Chapter 84: Die Already
The train started up again after having stopped for the third time. They were getting close. Kazi seemed to have a good understanding of where they were. The previous two stations were at Tokyo and Sendai. After one last stop, he said they would arrive at their destination. The raccoon that was their driver begrudgingly agreed with his estimation.
The sights were intriguing. Rather than modern, they felt something straight out of a samurai movie, old yet traditional. Then there was the train service. Surprisingly, the raccoons worked better than most humans. They were weirdly real. Honest. Paul enjoyed the refreshing change of personality.
Sitting at the window seat, a girl by his side, looking at his cards and concentrating. Concentrating as if he cared. Concentrating as if he wanted to do this. Because he did. Paul was officially invested in this stupid game.
"Go Fish," said Kazi.
Paul drew another card. Three aces, one jack. He just needed one more to form a book.
It was Sun-young’s turn. She looked between Hugo, Ksenia, then Paul. Then she stared at her own row: Kazi and William. Poker faces everywhere. Her brow twitched and Paul swore he swore her dark brown eyes become grey.
"Ksenia," Sun-young called out, "do you have...kings?" A beat. A sigh. A reluctant hand over. Sun-young’s turn continued. "Aces?"
Another sigh and she handed over her remaining cards. "Rigged," Ksenia muttered.
William groaned. "Not you too."
The game was intense. Sun-young and Kazi led the game, although the gap was wide between the two. Kazi had always remained two books ahead of Sun-young. In the end, thirty minutes later, she failed to close the gap and got second place.
As for Paul, he had tied with William for third. Hugo and Ksenia failed to get even a single book. Books meant gaining four of the same card face. Put simply, they had terrible intuition and gambling skills.