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?

19. Shiraitodai - part 6

Thanks Misaka Phenex and El Emperador for their kind comments. Once again, I'd like to thank El Emperador for pointing out my mistakes, as it helps me improve in the future. Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. For one, I was really busy with work the past few weeks, and secondly, the chapter is a bit longer than usual. I originally planned for this chapter to be short and sweet, but initiating Seiko's character arc and developing on the Miyanaga siblings' plot by comparing it to the Fuyuki siblings' back story took much longer than expected. I struggled quite a bit with the wording, so hopefully it's not too horrible to read. I suppose I'm satisfied on the whole with the actual content of the chapter, but I'm unsure as to whether I conveyed the points very well. Let me know what you think!

Note: In case you forgot, Saionji's ability is such that if she aims for a honiisou or chiniisou of X suit, then her kamicha cannot win with any tiles from X suit, while her shimocha cannot win anything other than a honiisou or chiniisou of X suit also. X can be any of the three non-honours suits: pinzu, wanzu, or souzu.

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Of the Champion and Flowers

Chapter 19

Seiko flipped a wind tile and took a seat at the table. Though the training camp before last year's prefecturals had been held at Atami and not Hakone, the tournament room had looked and felt remarkably similar to this one, the only difference being that Seiko had not made it to the second round last year. She had been a mediocre player back then, hence she had only been accepted into a team of her fellow freshmen. It was somewhat surreal that she would now be playing for the team led by the nation's best player, while two of her former teammates could only play as the vice-captain and the captain of Team Suigyoku.

"We meet again," Takahara Mizuki greeted Seiko when she entered the room. Takahara had already reached a top twenty rank last year, so she had been recruited into one of the teams led by their senpai and had also made it to the second round back then. Most of their fellow second-years had probably expected Takahara, not Seiko, to have been selected into Team Torahime this year. Sure, Seiko's school ranking had risen rapidly about two months ago and she was now ranked higher than Takahara, but it was precisely this rapid rise that garnered the scrutiny of many who believed that Seiko was just having a lucky streak. To them, it was blasphemy to suggest that Seiko could be a better player than Fuyuki Rin and Akashi Koto, the two third-years who had helped win Shiraitodai's spring championship. Heck, even Haneda, who was a fellow second-year, was held in a higher regard than Seiko due to her spectacular performances against monster players like Teru. People naturally gravitated towards those who shone brightly, even if that brilliance only lasted a second. They could care less that Seiko was the one with the higher top rate, not Haneda and certainly not Takahara.

"I look forward to our game," Seiko said to Takahara, matching the confident and somewhat arrogant tone Takahara had used a moment earlier. Takahara might think that their positions should be reversed, that Seiko ought to be the one playing for Team Suigyoku and not her, but Seiko knew such an opinion held no merit. She would show Takahara her strength and defeat her fair and square this time.

"Ah, Seiko-senpai and Mizuki-senpai are both here already! We aren't late are we, Kiyo-senpai?" Fuyuki Harusa's voice could be heard blaring into the room from the doorway, as was Saionji Kiyo's exaggerated sigh in response. Harusa reminded Seiko of Awai, especially before Awai's recent emo episode. She was really loud, really hyper, and a bit disconnected from reality. Though the Miyanaga sisters seemed to have a strained relationship at present, Seiko could definitely see a resemblance between the two. The Fuyuki sisters, however? Not at all!

"Just pick your wind tile and sit down," Saionji said to Harusa. Saionji was Seiko's classmate of two years, but they did not know each other well, seeing as Saionji was a loner who would quickly become abrasive when confronted. At Shiraitodai's mahjong club, there were two types of members – those who were recruited to the school on mahjong recommendations, and those who entered the school through general admissions and joined the club because they so happened to be interested in and relatively skilled at the game. Generally speaking, those specifically recruited here to play mahjong would take the game more seriously and outperform the casual players who applied to Shiraitodai for its academic and not extracurricular programs. Saionji was one such casual player who lacked the drive to aim for the best.

Seiko wondered if Teru's decision to help Team Airport-not-Narita was really the correct one. Their sergeant and vice captain were third-rate players, and while the other three were decent, they did not have the conviction to win, so Seiko was unconvinced that they would be able to outplay Team Ja-no-me. Then again, Seiko did not want to help Takahara either, so she supposed she should be thankful that Teru had not tasked her with helping Team Suigyoku instead. Seiko decided that she would focus her energy on winning as many points as possible and targeting Fuyuki Harusa whenever she could, as this was in both her team's and her own best interest. She would not pick unnecessary fights with Takahara to feed her personal ego, nor would she sacrifice her top rate to help Team Airport-not-Narita like how Sumire had played in the sergeant match. The world was a harsh place where the strong survived and the weak perished. If Saionji wanted to win, then she should do it by her own hands!

First Hanchan, East 1 – Dealer Fuyuki Harusa (Team Ja-no-me)

East 1 started with Fuyuki Harusa in east, Takahara Mizuki in south, Saionji Kiyo in west, and Seiko in north. Harusa split the wall and drew her tiles really quickly, and her eager gaze put pressure on the others to do the same. As soon as everybody had taken their tiles, Harusa made her first discard. Had she even looked at the tile before she dumped it? The rest of her tiles were still faced down, stacked atop each other. Harusa did not flip the tiles up to arrange them until after she made the first discard.

"Does that kid even know how to play mahjong?" Takahara thought. "Chii," she called for Harusa's dora 3-sou to form a 2, 3, 4-sou sequential meld. She then discarded a 9-pin to aim for a tanyao or souzu-based hand.

Saionji considered aiming for a souzu-based hand as well. If she did, her ability would make it near impossible for Takahara to win now that she had made an open meld of souzu tiles. This might be the only way to combat Takahara, whose ability was to gain an effective tile with each call made on the table including her own. But upon deeper consideration, Saionji figured that she could benefit from Takahara's ability forcing Seiko to refrain from making calls. As such, Saionji decided to keep her options open with regards to which yaku she should aim for. She ended up making a discard of north wind.

"Pon," Seiko called for the tile. Saionji practically glared at Seiko when the latter took the north tile nonchalantly. Seiko prided herself as being more committed than Saionji was. Therefore, she would not let Takahara's ability get in the way of her win.

Harusa then made her draw and discard, following which Takahara took down the effective tile given to her by Seiko's call. However, the other effective tile that should have been hers from her own call of chii had gone to Saionji due to the switches in the draw order. Saionji kept it, discarding a different tile instead.

A few turns later, Seiko made another pon, this time of 9-wan. No interruptions occurred after the call, and Takahara successfully drew another effective tile, putting herself at tenpai. Despite the danger, Seiko still made a third pon three turns later on a chun tile, causing Saionji to think that she was crazy. Seiko might receive her winning tile within five turns from this point, but would Takahara not win before her?

Takahara made her draw, thinking she had the game in the bag. Her last meld consisted of 2, 3-pin, waiting for 1, 4-pin, with 4-pin being the only tile that would give her yaku. To her surprise, she drew a 1-pin which would put her into furiten if she discarded it.

She played the 1-pin anyway, a bit annoyed by her bad luck. Saionji also followed with a 1-pin discard. Finally, Seiko made her draw.

"Tsumo." She set down a 3-wan that completed her 1, 2, 3-wan meld. Her jantou was a pair of 1-wan. "Chanta, honiisou, yakuhai chun and north. Non-dealer mangan, 2000/4000."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 177400
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 83800
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 69500
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 69300

First Hanchan, East 2 – Dealer Takahara Mizuki (Team Suigyoku)

"Ouchies, that hurt!" Harusa said, clutching onto herself as though she had been literally bombed by Seiko's mangan. Takahara rolled her eyes at Harusa before playing the first tile.

Seiko got a chance to make a pon a few turns in, but she declined it because she did not want to feed Takahara with effective tiles during her dealership. Instead, Seiko worked on a chiitoitsu.

Upon witnessing Seiko's silence, Saionji saw her chance. She then decided to develop a tanyao, iipeikou hand, and to do so she discarded the round wind, east.

"Pon."

Both Seiko and Saionji turned towards the source of what they had just heard. Harusa took the east tile, and along with two of her own, slid them to the side to display the open meld. She then picked out a tile from her hand and dumped it casually.

"Chii," Takahara took the 6-wan. With this second shift in the draw order, her effective tile from Harusa's pon would go to Saionji instead, but that was fine with Takahara because she would get another effective tile from her own call in the next turn to put her into tenpai. What she did not realize was that the tile she would wait on was exactly the tile Saionji had drawn, and Saionji would not be dealing it.

Five turns later, Harusa smacked her newly drawn 9-wan really hard onto the table. "Tsumo! Toitoi, sanankou, yakuhai east. Non-dealer mangan, 2000/4000. Seems like north is the lucky seat today, eh?"

Takahara handed over her point sticks while displaying an irritated expression. Saionji, on the other hand, voiced her complaints directly. "Don't smack your tiles on the mahjong table. It's rude."

"But I was excited! I lost 4000 points in the last hand, but I made it all back and more in this hand."

