"Mikura, you helped Ayanokoji cheat, didn't you?"
Upon hearing this, Mikura's body stiffened. She mechanically turned around, her face extremely pale, and subconsciously wanted to explain: "Madam Juraku, I..."
Sachiko Juraku pinched Mikura's chin, not allowing her to continue speaking.
"It's one thing that you helped Togakushi Yukimi, I know you wanted to recover the casino's usage fee. What I didn't expect was that you would actually help Ayanokoji Kiyotaka."
Sachiko Juraku had a playful smile on her face.
"I really want to know what he said to you. Not only did you help him change the answer, but you even changed the dice he threw. You're so thoughtful, so thoughtful that I'm a little jealous... Could it be that he gave you some benefits?"
Mikura was drenched in cold sweat, never expecting that Sachiko Juraku, despite being so far from the gambling table, could see even this matter so clearly.
Amidst her fear, her admiration for her only grew stronger.
As expected of Madam Juraku, none of her actions could escape her notice...
Mikura quickly bowed and apologized: "Madam Juraku, I am truly sorry, I shouldn't have acted on my own...!"
"No, I'm not blaming you."
Sachiko Juraku affectionately stroked Mikura's head as if stroking her pet cat: "Thanks to you, I saw a very interesting scene."
"However, what I hope to see more is your voluntary action. As long as it comes from your own consciousness, no matter what you do, I won't blame you."
Her tone slightly intensified: "I'm happy you can make new friends, but... you have to remember, you are my pet. I don't want someone to casually throw a small fish, and you just bite and eat it. Do you understand?"
Sachiko Juraku's voice had always been gentle, and the hand stroking her hair was also very warm, but at this moment, Mikura felt cold all over, as if she was about to be abandoned.
She nervously gripped Sachiko Juraku's hand and quickly replied, "I won't do it again!"
"...Don't let it happen again."
Sachiko Juraku smiled and patted Mikura's head, then released the chain and walked directly towards the Student Council lounge.
Mikura, following behind her, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
That's great, Madam Juraku didn't blame her.
Although it was a bit risky, her goal had been achieved this time.
Sachiko Juraku thought Mikura was coerced or enticed by Ayanokoji, but the truth was quite the opposite; this matter came from Mikura's own will.
...
On the other side, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already boarded the subway and was on his way home.
Sitting on the subway, scrolling through his phone, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka couldn't help but laugh unkindly when he thought of Saotome Meari's autistic-child-doubting-life expression.
Surely no one really thought he was going to give the victory to Saotome Meari, right?
What a joke!
Whether it was the "task" he had just unlocked or his original intention, he wanted Saotome Meari to stay away from gambling.
Since he wanted to stop her from gambling, of course, he had to make her lose until she was disheartened, so she would never dare to touch gambling again.
This was the correct way.
Money obtained too easily, many people would not cherish it.
Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was also a "nouveau riche," having gained tens of millions of dollars in wealth through the boom of bitcoin and the stock market, he, like his name, always maintained a "simple and frugal" mindset and wouldn't treat money as worthless.
Saotome Meari, however, was different. She had never been exposed to society and had no concept of the value of money.
If he really gave Saotome Meari a victory, letting her get the casino and one million yen, then this girl would definitely become incredibly overconfident.
She might even start messing around directly, taking the one million to challenge the Student Council President.
Cheating? Of course.
Ayanokoji's guaranteed opportunity had just been used up. If he didn't cheat, how could he win the gambling match?
Was he really going to gamble on that one-fourth chance and pray that the goddess of victory would smile upon him?
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had a clear understanding of his own luck. If his luck were that good, he wouldn't even be able to draw an [SR].
Perhaps all his luck was used up on his transmigration and obtaining the system.
Ayanokoji's method of cheating was also very simple: he had Mikura use special dice.
The center of gravity of the dice was not in the center, but biased towards one end, so that specific numbers could be rolled when throwing the dice.
In magic, there is a term called [Misdirection].
As the name suggests, it is to guide the audience's attention in the wrong direction. It is a special technique for manipulating the audience's attention and can be said to be one of the magician's most powerful weapons.
For example, "Look, a UFO!" is the simplest form of misdirection.
Magicians' hand speed is usually trained to be very fast, but no matter how fast the technique, as long as a person's attention is firmly locked, the magician will absolutely not be able to smoothly perform a "secret move."
A clever magician can use words or actions to attract others' attention elsewhere, and then secretly complete the magic performance.
Just like this gamble.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka deliberately used words to remind Saotome Meari, guiding her attention to the cards.
Making her think that Mikura's cheating was just changing a card.
To counter this cheating method, she would use what she called nail polish remover, allowing two different answers to appear on her card, increasing her chances of winning.
Mikura used two specially made dice, biased towards 5 and 2 respectively. Saotome would have noticed that these two numbers were constantly being rolled if her attention was focused on the dice.
But Saotome's attention was entirely on the cards, only thinking about how to complete the "sleight of hand," yet she didn't notice that right in front of her, the dice being thrown were tampered with.
She had never doubted that the dice would be problematic.
In fact, Mikura could have ended the game on the third dice roll.
But to make it look more real, she rolled a few more times, striving for authenticity.
Throughout the entire match, Saotome Meari was played by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Perhaps from Saotome's perspective, this match was deliberately let by Ayanokoji for her to win, but she didn't even grasp such an opportunity handed to her.
Presumably, besides the bitter taste of defeat, she also felt guilt towards Ayanokoji.
Although Ayanokoji's intentions were good, he felt a bit ashamed when he thought of Saotome Meari's disbelieving expression when she lost.
But to make Saotome feel the terror of gambling, this kind of pain was necessary.
Hopefully, Saotome Meari will wake up soon.
If she could learn her lesson and no longer put everything on gambling, then after graduating from high school, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would still be very willing to offer her a secretary job.
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