Episode 2

Opps

**"A Handful of Sand"** (一握 の 砂(いちあく の すな), *Ichiaku no Suna*?) is the second episode of the *Tsuki ga Kirei* anime series.

## Episode description

It's the last sports festival of middle school. Kotarō gets put in the relay race. He becomes friends with Chinatsu, one of Akane's friends, who bandages his scraped hand.

## Summary

Akane and a reluctant Kotarō take part in their last sports festival of middle school, as part of the same team. Akane manages to gain a massive lead for them during her 200 metres, which leaves Kotarō impressed. However, the out-of-shape Kotarō ends up tripping during his trial and scrapes his hand, leading Takumi Hira, the track club president and Akane's friend, to win. Chinatsu Nishio, Akane's track club best friend, poorly bandages it for him. Later, while going over the itinerary, Akane drops her plushie into the equipment. Upon realizing she's lost it, Akane's anxiety peaks and she fumbles the baton in the 4 x 100 metres relay, costing her team the victory. Takumi, whom most of the school assumes has a crush on Akane, later tries to console her. Kotarō eventually finds the plushie, having earlier seen her with it, and returns it to her. Grateful, Akane spills all of her insecurities to Kotarō, which he finds he can relate to, and awkwardly tells her that she is fine just the way she is. Inspired by Akane, Kotarō begins showing his work to local bookstore owner Daisuke Tachibana. Upon returning home, Kotarō and Akane begin a private chat on LINE.

## Characters

1. Kotarō Azumi
2. Akane Mizuno
3. Takumi Hira
4. Chinatsu Nishio
5. Aoi Takizawa
6. Roman Yamashina
7. Daichi Ogasawara
8. Aira Miyamoto
9. Setsuko Satō
10. Miu Imazu
11. Shō Nagahara
12. Yasuhito Inaba
13. Tsubasa Kaneko
14. Ryōko Sonoda
15. Ryūnosuke Azumi
16. Junko Azumi
17. Hiroshi Mizuno
18. Saori Mizuno

## Shorts

* Setsuko and Nagahara
* Ryōko-sensei and Roman 1
* Ryōko-sensei and Roman 2
* Aira and Kaneko

## Plot

Kotarō is an inspired to be a short novel author, so he usually stays up late at night typing a short novel, causes him to be tired the next morning every day. One fine day, the school is hosting an annual sports festival, Akane does well in her 200 m sprint, while Daichi wins the tug-of -war event with his fellow teammates.

Meanwhile, Kotarō falls over a race that went badly and scraped his hand, and later he received treatment from Akane's best friend, Chinatsu in the public health room. After the test session, the sports festival committee assembles and prepare the equipment for the next events when Akane unawares that she drops her Potato mascot while taking out the program list in which her doll mixes up with the sandbags. During the scavenger hunt, the technical problem happens when there are no slips in the box, a problem solved by Kotarō.

Meanwhile, Akane was searching for her missing potato mascot after she discovered it was missing. Later, Akane accidentally drops her baton in the relay event, and her relay team finished last. After the sports meet, Takumi talks with Akane and gives her some encouragement after seeing her disappointed. Akane prepares to head home when Kotarō found her potato mascot and returns to her. That evening, Akane chats with Kotarō while thanks to him for the event that day. The next day, Kotarō receives pieces of advice from Daisuke and corrects his mistakes in his short novel writing about his encounter with Akane.

## Ending LINE Chat

**Wife**

Wife: Thanks for today

Me: It’s all right

Me: I was freaking nervous before though

Wife: Dad got so drunk

Me: Yeah

Wife: You had to drink a lot too

Wife: Thank you

Me: It was nothing

Me: And well

Me: I’m used to dealing with drunks

Wife: Lol

Wife: He seemed happy

Me: Phew

Me: When it was just us drinking

Me: Your dad, he

Wife: Yes

Me: He cried a bit

Wife: Really??

Me: “My beautiful daughter” he said

Wife: \*Crying sticker\*

Me: “I promise to bring her happiness!”

Wife: You said that!?

Me: …In my heart

Wife: Hahaha

Wife: I’ll be counting on you

Me: Me too

## Trivia

* **"A Handful of Sand"** (一握 の 砂(いちあく の すな), *Ichiaku no Suna*?) is the the poet Takuboku Ishikawa first songbook.