Teru Miyanaga

 Teru Miyanaga' (宮永 照, Miyanaga Teru'') is a third year student/the leader of Shiraitodai High School and the older sister of Saki Miyanaga who went to live with Ai Arctander when their parents separated.

She has since become a powerful mahjong player, sometimes displaying fearsome powers until the fact that people began classify her as the strongest among all monster players. She used to play with Saki and the rest of the family when they were younger. Saki dreams of progressing to the nationals and finally reuniting with her, but Teru lies to teammates and reporters alike about not having a sister. It is still unknown as to why she is mad at Saki. Teru won the last national individual tournament and with Shiraitodai she won the past two national team tournaments, which she aims to repeat this year.

Appearance
Teru has shoulder length dark magenta hair that often has one tuft sticking out from the side of her head and red eyes, two traits that she shares with Saki Miyanaga.

She is seen in the Shiraitodai High School uniform which consists of a white sailor fuku dress with light blue outlines, a navy blue ribbon, puffed sleeves, and a brown belt. In some flashbacks and publicity photos, she wears a brown blazer, a plaid green skirt, a white dress shirt and a bluish-green necktie, which seems to be Shiraitodai's winter uniform. When she used to live with Saki, she wore a sleeveless black shirt with a long white skirt.

Personality
Teru is dispassionate and almost emotionless when she is with her teammates but smiles widely during a press conference, a smile that Sumire Hirose realizes is fake. Teru harbors anger towards Saki for unknown reasons. When she used to live with Saki, she was the typical cool older sister -- encouraging Saki to bloom like flowers on a mountain. She may be an avid reader like her sister. Even though she is somewhat cold, she has shown care to her opponent like the time when she's worried about Toki Onjouji after she is being sent to hospital.

However, beneath her cold exterior she shows some vulnerability when it comes to Saki and Awai Oohoshi. Just before the National Finals, she passed by Saki in the hallway, completely ignoring her - yet when she reached her playing room again, she nearly collapsed at the door, much to her teammates' concern. She also opens up to Awai during the national side-B semifinals' captain match, confirming to Awai that Saki Miyanaga is her sister - something that Teru has denied to the press and her teammates.

History
During the spring of their first year in high school, Sumire saw that Teru is lost while reading a book and decided to talk to her. She manages to get Teru to follow her to the gym for the first year orientation. Some time after that, while Teru is sitting on a bench reading once more, Sumire, spotting her, comes up to talk with her. Teru gave her a chilling glare until she realized it was the kind girl from the other day. She told Sumire that she is reading and that she thought Sumire would do the new student greetings but was wrong about that. During the conversation she learned that Sumire is a scholarship student for mahjong and that their school is good at it (making it to the Finals of the West Tokyo prefecture's qualification in the previous year's interhigh).

They are interrupted by Reika Kaise, the club manager, asking Sumire if she had picked a team to be on yet. Then, Reika and Sumire informed Teru of Shiraitodai's team rules. Sumire and Reika argued briefly about Shiraitodai's tradition of not sending its 5 best as a team; Sumire seeing it as a waste if they don't send their best players, and Reika honouring the previous manager's wishes of sending the best team (with the best synergy). Teru proposes on having a match with the members that she chooses.

Sumire brought Teru to the mahjong club where Teru looks around, observing the players. Teru then approached 4 low-ranking students and asked them to join an improvised team, which the other students agreed to. Sumire asked if Teru will be the last player on their team, to which Teru reponds that it would be Sumire of course. Teru gave each of them (besides Sumire) some personalized advice. They then play against some other teams in the club, and Teru's advice allowed them to win completely.

Reika asked when Teru is joining the mahjong club, but Teru declined, saying she only wanted to help prove Reika's point: there are players that have bad results but are actually really strong. She then walked out but Sumire ran after her. They begin talking about a +/- zero girl and Teru's ability to read people. They are interrupted by Sumire's fan girls. After she dealt with them, Sumire brought back bags full of snacks and offered Teru some.

