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 and here the story reaches the climax as Naegi is called in to action as he is becoming the next target of the baseball assault, but he would soon find out the answer and what connection the baseball murders and the upcoming game have, and who is pulling the strings...
The Leon Kuwata arc concludes...
Much later, the time now is 17:00, and the scene shifts to the neighborhood where the Naegi residence is shown, and there you can see Naegi arriving after taking a bus, and he is exhausted from the situation he went through and is taking a mental note to call Kirigiri and ask her what the plans are now that the "die" has been cast and he is now being groomed as the baseball team's secret weapon, and he was not pleased with the events that played in the past few days until now.
"Seriously...is the RED SUIT really worth the trouble...?"
As he is about to enter his house, a car suddenly showed up, which revealed that the occupants were the men who followed Naegi, and they were wearing ski masks and they pin down Naegi, one holding a gun and the other strangling him, and there the two men gave he Luckster a choice which they hoped that he would choose wisely.
"Makoto Naegi..."
"UUURRGGGHH...!"
"You surely know about what happened to Leon Kuwata..."
"UURRGGHHH...!"
"Then for your sake...run away...don't attend the game..."
"UUURRGGHH..!"
"Or else you'll regret it..."
"..."
"Got it?"
After hearing that Naegi wouldn't budge as he demanded why they are doing this to him, the two masked goons took out their guns and opened fire, shooting him, and Naegi tripped and the goons think that they shot him dead and that's where they decided to hop on their car and sped off, where they failed to notice that Sayaka Maizono happened to be on the scene, and she was shocked to see the two men shot Naegi, and as she is about to rush to his side, she blinked her eyes as Naegi stood up and remove his clothes, revealing that he was wearing the red suit and black cape, then ran off to chase after the car that left, leaving Maizono confused.
"Naegi-kun...?"
-x-
At outer space, the scene shifts inside the UFO, where Cherubi is surprised and dismayed at seeing Naegi revealing the red suit he is wearing in public, and he is considering relieving the Luckster of the red suit but Ophani tries to persuade her fellow alien to calm down and let the events play out, reasoning that Naegi is doing things he felt is righteous and explained the chain of events that just happened though Cherubi is less willing to listen to Ophani's explanation, seeing that Naegi is not using his head.
"That foolish human!"
"Calm down, Cherubi..."
"Silence! This will not stand!"
"I'm sure that boy has a reason..."
"Does he? he exposed the suit to other prying eyes! If this gets out in the open it would ruin what we are supposed to do!"
"Give the boy a chance! you saw what happened..."
"I will not tolerate that boy's clumsiness...!"
"Cherubi...!"
By then Seraphi came and interjected, having seen the events and talked to Cherubi into calming down, telling him that there are no humans around when Naegi revealed the red suit he is wearing, and right now he is chasing after his assailants, and assured to Cherubi that the situation is well enough not to attract attention, and Cherubi is forced to calm himself down and resumes watching the monitor where Naegi is seen chasing after the car.
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. 31:Yakyū no Rachi ya Kyūjo
The scene shifts to the streets as Naegi is chasing after the car where the masked goons are escaping, and one of the goons glanced at the side mirror and saw Naegi chasing them by foot, and he is rather spooked at the sight as he is sure that he shot him at point-blank range, unaware that the red suit saved Naegi by protecting him from the bullets and told his partner about this, and the other masked goon is equally surprised to see that Naegi is somewhat alive, and finds it absurd that he is able to chase their car while wearing what he perceives a "pair of pajamas" with a cape.
"Hey, look!"
"What the...?"
"I'm sure we riddled his body with bullets! Why is he still running?"
"Just shoot that son of a bitch!"
"Okay...take the wheels!"
"What the...? Why is he dressed in pajamas and wearing a cape?"
"Just shoot him already!"
"Okay, okay..."
