Chapter 162: Heavenly Hand
The New Year's Eve dinner atmosphere proved even more relaxed and pleasant than imagined.
Host and guests all enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
For this three-and-a-half-day holiday, Suoh planned only ordinary morning practice and evening lessons as basic training.
First enjoy relaxed time, then afterward invest his mind fully in training.
This represented Suoh's life philosophy.
In fact, he'd balanced life this way all along his journey.
January 1st, morning.
Suoh wore his dark blue casual clothes, Hazy Night at his waist, left hand carrying gifts, right hand holding a food box full of sweets.
Using shunpo, he headed toward Matsuzaki Yoshito's house.
With Suoh's current speed, this distance separated by several streets proved merely a stone's throw away.
Very quickly, Suoh arrived outside the courtyard, stopping his steps.
The familiar wood scent already drifted on the wind.
The yard held piles of wood shavings and lumber, several commonly used tools leaning against the wall in orderly fashion.
"Matsuzaki, I'm here!"
"Coming!"
The response came from inside the house, accompanied by somewhat hurried footsteps.
The wooden door slid open as Matsuzaki Yoshito leaned out.
He'd clearly tidied himself carefully today—his deep gray kimono clean and neat, facial beard trimmed properly, his body lacking the usual wood chips and fine oil stains.
That face darkened and weathered by sun and years, along with the warm smile upon it, hadn't changed one bit.
"Tsukasa, Happy New Year!"
"You look even more spirited—seems Seireitei's water and soil really do nurture people!"
Seeing who arrived, Matsuzaki Yoshito's eyes lit up as he strode forward, gaze sweeping over Suoh with deepening smile.
"Happy New Year."
"A small token—you worked hard this past period. I've looked over the house in various places. Your craftsmanship has improved."
Suoh smiled as he entered the courtyard, passing over the items in his hands.
"You're too kind."
"Then I'll shamelessly accept."
Matsuzaki Yoshito smiled and scratched his head as he received them, speaking solemnly.
The gift's value didn't lie in the items themselves but in this thoughtfulness.
Their relationship required no polite refusals either.
"Big Brother Suoh, you came! Happy New Year!"
Subsequently, surrounded by children, Suoh entered this small courtyard full of life's traces.
January 2nd, noon.
After the meal, the square table in the reception room was cleared and covered with a light blue felt cloth.
Suoh mysteriously brought out a wooden box.
Opening it revealed an exquisite set of lacquered wooden mahjong tiles.
The tile bodies were lightweight, smooth to touch, backs bearing ink-black base with gold powder patterns, front faces finely carved and filled with colored lacquer.
"What is this...?"
Rangiku sat down on the left, curiously leaning closer, eyes wide with curiosity.
"Mahjong—a game from the Living World."
Suoh poured the tiles onto the felt cloth while simply explaining the rules.
"Four-player game. Take turns drawing and discarding tiles, trying to form specific tile combinations. The first person to complete wins."
"Sounds a bit like hanafuda, but more complex?"
Terada-san picked up a 'Hatsu' character tile, fingertips rubbing across the raised lacquer patterns.
"You could understand it that way, but with more combinations and more variations."
"I'll first teach you the basic tile patterns and rules. Learn while playing."
Suoh shuffled the tiles evenly, beginning to build the walls.
Before coming to Soul Society, he had been a Japanese mahjong enthusiast, considering himself to have reached the realm of the 'causality-flow' school of mental techniques.
During New Year's, Terada-ya didn't operate commercially, so he'd specifically prepared this game suited to the New Year atmosphere.
Toshiro had already quietly seated himself at the table. Though his face showed no expression, his eyes revealed earnest attention.
His speed learning new things had always been quick.
He also happily tried new things with Suoh.
Kotama carried over cushions, sitting beside Grandmother Hitsugaya to accompany her watching.
The four formally took their seats.
Suoh sat East, Rangiku sat South, Toshiro sat West, Terada-san sat North.
