Without any unnecessary chatter, the match officially began as Komaki Jindai pressed the button to roll the dice on the mahjong table.
As the round progressed, Komaki Jindai gradually fell into a state of serene calm, her face showing no emotion whatsoever.
However, in the eyes of Eriri and the others, Komaki Jindai had already undergone a tremendous transformation.
A dazzling golden divine radiance enveloped her figure. A mysterious transcendent being had now taken possession of her body.
Substitute Mode: Activated!
Through Komaki Jindai's body, Eriri could clearly see the appearance of the goddess possessing her.
As for the goddess's actual strength—Eriri thought it was nothing remarkable, likely around Level 3, beginner stage.
It seemed this goddess was the strongest among the nine divine beings residing within Komaki Jindai.
Eriri could distinctly sense the presence of the other eight goddesses within Komaki Jindai's body.
But Komaki wasn't the only monster at the table—the other three contestants were hardly ordinary either.
Koromo Amae had entered her full moon state, manipulating the entire wall of tiles to skew the game in her favor.
Meanwhile, Myeonghwa Choe had already locked in three East winds and two North winds right from the start.
Teru Miyanaga, on the other hand, remained completely motionless, showing no interest in the flow of the East 1st round.
By the 13th turn, the match was deadlocked, and tension built steadily.
Of course, the real struggle was only between Koromo Amae, Komaki Jindai, and Myeonghwa Choe. Teru Miyanaga was like an outsider.
On the 14th turn, it was Koromo Amae's draw.
As she reached out to draw from the wall, a wild grin curled at her lips, her adorable little face glowing with madness.
"I'll be taking this first hand without mercy. Tsumo. 3000/6000."
Tsumo Haneman!
In an instant, Koromo Amae's score jumped from 25,000 to 37,000, placing her in first.
As the dealer, Komaki Jindai lost 6,000 points, falling to 19,000 and the fourth spot.
Even though she had gained a significant lead in the first round, Koromo didn't feel at ease.
Originally, she had intended for the round to reach the last tile for a Haitei Raoyue (Under the Sea Draw) combo—paired with Riichi, Ippatsu, and the two Dora indicators she held—to aim for a Sanbaiman hand.
Although her silent tsumo disqualified her from flipping Dora indicators, she was confident she held two in hand regardless.
But during the match, she realized no matter how she manipulated the wall, she couldn't fully disrupt Komaki Jindai or Myeonghwa Choe.
Within the first two turns of her win, she had already sensed that both opponents had completed their hands. Had she not drawn a winning tile then, the East 1st round could have gone to Komaki or Myeonghwa.
As for Teru Miyanaga, who hadn't moved at all in the first hand, she didn't let Koromo drop her guard.
Koromo knew that after the East 1st round ended, the former champion would finally reveal her power. This opening hand had merely been her reconnaissance.
Sure enough, once the point sticks were passed around, Koromo Amae, Komaki Jindai, and Myeonghwa Choe all froze.
A chilling sensation of being watched crept over them.
Just by skipping a winning hand in the East 1st round, Teru had gathered enough intel to analyze her opponents' traits—and uncover their true natures and abilities.
This was Teru Miyanaga's special power:
Mirror of Truth!
"Hmph, Saki's sister. So you've figured out our powers. But so what? Can you withstand Koromo's assault?"
Koromo turned to her right to face Teru Miyanaga, blue flames of battle dancing in her eyes.
Then, as the dealer, she reached out and pressed the dice button at the center of the table.
In the audience, Ryuumonbuchi Touka and the others beamed with excitement seeing Koromo seize the first win.
"That's our Koromo! Leading by 15,000 points in the first hand. At this rate, victory is just around the corner!" Touka said proudly.
"Touka, it's not as simple as you think. This is just the beginning. Teru Miyanaga hasn't even started going all out yet."
Hajime Kunihiro gave Touka Ryuumonbuchi a helpless glance, then his expression turned serious.
"And haven't you noticed? Koromo's abilities are already being heavily suppressed..."
East 2, 7th turn.
"Tsumo. 300, 500."
Teru Miyanaga scored a tsumo with only a closed-hand win—1 han, 30 fu, the most basic scoring combination.
But even this tiny hand was enough to break Koromo Amae's dealer streak.
And it marked the beginning of Teru Miyanaga's true offensive.
East 3, 9th turn.
