Conquer the Land is a gamble in the Kakegurui Twin manga played with Mary Saotome, Tsuzura Hanatemari, Yukimi Togakushi, all against Aoi Mibuomi, supervised by Ruri Fuen.
Rules[]
The rules are explained by Ruri Fuen. The game will be the Literary Club against Aoi Mibuomi, and the audience will bet on the results of the game, funded by the Literary Club. The game is a counting game played with one deck of fifty-two cards. Players each create three "armies" trying to beat their rivel army's value. Each player is dealt a hand of five cards. Next, three cards from each deck are placed face up in front of each side. These are the "soldiers" in your three armies. Each army fights the one that's facing it. That's how the game begins. Players then take turns playing cards by putting them face down behind one of their armies. An army's strength is the total value of the cards in the column. The more cards in a column, the more powerful the army becomes. You can't tell the value of the face down cards of course, so while they're face down, you have to guess your enemy's total power. Once an army reaches three or more cards, they're all flipped over except the one farthest back. So you add more cards to power up an army, but you end up giving your enemy hints in the process. Once you use your five cards to create three armies, it's time for the "battle." All the cards are flipped over in all three columns, the highest point total wins. The side that wins at least two out of these three showdowns wins the battle. Each card scores a numerical value, but aces are special. In a duel, they count as one, but they also can cancel out an opposing army's face card. Use your aces right, and you can totally turn the game around. The game lasts a total of three battles, and the side that wins more battles in the end is the victor. The bets will be paid off based on the results. Bets on the match are taken until the start of the second battle. No cheating is allowed per the request of Aoi. For betting, anyone who picks the winner will earn double their money back.
Game[]
As the game begins, the bets have been placed at 2.88 million yen for the Literary Club and 20.25 million for Aoi Mibuomi. If the Literary Club loses the battle, they have to pay 17.37 million yen, but if they win, they earn 17.37 million yen. Their only choice is to win, or they wind up in debt. Each member of the Literary Club, Mary Saotome, Tsuzura Hanatemari, and Yukimi Togakushi, which each have their own army.
The cards are dealt and the Literary Club receives a 4, 5, 10, Q, and 8, and Aoi's cards are unknown. The first battle begins with 2-1, 8 vs 5, 2 vs K, and K vs 3, and Aoi is in the lead. Mary places a four in Yukimi's army which makes it 8 vs 9, and Aoi plays an unknown card against Yukimi's army, making the score ?+8 vs 9. Mary places an eight in Yukimi's army, making it ?+8 vs 17, and Aoi places another unknown card against Mary's army, making it ?+2 vs 13. Mary believes this card to be an ace, and plays a 10 in her army, making it ?+2 vs 23. Aoi then places an unknown card against Yukimi's army, and reveals his first card to be a 3, making it ?+11 vs 17. Mary then plays a Q in Yukimi's army, making it 11+? vs 29. Aoi puts an unknown card against Mary's army, and reveals his other card to not be an ace, but instead a 10, making it ?+12 vs 23. Mary's last card is a five, so she plays it in Tsuzura's army in hopes that Aoi will think it's an ace or a face card, making the total 13 vs 8. Aoi falls for Mary's trap, and places his last card against Tsuzura's army, making it ?+13 vs 8. The showdown the begins, and all the cards are revealed. The final results are: 19 vs 29, 21 vs 23, and 14 vs 8, and the Literary Club wins the battle.
But, Aoi then reveals that he threw the game, so that he may profit outside of the game for the Great Bloom Memorial. He reveals that he bet 1 billion yen on the Literary Club winning the Great Bloom Prize, and also made a 1 billion yen bet on him winning Conquer the Land, and if everything goes to plan, Kirari Momobami will have to pay him 500 billion yen, which will force her to resign as president. He says this to be the true call to action. The game henceforth is then reduced to whoever can lose. But before the next battle starts, Sachiko Juraku then enters with 1 billion yen, and proposes a side bet with the Literary Club. The side bet entails that if they win the game, they will win 1 billion yen, which will cancel out the 1 billion yen bet that Aoi placed for him winning, but if they lost, Aoi would win the 1 billion yen from Sachiko. Now the game is back with everyone trying to win.
