A mysterious person fell from the ceiling onto their table, causing a commotion throughout the room. Everyone at the other tables, including the referees, immediately turned.
Ayano: "W-who are you?!?"
The man stood up immediately, and when he looked at the face of the person who fell from the ceiling, he was instantly confused.
??? : "What are you doing here? You're supposed to have been prevented from coming here already, referees!"
All the referees drew their weapons toward the person who fell. The guy with red messy hair and black eyes was thin but not afraid of weapons aimed at him, he stood calmly in front of everyone.
??? : "Hey hey, I didn't plan to break your precious table."
??? : "Shut your mouth!! You aren't supposed to be here!"
??? : "And are you supposed to be fooling the girls here?"
Referee: "Enough. I'll ask the leader." The referee took out his phone and called someone. "Sir, that person has returned... no, he sneaked inside... alright... okay, understood... your orders." He hung up the phone. "He is allowed to stay." All the referees lowered their weapons and returned to officiate at their tables.
??? : "What? You're letting him stay after what he did?"
Referee: "Those are the orders from the master; I can't disobey."
??? : "Yeah, don't be stupid, Kyle~"
Ayano: "Kyle? That's his name?!"
??? : "Yes, I know him. Now that I'm here, how about a quick gamble?"
Kyle: "As if I'd do that."
??? : "Come on, we'll play by the same rules, same bet, but only one round instead of five. Don't be scared."
Kyle: "Enough." He approached the person who fell and stared at him closely. "One round will be more than enough to crush you."
??? : "You wish."
They moved to another table. Ayano followed them, wishing somehow to be forgotten completely...
Kyle and the red-haired guy sat in their chairs. The referee came, opened a new deck of cards, shuffled, and dealt five cards each.
When Kyle looked at his cards, he panicked before the game even started.
??? : "What's wrong, Kyle? Something not going as planned?"
Kyle: "Shut up!!"
Neither of them changed any cards.
Referee: "Now show your cards."
Kyle had a straight flush, but he still looked worried despite his strong hand, which confused Ayano.
??? : "Wow, a good hand for a loser, Kyle."
The person who fell laid down his cards; he had a royal flush.
??? : "With this, I declare my victory. You can now clear this girl's debt."
Kyle: "whatever." Kyle, furious, left the table and exited the place completely.
???: "Annoying..."
Ayano: "Sorry, but... who are you?"
???: "Tadashi Yuzo. And you?"
Ayano: "Ayano Seishil."
They both flipped through their cards.
Ayano: "Thanks for the help..."
Tadashi: "I happened to be here. Kyle always brings victims to trick them. Many like him are here, so be careful."
Ayano: "I will. But tell me... why did Kyle panic even though he had a strong hand?"
Tadashi: "Oh, that's because he didn't plan to get a straight flush at all."
Ayano: "Plan? How?"
Tadashi: "All the cards are prearranged to get hands that make him win first. That's why he brings a new deck every round."
Tadashi leaned on the edge of the table, playing with one of the cards.
Ayano: "Huh?! But the referee shuffled them in front of us before playing."
Tadashi: "Ohhh, the referee is working with him. He shuffles the cards in a way that returns them to their original order.That's why Kyle got scared when he got a strong hand he didn't plan to have."
Ayano: "So, our cards are predetermined even before we start?"
Tadashi: "Exactly. Winning is impossible like this."
ayano: "but i won once and get straight flush twice"
Tadashi: "of course you did, he gonna let you win or get strong hands once or two so you don't lose hope,"
ayano: "ohh..."
Tadashi: "it's called TP for turn table poker, Kyle Make this trick to steal beginners."
Ayano: "wait if winning is impossible, how did you win?"
Tadashi: "I tampered with the card order. I sneaked in earlier and rigged all the decks to make him lose. But when I tried to leave, I fell."
Ayano's thoughts and feelings mixed between amazement and realization about the true nature of gambling. She hadn't expected cheating to happen before the game even started.
Tadashi: "Alright, I'm leaving."
Tadashi threw the card and left the place.
Ayano dropped to the floor and picked up the card, watching him leave. When she looked at the card, she found it was...
The Joker card...