"Why? Didn't you tell me earlier today that staying at the Hirose house indefinitely would be awkward?"
Jotaro calmly recalled the conversation they'd had when they'd parted earlier that day.
"All kinds of reasons... Mr. Jotaro, thank you for your kindness, but I'm still going to decline."
Things hadn't gotten quite that tense yet. Morioh was still full of mysteries, and though she was a girl, she had her own pride. Relying on someone else for protection wasn't Inori's style—or so she told herself, anyway. Besides, Yasuho had gotten sensitive over just a passing mention of someone giving her money. If she suddenly packed up and moved into a hotel... there was no telling what kind of scenarios Yasuho's imagination would cook up.
"Have it your way. But if you run into danger again, get in touch with me immediately."
Jotaro's tone when he said this was so earnest that Inori felt like she'd become his adopted daughter.
"I can't."
"...? Why not?"
He hadn't expected her to refuse.
"Because I don't have a cellphone!" Inori bit back a giggle as she complained. "It's such a pain. I had to walk forever just to find a payphone. If something dangerous happens, I might get taken out before I can even reach you, Mr. Jotaro!"
"A cellphone, huh? Well... without any ID it'd be tricky to get one yourself. Leave it to me. I'll get one to you in a few days. In the meantime, memorize my number."
Jotaro didn't think too much of it. He knew full well that Inori was playing up her helplessness to score a gift from him—but he didn't care about a minor expense like that.
"Hehe. Thanks, Mr. Jotaro!"
Inori was gleeful on the inside, though she couldn't help grumbling to herself about how awful she was being. Every time she talked to Jotaro, she ended up milking something out of him. It felt a little shameless... Eh, if someone's offering to hand you stuff for free, why refuse? It's not like I'm being his sugar baby. Jotaro's doing this voluntarily!
"By the way, Inori, there's something else I need to ask."
"No problem, go ahead. If I know, I'll tell you everything!"
Inori's mood was excellent, and she answered without thinking.
—Got money = you're my dad!
"Angelo, or any of the other Stand users you encountered—did they say anything about a Bow?"
"Actually, yeah."
Inori thought for a moment before answering.
"Soft & Wet's user—that little punk—when he was losing to me, he mentioned he was someone chosen by an arrow. I didn't take it seriously at the time."
"So that's how it is..."
Jotaro frowned deeply. This confirmed his theory: someone in Morioh really was using an Arrow to create Stand users.
"Is something wrong with the Bow?"
Inori played dumb.
"It's a weapon left behind by a man named DIO. It can artificially create Stand users. But not everyone has the aptitude for it... if someone without the necessary qualifications gets hit by the Arrow, they die on the spot. It's a very dangerous artifact."
"My purpose in coming to Morioh is to track down the whereabouts of those Arrows."
"I see."
Inori pretended to half-understand, nodding along.
Should I tell him the Arrows are with Keicho Nijimura and Yoshihiro Kira? She hesitated. She trusted Jotaro, of course, but revealing it like this could invite other complications and cause the timeline to deviate even further from what she knew. In any case, Keicho Nijimura wasn't long for this world anyway. Sure, he'd only used the Arrow to try to give his monster of a father a way out, but the fact that he'd killed many innocents along the way was undeniable. Inori wasn't going to pity him, and she wasn't going to try to save him either.
Forget it. I'll investigate Morioh and Yoshikage Kira on my own first.
"Inori, if you find any leads on the Arrows, notify me immediately."
"You got it, Mr. Jotaro."
"Then that's that."
After Jotaro hung up, he settled into the comfortable sofa in his hotel room and gazed out the window at the steadily darkening sky, sinking briefly into thought. There were so many mysteries—but sitting here brooding wasn't going to solve any of them. Better to actually do something.
With that in mind, Jotaro picked up the phone again and dialed the number of one of his SPW Foundation contacts.
...
...
Yasuho Hirose felt completely helpless.