As the second round begins, Aoi has 8, 3, and K against 3, 2, and 10. The Literary Club has no face card in their hand. They have 6, 10, 10, A, and 9. Aoi places a card against Yukimi’s army, behind his 8.
Yukimi thinks that Aoi wants to secure his victory on this side. Mary shocks her by placing a card on her army. Yukimi doesn’t figure out Mary’s intentions, as she placed a 6 there. Aoi places another card against Yukimi’s army. Yukimi now understands that Mary was bluffing, trying to make Aoi think that she placed a high-score card there to make Aoi waste a good card on this army.
Since this is Aoi’s third card in that column, he has to reveal the second one. It was a 2. Tsuzura is devastated. Aoi had used the weakest card of the game and made Mary waste a 6. Aoi’s 2 and 8 add up to 10, which is above Yukimi’s army’s 3 and 6, adding up to 9. Aoi also has a third card in this column. He’s guaranteed to win this column’s battle if the Literary Club doesn’t place any other card there. Mary thus adds another card to this column. Yukimi, believing that Aoi predicted this from the start, wonders how far ahead of them he is thinking.
The Literary Club reveals the second card on Yukimi’s army, which is a 6. Aoi guesses out loud that even with the third card the Literary Club placed on Yukimi’s army, he still wins the battle on this column. Yukimi calculates that Aoi’s third card on her column must be a 10 or higher for him to win this battle. She understands how bad the situation would be if they used up a 10 to still be losing.
Mary asks Yukimi to not panic. She explains that it’s impossible for Aoi to precisely read their hand and that he’s just bluffing since Conquer the Land has a strong luck aspect to it. Mary adds that Sachiko broke Aoi’s uprising and now he is playing a fair gamble. Aoi could not have planned that.
Aoi places a card behind his 3 against Mary’s army. There is a 2 on Mary’s army. Yukimi concludes that Aoi really thinks he’s winning against her army with the three cards he placed. Mary has a 10, A, and 9 remaining on her hand. Sakura believes there is clearly an optimal strategy that isn’t hard to find. She thinks Mary has too much pressure to find it. Mary realizes she’s in a game that could change the future of the academy.
Mary places a 10 below the 2 in her army. Sakura believes she made the right move. According to her, Mary won’t lose the battle in this column by playing her 10 here. Aoi places a card below his King against Tsuzura’s army. Yukimi and Aoi are convinced that Mary will place an ace on this column. Yukimi believes it’s their best option. Aoi had actually set a trap for the Literary Club to place an ace there.
Aoi had placed a 5 behind his King against Tsuzura’s army. He’s given up on winning this column. He just wanted to make Mary waste an ace. Mary places a card on Tsuzura’s army, as Aoi planned. Aoi is certain that with his next move, he’ll “secure” the win. Mary tells Aoi to wait before placing his final card. She wants to ask him why he staged the call to action right now. She explains that he had plenty of chances before. Aoi admits that he might have let some opportunities slip away, but he judged that now was the best time.
Mary rephrases her question. She asks Aoi why he didn’t take down Kirari when she was vying to become president. Aoi had wanted to become the high school president since he was in middle school. Kirari came to Hyakkaou and became president quickly. Mary questions why Aoi was backing her. She believes Aoi made the call to action only now because he is afraid of Kirari. Aoi seems annoyed by this remark. Mary summarizes the call to action as a way for Aoi to win without having Kirari involved. The crowd of spectators is shocked by Mary’s comments. Aoi smirks and says that maybe he is.
Aoi admitted to Mary that he might be afraid of Kirari. He recognizes that her strength is beyond any realm of normality. Aoi adds that he’s never met someone like her, who understood a weakness in him that he didn’t notice and told him about it. He didn’t meet someone like her in the Student Council or Full-Bloom society. Aoi says that he’ll beat Mary and thus become stronger.
He then places his last card against Mary’s army. Aoi’s last card was a Jack. He believes that he’s beating Yukimi’s army and that Tsuzura’s army is beating him. Aoi supposes that the battle against Mary’s army is close. He knows that since he placed his card here, Mary is bound to play hers on this column as well.
