Saki

Whilst pondering Saki's actions, Kyouko manages to move into second place, slightly ahead of Eisui. As everyone is put under pressure to win the final hand, it is Saki who ends the match with a cheap hand, bringing Kiyosumi and Himematsu into the semi-finals. Looking over Saki's records, Kyouko comes to understand that, if they were playing regular matches, Saki would have had a +-0 score. Whilst Himematsu enlists the help of pro Yoshiko Kainou to help with a training camp for the semi-finals, Eisui invites Miyamori to join them on a trip to the beach. Meanwhile, Saki laments not being able to break out of her old playing style, worrying she may not be able to win against Kyouko a second time. Elsewhere, Nodoka has a dream about her old friend.

Kasumi brings out her dormant ability to draw a specific type of tiles to move into the lead, whilst Kyouko starts fighting back by drawing on her experience in three-player mahjong. Saki manages to score another rinshan kaihou and soon moves into the lead again with consecutive wins, displaying tactics that strike fear into the other players.

As the second half begins, Toyone brings out another one of her plays, the naked wait, and moves into second place. Toyone recalls her first game with the other Miyamori players, who welcomed her in with open arms. Toyone soon performs another naked wait and moves into first place, pushing Kiyosumi into third.

Hatsumi continues to lose points whilst Kinue helps put Himematsu into the lead, though Hatsumi manages to make a huge play before the match's end. It is soon time for the captain's match between Saki, Eisui's Kasumi Iwato, Himematsu's Kyouko Suehara, and Miyamori's Toyone Anetai. The round starts off with Kyouko scoring several consecutive wins, but Saki soon fights back with her rinshan kaihou, before Toyone starts making consecutive 'chasing riichi' plays against Kyouko.

Aware of Hatsumi's playstyle, Sae uses her ability to seal off her hands, though they are both surprised by Kinue's play. The rest of the half sees the three battling it out, with Nodoka seemingly oblivious to everything. After the first half, Sae, who is under stress from her power, recalls when Toshi became Himematsu's teacher and advisor. As the second half gets underway, Nodoka starts making her comeback.

Despite plays by both Hiroe and Kurumi, Hisa keeps the spirit of fun in her heart and get her own play at the end, ending the round with Kiyosumi in second place. Nodoka soon hears into the vice-captain's match against Himematsu's Kinue Atago, Miyamori's Sae Usuzawa, and Eisui's Hatsumi Usuzumi. As the match begins, Nodoka immediately brings out her 'Nodocchi' play style whilst Hatsumi brings out her "Gates of Evil".

During the lunch break, as teammates, commentators, and spectators have lunch with their respective groups, Hisa heads to the game room ahead of time, where she feels a chilling aura coming from the other players; Eisui's Haru Takimi, Miyamori's Kurumi Kakura, and Himematsu's Hiroe Atago. As the round goes on, Hisa struggles to concentrate, falling into Hiroe's plays several times and losing a lot of points. She soon remembers the most important thing about mahjong is to have fun, and she manages to regain some points with her signature bad wait. Despite falling to the last place at the end of the first half, Hisa feels freed from her nervousness and is prepared to give the second half her all.

Just as the first player's match is about to end, Komaki makes a strong play against Yuki, knocking Kiyosumi out of the lead. The second match soon begins with Mako up against Miyamori's Aislinn Wishart, Eisui's Tomoe Karijuku, and Himematsu's Yuuko Mase. Although Miyamori has high hopes for Aislinn's ability to visualize everyone's tiles, Mako manages to counter her plays with low-scoring hands, completely disrupting her flow, bringing Kiyosumi back their lead.

Yuki makes a strong play during the game's east round, particularly against Suzu. On the second hand, however, Shiromi makes a strong play whilst the 'awakened' Komaki prepares to make her move.

Nodoka recalls how she met Yuuki in Takatoobara Middle School and joined its mahjong club, where she also met Maho. Back at the training camp, Maho uses her ability to mimic other people's playstyles and shocks Saki when she copies her rinshan kaihou. Maho ultimately loses the rest of her hands though, as she can only mimic a certain ability once per match and her base skills are poor. It is shown that Hisa had invited Maho to the camp to both improve Mako's repertoire and give Saki a much-needed sense of fear, whilst she herself trains with Koromo, Yumi, and Mihoko. Returning to the present, Kiyosumi makes it through the first round after Hisa's victory, along with Himematsu. A few days later, Kiyosumi faces their second-round match with Yuuki going up against Eisui's Komaki Jindai, Miyamori's Shiromi Hosegawa, and Himematsu's Suzu Ueshige.

As the day of Kiyosumi's first round arrives, Saki states her determination to reach the finals before she can talk to Teru. After receiving some encouragement from Ryuumonbuchi and Tsuruga, Hisa receives a video from her school showing the support of all their friends and classmates. Moved by how many people have surrounded her in the past two years, Hisa thinks back to the training camp she held with Ryuumonbuchi, Kazekoshi, and Tsuruga. During the camp, Touka unconsciously enters a 'cold state' where she manages to beat Saki, Koromo, and Fujita. Later, Hisa invites Nodoka and Yuuki's friends from middle school, Maho Yumeno and Hiroko Muruhashi, to play with Saki and Nodoka, where Maho shows a fearsome ability.

