微笑み

After he was elected as the president of the middle school student council, Hideki Akechi taught himself how to hide his emotions at all times.
Unlike how his father was solemn all the time, he was more accustomed to wearing his smile like a mask. He has always been good at this... but there are exceptions sometimes.
"Have you come to keep your grandmother company during your vacation? Oh, it's been more than half a year since the last time you came, and you've grown taller again!" As soon as Hideki got out of the vehicle, the old man who lived next door announced his arrival to the whole alley.
The people living in this small town seemed to be filled with limitless enthusiasm, and similar scenes played out every holiday. Bound by his father's elitist theory, it was difficult for Hideki to respond to such a warm greeting. He did his best to ignore the slight discomfort welling up in his heart and responded with his signature smile as he raised his head. "Hi, how are you?"
"Hahaha, what a good boy! I'll get you some sweets later." The neighbor burst into hearty laughter and then started complaining about his naughty grandson, filling the entire alley with the sound of laughter.
At this point, it seemed that everyone had gotten what they wanted. Hideki quietly breathed a sigh of relief, completely oblivious to the complicated look in the eyes of his grandma standing behind him.
However, she had always been careful to preserve Hideki's dignity in front of others. Only after they returned to their own courtyard did she stop him and say: "Hideki, don't smile for the sake of smiling."
"Oh..."
"People like a smile because it expresses and conveys happiness. Only a smile from the heart has such magical power." His grandma pats his head. "Don't smile when you don't want to. Grandma wants you to always smile beautifully from the heart."
This was the first time that Hideki, who was so famous for his good looks at school and always praised for this reason, was told that his smile "didn't look good." This made him a little dispirited. He sat in the yard and quietly practiced smiling by the water tank in the corner to make his smile "beautiful" like his grandma wanted.
Even when the sky was dyed pink by the sunset, Hideki still hadn't managed to make the smile he wanted. He rubbed his slightly stiff cheek muscles and looked at the sky in a daze.
"This is so hard... " He thought to himself.
"Chii."
"Pon..."
"3 Sou!"
The sound of talking next door interrupted Hideki's thoughts, and he heard some familiar words accompanied by frequent laughter. He knew these words were related to a game called mahjong that the people of One Han City are very fascinated with, which was why he had a basic understanding of the game even though his father didn't let him participate in similar recreational activities.
The clattering sound of mahjong tiles colliding together kept tempting Hideki. As a result, he stood there and listened for a long time without realizing it. Like how a pebble thrown into a calm lake will cause ripples, he inevitably started to yearn for the world on the other side of the wall. He wanted to take part in such a fun activity, but he didn't take a step forward because he was bound by his father's strictness.
"Hideki—" After a while, Hideki heard his grandma calling him from inside the house. He walked quickly to the living room and tried to forget everything from just now.
However, mahjong tiles, the very thing disturbing his mind, were spread out on the table in the living room, causing Hideki to look quizzically at his grandma.
"Do you want to learn it?"
"No... Hideki doesn't deny his yearning for mahjong as it is indeed a game that brings happiness, but he refuses instinctively out of fear that he will accidentally open Pandora's Box.
"You should know the basic mahjong tile types already. Today, we'll teach you how to use them. Before we start, we need to know about sequences, triplets, and pairs..."
"Grandma!" Seeing that his grandma has ignored his response and started to teach him the rules of the game anyway, Hideki has no choice but to raise his voice to get her attention. "Grandma, father asked me to accompany you because he is afraid you'll be really bored living alone, not for me to play games here."
He looked away from the mahjong tiles, afraid that he wouldn't be able to resist their temptation. However, it is usually very hard for people to hide their true feelings in front of the people closest to them.
Seeing through his restraint, his grandma forcefully gave him an East tile. "I want you to grow up healthily and happily. That's all. Learn it properly if you're interested. You don't need to care what your father thinks."
Compared with becoming a qualified successor, this request was much simpler. The slightly wrinkly hands on his shoulder gave him infinite courage. After a moment of silence, he heard his own voice fill the room clearly: "Grandma, tell me how to win this game."
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the local yaku formed by the mahjong tiles was like a piece of delicious candy that had an irresistible sweetness. The moment it appeared, all the happiness in his heart was expressed directly on his face. He laughed heartily and forgot about hiding his emotions.
At that moment, he was clearly aware that he had fallen in love with this game called mahjong.
Behind him, his grandma patted his shoulder with a smile on her face—
"That's right, Hideki, now you're making a beautiful smile."