"It's East 2 of the first hanchan for goodness' sake. You still have plenty of time to lose all your points."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 175400
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 91800
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 67500
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 65300

First Hanchan, East 3 – Dealer Saionji Kiyo (Team Airport-not-Narita)

Although Saionji had just insinuated that Harusa would be defeated, she was actually uncertain. That girl might be the lowest ranked player on the table, but Saionji knew that she could not be underestimated. Fearless players would usually self-destruct, but they could win big if they happened to be lucky. While Harusa's last hand had not been huge, it was still larger than Saionji had expected, so she needed to be careful.

Saionji had coincidentally started with a hand that looked like it could turn into a honiisou of pinzu. She did not commit to it right away though. Instead, she waited for Takahara to first make a chii of 6, 7, 8-pin from Harusa before she threw out her red 5-wan.

Seiko had a pair of 5-wan in her hand but she did not take Saionji's tile for a pon. For Saionji to discard that particular tile, it was likely that she was aiming for a honiisou or a chiniisou hand that did not contain wanzu. If Seiko made a call on wanzu tiles, then Saionji's ability would suppress her hand. Hence, Seiko had no choice but to follow Saionji's discard.

The game waned on with neither Takahara nor Seiko's hands advancing. Harusa eventually declared riichi. Though Saionji had not followed with the same declaration, it was clear that she was lurking in damaten. Because of this, Takahara and Seiko both switched to playing defence in hopes of dragging the game to ryuukyoku. Unfortunately for them, with just three tiles remaining on the live wall, Harusa shouted.

"Tsumo!" She placed the tile she had drawn onto the table and proceeded to show her hand. She then flipped the ura-dora indicators but did not hit any of them. "Riichi, menzen tsumo, pinfu. 3-han 20-fu, 700/1300!"

"It's good that you aren't smacking your tiles anymore, but yelling in a competition is equally rude," Saionji snapped at Harusa, clearly displeased with having her dealership bombed by the latter.

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 174700
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 94500
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 66200
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 64600

First Hanchan, East 4 – Dealer Matano Seiko (Team Torahime)

At the start of Seiko's dealership, Torahime's two third-years had finally returned to their team's quarters. "You've bought enough already. Stop whining." Sumire's voice could be heard from the door. When they came into the living room, Takami could see that Teru had brought along another bag full of newly purchased snacks. Awai immediately rushed over to Teru's side and dug into the bag.

"Oh, oh, did you get the honey cheese tarts, Teruuu?"

Teru shook her head. "Sumire wouldn't let me go down to the shopping district."

"We're still in the middle of a match. Look, it's Matano's dealership. You should be watching that instead of thinking about honey cheese tarts!"

Sumire's scolding did not stop Teru and Awai from taking a bunch of chips and candy over to the couch before sitting down to watch Seiko's game, and she had to fight them for a box of cookies to hand over to Saki and Takami. "You didn't even leave anything for your sister!" she kept reprimanding Teru, but the latter was too busy devouring a lollipop to answer her.

Takami sipped on her tea. Was it just her, or was Sumire a bit angrier than usual? Could it be because she had thought Teru had gone down to meet her after the sergeant match out of concern, but was disappointed to find that Teru had just wanted to use her as a human GPS for locating Hakone's shopping district?

Either way, it was none of Takami's business, so she continued watching the game alongside Saki. Seiko had just called a pon on-screen, and she called another one three turns later.

"I wonder if Seiko-chan will be okay. Takahara-san is gaining effective tiles from her calls," Takami said.

"Umm, Oneechan said that Fuyuki Harusa-san has a suppressive ability against her shimocha, so I think Matano-senpai should be fine," Saki answered.

Takahara was at tenpai with a sanmenchan wait on 1, 4, 7-sou, with the 4, 7-sou giving her a tanyao yaku. Because she had a closed hand this time, she declared riichi to make sure that she could also win on the 1-sou.

Takahara's riichi declaration did not stop Seiko from making her third pon five turns later. Seiko made her discard, followed by Harusa's draw and discard of Saionji's seat wind, north.

"Pon," Saionji called for the tile, preventing Takahara's draw. She knew that Takahara could still tsumo for the win with this second call she had just made, but the possibility of losing later was still better than losing now. Saionji considered which tile to discard. Takahara seemed to be going for a tanyao, while Seiko was probably aiming for a toitoi. The 9-wan she held was likely the safest, as it was the last one on the table after Seiko had made a pon from it earlier. As such, Saionji played the tile.

"Ron." Seiko won off the 9-wan nonetheless. "Yakuhai chun. 1-han 30-fu, 1500."

Saionji handed over her point sticks with a sigh. "Can't believe you gave up on a toitoi to win with just the yaku you got from your pon of chun."

"So long as I can win more in my renchan, it's all good," Seiko answered.

"You talk as though you're Miyanaga-senpai," Saionji retorted, only to receive a cool shrug from Seiko.

In the first honba, Seiko made her first pon on the second turn. Saionji had started with a really good hand, three tiles away from a chiniisou of wanzu, but had been wary of pursuing her hand through chii calls off Takahara because she had not wanted to feed Takahara effective tiles. However, she was not making much progress through self-draws, hence when Takahara discarded a second 1-wan, she decided to take it.

"Chii," Saionji called. If Seiko was not going to care about feeding Takahara, there was no point in her caring either.

Takahara was inwardly celebrating Seiko and Saionji's little feud. The more calls they made, the more effective tiles Takahara got. As the game moved on, Takahara's lousy 5-shanten hand came to tenpai after three calls of pon from Seiko and two calls of chii from Saionji. This was now a three-way battle between them, with Harusa bailing out.

It was again Seiko's turn to make a draw, which turned out to be a useless 8-wan.

"Not yet, huh?" Seiko thought, discarding the tile.

"Ron," Saionji called. "Chiniisou, first honba, 8300."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 168900
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 94500
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 73000
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 63600

First Hanchan, South 1 – Dealer Fuyuki Harusa (Team Ja-no-me)

"Matano pushed too hard in the last game. Saionji was clearly going for a wanzu-based hand, so she should not have dealt the 8-wan," Teru said.

"She might have been a bit overconfident because Saionji had been playing more defensively in the previous hands due to Takahara's ability," Sumire added.

Takami felt an urge to defend Seiko against Sumire's criticism. "I think Seiko-chan is not overconfident, but rather, she is really eager to win for the team."

Sumire immediately realized that she had misspoken. She made a mental note to talk about this privately with Teru as well, but in the meantime, she apologized. "I agree with you, Shibuya. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was blaming Matano. That was not my intention. I know she is trying her best for all of us."

Meanwhile, Seiko was also thinking about the last hand despite that the present game had already started. Why had she thought that Saionji would not win on the 8-wan? No, she had not even considered the possibility, as she had been too absorbed in her duel with Takahara. Had she not cautioned herself about that? Yet, she had been paying so much attention to Takahara that she had neglected the big picture.

"It's okay. The one who won the chiniisou was Saionji, so the gap between Team Airport-not-Narita and Ja-no-me has narrowed a little bit. This should be a good thing," Seiko told herself, though she could not stop worrying about how her mistake in the last hand would affect Teru and Sumire's impression of her. This caused her to subconsciously play more defensively in the present hand, and with the subsequent decrease in the number of calls made on the table, both Seiko and Takahara's hands stalled.

"Ron. Tanyao, dora 2-sou. 2-han 40-fu, 2600," Saionji won off Harusa's tile mid-game.

"Gaaaah! I lost my dealership by playing into Kiyo-senpai's hand. Stupid me!" Harusa whined.

"Are you trying to say that only stupid people play into my hands?" Saionji looked as though she was about to burst a vein.

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 168900
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 91900
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 75600
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 63600

First Hanchan, South 2 – Dealer Takahara Mizuki (Team Suigyoku)

Only when Saionji won off Harusa in South 1 did Seiko snap out of her daze. It had been a miracle that she had managed not to play into a hand while on autopilot. With Takahara as the dealer now, Seiko knew that she must pay more attention to the game.

"Pon," Seiko made a call on her seat wind west, which gave her more flexibility in how to structure her hand. A few turns later, she had the chance to make another pon, but she chose not to make the call. Instead, she kept the pair as her jantou while aiming to complete her hand through her own draws.

Takahara could guess what Seiko was doing. Without calls to help her, Takahara's hand was moving very slowly, so she decided to make a useless chii of 3, 4, 5-sou off Harusa in hopes of feeding herself effective draws.

"She made a meld of souzu just when I was about to work on a honiisou of that suit. This is perfect. I can use my ability to slow her down," Saionji thought. She then discarded a 1-pin.

A few turns later, Seiko became suspicious of Saionji's plans through her discards, but she was too far along to switch towards a souzu-based hand. She contemplated whether to use calls to hopefully weaken Saionji's ability, but decided that it was too dangerous when Takahara was the dealer. Instead, she folded her hand and relied on both Harusa and Saionji to suppress Takahara.

Sure enough, Takahara was stuck at iishanten with no way forward. The hand ended in ryuukyoku.

"Noten."

"Tenpai."

"Noten."

"Tenpai."

Takahara and Seiko paid the noten penalty to Saionji and Harusa.

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 167400
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 93400
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 77100
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 62100

First Hanchan, South 3 Bonus Round 1 – Dealer Saionji Kiyo (Team Airport-not-Narita)

"Takahara really is Matano's natural enemy, huh?" Sumire noted. "With her on the table, Matano can't make as many calls as she would like."

