At first I was a little confused by the direction of the ending but I get it now, and boy is it sweet. Basically what we're seeing here is Baku pulling off the same plan he always does on an even larger scale.
Every single arc of Usogui goes like this:
He sets stuff up, plants seeds.
He "loses"...
@takoshi
I think Yakou has Kadokura's hankerchief.
Which is why Yakou think's Kadokura will go far, but not all the way lol. I think narratively Kadokura's the star here, so he'll end up the winner. Marco realized what Yakou did because he was watching the fight, so he's fighting my favorite...
@Serenata
because she is like that. She basically doesn't see anybody or any thing and doesn't know how to treat people. She "Loves" the main character, but that doesn't mean she knows how to act human. All she can do is imitate and ingratiate to try to get closer.
in retrospect the character...
I think your theories are great, but there's one issue. What's the point of them playing the cards and THEN betting? There's no hidden info to bet on once you know the law.
@bosscrab that's the beauty of his arc. He's too late. He's too late to find a dignified end against an equal like Yakou, He's too late to meet Ying properly... He dragged it out too long and meets a pathetic end because it was always too late.