Hiro Nakamura/Season Two
This article archives the history of Hiro Nakamura during Season Two.
For more about Hiro Nakamura, see the main article.
For Hiro Nakamura's Season One history, see here.
For Hiro Nakamura's Season Three history, see here.
For Hiro Nakamura's Season Four history, see here.
For Hiro Nakamura's Heroes Reborn history, see here.
Character History
Four Months Later...
Hiro is in feudal Japan. He narrowly escapes death by freezing time, taking Takezo Kensei with him. It turns out that he did not save Takezo Kensei, but a stand in. The real Takezo gets upset that he frightened away his stand in. Hiro then calls him a hero, to which Takezo is surprised, but Hiro is surprised that Takezo is English. Hiro and Takezo later walk to Otsu, and on the way Hiro finds out that his childhood hero is not as heroic as he imagined.
Lizards
In the past, Hiro asks around looking for Takezo and finds him drunk. Hiro dunks Takezo's head in a trough and tells him that he needs to go after Yaeko and save her. He explains that before he came back in time Takezo was supposed to be a great warrior and that she would become his princess. Takezo tells Hiro that he looks like a fish when he talks and Hiro dunks his head in the trough again. Hiro laments that he already ruined the past and that if Takezo won't be a hero then he'll have to. He takes Takezo's outfit and rides off.
Hiro, dressed as Takezo Kensei, calls out to Whitebeard's men demanding that they leave Yaeko alone. The leader asks Hiro how he can boast of his swordsmanship when he doesn't even have a sword. Hiro tells him that he doesn't need a sword because he has all of their swords. He uses his ability to stop time and take all the swords from the men. The men take aim with their bows and Hiro laughs and tells them they shouldn't. Before they can fire, Hiro stops time again and takes their bows and arrows from them. He tells them to leave before he takes their clothes next. The men run off as Hiro suggests they refer to this as "The Battle of Twelve Swords." Yaeko, believing Hiro to be Takezo, thanks him. Hiro asks Yaeko to ride back with him. The two dismount the horse and Yaeko apologizes to Hiro for thinking that Takezo had just left with their money. He promises to rescue Yaeko's father. They enter a clearing surrounded by cherry blossoms and talk about their beauty. Yaeko asks Hiro to take off his mask, but Hiro tells her that she disarms him and that he shouldn't. He tells her that his love for her will be legendary. After stopping time and taking off his mask, Hiro disappears.
Hiro looks for Takezo, who is angry that Hiro stole his armor. Hiro explains that he needed to use it to save Yaeko and to make people think that Takezo was a hero. Hiro explains that "Kensei" disarmed 11 men and rescued a beautiful woman. Takezo is skeptical, but Yaeko enters and thanks Takezo, telling him that he forgot his sword. She tells him that they must go rescue her father now. Takezo tells Hiro that apparently listening to him will earn him more reward and asks him to make him a hero. They exit and are confronted by the men from earlier. The men shoot Takezo with three arrows and leave with Yaeko. Hiro pulls an arrow from Takezo and soon notices that the wound heals itself.
Kindred
Hiro communicates with Ando by writing a series of letters and hiding them in the hilt of the Kensei sword. He tells Ando about his life in 1671.
Hiro talks with Kensei and explains that they are both "special". Kensei dismisses the thought and calls Hiro a devil. Later Hiro sees Kensei testing his power and talks to him about it. Hiro explains that powers should be used for ethical reasons, not for financial gain. Hiro then teleports Kensei to a temple where the ninety angry ronin protect the Fire Scroll. Hiro than teleports away. Later he is talking to Yaeko; she thinks that Kensei has two personalities, one of them actually being Hiro. Hiro writes to Ando that he has fallen in love with Yaeko and instead of leaving, he will stay in Otsu a little bit longer.
Graphic Novel:The Trial of the Black Bear
Hiro is a small, cat-like creature who is the sidekick to Takezo Kensei. They are trying to capture the map to Whitebeard's camp, which is held by the Black Bear of Sakashita. A cub holds the map while its mother is distracted chasing Kensei. This gives Hiro a chance to grab the map.
Fight or Flight
Ando brings the scrolls from Hiro to Tatsuya Atsumi, who tells Ando it's authentic. Ando tells him that a few scrolls are damaged and he must know what they say. After some work, Tatsuya puts it under a microscope to show the hidden characters. On the scroll, it tells Hiro's tale of helping Kensei. Kensei and Hiro run up to Yaeko with another fragment of the tapestry to find Whitebeard's camp and help find Yaeko's father.
The Line
Ando and Tatsuya Atsumi continue to read Hiro's scrolls. Hiro continues his story of his quest with Kensei and Yaeko while they are on Kiso Mountain. The day before they invade Whitebeard's camp, Hiro asks Yaeko not to go into battle, but she insists that when she is with Kensei, she cannot be harmed. She wonders where they will find her father, and Hiro recalls the tale that Kensei found him in the tent that smolders. She insists that they cannot guess when Kensei arrives, telling her that her father is in the smoldering tent. Yaeko shoots Hiro a look, and he tells the couple that they should begin to get ready.
Hiro, Kensei and Yaeko approach Whitebeard's camp to find the swordsmith. Kensei knocks out a guard, and the three run into the tent to find Yaeko's father. Hiro introduces himself, and introduces Kensei as well. They try to remove the chains holding the swordsmith in place, but he tells them they must not, because he needs to destroy Whitebeard's guns. Hiro asks where he was able to get guns since the emperor banned them, but the swordsmith tells Hiro that he showed Whitebeard how to make them in exchange for Yaeko's safety. He explains that Whitebeard intends on overthrowing the emperor, and Hiro remarks that Kensei must save Japan by destroying the guns. Kensei nods, and begins to hack at the chains.
