69novels Chapter 35 Mission Completed
Chapter 35 Mission Completed
Yuzuru felt he had done his best, but still failed to arouse any curiosity from Ooka Momiji.
With time running out, this final round is crucial for him to receive the mission reward.
Especially after experiencing the high-speed brain activity brought about by the "conditioned reflex arc," Yuzuru was absolutely unwilling to let this reward slip through his fingers.
"This is the last game."
He wrote on the sticky note, his handwriting steady.
"Can."
Ooka Momiji nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Having received a reply, Yuzuru put the two sets of karuta cards back together, skillfully shuffled them, and divided them into two piles, left and right, once again.
He reached out and picked up the stack on the left.
Ooka Momiji took the rest, but instead of immediately starting to memorize, she picked up a pen and wrote a line of doubt on a sticky note.
Why do you prefer choosing the left side so much?
Yuzuru glanced at it and casually wrote a reply.
"Men on the left and women on the right."
Ooka Momiji paused for a moment, holding the pen. After a few seconds, she lowered her head and began to silently memorize the cards in her hand.
Tetsuya Hanyu picked up his deck and turned over the first card.
This is the next line of the poem.
We were lucky this time.
It's a bit more difficult to deduce the relationship between the next line and the previous line from the next line of Ooka Momiji, but for him, and the game that just ended has already formed a preliminary muscle memory of the correspondence between the hundred waka poems in his mind.
Even so, he dared not relax in the slightest.
To manage a draw in the last game was already an exceptional performance, and it even had a bit of luck involved.
If Ooka Momiji had been just a little more serious, he might not have even had a chance for a tiebreaker.
"You go first this time."
Ooka Momiji wrote on a sticky note that she was handing over the right to play her card to him.
Yuzuru nodded, quickly scanned the next card in his hand from beginning to end, and silently engraved the content into his mind.
He shuffled the deck, put it back together, then pulled out a card, flipped it over, and slammed it onto the center of the table.
The moment the card is turned over.
"きみがため."
The moment the first katakana came into view, Toru Hanyu's brain reacted, and his body moved accordingly, his arm flashing out towards the deck of cards in front of Momiji Ooka.
However, it was still too slow.
When his fingertips were still a few centimeters away from the target card, his other hand, adorned with exquisite manicures, had already precisely placed the card on it, without missing a beat.
"Smack."
A soft sound.
Ooka Momiji withdrew her hand, took the pair of karuta cards that had been successfully matched, and turned to look at him.
Yuzuru withdrew his hand without making a sound, signaling her to deal the cards.
second round.
Ooka Momiji plays her card.
The last card was revealed: "花の色は."
Just as Yuzuru Toru raised his hand, he saw that Ooka Momiji's hand had already drawn the corresponding next card from the deck.
Her movements were even faster and more decisive than in the previous round, with an overwhelming momentum.
She easily won the second point.
Then came the third and fourth rounds.
Yuzuru Hanyu scored no points.
At that moment, Ooka Momiji wrote a line on a sticky note.
"If you can beat me, you'll be my full-time math teacher from now on."
After she finished writing, she looked up, her blue eyes filled with seriousness, devoid of her previous arrogance, only the pure focus of a competitor remained.
Yuzuru felt that things were getting tricky.
If he could hold his own against Ooka Momiji in the first round, now, faced with the opponent's absolute strength at full power, any reaction or action of his was completely suppressed.
The memory and speed boosts provided by the "Conditioned Reflex Arc" seem somewhat insignificant in the face of the girl's honed skills.
Since conventional methods won't work, we'll have to resort to unconventional methods.
He remembered the poker skills he had taught himself in his previous life to show off, which might come in handy here.
The rules of competitive karuta are that you shuffle the cards yourself and then randomly draw one card.
This "randomness" is the only space he can manipulate.
Yuzuru made up his mind.
He quickly glanced at the next set of cards in front of him, locking onto ten cards that left the deepest impression on him and that he could react to the fastest.
It was his turn to play a card.
He gathered the cards and began shuffling them.
His movements were natural; his fingers flew across the paper, yet he skillfully controlled the ten cards together, forming a small stack.
As long as he remembers the general order and contents of these ten cards, the cards he draws will inevitably be within his expectations.
This allows him to lock onto his target in advance and seize the initiative!
Yuzuru drew his cards without hesitation, and just before they were about to be revealed, his other hand reached for Ooka Momiji's deck of cards.
"ほととぎす."
As soon as the card was revealed, Yuzuru Tetsu's finger precisely landed on the corresponding card above, "Natsu no Yoru wa".
fast!
too fast.
Ooka Momiji's hand had only been raised halfway when it froze in mid-air.
She stared blankly as Yuzuru Tatsumi removed the card with the first line, then looked at the card with the second line on the table.
How could he be so fast...?
Yuzuru put the winning cards on his side and finally won the first point.
He didn't look at the autumn leaves of Ooka, but calmly gestured for the next round.
