Of the Champion and Flowers

by Seigetsu Ren

An accident shakes the Miyanaga family. Presented with a chance to mend broken ties, Saki agrees to move to Tokyo where she would compete alongside her estranged sister for Shiraitodai's third consecutive championship. But is Teru ready to behold the changes Saki's mahjong would bring to her team?

18. Shiraitodai - part 5

Thanks Misaka Phenex and El Emperador for their kind comments. I'm especially grateful for how El Emperador pointed out my mistakes in the last chapter. Once again, I wanted to write a shorter sergeant match, but it got too long to be combined with the lieutenant match. Hope the mahjong games aren't too boring; I tried to use them to illustrate the characters' development.

There are some references to Nichiren Buddhism in this chapter. I do not claim to have much knowledge on the subject, so please take the descriptions with a lot of salt. I have no intentions of disrespecting this religion, or anybody's religion for that matter.

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Of the Champion and Flowers

Chapter 18

Akashi Koto was not good at comforting others. When Naitou Akane came back, struggling to withhold her tears, Akashi just stood watching as the Fuyuki sisters rushed to comfort her. Only Suzuki Haruka seemed to share Akashi's awkwardness.

"Akane takes wins and losses too seriously. I don't know how to tell her to just let it go. She did so well already – none of us would blame her," Suzuki said to Akashi.

Akashi nodded in response. She got up from her seat and was about to exit their room to head down for the sergeant match, but she thought it best to say something before she left, seeing as she was one of the team's co-leaders. She reached a hand for Naitou's shoulder.

"Leave it to me," she said, then walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Suzuki might have said something like "Akashi-senpai is so cool" just when Akashi was leaving, but Akashi ignored it. She was not "cool". She just found it difficult to show empathy, thus why she liked to concentrate on fixing the problems at the root of negative emotions instead of offering consolation. And right now, the best way of raising Naitou's spirits was to take their team back up to second place.

Haneda's team's sergeant, Hayashi Kana, was a mediocre player with a school ranking of 53; she should be easy pickings. Akashi was more concerned about Hirose Sumire trying to bust out Team Suigyoku's Onodera Fumiko and herself. While Akashi was confident in her own defence, she was unsure if Onodera could withstand Sumire's assault. All Akashi knew of Onodera was that she was a transfer student from the town of Minobu in Yamanashi Prefecture, and that she was a defence-oriented player much like Akashi herself. Her poor offence was the reason why she was ranked 22nd in their club, but her extremely calm personality meant that it was near impossible to bait her into taking unnecessary risks – she had the nickname of "Mountain" amongst the second-years in reference to the immovable mountain mentioned in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. This ought to mean that she could hold onto Team Suigyoku's points until Team Ja-no-me made their comeback, right? Akashi was a pessimist, so she still had reservations about Onodera's abilities. However, she had little choice but to leave Onodera to her own devices; trailing behind Haneda's team by nearly 70000 points meant that Akashi's hands would be full just trying to narrow the gap.

When Akashi neared the tournament room, she spotted the "Hirose-sama Fanclub" lined up along the hallway, quietly gushing about their idol while waiting for the game to begin. Akashi even spotted Fujiwara standing closest to the door while holding a "Victory to Hirose-sama!" sign.

"Does your team know about this, Fujiwara? If I were Kobayashi, I'd strangle you for being such a traitor," Akashi could not help criticizing Fujiwara when she passed by. Fujiwara scowled at her.

"Do you have to pick a fight every time we speak, Akashi?"

"I do not understand why you consider this a fight. I am offering you advice. You think cheering for another team while you ought to be analyzing this match with your team members is conduct befitting of a leader?"

"Mind your own business. You're about to be busted out by Hirose-sama's arrows."

"Unlike you, I've played on the same team as Hirose before. I know I can avoid her arrows, and she should know better than to waste them on trying to shoot me."

"You!"

Akashi left Fujiwara fuming. To be honest, Akashi did have a habit of purposefully attacking Fujiwara. Sure, Akashi was often overcritical of everybody, including herself, and she could be very rude when expressing her criticisms, but she would go above and beyond to anger Fujiwara alone. This was because Akashi simply detested her.

The Akashi family had business ties with the Fujiwara, so the two of them had met as children. Akashi had always thought Fujiwara was a bit stupid; in fact, too stupid to realize that she was stupid. Fujiwara was an only child spoiled by her parents into thinking that she could take over a conglomerate on the sheer merit of being born into the position. To be fair, Fujiwara was not terrible at discerning the true nature of others, so Akashi would not expect Fujiwara to get swindled out of her fortunes. Nevertheless, Fujiwara lacked insight into the functioning of society as a whole, lacked foresight into the developments that would affect the market, and was just lacking in business acumen altogether. There was something Akashi found really annoying about how Fujiwara succeeded in life through sheer luck and natural charisma.

It also did not help that Fujiwara would abuse her position to make Akashi's life difficult whenever the opportunity presented itself. Oh yes, Akashi still remembered that Cinderella stage play they had put on in middle school when Fujiwara bribed Miyanaga to write her into the role of one of the evil stepsisters and got Hirose to shoot her with cardboard arrows. Just how childish could Fujiwara get?

Speaking of Hirose and Miyanaga, they were still speaking with each other inside the tournament room. Akashi did not have much of an opinion on Miyanaga other than that it was strange how she suddenly took up mahjong in high school and promptly slaughtered the nation. Was she not in the Literature Club in middle school? Well, not that Akashi was one to speak, as she had also been playing mahjong since her childhood but only joined the club in high school thanks to Fuyuki Rin. Anyway, even after joining Miyanaga's team for the Spring Tournament, Akashi was still unfamiliar with her, as evidenced by how they called each other by surname. Neither Miyanaga nor Akashi were the type of person to easily become buddy-buddy with others.

It was a bit odder that Akashi still called Hirose by surname and vice versa. Hirose, Fujiwara, and Yamaguchi Kyouko from the archery club were all Akashi's childhood acquaintances due to their family backgrounds. Akashi chose to call Fujiwara by surname because she did not like her, of course, but there was no such friction between Hirose and herself. What they had, instead, was a sort of mutual respect. Hirose's family was as strict as Akashi's, and both got to where they were in life by fighting hard not just to meet expectations, but to exceed them. Maybe it was this "respect" that prevented them from becoming closer with each other, knowing one day, they would stand on opposite sides in a battle of wits. Before that day could come though, they would be fighting on a mahjong table first. Akashi stepped up to greet Hirose when Miyanaga turned to leave the room.

"Has been a while since we've played against each other outside of practice matches, Hirose," Akashi said.

Sumire gave a polite smile. "Since the ranking match, I think?"

