Gamble Fish 11

Chapter 11

87

Title: Fight 11 The Magician Killer

88

Tomu: The Magician Killer!!!
Yuka: Gh...!!

Yuka: Shirasagi...You...
Yuka: You cut your finger off for this...!!?

Tomu: Realizing it now is too late...
Tomu: You can't use your magic anymore.

89

Abidani: Heh heh...ha ha ha ha!!! Well done, Shirasagi!!!
Abidani: This really is a "Magician Killer"!!!
Abidani: You stopped Tsukiyono in an instant!!!

Crowd: What!?
Crowd: What's Tsukiyono so upset about?
Crowd: What does he mean by Magician Killer!?
Crowd: What does this have to do with Shirasagi cutting off his finger...!?

90

Natsumi: Mushroom-senpai!! What did Tomu-senpai do!?
Mizuhara: I don't really know...

Mizuhara: but the secret seems to lie with that deck...
Mizuhara: that Tomu used his injured hand to cut and that is now covered in blood!!

Tomu: Mizuhara...what is magic?
Mizuhara: Eh?

Tomu: It's "manipulating people's memories".
Tomu: It's where the information in your head is thrown out of whack and the surprise from that is what you enjoy.

91

Tomu: Taking doves and rabbits out of places they shouldn't be.
Tomu: Making balls disappear. Making beautiful women float in midair.
Tomu: Card tricks are the same. The number you remember appears on the card that shouldn't have changed.

92

Tomu: So...
Tomu: what happens when you fix that information in place?

Mizuhara: Eh?

Tomu: C'mon, let's continue our game.
Tomu: Deal the cards.
Yuka: Uh...

Yuka: Shirasagi...!!

Tomu: C'mon!!!

93

Tomu: My first card is the 8 of hearts.
Tomu: You know what that means, right?

Tomu: I "stay"...I don't need anymore.

94

Crowd: What's going on? They both got 2 eights...
Crowd: That's an odd coincidence. She has 16, so the rules say she has to draw another card...

Yuka: That's enough...
Yuka: Let's just stop here...

Mizuhara: Eh!?

Crowd: What!?

95

Yuka: I've lost...
Yuka: this game...!!

Yuka: Fixing the information in place is exactly what you've done...
Yuka: with this bloody deck.
Yuka: No magician can switch out the cards in this deck...

96

Yuka: He put his mark on this deck!!
Yuka: He purposefully had his finger cut off in order to get his blood on it.

Yuka: Before, I could get any card I wanted from this deck.
Yuka: For example, if I wanted Black Jack, I could draw a 5.
Yuka: I know that that 5 is 9 cards from the top!!

Yuka: But if I pulled it out, this proof would remain!!
Yuka: The bloodstain would be different from that of the top card which is supposed to have been drawn.

Mizuhara & Natsumi: Ah...!!

97

Mizuhara: That's it!! You can tell by the previous card's mark.
Mizuhara: Without the bloodstain, we wouldn't be able to tell that the 5 she draws was the 9th card down.

Mizuhara: But now we can.
Mizuhara: If the cards aren't in their proper order, the bloodstains won't line up.

Natsumi: If we look at the bloodstain, we can tell if she's changed out the cards!!
Natsumi: That's what he meant by fixing the information in place!!

Crowd: Wait a second!! This just means Shirasagi marked the cards.
Crowd: Isn't that cheating!?
Mizuhara: This is different!!

98

Mizuhara: If Tomu had purposefully put ink on his hand or something, that would be cheating!!
Mizuhara: But Tomu didn't do anything!!
Mizuhara: It's normal for blood to get on the cards after he's had his finger cut off, right!?

Crowd: But then this isn't over, right!?
Crowd: If the next card is an ace through a 5, Tsukiyono wins!!

Abidani: You fools...Don't you understand?
Abidani: What Shirasagi did was much more decisive.

Abidani: First of all, these four eights are no coincidence.
Abidani: All the cards in this deck are lined up with all 4 of a number together.

Abidani: Isn't that right, Tsukiyono?
Yuka: Uh...

Abidani: And it starts with the higher numbers.
Abidani: In other words, the next card will be the 7 of hearts.

99

Abidani: Followed by the 7 of clubs, the 7 of diamonds, and the 7 of spades.
Abidani: And it continues in that same way: Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades.
Abidani: 6666, 5555, 4444...just like that.

Abidani: Then when it gets to where it was cut, it gets to the aces and the kings and on down till it finally gets to the 10's and 9's!!
Abidani: Shirasagi cut the deck between the 9's and 8's so that's why it started with the four 8's!!

Natsumi: Wh-why was it in pattern like that?

Yuka: Because I put in that order...
Yuka: With a special shuffle...

Mizuhara: Buy why...?
Tomu: Because it's easy to remember.

100

Tomu: When manipulating the cards, you must first know where they all are.
Tomu: Because of that, she ordered the deck in such an easy to remember pattern.

Crowd: Sh-she can do that...!?
Crowd: But she shuffled the deck 5 or 6 times every time...

Tomu: She used a hidden trick every time a new deck was brought in...

Tomu: All new decks are ordered in the same way.
Tomu: They're divided into suits in the order Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts. With the suits lined up from ace to king.

Tomu: So what deck you get from shuffling is just a matter of procedure. A magician can put it in any pattern she wants.
Tomu: Doing so is known as "setting up the deck".

101

Abidani: Also...there's a reason Shirasagi cut the deck at the 8's.
Abidani: Starting at 8 gives both of them 16...
Abidani: According to the rules of Black Jack, Tsukiyono would have to draw another card as the dealer.

Tomu: Exactly...
Tomu: And I happen to know the next card will be the 7 of hearts...

Yuka: I've...
Yuka: I've never been this humiliated before...!!!

102

Crowd: Th-the 7 of hearts. Just as Shirasagi predicted!!
Crowd: Tsukiyono goes bust with 23!!
Crowd: Shirasagi has turned this around!!

103

Mizuhara: Tomu!! Stay with us!!
Natsumi: We have to get you to the hospital!!
Tomu: I'm fine...I'm fine.

Abidani: Heh...In the end, it looks everything went as Shirasagi predicted....
Abidani: You did nothing but get manipulated by him.

Yuka: ...Who said we were ending it here?

Abidani: What?

104

Yuka: Magic is my soul that I inherited from my dead brother!!!
Yuka: I can't end this with that magic being defeated...!!

Yuka: I bet 4 of my fingers!!!
Yuka: We're going to continue gambling, Shirasagi!!!

105

Crowd: Wh-whaaaat!!?
Crowd: This time, Tsukiyono's betting...4 fingers!!?

Tomu: ...You should quit being stubborn.
Tomu: What can a magician who can't change out the cards do?

Tomu: I'll get two 7's and draw a 6 for 20. You'll get a 7 and a 6 and draw a 6 for 19.
Tomu: As long as we're fighting using the deck I marked, you can't win!!

Yuka: Then...I just have to get rid of that mark.
Tomu: What?

Yuka: In exchange for these fingers...I'll be able to use magic again.

106

Yuka: I'll cover up your mark with my own blood!!
Yuka: The magician shall rise again.

Tomu: ...Tsukiyono.