Chapter 3: The Invisible Puppeteer
"Well then, for the first round, let me make an investment as well."
Mary Saotome pulled a chip from her pocket and tossed it casually into the center of the table.
"As a lesson for the newcomer, let's set the stakes at 10,000 yen per chip. No problem with that, Ayanokoji-kun?"
"Ten thousand yen..."
I pulled two Noguchi Hideyo notes—no, they were two ten-thousand-yen bills—from my wallet.
"This is my entire net worth."
"It's fine. If it's not enough, I can lend you chips. That's the rule here."
Mary smiled happily—the kind of smile that was less friendly and more like she'd just spotted an ATM.
Round One.
The ballot box was shaken a few times, the cards rustling against the paper walls.
I reached in and grabbed three cards at random. Mary also quickly completed her draw.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors—!"
At the command, the cards were flipped.
I played "Scissors."
Mary played "Rock."
"Oh my, what a pity." Mary shook her head with feigned regret. "I won the first one."
Round Two.
I lost again.
Round Three.
Still a defeat.
In less than ten minutes, the 20,000 yen I brought was gone, and a pile of debt chips equivalent to 50,000 yen had accumulated in front of me.
"What's wrong? Ayanokoji-kun, you don't look too good."
Mary leaned forward, appearing to ask out of concern, but in reality, she was savoring the pleasure of watching her prey struggle.
To match her performance, I slightly adjusted my physiological responses.
I controlled my breathing rhythm, allowing my heart rate to accelerate slightly. This caused my body temperature to rise, forcing out a small amount of cold sweat.
Simultaneously, I manipulated my facial muscles to produce a subtle stiffness and a slight twitch at the corner of my mouth.
My eyes became shifty, frequently darting between the cards in my hand and the chips on the table.
This level of disguise wouldn't even count as an introductory course in the White Room.
"No... I just didn't expect my luck to be this bad."
I spoke in a slightly trembling voice, reaching up to wipe away more sweat that didn't actually exist on my forehead.
"Luck is a form of strength too." Mary laughed even more wantonly, pushing a stack of chips toward me. "Again? How about we raise the stakes this time? One hundred thousand for a round."
One hundred thousand.
The surrounding crowd erupted in an uproar. Ryota Suzui had already covered his face in despair, seemingly unable to bear the sight any longer.
"One... one hundred thousand... that's a bit too..."
"What? Want to run?" Mary's gaze instantly sharpened into that of a predator. "If you quit now, the fifty thousand you just lost must be paid back immediately. Or do you want to take a gamble and win back all you've lost in one go?"
Typical gambler's fallacy induction.
I pretended to be indecisive, remaining silent for a few seconds before gritting my teeth.
"Fine... let's do one more round."
The entire class began to vote once more.
This time, instead of keeping my head down as I had before, I raised my gaze slightly.
While I appeared to be looking around anxiously, I was actually performing a precise scan.
As the ballot box circulated through the classroom, the students' movements varied, yet they possessed a subtle coordination.
The boy sitting by the window didn't put his pen down immediately after writing his card; instead, he tapped the end of the pen twice against the desk.
The girl standing by the back door touched the tip of her nose with her index finger in an extremely hidden manner when Mary looked toward her.
And the moment Mary drew her cards, I captured an even more interesting phenomenon.
The majority of the spectating students did not focus their gaze on the box, nor on me.
Their eyeballs subconsciously shifted toward the bottom right—the position of Mary's hand.
And when Mary selected a card to play, a girl in the front row nodded slightly, showing an expression of relief.
I see.
There was no need for X-ray vision or any sophisticated mind-reading.
Every single person in this classroom was a puppet on Mary Saotome's strings.
Roughly twenty people—about two-thirds of the class—obeyed her completely.
The cards they dropped into the box were strictly controlled by ratio. If I wasn't mistaken, the vast majority of the cards in the box were "Rock."
Because "Rock" is the simplest; it only requires drawing a circle. Moreover, even if the cheating were exposed, it could be explained away as everyone naturally drawing the easiest pattern.
As long as Mary held "Paper" in her hand, she would remain invincible.
The gazes and micro-gestures of those around her served as confirmation: "The current pool of cards is still dominated by Rock."
Was this the secret to her perpetual victory?
Utilizing peer pressure to force the entire class into submission, constructing a card pool filled with a single option, and then disguising herself as a gambler who was merely "lucky."
How... incredibly boring.
Such a crude strategy could be seen through by anyone with a modicum of observational skill. But in this closed, fanatical atmosphere, victims are usually blinded by fear and debt, leaving them with no capacity to think.
But I am different.
I reached into the box once more.
The moment my fingertips brushed against the cards, I felt the extremely subtle irregularities on the paper's surface.
Though the cards looked identical, if they were drawn by different people in a short amount of time, the pressure of the pen strokes and the dryness of the ink would have micron-level differences.
More importantly, since I knew most cards in the box were "Rock," the few outliers became exceptionally conspicuous.
I gripped three cards.
My face still wore that panicked expression of "Oh no, these are all terrible cards."
"I'm going to play my card now, Ayanokoji-kun."
Mary raised her card with absolute confidence.
"Go ahead."
With a trembling hand, I placed a card face down on the table.
The game was only just truly beginning.