Kuro Matsumi

Kuro Matsumi (松実 玄, Matsumi Kuro) is a protagonist in the spinoff Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A. She is a second year at Achiga Girls' Academy and the younger sister if Yuu Matsumi who was the children's mahjong club's number one player before it was disbanded. Afterwards, she kept the room clean for two years in hopes for that someone would show up and they could have fun together like they used to.

Appearance
Kuro has long purple hair with a strand tied on her right side, purple eyes and a large bust.

She wears the standard Achiga Girls' uniform with thigh-high stockings.

Personality
Kuro is a polite, cheerful, and has shown on several occasions to have a fascination with breasts. She also seems to be very optimistic, as she waited for two years for someone to restart the mahjong club. She has a very good relationship with her older sister. Kuro has described herself as the waiting type. However, it is hinted that she is also a little oblivious, as she was unable to tell that Kirame Hanada and Toki Onjouji helped her win off of Teru Miyanaga.

Kuro describes herself as a "waiting-type," as she cleaned the Achiga mahjong room when it was her turn after the club has disbanded and is willing to wait for dora to come back to her, even if she's unsure if they would.

Girls of Yumachi Arc
She appears as a baby alongside her mother and big sister.

Introduction Arc
Kuro is first introduced when Shizuno Takakamo calls her after being defeated by Nodoka. She greets Nodoka then proceeds to sexually harass her. After apologizing, she introduces herself and then they begin playing. When hearing of Kuro's dora ability, Nodoka denies such a thing is possible, causing Kuro to drop a tile in shock, which is ronned by Shizuno. They play a few more games before Shizuno and the others leave.

Some time later, Kuro informs her friends that Harue Akado has been scouted, causing them to throw her a goodbye party.

When Shizuno comes to the mahjong room two years later, it is revealed that Kuro had been taking care of the room in the hopes that someone would return. After hearing that Shizuno wants to restart the mahjong club and go to the nationals, Kuro immediately joins her. Later, Kuro and Ako Atarashi wait for Shizuno so Kuro can show them to the potential fourth member of their club. When they arrive at Kuro's house she introduces her sister Yuu Matsumi and nominates her. After a bit of conversation, Yuu gladly agrees to join.

A little later the mahjong club hasn't found anyone new so Yuu asks about Arata Sagimori. Kuro then explains to the others that Arata used to play mahjong with their father and his friends and that Arata is her classmate. The next day Kuro goes to Arata's workplace and invites her to join the club. When it looked like she wasn't going to join, Kuro informs her that her idol Harue started playing mahjong again for some company, causing Arata to tentatively agree to join. Back at the club room Kuro introduces the new members and tells her sister that she cannot turn on the heater in September.

During winter, Harue Akado returns and shows up at the mahjong club room. When she asks what's going on, Kuro and Shizuno say that it is the new mahjong club and after she begs to join, Kuro tells everyone to work hard together.

Preparation Arc
With the start of the semester, Kuro and the others gather to offically start the mahjong club. When Harue says that winning the tournament would be an impossible task, Kuro noted that it would indeed be hard to defeat Bansei. In order to up their skill level the team is trained by Harue for the next two months.

At the start of the prefectural tournament, Kuro and the rest are a bit nervous because there are so many people and their first match is against Bansei High. Her match is only briefly shown but we see Kuro dominating her battle, gaining +55,700 points to lead them in defeating Bansei. The Achiga girls go on to win the prefectural team tournament, qualifying themselves for the nationals.

A few days after the tournament, Shizuno comes running into the club holding a newspaper. Shizuno then excitedly informs Ako (who already knew) and Kuro that Kiyosumi had won their prefectural tournament. Ako then asks where everyone else is, Kuro informs her that her sister was getting hugged by all of her classmates because she was on TV and that she would be happy to have her temperature raised from all of that, and Harue and Arata were out. When Harue returns, the club decides that in order to prepare for the nationals they would face some of the clubs that finished second in their prefectural tournaments, with Shizuno immediately nominating Ryuumonbuchi  as their first opponent. After their match against Ryuumonbuchi, Kuro is confused when Touka Ryuumonbuchi and Koromo Amae explain that Kiyosumi's rinshan kaihou user defeated Koromo while it was a full moon.

After several weeks, it's revealed that Achiga had beaten all of their opponents except for Ryuumonbuchi and Kuro noted that none of them could defeat Kei Arakawa; however, Harue reminds them that Kei was the runner up in the individual tournament last year, and that team work is important for the team tournament. The team then holds a training camp to further their skills and later are given a send off when they head for the nationals. Stopping at a rest stop on their way to Tokyo, Shizuno, Ako, and Kuro notice a girl fainting and rush to help her. After some conversation with the girl and her friend, it is revealed after they leave that they are Senriyama Girls' High School, the fourth seeded school in the tournament.

