body was lifted up. His face flushed slightly, feet dangling in the air—

Even in this situation, Seishiki only spoke to state his terms.

"You think campus life is boring, don't you, Senior?"

"You think everyone's an idiot, living aloof in your own inner world—"

Seishiki pulled a soft candy from his pocket and tore open the wrapper with his teeth.

"If I can give you, Senior, a different kind of thrill."

"The thrill of [gambling]."

"Senior, you only need to protect me, watch me, and watch me keep winning."

The violet light in his pupils reflected Fuka Kiryuin's already dazed face—the face of a loser, her own face.

Hidden in those pupils was a disordered life form, devouring people's colors from the reflected light.

Hearing those words, Fuka Kiryuin's mind exploded. A completely unexpected [twist].

She had lost to this androgynous-looking brat—that was fact. And the terms he offered were [].

Fuka Kiryuin laughed heartily and set Seishiki down.

"Hahaha, you little brat are really interesting. First, tell me how you managed to cheat right under my nose."

"Echolocation."

Seishiki sat back on the sofa, chewing the soft candy.

"Echolocation?"

The two seniors voiced their confusion. What the hell was this [echolocation]?

"In 1959, scientist Theodor Heller conducted relevant tests and found that blind people could detect changes in the echo of their footsteps from three to four meters away from an obstacle, thus determining its position. Before that, some blind people had already figured out how to locate obstacles by making sounds—like tapping a cane or snapping their fingers—and analyzing the echoes."

"Researchers from Spain discovered a series of sound waves usable by humans and developed a teaching method similar to a bat's sonar system. This method allows blind people to familiarize themselves with their surroundings by making specific sounds and receiving echoes."

"It was a great experimental exploration that helps blind people visualize their environment through echo waves."

"By clicking the tongue against the roof of the mouth, imitating a bat's 'click' or 'tap' sound, one creates a sonar image of the surroundings in the mind."

(Seishiki's Mini-Lecture: In fact, the human brain can do it too—humans are capable of echolocation. Normal people rely on their optic nerves; those who use echolocation are mostly blind. Online, you can find Daniel Kish's [echolocation] tutorial. Dolphins and bats can also echolocate by making similar sounds—)

"With systematic training, even in noisy environments, one can accurately receive sound echoes. Trained blind people have such keen perception of echoes that it can help them ride bicycles, walk in busy streets, play basketball, or even rock climb."

"There's actually a method like that..."

Fuka Kiryuin's eyes widened, her beautiful gaze filled with unparalleled shock. She suddenly remembered Seishiki's trembling lips back then, and the clicking sounds in the third round—he was using echolocation!

"The music played in the initial rules was completely exploited. It was a trap you little brat set up to cover up the sounds you were making!"

What seemed like a disadvantageous [sound interference] for the [defender] was actually Seishiki's trick. To keep the opponent from noticing the existence of [echolocation]—

And the so-called music code was a ruse Seishiki deliberately used to lure Fuka Kiryuin into a thinking trap. After all, someone might know about this weird little skill, right? Seishiki hadn't expected... that in the end, it would be a slaughter match.

"So from the start, I deliberately chose [defender]. Compared to [attacker], which relies on unstable factors like personal skill and luck, why not easily win by relying on my own ability?"

For Seishiki, the [defender] position—with the smallest probability of winning—became the position with the greatest chance of winning as long as he was the one at the gambling table.

Conversely, the [attacker] position—with the greatest chance of winning—would probably end up losing miserably in Seishiki's hands.

A cheat gambler is someone who has to think of every possible method, even risking their life, just to cheat.

After saying this, Seishiki tore open another soft candy wrapper.