# 13 - The Path of the Storm
Source: [Crunchyroll](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRZX45ZVY/akagi)
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(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
**[01:13] nar**
Akagi and Urabe's fight was
at last entering its final stage.
***SIGN*** Episode 13
***SIGN*** The Path of the Storm
**[01:22] nar**
Akagi is in a naked wait.
**[01:30] ish**
Wait!
**[01:31] ish**
What you're saying is crazy!
**[01:33] ish**
You say Urabe will definitely
deal into your naked wait?
**[01:37] ish**
How can you be so sure?
**[01:40] ish**
If he was also in a naked
wait, then I could see it.
**[01:42] ish**
But he hasn't declared
riichi or called any tiles.
**[01:45] ish**
He can choose from any of
the 14 tiles in his hand.
**[01:48] ish**
The odds that he'll deal into your hand
are low, no matter how you look at it!
**[01:52] ura**
*Definitely deal into it?*
**[01:55] ura**
*That's nothing but a bluff.*
**[01:57] ura**
*His magic could only get his haitei,*
***SIGN*** Haitei - Another name for houtei raoyui. 1 han is added if the player wins on the last discard.
**[02:00] ura**
* four dora hand into tenpai,*
* but nothing more.*
**[02:06] ura**
* I have twelve different tiles in*
* my hand, and can pick any of them.*
**[02:10] ura**
*I will be choosing, not him!*
**[02:13] ura**
* Even if I have his winning tile in my*
* hand, it's a one in twelve chance.*
**[02:18] ura**
*I won't deal into his hand!*
**[02:19] ura**
*I'll dodge it!*
**[02:20] ura**
*I'm sure!*
**[02:23] ura**
*Is this it?*
**[02:25] ura**
*Or this?*
**[02:26] ---**
*Damn it!*
**[02:28] ura**
*This one!*
**[02:36] ura**
*How about it?*
**[02:37] ura**
*This can't be it.*
**[02:39] ura**
*There's no way it's the 2 of circles!*
**[02:43] ish**
D-Don't tell me...
**[02:46] kaw**
I-Is this...
**[02:48] ish**
A dream?
**[03:01] ish**
Ron...
**[03:02] ish**
Haitei, four dora. Mangan.
**[03:07] ish**
He's taken the lead.
**[03:09] ura**
I-Impossible...
**[03:11] ura**
Why?
**[03:12] ura**
How could this be?
**[03:18] nar**
An upset.
**[03:20] nar**
An unprecedented upset.
**[03:22] nar**
The deathmatch between
Akagi and Urabe is over!
**[03:27] nar**
The miracle happened again.
**[03:29] nar**
Six years ago on that devilish night, Akagi,
**[03:32] nar**
who was just a beginner,
defeated the blind master, Ichikawa.
**[03:36] nar**
That miraculous game was
recreated here tonight.
**[03:45] aka**
Hey, Osamu.
**[03:46] aka**
We're going home.
**[03:47] aka**
I'm done here.
**[03:49] aka**
I beat Urabe who in
turn defeated the fake.
**[03:52] aka**
I doubt there's anything left to do.
**[03:53] osa**
It doesn't seem to be that way.
**[03:58] kaw**
Akagi, you're the real deal,
without a shadow of a doubt.
**[04:05] kaw**
Don't worry.
**[04:07] kaw**
I didn't come here to try something
cheap like recruiting you.
**[04:09] kaw**
I just want you to explain.
**[04:16] kaw**
How did you know that Urabe would pick
**[04:18] kaw**
and discard the 2 of circles
in that last hand?
**[04:22] kaw**
If I let you go without hearing that,
I won't be able to sleep tonight.
**[04:27] kaw**
It'd be torture.
**[04:29] kaw**
It would be polite to
explain it before you go.
**[04:31] kaw**
Am I wrong?
**[04:35] aka**
All right.
**[04:37] aka**
It won't take long to explain.
**[04:43] kaw**
The others left, but the
tiles are left untouched.
**[04:47] kaw**
I figured it would be easier
to explain that way.
**[04:49] kaw**
Hey.
**[04:50] guy**
Yes!
**[04:55] kaw**
How could you know that he would
**[04:58] kaw**
definitely discard a 2 of
circles from this hand?
**[05:01] kaw**
Before that, how did you even know
he had a 2 of circles at all?
**[05:06] aka**
Boss, the reason that Urabe had
and discarded the 2 of circles
**[05:13] aka**
is the pinnacle of the building block
structure that I call strategy.
**[05:21] aka**
Explaining just that will be hard to follow,
**[05:24] aka**
so I'll start at the bottom.
