Fighter's Brew Transcript: Episode 3 (Patreon)

• Fighter's Brew

[Note: Manga is read right to left.]

Some time after the fight.

Meguru is in his school uniform, walking in the city.

"Ever since I was little," Meguru thinks, "the world has been so full of stuff. And yet people go on and on about the recession, the stock market, the economy, and jobs, but there's so much stuff. So if we continue like this with the occasional panic, how will we ever break this cycle?"

"And, of course, I have no idea what I want to do with my life. But why do I have to know? These days you have to be passionate about working, but I decided to try to find my passion at an MMA gym."

Meguru arrives at the gym, "Hey, guys."

The small bald pro greets Meguru, "Yo. Any damage from the fight?"

"I couldn't lift my right arm for a while after those left kicks. But I feel fine now."

Meguru, to himself, "I don't think I hit Takashi once. His left and right kicks were equally powerful."

Glasses, also in his school uniform, enters the gym. "Aren't you frustrated," he asks Meguru.

"Huh?" Meguru says.

"Losing like that," Glasses continues. "Doesn't it frustrate you?"

"Naw, he was way out of my league. He's been training since we were kids. I didn't stand a chance."

"That just means you didn't practice hard enough, right?"

Glasses walks away to change his clothes.

"What's his deal," Meguru asks the small pro, annoyed.

"Don't let it get to you," the pro says. "Kitamura wants to go pro. He's the same age and weight as you, so you can see why he's got his eyes on you."

The small pro leads the class. Meguru keeps thinking about Glasses. "He's still in high school, but he already knows what he wants to do with his life. Pro? It seems so unreal to me. Right now, I just want to have fun."

They meditate after class. After meditation, the class and instructor mutually bow. Finally, they all thank each other and clean the mats.

Meguru is changing to go home. The small pro walks over to Glasses, "Hey, Kitamura, you're staying for pro training, right?"

Glasses sips some water to recover. "Yes."

Meguru watches the conversation. Glasses looks at Meguru, then turns around and sighs. Meguru is annoyed again.

"Ura-san," Meguru says to the small pro, "I'm staying for the pro training, too."

"Okay," the small pro says, "but don't push yourself too hard."

Meguru has never attended the pro training before. Only those who are pro or want to become pro stay for it. Since Meguru just had a rough fight and it's unclear if he wants to continue fighting, the small pro didn't think to ask Meguru. But Meguru is staying. What does this mean?

At 8 p.m., the general members head out, and the pros file in.

The team.

Meguru's coach for his first fight is leading pro training. Class A welterweight Kenichiro Furuya. The head coach often leaves training to the pros, which makes Furuya the de facto head coach. In the class is also the big pro from Meguru's fight, Class B shooto middleweight Tadashi Watanabe. There's also Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt Kazumasa Tamiya. And the small one with the shaved head is Class B shooto bantamweight Shinji Urasawa. Plus two amateurs, Meguru and Glasses. They stand awkwardly next to each other.

"I wonder what kind of training the pros do?" Meguru thinks.

"Six people tonight, huh?" Furuya says. "Let's warm up with some jogging."

"Sidesteps."

"Take turns dropping down to your belly while your partner jumps over you."

"Handstands."

"Find a partner—one person on hands and knees. The top person spins around. 20 in each direction, then switch. We're doing three sets."

"Leg raises, switch after 100 reps."

Meguru is panting. He asks himself, "Isn't this really long for a warm-up?!"

"Clinch and lift. Do ten reps trading off. Three sets."

"Hip escapes, five times up and down the mats."

"Reverse hip escapes, same number."

The two amateurs are exhausted.

"Alright. Let's move on to tackles," Furuya says.

Tackle practice is all about repetition. First, 100 double-leg tackle entries, going to the ground on every tenth. Then 100 single-leg tackles, with a lift on every tenth. Then bodylock tackles with resistance. Another 100. Throw on every tenth."

"Alright. One minute break," Furuya says.

"Oh my god," Meguru thinks. "Between warm-up and tackles, an hour has already passed."

Furuya sets the round timer. "Next is five-minute grappling rounds from the knees. Then one-minute breaks in between."

Glasses is in disbelief. He can barely get up. But he glances at Meguru and grins.

"I'll keep going even if it kills me," Glasses says to himself. "Loser boy can stay behind."

"I'll show him," Meguru thinks and joins the sparring.

Meguru is paired with Furuya. Meguru wraps Furuya with his legs in closed guard. Meguru pictures himself sitting up and throwing Furuya with a hip throw from the ground. But when he sits up, nothing happens.

Meguru's legs are open. Furuya pins Meguru's left leg to begin his pass. Meguru tries to hip escape, but Furuya flattens him out.

