Riichi!
Pon.
Ron. 1,300.
Yes.
Another quick end to the hand...
In a game where winning one in four times is lucky as it is,
this gets rough...
The Nationals
East Hand 3
Dealer: Takimi Haru
Tsumo.
1,600. 3,200.
I figured it was around there.
Hand 7: Attention
She was in tenpai?
She never declares riichi.
Her play records from the past were also always like that.
It's not as if she's as bad as Momo-chan,
since you just can't tell she's in tenpai,
but to me, she's still the biggest mystery here.
East Hand 4
Dealer: Kakura Kurumi
I guess I'll declare riichi.
Chi.
That's it.
Ron.
So your thing is to end it with a cheap hand when someone's in tenpai?
It seemed to work on Kiyosumi,
but don't treat me the same way.
I'm in a different league.
Who cares? Just tell us the points you get!
It's 5,200.
It's always been hard to read the person from Himematsu.
The person from Kiyosumi has also been getting harder to read since the first half.
It looks like Haruru is struggling a bit.
She's doing her best to make it through the match.
It looks like that's not really working with Himematsu.
South Hand 1
Dealer: Takei Hisa
All right!
Her confidence is amazing, but it's not just that.
She's the team captain at a prestigious Kansai school.
In last year's inter-high and the spring tournament,
she was the only one who always had a positive score.
She's got the results to justify her confidence. And she shows no hesitation.
Jealous doesn't even cover how I feel.
I'm not nervous anymore.
I'm getting back into my game, as well.
Still, it's not going as I'd like.
It's been a while.
Damn, this is fun!
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody...
for bringing me here.
It's been worth the various waits.
Maybe I should wait here as well.
I'm used to waiting, after all.
South Hand 4
Dealer: Kakura Kurumi
South Player: Takei Hisa
A live tile.
Kan.
An open kan on a wind worth no yaku?
Four dora?!
She discarded a two-tile sequence with dora and had two possible ways to complete it...
Is she going for a character honitsu?
We finally get to see some characters.
And it's the red 5 that she just drew.
If she had an ittsuu,
she should've kept the red 5 in the 4-5-6 sequence.
The honor tiles are out.
There are no 1 of circles left, so she can't have a sanshoku, either.
The most likely hand is a character honitsu.
If it's not that, it's a chanta!
Himematsu is wasting no time in copying the 5 of characters.
I can't call...
Sorry.
Whether it's a chanta or a honitsu, this'll make it through!
No! She isn't that honest.
She's got bad manners.
She might have discarded the red 5 and still have a normal 5 in her hand!
I'll play a safe tile here.
Tsumo.
3,000. 6,000.
It really was an ittsuu.
Why didn't she go for a honitsu?
Miyamori Girls' (Iwate) Third Player - 3rd Year Kakura Kurumi
Thank you.
Himematsu High School (South Osaka) Third Player - 3rd Year Atogo Hiroe
Whew, it's over.
Eisui Girls' (Kagoshima) Third Player - 1st Year Takimi Haru
Good game.
Kiyosumi High School (Nagano) Third Player - 3rd Year Takei Hisa
Thank you.
The third players' match is over!
The prestigious Himematsu
shoots from last place straight to first,
thanks to the performance of its ace, Atago Hiroe.
She's the only one to finish with a positive score.
In second place is Kiyosumi.
In third is Miyamori, and in fourth is Eisui.
All schools have fallen down one place.
Himematsu has taken the lead,
but the point differences from second place down are small.
There's still plenty of potential for a storm.
Yes.
Near the last hand, I was able to play pretty much the way I'd hoped.
If I had been able to play like this from the beginning...
Well, no point in kicking myself.
At first, I was hesitant just to walk up to this chair...
You guys aren't going back?
I'm not your child or grandchild,
so why don't you just let me be?
I just feel like sitting here for a bit longer. Weird, huh?
Creepy.
Kiyosumi
Captain's still not back...
There's no point in waiting, so I'll go now.
Keep your head on straight.
Good luck!