Masked goon # 2 then drew out his gun and opened the side window before opening fire, and Naegi covered his head with his arms, and this protected the Luckster as the bullets bounced off him, and seeing that he has to try a different approach, he jumped upwards and started to fly, but unfortunately, he still has difficulty in controlling his flight so he had to use his arms and moved them erratically as a way to steer his flight and give him a bit of control.
"WWWHHHOOOOAAAA! AAAAIIIEE! GGGYYYAAAHHH!"
Naegi was still flying erratically and yet he managed to keep himself in control while focusing on the car he is chasing, and he used will power to force himself to get a bit closer to the car he is chasing, and it appeared to work as he is getting a little closer towards the car's roof, and as he is about to make a force landing on the car so that he can use the red suit's power to force the car to stop, the car suddenly turn right, and Naegi was caught off-guard, and there he finds out that another vehicle was in front of him - a dump truck, and he panicked as he tries to avoid it, but to no avail.
"WWWWAAHHH! NOT AGAIN!"
Naegi landed onto the dump truck's compartment, and thankfully there were no garbage there and he was relatively unharmed, but he realized that he is quite far from home so going to his house by foot, as well, as flying back there is a big NO, especially as he doesn't want anyone seeing him wearing the red suit, and luck is on his side as he found a quarter coin and decided to use it, and saw a nearby phone booth which he took the chance to go there and dropped the quarter coin and called his house.
-x-
At the Naegi house, Naegi's parents are being questioned by the police after neighbors called the cops after hearing gunshots, and while the parents are being questioned, Komaru sneaked inside carrying Naegi's discarded clothes, after witnessing her elder brother removing them and went after the car, and she knew that he is after the bad guys, and so to protect her brother, she had to sneak the clothes in so as not to give her elder brother away. By then the telephone rang an she answered it, where she is surprised, yet relieved that the caller was her elder brother himself.
"Onii-chan!"
"Komaru!"
"Thank goodness...what happened? The cops are outside our neighborhood!"
"I'll explain later...can you fetch me?"
"Okay...tell me the location..."
"...and that's where I am...and bring me a trench coat..."
"I get it...okay...I'm on my way..."
"Thanks!"
Naegi told Komaru his location and requested that she come here and bring his clothes with her as he doesn't want to risk being seen wearing the red suit, and Komaru agreed and told him to wait there and she will go there as soon as possible. After that, she put Naegi's clothes on her backpack and went to house's garage and took out her bicycle and told her mom that she is going to pick her brother up and left amid Mrs. Naegi's urging to be careful before she and her husband are being questioned by the police.
-x-
Several minutes later, the scene shifts to the phone booth, where Naegi is pretending to talk to someone as a long queue is formed as other people are waiting in line to use the phone booth, and Naegi sweat-dropped as the crowd are getting restless seeing that Naegi is using the phone booth for about 40 minutes non-stop and began shouting at him to hurry up, and the Luckster is starting to feel the pressure at the crowd's unruliness and impatience towards him.
"HEY!"
"HURRY UP!"
"WE NEED TO USE THE PHONE TOO!"
"GET OUT THERE OR WE KILL YOU!"
"WHAT ARE DOING IN THERE?!"
"GET OUT!"
"LET ME IN!"
"GET OUT OF THERE OR I'LL SHOOT YOU WITH MY SHOTGUN!"
By then Komaru arrived and knocks on the phone booth's door, and gave Naegi a trench coat and there he puts it on and then leaves the phone booth and began riding the bicycle with Komaru standing behind him as they pedaled their way back home as the unruly crowd began brawling against each other over who would get to use the phone booth first, and the passing pedestrians paused to watch the brawl before them while some uses their cellphones to call the police to report about the brawl.
Naegi and Komaru saw it but they ignored it and the siblings began talking in which the topic is about the incident in front of their house, where she is told about what happened and she became concerned about what her elder brother has gotten himself embroiled at, though she is relieved to see and hear that the red suit protected him and realized that her brother is a "super hero", though Naegi stated that doesn't deserve that tag.
