Chapter 166 - Doing Nothing (1/2)

In a room, around a low table sat four people. They sat on the floor, with cushions below them.

Their expressions, trying not to betray anything on their faces. Neither of the four wanted the other three to know what was on their mind.

The room was silent, and the only sound you could hear was the rare clinking of ice from the empty glasses on the table.

One of the four people, the one with a strand of hair standing straight from her head (ahoge), took two cards from his hand of cards and put them on the center of the table, face-side down.

Hachiman: ”Two cards of seven.”

The other three examined at him, trying to inspect for clues on his face.

The person next to him with silver hair took a single card from his hand and set it upon the two previous cards.

Shun: ”One more.”

Once again, the other three inspected the face of the silver-haired one but only saw a small, unchanging smile on his face.

Next to him was another spiked black hair guy, who frowned and called out.

Romio: ”I call the bluff.”

He reached out to the cards in the center and flipped them face-side up.

All four saw the true value of the cards. They were a two of spades, queen of clubs and a seven of clubs.

Romio slapped his forehead and g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

Shun laughed and spoke.

Shun: ”Ha! My card was a seven. Now you are three cards up.”

Romio frowned and spoke at Hachiman.

Romio: ”You bluffed on both the cards. There wasn't a single seven in there!”

Hachiman didn't speak anything, he just picked up his glass, and drank from it while looking at Romio.

The fourth person with a spiky ponytail had his hand on the table, supporting his head with his palm. He glanced at his cards and spoke to the irritated boy.

Shikamaru: ”You are too quick to jump on bluff calls.”

Romio clicked his tongue as he rearranged his cards in his hand.

The room was Shun's room at his home, the four people were the foolish four, and they were playing the game known as the Bluff.

It was a Saturday, and four of them had assembled at Shun's to pass some time.

Bluff was a simple game.

It required a well-shuffled deck of cards distributed to the playing parties.

The objective of the game was to shed cards as fast as possible, and the first player to run out of cards is the winner.

You could only declare the cards with the same number, but because the cards were face-side down, it allows everyone to lie about what cards they are putting, and thereby possibly get rid of their cards faster.

A person can call a bluff on another person, then if the cards are of the same value as the declaration, the person calling the bluff picks up the card, if the cards are different from the declaration, then the person who placed the cards picks them up.

If you do lie, and another person places more cards on top of the pile, then you are safe from a bluff call.

Players may choose to not play a card, and pass their turn. If you pass, you may not play again during that round. However, you still can call bluff on other players.

If all players pass, the center pile is removed from play and not examined.

-*-*-*-

Another round of the game started, and Shikamaru put his cards in the center of the table.

Shikamaru: ”Three cards of ace.”

Next was Hachiman, he looked at his cards, and spoke.

Hachiman: ”Pass.”

Shun too nodded and said.

Shun: ”Pass.”

For Romio's turn, he picked up a card from his hand and put up a single card on the pile.

Romio: ”One card of Ace.”

No one called a bluff on Romio, so it passed on to Shikamaru, who placed another three cards on the pile.