The Naruhata Festival, or Narufest for short, is a free community show hosted by the Naruhata branch of the Marukane Department Store, held on the first Saturday of every month at 10 AM.[1]
Overview#
The musical event was created by the company's executives to celebrate the reopening of the Marukane Department Store after the damage caused by the villain Ryuichi Gojiyama was repaired. It was originally planned as a smaller event aimed at people who stopped by to eat on the rooftop, coinciding with the opening of a food court, but thanks to Makoto Tsukauchi, it became a full-fledged music festival.[2]
The Narufest takes place on the Skypark rooftop of the building, with a capacity for 300 people. Artists and young talents from Naruhata participate in the festival, although the most popular performances are undoubtedly those by FeatherHATS, a band promoted by the company itself. In addition to musicians and singers, Narufest frequently features Heroes as special guests.
Synopsis#
Vs. Queen Bee Arc#
After weeks of preparation since its announcement, the first Narufest takes place. Numerous pro-heroes such as Best Jeanist, Midnight, Death Arms, and Present Mic, the latter also acting as the festival's host, attended as guests. However, some of the most famous, such as All Might, Endeavor, and Ingenium, decided not to attend for various reasons.
The event run smoothly until the daytime show of Narufest ends with a solo performed by the Enka singer Harusaburo Nanboku, who sang his long-running hit "Yearning for Naruhata", earning him a standing ovation from the audience. Present Mic strolls on stage and tells the audience to stick around, highlighting the guest appearances of his fellow Heroes and the nighttime stage show with FeatherHATS.[3]
With just a few minutes left before the performance is due to begin, a power outage occurs due to a battle between Eraser Head and the Next-Level Villains Teruo Unagisawa taking place nearby. Because of this, FeatherHATS's debut performance has to be postponed as the present staff and Heroes keep watch over the confused audience. The possibility of cancelling the festival is being considered, but fortunately Captain Celebrity arrives to help, and Makoto asks him to go and retrieve some spare generators to restore the power.
To maintain the audience's attention and entertain them until the situation is resolved, Pop☆Step is convinced to go on stage and address the audience calm.[4] Although nervous at first, She manages to explain the situation to the audience and that the staff is working hard to resolve it. Until then, as an intermittent performance, Pop decides to perform one of her own songs, keeping the citizens animated and entertained.[5]
Finally the power is restored and the FeatherHATS are able to perform their rock remix of the Marukane Department Store jingle.[6] The performance ends up being a complete success with no further incidents to interrupt it and the crowd goes wild, applauding and cheering the band for their song.[7] Due to the huge success of this first festival, Marukane management decided to organize more live events for the future.
Osaka Incident Arc#
Some time after the first festival, Pop☆Step announces on the streets the celebration of a new Narufest, and from then the live event will be held on at 10 AM on the first Saturday of every month.[1]
The day of the second Narufest arrives. Although FeatherHATS will not be performing that day, Pop is the one hosting the concert, introducing some new talents. After thanking everyone for attending the event, she closes out the morning block with a community music showcasing, which starts off with a performance of "Can't Help Loving You" by the Sisters of Saint Lila's Academy.
During an intermission, Miu meets the Little Sisters in the Green Room. Banking on the arrival of Captain Celebrity as the special guest, she has been telling they will meet a real hero so they should do their best and do Narufest proud. However, Kazuho comes up to her and quietly informs her that Makoto has notified that Captain Celebrity cannot come because he is too busy with a commercial shoot. Miu freaks out because everyone is expecting a pro hero as a special guest. Now, they have to improvise to get out of the quagmire. Suddenly, Koichi appears and greets everyone, giving Miu a desperate solution.
Using Koichi as the concert's last-minute special guest, Miu gears him in his Vigilante costume and throws him on stage, where Kazuho announces his presence to the audience as "The Crawler", the hero everyone has been waiting for. The concertgoers are left confused and baffled by his presence. Despite this discouraging reception, The Crawler decides to perform "Can't Help Loving You" depsite being the same song the Little Sisters sang before.
While this is happening on the set where Captain Celebrity is filming a commercial with Ingenium, a villain known as Number 6 releases Batto Yobayakawa, transformed into a Next-Level Villain, to wreak havoc. Batto immediately sets out in search of Koichi and Knuckleduster, eager to take revenge on them for the defeat they inflicted on him the previous time, unaware that Captain Celebrity is chasing him.
The Villain hears The Crawler singing from the department Store and makes his way towards his location. He swoops onto the stage and crashes the event, flying off with The Crawler clutched in his clawed feet. Fortunately, this allows Captain Celebrity to catch up with him, knocking the evildoer out and saving Koichi’s life. He lands on stage to greet everyone, giving the crowd their long-awaited visit from an actual licensed Hero; and Pop, Miu and Yu are relieved that he managed to show up after all.[8]