Chapter 58: Strip Mahjong

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Translator: Soafp

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Since I had more mahjong experience than Nodoka and Airi, and I knew the rules well, I arrogantly assumed that at the very least, I could avoid finishing last.

And in fact, the two of them made mistake after mistake in the opening rounds.

“Double riichi!”

“Nodoka, if you declared a North extraction, double riichi doesn't count anymore. It's just regular riichi.”

“Huh? R-Really?”

“Nodoka-san, ron. That's Suuankou.”

“Ehh!? A yakuman!?”

“Airi, if it's tsumo then it's Suuankou, but if you win by ron then it becomes Sanankou and Toitoi. Winning by ron on a pair wait counts as an open triplet.”

“Ehh… That's so complicated.”

“T-Tsumo! This is Tanyao, Pinfu, Iipeikou, right?”

“Pinfu doesn't count. It's South round right now, and your pair is South. Pinfu can't use value tiles as the pair.”

“Aaah, this is way too hard!!”

Even so, we somehow finished the game, ending the first hanchan.

I came in first, Airi-senpai got second, and Nodoka came last.

“Well then, Nodoka-san, just like we agreed, you'll need to remove one piece of clothing.”

“Eh!? Wasn't this just practice!?”

“If you can't take it off yourself, I'll do it for you.”

“I-I'll do it myself!!”

Nodoka started undoing the sash of her yukata.

I hurriedly stopped her.

“No, no, no. Doing that here is way too dangerous.”

Even if the room was empty right now, someone could walk in at any moment.

Even as a punishment game, suddenly running into someone like that would be painfully awkward, and at worst the inn staff would chew us out.

“Ren-kun, punishment games are more fun when there's danger involved.”

“It's just a nuisance… Besides, if she takes off the yukata, she'll immediately be down to underwear. Even for strip mahjong, that pace is way too fast.”

“That's true. Then how about this? She keeps the yukata on, and the winner gets to choose what body part she has to show. Like a king's game.”

I suppose if it was only that much, she could fix herself quickly if someone came in.

…Airi really seemed determined to play strip mahjong.

“Well… if it's just that much.”

“So then, Ren-kun, what part of Nodoka-san would you like to see?”

“Eh!? Ehh!?”

Nodoka's face turned bright red and she looked away with a huff.

Well, after that micro bikini earlier, I'd already seen most of what could be seen anyway.

“For now… your legs.”

“‘As expected, he prefers bare legs.'”

“…”

Seriously, what had Airi been telling Nodoka?

Truthfully, liking bare legs was only half an excuse.

Still, I didn't dislike them, so I stayed silent.

“Y-You said you wanted to see, so make sure you look properly… okay?”

Speaking bluntly, Nodoka grabbed the hem of her yukata and lifted it.

Her long, pale thighs were revealed.

Maybe because of the setting, or because it felt like some kind of king's game, I felt a strange sense of forbidden excitement.

I deliberately joked.

“Those are thighs that make me want to touch them.”

“Eh? W-Well… go ahead if you want. Honestly… being touched by someone I like wouldn't feel bad…”

I expected her usual “Pervert!” in response, but what came back was something completely unexpected.

Now that she had confessed everything, maybe she no longer felt the need to hide it.

If anything, I was the one caught off guard.

“Well then, Ren-kun, next round.”

“R-Right.”

Nodoka in affectionate mode… way too destructive.

Thinking that, I checked my starting hand.

Not great…

Maybe I'd go for an open tanyao hand.

But I never imagined things would suddenly turn bizarre from there.

“Ah, I-I did it! Tsumo! Umm… Chiitoitsu, right?”

“H-Hey, wait. That's not Chiitoitsu!”

“Eh? Then what is it?”

“Ryanpeikou!”

“R-Ryanpeikou?”

To think I'd witness such a rare hand here.

…And because of it, I got hit hard as dealer right from the start.

In the next round, Airi-senpai silently hit me with a concealed hand on turn three.

“Ron. This is Pinfu, right?”

“Not just Pinfu. It also has Ittsuu…”

Well, she was just lucky there.

Before I knew it, it was East 3.

This time at least, let me make tenpai.

I focused and steeled myself, but that hope didn't even come close.

“Ron! Umm… this is White and Green, right?”

“You've also got two Reds. That's Shousangen.”

“Tsumo. Chanta and Toitoi, right?”

“…Honroutou.”

I kept losing points and finally reached the last hand.

I couldn't even make a proper tenpai, let alone score.

Both of them had draws far stronger than I'd imagined.

(Oh, my opening hand is iishanten.)

If I hit Airi directly, I couldn't take first, but I could at least avoid last place.

On turn three, I declared riichi and put out the thousand-point stick.

But immediately after that, Nodoka also shouted:

“Riichi!”

She chased me.

Judging from her discards, it was probably a flush hand.