National Tournament Arc
The Achiga mahjong team later arrives in Tokyo for the nationals. As the group make their way for the brackets-drawing, Saki Miyanaga unexpectedly walks past them, inadvertently causing Kuro and Harue to cringe in her presence. The next day, after Kuro awakens Shizuno and Ako, the team gathers to discuss the brackets and watch videos of their opponents' matches. On the second day of the tournament, Achiga's first round match begins.

When Kuro starts her match, she gets caught up in the moment and lose the first hand. In the second hand she has a bad deal but manages to improve it while gathering doras until she wins with a big hand worth 16,300 points (more than she previously lost). When Manami Moriai expresses her amazement at such a hand, Kuro apologizes. However, Kuro wins the next few hands and the battle soundly. Shizuno closes out the match for Achiga.

At the start of Achiga's second round match, Kuro meets the person she helped on the road to the nationals, Toki Onjouji. In a flashback, it is revealed that Kuro started gathering doras to honor her mother, but if Kuro discards a dora tile, she doesn't get any dora tiless for several games. In her battle, Kuro is soundly beaten because Toki knows her playing style and could see what she would discard. Afterwards, a tearful Kuro is consoled by her sister.

Kuro is present in a flashback Yuu has when she reminds herself that Kuro always protected her, saying this time it'll be Yuu's turn to do the protecting. When Yuu's battle is over, she comes to Kuro and apologizes for not getting back all of the points lost, but Kuro dismisses that by admitting it was her own fault. Achiga recovers to second place due to Yuu and Ako and narrowly advance to the semi-finals. Afterwards, the team celebrates but is brought back to reality when Harue Akado reminds them that even though they advanced, Senriyama had beaten them by 90,000 points and that their next opponents include Shiraitodai as well. After Harue leaves for a meeting, Kuro goes along with the others to get some ramen. They overhear Harue and Toshi Kumakura talking about Harue becoming a pro again. After arguing about what they heard they bump into Momoko Touyoko and Satomi Kanbara.

Final Eight Arc
Kanbara takes the Achiga girls to the place where Tsuruga is staying and introduces them to Yumi Kajiki. After hearing their story, Yumi agrees to help them and gets Kanbara to pick up Mihoko Fukuji, Nagano's highest ranked player. When they are done playing Kanbara takes them to their hotel. The next day Kuro and Achiga meet up with Kei Arakawa, who was the only person who agreed to play them. However, Kei called some of her friends over and they all played against Achiga. Kuro is also present when Shizuno calls them together and reveals that Harue is not leaving them to turn pro.

Before the match begins, she tells the others that they can count on her and leaves for her battle. While entering the playing hall she meets Toki and they walk together. Then Kuro stares at Teru Miyanaga and notes that she is the strongest high school student. When Kirame Hanada enters, the battle begins. Toki starts the match with a win and Kuro remarks on how strong she is but is suddenly shocked when Teru uses her mirror ability to see through her opponents. She then comments on how she felt that Teru had learned something important just now and then immediately plays into her hand. She then thinks back to when the team looked at Teru's play records and how nobody wanted to play her but now she is. During Teru's long win streak, Kuro laments that she hasn't won a hand yet and will be dead weight again at this rate. After another win by Teru, she notices that she could have called on her discard before but didn't and wonders why. At halftime she goes before her team and apologizes to them for losing points again. However, the console her, saying she lost less points than in the quarterfinals and less than Teru's previous opponents. Ako then tells her that she noticed that Teru may have a hand value restriction and Kuro says that she noticed it as well and will try her best to find the champions weak point. Throughout the second half of the match, she is shown doing little until the last round. Kuro knows that she can't afford to lose more points but to get into tenpai she will have to discard a ''dora. After thinking back to a time with her mother and thinks back to the time spent with her teammates and sister, she decides to move forward and discards her dora, declaring riichi''. Doing this catches Teru by surprise and she is able to win off of the champion with a baiman to end the match.

Being satisfied with the outcome, she wishes everyone a good game. When Toki collapses, Kuro and Kirame rush to her side and try to help her. She is later seen with the entire Achiga team watching as Toki is taken to the hospital. As they are going back to the playing area, they once again meet Nodoka. After Shizuno tells her they'll be waiting for her in the finals, everyone goes back to their waiting area. When Yuu leaves for her match, Kuro and the others wish her good luck. When the match begins however, Harue calls her over to begin playing games till her power is restored. Harue then mentions the other players working together but she doesn't understand until her teammates tell her that Toki and Kirame had been helping her. With this knowledge; she begins to cry. She is later seen at the lieutenants intermission, still unable to get the dora. Before Arata leaves for her match Kuro wishes her good luck. She is later shown still practicing when Harue invites Shizu to warm up before her match. When Arata comes back from her match, Kuro and the others greet her. In the captains' match, Awai Oohoshi decides to play serious, and Kuro feels her overwhelming presence. While still playing, Ako and Kuro mention how Shizuno loves mountains. After Shizuno's win, Kuro and the others are shown celebrating. Later they all visit the final's stage and after Harue has words with an old rival, they all depart together. Near sundown, she asks Ako if Nodoka's match is over.

