Thanks to the drama (which I’ve now paused until after the anime finishes) I have an idea where Trillion Game is headed from here. An arc which I thought was being skipped for editorial reasons (I won’t elaborate but it hits pretty close to the bone for an anime) in fact was swapped in order with another one. I’m not sure which way it went in the manga, but once this arc – which will finish this season, and they’ll have to move quickly at that –  is finished, viewers will understand why that in itself was an interesting decision.

All the Vegas stuff happened far too neatly – this is fiction, after all. But it was extremely effective in illustrating the larger points Inagaki-sensei is trying to get across. I’ve been to Vegas myself many times of course, though certainly never as a high roller. But it’s a weird place, a state of mind more than a physical location. It lures you in, bewitches you. One does things in Vegas they would never do in the real world. And even for a low roller like me and my circle, I’ve seen the power even a little money has. I’ve been with friends who got hot at blackjack and won a few thousand dollars, and all of a sudden things are being comped left and right.

This is the essence of what Haru was saying, and though his explanation was simplified it was on-point in principle. There are certain rules to remember in Vegas. Play long enough, and the house always wins. That’s why they want anyone who’s up to enjoy being there enough to keep playing. Booze, food, women? The casino will provide. Another key point is that it’s indeed the casino where the hotel makes its money. Everything else – the Michelin Star restos, the infinity pools, the spa, Penn and Teller – are just there to draw you to the craps table.

If you’re the one in a hundred who can go to Vegas and enjoy yourself gambling-free, you can have a fun vacation astonishingly cheaply. But you’re rare enough that the house doesn’t care (just like the rare blackjack player who counts cards and gets away with it) – they still make a killing. And if you’re a high roller, every wheel is greased from the moment you check in at your home airport. This is what life is like with money, a lot of money. And as Hebijima tells Gaku, this is something Haru wanted him to see – how his life would change if he took the Dragon’s money and ran.

I loved Oji-san falling into the mentor role here – it really suited him. He’s older and wiser than the kids he works with, a cynic but one who still has a heart (as Sakura would say). He’s also right about the other key lesson Haru wanted those kids – especially Gaku – to learn. In Vegas the house always wins. Stay in the casino long enough, you’ll go broke. It’s a microcosm of the larger world – money is power. The system is designed to be a gated community, funnelling money from the have-nots to the billionaires (and obviously, never more than now). Trillion Game is the minnow, and Dragon Bank is the shark. The house always wins.

Of course Trillion Game has a secret weapon – Haru and his balls of steel. They win him a lot of money at poker (I can see him being great at it, but four aces is still stupid luck, which he also has on his side). But he goes ahead and loses it at roulette on a single throw, along with Gaku, who’d just won a bundle putting a $500 chip on “21” when he thought it was a $5 one (reminds me of the time I accidentally threw a ¥500 coin into the offering box at a temple). When you gamble at the casino, you’re paying for entertainment, thrills – not trying to win money. Most people don’t see it that way but that’s why the casinos are so profitable.

Is that all the trillion game is – entertainment? I do think Haru (who really stepped to the fore in this arc, no question he was in his element) wanted to remind Gaku of that possibility. There was never any chance he was going to take Kokuryuu’s money – it’s the thrill he loves, not the cash. But Gaku is not Haru, and he wanted to give Gaku a chance to decide for himself. And Gaku chooses the game – and Haru – over the high roller life. Because in truth, even if Gaku doesn’t care about the game that much he doesn’t care about money either. Not many people have simpler tastes than him. His friendship with Haru is more important than either.

This is a potential conflict going forward. We know Gaku ranks that friendship first. But Haru? He loves the game so much that we can’t make that assumption. But for now, it’s a “no” to the Dragon – and I’ve never loved Haru’s ballsiness more than when he palmed that  ¥3 million bottle of ’45 Romanée-Conti. Haru is going to try and be that unicorn that beats the house in the long game, and the deck is stacked against him as Kokuryuu-san says. But as always, he has a plan – the media. And his first move is to recruit Sumaragi (on the golf course, where most big deals in Japan are made) – the biggest fish in his pond, if not as big as a dragon.