Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 10

3 more episodes left! Let's do this.

The episode starts out with Kazuki's monologue (it's been awhile since the last time an episode was introduced like this), where he talks about how time has flown, and that he's getting over his fear of math, but that everything is going to crash because of one girl. (Is he talking about the girl at the end of the last episode?)

The male teacher introduces a new transfer student whose name is Shirokane Reiko (played by Mano Erina, the only soloist in Hello! Project). She enters via red carpet put out for her by her assistant Meguro Yuu (played by Miyamoto Karin, one of the most well-known H!P eggs). Reiko has a very haughty, royalty type personality and way of speaking and says that she entered this school because of her love for math. Kazuki feels that Reiko wouldn't fit in with their class, and Reiko is already picking a fight with Nina through fiery eye contact, causing a thunderstorm to suddenly start. 

Reiko: Fear my flaming eyes!

Suddenly, the male teacher calls for a class meeting during break time. Reiko announces that there are changes to the school regulations. Everyone in class doesn't understand what's going, including Mami. Reiko explains that there are things that she can't stand in this school, so she wants to get rid of them. Sayuri asks how is she even allowed to do this? Reiko is super rich because of her father's company and her father will do anything that she asks him to. Reiko says that she's studied up on the school before coming and has a list of things to be banned including dialects (which Nina uses quite often), saying that everyone needs to speak beautiful Japanese like her (although, Kazuki is quick to point out that she doesn't speak that beautifully). 

This is getting on everyone's nerves, but the male teacher insists that they hear Reiko out since her father is the top sponsor of the school. She then bans vanity, while pointing at Sayuri (who always says that she's cute). Next, idiocy is banned (points at Kazuki, but he can't do much about that though >.<). Next, mysteries are banned, pointing at Mami. Fuyumi stands up against this, but Yuu comes in and offers Fuyumi a small gift and tells her to take as many as she wants. Once Fuyumi does take quite a bit, Reiko is quick to point out that gluttony is banned also. 

Speaking of food, Reiko also bans mentaiko and tonkotsu ramen, saying that they are not beautiful. This pisses off Nina, but the male teacher stops Nina from starting a fight because he doesn't want to lose his job (he's got a kid to feed). Reiko is done her list of things to be banned and says that whoever breaks these rules are to be expelled. Her goal is to make the school more beautiful. If that's the case, why didn't she go to the Elite Area (especially since she's rich)?

So the enforcement of these new rules are put into place and it's causing trouble for Mami (going through mystery withdrawal), Kazuki (who is trying really hard to study), and Sayuri (who is simply putting on lip gloss,  but of course thinking how cute she is). Nina is woken up from all this whistle blowing (because they are literally blowing whistles). Kazuki notices that the ones being targeted are those who don't have the special heart pin. 

Reiko gets a phone call and she reports that she's severely weakened Nina & co. and that everything is going as planned. What is going on?

Nina vents out her frustration with the nurse, and the nurse mentions that Reiko has been bribing all the teachers. You'd think the nurse would resist temptation, but she has one too, in gold! Tthe nurse says that she couldn't refuse something so pretty. 

Nurse: Shiny gold heart pin get!

The nurse switches topic by telling Nina to just fight Reiko in a math battle, but Nina explains that Muraki-sensei, the male teacher (he has a name!), might lose his job if she does battle Reiko.

Because of the ban on tonkotsu ramen, Nina, Fuyumi and the Gluttony Girls are all terribly hungry. One of the Gluttony Girls collapses and Fuyumi is so upset that she challenges Reiko, who thinks this will be a good distraction. 

Math Battle here we go!

Fuyumi is the first to ask Reiko a question.

Q: Using Hubble's Law, determine the age of the universe. 

A: 1.39 x10^10 years

Explanation: Hubble's Law has to do with the movement of objects in space and how they compare to the Earth's velocity and other objects in space and their distances. This also takes into account that the universe is constantly expanding, which is how they can calculate the age of the universe. 

Reiko's turn:

Q: When the mathematician Euler was born on April 15th, 1707, what day of the week was it?

A: Friday (Fuyumi was too slow, so Reiko answers her own question)

Explanation: Zeller's Congruence is an algorithm used to determine the day of the week for any date in the Julian (Roman calendar) or Gregorian calendar (Western/Christian calendar).

Reiko goes one more time:

Q: What is the greatest common divisor of 12,345,654,321 and 1,234,321?

A: 121 (Fuyumi doesn't know the answer, so Reiko answers the question again).

Explanation: I think this is difficult to do mentally, but there are tricks to find out whether a number is divisible by another number. Check out this link here (especially dividing by 11 because 121 is 11 x 11). 

Fuyumi loses and even though Nina can't stand what she's seeing, she doesn't have the strength to battle Reiko without her mentaiko bread and tonkotsu. Reiko tells Fuyumi to disappear because she's such an eyesore. Nina is so upset that she gathers a whole bunch of mentaiko bread to restore her strength in order to beat Reiko. Mami, Sayuri and Kazuki freak out because they don't want Nina to get expelled, but Nina doesn't care anymore and she just wants to beat Reiko.

Nina challenges Reiko, who can smell the mentaiko off of Nina. Of course, if Nina wins, she wants all the new rule changes to be revoked. Reiko says that she's not interested in battling Nina because there would be nothing for her to gain. Sayuri and Mami offer themselves up to be expelled if Nina loses. Kazuki is also forced to offer himself up for expulsion. Reiko accepts the challenge, but it looks like they are playing right into her hand. Reiko says that she's dictate the terms of the battle. 

Main Math Battle Go!

The battle type: Poker

How does it work: Reiko plays alone and she gets to hold 5 cards, Nina gets to play with 2 other people, but their 5 cards are split into 2, 2, and 1. They can't talk to each other, but they can show what cards they are discarding. 

Kazuki asks why with these rules. Reiko explains that she could never beat her father in Poker, so she changed the rules to suit her so she can win, just like with the change in the school regulations. I see, little Miss Rich wants everything to go her way. 

Reiko picks Nina, Sayuri and Kazuki to be the 3 people to play against her. Kazuki is surprised, but has no choice. Reiko evens out the playing field by letting them draw twice, while she can only draw once and they only need to win 1 out of 3 rounds to win. 

This shows the strength of each type of hand in Poker.

The battle starts and Kazuki is the one with the single card. Nina has a good hand (but doesn't say what), Sayuri has 10 and 8 (plans to discard the 8) and Kazuki has a 2 (which he deems is the weakest card possible).

Reiko starts first and discards 2 cards, which is an Ace and a face card. Nina presumes that Reiko might have a 3 of a kind. But Nina knows that the way they are split up, they can only get a maximum of 2 pairs. If Nina and Sayu gets the same 2 cards, they could do a 4 of a kind. If Kazuki happens to have a card that matches either Sayuri's or Nina's pairs, then they could get a full house. You must have all guessed it by now, but Nina knows that the whole battle depends on Kazuki. 

Nina holds (which means she doesn't discard) with her pair of queens. Reiko can easily guess that Nina has a pair. Sayu discards her 8 and picks something that she thinks is good and holds her cards, not going for a second draw. Kazuki discards his 2 and picks a card that he thinks is good and holds. 

Now that the draw phase is over, everyone has to reveal their cards. Reiko gets a straight composed of 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, which is pretty good. Nina has a pair of queens, Sayuri has a pair of 10s, and Kazuki's good card is a king. 2 pairs does not beat a straight. Team Nina has lost the first round and are losing confidence. The game is too hard this way. Reiko knows that it was obvious she was going to win, since she's no normal transfer student. 

How will this battle end? We'll just have to see in the next episode.