Fighter's Brew – S3: E4 (Audio + Transcript) (Patreon)

• Fighter's Brew

[Note: Read the manga images from right to left.]

Meguru is on Muroi's back. Muroi rolls to escape, but Meguru hangs on. Muroi fights Meguru's hands and removes the sealing arm from behind his neck. Though it's uncomfortable, it's difficult to strangle with one arm.

[A strangle is a complete seal around the neck. If you break the seal, there's slack for air and blood to get through, preventing the strangle.]

Muroi pulls Meguru over his shoulder. Meguru falls forward but transitions into an armbar. Muroi sees it coming and escapes. Meguru doggedly sticks to Muroi, grabbing his ankles. It slows Muroi down just enough for Meguru to grab his leg for a tackle.

Muroi returns to his feet, and Meguru follows him up, still holding his leg. As Muroi fights his grip, Meguru releases him and swings a hook.

[Closing the door on one opportunity can open the door for other opportunities.]

Muroi dodges just in time. He's barely keeping up with Meguru's transitions. Muroi backs up, and Meguru drops him with a rear straight. Since Meguru wasn't throwing his right, Muroi stopped thinking about it.

The spectators are stunned. Muroi's family is worried. With 30 seconds left, the score shifts in Meguru's favor.

The referee resumes the fight.

Muroi swings for the fences. Meguru circles and dodges.

Meguru fires the right but misses. Muroi counters with an uppercut, but Meguru evades. Muroi deliberately leaves himself open for a counter. Swinging wildly is a trap for Meguru.

[By leaving himself open, Muroi is inviting Meguru to knock him out. By doing so, Meguru will leave himself open for a counter.]

Meguru throws a left hook. Muroi dodges and lands a right to the body. He follows up with an uppercut, but Meguru blocks.

"I don't get it," Ayako says. "Why is he engaging in a slugfest? All he has to do is run out the clock, and he wins."

Muroi overswings on a punch, and his knee buckles. Meguru lands a right to the body, followed by a left high kick. Muroi blocks and counters with a same-side punch. It lands, and Meguru backs up. Muroi presses forward with more punches but Meguru ties him up and lands a knee to the body.

Muroi is hurt. Meguru grabs his head for a knee. Onishi, Muroi's coach, holds the towel. Meguru fires the knee, but Muroi fights back with punches.

"My guard was up, you fools!" Muroi thinks. "Don't stop this fight!"

The two continue to exchange.

"I ain't going down," Muroi thinks, "you are!"

Meguru lands two clean shots.

The crowd is silenced.

Meguru remembers what Maria said. In the last seconds of a fight, fitness and will matter more than technique. For Maki, every fight is a question of what breaks first, her legs or their arms. For Meguru, can he keep problem-solving when his opponent is set on an answer—that's his will to win.

Meguru punches and Muroi blocks.

"Muroi-san," Meguru thinks. "You're really strong, but I can't give in. I have to bring you down—right here, right now. I have to move on."

As Muroi lifts his guard to block punches, Meguru switches stances and lands a devastating left middle kick.

[Muroi stopped thinking about the right punch and got caught. Now he's thinking about the right punch and forgot about the left middle kick.]

Muroi's body wants to go down, but Muroi's will won't allow it.

Meguru follows up with a right overhand, but the referee rushes in and protects Muroi from further blows.

Meguru stops. The ref waves his hands. There's a towel on the mat.

The match is over.

The referee holds Muroi up, but he's gone limp. He gently sets the exhausted fighter onto the mat. Muroi's team rushes to check on him.

The referee raises Meguru's hand.

Meguru Takayanagi wins the lightweight division.

The doctor checks on Muroi. He's okay, just pushed beyond his limit.

Meguru shakes his hand.

"Great fight," Meguru says.

"Thanks, kid," Muroi replies. "For duking it out with me at the end."

Muroi limps to his family and embraces them.

"Thanks a ton, Nabe-san!" says Meguru with a big grin. "I couldn't have won without you!"

"That was awful," replies Watanabe. "Diving into that punchout at the end. Why?"

"But, but, I had to bring him down or else..."

"Listen, Meguru. In a competition, you should focus on one thing. It's not matching your opponent's spirit and giving each other your all but breaking their spirit and shutting them down. Fighters who get baited into a slugfest will never make it far."

When all the matches are over, there are pictures with the winners and an award ceremony.

"I'm gonna win the Nationals and go pro," Kohei tells Meguru. "You better win, too. I'll whoop your ass if you take Muroi-san's spot just to waste it."

