chapter 1 – Bullet 1: Hysteria Mode of The wise

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 ~ FROZZENDETH

Cover art and illustrations by Kobuichi

Hello and thank you for reading! This is just a short message from the translator, @Waifuspite#6971 from the SilverTongue discord group. Note, this book has not been translated by hand like the main series that BakaKaba is translating but done by machine translation and interpretation. If you enjoyed reading this please feel free to join the discord group and interact with other HnA fans. On that note I hope you enjoy this fanservice filled book, because I know I quite enjoyed translating it…

Bullet 1: Hysteria mode of The Wise

“Hahaha! Ki-Kun, Aria, Out-! You two don’t have any skills as Hunters!”

Riko childishly kicks me with her cherry decorated socks.

After a kick on my back from the couch, I nodded off, lying down in the same position as my Hunter on my PSP.

Right now, we are all playing Monster Hunter on our PSP’s together over LAN…

“How can I beat you when you have played for over 800 hours! You can beat me without using any weapons or armor!”

As the canine-toothed and twin tailed Aria just said, as per Rikos rules everyone was forced to fight giant monsters with their characters wearing no armor.

Another rule was, if your character dies three times, you are out.

“………”

The only survivors were Reki, who was using a heavy bow gun, and Riko, who was a Gun Lancer, who were both sitting under the air conditioning.

Me and Aria each begrudgingly paid our due of 100 yen to each of the two winners.

“Kin-Chan, just because it is summer vacation does not mean that you should play videogames all day…”

Shirayuki came to sit next to me with tears in her eyes.

By the way, Shirayuki does not have a copy of Monster Hunter, so she’s feeling a bit depressed today.

“It’s no use, it’s too hot to go outside today. Hey, don’t grab my sleeve, you’ll push the wrong button!”

“But, but…!”

“-Hey Yuki-Chan. Don’t you think that this game is good for learning about combat?”

Riko, who has survived every single fight, or rather has not died once, responded to Shirayuki.

“Particularly, competitive games like this are useful for developing a desire for competition. They teach you to act based on reading your opponents moves and design strategies based on their facial expressions. Kufufufu.” 

“Is that so, Kin-Chan?”

“Well… come to think of it, it was recommended in inquesta to play games. But, I think that was referring to table games like cards or mahjong, not Monster Hunter.”

“Then let’s play a game like that, Kin-Chan! I want to play a game with Kin-Chan too!”

“That’s why you shouldn’t have grabbed my sleeve… Oh, you just made me take a Great Recovery Pill for nothing…”

As I was shaking off the white snowflake (Shirayuki) who was following me…

With a “!” above her head, Riko’s head perked up and she dropped her PSP.

“Monster Hunter is over! Let’s play table games together now!”

This girl…

Your mood is going to change soon isn’t it…

“Riko’s room has a game room! At Riko’s Cast-Off table, we can have a battle to determine the best military strategist!”

“The best military strategist…?”

Shirayuki’s eyes glittered.

“… so the person who is the best at table games is the one who can help Kin-Chan the most…! I’ll do it!”

As Shirayuki stood up, Shirayuki’s usual incomprehensible equation gave her an equally incomprehensible interpretation and outcome.

Shirayuki must be very enthusiastic about the idea of finally being able to play a game with me.

Even the sore loser, Aria, was enthusiastic about this new game, saying “I can’t win in  this game so I will play that instead.”

As for Reki… Riko said “Rek-yum you’ll play too!” with a smile and chuckle.

Reki nodded expressionlessly.

“What the hell is that? What is this cast-off table thing?

… My question was promptly ignored by all of the girls, who began to argue amongst themselves as they each claimed that they were the number one strategist…

Without learning what kind of game we would be playing, we decided to meet again in this game room of Riko’s in the girls dormitory tomorrow in the afternoon.

“Everyone must be in their uniform! Ki-Kun, wear a shirt with no jacket or tie!”

Riko said in a flirtatious tone…

I have a very bad feeling about this. Well, a bad feeling this time too.

I had a bad feeling… and I was right. I was right once again.

I decided to Google “Cast-Off table” that night and learned…

“Various table games in which the loser removes his or her clothes one by one.”

In short, it’s an undressing game… This girl!

I already don’t like the idea of taking my clothes off in front of girls, but if I were to see a girl strip, I would enter hysteria mode 1000% of the time.

And if I were to enter hysteria mode there, and there are several now stripped girls around me, I might end up with a harem end… it would be just like one of Riko’s games.

Regardless of the situation, I would get sick of hearing the quartet of shooting, slashing, bombing, and sniping from all directions after the fact.

It goes without saying, but my life would end there.

—With haste I thought about running away as fast as I could to Soya or the Cape, but…

My singular hope was dashed as Riko sent me an email saying “Deserters will be chased to the ends of the earth and sentenced to a giant Tsar bomb!” Even if I run away I’ll die!

