Achiga-hen episode 10

Dealer's Streak
Season 1, episode 10
Caption
Episode information
Kanji:	連荘
Rōmaji:	Renchan
Air date:	June 18, 2012
Written by:	Tatsuhiko Urahata
Directed by:	Manabu Ono
Opening theme:	Miracle Rush
Ending theme:	Futuristic Player
Episode guide
Previous Episode 9	Next Episode 11

The Opening "Miracle Rush" sung by StylipS.

The Ending "Futurustic Player" sung by Miyuki Hashimoto.

Synopsis

The vanguard match continues after Kirame managed to stop Teru's last winning streak and remove her from being the dealer. Can the other three mount their comeback now?

Summary

The episode starts with Nodoka's dream, Harue, Ako, Shizu, and Kuro all running towards her, greeting her with wide smiles. Nodoka realises it's a dream because Ako appears as she was when they first met, Shizu in their middle school uniform, and Nodoka herself in her high school uniform. When he wakes up, she wonders why at this time she remembers he friends from Nara.

Kouko recaps what happened thus far in the vanguard match as they reach the 3rd South round, with Kuro Matsumi as a dealer. Kuro laments that she's going to end again with a negative point gain, even after all the training that Achiga did together. She thinks that now, as dealer, is her time to come up with a win and take a few points back. Toki watches Kuro's discard and sighs, knowing that it wasn't a tile she could call to break the flow, then discards her own tile, hoping that someone else will call to break the flow, knowing that the champion is about to win. Nodoby calls it, and Toki braces for the incoming win.

Kuro realizes that the champion did not take the direct win by Kuro's discard would value Teru's win lower than her winning streak at that point. Thus, Kuro's team realize that the champion maybe the same as Kuro, which Kuro cannot discard the Dora, and thus restricts her hand and wins in order to keep her win condition. With this the round goes to south 4 which is Toki Onjouji as the dealer, but they were surprised by champion Double Riichi which than win by direct hit to Kirame Hanada with a Mangan. As the first round come to an end, Teru walks out of the tournament hall leaving the others in despair as the match is totally one-sided. Sukoya notes that while Teru's hand were generally inexpensive, the amount of hands won was impressive (with a total of 10/12 hands won)

Player	Team	Points	Diff
Teru Miyanaga	Shiraitodai	157,700	+57,700
Toki Onjouji	Senriyama	90,200	-9,800
Kuro Matsumi	Achiga	83,100	-16,900
Kirame Hanada	Shindouji	69,000	−31,000

Afterwards Toki passes out as soon she leaves the hall, into the welcoming arms of her team mates, implying that she is exhausted.

As for Kuro, the team gives her moral support as she not very happy with the condition she having now. They tell her she's doing much better than before, and even has more points than yesterday despite facing stronger opponents. Statistically, Kuro is doing great. However, having not won a single hand, Kuro doesn't feel great. They also inform Kuro of what they believe to be Teru's weakness which is that she limits her winning hands to maximize her time winning. They then see her off after the vanguards are called back to the playing hall.

The second half starts as they change their seat round. Because the last dealer is Teru, Sukoya states that the second round seat is a bit dangerous because she can go on two winning streaks, which maximizes her wins. Previously, Teru was the captain, but after showing the synergy between her win streak and being the last dealer, she was placed as the vanguard.

The champion quickly starts her winning streak and end Hanada's dealer turn. Then the Kentani team is shown watching them through TV, winning the second hand in a row and states that the champion is out of her league, as Toki was already a hard fight.

The champion continues winning, despite Toki's attempts to disrupt the flow, and thinks this is the first time she's faced someone who won even after Toki disrupted the flow. Kirame wants to get Teru out of her dealer spot early, but ends up playing into Teru's hand anyways.

In her second bonus round, Teru calls a kan, and Toki briefly contemplates that she might go for a rishan kaihou, remembering that Hiroko theorized that she and Miyanaga Saki really are related. Kirame calls a chii to block the ippatsu, and thinks that Teru is getting to the point where even she might be struggling to string together higher and higher wins. Toki thinks about Teru's kan, and with a riichi and 50 fu, she's set to clear her previous win total, then realizes that the true reason for calling kan is to increase the Dora indicator and make Kuro's hand even harder to navigate with now 12 potential dora tiles and make her easier target. Kuro's hand continues to draw more dora tiles, and Toki sees that Kuro is about to play into Teru's hand, despite feeling bad about it, there's nothing Toki can do, leading to Teru's 6th consecutive win.

Toki remembers talking about her future sight with Ryuuka. Ryuuka wondered what would happen if everyone took a long time for their turn, would Toki still see the entire turn; Toki replies that yes, typically she can, not matter how long in real time it took. Then Ryuuka asks what would happen if everyone went really fast, would Toki see the next turn. Toki replies that typically not, but sometimes she can see a little bit into the second turn, and they want to try it at that day's practice. When Toki does try it, she ends up collapsing, and Ryuuka wants her to promise to never try it again, being fearful for Toki's health. Toki reveals that she's been practicing at home seeing two turns into the future, and that sometimes she would pass out, but it's all been for this moment.

She's determine to do whatever it takes to stop champion's streak, and thinks that maybe she's strong enough to handle using it once. She apologizes to Ryuuka, and looks two turns into the future.

Trivia

• At the end of the episode, these are the scores at the beginning of the 4th East Hand, 3rd bonus.

Player	Team	Points	Diff
Teru Miyanaga	Shiraitodai	188,900	+31,200
Toki Onjouji	Senriyama	85,200	-5,000
Kuro Matsumi	Achiga	67,400	-15,700
Kirame Hanada	Shindouji	58,500	−10,500