Akari looks back with a fierce expression, totally ready for the final showdown. With a smirk, she decides to have a little fun before they get straight to business.
They walk up to a blackjack table where a few men are already playing. The dealer apologizes, letting her know that this table has a very high minimum bet. He explains that the lowest wager there starts at one million yen. The main character then pops open a briefcase stuffed with cash, shocking everyone around. Akari says she does not mind, since she is not a fan of playing for chump change anyway.
With a quick apology, the dealer invites her to sit down and kicks off the game. He skillfully shuffles the deck and gets everything ready for the next round. Laying the cards on the table, he wishes her luck as the high stakes game begins.
An hour later, the tension at the table is heavy and the other players are sweating. Akari has stacked up a massive mountain of chips, leaving everyone else in the dust. The dealer calls no more bets and flips his cards with a very stressed look. Akari's cards add up perfectly to twenty-one, locking in another big win. Panicking, the dealer simply cannot believe the young girl's absolutely insane luck. He flips his next card, revealing that the house has busted once again. Sweating bullets, he can barely hold the deck with his shaking hands.
With a snap of his fingers, the main character signals Akari's next move. She drops an eight of hearts on the table, scoring another flawless blackjack. The perfect combination of an ace and a ten guarantees her an instant victory. The other players yell in disbelief, openly accusing Akari of cheating.
The main character smirks, highly satisfied as he watches the whole thing unfold.
Blackjack is not just a game of pure luck. It heavily relies on strategy. The technique of card counting assigns a value to every single card in order to track the odds. The legend of the MIT student team using that trick to win millions is pretty famous. But what Kei is doing right now goes way beyond some urban legend. He is memorizing every single card that leaves the deck with absolutely unbelievable accuracy. And with every new card flipped, he instantly recalculates the exact probabilities. Then he passes the answer right to Akari using very subtle signals with the light.
Compared to the chaos of a battlefield, keeping track of six decks is a total walk in the park. It requires high speed thinking that only Nightshade could realistically pull off.
The terrified dealer clears the table while Akari keeps tossing out massive bets. With an icy glare, she says she is not done having fun yet, and asks to be hit again. The man is practically shaking, knowing another huge loss could seriously cost him. He is terrified that his bosses will make him take responsibility for bleeding the house dry.
Suddenly a voice interrupts the game, and Kuroki shows up to confront Akari himself. The girl glares at him with pure disgust and points out that it has been a while. With a fake smile, he claims that if he had known she was coming, he would have rolled out the red carpet. Kuroki greets her with a deeply cynical bow, putting his total disrespect on display. Katagiri tells him to drop the act, but the traitor completely ignores him.
Kuroki looks at Akari's giant stack of chips and congratulates her on her lucky streak. He says he will cash out all of her winnings, but asks her to call it a night. And as a gift, he offers her a stack of cash to go have fun somewhere else with her friends.
Akari stares him down coldly, instantly rejecting the humiliating offer. She calls him a rat who moved into her father's castle and just got fat, and accuses him of acting like he runs the place only because his florist friends helped him out. Kuroki loses his cool for a second, letting his anger and disdain slip out.
The other players start whispering, realizing that Akari is the daughter of the former boss. One of them tells her to stop playing with fire, for her own sake.
Akari agrees, and stands up from the table, totally ready for the real game. She announces that she is bored of card games and wants something way more thrilling. With a challenging look, she suggests trying out the club's absolute most popular attraction.
Kuroki catches the reference, and a wicked smirk spreads across his face. He realizes she is talking about the Scarlet Cage. Their underground fighting ring, a place with zero rules, where fighters clash until the end purely for the entertainment of the rich.
Akari proposes a bet where they each put a fighter in the ring, and the last one standing wins. Kuroki tries to brush it off, saying there are no events scheduled for tonight, but Akari cuts him off and lays out exactly what she is willing to put on the line. She bets absolutely everything she inherited from her father, and he has to bet the entire casino.
Kuroki is stunned by the sheer boldness of the offer. A fight for the future of the Shido clan.
Word spreads through the casino, and everyone gets hyped for the insane showdown about to happen. In his head, Kuroki knows that backing down now would completely ruin his reputation. With a taunting smile, Akari asks if he is actually going to run from a challenge. Annoyed and backed into a corner, Kuroki grits his teeth and makes his call. He says it sounds like a fun time, and accepts the bet just so he does not look like a coward.
The two stare each other down intensely, officially sealing the deal for the final showdown.
The main character watches the whole thing unfold with a very satisfied and confident look. He knows his plan is working flawlessly, and that the enemy walked right into his trap. The VIP room door shuts tight, and the preparation for the massive event kicks off.
In a security room, Campanula watches it all with a totally twisted grin. The cameras show the entire conversation between Akari, Kuroki and the main character.