After learning of this dangerous plan of Riko’s, I made emergency phone calls to Aria, Shirayuki, and Reki. Aria responded with “I’m just going to win and I’m not going to let you take off any of my clothes”, Shirayuki with “I don’t care if it’s Kin-Chan… Kya!!”, and Reki with “…”. This was a complete waste of time.

I began to panic and decided to call Riko to complain.

“I don’t care about that! Five people is not balanced though, so let’s call three more people! Jeanne, Aya from Amdo, and, um, Ki-Kun, bring someone else with you!”

—The result was that oil was added to the fire.

(in addition to Aria, Shirayuki, Riko, and Reki, Jeanne and Hiraga now are…!)

Everyone has different reasons to do this but–

All the girls are either beatiful or extremely cute.

This is dangerous.

This is too dangerous.

For me, this is like walking into a bullet-riddled battlefield naked. This is because I have a condition called hysteria mode.

(What to do, what to do, what do you do Kinji…!）

After worrying about it so much that my hair almost turned gray…

I came up with an idea.

(…”Hysteria Wiseman”…!)

That’s what my brother used to call it – a secret technique passed down in the Tohyama family.

It must be one of the derivatives of hysteria mode.

When one of the Tohyama family’s men become a Hysteria Wiseman, he is not sexuall aroused for a while.

Instead of the usual physical boosts, the body becomes less powerful and offensive abilities are completely eliminated.

In other words, it is a useless technique–That’s what my brother said…

Except, it is useful. At least under these very special conditions.

When I first read the scrolls at my grandfather’s house, I couldn’t understand them, but now that I’m in high school, I can understand the scrolls.

If I think about it calmly, I would always go through hysteria mode at least once, and its that kind of technique that makes me want to kill myself with a gun in self-loathing, but I cannot turn my back on it.

Still, entering wiseman hysteria mode is better than dying under the concentrated fire of those girls.

From what I can understand, Hysteria Wiseman should only last about 50 minutes.

After Hysteria Wiseman ends and I return to normal, it would then be possible for me to enter normal hysteria mode.

In other words, I need to beat them all and finish the game within 50 minutes, while it’s not possible for me to become sexually aroused.

Now, in order to settle the game as quickly as possible… I decided to take further measures the next morning.

In games, they use the so-called “passers”, henchmen that are used for cheating.

With that thought in mind, I made a phone call to Fuuma Hina, a first year student in Lezzad.

“Master. You called me, didnt you?”

This eccentric ninja chatterbox, Fuuma, is actually a girl who is rumored to be a descendant of ninjas.

She is a strange and special junior who has been through a lot in the past and has an unusual amount of loyalty to me.

I’m not sure why she calls me master, but to her I am her master…

For now, let’s act like her master to get her to cooperate.

“Fuuma. Are you free today? You are not busy, right? Great, come with me.”

“Yes, master.”

“Today, I’m going to give you a special lesson. It’s training, your favorite kind of training.”

“Master, are you serious?”

With a estatic voice, Fuuma was quick to get on board with my “training”.

Whenever Fuuma is told that something is “training”, she will always do whatever it is, whether it is simply picking up groceries or laundry.

“So… I have been watching you lately, and you don’t seem to have enough guts.”

“No guts…? Yes… I’m sorry that I have none.”

“So, I’m going to give you a lesson on how to be courageous. Just so you know, dont call me a sexual harasser.”

“???”

“We don’t have a lot of time, so I’m going to ask you point-blank…. and…. uh…. the content of this training is likely to include the act of undressing. How about it, can you do it?”

“Huh, undressing!? In, in, in front of my master…!? Maybe you are talking about doing nude art…!?”

While saying a mysterious word, Fuuma stammered something like “awa, awa, awa,” but…

“–No! You are right! If I am to train with my master, I must be willing to do anything!”

…Rather, she immediately consented.

I felt a little guilty about this straightforwardness, but my life is at stake here. 

Please don’t hesitate to help me.

…She was shaking so badly that her ponytail was shaking…

When I explained the Cast-Off table and the rules to her, she suddenly looked both relieved and disappointed.

“It’s a pleasure to be of service to you!”

And right after she went back to her normal Fuuma self and knelt down to me.

──Now, let’s go.

For me, this is a game of life and death at the cast-off table.

Once I actually changed I learned the hard way…

Hysteria Wiseman certainly seems to be an inconvenient mode.

Psychologically, I feel calm, but physically, I feel empty and slow, plus my senses are duller than usual.

Just as the scrolls in my parents house had said, this mode is completely useless in combat.

Also, once I met up with Fuuma in her sailor suit waiting under the girls dormitory, I noticed…

As a Wiseman, I seem to lose interest in women, or rather, I seem to be cold and unapproachable.

