Episode 2

"Akari" is the 2nd episode of the anime adaptation of Sangatsu No Lion.

Synopsis
Rei is approached by Nikaidou, holding a letter meant for Rei. Rei tries to excuse himself as Nikaido goes on a tangent of how they are Shogi rivals. Nikaido goes as far as to not let Rei get through the elevator to explain that they are friends, much to Rei's surprise. Rei is unable to say no to Nikaido and ends up letting him into his apartment and Nikaido explains he wants to mentally prepare himself for the next match.

Today is the qualifier for the NHK tournament, there is a chance that if he wins, that he will make it onto the television. At a shrine, Issa Matsumoto prays profusely to win against Kiriyama Rei and to be on TV. His playing style is strictly offense.

During the match where Issa is against Rei, Issa is rather disruptive and told by Smith to quiet down. Issa and Rei are both seemingly neck and neck, while Issa is very expressive, Rei remains mostly silent and nonchalant. Issa loses and Smith informs Rei of how Issa learned to play shogi from his grandfather that is in the hospital. Issa aimed to be on TV so his grandfather could see him playing shogi.

Smith volunteers Rei to treat them for drinks under the logic that a minor shouldn't make off with all that money and the shogi hall will be gloomy if Issa is gloomy. Issa has a crush on one of the women at the bar, Akari, a woman Rei is family friends with. Akari says Rei is lucky to be in good company with upperclassmen that don't force him to drink and mentions there are bad ones that will force you to drink until you black out and abandon you in front of the bar.

In the past, Akari brought Rei home when he was blackout drunk and sheltered him for a night and fed him in the morning. That is how Akari and Rei became family friends and Rei got to meet her sisters.

Issa takes pride in the compliment, as Akari adds it's wrong to sponge off of underclassmen, Issa says he would never do that and offers to treat everyone instead of Rei. Rei finds Akari to be a very different person at home, but finds both sides of her to be beautiful.

Rei finds himself completely out of all supplies and is forced to go shopping. He has to cross a bridge to a separate block of town. When he first moved to this town, he considers it to of felt like a dream, being unable to hear well and the world was devoid of color. When he met Akari and her family, he felt color returned to the other side of the bridge.

Rei runs into Akari and her sisters at the grocery store, they invite him over for dinner that night. Akari's grandfather asks Rei where his parents are buried, revealing it's very far away. Rei finds in their house, there is no reminiscing because wounds are still too fresh. He describes his memory as a haze, where he hasn't cried or truly felt part of his own life in a long time.