Soga Kugisaki/Synopsis

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History[]

When he was young, Soga Kugisaki wanted to become a Pro Hero. However, people were constantly writing him off based on his appearance, his violent behavior, and his dangerous Quirk, rejecting and ridiculing him as if he was some monster. This caused him to develop a violent personality and be rather sensitive to people laughing at him, getting into trouble frequently.^[1]

He also used to play the guitar up until he got the one he owned destroyed in a fight.^[2]

Synopsis[]

Vigilantes Beginnings Arc[]

While he is walking with his friends Moyuru Tochi and Rapt Tokage, Koichi Haimawari unwittingly bumps into him and spills his juice. Wanting to humiliate Koichi, Soga asks him to apologize by kneeling at his feet, but Koichi uses his Slide and Glide to flees. Soga and his friends chase him but Koichi manages to escape.

After that, he and his friends enter a convenience store, and they encounter Koichi again. Soga becomes angry at seeing Koichi again and takes him outside to beat him. Koichi is not able to fight back because of the spikes Soga produces with his Spike Quirk.

Later that same day, Koichi and Kazuho Haneyama meet the Soga and his friends in an alleyway, and the thugs recognize the latter as the online idol Pop☆Step and begin mocking her. Koichi asks them to stop, but the thugs ignore him. Koichi prepares to leave, but seeing tears in Pop☆Step's eyes, he cannot ignore her plea for help.

Koichi uses his Slide and Glide Quirk to take down Moyuru by attempting to trip him but fails. Moyuru throws Koichi to the ground and Soga turns his attention to him, recognizing him as the "annoying guy" from before. Soga attacks Koichi and scratches his face with spikes from his foot. Soga decides to finish off Koichi for annoying him and continue humiliating Pop☆Step.

As Soga prepares to strike Koichi with his spikes, Knuckleduster crashes down onto the trash which stops Soga. Soga askes the old man what is his deal, but Knuckleduster just punches him in the face, and knocks Soga down to the ground, surprising everyone. Moyuru and Rapt are shocked at what happened. Knuckleduster demands for them to show him their tongues and knocks them out when they don't obey on the spot.

After checking their tongues, Knuckleduster turns his attention to Koichi and praises him for his bravery. Soga rises again, takes Pop☆Step hostage, and threatens to claw her face off with his spikes, but Koichi charges at him and knocks him down, allowing Pop☆Step to fly a safe distance away. Knuckleduster punches Soga into the wall which knocks him out. Knuckleduster sees that Soga is not in possession of the drug he is looking for and makes a copy of his ID.

After defeating the thugs, Koichi, Pop and Knuckleduster and leaves the place. Seeing Koichi's heroic spirit, Knuckleduster decides to become his master to help him become a hero.

Later on, the thugs walk in an alley and are badly injured courtesy of Knuckleduster. Soga is annoyed and angry, promising to kill Koichi and Knuckleduster next time, although Moyuru suggests not to get involved with them. Out of nowhere, a salesman named Mario Kugutsu appears and offers them samples of Trigger assuring them it will heal their wounds.^[3]

Rapt Tokage and Moyuru Tochi inject Trigger, which not only helps them to recover from their injuries but also boost their Quirks respectively, becoming Instant Villains. Having seen the enhancements, the salesman insists that Soga Kugisaki inject Trigger. He decides to grab one of the samples to inject later.

The next day, Koichi, Pop, and Knuckleduster set out to patrol the streets to investigate the Trigger drug trade, encountering Mario. Due to a series of misunderstandings, Knuckleduster is involved in a fight against Eraser Head, who is on his day off and just happens to be passing, while Koichi and Pop chases after the salesman. Koichi is stopped by Soga, Rapt, and Moyuru. Soga prepares to take his revenge on Koichi and injects himself with Trigger, turning into a Instant Villain, and the three attack Koichi.

While Rapt runs after Pop, Soga and Moyuru do the same with Koichi. Fortunately for the young vigilante, Knuckleduster and Eraser Head stopped fighting and step in to help him and Pop against the Instant Villains. Eraser Head uses his Erasure on Soga, canceling his Spike Quirk and wrapping him with his Capturing Weapon, before he can do any harm, while Knuckleduster knocks out Moyuru with a brick. Then, they manage to defeat and capture Rapt and Mario.

