Within a day, rumors related to the Dou Di Zhu Competition spread throughout the school, even giving rise to many absurd versions.
To get accurate information, many people were asking the participants who had personally competed, and Ayanokoji's class was no exception. All day Monday, half the people were not interested in gambling, but were instead discussing these matters.
Some knew that Ayanokoji served as a Dealer in this competition and had a lot of inside information, wanting to verify its authenticity with him, but because they were not familiar with Ayanokoji, they hesitated and did not dare to ask him.
Only Kuroki Ya dared to approach Ayanokoji and press him about the competition.
However, what he asked about was not the robot "Dragonfly Captain" that the public was concerned about, but the student identity of the host during the competition.
"Ayanokoji, you still said you didn't know that host, but you clearly brought her to host the Dou Di Zhu Competition!" Kuroki Ya said with a resentful expression.
As one of the insiders, Kuroki Ya certainly knew that the real organizer of this Dou Di Zhu Competition was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, his classmate, and even that the two casinos where the competition was held belonged to him, with Togakushi Yukimi being merely the superficial manager.
Ayanokoji said calmly, "When you asked, I really wasn't familiar with her. I only met her two days ago."
"Really? You're not lying to me, are you? How could she be willing to host just after meeting you? How much did you pay?"
"No money, I just made her a drink," Ayanokoji thought for a moment and said.
Only made a drink, didn't even ask for a hard-work fee?
Kuroki Ya almost scoffed.
Still saying you're not familiar, who would believe that!
Just a few days ago, when he asked Ayanokoji, he said he didn't know the pink-haired girl wearing a butterfly mask, but this time, she appeared throughout the competition, helping so diligently and not even asking for money. If they weren't close to a certain extent, how could she help like this!
"She really didn't ask for money. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do." Ayanokoji shrugged helplessly.
Didn't take money, so did she take something else...? Kuroki Ya's gaze towards Ayanokoji was strange, but he still held back from saying that sentence aloud.
He knew the story of words causing trouble.
"In that case, I can only apologize to Tanaka Daishou..." Kuroki Ya sighed in his heart.
Ever since the last pairing party, Tanaka Yuzuna had fallen in love with the voice of this female host and had offered a reward of five hundred thousand, saying that as long as he found the true identity and contact information of this girl, he would give him the money.
Originally, Kuroki Ya was very motivated and wanted to find this girl to get the five hundred thousand reward, but if this girl had that indescribable relationship with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, he'd better not try to earn that money.
In terms of appearance and knowledge, there was a huge disparity between the two, and even in terms of family background, which was Tanaka Yuzuna's only pride, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka might not necessarily lose to him.
If Kuroki Ya were a girl, he would definitely choose Ayanokoji Kiyotaka without hesitation between the two.
Kuroki Ya couldn't bear to let Tanaka Yuzuna know the true identity of this female host. Even if he told him, he wouldn't be able to win the girl's heart in the end and would lose completely.
Before that, it would be better to subtly suggest that Tanaka Yuzuna pursue another girl. Maybe some gold-digger would like his type.
However, this Tanaka Daishou seemed to prefer pure girls and disliked the flashy types, which was a bit difficult to deal with...
Originally, Kuroki Ya and his friends just saw Tanaka Yuzuna as an ATM and a big spender, but after two weeks of interaction, having scammed too much money from him, they felt a little uneasy and wanted to at least help him with his girlfriend problem.
Who would have thought that Tanaka Yuzuna was so conservative in this regard, only liking respectable girls.
But then again, he was so rich, if his demands weren't high, he could just go to a red-light district to satisfy his needs, and it wouldn't be so difficult.
Just as Kuroki Ya was sighing and getting a headache in his heart, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka pushed a stack of ten-thousand-yen bills in front of him.
"What are you giving me this money for?" Kuroki Ya was stunned. He didn't remember Ayanokoji owing him money.
