Morioh was a coastal town with unparalleled beach scenery and a mild climate, attracting many tourists every summer.
By July, the Morioh Grand Hotel was always fully booked.
Early in the morning, Jolyne was awakened by noise from the next room. She struggled to reach out from under the covers and grab the clock on the nightstand. It wasn't even seven yet—right around her old prison wake-up time.
Putting the clock back, Jolyne got up and washed up in one fluid motion. After triple-checking that today's braids were impeccable, she left her room.
Morioh was nice, but she couldn't stay here long. She needed to get back to America.
"Hey! Ellen!"
Just after leaving the hotel, she ran into Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura, who greeted her with extreme enthusiasm.
"Ah, hello," Jolyne nodded briefly. For some reason, she felt Josuke's enthusiasm towards her was a bit over the top. Maybe she was overthinking it; maybe he was just a sunny, outgoing person.
"Ellen, where are you going so early?"
"To the ferry terminal."
Josuke looked puzzled: "The ferry terminal? Are you leaving Morioh?"
Jolyne nodded. "Yeah, I need to go home. My family will worry if I'm out for too long."
"Huh? But your family is right—" Okuyasu Nijimura didn't get to finish before Josuke clamped a hand over his mouth, forcing him to swallow the rest of his words.
"Mmph mmph!" Okuyasu didn't understand why his buddy was doing this to him, frantically sending signals, but they were all ignored.
"Haha," Josuke pushed the other boy away and leaned in. "G-going home is good! Even though I'll super miss you, I wish you a safe journey."
Having said that, Josuke dragged Okuyasu Nijimura away at high speed. Jolyne didn't overthink it, just assumed the two were running late.
Once they were out of sight, Josuke found a phone booth, frantically dialed a number, his foot tapping the ground incessantly while he waited for the call to connect. Finally, someone picked up.
"Hello, Mr. Jotaro? Something terrible has happened..."
---
The ferry ticket hall was packed with tourists. The line in front of the ticket counter was longer than Jolyne's life expectancy...
Since it was 1999, self-service ticket machines hadn't been invented yet. Jolyne could only scowl and honestly join the queue.
One hour later...
"I'm sorry, miss. The ferries to Tokyo are fully booked for today."
Nani?!
Jolyne's fist hardened.
But, hindered by the ticket clerk's sincere attitude and sweet smile, she couldn't exactly blow up, so she just fumed silently.
"When will tickets be available?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Ah... one moment, please." The ticket clerk tapped away on a desktop computer. "Due to route maintenance, the routes to Tokyo are suspended for the next few days. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused."
"What?! How long until they're running again?"
"Um... my system shows the earliest is one week from now. Perhaps you could come back in seven days?" The ticket clerk was sweating but maintained her professional smile.
Jolyne was truly out of options. Stewing in anger, she left the ticket hall and began to consider the feasibility of staying in Morioh for seven days.
"This is really enough..." she had no choice but to compromise with reality.
As for how to arrange these seven days, she'd have to figure that out after getting back to the hotel.
"Ah... I'm so sorry!"
Jolyne was walking on a perfectly wide sidewalk but still managed to get bumped into head-on. Worse, the coffee in the other person's hand splashed all over her.
She was about to get angry when she met the other person's extremely apologetic expression.
It was a woman with long, navy blue hair like an endless ocean and obsidian eyes like a starry night sky. She was very beautiful.
Everything happened too suddenly. The woman's things were scattered all over the ground—they looked like manuscript pages. It seemed she worked in some writing-related field.
"Are you okay? Thankfully, I ordered my coffee iced today. If it had been hot, the consequences would have been unthinkable..." The woman took out a handkerchief and helped wipe the stains from Jolyne's clothes, muttering nonstop.
"Ah! Your clothes won't come clean. What should we do..." The woman looked as if facing a great enemy, her delicate face full of guilt.
Jolyne usually had no defense against sincerely apologetic people. Her anger had mostly dissipated by the time the woman was diligently wiping her down. "It's not a big deal."
"Are you hurt?" Jolyne crouched down and, while the woman wasn't looking, summoned her Stand to gather the scattered manuscript pages. She handed them over. "Your things."
"Thank you so much! I'm the one who caused you such trouble, and yet you helped me pick up my things. I'm so embarrassed." The woman took the manuscripts, covering her blushing face.
Just as Jolyne was about to leave, the woman called out to her again: "My name is Mari Nishikimi. I'm a mystery novelist who just moved to town. If you don't mind, please come to my house to change clothes."
Afraid she would refuse, Mari Nishikimi quickly added, "Don't worry, my house isn't far from here, just behind this street. It won't take up too much of your time."
Jolyne looked down at her clothes. She happened to be wearing a white crop top today, and the brown stain on the front was glaringly obvious.
From her behavior just now, this Mari Nishikimi didn't seem to be a Stand user, just an ordinary person. Thinking this, Jolyne accepted the invitation.
The woman hadn't lied. After walking out of the main street and through a small alley, Mari Nishikimi brought her to a villa. "This is my home. Please, come in." She took out a key, opened the large door, and made an inviting gesture.
Unlike the luxurious exterior, the villa's interior was very simply furnished. Aside from basic furniture, there were no extra items. It seemed she really had just moved in.
Because she'd moved in recently, she'd only bought essential furniture and hadn't had time to consider decorations yet.
"Please excuse the mess. It's a bit simple and crude since I just moved in. It's rather embarrassing for others to see." Mari Nishikimi led her upstairs. "By the way, I haven't asked your name yet?"
"My name is Ellen," Jolyne said.
"Ellen? That's a lovely name. Did your father choose it?"
