The Flush of Victory / Comforting Hara Murano

Kageyama Sora and Hisa Takei, who could directly see the shape of Saki Miyanaga's hand, noticed it, as did her opponents at the table.

The next second, with a crisp slap, the riichi stick struck the table. Haramura Nodoka chose riichi without hesitation, changing the course of the game.

Nodoka's move shocked everyone.

"Haramura Nodoka... riichi?" Mako Someya pushed up her glasses. "Nodoka really played dirty there..."

Yuki Kataoka even wore the mischievous, devilish expression of someone enjoying the show.

The game had been proceeding by the book, just as expected, but now the rhythm was broken. A challenging spark appeared in Nodoka's usually gentle eyes. She wanted to see how Saki Miyanaga would respond.

And as the one being targeted...

The usually unruffled Saki Miyanaga looked startled. She'd had plenty of ways to win before, but now there was only one.

It had become... much harder.

Saki lowered her eyes to her tiles. The tile pinched between her index and middle fingers spun once between them, then returned to its place.

Kageyama Sora watched Nodoka's seemingly calm but stubborn expression, admiring the girl he'd once been intimate with all the more.

She looked gentle, but she was especially stubborn in some ways.

What he was even more curious about was how far Saki would go in the face of Nodoka's blatant "challenge."

The next second, Saki chose to break up her hand.

For the first time, Kageyama Sora, who had always watched from the sidelines and judged the game, looked astonished.

Because the way Saki broke up her hand meant that to achieve Plus-Minus Zero, she wouldn't just need to win—she'd have to pull off the incredibly difficult Flower on the Tile.

In an instant, Kageyama Sora felt that same overwhelming sensation he'd experienced when playing against Amae Koromo.

Absolute dominance. A powerful presence. The feeling of controlling the game.

A breeze passed through the paper doors, gently lifting the loose strands over Saki's forehead.

The next second, Saki called a tile and completed Flower on the Tile, achieving Plus-Minus Zero perfectly.

Everyone was stunned.

Yuki Kataoka suddenly whistled, her knee thumping against the edge of the table beneath her pleated skirt. "That's basically a cheat-level ability to calculate!"

But was it really just calculation?

For the first time, Nodoka's expression was utterly astonished. Everyone around them felt a shiver of shock.

Kageyama Sora walked up behind Nodoka and rested both hands on her shoulders. His voice was soft. "Excited?"

Nodoka nodded, then leaned back against him. Her cheeks were flushed, and a strange light flickered in her eyes. "Very excited..."

It wasn't jealousy at seeing someone powerful control the game. It was the sheer excitement of encountering someone strong.

The game paused. It was the break between rounds after the East Round ended.

Hisa Takei looked at Saki with a smile. "Miyanaga, you're supposed to play mahjong to win."

Saki stared blankly, seemingly unsure what to say.

Kageyama Sora released Nodoka's shoulders and looked at Saki. "The people sitting at the table with you aren't the sort to get angry and throw a fit just because you win. Why not really try to win? Maybe you'll see a different kind of view."

Saki didn't agree right away. Instead, she fell into a peculiar silence.

Kageyama Sora walked over to her and rested a warm palm on her shoulder. "If you keep refusing to win, Nodoka will be unhappy."

"Huh!?" Saki suddenly met Nodoka's gaze, as if trying to determine whether Kageyama Sora was telling the truth.

Nodoka, her cheeks flushed with excitement, summoned the same courage she'd shown the night before when she'd pursued him without a second thought. She spoke with utmost seriousness. "Please play fairly and don't hold back. Win and show me."

Hisa Takei lifted her chin slightly and spoke with a hint of excitement, too. "All right, let's try playing mahjong to win."

At Hisa's words, Saki lowered her head. Her bangs hid her eyes, and no one could tell what she was feeling.

Her flushed cheeks showed that her heart was anything but calm.

Her fingers clutched the hem of her skirt tightly, as if she were trying to think something through.

She remembered everyone's excited, delighted faces when she'd just made Flower on the Tile. She realized... everyone really did want her to win.

It was... a different feeling.

After a long while, she spoke softly. "I-I understand."

Soothing Nodoka Haramura

The air in the mahjong room seemed to freeze. Everyone held their breath, thinking Saki had finally understood and was about to throw herself into the intense match.

But just as the atmosphere began to ease, Saki suddenly raised her head. Her eyes filled with doubt, and she asked softly, "But... if I get Plus-Minus Zero, I can't come in first, can I?"

