Hikigaya Challenges Kakegurui

A mixed-race girl with golden pear-shaped curls is sitting in front of the piano, and beautiful melody is flying out from her fingertips.

Although Hikigaya Hachiman doesn't know much about music, he can still feel from the beautiful melody that the girl in front of him is...very good at piano.

From the listening point of view, it is much better than the white-haired piano teacher who taught Komachi. Even an outsider like Hikigaya can feel it.

"I've always thought that guy is just a show-off..." Now that he saw the truly elegant piano sound, Hikigaya finally understood what a piano master was.

At the door, Kurume, who had a ponytail on one side, had never seen Hikigaya before, and immediately came to greet him:

"You must be the famous Hikigaya-san!"

"How about it? My Nadeshiko's piano sounds nice, right?"

"You will be gambling with her next."

Hikigaya Hachiman instinctively took two steps forward, feeling that the girl in front of him was a little too enthusiastic.

Seeing her opponent coming, Nadeshiko, who was playing the piano, stopped and walked towards Hikigaya with a smile: "Hello, Hikigaya-san, I am the president of the Classical Music Research Society, Ruridori Nadeshiko, please give me your guidance."

Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the elegant girl in front of him. Judging from her appearance alone, he would never have thought that she was the kind of girl who would take obscene photos in secret and then blackmail him.

And...in the video, she is wearing some very kawaii style underwear.

"A strange girl."

Hikigaya nodded naturally and suddenly asked, "Don't you consider yourself a member of the Zensaki-kai?"

"Eh?"

Liulidori Nadeshiko was stunned, covered her mouth and chuckled, "That kind of thing is meaningless, but Kurume told me that if I become a cadre, a big fat sheep will come to my door."

"I didn't expect that the fat sheep she was talking about would be Hikigaya-san."

"I see, she's short of money." Hikigaya made a quick decision in his mind.

"You think I'm a fat sheep..." Hikigaya laughed and sat at the end of the gambling table: "How rude, Ruricho-san."

Now that he was already in an invincible position, before the final battle with Mibui Omi, he might as well have nothing to do, so he didn't mind playing with the opponent for a while longer.

"Well, tell me about your gambling game."

Liuliciao Nadeshiko sat at the other end of the gambling table with an elegant demeanor: "The gambling in our Classical Music Research Society is absolutely equal, with no handling fees. In theory, it is a pure financial game, an absolutely fair one-on-one gambling."

"I'm sure Hikigaya-san already knows the name of the gambling game. It's called [Listening to the Thousand Gold]"

"Let me introduce the rules of gambling. They are very simple~"

"[Listening to the Thousand Golds] is essentially a coin-guessing game."

As she spoke, Ruridori Nadeshiko took out a box that made a clanging sound from under the table and placed it on the table.

0 yen coins. Other props include two money boxes and a scale. "

As he listened to her introduction, a strange, familiar feeling came over Hikigaya.

How come it's an absolutely fair bet again? Who told me that last time?

"If there are props involved, then the tools for cheating are nothing more than these three." Hikigaya quickly locked his eyes on the props she took out, "scales, coins, piggy banks... and the most easily overlooked large piggy banks."

'According to normal people's thinking, the tool that is most likely to be used for cheating is the one that is most easily overlooked.'

"The order is this. We decide in advance on the amount we want to bet, which serves as the most basic bet."

[Players take out the number of coins they like and throw them into the piggy bank, then close the lid, making sure other players don't find it.]

[After preparation, both parties place the money boxes on both ends of the scale]

[The two parties then reasoned about the total number of coins in the two piggy banks]

[If you guess correctly, you will get ten times the basic bet. If you guess wrong, you will get one time the bet]

[That is to say, you can get up to six times the amount of money in one round of the game]

[The reasoning order is divided into first and second, which lasts for five rounds]

After hearing this, Hikigaya raised his fingers and took out two coins from the large piggy bank.

One 50 yen coin and one 1 yen coin.

I closed my eyes and quickly determined the weight of the coin by feeling it with my fingertips. The 1 yen coin was 1g, and the 50 yen coin was 4g, a difference of four times.

Hikigaya opened his eyes and asked, "It's an interesting gamble to judge the number of coins by the tilt of the scale."

"Eh? What's the matter, Hikigaya-san?" Kurume acted as the supporting actor.

Hikigaya picked up a few more coins and explained, "If I put in four 1 yen coins and one 50 yen coin, the total weight would be 8 grams."

"But there are three possibilities for the weight of 8g."

"That is: eight 1 yen coins, two 50 yen coins, and four 1 yen coins plus one 50 yen coin." The crisp sound of coins falling reached the ears of the three people present.

“Very interesting reasoning game.”

As Ruridori Nadeshiko listened to Hikigaya's reasoning, a subtle curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Yes, what Hikigaya Hachiman said is absolutely right, that's it... But my gambling is designed to deal with smart people like you!"

"When you concluded that [Listening to the Valued Thousand Gold] required reasoning between several different possibilities, you fell into my trap, Hikigaya!"

'I have already spun my web, waiting for you to run into it.'

She smiled and clapped her hands, attracting the attention of the two people: "That's a very good point, Hikigaya-san, but you still missed a very important piece of information~"

"That is--"

"sound!"

"When you drop a coin into a piggy bank, it makes a clashing sound, which will serve as an important reference for the inference."

"Therefore, any action that obstructs the propagation of sound is prohibited."

"After the gambling begins, you must drop the coins of your choice into the piggy bank within ten seconds. Note that you cannot just reach into the piggy bank and put the coins in one by one, you must drop them in!"