Akashi picked her wind tile and took a seat according to the position indicated. "It is always interesting playing against you. If you are an archer, then I am a shield bearer. I wouldn't know if my shield is sturdy enough unless I test it against someone like you."

At that moment, the second-years, Onodera and Hayashi, also came into the room. They bowed to Akashi and Sumire before picking their wind tiles and taking their seats as well. Sumire sat in east, Akashi in south, Hayashi in west, and Onodera in north. They waited patiently for the clock to tick down and the game to officially begin.

First Hanchan, East 1 – Dealer Hirose Sumire (Team Torahime)

Sumire's starting hand was at 3-shanten but would give her no yaku unless she declared riichi. Considering how Sumire rarely declared riichi, as she would not be able to change her waits to snipe a specific player, this was not an ideal situation. She must slow down her pace to develop her hand.

"Pon," Akashi called in the fifth turn, lining a triplet of hatsu to the side. Her discard was not called for. Hayashi drew and discarded a terminal tile that had yet to appear on the table, but when Onodera made her discard, it was a 2-pin that had already appeared in Akashi's pool. Sumire had heard from Teru that Onodera could sense when other players had reached tenpai and would fold her hand right away. Did that mean Akashi was already at tenpai?

Two turns later, Hayashi discarded a 1-wan.

"Ron, 1000," Akashi said.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 179500
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 119500
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 52300
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 48700

First Hanchan, East 2 – Dealer Akashi Koto (Team Ja-no-me)

"Ron, 2000."

"Ron, 6100."

"Ron, 6400."

Hayashi had just played into Akashi's hand for a fourth time in a row, and Akashi was not even trying to snipe Hayashi – Hayashi's defences were simply terrible! The more she panicked, the worse she played. There was no reason whatsoever for Hayashi to declare riichi in that last hand when Akashi had already displayed two open melds. If Hayashi had not declared riichi, she would never have played into Akashi's obvious sanshoku doujun. Thanks to Akashi's ability, it would be immensely difficult for Sumire to win by tsumo. But both Akashi and Onodera's defences were solid as boulders, leaving Hayashi the only one Sumire could ron off of.

Sumire sighed. She really did not want to win off Hayashi, but the termination of Akashi's dealership was the priority at this point. In the third honba, Sumire drew a decent iishanten starting hand with a closed triplet of chun. When she came to tenpai, Sumire remained silent. As Teru had predicted, Onodera immediately folded, even when Sumire's discard pattern ought not to be overly suspicious, seeing as she was aiming for a yakuhai hand. When Sumire got the chance, she switched her tanki wait to a north wind.

Akashi was a cautious player. While she would certainly push forward if she could, even when another player was at tenpai, she was very disciplined in sticking to a discard order that would minimize her risk while maintaining the possibility of completing her hand. She played a wind tile after Onodera seemed to have folded, but it was a west wind, two of which were already on the table. Hayashi played the north wind next, even though it was a fresh tile. That was her mistake.

"Ron, 2500," Sumire said.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 182000
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 101500
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 67800
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 48700

First Hanchan, East 3 – Dealer Hayashi Kana (Team Airport-not-Narita)

"Pon."

"Chii."

By the seventh turn, Onodera had already made two calls, one for a pon of guest wind, west, another for a chii of 2, 3, 4-pin off Hayashi. This most likely meant that she was aiming for a honiisou hand. Coincidentally, Sumire was readying a tanyao hand based on wanzu and souzu. She had the sequences of 3, 4, 5, 5, 5-wan, and 6, 7, 8, 8, 8-sou, giving her double entotsu waits on 2, 5-wan and 5, 8-sou. Sumire notched her arrow at Onodera – now that Onodera's hand was already constrained by two open melds, would she have enough flexibility left to fold?

Hayashi drew and discarded a 1-sou; Sumire could see Akashi's gaze lingering on the tile. Then Onodera made a draw. She calmly set down the tile – a 5-sou.

"Tsumo, 400/700."

Aside the open triplets of west wind and the 2, 3, 4-pin she chii'ed off Hayashi, Onodera's hand was composed of closed triplets of haku, a pair of hatsu, and 3, 4-sou winning on the 5-sou. Onodera had a perfect honiisou and could probably push for completing a triplet of hatsu also, but she gave up on that, kept the 3, 4-sou tiles, just to win a cheap 1-han 40-fu hand. If Sumire's ability had not given Onodera the 5-sou, Akashi would have been able to stop her. Why did Onodera take such a high risk for so little gain?

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 181600
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 100800
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 67400
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 50200

First Hanchan, East 4 – Dealer Onodera Fumiko (Team Suigyoku)

Sumire recalled Teru telling her about Onodera's play style. "Her family has resided on the foothills of Mount Minobu since the Kamakura Period. They are Buddhists who follow the teachings of Nichiren. To Onodera, mahjong is not a game to win, and certainly not a means to gamble. She believes in immanence, the concept that enlightenment permeates throughout the material world and extends to that which is most mundane. The completion of a mahjong hand is symbolic of the completion of her studies, and the path to this lies in the composition of her starting tiles, which she considers to be the original form she was endowed with. What this means, outside of Onodera's religious philosophy, is that she will always take the shortest route to completing a hand, regardless of whether it has potential to increase in value should she try to develop it. Onodera does not try, she accepts."

It was hard for Sumire to grasp what Teru had meant until directly playing Onodera. Well, Onodera's play style did not bother Sumire, as it meant that unless Onodera's luck was exceptionally good at the very start, she would win small hands at best. One thing that did concern Sumire, though, was Teru's warning about Onodera's connection with dora tiles.

"If you hold a dora tile while playing against Onodera, you will not win. The dragon king's daughter attained enlightenment in the twelfth chapter of the Lotus Sutra after all."

Sumire contemplated the implications of what Teru had said. Being unable to win with dora would make it tricky to build up the value of her hand, but what if she made use of Onodera's ability against Akashi? What if she used her sniping ability to give Akashi dora? Akashi would either play the dora for Sumire to ron off of, or she would keep it and Onodera's ability would suppress her hand. While this tactic was not without risk, it might prove to be the only method by which Sumire could make a direct hit on her rival.

"Sorry, Teru. I know you told me not to snipe Akashi-san, but I won't be satisfied without making any attempts to surpass your predictions," Sumire thought to herself.

She was at iishanten now, waiting for a tile to complete her jantou, and then she would be waiting on the dora 7-pin to complete her penchan wait. She notched her arrow onto her bowstring and tried to pull it back to aim at Akashi, but she was surprised to feel an immense resistance. Turn after turn, she could not complete her jantou. Someone was gripping her hands, stopping her from drawing her bow. She turned slightly to try and see who was stopping her, only to land a fleeting glance on a Buddha riding a lion. The Buddha pointed at the tile Sumire was looking to use as her jantou, a west wind, and shook his head before disappearing from her sight.