The Police Force arrive and arrest the salesman and the three thugs.^[4]

Stendhal Arc[]

Days later, he is released. He gives a message to Ichimoku Samazu and Jube Namimaru to pass it on to Koichi and Kazuho, in which he wants to meet with them at the restaurant in front of the station, although without saying his identity.

Koichi and Kazuho accept the invitation but have an unpleasant surprise when they discover that it is Soga Kugisaki. Soga is disheartened by their reactions and questions why they think poorly of him, to which Kazuho replies that he tried to murder them. Soga is annoyed and sees that there is no point in talking with them, although Koichi wonders what Soga wants to talk about.^[5]

Next day he and Moyuru visit Rapt, who had been in hospital since the experience with Trigger. Rapt says that he enjoyed the experience offered by the drug, but when Soga asks Rapt if he would be interested in taking Trigger again, Rapt says no because although he liked that Trigger increased the capabilities of his Quirk, it is also the reason that he ended up hospitalized. He has already learned the lesson from his past experience and does not want it to be repeated.

Before this, Soga decides to take his friends away from the drug and is consequently forced to face Kuin Hachisuka, who had allied with Stendhal to get rid of the previous Instant Villains, including him and his friends. Kuin gives him the offer to inject Trigger to be able to fight against the murderous vigilante, but Soga rejects it, declaring that he will defeat him with his own abilities and without any kind of help. Faced with this refusal, Kuin frees a swarm of bees carrying Trigger and injects it to Soga by force, transforming him back into a Instant Villains to face Stendhal.^[6]

Koichi intervenes in the fight and tries to save Soga, understanding that Stendhal has no intention of simply defeating him and locking him up, just directly killing him. Koichi tries to escape, taking with him a badly wounded Soga, but Stendhal's Quirk paralyzes them before he can. Just as he is about to finish them, Knuckleduster appears and defeats Stendhal, who is forced to retire with his nose broken, saving Soga and Koichi's lives.

Kazuho Haneyama arrives with a first aid kit and begins applying bandages to Koichi and Knuckleduster. Knuckleduster asks Kazuho to tend to Soga's injuries, which she begrudgingly does. Koichi is glad to have made it out of this incident alive. Soga is annoyed by Koichi's optimism and questions Kazuho about it, to which she replies that he is nothing but a happy-go-lucky idiot. Soga seems to notice Pop's feelings towards Koichi.^[7]

Vs. Queen Bee Arc[]

After being saved, he's hired by Knuckleduster to look into the whereabouts of Kuin Hachisuka, effectively making him Knuckleduster's informant. Based on the uniform she wears, Soga tracked down her middle school and once there, he shows an old picture of her, asking other girls if they know her. Even though other girls find it creepy of him to ask it in a middle school, they do notice that resembles Kuin Hachisuka as they wonder if she is in some kind of trouble. Soga is forced to leave when the staff approach him and asks him to go away.

After walking past an alleyway, a girl from the middle school asked in the alleyway if he had business with Kuin, wondering what he would do if he found her as what he is doing seems shady. Soga informs her he is only a messenger and has no idea if it is shady or not. Then, the girl begins to behave a bit seductively, which makes Soga feel uncomfortable, who asks her to cut it out.

Suddenly, a swarm of bees that had been controlling her comes pouring out from under her skirt to attack him. Soga reacts quickly by drawing a spray of bee repellent and breaks open it with his spikes. Soga leaves the alley wrapped in bee repellent, but the swarm pursues him. The bees try to attack him, but Moyuru Tochi uses his Quirk to set them to ashes. He is seen with Rapt Tokage on a motorcycle, as lizard tells Soga to hop on. The other guys wonder about Soga's actions as they are jealous of him hogging the fun.

Later, Soga meets with Knuckleduster in a hospital entrance. He is mad that there is no one actual registered as "Kuroiwa" in the hospital. Knuckleduster states he uses that name to get in touch with people, making Soga wonder who his real name is. Despite the errands Soga had run into, Knuckleduster views him as a guy who does not pry into other people's business.