"I can't move," Meguru thinks.

Eventually, Furuya works his way to mount and then armbar.

"His movements are slow," Meguru thinks, "and he's using basic moves. But he doesn't leave any gaps. To overcome strength, you need space. He eliminated all the space!"

Furuya extends Meguru's arm, and Meguru taps. They shake hands and bow and thank each other for the roll.

Glasses isn't doing any better with Watanabe.

"Wanna roll, Meguru?" Urusawa asks.

"Sure."

"He's smaller than me," Meguru thinks. "This should be easier."

Where Furuya spent five minutes to tap Meguru once, Urasawa taps Meguru repeatedly.

Tamiya does the same.

Grappling goes for about 50 minutes.

"Now, time for strength training," Furuya says.

This time, even the pros are in shock.

"Strength training ended up being boring, tedious, repetitive calisthenics and partner-assisted exercises," Meguru thinks. "But the pros still put passion into it, and it made all the difference."

"To finish up," Furuya says, "let's do split-leg push-ups to improve our flexibility and strength. Let's do three sets of 60."

"That means 180 total!" both Meguru and Glasses think.

Glasses and Meguru are competing against each other. Meguru doesn't want to lose, but Glasses barely finishes all the sets, while Meguru fails at 45.

"Alright, let's meditate."

Glasses and Meguru collapse onto their faces when it's time to bow.

The pros clean, but the two amateurs can't get up.

"This kind of training will kill me," Meguru says.

"But if you keep this up, you'll definitely get stronger," Glasses tells Meguru, to Meguru's surprise.

After the amateurs recover, they also help clean.

"Meguru," Furuya says, "what did you think about training with the pros?"

"I couldn't land a single move."

"Of course not. Without power and determination, technique means nothing. An inferior technique can beat a better technique if the inferior technique is stronger. The big difference between pros and amateurs is, we can fight harder and longer. Conditioning might be boring, but it's a fundamental part of a pro's routine."

"I see," Meguru says.

Glasses jumps in, "If I run and lift weights all the time, will I become a good fighter?"

"Well, it's one thing to be jacked," Furuya says, "but you still need technique."

"Which is it?!" Glasses yells.

At Meguru's home, Meguru makes a grappling dummy with blankets. He reads a grappling magazine and tries to analyze what went wrong with his hip throw.

Rather than obsession, Meguru is driven by curiosity. He wants to make sense of the world, and MMA is confusing. But what looks like Meguru having his head in the clouds is actually curiosity, play, analysis, and problem-solving.

Unlike Takashi, who's driven by a fear of weakness and seeks isolation, Meguru is driven by play and connection. If Takashi is a flower that blooms in barren landscapes, Meguru is a flower that needs the right environment to blossom. In return, he enriches that garden for other flowers.

Meguru slams the grappling dummy, then pins it.

Meguru's sister barges in. "It's the middle of the night, keep it down!" she yells.

She finds Meguru hugging the dummy. "Well, you're at that age." Meguru's sister awkwardly says as she walks back out of the room.

Wait, sis!" Meguru yells, "It's not what it looks like!"

That night.

Meguru is dreaming about his loss to Takashi. "How did he get to my neck so fast?" he asks himself. "I can hear my corner, but it's so hard to move. The window to do anything is closing. Everything is fading to black."

Meguru opens his eyes.

"I haven't seen Takashi since then. He seemed like a totally different person. Was the reason I didn't tap out because I didn't want to lose to him?"

Meguru keeps thinking, but he doesn't know why he didn't tap. Why he cared so much.

Meguru tries to get up, but then pain.

Meguru's grandmother and sister are preparing breakfast. "Is Meguru still in bed?" Grandmother asks. "Tamaki, go wake him up, will you?"

Tamaki, Meguru's sister, knocks on Meguru's door this time. He doesn't answer.

"Meguru!" She slowly opens the door, "How long are you gonna stay in bed?!"

Meguru is still on the floor, frozen in pain.

At breakfast.

"Muscle soreness?" Tamaki asks.

Meguru has his head on the table. Too sore to eat.

"You trained with the pros yesterday? What's fun about that?"

"That's good for a boy his age," Grandmother says. "Once you're grown, it'll be a weight off my shoulders."

Meguru stares at his grandmother. "Grandma never got used to living in Tokyo. She always wanted to go back to where Grandpa was buried."

At school, Meguru doesn't hang out with the other kids during breaks. Instead, he sleeps. During lunch, he eats alone.

When school is over, Meguru decides to stay late for art club. He's too sore to train.

A girl walks over.

"What a surprise," she says. "You never stay this late, Takayanagi-kun."

Meguru isn't sure about her name. "Tajima-san?"

Because of the gym, Meguru doesn't really know his classmates.

