Winner face, Loser face

The screens at 'Avidité et Temptation Casino' showed customers playing and having fun. Security cameras monitored the entire environment. At this moment, all the screens showed the outcome of a round of poker at the table where Takashi was.

Takashi's opposing gangster revealed his hand of cards opening a winning smile. The artist stopped looking at the man and looked at the cards.

The gangster put the cards elegantly over the table, and the camera showed the cards from above, revealing the sequence Straight Flush, with five letters in numerical order, all of the same suit, 4,5,6,7,8 of Diamonds.

The camera zoomed over Takashi and his handsome and composed figure, a tall and lean man in a tuxedo.

Takashi with a slight smile showed his hand of cards, looking directly at his opponent.

The artist had a Straight Flush with the sequence 5,6,7,8,9 of hearts. The number of diamonds in his pile automatically doubled.

The holograms of the gangster with the woman in red disappeared.

"Wow!" Haruki celebrated Takashi's extraordinary victory against Okami System, again looking for his friend.

The hall was very bright and full of holograms that played on the tables and machines, Haruki went through several thematic wings taking a longer time than expected until he found the table where Takashi was. This difficulty in reaching the artist gave Haruki the exact notion of the size of this labyrinthine place.

Takashi distractedly checked his app, still at the poker table.

Still under the influence of drinks, and happy with the victory of his friend Haruki, he embraced Takashi behind the chair euphorically. Not realizing it was coming, the artist was startled, jumping in the chair.

"Congratulations Takashi-san, you are the best!" The singer felt the artist's heartbeat accelerate with physical contact and saw a heart come out of the green smartwatch. Which made Takashi blush violently and Haruki laugh.

"Is Takashi-san too shy to receive praise from a friend?" questioned provocatively.

At that moment another opponent appeared from the crowd and stopped standing, beside the empty chair in front of them. This new hologram was of a man in traditional dress from the people of the desert. He wore various ornaments, rings, bracelets, and thick gold cords. With a nod, he asked,

"May I sit down, gentlemen?"

"As you wish" replied Takashi preparing for a new game. And escaping from responding to provocation. Turning to Haruki, the artist offered,

"If you want to learn, stay here and observe what I teach you."

The new player placed a cloth bag on the table, displaying when opening it his diamonds that were more than double what was in Takashi's pile. Stirring greed even at Haruki, who stood behind Takashi's back to see his letters.

At that moment they heard a sound of something falling with a crash, before a new round started.

Haruki looked at the screen hoping to see what had happened.

And he saw Daisuke beside a slot machine lying on the floor with diamonds and glass scattered around it.

Jun was a little way back and stared in astonishment.

The influencer had loose, tousled hair. He gestured and shouted incomprehensible things, Daisuke was beside himself. He moved on to another machine. Grabbing it and rocking the machine from side to side, trying to tilt it enough to get it to fall on the floor, as he had done with the other.

But this time Jun was attentive to the digital influencer and hugged him from behind, holding his arms.

Daisuke jumped, trying to knock Jun down, who just spread his legs wider and let his friend jump at will without being able to let go.

Haruki searched the screen image for a reference to where they were. Finding an easily identifiable object, he ran to the place he remembered seeing the work, which was an ugly picture. Takashi left the game table and ran after Haruki.

******

They found Daisuke motionless, still trapped in Jun's embrace. The influencer had already stopped struggling, recognizing the superiority of Jun's physical strength. The digital influencer was panting, and his eyes were sparkling with anger.

The singer heard Takashi whistle, attracting Haruki's attention. The artist pointed to one side, and the singer saw Hinata and Saito coming towards them after being attracted by the whistle.

Daisuke's breathing had calmed, and Jun released him.

Unexpectedly the influencer turned around and tried to punch Jun in the face.

The bad boy who lived on the streets had no problem getting away from the fist that came his way. In a fluid movement, he clinched the influencer, arresting him again.

"Hey Dice-K, what is it? What is happening? I'm your friend, man, " the baker spoke in a soft, gentle voice. This time he spoke without being mocked, without using the falsetto.

Haruki felt his feet taking on a life of their own to go to them, to separate them.

As he approached, the singer used all of his self-control, placing his hands on the back of the two, gave friendly pats, and said,

"Calm Daisuke-san, everything will be fine."

"What? What do you know about life? You who only lived in a pink bubble do not understand what life is. You have no idea what evil is. Can't you see?" Daisuke laughed bitterly, "No. You can not. This is opium, golden boy. They are drugging us with everything that can be addictive, with everything that can corrupt," Daisuke visibly trembled when he stopped talking.

And after a glance at Haruki, he held Jun's face with both hands and kissed him.