**[05:26] kaw**
The bottom?
**[05:27] aka**
This is actually the most important.
**[05:31] aka**
In order to win at Mahjong,
you have to understand how
**[05:34] aka**
your opponent thinks on
the most primal level.
**[05:37] aka**
That's the foundation.
**[05:40] aka**
I built a strategy on top of that foundation.
**[05:44] aka**
I kept building it higher and higher.
**[05:50] aka**
By doing so, I was able to guide Urabe
**[05:53] aka**
to the hell of discarding
the 2 of circles in the end.
**[05:57] aka**
People show their true nature
when they're faced with danger.
**[06:00] aka**
You have to measure that
**[06:02] aka**
when he's in his normal state
to be certain it's accurate.
**[06:06] aka**
It's crucial to determine his
true nature in the beginning.
**[06:10] aka**
Sending in Osamu as
bait was part of that.
**[06:15] aka**
Urabe let Osamu play freely for a while.
**[06:18] aka**
Someone like him should have instantly
**[06:21] aka**
had a good idea of Osamu's
skill the moment he sat down.
**[06:24] aka**
Despite that, he opted
to observe him longer.
**[06:28] aka**
That's when I started to sense something.
**[06:32] ish**
Sense what?
**[06:34] aka**
The psychological habit rooted
in the deepest recesses of his mind.
**[06:38] aka**
Its tendency started to shimmer through.
**[06:42] aka**
Simply put, when he's facing danger,
he will neither charge in nor retreat.
**[06:49] aka**
He's the kind of player who will stand still.
**[06:52] aka**
Deferring was the true
nature of his game style.
**[06:54] aka**
That's why he just observed
Osamu, to see what was up.
**[07:00] aka**
This tendency continued even
after I joined the game.
**[07:03] aka**
When I declared my empty riichi,
he meticulously played it safe.
**[07:08] aka**
While he skillfully evaded my wait and won,
**[07:10] aka**
he lost something important in return.
**[07:13] ish**
Something important?
**[07:14] aka**
Through his discards as well
as his own winning hand,
**[07:18] aka**
I was able to discern the
habits and tendencies
**[07:20] aka**
that applied to what he considered safe,
**[07:22] aka**
and what he considered dangerous.
**[07:25] aka**
Basically his playing style.
**[07:28] aka**
And this is the kind of information
**[07:30] aka**
that decides a game of Mahjong in the end.
**[07:33] aka**
What he lost was information
about himself.
**[07:36] aka**
I, on the other hand, hid everything.
**[07:39] aka**
In South Hand 2, I even went
so far as to declare riichi
**[07:42] aka**
and then cover my tiles despite
having to pay the 8,000 point penalty.
**[07:46] aka**
At that moment, Urabe gained a
lot of land in terms of points,
**[07:50] aka**
but in terms of intelligence,
I had crushed him.
**[07:53] aka**
He didn't have any tangible
information about me.
**[07:58] aka**
That was my plan.
**[08:01] aka**
The next hand, I pulled
the suu ankou open riichi.
**[08:04] aka**
On top of that,
I took the suu ankou win
**[08:06] aka**
not just once, but three times,
**[08:08] aka**
effectively losing because
of my recklessness.
**[08:10] aka**
It was a play style that
absolutely didn't fit
**[08:13] aka**
Urabe's logic and experience,
so he was unable to process it.
**[08:16] aka**
Urabe picked up more points that hand,
**[08:18] aka**
but his impression of
me became even murkier.
**[08:22] aka**
He wasn't able to shake this
eerie impression whatsoever,
**[08:26] aka**
but he had a giant lead
of 70,000 at that point.
**[08:29] aka**
That's why he began to run away.
**[08:32] aka**
So I based my attack on his escape route.
**[08:34] aka**
The wait on coincidence for the north wind.
**[08:36] aka**
Normally, this impossible
wait would be hopeless.
**[08:40] aka**
What's more, this sanbaiman
hand with ten dora
**[08:41] aka**
shrank our point difference in a big way.
**[08:44] aka**
This one blow put him
in range for an upset.
**[08:47] (Flashback) fuj**
Urabe.
**[08:48] (Flashback) fuj**
Can you do this?
**[08:50] (Flashback) ura**
Don't worry.
**[08:52] aka**
At that time,
Urabe pretended to be calm,
**[08:55] aka**
but he was quite shaken on the inside.
**[08:57] aka**
In the final stage,
his ass was already on fire,
**[09:01] aka**
but he still didn't know anything about me.
