The Greatest Japanese Hero

Disclaimer:

Danganronpa is owned by Spike Chunsoft and Lerche
The Greatest American Hero is owned by Stephen J. Cannell

First off, many thanks to those who reviewed this fic, I really appreciated it and this gave me inspiration to work on the next chapter as the Sayaka Maizono arc concludes, and here Naegi and Kirigiri are working together to figure out who took the Idol and where she is kept, and both make a harrowing discovery on the culprit's identity while Naegi finally goes in to action using the "red suit"…provided that he survived the ordeal at the end of last chapter...

As Naegi is nearing the exit, several equipment and support beams began falling on the "Luckster" and he screamed at the sudden turn of events, dropping his cellphone, and the teen is soon buried under huge pile of beams and equipment which would normally kill or maim and victim, and at the Kirigiri house, Kirigiri tries to call out Naegi via the cellphone while Fujisaki watched in horror seeing Kirigiri's worried look.

At the hideout, a still tied-up Maizono felt a "shock", and then saw the picture of Naegi slowly falling off the wall with the knife dropping and hit the picture, squarely on Naegi's facial portrait and Maizono stared wide-eyed in horror as she getting a "premonition" on Naegi's fate, and tears fell from her eyes fearing for his safety and is mentally wishing for someone to save him while praying for Naegi's safety.

"Naegi...please stay safe...I...I don't know what would I do if anything were to happen to you..."

-x-

Soon several employees came and began getting the beams out, and there Taren Tomaneja, Maizono's manager, began to pull Naegi out of the wreckage and helps him up, and there Naegi thanked him while he began checking his backpack, where he discovered that it was opened and soon learns that the tape he got from the security room was gone and looked around and went to the area where he was pinned down, seeing that the tape is nowhere to be found.

"Damn! Kirigiri was right...the culprit was here and took the tape that I would use as evidence...!"

Seeing the cellphone on the ground, Naegi picks it up and talked to Kirigiri and told her of what happened, and though relieved, Kirigiri is concerned that someone has taken the tape and now she and Naegi will have to come up with another way to discover the culprit's identity, seeing that the culprit may have seen Naegi and followed him, which led to this outcome in an effort to cover his secrets from being leaked.

"We got to do something and crack this case...otherwise we won't be able to find and save Maizono-san...and Naegi-kun will be pinned as the culprit...!"

Believe It Or Not by Joey Scarbury
(Opening Song from The Greatest American Hero)

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself;
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
Should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walkin' on air,
I never thought I could feel so free;
Flyin' away on a wing and a pray'r,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.

Just like the light of new day,
It hit me from out of the blue;
Breakin' me out of the spell I was in,
Makin' all of my wishes come true.

Believe it or not,
I'm walkin' on air,
I never thought I could feel so free;
Flyin' away on a wing and a pray'r,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.

Ch. 13: Gūzō o Sukuu

Several minutes later, a janitor alerted the guards that the technician was found dead and Naegi is surprised that the technician is killed by someone and he suspected that the culprit is behind this prior to his attempt to murder Naegi. By then Naegi went to the crime scene where the technician is found dead with a broken neck, suggesting that the culprit is physically strong enough to twist the victim's neck, and there the police chief, Tenshi Roha, came and saw Naegi, and then he immediately pinpointed him as the culprit because the teen is said to be the last person to be with the victim before being murdered, and Naegi explained his side which did little to change Roha's view.

"You! I knew you were the culprit!"

"Me?!"

"You kidnapped the idol, and now you killed an employee! Now I have a reason not to let you go!"

"It wasn't me!"

"Don't deny it!"

"I happened to be here because..."

"Enough with your lame alibis"

"I'm not!"

By then Roha grabbed the boy by his collar and declared that the is the prime suspect which Naegi rebutted and some of the witnesses said that Naegi can't be the culprit seeing his "ordinary built" resembling a boy and that he is not strong enough to kill an adult, yet Roha insisted that Naegi is the culprit until a security guard said that it is not right to blame someone and suggested that an investigation be carried out, and Roha reluctantly let Naegi off the hook, and there he notices that Tomaneja is talking to someone before leaving, and the Luckster decided to head for Kirigiri's house to tell her about what happened.

