Miracles and Anomalies
The evening after the Side A semifinals in Japan's national high school mahjong tournament, the five members of the Kiyosumi team held a strategy meeting in their hotel room. Since they had already played against Himematsu, their discussion soon turned to their new opponents in the semifinals. Unfortunately, Rinkai's current team had few records from Japanese tournaments, and Usuzan had not competed at all, so they had less to work with, and could think of little that they had not already come up with the previous day.
Having run out of things to discuss, they decided to think about the day's events. Achiga and Shiraitodai had defeated Senriyama and Shindouji in the semifinals, and if Kiyosumi made it to the finals, they would face those two schools in addition to one from the semifinals. Perhaps they might not reach the finals, but if they hoped to win it, they would have to find a way to defeat those two schools.
Shiraitodai, the champion for the previous two years, had been the focus of much of their research and preparation, but Achiga was a relative unknown to all of them... save for Nodoka, who was friends with some of the members, and who had, unknowingly, inspired them to aim for the nationals.
"So, Nodoka, I'm glad to hear that your old friends made it through," Hisa said, hoping to segue into discussing Achiga's playstyles.
"Thank you, President," Nodoka said. "Hanada-senpai's school was defeated, but she seemed to be in good spirits when Yuuki and I saw her after the match. She's the sort who counts herself lucky to get onto a team like Shindouji, much less win."
Yuuki silently concurred. Kirame was the only friend Nodoka had before coming to Kiyosumi that Yuuki also knew, so Yuuki was pleased that her old senpai was doing well, and hoped she was sharing Yuuki's gift of tacos with the others.
Hisa smiled and nodded before getting down to business.
"I am curious, though," Hisa said. "What can you tell me about your friends' playstyles? Unlike Shiraitodai, they have no national tournament experience."
"I'll tell you what I can," Nodoka said, "starting by telling you what I can't say with absolute certainty. First of all, I don't know Matsumi Yuu-san or Sagimori Arata-san- the sergeant and vice-captain, respectively- save for the fact that the former is Kuro-san's older sister. She mentioned that she had a sister, but didn't introduce her, much less give me an opportunity to play against her. I'm sorry, Someya-senpai; I don't have anything to tell you about your opponent that you can't find in the match records."
"I'll manage," Mako said. "The elder Matsumi-san may not be an opponent I know much about, but while she's competent, that means she's not an absolute amateur like Senoo-san, and I should be able to remember a game that gives me insight into how things go."
"Good to hear that, Mako," Hisa said."What about you, Nodoka?"
"My answer is the same," Nodoka said. "I will be looking over Sagimori-san's match records and preparing for her, just like you and the others are."
"That's good," Hisa said. "But just for that extra little advantage, what can you tell me about my opponent?"
"Next up is Atarashi Ako, the lieutenant," Nodoka said, turning to Hisa. "She tends to employ an ordinary style that favors quick hands over high-scoring ones, so the president may want to take that into account."
"Point taken, Nodoka," Hisa said. "But as the saying goes, a leopard can't change its spots. If Atarashi-san was unable to cast off that style even with Shibuya-san's ability making it less than advantageous, then I can't very well do the same. In fact, winning big or not winning at all might be the best strategy if I'm dealer."
Nodoka let off a soft sigh. She'd learned long ago that there was no point in arguing with Hisa on this matter, however illogical her opinion and playstyle seemed. She seemed hopeful when Hisa appeared to go against this tendency of hers in the quarterfinals, but in hindsight, she realized that the stress of competing in the national high school tournament for the first and last time had been getting to her.
"Takakamo Shizuno, one of the girls I'm closest to, is the captain," Nodoka said, turning to Saki. "Unfortunately, her style seems to have drastically changed from when I knew her."
"I think Koromo-chan said a little about this," Saki said. "She said that when she practiced with your friend, your friend wasn't able to beat her, but she could thwart her haitei raoyue somehow. It's apparently related to the dice rolls."
Nodoka looked at Saki blankly for a moment, before shrugging and continuing. Even if what she was saying made little sense, Saki had something to work with, which was a positive sign.
"Lastly, there's Matsumi Kuro-san, the vanguard," Nodoka said. "As for her, I... I believe you were watching her playing this morning."
"We did," Hisa said. "But, for our sake, as well as Yuuki's sake in particular, we were wondering if you could tell us anything about her."
"Yeah, Nodo-chan," Yuuki said. "They seemed determined to face us, so let's put up a good fight for your old friends, djey!"
Nodoka sighed. She understood what her friends were saying and appreciated their reassurance, but believed they were missing the point.
"It's not that I feel as though I'm betraying them by telling you about them, Yuuki," Nodoka said. "It's that from when I first met and played against Kuro-san, I've seen her 'dora magnet'- the process by which she is the only one to get dora tiles- but never believed it exists."
"You don't?" Saki said.