Sometime later in the cafeteria, Sumire tried to give Teru a reason to join the mahjong club such as free dorms, a reading space, and pancakes; Teru only accepted once she heard about pancakes. While eating, the girls she gave advice to come up to her and ask her to help the others in the club. After she gives them all advice, the members gain strength but the original girls Teru picked remain the strongest. After giving advice to Shiori Unozawa, she is approached by Sumire and is told to play mahjong with her.

After Teru accepted, Sumire asked if others want to join, and Rune sat down immediately, saying that everyone is afraid of Teru even though none of them have seen her play and that she's only a first year, but that such losses can happen and that it's important to go through them. Sumire asks for a last player, and Natsuki and Ran both volunteer, but Natsuki was just a little bit faster and sits down. All three of them are completely defeated by Teru, who takes them all below 0 with her renchan. Sumire continued to play with Teru, with rotating members of the Shiraitodai club; Teru soundly beat everyone every time.

After playing everyone in the club, Teru got ready to leave, but Sumire asked her to come back to the club the next day, because even if no one else will, Sumire will play Teru. Teru responded kindly, saying she would try her best to make it.

Introduction Arc (Saki)
After Saki talks about playing mahjong together like a family again, Mr. Miyanaga gives Saki a copy of the Weekly Mahjong Today newsmagazine, which features Teru. The next day, while Saki is daydreaming, she recalls of a time with her sister. We see a happy Teru explaining the meaning behind rinshan kaihou and telling Saki that she is just like that. Saki later tells Nodoka Haramura that she has to go to the nationals and meet with her sister. When she tells Nodoka that her sister's name is Teru, Nodoka remembers that she is the double champion of last year's inter-high tournament.

Prefectural Tournament Arc
Teru is mentioned by Yasuko Fujita as one of the monsters of the inter-high.

Combined Training Camp Arc
In the 2005 anime, she is shown getting "interviewed" by Junko Nishida asking if she had a little sister, perhaps Kiyosumi's captain Saki. Teru responds with no. Later, Sumire shows Teru the list of prefectural representative schools, and asks Teru if she had a sister; Teru responds with no.

Teru is shown after Awai Oohoshi advances her team to the national tournament. The announcer mentions that Teru is a high schooler who stands above all others.

Final Eight Arc (Saki: Achiga-Hen Episode of Side-A)
Teru appears along with Sumire Hirose at a press conference. When asked a question, she puts on a facade when answering. As they leave, Sumire tells her that it's cruel and not her normal self. Teru replies that she wasn't lying during the interview, and there are some people she's grateful towards.

Before the start of her match in the semi-finals, Teru is seen reading until the other competitors arrive and then the battle begins. After Toki Onjouji wins the first hand, Teru uses her mirror ability and judges her opponents. After she gets her first win off of Kuro Matsumi, she goes on a long win streak that was only snapped thanks to Toki and Kirame Hanada working together. Teru then wins the next two hands to send the game to it's intermission. The beginning of the second half begins much like the first had ended, with Teru winning consecutive hands. Her win streak was eventually stopped because of Toki overexerting herself. She then began another long win streak to increase her lead and finally became dealer again. Being the dealer ,Teru once again goes on another long win streak that has everyone thinking she will make someone go bust. However with Toki and Kirame's help, Teru managed to play into Kuro's hand and also thanks to her not calculating Kuro discarding a dora tile.

With the end of the match Teru was telling her opponents good game when she notices Toki, on the verge of collapsing. Afterward she appears in the team waiting room with snacks she bought. Awai Oohoshi then asks her why she didn't do one of her special moves. Teru tells her that she didn't have an opportunity this match but will do it during the finals and again wonders about Toki. During Sumire's match, she notices that Yuu Matsumi keeps dodging her and wonders out loud if she has some sort of telling sign about her abilities. After more observation she couldn't tell if Sumire was doing something to give a sign. She later appears during the lieutenants battle eating cake. During the vice-captains match she and Sumire explain Mairu Shirouzu and Himeko Tsuruta's conjoining ability. She is later shown watching Seiko's match; expressionless.