Aoi thinks that the results will all be a matter of what cards they drew. He feels strange, as he went through a lot of trouble setting this up for them to end up betting everything on sheer luck. Mary places her last card. If the Literary Club wins this second round, they win the whole match. The showdown begins. Aoi wins the first column 23 to 19. The Literary Club wins the second showdown 19 to 18.
Things almost went as Aoi planned. He's shocked as he notices something. Mary explains that Aoi believed the last card in Tsuzura’s army was an ace. She thinks all his plans have now crumbled. Mary tells Aoi that the last card he placed against her army is a face card, which would be cancelled by Mary’s ace.
Yukimi can’t comprehend how Mary could know that. Mary asked about Aoi’s call to action earlier despite it being something completely unrelated to the game. She did that to goad Aoi into going for her army. If Mary is right, the Literary Club has beaten Aoi. Aoi laughs. He explains that the results won’t change no matter what Mary says. Aoi then discredits Mary’s strategy, saying it’s nothing but bizarre logic.
Mary responds that she wasn’t betting on whether her taunting would work. She was betting on whether Aoi’s behavior was mainly driven by fear. Aoi questions if Mary even drew an ace. Mary repeats that Aoi is still afraid of Kirari. She adds that it’ll be proven for good if she wins this. The showdown is about to begin. Before flipping his card, Aoi asks Mary to make a deal with him.
He suggests he gives Mary 500 billion. She refuses. Then, Aoi tries to convince Mary that he’ll make her the president. Mary also declines that offer. Aoi thinks that Mary wants him to apologize to Sakura. Mary coldly tells him to flip his card. The spectators also try to press Aoi to flip his card. Aoi is paralyzed by fear.
The crowd of students and Ruri are getting impatient. Aoi thinks to himself that Mary is amazing. Ruri tries to force the players to showdown. Mary reveals her ace. Aoi is too afraid to admit defeat, so he doesn’t flip his card. Ruri sees this as a violation of the rules and declares the Literary Club winners of Conquer the Land.
Aftermath[]
Mary, perplexed, wants Aoi to flip his card. Sachiko explains that the card’s value doesn’t matter, as Mary already won the game. Sachiko spitefully asks Aoi how he is feeling. Aoi admits that he couldn’t flip his card over. He wasn’t capable of just losing. Aoi cries and declares that from the start, he never had it in him to become president.
Aoi envied, feared, and raged at those above him. He also looked up to them. He still could never reach Kirari. Aoi says that it was stupid. Sakura slaps him in the face. She’s angry because a lot of people trusted him, and he used and betrayed them, but he still couldn’t flip his last card. Aoi tells Sakura that this is his weakness.
Sakura explains that he's too weak to carry that weakness by himself. She wants him to show her his weaker side. Sakura cries. Aoi believes that he shooed away a good woman who was by his side. He realizes that if he had shown Sakura his weakness, then he might have been able to win this game, which would have permitted him to live his life with her.
Aoi apologizes to Sakura and leaves the room. Meanwhile, Mary wants the Literary Club to keep growing from here. Sachiko leaves the room and admits to herself that Mary did something brilliant. She really wants to see how it’ll end for Mary.
Ouri can’t believe that Aoi or Full-Bloom lost. Meanwhile, the other councillors of Full-Bloom except Aoi are gathered outside of the school. They unanimously agree to disband the group.
Aoi tells Kirari that he’ll leave the academy. He admits that he feared her soon after she arrived. He says to Kirari that she’s amazing and that she has truly defeated him.
Kirari asks Aoi who Mary Saotome is, as she doesn’t recognize that name. Aoi is shocked. He informs Kirari that he has fought against Mary during his call to action. Kirari then asks him what the Full-Bloom society is. Aoi is broken. As Sayaka explains the whole situation, Kirari understands that Aoi set up a group just to try to defy her.
Aoi realizes that he didn’t want to defeat Kirari; he wanted her to look at him, but it never happened. Aoi was no threat to Kirari. She didn't even perceive him as an enemy. Sayaka isn’t sure if Kirari really didn’t know about Full-Bloom.
At the Literary Club’s gambling den, Yukimi admits to Mary and Tsuzura that she has never been as nervous as during this game. They almost went into a one billion yen debt. Yukimi doesn't want to be in bets like that ever. She asks Mary if that’s the case for her too. Mary is silent, as she remembers when she was thrilled against Aoi.