She appears with the rest of Achiga celebrating their recent victory before Harue tells them to go to sleep. After hearing Harue's reasons, she obliged.

National Championship Arc
Kuro with her team gathers in the playing hall to greet the other teams. The vanguards all sit down as the rest of their teams leave the playing area, with Kuro south of Teru. Early in her match she manages to do nothing but hoard the dora. After a few consecutive wins by Yuuki Kataoka, fog begins to appear around the table that emanates from Kuro; Teru notices the fog and decides to proceed with caution. Kuro is concerned with Yuuki's speed and thinks about how Yuuki looks like Ako when she was younger. With Satoha and Teru struggling to slow Yuuki down, Kuro is finally able to win with a tsumo to bring Yuuki's win streak to an end, and much faster than anticipated. After a few more Yuuki wins, Kuro is able to get four dora and another win, bringing up Achiga back to being positive and firmly in second place. Satoha wins a small hand during Kuro's dealer repeat, changing to the South round.

After narrowly avoiding Teru's winning streak during the 1st South Round, Teru begins her domination, winning 8 straight hands with tsumos leading up to her 9th being a yakuman. Kuro works together with Yuuki and Satoha to stop Teru's 10th win and second yakuman, although she laments the inability to stop Teru's actual yakuman due to Yuuki's pon. However, with Satoha's sanbaiman tsumo, Kuro and Achiga drop back to 4th place right at the end of the vanguard's first half.

At the start of the vanguard's second half, Kuro doesn't get a chance to act as both Satoha and Teru go on winning streaks. During Teru's dealership, Kuro unleashes her ability to send dora tiles to other players, sending one to Teru after she declared riichi, sealing Teru into discarding it after she draws, allowing Kuro to win a counted yakuman directly off of Teru, and prematurely ending her winning streak. Kuro then begins a winning streak with fast, hard hitting hands and managed to take the lead. She then notices that Yuuki spins her chair and remembers Harue warned her of this occurrence. Despite the chair spin, Kuro manages to get a tsumo win. Yuuki wins the following hand by opening her hand. Satoha then wins two hands in a row. However, Teru begins her win streak. Kuro tries her hardest to prevent another win but Teru hits her for her third win on the second turn of draws. Teru eventually extends her streak to eight consecutive wins. However, the ninth was stopped because Yuuki delayed Teru, Kuro dropping a dora to prevent a win, and finally Satoha winning the hand and finishing the match with a baimon.

Kuro returns to Achiga's dressing room and begins to cry. Yuu hugs her and the others tell her she did great.

Playing Style/Abilities
Kuro's main ability is to draw every single visible dora: regular dora, kan dora, and red dora all gather into Kuro's hand. More often than not, her starting hands do not contain that many dora, and throughout the course of the hand she will draw them, slowing her hand progression but also coming together consistently. This also means that her opponents cannot use the dora tiles to increase the power of their hands. However, her dora magnet ability has a drawback: if she discards a single dora tile, she will be unable to draw any dora for a set amount of hands. This drawback is a defining feature of Kuro's playing-style: she draws many dora tiles and refuses to discard them, leading her to break tenpai in order to keep dora. When she does win, she wins a lot of points, but a savvy player can read her hand and take several points from her before she can win.

Whilst playing with the interhigh's rules, she consistently gets hands that have 6 or more dora tiles, making it easy for Kuro to gain a large number of points in a short amount of hands. This was a large help to Achiga early on in their interhigh journey as they only needed to protect the large sum of points that Kuro gathered. However, because she had to use the red fives in every single one of her hands, her play-style was predictable; this meant when Kuro encountered stronger opponents or opponents who took advantage of Kuro's discarding habits, she became a large drawback as Kuro would prioritize dora and make predictable hands and discards.

Following the semifinals of the interhigh, after Kuro discarded a dora tile, she was unable to draw another for several hanchan. During this time, when the dora began coming back to her, she stated that sometimes she feels like she can control which dora tile she draws, and also expresses that she feels she can send someone else a dora tile as well; she later successfully sends Teru Miyanaga a dora tile to play directly into her hand. The aftermath of Kuro sending another player a dora tile is currently unknown in regards to if it counts towards disabling her main dora magnet ability or not.

Kuro tends to win more when her path to tenpai include dora tiles only, as she will 100% draw them, especially as she feels she can influence which dora tiles she can draw. In the Finals of the 71st interhigh, she also showed a much more mature play-style, willing to cooperate with other players and play her part in stalling for them to form a quick hand to avoid dealer repeats from both Yuuki Kataoka and Teru.

Etymology

 * The name Kuro means "mysterious; occultness" (玄).
 * Kuro's surname Matsumi means "pine tree, fir tree" (松) (matsu) and "fruit, good result, truth" (実) (mi).

Trivia

 * Kuro was the runner-up in the Saimoe 2012 tournament.
 * Yuu Matsumi revealed that Kuro used to have a short temper.
 * Kuro's nickname "Dragon lord" stems from the fact that "dora" is short form for the English word dragon.