Many of the audience members below the stage had already fallen for Yumemi.
Cute appearance, able to sing and dance, eloquent, lively and cheerful… Of course, more importantly, Yumemi won against Ayanokouji Kiyohira in gambling, proving her gambling skills, and this was what they most admired.
The audience below the stage didn't know about the private agreement between Yumemi and Ayanokouji Kiyohira. They only saw Ayanokouji Kiyohira and Yumemi staring at each other for nine minutes, neither giving way, but Ayanokouji Kiyohira lost a good opportunity because of a sneeze.
The result is the result.
No matter how winding the process, they would accept it.
After all, gambling is like that: one thought leads to heaven, another to hell.
Such comebacks from a disadvantage are too common; they have long become accustomed to them.
However, Kuroki Ya, who was in the audience, did not think so.
"Yumemi actually won against Ayanokouji Kiyohira..."
He was not very accepting of this result.
In his mind, Ayanokouji Kiyohira was practically unrivaled in gambling; his gambling skills were definitely at the level of a Student Council executive.
As long as it was a match he was determined to win, he would not lose.
Leaving aside the first two rounds, in this heartbeat staring game, Ayanokouji Kiyohira firmly held the advantage in the first half.
If it had followed the normal course, Yumemi would have had no chance at all.
But then this unexpected situation suddenly occurred.
Kuroki Ya felt that everything happened too coincidentally; he had a feeling—could it be that Ayanokouji Kiyohira deliberately let Yumemi win?
When he watched the second half, he always felt that Yumemi's face suddenly turned red in the latter half, and her heartbeat was much faster than before.
This might have been due to shyness from staring, or it could have been...
Kuroki Ya did not think deeply, nor did he dare to.
Sometimes, knowing too much is not a good thing, and Kuroki Ya did not want to get involved in disputes.
He merely looked at Tanaka Yuzuna, who was excitedly cheering for Yumemi's victory beside him, with a sympathetic gaze.
Hopefully, this "Top Fan" won't have an emotional breakdown when he learns the truth...
Ayanokouji Kiyohira did not leave immediately; instead, he continued to sit at the gambling table with his head down for a while.
In the eyes of the onlookers, he seemed to be regretting why he had made a mistake.
Actually... those who know, know.
After confirming that his body had returned to normal, Ayanokouji Kiyohira walked off the stage amidst the congratulations for Yumemi's victory and returned to his seat.
"Ayanokoji, what exactly happened? You were about to win, so why did you suddenly sneeze?" Meari, who was to Ayanokoji's left, couldn't help but ask as soon as he sat down.
"Perhaps the taste of the wasabi I ate earlier still lingered, and it flared up when I was staring at Yumemi..." Ayanokouji Kiyohira calmly took out a tissue and wiped his nose.
When he did this, of course, he had already prepared an excuse.
Sneezing because of eating wasabi is an unassailable excuse, and Yumemi also didn't find anything wrong with it.
It was just that Meari felt it was a great pity; Ayanokouji Kiyohira was just one step away from winning ten million.
"This was an excellent opportunity, and it failed because of a sneeze!"
Although this amount of money might not be much for Ayanokouji Kiyohira, the potential money was lost just like that, which made Meari feel quite regretful.
"Ayanokoji, you really didn't sneeze on purpose?" Sado Mikura, sitting to Ayanokoji's right, stared at Ayanokoji and suddenly asked.
"How could it be on purpose? I can't control physiological reactions." Ayanokouji Kiyohira shrugged helplessly: "I also feel very regretful; it was just a little bit away..."
"What did you say to Yumemi on stage?" She continued to ask.
"What could it be? Just exchanging harsh words, stimulating each other to raise their heart rates." Ayanokoji smiled and changed the subject: "Alright, I've already lost, but I haven't lost anything, so let's not discuss it anymore and continue watching the performance."
Mikura stared at him, obviously not believing him, but she didn't say much more.
After this gamble, the concert atmosphere reached its climax.
Yumemi didn't miss this opportunity and struck while the iron was hot, continuing to call her well-rested teammates to perform the second half.
Throughout the entire second half, although it was still a song and dance performance like the first, the atmosphere was significantly more enthusiastic than the first half.
Some people even started cheering for her.
After a wonderful opening, a disastrous middle, and a comeback in the second half, the concert was finally drawing to a close.
After Yumemi returned for two encore dances, the concert finally came to an end.
Walking out of the theater, Ayanokouji Kiyohira could hear the surrounding crowd still passionately discussing the gamble.
Presumably, tomorrow, the result of this gamble will be known throughout the city, and the entire school will know that Yumemi is not just a "pretty face"; her gambling skills are also formidable.
Ayanokouji Kiyohira suddenly recalled a magic show at this moment.
A magician placed several bottles of drinks on a table.
He would randomly invite audience members onto the stage and then write down in advance on a piece of paper which drink the audience member would choose.
Each time, the audience member would choose according to his wishes, without exception, as if he were "reading minds."
In fact, this trick is very simple.
The table looked like an ordinary table, but it was actually a prop prepared by the magician, with locks on it.
The magician could freely choose which drinks would be locked by the clasps.
Once a drink was locked, it would remain motionless on the table, and even if an enthusiastic audience member came on stage and tried to deliberately switch to another drink, it wouldn't work—because he simply couldn't lift the combined weight of the table and the drink.
The audience could completely expose the magician and reveal his trick to make him look foolish, but in reality, all the chosen audience members would tacitly agree with the magician and keep the secret.
This magic trick has no technical content; the only technical part is "selecting people."
These enthusiastic audience members were indeed chosen randomly, but the magician would meticulously observe among the crowd and select audience members who seemed unlikely to deliberately disrupt the show, making these randomly chosen audience members passively become his "accomplices."
On stage, what is an "accomplice"?
It is someone who knows the secret of the stage and does not tell the truth to the other audience members below.
Now Yumemi is this "magician," and Ayanokouji Kiyohira is the "accomplice" she found.
She believed that Ayanokouji Kiyohira could help her complete the performance, even if the cost was a bit high.
They both knew the secret of the stage, but neither would tell anyone else.
They were like completing a magic trick, successfully completing this fake gamble, making Yumemi the final winner, enjoying the amazed gazes of the crowd like a magician.
As long as the inside story of this gamble remains unknown, Yumemi will continue to be enthusiastically discussed.
Magic tricks are always eventually revealed, but... hopefully, Yumemi's "magic reveal" will come a little slower this time.
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