Bai Lianna? What a strange name.
Bokushin noticed nothing amiss.
When she heard Dio's words, she relaxed a little.
At least, ever since she had changed her attitude, he had been perfectly amiable-so much so that he agreed with practically everything she said.
Maybe this Bai Lianna was a good person who simply hated being threatened?
A little ambition stirred in Bokushin's heart. This Bai Lianna seemed easy to talk to, and judging by the pressure he gave off, he was anything but ordinary.
If she built a good relationship with him, their chances of being used as cannon fodder on the rest of the journey would drop considerably.
"Then let's begin, Mr. Bai Lianna!"
No, hold it in!
Dio had made the name up himself, but hearing Bokushin call him Bai Lianna still made him want to laugh.
If Morena could recruit Bokushin by playing cards, then he, Bai Lianna, could probe Bokushin by playing cards too.
The rules of the card-swapping game weren't complicated, but it wasn't entirely a matter of luck. For instance:
By calculating the points in my hand and the deck over several rounds, I can achieve a nearly one-hundred-percent win rate. I never lost at card swapping in military school!
Unless someone colludes with my opponent and peeks at my cards from behind me. Then my win rate drops to almost zero. But there isn't even a third person in this room.
Bokushin discreetly glanced around the room. Once she confirmed that even the cameras couldn't see her cards, she felt reassured.
I'll keep this game going by making my wins look random-win one, lose one, win two, lose one...
At that moment, unseen by everyone present, a golden phantom slowly materialized behind Bokushin.
As everyone knew, The World could share its vision. It had eyeballs, after all. Surely there weren't any Stands that had eyes but couldn't see a thing, right? (lol)
Ten minutes later.
Bokushin: ?
Looking "delighted," Dio said in surprise:
"Oh my, it looks like I won. In that case-"
He slowly shifted his gaze to Bokushin's face and asked softly:
"Miss Soldier, could you tell me your name?"
"..."
"Bokushin. My name is Bokushin. My friends usually call me Boku or Little Bo."
Bokushin reluctantly gave him her name. Her campaign had ended before it even began.
I must have miscalculated because I haven't played in so long. Again!
Another ten minutes passed.
Bokushin looked constipated.
I miscalculated again!
Dio casually asked an inconsequential question.
After answering, Bokushin silently picked up the cards.
As though afraid Dio might stop playing, she dealt them out at lightning speed.
Another ten minutes passed.
Bokushin was starting to find this unbelievable. She looked up at Dio.
The man before her was reading a book while playing cards. He hadn't even glanced at her.
Yet she had still lost.
Without looking up, Dio asked what seemed like an offhand question:
"What kind of person is the Fourth Prince?"
A thunderclap exploded in her mind.
Did he ask that on purpose? What does he want? Should I answer?
Bokushin broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn't answer that question.
Whatever she said, if word got out that she had discussed the Fourth Prince behind his back, her political career would be over.
And so would her dream of landing a minor position-above a military preparatory school instructor, something like deputy mayor in the National Defense Bureau's General Affairs Office, below a fourth secretary-and living a peaceful life from then on.
Silence. More silence.
Dio looked up and asked:
"What, are we done playing? Then call those two outside back in..."
"We're playing! Of course we are, Mr. Bai Lianna! Ahahaha..."
Bokushin hurriedly stopped him with a foolish laugh, sweat covering her forehead. She was truly trapped with nowhere to turn.
"Then answer." Dio looked at her expectantly.
"..."
"Mr. Bai Lianna, please give me your bank account number. I can't answer that question..."
Bokushin realized helplessly that what had saved her now was something he had said casually earlier.
She had thought he was being stupid at the time. Now it seemed he had her completely under his thumb.
"Oh." Dio sounded faintly disappointed, then gave her an account number.
Over the hours that followed, Bokushin and Dio played game after game.
Until dawn...
The airship's entertainment area.
Otosin and Corporal Jipa were resting slumped over a counter when an ominous feeling suddenly intruded on their dreams, jolting them awake.
What greeted them was Bokushin-staring at them with hollow, lifeless eyes, surrounded by some invisible aura of resentment.
Her face was haggard, her hair disheveled, and her eyes looked dead-but she kept them fixed on the two men.
Her suffering was understandable.
She had played 232 rounds of card swapping last night without winning a single one.
That man had asked over two hundred tricky questions about the Fourth Prince, and she hadn't dared answer any of them.
As a result, she had lost most of her savings-around two million Jenny-to him.
Meanwhile, he had wrung everything out of her: her life story, her ambitions, her family, even whether she had ever dated anyone-
She had tried lying, but he seemed to have some way of detecting lies. When she said her ambition was to join the King's Army, he bluntly pointed out that she was lying.
Then, with a kindly expression, he had said, "Lie again, and you'll bear the consequences." She hadn't dared lie after that.
Yet all she knew about him so far was that his name was Bai Lianna!
She was almost one hundred percent certain he had cheated somehow, but she couldn't figure out how!
Toward the end, he hadn't even looked at his cards. He had kept his eyes on his book the whole time, then seemingly called for her to stop and compare points at random-and he still won!!
She had nearly passed out from anger.
Only when he said he was going to the bathroom had she finally found an opportunity to escape.
Yet what did she find? Her wonderful teammates, fast asleep!
Her heart finally died.
And she buried it along with that damned card-swapping game.
At that moment, Otosin had absolutely no idea
what had happened. After he and Corporal Jipa found an oppor-
tunity to escape, they had contacted Kakin.
Then, afraid they might not get another chance to leave if they went back in, they had anxiously waited for Bokushin in the entertainment area all night-and fallen asleep at some point.
As he looked at Bokushin, inspiration suddenly struck-
Wait. Disheveled hair, a haggard face, hollow eyes, as though she'd lost something important (namely two million Jenny), and an entire night alone with a strange man!
The genius Otosin understood. He cried out in horror:
"Don't tell me you spent all night XXXing with that deputy captain..."
Bam!
The genius Otosin collapsed before he could finish. Bokushin clenched her fist and ground her teeth.
Corporal Jipa stared in exasperation at Otosin on the floor.
This guy had always said outrageous things, such as
"Momomori, give me a kiss," to a female teammate. He got punished every time, yet never learned his lesson.
Just then, having vented her anger, Bokushin suddenly felt eyes on her-
The security officers assigned to patrol different parts of the entertainment area had gathered at some point and were watching them, whispering among themselves.
Bokushin instantly felt as though the sky had fallen.
Her money, all her personal information, her reputation-everything was gone!!!
Paying no attention to the despondent Bokushin, Dio discussed arrangements with Drobada for their landing the afternoon after next, while thinking over the intelligence he had gathered last night.
He wasn't some psychopath who simply wanted to torment Little Bo. His sole purpose in steering her into that card game last night had been to gather information from Bokushin.
That was far better than Morena in the manga, who had tricked her out of both her first kiss and her freedom.
He had originally planned to introduce exchanging information as a penalty gradually. Who knew Boku would suggest it herself-and be even more eager than he was? (lol)
So he had gone along with it. His reason for gathering information on Bokushin was simple-
She was one of the Fourth Prince's Private Soldiers, and she was
a Specialization user!
A rare talent found in only one out of every three thousand people.
Judging by the Fourth Prince's behavior in the manga, Dio felt he would clash with that pervert sooner or later!
Since he had already been assigned to last night's shift, he had simply started collecting information that might prove useful in the future.
And made a little pocket money on the side.
Before you continue