Soga reports him the little information he could get before he was attacked. He tells him what her middle school is and that she uses "Hachisuka" as a pseudonym. Knuckleduster counts the info as intel, including the fact it is a private school. Soga notices he is getting into some nasty stuff and wonders about his two other friends. Knuckleduster states there is no need to drag them into this since he used him as a bait to draw attention. Soga is not amused. Soga's friends feel he should stay away from things.

After leaving Knuckleduster, Moyuru and Rapt tell Soga that he should stay away from things. Koichi Haimawari catches up with and greets them, to which Pop☆Step to stay away. Moyuru notices how brave he is to talk with the people who beat him up before. Rapt tries to get a close view of Kazuho. Koichi states a lot has changed, but Soga walks away.^[8]

With the information provided by Soga and his own investigations, Knuckleduster manages to find Kuin Hachisuka, which he defeats and extracts the parasitic bee that controlled the body of his daughter Tamao Oguro, taking her to a hospital.^[9] Knuckleduster asks Soga to watch over his daughter while he finishes over some business.

At a hospital, Soga sits next to Tamao's hospital bed. Soga sees her arm slide off the bed, and he tucks it back in the covers. Tamao wakes up to see Soga, then proceeds to comment that he is scary looking. She says that her head hurts, and asks where her father is. Knuckleduster appears with a grocery bag. As Soga leaves, Knuckle thanks him for the help.^[10]

Sky Egg Arc[]

Because he still has to deal with the organization responsible for trafficking Trigger and the Instant Villains, Knuckleduster must be away for a long period of time, so he asks Soga and his friends to watch over his daughter while he is out.

One day, Rapt is playing the fool with Tamao's guitar, which makes her laugh, and Moyuru asks her to play. She confesses that she just played the guitar to piss off her father. Soga grabs the guitar and tunes it. Rapt tells the others that Soga used to have a guitar until it broke in a fight. Soga returns the instrument to Tamao, telling her that she has the privilege of being able to play music, something that many other people do not have.

At that moment, an unshaven Knuckleduster enters the room. Tamao only says that his beard is gross and Soga criticizes him for being away a long time. Knuckleduster cannot deny it, but he asks Soga to stay a while longer, since he has to catch up with an old pal, but promises that as soon as he finishes he will visit her again. His daughter only asks him to shave his beard.

When Knuckleduster leaves, Soga asks Tamao to make some noise with the guitar, just to annoy her old man. Tamao agrees and Rapt and Moyuru make fun of Soga for being a sweetheart.^[11]

Final Performance Arc[]

Several years have passed, three specifically since Soga first met Koichi and several things have changed. Koichi has plans to stop being a vigilante once he gets a job,^[12] Kazuho is concerned that the Marukane Performers are going to break-up,^[13] and Knuckleduster seems to have disappeared since the last time he was seen. For their part, Soga and his friends Rapt and Moyuru run a motorcycle shop. Occasionally, Soga goes out to patrol the streets as a kind of watcher, dressing in a manner similar to Knuckleduster.

Things get complicated when Kazuho is kidnapped by a villain known as Number 6, who was responsible for many of the Trigger-related incidents years ago. Number 6 was a sworn enemy of Knuckleduster and the two faced each other years ago during Sky Egg Bombing. The outcome of that fight is unknown, although Knuckleduster has been missing since then.

The fact is that after that, at some point Number 6 became the new manager of the Marukane Performers, under the name of Rokuro Nomura, making friends with Kazuho, although his goal was to make her the new host of the Queen Bee. When Knuckleduster rescued his daughter years ago, he destroyed the Queen Bee that controlled Tamao and all her swarm. However, one of the bees survived and was recovered by Number 6, who kept it safe until the bee became queen and formed a new swarm. Now all he needed was a new body to parasitize, and Number 6 chose Kazuho. Through trickery, Number 6 lured Kazuho to where the Queen Bee was, and made it inhabit her body.^[14][15]

After a few days, the Queen Bee, now in Kazuho's body, rampages the city of Naruhata, causing great destruction. Koichi tries to stop her, but he is defeated. Queen Pop leaves, assuring all witnesses that she will reappear. For his part, a badly wounded Koichi lands on a pile of garbage, being rescued by Soga, who takes him to his hideout.^[16] Rapt and Moyuru take care of him.