"But that little first-year brat is slowing Arrogant Broom-head down, so Matano-senpai should have nothing to worry about," Awai answered.

"Takahara's hairstyle might be a bit unique, but she is your senpai, so you should be more polite when referring to her," Teru reprimanded Awai.

"I think you just inadvertently agreed with Awai-chan's nickname for Takahara-san though, Miyanaga-senpai. That and are you not going to point out that Awai-chan is a first-year student just like the younger Fuyuki-san?" Takami thought to herself but kept quiet about it, choosing to continue observing their interactions from the sidelines instead.

"But it's true though! Matano-senpai is a scaredy cat. I would've slain Arrogant Broom-head Senpai just fine!"

"Adding the word 'senpai' after a string of insults would not make the insults more polite, Awai-chan." Takami tsukkomi'ed inside her head once more.

"Fuyuki Harusa's ability is a combination of supernatural power and a conscious attempt to defeat her shimocha. For whatever the reason, she seems to pay more attention to her shimocha than anybody else, analyzing not just their discards, but their every movement and even the way they breathe and blink. She is looking for any hints of what her shimocha is planning to do so that she can use any method at her disposal to stop them. While this is very effective, it does mean that Fuyuki's ability is not entirely supernatural in nature, hence if Takahara is at tenpai and she is able to make a draw after a new call on the table, she would receive a tile that completes her hand regardless of Fuyuki's power," Teru explained.

"But Awai isn't wrong in her assessment that Fuyuki is suppressing Takahara, correct? So far, Takahara has not won a single hand," Sumire said.

"Fuyuki cannot directly manipulate what tiles Takahara draws in, but she can try to stop Takahara from making a draw at all. However, her perfect success rate so far is largely due to sheer luck. That's why Matano is not wrong to be cautious of Takahara despite Fuyuki's ability. Matano has been balancing offence and defence against Takahara rather well. It is just that there are two other players on the table, and Matano is having a tough time with Saionji sitting as her kamicha."

"Saionji-senpai seems very tough to play against," Saki said.

"Her ability is very resilient, so even if Matano is able to make as many calls as she usually does, I am unconvinced that she can break away from Saionji's control. The best way to play against Saionji is to attack when she does not have a good honiisou or chiniisou hand. I think that is what Matano is trying to do right now."

While they were chatting, the game had already proceeded to its fifteenth turn. Seiko had made two calls of pon so far, putting both herself and Takahara at tenpai.

Takahara had declared riichi right after coming into tenpai. Saionji scowled at the tile Takahara had just set sideways. She had just drawn in a useless 1-wan but, due to Takahara's riichi, she now felt that it was too dangerous to play, so she broke apart her closed triplets of seat wind east instead and discarded one of the tiles.

"Ron," Seiko called, much to Saionji's surprise. "Toitoi, red dora 5-wan. 3-han 40-fu, first honba, 5500."

Saionji chuckled bitterly. "Seriously? Ruining a tanyao by holding onto a single guest wind tile for a tanki wait?"

"I knew you would play it when you fold your hand," Seiko answered.

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 173900
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 93400
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 71600
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 61100

First Hanchan, South 4 – Dealer Matano Seiko (Team Torahime)

"That would've been a great hand if Matano didn't have to win off Saionji," Sumire said.

Takami knew Sumire was not berating Seiko, as she had made a similar comment about Teru winning off Haneda in the vanguard match. But still, Takami felt uneasy about her upperclassmen's analyses of Seiko's shortcomings. Of course, Seiko was not above criticism, and Takami knew Seiko even needed this to grow into a more powerful player. She was worried nonetheless, as she was acutely aware that Seiko and she were the weakest members on the team.

"I think Seiko-chan is becoming more flexible with the way she uses her ability. I was really impressed by her idea of waiting on the east wind," Takami answered, hoping that her praise of Seiko did not come off as too defensive.

"If she had kept the 2-pin to use as her jantou instead, she might've been able to win off Fuyuki, as it was a safe tile against Takahara that Fuyuki was likely to discard. However, I don't think it is reasonable to expect that Matano's observational skills are at the level that she could tell Fuyuki was at iishanten, ready to discard the 2-pin to reach tenpai. It might take someone like Fuyuki's older sister to pull off such a feat," Teru said.

"But Seiko-chan has a higher ranking than Fuyuki-senpai, so does that mean Miyanaga-senpai does not think Seiko-chan's ranking is well-deserved? In Miyanaga-senpai's eyes, is Seiko-chan weaker than Fuyuki-senpai and maybe some others also?" Takami lowered her gaze to her teacup and clutched it nervously.

And Seiko's current hand on the mahjong table was not looking very good either. She had made two pon declarations, which had given Takahara two effective tiles, but the latter had started at 4-shanten so she was still nowhere close to tenpai. The player who was actually most dangerous was the younger Fuyuki who had started at 2-shanten for a honiisou, ittsuu, renfonpai hand. Seiko's calls had allowed Harusa, her shimocha, to make more draws. One of the draws had given Harusa the last south tile she needed for her renfonpai triplets. She later drew in a 9-sou, putting herself at a silent tenpai for the dora 3-sou.

"That little brat isn't declaring riichi," Awai noted.

"She doesn't need to, right? If she wins this, it's going to be an 8-han baiman. She would have to reach 11-han for a sanbaiman. Even if she makes a riichi, ippatsu win, she must still hit one more ura-dora to get to a sanbaiman. What are the chances?" Sumire retorted.

"It's not that hard to hit the ura-dora," Awai replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, you say that because you have a special ability. I'd like to see you hit the ura-dora while playing with Matano and her circular mahjong wall," Sumire snapped back. "You should really learn from the younger Fuyuki. She's as loud as you, but she plays more maturely. Staying in damaten is the correct decision here. It's early enough in the game that it's not yet completely apparent to the other players that her hand is a honiisou of souzu. Someone might still play a 3-sou while coming into tenpai, but there would be no chances of that happening should she declare riichi."

And the person who ended up playing the 3-sou was Seiko.

"Ron! Ittsuu, honiisou, renfonpai south, dora 3-sou. Non-dealer baiman, 16000!" Harusa took Seiko's 3-sou and smacked it down beside the rest of her tiles. Seiko was too stunned by her sudden defeat to say anything.

"Didn't I tell you to stop smacking the tiles? You'll break the table!" Saionji made the only response, an angry shout at the rowdy first-year. Takahara ignored their commotion, pushing herself back from the table upon the conclusion of the hanchan to take a drink from her water bottle stored on the nearby rack. After a short argument with Harusa, Saionji also left the table. While the others stayed behind, Saionji exited the room to join the rest of her team outside.

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 157900
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 109400
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 71600
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 61100

Like the two upperclassmen on her team who had played before her, Seiko stayed at the tournament room during the break. Takami was worried about her though. "Umm, I think I will go down to keep Seiko-chan company," she said, getting up from her seat.

Teru took a look at her but did not say anything. Sumire then scowled at Teru's lack of response, as it meant that she would have to be the one to guide their kouhai again.

"Shibuya, I know you mean well, but so far both Teru and I stayed alone at the tournament room during the half-time break. It might be a bit awkward if you go down to check up on her now. She might get the wrong impression that you are pitying her."

"But…"

"You're probably thinking that Matano might be feeling a bit down after playing into Fuyuki's baiman, so you want to give her some reassurance before the start of the second hanchan, correct? But I think she is stronger than that, and she should be able to tough out the slight upset. I don't disagree with offering her support, but I think there are better ways of doing so than for you to go downstairs now. If you do go down, what do you plan on telling Matano?"

"I…" Takami's sentence trailed off. She ended up returning her gaze to her cup. "I don't really know."

"Saki," Teru interrupted the conversation. Saki swiveled her head over to face her sister immediately, rather surprised that Teru would call on her.

"Yes?"

"Bring this downstairs to Matano," she said, handing her tablet computer to Saki. "I jotted down my analysis of the south round. If you have anything to add about the east round, you can also fill her in. Shibuya, it is best that you send Matano your words of encouragement through our text chat instead. Matano will come to us if she wants to talk in-person. We should trust that she knows best what she needs."

Takami nodded slowly. "Okay. But may I be the messenger to bring your tablet down to Seiko-chan?"

"No," Sumire answered. "If Teru and I were to go down, Matano would feel stressed because of our presence. As for you, you are her best friend, and so she would think you've gone down because you're worried that she's too fragile to take the loss, and that would not be good for her confidence either. Awai or Saki should run this errand, seeing as most teams would get their first-years to do grunt work like this. But since Awai's big mouth would make everything worse…"

"My mouth is small and shapely!" Awai rebutted. Sumire completely ignored her.

"…Saki would make a better choice. Saki, you should let Matano know that we've got her back. She should keep playing however she wants to. Teru's analysis is just additional material to help her prepare for the second hanchan, but ultimately, she should make the judgement call as to what's the best tactic to employ for the specific situations that she would face. And that's also why you should be the one to go down to talk to her. You are our team's captain, so at the end of the day, all of our decisions on the table and our resultant placement going into the captain match will weigh down on you alone. If you want to have an easier time, you'll have to make sure everybody on the team plays their best mahjong. Got it?"

"Un!" Saki affirmed her understanding. She took Teru's tablet and exited the room. After she left, Teru gave Sumire an annoyed stare.

