It kept spinning until it slowly came to a halt and showed them the person who was going to play against her. They all widened their eyes in shock as they saw who was going to play against her.

Sakata

"Is this even good? Didn't Sakata lose like 30 chips?", Amatsuki asked. "I am the worst gambler! How can I win against her?", Sakata asked as he panicked. "Calm down.", Soraru said but it didn't work. "Oi, idiot. Calm down. It's going to be fine.", Urata assured Sakata as he slowly calmed down. Soraru noticed that and looked at Veronica.

"If you just chose our player like that then I would like to set a condition.", Soraru said as Veronica looked at him in curiosity.

"Oh? And what would that be?", she asked. "One of us is going to be the dealer. I don't trust any of them cause they cheated so many times already.", Soraru explained as she nodded.

"Very well. One of you gets to be the dealer. It is not going to change the outcome anyway.", she said as Soraru turned away from her.

"And who should be the dealer?", Mafumafu asked as Soraru pointed at Urata who looked confused. "Me? Didn't you say that you thought I would be bad at gambling?", Urata asked confused. "I did. But you are most likely the most successful in calming down Sakata.

And I think you can do some basic shuffling.", Soraru said as Urata sighed and nodded when he saw that Sakata looked a bit more relaxed.

"Fine. You really owe me things.", Urata reminded him. "I know.", Soraru said as the others wished them luck. When Urata walked past Soraru, Soraru stopped Urata and kneeled down to say something into his ear. "................. and if it gets difficult then..... because you are about....... I don't know why but it's more than most of us.", Soraru whispered. Urata widened his eyes.

"Are you sure?", Urata asked as Soraru nodded. "I know we don't like each other but trust me on that.", Soraru said. "True. But you were right with things until now so I guess I'll believe you just this once.", Urata said. Sakata nervously sat in front of Veronica as Urata took the cards and looked at them. "Is something the matter?", Veronica asked.

"No. Just explain the rules and what kind of game we are playing.", Urata said. "We will play a game of Texas Holdem Poker. When playing Texas Holdem poker, every player is dealt two cards face down.These are called your 'hole cards'.

Then there is a round of betting where you can Check, Bet or Fold. This stage of the game is known as pre-flop and what you should do is dependent on those hole cards, or starting hand. If you are unsure about the value of different poker hand combinations it may be worthwhile checking out our poker hand rankings page.

When all the betting has finished three shared cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table.

This is called the flop.", Veronica explained but stopped when she saw that Sakata didn't understand anything. "It seems it might be too difficult so take a look at the board behind me.

It will explain our rules of Texas Holdem Poker.", she said as the rules were being projected.

Rules of the Casino's Texas Holdem Poker
- Firstly, you are dealt your hole cards
- Then, there is a round of betting
- The players remaining see a flop
- Then, there is another round of betting
- You see a turn card
- Another round of betting
- You see a final river card
- One more round of betting
- When someone bets everything two times in a row you are forced to bet everything as well
- Finally, the best five card hand wins

After explaining everything Sakata slowly nodded. "I think I kind of understand what you mean.", Sakata said as Veronica nodded.

"That is good. I forgot to mention that the only people interacting in this game are allowed to play. Please remember that.", she reminded them as Soraru clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Then let us put all the money you've collected until now in.", she said as everything was being added on the monitor.

Veronica: 1.000.000.000.000 dollars (1000 Chips)

Soraru: 1.620.000.000 dollars (162 Chips)
Mafumafu: 1.140.000.000 dollars (114 Chips)
Amatsuki: 1.000.000.000 dollars (100 Chips)
Kashitaro: 900.000.000 dollars (90 Chips)
Urata: 1.000.000.000 dollars (100 Chips)
Sakata: 700.000.000 dollars (70 Chips)
Shima: 2.000.000.000 dollars (200 Chips)
Senra: 2.000.000.000 dollars (200 Chips)
Total: 1.036.000.000.000 dollars (1036 Chips)

"Impressive. You managed to win so many chips in such a short time. You even have 36 Chips more than me.", she praised them but Soraru raised his eyebrows. "You have to be pretty confident to feel this way even though we have an advantage.", Soraru noted as she simply smiled.