The next day, Soga returns from patrolling the attacked area, meeting Koichi awake and watching the TV reports about the so-called "Naruhata Bombings". Koichi considers that he should go to the police to tell them about him, Kazuho and everything that's going on. Soga says that's one option, to leave the police and heroes to deal with the problem if he's cool with that. Koichi is confused by Soga's words, as he is given a letter to read. Koichi is surprised to realize that the letter is from his master Knuckleduster.^[17]

When Koichi finishes reading the letter, he asks Soga if he knows where his master is. He states that he doesn't know, and that the last thing Knuckleduster asked him to do is to keep an eye on him and Kazuho. Soga suggests Koichi to forget about Knuckleduster's whereabouts for now and focus on Kazuho.

He reveals to Koichi that she is being controlled by parasitic bees. They cannot allow the heroes to stop her because the bees would kill Kazuho from the inside and then flee. The only option they have to save Kazuho is to extract the Queen Bee from her head, though this would break many laws, with neither hero nor officer being capable of doing it. Faced with this dilemma, Soga asks Koichi if he will do it or not. Koichi replies that, although he doesn't know what to do, undoubtedly he will save Kazuho.^[18]

Soga leads Koichi, Moyuru and Rapt into an inhabited warehouse, and reveals that the place was used by Knuckleduster as a secret hideout. There are weapons, training equipment, telecommunication devices, etc, although what most catches the attention of Koichi is a large map of the Naruhata station, full of marked routes. Koichi realizes they represent his movements and Kazuho's when they work together with Knuckleduster, although he also notices the route of a person he does not know but Knuckleduster seemed interested in cornering them in a dead-end alley.

Interested why Knuckleduster was after them, Soga tells Koichi that case is closed but to reference the strategy used. Soga ask Koichi if he could possibly corner "Kazuho" the same way Koichi says it wouldn't be possible given the Kazuho's Leap Quirk but he may nab her in midair. That becomes the plan, and Soga expands the plan into three task that need to be done in the next interaction with "Kazuho". The first is to arrive before the Heroes and Police Force, second is for Koichi to grab her in mid-air and third is to Koichi to met back up with Soga, Moyuru and Rapt. Following this, Soga will be in charge in giving first aid and they'll all bring her to the hospital.

Soga decides to check Koichi's capabilities with his Slide and Glide Quirk: How fast can he go, his maneuverability, how many mid-air jump can he do, etc... showing great ability in each of these practices. In target practice, Koichi hits several empty cans that Rapt threw into the air with ease with his Shooty-Go-Blam. Moyuru and Rapt our impressed with his aim but Soga wants to see his true strength.

Koichi puts all his focus onto the power core of the move and shoots even more powerful repulsion projectiles. The shots can fly away farther than usual, in addition to being faster and stronger enough to punching straight through metal cans. Soga comments commits that it'd could kill someone, but Koichi thinks to himself he knows it off-limits but it his only choice now.^[19]

Soga wants to check Koichi's ability to snipe, so he makes him shoot from twenty meters away against three targets, two round and the other human-shaped. Koichi shoots several concentrated air bullets. He hits the round targets with no problem but he couldn't land a single shot on the human-shaped target. Soga concludes that he subconsciously makes himself miss people-shaped targets. This makes Soga have to rethink the strategy against Kazuho. Due to Koichi's mental handicap, Soga concludes that he must use his mobility and martial arts to back "Kazuho" into a corner.

Over the next few days, while Moyuru and Rapt help Koichi to train, Soga plans the entire rescue operation, studying maps of the area, planning what are the best options when it comes to taking action, etc,... He also watches videos of Bee☆Pop's to analyze every detail about her physical abilities, the destructive power of bees, her control over the swarm, etc.^[20]

Over a week later, while Koichi is cooling off after a training session, he sees Naruhata being attacked by Bee☆Pop, so he immediately alerts Soga and the others about what is happening. The four prepare as soon as possible to head to the disaster area and put their plan into action to stop Bee☆Pop.^[21] They arrive quickly to the city, but they cannot continue because because they got stuck in a gridlock traffic due Pop's rampage, so Koichi decides to go ahead, while Soga, Rapt and Moyuru try to reach their designate place by another way.^[22]

As Koichi confronts Bee☆Pop and avoids the heroes, Soga and his buddies Rapt and Moyuru have everything ready for when he manages to rescue Kazuho. Several minutes later, Koichi achieves his goal and brings an unconscious Pop with him. Soga prepares to remove the parasitic bee, but Koichi warns him that Kazuho has been shot with a drug. Frustrated before that unforeseen event, Soga doesn't know what to do. He cannot allow the bee to continue inside her but neither can he extract it for fear that it could end badly for Kazuho.