"What? Are you angry that I placed the responsibility for our team's success onto your sister? Aren't you being a bit overprotective when you're the one who made her our captain?" Sumire said.

"I did not say anything." Teru finally peeled her glare away from Sumire, but she continued to display an irritated pout on her face.

Meanwhile, Saki realized her problem only after she had stepped out onto the hallway – she could not remember how to get to the elevator! She turned left and wandered for a bit, then turned around and walked back the other way after feeling unsure of her previous decision. Thankfully, she encountered Team Ja-no-me coming out of their quarters a bit further down the corridor.

"Ah, Miyanaga, are you doing okay? You look like you're in trouble," Suzuki Haruka called out to her.

Akashi Koto grinned amusedly. "She's probably lost. You should've seen the number of times her sister missed PE because she couldn't find the gymnasium. At least the younger Miyanaga seems to be trying to find her destination instead of reading a book while wandering aimlessly."

"Umm, Miyanaga-san, you can come with us if you are also planning on going to the tournament room. We are just heading down to chat with Harusa-chan," Naitou Akane suggested.

Saki wished that she was not so stupid as to be unable to find the way herself. With how things stood though, she had no choice but to accept Naitou's offer. She gave a slight bow in response to Naitou's offer. "If it is not a bother, I would be grateful if you could show me the way."

"It's no problem." Akashi waved off Saki's formalities. "Let's go."

By the time they got to the tournament room, Harusa was pacing around impatiently in stark contrast to her two upperclassmen who were seated at the table instead, with Takahara reviewing the first hanchan's play records from her tablet, while Seiko was checking through her messages on her smartphone. Seiko stole a peek at Takahara. How could that girl be so calm after being completely shut out in the first hanchan? To be fair, Takahara had not played into a single hand either, but she still lost over 10000 points, just a single riichi stick short of Seiko's losses. Was she confident because she had a mature, focused mindset, or was she arrogant enough to believe that she would make a big comeback in the second half?

Seiko's musings were interrupted by Saki's approach. "Matano-senpai, I brought along Oneechan's analysis of the first hanchan. We thought that it might be useful for you."

"Oh." Seiko did not know what to think of this. She took the tablet that Saki handed her anyway. "Thank you."

While Seiko read through the contents, Saki watched Team Ja-no-me's interactions. Immediately after spotting her older sister, Harusa ran over to give Rin a huge glomp. "Oneechan! I did a great job, didn't I? Would you praise me?"

Rin's reaction was obviously more subdued than Harusa's, but she did give a very affectionate smile while stroking a hand down Harusa's hair. "Yes, you played wonderfully. Good job."

"You shouldn't dote on her so much. She'd think she earned all those points out of pure skill when in actuality, she just got lucky," Akashi said.

"Koto-oneechan, can't you let me feel good about myself for a little bit? I was slaughtered by Shizuku-senpai all throughout Friday. It really hurt my ego, ya know? But now, I just won over 20000 points in a hanchan while everybody else lost points to me! Don't I deserve a teeny weeny bit of credit?"

Akashi ground her fists on Harusa's thick skull. "Don't you be cocky, you little brat. If you are such a hotshot, you wouldn't have played that 8-sou in South 1."

"Aaaah! Ouchies! Please stop, Koto-oneechan. I was wrong. I apologize. Uwuuuuu…" Harusa howled in agony.

The dynamic between the Fuyuki sisters and Akashi was obviously very different from that of Saki and her sister, but there was still something oddly familiar about it, a warmth that reminded Saki of days long gone. Many things had changed since then, but Saki still yearned for that past feeling. She seemed to have come close to finding it again, though it was not quite within her reach yet. Saki knew her sister was beginning to display more trust in her – the errand she was currently running showed as much. But their present relationship was still missing a certain "closeness". Teru's rinshan kaihou in the vanguard match hinted of the connection that existed between them, although it felt awkward somehow. Saki wished she could resonate more with Teru's rinshan, but it was difficult when she could sense regret underlying that move.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could live like the two Fuyuki-san?" Saki thought to herself. Saki's wistful expression caught Seiko's attention.

"Miyanaga, are you alright?" she asked.

"Ah! U-Un. Sorry, I spaced out for a bit."

"It's okay. Thanks for bringing Miyanaga-senpai's notes over to me." Seiko gestured Saki to come closer, then whispered into her ear, "Do you know what Miyanaga-senpai means by how Fuyuki's offensive ability might be tied to the tiles she leaves covered at the beginning of the game?"

Saki recalled how Fuyuki Harusa had made her first discard in East 1 without looking at the tile. She had done it several more times after that, sometimes even keeping two tiles closed until discarding them. Because of the haphazard way she drew her starting hands, often not arranging the tiles at all, the other players might have chalked up her odd behaviour as a bad habit she never grew out of since learning how to play mahjong as a child. But Harusa had just blurted that she had been practising with Kobayashi Shizuku all Friday – considering what Teru had said about Kobayashi's psychological play style, there was no way she would not have spotted Harusa's bad habit and forced her to change it if it served no function.

"In East 1, Fuyuki-san ended up drawing back the 3-sou she had played as her first discard. The second time she had drawn the tile, she had kept it for a meld. So, by not looking at the first 3-sou before discarding it, Fuyuki-san had made a mistake. However, the mistake was rectified when she drew the tile back. In East 2, the tile she played in the beginning without looking happened to be a useless tile and she never drew it back. Another point of suspicion in that game was that after she drew an east tile early in the game, she kept it as though knowing it would be an effective tile - she would go on to draw a second east wind to form a pair which she eventually used to make a call of pon. Based on her hand, it would have made more sense to play the east tile early instead of keeping it to prevent playing into another player's prevalent wind triplets later in the game."

Seiko smiled awkwardly. "Those are good observations, but I don't think I see your point yet."

Saki was unconfident in her suspicions, and so she was on the fence about whether to tell Seiko about them until she recalled that Teru had asked her to fill Seiko in on anything she might have noticed about the east round. "If I want to become closer to Oneechan, I must earn more of her trust!" Saki encouraged herself before returning to her conversation with Seiko.

"I think whenever Fuyuki-san plays a starting tile without knowing what it is, she will eventually draw an effective tile in exchange. She does not always draw the effective tile right away, but she would do so relatively quickly – maybe within three turns? That was probably why she made the correct guess that the east wind she drew early in the game would go on to become a useful tile."

Seiko remembered that Harusa had kept two tiles closed in her starting hand in South 4. Was that why she had drawn in two effective tiles so quickly to put herself into tenpai for that big hand? She chuckled, not out of bitterness but out of relief.

"So that's how it is. I was scared that Fuyuki's luck was actually that insane. I mean, to discard two ineffective tiles by chance instead of her effective tiles was still quite a lucky feat. Nevertheless, knowing that her seemingly lucky draws were actually the result of a supernatural ability makes it easier for me to come up with a tactic for fighting her."

It felt a bit unfair that it was the first-year newbie, Saki, who had spotted Harusa's ability and not Seiko herself, but Seiko was nonetheless grateful. Then again, even Teru's analysis had not nailed down this point, so this meant that Saki's analysis was a combination of her own observations, which included the tiles in Harusa's hand which Seiko could not see while playing against her on the table, and her interpretation of Teru's notes. This was a true team effort.

"Right, we are a team. I shouldn't have thought that Senpai had sent Miyanaga over to take pity on me, or that Senpai's notes were given to me because she doubted my abilities. What I can do on the table is different from what they can do from the audience. We must combine our efforts in order to claim victory," Seiko thought. She then turned over to give Saki a pat on the shoulder. "Thank you for your help, Miyanaga. Now feel free to leave things to me; I'm your senpai after all. I will fight hard to make sure we are in the best possible position going into the captain match."

"If Awai-chan doesn't lose all of our points anyway," Saki answered with a grin.

Seiko laughed. "I didn't know you could tell jokes like that, Miyanaga!"

Saki was glad that she could lighten the mood for Seiko. As the clock ticked down, Saki said her final words of encouragement to Seiko before heading back with Team Ja-no-me.

The players then picked their wind tiles. This time, Seiko would be starting in east, followed by Takahara in south, Harusa in west, and Saionji in north. After they all sat down, Seiko pressed the dice to begin the second hanchan. While they waited for the dice to stop and the new set of tiles to rise from the table, Seiko closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"No matter what happens, let me play without regrets."

Second Hanchan, East 1 – Dealer Matano Seiko (Team Torahime)

With Takahara as Harusa's kamicha and not shimocha in the second hanchan, Seiko would have to be more careful about making calls. Luckily for her, she started with a pair of renfonpai east in this first game. Therefore, she worked on her remaining melds silently, only making a single pon of east when Saionji discarded the tile. Soon enough, she was tenpai for shanpon waits on 4-wan and 9-pin. The game was early enough that the other players were not defending too heavily, and so it was no surprise that Harusa would play the newly drawn terminal 9-pin that she did not need.

"Ron. Renfonpai. 2-han 30-fu, 2900," Seiko announced.

Seiko was not so lucky in her renchan, starting at 5-shanten. She could try to advance her hand through making calls, but that would give effective tiles to Takahara. "Takahara's ability would lead to a tsumo win, which would hurt me more as dealer," Seiko thought. Choosing not to make calls for that reason, Seiko played cautiously, ready to fold her hand at any moment.

