But...
Ryumonbuchi Toka lounged against the velvet sofa. The silver-threaded pattern on her silk nightgown trembled with the tip of her swinging foot, like a venomous snake lying in wait.
"How much longer are you going to keep revising it, Cousin~?" Ryumonbuchi Toka drawled, her voice syrupy-sweet as candied fruit. Her fingernails scraped softly against the rosewood coffee table.
When Kageyama Sora looked up from the manuscript, his eyes met hers, those blue irises gleaming in the shadows. Her face, which ought to have looked sweet and charming, wore a deliberately innocent expression, though only moments ago she'd been sneaking glances at him with a look that clearly promised mischief.
Ever since Kageyama Sora had reminded Ryumonbuchi Toka that her **was a pink little strawberry, she'd been acting like this.
She'd really been acting like this the whole time.
Put it this way: if a girl kept watching you with a sinister look while you ate, worked, daydreamed, or drank tea—and occasionally let out a strange laugh, as if imagining how pathetic you'd look after she got you—you'd feel pretty uneasy too.
The porcelain cup clinked against its saucer. Kageyama Sora watched the tea leaves swirl and gave a wry smile.
He'd met plenty of noble scions who wore masks, but never anyone as straightforward as Ryumonbuchi Toka.
With her chin propped on her hand, Ryumonbuchi Toka practically had the words "I'm plotting something" written across every inch of her face. Somehow, that only made her real intentions harder to read.
It was the kind of foolish scheming that left him faintly uneasy, wondering whether she might actually be hiding something.
The mischief dancing in her eyes was so pure, like a child brandishing a toy sword. It posed no real threat, yet was all the more troublesome for her having no sense of restraint.
Kageyama Sora could only sigh helplessly. "Aren't you going to sleep or get some rest?"
Ryumonbuchi Toka smiled. "Didn't Cousin say you wanted to meet a mahjong player who relies on luck? She's on her way here..."
"She?" Kageyama Sora was caught off guard. Before this, Ryumonbuchi Toka hadn't said anything about anyone coming over.
As she finished speaking, the villa's front door swung wide open.
Moonlight poured like silver gauze over the villa's ornate iron gate. The night breeze stirred the rose-covered vines, making them rustle.
A petite figure came walking through the moonlight, her golden hair trailing behind her in a glimmering stream. Each step seemed to land on the beat of a heartbeat.
The pleats of her pink JK uniform fluttered lightly with every step, and her white thigh-high stockings looked soft and adorable. A red bow shaped like rabbit ears sat atop her golden hair, swaying faintly as if it had a life of its own.
The girl stopped where light met shadow and lowered her eyes to straighten the bow at her collar. Her lashes cast butterfly-wing shadows beneath her eyes. When she raised her head, the moonlight happened to illuminate her porcelain-doll face: round, almond-shaped eyes, rosy cheeks, and a childlike sweetness at the corners of her lips. Yet the oppressive aura around her sent a chill through the air. "Tohka, you went out of your way to bring me here. Is something important going on?"
She was undeniably short, but even standing still, she radiated a powerful presence and an air of pressure.
When Kageyama Sora received the materials from his assistant, the girl's file had been on the very first page.
He'd also seen information about her in the file just a moment ago.
They said there were three girls loved by the tiles, and Amae Koromo was undoubtedly one of them.
Amae Koromo, born September 6, Virgo, sixteen years old, second-year high school student. She attended Ryumonbuchi High School as a second-year student and, at 127 centimeters tall, was the Mahjong Club's captain. One of the strongest players in the country, she was one of three high school girls whom professional mahjong player Fujita Yasuko had called "children loved by the tiles."
She was also exactly the luck-based mahjong player Ryumonbuchi Toka had mentioned.
The crystal chandelier cast a web of light behind Kageyama Sora as he watched the deliberately stiff line of Ryumonbuchi Toka's mouth.