Next, it was Ooka Momiji's turn to play, and Hanyu Tetsu lost without any suspense.
But whenever it's his turn to play a card, he can use the same method to cleanly and efficiently grab a point.
Draw cards you are familiar with, act early, and accurately seize the cards.
The whole process was smooth and seamless.
This caused a slight change in Ooka Momiji's mindset.
The score began to fluctuate.
Five to five.
Six to five.
Six to six.
Ooka Momiji slowed down.
She no longer rushed to make a move, but instead frowned and carefully observed Yuzuru's every action.
She realized something was wrong.
It's not that Toru Hanyu's reactions have become faster.
Rather... it's anticipation!
Every time it's his turn to play a card, he extends his hand in advance, locking onto the target before the card's contents are fully revealed.
This is not cheating.
In formal competitive karuta tournaments, this technique known as "first move" exists. Players can steal cards before the reader announces the final word.
However, this skill demands an incredibly high level of skill from the player.
Once you make your move, you must find the corresponding card within one second. If you exceed the time limit or touch the wrong card, you will be penalized and give your opponent a card.
This means that every time Toru Hanyu makes a move ahead of time, he is gambling with his memory and judgment.
And he won every single time.
This level of understanding requires one to internalize the correspondences, key words, and even the positions of the cards in the hundred waka poems, forming an almost instinctive intuition.
This is a realm that only the very best of the best can reach.
Even she herself only succeeds once or twice occasionally.
And this boy in front of her, her tutor, actually succeeded so many times in a row?
Another round ended, and Toru Hanyu once again took the lead and won the karuta.
The score is now 18 to 13.
Because aside from games lost purely due to a difference in hand speed, Toru Hanyu almost always won his turn when it was his turn to play a card.
The game continues.
When it was Hanyu Tetsu's turn to draw a card again, Ooka Momiji suddenly reached out and pressed down on his deck.
"I'll draw."
She wrote on the sticky note.
Yuzuru's face remained expressionless; he simply made a "please" gesture.
As long as the drawn cards are among the ten he has memorized, the outcome will not change.
Ooka Momiji took a deep breath, randomly drew a card from his deck, and flipped it over.
"あはれとぞ."
The moment the card was revealed, Yuzuru Tetsu's hand once again moved faster than expected.
He won again.
Ooka Momiji stared blankly at the card that had been taken away by him, feeling somewhat dazed.
How could this be...?
As the match drew to a close, her rhythm completely crumbled.
During one card-grabbing contest, in her haste, she made a basic mistake, knocking down the wrong card and being penalized one point.
At this point, Ooka Momiji no longer possessed the same ease and confidence as before.
The cards were revealed again, and the two players made their moves simultaneously.
This time, in order to win back a point, Ooka Momiji pushed her speed to the limit.
Their hands crossed in the air, and finally, almost at the same time, they grabbed the only card that would play the next line.
Yuzuru's fingers pressed down on the card first, but Ooka Momiji's hand followed closely behind, covering the back of his hand.
A soft, warm sensation came through.
Yuzuru subconsciously twitched his fingertips slightly, pinching the soft flesh pressed under his hand.
Ooka Momiji's body stiffened instantly.
A surge of heat rushed from her neck to her cheeks, and a noticeable blush rose on her fair face.
She tried to pull her hand back, but held it down tightly because she was unwilling to give up.
After a few seconds of hesitation, she finally couldn't resist, picked up a pen with her other hand, and forcefully wrote a line on the sticky note.
"How much longer are you going to knead it?"
Yuzuru lowered his eyes to look at the line of text, then at the two people's clasped hands, and calmly wrote down his reply.
"Let go first."
"I let go last time, it's your turn this time," Ooka Momiji immediately retorted.
The two exchanged a silent battle of pens on paper.
In the end, Toru Hanyu was the first to let go.
Feeling the lingering warmth on his fingertips, he wrote another sentence on the sticky note.
"Miss Hongye, your hands are quite soft."
"..."
"Be careful, you're a teacher."
"But I'm a man too."
"You really dare to say that."
Yuzuru smiled but did not answer.
"It's almost 9:30, do you still want to continue?"
"No."
"Another draw this time?"
"I surrender."
Ooka Momiji wrote these three characters slowly, but very clearly.
Yuzuru was somewhat surprised, not expecting her to concede defeat on her own initiative.
Before he could respond, Ooka Momiji had already raised her head, her blue eyes fixed on him with a hint of confusion.
"How did you do that?"
Yuzuru met her gaze, picked up his pen, and wrote only two words.
"secret."
Ooka Momiji bit her lower lip slightly, and the resentment in her eyes was gradually replaced by a stronger emotion.
At that very moment, a semi-transparent window quietly appeared in front of Toru Hanyu's vision.
[Mission: Engage with "Ooka Momiji" and make her curious or fond of you (Completed)]
【The autumn leaves of Ooka have piqued my curiosity】
[Reward: Conditioned Reflex Arc (Permanent) has been issued]