Seeing as Seiko was not making any calls, Saionji decided that she could make a chii off Harusa for a 7, 8, 9-sou sequence. "Takahara doesn't seem to be close to tenpai just yet. I can afford to give her an effective tile or two," she thought. A few turns later, she made another chii of 2, 3, 4-sou off Harusa, committing to a honiisou hand.

"Gaah, Kiyo-senpai is going for a souzu hand. I still have too many souzu tiles to get rid of. Guess I'll have to bail," Harusa made a note to herself. She then played her seat wind, west.

Saionji made a draw that brought her to tenpai, but the tile that she would have to discard seemed rather dangerous now that Takahara was close to winning. "But three of the dora are already in the river, one of which was discarded by Takahara herself. She doesn't seem to be going for any kind of crazy yakuman hand either. Her seat wind, south, is oddly missing from the table, which means that she probably is holding onto triplets of it. Most likely, she's damaten for a cheap yakuhai, so it's not a huge deal even if I play into it. Worth a shot," Saionji analyzed. She then played the 5-wan, which passed uneventfully.

Two turns later, Saionji was not so fortunate with her 6-wan discard as Takahara took the tile. "Ron. Yakuhai south. 1-han 50-fu, first honba, 1900."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 160800
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 106500
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 69700
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 63000

Second Hanchan, East 2 – Dealer Takahara Mizuki (Team Suigyoku)

"Matano folded during her own dealership," Sumire remarked just when Saki stepped through the door. She then turned to face her. "Welcome back. Seems like you did a great job getting Matano back up onto her feet."

"Eh?" Saki made a weird sound, clearly confused by Sumire's remark.

"It was a bold decision to give up her dealership, but I think it was the correct one if her goal was to preserve as many points as possible. Matano would not have won the hand even if she had tried to push for it, hence letting Saionji take the fall instead of losing points to Takahara's tsumo was a rational move," Teru responded to Sumire's comment.

And Seiko continued to fold in East 2. She refused to make calls of pon even when she had the chance, as it was too dangerous to feed Takahara effective tiles during the latter's dealership. Still, Takahara's hand was coming together very quickly. By the sixth turn, she was tenpai for a tanyao, but chose to stay in damaten in hopes that someone would play into her hand.

Only Harusa could match Takahara's speed. In this game, she had left a whole block of four tiles from her starting hand untouched, throwing them out one by one in the first four turns. Two had been effective tiles, which she ended up drawing in again, but the other two were ineffective tiles that she ended up exchanging for effective tiles in the latter turns. She was now iishanten for a hand with no yaku. Three turns later, she drew in a red 5-sou that completed her second-to-last meld, leaving her to wait on ryanmen 1, 4-wan. She then boldly tossed her last unneeded tile sideways.

"Riichi!"

Saionji clicked her tongue in annoyance, as she was feeling Takahara's frustration from the first hanchan with Harusa suppressing her so thoroughly. Once again, Saionji drew in a useless tile, 4-wan. She took a deep breath and forced herself to keep the tile despite it ruining her hand, playing a safer haku instead, two of which were already in the river.

Seiko made her draw, set it into her hand, and then played the final haku - she had been stocking up on safe tiles until this point. Takahara then drew a 1-wan. Only one 1-wan had been revealed on the table thus far, discarded by Seiko very early in the game. As such, it was not an absolutely safe tile, but if Takahara did not play it, she would have to fold her hand. She decided to push forward instead.

"Ron!" Harusa took Takahara's tile excitedly. "Riichi, ippatsu, dora red 5-sou. 3-han 40-fu, 5200!"

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 160800
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 111700
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 69700
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 57800

Second Hanchan, East 3 – Dealer Fuyuki Harusa (Team Ja-no-me)

"Fuyuki Harusa is playing very aggressively today," Sumire noted.

Teru nodded to her assessment. "She is usually a more defensive player. But I think she activated her offensive ability in the last hand, which together with her riichi call, allowed her to win before Takahara. It seems like she has been training for quicker paced games than what she is used to."

"Heh, is it that Kobayashi again? Sumire-senpai said that Crybaby Naitou probably learned some tricks from her. This time it's the Little Fuyuki?" Awai asked.

"Probably. It is quite clear that Team Akatsuru has been helping Team Ja-no-me in the background. As I have said, it would be most troublesome for us if those two teams appear together on the stage of the finals," Teru answered.

"Cheh, that Kobayashi can be a goddess and I'd still tear her down!"

It was not just Awai who had the drive to surpass a great obstacle. To Saionji Kiyo, her greatest obstacle at the current moment was Fuyuki Harusa's suppression, and she would not give up until she broke free.

"You ain't the only one who can stop others from winning," she thought to herself. Though Harusa had wisely refrained from making open melds thus far, Saionji knew that it would still be tough for Harusa to restructure her hand should she activate her ability now. Saionji's present hand was perfect for using her ability as well, because she had three melds of pinzu close to completion, and a closed triplet of hatsu lurking at her fingertips.

"Chii," she called on Harusa's 4-pin for a 3, 4, 5-pin sequence. Saionji was now at iishanten.

Seiko drew in a 9-wan that formed a pair with a tile in her starting hand. She then played an 8-sou that she would not need for her toitoi.

In Takahara's turn, she received an effective tile from Saionji's call that had put her into tenpai. However, she remained in damaten, waiting for another call to be made on the table so that she could self-draw her win.

It was Harusa's turn again. She knew Saionji was aiming for a honiisou or chiniisou of pinzu. Though she would need to toss out all her pinzu tiles in order to overcome Saionji's ability, she also knew that Saionji was nearing a win, and so it would be too dangerous for her to play pinzu tiles at this point. "But even if I fold, Kiyo-senpai can probably still self-draw a win. Her hand seems expensive. I should try to help Mizuki-senpai win so that I'd pay less even if I do get bombed," she thought, playing a west tile.

"Pon," Seiko called for it, causing Saionji to frown. "She has been refraining from making calls in the second hanchan, but why is she doing it now that Takahara seems close to winning? Wait, is she doing it on purpose?" Saionji pondered.

As expected, Takahara drew in the last effective tile she needed for her hand. "Tsumo. Menzen-tsumo, tanyao, 2-han 30-fu, 500/1000."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 160300
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 110700
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 69200
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 59800

Second Hanchan, East 4 – Dealer Saionji Kiyo (Team Airport-not-Narita)

Takahara stole a glance at Seiko. "She made that call knowing that I would get an effective tile. Had she not realized that I was at tenpai? Or did she let me win on purpose because my hand seemed to be of a lower value than Saionji's? I thought she would not entertain the thought of working with me given our rivalry," Takahara pondered. She then watched Saionji play her first tile, north, and Seiko followed. Takahara's thoughts distracted her for a moment, causing her to be slow in making her draw. She ended up taking a middle tile and playing a 9-pin in exchange.

As the game moved onto its fifth turn, Saionji's hand was starting to develop into a chiniisou of wanzu. She committed to it with a chii off a 1-wan from Harusa.

Seiko stared at her own tiles. She had two red 5-pin that was forming a 4, 5, 6-pin iipeikou, short of just one 6-pin tile, and a red 5-sou that was part of a 3, 4, 5-sou sequence. This was too good a hand to give up.

"What if I get Saionji to give up her chiniisou instead?" Seiko pondered. Looking at Takahara's discards, souzu tiles were suspiciously missing. Could it be that Takahara's hand was dominated by souzu? In that case…

Seiko broke apart the pair of 8-sou she held and discarded one of them. "Chii," Takahara called, lining a 7, 8, 9-sou sequence to the side. Takahara's next draw gave her yet another effective tile, putting her into iishanten.

It was a thin line that Seiko was treading. She must use Takahara to put pressure on Saionji, but if she helped Takahara too much, the latter would snatch the win before she could. Seiko was now at iishanten, waiting for a 6-pin to complete her iipeikou, and a 6- or 9-sou to complete her 7, 8-sou sequence. Turn after turn had passed, but those tiles still were not coming. Finally, Harusa played a 5-wan, of which Seiko had a pair. Should she make a pon off it?

Seiko held a fist to stop herself from making the call. Though the sea was beckoning her – she could almost smell its moist, salty breeze – Seiko refused to cast her line. "It's precisely because the catch is no longer as good back home that I'm here in Tokyo to carve out a different future for myself. I may love fishing, but that's certainly not the only thing I can do!" And so, Seiko let Harusa's tile pass. Saionji then made her draw and discard, her hand still stuck at 2-shanten.

Seiko just needed to beat Takahara, who had since come to tenpai. Could she make it?

"Oh, seems like Matano-senpai got lucky finally!" Awai commented on the 6-pin that Seiko finally drew in. In a daring move, Seiko cast out her final useless tile, a 1-pin, sideways.

"Riichi!"

Takahara drew in the last chun tile and played it. Harusa also played a safe tile, bailing her hand. This left Saionji to scan Seiko's discards for hints of safe tiles to play. The only tiles that would be absolutely safe were wanzu, but if Saionji played one of her effective tiles, that would deactivate her ability. "No, I shouldn't think like this. My ability is currently active, so if I play this useless 2-sou, it should be safe against Matano. But what about Takahara? She seems to be going for a souzu hand. What should I do?"

