Every millisecond of those two seconds was worth its weight in gold. Jotaro didn't waste any of them in panic. In the last instant before his Time Stop ran out, he dropped his gaze to his wrist.
8:41:27.
That was the last thing he saw.
He hadn't given up on thinking. Whatever Inori had done, whatever she was about to do to him—the moment he detected the second hand "jumping," he would throw everything aside and have Star Platinum swing in a wide arc behind him.
Time Stop ended. Inori was free.
Fighting time-based Stand users was genuinely strange. But it was also priceless experience. Even if D4C scattered her into another world someday, even if she met enemies who controlled time the same way, she wouldn't be helpless.
In the exchange just before this round had opened, she had already seen it through Epitaph.
Jotaro and Star Platinum blinked straight in front of her, and in the same instant—no gap, no delay—a concussive impact like several drum kits being struck at once tore through the air. Dozens of Star Platinum punches landing simultaneously. King Crimson's surface cratered with dense overlapping dents, and both she and King Crimson were launched backward—badly.
That was the unavoidable future.
But Inori could rewrite it through Time Erasure.
Because Epitaph had shown her the exact moment Jotaro would activate Time Stop, she'd moved first—activating King Crimson a fraction of a second before him—
But this round hadn't gone smoothly.
Like that first time she'd tried to attack Jotaro and he'd Time-Stopped to dodge, leaving her momentarily stunned—by the time she'd caught up, Jotaro was already less than two meters away, head down, staring at his watch. Star Platinum held the pose of a punch just pulled back. What happened was obvious: Jotaro's rapid-fire ORA barrage connecting—that future—had been erased.
In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, Time Erasure is cancelled by Time Stop. But that's a game mechanic. A workaround for a design limitation. In reality, these two abilities exist in a relationship where neither can directly affect the other.
Jotaro activates Time Stop. Inori cannot move.
Inori activates Time Erasure. Jotaro has no memory of that interval.
But Inori has Epitaph—the future-reading cheat. She jumps ahead of Jotaro's activation and starts Time Erasure first. Jotaro goes straight into his own Time Stop, but Inori is already in it—and inside Time Stop, she can't move or think. But her body is already in a state of having leaped outside time. Untouchable. Neither attacking nor attackable. Like using a Zhonya's Hourglass in certain games—invulnerable, locked.
The two seconds end. Inori steps directly into the moment after his attack has been nullified—and now it's his turn to get caught in her Time Erasure.
"Trying to read the moment of Time Erasure from the second hand?"
Inori noticed Jotaro staring intently at his watch and couldn't stop a small laugh.
Then she shook the blood off her clothes—residue from where Soft & Wet had drawn blood from her earlier. Not much. Two drops landed directly on Jotaro's pupils.
"How's this—the blood-in-the-eyes trick."
She laughed out loud, something incandescent and unstoppable washing over her.
"Ha ha ha ha! With this I've sealed Star Platinum's attack completely! Even when time is restored, your eyes won't be able to find me or King Crimson! This is the true peak—my ability wins over Star Platinum! Let time be restored!"
Time Erasure resolved. The crimson silhouette flashed in front of her eyes. This world—having endured both being erased and being stopped—finally returned to normal.
"I win, Jotaro!"
Inori cried out with flushed cheeks, exhilarated—and King Crimson's fist was already swinging.
"...ORA!"
Jotaro snapped back and reacted despite the burning in his eyes, squeezing them shut against the blood. Blood—I know this feeling. Blinded, he still bit down and launched Star Platinum forward, throwing a punch into open space.
King Crimson and Star Platinum's fists crossed on different trajectories, glancing off each other—and both scored. In the same instant, Jotaro and Inori were repelled from each other like same-pole magnets, both flung in opposite directions.
"Guh——"
Inori grabbed her chest, the pain making her cough up blood.
"That's impossible. You couldn't see your watch anymore—even by feel you shouldn't have had zero reaction time. How—how could there be no delay at all?"
It was like he'd known in advance exactly when she would cancel Time Erasure.
"...I couldn't see it. You're right."
Jotaro got up—harder this time. His jaw was badly swollen. Talking made him spit blood. Star Platinum had hit the chest; King Crimson had gone straight for the face, so his injuries were worse. Not that this counted as serious for the man. Inori's blood still clung to the corner of his eye—but it was no longer blocking his sight. He adjusted his hat and sat where he'd landed, looking over at the girl who was also on the ground. A faint smile crossed his face.
"I noticed your eyes following the watch. Someone who noticed me looking would naturally want to block my line of sight. But I looked at the watch during Time Stop for one reason only: I wanted to know what time it was. 41 minutes and 27 seconds."
"You...you memorized it?"
Inori's excitement evaporated all at once, like cold water thrown over it. She still hadn't beaten Jotaro.
"Yes. 27 seconds." He pressed one hand to his knee and stood back up—one meter ninety-five tall, rising like something permanent. "The next moment I came back to myself, I'd already counted to 33. I couldn't attack you during Time Erasure, and you couldn't attack me. But counting silently—I'd know the exact moment your ability resolved and be able to counter."
"...I see."
Inori stood too, pressing her hand over the dull ache in her chest. She closed her eyes, and the smile that spread over her face was rueful and a little strained.
"You really are something, Jotaro. You worked that out so fast."
The watch had been bait all along. A trap to make her attack his sight line.
She felt the weight of his fighting instinct—how many life-or-death battles did it take to earn something like that? How many times had he stood at the edge of everything and made it back?
"Are you continuing, Inori?"
He asked it quietly.
"No. No point."
She shook her head, reluctant.
They'd reached a deadlock either way. Jotaro could count seconds silently to read the moment Time Erasure ended; with Star Platinum's speed, a telegraphed ambush had no chance. And Inori could use Epitaph to read when his Time Stop activated—a Time Stop that could never outpace her Time Erasure.
Earlier he had succeeded because Inori had seen in advance that he wouldn't attack her during Time Stop.
Can't beat JOtaro with King Crimson alone. To actually win, I'd need Yet to Come—rewrite reality itself.
"King Crimson lost."
"Hmph. Is that meant to be ironic?" He recalled Star Platinum, then tipped his hat down with effortless style. "If you'd genuinely been trying to kill me, I'd be dead, wouldn't I?"
He watched her face across the safe distance—and it was a distance for her safety, not his.
"Call it a draw, kid. You're young and your ability is this powerful—that genuinely surprises me. If you want to keep your secrets, I won't push. You can go."