PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.
HxM AMV by yours truly: tinyurl. com/ 2b7k9q7
Mihoko packed everything she needed into her duffel bag, consulted her checklist several times over, and called the other regulars to give them a reminder about the meeting time the next day — as well as gently reminding them to sleep early to get a good night's rest. With that done, she moved on to some last-minute minutiae, writing down the phone number and address of the training camp for her parents in case she could not be reached by cell phone.
Mihoko surveyed her room briefly and confirmed that she was all set. Pleased that everything was in order, she sat down in her swivel chair and let out a small, relieved sigh.
By all means, she should be in bed already — but she was unable to follow her own advice.
After a moment of deliberation, Mihoko tugged open the topmost drawer of her desk and took out a small package. She slid the cardboard from the plastic and took the pair of pink cell phone charms, dangling them from outstretched hands. What could've possibly possessed her into buying them?
Her brow furrowed in consternation as the sales clerk's words came to her mind — words that had set her heart racing as she impulsively bought the trinkets. The strings entwined between her fingers and she closed her hands into fists.
It — this was madness.
Resting her elbows on the desk and leaning forward slightly, Mihoko let the two charms draw close to one another. After a long moment of abstraction, she pulled the magnetic kissing peaches apart and stilled them in her hands. She stared at the two cute, rotund little peaches.
And as though compelled herself, she brought them closer once again with a small metallic clink.
—
"Fukuji-san?" Hisa peeked into the Kazekoshi resting room. "There you are."
"Ueno-san?" Mihoko looked on with slight surprise. It had barely been half an hour since Ueno-san declared three hours of free time for the participating schools.
"I've been looking for you. Can I have a moment?" Hisa tilted her head slightly at the towels Mihoko was in the midst of folding.
"Ah, yes, just one second," Mihoko said as she folded the last of them and gathered the few face towels in her arms. "I was just about to bring these over to the main room. I thought they might come in handy for our bedridden guests."
Soaking the towels in cold water and using them as makeshift compresses would probably help ease their lightheadedness; the flush on their faces had hardly receded when she last checked on them.
Hisa suggested, "Then why don't we talk while we walk there?"
Mihoko nodded and followed Ueno-san out the door. She slid the door close behind her.
Her wish to see Ueno-san in a yukata had been fulfilled in a roundabout way, but the thought of an outing with her to a summer festival stayed on her mind. Would Ueno-san set her hair up or leave it down? She flit her gaze toward Ueno-san's auburn hair and tried to imagine how she'd look with an upswept hairstyle.
Ueno-san fell back to walk side by side with her, and Mihoko turned her eyes away, toying with the corner of a face towel.
"If you're free after this," Hisa started, "would you like to join me along with Kanbara-san and Ryuumonbuchi-san? I want to go over a few things and consult the presidents from each club to speed things up tomorrow morning and this evening — since we're losing a good chunk of today."
"Of course. I have no problem with that."
"Good. I was banking on that." Hisa broke out into an impish grin and stage-whispered, "That's why I gathered everyone else first before asking you."
Mihoko raised her eyebrows slightly. "Oh?"
"Hey, admit it," Hisa laughed. "You know you weren't going to decline."
"Well..."
"See? But I did think it might be a nuisance to ask everyone right after I declared free time. I was worried about Tsuruga's reply most; Ryuumonbuchi seemed easy enough to convince."
"Really? I would've thought..."
"You just need to know the right buttons to press," Hisa said mysteriously, "to get your desired results." Then Hisa smacked her head as she remembered something. "Ah, but do you mind if I head back to let them know first? It took me awhile to find you, so they've been waiting..."
"No problem. Where are we meeting?"
"At the lounge in front of the reception area," Hisa replied. "You know where those green cushy armchairs are?"
Mihoko nodded. "I remember seeing them. I'll be there right after I check on Bundou-san and Tsuyama-san."
Hisa shook her head. "I'm just going to assume Tsuyama is that girl from Tsuruga — I don't know how you remember everyone's names."
"It's not that hard," Mihoko demurred.
"I only remember the names of exceptional opponents," Hisa jived. "You don't see me forgetting 'Amae Koromo' or 'Fukuji Mihoko', do you?"
"You," Mihoko swatted Ueno-san on her arm lightly. "And besides, I reviewed everyone's names last night."
"But you've got a great memory to remember my name from three years ago," Hisa said with a nudge. "Even though I go by a different one now."
Mihoko felt obliged to ask the question and said hesitantly, "Would you rather I call you Takei-san?"
They reached the hallway that branched off to the lobby and stopped.
"Hm? No, it's fine," Hisa waved it off. "I don't mind. It's a bit nostalgic, and it's kind of fun to see people look at us oddly when you call me Ueno."
So she was off the mark.
"Do they do that?"