In three turns, they would reach the end of the live wall. Saionji took a long breath before playing the last 5-wan instead, which passed uneventfully. However, this move would be a big mistake, as it deactivated Saionji's ability.

Seiko eventually reached out to make her final draw from the wall. She was no monster player, and so normally, she had no special intuition of what lay in the walls in front of her. At this moment though, she felt it. Her winning tile was there - she only had to confirm it by brushing against its engravings with her thumb.

"Tsumo!" She flipped the ura-dora indicators. Unfortunately, she did not hit any, but she did not need any additional han value to reach a baiman. "Riichi, menzen-tsumo, pinfu, iipeikou, tanyao, 3-dora, 4000/8000!"

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 176300
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 106700
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 61200
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 55800

Second Hanchan, South 1 – Dealer Matano Seiko (Team Torahime)

"It's such a pain playing as Fuyuki's shimocha. Not only am I getting shut out, but I also got bombed for a huge hand in the last game. Damn it, how can I break out of her control?" Saionji thought to herself. She was one tile short of a souzu ittsuu in her starting hand for South 1, and she had a pair of hatsu as well. This could turn into a great hand, but the question was how she could complete it while her luck was being suppressed by Harusa.

"I have to push her into declaring riichi. At least then she would not be able to make any conscious moves to stop my wins," Saionji decided. With a hand like this, Saionji would normally push for a honiisou hand. This time, she chose to forgo the opportunity to activate her ability, instead opting to keep a dora 2-pin in her hand structure. "I have to give Fuyuki a chance to win as that would be the only way to get her to declare riichi. This is a risky bet, but that's what mahjong is all about, right?"

Seven turns in, Seiko noticed that Saionji's discards were not showing a significant skew towards a specific suit. Seiko's own draws were looking rather ordinary. She started at 4-shanten and had advanced to 2-shanten, but that was still far from tenpai. "If I can't get this to tenpai in about five turns, I should consider folding."

Takahara caught onto Seiko's change in play style in the second hanchan. Since Takahara was no longer Harusa's shimocha, she had expected Seiko to become more wary of giving her effective tiles, and so Seiko would be making fewer calls compared to the first hanchan. However, she had not expected Seiko to play so cautiously in other aspects of the game as well, bailing out early when she sensed her hand was not coming together or would be of small value even if she tried to push it through. Seiko used to be a player with low firepower but high win rate. Now, she was pursuing only the hands that had high value.

"In order to win, she is willing to cast away her old self. How ambitious. As expected of someone looking to play mahjong not as a mere game but as an occupation. But I have a reason to win also. Matano has come to Shiraitodai to make a name for herself and so have I." Takahara played a hatsu in hopes that someone would make a call.

"Pon," Saionji answered her. She had since completed her ittsuu sequence, and with this pon of hatsu, came to tenpai for a tanki wait on the dora 2-pin.

Seiko's turn came and went without event. Takahara then successfully drew in an effective tile that also put her into tenpai. "Riichi!" she called with her discard.

Harusa had been at damaten for a hand without yaku. She had hoped to exchange the terminal 9-wan in her 7, 8, 9-wan sequence for a 6-wan so that she could wait on a tanyao hand, but she was thus far unsuccessful. "If I don't declare riichi now, I would have to fold my hand. Mizuki-senpai and Kiyo-senpai should both be at tenpai. I won't be able to keep up with their speed if I try to wait for the 6-wan," she thought. After three seconds of pondering, she ended up setting her discard sideways. "I'm chasing your riichi, Mizuki-senpai!"

Saionji smirked. Three turns later, Harusa drew in a tile that she normally would not have discarded.

"A dora now!?" Harusa stared at the 2-pin she had just drawn. Due to her riichi call, she had no choice but to set it down.

"Ron. Ittsuu, yakuhai hatsu, dora pairs 2-pin. 4-han 30-fu, 7700," Saionji called.

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 176300
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 98000
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 70900
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 54800

Second Hanchan, South 2 – Dealer Takahara Mizuki (Team Suigyoku)

"Saionji preyed on Fuyuki's ambitions. Maybe I should do the same," Takahara thought. Seiko and Saionji were refusing to make calls in her dealership, but what about Harusa? Takahara received the perfect hand to test out her hypothesis, as she started at 2-shanten from a chanta. She played the middle tiles that she had no use for, one after another. This made Harusa struggle with whether to make calls on them.

"I don't think I can draw that 4-sou again if I don't take it now. I already have a pair," Fuyuki thought. "Pon!" she ended up calling the tile.

But Harusa was not stupid enough to fall for Takahara's bait again. For the remainder of her hand, she relied on self-draws. Though Takahara did draw in one more effective tile on her own, moving her into tenpai, she could not advance her hand beyond that. On the other hand, Seiko and Saionji's hands were not as good. Knowing Takahara was close to winning, neither dared to make calls. The game moved on sluggishly with Seiko and Saionji devoting all their efforts to defending instead. It ended in ryuukyoku.

"Tenpai."

"Tenpai."

"Noten."

"Noten."

Seiko and Saionji paid the noten penalty to Takahara and Harusa. With that, Takahara carried her dealership onto the first honba.

The first honba started off without any irregularities. Everyone was tossing out terminals and honours except for Harusa who was discarding random tiles from the block of four she had not touched since she took them at the start of the game.

"Fuyuki is using her offensive ability again," Teru said. Sumire pointed at the screen.

"Is it related to the tiles she leaves closed from her starting hand?"

Teru nodded. "If she discards them without knowing what they are, then it seems that she would receive effective tiles in exchange. As such, the more tiles she leaves closed at the start of the game, the harder she is pushing on the offensive front."

"And that comes with the sacrifice of her defence, huh?" Sumire noted.

Seiko noticed the same thing about Harusa in this hand, and this led her to think that now was the golden opportunity to attack her. "Chii," Harusa had just called a tile from Takahara - the sequence she lined contained a red 5-wan. It was likely that she was aiming for a hand of considerable value.

"Like I'd let you win!" Saionji thought. She had enough wanzu tiles to aim for a honiisou of that suit, so she tossed out a 7-sou to commit to that hand, activating her ability to suppress Harusa, who would then be unable to win since she already had an open meld of wanzu. In the next turn, Saionji discarded a 6-pin.

"Pon," Harusa called, pushing forward regardless of Saionji's actions.

Saionji and Seiko made their draws and discards in succession. Takahara then drew in an effective tile, putting herself into tenpai. "Riichi," she declared.

It was then Harusa's turn to draw and discard, and Saionji stared at her at she did so. "Is she trying to copy what Matano did in East 4? Feeding Takahara till she is at tenpai so that it would become too risky for me to pursue my honiisou? I won't fall for it this time!" Saionji thought.

When it came Seiko's turn, she set a seemingly useless 1-wan into her hand and played a 2-pin from her pair instead. "Saionji is not aborting her wanzu honiisou. As her shimocha, I have no choice but to convert my hand in that direction also. I already have a 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9-wan sequence. I'll keep this south tile and the 1-wan and hope for the best."

The game continued without Takahara making a tsumo win. Seiko sighed when her effective tile finally came in to put her into tenpai. "I have a pretty convenient ability, don't I? If I hang onto a tile for long enough, I can often form a pair with it." With pairs of south wind and 1-wan now in her hand, Seiko had shanpon waits on the two tiles. She discarded a 9-sou.

When it came Harusa's turn again, she glared at the 5-pin she had just drawn. Takahara had not played this tile before, nor had she played 2-pin or 8-pin. It was extraordinarily dangerous. Though the tile was useless to Harusa, she set it into her hand and picked out a south wind to play instead. Takahara had played that tile before, but no other south tiles have appeared on the table thus far. It was not the safest choice, but Harusa did not want to fold her hand, which aside from the red 5-wan in her open meld also contained a pair of dora 8-sou.

She discarded the south tile but immediately regretted it when Seiko pushed her tiles over. "Ron. Honiisou, yakuhai chun and south. 4-han 30-fu, first honba, 8000."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 183800
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 91500
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 69400
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 55300

Second Hanchan, South 3 – Dealer Fuyuki Harusa (Team Ja-no-me)

"Fuyuki Harusa is growing increasingly impatient. She could potentially become a great player like her sister, but as of yet, she is still a bit green, huh?" Sumire commented.

"Aren't we all?" Teru replied.

Sumire smiled. "If you call yourself green, you'd make the rest of us want to cry."

"But it is a fact that I have much more to learn. I am not being humble when I admit my inexperience. Perhaps it is the opposite – I believe the line that separates me from the best professional players is not drawn based on differences in our innate skill, but how steadily we can utilize that skill against a diversity of opponents in a myriad of different situations. For instance, I believe my game with Kainou-san from two years ago was lost not because I lacked the skill to defeat her, but because her ability surprised me, and that surprise clouded my better judgement."

Sumire nodded. "I see. Being able to recognize your own flaws is the first step to becoming stronger. I wonder if Fuyuki Harusa would also gain the self-awareness that you possess."

Harusa discarded the fourth covered tile from her starting hand. Of the four tiles, only one was useless. This meant that she had wasted four turns just to gain one extra effective tile, and her hand did not yet have yaku. "I've been trying my best to slow Kiyo-senpai down in the second hanchan, but she still won 7700 points off me in South 1. I lost another hand to Seiko-senpai just now. What am I doing wrong?"