**[09:04] aka**
There was a huge amount of
money riding on this match,
**[09:06] aka**
but he couldn't even see the
opponent he was fighting.
**[09:15] aka**
In that situation, the only thing
Urabe had left to rely on was logic.
**[09:20] aka**
The rational thinking he
cultivated over many years.
**[09:23] aka**
But that rationality is the very
thing that created another opening.
**[09:27] aka**
For me as the pursuer,
making him think that way was my goal.
**[09:33] aka**
In the final hand of the game, I was dealer.
**[09:35] aka**
I could cause an upset
with a haneman tsumo win,
**[09:37] aka**
or with a mangan hit off Urabe.
**[09:40] aka**
In the beginning of the hand,
Urabe was still on the offensive.
**[09:43] aka**
However, that was only because
logic told him to do so,
**[09:47] aka**
and not because he had
the conviction to win.
**[09:50] aka**
That kind of offensive can be easily
overturned with just the slightest change.
**[09:55] (Flashback) aka**
Kan.
**[10:00] aka**
Urabe was visibly shaken, in shock.
**[10:04] aka**
But he didn't give up yet.
**[10:05] aka**
That's because I could potentially
get a haneman tsumo.
**[10:08] aka**
Still, he didn't come straight at me.
**[10:11] aka**
He played it safe.
**[10:13] aka**
Discarding the 2 of circles.
**[10:14] aka**
This is his true nature.
**[10:16] aka**
His primal nature that comes
out when he's in a tough spot.
**[10:18] aka**
His tendency of deferring.
**[10:20] aka**
Neither attacking nor defending.
**[10:22] aka**
His mind forces him into a standstill.
**[10:26] aka**
That move was the proof that
his will was weakening.
**[10:32] aka**
Then I called the 2 of characters and
**[10:34] aka**
the location of all the
dora became apparent.
**[10:37] aka**
Once the only risk was a
direct mangan hit off him,
**[10:39] aka**
he couldn't handle it anymore.
**[10:42] aka**
After he drew a risky tile next,
**[10:44] aka**
he was out of the game and
discarded the 4 of circles.
**[10:48] aka**
That was also inspired by
the tendency of deferring.
**[10:50] aka**
The idea was to settle the match
**[10:51] aka**
in the next game instead
of the current one.
**[10:54] aka**
Running away and calling it deferring.
**[10:57] aka**
As expected, after the 4 of circles,
he only discarded safe tiles.
**[11:00] aka**
He was out the game.
**[11:02] aka**
Now the possibility of him
winning that hand was gone.
**[11:05] aka**
He retreated in the moment of truth.
**[11:08] aka**
The "three turns in the future" that I
went so far as to pay the 8,000 penalty for
**[11:12] aka**
were these three discards:
**[11:14] aka**
The red dragon, the 6 of characters
that made the dora safe,
**[11:18] aka**
and the 4 of circles.
**[11:21] aka**
Especially the 4 of circles in the ninth turn.
**[11:23] aka**
I wanted to coax out his decision to retreat.
**[11:28] aka**
If he had still been
on the offensive there,
**[11:31] aka**
I don't know how the game
would have ended up.
**[11:34] aka**
His final hand looked like this,
**[11:37] aka**
so from his discards, you could tell
there were many ways he could've won.
**[11:41] aka**
For example, he could
have won like this.
**[11:45] aka**
But this is pointless as there
is no end to these speculations.
**[11:52] aka**
After all, it is my style of Mahjong
**[11:55] aka**
to restrict his ability to move.
**[11:56] nar**
Everybody was captivated
and couldn't say a word.
**[11:59] nar**
Akagi's logic that flowed
quietly through his explanation
**[12:02] nar**
wasn't just simple probabilities.
**[12:05] nar**
Akagi's logic kept evolving according to
**[12:09] nar**
his opponent's state of mind,
through which one could almost hear
**[12:11] nar**
Urabe's blood flowing, the air
he breathed in and out...
**[12:14] nar**
This logic was a living entity.
**[12:23] aka**
In the end, this 4 of
circles was the crossroads.
**[12:26] aka**
After that, Urabe was on full defense.
**[12:29] aka**
Nothing but safe tiles.
He was out of the game.
**[12:32] aka**
But it's only natural if you think about it.
**[12:34] aka**
At that point, I had exposed two
parts of my hand and discarded a dora.
**[12:38] aka**
Additionally, Urabe had wagered
money that far surpassed his capacity.
**[12:43] aka**
He wouldn't jump to risky conclusions.
**[12:45] aka**
He had to assume I was in tenpai.
**[12:46] aka**
Which meant he couldn't discard
any risky tiles whatsoever.
