Summary: Hiromi Sugita

The consequence of a life-threatening conflict from Kayo’s salvation defines Satoru as an epic hero and causes him to enter another conflict, allowing him to save more children but leading to his self-sacrifice. After saving Kayo, Satoru turns his attention toward Hiromi Sugita and Aya Nakanishi. Kenya notices and states, “First [Kayo] and now it’s like you’re Hiromi’s guardian” (“Closure”). Kenya realizes that Satoru has entered another conflict by volunteering to protect Hiromi. Later, Kenya restates that he desires to assist Satoru in any way possible, and again Satoru agrees. Furthermore, Hiromi has always shared close bonds of friendship with Satoru; however, Hiromi spends most of his time alone after his friends go home due to his parents’ work schedules. To diminish Hiromi’s loneliness, Satoru walks
Aya attends a different school and has never met Satoru, but while attempting to talk to her, another of Satoru’s friends, Kazu, brashly asks her to join them at their hideout later. Surprisingly, she appears and falls in love with Kazu. Presently, the gang of friends spends most of their time at the hideout, never lonely. Satoru attempts to incorporate one more child, Misato Yanagihara, into the friend group. Therefore, Satoru’s bravery and determination in protecting Hiromi, Aya, and Misato exemplify him as an epic hero. In Beowulf, slaying Grendel allows the story to progress into larger conflicts as seen in Grendel’s mother and the dragon. After killing Grendel, Beowulf unknowingly enrages its mother. To further protect Hrothgar and Heorot, Beowulf volunteers to fight the new monster. However, the battle exemplifies more difficulty than Beowulf had expected. During the battle, the narrator states, “The sure-footed fight fell daunted, / The strongest of warriors stumbled and fell” (Beowulf 1543-1544). The excerpt depicts the increased difficulty from Beowulf’s battle with Grendel to the battle with its