Kyoji Mentor Arc

The **Kyoji Mentor Arc** is the second story arc in the Akane-Banashi series.

Akane is accepted into the Arakawa School by Shiguma Arakawa who decides to prepare her to become a Zenza rank, so he appoints one of his students to be Akane's mentor.

## Summary

### Meeting the Superiors

After being accepted as an apprentice Shiguma introduces his 4 pupils: Kyoji, Maikeru, Koguma and Guriko, Shiguma tells them that they must train Akane to which Maikeru and Koguma refuse, after a conversation Kyoji offers to train Akane, at first Akane sees Kyoji as someone kind and gentle until he shows his serious and upright attitude which makes Akane think that they won't get along.

Kyoji takes Akane to an event of his and his friend Hakushu, where Kyoji gives Akane various chores to learn what to do when becoming Zensa Akane gets frustrated and thinks it's a waste of time since the rakugo it depends on the skill, Hakushu arrives at the place and introduces himself to Akane and offers her a place in the event that day Akane gets excited and goes to get her kimono.
Akane wants to show Kyoji that she has what it takes and that he is wrong so she goes on stage and makes her performance, during her performance Kyoji analyzes Akane's skills and sees that she has polished the basics of rakugo but sees that she tends to pay a lot of attention to herself herself instead of the audience, at the end of the event Kyoji sees Akane down so he tries to talk to her and tell her that he has to find out what she is doing wrong so Kyoji sends her to a location to which Akane accepts.

### Izakaya Umi

The next day Akane attends the place that is an Izakaya tavern in which she has to work for a week and discover what she lacks, at first Akane is usually very insistent with the clients when seeing this the owner Mamoru Mikuriya talks with her and tells her He says that he should act calmer and observe the clients, realizing that he has not been thinking about the people around him, he becomes depressed, sees his boss and asks him what he should do to improve this to what he tells him he saw a presentation of Shiguma and because of that he was inspired to have a restaurant at the end he tells Akane that the important thing is to treat people well since everyone would like to be treated well, at the end of the conversation Hiiragi calls the boss and tells him that a foreign customer has arrived so they can't serve him, Akane tries to talk to him, observing that he can't understand him, she decides to act on all the options until the order is finished.

After a week Kyoji arrives at the place and talks to Mamoru, Mamoru tells him that he regrets leaving Akane for a week, Kyoji asks for a glass of orange juice to which Akane takes it, Kyoji talks to Akane and tells her that he has a job in Tokyo and that she will go with him and show him what she learned, to which Akane agrees.

### Retirement Home Performance

On the weekend Akane goes to a retirement home with Kyoji in Tokyo, when she arrives at the place Akane looks at him to which Kyoji tells her that she must get used to the fact that not all places will be elegant or luxurious, Akane tells her that she feels grateful to be able to see the audience in a daily environment, after this conversation Akane goes on stage and starts talking to her audience to get to know them better, this catches Kyoji's attention who sees that Akane is observing her audience and analyzing them, after this Akane begins with her performance despite being the same story she had acted before Kyoji notices that something has changed in her, Akane finishes her performance Kyoji congratulates her and tells Akane to watch his performance going up on stage.

On stage Kyoji introduces himself and begins with the story, during his performance Akane watches Kyoji and realizes that his posture is perfect and the words are perfectly executed, noticing the dedication and study he has done to reach that level , while telling the story, Kyoiji remembers that in his first performances he used to try to make people laugh at something that his teacher pointed out to him and advising him to stop doing it because his personality was too serious to achieve it, so he advise him to use that seriousness to his favor thus causing Kyoji to start exaggerating his expressions for greater effect, returning to the present Kyoji mentions that in the same way his teacher helped him and his companions he will help Akane.
Back at Umi, Akane talks about Kyoji's performance to Mamoru and tells him that it was amazing, Kyoji mentions to Akane that because Shiguma treats his students like sons she should treat Kyoji like a brother, being the first Once he mentions her name, Hiiragi mentions to Akane about the midterms to which Akane replies that she didn't remember causing Kyoji to scold her for neglecting her studies.

### The Dreamer

Some days later, Akane attends with her homeroom teacher since she is about to finish high school, Akane tells her teacher that applying to university will not be a problem since she will be a rakugoka because of this Machiko decides to look for universities with rakugo clubs Which annoys Akane and repeating that she will not go to university, Machiko tells her that if she does not enter college at her age she will not be able to get a good job in the future, telling her that rakugo is not a safe career to work, this annoys Akane and tells her to go see a Rakugo performance to which Machiko initially refuses, leaving the class Akane meets Jumbo who tells her that having the authorization of her parents and her teacher to make rakugo She shouldn't be interested in what others say, reminding Akane of the time when Jumbo used to tease her by embarrassing Jumbo, Machiko calls Jumbo to start their interview after asking several things s about his future Machiko asks him if he thought he was hard on Akane to which he replies that maybe a little, Jumbo asks him if he is against Akane's dream to which Machiko replies that she is really worried about her Jumbo tells him He says that knowing her since elementary school he knows that she talks very seriously about her dream and inviting her to go to Akane's performance.

Machiko arrives at the place and sees Jumbo talking to the owner of the place, after observing the place she wonders why they both insisted that she go to that place, she looks at the stage and sees Akane acting differently than in high school.
After observing Akane, Machiko remembers a time when she watched television where she saw one of her former students who had the dream of being a comedian fail, she began to think that if she had helped him when she could, that would never have happened so far. who intends to be tough with her students, back to the present Machiko and Jumbo observe Akane in her perfoming which reminds Jumbo of the times he helped her improve her rakugo and that despite her father's story he decided to continue as a rakugoka, Machiko manages to understand that Akane takes her profession very seriously and decides to support her, back in Machiko's office they talk about Akane's future as a rakugoka to which she says that she is determined to follow her dream, Machiko understands this and shows her a brochure about a rakugo competition called Karaku Cup whose head judge will be Issho Arakawa which impresses Akane.

## Characters Introduced

* Hakushu Kashiwaya
* Mamoru Mikuriya
* Hiiragi
* Tainaka
* Risa
* Yuka
* Machiko Iwashimizu

## Events

* Futatsume Event
* Retirement Home Performance
* Rakugo Cafe Performance

## Rakugo Stories

* Praised Children
* Three Men Lose One Ryo
* Tenshiki

## Story Impact

* Kyoji is appointed as Akane's mentor.
* Hakushu Kashiwaya and the Kashiwaya School are introduced.
* The Izakaya Umi and its workers are introduced.
* Akane learns **Kibataraki**.
* Kyoji's skills are shown.
	+ Kyoji's past is shown.
* Machiko Iwashimizu is introduced.
* Karaku Cup is mentioned and introduced.

## Trivia

* + Alongside Intro Arc, they are the only arc without an official name.