Chapter 131 Extra Chapter: The Little Building's Mahjong Tournament (Part 2) (Bonus Chapter with Nutrient Solution): Who Will Be the Winner?
Sigma stood by with the microphone in hand for a long time, only to find that this group still showed no signs of finishing the first round of the East.
"Hmm... this verbal battle between the two is much more exciting than a mahjong match..."
Sigma, inwardly lamenting that this mahjong tournament might not even be over by tomorrow, continued walking. "Let's look at group six, the 'Fellow Countrymen Meeting' group. The participants are Pushkin, Ivan, Gogol, and Ikh—all from Russia—"
Ye Yihe: "………………" He was clearly not from the same hometown as these three people.
Gogol: "My dearest friend—my dearest Ikh—it's such a pleasure to play mahjong with you! How about three of a kind? Or five?"
Ye Yihe: "Eh..."
Sigma: "Wait, wait, wait! Blatant card feeding is prohibited!"
Ivan: "I've drawn a South Wind card this time, my master. Please decide for me according to your will: should I keep it or play it?"
Ye Yihe: "Ah... this..."
Sigma: "Wait, blatant card-asking is also prohibited!"
Pushkin: "Oh, I drew a card... Oh dear, I accidentally knocked all my cards over! I'm so sorry, I'll pick them all up right now. Or, could you help me pick them up, sir?"
Ye Yihe: "...Help yourself."
Sigma: "...Even beating around the bush is prohibited! Are you guys even following the rules? If this continues, won't Ikh just be guaranteed to win?"
Ivan: "Huh? What are you talking about? Is there any possibility of another winner besides my master?"
Gogol: "Where did we break the rules? Cheating to win for yourself is cheating, but I was wholeheartedly trying to help my best friend win. How can that be considered cheating?"
Pushkin: "Exactly!"
Ye Yihe rubbed his forehead: "...I'm starting to think that Dazai deliberately put me in this group to be tortured."
—Unlike the other groups, the East Wind field in the fellow townsmen group is progressing very quickly. Three rule-breakers are working together to feed cards to someone, determined to bring out an uncrowned champion.
Sigma: "After confirmation by the host and security personnel Oda Sakunosuke, it was determined that actions such as [accidentally knocking over cards] and [accidentally saying the card's face while talking to oneself] were not considered cheating, and the sixth group's competition will proceed as normal."
"Let's turn our attention to Group Six... Well, according to Xiao Yin's scoring, Ihe is far ahead with an overwhelming advantage. Unless someone in the East Fourth Round draws a Yakuman hand like [Peerless Hero] or [Nine Lotus Lantern], it's impossible to turn the tide."
After leaving the table that had left him drenched in sweat, Sigma continued walking.
"Let's look at Group Seven, the Legendary Agents Group. The contestants are Ango Sakaguchi, Mushitaro Oguri, and Mizuki Tsujimura from the Special Abilities Special Agents Department, as well as the renowned French legendary intelligence agent, Mr. Attil Rimbaud!"
Rimbaud: "Hmm, do you really need to introduce me in such detail...?"
Tsujimura Mizuki, who had just drawn a tile, was so excited that she had to lower her voice: "It is such an honor for me to be able to play mahjong with Mr. Rimbaud! Mr. Rimbaud, could you tell me in detail how you and Verlaine managed to escort that physicist back to France despite being besieged by two Italian giants—Dante and Boccaccio?"
Ango Sakaguchi, who was brought along by Commander Taneda, pushed up his glasses, which reflected a sharp light: "This is the top [ultra-high difficulty mission] that is rumored to be completed in the special agent circle. I am also very interested. Mushitaro, you have just joined the Special Ability Special Agent Department, so you may not understand. The person in front of you is our legendary senior agent."
Oguri Mushitaro played a card, looking surprised: "Oh... I'd better quickly grab some paper and write this down. Maybe I can use it as good material for my biographical writing and pass it on to my writer friend."
Rimbaud: "This, let's just say it's a top-secret national secret... Ah, I'm going to argue about this."
Tsujimura Mizuki patted her chest and said, "Everyone here has signed a confidentiality agreement since they entered the industry, so you can rest assured. Senior Rimbaud, we will absolutely not tell anyone—in fact, my friends still think I work as an administrative staff member at an import trading company."
Rimbaud: "…………" In any case, Japan's confidentiality agreements should be different from France's, right...?
The special agents, who initially expected to test each other's wits and psychological warfare limits, gradually found themselves huddled around Rimbaud, listening to him recount his past. Sigma glanced at the progress of the card game and realized he had barely managed to finish the first round.
Sigma: "It's obvious these four are rather distracted while playing mahjong... but at least they're not having any problems with the progress or the flow. According to Xiao Yin's scoring, hmm, it seems Ms. Miyuki is currently in the lead?"
It's understandable that Rimbaud, being French, didn't understand the rules, but it turns out that Sakaguchi Ango and Oguri Mushitaro probably couldn't beat Tsujimura Mizuki either.
Tsujimura Mizuki chuckled: "After all, I only became a special agent a few years after graduating from university, and I used to play mahjong quite often. Anyway, Mr. Rimbaud, what's next?"
Seeing that the four of them were almost turning into a secret agent group whispering to each other, Sigma looked up at the sky for a moment, then silently walked towards the next group.
He didn't sign any confidentiality agreement, so he probably shouldn't continue listening...
"Let's look at the eighth and last group, the 'make-up' group. The contestants are Count Bram, a vampire who wears sunglasses and applies four layers of sunscreen to avoid the sun; Ms. Akiko, who was called in to join the table because she was passing by while buying discounted groceries; Mr. Kunikida, who had to come because he accepted a mahjong request; and Mr. Tanizaki, who thought he was going to work at a haunted house but was dragged here to play mahjong."
