Queen Of Cards || Akashi Seijuro x OC

Chapter 28

"What good would it do to hesitate on the first turn, Yunabami-san?" Akashi could hear the smirk in Sumeragi's voice as she said that.

Airi's hunched over figure suddenly straightened up and a deep sigh escaped her lips. Everyone could feel the air shift in the silence as a small smile played on Airi's lips.

"Sumeragi, was it? I knew I heard this name before. Your family owns a toymaking company, right?"

"Hai...?" Sumeragi said, puzzled as to where the conversation was leading. She watched as Airi flipped over the ace of spades before she spoke again.

"I use your family's cards whenever I gamble but I've never seen these ones before. I wonder if they're new? Or maybe they're... exclusive? Limited edition?"

Airi flipped over another card to reveal another ace of spades. A match

Sumeragi's brain clicked as she heard Airi's statement. At first, it was dismissible, but the deeper Sumeragi thought about Airi's words, the more she started to realise the terrible mistake she made.

But it was impossible, wasn't it?

Flip. Two of spades.

All eight decks were identical.

Flip. Two of spades. A match.

Sumeragi memorised the different patterns on the back of the cards.

Flip. Three of spades.

She rigged her suitcase so that the hand warmers in them would make certain cards show tiny marks on their backs for a few minutes

Three of spades. A match.

These cards were specially crafted for her use in this game.

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip.

A game she picked to prevent lucky beginners from winning.

Match. Match. Match. Match.

So how?

Match.

How did she recognise that the cards were different from her family's regular cards? Her family's only other black back cards were of extremely similar design. There was no way anyone could tell the different between these and the original.

Match.

The only way Airi could have won was if she memorised all the patterns on the back of the cards in the previous round.

Match. Match. Match.

Was that humanly possible? There was no way. How could she save this? On her next turn, she would swap out the cards with regular ones. That was the only way she could save herself.

"Kirari, that's 54 pairs. That's a win, right?"

The silence in the room was so loud. Sumeragi's heart was pounding, blood rushing in her ears as she looked at the glass table. Indeed, 108 cards were flipped over.

"Shall I keep going?" Airi had an innocent look on her face as she flipped over an ace of spades and then matched it.

"No, 108 out of 216 was the required. Airi wins with 55 pairs to 0."

Sumeragi had a worse crisis than Airi. The blonde sank to the floor, wide eyed and completely in shock. Airi looked down at her, neutral expression as the two briefcases totalling nearly 20 billion yen were handed to her.

Silently, she walked to Sumeragi and stood in front of her. Airi had planned this line from the beginning of the night and she was so excited she wanted to rush out the lines. It took all her willpower to keep her cool.