"...so that's it..."
"Sorry to worry you, Komaru..."
"That's okay, onii-chan...I'm glad you're okay..."
"Yeah...lucky for me I was wearing the red suit..."
"Oh yeah...I forgot my onii-chan is a superhero..."
"I don't think I deserve that tag..."
"Of course you do...you saved a lot of people...including me..."
"Geez..."
-x-
Somewhere else, the two men who tried to murder Naegi are seen at another phone booth and are calling their employer, and the two men are trying to figure out how to tell him that Naegi survived the gunshots they fired on him, but goon # 2 decided to tell goon # 1 that they killed Naegi but not check on his corpse on the account that witnesses came out, which goon # 1 agreed to, and hoped that their employer would believe their word, and by then the call connected and goon # 1 and the mysterious employer began talking.
"...and that's what happened..."
"Good...good"
"Sorry we couldn't check to see if..."
"That's fine...even if do survive...he's out of the game...and I'm safe..."
"So, boss...what's next?"
"Lie low for now...and wait for my order..."
"Okay."
"Good."
The mysterious employer appeared pleased that the news he heard is good, and believes that his plans are coming into place seeing that with Naegi "dead", the targeted baseball team would lose the upcoming match, and that is the scenario he wanted and told the two to lie low and wait for the next order, and the two goons left, pleased that things went well, though they fail to anticipate the fact that Naegi might showed up at the next meeting before the baseball match itself on the upcoming day.
-x-
The next day the scene shifts to the dugout where the baseball team members are assembled, and Nekomaru appeared to be surprised seeing Naegi standing there and Kanon stated that the match will push through as scheduled, and while the others are still worried about Kuwata, Naegi spoke to them and assured to them that Kuwata will be found alive and that they should give their all in the upcoming match, and this raised the team's morale, while Kanon is pleased with Naegi's optimism and thanked him for that.
"Thanks, Naegi..."
"Um...sure..."
"I sure wish Leon were here..."
"He'll show up...I'm certain he is okay...have faith...and hope..."
"I will..."
"For now, you should focus on how to help the team..."
"I will...thanks..."
"Okay..."
Meanwhile, a pair of eyes is seen eyeing Naegi, but then began eyeing Kanon as well, and the person decided to make his plans and do something about it, and soon left the scene as the baseball members are being dismissed, and soon the mysterious person called the two goons and told them that Naegi is still alive, and the goons pretended that they were surprised, as they did not want to tell him that Naegi did survive, but the mysterious person then told the goons to be ready as they have a new target to go after.
-x-
The next day, the scene shifts to Hope's Peak Academy, where it was shown that the week before, Jin Kirigiri announced that there will be a "wash day", in which a certain day of the week will allow the students to attend the academy in casual attire so as to give them the day to wash their uniforms, and the students are pleased with it, and there you can see Naegi attending there wearing his usual attire - a zipped-up dull green hoodie with a red stripe along the zipper, an open black jacket with gold buttons over the hoodie, black jeans, and red sneakers with white toes.
His hoodie has a logo of a red gas mask in a circle printed on the back of the hood, and the zipper goes all the way up to the top of the hood. He wears a pin shaped like a four-pointed star overlaid on a crescent moon; this is pinned to the lapel of his jacket.
As Naegi entered his classroom, some of his other classmates approached him, telling him that they got news about a shooting incident in front of his house, and he had to come up with an alibi so as not to give himself away that he survive the murder attempt and failed to go after his assailants using the red suit, and he pretended that he is unaware of that incident so as not to arouse suspicions from them.
"Really...? I didn't know that..."
"But at least you're okay, Naegi-kun..."
"Naegi-dono...maybe you should quit the baseball team..."
"Oi...stop that, Yamada...you're making Naegi into a coward...!"
"Come on! We're all worried for Naegi-kun! We should offer our support and help him in anyway we could!"
