The middle-aged man's voice, of course, was easily explained: vocal mimicry.
Inori Yuzuriha had an almost freakish natural gift for voice. Mimicking voices came as easily as breathing — she simply replicated Diavolo's voice from memory as best she could and used it for all communication with GHQ. Her terms for cooperation were non-negotiable: she would never meet in person, and they were not to attempt to investigate her identity. If either condition was violated, she would sever all contact.
Inori's first move had been to hand them a considerable gift — intelligence on several Apocalypse Virus carriers attempting to smuggle themselves out of the country. After that, she'd used King Crimson's ability to crack a string of tangled cases, even personally apprehending a number of criminals. On the strength of these achievements, she had successfully secured a position as GHQ's consulting investigator.
They would never have imagined — that "Mr. Diavolo" was actually a young girl like this.
A dual identity was an excellent tool. It not only protected her, but allowed her to accomplish many things that this body's limitations would otherwise prevent.
"So Funeral Parlor is already making its move?"
Inori's brow knitted as she began mapping out her next step.
Right now, Mana Ouma's soul was undoubtedly in the hands of that old fossil Shuichiro Keido. On the surface, storming his location and forcing answers out of him with King Crimson seemed like the most direct approach — but it was completely unworkable in practice. King Crimson's effectiveness dropped sharply in one-against-many situations, and given Keido's personality, no amount of interrogation would make him yield.
His deepest wish was for Mana to be resurrected. Inori had considered letting herself be "captured," trusting that Keido would then proceed with a soul transfer and return Mana to her body — but she had no absolute guarantee that she could contain Mana's soul. If she were overwritten in the process, it would all be over.
Even setting that aside, escaping from a location surrounded by an entire army wasn't something to take lightly. Inori had no intention of gambling on those odds. Recovering Epitaph's ability mattered, yes — but survival came first.
"Whatever. Enough."
She didn't like staying mired in thought. If she couldn't think her way through it, she'd stop thinking about it.
Inori shook herself back to the present, finished filling in the upload details for the new song, clicked post — and immediately rose and went to the wardrobe, selecting a sleek black dress.
...
...
Tokyo. Roppongi.
The line between desolation and the city's hollow prosperity could be drawn with a single clean stroke. On one side: the false glitter built on power and force. On the other: the grim reality built on rubble and the virus. It was the most honest portrait of the country as it stood.
Inori Yuzuriha stood at the edge of the quarantine zone's perimeter wall and looked in.
By now it was evening. Under the amber wash of dusk, the quarantine zone felt even more dead and sunken — crows perched on rusted utility poles, rasping their ugly calls into the air. It could have been the opening shot of a horror film.
Inori breathed in slowly. Based on her investigation, the drug trafficking ring's safe house should be somewhere near this building. They'd be extremely wary of any GHQ-affiliated personnel — but for Inori, who held King Crimson and kept her true identity hidden, finding them posed no real difficulty.
Before that, though, there was one thing she needed to do: disguise.
She crouched down swiftly, unlatched her carry case, and pulled out a complete set of men's athletic wear plus an oversized hooded coat — all in the largest available sizes. She layered them directly over her own clothing, swapped into a pair of oversized boots, and pulled on well-made leather gloves. The whole thing hung off her like she was drowning in it; she had the brief, absurd sensation of having shrunk into a small child. That was precisely the point.
"King Crimson."
Inori called her Stand out in a soft murmur.
King Crimson's towering frame immediately materialized over Inori's body, dutifully inflating the borrowed men's clothing from the inside. Since Stands were physical manifestations of a person's fighting spirit, only other Stand users could perceive them — and King Crimson's range was E, meaning Inori couldn't direct it to act more than two meters away from her.
That meant it couldn't go out and operate independently. Hence this inelegant workaround.
Step one: wear the disguise. Step two: summon King Crimson to fill it out. Step three: hood pulled down over the face. Crude method — surprisingly effective. She'd slipped past people with this same trick several times while appearing as "Diavolo," and no one had seen through it once.
Red light flashed. The silhouette of "Diavolo" slipped past the quarantine zone's perimeter wall and vanished into the other side.
...
...
Haaah… so tired.
The guard on watch duty stared up at the round moon overhead and let out a jaw-cracking yawn, then turned to complain to his partner.
"Boss is way too paranoid. Who's going to find us out here?"
"Shut up and hold out for two more hours. God, I'm starving. Be nice if some girl showed up with food right about now."
"You ask me, we should just operate openly. GHQ isn't going to do anything to us — we've got people inside covering us. The money's too good for anyone to walk away from."
They traded words idly, as if none of it could ever matter — as if no one was listening, and no one ever would.
Then, from directly behind them, came two heavy footfalls.
"Is that so."
"Official collusion, corruption all the way up the chain — no wonder Major Rowan's people couldn't catch you in one sweep."
A voice came from behind them. Low, resonant, magnetic — with the chill of a death knell.
Both men spun around, rifles already raised and shouting over each other.
"Don't move!"
"Stay right there!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
When they actually saw the intruder, the words died in their throats.
The man was nearly two meters tall — possibly more. He wore an oversized hooded coat, the hood drawn so deep that his face was nothing but darkness; not even an edge or an angle was visible. The sheer pressure radiating off him made it hard to breathe.
"It's Diavolo!"
He announced himself — though the voice came out sounding slightly odd.
For someone so large and physically imposing, the tone was bizarrely playful.
But the two guards had no time to make sense of any of it. The man simply reached out both massive hands, clamped them over their heads like iron vises — and cracked the two skulls together, as though knocking a pair of eggs. Both men rolled their eyes back and crumpled instantly, boneless.
King Crimson's power was ranked A. It didn't have Star Platinum's reality-shattering strength — but collapsing an ordinary human's skull took no effort at all.
Inori Yuzuriha wasn't bloodthirsty, though. Unless her life was directly at risk, she tried to leave her opponents alive. Still, that "restraint" had resulted in more than a few people walking away with severe concussions, shattered limbs, and extended hospital stays.
"On to the next one."
Inori looked up. Through King Crimson's shared vision, she could confirm that the security camera mounted on the wall was already compromised — she'd planted a signal jammer on it beforehand. Right now, the monitor in the security room should be playing the same few seconds of the two guards griping at each other on loop.
She'd done this kind of work several times before. The most dangerous occasion had nearly gotten her shot — but people tended to aim for the heart or head, and since Inori's actual body stood at about 165 cm while King Crimson read as well over two meters, any shot aimed at "her" chest would sail clean over her real self.
The plan: neutralize the outer sentries and surveillance, leave the people inside blind, then go straight for the core. Destroy the hideout — then let Major Rowan's people handle the cleanup.
> Author's Note: Asking for votes and blades~ Honestly, I'm really not confident writing this genre… putting all my hopes into the first recommendation!