The moment he saw Amae Koromo, Kageyama Sora finally understood why Ryumonbuchi Toka had been looking at him so strangely all evening, as if she were plotting something and waiting for the show to begin.
Sure enough, the next second, Ryumonbuchi Toka said eagerly, "Koromo... Of course it's important... I brought you a..."
She deliberately drew out the last syllable, like some kind of dangerous signal.
The words "new toy" went unspoken, but Amae Koromo read them clearly from her lips.
Ryumonbuchi Toka turned her gaze to Kageyama Sora. "This is our cousin, and he designed that mahjong game I play. He came all this way because he wants to learn about luck-based mahjong... As his cousin, of course I had to introduce him to a player as skilled as you..."
Amae Koromo's expression turned a little peculiar. As a relative and teammate, she immediately guessed that this cousin called Kageyama Sora must have offended Tohka.
But she didn't mind. After all, he was a new toy.
"Oh...?" Amae Koromo stopped in her tracks. Her hands, which had been adjusting her bow, suddenly froze. She drew out the single syllable, giving it an oddly chilling edge.
When her almond-shaped eyes lifted, Kageyama Sora caught a fleeting sharpness beneath her sweet expression.
The girl tilted her head, and her oversized rabbit ears leaned with it. The ends of her hair brushed her collarbone. "So this is Cousin?"
Kageyama Sora gave a proper introduction. "Kageyama Sora. That's my name."
But... a cute expression appeared on Amae Koromo's face. "Then I look forward to your guidance, Cousin. It just so happens that tonight is... a full moon."
Kageyama Sora stood at just the right moment. "Does the full moon have some special significance?"
The girl suddenly broke into a brilliant smile. Her two rows of pearl-like teeth gleamed coldly beneath the lights. "Because I'm invincible under a full moon."
As her final syllable fell, the moon outside was swallowed completely by the clouds, leaving only the shifting crimson in the girl's eyes.
Chapter Four: Under the Sea
The warm light in the mahjong room fell in delicate flecks across Kageyama Sora's handsome face. He ran his fingers along the rim of his bone china cup, then turned toward Ryumonbuchi Toka across the table. "By the usual rules of mahjong, if we're playing with four people, aren't we missing one key player?"
The cowlick atop Ryumonbuchi Toka's head bobbed cheerfully, and she smiled. "Just wait—"
Before she could finish, the carved wooden door gave a crisp creak, and a breeze scented with spring wisteria swept into the room, carrying the faint clink of metal.
A girl in a maid uniform stood silhouetted against the light. Golden flecks danced in her hair as she walked.
Her short black hair was tied into a neat little ponytail, and the bright green satin bow in it fluttered in the warm breeze, as if it might take flight at any moment. Her sapphire-blue eyes reflected the soft light filling the room. As her long, thick lashes fluttered, a sly smile played at the slightly upturned corners of her eyes.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" The girl bounced in, stirring up a gust of air. The chain around her ankle brushed the floor with a faint scrape.
When she raised her hand, the black chain wrapped around her wrist glinted with a cold metallic sheen, an eerie yet captivating contrast to the pink lace bow on her skirt.
She gave a playful curtsy. The orange star stickers on her cheek sparkled faintly. "Nice to meet you! I'm Kunihiro Hajime, Miss Tohka's most loyal maid!"
Kageyama Sora looked at the chains on Kunihiro Hajime's hands. "That outfit certainly makes a lasting impression."
Before he could finish, Kunihiro Hajime boldly lifted her skirt. The chain traced a hard, cold arc beneath the lights. "They're my medal! Miss Tohka put them on me herself!"
She blinked her sapphire-like eyes, her tone as light as if she were chatting about the weather.
As Kunihiro Hajime sat down, Kageyama Sora turned to Ryumonbuchi Toka and remarked sincerely, "You sure know how to have fun."
Ryumonbuchi Toka broke into a fit of coughing, the tips of her ears turning suspiciously red. "Don't listen to her!" She frantically stirred her long-cold coffee, the spoon tapping against the cup with a crisp clink.
