Furudo Erika quest

At the lobby, all the walls were painted white with huge pillars resembling marble, stretching to the oval ceiling with flowers hung up as far as the eye could see. No doubt when the ship was being refurbished the plans were to make the lobby look like a wedding chapel you thought to yourself. In the center of the lobby you could see a crowd gathered to appraise two VIP guest idols who were invited on the cruise. As far as idols went they were as cookie-cutter as you could get. Dressed in pure white, very polite, something you'd see and think to yourself, "that could be the emperors daughter."
You did not follow the latest idol gossip much, but from what you could gather those two had a falling out recently and now they seemed on good terms and maybe even getting back together as an two girl idol group.
"Fascinating" you murmur to yourself, looking for the nearest help desk.
"Where can I find the nearest monetary entertainment," you asked, smiling wryly as you tried to get words 'monetary entertainment' out without letting out a chuckle.
Without hesitation and with a smile of having done this a million times the help desk clerk politely pointed you towards a long hallway.
"Right down this hallway to the right, you can't miss it."
It's not as if a ship like this was devoid of any illegal activity, the hosts of the event had arranged for quite a lot of activities that would not reach the ears of the common man. That is also one of the reasons why not a single member of media was allowed on board.
Having made your way inside the room where all the action took part, you were greeted by a thick cloud of smoke, a deafening silence only interrupted by the occasional 'click' of a casino chip clashing together with another chip and a quiet but deep murmur of old men under a dim yellow light. As far as you could tell, not a single person in here was out to make money. They were merely wasting away their time with the eyes devoid of any light. Decadence at it's finest.

"I'm not like them," you told yourself while sitting down at the edge of one of the blackjack tables. Next to a cute girl. A fortunate yet random coincidence, no doubt. Stealing an inconspicuous glance at the girl, you note to yourself her long blue hair and her petite height, while sitting down her feet didn't even reach the floor resembling that of a child. Resembling a child by her appearance she did, but her calm and elegant demeanor struck you opposite that of a child. Her every move was graceful and carefully crafted to be as elegant as possible.

On the other side of the girl was an empty seat and after the empty seat sat a typical CEO-type. Grey hair, cigar, in his 70's and probably weighing twice the average human despite being shorter than most. In contrast to the blue haired girl all his movements were rough like that of a wild boar.

It seemed like the two were having some sort of a competition. From what you could gather whoever had the most chips at the end of the 5th round would be the winner. Coincidentally the dealer was about to deal the 5th round and they both were even, so whoever won this round would come out as the victor. Cute girls, gambling, dangerous atmosphere with a villain-like character. What man wouldn't want to throw themselves in to such a scenario just to play out their James Bond fantasy?

It seemed that once having taken your seat, the girl next to you took notice of you.
"<s t o p>" She exclaimed trying to hide her annoyance with the new player on the table. "This match should be between us two, outsiders aren't allowed."
The old cigar smoker merely laughed in what only was similar to a toad croak. "What does it matter? It's a game of luck isn't it? What would it matter to you if he joins or not?" With a casual dismissive wave of his stubby arm the man signaled for the dealer to continue.

With a 25 000 yen bet in front of each of us, the dealer first gave himself a face up card (8 of spades), then slid one towards you face down, then the girl next to you, then the old man. Then he placed a card face down in front of him and gave you each a card so that everyone only knew our own two cards and the one face up card the dealer had.

To visualize it better lets show it this way

Dealer gets 8spades -> you get King of hearts -> Girl gets unknown -> Oldman gets unknown -> Dealer gets unknown -> you get Queen of diamonds -> girl gets unknown -> Oldman gets unknown.

So the situation was such

Dealer
8x
You
KQ
Girl
xx
Oldman
xx

Bending your cards upwards from the table ever so slightly so that you could take another peek at your winning hand, you confirmed that the hand was practically won. All that needed doing now was to say 'stay' and you most likely would be the winner. Shooting a glance at the nearest waiter, you beckoned him with a wave of the hand to bring a drink. It wasn't every day that the first hand was this lucky. With silent nod the man went to the bar. At the same time the dealer also reached for bottled water under the desk. You thought it a bit unprofessional, but if the man was thirsty then why not. Within seconds though the dealer unfortunately spilled water over the desk. None of the players got drenched, but everyones cards however weren't so lucky. With a thousand apologies the dealer was escorted out.

"Unfortunately I got some water on me so I need to go to the ladies room," the girl said while brushing off her dress.
"Ha!" The old man laughed. "What's this? Your little card counting plan falls apart and now you're running?"

It seemed quite obvious at this point even to a complete outsider like you that the girl was counting cards and you had ruined the equation by joining and threw her off. The old man didn't even try to hide his smirk at this point, he knew he had the girl cornered.

The girl however didn't let up, fully composed, calm and with grace she retorted "Oh? I thought I heard an accusation there, do you have any proof to back it up?"

"Whatever. You there, new guy" the old man waved his hand at you, "do we continue the game?"

At the center of attention it was now your turn. The old man was trying to burn a hole in your forehead with his stare, probably trying to judge whether you'd help the girl next to you. Not sure of what he's expecting, if you didn't have the winning hand the answer would be clear as day, but considering you have the winning hand...
The girl however seemed rather unfazed by all of the events, with her eyes closed, with an elegant posture in her chair, despite the tense situation where you have no idea what the stakes are. You judged that she seemed way too relaxed for this atmosphere.

