LOL I never thought I would say this but Saki is actually epic bad ass in that image.
While she plays epic bad ass mahjong, however she herself never really carried the aura of "bad ass" but that one image changes it all
She has never looked so delicious
Awesome!
BTW I think it's a nice thing the side story might focus more on the characters more, if the author doesn't know a great deal about mahjong then I think it would be better that way.
The main story gives us the epic battles and I guess the side story can also do that(maybe not to such a extent)but give us something a little different.