Kaiji continues to play, with every ball deflected by the flippers until one ball makes it through to the plates below, the flipper rods bent because the replacement rods installed after Sakazaki smashed the machine were modified by Kaiji. Ichijō starts to panic and then receives a phone call from Hyōdō telling him to let the game continue and not bring the corporation into disrepute, under penalty of death. Ichijō now relies on his three rigged bottom plates to foil Kaiji's chances of winning.