-x-

Several minutes later, Naegi arrived at Kirigiri's house and told Kirigiri and Fujisaki about what happened, and the Detective is wondering how this happened, feeling that the incidents appeared to have been prepared, and told Naegi to lie low for now as she decided to head for the studio to see if she could do something and search for clues, and told Fujisaki to continue searching via the internet while she prepares to leave, in which Naegi apologized for losing the tape, yet she assured that it is fine.

"Kirigiri-san..."

"What is it, Naegi-kun?"

"Sorry...I lost the tape and..."

"It's fine."

"But..."

"No need to brood over that...but be careful..."

"Okay..."

"Good..."

After that, Naegi went home as Fujisaki also took her leave to assess the situation, while Kirigiri made some tea and drank it before leaving, as she decided to head for the studio and see if she could find anything that would shed light in the case.

-x-

Later, Naegi is walking the streets as he is wondering where Maizono could be taken and is unaware that the culprit is following him and is keeping himself hidden so he won't be spotted, and as Naegi is walking the streets on one side, he did not notice that a parked van was moving on its own and since it was a downhiil slope, the van started to gain speed and is heading towards Naegi, and by then the Luckster slowly noticed it and turned around, and there he saw the van coming his way yet there was no time for him to evade it and he was struck by the van and moments later the van crashed to another parked van, seemingly crushing Naegi between the two vans, which alerted some pedestrians and they began heading there and attempt to get the two vans apart by pushing it.

"Quick!"

"Pull the vans apart!"

"The kid's got sandwiched!"

"The poor kid!"

"Find the driver! He's got to be responsible for this accident!"

"Somebody call an ambulance!"

"Get me a a tow truck!"

"Somebody call a funeral car!"

The culprit remained hidden though a smirk is shown seeing that he has seemed to have killed Naegi and took his leave from the scene and did not bother to look back, and he has failed in noticing that Naegi survived the crash, and he is relatively unharmed as it would soon turn out that he was wearing the "red suit" underneath his casual clothes. Naegi assured to the pedestrians that he is fine though he wondered who is behind this as he is told that the van moved on its own and discovered that the brakes of the van has been compromised.

-x-

Back at the hideout, the culprit returned and began approaching a sobbing Maizono, telling her that Naegi is now dead, and removed her gag and taunts her into telling her that no one will bother her and that she will give him her affections which Maizono lashes out at the culprit yet he simply taunted her back, stressing her to the point of losing her will.

"Sayaka, my love...I am the only one for you..."

"YOU DAMN MURDERER!"

"What...?"

"WHY DID YOU KILL NAEGI-KUN?!"

"Eat...you are hungry...please, my love...that brat is no more...so you can live blissfully under my loving care..."

"I HATE YOU! THE ONLY PERSON I TRULY CARE IS NAEGI-KUN!"

"Please...forget him...now eat..."

"GO TO HELL!"

The culprit then offered her food though she refused to eat, the culprit "pleaded" to her to reconsider, lest he would do the same to those she cared, like anyone related to Naegi, and still shocked at the '"apparent death" of her close friend, Maizono slowly gives in and allows the culprit to feed her while praying that Naegi be alright and someone would save her, and the culprit feeds her with food while pleased that he has "gotten through her" yet he is unaware that Naegi is still alive.

-x-

At the studio, Kirigiri was given access to the crime scene and asks another technician to assist her in assessing the area, and while checking the scene, she made some discovery which led to the first attempt to Naegi's life, in which the beams were loosen from its screw holdings and fell down which supposedly pinned Naegi, while at the same time the technician who was last seen with Naegi who was killed inside the security room having been found. There she was told that prior to the body being found, electricity suddenly went off inside the security room and there minutes later someone came and found the technician dead with a broken neck. Kirigiri then talked to the other technician about something.

"Excuse me..."

"Yes?"

"You said that the electricity went out?"

"That's right."

"The entire building or...?"

"Well...there's still electricity at the other security room before the body was found..."

"Does that room's CCTV still working?"

"I think so..."