"I agree with Asahina...let Naegi decided what's best for him..."
"I think Naegi-chi should quit...there's a chance that he might get killed the next day...that's what my crystal ball is saying..."
"Hagakure!"
By then, Maizono approached Naegi, and he noticed her staring suspiciously at him, and without warning, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it up, and Naegi is surprised at her action and Maizono looked at his upper torso, seeing that he is not wearing anything else, only exposing his stomach and chest, and Yamada commented that Naegi is so "ordinary" and Fukawa accuses Maizono for having "perverted thoughts", and Maizono blushed as she let go and went to her seat.
"Maizono-chan...what's the problem?"
"M-maybe she has perverted thoughts towards Naegi...!"
"Hmm...Maizono-dono attracted Naegi's body, I think..."
"Oi...is there a problem between you two...?"
"You can tell us, Maizono-chan..."
"Why did you do such a thing...?"
"Come on...tell us!"
"..."
As the others wondered why Maizono acted that way, Naegi has no idea that Maizono intended to see if Naegi is wearing the red suit or not given what she saw the other day, and seeing that she has no proof, she opted to stay quiet so as not to embarrass herself further, while Kirigiri observed it, and she is starting to deduce that Maizono may have seen Naegi running around with the red suit and decided to talk to him on a later date, but for now she has to focus on other matters at hand.
-x-
A few days later, it was the day that the baseball match is about to take place, and at the dugout, the players are assembled and Nekomaru told the members to be ready for anything, and give their best, though he told Naegi that to be on standby being that he is a reserve member, and he nodded yet the Luckster wondered why he was not among the starting line, and he decided to loiter around, as he recalled that earlier, Kirigiri told him that the one who orchestrated the attacks on baseball players is in the midst of the baseball team and it is likely that the goons who tried to kill him might show up here.
As Naegi is walking around, he is met by Kirigiri and she told him that she is still determining who is the "inside man" in the baseball team, in which she said that the recent killings of the baseball players are connected, in which the players belonged to opposing teams that Kuwata's team are facing, and as the baseball player victims are killed off, the victims' team eventually loses to the opposing team, in which Kuwata's team became the winners, and Naegi started to wonder why he is being targeted for being a reserve member of Kuwata's team while Kuwata himself is currently missing.
"So...that's it...but still...why would they target me since I'm only a reserve player..."
"That's because the mastermind "sees you" as a threat after your "talents" impressed Kanon...and with Kuwata gone...the mastermind decided that you should be eliminated to ensure that the opposing team would win..."
"But why would he...?"
"I sense something here, Naegi-kun..."
"Which is...?"
"Perhaps a game-fixing or gambling scam...it may be a coincidence but that's what my deduction tells me..."
"Kirigiri-san..."
"Listen...huh? What's wrong, Naegi-kun...?"
But in the middle of the discussion,Naegi's eyes started to twitch, and he glanced at the wall, where he gets a holographic image of Kanon being assaulted by the goons who tried to kill him, and there he SAW that Kanon is being sedated and taken away, and there he told Kirigiri about this and they both headed to the room where Kanon was staying, and by the time they arrived, they were gone, and as they look for clues, Kirigiri saw the TV still on, and watched it, and there she sensed that something is amiss as Nekomaru is bringing out some of the players to the game who are not well-versed in their positions, such as one who is a pitcher whom Nekomaru assigned as the batter and the such, in which it was a bad decision on Nekomaru's part and that he is not bothering to go search for Naegi, and there she took out a cellphone and talked to someone, surprising Naegi as he listens to the conversation.
"Kuwata, it's me!"
"About time...I'm getting a bit restless here at your home...though your grandfather is sure is entertaining..."
"Never mind that...get ready...you're going to the baseball match!"
"So I'm playing...?"
"Yes...and brace yourself...someone within your team is going to resist you..."
"Seriously?"