Later during Awai's match, Teru reminds Sumire that Shindouji was able to win against her during the second round. She is surprised when Himeko is able to beat Awai's ability again and tells everyone that Mairu and Himeko are both very strong. Later in the match, Teru senses that Awai is getting serious and remembers she did it once before in the prefecturals. When Himeko wins off of Awai again, Teru says there are probably only ten high schoolers who could beat it and that it might even stand up against professionals. When Seiko mentions she beat Awai's double riichi, and Teru asks her how. After the explanation she was in disbelief. She then wonders why Awai wasn't able to complete her last hand. When Awai bursts into the waiting room and apologizes for getting second place, Teru tells her that they got through the semi's and only have to worry about winning the next one.

While on the roof, Awai comes to get her. She then says that she'll come down later but Awai then asks Teru if Saki is her sister. She starts to say no, but instead admits that Saki is her sister. After Awai tells her that Saki's match is starting, Teru says that it might be tough for Saki because of her opponents. Awai then asks if she's going to watch the match and Teru tells her that she will after she's finished eating.

After the captain's match of side-B, she feels a presence and asks Awai if it is that girl.

National Championship Arc (Saki)
She is seen playing mahjong with Awai in the dark. Early in the morning at the playing hall, she runs into Saki. Saki tries to talk with her but Teru ignores her and keeps walking. She quickly makes it to her team's room and stumbles through the entrance. Sumire, concerned, asks what is wrong and Teru tells Sumire that she met her sister but couldn't think of anything to say to Saki. Sumire collects Teru to lean onto her shoulder.

Teru is next shown watching the runner-up match with Awai.

The team gathers for the starting ceremony and the finals begin. Teru is the first one to be seated and then greets Yuuki Kataoka. As per usual for the first hand, she throws it away to gauge her opponents. With Yuuki winning, she tries her mirror ability but is shocked at what she sees. She is able to do nothing so far and we get a flashback to her mentioning to Awai that Yuuki's speed may be a problem. Teru then begins to notice Kuro Matsumi is surrounded by an odd fog different from the fog when Awai played Shizuno. She then noted that she should be cautious.

Teru wonders how to stop Yuuki and decides to try and work with Satoha. She considers discarding a certain tile but instinct won't let her causing her to fold instead. Kuro manages to win the hand with a tsumo, solidly placing Achiga in second, almost 30,000 points above Shiraitodai and RInkai. With Yuki's dealer turn ended, the others think they can start making their move, but are instantly shut down by Yuki's speed, winning a quick hand followed by declaring riichi on the second turn during Teru's dealership. Satoha begins calling tiles, and Teru decides to concede her east dealership in order to play into Satoha's hand to prevent Yuki from winning another hand, dropping Shiraitodai to last place just behind Rinkai.

Teru stays quiet until the south round. After Satoha wins over Yuuki, Teru strikes with a quick tsumo, beginning her domination. She wins the next 7 wins straight with tsumo, and unleashes a Yakuman on her 9th win, winning 100,000 points throughout her win streak and taking Shiraitodai to first place. During the 10th hand of her win streak, she begins forming another yakuman only to get shut down by the other players helping Yuuki form a cheap hand. The first half of the vanguard's match ends with Shiraitodai solidly in first place.

When the round starts Yuuki hits hard with a Tenhou. Teru and Satoha start to get going but Kuro begins to display her new techniques and takes the lead. With Kuro in charge for the next few hands, Yuuki starts spinning her chair. Teru looks at her and sees Kirame. Kuro wins a hand then Yuuki does. Satoha proceeds to win the next two hands then turns her focus to Teru. Teru wins the hand and becomes the last dealer for the round. She wins the next two hands despite every effort from Kuro. Teru continues her win streak despite everyone trying to stop her, not totaling eight wins in a row. While getting close to her ninth win, her streak was ended by Satoha with a lot of help from the others.