"What was that?"

Sumire figured that this must be related to Onodera's power; it was preventing her from even waiting on a dora tile. When it came Sumire's turn again, she cautiously made her draw, then contemplated on which tile to play. Her intuition told her to discard the tile she had just taken from the wall, but she also knew that if she kept the west wind, she would never complete her jantou. Sumire was not as well-versed in the classics as Teru was, but she had read enough of Awai's stupid manga books to know the saying, "If you meet a buddha, kill him." Who said that again? Some famous Chinese monk from the Tang Dynasty? Well, let her test the truth behind his words!

"West," she said, slipping the tile forward.

"Ron, 1300."

The one who made the declaration was Akashi, and her winning hand was based on her seat-wind triplets. It was a cheap 1-han 40-fu hand, but Akashi had just concluded the first east round with yet another victory.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 180300
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 100800
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 68700
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 50200

First Hanchan, South 1 – Dealer Hirose Sumire (Team Torahime)

After the east round ended, Teru finally returned to Team Torahime's quarters.

"What took you so long, Teruuu? You didn't have any interviews today." Awai immediately pulled Teru over to sit beside her. Teru put down the plastic bag in her hand.

"I went to buy snacks. The shop is farther than I expected."

Seiko was pretty sure that meant their team leader had gotten lost inside the hotel once again.

Teru dug out a box of cookies and started eating. "Want some?" she asked the other members.

Seiko and Takami politely declined; they had had lunch just before the vanguard match. It was a wonder how much Teru could eat and still be so skinny. Maybe her whirlwind technique burned off all the calories.

Saki opened her mouth to say something. She had questions about how Teru had played in the vanguard match, but could not find the words to express herself, so she kept silent instead. Awai seemed to have noticed, and this prompted her to cling harder onto Teru.

"I want a cookie!" Awai said to Teru, opening her mouth. "Ahhh…"

Awai was fifteen years old, wasn't she? Teru thought that maybe she should tell Awai to stop acting like a child, but the way she closed her eyes and stuck her chubby face out, waiting to be fed, made Teru relent. She took a cookie out of the box and put it into Awai's mouth.

Meanwhile, the sergeant game continued. Sumire just received a dora 3-sou. As much as she wanted to keep it, she was forced to discard the tile if she wanted to win in her dealership.

"Chii," Akashi called, taking the tile for her 2, 3, 4-sou sequence. So Akashi was not aware of Onodera's dora ability? This was a valuable discovery for Sumire. Knowing Akashi would not win the hand, Sumire pressed on towards tenpai. She might not be able to win off Onodera, and she did not want to win off Hayashi, but if her hand was cheaper than a mangan, it was possible for Akashi to deal into it, particularly now that Akashi would be taking more risks to complete a hand with a dora. There was also the possibility that if Sumire's waits were wide enough, Akashi would be unable to make multiple calls to interrupt her tsumo.

Team Torahime watched Sumire's hand start building up. Takami sipped on her tea as she analyzed the game. "Sumire-senpai is building a very powerful wait pattern," she commented.

Sumire had a very good hand, with a concealed triplet of round wind, south, the sequences 1, 2, 3-pin, and the tiles 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8-pin that formed the five-sided tatsumaki waits on 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-pin.

"The tiles must be resonating with Sumire's will. With the five-sided tatsumaki waits, she might just be able to defeat Akashi-san," Teru said.

Akashi drew in a 5-pin. She did not discard it though, as she was going for a tanyao hand. Instead, she discarded a haku. Sumire was not too bothered by how Akashi had seemingly dodged her arrow. She was prepared for this, and so she kept her arrow pointed at Akashi, waiting patiently for her next chance to come. Hayashi drew and discarded a 1-wan, followed by Onodera. Onodera should fold her hand at this point, right? She drew in an effective tile that put her in tenpai, and discarded the last tile she did not need, which also happened to be a safe tile, one that matched Akashi's discard – haku.

It was Sumire's turn again. She drew in another dora 3-sou, which she discarded without hesitation, as she knew that nobody could win with a dora in their hand.

"Myou," Onodera said, letting her tiles topple. Her hand was composed of 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9-wan, 1, 2, 9, 9-sou, and a concealed triplet of chun, winning on the 3-sou; it was a chanta, yakuhai, dora-1 mangan worth 8000 points.

The moment the lion-riding Buddha's hand came down to pick up the dragon girl and raise her to the light on a lotus seat, Sumire realized what she had forgotten: the dora restriction only applied to Akashi, Hayashi, and herself, and not to the source of its power – Onodera.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 172300
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 100800
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 68700
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 58200

The rest of Team Torahime watched in disappointment. Sumire had been so close to winning a decent hand off Akashi, but the chance was cruelly torn from her.

"It was written in the Lotus Sutra that the Bodhisattva Manjushri enlightened a woman to Buddhahood by speaking a single word, myou. This must be the power granted to Onodera to lead the dragons to salvation," Teru said.

"Does that mean Onodera can gather the dora tiles into her hands?" Seiko asked.

"No. But she is the only one who can win with them. Nobody else on the table would be able to do so, for they lack Onodera's faith in the dragons' enlightenment."

Seiko gave an awkward chuckle. "I'm impressed that Miyanaga-senpai is so familiar with Buddhist concepts."

Teru shook her head. "I do not understand it well either. This is merely my shallow interpretation of what I have read."

First Hanchan, South 2 – Dealer Akashi Koto (Team Ja-no-me)

Sumire had started with a decent hand once again. The value of the hand was not as high as in the last round, the yaku being sanshoku doujun and tanyao, but she started out at 2-shanten. After completing two melds through chii off Onodera, Sumire was at tenpai with sanmentan waits from the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-sou sequence she held, making her winning tiles 2, 5, 8-sou. When Sumire received a 4-sou in the next turn, she pondered. If she discarded the 5-sou, she would change her waits to a simple ryanmen pattern for 1, 4-sou. While this would narrow her options, she might be able to snipe Akashi for the 1-sou, seeing as Akashi was more likely to take the risk of discarding a terminal tile than non-terminals. Winning on a 1-sou would take out the tanyao yaku from Sumire's hand but would lock the sanshoku in place. If Sumire kept the 2, 5, 8-sou waits instead, the 8-sou winning tile would not give her a sanshoku anyway. All in all, it was not a bad trade off.

But what if Akashi did not fall for the trick? Sumire grew hesitant just as she pulled her bowstring back. There was an easier target than Akashi on the table. Should the priority not be to win the hand to ensure that Akashi would not go on a renchan streak like she did in the east round?