Tear 'em apart!
I will!
There she is!
It's Haramura Nodoka!
The champion of the inter-middle tournament!
Will her skill prove to be enough for the high school level?
Finally appearing in the inter-high, here's Haramura Nodoka!
Her first appearance, eh?
I was all prepared for her in the first match,
but it was all in vain since it ended after someone
got bumped out during the third players' match.
I really hope to see something this time.
But the teams that get adored like idols tend to lose, right?
Like Karouto High School from Hiroshima.
Expectations are riding on the fourth players' match.
In the lower left of the screen is the time until the match begins.
Haramura is so popular. I wonder why.
The one that we need to pay attention to is less Haramura,
and more Eisui's Usuzumi.
Eisui's winning pattern in the prefectural preliminaries
was that Jindai and Usuzumi raked in the points
while Iwato shut out the opponents.
Jindai's style varies,
as if she's testing out several play styles.
But Usuzumi Hatsumi is strong, without any of that variation.
Kinue-chan will have to do her best.
I believe she will manage just fine.
Hey, Kinu.
Sis!
Well? I did it, right?
Yeah! That was amazing! We're at the top now!
Well, it was to be expected with my skill.
Now it's your turn.
Yep!
Good luck!
Kinu seemed tense or something.
Will she be okay?
Eisui Girls'
All right, Princess. I'm off.
We're 24,700 points behind first place.
As the fifth player, it would really help me
if you could take care of that.
Just leave it to me!
Eisui Girls'
Will Eisui's Usuzumi make her appearance here?
She is just as attractive a player as Haramura.
Yes. Among Eisui's players, Jindai tends to get most of the attention,
but Usuzumi's high scores are noteworthy as well.
Huh? She's not coming out.
Here we have Haramura again!
It's Haramura-san!
We're lucky this time.
Of the nine gods, Jindai Komaki had summoned a weaker one.
And thankfully, Usuzumi Hatsumi is the fourth player.
This is just right for Sae.
We're in third place and 7,700 points behind second place.
If we don't get to at least second place, we won't make it to the semifinals.
What's more, Eisui's Usuzumi Hatsumi is in fourth place.
I have to do everything I can to keep her there!
Captain.
Good work.
Oh, sorry.
I leave the rest to you.
Okay.
That's Eisui's fourth player.
You didn't know?
Of course not!
"I don't care about the other teams."
"I'm just going to do my best, regardless of who my opponents are!"
This happens because you say things like that.
And he's down.
Etopen!
Huh?
Oh, that was yours?
Sorry! It kinda creeped me out, so I just... I'm sorry.
He's okay!
Good.
Ridiculous.
I'm really sorry!
Oh, no... He's fine, really, so...
It's not a matter of fine or not.
Right...
Has there been some kind of problem?
Himematsu's Atago Kinue is apologizing to Haramura,
but it seems like Haramura doesn't mind?
I suppose it's not an issue, then.
I love the way they forgive each other. They're acting like true high schoolers.
Kinu was a goalie in the middle school soccer club.
Being kicked by someone like that can't be fun.
Earlier, she was way too tense,
so if it got rid of some of that, I guess it's a good thing.
I'm sorry, too. I lost so many points...
Huh? Mahjong's a game where even the strongest players lose points.
It's fine.
Right. Thank you.
Nodoka, I'm counting on you.
I hope that thought won't be corrupted.
The fourth players' match will begin shortly.
Playing for Eisui Girls' is third year Usuzumi Hatsumi.
In the Kagoshima prefectural preliminaries, she broke regional records by wide margins.
Eisui Girls' (Kagoshima) Fourth Player - 3rd Year Usuzumi Hatsumi
This player packs a lot of firepower!
Good luck.
Himematsu High School's Atago Hiroe has passed the baton to her sister, Atago Kinue.
Himematsu High School (South Osaka) Fourth Player - 2nd Year Atago Kinue
Good luck.
Miyamori Girls' Usuzawa Sae
Miyamori Girls' (Iwate) Fourth Player - 3rd Year Usuzawa Sae
shut down Makapi High School's Mekaru in the first round match.