**[12:49] aka**
He discarded safe tiles
as long as he had them.
**[12:52] aka**
But that inflexibility
was actually his downfall.
**[12:56] aka**
At that point, I was still far from tenpai.
**[12:59] aka**
But he didn't even
consider that possibility.
**[13:02] aka**
He was just afraid, wasting
his lifelines, the safe tiles.
**[13:08] aka**
When it actually mattered, he ran out.
**[13:12] aka**
On the very last discard,
he had no more safe tiles.
**[13:16] aka**
What he assumed to be a tanyao
hand was actually a hand
**[13:18] aka**
that was specialized to go for one
single discard, his last tile.
**[13:22] aka**
Not only that, it was a single wait.
**[13:25] aka**
That's not something he can predict.
**[13:26] aka**
It's far beyond his ability
to predict anyway.
**[13:30] aka**
If anything, he should have just
directly discarded the west wind he drew.
**[13:33] aka**
This was a random tile, it couldn't
have been part of the trap.
**[13:38] aka**
But he couldn't do that.
**[13:40] aka**
That's how deep the roots
of his suspicions went.
**[13:43] aka**
At that moment, every single tile
in his hand looked risky to him.
**[13:47] aka**
First, he couldn't immediately
discard the west wind he drew.
**[13:50] aka**
The last draw was from my wall.
**[13:53] aka**
A west wind he was forced to draw
because of the north I called earlier.
**[13:55] aka**
I might've made him draw it on purpose.
**[13:57] aka**
Once he thought that,
he couldn't discard it.
**[14:00] aka**
Next, the green dragon.
**[14:01] aka**
He couldn't discard it, either.
**[14:03] aka**
The honor tiles in his hands were the
**[14:05] aka**
safe tiles against the tanyao
hand I kept hinting at.
**[14:08] aka**
To him, those must have been the
most obvious tiles for me to target.
**[14:12] aka**
6, 8, and 9 of bamboo are
out of the question, too.
**[14:14] aka**
They're too close to the
7 of bamboo in my kan.
**[14:17] aka**
Normally, tiles around there
shouldn't be in my hand,
**[14:20] aka**
but I'm someone who might
secretly keep just one.
**[14:24] aka**
Similarly, the tiles around the
7 of circles I called are out.
**[14:27] aka**
The 7 of characters is out, too.
**[14:29] aka**
That's the remaining tile
of the sanshoku doukou.
**[14:31] aka**
If I'm going for the sanshoku doukou,
**[14:33] aka**
it's highly likely that I have a tile leftover.
**[14:35] aka**
He can't discard it.
**[14:37] aka**
The 4 and 5 of characters
**[14:38] aka**
are too close to my last discard,
the 3 of characters.
**[14:41] aka**
Naturally, he can't discard them, either.
**[14:45] aka**
In the end, the only two tiles
**[14:47] aka**
Urabe could even consider
discarding out of his 14 tiles
**[14:50] aka**
were the 2 of circles and the 4 of bamboo.
**[14:53] aka**
The 4 of bamboo is right next
to the 5 of bamboo
**[14:56] aka**
that I discarded from
my hand after my kan.
**[14:58] aka**
That means I could have had a
4 and 5 of bamboo in my hand
**[15:02] aka**
and discarded the 5 after
my 7 of bamboo kan.
**[15:05] aka**
If that were the case, I'd be
waiting for the 4 of bamboo.
**[15:08] aka**
On the other hand,
the 2 of circles had its neighbors,
**[15:12] aka**
1, 3, 4 of circles, immediately
discarded the entire time.
**[15:18] aka**
That's what Urabe would think.
**[15:23] aka**
But for someone who's setting a trap,
**[15:25] aka**
the very same reason I just used
**[15:28] aka**
for why the tile might be safe
becomes the reason to wait for it.
**[15:32] (Flashback) aka**
Pon.
**[15:48] (Flashback) ---**
This is it!
**[15:57] aka**
It was a good wait, wasn't it?
**[16:01] aka**
Osamu, let's go.
**[16:03] osa**
Ah, sure.
**[16:06] kaw**
Wait.
**[16:06] kaw**
That was only half of it.
**[16:11] kaw**
I get why the 2 of circles had a
high chance of being discarded.
**[16:14] kaw**
But no matter how high the chance is,
**[16:16] kaw**
if he doesn't have it, it's meaningless.
**[16:18] kaw**
That means you knew he had
that tile in his hand, didn't you?
**[16:23] kaw**
Otherwise there'd be no reason
to wait for that 2 of circles.