Well, actually, I’m the same as I usually am here.

Because of this, I wont act suspicious.

“Ah, Ki-Kun come, come! Come on in!”

I was welcomed into Riko’s room by an excited Riko, and as usual, there were sweet smelling lolita and cosplay outfits hanging all over the place. It’s like a costume store.

“… let’s get started.”

I walked past Riko and sat down on the bed next to her….

Good.

Right now, I have no interest in Aria, Shirayuki, Riko, Reki, Jeanne, Hiraga, or the others gathered in their summer uniforms. I can calmly ignore them.

I see. So this is where the name “Wise Man” comes from.

It’s already been five minutes since I’ve been in this mode. I have 45 minutes left.

In the meantime, I’ll have to settle this.

“Well, because of Jeanne’s suggestion, I’m going to have one of the boys, Ki-Kun, wear special goggles. Aya, give them to him.”

“Yes! This was made by Aya yesterday!”

And so the child prodigy of Amdo, Aya Hiraga, handed the goggles to me with a tiny hand…

… night vision goggles…? It’s a pair of night vision goggles.

“What the hell is this?”

“This is a pair of goggles that recognizes only the bodies of girls and automatically applies blur to it. It’s a popular item with everyone here!”

As Hiraga-san, who was wearing a sailor suit with a flat chest, said that…

When I put it on and turned the switch to ON, I could only see the girl’s face and hands.

Their skin appears to have a layer of light applied to it, as if it were a late night anime with a scene that I would consider disturbing.

Despite this light though I can see the table and my own hand, so it looks like I’m not blind to the cards and dice in my hand.

Aya, thank you for this.

Hysteria Wiseman, my henchman Fuuma, and the girl distorting goggles.

With all of these tools at my disposal, I’m sure that I can make it back alive from this cast-off table.

Best of all, with these goggles, I don’t have to worry about Wiseman’s time limit anymore.

The only risk is that I’ll be undressed, but there’s no danger of me doing anything should that happen. I don’t have the same kind of exposure hysteria activator, like the first Tohyama to use hysteria mode had/did.

However, even though I’m a boy, I don’t like the idea of being naked in public.

──I’m sorry girls, but I’m going to win this.

After all, right now I’m cold towards girls.

Girls, are you ready for this?

Riko lives alone in a three-person room and have used the two spare rooms as a game room and a manga room.

In the game room, there is a collection of old, new, eastern, and western games.

There are cards, dice, hanafuda, shoi, othello, darts… and even a pool table.

She’s really a girl who spares no time or money when it comes to gaming.

“Well, then, let’s divide up the teams! Four pairs of two, please!”

And so Riko brought out a lottery in a bowl and everyone drew…

First of all, the Western pair of Aria and Jeanne, the Japanese pair of Shirayuki and Fuuma, the little girl pair of Riko and Hiraga, and the surplus pair of Reki and myself.

According to RIko, the pairs can cooperate with each other. 

“–This is the first game–!”

The desk which Riko removed the tablecloth off of was a magnificent Janjian table.

In other words, this is “strip mahjong”.

It’s a royal road.

Mahjong is a game in which… four players take turns taking and discarding mahjong tiles laid out on the table, and the winner is the one who quickly arranges the tiles into a shape called “yaku-yaku” 

In terms of playing cards, it’s a lot like poker. You draw and discard cards, and there are various roles such as straight and flush.

These possible sets are mainly formed by collecting related tiles in sets of 3, 3, 3, 3, and 2.

This makes it more complex than poker and requires a higher level of strategy.

“I know the rules because I read it on a mobile app… Do you guys know the rules?”

I looked around and asked that to everyone. Right now I’m the only one looking suspicious with goggles on.

To my surprise, almost all of them seemed to know the rules of Mahjong.

The only one who doesn’t know anything about mahjong is Jeanne. Riko had tried to play mahjong in my room yesterday, so Aria and Reki seemed to at least know the rules.

Since then, Aria said that she read a manga about high school girls playing mahjong, which it seems Riko had recommended to her.

“Don’t worry Jeanne. I mastered mahjong after reading that manga.”

… While looking sideways at Aria, who was confidently speaking to her partner Jeanne…

I also got to the table with Reki, who just knows the rules.

“It’s okay to consult with your partner! I wrote a detailed ruleset in this notebook!”

“Psst”

Riko holds up a notebook with a kitty-cat pattern.

When I looked at the Mahjong chapter of the notebook titled “Cast Off Table Ruru☆Buku”–

Rules for AriAri: there are no local rules.

–It’s a common Japanese style mahjong.

(I bet kitty didn’t expect to be turned into a mahjong rulebook)

I looked at the back of the book and saw some items that it would seem that I should pay attention to.

