Manji Sugawara

**Manji Sugawara** (菅原 万次, *Sugawara Manji*?) is a second-year student at Kirisaki High School and a member of the kyudo club. He is the younger twin brother of Senichi Sugawara.

## Appearance

As Senichi's identical twin, he looks exactly like him except that his bangs are parted to the right.

## History

During middle school, he witnessed the finals of the middle school prefectural tournament in which Minato Narumiya, Seiya Takehaya and Shuu Fujiwara took part. He and his brother transferred to Kirisaki High School from another high school shortly before the story started. They then joined its kyudo club.

## Story

### Kirisaki High School Prefectural Tournament Selections

During kyudo practice at Kirisaki High School, Manji and Senichi are goofing around by shooting their arrows at each other's targets, claiming that it was an accident. Their behavior gets the attention of a senior, who yells at them and warns them that if they do it again they will not be allowed to stand in front of the targets. The twins apologize and exit the dojo while giggling about how the senior's angry face looks like a red hippo.

On the day of the selections, after the club advisor tells everyone the format, Senichi asks Shuu Fujiwara advice for making his arrows hit the center more. Manji, listening, says that Shuu will definitely hit all of them.

For the first round of the selections, Manji shoots right after his brother, imitating his fast movements. He, along with Senichi and Shuu, are the only first-years to hit with all their arrows.

During break time, the twins eat with Shuu in the school courtyard. As they are about to eat dessert, two of their seniors approach them. One of them is Kabashima, who had yelled at them the other day. He scolds them about not having the tact to be considerate about the third-years for who the Prefecturals will be their last official high school tournament. The twins ignore the exchange between them and Shuu, causing Kabashima to get angry at them and he grabs Manji's shoulder, causing his strawberry to fall to the ground. Manji demands that he apologizes to him, calling him a red hippo. Kabashima tells Shuu not to give advice to them, but Shuu coldly tells them that telling someone to throw a game lowers the dignity of the school and kyudo. The two seniors leave.

When the second half of the selections begin, Shuu and the twins shoot early due to being first-years. Manji shoots after Shuu and Senichi. He ends up with eight hits and is one of the members chosen to be part of the starting team for the Prefecturals.

After the selections, the club president Hiroki Motomura and vice-president Daigo Sase invite the chosen members to dinner at a restaurant purveyed by generations of kyudo club members, but Kabashima and the other second-year chosen, Yushima, decline to come. While eating, Daigo cautions the twins about shooting too quickly, as it will make the people who shoot after them angry. Senichi says that they won't hit if they shoot slowly, and Manji says he only copies what Senichi does. One of them retorts that Sase shouldn't talk as he only shoots in competitions. Hiroki tells the twins that the other members will resent them for being chosen for a competition, as they are first-years, but that he will support them and that they will all work hard together. Moved, the twins say they will.

After Shuu tells Hiroki the reason for why he keeps improving his skills is because there is someone who wants to shoot through his heart, the twins whistle and ask him if it's a greatest hate springing from the greatest love type of situation. Shuu does not quite answer the question.

### Prefectural Tournament Qualifiers

The Prefecturals begin in the middle of May. Manji arrives at the venue with the rest of Kirisaki High School. He and Senichi see the Kazemai team and go towards them, overhearing Ryouhei Yamanouchi and Nanao Kisaragi talking about them. They introduce themselves and proceed to insult Ryouhei and Nanao, calling them dumb and airheaded respectively. Kaito Onogi angrily tells them off.

The twins shift their target to Minato Narumiya and recognize him and Seiya Takehaya as Shuu's teammates in the middle school Prefectural Tournament finals. Senichi looks at the two of them alternately and Manji copies him. Manji remembers aloud that Minato was the *oomae*, that the girls were screaming about how cool he was, and that he got *hayake.* He wonders aloud whether he and his brother should worry about getting *hayake* since their *kai* is short. Senichi reminds him that having a short *kai* and *hayake* are two different things. They both laugh strangely. Just then, Shuu appears and admonishes the two of them for being too talkative on certain matters. He has a private conversation with Minato and when Hiroki and Daigo call them over, Shuu calls the twins and they leave.

The team competitions are held on the second day. Manji is the third archer of the Kirisaki team, and he and Senichi quickly shoot one after the other, bewildering others with his unexpected quickness. Manji ends the qualifiers with six hits, the Kirisaki team taking first place.

## Shooting Technique and Ability

Manji and his brother grew up on a farm and learned a very quick style of shooting, *Shoumen uchiokoshi* in *bushakei*. It's considered very impressive for their good accuracy. The two are arrogant in their abilities. However, Minato warns them that shooting so fast may result in them developing target panic, which is exactly what happens to him in the prefectural tournament. He was taken off the line for a while and has since overcome his target panic and become more humble.

## Relationships

### Senichi Sugawara

Manji's older twin brother. The two are very close, and Manji always follows his brother's lead and copies what he does.

### Shuu Fujiwara

Senichi and Manji look up to Shu as a role model. After watching him compete at a tournament, they decided to follow him to Kirisaki to steal his secrets. However, after spending more time around him their aggression blossomed into admiration. They eat lunch with him everyday, and want to get closer with him. Though Senichi is more obsessed with Shu than Manji, who thinks they should focus on building their own skills.

## References

1. ↑ Tsurune Volume 1, Chapter 3
2. ↑ Tsurune Volume 1, Chapter 4