First Day End

In the late evening hours after the first round the Kengan Dome is a lively place. Victories are being celebrated, losses (mostly lost bets) are being mourned through the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, and many new alliances, rivalries and even friendships are being forged. There are some, however, that seek their entertainment in a more quiet place, where a different kind of fierce battle rages.

"Ron." a rough voice declares. "Riichi, ippatsu, ryanpeikou, honitsu, dora 2, and... 2 ura dora. Sainbaiman. That settles it." Wakayama Teiljo had only a moment to bemusedly watch the shocked faces of his companion's opponents contort in shock before the shouting began, disrupting the otherwise quiet room.

"BULLSHIT!" the heavily perspiring man on the other side of the table spat, "A pair waits on the south wind in a situation like this, with a hand like that? Hogwash! You three are colluding, you have to be, you're robbing me blind!"

"Hey now, calm down Otonari-san." the older businessman to his left responded in an exasperated tone "Be reasonable here, how long have we been playing mahjong together? Besides, how would cooperation have helped him know to wait on the south wind?" It didn't seem to help much - Otonari had stopped shouting, but judging by the color of his complexion he was only getting angrier. Meanwhile, the third player seemed to not even have heard the accusation of cheating, so busy was he staring slack-jawed at the monster of a hand that just got played.

Sensing that his companion wasn't going to speak up until everything had calmed down, Teiljo decided to take the stage himself. "Urishido-san is right, you know. I don't really care for mahjong, but take a look at your own hand. You called a chi early on in the round, so it's obvious you were going for a yakuhai to score a quick win to secure your second place."

"Well, yes, but there was more to it." his companion Hiruma Niou replied with that familiar twinge of annoyance in his voice. Teiljo suppressed a grin - it was so easy to bait out the teacher in him.

"For starters, the south wind is both your seat wind and the round wind, so it'd be valuable for you to go either way. And since several dragon tiles got discarded without being called, it was unlikely you were waiting on those. But you didn't discard any yakuhai tiles yourself either, so it was almost certain you had an incomplete pair of south winds in your hand." Niou explained. With the tone of voice he delivered his lecture with it was hard to believe he didn't have any children - he had the 'disappointed father' tone down prat, and Otonari was clearly taken aback by the disrespectful tone this gruff and uncouth man was taking with him.

"What's more, the moment that Razan -" he continued calmly, either completely ignoring or not noticing the appalled looks that he got by referring to Urishido by his first name, "- declared riichi, your started dealing only safe tiles. You'd given up your own hand to avoid losing points to third place and possibly lose your second place spot. You even feared his hand so much that you risked dealing the 3 pin, which had a good chance of being my winning tile. Or, more likely, you didn't even notice."

That seemed to wake Otonari from his shock. "Now listen here, just because you got a lucky hand doesn't mean that you get to lecture me as if you had this all planned out!" he grunted through clenched teeth - the entire room was staring at their table at this point, so he tried his hardest not to shout again, even as his head was turning from bright red into a sickly purple.

"You fool, of course I saw it coming." Niou sneered, "You were so focused on the challenge right in front of you that you lost sight of the big picture. I didn't even have to do much - just declaring riichi once you ran out of safe tiles to deal was enough, since you'd clearly deliver me the south wind of your own volition. That's why I declared riichi in the first place - to keep up the pressure so you wouldn't have time to catch your balance. And thanks to your own idiocy it paid off right away, and you lost the match while you could have easily maintained second place if you'd just paid even the slightest shred of attention."

He was not even trying to keep the contempt out of his voice anymore, looking down at the increasingly despondent-looking Otonari. "Bah, I'd hoped that there were at least some decent players at an event like this, but it seems that I got my hopes up for nothing. I'm leaving." And with that, he stood up and unceremoniously walked out the door, Teiljo not far behind him.

"You know, you didn't have to be so harsh to the poor man." Teiljo said to his partner, but with his cheery tone his feigned concern was completely unconvincing. "He's the rep player for their company, so you must've seriously hurt his pride."

"Nonsense, it's his own fault for losing. And if that brat was a rep player even more so, you'd expect a professional to at least be able to keep their cool." Niou replied, not looking at his friend - clearly he was still grumpy over the disappointing match he just played.

Teiljo chuckled, his mood a polar opposite of his friend's. "'Brat'? He's in his forties, you know."

"Being a brat is a mindset, not an age." was Niou's curtly reply.

Sensing that his partner was more upset than he was letting on - he had a great fondness for mahjong, after all - Teiljo decided to change the subject. "I suppose you're right. But, speaking of brats, what do you think about this most recent crop of fighters? Any ideas on how the second round will go?" There, not the smoothest change of subject, but it'd have to do. Besides, he was genuinely interested in hearing this man's opinion on the matter.