Kirigiri then asks him if there is a CCTV near the security room that might took footage of the events outside the security room and said that there may be a chance that it took footage of what happened before the body is found, and the technician nodded and led her to another security room and through the monitors he played the footage where moments before the incident a technician led Naegi inside and minutes later Naegi left, and then Kirigiri blinked her eyes as she saw Maizono's manager, Taren Tomaneja, went to the same security room and minutes later left, and seeing the timer displayed on the footage, the "Detective" sensed that something is amiss, as she recalled that Naegi left the security room and then he was pinned down by the falling debris and Taren went to the site and "helped" Naegi, and there she vaguely saw his hand went to Naegi's backpack and apparently took something before more people went there and covered the camera's angle.

"That's Maizono's manager...what was he doing there...? And why did he left off in a hurry...?"

Kirigiri then suspected something as she recalled Taren visiting Hope's Peak Academy and was close to Naegi before leaving and then recalled that during that same day Naegi discovered that his school ID wet missing and found at a crime scene during Maizono's abduction and she is now suspecting Taren yet she needed more proof before making her move and decided to speak with the studio's executives and head to the office and there she spoke to the management and asks for Taren's records, including his resume, in which the studio's owner obliges yet is baffled on why she is asking for it.

"Here...these are Taren's records..."

"Thank you for your cooperation..."

"Sure..."

"Hmm..."

"Is there anything about Taren...?"

"Just...checking on something...it's nothing serious..."

"I see..."

"That's all..."

Kirigiri opted not to cause rumors to spread and stated that she is doing some "checking" in which she claimed that it is just part of a job and asks permission to produce a xerox copy, and after getting approval, she made xerox copies of Taren's records, including his resume, and then took her leave, and there she called Fujisaki on her cellphone, telling her to meet her in her house and said that her computer skills are "gravely needed".

-x-

Later, the time now is 17:30, and the scene shifts to the hideout where the masked person arrived and gives Maizono some food, and after Maizono was fed, he asks her again if she now has feelings for him, but Maizono rebuked him saying that she has no feelings with a "psychopath" who killed her friend, and there he went on another violent fit, thrashing the table and chairs, suspecting her to be thinking of Naegi again and there he told her that Naegi is already dead, and that he is nothing but a "boring, plain nobody brat who don't deserve her attention".

"NAEGI...ALL YOU THINK OF IS NAEGI! WHAY ARE YOU MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF THAT BRAT!"

"BECAUSE NAEGI-KUN IS MY FRIEND! AND MAYBE MORE THAN A FRIEND!"

"YOU RATHER CHOOSE THAT LOSER OVER ME?!"

"YES!"

"FORGET HIM! FORGET THAT NAEGI BRAT! CAN'T YOU SEE HE'S A BAD INFLUENCE TO YOU?! FORGET HIM AND FOCUIS ON ME! LOVE ME...CARE FOR ME! I WILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WISH!"

"I DON'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU!"

"RRRRAAAGGGHHH"

"EEEEKKKK!"

Maizono started to get scared but she chose not to give in and said that Naegi won't die so easily and that even if he is her friend, she will not replace him with someone else, and the masked person is seething, suspecting her to have "deeper feelings" for Naegi and told her that Naegi is dead and he has nor right to be her boyfriend, yet Maizono lashed back at him, telling him that Naegi is "special" to her even if he's only a plain boy, and the masked person went to another fit, this time smashing the chair against the wall, and then puts the blindfold and gagged her before leaving to another area of the hiding place.

Maizono was starting to sob, feeling that she is already at her limit and is praying for Naegi's safety, refusing to believe that the masked person killed her friend.

-x-

An hour later, the time now is 18:30, and it was night time and Naegi had just arrived and went straight to his room and took off his clothes and the "red suit" as he felt hot and sweating, as he was wearing the clothes all day, ad he decided to take a bath and went to the bathroom to shower, and later went to his room to dress up and had dinner with his family, and several minutes later, he was inside his room and out of curiosity, he puts on the "red suit" and glances at the mirror, still wondering why the suit was given to him and what is the meaning behind it, and there he saw is school ID on his bed and took it while glancing at it.

"My ID...that's how it all started..."

As Naegi wondered how he lost his ID and ended up at the crime scene where Maizono was abducted, he mentally look back at the events and accidentally recalled that Maizono's manager was close to him before leaving, and then recalled Taren pulling him out of the debris earlier in the day, and then recalled that at that moment he lost the security tape from the studio, and he wondered if there is a connection and seeing that he couldn't just suspect Taren without proof, he is undecided on whether to tell Kirigiri of his theory until he felt his eyes, "acting up".