This reminded Harusa of her childhood. Her father had taught Rin and Harusa to play mahjong not as a fun game, but as a skill for the future. "That's how business deals get made, behind either a drinking glass or mahjong tiles. Well, it'll be easier for you when you grow up - women just have to look pretty," he would say. He might have forced them to play mahjong only so that he could mercilessly plunge their scores to the negatives and then have an excuse to scold them for playing poorly. His business had been failing and that was how he had managed his stress – by taking it out on his family.

But Rin, being the smarter daughter who was better at everything than her sister, soon became skillful at the game. By the time she was six years old, she was dominating their family table, leaving Harusa the only one to be scolded. "I sorta hated Oneechan back then, huh?" Harusa thought while glancing towards her shimocha. For their family games, they would not bother to change seats based on wind tiles picked at the beginning of the hanchan. They would only play on a whim anyway, their father's whim to be exact. He would come home drunken, take their old mahjong set off their bookshelf, and toss it onto the low table while they were watching TV, hence they would always sit in the same drawing order with their father as Harusa's kamicha and Rin as her shimocha. That was how Harusa had developed her ability to suppress her shimocha – all she had wanted back then was to beat her sister so she could prove that she was not the stupid daughter nobody needed.

As Harusa grew up, she realized that her jealousy of her sister was unwarranted. What she wore, how she spoke, what she learned, how she spent every minute of her life – everything about Fuyuki Rin was dictated by her father for the sole purpose of crafting her into the finest chess piece he could possess. And when he found a use for this chess piece, he played it without reservations. On paper, he had sent Rin to Tokyo to receive the best high school education the nation could offer. In reality, he had presented her to the Akashi family as an elaborate gift.

It was funny, wasn't it? Harusa had once thought her sister took away everything that she had wanted but, really, she had been shielding Harusa from any possible harm that could befall her. In the two years that the sisters had been separated, Harusa had come to yearn for the game she used to detest. Mahjong became the only way to connect Harusa once more with the shimocha who had left her with frustration and envy and regret and love. Though Harusa hated to lose in mahjong, her losses eventually helped her win her way back to Rin's side by earning her a scholarship to come to Shiraitodai.

"But now, Oneechan has Koto-oneechan and everybody else in the mahjong club. Maybe she never really needed me," Harusa thought. While she still could not stray from her habit of glancing towards her shimocha, her sister had grown stronger, reached greater heights, walked a road to victory alongside the rest of Team Torahime in the spring tournament. If Harusa had not come to Tokyo, her sister would have continued playing on Team Torahime, right? Her sister would not be on a team that was fighting to advance in second place, right? Harusa might look like a fool, but she did think about such things. She was not impervious to self-doubt.

"No. Now is not the time to put myself down. I might have felt helpless when playing as a kid, but I overcame my failures and developed an ability that even Oneechan has trouble dealing with. Mizuki-senpai could not win a single hand in the first hanchan, and Kiyo-senpai only won one hand in this hanchan. I am actually pretty amazing, aren't I? If only I can extend my ability beyond just my shimocha. Seiko-senpai is especially dangerous. I need a way of combating her."

Casting away her negative mindset, Harusa re-evaluated the situation. Her hand might not have yaku as of yet, but it was not that horrible seeing as she was 2-shanten from a win. This was already better than Saionji's situation, as the girl was clearly struggling so much that there was no way she could activate her ability in this hand. As for the others, Seiko was not making calls and Takahara was also silent. It was likely that all of them had drawn poor starting tiles and continued to get bad draws throughout the game.

Harusa kept working silently on her hand. Mid-game, she finally reached tenpai on a 5, 6, 7-wan, 1, 2, 3-pin, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7-sou, east, east hand. She had shanpon waits of 7-sou and east, with the east giving her yaku through her seat wind. But as the game continued, there were no signs of another east tile appearing. "Maybe the remaining east tiles aren't on the wall but held by one of my opponents. Well, I know it isn't Kiyo-senpai. I've been watching her all this time, and I just know that she isn't holding onto my seat wind. Wait, I need to think harder about this. I'm so used to knowing things about my shimocha without knowing how I know. I need to figure out exactly how I can tell, because then I would be able to survey the rest of the table by the same method!"

She first turned to Takahara, who had been her shimocha in the first hanchan, and tried to match the way she was playing now with how she had played earlier. "The angle isn't right. I can't see the same things now compared to when she was sitting on my right. Why is it so different? I don't get it!"

Harusa scratched her head in irritation. On her turn, she took her tile, paused, and spent a few seconds racking her brain for what was different about her view of Takahara now that she was sitting in Harusa's left.

"Hey Fuyuki, hurry it up," Saionji snapped in annoyance.

"I know, I know. I almost got it!" Harusa answered. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine how it would look like if Saionji held a pair of her seat wind. "Her right hand would look different when she makes her discards," Harusa concluded. Right hand…right hand…what would determine the movement of her right hand?

Harusa picked out the rightmost tile of her hand, a useless west wind, and slid it forward into her discards pool. "I don't like arranging my tiles, so it isn't as though my own hand would be a good reference for how the other players' hands would look like. No. Actually, I might've made a brilliant discovery just now! I might not like arranging my tiles, but even I would move the tiles I don't need onto the right side so that it's more convenient to discard. And the most likely tiles you would discard are honour tiles. That's why most people would put honour tiles on the right side of their hand. If you're holding onto honour tiles that you aren't discarding, then you would keep moving your right hand towards a more central position on your row of tiles to pick out pinzu, wanzu, or souzu discards. This generalization might not work for someone like Myou-senpai who intentionally mixes up her tiles throughout the game, and that was probably why I had trouble reading her even when she sat as my shimocha in our practice games. But this kind of observation must be how I can tell Kiyo-senpai isn't holding onto my seat wind tiles currently, and why everything looks weird when Mizuki-senpai is sitting to my left – her right hand is now closer to me and not farther away, so it looks different!"

Just now, Takahara made her draw. She took a tile that she set onto the left side of her hand, then pushed down the rightmost tile on her row, a west wind following Harusa's earlier discard. After Harusa's own draw and discard, she kept surveying Takahara, who did not shuffle her tiles while she waited for her next turn. When Takahara made her next draw, she set it onto her right side this time and picked out the tile next to it to discard – a haku.

"So Mizuki-senpai also sets her honour tiles on the right side. Let's see how Seiko-senpai arranges her tiles." Harusa shifted her attention towards Seiko and noticed the same pattern. After a few turns, she could more or less map out where Takahara and Seiko put their useless tiles. While Takahara's hand movements looked similar to Saionji's, Seiko's looked a bit odd. "She's holding onto a pair of honour tiles. I don't know what they are, but the way she slips tiles into and out of either side of that block looks off. And look at her discards! She's copying my pool and playing suji of my tiles. She's specifically defending against me. There are high chances that the two honour tiles she's clinging onto are my seat wind!"

If Seiko was holding onto the east tiles that Harusa needed, that would mean Harusa could only win on 7-sou. But because 7-sou would not give her yaku, she must win through menzen-tsumo. "I should declare riichi if I want to win on the 7-sou, but even if I can win off other players, it would still be a horrible wait. And would it be worth it? What would be the chances of me declaring riichi, and then making a menzen-tsumo within the turn for ippatsu? The more likely scenario would be that I win a 1-han hand without hitting any ura-dora. I might take more points by keeping my hand at tenpai till ryuukyoku, since the other players seem to be at noten at the moment. I need to have patience. I shouldn't throw out a riichi stick over a bad wait like this."

Her patience was soon rewarded by an 8-sou draw. If she discarded one of the 7-sou tiles, she would be tenpai for 3, 6, 9-sou instead. Harusa made up her mind, taking the 7-sou and slamming it onto the table. "Riichi!" She tossed her 1000-points stick into the slot ahead of her.

"You little…" Saionji muttered under her breath. She ended up just sighing. It was not as though Harusa would listen to her complaints anyway. Better to just concentrate on playing her game instead of getting riled up by that girl's antics.

The game kept moving forward. Harusa reached for her final draw. "Come to me, my winning tile!" she shouted, but to no avail. She set down the last haku that she had just drawn. "Boohoo. Seems like it's not my lucky day."

Saionji rolled her eyes while she took the final tile on the wall and set it down. It was a 9-sou.

"Nevermind. Ron!" Harusa yelled while flipping the ura-dora indicator, a 7-sou. Thank goodness she had not waited on a 7-sou. And now that her hand had an 8-sou, she just got one more han from the ura-dora! "Riichi, houtei, ura-dora 8-sou. 3-han 40-fu, 7700 points."

Awai laughed at what transpired on-screen. "Haha, it isn't Matano-senpai who caught the fish but that little brat!? And from the bottom of the river too? Saionji sure is dumb to throw that 9-sou away."

"It is not a terrible discard. Three 9-sou were already on the table, and Fuyuki Harusa had previously played 7-sou. Saionji got a bit unlucky," Teru answered.

"That and Fuyuki Harusa has returned to being more patient. That girl has too much pride to be content with always living in her sister's shadow. I look forward to her growth," Sumire added.

Saki glanced towards her sister. Did she want to surpass Teru? Rather than surpassing, she would be happy enough if she could catch up to and walk alongside her sister. She wondered if Fuyuki Harusa was thinking the same.