"Ron. 2000."
Teru won again, this time by catching Koromo's discard. Though still a simple hand, she had declared a closed kan with a 6-man tile, giving her 1 han, 40 fu.
As the dealer, she gained slightly more than the previous round—an increase of 900 points.
East 3, 1 bonus round, 8th turn.
Another win for Teru.
This was her third consecutive winning hand, and the points kept climbing.
This time she won with 2 han, 40 fu. Due to the bonus round, she received 4200 points.
First hand: 1100 points.
Second: 2000 points.
Third: 4200 points.
With each win, Teru's score grew significantly.
This was her second ability—and her core power: Climbing the Celestial Ladder.
When this ability activates, each successive win increases her luck and speeds up her tenpai (ready hand) timing. The hands she completes grow progressively higher in value.
However, this power isn't without limits.
Most importantly, the point value of each win must not be lower than the previous one. Also, the chain must not be broken by a draw or someone else winning.
If interrupted, her luck boost is canceled, and Climbing the Celestial Ladder ends.
In fact, building on this ability, Teru has one more terrifying power—Nine Consecutive Wins.
If she can win eight times in a row by tsumo, then on the ninth turn, she will inevitably draw and complete a Pure Nine Gates yakuman, and it cannot be blocked.
In the National High School Mahjong Championship a few months ago, she pulled this off during the Vanguard match—eight consecutive self-drawn wins followed by a ninth round Pure Nine Gates.
But pulling this off is unimaginably difficult—especially now that her opponents are all top-tier.
Fortunately, this is an individual tournament. There's no need to aim for such extreme plays just to rack up points.
So Teru abandoned that approach. Instead, she focused solely on winning through her chain strategy.
Her latest win wasn't a self-draw either—Myeonghwa Choe dealt into her hand, dropping to 17,500 points and fourth place.
With her luck bolstered by the ladder ability, even Koromo's exceptional board control struggled to halt Teru's momentum.
At this point, even Koromo's expression faltered.
Though she still held first place, Teru was only 5200 points behind her now.
If Teru scored again in the next round, it was certain—Koromo would be overtaken and pushed to second place.
That was something she absolutely could not allow. She had to go all out to break Teru's streak.
The atmosphere around her intensified.
Meanwhile, Myeonghwa Choe's expression also turned grim.
As for Komaki Jindai—still possessed by the goddess—she remained expressionless, unfazed by anything occurring at the table.
East 3, 2 bonus rounds, 9th turn.
Teru reached tenpai again.
Koromo, Myeonghwa, and Komaki all felt the shift, each of them instinctively glancing toward Teru.
Teru Miyanaga's hand this time wasn't like in the second or third rounds with open melds, nor like the first round where she stayed silent. This time, she placed a useless 2S tile horizontally into the river and then placed a 1000-point stick on the mahjong table.
"Riichi."
The first riichi declaration of the final match came from Teru Miyanaga.
"Chi."
Though calling a chi on the 2S wouldn't improve her hand, Myeonghwa Choe did it without hesitation, hoping to prevent a likely ippatsu tsumo from Teru.
Yet, Teru's expression didn't waver in the slightest. Clearly, she didn't care about the disruption.
One turn passed, and Teru drew again.
Suddenly, her eyes widened with intense energy. She planted her left hand firmly on the table near Myeonghwa's side, then, with a gust of wind, reached with her right hand to pull her tile from the wall. The tile spun rapidly across the table.
"Tsumo. 2800 from each."
This was her fourth consecutive win—3 han, 40 fu, 2600 points from each, plus 600 bonus from two honba, totaling 8400 points.
With this, Teru reached 37,700 points, surpassing Koromo Amae by 6000 and claiming first place.
"Couldn't stop her after all..."
Myeonghwa sighed and quietly handed over the point sticks to Teru.
"But I won't let you keep winning like this."
Across from Teru, Komaki Jindai silently folded her hand. Through the giant display above the stage, the audience could clearly see her hand:
222888P, 777S, 45M, Chun Chun.
A closed wait, three concealed triplets—ready for Four Concealed Triplets yakuman!
If she had completed it, she could've reversed the game with a score exceeding 50,000 points.
Unfortunately, she was just one tile short.
The match continued: East 3, 3 bonus rounds.
Holding in a breath of frustration, Koromo looked silently at her hand: 123678S, 245M, 11P, Chun, Hatsu.