Her everyday life was crumbling piece by piece. Ever since that guy had started harassing her—and then she'd run into that mysterious girl Inori at Lovers' Cape—nothing had felt normal anymore. The sudden police standoff, the bizarre red "ghost" floating beside Inori... what was that thing, anyway? Do things like that really exist? I'm not hallucinating, am I?
And after Inori had picked up that dirty bottle and knocked out the criminal, she'd vanished without a trace. Where did she go?
Yasuho sat on a roadside bench meant for pedestrians, waiting anxiously. She didn't know if Inori would come back, but she refused to lie to herself—she'd wait until dinnertime at least... and if not, she'd go to the police. Though what on earth would she even say? Inori's been possessed by a ghost?
"Yaaa~su~ho~"
At that exact moment, someone covered her eyes from behind.
"Guess who?"
The texture of those hands was familiar to her. Identical to the girl who'd hugged her and petted her head in the taxi yesterday—soft, cool, and genuinely comfortable.
"Stop messing around, Inori."
Yasuho pried her hands away and turned to look at her, her expression a bit hurt. Inori, meanwhile, looked perfectly at ease, as though nothing had happened at all.
"What on earth happened back there? Why'd you suddenly disappear? And doing something so dangerous?"
"That's a little hard to explain... tch, how do I put this. I have a special kind of ability."
Inori circled around and sat down next to her, planning to take this opportunity to clearly explain the Stand thing to her.
"...The red ghost?"
"Something like that. Her name is King Crim—what, what did you just say?"
Inori was in the middle of her sentence when she realized something was off. Her voice cut out mid-word, then resumed in a completely different register. She turned and stared into Yasuho's eyes, asking in disbelief:
—Why does Yasuho know King Crimson's color? Don't tell me... don't tell me she's already awakened a Stand?
The two pink-haired girls sat shoulder to shoulder on the bench, a pair of emerald-green eyes and a pair of deep-red ones each searching the other's gaze.
"Yasuho."
Inori murmured her name, then quietly manifested King Crimson.
"Aaagh! It, it appeared!"
The sun had set, but the streetlights hadn't come on yet, so the sky and the roads were both plunged into an especially murky gloom. Against this eerie backdrop, the already ugly Red King looked even more like some monstrous, eldritch creature—a thing with two faces on one head! Yasuho almost leapt up and ran away on the spot.
"Calm down, Yasuho."
Inori reached out and firmly gripped her shoulder, dropping her voice low as she spoke softly to her.
"This thing is called a Stand. It's a manifestation of energy born from the human mind. The fact that you can see mine means you're a Stand user too... you haven't noticed?"
"How was I supposed to know something like that?! No, wait—what's with this whole fantasy-novel setup? Am I seriously not dreaming?"
Yasuho pushed back awkwardly, still not quite daring to look King Crimson straight in the eye.
Inori caught the fear in her eyes and shot King Crimson a cool glance over her shoulder. The ugly-cute Stand blinked its green eyes a few times, then sulked its way back into Inori's body.
"Manifest your Stand, Yasuho."
Inori wanted to see for herself what her ability was.
"I, I don't know how to do that. I can only see the one next to you. How would I have one of those things?"
If nothing else, Yasuho Hirose considered herself to be in perfectly good health. She'd just been a little stressed lately, that was all. She refused to believe she had a monster growing inside her too.
"Hm? Have you been hurt anywhere recently? Or met anyone strange, been through anything unusual?"
"...N-no."
"Ohhh? That was not a very convincing answer."
Inori flashed a wicked smile and suddenly leaned in until their noses were almost touching.
Yasuho's heart hammered. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She sensed danger on a primal level... Inori looks terrifying! What, what is she about to do to me?
Inori suddenly opened her mouth, extended her pink tongue, and gave Yasuho's cheek the lightest little lick.
"This taste—it's the taste of a lie! Yasuho Hirose!"