Matsuda helps out the judo team by pretending there's "media interest." Yawara is beginning to wonder about Jigoro's "weird" behavior, as he does not seem to be pushing her as hard in training and has been out for mysterious reasons. She sees several students reading Jigoro's autobiography and suspicious scrapes on Fujiko's arms that look like tatami injuries. Jigoro decided the best way to train is through a match, which is arranged between Mitsuba and Tsukushi University's women judo team, the best in the nation. Tsukushi team has multiple members in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dan; its coach mistakenly believes that Mitsuba produced Yawara and is coached by the legendary Jigoro, so the team is preparing hard for the upcoming match. Meanwhile, the novice Mitsuba judo team is making little progress except for Fujiko, who shows some aptitude by throwing Hanazono, her partner. Yawara's curiosity finally gets the better of her and she follows Fujiko to the gym and finds out about the club and its upcoming match.
柔にやる気を取り戻させようと新聞記者の松田は三葉女子短大へ出向く。思うところがあり柔道部のコーチとなった柔の祖父・滋悟郎は、うまく部員たちの心理を突いてやる気を維持させる。何も知らない柔だったが…。
