Control B to Beat B, Report A and D

"This rule is really unfair to Class A."

Machida Koji shuffled his nine cards, placed them one by one into the slots, and pressed one of the white cards.

"Huh? Is there some special rule that could affect who wins?"

Shiranami Chihiro copied his shuffling motion and also chose a white card.

"It really is unfair. Whether it's the rule that wipes out everyone's points in a four-way tie or the rule that gives Class A priority to play first, both rules put Class A at a disadvantage."

The first rule meant Class A's two million points had gone to waste. The second gave the player who went first an inherent disadvantage.

The first few rounds wouldn't mean much to me. I just had to give away the points.

If possible, I could try to force a tie and control the order of play that way.

I picked a white 1.

"Going second really does give you a big advantage, except in the first round."

Hasebe hesitated before choosing a black card.

"Results: Hasebe Haruka wins. Machida Koji and Sima Zhenglong tie. Class A, B, C, and D scores: 0:0:0:1. Class D is in the lead. Machida Koji will play first in the next round."

It went about as I'd expected. Class A wanted to give up the first move immediately, so they played a 1. Judging by Shiranami's pained expression, she must have played a white card worth 5 or higher, only for Hasebe to beat it with a 6 or an 8.

"What a coincidence. Sima, you thought of the same thing I did."

Machida pressed a black card.

"Do we really have to say something every time we play a card?"

Shiranami couldn't follow what Machida and I were getting at, but she could more or less guess that Machida and I had each played a low-value white card to cancel each other out.

Shiranami pressed a black card.

"Yeah. What a coincidence."

I pressed a black 2 as well. Honestly, in a one-on-one match, a black 2 could still be useful. But in a four-player match, it had no value now. With Class A's 1 already played, the black 2 couldn't earn any points. Its only use was to tie and change the order of play, so there was no point in keeping it.

"Three black cards?"

Hasebe had learned about as much as Shiranami from the first round, but she was under the most pressure now. To play it safe, she couldn't follow with a black card. Since she was in the lead, she couldn't afford to gamble on the special rule.

So Hasebe chose a white card that was guaranteed to win.

"Results: Hasebe Haruka wins. Machida Koji, Sima Zhenglong, and Shiranami Chihiro tie. Class A, B, C, and D scores: 0:0:0:2. Class D is in the lead. Machida Koji will play first in the next round."

"Was that really necessary? There are only nine rounds, and Class D already has two points."

Machida chose a white 5 this time. He wanted the others to think he'd played a 9, so that the trailing Classes B and C wouldn't try to challenge him.

Class D was in the lead, and if they still had a white 9 and a black 8, then playing the white 9 to cancel out the third round would be the best move.

That would leave only six points in total. No matter what, Class D couldn't end up last. As long as they held on to the black 8 and didn't challenge the white 9, they'd have a good chance of placing in the top two.

If Class D had already played their white 9 in the previous round, then my fake white 9 would be very useful. I could use my real white 9 to beat Class D's black 8, and I could even try to steal a point this round.

"Isn't it bad to deliberately target Class D?"

Shiranami believed Machida and chose to throw away a white 1.

"You're not just trying to trick us into targeting Class D. You're also planning to use a white 9 to fool us about its value, aren't you?"

I had only one goal this round: make Classes A and D tie. Classes B and C either had to tie too, or Class C had to beat Class B outright. Sakayanagi had given me two million personal points, so I had to do a good job.

I helped Machida mislead Hasebe so he could pull off his bluff.

I chose a white 3.

"I only got two points with my black 8 and white 9. From here on, you can settle things among yourselves."

Hasebe left herself some room too, claiming her black 6 was a black 8. After all, playing an 8 and a 9 right away to score points and make sure she didn't come last was a very convincing strategy.

"Everyone has a point. Now it's my turn."

Shiranami decisively pressed the white 9.

"I hope the card you played really was a 9."

If my count was right, Shiranami had played either a white 5 or a white 7 in the first round, lost her black 2 in the second, and played her white 1 in the third. With whatever she'd played in the fourth round, her discarded cards would add up to either 1, 2, 5, and 9, or 1, 2, 5, and 7.

The cards in my hand were 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. If I played a 9 to tie with her, then the cards I'd used would be 1, 2, 3, and 9. Whether Shiranami had played a white 5 or a white 7 in the first round, I'd still be sure to finish ahead of her.

No, I couldn't afford to tie with her. I couldn't control Hasebe, and she might tie with me later, leaving me with no points. It was best to keep Class B at zero.

I chose a white 9 and tied with Class B.

"That makes it 1:1:0:2. Next round, it'll be 1:1:1:2."

Hasebe calculated how things would play out. She expected Classes A, B, and C to each score a point by playing a 9 over the next three rounds, then start playing their 8s.

Once their 8s and 9s were gone, the 8 in her hand would guarantee her another point and the win.

"Results: Shiranami Chihiro and Sima Zhenglong tie. Class A, B, C, and D scores: 1:0:0:2. Class D is in the lead. Machida Koji will play first in the next round."

When the fourth round's results came in, Shiranami stared at me in shock, as if asking why I'd betrayed her.

"Now that's a stroke of luck! Sima, you wouldn't deliberately challenge my 8, would you?"

Machida pretended to be delighted and chose a black 4.

"I don't believe you'll dare to play an 8 this time."

Shiranami was at her wit's end. After her white 9 had been canceled out, her position was dire. The only way she could think of to save herself was to trick the next two players into both playing an 8 and gamble that Machida's card was an 8. If the special rule was triggered, she might still have a chance.

Shiranami chose a black 8.

"Whatever you two play, mine's an 8."

That was true. No matter what Shiranami played, I was going to play an 8, because Machida had said his card wasn't an 8. That was the signal we'd agreed on before coming up.

Hasebe said nothing this round. She simply chose a white 3.

From the situation so far, she'd figured out that Sima Zhenglong and Machida Koji were working together. But that didn't concern her. Sima had helped her before, and she had no intention of exposing them.

In Hasebe's eyes, Shiranami and Ichinose were the people who'd taken Airi's friendship away from her. Ichinose was still all right; at least she was genuinely kind to Airi. But Hasebe couldn't accept Shiranami.

She could tell from Shiranami's eyes that they were alike. Shiranami's feelings for Ichinose were just like Hasebe's feelings for Airi!

When two evenly matched rivals crossed paths, they were bound to fight it out.