— “when a game ends in deadlock the pair is changed”—

(the pairs are changed in a deadlock, huh…)

My partner is Reki, a beginner among beginners.

In order to annihilate the girls, Reki will eventually have to be knocked out, but I can’t let her go down right now.

I don’t know how long the rule of pairing up will last, but there is no shortage of games where two players are better than one.

I should probably do my best to protect Reki here.

–As the group passed around the rulebook.

“People who are hit directly take off 1 piece of clothes! People who are hit with Mangan take off 2 pieces of clothes, get hit with a haneman and you take off 3 pieces of clothing and if you get hit with baiman you take off 4 pieces of clothing! In the case of a Tsumo win, regardless of whether it is a high or a low win, everyone except the person who won will take off a piece of clothing!”

Riko cheerfully explains the undressing rules.

“I have a total of 5 pieces of clothing, including a uniform ribbon, 2 socks, a blouse, and a skirt! Because of the warrior’s compassion, you will be eliminated when you are down to just your underwear! And when one of you is eliminated, mahjong is over!

Winner gets to decide what the next game is! So, good luck to everyone!”

By the way, as a boy, I’m wearing a shirt, vest, pants, and 2 socks.

That means I have 5 lives to use, just like the girls.

First, we roll the dice to determine who will be the starting players…

“I’m like a parent” (this is in reference to who is at the table, Kinji is obv the dad)

And then, starting with Aria, who had re-seated herself, Shirayuki, Riko, and I took the North, South, East, and West positions.

Unless there is a pair change due to a deadlock game, one of the four here will be stripped down to his or her underwear.

“—Let’s get started. Mahjong is a rhythm.”

But when I checked my hand…

Oh, this isn’t good…

The types of tiles and numbers are all over the place.

(Damn… these tiles make me want to cry…)

It’s going to be hard to make a hand out of this.

Well that is me, with a terrible reputation for bad luck.

Pretending to rearrange the tiles, I quickly sent a distress signal to Fuuma, who was standing behind Shirayuki…

Fuuma, while overhearing something from Shirayuki, touched her ponytail… and returned a signal using her fingers.

You are saying… “I have a plan”…?

Hmmm… it doesn’t look like i’m going to go very far with this hand, so I might as well take it.

“Let’s get started.”

“Yes. Please take it easy on me.”

“ugggg–! Okay–!”

“Come on.”

Aria was grinning, Shirayuki was smiling serenely, Riko was saluting with both hands, I had my goggles on… pon, pon, pon… and I began to cut the tiles, but…

What suddenly stood out was Shirayuki’s gesture of picking up a tile and shaking it.

Her hands and her eyes are majestic.

She looks like a professional female player. That looks cool.

“Shi, Shirayuki… is this something you’re familiar with…?”

“Ah, Yes. I used to compete with my sisters at Hotogi.”

Shirayuki responds a little embarrassed and with a shy smile.

…what are you doing at Hotogi? Why are you acting like that?

As I discarded the 9, I had a thought.

“Oh, by the way, Shirayuki. You have ESS powers, right? Can you increase your own luck?”

“You cannot increase your own luck, but you can predict what the flow will be.”

“I see. You can only see your luck… Isn’t that a foul thing to do?”

When I asked her about it, Riko, not Shirayuki, squeaked.

She shook her head, flicking around her two side twintails.

“Because this is a combat game, anything is possible. Of course, you can cheat too, you know. But, if you get caught cheating, you’ll be naked at once! I’ll even take off your underwear!”

Riko then threatened everyone with the question “Are you cheating?” No one, of course, responded back.

–this is what is so scary about being a Butei.

Butei are not like cops or military personnel who must always be on the side of justice even when it’s at their expense.

The so-called “do-it-all” Butei, when given a mission, are relatively willing to use any means necessary to achieve victory.

Therefore, when it comes to games, anything is allowed.

That’s the unspoken rule.

“Im not cheating.”

The tile that Aria cute with a resounding thud was the 3 of Bamboo.

Aria just cut a dora tile. In addition to that, Shirayuki has already cut the 2 of Bamboo. 

It’s an obvious backstrip, a dangerous tile.

However, Shirayuki only glanced at Aria and did not move. It’s tough. Aria’s tile.

…zawa…

A little bit of tension appears in the air, and Aria quickly moves to hide her breasts.

“Gambling doesn’t need a safety net. My policy is to cut the cards I don’t want one after another. A strong confidence that won’t be affected by your opponent’s waiting will bring you luck!”

Well, that is exactly something Aria would say…

Your personality certainly comes out when you play games like this.

(But that’s a losing policy, no matter how you look at it)

Maybe they thought the same thing I did, but Shirayuki and Riko gave me a black smile… and a look that said, “we have a sucker”.

Shirayuki giggled some more.

