The losers were late.
Sun from the window roasting the back of his neck, Osamu was feeling the heat in his jacket. He was itching to find the remote to that air conditioner and pump it up. What was with the candles anyway? It was all such a pain...
The door opened, but Osamu didn't even bother to sit up as...what were their names? Nao and Akiyama or something. They finally got back and took their seats, but Celes didn't even look up from her tea until Akiyama said, "You know, on second thought, maybe I will have some tea."
Celes gave him some kind of a look before pouring him a fresh cup. Osamu grimaced: black tea had never been his thing. Too many bad memories of being forced to choke it down when he was a kid.
Moving in between Celes and Akiyama, the dealer stated, "We shall now begin the first hand in the second set." Shuffling up the cards, he flung them out, filling everyone's hand.
Picking up his, Osamu found the Eights of Hearts, the Eight of Diamonds, the Six of Hearts, the King of Clubs, the Ace of Clubs, and the Ace of Diamonds. Not too shabby. He pretended to give it some thought as Akiyama made the first pass, Celes and Nao taking their time. After Osamu made his passes, leaning back in his chair, he ended up sitting right back up again a moment later.
Sliding a Seven of Diamonds onto the table, Nao said, "I'm making a Tribute." Osamu couldn't help but watch her out of the corner of his eye after she passed five chips to the center as her fee. What the hell was she thinking?
Last again, Celes made her passes before everyone took their new cards. Osamu narrowed his eyes when he saw the Jack of Spades among his cards, alongside a Six and a Ten of Hearts. These weren't half bad: guess she was just an idiot. She sure seemed like one of those klutzy moé types. Honestly they kind of pissed Osamu off. He'd take a maiden like Celes any day.
Throwing the cards he couldn't make use of away, he once again waited as the others took their sweet time. Nao was happy about something: she was probably too brain damaged to keep a straight face in poker of all things. At least Akiyama seemed to know what he was doing, but he hadn't had a half decent hand yet. Not that Osamu could talk...
More passing. Osamu got the 10 of Diamonds and...the Ace of Hearts!? Osamu pulled his red cap down over his eyes as he hid his glare. This dumb girl...
Things speeding up, Osamu got his last card: a Nine of Spades. Passing done and over with, Akiyama began, "Ten chips." The dealer moved a minute ago, so now it was his turn to start, or whatever.
Lips curling up, Celes giggled, "Oho~"
Nao looked down at her tributed card before pushing ten chips forwards. "Call."
Grinning, Osamu joined in, "Call."
Celes had her eyes closed as she calmly said, "Raise." She pushed fifteen chips in easily.
After a moment, Akiyama shrugged, placing his hand down, folding. Nao looked at him nervously. Haha, your buddy gave up. What now?
Picking her tributed Seven off the table, Nao pushed in five more chips. "Call."
Narrowing an eye, Osamu looked down at his cards. His hand hovered by his chips, before he clicked his tongue, muttering, "Fold..." Another ten chips in the hole... Oh well.
Celes smiled. "Well, I think I'm quite done with betting. Ten, ten, fifteen, fifteen, and five from the tribute...a 55 million yen pot is quite enough." Eyes looking back and forth, she requested, "Boys?"
Akiyama lowered his hand: King of Clubs, Ten of Spades, Two of Diamonds, Three of Clubs, and the Fours of Hearts and Spades. A pair.
Osamu wanted to laugh at the crap, but he wasn't doing much better: Six of Hearts, Two of Hearts, Nine of Spades, Jack of Spades, and Tens of Diamonds and Spades. Pair.
As Celes looked at Nao, Akiyama tapped his teacup as he asked, "Why are you so certain you already won?"
Celes giggled, "I apologize. This is one of those instances where I wish we were playing with six card hands. Oh the possibilities." She laid down her cards: a triplet of Aces and a triplet of Eights. "A Full House will just have to do."
"It won't." Osamu gave Nao a look as she showed her hand. A pair of Sixes, and several Sevens. "Four of a Kind."
Brain twisting into knots, Osamu could only gape. "What the f-"
Before the words exited his mouth, he turned to Celes, her head titled back slightly as she looked down on Nao's cards, otherwise expressionless. Somehow, Osamu was starting to sweat though. The dealer passed Nao her chips wordlessly: the dumb girl now had a stupid lead over him! 125 chips, while he and Akiyama were tied at 80. Celes was only a little behind at 115 chips.
Trying to calm down a bit, Osamu took off his dark gray coat as the next hands were being dealt. Finally checking his cards, he found the Jacks of Clubs and Hearts, Two of Spades, Eight of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, and the Nine of Spades. Not taking too long, he set down his passes before relaxing. He didn't get long to think before everyone finished up though: Celes was speeding things up.