"No." The thought of Jotaro Kujo made Jolyne intensely uncomfortable. Even though she now understood her father's difficulties, interacting with him was still very awkward.
"Then your mother chose it. It's a very beautiful name."
As she spoke, Mari Nishikimi pushed open the door on the left. "This is my dressing room. Please pick something you like, if you don't mind." Mari Nishikimi stood at the door, very thoughtfully closed it, and left her with the vast space.
Jolyne was dazzled by the array of clothes in the wardrobe. She usually paid quite a bit of attention to fashion, buying every issue of the popular magazines. She was certain that Mari Nishikimi was just like her.
No, she was an even more obsessed fashion player than Jolyne.
In the end, she chose a solid-colored spaghetti strap maxi dress, perfect for a seaside style.
After changing, Jolyne stood in front of the full-length mirror. The dress fit perfectly. The excellent cut highlighted her superior head-to-body ratio, and the fitted fabric accentuated her figure even more.
Jolyne was very satisfied. The morning's bad mood vanished. She prepared to leave the room and thank Mari Nishikimi.
But as her hand touched the doorknob, something unexpected happened.
The doorknob... broke off.
She definitely hadn't used force, yet the doorknob broke off in her hand without warning.
Jolyne frowned. Today, she was being excessively unlucky. Causing trouble on her first visit to someone's house was really rather embarrassing.
"Let's call it even. Yare yare."
Jolyne knocked on the door from inside. "Nishikimi? Can you open the door for me?"
No response.
Maybe she wasn't outside the door? Maybe she'd gone downstairs or somewhere else and couldn't hear? Jolyne knocked again, harder this time, and called out for Mari. Yet, no matter how she called, there was no movement from outside.
Was the room soundproofed too well? Jolyne thought this, but her knocking didn't stop.
After a good while, there was still no response. "Well, no choice then."
She walked over to the window, preparing to climb out. "I'll just knock on the front door to thank her later."
But the moment she touched the window, a fierce wind began to blow outside. The wind howled, whipping the curtains violently. A broken tree branch shot through the glass like an arrow, countless shards transforming into blades flying toward her.
Today was really enough!
Jolyne summoned [Stone Free] and unleashed a flurry of Ora Ora's, blocking all the fragments.
She thought that would be the end of it, but the fragments deflected by [Stone Free] hit the ceiling light fixture. The entire light fixture fell. Jolyne quickly dodged to avoid being hit.
But the wardrobe nearby wasn't so lucky. The heavy light fixture smashed into it. The cabinet glass shattered instantly with a deafening crash, and the clothes inside were inevitably torn.
The damaged wardrobe lost its balance and toppled over, taking the second, the third... like dominoes. In the end, none were spared.
Staring at the mess on the floor, Jolyne didn't know what to say.
But one thing she was sure of: this wasn't an accident! It was a Stand attack!
She was under attack by an unknown Stand user!
Indeed, the rule that Stand users attract each other never changes, no matter where you go.
Who was it? When had they used their Stand ability on her?
Jolyne calmed down and tried hard to recall everyone she'd encountered since leaving the hotel...
First, rule out Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura. They were a bit suspicious today, but definitely not about this.
The ticket clerk? No, not her. She hadn't felt anything unusual in the ticket hall.
After leaving the ticket hall, she ran into Mari Nishikimi, who spilled coffee all over her...
Creating physical contact... enthusiastic invitation... Mari Nishikimi...
Mari Nishikimi was the Stand user!
"Dammit!" She'd been careless again! This person had deliberately pretended to be harmless to make her let her guard down!
An enemy? Had Father Pucci sensed her so quickly and sent a Stand user already?
Forget it, whatever! She'd just punch Mari Nishikimi hard first after catching her!
"Stone Free!" Jolyne stopped holding back, directly summoning her Stand's complete form and delivering maximum force output against the door, violently breaking it down.
The moment the door shattered, Mari Nishikimi was sitting on the hallway railing, watching her every move with calm composure.
"Excellent! As expected of the person I've taken a liking to!" Mari Nishikimi clapped while furiously writing on her manuscript.
Who knows what she was recording.
"Did Father Pucci send you?" Jolyne couldn't be bothered with small talk and got straight to the point.
"Huh?" Mari Nishikimi spread her hands, looking innocent. "Sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about."
This infuriating attitude made Jolyne furious. She directly threw a punch.
However... it missed.
Mari Nishikimi looked at her calmly. "Lucky! Within my range, you can't hit me, Ellen-chan~"
"Shut up." Jolyne grew increasingly angry. Everything that had just happened was too strange. Her punch was definitely aimed at Mari Nishikimi, but for some reason, it just went off target.
It was like... like an invisible force was manipulating everything.
To figure this out, she first needed to understand the opponent's Stand ability.
The other woman had been outside the room the whole time she was inside, meaning Mari Nishikimi's Stand's range wasn't great. It was likely a close-combat type.
Each Stand only has one ability. If she can manipulate objects to attack, she shouldn't be able to dodge...
The only answer for why she could do both was—there were two Stand users!
Just like last time when her father was attacked in prison, there were two enemies! Mari Nishikimi was the obvious one, and another was hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment.
Yes, that had to be it!
What she needed to do now was ferret out the one hiding in the shadows.
"Hey, Mari Nishikimi," Jolyne said with a scornful smile, enunciating each word clearly. "Is your Stand only capable of simple object manipulation?"
She paused for effect. "Such a low-level Stand ability could never defeat me."
"Hah? What are you talking about?" Jolyne's words successfully broke through Mari Nishikimi's defenses. "Low-level? I, Mari Nishikimi, absolutely forbid such a low-level word to be used on me!"