Second, there must be a game that can achieve a "monopoly."
This isn't the outside world; in this school, everyone is a gambler, and a casual shout can instantly form a card game.
To get others to play in your casino and for you to take a rake, you need to come up with an interesting game that has a patented gameplay—you need to make players dependent on your casino, with no other place to go besides yours.
In simple terms, you must achieve a "monopoly" in a certain field.
It's like when the school is locked down due to an epidemic, and outside food delivery can't get in. If you want to eat, you can only go to the school cafeteria; if you want a haircut, you can only go to the single barbershop.
No matter how bad the school cafeteria food is, or how terrible the barber's skills are, you have no other choice.
These are the two most crucial factors.
Besides these two points, a casino also needs enough Dealers to handle guests, enough credibility to be trusted, enough status to deter people from causing trouble, etc...
Too many conditions need to be met to make people willingly let you "rake."
In this school, the only one who can meet the above conditions is the "Student Council," and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had to put in a lot of effort to barely meet them.
If the Student Council were to open a casino, even if they collected 20% in taxes, no one would complain and would still obediently offer their money.
But here at Ayanokoji's, people questioned even a one percent service fee.
...It seems his foundation is too shallow, and no one trusts him.
Ayanokoji sighed softly, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Ayanokoji wasn't worried about failure; Mr. Ma's "Happy Landlord" was a typical example.
The gameplay hasn't changed in years, but does anyone hate it?
You might not be addicted to playing Landlord, but in your free time, you'll always download that old, outdated game lobby and play a few rounds.
Card games have that kind of charm.
The beginning of everything is difficult. As long as his casino doesn't encounter trouble within a week and the school's students accept "ranked matches," then he will be able to reap huge profits from these two casinos.
Money? No, that's what Meari cares about. Ayanokoji doesn't lack that.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's true purpose in doing this was to obtain the personal information of the school's students through the "ranked match" mechanism and build an information database.
Everyone in this school, including Mibuomi Aoi and Student Council President Kirari Momobami, were not the "enemies" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka cared about.
Ayanokoji's most important enemy was actually his father—Ayanokoji Fugang.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka needed to start from this angle to find the monitor Ayanokoji Fugang had planted.
That's right, Ayanokoji was going to "unbox."
Unless this monitor was exposed, Ayanokoji would never be at ease.
...Of course, this was not something to be shared with outsiders. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka kept it from everyone, telling no one.
At this moment, on the first floor of the Club Building, inside a casino.
There were dozens of gamblers here, scattered at various gambling tables, gambling not with cash or chips, but with a special kind of token.
Despite being a casino, there was no Dealer presiding, just like a card room in a classroom. Every guest here could freely choose their opponents.
Among these people were men and women, freshmen from first year and seniors from third year. It was hard to imagine such a diverse group of people with no common ground gathering, not to win money, but to win a token that might have no circulation value.
Oh, there was one commonality.
They all wore "Stray Cat" or "dumb dog" tags—they were all "livestock."
Among the dozens of gamblers present, only a few played dice; the rest played poker, and it was the same game called "Landlord."
A red-haired boy had one foot propped on the edge of the gambling table, the other suspended in the air. He sat in a very casual posture at the largest roulette table in the center of the casino.
This was clearly rude and audacious behavior, yet no one raised an objection, as if it were perfectly normal.
The surrounding gamblers, when they occasionally looked up and saw that figure, would inadvertently show a hint of envy and admiration in their eyes.
Even more so, they would reveal fanatical gazes, as if looking at their idol, feeling honored just to be in the same place as them.
This boy seemed to have long been accustomed to such gazes and paid no attention to the surrounding eyes. He casually played with a green IC card in his hand, his gaze seemingly fixed on the card, yet also appearing distracted, as if deep in thought.
None of the people around spoke loudly, seemingly afraid of disturbing this boy.
It wasn't until a girl pushed open the door and walked directly towards him, stopping two meters away.
The girl crossed her arms and frowned, saying, "Aoi, what do you want from me? Today is Monday, and I have many things to deal with."
The girl's implication was for him to speak quickly and not waste her time.
The boy looked up, a gentle smile on his face: "Sakura, you're here. Don't you have many people under you? It's not troublesome to let them handle things, you don't need to completely exhaust yourself."
This boy with the sunny smile was none other than the Student Council Accountant, Mibuomi Aoi. The girl he called was the Beautification Committee Chairperson, Miharu Taki Sakura, who was also his fiancée.
And the casino they were in was the Zenshoukai's base.
Miharu Taki felt a bit annoyed when Mibuomi Aoi brought up these "subordinates," but she controlled her emotions well, only frowning slightly and speaking in a cold tone.
"No, the people you sent are useless except for causing trouble. Out of sight, out of mind. I only kept two girls for duty; the rest I sent away to cool off."
Mibuomi Aoi naturally knew about these matters. Ten minutes after Miharu Taki Sakura got angry with these subordinates, he received their reports. They seemed to feel very wronged and even wanted Mibuomi Aoi to stand up for them.
Mibuomi Aoi smiled and said, "I heard you severely reprimanded them and drove them all away."
"I know some people are incompetent and made you angry, but as the Beautification Committee Chairperson, you have to manage thousands of students in this school. How can you handle it alone? You are my important assistant, and it would be terrible if you got sick."
Mibuomi Aoi acted like a warm man, showing concern for Miharu Taki Sakura. If it were normal times, Miharu Taki Sakura might have been touched, but she knew Mibuomi Aoi had more to say.
Sure enough, Mibuomi Aoi continued: "Since these people made you angry, then fire them all and replace them with a new batch of subordinates. This time, I will personally vet them, and I will definitely not let those idlers slip in."
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