Second round.
Ayanokouji Kiyohira, as before, first lifted each porcelain bowl to show that the bottoms were empty.
After everyone confirmed, Ayanokouji Kiyohira placed the rainbow ball into the middle bowl in front of everyone, then inverted the bowl.
From the very beginning of this round, Hanagata Kensuke dared not be careless; he widened his eyes, concentrating and carefully observing Ayanokouji Kiyohira's every move, afraid he might miss some important information.
And at this moment, with his excellent eyesight, he caught a small movement from Ayanokouji Kiyohira.
Hanagata Kensuke clearly saw that Ayanokouji Kiyohira's action of placing the rainbow ball into the bowl was actually a feint; he merely used a visual deviation at the moment of inversion to smoothly take the rainbow ball back into his palm.
This was a movement that could only be seen from a specific angle, and Hanagata Kensuke only discovered it by noticing the movement of Ayanokouji Kiyohira's finger muscles.
Sure enough, he lost the first round because he didn't catch his movements!
Hanagata Kensuke firmed his resolve, believing that he had made a mistake in the first round and would definitely not make a mistake this time.
However, his confidence lasted less than ten seconds before vanishing.
After Ayanokouji Kiyohira inverted the remaining two bowls, he actually didn't notice which bowl the small ball was in!
Is this guy's hand speed that fast!?
Hanagata Kensuke bit his lip in frustration; his gaze hadn't left Ayanokouji Kiyohira's hand for a moment, yet he saw nothing.
Without giving him time to regret, Ayanokouji Kiyohira did not stop; after inverting the bowls, he extended his hands flat on the bottom of the bowls, then, like "shuffling cards," he continuously changed the positions of the three inverted bowls.
Generally speaking, this kind of shuffling is meant to confuse the opponent, making it difficult to distinguish which bowl is which; however, Ayanokouji Kiyohira's speed in moving the bowls was not fast, unhurried, so anyone concentrating could clearly distinguish the bowls' positions.
After several rotations, Ayanokouji Kiyohira lowered his hands from the bowls.
"Alright, I'm done. Take a guess, which bowl did I put the small ball in?" Ayanokouji Kiyohira asked with a smile.
Hanagata Kensuke's gaze wavered between the three bowls.
It was like missing a key word in a listening test; even after hearing the entire text, he still didn't know which option to choose.
He hadn't seen which bowl the small ball was hidden under, but at least Hanagata Kensuke could be sure of one thing: the small ball was definitely not in the "middle" bowl.
Now he could only choose one of the two and guess.
He pointed his finger at the porcelain bowl that was originally on the far left and said in a deep voice, "I choose this one."
He could only take a gamble; Ayanokouji Kiyohira's hand lingered on the left side longer than on the right, making it very likely he was hiding the ball there.
After making his choice, this time, he still wasn't comfortable letting Ayanokouji Kiyohira lift the bowl; he still insisted on doing that final step himself.
With a complex mix of anticipation and trepidation, he lifted the bowl; however, what he saw chilled him to the core.
There was no small ball under this bowl.
In other words, was the small ball in the other bowl?
He lifted the second bowl with a heavy heart, ready to face defeat.
However, to his surprise, this bowl was also empty.
He was stunned again.
How could this be? Why are both these bowls empty of the small ball? Could it be that this guy didn't put the small ball in?
"You bastard, you tricked me again! You didn't put the small ball under the bowl at all!" he roared at Ayanokouji Kiyohira with an angry expression.
Ayanokouji Kiyohira calmly said, "Don't rush, isn't there still a bowl you haven't lifted? Why don't you lift this one?"
"Hmph, do you take me for a fool? Of course, this bowl is also empty...!"
He snorted coldly, and while speaking, he lifted the bowl, ready to use facts to slap Ayanokouji Kiyohira's face, but his words stopped abruptly—the rainbow ball was right under this bowl.
"Do you still have questions now?" Ayanakoji Kiyotaka chuckled softly.
"Are you an idiot? Isn't the small ball right in this bowl? Your eyesight is too poor!" A bystander who had been watching couldn't help but complain to him.
Most people nodded in agreement.
They truly couldn't understand; Ayanokouji Kiyohira had clearly placed the small ball in the first bowl right in front of them, and his speed when shifting the porcelain bowls wasn't fast, so even a primary school student could make the correct choice.
Did this guy have something wrong with his eyes, to even get this wrong?
They all believed the small ball had been in the middle bowl the whole time.
In fact, besides Hanagata Kensuke, some bystanders with better eyesight also noticed that Ayanokouji Kiyohira's initial action of putting the rainbow ball into the bowl was just an illusion.
However, they did not notice Ayanokouji Kiyohira putting the ball back in, and without "colluding," they began to doubt whether they had seen it wrong.
Hanagata Kensuke turned and glared at the bystander who had just spoken, thinking that the one with poor eyesight was him!
He really wanted to retort, but facing this reality, he could only keep a gloomy face and remain silent.
He clearly saw Ayanokouji Kiyohira take the small ball, so why was the small ball still in the bowl?
Could it be that his "feint" was actually intentionally shown to himself? To make him think the small ball had been taken out, and then start to doubt, when in reality, the small ball's position had never moved...
Hanagata Kensuke's heart chilled.
Is this guy in front of him a psychology major? He guessed his thoughts so accurately.
Although there was one last round, could he really win? He even doubted himself.
"You lost the second round too. You only have one chance left. Do you still want to continue?"
Ayanokouji Kiyohira's confident demeanor made Hanagata Kensuke feel incredibly heavy-hearted.
He wanted to immediately refuse and make peace with Ayanokouji Kiyohira, but Miharu Taki Senior, the Beautification Committee Chairperson, was watching him from not far away, so such a request would certainly be ruthlessly rejected, and even if he acted tough, it would be useless.
"...Continue." He gritted his teeth.
There was still one last chance; what if he could win?
He still held a glimmer of hope.
The third round began.
In this round, Ayanokouji Kiyohira seemed to have forgotten that he was gambling with Hanagata Kensuke, and instead, like a street magician performing in public, he actively interacted with the surrounding crowd.
Especially with Miharu Taki Sakura.
The operations of displaying the porcelain bowls and then inverting them will not be repeated.
In this round, he first placed the rainbow ball into Miharu Taki Sakura's hand, letting her hold it, then rolled up his sleeve to show the audience that his hand was empty.
Next, he asked Miharu Taki Sakura to choose a porcelain bowl, saying that he would throw the small ball into that bowl from a distance.
After Miharu Taki Sakura made her choice, he took the ball into his hand, then made a baseball throwing motion, and under everyone's watchful eyes, he actually threw the rainbow ball with force, making it trace a parabola and land in the distant grass!
"If I told you the small ball is in this bowl, would you believe me?" Ayanokouji Kiyohira asked the audience with a smile.
The onlookers, of course, did not believe him.
They had clearly watched the rainbow ball being thrown out, so how could they believe the ball would end up under this bowl? Did he have the ability to transfer space?
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