After listening to the introduction, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki was silent for a moment, then let out two laughs to ease the tension: "...Haha...Our group's name...surprisingly, it's quite fitting..."
Yosano Akiko reached out and picked up a card, with a bag of fresh groceries from the supermarket at her feet: "I overheard them talking about something. What happened to Mori Ougai?"
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki: "I didn't hear it very clearly, but they said I was sent to the [Hounds] because of something about the Battle of Tokoyami Island..."
Yosano Akiko's eyebrows immediately relaxed and a smile appeared on her lips: "Aha, this trip was worth it! I'll buy another bottle of red wine to celebrate when I get back."
When she was eleven years old, Mori Ōgai took her to the battlefield. For the sake of the latter's [Undying Legion] plan, she was forced to continuously use her healing abilities on soldiers until both the soldiers and her mind were completely broken.
That nightmare almost came true three years later—if the president and Ranpo hadn't confronted that demon and rescued her.
Yosano Akiko: "I thought he was still hiding in some shady clinic plotting his next mischief after the failure of the 'Three-Times Plan,' but it turns out he was caught by the 'Hound'? Hahahaha, how interesting!"
Kunikida Doppo carefully compared the card he drew with the one in his hand, and only after confirming several times that it was a useless card that couldn't be paired with another card did he cautiously play it: "I heard that Dazai was in charge of pointing out the location, and Ike led people to catch it. Later, it was handed over to [Hound]."
Even when faced with a bizarre request like "participating in a mahjong tournament," he insists on completing the task perfectly. This is Kunikida Doppo, a perfectionist who plans his time down to the minute.
Even without being exposed to sunlight, Bram was still yawning sleepily, slowly picking up a tile: "Why should I, a commoner, engage in this entertainment called, um, mahjong..."
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki: "Because... we're one short for the mahjong game?"
Bram: "Phew, I'm so sleepy..."
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki: "Ahhh, you played an extra card! Take it back right now!"
—The scene was truly joyful and harmonious, no wonder they were a group that Dazai dragged in to make up the numbers.
Sigma: "According to Xiaoyin's scoring, Group 8 has already progressed to the East 2nd round! The point difference is very small, and we don't know who the final winner will be yet. Let's look forward to it... Ah, but I'm a little curious. The introduction says that the four of you are here to make up the missing one for a three-person game... So who is making up the missing one for whom?"
Kunikida, Akiko, Bram, and Tanizaki suddenly fell silent.
"…………"
The sun gradually shifted away from the afternoon, setting below the horizon.
"This mahjong competition was really intense and close! We saw the 'fellow townsmen' group decide the winner first. Congratulations to Ikh for advancing to the finals!"
"Then came the seniors group, the detective group, the hunting dog group... and each group produced its finalists, who are now waiting to advance to the next round."
"The battle between the Three Dominators and the Demon Team is still unresolved. Let's take a look at the current situation... What, they're still fighting in the East Round 1?"
The game ended in a draw, another draw, and yet another draw.
The three rivals, Dazai Osamu and Fyodor, sat at the same table and played a game that ended in a draw for the entire afternoon.
The crowd went from watching them compete to chatting in small groups, and eventually cleared out one of the tables to set up a sukiyaki pot and a grill and rack for grilling meat.
The ingredients that Jingzi bought, plus what was in the refrigerator, were just enough to make a sumptuous dinner.
Bram was already wilted from the sun and was slumped over the table, half asleep.
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki repeatedly stopped Akiko from trying to dissect the vampire count.
After standing next to Fedor for a while, Ye Yihe simply moved a chair over and sat down.
After observing for a while, he secretly reached out and grasped Fyodor's left hand, which was resting on his lap.
A hint of a smile appeared in the depths of Fyodor's eyes. His right hand on the table was still touching the cards, while his left hand under the table quietly spread its five fingers to make it easier for Ye Yihe to play with them.
Under Ye Yihe's watchful eye, Fyodor's fingernails remained smooth and rounded, without any irregular edges chipped by his teeth.
Ye Yihe was very satisfied. He slowly rubbed each finger with the pad of his thumb, and then pinched the slender and soft knuckles.
The bruises there were very faint, and there was no more bleeding or scabbing.
Following the cuff upwards, the Russian inscriptions that were absent from Yeikh's new body were still clearly visible on Fyodor's forearm.
Even if you can't see it, if you touch it lightly with your fingertips, you can still feel a slight bump on the edge of the lettering—Ye Yihe can even clearly recall the clenched teeth he made when he changed the dressing, his belly full of anger at this guy for not taking care of his body.
But at this moment, it seems to have transformed into a kind of pleasure. In countless nights in the past, there had always been lips gently tracing that spot, stirring up a slight shiver and a gasp.
If we go even further...
Ye Yihe was a little distracted and didn't notice that his intimate actions with Fyodor were so intense that the other three Dazai glanced at them sideways.
Facing the distracted Ye Yihe and the smiling Fyodor, Dazai x3: "…………"
"Ah—I'm done playing! Let's eat sukiyaki! Sukiyaki! I need a snow crab leg!"
Young Dazai puffed out his cheeks and pushed the cards away, declaring that no winner had been decided in this group.
Sigma, whose stomach was growling, was taken aback: "Huh? We don't have to play the finals?"
Great! He can finally be free from his role as a host!
He happily tossed aside the microphone, grabbed his plate, and joined the wave of people scrambling to eat barbecue. "Akutagawa, I'd like my steak medium-rare—"
"……Um?"
Ye Yihe suddenly realized, "Why did they all leave? Who won?"
"Undoubtedly,"
Fyodor's smile widened, his beautiful violet eyes fixed on Ye Yihe as if gazing upon the miracle bestowed upon him by the world.
"You have gained everything, including victory."
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