Her words were like a pebble dropped into a still lake, instantly breaking the room's silence.

An awkward quiet fell over everyone. They looked at one another, none of them having expected that this girl, who'd just said she understood, would still cling to her principles and insist on achieving Plus-Minus Zero.

As the Mahjong Club's president, Hisa Takei quickly sensed that something was wrong and stepped in to smooth things over. "...Well... imagine you start with 1,000 points and everyone else has 33,000. Play with that in mind."

Hisa's suggestion seemed to offer a new way forward for the match, which had reached an impasse.

That way, everyone else would start 8,000 points ahead of Saki. It wouldn't make the game easier; instead, it would give Saki a challenge of her own, while still giving her a chance to win as she pursued Plus-Minus Zero.

Saki stood quietly, her bangs hiding her eyes. Her hands unconsciously pinched at her skirt, lifting the hem slightly.

"If I can achieve Plus-Minus Zero like that, then I'd still win... That would be amazing."

She's confident, Kageyama Sora thought. He was becoming more and more curious about this girl, who gave him the same feeling as Amae Koromo.

The crisp sound of tiles being shuffled rang out, and the game began again.

Starting at a disadvantage, Saki showed a completely different style from the very first hand.

Her gaze was sharp, and she discarded tiles decisively, winning a big hand without hesitation.

Her aggressive play was a stark contrast to the restraint she'd shown in every round before. Everyone at the table was stunned.

That single hand made it clear: if Saki wanted to win and play a big hand, she absolutely had the skill to do so. Her ability to control the game was so absolute that no one could help but admire her.

Kageyama Sora glanced at Nodoka, wondering whether this fellow prodigy who relied on calculation could withstand a powerful player who relied on luck.

But Nodoka didn't look the least bit intimidated by Saki's aggressive play. On the contrary, she seemed as unaffected as ever... no, her fighting spirit was only growing stronger.

Just as Saki confidently assumed she could keep controlling the game, something unexpected happened.

Nodoka won a hand outside Saki's calculations!

Saki's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Nodoka. A complicated feeling she'd never experienced before welled up inside her, strange and intense, leaving her unable to put it into words.

She looked at Nodoka's resolute, unwavering expression as she won, then at the eager, expectant faces around her, all hoping she'd achieve Plus-Minus Zero and win. Saki felt as if something inside her had filled to the brim.

She turned to look at Kageyama Sora, who stood nearby, and asked softly, "Is this what you meant by..."

Kageyama Sora said nothing, only giving her a gentle smile.

Yet that simple smile seemed to fill Saki with a powerful strength, giving her a sense of approval and encouragement.

"In that case, I can win with a hand like this here..." Saki's gaze was firm. As soon as she finished speaking, she reached for a tile.

With a smooth, decisive motion, she made a concealed kong, then completed Flower on the Tile and won!

The moment the tiles landed, the whole mahjong room seemed to fall silent. Everyone's astonished expressions were different—some admired her, some were amazed—but none showed jealousy or resentment.

Saki felt as if wings had sprouted from her heart and carried her into the air. Her joy and excitement made it seem as if wings had truly unfurled behind her.

Her face flushed, her knees pressed together, and at some point a strange dampness appeared between her legs.

She was so excited that she could barely get the words out. "This is... this feeling... I-I've never won with a hand like that before... I've made hands like this in the past, but I always broke them up..."

"Game over."

Mako covered her tiles and announced the end.

Nodoka stood and walked toward the window, seeming to want to open it for some fresh air.

Kageyama Sora instinctively went to her side and spoke softly. "I did what I promised you last night. Are you happy?"

Before Nodoka could answer, while everyone was still caught up in the exciting match, Saki softly said, "I got Plus-Minus Zero again."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Saki-chan?" Yuki Kataoka stared at her in astonishment, her face like a cat's.

Saki explained easily, "Haramura came in first in the end. I started with 1,000 points, so I came in second, right?"

Nodoka, who'd been about to open the window, abruptly turned around and instinctively grabbed Kageyama Sora's sleeve. Clearly, she hadn't expected Saki to care so little about winning.

Nodoka didn't want this kind of victory. It wasn't that she wanted to lose; she just wanted a fair, straightforward match.

Just as the atmosphere grew awkward again, Kageyama Sora spoke first. "We said you had 1,000 points, but in reality, you still started with the regular score. You won in the end."

Hisa Takei quickly nodded in agreement. "That's right. You won."