But why would Nodoka, who was already overwhelmingly in first place, bother declaring riichi on the final hand?

I couldn't understand it.

…Surely it wasn't because she didn't know about damaten.

One turn later, it was back to me.

I drew a tile from the wall.

But it wasn't my winning tile.

I discarded it immediately.

The next moment—

“Ah, I think that's ron!”

“What do you mean, ‘I think'?”

Nodoka laid down her hand.

“This is Chinitsu, right? Flush waits are super hard to understand.”

“Well, they are difficult, but… huh?”

I looked at her hand and doubted my own eyes.

No way.

I checked it again and again, but there was no mistake.

“That's not Chinitsu.”

“Eh? Isn't Chinitsu all one suit of numbered tiles?”

“…It's Chuuren Poutou.”

“Is that amazing?”

“It's a yakuman.”

“S-Seriously!?”

To think I'd get hit directly by such a rare yakuman.

Even though I'd dealt into it, it hardly felt real.

At this rate, would Tenhou or Suukantsu appear next?

“I've heard of that one,” Airi said. “If you win with Chuuren Poutou, you use up all the luck of your lifetime and die.”

“E-Ehh!? I'm going to die!?”

“Here lies Nodoka Komori.”

“Please don't kill me, Senpai!!”

Nodoka looked genuinely frightened, her face stiff.

“It's just an urban legend, don't worry. But maybe you did borrow enough luck to win the lottery.”

“That sounds awful too! Did my lottery winnings disappear!?”

Airi giggled.

“Well then, Nodoka-san, since you're first place, you need to order last-place Ren-kun. What are you making him remove?”

“Hmm… shoulders!”

“Come on then, Ren-kun. Strip in a seductive way.”

“…”

In the end, those two stripped me bare that day until all I had left was my underwear.

---

After we finished playing mahjong, the three of us fell asleep like logs.

The next day, at the girls' suggestion, I spent the morning alone with Airi, and the afternoon alone with Nodoka, visiting nearby tourist spots.

They were, in effect, dates.

“How was it? Did you have fun?”

On the way back to the inn, Nodoka asked with a bright smile while holding my hand.

“Yeah, I had fun. Especially when you tried to feed the seagulls on the sightseeing boat, lost your balance, and fell backward. That was the best part.”

“Why was that the best part!?”

“Ah man, I should've taken a picture—no, a video.”

“Forget it already!!”

Even though she had confessed to me, Nodoka and I found it easier to spend time together like normal friends.

Still, while blushing, she no longer tried to hide her feelings for me at all.

According to her, part of her had finally come to terms with it.

Today, too, would end peacefully.

That was what I thought.

“President, how much farther are we going? I'm tired alreadyyy.”

“Endure it a little longer. We'll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Another twenty minutes from here!?”

I saw a group that had apparently just gotten off a bus.

The moment I saw their faces, my body stiffened.

(The photography club…)

Did they come here for summer training camp?

According to my memory, this wasn't supposed to be their destination.

Was this the butterfly effect caused by me rejecting Yuzuki?

(Whatever. It has nothing to do with me anymore.)

This was supposed to be a fun trip.

I didn't want it ruined here.

Keeping my face turned away, I tried to walk past them together with Nodoka.

At first, she seemed confused by my sudden change in mood, but she quickly understood and silently matched my pace.

However—

“Nagasawa, you're the strongest one here, so carry everyone else's luggage too.”

“Hey now, don't you think you're treating me a little harshly?”

“Just shut up and take it!”

The photography club president tossed her luggage at the giant blond guy.

He caught it, but it was apparently heavier than he expected, and he staggered back a few steps.

At that moment, his back bumped into my shoulder.

“Ah, sorry about that.”

“…No, it's fine.”

“Ah, you… Aren't you Kitayama's boyfriend?”

The one who bumped into me was Nagasawa-senpai.

At his words, every club member's eyes turned toward me at once.

“Eh? Ren…?”

Yuzuki was among them.

According to what aunty had said, she wasn't supposed to come to the training camp.

Or maybe she had some other reason for being here.

“…Ex-boyfriend.”

There was nothing left for me to say to either Yuzuki or Nagasawa-senpai.

Honestly, I didn't even understand why they were going out of their way to involve me.

I turned to leave quickly, but then—

“S-So this is… that Nagasawa guy…?”

Beside me, still clinging tightly to my arm, Nodoka asked in a trembling voice.

When I looked, her hand was shaking in small tremors.

She was clearly terrified.

“Hm? You know me? Wow, I guess I've gotten famous. What year are you in?”

“Kyaaaaahhh!!”

The moment Nagasawa-senpai spoke to her, Nodoka let out a scream as if she'd been launched.

“I'm gonna get violated and pregnant by that monkey-brained manwhoreeee!! S-Save meee!!”