Meguru smiles. "Sure thing."

"Are you competing at Nationals also, Nagamine-san?" Meguru asks.

"Yeah," Ayako answers. "We'll be on opposing sides then."

Meguru nods. "That's Maki-chan's division."

"See ya," Ayako says. They wave goodbye.

Back in Tokyo, at Fighter's Brew, Furuya gets the call from Watanabe.

"Hey, Meguru took first!" he tells the gym.

Maki and Yudai pretend not to care.

"Kamiya," Furuya says.

"What?" Maki answers.

"Meguru wants to talk to you."

Surprised, Maki takes the phone.

"Guess what?" says Meguru. "I finally landed the kick in the last seconds of the finals. I sealed the deal with a left middle kick. I owe it all to you, Maki-chan. Thanks a bunch."

Maki's blushes. She's a deer in headlights. She hangs up on Meguru.

Meguru is confused.

"How's your head?" asks Watanabe.

"Hurts a little."

"Skip the bath and sleep with an ice pillow tonight."

Muroi walks with his family outside the venue.

"All this walking is bad for your knee," says Muroi's wife.

"Then lend me your shoulder," he says.

They stop at the top of the hill overlooking the city. He looks at his family.

"This is my trophy," Muroi thinks.

A few days later, Meguru wakes up from a nightmare. He was getting knocked out by Takashi.

Winning the Kansai Qualifier means Meguru has earned a spot at the Nationals in September. This means another shot at Takashi. Whether he can beat him or not is a different matter.

Meguru is already back at the gym. Watanabe warns him again of the dangers of head trauma and not to engage in any more brawls.

Takashi is also training hard. His life is work, sleep, and train. Every night, he prays to his grandfather.

When Takashi's grandfather died, Takashi went to an orphanage. He was 14.

Life in the orphanage was hard, but Takashi never missed a day of training. Although there were new bullies, Takashi was strong enough to defend himself.

After a while, Takashi made friends and looked after the younger children. He even began teaching karate.

Sometimes, he had to protect some of the children from local bullies. His grandfather said protecting someone meant getting them out of harm's way. Once they're safe, then it's your turn to run. That's how Takashi approached things at the orphanage.

Then, one day, his uncle showed up.

At Fighter's Brew, Maria and Maki are paired up to roll. Maki has been working with Meguru to improve her grappling skills. She's never beaten Maria. Yet.

Maria goes for a pass, but Maki sweeps her. From top, Maki transitions to an armbar. Maria rolls to her knees and counters. Maki transitions to a triangle choke. Meguru's influence is apparent.

Maria taps.

Maki is stunned. "Hell yeah!" she shouts.

Meguru congratulates her. "Way to go, Maki-chan!"

"Dude, Meguru! I owe it all to you."

They nearly embrace. Both Meguru and Maki gasp.

Back at home, Maki is enjoying a cheat meal in the kitchen, keeping her weight on track for Nationals.

A thought randomly occurs to her. "Looks like I really do have a thing for Meguru."

Maki screams!

Everyone rushes to the kitchen.

"What's wrong?!" her brother Koki asks.

Maki grabs her sister, Itsuki, by the wrist and drags her to her room. She closes the door.

Itsuki listens.

"Sounds like you have a crush," Itsuki says.

Maki covers her sister's mouth.

Meguru's been focusing on his grappling since Kansai, but he's struggling. Maria notices Maki's concern for him.

"Why don't you help him?" she asks.

"I'm good, thanks," Maki replies as she turns and walks away.

It's summer, but even Momoko is busy spending time with Yudai.

Maki feels more alone than ever.

At home, she gets a call from Maria.

"Remember that trip I mentioned?" Maria says.

"The Tohoku thing?" Maki asks.

"Uh-huh. The amateur grappling scrimmage in Iwate. Some fighters affected by the disaster set up a gym in Kamaishi, and they reached out to a bunch of gyms to take part. It's half fighting and half volunteer work."

"Iwate? Ugh. Grappling?"

"Just so you know, Meguru's coming, too," Maria says.

"I'm in."

A week later, everyone from the Tokyo gyms waits for the bus for Tohoku. Maki is annoyed to see Kaoru there. Momoko greets her former opponent, Kaede. Meguru spots Takashi.

"You're participating, too?" Meguru asks.

"Yeah. Well. We're both from Tohoku, right?" Takashi replies.

Everyone boards the bus.