**[16:27] kaw**
I want to know how you knew.
**[16:33] aka**
I got that 2 of circles on the seventh turn.
**[16:36] aka**
In the previous turn,
when Urabe discarded that tile,
**[16:40] aka**
a scent was left on it.
**[16:43] kaw**
A scent?
**[16:44] aka**
Yes.
**[16:45] aka**
Before he discarded that tile,
Urabe was still on the offensive.
**[16:50] aka**
He was in tenpai at that moment.
**[16:54] aka**
But he drew a live tile, the red dragon.
**[16:57] aka**
Considering my four dora,
he couldn't discard it,
**[17:00] aka**
but he couldn't get out
of the game, either.
**[17:02] aka**
So he went for a safe tile.
**[17:04] aka**
The tile he picked for that was
the 2 of circles from his pair.
**[17:08] aka**
It was his habit to use the
pair in situations like this.
**[17:13] aka**
In fact, I saw Urabe do
that many times tonight.
**[17:16] aka**
Whether it was when faced with
Osamu or my riichi after that.
**[17:22] aka**
That was a habit he couldn't shake.
**[17:25] aka**
A pattern ingrained in his body.
**[17:27] aka**
So that 2 of circles he
discarded last was the
**[17:30] aka**
leftover tile from the pair
he broke up in the sixth turn.
**[17:33] aka**
It was the fatal baggage
he failed to take care of.
**[17:39] aka**
That was the 2 of circles.
**[18:05] ura**
That was a high price to pay.
**[18:08] ura**
Just because I left such
a subtle sign behind.
**[18:12] ura**
The debt of 32 million...
**[18:14] ura**
and on top of that...
**[18:17] ura**
this!
**[18:21] osa**
Akagi-san, let's go.
**[18:24] ura**
Wait!
**[18:27] ura**
Mark my words, Akagi!
**[18:29] ura**
I will defeat you!
**[18:31] ura**
Once my wounds are healed
and I've paid off this debt,
**[18:34] ura**
no matter how long it takes,
**[18:36] ura**
I will defeat you someday! I swear!
**[18:42] osa**
Akagi-san, let's leave him.
**[18:44] osa**
He's desperate now,
you don't know what he might do.
**[18:48] aka**
Desperate?
**[18:49] aka**
He's not that kind of person.
**[18:55] ura**
Akagi!
**[18:59] aka**
Urabe, you'll defeat me someday?
**[19:02] aka**
That's not possible.
**[19:06] ura**
You bastard!
**[19:07] ura**
Do you want me to kill you?!
**[19:09] aka**
Urabe, you don't have to do it someday.
**[19:12] aka**
You can do it now.
**[19:14] aka**
I'll play one East-South match with you.
**[19:16] aka**
If I lose, I'll take over your entire debt.
**[19:20] aka**
However, if I win,
**[19:23] aka**
I will take both of your hands.
**[19:27] osa**
Akagi-san!
**[19:28] kaw**
That's ridiculous.
**[19:30] kaw**
There's no benefit for you,
regardless of the outcome.
**[19:34] aka**
I've never made a bet in my life
based on what I could gain.
**[19:38] aka**
People just die meaningless deaths
because of the outcome of a gamble.
**[19:42] aka**
It's better that way.
**[19:44] aka**
That way, we can get closer
to the essence of gambling,
**[19:49] aka**
the grip of unreasonable death.
**[19:54] aka**
That's the real thrill of
gambling, right, Urabe?
**[20:11] osa**
Akagi-san!
**[20:14] osa**
Give me a break!
**[20:16] osa**
What were you going to
do if he had accepted?
**[20:19] aka**
That wouldn't have happened.
**[20:22] osa**
But he was so...
**[20:24] aka**
His anger wasn't real anger.
**[20:27] aka**
That's why he passed on
his chance at revenge.
**[20:32] aka**
That just shows what kind of man he was.
**[20:34] aka**
He's only a regular guy
**[20:36] aka**
who weighs even the pros
and cons of getting angry.
**[20:38] aka**
That man will never experience
genuine anger in his life.
**[20:42] aka**
Just like he'll never be
able to have a true match.
**[20:46] aka**
I also can't have a true match...
**[20:49] aka**
not against someone like him.
**[20:51] aka**
That's not enough.
**[20:54] nar**
What Akagi really desires is a true match
where one's life is literally on the line.
**[21:03] nar**
One year later, Akagi would
actually have that match.
**[22:16] nar**
Next time,
"A New Chapter of the Rakshasa."
***SIGN*** Next Episode
***SIGN*** A New Chapter of the Rakshasa