The first half-round: teaching game.
Suoh slowed his movements, explaining basic rules while shuffling tiles.
His fingers nimbly arranged the tiles neatly, the tile stacks dancing into light waves between his hands.
"Each person builds seventeen stacks, two tiles per layer, stacked top and bottom, forming walls on four sides."
"Then roll dice to determine the starting position for drawing tiles. Beginning from East, draw counterclockwise—each person draws four tiles at a time."
Toshiro's movements proved clean and efficient, arranging tile stacks neatly before placing them in front of himself.
Rangiku tried copying Suoh's style of manipulating tiles, but several playfully slipped through her fingers.
She gave a light exclamation, hurriedly retrieving them.
Terada-san moved somewhat slower but very carefully.
A brand new game quietly began on this leisurely New Year afternoon.
Second round: getting into the groove.
Shuffling tiles, building walls.
This time everyone's movements proved much more practiced, aside from calculating points requiring Suoh's assistance.
East fourth round.
"Riichi!"
On the sixth turn, Suoh declared riichi after laying a red dragon tile sideways.
The four took turns drawing tiles.
When Suoh's next tile arrived, his eyes brightened.
He turned over his hand beside the table, ending the game.
"Non-dealer riichi, ippatsu, tsumo, pinfu, ikkitsuukan, iipeikou—seven han, haneman."
He pushed down his hand.
The tiles displayed:
One-man, two-man, three-man, four-man, five-man, six-man, seven-man, eight-man, nine-man, two-sou, two-sou, three-sou, four-sou.
Plus the just-drawn one-man tile for self-draw.
He looked up at the three, smile carrying both a teacher's patience and a mahjong enthusiast's faint pride.
"Damn, I was so close to winning!"
Rangiku stared at that neat, beautiful tile pattern, reluctantly closing her hand.
"Tsukasa is really skilled at this."
Terada-san smiled softly.
"Tsukasa's amazing!"
Though Kotama couldn't quite understand, hearing everyone say so, she clapped along.
The game continued.
In the following half-round, Toshiro relied on solid learning ability and calm calculation with steady, peaceful tile patterns to capture points smoothly.
Though his point values weren't large, he defeated Suoh by a narrow margin.
"Toshiro, well done."
Suoh's gaze blazed toward his opponent across the table, speaking with affirmation.
"Thank you for the game."
Toshiro calmly organized the tiles before him.
In his eyes, a flash of youthful exuberant light passed briefly.
As daylight gradually slanted westward, the first full game also reached its climax.
Experienced Suoh held first place with a certain point advantage.
Toshiro maintained steady, methodical play in second place.
Terada-san maintained stable rhythm throughout, neither hasty nor slow, without merit or error in third place.
Rangiku displayed momentum matching her personality in the game, but unfortunately with poor luck, she ranked last.
The crisp sound of tile collision, the rustling sound of drawing tiles.
In the South second round, Terada-san as dealer arranged her hand.
"Oh! I think... this is tenhou."
She paused momentarily, then smiled as she pushed down her tiles, speaking softly.
"Tenhou yakuman. Terada-san, congratulations—you've won."
Suoh examined the tile pattern before her.
A very ordinary one-han winning hand, but as dealer's blessing—tenhou.
"What!?"
"That's wonderful!"
Rangiku, whose score had already gone negative, cheered with joy filling her face.
Without any displeasure, rather with a subtle pride of 'we won.'
"It's because Tsukasa proved quite a successful teacher."
Terada-san, easily taking first place, smiled at the excited Rangiku before her, speaking gently.
"You learned well yourself."
Suoh looked at this final victor, smile genuine, speaking with heartfelt conviction.
The game's sole loser Rangiku rallied her spirits, calling out loudly.
"It's still early—let's go again!"
"Alright!"
Tile sounds rang out once more, laughter spreading along with them.
The New Year's festive atmosphere dispelled winter's cold, making this New Year afternoon seem full of warmth.