Rev Your Engine is Round 1216 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Title Page Character(s): Manabu Itagaki, Masaru Aoki
Summary[]
Aoki and Itagaki believe that since they are still active, it will probably be tough for Ippo to keep up with them. So they decide to leave Kimura to Ippo, so they can step on the gas. Except, they find out that Ippo is already in front of them again asking about how Kamogawa is doing. Aoki mentions to Ippo that Kamogawa went to Nekota's place to get some rest, and they don't know when he will be back. After hearing that, Ippo runs back to Kimura, who is a quite a distance behind them. Ippo asks Kimura who is next opponent is, but Kimura still doesn't want to talk because of the dry mouth from weight control. Ippo remembered that, and apologies and heads back to Aoki and Itagaki. Itagaki and Aoki started sprinting only to find that Ippo's already caught up with them again. Ippo ask them who Kimura is fighting, and what rank he is. Itagaki mentions that the opponent isn't ranked in Japan. Apparently that the opponent decided that of all the fighters, Kimura's rank looked ripe for the taking so they asked for a match. After hearing that, Ippo runs back to Kimura again in order to cheer him on. Then Ippo realises something else and runs back to Aoki and Itagaki. Ippo wonders if he can look at some of Kimura's opponent matches. Aoki mentions that there is a video of him back at the gym. Ippo starts to runs back to Kimura mentioning that he will stop by the gym later to grab it since he needs to research the opponent too. Ippo then thinks of something else and runs back to Aoki and Itagaki to ask it. Aoki wants Ippo to just say everything he needs to say all at once, instead of always returning every few minutes with more questions. Aoki wonders how many back and forth trips Ippo has made, and notices Ippo is still wearing those weights from before. Itagaki believes that Ippo must have been doing even more roadwork since has a lot of free time. Kimura doesn't like Ippo hovering over him since it is annoying, but he realise it isn't too bad with Ippo cheering him on. At the Kamogawa gym, Ippo is there with the lights off. Its been a long time since Ippo was last at the gym, as a few months have past since he retired, but it still feels nostalgic to him. Ippo starts remembering the first spar he did, where he got knocked down by Miyata, and his recent most recent spar with Sendō, when he was knocked out. Yagi enters with the video of Kimura's next opponent. He notices Ippo shadow boxing in the ring. Yagi comments that Ippo shadow boxing still gives him chills. Ippo apologies for using the ring without permission, but Yagi tells it is fine since he's not an outsider. Ippo borrows the video and leaves to get to busy researching the opponent. Yagi realised that Ippo is going at it with same intensity as had when he was still active. He couldn't help get his hopes up. Even with those fists of his and those moves, for Ippo "work" won't ever be in the pro boxing ring again. At home, Ippo is watching the opponent's tape, but he notices all the matches on it ended in a quick losses. The video given to Kamogawa gym by the opponent's side was chosen intentional so Kimura wouldn't be able to research their fighter in order to get them to let down their guard. However, Ippo won't fall it, and plans on watching the video until he exposes the opponent's weakness. After a while, Ippo notices something up with his left hook, where it is probably his specialty. Ippo start to think how he would get past it, when he noticed it's not him that will fight him, but Kimura. Ippo finally realised why he has killed time by going out for roadwork with everyone, not show his face at the Kamogawa gym, and not going to Kōrakuen Hall since it would have made him want to start boxing again. He is jealous of everyone who can still box since he misses boxing more than anything. Ippo wonders if he really overcome his lingering attachment to boxing.