Snatching his new cards: Nine of Diamonds, Eight of Spades, and Three of Hearts, he now had two pairs. He tossed aside one of them, but Nao said, "I'm making a tribute."
Osamu's head jerked over as he saw she'd placed down the Ten of Diamonds, moving ten chips into the pot. Whyyyyyy? he grumbled. She and Akiyama made their discards easily, but Celes went back to taking her time.
When Osamu did get his discards, his brain stuck, baffled. The Queen of Spades and the Ace of Clubs. "Why?" he mouthed, before smacking his mouth shut. He wasn't getting this game at all. Luckily he didn't have to, making his last, lone pass.
After a moment, Nao picked her ten back up, returning it to her hand, announcing, "I'm taking this back." Osamu had no comment.
Passes done, Osamu took his new card, hissing a bit. It was the Ten of Diamonds she'd tributed. Why'd she tribute it if she was just going to give it away!? Squashing his hand into one stack, he lazily balanced it upright on the table with a finger, not caring anymore.
On the other side, Akiyama held his cards in one hand, think for a moment before stating, "Check."
Celes kept her face blank until Nao looked over, putting another ten chips next to her fee. "Just the minimum for now."
Osamu knew she was up to something, snorting, "Fold." Tipping his hand over, it only scattered slightly, the Ten of Diamonds being the only card visible.
Noticing a hard look from Celes' red eyes, he felt a chill run down his spine, but she moved on, calmly sliding ten chips forwards. That same moment, Akiyama placed his hand face down. "Fold."
Nao looked back at her cards, before stating, "Call."
"Then it begins." Still somber, Celes lowered her hand, spreading it out: Queen of Spades next to a Full House. Jacks of Spades, Hearts, and Clubs with Nines of Spades and Diamonds.
Osamu spread out his hand a bit more. A pair of Eights was his best, while he also had a Three of Hearts, the Two of Spades, the Ace of Clubs, and the Ten of Diamonds.
Akiyama said nothing as he showed an all red hand: Three, Four, and Five of Diamonds and Ten, Ace, and Queen of Hearts.
Nao giggled, "Two in a row~" She showed her hand: a Pair of Twos and three Kings along with the Queen of Diamonds. A Full House, her Kings trumping Celes' Jacks.
Osamu almost had a breath of relief as Celes seemed to be chill about the whole thing, taking her cup of tea. The dealer said, "You have another ten minute break." In lighter spirits this time, Nao got up, Akiyama following. Osamu's nostrils flared when the door closed: probably getting in a quick-
Hair on the back of his neck standing up, he turned to see Celes' ugly sneer, her guarded finger jabbing at him as she sneered, "What do you think you're doing you..."
Giving a weak smile, Osamu muttered, "I-I'm trying!"
"Regrettably. You're fooling no one, no matter how hard you try."
Osamu flinched, before muttering some nonsense.
Celes hissed, "Yes, had I folded, but with your embarrassing display I felt I had to show some measure of pride. I couldn't simply let her walk away after tributing so boldly."
Osamu swallowed, before recalling, "Yeah, and then giving that Ten to me! What gives!?"
Celes rested her elbow in one hand as she brought up her other to think. "It was quite clear the first time: in tributing a Seven, she requested Akiyama hand her Sevens. But the next time, even though I myself passed Akiyama a Ten to test them, he did not pass it to her, and she gave away hers. Both cards were in the Diamond suit...she was signaling him somehow."
"What, like, morse code?"
Celes gripped her teacup, Osamu flinching, knowing that the tea was still hot. She relaxed her grip though, continuing, "Suit...and number...neither of those things could be a part of the signal. All cards have both, so there would be no reliable way...ah!" Raising a fingers to her pursed lips, she gave a cute smile, giggling, "Oho~"
Not surprised by the vague, mysterious bullshit, Osamu kept his eyes on Celes until she began, "Akiyama Shinichi, you live up to your reputation. There is another quality to the cards he's using."
Osamu thought, before flinching, "Not-"
"Shh!" Celes hissed, glaring again. Calming down with a sip of tea, she explained, "The symmetry. It's quite elegant, really." Osamu blinked in confusion until she continued, "The Ten of Diamonds, the face cards, Twos, Fours, other Tens, and all Diamonds are symmetrical, except for the Seven of Diamonds. All other cards are horizontally asymmetrical."
Osamu fuzzled his eyebrow, noting, "But Sixes and Eights are even."