"Yeah, like today. You haven't noticed?" With a grin and a wave, Ueno-san took off at a brisk pace to see the other two club presidents.
Mihoko watched her go. Ueno-san's response was very normal and casual, and Mihoko had to wonder if she were overthinking things. Perhaps the truth to her sudden disappearance and name change wasn't nearly as dramatic as she had come to believe.
Since Ueno-san was living apart from her sister, the logical explanation would be a family divorce. It would explain the name change, but it did not explain giving up on the nationals halfway through or abstaining from the qualifiers for the last few years.
But there was no way to know unless she could muster the courage to ask — to ask for the reason why their reunion was delayed by three long years.
Mihoko sighed.
But she was glad she could still call her Ueno-san, as it warmed her to think they had something just between them. And the thought of calling her 'Takei-san' sounded too stiff, too formal, too foreign to her ears. It wasn't as though she could call her by her first name; even if Ueno-san were willing, Mihoko doubted she could get the words out.
But to be on a first-name basis with Ueno-san...
Hisa — Hisa — Hisa-san. And she'd call me —
Her face heated at the thought.
—
Mihoko had yet to have a chance to speak with the club presidents of Ryuumonbuchi and Tsuruga directly. Everyone had gone into the hot springs earlier and conversed amicably, but most of the interactions had been restricted to their own respective schools. She herself mostly conversed with her regulars, and Kana, who was more excited than usual, had kept her occupied. Her contact with Ueno-san in the hot springs had, unfortunately, been limited to glancing in her general direction a few times — and her gaze did stray, occasionally.
She spotted Ueno-san in an instant when she arrived at the lounge. The other two presidents were there, and Mihoko was glad to see the seat beside Ueno-san vacant.
"Good afternoon," Mihoko greeted.
Ueno-san gave her a small smile and Mihoko responded in kind.
Ryuumonbuchi-san gave her a dignified nod, while Kanbara-san laughed and gave a small wave as she drew closer.
"Takei here," Satomi gestured, "said you went to check up on Mukkii on your way. Thanks."
"It's no problem," Mihoko said as she inclined her head. "Amae-san was sleeping soundly as well," she said, addressing Ryuumonbuchi-san.
"Thank you," Touka murmured, uncrossing her arms.
Ryuumonbuchi-san seemed to relax into a more friendly and approachable position upon that brief interaction. Mihoko took her seat at the armchair.
"Now," Hisa began, "I'm sure we all know each other already, but why don't we do a brief self-introduction to start things off?" Everyone nodded or murmured their assent. "Okay then, I'll start — my name's Takei Hisa, and I'm a third-year from Kiyosumi in backwater Zushi. I haven't been participating in any mahjong tournaments for a couple years, but I'm excited to get back into it with my club. I'm looking forward to spending the next few days with you all."
Hisa inclined her head in Mihoko's direction.
"I'm Fukuji Mihoko, a third-year as well, captain of the Kazekoshi mahjong club. I've been dabbling and participating in mahjong tournaments and events since middle school, but I still have a lot to learn. I look forward to working with everyone."
Satomi ran a hand through her short hair. "Wahaha... I don't have any fancy or formal introduction, but I'm Kanbara Satomi from Tsuruga. I'm still the club prez if you're splitting hairs, but I'm getting past my prime, so I've passed the baton to a bright young upstart, future of tomorrow!" Satomi held her magnificent pose for a moment before sighing, "With that said, Mukkii's out for the count right now, so I'm standing in for my stand-in."
"First term's barely over," Hisa said mildly. "Are you sure it's not because you want to skip out on your duties, Kanbara Satomi-san?"
"Have I been found out?" she said with a wide grin. "You're half right, but the main reason is to let Mukkii get used to the role. I'd feel sorry pushing everything on her at once when both me and Yumi-chin are graduating, you know?"
Hisa gave a knowing grin to Satomi's response.
It was then Ryuumonbuchi-san's turn.
"As you all know, I'm Ryuumonbuchi Touka, from Ryuumonbuchi," Touka said imperiously. "In our club, we're all second-years, and while we didn't place in the nationals this year," she said with a frown in Ueno-san's direction, "we'll be back next year — with a vengeance. Now, what did you want to see us about, Kiyosumi?"
Hisa cleared her throat. "Well, since this is mahjong we're talking about, our training menus aren't about training stamina or strength like sports clubs, but rather how we adapt to different playing styles or how we play off them." Hisa slid several sheets of paper along the coffee table and gestured for the others to take a look. "With that in mind, here's a basic schedule of what we could do during our few days here. I tried to keep the schedule ambitious but within reason."
Mihoko took a copy of the schedule and looked through it as Ueno-san continued talking.
"There's time for leisure and relaxing in the schedule, of course, but if possible, I'd like to have a nice, early start each morning. What do you all think?"