At the end of the match, she talks with Satoha about almost getting a sanbaiman and having so much trouble trying to do it. Satoha tells her that if she had tried to raise her baiman win on the last hand, she would not have won the round.

Sumire gets hit for a win by Huiyu Hao and Seiko says she got hit so easily. Teru appears and says that even she might've got hit by that. Awai immediately goes to her and says her interviews took to long.

Sumire Hirose
Sumire and Teru are good friends, and are referred to as the "Tora-Hime combo" (Tiger and Princess) in the mahjong scene, which is a play on both of their names. They first met in the spring of their first year at Shiraitodai, where Sumire helps Teru find the gym for the opening ceremony and later brings her to the mahjong club, and later convinces her to join through her sweet tooth. Before learning Sumire's name, Teru repeatedly called her "Kind Person," showing respect and courtesy to Sumire for helping her the first day they met. Sumire seems to tease Teru about many things, including her "showman smile" and Teru's relation to Saki, even though Teru denies this in their third year of high school. Teru shows concern for Sumire during the sergeant's match in the semifinals when Yuu Matsumi begins outplaying her, wondering if Sumire has a tell, and gets everyone to look for it. Sumire continues to worry about Teru, wondering if Saki will finally save her.

Saki Miyanaga
Saki and Teru's relationship is currently incredibly strained, although the cause of the strain is currently unknown. When their parents lived together, Teru and Saki had a very good relationship, with Teru being a cool big sister, encouraging Saki to grow and "bloom" with all of her might, giving rise to Saki's signature use of the yaku rishan kaihou. In Teru's first year of high school, she spoke fondly of Saki, saying that even though she got +/- 0 every mahjong game, she was really strong. It also appears that Saki has been in Teru's thoughts the entire time. Saki mentions to Nodoka that once she went to Tokyo in order to talk to Teru, but Teru ignored her. Saki is so afraid of seeing Teru now that she couldn't enter the playing hall when Nodoka and Yuuki went to watch the Side-A semifinals. Prior to the finals, Saki runs into Teru and attempts to talk to her, but Teru walks past, ignoring Saki. However, the encounter took its toll on Teru as well, as she barely made it to her own playing room, weakly telling Sumire that she just ran into Saki.

Awai Oohoshi
People consider Awai Teru's successor in the mahjong scene, having joined the mahjong club a few months before the West Tokyo Qualifications, but immediately being a strong force. They seem to have a typical Senpai-Kyohai relationship, with Awai teasing Teru and Teru guiding Awai - Awai even apologises only to Teru about taking second place in the semifinals. Awai manages to get Teru to open up about Saki, and Teru helps Awai improve her mahjong in order to beat Achiga in the finals. Awai is seen to be very close physically to Teru, often nuzzling her or being very close in Teru's space. Teru is also able to tell when Awai is holding back or not, noting when Himeko Tsuruta was able to break through Awai's 5-shanten zone.

Playing style/Abilities
Teru has the ability to watch and observe players in order to figure out their playing style and habits, which manifests as a Shoumakyou, a mirror in Japanese mythology that reflected the evils in a person. After using her ability on someone once, it takes a while before she can use it on them again. She is capable of using it outside of matches, though she will typically use the first hand of a game to look into her opponents; however, she cannot repeatedly use her mirror against the same opponent in a short time frame.

Her mirror makes her very astute, and allows her to easily counter her opponents (if they play like how the mirror suggests they will). For example, in the third east hand of the first Vanguard match in the National semifinals, Toki declares riichi, having used her power to see that her next draw will give her an ippatsu tsumo. Teru breaks her tenpai by breaking a closed triple of the 3-pin. Kirame Hanada follows Teru and discards another 3-pin, allowing Teru to call a pon, shifting the drawing order, which cancels Toki's ippatsu tsumo and makes her play into Teru's hand instead. However, if a player were to change and not play according to how they would in the beginning of the match when Teru used her mirror on them, it is possible to confuse and slip away from Teru's winning streak.