To the boys' surprise, the heroine Midnight appears and stops Soga, assuring him that he is too nervous to do anything. Midnight reassures them saying that she is there to help Kazuho after seeing Koichi, and after Soga explains the situation, she uses her Quirk to put Pop and the Bee to sleep, and take her to a hospital to have the parasite removed safely.

Suddenly, Endeavor arrives, who had also followed Koichi. Soga immediately goes on the defensive, but Midnight stops him and reasons with Endeavor that Bee☆Pop has been captured but she needs medical care. She assures him that the Vigilante The Crawler managed to escape. After hearing Midnight, Endeavor allow her to take Pop to the hospital. Soga and his friends decide to accompany her.^[23]

Sometime after Pop is admitted, Koichi informs Soga and his crew about the mysterious man, Number 6, who tried to kill him and Pop, and that he's still planning to go after the both of them, leading Soga to warn Midnight to have Kazuho admitted to the hospital with the best possible security for her safety.

Soga and his crew are then interrogated by Naomasa Tsukauchi. Naomasa tries to reason with him, saying he's not treating them like criminals and just wants some answers, but Soga refuses to budge. He learns from Naomasa that the Queen Bee had been successfully extracted from Kazuho, but she still remains unconscious, while also mentioning that Midnight vouches for them for saving her life.

He then proceeds to ask Soga about the whereabouts of The Crawler, which he rebuts by saying they should be focused on protecting Kazuho, and shouldn't take their best man out of the fight. Naomasa snaps stating it isn't the time for vigilantism because people have died, which Soga responds back that maybe it wouldn't have happened if the police did their job properly.

Soga asks him to bring in Eizo Tanuma to talk to instead, who then tells him he remembers him from his Trigger incident a few years ago, and that he feels different nowadays, comparing him to a certain ally, which Soga understands to be Knuckleduster. Soga brings up an analogy the old man had told him, that he saw the way the world worked like a pair of cheap socks: holes would show up at some point, and swapping for new pairs wouldn't work as they would get holes too, so the only real option is to just put another pair of socks on top of the old ones. Eizo chuckles at this, and later lets the group go.

Back at their warehouse, Soga explains to everyone that the hospital is on total lockdown and the only way in and out is through the ground level entrance, and to be safe, they'll have their own security checkpoint outside the building to keep watch. Moyuru nervously asks if they'll have to fight the villain, but Soga says they can just run after he's exposed as the alarms will go off and the police will be informed.

After setting up their outside perimeter, Soga, Moyuru, and Rapt question a man claiming to be an A.C. repairman. When he proves to be suspicious, he gives a signal, leading to Koichi, camped out on a nearby rooftop, to blast a toolbox out of his hands, revealing a camera, turning out to just be from the media.^[24]

Naruhata Lockdown Arc[]

Not long after the police station was attacked by the villain, Midnight calls Soga to update him on Kazuho's condition, that she's stabilized but still unsure when she'll regain consciousness. Soga tells her that they're prepared to give the authorities all the intel that Knuckleduster had collected for them, once they are sure Kazuho's safety is guaranteed, which Midnight agrees to.

Soga calls Koichi next, still camped out waiting on the rooftop, complaining he's had to wear the same pair of clothes this whole time. He gives Rapt the key to Koichi's Penthouse to retrieve more clothes.^[25] When Rapt returns, he informs him that there has been a break-in, Soga asks Rapt not to tell Koichi (although he accidentally end up telling him) while he goes to investigate the place. Soga looks over the penthouse, and seeing that it isn't ransacked, he concludes that whoever entered there did it to get something specific.

As he leaves the building, Soga sees that the dust pattern on the door of one of the abandoned apartments indicated that someone had entered there not long ago. As he enters to investigate, he finds that there is something hidden under a veil. When Soga removes the veil to see what's underneath, he is shocked by what he sees, and just then he receives a call of Moyuru, telling him the cops have arrived at the hospital.