Kageyama Sora knew, of course, that Kunihiro Hajime's chains weren't the result of some unusual kink of Ryumonbuchi Toka's. He'd already read the files on the members of Ryumonbuchi Toka's Mahjong Club.
As an important member of the club, Kunihiro Hajime wore the chains because she'd been disqualified from a competition for cheating in elementary school. She'd given up mahjong after that, until becoming Ryumonbuchi Toka's personal maid. She wore the chains to keep herself from cheating...
At that moment, Amae Koromo spoke at just the right time. "All right, can we start?"
"Of course."
The mahjong game began.
To Kageyama Sora's surprise, he found that he couldn't get ready to win at all. He couldn't even call a tile to form a meld. The others were in the same predicament: no one could call tiles or get ready to win...
The game fell into a state of deadlock.
Then, with only two rounds of tiles left,
Amae Koromo suddenly declared riichi. On the very last tile... she won with Under the Sea.
The mahjong tiles clacked crisply against the table. Amae Koromo gently pinched the last tile between her fingertips. Her pink lips pressed together, and as she turned the tile over, she declared, "Under the Sea!"
The mahjong tile in Kageyama Sora's hand smacked against the table with a sharp crack, scattering a fine dusting of debris.
He looked at Amae Koromo, then broke into a faint smile and raised a long finger in an emphatic thumbs-up. "What a brilliant Under the Sea!"
Amae Koromo lowered her head, hiding her astonishment. Her hair fluttered when she abruptly looked up.
The warm yellow chandelier light gilded her porcelain-white cheeks. In her amber eyes, Kageyama Sora's sincere praise was reflected. It was as if someone had finally treated her as a genuine opponent at the table, rather than the terrifying "Full Moon Koromo" or "Mahjong Demon King."
Memories surged through her mind. In countless past games, when her opponents faced her Under the Sea, they had either turned deathly pale or trembled as they threw down their tiles and conceded.
Their frightened screams and despairing tears now overlapped with the smiling man before her, making them seem absurdly laughable.
"But that was only the first round." Amae Koromo looked away, unconsciously rubbing her fingernails over the raised patterns on the tiles. "Once you've lost ten games in a row, you'll know this isn't luck. It's absolute strength."
She lifted the corners of her lips in a faint, challenging smile. The red bow in her hair swayed with the movement, silently taunting him.
The game continued, and the scent of tea drifting through the air grew heavier beneath the tension.
Amae Koromo's fingers flew, and the wall of tiles rustled beneath her hands as the Under the Sea wins came one after another.
Every time she won by self-draw with Under the Sea, it seemed to proclaim the legend of her invincibility.
And Kageyama Sora began to understand what was happening.
He realized that not being able to get ready to win or call tiles in the first round hadn't been a fluke. It was... the norm.
Amae Koromo always did this. In situations like these, she won with Under the Sea on the final round.
The steam rising from the tea on the table struck the still air and condensed into tiny droplets that trickled down the sides of the cups.
Kageyama Sora's fingers unconsciously rubbed the raised patterns on the backs of the tiles. The thirteen mahjong tiles before him were like moths caught in a spiderweb. No matter how he rearranged them, he couldn't escape the deadlock of being unable to get ready to win.
The discard piles in the calling areas were stacked in neat rows, like a gravestone slowly growing taller. Every tile laid down came with a dull tap, pounding against everyone's taut nerves.
Amae Koromo lowered her eyes to the wall of tiles. The cherry blossom ornament in her hair trembled faintly with her slow breaths.
When only the final "under-the-sea tile" remained in the wall, her fingertips suddenly glowed with a lustrous light, like phosphorescence shimmering in the deep. The instant she turned the tile over, it struck the bone tile with a clear, ringing sound, like a blade cutting through viscous darkness. "Under the Sea."
She smiled as she spoke those four words. The light shifting in her amber eyes was like moonlight reflected on a sea stirred by hidden currents.
The air grew thicker, as if the pressure of the deep sea had flooded the room.
