A Scientific Urban Detective

"A coin?" Mikoto Misaka looked at the coin she was playing with in her hand. "But these are just game tokens."

"Of course I know that. If they were real currency, it would really turn into gambling," Sa Damisen said with a smile. "Shirai-senpai definitely wouldn't allow that to happen, would she?"

"That's right!" Shirai Kuroko nodded earnestly. "I'm glad you remember that."

Now that she was at the table, even though she was a Judgement member, Shirai Kuroko dutifully fulfilled her role as dealer.

The game began immediately…

Blackjack, or Twenty-One, is a classic casino game, and the rules are simple. Even if you've never played before, you can play as long as you understand basic number calculations.

In the end, it is essentially a 'math game,' which is why it can appear so brazenly in the school's arcade.

But when you actually play it, you'll find that there's a reason why it's a classic gambling game.

On the surface, it's just an arithmetic game of calculating twenty-one, but when two or more players compete against each other, mathematical calculations become less important.

It's mainly a battle of wits…

Unfortunately, Mikoto Misaka isn't very good at that.

Before long, half of her 'ammunition reserves'—a total of twenty game tokens—had been lost to Sa Damisen.

If the stakes of this game were really joining the Sa faction, Mikoto Misaka would probably be her subordinate by now!

Of course, the situation wasn't entirely one-sided. After Mikoto Misaka reacted and grasped the essence of the game, she was able to go back and forth with Sa Damisen.

——Excluding psychological interference, this game became a pure calculation power competition between two super brains.

The amount of calculation required for Blackjack wasn't enough to show the difference between Level 4 and Level 5.

In addition, Sa Damisen was indeed more familiar with this kind of game, so in the second half, the odds of winning for both sides were infinitely close to fifty-fifty.

It was just that the gap that had been opened at the beginning was difficult to narrow, and Sa Damisen always held about ten coins in her hand.

Finally, when 'that one' coin finally fell into her hands, Sa Damisen took the initiative to stop the game.

"Okay, it's meaningless to continue playing. Let's just call it a draw," Sa Damisen looked at the time. "If we go back now, we can make it to the first class."

As she spoke, she naturally put away the game tokens in front of her: "I'll take these as my spoils of war."

Mikoto Misaka raised her eyebrows and couldn't help but stand up: "Wait!"

Although they were worthless game tokens, Mikoto Misaka, who had been aroused by the desire to win, couldn't tolerate losing to the other party.

"Don't run away, let's continue…" Mikoto Misaka didn't care about the money, but she cared a lot about winning or losing.

Pa!

Shirai Kuroko, who was acting as the dealer, almost lay on the table, leaned over, and struck Mikoto Misaka's forehead with a chop.

"You're the one who needs to calm down!" Then she turned to look at Sa Damisen, "Sa-san, please go back first. I'll try to persuade Misaka-san."

"Well then, goodbye~" Holding the panda doll, Sa Damisen smiled and left.

Covering her head, Mikoto Misaka did calm down. However, the fact that she had lost ten coins early in the morning still bothered her.

"That's why you shouldn't have agreed to play this gambling game in the first place!" Shirai Kuroko sighed and rubbed Mikoto Misaka's head vigorously. "Seriously, Mikoto-chan, you're too easily provoked."

"No way…" Mikoto Misaka retorted with some dissatisfaction.

"Heh, if I hadn't arrived in time today, Mikoto-chan, you would have really lost yourself!" Shirai Kuroko shook her head and said, "Sa-san, she obviously changed the stakes temporarily because she saw me."

After carefully recalling the entire process, Mikoto Misaka had to admit that Shirai-senpai was right.

"Don't be fooled by Sa-san's soft appearance, she's unexpectedly a cunning person," Shirai Kuroko commented. "Don't be fooled by appearances, Mikoto-chan. You have to know that none of the leaders of the factions are simple characters."

The starry eyes of Shokuhou Misaki and the smiling expression that was very similar to Sa Damisen's just now instantly popped into her mind, and Mikoto Misaka deeply agreed.

"Yes, Shirai-senpai is right!"

"Although they're not bad people, it's better to pay more attention when dealing with them," Shirai Kuroko reminded again. "Okay, hurry back to class. It's not good to skip class starting in the first year."

"I have to hurry back!" Mikoto Misaka exclaimed when she noticed the time. "Shirai-senpai, let's go together!"

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"Of course…wait!" Shirai Kuroko suddenly stopped and took out her phone from her bag, then exclaimed, "Wow, this is a once-in-a-century event…"

"What's wrong?" Mikoto Misaka also leaned over. "Is it something about Judgement?"

"Yes," Shirai Kuroko didn't hide anything. "A sudden emergency. Headquarters is calling all available Judgement members in the 7th District to go out and maintain traffic order."

"Was there a serious traffic accident?" Mikoto Misaka asked.

Mikoto Misaka had also learned a lot about Judgement from Kofuku Mei and Hayakawa, and generally, Judgement members would only be called out to help maintain order in the event of a serious traffic accident or a traffic system failure.

"No, that's not it," Shirai Kuroko shook her head. "It's because there was a large-scale demonstration, which caused the traffic system to be paralyzed."

"A demonstration? Is there any event recently?" Mikoto Misaka asked in confusion.

"Not an event, a strike," Shirai Kuroko said, uttering a somewhat unfamiliar word.

"A strike?" Mikoto Misaka was even more confused, and couldn't help but complain, "Does Academy City have anything to do with the word 'strike'? Skipping class is about the same… Could it be that the teachers are on strike?"

More than 80% of the residents of Academy City are students. Apart from teachers and researchers, there are almost no other large-scale professions in this city.

"There are," Shirai Kuroko said. "It's just that they usually don't have much contact with ordinary students and citizens, so we don't feel it—in fact, the secondary industry in this city is quite developed. There are nearly 100,000 blue-collar workers working in Academy City."

And the group of workers marching on the street at this time were the workers of Academy City.