Not a bad hand—certainly better than the previous rounds.
If she could draw two useful tiles over the next few turns, she'd reach tenpai quickly.
Still, she hoped to stack more han for a stronger hand.
But for now, her top priority was to break Teru's winning streak. Everything else could come later.
Then, a melodious voice interrupted her thoughts.
Looking across the table, she saw Myeonghwa singing again as she drew.
Her song calmed Koromo's nerves, and the breath she'd been holding escaped her lips.
"Four wins in a row? 7600 points? That's nothing!"
Rejuvenated, Koromo refocused entirely, activating her board control ability. An invisible blue aura—stronger than ever—surged around her, moonlike glow flickering between her eyes.
First turn: drew 9S, discarded 2M.
Second turn: drew 4S, discarded 4M.
Third turn: drew 5S, discarded 5M.
Fifth turn: drew 2S, discarded 1P.
Sixth turn: drew 3S, discarded 1P.
Eighth turn: drew Chun.
Now, her hand became:
12233456789S, Chun Chun, Hatsu.
With a red 5S added, it was a full hand bordering on mangan or higher.
Without hesitation, Koromo threw down a stick and discarded Hatsu.
Ninth turn: self-draw 1S.
"Tsumo! 6000, 12000!"
Riichi, Tsumo, Ippatsu, Pinfu, Iipeikou, Ittsuu, Honitsu, Red Dora 1, Ura Dora 1.
12 han—Sanbaiman!
It was as if she were double-stacked with cheats. In just nine turns, Koromo transformed a normal hand into a triple limit hand.
The audience of mahjong players was utterly stunned.
Even Eriri seemed surprised, having just witnessed Koromo's luck surge over tenfold in an instant.
Now, with 24,000 points from the hand, Koromo rose back to first place with 55,700 points.
Teru Miyanaga, after losing 12,000 points, dropped to second with 25,700.
As for Komaki Jindai and Myeonghwa Choe—who hadn't won a single round—they were left with only 9900 and 8700 points respectively.
"What a pity, guess you got lucky~"
Looking at her point total far surpassing the other three, a smug grin spread across Koromo Amae's little face.
At the same time, she genuinely felt it was a pity. If she hadn't drawn the winning tile herself but instead won off a discard from Komaki Jindai or Myeonghwa Choe, then the final match would have already ended with her declared the winner.
However, she knew that possibility wasn't high. After all, neither of those two were ordinary players—their ability to avoid discards was extremely strong, especially against such a dangerous hand.
If she missed a winning opportunity and let one of the other three snipe it, that would be a serious loss.
But as it stood, she held the overwhelming advantage. Komaki Jindai and Myeonghwa Choe each had fewer than 10,000 points left, hardly a threat at this stage.
If her luck continued as it had, she was confident that she could knock out at least one of them in the coming few hands.
With that in mind, Koromo decided to shift her strategy to speed—prioritizing fast hands and maximizing her winning chances until the game ended.
East 4 round, Myeonghwa Choe was dealer.
Since she had less than 10,000 points left and was nearly 50,000 behind first place, her expression had turned especially cautious.
If she didn't make a strong comeback soon, not only would she miss the championship, she might not even make the top three.
But looking at the hand on her table and the dora revealed on the wall, Myeonghwa slowly let out a breath of relief. It seemed the goddess of fortune hadn't abandoned her.
22255m, 6667p, 67s, East East East.
A double riichi hand, and it was nearly a tenhou. Even without the tenhou, this hand was nothing short of massive.
Three concealed triplets, triplet of Easts, dora 3, and a red dora.
Even without the win yet, she already had eight han in hand—a guaranteed baiman.
If she added double riichi and drew the winning tile or flipped an uradora, it would jump straight to sanbaiman. She could take off on the spot.
With that thought, Myeonghwa took a deep breath and decisively discarded the 7p from her hand.
"...!"
The moment she declared double riichi, she drew the attention of both Teru Miyanaga and Koromo Amae.
As for Komaki Jindai, her expression remained blank. The goddess possessing her showed no signs of leaving or swapping out.
In the audience, Awai Oohoshi let out an involuntary gasp upon seeing her signature move used by someone else.
Everyone else was equally stunned. Koromo's draw rate in the previous hand had been absurd, but now, it seemed Myeonghwa had inherited that luck—maybe even surpassing her.
