Sō Shibata. A Class B student and member of the soccer club. He is athletic, skilled at livening up the atmosphere, naturally confident and cheerful, optimistic, friendly, and very popular among the girls.
In the first month of school, he helped Honami Ichinose lobby the entire Class B, allowing them to start saving class points very early on. He also actively participates in class affairs and is a core member of Class B. He seems to like Honami Ichinose.
——The above information comes from Chihiro Shiranami.
As a new hand began, Symon recalled the information about his opponents while fingering four chips in his hand. He wasn't in a rush to place them on the table; for once, he began to seriously observe everyone's actions——
Yamamura's luck this round was probably not very good. After looking at her cards, she meekly handed them to the dealer. After folding, she looked curiously at "Hiyori," likely unable to figure out what she was planning to do.
Symon had a pretty good impression of her, so he simply returned a smile. After the girl lowered her head, he turned his gaze to Shiranami in the second seat, only to see——
Chihiro Shiranami was looking at her poker cards, the corners of her lips curving up distinctly before she quickly smoothed them out. She quietly cast a glance over, but when their eyes met, she pretended not to care and looked away.
"Hmm, that girl's poker face needs some work," Symon teased inwardly with a laugh.
Hiyori responded softly, agreeing, "Looking at that reaction... it must be a hand with a very high win rate."
"Say, should I just fold right now and dump a bucket of cold water on that girl?"
As Symon said this, his eyes turned to Shibata, who had won fourteen thousand from him in the previous round. The boy was now holding two chips with full confidence, waiting for everyone else to act.
However, as the first person to act in this round, Airi Sakura didn't even look at her cards, silently lowering her head and choosing to fold. The girl carried out her conservative strategy to the extreme, forming a sharp contrast with Shibata beside her.
At this moment, Haruki Yamauchi covered his cards. Looking at his chips, of which only half remained, he hesitated for a split second before quickly putting on a fearless facade, picking out two chips and tossing them directly onto the table.
At the same time, Symon lived up to expectations, placing the four chips in his hand onto the table and speaking with a smile, "Raise 4,000."
After his voice fell, under the somewhat worried gaze of Chie Hoshinomiya, several students reluctantly added chips, looking as though it pained them.
There is a saying: the spectator sees clearly what the player misses.
The students at the table might not have noticed, but she had discovered one thing—— Ever since "Hiyori Shiina" finished speaking earlier, the participation rate at the table in these last two hands had become abnormally high.
The flop round. The dealer expressionlessly spread out the three community cards: Club 9, Diamond Q, Diamond J.
Chihiro Shiranami picked up her hand and looked at it for a long while, obediently choosing to check.
Smoothly covering his cards and turning back to look at the table, Symon saw that Shiranami had already obediently chosen to check, while Shibata threw a black chip onto the table without hesitation, saying seriously,
"Bet ten thousand!"
"Huh?"
Chihiro Shiranami seemed caught off guard, looking at Shibata in confusion, only to see him give her a look signaling her to relax. She immediately added the same amount.
Haruki Yamauchi looked at his hand, hesitated for a moment, and chose to call.
At this moment, Symon finally had time to check his hand. After covering the cards again, he glanced at Yamauchi's dwindling stack, picked out 3 chips from his pile, placed them on the table, and spoke in a gentle tone,
"Raise 30,000."
Hiss!!!——Haruki Yamauchi sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
"Shiina-san, isn't that a bit too much?"
Chihiro Shiranami and Shibata also seemed unable to accept it, hesitating on whether to fold.
"No," Symon shook his head, explaining with a smile.
"Although this bet amount is indeed somewhat high, compared to the pot which has already accumulated to 46,000, such a bet is still within an acceptable range for me."
The implied subtext: Sorry, having a lot of chips means I can do whatever I want.
Deep inside, Hiyori Shiina tried to analyze Symon's objective. After a good while, she finally caught on and said with a smile,
"Mr. Ghost, don't bully Little Shiranami too much. That child probably just unexpectedly stayed in until now with Shibata-kun."
In this round, their hand was quite good. Considering the win rate, if it were her playing, she would probably have limited the raise to 20,000 points.
As for Symon's intention in doing this, firstly, it was to squeeze Haruki Yamauchi's survival space to the limit. Secondly, of course, it was to prevent Chihiro Shiranami and Shibata from pooling their chips, forcing Shiranami, whose hand didn't seem that great, to withdraw from this round or pay a greater risk to combine chips.
Although either outcome was beneficial to them right now, having this ghost bully a girl like this still left her not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Well, I can't help that," Symon responded in his mind with some amusement.
"I'm relying on my chip advantage right now to control the flow of the game so recklessly. If I let Class B's points merge onto one person this early, the energy required to deal with her would be too much; it wouldn't be very cost-effective."
While the two communicated internally, the three people at the table made their choices simultaneously.
Unsurprisingly, Chihiro Shiranami chose to fold directly, pinning her hopes of retrieving the chips on Shibata, who obviously had a better hand.
The only exception was——
"I... I... I'm all-in!!!"
Crash~! Like a mouse cornered by a cat, Yamauchi pushed all his chips forward, claws flailing, teeth gritted as if making a desperate last stand.
Hiyori: "..."
Symon: "Hiyori, did I overestimate the students' psychological endurance a little?"
"On that point alone, Mr. Ghost need not doubt~" Hiyori Shiina whispered softly, chuckling lightly.
"I did say——Mr. Ghost actually doesn't need to think so much."
Someone will take the initiative to make a mistake.
____
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