Every shuffle of the tiles grew distant and blurred, replaced by the pounding of heartbeats against their eardrums. Amae Koromo seemed to cast a cold beam of light into the despairing deep, trapping everyone in the pitch-dark abyss of the game as they watched hope get crushed bit by bit.
After Amae Koromo won with Under the Sea again, she looked at Kageyama Sora. "Cousin, are you getting used to it? Do you want to keep going!?"
She looked small and adorable, but her words carried a suffocating pressure.
Even Ryumonbuchi Toka and Kunihiro Hajime had fallen into a certain mood, no longer joking or fooling around.
But... despite being the one most singled out, Kageyama Sora simply smiled faintly in response. "Of course we should keep going... I've never seen such an interesting style of play before. Koromo, are you really an ordinary person, and not some kind of magical girl?"
Chapter Five: Absolute Data
"Of course we should keep going... I've never seen such an interesting style of play before. Koromo, are you really an ordinary person, and not some kind of magical girl?"
Kageyama Sora was genuinely curious. She made all her opponents unable to win, call, or claim tiles, then won herself with Under the Sea. Wasn't that kind of control over the game basically magic?
It was just like the kind of ability you'd see in Murderous Tennis, wasn't it?
So was Kageyama Sora really living in a fantasy world?
At Kageyama Sora's heartfelt question, the mahjong tile in Amae Koromo's fingers suddenly began to hum faintly.
She tilted her head as she studied Kageyama Sora. The red bow in her hair trembled with the movement, like a flickering flame in the warm light. "Magical girl? So that's how Cousin sees me?"
Her final syllable lingered, and her sharp-edged smile nearly became tangible.
Ryumonbuchi Toka choked, sending tiny ripples across the coffee in her bone china cup. "A magical girl? Cousin, you're pretty whimsical!"
She hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth. Kunihiro Hajime, ever the capable maid, immediately came to help. "How can you be so careless, Tohka..."
Because of this little mishap, much of the oppressive pressure Amae Koromo had deliberately created vanished in an instant.
Kageyama Sora smiled. "Keep going?"
Amae Koromo hadn't expected Kageyama Sora to still be willing to play with her after she'd singled him out like that. Her mood improved a little. "If Cousin wants to, of course."
A new round began in the suffocating stillness. The warm light in the mahjong room was broken into mottled fragments by the shadows of wisteria, falling across the tense shoulders of all four players.
A fine mist rose from the rosewood table, whether from the steaming tea or the sweat gathering in their palms.
Kageyama Sora's knuckles brushed softly against the backs of the tiles. With his eyes lowered, he arranged them with the precision of a machine, lining all thirteen up into a flawless formation. His fingertips measured the distance between each tile again and again—a mathematical code only he could read.
Amae Koromo tapped the table lightly with her fingertips, and a lustrous glow spread across the wall of tiles like ripples.
As before, it was as if everyone had sunk underwater, drawn down into the depths and placed under Amae Koromo's control.
When she discarded her first tile, the entire game plunged into the familiar deep-sea whirlpool.
Ryumonbuchi Toka stared at her messy hand and let out a sigh. Her fingers unconsciously stirred her coffee, and the droplets on the cup slid past her trembling wrist and into her collar.
Kunihiro Hajime twisted her chains into a metal collar and draped it around her neck, her sapphire eyes clouded with boredom... Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she'd been so thoroughly crushed by the game that she was about to strangle herself.
When it was Kageyama Sora's turn to draw, his long fingers hovered above the stack of tiles. He discarded a five of circles.
"Pon!" Ryumonbuchi Toka's silver teaspoon clattered into her coffee cup, splashing brown droplets across the tablecloth in an irregular circle.
Ryumonbuchi Toka herself was astonished that she'd managed to call the tile.
After all, under Amae Koromo's control of the game, Ryumonbuchi Toka shouldn't have been able to call a tile at all.
And yet... Kageyama Sora's discard had let her do it.
Before you continue