Meguru sits with them as they eat snacks.

"Wow. You do martial arts?" Tajima asks.

"No, shooto." Meguru is nervous from the sudden attention.

"What's shooto?" a girl with freckles asks.

"It's a type of mixed martial arts. Punches, kicks, locks, and stuff."

"Oh, like pro wrestling?" a boy with bleached hair asks.

"You're way off," a boy with shaggy black hair says. "It's like Pride, right?"

"Actually, both shooto and Pride were started by pro wrestlers," Meguru says.

"But I thought Pride was over?" Bleached Hair says.

"It is," Shaggy Hair says. "I thought MMA was dead in Japan."

"But you don't really look like a fighter, Takayanagi-kun," Tajima says.

"No kidding," Freckles says.

Meguru is embarrassed.

"You're always sketching alone in the corner," Freckles says. "Then you leave as soon as the bell rings."

"Oh, that's right. Are you free this Saturday?" Tajima asks. "We're going bowling. Wanna come?"

Tajima turns to Shaggy Hair. "Is that okay?"

"Um, sure," Shaggy Hair says.

Bleached Hair looks on.

"Does this mean I'm popular?!" Meguru excitedly thinks.

At bowling, Meguru hits a strike.

"Nice one, Meguru-kun!" Tajima yells. She grabs him by the arm. "That's your third strike in a row!"

This time, Meguru is frozen in delight.

Freckles and a girl with black hair laugh. Bleached Hair observes. Shaggy Hair is annoyed.

Back at Meguru's house. Meguru is tying his shoes by the doorway.

"You're not going to the gym today, either?" Tamaki asks.

"Yeah. I made plans with clubmates. Later."

Tamaki watches Meguru take off. "Is he done with MMA also?" she wonders.

Meguru and his new friends are at karaoke. Bleached Hair sings.

"What kind of songs do you like to sing, Meguru-kun?" Tajima asks as she leans into him.

"Uh, happy stuff, I guess."

Tajima feels his arm. Meguru's heart races. Tajima lifts Meguru's shirt over his head. "Check it out, guys! Meguru-kun is actually pretty ripped!"

Meguru blushes. "I'm finally popular!" he thinks. "Spring has come for me at last."

Bleached Hair is concerned. Shaggy Hair is upset.

Outside of karaoke, Tajima has disappeared. Shaggy Hair says he'll look for her. Meguru volunteers to go look, too.

"Ah! Meguru-kun—" Bleached Hair tries to call for him, but Meguru is already gone.

The girls giggle. "You better go after him, Micchi." Freckles says.

Meguru circles around the block and finds Tajima. As he gets closer, he sees she's talking to Shaggy Hair. They're fighting. She slaps him.

Meguru is about to intervene when Shaggy Hair and Tajima begin to make out.

Meguru is knocked out in shock. Micchi pats Meguru on the shoulder, then holds his finger to his lips.

They see Shaggy Hair and Tajima walk into a motel.

"Sorry, Meguru-kun. I wanted to tell you."

"Does everyone know?"

"Uh-huh. Those two are always like that. Sorry, man."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Well, we're clubmates, after all."

"Michio-kun."

"Call me Micchi."

"You're a pretty good guy, huh?"

"Why do you have to make it a question?"

The next day.

Meguru walks out of school. There's determination in his steps. "Tajima-san was going through a rough patch with her boyfriend, the club president, and used me as bait to make him jealous."

Meguru arrives at Fighter's Brew, his gym.

"What would you call this feeling? It's certainly not heartbreak. So what was I looking for?"

Meguru sees everyone training and smiles. His team was here all along.

"Hey, Meguru," Furuya says.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Urasawa says.

Tamiya and Watanabe are there, too.

"You alright?" Urasawa asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Meguru says sheepishly.

"Count me in for pro training!" he abruptly declares.

"Woah. Getting all fired up all of a sudden?" Urasawa asks.

Meguru clenches his fist. "I'm gonna do it. I'm aiming to take first at the amateur shooto nationals next year!"

Furuya, Tamiya, and Urasawa clap. Watanabe doesn't react. They're happy he's back and motivated, but this isn't their first rodeo. So they're still determining his resolve.

"Tch. I dunno what happened, but I bet that motivation doesn't last past today," Glasses says.

"What was that?!" Meguru roars.

"You should beat me at least once before you start mouthing off."

Meguru is fired up because he's lost every sparring match to Glasses.

"Just you wait!" Meguru yells. "I'm definitely taking first before you do!"

"Says the guy who can't even do 100 push-ups."

"Who cares if you can do a thousand push-ups. It doesn't mean shit unless you win!"

"Let's see you win, then."

Furuya interrupts, "Let's start practice."