Episode title

Nekketsu baton touch! Goal ha seikakunine!?

• Summary by Hitoshi Doi, 1992.03.08

Tatsuya went to Minamikaze. Tatsuya noticed that he was the only customer again. Minami's father asked Tatsuya if he didn't have to be at the undoukai practice. Tatsuya answered that he hadn't heard anything about it.
[undoukai = athletic festival]

At school, Minami's classmates were asking if Tatsuya was really going to come run in the relay race the next day. They were worried because Tatsuya hadn't come to any practices. Minami said that Tatsuya would come. When they asked if he was really that fast, Minami said that Tatsuya was faster than Kazuya up until second grade. Then the other girls turned to watch Kazuya, who had started running. Kazuya sprinted the 100 meters in 11.5 seconds, blowing by everyone else. After seeing Kazuya run, the girls asked Minami again if it was all right to have Tatsuya run against him. Minami answered that it was.

That night Tatsuya was at home watching an idol singer on TV. When Kazuya got home, he turned off the TV and got angry at Tatsuya. "You better run seriously in the race tomorrow. You have to think about Minami who nominated you."
Tatsuya snapped back, "That's got nothing to do with me! Minami was half joking when she nominated me anyways."
"What are you saying! She's counting on you! I won't forgive you if you let her down!"
"You always get upset when it's about Minami," Tatsuya replied. "Then why don't you fall down for me. That's the only way I can beat you anyways."
"That's not what counts. If you try hard, that's enough!"
Then Tatsuya agreed to run seriously, if he felt like it.

The next day, the Uesugi and Asakura family went to the undoukai. They were all enjoying the day. The last event was the mixed relay race. Minami couldn't find Tatsuya and went around the school looking for him. Tatsuya was sleeping on some gym equipment by himself. Minami scolded him and they went to get ready for the relay race. Minami and Tatsuya's class was in second place overall and they had a chance to win the championship if they won the final relay race. But since Tatsuya was running, they didn't really expect to win.

The race started. Kazuya woke up Tatsuya and told him to get ready to run. They were both the anchor. When Tatsuya asked what place his team was in, Kazuya said 4th. Kazuya's team was in 1st. Tatsuya was relieved that he wouldn't be in a position to be passed by his brother.

When Minami took the baton, everyone cheered for her. Tatsuya saw Minami running and a flashback from the past came to him. When they were kids, Tatsuya, Kazuya, and some other kids were running. Tatsuya was leading and Kazuya was in second. Then Minami started cheering for Kazuya. Kazuya started to pass Tatsuya and eventually won.

Meanwhile, Minami had passed two runners and Tatsuya's team was now in 2nd place. Then Kazuya got the baton and started running. But Minami was right behind and handed her baton to Tatsuya. Then her teammates went up to Minami and congratulated her for moving their team up to second place. They expected Tatsuya to quickly fall to last place, but they were surprised. Tatsuya was keeping up with Kazuya. Minami smiled when she saw Tatsuya running all out. Minami's friends thought that Kazuya wasn't running hard so that Tatsuya could keep up with him. But Minami pointed out that Kazuya and Tatsuya were putting a lot of distance between them and the other runners.

While they were running Tatsuya called out to his brother, "Hey! Let your older brother look good!"
"No way!"
"It'll be better that way for Minami! Kazuya!"
"Shut up! With Minami cheering for you, I can't let you pass me!"
"It's not my fault, we're in the same class.." Tatsuya still wanted an easy way to win. "Fall down, Kazuya. You're a good boy."
"No way! Our class championship is on the line."
"Which is more important, your class or Minami?"
Kazuya turned his head and shouted, "This has to be done fair!"

Then Tatsuya got mad at his stubborn brother and ran with all of his energy to catch Kazuya. Just when they got to the finish line, Tatsuya passed Kazuya! Everyone was shocked, even Minami. Then Tatsuya stopped and raised his arms in victory. But everyone else kept running and passed him by. Then Tatsuya's teammates started shouting at him. Tatsuya didn't know that the anchor had to run an extra half lap.

That night Minami was yelling at Tatsuya. Tatsuya was aching because he had done so much running that he was not used to. "Shut up. I didn't know about it!"
Minami was still mad. "It's your fault for not coming to practice! If you had kept running, we would have passed Kacchan's class and won the class championship!"
"Stupid! There's no way that I could have kept running another half lap at that pace. You want to kill me?"
Since Tatsuya was still aching, Minami went to him and started to give him a massage. Tatsuya kept complaining that Minami was massaging him to roughly.

Later Minami, Tatsuya, and Kazuya went to Minamikaze. Minami started to cook some food for Tatsuya and Kazuya. While they were sitting, Kazuya told Tatsuya that it was a shock. He had not expected to be passed. Then Tatsuya said that he can do anything if he put his mind to it.

Minami made spaghetti for Kazuya and Tatsuya. "This is Kacchan's for winning, and this is Tacchan's for trying very hard," Minami said.
Then Kazuya said, "She says that, but she really made this for you."
"What do you mean?" Tatsuya asked.
Kazuya replied, "Even if it was just for half the distance, she was really happy that you really tried hard."
"No, you're just thinking too much," Tatsuya said. When Tatsuya ate the spaghetti, he quickly reached for the water. Minami had put some hot sauce in it.
"That's for not running seriously," Minami said.

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