Episode 2

## At Wit's End

**At Wit's End** (矢も楯もたまらず, *Ya mo Tate mo Tamarazu*?) is second episode of the Tsurune anime.

## **Plot**

The mysterious man talks to his owl, Who, about having an unexpected guest at night. Minato tries to leave, but the man stops him, noticing a wound on his right hand from tripping, and invites him inside the kyudojo to get it patched up. Inside, while the man is the cleaning and bandaging Minato's wound, Minato asks him how many times he hit. The man says that he is not counting his hits, just the number of arrows fired. He shoots a hundred arrows every day until he reaches ten thousand, which he claims to be on a whim. The man offers to let him shoot, but Minato, remembering his condition earlier in the way, refuses. He quickly runs away.

The next day in class, Minato continues to think about the man. Seiya comes up to him and notices the bandage on his hand, but Minato says it is nothing and leaves. Soon after, Ryouhei arrives but is disappointed to see Minato had already left, as he wanted to do kyudo with him.

After school, Minato bikes to Yata Shrine again and sees Masaki fixing his bow's nocking point, which had broken. Masaki invites him inside the kyudojo. He embarrasses him when he asks for him to get the glove powder box with the "naughty bikini pattern" on it. Masaki calls for Who again, and it lands on Minato's shoulder. Masaki tells him to hold on to the glove powder box and goes to shoot, as Minato watches on, enraptured.

At kyudo club, Tomio introduces the bow to the beginners. He mentions the many Japanese sayings that have kyudo-related terms in them. Kaito is annoyed by the slow pace of the lesson, but Nanao admonishes him, saying that they are all beginners at first. The girls are shocked that Tomio is letting them all touch a bow so soon, but he believes they must experience it for themselves. Afterward, they work on their basic movements. Tomio calls the veterans over and asks if they want to participate in the prefectural tournament preliminaries. The girls are concerned as it was in the middle of the next month, and none of them had ever been in an official match before. Nanao tells them they should do it, saying having cute girls nearby motivates him, but Noa coldly tells him that she is not doing kyudo for him. Tomio asks them if they would like to participate as individuals, as they do not have enough people for group competitions. The girls agree to it, but Seiya objects, wanting the boys to enter the group competition. Even though they have only four veterans out of the required five, he believes that Minato will join. Kaito dismisses it, saying that he would never join and that he would not acknowledge him if he did, but gets angered when Seiya tells him that Minato shoots better than him. Tomio tells them to think it over for a bit longer.

After club activities, Ryouhei and Seiya wait for the bus. Ryouhei wonders aloud about how to get Minato to join, and asks Seiya about *hayake*. Seiya does not know much about it, only that Minato is struggling with it. Ryouhei knows that Seiya wants to shoot with Minato the most, which is why he wants to enter the group competition. Though this is true, Seiya denies it is the case. He mentions wanting to atone for something he did.

At night in the Yata no Mori Kyudojo, Minato thinks about ten months ago, when Minato and Seiya were still at Kirisaki and in the prefectural tournament finals. People remarked on Minato's incredible talent and wondered if he would even outscore Shuu Fujiwara. Just before the last round, Shuu tells Minato that Saionji-sensei is at the competition. Just before he shoots, Minato feels as though he can win the match and make that *tsurune* he heard, but his hand releases before he wants it to, causing him to miss. This shocks him and Seiya, who also missed. Shuu, on the other hand, hits. As Minato's anxiety grew, he kept on missing all his shots, and his team lost the finals.

The man offers Minato an oyaki. As he is writing in his notebook, Minato asks him what he plans on doing after he finishes his ten thousand arrows. The man says he plans on quitting kyudo, shocking him. He asks Minato the same question. Minato explains about his *hayake* and how he cannot hear the *tsurune* when he shoots*.* The man sympathizes and gives his name as Masaki Takigawa. The man tells him that the worse part of *hayake* is not knowing yourself anymore, and not knowing how your own form feels. He knows about it, as he had been through it before. He had it in the summer of his third year in high school, and though he could hit the target, his form was a mess. He tried many things to fix it, but none of them worked. Even now, he still doesn't think of himself as completely recovered, only less bad than before. Minato is disappointed to discover that it cannot be fixed quickly. Masaki tells him that if he wants to fix his *hayake*, then there is nothing for him here, as kyudo is meant to be done in a team. He says that he does not exist in his real life.

Minato returns home late, which Seiya notices. When he goes to greet him, he notices a feather on his jacket and asks if they are keeping pet birds, which he denies. Seiya proposes that they go to the prefectural tournament together, since they need one more member. Minato tells him to give up as he considers himself too unfit of an archer to shoot and that he doesn't see them as a team. When Seiya insists that he does, Minato asks him why didn't he say anything back in middle school and tells him that he does not need his compassion. Angered, Seiya asks if he wants him to say he is the reason they lost the finals, that he has no time for compassion when he gets serious, and that it isn't hard for him to make him cry.

In his room, Minato struggles to rein in his tears and yells, frustrated, into his pillow. Masaki's glove powder box falls out of his pocket. He decides to return it tomorrow. Later, his father returns from work, and Minato makes dinner for him. While praying at his wife's shrine, he tells Minato they will visit his mother's grave next Sunday. As they eat, his father compliments him on his cooking, saying that it tastes like his mother's. They talk about how he is doing at Kazemai. His father laments that his mother couldn't see him do more kyudo.

The next day after school, Minato goes to Yata no Mori Kyudojo to return the glove powder box. To his surprise, the kyudojo is filled with people practicing. He is even more shocked when a woman tells him that Takigawa-san passed away a year ago.

On Sunday, Minato and his father go to the family grave. Minato remembers his mother telling him what *tsurune* is, and her promise to cheer for him at a tournament. As they pray, his father tells him that he wants him to live without any regrets.

At night, Minato goes to the kyudojo and returns the box to Masaki, who tells him to keep it as he does not need it anymore. Masaki tells him that he is just about to shoot his ten thousandth shot. As Minato watches him about to shoot, he recalls his words about not existing in his real life and runs up to him to beg him not to disappear, as he wants to see him shoot more. A confused Masaki asks him what does he think is happening, then laughs hysterically when he learns that Minato thought he was a ghost. It turns out that the woman from before had him mixed up with Taki*zawa*-san, who had died. Masaki tells Minato to draw his final shot for him, as the shot is for ending one thing and starting another. Minato decides to do it after some hesitation. Even though he misses, he feels happy doing something he loves. Minato tells Masaki that he knows he isn't going to quit, and that he won't quit either.

## **Characters in Order of Appearance**

* Minato Narumiya
* Masaki Takigawa
* Seiya Takehaya
* Ryouhei Yamanouchi
* Tomio Morioka
* Kaito Onogi
* Nanao Kisaragi
* Noa Shiragiku
* Yuuna Hanazawa
* Rika Seo
* Shuu Fujiwara (flashback)
* Kazuyoshi Saionji (mentioned)
* Minato's father
* Minato's mother