Good luck.
And from Kiyosumi High School: Haramura Nodoka.
Kiyosumi High School (Nagano) Fourth Player - 1st Year Haramura Nodoka
Last year, she was the champion of the inter-middle individual tournament.
Good luck.
I wonder what her strategy against these
older students from strong schools will be.
We've reached the climax:
the fourth players' match everybody will want to pay attention to
is now beginning!
South Player
Haramura Nodoka
This is my first time playing
on the national level as a high schooler.
The difference from last year is that
my opponents are all older than me.
And if I lose, we'll all be separated...
I'm sorry.
Worrying won't do me any good. The only choice I have now...
is to do what I always do, as I always do.
Wings?
This is...
This is way earlier than Suehara-senpai said it would be!
Touka! Nonoka's...
Yes. It seems she has awakened already.
Good morning, Nodocchi.
Show the entire nation what you are capable of, and hold nothing back!
It feels like the atmosphere's changed a bit.
Kiyosumi's fourth player...
That's weird. Her face is red, too.
It looks like she's got a cold.
Even though this is just like Suehara-senpai said,
it still bothers me.
Her body temperature went up?
Nothing seems out of the ordinary, though...
Earlier, it seemed like something covered her for a moment.
Pon.
Is the shrine priestess collecting bamboo?
Bamboo's the dora... scary...
There's nothing more I want than to add
to the points my sister gathered,
but protecting these is my highest priority!
Play in the team tournament?
I'm just a first year.
Yes. It's just a fall tournament, not the inter-high.
So no need to worry too much.
In the fall, we can switch around the order freely.
You can experiment a bit in regional tournaments.
Then I'll try to not be too excited.
No, be excited. Your wish came true.
I see. I'll be able to play on the same team as my sister.
The older sister who was admitted on a scholarship
after making a huge splash at the middle school tournaments,
and the younger sister who took general entrance procedures to follow her.
You've caught up a bit, Kinu-chan.
No, I'm still way behind!
Fall aside, I wasn't able to pull my weight at all in the spring tournament, either.
And after I was finally chosen as a starting member...
I can't accept that Himematsu is fine finishing fifth in the spring tournament.
If I had been better,
our team would have been much higher!
I'm going to contribute to this one!
Riichi.
As I say that, the dealer declares riichi!
Tsumo.
3,000. 6,000.
Huh? You?
I couldn't feel any offensive aura, or any power, for that matter.
She just won.
Almost like she's a machine or something... like she's not even human.
Nonoka won the hand!
Yes, anything less wouldn't be Haramura Nodoka.
It's a haneman.
That was a pretty smooth win...
That's indeed Haramura Nodoka's style,
but I feel like she immediately shifted into top gear.
Kiyosumi High School (Nagano) Fourth Player - 1st Year Haramura Nodoka
In the prefectural preliminaries, Haramura in this state
had basically perfect tenpai efficiency.
However, I believe it took quite some time
for her to reach this state back then.
Did she improve that in preparation for the nationals?
East Hand 2
Dealer: Haramura Nodoka
Ron!
3,900.
Yes.
All right. I took some points from second place.
East Hand 3
Dealer: Usuzumi Hatsumi
No tenpai.
Tenpai.
No tenpai here.
East Hand 4
Carried Bonus 1
Dealer: Atago Kinue
Now...
Eisui is the north player...
All right, Usuzumi is the north player.
Good luck, Kinu-chan.
It's time, isn't it?
Yes.
My monocle fogged up. I guess that means it's coming.
All right, come get some, shrine priestess of Akuseki!
Next time:
Fortress
What's the probability of getting a suushiihou?
[Suushiihou: Three each of all four winds, or three each of three winds plus a pair of the fourth]
About 1 in 10,000.
Roughly the same chance as an amateur golfer getting a hole in one.
Incidentally, if it's a pro,
it's the same chance as getting a daisangen.
I have to tell our captain!
Please watch next time!