"During this period, if anyone deliberately makes noise, they will be declared the loser!"

"I, Liulidiao Nadeshiko, will never allow anyone to tarnish the existence of sound!"

168 If the reasoning is correct, there is only one truth

"I, Liulidiao Nadeshiko, will never allow anyone to tarnish the existence of sound!"

"The one who masters the sound and weight will win the title of [Hearing the Thousand Gold]! Hikigaya Hachiman, are you ready to take on this challenge?!"

consciousness?

Hikigaya was playing with the coin in his hand with a playful look on his face.

The word "enlightenment" can only appear in women like Yumeko and Kirari. It is a competition of pure madness.

For a scheming fellow like Liuliciao Fuzi, the so-called enlightenment is actually a way of hiding from the public.

She may know a lot about gambling, but Hikigaya knows more about people’s hearts.

The girl in front of me, who has the temperament of an elegant pianist, is not as innocent as she looks. She looks like a young lady, but she is secretly doing things like taking secret photos and blackmailing. She looks noble and elegant, but she is wearing cute little bear underwear.

It's a deeply hidden contrast.

Now that we have analyzed the other party's personality, it is easy to infer what kind of cheating methods the other party will use.

'Liulincho Nadeshiko, who looks like she regards sound as her life, actually has little respect for sound in her heart.'

"I'm afraid this gamble has nothing to do with the sound...it's just a trick to hide from others."

Hikigaya Hachiman was extremely sure of this. Judging the number of coins by the sound of them colliding? Don't be kidding. Even someone like Hikigaya, who had extraordinary analytical abilities, couldn't do it.

Or rather, this is simply not something humans can do.

Just like in the book "ABC Murders" by Agatha Christie, the Queen of Reasoning, behind the complicated and disorderly murders, the real target of the criminal is only one person, and everything else is done just to interfere with the detective's sight. The same is true for Liulidori Nadeshiko's measurement.

Sound? Weight? Both are probably just a lie.

There must be something in her that can bypass these two important criteria and directly determine the outcome of the gambling.

"What could it be?"

Hikigaya Hachiman carefully observed the Ruridori Nadeshiko in front of him.

'Hairpins, necklaces, watches...'

"Could it be that one?"

Hikigaya Hachiman's eyes flickered. There were still too few clues at the moment, and he couldn't be sure whether his reasoning was correct.

"In that case, let's start with 100 million yen to test the waters in the first round," he said with a relaxed look.

100 million yen?!

Ruridori Nadeshiko's breathing quickened subconsciously. She had always wanted to earn a Steinway piano through her own efforts. Only a piano like that could match her own sound.

Kurume did not deceive her, and Hikigaya Hachiman was indeed a fat sheep with a lot of money!

'In this way, I will be able to get my Steinway piano soon.'

Hikigaya Hachiman made one mistake in his analysis.

That is, although Liuliciao Nadeshiko is not in awe of sound, she really loves it. In order to get the most beautiful sound, she will do anything no matter how despicable it is.

Whether it's secretly filming for blackmail or cheating to make money, in her opinion, it's just a means of transportation.

Although the plan to secretly take photos failed and she was very angry because the money she had earned flew away, God opened a door for her while closing a window.

She wants to earn back all the money she lost in the accident today!

"Come on then, Hikigaya-san."

The two of them sat down, each reached out and took out a piggy bank.

Hikigaya grabbed a handful of coins, glanced at them, and threw them into his piggy bank. The crisp sound of the coins colliding echoed in the empty music room.

After throwing everything in, he placed the piggy bank on the scale.

"You are unexpectedly decisive, Hikigaya-san. But unfortunately, I have already heard your voice." Ruridori Nadeshiko tapped her ears, then followed Hikigaya's actions and took out a few coins.

However, she was obviously a few beats slower in putting the coins into the piggy bank, and only put all the coins in after ten seconds were up.

Hikigaya noticed this detail and it seemed that the other party was deliberately stalling for time.

The balance is balanced!

Hikigaya Hachiman's eyes focused, and while observing Ruridori Nadeshiko's movements, he began to calculate rapidly in his mind.

The first round was to bet one million in order to find a flaw in Liuli Bird. If the amount was too small, the other party would probably not resort to cheating.

"I threw in nine 1 yen coins and nine 50 yen coins. If Ruridori Nadeshiko and I are even..."

'45g weight, a total of 11 possibilities.'

'Because of the sound, all the extreme numbers of coins at the beginning and end can be ruled out. Take the middle number, and there are 6 possibilities left.'

"36 pieces."

While Hikigaya was still thinking, Ruridori Nadeshiko's voice directly interrupted Hikigaya's thoughts and she gave the answer.

The thoughts of the glass bird are very simple.

Since he is a fat sheep, it doesn't matter how you kill him. While he hasn't noticed anything and his gambling desire hasn't subsided, just squeeze all his money out in one go!

Kurume beside him was a little surprised: "Eh? Is it confirmed so quickly? Don't you want to think about it again, Nadeshiko?"

"Don't worry about it, because I can already hear the sound~" Liulidori Nadeshiko said confidently: "Please check our piggy bank, Kurumi."

"OK then."

Hikigaya took a deep look at the smug-looking girl in front of him. From that smug look...it was obvious that she had no ulterior motives.

"You guessed it right! Nadeshiko, there are indeed 36 of them."

Kurume exclaimed, and emptied out all the money in the piggy bank in front of the two men: "There's no need to count, the amounts on both sides are the same."