Akagi (アカギ)

Washizu-sama, what shall we do?

About what?

Will you continue into the third game, or will you stop?

You're actually quite the coward, Washizu Iwao.

You're telling me to run away?

But, sir...

How dare you?!

You're telling someone who has built their life around victory to admit defeat?!

Washizu-sama...

I will not!

It will not happen!

I will kill him with my own hands.

Third Game

East Hand 1

The first and second games

ended with Washizu just nudged into second place.

He's already lost over 100 million yen.

Washizu wants to escape

his bad flow of the previous games, but his hand is not so good.

His draws are also sub-par.

He is clearly going downhill.

He's in a slump he can't rectify.

On the other hand, Akagi is doing well.

He's already one away from tenpai, with three dora, the 4 of circles.

All right.

Luck is on our side.

Having dodged the curse of that west wind in the last hand was big.

Still, he isn't relaxing at all, even now.

Actually, this is another dimension entirely.

He has risen far above that.

If he hadn't, he could not have survived.

Tsumo.

Yes!

Tsumo, ittsuu, three dora. Haneman.

With this win, Akagi takes an additional 3,000 points from Washizu.

In monetary terms, that is three million yen.

By continuously discarding unnecessary tiles,

you ended up with an ideal hand.

Luck is clearly on your side.

You can do this, Akagi.

Why are you hanging your head?

The fight is only just beginning.

Yes.

But right now, the luck is...

I already told you.

I had a premonition...

A few minutes before the third game

Hey, Okamoto...

Yes, sir.

If I kill that man,

I will have arrived at the apex of my 75 years of life, the moment of supreme bliss.

I really do believe I was born to kill Akagi.

I've already drawn 1,100 cc of blood from him,

so it is very possible that he'll die before the game is over.

Still, I'd like to win by outranking him.

I want to choke the life out of him with my skill.

That would be the true proof of my superiority.

But, sir, this is not the time for such deliberate plans.

Are you saying you don't think I am capable?

I am not saying that at all, sir.

Haven't you observed me all this time?

How many times have I overcome adversity to crawl up from the brink of Hell?

How many times have I come through the storm to stand upon

the pinnacle that is success?

At all times, my true game

is just beginning!

It is as you say. That is precisely why we have always looked up to you.

Because no matter what came your way,

you have continued to stand at the apex.

Let us have faith in his luck, in his limitless powers.

I will make him regret everything.

Episode 4

Washizu Mahjong

Washizu Mahjong.

It is a mad game of Mahjong in which Washizu bets money

and Akagi bets his own blood, fighting until one is annihilated.

The rate is set at 1,000 points being worth 1 million yen,

1000 points = 1 million

or 100 cc of blood.

1000 points = 100 cc of blood

It's a one-on-one match between Akagi and Washizu.

At the end of each East-South match, points are tallied up, including rank bonuses.

Additionally, bonus payments are due every time a direct hit

or a tsumo win causes points to trade hands between Akagi and Washizu.

These payments are made immediately, in cash or blood.

Three of the four tiles in each suit are transparent,

and only one is a regular tile with a black back.

If Akagi can survive through six East-South matches with these rules, he wins.

Should he die before then,

he will lose all that he had amassed up to that point, and Washizu wins.

Third Game

East Hand 2

It's crucial he stays the dealer here.

If he loses it, then there's a 90% chance this third game will go to Akagi.

Even if it's only by 1,500 or 2,000 points,

he has to win!

He has no melds, but he's three tiles away from a nice hand with three two-sided waits.

He could fight back with this.

But the problem is that kid's hand.

At a glance, it's not very good.

Washizu-sama's hand is clearly superior.

I knew Washizu-sama would win.

It would be nothing short of expected to have a bad hand after the last one.

But he is already three tiles away from a possible tanpin, sanshoku hand.

Just how strong is the luck he was born with?

Two tiles to tenpai in just three turns... But I guess he lost the tanyao.

No, that's fine.

Right now, speed takes precedence over an expensive hand.

Staying dealer takes priority over everything.

Now he lost the pinfu.

His hand keeps getting cheaper.

And now the sanshoku is gone.

It was fine at first, but now his hand is worthless.

Wait...

But if he gets a 6 of circles, the dora,

he could still have a riichi, ippatsu, with one dora.

With any reverse dora, that's a mangan!

Nothing's working in his favor at all...

At any rate, he's in tenpai.

That's what's most important.

Suzuki has a 1 of circles, so he could play it into his single wait.

He's forgoing the riichi?

Kan.

Now I get it.

It's not too late to declare riichi after the new dora's been revealed.

This is...

Who could've imagined this?

Getting kan dora among adversity like this?

What's more, he got three of them!

Unbelievable!

This is the brute luck this man possesses.

He's lost the first two games,

and endured Akagi getting a haneman in the first hand.

Everything was aligned against him.

It's been difficult to rise up again,

but he's done it in spite of the odds and got into tenpai as the dealer.

Riichi.

He's going to win.

It's a guaranteed dealer mangan.

If Suzuki deals him the 1 of circles, it'll be a riichi, ippatsu, with three dora.

With any reverse dora, it'll be a haneman,

or even a baiman.

He'll take the lead!

Huh?

Why isn't he dealing him the 1 of circles?

It's a guaranteed dealer mangan!

I see.

Akagi's hand...

That 1 and 3 of circles will be useless for him.

Especially since the tile he'd be waiting for, the 2 of circles, is in Suzuki's hand.

He'll obviously want to get rid of that closed wait.

Not to mention, the 3 of circles is one of Washizu sama's safe tiles.

Having the 1 of circles dealt into his hand immediately

is the essence of Washizu Mahjong.

And seeing that Suzuki is not dealing it into Washizu's hand gives

Akagi the sense that Suzuki does not have his winning tiles.

That is to say, Suzuki's tiles are also safe tiles.

That's how the logic of the second discard pile is established.

If Akagi believes in that, he'll deal the tile for sure.

If the 1 of circles comes out here,

Washizu-sama gets 12,000 points for the dealer mangan, worth 1,200 cc,

putting Akagi's total blood loss at 2,300 cc.

There is no way he can survive that.

Will the lethal tile come out?

Nope...

Of course he won't deal it.

Washizu-sama...

And that is just fine.

That kid's intuition is above and beyond that of a normal person.

There's no way he'll walk into a trap like that.

So not letting Suzuki deal the ippatsu into your hand is a trap?

Having him deal into my hand after riichi would only get me more points.

But it wouldn't advance me in any fundamental way.

I wouldn't gain anything special.

Anything special?

I'm talking about fear.

Even if the trap is completely obvious,

it's amusing to plant that little seed of doubt.

It may not make sense initially,

but if you expose a different pattern to your opponent,

it will shake their faith in the second discard pile.

Yes, this trembling will most definitely begin to have an effect.

When things are more...

far more crucial.

That's right.

There's no reason at all to rush it and have Suzuki play into my hand.

Right now, I've got a riichi hand with three dora.

If I get an ippatsu tsumo, I have 6 han.

That's a dealer haneman worth 6,000 from everyone.

He's had 1,100 cc of blood extracted up to now,

and if he loses another 600 cc,

that will make a total of 1,700 cc of blood. With that much lost,

he could die at any moment and it would not be surprising.

All I have to do is draw the 1 of circles now and he will die.

Now...

Tremble.

That's right.

He's the one suffering now.

I have an overwhelming advantage.

The advantage is mine!