Fighter's Brew – S2: E3 (Audio + LMA Transcript) (Patreon)

• Fighter's Brew

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

Back at the Kanto Championship, Meguru is down on points against Shigeru, and time is running out.

"Maria-san said karate engagement distance," Meguru remembers. "But he's reading all my moves, so that means he'll try to counter me. I have to aim for that."

Meguru jabs and drops down for a right body blow.

"He's mine!" Shigeru thinks.

Shigeru goes to throw the left hook, but like Takashi, Meguru switches stances, disguising it with a punch. The left hook misses, and Meguru tackles Shigeru to the mat.

[When there's kicks and takedowns involved, fighters tend to stand further away. A way to quickly collapse that distance is through stance switches, which is just the natural gait motion of walking. This is also called "marching." It's only noteworthy because most of the time you want to maintain your stance and not revert to walking.]

"How did he manage to get in close?" Take asks.

"In karate, you often step forward with the same side you're punching," Maria answers. "It's a lunging strike. He didn't use it to land a blow but as a means to get into takedown distance."

Meguru is desperate to pass, but Shigeru sweeps him.

[Just like a standing sweep, a sweep means controlling the upper body as you take your opponent's legs out from under them.]

Everyone is nervous for Meguru. Things are bleak.

Shigeru pins Meguru and transitions to mount. He's racking up an insurmountable lead.

"What's he doing?" yells Maki.

"Meguru was so happy to get the takedown, he lost focus," Maria says.

Shigeru captures Meguru's arm and drops back for an armbar. Meguru defends, but he's still trapped.

"I can't hold on," Meguru thinks.

"My abs are spasming," Shigeru thinks. "I've got nothing to lose."

Shigeru switches to a triangle choke.

Meguru postures and escapes. Shigeru pushes Meguru and gets back to standing. Meguru scrambles for another takedown. He has a single leg.

30 seconds are left.

"Just give up already," Shigeru thinks. "Even if you take me down, you don't have time to do anything."

"I don't care," Meguru thinks, "I have to take you down."

Meguru secures the other ankle and takes Shigeru down.

In shock, Maria and Take yell, "He took him down!"

"The hell," Maki says. "He's actually got some guts."

Meguru is in Shigeru's guard.

"Don't rest, Meguru!" Furuya yells. "Move! Attack to the very end!"

"I can't stop," Meguru thinks as he stands up. "Furuya-san told me that even if it goes to a decision, I have to end the fight on offense. I have to pass his guard."

Meguru wedges his knee between Shigeru's guard and creates an opening. Meguru goes to pass, but Shigeru counters and sweeps. Meguru lands on his head and somersaults to the other side.

[When it comes to grappling, you use your feet like your hands, your hands like your feet, and your head like another limb.]

His team is speechless. This is the first time they've seen this move.

Both fighters are drenched in sweat. Meguru can't maintain the pin because they're too slippery. Shigeru rolls to escape. Meguru attacks the back. They spin, and Meguru secures the back.

"My arms are dead," Meguru thinks. "I don't have the strength to choke him."

Five seconds left.

Meguru grits his teeth and switches to an armbar. The arm is extended, but the bell rings. The match ends.

There is a conversation at the referee's table.

"His arm extended before the end of the match," the ref tells the announcer.

"The referee has called a stop to this match at three minutes and 59 seconds," the announcer says. "Declaring the winner by technical submission via armbar, Meguru Takayanagi!"

The referee raises Meguru's arm. Everyone is stunned—Meguru most of all.

"But the other guy didn't tap," Maki says.

"The fight is over as soon as your arm is extended in amateur shooto," Maria explains.

Megeru runs to Shigeru and shakes his hand. "Thank you very much," he says.

"Likewise," replies Shigeru.

But Meguru is having a hard time enjoying his victory as he watches Shigeru ice his elbow and walk over to the medic's table.

"First Yudai's elbow, now this guy's?" Maki teases. "You hunting arms?"

"This is martial arts. These things happen," says Furuya. "Don't let it get to you."

"Okay," Meguru says.

"He did drop you once, though," says Take.

"Yeah," Meguru says.

"You're gonna get knocked stupid if you don't keep your defenses up," says Urasawa.

"Who are sempai and Meguru-san up against next?" asks Momoko.

"Yudai's up against a wrestler named Tachibana," Take says. "As for Meguru, it'll be whoever wins this match."

The match ends with an ankle lock. It's another injury.

"The referee has ended this match at 2 minutes and 46 seconds," the announcer says. "Declaring the winner by technical submission via ankle lock Kiyoshi Ogasawara."

"Him again?" Meguru says, shocked.

"Meguru-kun!" Kiyoshi yells.

Kiyoshi shakes Meguru's hand.

"We both made it through," he says, "and it looks like we're facing off in round two."

Kiyoshi gets serious.

"I don't plan to lose to the same guy twice," he says.

Kiyoshi smiles again and waves goodbye. "See ya!"

