Rina's grin was characteristically wide, her eyes focused on the pair of kings in her hand. Davis smirked back, despite his mismatched hand.
"Let's open easy," Davis said, and put a thousand-yen bill beside the deck. Rina called, and put one of her own with it.
"Gimme three," he said, tossing his two, six and four her way. Making semi-graceful moves, faster than they were coordinated, she tossed him three replacements.
Picking them up, he saw Ten of Clubs, Jack of Diamonds, Three of Spades, inwardly and outwardly elated by it. Rina grinned at that, happy to see him happy.
"Gimme three too," Rina said, handing him the deck. He took it, and she picked her cards back up, adding her Nine, Three and Six to the discarded pile. He held three cards out to her.
Taking them, she saw they were the Eight of Hearts, the Four of Hearts, the Seven of Clubs. All good cheer immediately drained from her face.
"Bad draw?" Davis guesstimated. He knew one thing about her poker-face. It didn't exist.
"Yeah," she admitted freely.
A round of checking followed, then they showed their hands. Rina blinked multiple times, then flung her cards into the air, falling back over onto the floor.
"No, no, no, no," Rina protested frantically. "I refuse to believe this. This is not happening."
Davis grinned, claiming the money. "Yeah, it did."
She returned a grin, sitting up, making a small show of taking her hoodie off. Davis blushed brightly. After gathering the cards and shuffling, she passed two hands.
Both goggle-less goggle-heads inspected their hands. In his hand, the Queens of Hearts and Diamonds, Seven of Spades, the Two and Ten of Clubs. In her hand, the Ace, Four and Six of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, and the Two of Spades. Rina decided her strategy for this round as soon as she saw her cards.
"I bet five-thousand," Davis declared, grinning while he tossed the bills.
"Call," Rina answered.
"I'll take three," Davis said, and put everything but his pair away. Rina tossed him three new cards. He looked them over, Rina noting dismay in his eyes.
"Four," Rina said, tossing all but her ace. He picked the deck up, and tossed her four new. Her grin returned at the sight of the Ace of Spades.
They each declared calling, then showed their hands. Davis glared at her pair of aces, then up at Rina's wide grin.
"Aw, man," Davis bemoaned. He removed his socks, then took her cards. Quickly shuffling, he passed the next hands, one at a time and alternating between players. Rina saw the Queen of Hearts first, then the Six of Spades, the Eight of Diamonds, the Nine of Spades, and the Ace of Clubs.
Davis grinned at his cards, a pair of Tens in his hand.
"I bet five-thousand," Rina proclaimed, tossing the bill in.
"Call," Davis replied, and mirrored her gesture. Then, he took the deck.
She tossed four cards, getting the Jack of Spades, Seven of Hearts, Eight and Three of Clubs back, undisguised disgruntlement filling her face. Davis knew at once she had gotten a bad hand.
He tossed three cards. In turn, he got the Seven of Diamonds, Two of Spades, and Jack of Hearts. A slight grin lingered on his face.
"I fold," Rina said, and tossed her cards away. The Ace and Seven landed face-up. Davis moved to collect the cards and shuffle, dealing new hands.
She saw the Four of Clubs, Eight of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs, Ace of Spades, Seven of Diamonds, her face pensive. He grinned, holding the Fives of Hearts and Clubs, Six of Spades, Ten and Seven of Clubs. They each voiced to call, staking a thousand.
"Gimme three," Davis only kept his pair. Rina picked the deck up again, eagerly tossing him three new. She responded in kind, Davis dealing her. Her face lit up like a sun at the other ace.
They checked through the second bid round, and revealed their hands. Davis smirked. Rina glowered at his three-of-a-kind. A smirk rose on her face when she got an idea, and reached to her back.
"Davis, we're home," his father called out in the apartment. In his bedroom, they were almost too engrossed in the game to hear him.
Looking around, his mother noted that Veemon wasn't anywhere to be found, and didn't like her conclusion. "Davis," she called out, half-expecting to hear rustling noises from his bedroom.
Instead, the door promptly opened, and he stuck his head out. "Yeah?"
Hiroshi smiled, amused by her concern. As far as he cared, there was nothing to worry about. Davis had proven he would be mature and responsible, even around a girl who dressed like Rina. Hiroshi couldn't say for sure with her, but she hadn't been a cause of alarm just yet.
"How was your evening?" Susan asked.
"Fun," Davis replied. "We've mostly been playing games since you left."
"Good," she replied. Hiroshi thought about cracking a joke to lift the mood; maybe something about how they redefined long-distance dating, or how time travel was her bus service.
"Anyway, what's your plan for getting home tonight, Rina?" Hiroshi called out to her.
By the playstation, Rina looked deeply pensive. Eventually, she shouted, "I dunno, Mister Motomiya," back to him.
Susan sighed mentally, a mild frown showing. While she wasn't Kari, no matter how much she defined the word 'boisterous', Rina was a sweet girl who could keep pace with him and more when it came to Digimon things. In that sense, Rina was close to being everything she had wanted Davis to find.
Even so, Susan would've liked it better if he had found an ordinary, local girl who was like that. In hindsight, Susan decided, that should have been on her wish list. On the other hand, the priority was what made Davis happy, not what met her expectations.
"Mirei gets here when she gets here," Rina said.
Hiroshi smiled at that. "Well, glad to hear you've got it figured out."