So reading over the Dotty rounds, Baku likely knew the first input attempt was a bluff, because he talked about the timing of Marco's return before the second round began. This leads me to wonder what exactly he was sure of at that moment. At the least that Suteguma would continue on to the third round.

Additionally, I think the reason Ranko knew about the whole 13 input was because of the recorder that was brought up by Hyougo to Leo. She would know that 13 was what Baku told Marco to input, as well as it'll being wrong

Side note, Suteguma reacted to the number 5 during Baku's profiling shenanigans. Pretty interesting in hindsight.

@catx3 Baku is a man of his word, taking the man to a no panties hotpot is the least he can do.

I think the reason Usogui is anxious is because if Sutegama has 8 beads instead of 9 beads, then when Usogui pretended to fall for Sutegama's trap to "revealed" to Sutegama that he has 6 or 7 beads then 15 (Sutegama 8 Usogui 7) is the only correct answer since 14 (Sutegama 8 Usogui 6) is revealed to be wrong because of the 2nd round of Dotty. Which mean if Sutegama input 15 on Dotty 3rd round earlier and it showed to be wrong, it means Usogui's trap is exposed.

Hm, why is Midara in the helicopter lol? I guess in a way, it protects them since it involves Kakerou. Though I wonder if that's even needed at this point. Don't tell me that Baku is actually taking him to no panties hot pot after the game..?

@Veshv and @299792458, Ah i'm sorry, you two are right. Suteguma did instruct Hyougo to use the first attempt at the password after the first Dotty is done. I must have confused Hyougo's movement during the first Dotty when all he did is destroying the elevator.

Just read last chapter's comment thread if you're uncertain about stuff.

@Haremmony
The problem is how to proof that Suteguma "really" guessed the password wrong on purpose.
There was still a chance that Suteguma misunderstood that he had found the right password.
(BTW, "Usogui didn't count his beads" could also be a bluff, although it doesn't really matter.)

Easy. Just as predicted.

@Haremmony Suteguma sent Hyougo to input 8 after the first round of Dotty. The real reason why it should've been impossible for Suteguma to know the correct password was because Usoui hadn't even looked at his number of beads before the first round (according to him), which is why he left the first floor after the first round to determine whether or not it was a bluff.

@Veshv It's not about being weakened or not necessarily, it's about whether or not Suteguma can defeat them. The reason why Suteguma could see them was because he was 100% sure in his mind that his victory was guaranteed after Usogui chose 13. Although it's possible that his anxiety was misinterpreted and helped in activating Suteguma's ability. In any case, it backfired on Suteguma. He shouldn't have relied on his ability that much.

Yeah I definitely couldn't figure that out. I didn't even remember the rules after Caracal showed up lol.

OHOHOHOHOHOO
what a time to be awake

@Haremmony Baku had to know that the input was actually below 10 before the second round started in order for your argument to make sense. I'm not sure if the author would do a fakeout of Marco actually remembering the number before the second round after going to lengths to show how Marco learned of the 8 input.

Also, the 8 input happened after all of the talking inside the dotty for the first round, when Baku guessed 11 and Suteguma guessed 10. It's not impossible to gather the number within the 20 minutes, refer to the side story in volumes 12-15, you could theoretically figure out one's number from how they react to hearing that number.

When you think about it, Suteguma's bait-first answer of 8, from other party's point of view, was basically just guessing, right? The first round of Dotty hasn't even happened yet, and he already instructed Hyougo to put that into the terminal. At that moment Suteguma couldn't possibly gathered enough information to correctly deduce Baku's number, so in all fairness, it's not strange that Baku already noticed the scheme and already coming up with a counter-scheme.

its pickled plum time boys and girls

So to clarify, Suteguma's ability, as it were, basically shows him when whoever he's looking at is mentally weakened?

That would explain how Baku could game it to show that he was "prey" to Suteguma, by being anxious over something else.

YOOO, WELCOME BACK AND THANKS FOR THE CHAPTER

DAMN, THAT FULL SPREAD PANEL OF USOGUI IS SO GOOD

Rip Sutegama