It looked like this round would go to Myeonghwa Choe.
However, as the game progressed, what everyone expected did not come to pass.
Sixth turn, seventh turn, even by the eleventh, Myeonghwa had neither drawn the winning tile nor seen a discard from any of the three.
By now, Myeonghwa was feeling intense anxiety. She admitted she'd been too hasty, placing too much faith in her luck, and now she found herself in a dangerous position.
At this stage, the other three had all built up their hands. She was now in great danger.
Because she had declared riichi from the start, she had essentially become a fully-automatic point-giving machine—at any moment, she could discard into the others' hands, and possibly be knocked out entirely.
Her points were only at 7700 after declaring riichi. One mangan hit, and she could say goodbye to this final.
Even worse, it didn't need to be a mangan. Any hand with 3 han and high fu, or 4 han with mid-range fu, would be enough to take her out.
For example, 3 han 70 fu, or 4 han 40 fu.
Both would qualify as mangan hands!
What she didn't know was that she had already discarded several potential winning tiles—she had just been spared.
And the ones sparing her were none other than Teru Miyanaga and Komaki Jindai. If it had been Koromo Amae, she would have taken the win without hesitation.
Teru Miyanaga didn't use a Nine Gates to rebuild her hand. Instead, she planned to gamble on a direct hit against Koromo Amae with a big hand to retake first place.
At this moment, she was silently waiting on a baiman hand.
23789m, Red Dragon triplet, Green Dragon triplet, White Dragon pair.
She already had 8 han in hand. Even if she won off a 1m discard, it would still be baiman. Only a self-drawn 1m would bring it to 10 han.
Meanwhile, Komaki Jindai's hand wasn't small either.
11223456888s, White White.
Though not as powerful as Teru's, it was a 4 han 40 fu hand—a mangan if she completed it!
In earlier turns, Myeonghwa Choe had already discarded a 4m and 3s, but both Teru and Komaki had passed on the win.
Because their true goal was victory. If they declared a win now, all they'd do was knock Myeonghwa out, which wouldn't affect the standings—it would only benefit Koromo Amae.
Of course, if Komaki Jindai's hand were a haneman or higher, she might have considered winning.
After all, in that case, she would surpass Teru and claim second place. That wouldn't be too bad.
So, with no value in winning off Myeonghwa's discards, both Teru and Komaki found themselves in a bind. Unless they deliberately lowered their hand value—which clearly wasn't an acceptable solution.
As a result, the advantage of the round shifted entirely to Koromo Amae, and she made the most of it.
In the fourteenth turn, when the fully-automatic discarder Myeonghwa Choe threw out the 1m, Koromo gleefully revealed her hand and jumped from her seat.
11m, 33888p, 555s, West West West.
Toi-Toi, Three Concealed Triplets, Seat Wind—a 5 han mangan. 8000 points, and with only 7700 left, Myeonghwa was knocked out.
If she hadn't declared riichi, she might have survived, but in the end, the riichi sealed her fate.
Teru Miyanaga was also waiting on the 1m, but at that point, winning didn't matter anymore.
And so, the mahjong finals concluded before reaching the South rounds.
In the end, the final rankings were identical to those at the end of the preliminaries:
1st Place: Koromo Amae, 64,700 points.
2nd Place: Teru Miyanaga, 25,700 points.
3rd Place: Komaki Jindai, 9,900 points.
4th Place: Myeonghwa Choe, 300 points.
The moment the match ended, the goddess possessing Komaki Jindai promptly relinquished control, allowing her to instantly return to her normal self.
Coming back to her senses, Komaki reflexively let out a soft gasp and quickly looked at Teru and the others seated around her.
"Sorry, I must have dozed off."
Komaki Jindai said awkwardly.
But she soon realized something was off about the atmosphere.
"Eh? The finals are already over?"
"That's right, ehehe, wasn't I right all along? Today's victory was always going to belong to me!"
Koromo Amae stood proudly with her hands on her hips, her petite frame barely taller than the mahjong table, though her red ribbon gave her some added height.
"Wow, congratulations!"
Just like she had when she heard Myeonghwa sing before the match, Komaki clapped her little hands together in a dazed but adorable manner, showing no trace of dissatisfaction.
After hearing Komaki's voice, Teru Miyanaga and the newly-recovered Myeonghwa Choe also offered their congratulations to Koromo.