Sumire shifted her gaze towards Hayashi and completed her bow draw. She discarded the 4-sou, keeping her 2, 5, 8-sou waits.

Akashi drew and played a 1-sou, causing Sumire to clench her teeth in a desperate attempt to stay expressionless. Thankfully, Hayashi did not notice Sumire's struggle, as she played a 2-sou after her draw.

"Ron, 2000," Sumire said with not a hint of joy in her voice. It was not as though Sumire would usually celebrate her victories, but just now, she sounded displeased and frustrated. It was subtle enough that nobody else picked up on it, but Teru did, and it drew her concern.

"Akashi-san would not have played the 1-sou if not for Sumire's 4-sou discard though; she defended using suji. Sumire should not blame herself for aiming at Hayashi instead. It was the right decision," Teru said quietly.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 174300
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 98800
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 68700
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 58200

First Hanchan, South 3 – Dealer Hayashi Kana (Team Airport-not-Narita)

Akashi started at tenpai for a chiitoitsu hand, but if she declared double-riichi, her wait would be on a 5-pin, so she would likely have to self-draw her winning tile. Even if she did manage to make a tsumo win, it would only be a mangan. This was fine by how Akashi usually played – her style was to aim for small hands and defend against big hands - but seeing as Sumire was not performing up to her normal standards today, and Hayashi was playing so poorly right now that she would easily be beaten by a third-rate player from the boys' league, Akashi decided to aim higher. What kind of businesswoman would she be if she could not capitalize on the weaknesses of her rivals?

"Pon," she called for Onodera's chun discard, forgoing the possibility of an iipeikou on her 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3-wan. An iipeikou formation would only give her 1-han while toitoi would give her two, and the latter was compatible with an open hand too. It would also be too tough to self-draw a chun and a prevailing wind, south, to complete her yakuhai triplets. Two turns later, she did end up self-drawing a south wind. This put her at iishanten.

In the next turn, Sumire discarded a 1-wan. "Pon," Akashi called once more. She was at tenpai for 2, 3-wan now. She discarded a 6-sou.

Hayashi was close to tenpai. She knew she was losing a lot of points and needed to make up for it in her dealership. Onodera had previously pon'ed off 4-wan, so Hayashi thought that 2, 3-wan should be relatively safe. She discarded a 2-wan to continue pursuing her honiisou of pinzu.

"Ron. Toitoi, honiisou of wanzu, yakuhai chun and south. Non-dealer haneman, 12000," Akashi announced, flipping over her tiles to show her win.

Seiko gaped at the scene that unfolded on-screen. "Akashi-senpai is not an offence-oriented player, right? It's really rare for her to win anything over a mangan."

"She is taking advantage of the situation," Teru answered. Inwardly, she could not help but admit that this was a bit worrisome.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 174300
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 86800
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 80700
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 58200

First Hanchan, South 4 – Dealer Onodera Fumiko (Team Suigyoku)

Sumire knew Akashi had come to tenpai quickly in this hand, as Onodera showed signs of folding by the fifth turn. Sumire was not far behind, however. She managed to build herself a tanyao hand based on aryanmen waits of 5, 8-sou on the 6, 7, 8, 8-sou sequence she held. She could notch her arrow on Hayashi, but that would further undermine Team Airport-not-Narita's lead on Team Ja-no-me. She must shoot Akashi instead.

"I could have done it in South 2, but I didn't. It was all due to my lack of confidence. And to think I've told Teru to sit back and watch my performance? This is pathetic," Sumire thought to herself.

When she received a 9-sou two turns later, she placed it into her hand and discarded her 8-sou instead, setting it sideways. "Riichi!"

Akashi drew in a 6-pin, with 5-pin being the dora. Unaware of Onodera's power, Akashi had thought it a dangerous tile. She had refrained from declaring riichi on her 9-sou tanki wait because she wanted the flexibility to switch her wait to avoid such risks, but right now, she knew this tactic was unnecessary.

"You're too transparent today, Hirose. Discarding an 8-sou to declare riichi? You must have switched from aryanmen waits on 5, 8-sou to nobetan waits on 6, 9-sou, right? Since you now have a terminal wait that would ruin your tanyao, you must declare riichi. You really think I can't see through something so simple? No, it is not that you are underestimating me. You are merely becoming impatient. Is it because of Miyanaga? Only when you chase after her do you ever display such desperation. It would've been cute if it didn't make you this soft," she thought.

Akashi flipped over the 6-pin and slipped it into her discards, also turning the tile sideways. "Riichi," she declared right after Sumire. Once an arrow was shot, its path could not be changed, right? Akashi was certain that though Sumire's waits were 6, 9-sou, it was the 9-sou that Sumire had aimed to trap her with, and it would be the 9-sou that she would receive in response to Sumire's prayer to the tile gods.

Sumire knew she must stop Akashi, but she had already declared riichi and could do absolutely nothing. Hayashi drew and discarded her seat wind, north, and Onodera played another one after her. Sumire drew in a 5-sou.

Sumire's regret when she parted with the tile was palpable. Akashi almost felt sorry for her. "To be fair, if you had instead discarded the 9-sou in the last turn, I would have made a direct hit on you. Switching your waits was not your mistake. You just should not have declared riichi," she mused.

Akashi drew in the 9-sou.

"Tsumo. Riichi, ippatsu, menzen-tsumo, yakuhai hatsu. 4-han 40-fu mangan, 2000/4000."

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 171300
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 89700
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 84800
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 54200

Upon completion of the first hanchan, Akashi collected her point sticks, fetched her thermos from the storage rack, and went back to her seat at the mahjong table. While she poured herself a cup of tea from the thermos, the two second-years bowed and left the room.

"You aren't going back to your team's quarters?" Akashi asked Sumire. Sumire shook her head.

"It's too much trouble."

Akashi took a sip of tea from her cup. "I wouldn't know. I don't have a fan club following me around everywhere."

Sumire smiled awkwardly. What Akashi had said was indeed one of the reasons why she was staying in the tournament room. "And you?"

"I don't want Naitou to feel too hopeful. We still have another hanchan left. I'm not a hundred percent confident that I can keep us in second place."

"You're being too humble, Akashi-san."

"Or I'm just a pessimist."

They fell into silence once again. Since Akashi seemed to have shifted her attention to the tiles in front of her, likely contemplating her strategy for the next hanchan, Sumire took her phone from the storage rack and checked it for messages from her team. As expected, she received encouragement from her kouhai. Teru, however, got down to business right away.

Teru: Were you trying to snipe Akashi-san?

Sumire: Sorry, I know you suggested that I shouldn't do it, but I had a hard time winning off Onodera, or making tsumo wins.

