Meari paused, "Ruribird, do you still want to gamble?"
Meari, of course, knew that every gambler would be unwilling when losing money, wanting to win it back. She herself had experienced this several times.
Ruricho Nadeshiko in front of her should be the same, unwilling to accept her defeat and wanting to earn her money back.
Meari kindly reminded her, "How about we just let it go? Maybe you're not in good form today. Let's continue gambling when you have time later."
After all, she had won over 1,000,000 from her today, so it was natural for her to be unwilling. Meari understood her very well on this point.
Although Meari believed she would likely win if she continued to gamble, Ruricho Nadeshiko was also Kurume Laiwei's friend, so it wouldn't be good to keep winning….
"It is the proper etiquette in gambling for the winner to give the opponent a chance to turn the tables." Ruricho Nadeshiko touched the watch on her wrist, then suddenly looked up and challenged, "Meari, let's raise the stakes. One round is 1,000,000 yen. Do you dare to bet?"
1,000,000 yen. If this amount had been mentioned a month ago, Meari would have been startled, surprised that someone would gamble so much, as if money meant nothing to them.
But after witnessing Ayanokoji and Zenshoukai's several gambles with tens of millions at stake, she suddenly felt that 1,000,000 didn't seem like much at all.
A 1,000,000 yen bet. According to these game rules, if the winner successfully guesses the coins, they can instantly get five times the betting amount, which is 5,000,000 yen. But if they lose….
No, I won't lose! Meari shook her head vigorously, dispelling that thought. Thinking about losing before starting a gamble is an extremely detrimental mindset for gambling.
Ruricho Nadeshiko should not be deliberately pretending to be bad at gambling to deceive herself, but genuinely unable to guess how many coins are in the coin bank, only guessing her side's quantity based on the coins in her own hand.
Perhaps she is just a rich young lady who plays for fun, whose family is not short of money, and gambling might just be for entertainment.
Perhaps she only guessed others' money correctly due to good luck before, or perhaps someone liked her and deliberately lost to her in the game, making her have the illusion that she was very strong?
Meari felt she had discovered the truth.
If there was another round, Meari felt she had about a 70% chance of winning, but a million per game was still a bit much… If she lost one game, she would owe a huge sum of money.
Ruribird Nadeshiko saw that Meari seemed tempted but was still hesitant because of the enormous stake, so she proposed a compromise.
"How about five hundred thousand per game? Are you willing to gamble with me?"
"...Alright."
Meari hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Since Ruribird Nadeshiko kept insisting, she would just gamble one more round with her.
"Only one round, okay?"
Meari sat down and specifically instructed, "No matter if I win or lose this round, you can't stop me from leaving when I want to go."
"No problem."
Ruribird Nadeshiko readily agreed.
A new game began.
The process was still the same as before: both individuals took the desired number of coins from a box filled with coins and then put them into a piggy bank.
After both of them listened to the sound of the piggy bank, they placed the piggy bank on the scale, guessing the number of coins in the opponent's piggy bank by the degree of the scale's tilt.
This time, Meari put in 6 fifty-yen coins and 11 one-yen coins, totaling 35g in weight.
After both of them placed their piggy banks on the two ends of the scale, the scale tilted slightly towards Meari's side.
Ruribird Nadeshiko's side was lighter than hers. Listening to the sound, the total number of her coins seemed to be a bit more than hers. So, she could establish a mathematical formula to determine the range...
While Meari was thinking and calculating the "solution" in her mind, Ruribird Nadeshiko suddenly spoke up and answered.
"17 coins."
17 coins, which means her coin count should also be around 17...
Wait, 17 coins!?
Meari didn't react when she first heard this number, still thinking about how to use the newly obtained condition to add to the calculation formula, but after a few seconds, she suddenly realized—her total coin count was 17.
Meari's expression instantly turned ugly.
How could this be? The scale wasn't balanced, so why did Ruribird Nadeshiko speak this time? She only chose to guess when the scale was balanced before!
Seeing Meari's astonished expression, Ruribird Nadeshiko smiled triumphantly: "Meari, do you want to answer? Or do you want to give up?"
If she guessed wrong, she would lose six times the stake, three million, but if she answered correctly, they would be tied!
"I'll answer!"
Meari steeled herself and shouted a number: "Your coin count is 20!"
"Both sides have answered, so... let's reveal the answers."
As she said this, Kurume Laiwei looked at Ruribird Nadeshiko's triumphant smile and Meari's stiff face, already knowing the outcome of this game.
Kurume sighed inwardly—she had already warned Meari.
Both sides poured their coins onto the table.
Meari's total coin count was 17, and Ruribird Nadeshiko answered correctly.
And Meari's answer was actually very close to the real answer—Ruribird Nadeshiko's coin count was 22.
"It seems I won this game."
Ruribird Nadeshiko burst into laughter: "Excluding the money I lost before, I made a net profit of 1.2 million this round!"
Meari was silent for a moment, then suddenly slammed the table, her eyes filled with anger, and shouted, "Ruribird Nadeshiko, why did you answer before the scale was balanced? You never spoke before! You cheated, you definitely cheated!"
This was by no means Meari being a "sore loser" and deliberately trying to slander her, but Ruribird Nadeshiko was simply too suspicious.
Before, she would always keep quiet when the scale was unbalanced, but this time she spoke without hesitation, not even waiting for the scale to balance, seemingly not worried at all about losing five hundred thousand yen by answering incorrectly.
She seemed to have guessed the coins in Meari's piggy bank long ago, as if she had seen them with her own eyes.
Ruribird Nadeshiko was not surprised by Meari's angry questioning; instead, she covered her mouth and chuckled: "Isn't it obvious? I was 'going easy' before; I'm just getting serious now. Meari, underestimating your opponent can lead to a huge loss."