"It's a matter of probability," Nodoka said. "Imagine if, for example, Kuro-san had a knack for getting heads on a coin toss. Her only ever getting heads heads is a possible, albeit improbable, outcome."
"Or the result of using a two-headed coin," Hisa said slyly. "But I also noticed that the younger Matsumi-san didn't discard any dora until the end of the semifinals, even when doing so might have helped her win more easily- why might that be?"
"Because she said that if she does that, she doesn't get any for several games," Nodoka said. "I haven't seen that directly, but I've heard that in the mahjong club."
"So it's possible that she might be pushed that far, like she was against the champion," Hisa said, "just like Onjouji-san used her futuresight so much that she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital."
Nodoka was speechless. She'd assumed that supernatural mahjong abilities were figments of the imagination, so how did Toki's talent have very real repercussions on her? In order to come to a logical and well-founded conclusion, she'd need the training to understand Toki's condition and access to her medical records- she would only get the former in medical school, and receive the latter if she was Toki's doctor.
As Nodoka had fallen silent, Hisa decided to move on with the discussion. They would have time to look over the match records the following evening, provided they made it through the semifinals, but for now, a strategy had come to Hisa's mind.
"In any case," Hisa said, "Yuuki, we'll need you to prioritize speed over gaining dora as long as Matsumi-san 's dora magnet is in play. You probably won't get any bigger scoring hands, but considering that you'll be unable to get the dora this time, it'll probably be your only way to score at all."
"I'll try, djey," Yuuki said. "But if I may say so, president, it's like you said; leopards don't change their spots."
"I know," Hisa said. "So for what it's worth, you should start now. Your results may be subpar in your semifinals round, but if we make it to the finals, it will pay off. You'll probably still lose points, but you'll lose fewer ones than before, and we can recover more easily."
Yuuki nodded, and Nodoka followed suit, For Nodoka, even if she wasn't sure whether to believe in the "dora magnet", Hisa's advice did make logical sense.
The meeting soon adjourned, and the members retired to their rooms. Saki took the opportunity to talk with Nodoka.
"Say, Nodoka-chan," Saki said. "You've always refused to believe in the occult or any special mahjong abilities. Why is that?"
"I like to think everything happens for a reason, Saki-san," Nodoka said, "and that as long as there's a reason for something, it can be understood. Remember that storm last night, when we played in the quarterfinals?" Saki nodded. "There were people who once said that those storms were the work of the gods, but over time, humans began to understand the processes that determine the weather. With this information, we can do anything from plan a picnic to prepare for storms and save lives."
"I understand," Saki said. "But what about mahjong? At the very least, I like to think that my knack for getting +/- 0 points has a cause in my desire to avoid any unpleasant situations at home."
"I suppose I understand why that ability is useful to you, Saki-san," Nodoka said, "but I still don't understand why you have that ability. I could call it luck, like what the president said, but for one thing."
"And what's that?" Saki said.
"Because I don't want to believe that I won because of it," Nodoka said "My father dismisses mahjong as a game of chance, and believes that my accomplishments are proof of luck, not skill. There are many who believe that because of my looks and my figure, I get disproportionate attention from the media."
"I understand how you feel, Nodoka-chan," Saki said. "But are you certain you can so easily disabuse people of their superstitions? Similarly, can you so easily change the minds of people dead set on their beliefs?"
Nodoka sighed and shook her head. She remembered the time she had heard about Kuro's "dora magnet," but after hearing about Kuro having developed it by following her late mother's advice, she had no desire to try to disprove it, lest she end up hurting her feelings. To a lesser extent, she realized that successfully doing so was not only undesirable, but impossible, so she chose not to try.
"I suppose not," Nodoka said, "although I do hope that my inability to refute such...beliefs does not bar me from being able to do what I wish."
Saki nodded.
"I understand your desire to prove yourself and stay with your friends, Nodoka-chan," Saki said. "But for my goals, I care less about the method, and more about whether I'm able to accomplish them- reconciling with my sister, and reuniting our parents. To be honest, mahjong was not my first choice for this message, but it's my best and possibly only hope, so I decided to start playing again."
Nodoka nodded, feeling as though Saki had hit upon what was truly important.
"For what it's worth, I'm glad you did, Saki-san," Nodoka said. "Whether the obstacles before us are mundane or supernatural, let's overcome them and accomplish our goals together."
The two sealed their promise with a pinky swear. Regardless of whether people believed their victory was a supernatural miracle or a statistical anomaly, they hoped to win an underdog victory people would be talking about for years, and that would accomplish their team's goals.
Author's Notes
Thank you for reading this fic.
This was written in part to explore Nodoka's beliefs about mahjong abilities, and give a possible explanation about why she so vehemently refuses to believe in them.
I decided to set this after the quarterfinals to show where Kiyosumi's new strategy for Yuuki comes from. Since Nodoka would have to explain the "dora magnet" to the others, one would have to wonder how she would do so when she doesn't believe in it, and that's another reason why I wrote this.