The other schools who will compete with Kyosumi in the nationals are selected. Among them are Miyamori, Eisui All-Girls, Himematsu, and Rinkai All-Girls, along Shiraitodai and Achiga. As all the representatives arrive for the National tournament, the first day is dedicated for all the teams to settle themselves at Tokyo, as Saki and her friends spend some downtime with members of both Kazekoshi and Ryuumonbuchi. Despite not taking part in the tournament, the girls from Tsuruga also arrive to watch it as well. At the tournament lottery draw, a lost Saki has a short encounter with the Achiga girls before reuniting with her team mates. Kiyosumi draws a bracket in line with both Himematsu and Eisui. Per the schedule, Kiyosumi does not play until day 3 and Hisa declares that they will spend the second day leisurely in preparation for their first match.

The first day of the individuals tournament begins. Tōka faces off against Tsuruga's Kaori and is beaten by her beginner's luck. Another Tsuruga girl informs her team mates of an opponent who was strong during south winds. Despite pressure from being the team champions, Kiyosumi manage to get through, though Kyōtarō, who had been participating in the boys tournament, is knocked out. In the second half, Mihoko ends up facing against Hisa, who still does not remember her. With Hisa ahead, Mihoko decides to use her right eye to win the game. Hisa finally remembers who she is and Mihoko gets her long awaited conversation. The first day ends with all of Kiyosumi's players progressing. Yūki, who had a winning streak all day, psyches herself up for the next day.

As a reward for winning the tournament, and to train for the individuals, Hisa takes everyone to a pool, where Saki admits she cannot swim. They run into the Ryūmonbuchi group, who actually own the pool, and Koromo makes friends with Nodoka. Tōka reminds Koromo that when she went to Tokyo with her group, and went to a family restaurant, that reminded her of her parents. Meanwhile, Kazekoshi and Tsuruga make their plans for training for the individuals. Saki's sister, Teru, progresses to the nationals, though when asked about Saki, denies her existence.

Koromo recalls that when her parents died, no matter how many times Touka brought her friends, she still always felt lonely, believing her only worth is in mahjong. Koromo's powers cause a brief blackout, but Saki remains calm throughout. Koromo gets another haitei raoyue once the game resumes, leaving one more hand. Koromo is a bit shocked when Saki says she is having fun playing against her.

Remembering the pact she had made with Mihoko, Kana gets a burst of confidence and regains a lot of points. Yumi also gets a good play, and Koromo, having paid all her attention to Saki, gets a little agitated. Saki takes off her shoes and socks, remembering the times she played mahjong at home and at the training camp.

During the break, Mihoko goes to comfort Kana, and Nodoka catches up with Saki to reaffirm their promise and rebuild her confidence. Fujita warns Koromo to play mahjong properly.

As the round continues, Saki finally recognizes Koromo's aura. She starts putting pressure on her opponents by reducing their tenpai probabilities and playing two haitei raoyue moves in a row. However, this is broken up when Yumi allows Saki to win with a her discard. Yumi then follows this up by getting some points from Kana.

Momoko's abilities fall short against Nodoka, whose training matches her real life playing to her online play style, therefore not taking notice of Momoko's lack of presence. The round ends with Kiyosumi retaining the lead. The final round starts with Saki, Kana, Yumi and Koromo, though initially Saki cannot connect the fearsome aura she felt with the petite looking Koromo.

Tōka makes a slight comeback, ruining Nodoka's perfect run, but then falls into a play laid by Tsuruga's Momoko Tōyoko, whose presence is so small her calls for riichi cannot be heard by her opponents. She had trouble being noticed and had abandoned all communication until she was found by her school's mahjong club leader, Yumi Kajiki.

The fourth round begins off slow with Nodoka winning a small hand, and as play continues, the players continuously keep on getting draws. Eventually, Nodoka is able to get more into the game, and ups her skills like when she is playing online. By the time of the last hand of the first half of the round, only Nodoka has won any hands and has pulled ahead of the other three.

Mihoko arrives to pass along the information to her companion, and Hisa barely recognizes her. Koromo takes the torn penguin to her butler, who fixes it, and she returns it to Nodoka. While Nodoka expresses her gratitude, she leaves quickly and is unable to hear Koromo's name.

Satomi Kanbara asks the members of Tsuruga's mahjong club to meet up after school. She then pulls up in her van and informs them that they are going to the beach to help bond with one another in preparation for the prefectural tournament.

Tomoki tells Koromo how Touka recruited her to the Ryuumonbuchi team. Two years prior to the current story line, Touka was looking for recruits to join the mahjong team. Hagiyoshi then suggests a "RTS" online player to fill in the last spot. Touka says that she must play against this person to gauge her strength and spends days online in order to verse her.

Miharu Yoshitome recounts her first days in Kazekoshi's mahjong club. She had to work hard to get into Kazekoshi and join the mahjong club. When the first years were having a competition, she met Kana Ikeda and greatly admired her. Later during a match, Mihoko Fukuji notices that something is wrong with Miharu's eyesight.

Nodoka Haramura, Yuuki Kataoka, and Saki Miyanaga go back to the baths to see a shooting star. After Saki leaves to go get some milk, Nodoka and Yuuki begin discussing various things like how the began playing mahjong. Things start to take a turn as Yuuki begins sexually harrassing Nodoka. This situation makes Nodoka accidentally reveal that she is falling in love with Saki.