Mika had already managed to mark Ren.
She could see it clearly.
The sweat on his forehead.
The way his eyes avoided hers but always returned.
The tension in his jaw.
She had him.
Now her attention slowly shifted toward Shura.
For a brief moment she remembered the words he had said earlier, when she had been teasing Ren.
"Brother, that's your chance."
Mika smiled slightly.
And you're mine too.
But something about Shura was… strange.
He looked distracted.
Not seduced.
Not embarrassed.
Just… slow.
His movements had become heavier.
Delayed.
His eyes were unfocused, staring somewhere past the table.
Shura wasn't playing like himself anymore.
Itsuki slammed his hand on the table.
He wasn't even in the hand, yet his frustration was growing by the second.
"You idiots made Mika close her shirt!"
He was holding a tissue stained with blood.
When Mika had opened her shirt earlier, a thin stream had run from his nose.
He hadn't even realized.
Mika noticed.
And laughed.
Itsuki's face twisted in anger.
"Shut up, woman! Take it off again!"
Then he turned toward Shura.
"And you, idiot! Why the hell are you thinking so long?"
He threw the bloody tissue at him.
It hit the table and slid toward Shura.
Shura didn't react.
He barely blinked.
"…Check," he said.
The dealer placed the turn card.
An 8.
Ren leaned forward slightly.
His eyes widened for a moment.
Straight draw still alive.
His mind immediately began calculating.
Odds.
Possibilities.
Outs.
But then—
Something interrupted him.
A strange pressure inside his head.
What the hell…
His thoughts slowed.
Fragments of other thoughts slipped in between his calculations.
Images.
Voices.
He looked up slowly.
Toward Mika.
Her…
His breathing became uneven.
Why can't I focus?
His thoughts kept drifting toward her.
Her body.
Her scent.
The memory of her grabbing his hand.
His face twisted.
No…
Sweat ran down his temple.
His hands trembled.
The table could see it.
Ren slammed his hand lightly on the table.
"What did you do to me?!" he shouted, his voice breaking before he could control it.
Mika burst into laughter.
Her eyes had changed.
They looked darker.
Sharper.
An almost invisible aura seemed to ripple around her presence.
"What is it, Ren?" she said sweetly.
"Something wrong?"
Inside her mind, she smiled.
Good.
My Marked Mind works.
She leaned back slightly in her chair.
Let's see if it works on the other one.
Her gaze shifted toward Shura.
But Shura wasn't reacting the way she expected.
Not at all.
His head had tilted slightly downward.
Drool slowly slid from the corner of his mouth.
But it wasn't pleasure.
It was something else.
Rage.
Pure rage.
Tanaka wrinkled her nose.
"Ew… someone give him a tissue."
Itsuki leaned forward.
"Hey, trash. What the hell happened to you?"
Shura murmured something.
"…Blood."
His voice sounded distorted.
His eyes slowly lifted.
They were glowing.
A faint aura leaking from them.
Ren felt his stomach drop.
No way…
His mind struggled through the fog of Mika's influence.
Did they both…
Enter Flow State?
It was impossible.
Yet it was happening.
Ren tried to concentrate.
But every time he tried—
Another image invaded his mind.
Mika.
In a bikini.
Laughing.
Calling him closer.
"Fuck! Get out of my head!"
Ren gripped his hair.
His thoughts were collapsing.
His control was gone.
Then the river card appeared.
Ren blinked.
He tried to calculate.
If the straight doesn't come now—
His thoughts shattered again.
Psst.
The image returned.
Mika again.
Closer.
Smiling.
"What the hell?!"
Ren shouted.
Inside his head he screamed:
Fold.
I need to fold.
This hand is lost.
But as he thought that—
His hand moved.
Without his permission.
Without his control.
He pushed chips forward.
Raise.
Ren stared at his own hand.
"What?!"
His heart pounded.
"What level is this…?"
Before anyone could react—
Mika suddenly screamed.
"Ahhh!"
Her body trembled violently.
Inside her head something had changed.
She could hear it.
Her blood.
Flowing through her veins.
Her pulse.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Louder.
And louder.
It was as if she were trapped in a sound chamber where only the lowest frequencies existed.
Her heartbeat.
Her circulation.
Every movement inside her body.
Mika slowly turned her head toward Shura.
And then she saw it.
Behind him.
A black silhouette.
A monstrous shape towering over his back.
Its voice echoed like a whisper inside her skull.
"FOLD."
Her heartbeat exploded louder.
She jumped from her chair.
"I'm out!" she shouted.
"I fold!"
The table froze.
Everyone stared at her.
It made no sense.
She had been controlling the hand.
What happened?
But Shura didn't even look at her.
He pushed his chips forward.
Re-raise.
Over Ren's raise.
Ren suddenly felt the images of Mika disappear from his mind.
The fog cleared.
Finally…
I can play again—
But the thought never finished.
The same sensation struck him.
Blood.
Pulse.
Pressure.
His vision blurred.
He looked down at his own hands.
The veins under his skin pulsed violently.
His head spun.
"What's… happening…"
The words barely left his mouth.
Ren's voice sounded distant even to himself, as if it came from somewhere outside his body.
His vision trembled.
Not blurred like dizziness.
Something worse.
Every movement around the table seemed delayed, like the world had fallen out of sync with his mind.
His eyes dropped to his hands.
The veins beneath his skin pulsed violently.
He could see them moving.
Each beat of his heart pushed blood through them like waves crashing against glass.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The sound filled his skull.
Too loud.
Far too loud.
Ren pressed his fingers against his temples.
Focus.
Think.
Calculate.
That was what he always did.
That was how he survived every table until now.
But the numbers wouldn't come.
The probabilities refused to form.
Instead, something else crept into his mind.
Fear.
Real fear.
Not the tension of gambling.
Not the thrill of risk.
Something primal.
Why can I hear my blood?
His breathing became uneven.
Every inhale felt shallow.
Every exhale too slow.
He tried to look at the cards again.
Just numbers.
Just combinations.
Just a game.
But the moment his eyes lowered, the sound of his pulse grew louder again.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
His thoughts shattered.
No…
This isn't Mika's trick anymore.
He forced himself to look up.
Toward Shura.
And the moment their eyes met, Ren felt something cold crawl through his spine.
It wasn't a gaze.
It was pressure.
Like standing in front of a predator that had already decided how the hunt would end.
Ren swallowed.
His throat felt dry.
I can't read him.
I can't calculate him.
For the first time since entering the tournament, Ren realized something that terrified him more than losing.
He wasn't playing the game anymore.
He was inside Shura's flow.
And in that moment, Ren understood one thing with painful clarity.
If I move now…
I lose
He looked up.
Toward Shura.
Shura's eyes were red.
Not angry red.
Something worse.
Monstrous.
Behind him stood the same shadow Mika had seen.
A dark silhouette leaning forward.
Whispering.
You will go all-in…
And you will lose.
Ren froze.
Completely drenched in sweat.
His breathing became shallow.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't think.
He couldn't decide.
He had escaped Mika's control.
But now…
Something far worse sat in front of him.
Not a player.
Not a gambler.
A monster.
And Ren understood something terrifying.
This hand…
Was never his to win