"What the...? It's happening again...!"

To his surprise, Naegi was staring at the mirror, and saw what appeared to be a holographic image of a place, which revealed to be an abandoned theatre, which is located in East Tokyo, and the holographic image revealed where Maizono is being held and saw the masked person removing his mask before putting back on, in which Naegi is shocked and because of the sudden emotions he felt, he loses the holographic image and tries to use will power to "see" it again, but to no avail.

Naegi at first panicked but soon calms down as he made a harrowing discovery and decided to send an emergency text message to Kirigiri and did so, and then walked back and forth to decide on how to get there and reluctantly came with a way to get to the theatre, which he became nervous at the thought of what to do: fly using the red suit. He did not like it but he saw no other way beyond this and with time as of essence, he realized that he couldn't wait for Kirigiri's response so he opened the window, took a few steps backward, then ran and jumped through the window and he fell downward before he flew upward and flew to the air in a haphazard way using his arms to "steer" himself.

"WWWHHHOOOAAAA! KKKKYYYAAAHHH! AAAAIIIEEE!"

Naegi was still inexperienced in using the red suit and is flying in a curved path going up and down and left and right, using sheer will power to keep himself afloat while trying to find the theatre despite the the darkness in the sky and had to rely on the lights below provided by the buildings' lights, and he is forced to look down to find the abandoned building while trying to overcome his aerial fright being that he is high from the ground, but in the midst of this he is again having difficulty in maintaining his flight, and realized that he is about to make another crash landing.

"WWWAAAHH! NOT AGAIN!"

His "bad luck" hit him as Naegi went downward and falls head-first at a nearby establishment, which turns out to be the abandoned theatre, and crashes through the ceiling and bore a hole that sends him inside the one-story building, landing head-first on a huge packaging box, and after a few seconds, he got up and took the box off his head where he finds himself right in the presence of the masked person, and the masked person is surprised to see Naegi, and stared incredulously in seeing him wearing the red suit, thinking he is "crazy".

"You...Makoto Naegi..."

"Yeah...me..."

"I can't believe it...coming here in that pajama-like getup..."

"So...? What about you..."

"Huh?"

"Taren Tomaneja."

"What the...? How did you know my name...?"

"You can't fool me!"

The masked person was surprised as Naegi called him by this true identity, and there he began to pull out a knife and attempts to stab him but Naegi crosses his arms in self defense and the knife struck the teens' arm, but was dented, and as the villain attempted another stab, the knife was fully dented to the point that is was useless, and there Naegi grabbed the masked person by his collar and shoved him, and to his surprise the teen realized that the suit gave him a degree of super strength as the masked person was thrown against the wall and Naegi pulled the mask off, revealing the assailant to be Taren Tomaneja!

"I can't believe this...how did you know who I am?"

"I have my ways..."

"You won't take my precious Sayaka...I won't give her to the likes of you!"

"You're one sick person!"

"I'll kill you...then give Sayaka her happiness!"

"You really are crazy!"

"What was that?"

"You heard me!"

Maizono overheard the voices and recognized Naegi, and tries to break free but is unable to and is forced to wait, while shocked to hear that her own manager was the one who kidnapped her and is worried that he would kill Naegi. Meanwhile, Taren grabbed a metal pipe and attempts to hit Naegi on the head but Naegi blocks it with his arm and the pipe was dented broke in two, and this caused Taren to undergo a psychotic fit of rage, refusing to accept that he couldn't "touch" Naegi and brought out a stun gun and attempts to electrocute the teen but Naegi ducks out of the way and he tumbled towards a bathtub full of water and he fell there and was electrocuted to death.

Naegi looked around and saw an abandoned closet where a trench coat is stored and he took it and wear it to cover the "red suit" he was wearing and proceeded to untie Maizono, and there she cried in his arms non-stop, overjoyed to see him safe and unharmed, while relieved that her ordeal was over, in which Naegi hugged her in return while soothing her to calm her down.

"Naegi!"

"It's okay..."

"Naegi!"

