B-Big Sis...?
Inori never would have dreamed that she—who was always called "little Inori" or "Inori-chan"—would one day be addressed like that. On top of that, Josuke's full delinquent getup... aside from the outrageous hairstyle, his school uniform had been heavily customized too: collar thrown wide open, two oversized gold pins on his chest, one of which was an absurdly flashy heart shape.
Being called "Big Sis" by someone like that made Inori feel, for a brief moment, like she'd become some kind of yakuza boss putting a subordinate in his place.
But he'd finally calmed down. Best not to make a fuss over something so trivial right now.
"Hmph. Didn't expect you to be such a gentleman."
"Get up."
Inori leaned down and offered her hand, but Josuke just shook his head and refused, pulling himself to his feet on his own.
Josuke's face was in rough shape. That first punch had left his jaw visibly swollen, but the anger was gone now—replaced by a kind of clarity, like steam finally venting after too long.
"I'm Josuke Higashikata... a first-year at Budogaoka High. Are you a student too, Big Sis?"
He rubbed his nose and grinned.
"I'm not, but my friend over there is."
"..."
Josuke followed Inori's gaze and turned around. The clear sky on his face immediately clouded over again. Koichi met those fierce eyes and couldn't help another full-body shudder.
"I'll let you off this once for Big Sis's sake! But remember—anyone who dares badmouth this head of mine won't get away with it!"
"Um... Josuke, I really didn't say any of that!"
Koichi was on the verge of tears.
"Huh? Don't worry about it, it's water under the bridge. I'm not going to hit you again."
Even though his hair was an absolute no-go zone, once the blaze of fury passed, Josuke always cooled right back down. Underneath it all, he was gentle and good-natured—just a bit tsundere. He fiddled with his hair and grumbled, but didn't lose his temper again.
"Josuke, something about this feels off." Inori's brows drew together slightly. She was starting to notice that the cause of this whole incident didn't quite add up.
"Koichi and I genuinely didn't say anything like that. He barely mentioned your hairstyle before I stopped him."
There was no reason, no evidence—but her instincts told her this was no coincidence.
"Huh? But I definitely heard it coming from your direction—something really nasty, like 'cow-dung head' or something... Could I have been hearing things?"
"A voice?" Inori placed her hand on Josuke's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Are you sure it was actually Koichi's voice?"
"...Now that you mention it, Big Sis, it did sound a little different..."
This is a Stand attack! Josuke and Koichi had been hit by someone else's Stand without either of them noticing. But there was no one suspicious in their vicinity, and no strange Stand in sight. Damn it. Inori's mind raced. Was there a Stand in the original story that could redirect sound?
Part Four's plot was relatively low-key compared to the other arcs—more of an episodic series built around various Stand users' daily lives. She couldn't immediately think of a Stand that could do something like this. But whoever it was, they had to still be nearby.
Her guard shot to maximum. She didn't have time to overthink it. Her eyes swept across the surrounding area. If someone had used sound to provoke Josuke, they had to be someone who knew his personality well—possibly even aware that he was a Stand user.
Never mind why they'd targeted her and Koichi. The fact that they'd deliberately engineered a fight between Josuke and her meant they had to be hiding somewhere out of the way, watching the show they'd orchestrated. But who? Tch!
Unfortunately, Epitaph couldn't replay the last few minutes—it could only see forward. The attacker had probably fled after watching Josuke lose. Damn it... why couldn't she remember? What Stand had an ability like this? And who would pull this kind of prank?
"That voice was really annoying though... felt like I'd heard it somewhere before. Ah! Can't remember!" Josuke slapped his own cheeks in frustration. "Whatever, forget it. Must've just been my ears playing tricks."
—!
Inori activated Epitaph, nervously scanning the images of what would happen ten seconds from now. She'd been about to give up, accepting they'd missed their chance, when she suddenly saw Josuke inexplicably swing his elbow backward and strike Koichi hard on the head.
What's going on?
Josuke Higashikata was absolutely not the kind of person who would pretend to make peace and then attack from behind. And he was clearly no longer fixated on the earlier misunderstanding. The outcome Epitaph was showing—"Koichi gets hit"—was already locked in and couldn't be changed. But something had to happen in between to cause it.
Inori steadied herself. King Crimson's eyes widened, focusing every ounce of attention on Josuke and Koichi's surroundings. In these few seconds, something was going to affect them. She couldn't miss a single detail—she had to scan every inch of air.
...It was something truly insignificant. If King Crimson didn't have A-rank precision, she never would have caught it. Glinting faintly with rainbow light in the sun... it was a bubble. It shot in from the direction of the dessert shop behind them at an uncanny speed, then landed silently on Josuke's arm and burst.
The moment she saw that bubble, everything clicked into place. She understood. The name of this Stand was Soft & Wet. Its ability was to generate bubbles that could destroy things or strip their properties—absorbing them and releasing them somewhere else.
That was what had happened earlier: the user had spoken the words "cow-dung head," stored the sound inside a bubble, then sent it floating over to Josuke's location to release it. Naturally, Josuke assumed the closest people—Inori and Koichi—were the source.
And now the same person had stored a shove inside a bubble, let it pop on Josuke's arm, and created the illusion that Josuke was deliberately attacking Koichi.
But something was wrong. Soft & Wet was the Stand of Josuke Higashikata from JoJolion—Part Eight's protagonist. How could it possibly exist in 1999 Morioh? Had the timeline gotten scrambled again?
"—!"
It happened before Josuke could react. He had no idea what was going on—his arm jerked backward as if someone had shoved it, and Koichi, standing right behind him, took the full force of the elbow to the head. Stars exploded behind Koichi's eyes. Blood streamed from his nose.
"Hey! Are you okay?"
Josuke was horrified. What was wrong with him today? First he'd misheard voices, and now his arm was moving on its own. It was like his body had stopped listening to him.
"..."
Koichi looked up at Josuke with an expression of pure resentment, then closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
"Hey! Ah... how did this happen? Big Sis, what do I do? I swear I didn't mean to—my arm just moved by itself!"
Josuke was panicking now. He cradled the unconscious Koichi and looked helplessly at Inori.
He wasn't stupid, either. In this girl's eyes, he'd just deliberately hurt her friend after promising not to. She was definitely going to brand him a liar and a delinquent.
"Josuke, take Koichi somewhere to rest and apply some medicine. I'll be right back."
Inori said it evenly, her tone flat and calm. King Crimson's entire body blazed with scarlet light—her Stand's special ability. Josuke blinked, and in that instant Inori had teleported to the front of the dessert shop ahead.