After that, Aoi Kujou returned to the stage and stopped the four players as they were about to walk off toward the audience, asking them to stand behind her.
At the same time, the luxurious mahjong table and four chairs on the stage disappeared under the eager gaze of Nelly Virsaladze.
"This concludes the mahjong tournament. Let us all congratulate Koromo Amae on her well-deserved victory! And let's also give our congratulations to Teru Miyanaga and Komaki Jindai for securing second and third place respectively!"
As Aoi Kujou finished speaking, she began clapping. The crowd below the stage quickly followed, and even Eriri wasn't an exception.
A few seconds later, the applause that echoed through the entire venue gradually faded. Aoi Kujou's voice rang out once more.
"Now it's time for the award ceremony. All participants of today's mahjong tournament, please return to the stage!"
As she spoke, her gaze swept toward the section where the players were seated.
Hearing their names called, the group of youthful and vibrant girls wasted no time, standing up with excitement and making their way to the stage.
After all, most of them had come here for the participation prize: one kilogram of gold. Now that it was finally time to receive it, how could they not be thrilled?
"Please form four lines. You'll receive your prizes shortly.
"As for the top three, step forward first. Once the participation prizes are handed out, my lady will personally award your prizes!"
Following Aoi Kujou's instructions, all the participants who had reached the stage promptly arranged themselves into neat rows.
Even those like Touka Ryuumonbuchi and Sumire Hirose—elite daughters of noble families with no interest in participation prizes—stood obediently and followed the instructions.
As high school students, they were more than familiar with standing in formation. There was no awkwardness at all.
Once the players were organized, Aoi Kujou stepped aside. From the rear of the audience seating, a procession of over a hundred maids emerged.
All the maids were wearing the same style of outfit as Aoi Kujou, and they shared one distinct feature: every one of them had silver hair and crimson eyes.
These were artificial humans from the Einzbern family, specifically brought here by Eriri from the Fate/Zero world before today's event began.
Leading the group were none other than sisters Leysritt and Sella.
The current Einzbern family was effectively Eriri's private property, so even characters like Leysritt and Sella, who in canon wouldn't be created until years later, had been brought into existence early at Eriri's behest.
Unlike the original work, under Eriri's enhancements, Leysritt, Sella, and the rest of the artificial maids possessed full self-awareness, immense combat ability, and immortal bodies.
Even though the New Year's event didn't require so many maids—Aoi Kujou alone could have handled everything—Eriri had her reasons.
After all, whether it was Aoi Kujou, Athena, or Evileye, though they bore the role of maids, that title applied only in relation to Eriri. They were Eriri's personal maids.
Within the household, however, their status was no less than anyone else's. They stood on equal footing with Arifureta and the others.
That's why, normally, no one would order the trio around.
This was also due to Aoi Kujou's naturally serious personality. She had always fulfilled her duties before Eriri with sincere dedication, and she took pride in it.
Athena and Evileye, on the other hand, had no such sense of responsibility. While they were initially diligent, after getting comfortable with Eriri and the others, they completely relaxed.
Aside from still wearing maid uniforms and obeying Eriri's commands when issued, they acted no different from anyone else.
As for the Einzbern maids brought over for this event, Eriri had no intention of sending them back. Instead, she planned to keep them at the villa as true maids.
To accommodate them, Eriri had specially added a new living area for the maids in the villa, including rooms, baths, kitchens, and dining spaces.
Some of the maids were even implanted with high-level culinary skills at the time of their creation, making their cooking abilities equal to the chefs brought from the Food Wars! world for the upcoming cooking competition.
Thus, the maids' meals were all handled internally.
Don't think Eriri was incapable of cooking. As a being with omniscience and near-omnipotence, if she really wanted to cook something herself, the resulting flavor would far exceed anything Aoi Kujou could produce.
In fact, Eriri could easily create a top-tier dish from nothing with a single thought.
But she simply had no interest in doing so—nor was there any need.
She enjoyed eating Aoi Kujou's cooking not only to satisfy her appetite but because those meals contained Aoi's heartfelt sincerity.
As the maids walked down the corridor between the audience seats and reached the stage edge, they dispersed in all directions, leaving only Leysritt, Sella, and two other maids.
Each of the four held an elegant tray, and on those trays were neatly arranged bars of high-purity gold.
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