"Well, I did work here for a long time.", she said not looking very proud of it but rather sad. "Anyway, shall we play?", Veronica asked.

Urata looked at the nervous Sakata and leaned down whispering something to him before going to his place. Urata started shuffling the cards swiftly as he gave them to Sakata and Veronica.

They played some rounds but Sakata lost 500 of his chips. "...I don't want to be rude but you are rather... bad at this, aren't you?", Veronica asked as they kept playing. "The truth is I think I am the worst of us at gambling.", Sakata told her.

Veronica looked unsure at them but her expression changed to an expressionless mask again as she smiled. "Is that so? I think this round goes to me as well.", she said as she opened her cards showing a Straight Flush while Sakata only had one pair. They kept playing as Veronica first had four of a kind, a Full House, a Flush and then a Straight.

Sakata had One Pair, Two Pairs, Two Pairs and then three of a kind. "Sakata has 136 Chips. Victoria has 1900 Chips.", Urata announced as everyone looked at Sakata in worry.

Sakata looked at Urata for help who looked at him expressionless before starting to smile which was very rare making everyone feeling scared.

"If you are going to lose anyway then just bet everything.", Urata said smiling as the others looked at him in disbelief. "Are you crazy? We have to win this!", Amatsuki said.

"Urata, can't you be a bit nicer to Sakata? I feel bad for him.", Shima frowned. "Yeah! How do you think he feels about that?", Mafumafu defended Sakata. "He—".

"All-in.", Sakata said as he shoved his remaining chips in the middle of the desk. Veronica looked at him, mouth slightly open before laughing.

"You are almost losing this but you still bet everything as Urata-sama told you?", Veronica asked as Sakata nodded.

"Yep. He told me to do so!", Sakata nodded. "If you want to then I can't stop you. Do as you please.", she said as she placed 1000 Chips in.

"This is because you did something amusing. There wasn't anyone who did that in my games yet. You kind of remind me of me when I was younger.", she said as she smiled.

Urata silently shuffled the cards as he gave them their cards. Veronica got a Flush while Sakata got a Straight. Veronica looked at Sakata in pity as the monitor showed that she won this round and the 136 Chips went to her account.

"Well, this is it... it seems you've lost. But it was a nice game. No one got that far yet.", she tried to console him and was about to stand up as Sakata just looked down on his lap.

"I-I'm sorry.", Sakata apologized as he looked at them guiltily. Everyone looked at him in pity except Soraru who looked at Urata and nodded at him. "Would you please wait, Miss Evergarden?", Urata asked as she stopped. "We are finished here, aren't we? I still have things I have to do.

And if it's about me cheating then give me a fast explanation so I can go.", Veronica sighed. "I don't want to accuse you of cheating because I didn't notice any cheating coming from you.

It's just that it is rude to leave before we finish the game, isn't it?", Urata asked. "Oh? And why would that be? Sakata-sama lost all of his money already.", Veronica pointed out.

"You said in the very beginning that the only the people participating this game are allowed to play and that includes the dealer as well. And I still have some chips I can give to Sakata to play.", Urata said as everyone looked at him in confusion.

"...But Ura-san, you didn't play at all, did you?", Sakata asked as he nodded. "That's true but if you read through the rules then you will notice something. Rule Nr. 6: Betting can be in any form as long as it has enough worth.

Meaning that as long as I have something worthy enough to bet that I can.", Urata said as he went to the monitor which asked what his name was and how many chips he wanted to log in.

"Urata. I want to take 200 Chips and give them to Sakata.", Urata said as they looked at him in shock. "Do you think this machine will do as you say? You—". "Accepted. 200 Chips will be now given out.", the machine said as 200 chips fell through the slot to Sakata. They all gasped at the large amount of chips and Veronica was the first one to realize what just happened. Her expression of shock were changed into the one of amusement.

"No one in their entire life did that before. You just bet your life's worth into this game?

Very well. Let us keep playing.", Victoria said as she sat back down.

"Correct. And as you probably know I will go All-in. So there will be one other round.

You know what that forces you to do, right?", Urata grinned. "I know.

After all the rules in Texas Holdem Poker said that if one bets everything two times in a row the other one is also forced to bet everything.

I am surprised you managed to understand that rule because normally you lose immediately when you bet everything and you can't usually go All-in two times because that is impossible.