Soga returns to the hospital where he confronts Naomasa. The detective tells him that the police is in charge of the security of the place, and he and his teammates must collaborate with them. Soga agrees to, but also points out he is worried that the police are too slow to work on this. He realizes that they are not ready to devote themselves to working hard even though Kazuho is still unconscious.

Midnight tries to be the mediator saying to cooperate for now, but Naomasa interferes and mentions there is an arrest warrant for The Crawler. He thinks he might meet with a villain that could cause destruction. Soga asks him if he is not ready for that, but Naomasa rebuts that it's because he knows he's prepared that it's a problem, and commands Soga to call Koichi over.

Soga tells Moyuru to give Koichi a "wake-up call", but actually that is a sign to tell him there's an emergency and he needs to run and hide. Soga proceeds to scram, to the surprise of Naomasa, who orders half his police force to follow him after Soga, but Midnight reminds him that he must protect the hospital. Frustrated, Naomasa calls up the heroes to capture Koichi.^[26]

While Koichi avoids being captured by the Pro Heroes Eraser Head, Ingenium, Best Jeanist, and Edgeshot, Soga calls out for Midnight to speak with Naomasa. He apologizes for giving him the slip, and saying that he was intending to negotiate with him after Koichi had escaped, but he didn't count that he would send some big shots heroes to capture Koichi. Soga asks him to stop the persecution because the only thing he achieves is favoring the true enemy. Still, Naomasa refuses to budge.^[27]

Just then, Number 6 takes advantage of the situation to put his plan into motion. He generates a powerful EPM blast to cause a massive blackout in Naruhata, cutting off all communications,^[28] and sending several creatures called Anonymous to cause all kinds of trouble on the streets and attack the heroes to keep them busy.^[29][30]

While all of this is happening, Soga meets Naomasa in the parking garage. Soga tells him that since they can't contact the Heroes right now, they have to be prepared with whoever is available. They both go over all the information they know of on Number 6, and come up with a plan to defeat the villain. At Naomasa's request, Soga will shoot Number 6 from the outside when he is in the corridor, but stresses he mustn't actually hit him, just distract him until he runs out of steam, as Naomasa and his men will finish the job. Soga agrees to these terms, saying he doesn't think he could easily hit him anyway from that distance, and that he'll let them handle it.^[31]

Soga goes up to the rooftop of a nearby building, and about half an hour later, Number 6 assaults the hospital with several Anonymous. From his position, Soga signals Koichi when he approaches the medical institution after he reached a truce with the heroes and evaded the Anonymous. Soga tells him they're finally making their move, and tells Koichi to prepare to do-or-die, and explains to him the whole plan.^[32]

Inside the hospital, Number 6 reaches the hallway that leads to Kazuho's room, where Naomasa and three policemen are the last defense. Number 6 scoffs at their efforts but falls squarely into the trap. From the outside, Soga begins firing an assault rifle, forcing the villain to use his Quirk in order to deplete his oxygen. Soga ends up running out of ammo, but that's when Koichi enters the scene, firing his repulsion blasts so as not to give the Villain a chance to catch a breath and use his Quirk again. This allow the officers the opportunity to shoot at Number 6 at his legs, causing him to fall on his knees, as Naomasa yells to secure him.^[33]

Despite their best efforts, Number 6 manages to avoid capture, mocking the police. Soga is still outside with his sights on him, but Number 6 is sure that he won't pull the trigger with the officers in the way. When Number 6 is about to take down the officers, Koichi attacks him, forcing the villain to reluctantly retreat. Once out, Number 6 sends several Anonymous to take care of the officers, and sends some more to go after Soga.^[34] Soga starts to flee when he sees the Anonymous reach where he is, but suddenly the creatures stop moving.