I was going to have a short meeting with Fuuma when…

“–reach!”

Oh, oh thats bad.

While my attention was on Shirayuki and Riko, Aria threw the points bar into the table.

You’re quick, Aria. Just like when you assault the enemy.

… “reach” is a mahjong merger term that is also used in everyday life.

It is a call that indicates that Aria will win if she draws one more tile that she needs, or if someone discards that tile and Aria takes it.

“This will pass. I have a strong voice in the early stages– Yeah!”

BaShi!

The tile that Aria cut was the 6 of Man, which also looked like a dangerous tile that Shirayuki was waiting for.

However, Shirayuki didn’t even make a Chi, let alone a Ron. She made no move at all.

(way to go, Aria…)

This strong luck is indeed a big deal.

You can run through the scene of an active gunfight and not get hit by a single bullet. Your luck is truly like that.

“… Is this okay…?”

When Shirayuki, who had just seen Aria’s discarded tile, fearfully cut the 9 of the pin.

“Ron! Windhole Ron!”

Aah!

Aria shows us her hand.

Manzi 1-3, 5-7, Circles 6-8, Bamboo 7 and 8, West, West.

There are 3 tiles, 3 tiles, 3 tiles, 3 more tiles if you include the tiles discarded by Shirayuki–the tiles are arranged in a staircase of numbers, and finally there are two tiles with the word [west] drawn on them.

–certainly it’s a win.

This is a game of peace, the name farthest from Aria herself.

Her win has been established.

Incidentally, Aria’s declaration of “Ron” is a call meaning that by taking the tiles discarded by her opponent, she was able to complete her hand.

In this case, the player who discarded that tile, Shirayuki, lost.

“…ah…”

Even from my point of view, it was dangerous to cut off the 9 of the pin. Shirayuki shook her long black hair and nodded, and then…

“ki, in front of kin-chan… this… is embarrassing… and everyone is watching…”

She put her white-fingered hands on the ribbons of her summer uniform.

And then she blushed a little, glancing up at me… tsu, tsutsu…

Gently, she unraveled the ribbon from side to side.

(…u~tsu…)

A girl, conscious of me, shyly takes off her ribbon…

This situation alone would have been risky under normal circumstances.

She is making alluring motions that make you imagine what’s to come next. It’s horrifying.

But, for now I’m still safe.

Thanks to the girl distorting goggles, I could only vaguely see Shirayuki’s body, and the loss of the ribbon made her chest look vaguely three-dimensional, which I was rather grateful for.

(Then again, the veteran Shirayuki got beaten…)

A veteran was suddenly beaten by a mere novice.

This would be what we call Aria’s beginner’s luck.

Well, this is one of the most common sights in mahjong.

(“what should we do, attack Shirayuki?”)

I sent a hidden code to Fuuma…

(“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”)

And you’re back at it again.

I don’t want to prolong even a single game, so I want to beat the fallen Shirayuki in one fell swoop… Fuuma, though, who paired with Shirayuki seems confident.

I’ll bet on that confidence.

…jarajarajara…

And as the four of us at the table were mixing tiles…

“–That’s amazing, Aria. I never thought you would be able to hit a single reach.”

Shirayuki mumbled.

Then, with a calm expression her face, she gave a coy smile and said, “Mmm-hmm”

…What the hell? It’s scary. That smile.

She’s laughing with just her facial muscles.

“Yes, Shirayuki. Gambling is all about guts. You should play with more confidence.”

–Aria on the other hand looks down on Shirayuki like she’s a beginner.

She’s so proud of her current victory.

You don’t have breasts at all but you are trying to show them off. Stop getting carried away.

“Okay.”

With a smirk like a Noh mask, Shirayuki responds to Aria–

Everyone looks at their tiles and rearranges them while thinking.

…?

(What…?)

Fuuma looks at Shirayuki’s tiles with a surprised “awawa” face. 

What happened.

Were the tiles that unexpectedly bad?

“I’m feeling good. Let’s go!”

Aria smiled when she saw her tiles, she’s actually beaming!

And then discarded a tile.

“–Ron. Renhou Jinwa.”

(“Garaa.”)

Suddenly, Shirayuki summed up the situation.

“Whoa!”

Everyone in the room exclaimed in surprise.

Shirayuki, though, opens up Riko’s rulebook and points to it…

“I’m sorry Aria. I’m hoping to win. So I’m glad to tell you that you will soon be done for the night.”

Smile.

She’s telling Aria this with a beautiful smile.

If you look at Shirayuki’s tiles, you’ll see… three white tiles as white as snow, just like her name, and… something, and sure enough, she’s… got a renhou!

–This is a hand that requires uncanny luck, and is only possible when the player suddenly goes out in the first round.

I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not once.

“Yoo-hoo! Aria, you have to take off three layers! Which ones are you going to take off?”

