Support Role is Round 1224 of Morikawa Jouji's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Cover Page
- Characters: Makunouchi Ippo
Summary
As Kimura's match is finished, he and Ippo sees Yagi and Shinoda off. Kimura and Ippo then start to celebrate, with the former saying it was all him, stating his secret to counters aren't just strength, but timing and just sticking your fist out. After Kimura continuously claims he won by himself, and Ippo tries to get his empty wallet back from Takamura, Hayami tells them to shut up. Hayami states he is reflecting and deliberating for his next match in order to win. Aoki then states that he should quit for his own sake, but Hayami refuses, as he wants to be a legend for everyone that is cheering for him. Hayami then asks why Ippo demoted himself as a support role, never to be a protagonist again, in which Ippo replies with a glare. Takamura then claims Hayami is already a legend, remembering the time the latter fired everyone up at the gym during karaoke night. After being overjoyed by Takamura's compliment, Hayami asks if Ippo really isn't returning to the ring, the latter responds that he has no reason to. The group then states Hayami's gym members from Otowa Boxing Gym believe he should retire, but his coach wants to keep him around because he is still popular and selling tickets. The Otowa coach is all about Imai now, as he didn't even show up for Hayami's match.
Takamura, Aoki and Itagaki goes karaoke as Ippo and Kimura head home. Kimura apologizes to Ippo about saying it was all him, stating he won because of Ippo's advice. Kimura then asks if Ippo is ok with being a support role as a second, Ippo replies that he never once thought of a second being a support role, with everything that Kamogawa does.