"I won?" Saki stared blankly at the final results, which Yuki Kataoka had worked out on the basis that everyone started with the same number of points. She looked dazed, as if she still couldn't believe it.

Mako pushed up her glasses and chuckled. "You won and still got Plus-Minus Zero."

Yuki Kataoka beamed at her encouragingly. "Nicely done!"

"I won..." Saki repeated blankly, clutching her skirt. "I won..."

As she spoke, tears slipped down her cheeks.

At last, she understood how wonderful winning felt.

It was completely different from how she'd felt playing mahjong before.

Just then, Nodoka, who'd been longing for a fair match moments ago, suddenly ran out without a word, for reasons no one could understand.

As she dashed away, Kageyama Sora saw tears glistening in her eyes.

Without a second thought, Kageyama Sora chased after her. As far as he knew, Nodoka wasn't the kind of girl who couldn't accept losing. Her unusual reaction was all the more worth worrying about; there had to be something behind it that he didn't know.

Soothing Nodoka Haramura

Dusk draped a hazy golden veil over the corridor. Nodoka's absurdly short uniform skirt flashed into view around the corner one last time. By the time Kageyama Sora caught up, he could only see her curled up on the steps of the fire escape.

The girl buried her face in her knees. Her long pink hair fell like a waterfall, and her slender shoulders trembled slightly. She looked nothing like the calm, decisive player she'd been at the table.

"Nodoka?" Kageyama Sora approached quietly, his footsteps making a faint sound on the metal stairs.

Nodoka jerked her head up. Her eyes were red at the corners, tears still clinging to her lashes. She stubbornly turned her face away. "Don't come over."

"I brought a handkerchief." Kageyama Sora sat on the step below her and pulled a neatly folded handkerchief from his pocket, offering it to her.

The evening breeze passed through the wire mesh of the emergency exit, ruffling the hair on his forehead. A faint trace of Kageyama Sora's distinctive scent lingered in the air, somehow making Nodoka feel... a little more at ease.

Her anxiety seemed to ease somewhat, too.

After half a minute of silence, Nodoka suddenly spoke in a low voice. "I know I'm ridiculous."

She snatched the handkerchief and roughly wiped her face. Her knuckles went white with the force. "I was the one who said I wanted Miyanaga to play without hiding her abilities. I wanted to see her use all her strength for real, but in the end, I couldn't accept the result... Maybe I insisted on playing her because I wanted to beat her, but... I lost completely."

Saki had won with Plus-Minus Zero, shown an absolute ability to control the game, and won with a nearly incomprehensible Flower on the Tile. And yet she didn't care about winning.

Kageyama Sora turned slightly toward her, his voice gentle, his knee almost touching her calf. "You're not upset because you lost."

He gazed at the tips of her ears, red with emotion. "From the way you grabbed my sleeve, I knew how you felt. You didn't want Saki to lose because of those temporary rules. You wanted her to win fair and square."

Before he'd finished speaking, Nodoka suddenly threw herself into his arms.

Kageyama Sora froze for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her trembling back. He'd wanted to comfort her like this for a while, but they were at school, and he'd been holding back because he didn't want to cause trouble for her.

Her faint scent mingled with the moisture in the air, like a bamboo grove before a storm.

"Maybe you're right. It's not that I can't lose. There are plenty of people in the world who are stronger than me. I'm not so arrogant that I think I'll always win... It's just that I can't lose to someone who has no respect for mahjong." Nodoka spoke muffled against Kageyama Sora's chest, her voice vibrating against his collarbone. "She said yesterday that she didn't like mahjong..."

Kageyama Sora gently stroked her pink hair, its ends curling into a soft knot in his palm. "It doesn't necessarily mean she dislikes it. Maybe everyone has their own story... Maybe she does want to win, but whether she wins or loses, something happens that upsets her. That could be why she doesn't like playing mahjong."

He felt her body tremble slightly in his arms and continued, "Sometimes, you have to look past appearances to see the truth, don't you?"

Nodoka raised her head, her lashes brushing his wrist. "You're taking her side?"

For some reason, Kageyama Sora's instincts told him that there was something... dangerous about Nodoka's question.

It felt strangely like one of those "If your mother and I both fell into the water, who would you save first?" questions. A chill ran down Kageyama Sora's back, and he felt uneasy.

But who was he, Kageyama Sora?

He was a man who'd built a company and founded his own business empire at a young age. How could he be defeated so easily by a girl's question?