Riko claps her hands and says to aria…

“That… That was an accident! It was a fluke! Shirayuki, next time I’ll aim for you!”

She’s a sore loser, blah, blah, blah!

She foughly unfastened the ribbon from her chest…

Goso, goso… shurushuru! poi!

She took off both her black knee socks on her feet and threw them at me.

Gross.

A pair of knee socks hit me in the face.

What the hell are you doing? You are so messy.

Well, at least it wasn’t… a sexy way to take off your clothes, so it was a lot safer for me.

“I see you Aria. Your back is already sooty.”

While mixing the tiles around, Shirayuki says a strange thing with an eerie tone…

“?”

Aria checks her back, but of course, it doesn’t have any soot on it.

Perhaps that was Shirayuki looking at Aria’s luck.

“Mahjong is a game of feng shui, dragon veins, and fortune telling. In Hotogi, it’s used to train people to divine the near future. I can already see the flow…. I wonder if Riko will win next time.”

As Shirayuki predicted, the third game…

“Aria, that’s Ron! Tenhou only! Hahaha!”

Jara.

After only a few rounds, Riko won the game.

It was Aria who was hit again.

“Liar! It’s too early!”

Aria’s reddish-camelia eyes widened in surprise…

She had originally discarded tiles quickly in a deliberate manner, but the first loss should have put her on guard..

Even as an amateur, I could see that she deserved to be beaten.

–on the other hand. 

“Oh, no. Aria. You’ve got me cornered.”

This time, there was not a single gap in the way Shirayuki played the game.

You’re not the same person that Aria had attacked earlier.

I’m not… sure if this is a good idea or not, but I think it is a good idea.

This is not something a beginner can do. It’s an advanced skill.

(In the first game, Shirayuki… she was “losing on purpose.”)

Apparently, this was Fuuma’s plan.

This is a common move in gambling.

Letting a beginner win lightly at first to get them into a good mood, and then destroying them thoroughly after making them create their own opening.

It seems that Fuuma and Shirayuki are using that tactic on Aria.

Shirayuki is… usually reserved like a Yamato Nadeshiko, but at times like this, she doesn’t let her prey escape.

“Ariaaa! Are you going to take off your blouse or your skirt!? DVD! DVD!”

In the midst of Riko’s unintelligible rambling─

“…ugghhh…!”

Aria, who sounded like a lioness who’d been stabbed with a spear, looked at me and…

Gyu…gyui…

Gyuiiiiiiintsu……！

Her face changed to the same color as the [中] of the Honor tile.

“Kinji! Don’t you dare take that thing off!!”

Aria said as she pointed at my goggles with a pistol. Hey! Watch where you point that thing!

She unzipped her skirt under the table and began to rummage with it.

Nu… she’s taking it off.

The skirt of her uniform.

“Oh, Aria! They’re little girl panties!”

“Shut up! I’m coming after you next!”

Aria’s head is completely on fire as she attempts to push Riko with her skirt, who has ducked under the mahjong table.

So that’s why they were targeting her…

–once Aria lost in the first half, she’s the type to get demolished in the second half.

I can’t stand to look at it anymore.

I’ll attempt to lead them away from Aria.

The fourth game I began to play, thinking…

With only one more piece of clothing left, Aria began to play defensively, and the game became unwinnable.

Aria, who is clenching her teeth… has trembling fingertips.

You are the only one here who can’t even say “poker face”.

The look on her face suggests that she’s in a difficult position to get out of… is she waiting for a single opening?

The word “temper” is another word that is used in everyday life, but it is derived from the mahjong term “tenpai”.

Listening to a tile means that you are in an exciting situation where you know you can go out with a win if you have just one more tile.

According to Riko’s rulebook, when a game ends without a winner, the players who have not yet reached a conclusion swap with their pair.

“–Aria, I’ll take over. You’ll end up reaching for the clothesline.”

“You don’t know how to play mahjong, so don’t try to be subtle, you just sit there and watch!”

Even Jeanne, Aria’s pair who took the trouble to offer her a helping hand, half-heartedly replied to Aria.

I was aiming a little too hard at Aria, and…

Oh, shit. That’s not good.

My hand is a mess. It’s the end of the game.

And just like that…

No one was able to make a yaku, and the game was called off.

“Come on, you’re up.”

“It would be so much easier if you just died.”

“Oh, the game is over. I was on a roll…”

Aside from Shirayuki, who just said something scary when she saw Aria, I…

“…noten”

The other three players were in tenpa, but I had to end the game with noten.

In other words, you have to switch to the other half of the pair.

If you turn around and look at Reki, my pair…

“…”

She’s standing there in her usual mannequin state.

She’s as unreliable as a mountain.

I got up from my seat and whispered to Reki, who has never played mahjong before.