You...

[]Continue the game, you like winning.
[]Stop the game, you'd like to help the girl.
[]Other

>>1162532
>[X]Stop the game, you'd like to help the girl.

>>1162532
>[V]Continue the game, you like winning.

> [X] Help the girl

File: FErika368.png (143KB, 575x363px) Image search: [Google]

143KB, 575x363px

>>1162570
>>1163355
"I believe we need let the little lady here clean herself up if we are to continue right?" You shrug "Sportsmanship and all that."

"Yes, I guess you are right. First and foremost we are men, aren't we. Alright, well then I guess you'll have to excuse me, as I have business to do in the mens room as well." With a heave-ho man let out a groan and got up from his chair.

Your gaze was now fixed on the girl who, you were half-expecting a thank you from, was still as calm as ever. Slightly annoyed by her ungratefulness you lean in to whisper to her, but before you could, two fat palms slammed on the table covering both yours and her cards.

In a voice that resembled that of a chain smoker the old main said "As if I'll let this slide. Erika, despite me barely knowing you, I thought you a bit crazy with the stakes that you offered, but after watching you for a bit I realized," he leaned in lowering his voice "you left nothing to chance. Not only did you possibly count cards, you also arranged for that dealer to spill the water in case anything went wrong. A perfect escape from a losing hand."
He then turned his pudgy face towards you "And what about you? Quite the coincidence for you to show up on our last round. When I offered you the choice you chose to help her. Was that your instinct as a man to help a damsel in distress or did you yourself have a losing hand? Or perhaps..." his smile grew twisted "she hired you to help her out."

"But then that would be weird right?" Erika finally spoke out "If we were working together and I was counting cards, wouldn't that ruin my plan of counting cards."

"Enough. No taking back now, lets see those cards!" He said, flipping over both of your hands.

In confusion you stare at your own hand, trying to recall what you had when you last saw your cards. It was KhQd right? You ask yourself. Then why do you have a Qd6s in front of you? You look at the hand in front of Erika and she has a KhQh. She took your card!

"Hah!" The old man let out "I knew you had something up your sleeve. Honestly I can't even begin to know where your tricks start and end." He walked back to his seat and flipped over his own two cards.
A mere 7hJh, not enough to overcome Erika's hand.

"Did you have a strong hand from the start and you were just messing with me? Oh and by the way, you win, it doesn't matter to me whether you reveal that you cheated. I acknowledge your victory."

Almost as if having to contain herself the whole time, panting heavily, Erika shot up from her chair.
"<g o o d!> I never did count cards as you accused me. I merely had the dealer on my side and we had arranged before hand what cards he would deal, including the final round." She paced around the room, explaining with exaggerated hand gestures. "That's where things went wrong with addition of the newcomer, as the deck was already arranged in a way that would give me the winning cards if I was playing only against you."

>>1163777

"Since we knew the dealing order was clockwise starting from the dealer then me and finally you, the way we had arranged our deck was the following in the order of cards dealt"

1. 8 dealer
2. K Erika
3. Q old man
4. 7 dealer
5. A Erika
6. Q old man

"Which would lead me to have the best hand, but unfortunately all that was shifted by one position, so now once we have a new addition to the table, the new deal would be like this"

1. 8 dealer
2. K you
3. Q Erika
4. 7 old man
5. A dealer
6. Q you
7. random Erika (turned out to be 7)
8. random old man (turned out to be J)

"So I had a losing hand and had to do something about it, and as you pointed out, I did have the dealer spill the water, but not to escape, but to distract. I knew most of the cards everyone had, so I swiped one of... Pardon me, what's your name?"

"Call me Watson." You replied with a wry smile

Clapping her hands together in delight, she continued, "Excellent! I swiped one of Watsons cards, which turned out to be one of the King. And the rest was setting you up for a fall. Because the information was there, this level of cheating was possible for Furudo Erika. What do you think everyone?"

As she finished her explanation with a curtsy, you couldn't help but to be amazed, but somehow feel that you could have predicted this.

"You don't see many girls using their brains like this these days, wonderful" you could see a tinge of nostalgia in the mans eyes, perhaps reminding him of something. After a brief pause of reminisce the old man put out his half finished cigar, reached in his suit and handed Erika an envelope. "I hope you like it. It's a shame I didn't get to win though." He stifled a sadistic laugh as he slowly waddled out of the room.

"Well now Watson, did you enjoy the show?" Erika said with a confident smile on her face turning to you

[]What did you two bet on?
[]Want to grab a drink?
[]That old man could have won, want to challenge me to a game?
[]other

>>1163778
>Nah, it'd be better if you didn't explain everything and drove your opponent crazy with no information.

>>1163778
>you couldn't help but to be amazed, but somehow feel that you could have predicted this.
Damn straight. Feels especially bad to be intellectually raped when you see it coming.

>compliment her on her victory, then challenge her to a game. She clearly thinks you're an idiot so you should be able to use that to your advantage. Besides, you may be able to find out more about her while you're playing.

Anyone want me to pick up where OP left off?