"This is your reward. After all, you've helped me a lot this past week. You deserve a hard-work fee." Ayanokoji said with a smile.
This past week, Kuroki Ya had also secretly helped him a lot. Those few announcements made with newspaper clippings were volunteered by him, and he also actively promoted the competition and the casino for Ayanokoji in secret. This money was his hard-work fee.
...This counts as a hard-work fee? Looking at the two hundred thousand in front of him, Kuroki Ya rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
He had only done these trivial things and could get two hundred thousand Japanese yen. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was too generous!
"Then thank you, Young Master Ayanokoji." Seeing that Ayanokoji wasn't joking, Kuroki Ya happily accepted the money.
Just helping him with a few things could earn him a reward. This money was much more stable than gambling.
He even felt a bit fortunate that after losing to Ayanokoji, he didn't cause him trouble but instead actively tried to curry favor with him.
Otherwise, all this money would basically have nothing to do with him.
Kuroki Ya took the money and happily counted it, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, is it true that the champion of your competition was personally invited by Sachiko Juraku to join the Student Council?"
"It is true," Ayanokoji nodded.
"I really don't understand what that girl is thinking."
Kuroki Ya said with great envy, "Let alone commoners like us, even the other wealthy nobles in the school would try their hardest to get into the Student Council. If it were me, I would definitely agree without hesitation, but she actually refused..."
Kuroki Ya said with heartfelt sorrow, "As long as you join the Student Council, even a commoner with no background will be sponsored after graduation to enter officialdom, and many families would be eager to marry you and have you as an adopted son-in-law! If it were me, I definitely wouldn't miss this opportunity!"
To refuse even such benefits, what on earth was most important to that girl?
"Who is that girl? Could it be Meari?"
Kuroki Ya looked at Ayanokoji with suspicion: "Otherwise, you wouldn't keep the champion's identity a secret, would you?"
If the girl who didn't want to join the Student Council was Saotome Meari, everything would make sense. After all, her relationship with Ayanokoji was close, and it wasn't impossible for her to give up this opportunity to stay by Ayanokoji's side.
And it was precisely because the champion was Meari that Ayanokoji had blocked information about this champion, only knowing the vague detail that the winner was a girl...
"Meari was eliminated before the finals. She's not the champion."
Ayanokoji rolled his eyes at him and said speechlessly, "There's no special reason. It's just that the girl who won the championship doesn't like to be in the limelight, so we didn't reveal her identity."
Shimotsuki Okuri had been low-key at school for so long, and he didn't need to disturb her peaceful life.
The 2 million yen prize might not attract much attention, but her refusal to join the Student Council meant that more people would want to find her.
Perhaps someone would want to challenge her, deliberately using her as a stepping stone to gain the Student Council's attention?
Perhaps Shimotsuki Okuri's strength was formidable enough to defeat these people one by one, or perhaps she would grow tired of their challenges and put up a sign refusing all challenges, focusing solely on her studies and academics.
But even if she had a way to deal with these challenges, too many challengers would definitely become annoying.
Better to avoid trouble than seek it. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt there was no need to reveal her identity, lest she provoke jealousy.
Meari and the others also unanimously agreed to specifically conceal her identity when promoting through the newspaper club's channels.
"I see..." Kuroki Ya was a bit regretful, not expecting the truth to be so simple.
"Speaking of which, when will your next Dou Di Zhu Competition start? I want to participate in the next one."
Although Kuroki Ya had secretly promoted it this time and was one of the first to know about the Landlord game, he knew his own skill level and that he definitely couldn't win the championship, so he didn't join in the fun.
But if he really had the chance to be invited by the Student Council, it wouldn't be impossible to participate in the next competition.
What if he got incredibly lucky and won the championship?
"Wait for it. It might be next week, or it might be next year." Ayanokoji said this, then stood up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Kuroki Ya called out.
"I'm going to the casino to prepare. It'll be opening soon."
