"Who's the third person?"

"Kalluto."

"Kalluto's playing?"

"He's right there. Can't you see him?"

"N-no."

"Actually, Kalluto isn't playing. The third hand is so that neither of us knows what the other has."

"Oh."

*.*.*

"One four."

"I doubt it."

Silently Illumi flipped over the seven.

Killua grinned. "Two fives."

###

"Two sevens."

"You know this isn't an eight." Killua held out a card. "See?"

He held the twelve out toward Illumi face up as if to prove that he wasn't lying. "One eight," he said bitterly.

"I doubt it."

*.*.*

"One eleven."

"I doubt it," Killua said mechanically.

It was an eleven.

The game was over.

###

Illumi held up two eights from 'Kalluto's' hand. "Now tell me, how was I supposed to know that you didn't have one of these?"

Killua looked through the cards without seeing them. "You knew."