Teru: Your strategy in South 1 was not wrong. You might be able to snipe Akashi-san with wide waits when her hand is close to completion, and your hand is kept under a mangan. Under such circumstances, you might also be able to tsumo, as Akashi-san would have limited capability to switch the draw order.

Sumire struggled with how to reply. "But it did not work" – was what she was thinking, but if she sent something like that, it would make her sound like a whiny child.

Sumire: Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try harder in the second hanchan.

There was a long pause after this. Sumire has known Teru for long enough to be able to guess the reason for Teru's hesitation though. "You want to comfort me, but you know that doing so would hurt my pride. It's okay, Teru. I might be weaker than you in mahjong, but that doesn't mean I am weak-minded."

Teru did not make a direct response to what Sumire wrote. Instead, she continued listing more suggestions for Sumire's game.

Teru: You might also be able to ready arrows at Akashi-san, then change the draw order to tsumo for the tiles that Akashi-san would not have otherwise dealt. For this, you would also need wide enough waits so that the winning tiles would come over multiple turns, giving you more opportunities to switch the draw order.

Sumire: Maybe you can pull that off with your insane luck, but don't you think that it's a bit too difficult for me to change the draw order after I have come to tenpai? I can't control the tiles I would draw.

Teru: You don't necessarily have to play the tile that others would call on. You just need to prepare a discard pattern that fools Akashi-san into thinking you are aiming for a tsumo win. Akashi-san would then change the draw order for you.

Teru: On that same note, you can also fool Akashi-san into discarding the tiles you need by making use of discard patterns. Akashi-san is an expert at remembering the patterns that other players tend to display as they are coming into tenpai or changing their waits. She knew you switched from aryanmen to nobetan waits in South 4 based on the riichi you called on the 8-sou discard. But what if you had drawn a 2-sou instead of the 9-sou in that turn, and still declared riichi on the 8-sou discard?

Sumire: You mean giving up two-sided waits for a tanki wait on 2-sou? And declaring riichi even when I already have tanyao as the yaku?

Teru: It is not what you would usually do, correct? Based on how Akashi-san played in South 4, I'm quite confident that she would find it tough if you switched your play style, Sumire. You might get good results if you try to imitate Fujiwara-san.

Sumire chuckled. Teru was thinking too highly of her. Imitate Fujiwara? Oh please. Few people could play like Fujiwara and still maintain such a high ranking in the nation's top mahjong school. Fujiwara would play like a complete amateur, changing her hand structure late into the game, declaring riichi on horrendous waits, doing whatever she wanted whenever she wanted with little regards for the risks she was taking and the odds of her actually winning those unlikely hands. But she alone managed to make that style work, just like how she was not a particularly intelligent person in real life, but gave off the charisma of a great leader, thus those who were truly intelligent would work tirelessly for her sake. That was likely why Akashi hated her so much, on top of all their personal beefs with each other. Sumire must admit that it was not just Akashi; she also could not help but be a bit jealous of Fujiwara.

Sumire: Well, Fujiwara is Akashi-san's natural enemy.

Sumire: I'll give your suggestions a try, but I can't promise I would succeed.

After almost half a minute, Teru finally gave a witty reply.

Teru: I do not mind if you fail. Your frustration is quite entertaining to behold.

Sumire: Miyanaga Teru, just you wait until I get back to our quarters. I will make you eat your words.

Teru: I do enjoy eating, but words do not seem very delicious. I prefer reading them.

Despite Sumire's feigned anger on their text chat, she was actually giggling. Akashi turned towards her.

"I wonder who managed to get the Hirose business empire's precious ice princess to laugh like that," she said.

"I'm no princess," Sumire replied. "It's just Teru."

Akashi quirked an eyebrow. "Miyanaga can tell jokes?"

"I am not sure if she intends them to be jokes, but her very existence is a bit of a joke in itself."

Akashi's smile almost turned into a smirk. She was not usually one to enjoy gossip, but she could not help finding Sumire's reaction to be a bit funny. "I wonder if she realizes that her infatuation with Miyanaga is rather obvious," Akashi thought.

It was then that the two second-year sergeants had returned to the room. Sumire concluded her chat with Teru, put her phone back on airplane mode, stored it on the rack, and returned to the table as well. They picked their wind tiles. Sumire would be starting in east again, but this time, Onodera would start in south, Hayashi in west, and Akashi in north.

Second Hanchan, East 1 – Dealer Hirose Sumire (Team Torahime)

Sumire must win against Akashi.

"Aryanmen waits again?" Sumire thought as her hand came to tenpai. She had a concealed triplet of renfonpai, east, but the rest of her tiles were simples. The sequence of 2, 2, 3, 4-wan gave her aryanmen waits on 2, 5-wan. This likely was not wide enough to snipe Akashi, but she drew her bow and pointed her arrow at Akashi nonetheless.

"I'll just have to trick her as per Teru's suggestion."

Onodera immediately folded with a 7-pin discard that was already in Sumire's pool. Hayashi drew and discarded something nobody else could take. Akashi drew in a 2-wan. She kept it, playing a 4-pin.

When it came Sumire's turn again, she also drew a 4-pin. This was perfect. She discarded the 2-wan sideways. "Riichi!"

Onodera and Hayashi's turns passed without incident. Akashi drew another 4-pin after Hayashi's discard.

"How strange. If Hirose switched from aryanmen waits on 2, 5-wan to nobetan waits on 1, 4-wan, then I ought to receive 1-wan or 4-wan if she is trying to snipe me. Well, it isn't as though every time when Hirose uses her ability, it would affect the tile draws immediately – this isn't telekinetic mahjong. But either way, a 4-pin again, right after I discarded one in the last turn? This is a bit suspicious. I might as well hang onto this tile for a few more turns before discarding it; I can confirm if Hirose did switch to wait on 1, 4-wan depending on my coming draws. I'm not out of safe tiles to play anyway," Akashi thought, playing a south wind instead.

"She dodged!" Seiko exclaimed when she watched Akashi play the south wind on-screen.

Teru nodded. "Akashi-san's defence is very tricky to play against. But the way she must hold onto the 4-pin now would ruin her chances of winning."

"But I don't think Sumire-senpai would win either. The only other 4-pin is locked within Onodera-senpai's hand. I doubt Onodera-senpai would play it either," Saki noted.

"Sumire does not need to win though. Akashi-san and Onodera's hands will not reach tenpai. No matter what tile Hayashi plays, she cannot possibly deal in. That is all that matters."

Hayashi was desperate, so desperate that she was not defending at all. The only good thing about this was that she was developing her hand late into the game. When Sumire played a haku, she finally cried out tearfully.