"It's over...you're safe..."

"NAEGI-NAEGI-NAEGI-NAEGI-NAEGI-NAEGI!"

"Shh...it's okay..."

"..."

"You're safe now..."

By then, Kirigiri arrived followed by several SWAT members and there Kirigiri saw him calming a crying Maizono, noticing that Naegi is wearing the "red suit" underneath the tench coat he is wearing and took a deep breath, seeing that he solved the case ahead of her yet she is fine with it as this would lessen the risks of Naegi getting exposed on wearing the suit, while at the same time she approached the two classmates and revealed that she did a research on Taren and discovered that he was once a patient at a mental hospital and changed his name to keep his past a secret, but his schizophrenia took most of his mind and developed an obsessed adoration towards Maizono and would take out anyone whom he sees as a "threat" to Maizono, and went on to become Maizono's manager by secretly killing her previous manager which eventually led to Taren getting a job and become her manager.

As the three teens are about to leave, Police Chief Tenshi Roha came and is eyeing Naegi as he is sure that he is the culprit seeing that he is at the crime scene but Kirigiri rebutted it by showing him the evidence that Taren is the killer at the studio and the one who made two attempts on Naegi's life, in which the latter was seen by eyewitnesses as the one who caused the van to ram Naegi, but the teen survived. Roha was humiliated and is forced to relent as Naegi escorted Maizono to a waiting ambulance and soon it left while Kirigiri and Naegi are alone, where she thanked him for leaving the text message though she told him he could've wait, which Naegi apologized.

"Thanks to your text message I was able to bring help..."

"Yeah..."

"But you could have waited a bit more..."

"Sorry...but..well..."

"I understand...thankfully you managed to put that red suit to good use..."

"Still...I had difficulty in controlling it...I have to go..."

"Here...take these...it's better taking the taxi than flying around..."

"Thanks..."

Kirigiri hailed a taxi and gave him some money so he can get home, telling him he can't risk making "another flight" and he agreed, and he boarded the taxi and went home, as Kirigiri talked with the police as Taren's corpse was taken away before she took her leave and head home.

-x-

In the following days, Tokyo was filled with news that Maizono was found and that the culprit has been exposed, and there fans of the idol band were relieved, and rejoiced, that Maizono is safe and yet some are astonished that Naegi saved her and a media buzz went on and several reporters within the media are asking her about Naegi whether there is some "score" between them which Maizono tried to rebut despite the obvious blush on her cheeks, while at home, Komaru is teasing her elder brother that he "earned points" in which would give him an edge over other possible suitors, in which Naegi blushed as his younger sister began teasing him.

"Wow, onii-chan..you're the talk of the town..."

"Not really..."

"I'm betting the other boys are getting jealous of you..."

"Knock it off, Komaru...they aren't that..."

"I think this would earn you points..."

"On what?"

"To win Miazono-san's heart...tell her you like her and she is going to..."

"Komaru!"

-x-

At her home, Kirigiri sighed after watching the news seeing that the media are "sensationalizing" over the Maizono incident and decided to turn off the TV and checked her laptop where she discovered that her friend, Yui Sumidare sent an e-mail with an attachment to her and when she downloaded the attachment, she is surprised at what she discovered, and when she attempted to call Yui, she got only one reply:

"The number you dialed is out of reach..."

Kirigiri then attempted to call her by telephone and got a response:

"The number you dialed is not in service..."

Kirigiri glanced back at her laptop and wondered how and why Yui obtained this information and yet she is filled with worry as she realized who Yui is up against, and decided to tell her grandfather, Fuhito, about what she received just now.

To Be Continued...

Hope you liked this chapter, as this was filled with most detective themes with suspense and drama, yet in the end Naegi dons the "red suit" and did sort of a superhero-thing with some hilarious moments but in the end he saved his love interest while the villain of this arc is finally exposed, and killed by his own hand.

However, the end of this chapter formed a bridge as we move onto the next arc, which involves Kirigiri and Yui, which is about the previous chapters where corrupt politicians are plotting something politically evil.

Preview:

The next chapter commences the next story arc, where it focuses on Yui Sumidare before shifting to Kyoko Kirigiri, which will show some of Naegi's other powers of the "red suit"...