Once Again, To The Den Of The Devils

According to the rules of the league, a lottery will decide the pairings of a match. It already occurred at Round 1. It's going to happen again, the second time.

This day, was the day of the lottery. Since I'm the manager of Cherry Blossoms, I need to go back to the den of the devils. Since the training regimen is still ongoing, I asked Asuzagawa Reina to record their training so I can check on them when I'm back.

If they'll do the same trick again for the second time, I've prepared countermeasures. But if they did a different trick this time, then my countermeasures are all useless.

"Ayano, Nakano Urara, Yumeko Arimoto and Asuzagawa Reina. I'm going to go back to that building to participate in the lottery for the 2nd Round. In the meantime, the three of you will continue the usual training and Asuzagawa Reina will record it as evidence that you really did the training."

This is the only reminder I have for them. Of course, they agreed to those reminders of mine. With that, I took my leave and rode the train to the building again.

Like the last time, I've gone to the event room as soon as I reached the building. I opened the door and noticed that there's not much difference when I came here before and the last time.

I looked around for a bit and saw Ryota Kaneshiro standing at the corner drinking some milk. He saw me and glared at me for a second then he took his eyes from me and continued to drink the milk.

I didn't give much attention to it and took a seat. The beginners are all gloomy, while the veterans are having some cheers. The friendly atmosphere from the last time was completely gone and a heavy atmosphere was replaced.

Only 5 minuted had passed since I took a seat and the announcer finally came. Now, what kind of hell is it this time?

"Okay, are all of you present right now? Since all of the 50 participants are now here, we will now hold the game that will decide your pairings."

A game? So It's not a lottery this time? So my countermeasures have gone to waste, huh?

"So the game that will decide your pairings would be... a dice game!"

A dice game? Really? What the hell's with dice games!? What's the point of doing these things!?

"Well, I'll explain the rules."

Here goes the rules! I don't really know why they're doing this but I'll play along for now. He stretched his arm and the monitor behind him begun to lit.

"All of you have 10 points each for starters. So... you're going to roll 3 dice here at the platform. For example, the result I've got was a 4-5-6, in short, a sequence. A 4-5-6 will make your points doubled. That means my points is now 20! Understand?"

I'm following through. But what's the reason for the points? That's the one thing I don't understand. The announcer stretched his arm again and a chart was shown to the monitor.

Does it show what kind of value does each combination of dice has? For example, triples would be something like three 5's or anything that has the same three numbers.

Triples will make your points tripled. So if you have 10 points, and you got triples, your points will be 30. Other than triples, there are other combinations that can occur.

But the rarest one and considered the strongest was the Snake Eyes or triple 1's. If you have 1's at the three dice, you will get Snake Eyes. Snake Eyes will raise your point five times. So It will be 50, huh?

I studied the chart well and didn't leave anything behind.

"So I will continue the instructions. What's the use of points, you ask? You will use it to buy your pair for the 2nd Match."

What the hell!? Use it to buy your pairs!? What!?

"It seems all of you are shocked. I'll explain it in more detail. For example, you have 50 points, which means you can buy an opponent much lower than you points. But you can only buy once, and what you just bought will be your opponent for the 2nd Round. If you didn't buy anyone by the time limit, then you'll be disqualified."

In short, the control to decide who you will face at the 2nd Round? What the hell!? What's their purpose for doing this!? It keeps getting vaguer and vaguer! But... I have to play along with it for now!

The obvious strategy for this game would be to raise your points as much as possible. If your points are low, then a veteran will surely buy you! Because you're a weak opponent! But if your points are high, you can at least protect yourself from stronger opponents and at the same time, pick an opponent much weaker than you!

This is a nice system! But... It could be rigged! I won't fall for your trap the second time, I will definitely find... your cheating!

+++++

"Now, to the next set of rules. Having a roll lower than 4-5-6, in short numbers within 1-2-3 would be invalid and you will roll once more. Second, having three invalid rolls would make your turn invalid. In short, your point didn't go up. You will be preyed by much stronger opponents!"

That would be the worst-case scenario. But as long as you have at least 30 points, you can survive this hell!

"So I'll call your group names one by one, and if your name was called, please come to the stage so you can roll the dice."

I see. To summarize, you only have one chance to roll dice but if you've got invalid rolls, you will have a chance to roll at least 3 times, huh?

"So now that I explained all of the rules, I'm going to call your group names now. Starting from... Cherry Blossoms!"

Eh? Ehhhhhhh!? Our group is first!?

END OF CHAPTER 29