"Are you up to it?"
"You got it!"
It turns out that Kirigiri is talking to Kuwata and there she told him to head there and play for the team, and from there Kirigiri asks Naegi to use the red suit's power to pinpoint Kanon's location, in which he did so, though it took about 5 minutes to pull it off due to him still trying to adjust to the red suit's power, and there they found where she is, which it shows that a hideout is several blocks from the stadium, and there Kirigiri told Naegi to head there by flying while she goes there by foot.
"You'd better go there..."
"How?"
"FLY."
"EEHHH?"
"We don't have much time!"
"You know I still am not good at..."
"Kanon's life is in danger! Put aside your doubts and have faith in yourself!"
"Geez...!"
Naegi was uncomfortable with this but he was persuaded to do so and he left, heading to a vacant area to remove his baseball uniform and flew off, while Kirigiri hails a taxi and instructed the driver to take her to her destination as the game is already underway.
-x-
Several minutes later, Naegi flew above the area and found the hideout and landed over a large garbage bin (which is closed), and the landing produced a loud sound and this alerted the goons, who came out and saw Naegi, in which they open fired and Naegi used his arms to shield himself and the bullets bounced off which the goons are in a state of disbelief and entered the house and locked it, having realized that Naegi did survive the gunshot blasts.
"It's the kid!"
"How did he survive the gunshots?!"
"Who cares? we'd better get out of here!"
"What about this girl?"
"Who cares! Lets get out of here now!"
"But the boss is going to..."
"Worry about him later!"
"Eh?"
Naegi then punched the door, which broke in half, and began clobbering the goons into submission and pinned them to the floor just as Kirigiri arrived and there she tied the goons up and demanded an answer from them, saying that she deduced that a gambling scam is in the works as she believes it was more than just a betting scheme and game fixing. Naegi is surprised to hear this as she told Naegi that Kuwata being assaulted and missing was just a ruse and that she instructed Kuwata to stay at her home so that she would determine if there is anyone within the baseball team is involved.
"Then Kuwata is...?"
"Yes..."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"If I did..."
"You know I was worried about him!"
"It's part of my investigating purposes...otherwise we wouldn't be able to find these goons...we'll disuss this later..."
"But..."
"Trust me..."
Kirigiri reasoned to Naegi that this was part of her plan to determine the mastermind behind the murder sprees of the victims and deduced that Kuwata would be the next victim, and to prevent Kuwata from becoming a victim, she had Naegi pitch in as an applicant, and this in turn allowed Kanon to bring Naegi in as a reserve player, and as she would guess it, the culprit would be torn to choose either Kuwata and Naegi to be killed, until Kirigiri talked to Kuwata about her plans and he agreed to it, and staged an incident so that the culprit would let his guard down and focus on Naegi, which leads to the current situation they are in.
Fortunately, Kirigiri whispered to Naegi that she has not told Kuwata about the red suit and Naegi's secret remains a secret, and there she resumes interrogating the goons, but they saw the TV where commentators commented on the scene which shows that Kuwata is there but Nekomaru is refusing to bring him to the field despite the protests of Kuwata's teammates, and Kirigiri realized that Nekomaru is the mastermind, but still needed to find the motive for this. Seeing that the goons are not willing to cooperate, she came up with an idea and whispered to Naegi about her idea, and though he seemed to be uncomfortable with the idea, he eventually agreed to it, and grabbed goon # 1 and carried him over his shoulders and flew towards a high-rise billboard, and there Naegi threatens to drop him if the goon refuses to tell him what he knows.
"Sorry about this..."
"Don't Don't drop me!"
"Then will you tell us what you know?"
"Anything!"
"You won't lie?"
"I won't!"
"Promise?"
"Promise!"