After sunrise, Hiro, Yaeko, Kensei and the swordsmith run away, with Kensei killing many men in their way. Guards alert of the attack, and Whitebeard fires a rifle towards the invading party. The bullet nearly hits Hiro or Yaeko, but Hiro teleports the two to safety. Yaeko asks what happened, and how the two were moved from where they were. Hiro tells her they must find Kensei, but she asks Hiro if he was able to move them, then realizes that Hiro has been doing amazing things around her, including the Battle of Twelve Swords and their moment under the cherry blossoms. She asks if Hiro loves her, and he tells her very much. She tells Hiro that everything she loved in Kensei was in fact Hiro, and begins to kiss Hiro. Hiro freezes time, and wonders about the space-time continuum, but then unfreezes time and kisses Yaeko. Kensei, standing from a distance, sees the two kiss. Later, Hiro finds Kensei after searching for hours, but Kensei reveals that he saw Hiro kiss Yaeko. Hiro apologizes, and urges Kensei to fulfill his destiny. As Hiro walks away, he is knocked unconscious by Kensei.
Out of Time
Hiro goes to destroy White Beard's guns to save Japan. Hiro tells Yaeko to go and wait for hi under the cherry blossoms. In the tent containing the guns, Hiro is confronted by Kensei. The two begin to have a swordfight, knocking over a lantern in the process. Hiro is able to knock Kensei down, but when he discovers that barrels of gunpowder have caught fire, he tells Kensei to grab his hand so they can escape. But Kensei, due to his newfound hatred of Hiro, will not go. Hiro teleports out, and the tent explodes with Kensei inside. Hiro goes to meet Yaeko and tells her of Kensei's demise. She tells him that as far as she was concerned, Hiro was Kensei. She promises to spread the stories of Kensei (with the ending that Hiro had heard in the stories, that ended with Kensei cutting out his heart to save Japan and his princess.) The two kiss and Hiro teleports back to the Yamagato Industries building to see Ando. He gives Ando Kensei's helmet. Hiro is thrilled to hear that they had stopped the explosion in New York. He wants to tell his father of all his journeys in Japan, but is shocked to hear his father was murdered.
Cautionary Tales
Hiro attends his father's funeral and Japanese tradition states that the eldest son is the first to give an eulogy. He refuses to give the eulogy because doing so would mean he accepted his father's death. Hiro returns to the rooftop the day of the murder and listens in on the conversation between Kaito and Angela Petrelli. Kaito mentions that the Company had killed many people and the murderer was seeking revenge on them. After Angela leaves, Hiro confronts his father and attempts to convince him that its not worth dying for. Hiro and Kaito travel back 17 years to the day of Hiro's mother's and Kaito's wife's funeral to show him how much pain he was feeling for his death, just as his father did for his mother.
Hiro encounters his younger self who is fighting with a sword as Takezo Kensei and gives him some words of advice. Hiro admits that he was childish and returns his father to the future. Hiro seemingly disappears from the roof and the killer appears. Just as the killer pushes Kaito over the edge, time stops and Hiro emerges from the darkness. If he could not save his father, he could still find out who the killer was. And Hiro does as he sees the face of Adam Monroe under the hood.
Hiro returns to his father's funeral and repeats that he cannot give an eulogy because his father is still alive in him.
Truth & Consequences
Hiro and Ando find out more about Kensei and that he has been using the new name Adam Monroe. Hiro travels back to 1977 and finds out that Adam was imprisoned by Kaito, Hiro's father, after he almost released a deadly virus. Hiro finds out where the virus is being kept and travels to Primatech Paper in Odessa, Texas. He arrives with the intention of killing Adam, only to find that Peter Petrelli is accompanying Adam. Peter says he cannot let Hiro kill Adam, and at the very end of the episode Hiro cries out and runs towards Peter with his sword drawn, ready to attack.
Powerless
Hiro tries to convince Peter Petrelli that Adam Monroe wants to release the Shanti virus, not destroy it, but Peter is unconvinced and, despite Hiro's teleportation ability, manages to knock Hiro out twice — once with lightning and once with telekinesis. While Matt Parkman and Nathan Petrelli try and reason with Peter, Hiro confronts Adam in the vault where the virus is kept. Before Adam can open the vial containing the virus, Hiro teleports them both away. Left behind, the vial falls to the floor, but is caught by Peter's telekinesis before it can shatter.
Ando finds Hiro in a cubicle at Yamagato Industries, and asks about Adam. Hiro cryptically replies that Adam will never harm anyone again. Adam is then shown inside a coffin in an unmarked grave in Aoyama Cemetery, buried alive and screaming for Hiro to let him out.
Graphic Novel:The Ten Brides of Takezo Kensei
Trapped in the coffin Hiro left him in, Adam Monroe remembers how he has outlived and survived all of the world's greatest men and women other than Hiro Nakamura.
Graphic Novel:Past Experience
Years ago, Hiro listened to his father tell stories about Takezo Kensei, including one in which Kensei breaks the Sword of Oni to settle a petty dispute. Later, Hiro attends Kaito's funeral with his sister.
Graphic Novel:The Kill Squad, Part 1
Members of a Company support team discuss their pasts during a mission with Thompson, Jr. and Donna Dunlap. One of the team's members, Rosetti, comments that before this mission, he was stationed under Yamagato, "keeping tabs on Nakamura's son".