Jack tilted his head to the side and put a finger on his chin.
"Mm... unfortunately, I don't know anybody called Mimi, but I have a friend called Mia! Isn't that cool?"
Emily's eyes widened slightly upon hearing that. The frown on her face softened as she suddenly stood up.
"Mia!?... W-What does she look like? Tell me!"
Jack blinked a few times, puckering his lips in surprise.
"Oh, you must think it's really cool too! She has nice-looking black hair and is taller than me by a lot. Her eyes are brown, like a lot of other people... and she's really smart! I remember how she beat a bunny really easily and that was pretty cool!"
Emily started to breathe heavily, slamming her hands onto the table.
"T-That's Mimi! Where is she? Tell me, tell me now!"
Jack scratched the side of his head a little bit confused.
"She's Mimi?... but I thought she was Mia. Well, it's probably not good to get too excited right now, it's not too easy to get to her."
Emily clenched her fists. There was frustration etched onto her face. It seemed that she thought Jack was simply not telling her for the sake of his own interests, as though he was somehow a sly old fox wearing a child's skin.
"How much?..."
Jack frowned slightly, nervously fiddling with his fingers.
"Eh... Much of what? Did I do something that you didn't like? I'm sorry..."
Emily's eyes gradually became bloodshot.
"Cards. The tips or whatever. How much of that will I need to give you to tell me where she is?"
Jack smiled a tad bit awkwardly and raised a finger into the air.
"I guess if you really want to know, I could just tell you. But if you really want to tip, it would be nice if you could give me one of each card to both of us!"
Without hesitation, Emily proceeded to pull out cards that ranged from 2, all the way to 5 and handed them out towards Jack, while her other hand had the same, holding it out towards Brian.
"Here. Now tell me."
Brian took them cordially, giving her a small nod.
"Thank you very much, you are quite kind."
The barrier around her disappeared for a moment, allowing Jack to step closer and take them as well. He did so with a smile, and as he did a variety of system prompts appeared in front of him. However, he didn't focus on them immediately.
Leo let out a laugh, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back in his chair.
"Wow! I don't have enough cards to give away that much even if I wanted to!"
Nina clicked her tongue disdainfully, though she didn't comment any further. As for Jack, he smiled quite brightly.
"Yay! Thank you for the gift. In return..."
Emily impatiently tapped her foot as he trailed off.
"What? Tell me already, I paid you!"
Samantha let out a sigh, holding her hands out to her side.
"You should've seen a scam coming, idiot. Anybody could've seen that."
However, Jack hadn't gone silent because he didn't intend to answer the question. Rather, he had read part of a prompt that appeared in front of him and realized that there was a better way than just telling her. He read through all of the messages first before continuing on.
[Tip - Value 2: Allows you to gesture towards the Tipper during the "River" (The last stage of betting when the final card is revealed) to indicate their hand compared to others once per card received. Verbal communication is not allowed. Mouthing words is not allowed. Sign language is not allowed.]
[Tip - Value 3: Allows you to whisper into the Tipper's ear what the last card will be during the "Turn" (The second last stage of betting) twice per card received. No other information other than the card can be communicated.]
[Tip - Value 4: Allows you to directly communicate to the Tipper's mind after they receive their hand what the three cards will be in the "Flop" (The second stage of betting) three times per card received. Communication will be done the moment the Host Assistant wills it. The system will handle the rest.]
[Tip - Value 5: Allows you to temporarily take the Tipper into a separate private room while it is not their turn, and lasts up to five minutes. Communication regarding floors above them is permitted during this time, overriding Hidden Restriction: Consistent Worlds.]
While he was in a daze, Brian seemed to be in a similar one, seemingly shocked by one of the messages that were revealed to him. However, he recovered quickly enough. Jack broke out of it suddenly before clapping twice.
"Since this is a private matter, we will deal with it privately!"
Before Emily could complain, both she and Jack were directly teleported into a room that looked almost entirely the same as the previous one, but instead had two velvet chairs across a mahogany table.
Jack bounced up and down in the comfy chair a few times and giggled to himself. At the same time, Emily looked around, quite startled.
"Did you... do this?"
Jack waved his hand dismissively.
"Hehe, I couldn't have done it without you! But more importantly, you want to know about Mia, or... Mimi? Just so you know, I don't know anybody called that."
Emily seemed a bit confused by his response but just glossed over it. She shook her head.
"No, her real name is Mia... Mimi is the nickname that I gave her. Please, I just want to see her again. Let me see her..."
Jack puffed up his cheeks before letting the air pop out.
"Sorry, but it will take a little while before you can. She is on the third floor with me! But it will take a little while for you to reach there."
Emily began panting.
"The third floor... then I just-"
"Wait!"
Jack held up a hand, cutting her off.
"Don't try to rush things! If you really want to see her again, then you will have to take things slowly. If you are worried that Mia will go further, don't worry, I will make sure she stays on the third floor."
His expression turned strangely serious for a moment.
"You can't see her again if you die, right? And dying is really bad... because Dad said so!"
Emily bit her lip, clearly somewhat dissatisfied to hear that, if only due to the fact she knew it was true.
"I... I guess it's not the first time I've waited. But I want to see her face right now more than anything."
Jack nodded a few times.
"Mm. I know what you mean. Dad left me too. He said that he was somewhere above, but I haven't seen him even after going up twice. I want to see him too, but it doesn't hurt too much because of all the friends and fun new things I got to do!"
"Ah... I see."
Emily had calmed down considerably at this point. Seeing that, Jack raised a finger.
"Now, make sure you're paying attention. I'll be telling you about all the things you will do."
He first explained the promotion mission, both the one to reach the second floor along with the third one.
"On the third floor, no matter which suit you pick, pay attention to the first test they give you! It gives a tiny hint on how to do the other tests which aren't as simple."
He also briefly went over his own experiences, from the various games he played along with his encounters with hypnotizing wildlife and bats. He went into detail, particularly for the game played at the border of the second level, where he fought against various animals.
"I'm not too sure, but if you reach one of the games here, then you need to be careful! We had a nice friend called Emma who helped us a lot. But that game is designed so that at least one person will die. Still, it's definitely worth all of the cool things that you can get!"
His smile became slightly uncanny.
"But even if it's dangerous, I think it's more dangerous to do the promotion mission without it."
Emily nodded, having calmed down considerably.
"Ok, thank you so much for telling me all this. I'll... try my best not to rush things and take them slow."
Jack gave her thumbs up and a bright grin.
"Yeah! I'm excited to see you come up as well, everyone will like having more friends! Once we all get together, then nobody will ever have to leave each other!"
Emily took a deep breath. Where five minutes ago she seemed to be on the verge of exploding, now her face was tranquil and relaxed. That was in part from knowing that Mia was ok, as well as the natural charm that Jack had.
"I want to ask some more about Mia..."
Jack shook his head.
"Sorry, but our time is up."
Before she could respond, they were teleported back into the room. Everyone else had already put their bets down and were now just waiting for her.
It was time to return to the game of poker.