Kiyoshi's opponent is carried away on a stretcher.

Meguru panics. "How can he look so calm after breaking someone's ankle?" he says.

"Were his submissions always that strong?" Urasawa asks.

Meguru is getting psyched out.

"I'm gonna get some fresh air," Meguru says.

"Don't take too long," says Furuya. "Round two is starting soon."

Takashi looks on as Meguru steps outside.

It's sunny and nice outside. Meguru is sitting on a bench with his shoes off, drinking water.

In the field, kids are playing hit ball, a simplified version of baseball using only two bases.

"Sure is peaceful," Meguru thinks. "But when I go back in there, it'll be nothing but dudes punching, kicking, and grappling. Talk about surreal."

"That reminds me," he thinks. "Why did I pick up shooto anyway? It's not an extracurricular activity, so winning won't help me find a job or get into college or anything. It has no capitalist productive value. Plus, there are weight divisions, and I'd lose to a heavyweight, so it's not proving I'm the strongest. The chances of making a living as a pro, especially in Japan, are slim. So why?"

Meguru thinks back to the riverbank when he and Takashi got beaten up by older boys. Takashi's goal was to get stronger.

Back then, Meguru told Takashi, "Wouldn't it be better to study hard and get rich so we can make them work for us someday?"

But Takashi said, "So I'm just supposed to cower until I grow up? No thanks. I just want to be able to walk tall. Even if I don't have any parents."

"But he did have parents," Meguru thinks. "But maybe it was the same as if he didn't since he was raised by his grandfather. I wonder what he's gone through since then."

After that fight, it was Meguru's sister, Tamaki, who cleaned them up and treated their wounds, and asked Takashi to stay for dinner. But Takashi politely refused and went home.

Not long after moving to Tokyo, Meguru found Tamaki asleep on the floor beside their mother's shrine. He called her name, but she didn't wake up. Meguru covered her in a blanket as she called for her mother. Tamaki's eyes were wet with tears.

Back outside the gymnasium, a bus arrives.

"I wonder if everyone will be mad If I get on that bus and go home," Meguru thinks. "Now that I think about it, Furuya-san, Ura-san, and Take-san all came out on their days off to support Yudai and me. Then there's Nabe-san, who pinned me non-stop. Maki-chan, who threw me to the mat in all those clinch sessions."

"Hey, Meguru!" Meguru turns around to see Maki. "The second round is about to start. Let's go!"

"Oh. Okay," says Meguru. "Coming."

Inside the gym, Maki gives Meguru some advice, "The reason that straight to the body didn't land is because you looked straight down. You mixed in jabs when you fought me! And you didn't throw a single left mid kick, right?"

"Yeah," answers Meguru.

"Left mid kicks work great on guys who crouch. From an orthodox stance, if you march forward, you've just made a switch. Now your opponent is in the path of your left middle kick. I will kill you if you don't land a single kick I taught you."

"Taught him?" Take says. "She just beat him up."

"Hey, Maki-chan, can the basic one-two left mid combo actually be used in a match?" Meguru asks.

"If your opponent backs up from the one-two, then the left mid will land," she says. "Well, you can use the jabs and kicks to gauge distance. Also--"

"--Maki-chan!" Maria says. "You're just going to overload him with info."

"But I haven't gotten to clinches," Maki says.

Maria puts Maki's hands down as she tries to demonstrate the clinch.

"That's enough," she says. "Sorry, Meguru-kun. She's just trying to encourage you in her own way. But you know, the most crucial thing is the jab. If you can't land jabs, then your straight won't land either. And if your straight doesn't land, neither will a hook--"

"--Hey, Maria," Furuya says. "Leave Meguru alone, too, will ya?"

"Hey, Meguru!" Urasawa calls Meguru over.

"What's up?" Meguru asks.

Urasawa hands him his phone, "It's Tamiya. He wants to congratulate you for making it to round two."

Meguru answers the phone.

"Hey! I'm at Nagoya station," Tamiya says. "I hear you have a rematch with Ogasawara next."

"That's right," Meguru answers.

"Don't play around on the ground with him. Hold on, Nabe wants to talk to you."

Tamiya hands the phone to Watanabe. "Say something to him," he says.

Watanabe takes the phone.

In another part of the gymnasium, Yudai hides in a stairwell, icing his arm. When he tries to get up, his left knee gives out.

"Damn it," he thinks. "Now my leg's hurting from when that karate guy kicked me."

"Sempai!"

Yudai is startled.

"I brought you some ice!" Momoko shouts as she appears in the stairwell.

"Keep your voice down," Yudai says.

Momoko sits next to Yudai and tapes his arm.

"Say, sempai," Momoko says.

"What?"

"I heard from a classmate from middle school that you hit a third year in the judo club? Over your brother--"

--Yudai cuts her off, "My brother had nothing to do with it!"

"Oh," Momoko says. She wants to continue, but--

"Hey, Yudai!" Take comes shouting. "Time to get ready."