"Ron! Ittsuu, yakuhai. 3-han 40-fu, 5200."

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 165100
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 91000
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 89700
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 54200

Second Hanchan, East 2 – Dealer Onodera Fumiko (Team Suigyoku)

"I lost a hand to the weakest player on the table," Sumire could not stop thinking about this. She willed herself to push such thoughts to the back of her mind. This was unbefitting of someone who had played on the national stage multiple times. Of course, even a complete beginner could win, and win far bigger hands than Hayashi's as well; mahjong was a game of luck after all. Besides, she should want Hayashi to win. Akashi had just been bumped to third place again. Sumire should keep this up.

Sumire played a south wind. "Pon," Hayashi announced. After winning the last hand, Hayashi was pushing even harder. The yakuhai should give her greater speed from here on. She played a red 5-pin.

Akashi did not take it. This was unfortunate, as Sumire had wished that Onodera's power would suppress Akashi should she have taken the red dora. Several turns later, Hayashi played a dora 8-wan, and Akashi also did not take it.

"Onodera also looks like she is bailing. Is it Akashi-san already at tenpai, or Hayashi?" Sumire pondered. Unfortunately, Sumire's hand was not coming together, so she could only watch from the sidelines while playing defensively.

Hayashi drew and played a 1-sou.

"Ron," Akashi announced. "Chanta, yakuhai. 3-han 40-fu, 5200."

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 165100
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 94900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 85800
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 54200

Second Hanchan, East 3 – Dealer Hayashi Kana (Team Airport-not-Narita)

How frustrating was it that after Sumire had given Hayashi a 3-han 40-fu win in East 1, Hayashi immediately lost it to Akashi in East 2? Could Akashi's chanta have been more obvious? She gave up two dora tiles to pursue it! How could Hayashi possibly play into something like that? Sumire sighed in hopes of calming herself down. No wonder Teru called Hayashi "Wayfinder"; the only thing memorable about her was how poorly she could play. Sumire did not recall Hayashi being quite this bad in the past. She made a note to include more tournament-like training sessions for the club. They would be in big trouble if everybody panicked the way Hayashi was under the slightest bit of pressure.

Then again, Sumire was not performing very well today either. After seeing Teru waver between building up a bigger lead for their team and helping Haneda in the vanguard match, Sumire was eager to prove to Teru that she needed not worry about them. They were a team. They should not rely solely on Teru's lead. If the objective was to eliminate Team Ja-no-me, then Teru should have concentrated on that alone. There was no necessity for her to consider the danger of Torahime's own advancement, as the rest of them would have it under control. That was what Sumire had thought, but now she was struggling.

"Akashi-san is on the same level as me. Normally, I have a 50/50 chance of winning against her. Because I am trying not to ron off Hayashi, it makes sense that the game would skew in Akashi-san's favour. I should not feel too badly about my performance. Just concentrate and do my best. The least I can do is to stay strong mentally," she tried to convince herself.

Her hand was not bad this time. The value was not high, but she had two ready melds right from the start. With seven turns, she managed to build double ryanmen waits of 3, 5, 6, 8-sou based on her remaining souzu tiles of 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7-sou. She drew her bow and aimed at Akashi once more.

Akashi did not deal in once, twice – the turns kept going but she still did not deal into Sumire's hand.

"Akashi-san had a bad starting hand, so she saved up safe tiles to prepare to fold right from the beginning. Sumire might have to wait a few more turns before Akashi-san runs out of safe tiles and must deal in," Teru said.

"Fumiko-chan is at tenpai though. Can Sumire-senpai make it?" Takami wondered.

"Speaking of which, Onodera ought to bail after Hirose-senpai came to tenpai, right? Not that she isn't playing the safest tiles available, but it's sorta miraculous that she keeps drawing them, and thus found no need to destroy her hand to prevent dealing into Hirose-senpai's tanyao," Seiko noted.

"That is because Sumire's ability is giving all the dangerous tiles to Akashi-san."

Sumire's mental bow was shaking. She had maintained her draw for a long time, so long that sweat was starting to drip down the back of her neck. She drew and played a 3-wan, keeping her bow drawn despite her fatigue.

"Myou," Onodera declared a dora-containing 'ron' in her unique way once again. "Yakuhai seat wind north, red dora 5-pin. 2-han 40-fu, 2600."

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 162500
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 94900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 85800
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 56800

Second Hanchan, East 4 – Dealer Akashi Koto (Team Ja-no-me)

"I had forgotten that there were other players on the table besides Akashi-san and myself," Sumire reprimanded herself in her mind. It would have been so much easier if Onodera was not such a defence-heavy player. Her style and Akashi's melded too well together, forming a near perfect shield against Sumire's attacks. "I will have to shoot Hayashi in this hand. I cannot afford to have Akashi-san win more points."

Sumire chii'ed off a 1-sou from Akashi for a 1, 2, 3-sou sequence. She then made another chii of 4, 5, 6-wan.

"Does she have a concealed triplet of yakuhai? Otherwise, is Hirose being a bit hasty in making these calls so early?" Akashi thought.

In truth, Sumire's remaining tiles were 3, 3, 7, 8, 9-pin, south, south. Only the south wait would give her yaku through her seat wind. "Please don't let me draw the 3-pin," Sumire thought. She readied her arrow on Hayashi, desperately hoping the tile gods would not gift her an untimely furiten before Hayashi could deal into her hand.

Thankfully, Hayashi played a south wind in the next turn.

"Ron!" Sumire let her arrow fly true. "Yakuhai, 1-han 30-fu. 1000 points."

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 163500
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 94900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 84800
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 56800

Second Hanchan, South 1 – Dealer Hirose Sumire (Team Torahime)

It was finally Sumire's dealership again, but it was not starting well; Onodera began folding within the first few turns, meaning that it was likely Akashi had already come to tenpai.

"Onodera would not play into Akashi-san's hand, so either Akashi-san bomb my dealership with a tsumo, or Hayashi or myself would play into her hand. Any of these scenarios is not good for me. In that case, I might as well shoot Hayashi to save myself," Sumire thought.

After three more turns, Sumire also came to tenpai. Her wait was not great – tanki on a 5-sou. When she drew in a 9-sou, she boldly discarded the 5-sou, notching her arrow and aiming it at Hayashi.

Hayashi played a 9-sou two turns later, making the same kind of elementary mistake as she had throughout the game.

"Ron. Yakuhai hatsu, 1-han 40-fu, 2000 points," Sumire announced.

In the first honba, Sumire had come to tenpai quickly with decent three-sided ryantan waits on 3, 4, 6-wan. She notched her arrows at Akashi, but Akashi still dodged as she had before.