Ayanokoji waved at him and left the classroom.
"I'll go with you!" Another person in the classroom, seeing Ayanokoji's actions, quickly called out, rushed out from the encirclement of girls, and darted to Ayanokoji's side.
This person was Kurume Laiwei.
Like Ayanokoji, she was a Dealer for this competition. She knew many more people in this school than Ayanokoji. They were hesitant to approach Ayanokoji, but they had fewer reservations about Kurume Laiwei.
Girls, both those familiar and unfamiliar with Kurume, had previously acted very chummy with her, coming to her side to offer warm greetings.
If Kurume hadn't already grown accustomed to their cold faces during her time as a "livestock," she might have genuinely been flattered and thought of them as her good sisters.
Now that Kurume was no longer a "livestock" and no longer had to obey their commands, she simply dealt with them casually, speaking vaguely and not revealing any valuable information.
Before last Friday, she had already submitted her tribute, and now she had regained her "commoner" status. She no longer needed to wear the "livestock" tag around her neck.
Hanatemari Kazura was the same, paying 150,000 yen to regain her commoner status.
Ayanokoji had given them this money before the event, allowing them to pay their tributes.
After the competition, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka gave each person a 300,000 yen bonus as a reward for their efforts over the past few days.
Now they were not short of money, and even paying the next tribute would be more than enough.
Incidentally, although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was wealthy, he didn't pay extra to the Student Council; he only paid a 200,000 yen tribute.
Other wealthy people paid more tribute to curry favor with the Student Council, hoping to gain recognition on the leaderboard and eventually receive an invitation from the Student Council.
However, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't need to worry about this. He had already established good relationships with many people in the Student Council. In fact, on his second day at school, he had already been recruited by Sachiko Juraku—although Ms. Sachiko Juraku hoped Ayanokoji would become her "dog."
There was still half an hour until the "Club Activities" began. When Ayanokoji arrived at the Cooking Room, Meari and the other two had already arrived. With Kurume and Ayanokoji now, everyone was present.
"How are your preparations coming along?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked.
"No problem." Meari gave an OK sign and said with a smile, "I'm all ready!"
Hanatemari Kazura, however, said with some concern, "Although those ID cards are ready, will the guests who come here really accept them?"
"No problem, Hanatemari, just relax." Kurume patted Hanatemari's shoulder and said confidently, "You don't know how popular our casino is at school right now. Even if the service tax is a bit harsher, people will still pay for it!"
"I hope so…"
Starting today, the casino in the Cooking Room and the casino in the Chemistry Preparation Room would officially open.
Official operation was, of course, different from before. The first change was that the winner of each game would have to pay a 1% service fee.
It was free before, but now there was a 1% charge. What if most people resisted this change?
Hanatemari was worried about this.
However, including Ayanokoji, the four of them were not worried.
In the previous competition, Ayanokoji had intentionally arranged for Yomotsuki Runa to attend as a guest, hoping to add some "official" background to his casino.
He had originally only invited one person, but who knew that Miharu Taki Sakura and Sachiko Juraku would also come to join the fun? Sachiko Juraku even invited Shimotsuki Okuri to join the Student Council on the spot.
[If you win the Dou Di Zhu Competition, you might receive an invitation from the Student Council.]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had originally promoted this message as fake news, but who knew that the originally false promotion had now become true.
He had originally felt that the probability of the plan being successfully implemented was 60%. Now, with official certification, the success rate had reached 90%.
As long as the Student Council didn't personally step in and say that he was violating school rules, he would be able to fleece the rich second-generation and official second-generation students at this school.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at the newly posted Landlord rulebook on the Cooking Room wall, a slight smile playing on his lips.
In addition to the original rules, several specific rule explanations were newly added.
[Rob the Landlord], [Show Cards], and most importantly—[Double], and… [Super Double].
The harmless "Landlord" game promoted by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally showed its fangs.
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