"We're fine with waking up early for a few days," Satomi offered. "We got up at the crack of dawn to get to Yokohama in time for the qualifiers no problem."
"We did too," Hisa commented, "since the early trains come so infrequently."
"That's the thing with being from no-name schools," Satomi griped. "And while I'd rather spend my summer vacation mornings blissfully asleep, you gotta make some sacrifices for good ol' mahjong once in a while. Right, Ryuumonbuchi?" Satomi leaned into the armrest on her right and grinned at Touka.
"Naturally, some sacrifices are to be made for mahjong," Touka declared. "And while I'm all for an early start, it's impossible for Koromo," she said flatly. "She gets cranky if she's woken up before ten on a good day — assuming anyone other than Hagiyoshi can even wake her — but I don't think we should expect her until eleven or some time in the afternoon."
"Even if it's Amae Koromo, I don't think we can hold off everyone's training till then," Hisa frowned. "What do you say to letting her sleep in while the rest of you wake up a bit earlier? I'm sure we would all like to have a chance to play against Ryuumonbuchi."
"Yes, that's fine," Touka affirmed after a moment's consideration. "But could you keep the scheduled time discreet? Koromo will want to wake up early if she knows everyone else is going to be up."
"I understand. We can notify our club members in our own rooms," Hisa nodded to Satomi and Mihoko, "and you can let the rest of your members know in private."
"The silly girl doesn't play nearly as well when she's half-asleep either," Touka said with a wry half-smile.
"And what about you, Fukuji-san? A penny for your thoughts," Hisa said affably.
Mihoko slipped into her role as Kazekoshi's Captain easily. "We're fine with the start time as well, but perhaps we could fit in something extra at night after the scheduled times," Mihoko said, pointing to the timetable, "for the participants who don't sleep as early?"
"Oh, that's a good idea."
"I agree. I'm a bit of a night owl myself," Satomi chimed in.
"That's only if they still feel like playing after a full day of mahjong though," Mihoko added cautiously.
"No, I think it's great," Hisa said. "And it's not mandatory, so whoever feels up to it can join in. I think it'll work."
"Tomoki stays up till ungodly hours and needs little sleep," Touka interjected, "so you'll have her at the very least."
"Okay, great. I'll just make a note of it here." Hisa quickly pencilled in a note on her copy of the schedule. "Next on the agenda is who'll play who. If you look at the schedule, I've got blocks dedicated to scheduled matches and to unstructured matches. It might be a good idea to set up some matches pinpointing our members' weaknesses. So if we can draft up a schedule for now —"
"We'll be one short in the mornings with Koromo out."
"Not to worry. A special guest," Hisa looked at Mihoko and raised her eyebrows conspiratorially, "can fill in for her in the mornings. And I'm sure some people will be tired in the afternoons and evenings, and we won't have to keep all five tables running at once."
"Wahaha, you've really thought this out."
"Hey, it pays to be prepared," Hisa said cheerily.
It took around another hour and half before they ironed out all the details. Everyone had different ideas on who should play against whom, and some — were more vocal than others. In the end, they all agreed to Kanbara-san's suggestion that each club president would be in charge of drafting up potential opponents for their own members, while each of the presidents' opponents would be determined by the other three. Any personal preferences or desire for rematches could be resolved on their own time during the blocks for unstructured matches.
After that was agreed upon, they spent most of the time meshing the match-ups into complementary groups of four. Priority was given to interschool matches, given the logic that intramural matches were much easier to schedule outside of the training camp.
When all was said and done, to her it meant there were relatively few scheduled matches with Ueno-san. They were both considered powerhouse members — especially considering their respective rankings during the individuals — and thus were often split across the board to prevent power imbalances. The times they were scheduled together were largely limited to ones where four powerhouse players could be assembled together in a single match.
But that was okay; they could always schedule matches on their own. Ueno-san had clearly expressed interest in playing with her, which made asking a lot easier. And depending on whether she could manage to find two more opponents or not, asking Ueno-san to play at her house after the camp didn't seem too impossible or farfetched either. Zushi and Kamakura were fairly close to one another, so transportation wouldn't be a problem.
And she was fairly sure Kana would agree to come. The girl loved mahjong and loved the club so much — playing against Ueno-san would be a very good opportunity for her. It would go a long way in helping her in preparing for national-level play. Mihoko felt it regrettable that someone as promising as Kana had never had the chance to participate in the nationals.
She fell in stride with Ueno-san while the other two walked together a few paces ahead. Ryuumonbuchi-san was asking after Touyoko Momoko, probably because of how the vice-captain match had played out during the qualifier team tournament. The hands Ryuumonbuchi-san had dealt into were extremely uncharacteristic, given her cautious playing style. Mihoko made a note to herself to watch out for Tsuruga's Touyoko-san during matches.
Meanwhile, Mihoko thought brightly, she would enjoy her time with Ueno-san.