"Even if you dodge, I'll fill your hand with dangerous tiles so that you can't win!" Sumire thought to herself. After a few more turns, Sumire discarded the 4-wan to change her wait to a tanki for west wind.

Akashi narrowed her gaze at the 4-wan. "Pon," she called for it, lining the three tiles to the side.

It made sense for Akashi to have had a pair of 4-wan, seeing as Sumire had been giving her the dangerous tiles through her sniping ability. But Sumire had not expected Akashi to call for the third 4-wan. She must have also received 3, 6-wan from Sumire's sniping, so making a pon of 4-wan would hinder the development of melds based on those two other tiles. Akashi could safely discard the 3, 6-wan at this point, but drawing in new effective tiles to replace them would take time – Akashi was not usually so inefficient.

Sumire would know the meaning of Akashi's move two turns later when Hayashi played a west wind.

"Ron. Yakuhai seat wind east. 1-han 50-fu, first honba. 2700 points," Sumire said.

Akashi had deflected Sumire's arrow with her shield to pierce Hayashi instead!

"Akashi-san is using me to hurt Hayashi," Sumire thought as the tiles rose for the second honba. She could not let this continue. She must think of a different way to suppress Akashi without using her sniping ability.

Oh right, Akashi did not know about Onodera's dora-associated powers. Coincidentally, the second honba game was perfect for using this knowledge against Akashi, as the dora happened to be Akashi's seat wind, north.

Sumire had a north wind tile from her starting draws. She kept it while developing the rest of her hand; she wanted to give Akashi time to draw a pair. In the eighth turn, Sumire discarded the north wind.

"Pon," Akashi declared, meeting Sumire's expectations. Now that Akashi was secured, her win unknowingly suppressed by Onodera's power, Sumire continued working towards tenpai. So long as she made it, Onodera would bail. Sumire could then use her arrows to shoot Akashi, who would be taking more risks than usual with her 3-dora and yakuhai hand. Even should Sumire not succeed in sniping Akashi, Hayashi would be the only player remaining to possibly win the hand.

Luck was not on Sumire's side though. In the next turn, Hayashi played a south wind.

"Ron. Renfonpai south. 2-han 40-fu, second honba. 3200 points," Onodera declared normally, this time with no dora in her hand.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 168200
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 94900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 76900
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 60000

Second Hanchan, South 2 – Dealer Onodera Fumiko (Team Suigyoku)

"Hirose-senpai had been so close to tenpai, but Onodera beat her to it," Seiko commented.

"Sumire-senpai isn't really lucky today. Then again, she is a mortal, so this has to happen sometimes," Awai said with a shrug.

"You talk as though you're a goddess, Oohoshi."

"Sumire's greatest misfortune is that the player she needs to aid is as helpless as Wayfinder. There isn't much you can do when Wayfinder plays blindly into everybody's hands," Teru said. She wondered if Sumire could keep her cool for the rest of the game.

Onodera was folding her hand early into her own dealership once again. Sumire looked at Akashi. "How I wish it's Hayashi at tenpai and not her!" she thought. Thankfully, Sumire's hand had just came to tenpai with her last draw. Her tiles were 7, 8, 9-wan, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8-pin, 2, 2, 7, 7-sou, hatsu with shanpon waits on 2, 7-sou once she tossed the unneeded tile. She could wait till she drew a 6-wan for a tanyao hand instead, but that would slow her down, and Akashi would likely win before her. She could spare no more effort to help Hayashi at this point; Sumire discarded the hatsu sideways.

"Riichi."

"She doesn't even care anymore if her arrows accidentally hit Hayashi, huh? Are you that desperate to beat me? Or is it because you can't stand losing any more of Miyanaga's hard-earned points?" Akashi mused. When Onodera drew and played a 9-sou, Akashi called for it, even though her 9-sou pair was her jantou and the discard she was forced to make after the pon set her back. Akashi did not like this one bit, but she must stop Sumire's ippatsu first. She had a feeling that Sumire's prayers would grant her a tsumo win soon.

Sumire drew and discarded the tile that should have been Hayashi's, then Onodera took the tile that should have been Akashi's. Hayashi made her draw, pondered, and then played the 7-sou.

"Ron. Riichi, 1-han 40-fu. 1300 points," Sumire declared.

Sumire took the point sticks from Hayashi with a rare scowl on her face. "She took five seconds before making her discard and all that thinking led her to deal into my hand anyway!?"

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 169500
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 94900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 75600
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 60000

Second Hanchan, South 3 – Dealer Hayashi Kana (Team Airport-not-Narita)

Sumire's hand developed at a similar speed in this game compared to the last, and thankfully, neither Akashi nor Onodera were at tenpai yet. Sumire almost wanted to aim her arrows at Hayashi, but she told herself to calm down.

"I need to stay focused on the objective. It isn't good that Haneda's team had fallen almost 20000 points behind Ja-no-me. Being used by Akashi-san to target Hayashi isn't much better than losing points directly to her. I can't keep letting her defeat me," Sumire thought. Judging by Akashi's discards, she was going for a souzu based hand. Sumire had ryanmen waits on 1, 4-wan. She readied her arrows at Akashi with the sole intention of ruining Akashi's hand.

The turn continued with Onodera folding, Hayashi pressing on, and Akashi drawing in a 4-wan. Sumire's discards gave her a chill – she knew Sumire was at tenpai and aiming for her again. Akashi was forced to break up her north wind triplets and play one of the tiles, switching for a honiisou to a tanyao hand. If Sumire had ryanmen waits, then Akashi might draw in a 1-wan at some point. She knew that she must change the draw order somehow.

Sumire and Onodera's turns passed uneventfully. When Hayashi played a 2-sou, Akashi made a useless chii from her, and then played another north wind.

"Is she trying to run? Not so fast!" When Sumire drew in a 9-wan, she boldly discarded a 2-wan, putting herself back in iishanten. She could feel another 9-wan coming. When it did, she discarded the 3-wan to wait on shanpon 9-wan and east wind.

When Akashi received an east wind in that very turn, she almost laughed out loud. "The tile gods really do favour those with a strong will, huh? Hirose put herself back into iishanten for the remote possibility of readying more arrows at me after I changed the draw order, and yet the tile gods actually granted her stupid wish? Seriously, why do I have to get caught in the middle of her love declaration to Miyanaga? Can't we just play normal mahjong, for goodness' sake?"

Akashi gave up. She folded her hand cleanly. Much to Sumire's frustration, Hayashi did not end up winning the hand either.

"Noten."

"Noten."

"Tenpai."

"Noten."

Sumire sighed. At least she netted in 3000 points from the other players' noten penalty.