Clicking her tongue, Celes looked to the dealer, who complied, fishing out the Eight of Clubs from the deck. Taking another look, Osamu saw where he messed up: there were two columns of three Club symbols, with one column of two sandwiched in the middle. The bottom one in each column was flipped though. The two right in the middle of the card could point up or down.
Celes handed the card back as she stated, "It's likely that that came up with some kind of system using this. The first time, Nao tributed the Seven of Diamonds, which may have been inverted or not. Then she tributed the Ten of Diamonds, which was symmetrical. I can only attempt to fathom what each orientation means to them. Luckily you need not worry your head over it. Focus merely on the suit and whether or not the card is high or low: surely you can handle that much?"
"Yeah..." Osamu grunted.
Done for now, the two returned to quiet, before Akiyama and Nao returned before the end of the break. A minute later, the dealer changed spots again, standing between Akiyama and Nao.
"We're starting the third set," the dealer said to no one, passing out the cards.
This time though, Osamu was on top of things, watching carefully. Even before anyone took their cards, there was something to note about two of Nao's. Osamu could feel the edges of his lips twitch.
Picking up his cards, he saw the Ace of Diamonds, the Five of Hearts, the Ten of Hearts, the Eight of Spades, the Queen of Spades, and the King of Spades. While on any other day, he'd send the King out the door, he was feeling pretty confident, instead passing off the Ace, Five, and Ten. Celes took her sweet time, as usual, before the dealer was able to give the signal. Taking his new cards, Osamu wasn't disappointed to find the Seven, the Two, and the Three of Hearts.
Staying back a moment, he looked at the other two: Nao wasn't about to make any moves, though Akiyama had two cards separated; probably going to tribute them. Celes moved first though, sliding a Five of Hearts onto the table. "I'm making a tribute," she stated, moving her chips onto the table.
Barely suppressing a grin at his contribution, Osamu passed along the cards in the Heart suit he could: Two and Three. In no time, the others made their passes too.
Looking at his next cards, Osamu beamed. Next to the Ten of Spades was the Four of Hearts. Throwing it along, the last round of passing was done in moments.
The first round of betting took a little longer, as Nao stared at her hand for a few moments, before looking around.
"Hem hem," Celes cleared her throat, picking up her Five of Hearts she'd tributed.
Nao blinked, before gasping, "Ah! I'm sorry!" Osamu rolled her eyes as she looked back at her hand, before beginning, "I bet." Ten chips got shoved over near Celes' five.
Osamu looked at his measly hand: he'd gotten an Ace of Spades from Nao for some reason, but it was his highest car-wait, shit.
Aside from his Seven of Hearts, he had a King, a Ten, an Eight, and a Queen, all Spades. He was one fucking card a way from a Royal Flush. Was Celes' luck rubbing off on him?
"Raise," Osamu called, pushing fifteen chips forwards.
Celes eyed him for a moment, seemingly unimpressed, before stating, "Call."
"Fold." Akiyama was being a puss.
Nao looked between the two, before deciding, "Call."
Each of them having bet 15 chips, plus Celes' 5 from the tribute, this pot was loaded. Satisfied, Osamu concluded, "Call." Not wasting a moment, he dropped his hand first, "A flush." He moaned, "One away from a Royal one too..."
Procedure set, Akiyama lazily flipped over his hand: Eight of Diamonds, Eight of Clubs, Six of Clubs, Five of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, and the Three of Diamonds. Osamu didn't pay him much mind.
Looking over to Nao, Celes noted, "Had Osamu beaten your hand, I imagine you would have been far more distressed." It was true: Celes nailing it threw Nao off even more than his almost Royal Flush had...
Holding up her cards, she suggested, "On three?"
Nao stayed tough as Celes counted down, the two dropping their hands at once.
Nao had a Full House. Three Jacks, including Osamu's missing Jack of Spades, plus two Kings and an Ace.
Celes had a Straight Flush: Ace of Hearts through Six of Hearts. Nao didn't stand a chance.
As Nao's face plummeted, Celes giggled, "How sad. To think those cards you gave away fell right into my hand." Guilty, Nao shifted back as Celes laughed, "Fufufufu."
Though the backs were hidden now, Osamu had gotten a good look at them earlier: Celes didn't bring her tea for a light drink. As they played the earlier hands, she had been lightly dabbing the tip of her finger with just enough to leave on the back of some of the Heart suit cards, some low, some high. While most of it was wiped off and quickly dried between the green padding on the table and the air, dry but cool in the summer heat and air conditioner, it was just enough to leave a visible discoloration, though only if you knew what to look for. A green tea stain would have show up on a red backed card, but a light brown was easier to hide.
Osamu didn't even bother to hide his grin. They had them cornered, no matter how many stupid tricks they had up their sleeve.