Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 7===

Item sat in a circle so each turn would go Mugino, Takitsubo, Frenda, Kinuhata.

“Okay. In the end, I’m putting the joker in now.”

Frenda quickly dealt the cards to the four of them. It started out with 13 for each plus the one extra, but it was unusual to hold onto all of those. Any numerical pairs a player was dealt would be discarded right away.

“Tch. I didn’t get many pairs.”

“Ooh, in the end, I can discard these: the 3 of clovers and the 3 of hearts.”

“Ugh…I mean, um, it super isn’t anything. In fact, my hand is looking great.”

“I can discard this jack of diamonds and jack of clubs too.”

“Mugino, aren’t you curious about this card I have sticking up above the rest?”

“Wait, wait☆ Don’t start playing yet. In the end, sorry, but I have more to discard. Like this 8 of spades and 8 of diamonds.”

The other three all stared at Frenda.

This was looking mighty suspicious. As much as the game was based on randomness and luck, why was she the only one with so many pairs to discard before the game even began? The fact that her initial hand of 13 cards was down to just 2 caused their suspicions to explode. If Frenda had one of her cards taken and then got the pair to her remaining card, she would win.

In fact…

“Wasn’t Frenda the one who dealt the cards in the first place? I thought it was weird she volunteered to be helpful for once in her life.”

“And it was super Frenda-san who gave me all that advice about cheating in that illegal casino! Oh, I get it. You only pretended to shuffle the deck, didn’t you? And then you dealt all the matching cards to yourself to give yourself a super advantage!”

“She cheated?”

“What are you even talking about? In the end, accusations of cheating don’t mean a thing unless you grab the player’s wrist while she’s doing it. Ah ha ha.”

Everyone’s gazes collided.

That instant marked the death of the fair and fun spirit of cards beloved by the Earl of Sandwich.

Frenda soon grew visibly tearful.

“Hey, what’s the deal? In the end, I’ve never played such a long game of old maid, that giant discard pile clearly has more than 53 cards in it, and I just got the ace of spades even though I know for a fact I discarded it earlier! Just to be sure, this ''is'' old maid we’re playing, right? And who introduced cards from new decks by the same company!?”

“Huh. Sounds like one of those super mysteries we’ll never find an answer to.”

“Mugino. Did you just reach behind your back to vaporize a card you wanted to get rid of? Using a small Meltdowner orb, I’m guessing.”

“You must be imagining things.”

The total number of cards was blatantly growing and shrinking and one of them somehow discarded a pair of jokers in the most hellish game of old maid ever seen, but it did eventually end.

The final two players were Frenda and Takitsubo.

They had finally reached the real challenge of old maid. The game wouldn’t be so exciting if it didn’t come down to two players with either 1 or 2 cards, forcing them to a 50/50 chance of getting the joker or not.

Frenda had one card and she had to select one of Takitsubo’s two cards.

Since Frenda was leaning back in a defensive pose, she probably didn’t have the joker. Takitsubo was leaning eagerly but expressionlessly forward, hoping Frenda would choose the landmine.

It all came down to a choice between left and right, but…

“Grr. In the end, Takitsubo has the perfect poker face. Peering into her eyes doesn’t tell you anything.”

“And I can read you like a book, Frenda.”

“Is she somehow reading my AIM Diffusion Fiel- no! In the end, that’s another bluff meant to rattle me!!”

“Frenda, I will not lie to you. It’s on the right. The card on the right is the joker.”

“In the end, I accept that you aren’t lying, but are you talking about my right or your right!?”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

“The fact that wasn’t even a calculated tactic is what makes you so hard to read!!”

Sweat-soaked Frenda’s fingers wandered uncertainly before finally choosing the card on her left.

She felt like she had tried using all her logic to disarm a time bomb, but it ultimately came down to trusting in her luck and cutting either the red cord or the blue cord.

And…

“I lost.”

“Hell yes!! In the end, I’m out with the 8 of hearts and the 8 of cluuuuuuuuuuubs!!”

Frenda slammed down her final two cards and struck a victory pose.

This meant Takitsubo Rikou would have to remove her track suit and dive into the coolant pool.

However…

“(Do you super think she could do it?)”

“(I think this confirms she can sense something even without Body Crystal.)”

“(Then why did she lose? And she super doesn’t seem bothered by it.)”

“(She might have known what Frenda was thinking and guided her toward victory to help calm us all down.)”