After using her mirror, she begins her reign. When she wins one hand, her next hand will be stronger than the last. However, she must win with a higher value in order to keep her ability active (this does not include renchan bonuses; it is likely riichi bets do not count as they are not a part of her hand's value), this may delay the completion of her hand as she begins making more difficult yaku. Her winning with a lower value hand than her last one, anyone else winning, and exhaustive draws will break her streak, causing her to start again from the bottom. Her beginning hands start out regularly, but her draws make her hands come together strongly and quickly, she hardly ever requires more than 6 draws before reaching a win, and sometimes she will also get a double riichi. The momentum of her wins build up on her right arm, appearing as a small tornado.

It is comparatively easier to prevent Teru from winning her first hand. Once she has won that one hand, the following consecutive wins are extremely hard to stop. Stopping her becomes easier again when she needs to win larger hands that take more time to build or require her to declare riichi. However, at this point she has already racked up tens of thousands of points, so the most effective counter strategy is preventing her from winning at all, at any cost.

While it is possible for Teru to actually start her winning streak with any win, she feels that her next draws don't come together as well if she starts above 2-han compared to if she starts with 1-han and she will actively look to lower her hand's value at the start of her winning streak. Teru generally wins 1 or 2 hands in a row with the same han value, only increasing her hand's fu or changing from non-dealer to dealer winnings. This suggests that she takes time to build up flow. However, when there are a limited amount of hands left in the hanchan, Teru doesn't slowly build her lead as she would when she has a dealer seat incoming and instead wins as much as she likes.

Teru has another ability she seldom uses. It appears to require winning consecutive hands with increasing scores like usual, with the additional restriction of only being able to win by tsumo. When active, the ability makes a "gigigi" (ギギギ) sound (translated as "whizzing" or "whu-whu-whee"). If she wins 8 hands in a row only by tsumo, then her 9th win is an unstoppable yakuman: the 9 gates. Afterwards, the 10th hand during her win streak will also begin forming a yakuman, however it is possible to win before her during this hand. Her sister Saki considers this ability "scary", saying that at all costs you must stop her 8th win, as it will inevitably combo with her 9th win.

Through both of Teru's abilities, sometimes she will ignore potential winning hands off of other players, people consider this the arrogance of a champion. Through her normal winning streak, she does this only in order to increase her win values; however, if she begins winning several hands by tsumo, she will attempt to head for the 9 gates by ignoring wins off of other players only to tsumo for the win.

Teru's silhouette appears when Yasuko Fujita speaks about players whom are "loved by the tiles" and when Hisa Takei speaks about monsters with powers.

Career highlights

 * Two time National High School Team Champion (69th and 70th Inter-high).
 * National High School Individual Champion (70th Inter-high).
 * Second Place in National High School Individual Champion (69th Inter-high), defeated by Yoshiko Kainou

Etymology

 * The name Teru means "illuminate, shine, compare, bashful" (照).
 * Teru's surname Miyanaga means "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (miya) and "eternal" (永) (naga).

Trivia

 * Teru loves sweet things.
 * Teru appears alongside the other girls of Shiraitodai as competitors of the Achiga girls in the Side-A anime's preview and in the opening theme of each episode.
 * In mahjong, flipping over too many tiles by accident will be penalized as a chombo, costing 8000 or 12,000 points. In Japan, it is a meme that Teru has a special ability, known as the "Dynamic Chombo!" (English: Dynamic Oversight). This ability is in reference to her appearance in the Side-A opening - when Teru takes her turn she flips over several dozen tiles in a burst of electricity. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm17563268
 * Teru is a shampoo connoiseur, able to tell what brand of shampoo you have used just by smell alone.
 * Teu breaks Kazekoshi's Mihoko Fukuji's previous record as the player to win the most points over two hanchan with 96,200 points gained in the side A-semifinals.
 * Teru holds the record for the highest number of bonus hands in one dealer seat with 8 bonus hands.