The Decoding Girls

Cover

**The Decoding Girls** is the eleventh chapter of Kakegurui Twin, written by Homura Kawamoto and illustrated by Kei Saiki.

## Summary

Mary is competing in a Treasure Hunt to join Full-Bloom, but Sakura wants to prevent her from joining, fearing the increased risk a new councilor poses. Sachiko explains the rules, and players must find a hidden treasure in the club building using a map with hints. When Sakura asks about the treasure, Sachiko responds they’ll recognize it when they see it. Sachiko allows the Literary Club trio to join together, shocking Mary and Mikura. The game begins, and Mary suspects they have a different map from Sakura’s. As contestants leave, Sachiko confronts Mikura, suspecting she's helping Sakura. Sachiko wants to give Mary a fair chance and prevents Mikura from aiding Sakura.

Mary, Tsuzura, and Yukimi examine their map, which doesn't resemble a typical map. Mary theorizes it assigns numbers to club rooms, but they don't know the numbers' meaning. She discovers a hidden treasure chest in the manga research club, but it only contains a paper with "Katou Kiyomasa" written on it. The trio heads back to find Sachiko. Meanwhile, Sakura also finds a chest but gets a paper with "Ushiwakamaru."
Mary is frustrated when Sachiko says it's not the treasure, just a hint. The Literary Club explores three rooms but still doesn't understand the map and hints. Yukimi then recognizes the hints as titles from an elementary school songbook but is unsure of how useful it is to know that. Then, Tsuzura believes she knows where the treasure is.

## Plot

If Mary wins the Treasure Hunt, she's allowed to join Full-Bloom. Sakura didn't want any new councilor, as it'd just increase the risk. That's why she wants to prevent Mary from joining. Sachiko explains the rules. The players have to find the treasure hidden inside the club building. Both players receive a map with hints on the location.

Sakura asks what that treasure is. Sachiko responds that she'll know when she sees it. Sachiko then turns to the Literary Club trio and allows them all to play together. Both Mary and Mikura are shocked. The dealer explains that Sakura has nothing to lose from this gamble, Mary is the only one taking a risk, so Sakura deserves this handicap. Sakura accepts. The players begin. Tsuzura and Yukimi are excited. Mary suggests they get out of Sakura's sight. She considers the possibility that they were given different maps.

As the contestants leave the room, Sachiko asks Mikura if she's sure she doesn't want to help Sakura. Mikura is terrified. Sachiko believes something is up since Sakura asked her to be the dealer though she dislikes her. She's certain that Mikura is trying to help out Sakura. Sachiko explains that she wants to give a fair shot to Mary, but Mikura is attempting to ruin that. Sachiko had designed the game. Mikura apologizes. Sachiko looks forward to making Mary her housepet.

The Literary Club trio opens their treasure map. It's a bunch of squares and numbers and doesn't look like a map. Mary thinks she has understood the map. The club building has four stories with four groups of eight rooms each. It's the same number of cells as the treasure map.

    She theorizes that the map assigns a number to each club in the building. However, they still don't know the numbers' meaning. Mary walks into the manga research club. The trio searches the room but struggles to find anything useful. As she puts a book back on a shelf, Mary finds a treasure chest hidden behind. Tsuzura and Yukimi are overexcited.

Mary opens it and there is a paper with "Katou Kiyomasa" written on it. Mary gets angry and folds the paper. Tsuzura thinks they've won. They head back to Sachiko. Sakura finds a chest. She opens it and finds a paper with "Ushiwakamaru" written on it. Sakura folds it and throws it down in anger.

Mary is furious because when she brought the paper and chest to Sachiko, she told her that it's clearly not a treasure. That was just a hint. The Literary Club has inspected three rooms and still doesn't know what the map and hints mean. Tsuzura is sure that Sakura is just as lost. The three hints are "Katou Kiyosama", "Yamata no Orochi", and "Furusato". Yukimi notices that these are titles from the common elementary school songbook. It's a songbook the Ministry of Education made for grade-schoolers at the turn of the century. Mary praises Yukimi. She responds that it doesn’t lead them anywhere to know that. Tsuzura declares that she thinks she knows where the treasure is.

## Quick References

### Characters by Appearance

* Sachiko Juraku
* Yukimi Togakushi
* Mary Saotome
* Tsuzura Hanatemari
* Sakura Miharutaki
* Mikura Sado
* Manga Club Leader

### Chapter Notes

* Tsuzura thinks she knows where the treasure is.