Chapter 315: Old Maid

Old Maid is a Victorian card game for two or more players probably deriving from an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks. Even though a lot of children played in now but in the past, it was known as meant to gamble.

The rules of this game are very simple. The dealer shuffles and deals all of the cards to the players, one card at a time. Some players may have more cards than others; this is acceptable. Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (e.g., two kings, two sevens, etc.) face up. Players do not discard three of a kind. In common variants, the suit colors of a discarded pair must match: spades (♠) must match with clubs (♣) and diamonds (♦) must match with hearts (♥).

Beginning with the dealer, each player takes turns offering his or her hand face-down to the person on his or her left. That person selects a card without looking and adds it to his or her hand. This player then sees if the selected card makes a pair with any of their original cards. If so, the pair have discarded face ups as well. The player who just took a card then offers his or her hand to the person on his or her left, and so on.

The objective of the game is to continue to take cards, discarding pairs until no more pairs can be made. The player with the card that has no match is "stuck with the old maid" and loses.

Kirari prepared a regular deck of 52 cards and a single joker card, "The one who owns the joker card is the loser of this gamble."

"I understand," Haru nodded since he had played this game in the past.

"Haru, why do you gamble suddenly?" Nasa who had come to his cafe was a bit surprised since he wanted to show him his apps but suddenly he saw him ready to have a gamble with someone.

Before Nasa received his answer, Kirari suddenly interrupted him.

"Do you know why I have to ask you to have a gamble?" Kirari asked.

"It is related to your school?" Haru wasn't sure about it but he thought that it might be related to her school since she had initiated it after talking about her school.

Kirari looked at Iwasawa and asked, "Can you become our dealer?"

"Me?" Iwasawa asked.

"Yes," Kirari nodded.

"Alright," Iwasawa was curious about what this was about.

"Hyakko Private Academy, do you know anything about that school?" Kirari asked.

"I have only heard that it is one of the oldest schools and there are a lot of children of influential businessmen and politicians," Haru said.

"That's right. In that school, very few value academic achievement or athletic prowess," Kirari received the card and asked, "Do you know why?"

"Because such a thing won't be used in the future since most of them are going to carry on their parent's career," Haru answered while looking at Iwasawa who distributed the card to him and Kirari.

"Yes, the thing that we need is a thing like a strategy and the ability to read people. Or the ability to recognize a critical moment in a game. In other words gambling," Kirari smiled and said, "In our school, the thing that we value is an individual's ability in gambling."

"It's certainly a mess up school," Kosaka said.

Kirari nodded, "Yes, it's a very messy school the same as our society that is also very messed up, right?"

Kosaka raised her hands and smiled, "That's true." She didn't deny it since she had tasted it now. She wasn't sure what she would be doing now if she didn't meet him, 'That's why I need to succeed.' She looked at him looking at the girl while thinking when this guy was going to turn toward her.

"Hmm?" Haru turned toward Kosaka, "What's wrong, Kosaka?"

"Nothing," Kosaka shook her head and thought this guy was very sharp. She turned around to hide her blush.

"Do we start now?" Haru turned toward Kirari.

"Sure," Kirari nodded.

Without waiting both of them started to discard every pair inside their hands to the table.

Everyone was a bit surprised since their speed was very fast until both Haru and Kirari didn't have any pair on their hands.

"Do you want to go first?" Haru asked.

"Why not?" Kirari said and took one card before making the pair discarding it to the table.

Haru decided not to use his observation haki and only used his luck to have a battle with this girl. He could see that Kirari was very excited for some reason. He took one of her cards and made a pair before discarding it to the table. He didn't have a joker in his hand and knew that Kirari was the one who was holding it. He counted the card in her hands and knew one of them was a joker.

Kirari wasn't in a hurry since there were still a lot of cards on both of their hands.

Their game was very fast and before long there was one card on Haru and two cards on Kirari.

Everyone who watched this game wasn't sure but they felt that it was both exciting and intense at the same time. They knew that Haru only needed one right card before he won this gamble.

Haru was ready to take one of the cards from her hands.

Kirari didn't show any emotion when she saw him touching the right card. She knew that she had lost this game thought she didn't show frustration only an amused expression.

"Say, if you win how long do I have to become your bodyguard?" Haru asked.

"Hmm, I have said that until my matter is over," Kirari said, and added, "It won't be that long."

"One year?" Haru asked.

"Month," Kirari said.

"That's good," Haru said, then took out the joker in her hand.

"...."

Haru showed two cards in his hand and said, "I have two cards now if you can take the right card, I'll become your bodyguard." He shuffled two cards in his hands with a very fast speed that made people gawk.

"..."

Kirari thought that Haru had become more interesting in her eyes.

"Now everything depends on your luck," Haru said.

"Luck, huh?" Kirari said and picked one of the cards in his hand, "That's true." She discarded her card on the table since she had made a pair, "Then, please take care of me."

"...."

Haru looked at the joker card in his hand and thought that his luck was good.