It was Shirou's turn to draw.
Nine Stripes?
Shirou brushed his hand upward from below.
It was actually Seven Stripes.
Shirou casually tossed it out.
"Kong." Lani smiled faintly. "Nine Stripes."
A kong was also a way to score. That meant Shirou had already given Lani a few points. And Nine Stripes was a key tile—how could it be in Lani's hand?
Shirou remained impassive, his face like a poker mask.
"One Stripes." Rin frowned. This round was going to be hard to play.
"Pung." Lani casually discarded Three Stripes.
Rin drew a tile and discarded Five Characters.
Shirou casually drew a tile. It was One Stripes. That put him at Hearing the winning tile. But there was only one tile he could win on: Nine Stripes. If anyone discarded another Nine Stripes, it would become an Absolute Dead Tile. A perfect starting hand would turn into trash.
With Nine Stripes added to his hand, and another pair gathered, he could form the legendary Thirteen Orphans.
Thirteen Orphans referred to the set of East, South, West, North, Center, White, Green, and ones and nines from each suit. It was worth eighty-eight fan. Drawing such a hand was nearly impossible.
But without Nine Stripes, it was meaningless.
"Three Stripes."
The tiles slowly dwindled.
Shirou drew another East Wind. All he lacked was Nine Stripes.
But he did not have much time left.
About ten tiles.
Would Nine Stripes be among them?
Lani had already punged twice and seemed to be Hearing the winning tile as well. Hakuno was clumsy and had clearly never played this game before, while Rin's tightly furrowed brow showed that her hand did not seem very good either.
"Three Characters."
"Pung." Rin casually discarded a tile.
Only fifteen tiles remained. Even if he lost, he could not