Returning her eyes to the screen, she watched the contestants ready their hands for the first honba. Harusa again kept a block of four tiles closed, but she did not discard anything until she opened up the rest of her tiles and thought hard about them. She then decided to open two of the tiles from her block, stuck them into the hand, and dealt one of the closed tiles.

"Fuyuki didn't discard a tile right away this time," Sumire noted.

"She is no longer trying to hide her offensive ability, knowing her opponents have noticed by now. She likely decided to look at two more tiles than what she did for her last hand because she is playing more cautiously now, and she doesn't think her current tiles would form a hand large enough for her to risk playing tiles without knowing what they are," Teru said.

Though Harusa did not seem to be pushing as hard in this hand, likely indicating that her starting tiles were poor, Seiko still wanted to shove her off the dealer seat as soon as possible. "Chii," she called for a 1-sou from Saionji, causing her to quirk an eyebrow.

"A chii instead of a pon? And making an open meld of souzu so early in the game? That's like asking me to pursue this honiisou of wanzu to stop her from winning!" Saionji thought to herself. When it came her turn again, she took an 8-sou and slid it into her pool.

"Saionji is using her ability to suppress Matano and Fuyuki. Now is my chance," Takahara thought. She also called a chii on Seiko's discard of 3-wan. With the effective tile she already took from Seiko's call, she was setting herself up to tenpai in the next turn. No other calls were declared until Takahara made her next draw that completed her second-to-last meld. She now had classic ryanmen waits on 2, 5-pin.

Harusa drew in a 2-pin. "I don't need this, but it is not a safe tile. I hate to admit it, but my hand isn't coming together quickly enough, especially with Kiyo-senpai getting in my way. It's best that I bail," she thought while she discarded an east tile.

"Pon," Seiko called. What was she doing making a functionless pon of her guest wind?

"Seiko-chan is trying to use Takahara-san to bomb Harusa-chan's dealership," Takami noted, smiling. She knew that Seiko was no longer shackled by her perception that she must win big to live up to everybody's expectations. She was now playing more freely, putting her team's goals above her own.

In her next turn, Takahara successfully drew in a red 5-pin. "Tsumo. Tanyao, aka-dora. 2-han 30-fu, first honba, 600/1100."

Team Torahime (Matano Seiko) 183200
Team Ja-no-me (Fuyuki Harusa) 98100
Team Airport-not-Narita (Saionji Kiyo) 61100
Team Suigyoku (Takahara Mizuki) 57600

Second Hanchan, South 4 – Dealer Saionji Kiyo (Team Airport-not-Narita)

Saionji took her last two tiles, lined all her tiles on the edge of the table, and then flipped them upwards. "Looks like I can go for a pinzu hand. Committing early would give Fuyuki and Matano a chance to adapt, but at the same time, the earlier I activate my ability, the earlier I can start slowing them down. Should I go for it?" In the end, Saionji decided on a 1-wan discard that would leave some leeway in her future direction.

Still, it became rather obvious by the fifth turn that Saionji's hand was skewing towards pinzu. Harusa glanced at the three pinzu tiles she still held. "I'm going for a tanyao, so I could use two of these tiles, but it is probably a better idea to throw them out early so that I wouldn't play into Kiyo-senpai's hand." Because of this rationale, she discarded a red 5-pin.

Saionji could not take Harusa's tile, and so she drew and discarded a 3-wan.

"Pon," Seiko called for the 3-wan. Takahara then drew in an effective tile after Seiko's discard. "Is she helping me again? I get that she doesn't want Fuyuki to win another hand but it isn't like her to give up so many hands. Maybe she is trying to use me to pressure Saionji into giving up her pinzu honiisou or chiniisou?"

Either way, Takahara took advantage of the situation. When Seiko made another pon, from Harusa this time, Takahara reached iishanten with the effective tile that came after the call. What she did not know was that Seiko had also reached iishanten, but she could not make the third pon that would activate her ability. They were both stuck in hell, so close yet so far from the win. As they were fighting to break free, Harusa had reached tenpai. She then tossed out her final useless tile and said, "Riichi."

Saionji frowned, knowing pinzu tiles were the only safe tiles against Harusa, who due to her ability would be unable to win if she had pinzu in her hand. But Saionji hated to cower in fear. She wanted to push forward instead.

"But I'm being ridiculous. Who said that I can only win with a pinzu honiisou? I'm holding a closed triplet of chun! I have plenty of flexibility in how to structure my hand!"

Saionji ended up playing an 8-pin. "Pon," Seiko called for it. She then discarded a tile that passed without event. After that, Takahara made a draw for a tile that finally pulled her out of iishanten hell. "Matano, you will win in five turns, right? Let's see if you win first or me!"

Takahara turned her discarded tile sideways, chasing after Harusa. "Riichi!"

Harusa then drew and discarded a chun, but Saionji did not declare an open kan from it. Instead, she made a draw. "I am not giving up," she thought while she discarded another 3-wan.

Seiko made her draw afterwards. She did not receive the tile she needed, but she knew she was nearing her win. Therefore, she discarded the useless 9-wan without hesitation.

"Ron! Riichi, sanankou, aka-dora 5-sou. 4-han 50-fu non-dealer mangan, 8000!" Harusa shouted. "I can get a lot of triplets in my hand too, Seiko-senpai. Closed triplets!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're a strong kid. Good for you," Seiko answered while handing over her point sticks. She might have said that sarcastically, but she was not particularly upset about her loss. Takahara also seemed more relaxed than she had been after the first hanchan, staying seated while glancing at the scores displayed on the table.

"I lost the most points, haven't I? 14700 over the two hanchan?" Takahara said aloud. Saionji glanced curiously towards her.

"I ain't far behind. I lost 10400." Saionji shrugged. "That stupid kid over there is the biggest winner. Plus 19300? I don't know how she pulled it off when she's the lowest ranked here."

"I'm the hidden dark horse!" Harusa exclaimed.

"What hidden dark horse? 'Dark horse' already encompasses the meaning of what you're trying to convey. You ain't hidden unless you dig yourself a hole and jump into it!"

"Waah, Kiyo-senpai is criticizing my language skills now that she can't pick on my mahjong abilities."

"Stop bragging, you stupid brat!"

Harusa and Saionji kept arguing as they made their exit. When Seiko got up as well, Takahara looked up at her.

"This is the first time I've lost to you, Matano."

"I barely gained any points either. You lost to Fuyuki," Seiko answered.

Takahara laughed. "Right. But Fuyuki's motivation is different from mine, so I can't help but compare myself to you instead."

Seiko gave Takahara a questioning stare. The latter took the cue to elaborate on her point. "Aren't you from a rural part of Yamaguchi Prefecture?"

"A fishing island under the jurisdiction of Hagi. What about it?" Seiko replied bluntly. Takahara shook her head.

"No need to be defensive. I just wanted to tell you that I'm also not a Tokyo native. I'm from Bizen, Okayama. My father was a pottery artist, the kind who would adhere to traditional methods and was not awfully productive as far as quantity goes. When he died, my mother insisted on keeping his business afloat. Needless to say, it's not really profitable. Every now and then she would ask her parents and siblings for money else she'd be unable to support my little brother and me. I wished so hard to leave that old life behind. You get what I mean, right?"

Seiko had not known that. Takahara looked every part like a snobby, middle-class Tokyoite – she probably did not want to let anybody know about her past. But why was she telling Seiko now?

"I did come to play mahjong in hopes of one day becoming a pro. Everybody on our island fishes for a living, but the industry is waning, so all the young people have to think about alternative careers," Seiko answered. Takahara nodded knowingly.

"Exactly. I play mahjong as part of my career path. It is not a game to me. Coming to Shiraitodai on a scholarship lets me live a much better life than I did back home, and I'm also gaining connections with some of the country's best players. Even if I fail to become a pro, I can still use these connections to become a mahjong reporter, for instance."

"You're thinking really far ahead, huh?"

"Aren't you the same? But because of this, we can't derive the same enjoyment from mahjong as players like Haneda. I might've never liked it until today."

"Today?"

"Yeah. Weird, isn't it? I was the biggest loser, and yet I can't stop smiling. Fuyuki was suppressing me all throughout the first hanchan, so I had to fight really hard to not lose as many points. I thought I took the lucky seat in the second hanchan since I was Fuyuki's kamicha and Saionji's toimen, but both you and Fuyuki found ways to overcome Saionji's control, and Saionji broke free of Fuyuki once also. It made me realize how much farther I still have to go before I can reach my goal. I thought such realization would make me depressed, but it's the opposite. I'm glad that this will give me motivation to keep playing, and hopefully I'll grow alongside players like you."

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

Team Torahime 175200
Team Ja-no-me 107100
Team Airport-not-Narita 61100
Team Suigyoku 56600

Seiko followed Takahara's gaze towards the numbers on the table's digital displays. She had clung onto her upperclassmen's points, but she had been unable to stop Team Ja-no-me from widening their gap with the other two teams. The old her would consider this a failure. Actually, even now she was slightly worried about what Teru and Sumire would think of this. Still, she was able to push these small worries aside and stand up tall, holding onto her pride.

"You are strong, Takahara. You have my respect," she ended up saying.

"I respect you too, Matano. Let us play again soon."