"I'm all-in!"
With few chips remaining to begin with, as Yamauchi toppled his stack, the dealer began counting, finally announcing a number that was neither large nor small: "Forty-five thousand points!"
Having already put in thirty thousand, this extra fifteen thousand naturally wouldn't scare Shibata away; he casually made up the difference.
Symon, naturally, was no exception either.
At the same time, the dealer dealt the fourth community card—a King of Diamonds.
Both sides chose to check.
The fifth community card was revealed, and the five community cards on the table were now determined: Diamond Queen, Diamond King, Diamond Jack, Diamond King, Diamond Queen.
The scene instantly fell silent.
Visible to the naked eye, Shibata let out a sigh of relief, picked up his hole cards to confirm the situation, and only after a good while did he finally look up, speaking with some difficulty: "Check."
He just wanted a smooth showdown now.
With a pot of one hundred and eighty thousand and a minimum bet of forty-five thousand, this was no longer something he could dominate at will.
But at this moment, Symon glanced at Shibata's remaining chips—roughly sixty thousand—carefully pushed his own chips across the line, and smiled: "All-in!"
Gulp~!
Shibata couldn't help but swallow nervously.
After a long pause, under the worried gaze of Chie Hoshinomiya, he pushed his chips forward, accepting Symon's all-in.
At the same time, he revealed his hand, showing the Ten of Hearts and the Queen of Hearts, asking tentatively: "Did I win?"
"Says who? I have the same hand, alright!" Yamauchi revealed his King of Clubs and Ten of Spades, his face showing the joy of surviving a disaster.
"Sorry," Symon smiled and shook his head.
"I have the big hand this time."
Saying this, Symon revealed the hole cards.
At the same time, Chie Hoshinomiya glanced at the Diamond Queen and Diamond Jack exposed on the table and smiled: "It seems Table Five is confirmed as Shiina-san's victory. Teacher is going to head off now~"
Saying this, Chie Hoshinomiya glanced at Shibata and Yamauchi, who had been cleaned out in a single round and looked as pale as death, and stood up with a sense of helplessness.
Having witnessed with her own eyes how "Hiyori Shiina" guided them step by step to put their chips on the table, she knew very well in her heart——even if they could beat Hiyori Shiina once, they couldn't win forever. From the moment their competitive spirit emerged, this outcome was already destined; the only difference was whether it happened sooner or later...
Watching Chie Hoshinomiya leave, Symon retracted his gaze.
While the waiter counted the chips, he glanced at Yamamura and Shiranami, who were shrinking their necks like quails at the table, and Airi, who was visibly relieved.
He spoke in his mind: "I feel like there's no need to continue this."
"Mr. Ghost probably scared them..." Hiyori Shiina whispered in her mind:
"After all, taking out three people in four rounds is a bit too excessive."
"Alright, actually, I didn't expect the progress to be this fast either," Symon responded.
Yamauchi's all-in was an accident, directly pulling the pot to a level that Shibata couldn't easily abandon.
He had merely added fuel to the fire after getting a favorable hand, and the situation developed in this direction; he didn't really have a choice. He couldn't possibly use a hundred thousand points just to bait them; that would be too stupid.
As they spoke, a new round of cards began.
Unsurprisingly, after the dealing round ended, Yamamura, Shiranami, and Airi all folded at the same time!
Symon looked at the 6 and 8 in his hand, revealed them somewhat speechlessly, looked at the three friends, and said helplessly: "Am I some kind of Great Demon King?"
Chihiro Shiranami hugged her chips, shaking her head pitifully: "I'm not playing anymore, I'm never playing again! Hiyori is too much."
Yamamura lowered her head resentfully, not answering aloud.
She wasn't a fool. Being the only person from Class A without a teammate, and grouped with Hiyori, it was impossible for there not to be an issue here. Before, when Hiyori was just spectating, she could occasionally try to make a move. But now that the girl had started harvesting, as long as she could keep her current chips, that would be a victory for her and Class A.
"Um... if Hiyori wants chips, I can give you mine." Sakura looked over with puppy eyes, speaking somewhat timidly.
"No, keep them for yourself. I was just joking."
Symon smiled and shook his head, casually comforting her: "There are only 800,000 points in the first round. Our table has even less, only 700,000 points. What I have here is already enough."
Given that chips were linked to personal interests and even bound to class points, it was inevitable that the overall environment of the match would lean towards being conservative. Wanting to win everyone's points wasn't realistic to begin with. Taking half was already very good, and besides, there was no need for him to put his friends in an unjust situation for this amount of points.
Harboring such thoughts, the subsequent hands became uneventful, proceeding rapidly with the dealer's tacit cooperation.
Towards the end, they couldn't even be bothered to shuffle the deck, repeating the cycle of "Bet—Deal—Fold", and the game soon came to a direct end.
When the game ended, the dealer collected the chips from everyone and counted them publicly:
"Hiyori Shiina: 399,000 points."
"Miki Yamamura: 87,000 points."
"Chihiro Shiranami: 73,000 points."
"Airi Sakura: 85,000 points."
...
____
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