Episode 13: Despite his injuries, Kotetsu leaves the hospital to find Barnaby, who is faring badly against Jake. Kotetsu tells Barnaby he has figured out that Jake can read people's movements using super hearing as a second power, and gives him a sound grenade as a countermeasure. Although this grenade initially seems ineffective, it turns out to be a stun grenade, causing Jake to drop his guard and letting Barnaby defeat him. Kotetsu reveals that Jake's second power is actually in fact mind reading, proposing a fake plan to Barnaby in order to mislead Jake. Kriem threatens to blow up the city using the mechs, but they have been taken out of commission by Karina, Nathan and Pao-Lin in the meantime. Jake tries to escape, but when he shoots at Kotetsu, he hits Kriem's helicopter instead, causing it to crash on him. At the end of the episode, Barnaby addresses Kotetsu by name, a sign that he now trusts him as his partner.
Episode 14: Ten months after the Ouroboros incident, Kotetsu and Barnaby are a successful and popular superhero team. Barnaby has won last season's most valuable player and Kotetsu has climbed to fourth place in the rankings, while Antonio has fallen to last place. While rehearsing for a joint concert with the duo, Karina realizes she has feelings for Kotetsu. However, her classmates trying convincing her otherwise when she vaguely mentions this to them. At the concert, a NEXT backstage thief sneaks into Karina's dressing room and steals her bag, which has a towel given to Karina by Kotetsu to replace one he ruined with split coffee. After figuring out that the thief has the power of invisibility while he holds his breath, Kotetsu rushes after him, finding that his abilities have increased in power, but run out earlier than usual. As a result, the criminal is captured by Antonio, giving him a much needed career boost. Though Kotetsu tries explaining something happened to his powers, Barnaby and Karina think he is being modest, simply wanting to help out Antonio.
Episode 15: Having been overtaken by Barnaby in the rankings, Keith starts questioning his ability to protect the people. Whilst walking through the park, he comes across a strange girl named Cis, with whom he shares his worries. Karina, Nathan and Pao-Lin reach the conclusion he is in love and give him advice which falls flat. Meanwhile, Ben Jackson, Kotetsu's former boss and now a taxicab driver, grows concerned when he hears of Kotetsu's increasing powers. After Cis is picked up by a strange man, she goes out of control when she sees a billboard of Kotetsu and Barnaby, bringing the two into the fight. Cis is revealed to be an android built by the man, Dr. Rotwang, who worked for Barnaby's parents. As Kotetsu's power runs out early again, Keith, who has somehow been inspired by Cis, appears and manages to destroy the android, not realizing who it was due to Cis's human disguise burning off. Afterwards, Kotetsu is called by Ben, who tells him the changes in his power may mean it will soon disappear.
Episode 16: After another encounter with Lunatic, Barnaby surpasses Mr. Legend's all time point record whilst Kotetsu notices his power's time limit is still decreasing. Barnaby tells Kotetsu about how Maverick took care of him following his parents' deaths. Meanwhile, Lunatic recalls how he killed his father, Mr. Legend, when he was beating his mother, who nevertheless still hates and fears him for it. Talking with Ben again, Kotetsu learns that Mr. Legend became an alcoholic after exhibiting the same power-degrading symptoms as him, resulting in Hero TV staging his arrests to preserve his image. Afterwards, Kotetsu encounters a criminal known as The Lady Killer, but is easily beaten when his powers run out, leaving the culprit at the mercy of Lunatic.
Episode 17: Kotetsu takes a paid vacation to visit his hometown and family. His mother Anju and older brother Muramasa soon realize that something is wrong with him and he has a hard time getting on his daughter Kaede's good side. While confessing to Muramasa that his powers are declining, Kotetsu reminisces about the promise he made to his late wife Tomoe to always be a hero, moments before she died. The next day, Kaede is trapped in a temple when a storm breaks out. Kotetsu uses his power, locating Kaede thanks to his sharpened hearing, and manages to rescue her even after his power runs out. Having reconciled with his daughter, Kotetsu decides to resign from being a hero and focus on his family. When Kaede bids him farewell, Kotetsu is surprised to find that she is a NEXT, seeing that she was running after the train using his powers.
Episode 18: As Kotetsu tries to work up the courage to announce he is retiring, Barnaby goes to see Kriem, who has awakened from a coma she was in since the Jake incident. She talks about how Jake saved her when she was ostracized by her friends and family for being a NEXT. Before committing suicide, she reveals that Jake was not the one who killed Barnaby's parents, as he was with her on the day they were killed. Barnaby goes into denial, saying he remembers his parents' death clearly, but some video research shows discrepancies between reality and Barnaby's memory. Upon this revelation, Barnaby's memory of the murderer's face keeps changing and he starts to doubt if he should continue being a hero, giving Kotetsu no room to tell him about his own intention to quit. Meanwhile, Kaede is trying to deal with her emerging NEXT power, the ability to copy the power of any NEXT she has touched, not realizing her father is a NEXT despite this revelation.
Rating: 9/10 (Average)
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