“Reki, did you get a good look at the game?”

“Yes.”

“So… you know how to play a little better now?”

“Yes.”

“Just try not to lose. Okay?”

“Yes.”

Reki’s only answer to my questions was “yes”.

In addition to her robotic response, Reki sits at the table with absolutely no expression on her face which… only doubles my anxiety.

If Reki becomes their target and I lose my partner, I will be at a disadvantage later.

With my goal being to protect Reki, I exchanged signals with Fuuma, “protect Reki” and “go”.

“Hey Reki, let’s do a review of the rules. All you have to do is collect similar tiles and arrange them in a 3/3/3/3/3/2 pattern.”

As I said this from behind Reki, I prepared to give Reki instructions myself during the game.

…jarajarajarajara…

…amidst this sense of anxiety, the tiles were mixed together and…

All the girls picked up a few tiles and finished arranging them in their hands.

Now… the fifth game that decides my fate begins.

And right now Reki is…

She is just staring blankly into the void ahead of her.

“I’ll leave you to it.”

Jara.

Suddenly, Reki opens her hand.

“””WHAT THE!? TENPAI!?”

Aria, Shirayuki, and Riko all look at me at once.

“Hey…!”

Reki…!

I thought you didn’t understand the rules!

And when I looked at the table, I saw…

In addition to the 222, 444, 666, and 888 of the bamboo tiles, there are also 2 Hatsu’s.

All of Reki’s tiles in her hand are in a beautiful shade of green.

(Oh, it’s…!)

This is…

Ryu, all green…!

That girl…

She just played a hand so difficult to get that we may never see this hand played again in our lifetime.

And…

This is a miracle hand when compared to Shirayuki’s earlier hand.

This is a miraculous hand that can only happen once in 330.000, when the hand has just been formed.

“Hey, What’s this…! It’s…!”

“…”

When I asked Reki about this, Reki was silent, just staring at the table.

It was such an extraordinary situation that it made even me, Reki’s partner, wonder if she was cheating. But since no one noticed her cheating, Reki won. That’s the unspoken rule of Butei games.

In addition, Reki did not take any tiles from other players and got a win. This is called Tsumo Go Out.

Riko took off her ribbon, Shirayuki took off one of her pure white socks, and…

“No…! She’s cheating! Cheating! Cheater!”

As soon as their loss has been confirmed, all the girls hold down Aria, who has since raised her pistols and began rampaging…

Aria’s blouse popped out from the girls in a state of Oshikuramanju… (this is the Japanese term for basically how people surround someone who is changing so you cannot peek on them. Google the term if you are still confused.)

… her blouse was softly placed on the square mahjong table…

…it reminds me of a towel being thrown into a boxing ring to signal defeat…

“u-ughhh…! Kinji! You can’t see me, can you! No looking!”

“Don’t worry. I can’t see a thing with all the light.”

Aria, who was apparently wearing only her underwear…

Aria was sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up, covering her breasts with her right hand and her belly button with her left hand (apparently).

“Wow-! This looks like it’s a special offer that only DVD or BlueRay owners can see!!”

Ignoring Riko, who was currently saying things I don’t understand, Aria’s loss has led us to…

The first round of the cast-off table, the undressing mahjong, was over.

Our current clothes count is…

3 pieces of clothes for Shirayuki, 4 copies of clothes for Riko, and 5 pieces of clothes for everyone else.

… we have a long way to go…
 

— by the way, once the game was over and Aria was left trembling, Riko while cleaning up said “please return all tiles!” and pulled a tile from within her cleavage. Oh, Shirayuki also hid tiles in the same place.

Women. Their cleavage has a grip that men cannot even imagine. I didn’t notice the tiles at all.

But it’s possible for me to do something like that since i’m fully clothed.

Go ahead and hate me for it.

“Riko! Shirayuki! If you had a way to do that, why didn’t you tell me beforehand!”

“uhh… Well, I can’t quite teach Aria how to do this…”

“Yup. That’s right, Aria. You simply cannot do this trick.”

“You didn’t have to say it twice! I knew it was a mistake to ask you right after I asked! Wind tunnel! Wind tunnel Daisangen!!”

While Aria was fighting with Riko and Shirayuki, I…

I walked up to Reki, who was still sitting there blankly in front of her green tiles…

“…hey, Reki.”

“yes.”

“can you… explain that to me?”

“Kinji told me to collect similar tiles, so I collected my favorite color.”

“your favorite color…? Your favorite color is green?”

“The color green reminds me of the meadows in my hometown.”

Huh.

So that’s why you made your whole hand green.

Except, that’s not what I’m talking about…

“What I meant to ask though, is are you cheating?”

“I don’t know much about the rules, so I’m not sure what constitutes as cheating or a rule violation.”

