Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

Troublesome Covenants

"What are you rearing your teeth for, punk?" Temari hissed like a pit viper in reaction to the final burglar still stuck playing Weiner with her, grinning in front of her while his crew surrounded the broad man from behind. Likewise, both the Stars and Kakashi had Temari's back, standing from behind her as everyone who had exited the game by that point stood up and left the table, leaving the two to play it out.

"This is the last stretch of the game. The duel that will decide who gets the Golden Locket of Sotatsu. I've got no idea what you guys need it for, but clearly, you need it enough to put everything on the line. I'm just reveling in the sight of you squirming for your dreamed prize from your side of the table." The burglar leaned back, comfortably pressing his index and middle fingers to the cards he held in his hands.

"You might wanna bring it way down," Temari said. "Didn't you guys go on and on about how much more fun this game is when played in groups, anyway? Let's just play our cards already."

"You still don't get it, do you? This is where the fun all comes in full circle–this entire game we've been transferring cards across the table, moving the entire available deck, shuffling, and dealing it to players not by chance but through strategy. Now is when we show off that strategy, the hands that we've accumulated throughout the game. Now is when all the planning comes to pass." The heavyweight burglar slammed his fist onto the table and scooped up Damisan's ace together with the trio of nines.

"Huh? You're picking up all the nines?" Temari scratched her head.

"The minimum amount of cards you have to scoop, when you do scoop, is three cards. Since he's taking a pair of nines anyway, he might as well take the third because nines are easy to get rid of." Kakashi explained. "Stay focused and keep playing the best you can. Your hand is solid."

Weiner, when played in a duel setting, was one of those games where telling another person what one had in their hand was pointless because the hand of the other player could have easily been determined by the hand that the other saw before their eyes. With a clear conscience, Temari dumped her ten of spades, leaving her hand in a grand condition, all things considered.

The burglar scooped up the ten. He was an excellent player. Normally, when one had all the worst cards in plentiful sets in one's hand, they'd get nervous, surrender or try to make desperate plays to rid themselves of those cards one at a time. With this play, the burglar now held the full sets of nines and tens in his hand, which meant that he could get rid of all those undesirable cards with a single play as opposed to three or four if he tried to get rid of them individually.

It was tough to tell just how aware Temari was of this as she played her jack of spades as if nothing had changed, playing the textbook game of Weiner with no unorthodox plays or strategies. Just bread and butter moves to get rid of one's cards, the lowest ones being first. The burglar nuked the stack of cards with an ace of hearts. At this point, both players had a pair of aces, and how they handled those cards of mass importance would undoubtedly decide the game.

"That play was outright sadistic." Damisan scratched the side of his mask with his prosthetic fingers, letting out a rubbery squeak as they contacted the steel framework of his mask. "Now Temari's forced to either scoop the jack back up and open the field for her opponent to dump their trash from their hand or to answer with an ace of her own and surrender most of the control over cards being played by giving her opponent three aces."

"No, this was a hasty play." Mana shook her head. "Temari-san's opponent should have let the board develop a bit more before hitting it with an ace. Now he's sacrificed it for not too much gain."

"You heard that? You jumped the gun..." Temari cackled with a sheepish grin as she scooped up the jack and the ace.

"Have I? Aces may be the strongest and most influential cards in the game, but you still have to dump them one at a time, unless you have a full set." The burglar shrugged. There was a potential to lock the field down and put the game onto a perpetual loop at this point. Mana couldn't help but wonder how would they have to interpret the game from this point if that was to happen. If Temari answered with an ace and her opponent scooped everything and opened the field back up–they'd be back on square one, with Temari playing the jack and her opponent playing the ace.