"But I have zero experience taking care of kids."
Sensing the fear and unease in little Jolyne's eyes, Inori felt the pressure mounting in her own chest.
Jolyne, not yet seven years old, looked positively tiny standing in front of the towering hulk that was Jotaro. But it was precisely this kind of pint-sized handful that gave Inori headaches. She was genuinely terrible with children—their innocent little minds had a way of blurting out things that caught her completely off guard.
"Don't stress about it. She's a very well-behaved kid."
Jotaro could see Inori was struggling, and stepped in to reassure her.
"Besides, didn't you say you wanted to meet my daughter?"
"Th-that was a joke."
She plastered on a smile.
—I was kidding, man!
"I'm asking you as a favor. Just keep her from crying, and I'll come pick her up later."
"You don't have to be so formal, Jotaro-san... I'll do my best."
She couldn't exactly refuse when he put it like that.
More importantly, Jolyne seemed to sense that the big sister standing before her was rejecting her. Those wide, guileless yellow-green eyes began to shimmer with tears.
Making a girl cry was the most unforgivable sin!
"Jolyne-chan~ Want to play with Onee-chan?"
Inori braced a hand against her thigh and bent down with effort, asking the little girl in the gentlest voice she could manage.
"...Uuu."
Jolyne was still scared of this Onee-chan. She shrank back timidly behind her father.
Pretty as this lady was, the little girl's instincts told her one thing: the smile was dangerous. And her face was covered in all sorts of strange stuff—she looked just as scary as those tattooed women Jolyne had seen in New York.
—Ah, I really am hopeless with kids...
"It's okay. Inori-onee-chan is a good person. She won't bully you, Jolyne."
"Be good now, and wait for Daddy to come back."
Jotaro crouched down too, his broad hand ruffling the top of Jolyne's hair twice. Jolyne winced and shut her eyes, and the two symmetrical little buns atop her head tilted sideways.
He was clearly doing his best to raise his daughter's affection meter, but as a man of steel through and through, his efforts were middling at best. No wonder Jolyne wanted to throw him out on sight by the start of Part 6. If Inori remembered correctly, Jotaro eventually divorced his wife, too.
Poor Jolyne. Like Jonathan, she was a JoJo who died in her own story.
"I'm leaving her with you, Inori."
"I'm pressed for time. If you need anything, head to Morioh Port—the SPW ship's docked there. The old man's staying there."
"Take care... Jotaro-san."
...
...
"Daddy's gone."
Jolyne stared at the silhouette of her father driving away from the building below, a sadness she couldn't put into words swelling in her chest.
As a child of the Joestar bloodline, she'd been born with every advantage: a wealthy family, an inherited legacy of power, and a future as a formidable Stand user. But DIO's remnants were still causing chaos across the globe, and Jotaro was consumed by his studies and the hunt for Stand Arrows. He rarely had time for his family.
All Jolyne wanted right now was for her father to spend more time with her. By the time her rebellious phase hit, this unanswered longing would curdle into resentment.
"Jolyne-chan, want Onee-chan to play with you?"
"...Mm." She was still a little frightened, but nodded bravely—then went ahead and said what was really on her mind. "Onee-chan, are you a monster?"
"...Huh?"
Inori had been reaching for the girl's hand to lead her inside, but froze on the spot.
"I'm a person. My name is Inori."
She crouched beside Jolyne, looked the girl straight in the eyes, and said it very seriously.
"Jolyne watched a Japanese horror movie, and the evil female yokai in it looked just like you! They wear old fancy robes and paint their faces all red, and they trick generals and ministers into becoming bad guys too!"
"...Those are just actors, Jolyne-chan. Monsters don't exist."
Inori's eyebrow twitched, but she explained patiently.
—Fishmonger Jotaro, what the hell have you been letting your daughter watch?!
"Really?"
"Doesn't it scare you to watch movies like that, Jolyne-chan?"
"Nuh-uh."
Hearing that Inori was willing to talk about this kind of thing, Jolyne lit up.
"The monsters are pitiful too! None of them are really bad guys. Jolyne isn't scared!"
"...Jotaro Kujo's daughter, alright."
Embarrassing as it was to admit, Inori remembered that in her previous life, she'd had nightmares for days just from glimpsing the cover of a horror movie.
"Jolyne isn't scared of movies. Jolyne's only scared of not seeing Daddy."
She lowered her head sadly, clasped her little hands in front of her waist, and asked in a voice trembling with grievance:
"Onee-chan, Daddy abandoned Jolyne again... Does Daddy hate Jolyne?"
"No way!" Inori knew exactly what she was feeling and rushed to shut it down. "Your daddy is the person who loves you most in the whole world! That much, Onee-chan can guarantee."
"Onee-chan's lying too."
Jolyne puffed her cheeks, her eyes brimming with tears, staring at Inori with a mix of sorrow and accusation.
"Daddy hasn't played with Jolyne in forever... Waaah..."
"Your daddy's just busy with work, Jolyne-chan. Don't cry! Onee-chan will play with you! I'll play with you, okay?"
Inori scrambled to wipe the girl's tears, pulling out every trick she had to console her.
—Damn you, Fishmonger Jotaro! Dumping this mess on me and running off—if your daughter matters so much, then take care of her yourself! Since when does chasing a few Stand users justify all this? Just pay me and I'll run your errands!
"Inori-chan, what's going on? I keep hearing a kid crying."
Yasuho had been waiting inside for Inori to come back. She padded out in her slippers and found her at the door, talking to an absolutely adorable little girl.
"Help me! Make her stop crying!"
Inori was practically flooded with relief at finding a scapegoat.
"She's so cute! Whose kid is this?"
Yasuho wasn't one to hold back. She had zero resistance to charming children, and immediately crouched down and gave little Jolyne's soft, pale cheeks a good pinch.
"She's Jotaro-san's daughter."
"Seriously? That man has a daughter? Wait... is he even married? He looks so young." Yasuho sputtered back at Inori in disbelief, though her hands never stopped squeezing Jolyne's cheeks.
"WAAAAAH——!"
The crying got louder. Other guests passing through the hallway were starting to shoot them dirty looks.
"Get off her!"
Inori snapped at her. This girl was making things worse instead of helping. Still, there was no better option—for now, she'd just have to carry Jolyne back to the room and figure things out from there.
—Waaaaah! Mana, help me—I can't handle her!
At her wit's end, Inori turned to Mana Ouma for backup. Mana had watched her little brother Shu grow up from infancy—she had to be experienced with kids!
—Oh, you. And here you were calling Jotaro irresponsible. If we ever have kids, I definitely can't leave them with you.
—I can't have kids... Wait!? Huh? Wh-what did you just say?
Inori's brain caught up to the implication a beat too late.
She was furious. How dare this woman say something like that to her? Did she have a death wish?
"Hm? Inori-chan, are you okay? Your face is really red. Maybe you should change out of those clothes."
Yasuho had no idea what was happening—she just offered the helpful observation.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..."
—Ahahaha, how interesting.
—Keep laughing! Laugh one more time and you'll never breathe fresh air again!
Inori snarled the threat.
—Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing~ Here's what you do: the simplest way to deal with a kid like this is food! No matter how dramatically they wail, the second something sweet hits their tongue, they forget everything!