“…I’m not asking you if you know the rules, I’m asking you how you got those tiles to line up.”

“When I mixed up the tiles, I arranged the tiles in an order that ensured that I got these tiles.”

“Hey… that’s… a backdoor technique called “scatting.” Nice work actually.”

“Everyone had their own peculiar hand movements.”

Wh-what an observation.

That’s the top of Snipe for you.

–sniping requires the ability to “read the targets” movement habits.

For example, if you want to shoot a bottle of medicine that someone is holding, you need to know in advance the habits of that person who is holding the medicine.

By knowing those habits, you can tell when the person is going to take the bottle out of the cupboard and when they are going to bring it to a position where you can shoot it, thus knowing when and where you can shoot the bottle.

Reki, though, used this ability to…

She observed in advance how Aria, Shirayuki, and Riko, who were playing against me, mixed up their mahjong tiles, and grasped the habits of their hands in advance.

Then, she had the three players take the tiles that would allow Reki to make a green hand, mixing them up and piling them up in a position where they would be distributed to Reki’s hand.

But…

“But… When you were mixing, some of the tiles were flipped over.”

“Yes.”

“if the tile is flipped over, you don’t know what tile it is. If you don’t know, there’s no way you could have scattered the tiles you wanted into the hands of the other three. How did you recognize the tiles… without checking the front of them?”

“Weight.”

“…weight?”

“The weight of the tile is dependent on the shape engraved into it.”

…!

A-amazing….!

Reki relied on the weight of the tiles to make a tenpai!

Speaking of which…

I have actually heard that snipers are very particular about the weight of bullets and the amount of gunpowder.

It is said that a difference of only 0.1 milligram can make a difference in the point of impact.

Because of this, it is said that top-notch snipers are able to weigh with their fingertips to the nanogram level, a weight that even a scale cannot measure.

The weight of the mahjong tiles must have been miniscule in difference… only a S-rank butei sniper could tell the difference.

“Well, well, well! This is getting exciting! The next game should be decided by the first place team, Ki-Kun and Rek-yu!”

While Aria was actively trying to bite her head off, Riko continued to host the event.

That’s right.

There was a rule that the winner gets to decide the next game.

I have a chance.

“…”

I can use Reki’s mannequin-like ability and have her sit there quietly.

In a game it would appear that she is a reliable ally, although there are some concerns about her lack of experience in general.

I look around the room, looking for a game that I can win by making good use of Reki.

(Cards have too much of a luck factor… Darts? That seems like a no brainer but… i’m terrible at it. I’m not sure about darts… It’s probably best to avoid it.)

I’m still trying to figure out a strategy to guarantee victory…

I have got just the thing.

Billiards.

Billiards certainly is reminiscent of sniping, and I have some experience with that as Kana used to come along with her for “target practice” or something like that.

I walked over to the billiard table, checked for any suspicious devices, and then…

“For the next game i’m picking billiards.”

I turned towards all the girls with vigor.

With that I,

…jiggle, jiggle…

Suddenly I felt a slight vibration coming from my goggles to my head.

“…?!”

Wh, what is it now?

My vision is… gradually…

My vision is… getting clearer…?

(…I… I can… I can see…now?!)

Oh, this is not good.

It was as if the steam from a hot spring was clearing away, and suddenly the girls inside the spring could be seen.

In Riko’s own words, I have unlocked the “Blu Ray Bonus”, right?

The girls’ uniforms and skin… are becoming more and more clear.

I can now see Aria in her underwear, sitting on her knees with a angry and sad face. I… I can see her.

… I just remembered that many of Hiraga’s products are defective.

These girl blurring goggles… have apparently just malfunctioned. This is not good.

But, I cannot tell anyone about them not working.

Because, just now I saw Aria wearing nothing but her underwear.

If Aria finds out that I saw her wearing nothing but her underwear, she will definitely shoot me at zero range with both of her pistols.

On top of that pink demon’s unlimited strength, right now i’m even weaker than normal Kinji as im in Hysteria Wiseman mode.

I won’t be able to defend myself at all, if anything I will be just like an unmoving target at a shooting range.

Realistically, I will die if she finds out.

“…!”

I tried to remain as calm as I could, but when I looked at my watch, I saw that wiseman had only 30 minutes left before I reverted to normal Kinji…!

I only have the time length of 1 normal length anime!

This is not good… the time limit has been set!

If I don’t do something in the next half hour… I’m going to have a catastrophe on my hands…!

“Well then, let’s see what the second game has in store for us!”

Riko and the other girls are all getting ready to fight to the death.

Oh, oh this is not good…!

I have no choice. I have to do it.

In addition to Aria there is Shirayuki, Riko, Reki, Jeanne, Hiraga-san, and Fuuma… im sorry…

I have 30 minutes to make them all lose as fast as possible and get out of here!