It turns out that Koichi had decided to face Number 6, forcing the villain to focus all his attention on him. In a previous conversation, Soga told Koichi about Number 6's fatal flaw, and which is that he doesn't use his acceleration when he babbles and brags. Thanks to this, Koichi makes things difficult for Number 6, but even so the villain does not think to give up.^[35]

Soga swings down from his building, wondering if Koichi is alright.^[36] Later, he meets with Rapt and Moyuru, asking for an update, as they inform him about Koichi and Number 6's scuffle, and how they've since sped off. Soga prepares to head after them on his motorcycle, telling the two to go somewhere safe, as they quip wondering where "safe" is.^[37]

The confrontation between Koichi and Number 6 continues throughout the streets of Naruhata, with the villain using various strategies to finish off the vigilante, until finally opting to set a trap to snipe him down. However, unexpectedly, Knuckleduster reappears and attacks him by surprise,^[38] allowing Koichi to escape unscathed, spotting Soga following right behind him.

Soga quickly explains to him the situation and heads to the place where Knuckleduster is fighting the villain. The veteran vigilante manages to subdue the villain and prepares to sacrifice himself to kill him by detonating several explosives that he had strategically positioned.^[39] Knuckleduster presses the detonator, but to his surprise the bombs do not detonate.

Soga appears before the two armed with a submachine gun. He tells Knuckleduster that he figured out his plan when earlier that day he discovered one of the bombs while investigating Koichi's penthouse, and had disarmed them. He angrily declares that Koichi and everyone are putting their lives on the line to keep people alive, which means he can't die either.

Due this unexpected turn of events, Number 6 gleefully laughs at both of them. He kicks Knuckleduster out of him and proceeds to taunt Soga, telling him that he is unable to take advantage of this opportunity to kill him because he doesn't have the guts to take a life. Number 6 gives Soga the chance to pull the trigger as he stands there with his hands extended, ready to kill them all.

What Number 6 didn't expect on is that Soga was only using himself as bait to give Koichi a chance to tackle him off the building, before blasting his way into the sky. Knuckleduster compliments Soga's plan on using himself as bait, trying to talk and say he's fine, but Soga calls his bluff, telling him to stop talking and that they're going to make sure he doesn't die, since he's still got people counting on him to come home. Knuckleduster looks on surprised as Soga tells him for them to trust Koichi to handle the rest.^[40]

Koichi continues to battle against Number 6, who in his rage and desperation to kill him merged with the remaining Anonymous to transform into a gigantic monstrosity. Koichi is injured and tries to take refuge in a building, but Number 6 follows him and begins to destroy it.^[41]

Seeing such devastation from the rooftop, Soga is panicking and worries about Koichi but tries to stay calm and have faith in him, remembering that he also has things to do there. He asks Knuckleduster to lie down on the ground so he can treat his wounds, but the old vigilante is not responding. Concerned, Soga approaches him and with shock as he realizes why.^[42]

Seeing that Knuckleduster is more dead than alive, Soga immediately works to revive him. Fortunately, he had the custom Taser Knuckle that Knuckleduster used as a defibrillator to revive his daughter after removing the Queen Bee from her body, so he decides to do the same. Soga plugs its wires to Knuckleduster's chest and immediately starts giving him and releases small shocks to reanimate his heart.

The process lasts several minutes, but shortly after the heroes arrive and manage to defeat Number 6 for good, Soga manages to revive the old vigilante. Exhausted, he tells Knuckleduster one more time not to die on him and Koichi.^[43]

In the aftermath of the "Naruhata Lockdown", Knuckleduster goes back into hiding, Koichi is taken to the hospital for his injuries, and Kazuho awakens, with the latter two reuniting. In order to help Koichi evade the trouble due to all the damages his battle caused, he accepts the role of Captain Celebrity's Sidekick, moving to America to become "The Skycrawler".^[44]

Within the next year, Soga continued to make frequent check-ins on Kazuho to see on her rehabilitation is doing. By April, she tells him that she can walk on her own again, though doesn't believe she'll be able to Leap around like she used to. Soga tells her to take it easy, and since the police are arriving to get her statement the next day, to not push herself, and be honest about her missing chunks of memory.

Despite that, Kazuho still wants to take responsibility for all the trouble she caused, but Soga reminds her she's still a victim of the Queen Bee, and that Koichi, who just laughed off the destruction he inadvertently caused, should be the first one to feel guilty. Kazuho's friend Miu then arrives to see her, so Soga takes his leave.^[45]

Soga is last seen back with his crew in Naruhata, now joined by Tamao, hearing about Koichi's escapades in America.^[46]

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