Saki 11. Prank

Prank
Season 1, episode 11
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Episode information
Kanji:	悪戯
Rōmaji:	Itazura
Air date:	June 15, 2009
Produced by:	Gonzo
Episode guide
Previous Saki episode 10	Next Saki episode 12

Synopsis

The Lieutenant's first hanchan begins, with Kiyosumi in last place and Kazekoshi in first with an overwhelming lead. Hisa Takei steps up to the plate for Kiyosumi, and swiftly steals the spotlight, as well as first place. Hajime Kunihiro, fights back in her own way, closing the gap between her and third place. 

Meanwhile, the plot thickens outside the mahjong table. Someone has stolen Etopen, from the napping Nodoka Haramura and Saki Miyanaga, and after a horrible attempt at trying to retrieve him, Etopen's flipper is ripped off.

Summary

The first lieutenant hanchan of Nagano's Team Tournament finals begins, with Kiyosumi in last place. Hisa contemplates her weak 5-tiles-from-tenpai hand, knowing exactly what Nodoka would do in the exact same situation, but wonders if she's nervous for doing so. Her hand begins coming together, though not in the way she expects. When her hand reaches tenpai, she discards the tile no one thought she would: she discards a 5-sided wait for a single-hell wait on the dora tile. This discard confounds everyone except Mako, who explains to Yuuki and Kyoutarou that Hisa's specialty is bad waits.

Hisa flashbacks to when Nodoka first joined the club, and scolded Hisa for her bad waits. Hisa tactically responds, saying that there are people who believe in "flow," those who can come up with wins out of nowhere, and those who spurn luck, playing thousands of matches for the highest winning percentage. Nodoka responds saying that there's no such thing, and she doesn't believe in such superstitions; furthermore, in competitions Hisa should pick the most logical route, to increase chances of winning. Hisa counters, asking Nodoka if she was going to live her one and only life by logic and reason alone. Nodoka says that mahjong isn't a oneshot deal, while Hisa says that the summer team tournament is for her, as it's her last chance as a high school student to participate in.

Nodoka awakens in the nap room, deducing that it's approximately time for Hisa's match, but that leaving things in her hands will be okay, so she cuddles closer to Saki, falling asleep. While Mako has a flashback to the night of the qualifying rounds, where Mako asks Hisa "it was because of me?" To which Hisa responds that because of Mako, her dream came true. Mako says that the chance of getting 3 new first-years to join their club was almost zero; Hisa responds that Mako knows that Hisa's best comes out with the worst possible odds.

Returning to the match, Hisa quickly gets a haneman off of Kazekoshi, bringing them out of last and into third, all the while severely decreasing Kazekoshi's lead. The others comment on her bad wait, while the commentator notes that Tsuruga's and Ryuumonbuchi's hands held most of the winning tiles if Hisa took the 5-sided-wait. In the next hand, Hisa turns down another 5-sided wait for a single pair wait. She wins off Seika Bundou again, resulting in a dealer haneman this time, bringing Kazekoshi to second and Tsuruga first.

Nodoka awakens in the nap room, feeling something was off. She quickly realises that Etopen, her stuffed animal, was missing. Leaving Saki alone, she ventures out to find out where her stuffed penguin has gone. Amae Koromo runs around the tournament hall, attempting to find out where "Nonoka" is.

Saki "Shoot the Tile"

Meanwhile, Hisa overtakes the top with a dealer's mangan tsumo. Ryuumonbuchi's Hajime Kunihiro flashes back to when Touka Ryuumonbuchi brought her in because of how she played (excluding her sleight of hand) and wins a haneman, decreasing the gap between her and third.

Mai Tanaka and Youko Kadomatsu run into Amae, holding onto Etopen, and ask her to give him to them. Amae refuses, wanting to make new friends (thinking if she returns Etopen, she'll befriend his owner), and Mai roughly grasps Etopen's flipper, stating that it's actually hers (so that she too may return it herself). As the lieutenant match ends, Etopen's flipper rips off, leaving both parties devastated, Mai and Youko run away again, leaving Amae clutching to the broken pieces of Etopen, crying.

Mihoko Fukuji leaves Kazekoshi's player room as soon as the match ends, saying she has to give Seika all the advice she can about how Hisa plays. Hisa taunts Satomi Kanbara after the match as if they were friends, as Mihoko runs into the playing room. All the players watch Mihoko for her next move as the episode ends.

Trivia

• Hisa's first three wins changed at least one school's placement.
  • Her first win took Kiyosumi to 3rd from fourth, her second win took Kazekoshi down to 2nd from first, and her third win took Kiyosumi to 1st from third.
• Both of Hisa's direct hits off of Kazekoshi were worth a haneman, though she got different points from them both because she was the dealer for one of them.
  • Had Hisa taken the more logical route and gone for the 5-sided waits instead of her hell waits, her hands would've gotten less points.
    • Her first haneman probably would've been worth 1,300, if she could even win with it. 4,000 if she got an ippatsu tsumo, as there was one 7-pin left in the wall for her to win with.
    • Her second one would be worth a bit more, at 11,600 at its lowest and 12,000 at most, if she chose to keep silent.
      • It would've been impossible for Hisa to score more than a mangan in this hand because Seika held all of the 7-sou that was required for Hisa's highest earning hand combination, if she took the 5-sided wait.
      • In fact, it would've been nearly impossible for Hisa to win with her 5-sided wait as all her winning tiles have already been discarded or are in someone else's hand, and were not tiles they would've discarded to further their hands.
• The only winning hands shown in the entire lieutenant's match were worth 12,000 or more.