Kakegurui: Ten Consecutive Guaranteed Hits

Volume 1 Chapter 47: Is She Cheating?

Upon hearing these words from Mary, Kiyohei was both surprised and unsurprised. Kiyohei wasn't surprised that someone might be cheating. In a place like a casino, if there were no rules against cheating, it could almost be considered an inevitability.

Especially when it came to the student council, the punishments for cheating were minimal, almost reaching the point of encouraging others to cheat. If no one cheated, it would be strange.

What surprised Kiyohei, however, was that according to Mary, the one cheating was Mikura, the girl with a collar around her neck. Mikura seemed like a loyal dog to Sachiko, obediently following her every command. Could it be that Sachiko instructed her to make Mary lose? What was the point of that? Sachiko had no reason to covet Mary's one million yen.

Kiyohei considered another possibility. What if it wasn't at Sachiko's direction, but Mikura had decided on her own to cheat and help Yukimi win, and Sachiko silently approved of her actions? This possibility seemed more likely.

"Kiyohei, please, lend me some money..." Mary had pressed her entire body against Kiyohei, and to the others in the room, it seemed like she was already resorting to using her charm to borrow money.

"Mary, get up quickly, the student council members are watching!" Tsuzura blushed and tried to pull Mary away, but she stubbornly looked at Kiyohei, refusing to get up until he agreed.

Kiyohei sighed and pushed Mary away with a little force, standing up from the ground.

"Mary, it's not that I don't want to lend you money. I just don't want you to rely solely on luck for gambling. If it's a debt to the student council, I can lend you some."

Since Mary had claimed that Yukimi cheated and the dealer was biased, wouldn't the outcome be just as bad if she played again? Kiyohei wanted to discourage Mary from trying her luck again.

However, Mary had understood the underlying message. She pouted but still didn't want to give up this opportunity.

"Please wait a moment. Let's go talk outside, Kiyohei," she suddenly shouted and pulled Kiyohei out of the room, releasing him only when they reached the balcony at the end of the corridor.

"What's going on? What do you want to tell me?" Kiyohei asked.

"When Mikura announced the end of the game, I saw that when she looked at her own cards, she was also surprised. Obviously, the cards she saw were not what she originally wrote down. It was Mikura who helped Yukimi cheat by secretly changing the cards in her hand, which is why I lost!" Mary quickly explained to Kiyohei.

"Mikura cheated by altering the cards in her hand after seeing mine. She did it in such a way that Yukimi's cards had a higher probability of winning than mine."

Mary mentioned a "restraining relationship," which actually referred to the different sequences' order of appearance. Although the expected values of these four sequences were the same, their order of appearance was slightly different. For example, DDU would appear before DUU, and DUU would appear before UUD. In simple terms, the restraining relationship meant DDU > DUU > UUD > UDD > DDU, and the order of appearance of these four probabilities formed a cycle.

If Mary had DUU in her hand, Mikura would change Yukimi's cards to DDU, increasing the probability of Yukimi's cards winning over Mary's.

This was how Mikura cheated... Kiyohei finally understood what Mary was trying to convey.

Kiyohei leaned against the balcony railing and sighed softly. "I understand that, but I still won't lend you money. Moreover, even if I lend you money, considering Mikura is cheating, it's going to be tough for you to win again, right?"

Mary replied with determination, "As long as we play again, I have a way to win! Since Mikura is cheating, I don't need to follow her rules. I have a method that can significantly increase my chances of winning!" She pulled a bottle of nail polish remover from her pocket and explained, "This is my nail polish remover, and it contains acetone. It's colorless and transparent, but when it comes into contact with paper, it leaves visible marks. I can use it to write two answers, and when needed, I can make the second answer appear. This way, my chances of winning will greatly increase! If my previous chances were only one-eighth, now I have a three-fourths chance of winning! If we play again, I'll definitely win!"

Kiyohei finally understood why Mary was so desperate. She wasn't an irrational gambler; she believed she could turn the tables with this method. Indeed, if Mary used this method, her chances of winning were high.

However...

"Do you believe you can always win in gambling?" Kiyohei asked.

"It's gambling, so there will be winners and losers. With such high odds, it would be a pity not to gamble! In this world, there's no guarantee of victory in any game of chance!" Mary anxiously explained, fearing that Tsuzura and others might leave if she delayed any longer. A three-fourths chance of winning was a rare opportunity.

Unfortunately, there was a game where winning was guaranteed.

Kiyohei patted Mary's shoulder to calm her down. "Mary, calm down first. Let me ask you, why do you want to gamble?"

Mary stopped stomping her feet and looked at Kiyohei with determination. "I just want a casino. With a casino, I can slowly make money. Isn't that our agreement? If I want to win, becoming the dealer is the best way. Only the dealer doesn't lose!"

Kiyohei felt relieved; Mary wasn't acting irrationally. She had her reasons for sitting at the gambling table.

"...You want this casino, don't you?" Kiyohei confirmed.

"Yes, I just need a casino!" Mary's eyes lit up, thinking that Kiyohei had agreed. She eagerly extended her hand to him. "Believe in me; I can win. Just lend me one million, and I'll repay you immediately!"

Kiyohei shook his head. "No, I won't lend you money for gambling. If you want the casino, let me handle it."

"What do you mean?" Mary blinked in surprise. "Are you saying you'll gamble on my behalf?"

Kiyohei explained further, "I won't use this method. I'll go gamble, but not against the student council. I'll gamble against the casino owner."

Mary hadn't fully grasped his meaning when she saw Kiyohei take out a deck of playing cards from his pocket.

"But before that, you'll play a couple of rounds with me."