Team Torahime (Hirose Sumire) 172500
Team Ja-no-me (Akashi Koto) 93900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Hayashi Kana) 74600
Team Suigyoku (Onodera Fumiko) 59000

Second Hanchan, South 4 Bonus Round 1 – Dealer Akashi Koto (Team Ja-no-me)

Sumire started at 2-shanten for a wanzu chiniisou hand. Even though it would make her hand structure very obvious to the other players, she did not have much of a choice but to discard a red 5-pin early into the game to continue pursuing the chiniisou.

"Chii," Onodera declared. Onodera did not make many calls, seeing as open melds would limit her defence capabilities. But now that Sumire thought about it, the "salvation" of dora was what Onodera aimed for, correct? Three turns later, Sumire played a 7-sou, the dora indicated by the 6-sou on the dead wall. As she predicted, Onodera made another chii off the tile.

Sumire was building very good four-sided double ryanmen waits on her 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4-wan sequence. She opted to make a kan on the 3-wan in her next turn though.

"I need to increase the number of dora. If any of them lands on Akashi-san, she would not be able to win her hand!" Sumire thought. The kan-dora indicator was a hatsu, making chun the new dora. Chun was suspiciously absent from the table; someone likely held triplets of it.

There was no guarantee that Akashi was the one who held the chun tiles though. When Sumire's hand finally came to tenpai five turns later for shanpon waits on 2, 9-wan, she aimed her arrow at Akashi once more.

Akashi had been going for a tanyao hand. When she received a 9-wan, she stared at Sumire, brows furrowed. "I'm not a deer you're trying to hunt, Hirose. Won't you just let go of me already?" Akashi thought. Onodera's hand already had two dora tiles in it, and Sumire was going for a chiniisou; both had too high a value for Akashi to play into. After Sumire ruined Akashi's chances of winning, she was left with the options of folding or trying to play into Hayashi's hopefully smaller hand. Even if she neglected the fact that giving points to Hayashi was least tactically advantageous for her team, she could not do so anyway, as Hayashi was not yet at tenpai. Akashi was left with no other choice but to fold, hoping that neither Sumire nor Onodera would bomb her with a huge tsumo in all last.

Two turns later, she sensed that Sumire was about to win with a tsumo. Akashi called a useless chii from Hayashi to change the draw order, but her effort was futile.

She might have stopped Sumire, but not Onodera.

"Namu myouhou renge kyou. Tsumo, 3100/6100." – Onodera was the one with the concealed triplets of chun. She also had a pair of north winds and 2, 3-sou winning on the 1-sou she drew. It was a simple yakuhai hand, but the five dora tiles elevated its value to a haneman.

B-Block Round 2, Scores after the Sergeant Match:

Team Torahime 169400
Team Ja-no-me 87800
Team Airport-not-Narita 71500
Team Suigyoku 71300

Onodera was the first to get up. She made a deep bow to her opponents. "Thank you for the valuable lessons. May we all find peace and prosperity."

Hayashi just sighed in response. She wanted to say that the game had been no fun at all, but also knew that with a subpar performance like her own, she really should shut up and reflect on her failures instead. She also bowed to leave, but not before Sumire spoke to her:

"I will be organizing a joint training camp with other schools and professional players soon. I expect you to not only attend, but to make use of the opportunity to train very hard. Understand?"

Hayashi turned around rigidly. She lowered her head once more. "Yes, Hirose-sama."

Sumire wished students like Hayashi would quit that "Hirose-sama" thing already – half the school called her that embarrassing name. She waved Hayashi off and then turned her gaze back to the numbers on the mahjong table. The second hanchan had not been quite as disastrous as the first, but Hayashi and she both lost points. Team Torahime was still well ahead, but that was thanks to Teru alone. Despite Teru's well-meaning advice, Akashi still managed a clean victory over Sumire. The best Sumire could do was to use Onodera to bomb Akashi's dealership, but this was really just transferring Team Ja-no-me's points into a vault called "Team Suigyoku" – Sumire was sure the captain of Suigyoku would not do nearly as well as Itou Koyuki, so Fuyuki Rin would likely take all those points back and more.

"As hard as it is to admit, I'll have to entrust this to Awai and Saki instead," Sumire thought.

The shifting of Akashi's chair backwards caught Sumire's attention. Akashi was also about to leave the room.

"If you like Miyanaga that much, why don't you just confess?" Akashi asked, seemingly out of the blue. It took Sumire three seconds to process Akashi's words, and then her face heated up regardless of how she tried to keep her composure.

"I don't…that's not…you misunderstand," Sumire stuttered incoherently. Akashi had never seen Sumire like this. She could not help laughing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you, but you're too amusing." Akashi took a moment to calm herself. "Anyway, if you're serious about it, then you'll be walking a difficult path. Don't know if this is worth anything substantial, but as your childhood acquaintance, I'll cheer for you. By the way, thanks for the good game, Hirose. I'll see you in the finals."

Just where the hell did Akashi get the idea that Sumire was angsty over some kind of unrequited love for her best friend? Seeing as Akashi brought this up after the mahjong game, was it because of how Sumire had played? "Talk about projection! She was the one who joined the club for Fuyuki-san. I have more pride as a mahjong player than her!"

"Thanks for your hard work, Hirose-senpai," someone else called out to Sumire from behind her shortly after Akashi had left. Sumire turned to find Seiko and Teru standing there. Oh right, the lieutenant game was about to begin. But why did Teru also tag along with Seiko?

Before Teru could say anything, Sumire took control over the conversation. "I could have done better. Sorry I lost your points, Teru. And sorry for putting you into a tougher position, Matano."

"At the end of the day, we just need to be in second place to advance. We still hold a substantial lead, so this should be no problem. Eliminating Team Ja-no-me is a bonus, not a necessity," Teru said.

"I will try hard nonetheless!" Matano answered enthusiastically. Teru nodded.

"Besides, you were really funny to watch, Sumire. I was entertained."

If Sumire clenched her jaws any harder, her teeth would crack. She decided to take out her anger on Teru instead, grabbing her hand and towing her out of the room. "We're leaving."

"Sumire," Teru said urgently. "My hand."

"What about it?"

"You are holding my hand. Your fan club would murder me."

"Good."

Sumire refused to let go. One day, she would not need an excuse to hold this hand. One day, she would be strong enough to walk shoulder to shoulder with Teru. For now, she would stay at this distance a step away from her, not too close, but also not too far away.

"Akashi-san, you don't understand. If you could see through my immaturity by how I played a mere mahjong game, then how could I hope to walk the difficult path you predicted?"

Maybe Onodera's philosophy of mahjong games being life lessons was not so abstract after all, and the sergeant match had just shown that Sumire still had much to learn.