Except you bet your own life which never happened before.", Veronica nodded as she giggled.

The others just gasped and Sakata was the one who was the most disturbed. "You can't just bet your life, Ura-san! If I lose now then you don't have any human rights anymore!", Sakata shouted.

"Wow. You knew that? I thought you were just an idiot.", Urata said as Sakata stood up slamming his hands on the desk. "This is not the time to call me an idiot! You are the idiot right now for betting your own life!", Sakata shouted at him.

"Don't worry about it. Just... believe me, okay?", Urata said smiling at Sakata who was surprised by the smile. "I guess I'll believe you... not that I have another choice.", Sakata muttered as Urata took the card deck and started shuffling it.

"Stop this right now! We don't have to bet someone's life to win!", Shima shouted and Kashitaro and Senra had to hold him back so he wouldn't storm up to the table to.

Mafumafu did the same and had to be held back by Amatsuki. "Soraru-san, can we not do anything about it? We can't just lose Urata-san like this!", Mafumafu shouted as Soraru looked at the game playing before him.

Soraru ignored him as he looked at Sakata who was shaking terribly. "Call.", Veronica said as Urata opened his cards. "If one of you has an Ace it will be good for you.", Urata calmly said as he looked at Sakata who was shaking.

"What would you want to do, Sakata?", Urata asked and Sakata was gulping before answering by shoving all his chips in. "A-all-in.", Sakata said. "This doesn't give me any other choice, does it? All-in, as well.", Veronica said as she opened her cards. It showed an Ace and a Queen.

"A strong hand. Can Sakata top it or will Veronica win?", Urata asked as he looked at Sakata who hasn't even looked at his cards yet. With tears in his eyes Sakata turned his cards and closed his eyes to not look at it as he heard everyone gasp.

Confused Sakata opened his eyes to see Urata smiling as he announced the results. "Sakata has an Ace and a King. He wins the game and gets the 2036 Chips of Veronica. Congratulations.", Urata said as he put his deck of cards down.

"H-how...? I analyzed you because Soraru-sama insisted you to be the dealer. Because I didn't see you play any games I thought you were their wild card in cheating which would be useless because I can see through the most difficult cheats.

And I know you definitely didn't cheat. So why?", Veronica asked in disbelief. "I guess it was just luck. Sakata has the weird talent to get luckier during the game. That is why the other players suggested to stop. They didn't want to risk to lose.

I hoped his luck would be enough to win in the first All-in but when that wasn't enough I just had to bet my life.", Urata shrugged as Victoria still looked at him in disbelief. "But how could you be this confident? What if you would have lost?

You would have been the possession of this casino.", Veronica said.

"You wouldn't know what I went through. And... my specialty is escape games so I have my ways...", Urata said as he grinned.

"I-I see. Congratulations then...", Veronica said as she looked down. Urata and Sakata walked to the others with the bag of chips as everyone congratulated them.

Shima walked past them to Veronica not before taking the bag of chips from them. "Is something the matter, Shima-sama?

I believe we are finished, aren't we?", she asked him as he shook his head. "I wanted to ask you if there is a reason why you keep gambling and try to earn money from here?", he asked her.

"Yes... I make my livings out of gambling because of our family doing it as well. I have to keep my family living somehow.", she answered as he nodded. "Then what about a deal.", he suggested as she looked up at him.

He dropped the bag of chips on the table as she looked at him in confusion.

"I will give you all your money including our money back if you give us your necklace there.", he said pointing at the Chromosome.

"You will give me all the money including your money if I give you this?", Veronica asked suspiciously. "Don't look at me like that. Our goal is to win against you and to get the 05 Chromosome which you are wearing right now.

We don't even need this chips and they don't hold any significance for us.", he explained as Veronica just looked at him in astonishment.

"You are a bunch of interesting people, aren't you? Then I would like to accept this deal.", she said as she took of her necklace and gave it to them. Veronica brought them to the exit of the casino and bid her farewell to them.

"Thank you for playing in this casino. It was a very great time with you.", she bowed and they all waved at her. "Yeah, I'll come to play again so see you some other time again!", Shima said as he waved her goodbye but when he opened his eyes he didn't see any trace of the casino left.

Stage 5 Clear
000973863