Fearful for his life, goon # 1 begged for mercy and told Naegi what he knows, and there Naegi carried the goon and flew back to the ground, telling him that Nekomaru is the "inside man", aiding a mafia faction who in turn are being backed by a politician who was once an ally to the late Masamune Kujo, and gave her the tape recorder where the confession was recorded, and there Kirigiri gave Naegi a bottle of ammonia and told him to carry her back to the stadium and have her wake up and instructs him to tell her to fire Nekomaru as coach and have Kuwata brought in.
Naegi nodded as he carries Kanon and flew back to the stadium while her grandfather arrived, having been called by his granddaughter minutes earlier.
-x-
Back at the room, Naegi, dressed in his baseball uniform, used the ammonia to rouse her and she woke up, and there Naegi told her that he chased the goons away and she was grateful to him, but then she saw the TV where Kuwata is arguing with Nekomaru, and there Naegi told Kanon about Nekomaru's treachery and told her to fire him and have Kuwata field in. Kanon was shocked to hear this and he told her that to win, Kuwata must be sent to the field.
"No way...so Nekomaru is...?"
"That's right..."
"That bastard..."
"You got to send Kuwata in..."
"I will...Give me the phone..."
"Huh...?"
"I'll tell the team captain that he's in charge and he'll put Leon in..."
"Okay..."
Nodding in response, seeing that she needs to save her team, Kanon took the phone and talked to the assistant coach, telling him that he is to take over Nekomaru's position and have Kuwata as the batter, and several seconds later, the assistant coach told Kuwata to be the batter and sends him out to the field, and though Nekomaru tries to stop them, Kirigiri shows up and exposes him in front of the team.
This causes Nekomaru to run away as Kirigiri gives chase, and the scene shifts to the baseball field, where Kuwata becomes the batter, and as the game is underway, he used his talents and hits the ball, sending the baseball flying out of the stadium and scored a home run, and Kuwata's team wins the game. The scene would later shift at the boiler room whee Nekomaru is being cornered by Kirigiri and Naegi, and unwilling to be captured, he brought out a stun gun and tries to electrocute them but Naegi shielded her and pushed him away, sending him towards a high voltage boiler and he was electrocuted, but Naegi pulled him out and saved him, but this left Nekomaru in a critical condition and soon an ambulance carried him away.
As Kanon and Kuwata celebrated with the baseball team, Kirigiri led investigators in exposing the culprits and this led to the eventual arrest of the corrupt politician while Naegi left to head for home.
-x-
Later that night, Naegi's parents left to see their relatives and Komaru is alone at home until Naegi came and there and went to Komaru's room and there he told Komaru about what happened earlier, and the siblings are chatting until she dropped her pencil which rolled under her bed, and she pleaded to him to lift the bed as she knows that he is wearing the red suit, and Naegi sighed but after some pleadings, he gives in to her request and removed his trench coat, revealing the red suit he is wearing and lifts the bed, and as Komaru took the pen, the siblings heard a gasp, and they saw Maizono standing there, shocked to see Naegi wearing the red suit and black cape, and lifting a huge bed, and Naegi sweat-dropped as he realized that his secret has been exposed and Komaru is equally worried about what would happen next.
"N-Naegi-kun...?"
"!"
"You...you..."
"Maizono-san! It's...it's not what you think...!"
"..."
"Er...um..."
"How...how did you...that red suit..."
"..."
To Be Continued...
And this ends the Leon Kuwata arc, as Kuwata is alive all this time and is part of Kirigiri's plan to draw out the assailants, and expose Nekomaru Midai as the villain of this arc, and Naegi didn't have to play baseball after all since Kuwata' is back...although this arc ended in a cliffhanger as Maizono finally saw Naegi wearing the RED SUIT and BLACK CAPE, and now he has to come up with an alibi in order to prevent her from spilling the beans...
Preview:
A new story arc comes in, in which it involves Naegi getting dragged in a "financial feud" between two tycoons...which also hints about his past and why he's fixated on the LUCKSTER...
See you in 14 days or less...
Reviews and comments are welcomed...
:)