Josuke and Jotaro were standing in the open door to the room with incredulous expressions.
"Get in here quick!" Janos gestured for them to enter. "This guy on the floor just attacked us!"
Josuke looked down at the now sleeping waiter, but Jotaro was more interested in the strangely warped flooring in front of Janos. "What happened to the floor there? Is that this man's power?"
"No," spoke up Jospeh. "It's Janos's. You see, he was talking to me about some journals he had been reading for class. They were written by an old friend of mine when he was visiting Tibet. Janos told me what his homework was, so we started talking and lost track of time, that's when this man came in." He then proceeded to relate the incident, with Janos supplying comments, from the entrance, to the bottle, to his hiccup (which Janos had confused for a gasp of pain), to the manipulation of the floor.
"I see," was all Jotaro responded.
"So, do you have a name for your stand yet?" Josuke enquired as he checked the man. "Last time you said you were trying to find one."
"Well…" Janos hesitated. "If he can do what I think he can do, then I have a name."
Josuke picked up a spoon from the floor where it had fallen. "Try this, I think we're thinking the same thing." Janos concentrated on the spoon and his stand's eyes glowed. Slowly, but increasing in speed, the spoon bent, then flattened into a sheet, which then bent itself into a tent shape. Janos turned towards the window and stared at it. The tent of metal flew at the window, which rapidly warped so there was a hole in the middle. The tent flew through the hole, spinning away for a few moments before it instantly snapped back into being a normal spoon and fell down to the ground several stories below.
Janos allowed the window to return to normal, then recalled his stand. "Twilight Zone," he said, "I'm calling him Twilight Zone."
Joseph looked up at Janos and smiled, "It seems you can bend matter. Not a small feat. But you know what that means." He gave a small cough and continued, "You may be able to force yourself to do it right."
Josuke, who had just finished cleaning the mess, looked up from the man, who was beginning to stir, "Do what right?" But the man began to stand up. Jotaro, Josuke, and Janos brought out their stands again, but the waiter merely rubbed his eyes and looked at them with a supremely confused expression, not seeming to notice the menagerie of stands in front of him.
"Um… I'm sorry. I don't recall how I came to be here. I was taking a nap downstairs in a chair, so I'm not really sure how I got here…" he looked around nervously, as if the group might have nefarious intent upon him.
Joseph spoke up, "We had just received room service for the old man here when there was knock at the door. We opened it and you came in, but you were sleep-walking. You walked in a few steps and suddenly fell. That was a few seconds ago, we were about to call for help when you stirred."
The man didn't look terribly convinced, but since it was the only plausible explanation, he accepted it. He apologized for disturbing them and left, still scratching his head about how he had wound up in their room. Once he had left, the four immediately began discussing what had happened, and what could have caused it. Joseph didn't have any ideas, but agreed with the others that the man was telling the truth, and that he wasn't a stand user. Jotaro believed that there may be a stand inside the man controlling him. Josuke thought that there might be a direct manipulation somewhere, but that the stand was outside the man. Janos was of the opinion that there might be a compulsive component, that part of the stand planted itself in the victim's mind.
They were all in the middle of discussing the various theories when Koichi and Kane walked in. After briefly being fillied in on the events with the waiter and the subsequent theories, Koichi sided with Josuke's idea, and Kane with Jotaro. Janos, too, agreed that his idea was far fetched. As they talked, Joseph got up and walked over to his suitcase and brought it back to where everyone was sitting and standing, the suite had a lounge area.
"What's the case for Gramps?" Josuke asked.
Joseph looked confused and stared at the case. "I don't remember, there was something I needed it for…"
Kane looked at it, "What do you keep in it?"
Jotaro answered him, "Correspondence with the Speedwagon Foundation, letters from Dr. Warburton, plane tickets, travel brochures, some extra cash…" his voice trailed off as a look of insight flashed on his face. "I know what you were looking for Grandfather." He took the case and opened it, flipping through a manila envelope until he came to a set of stapled papers with a police stamp on them. "This was sent to us by the Foundation. It's a facsimile of the police report on the theft of SC-1989."
Jotaro flipped through it quickly, looking for a specific entry, while the others looked at him quizzically. Finally, Jotaro came to the page he was looking for. "There were three attackers in addition to the thief. These attackers all fell unconscious for a short period during the attack. When they woke up, they had no memory of what they had been doing, as if they had been asleep, but dreamless."
Koichi's eyes lit up, "Oh! You said that the waiter told you he had been sleeping!"
Jotaro nodded, "Exactly. I think that this man's victims are all asleep when he attacks."
Josuke shuddered, "A stand that attacks while you're sleeping. That's terrifying. I wonder what that's like."
Jotaro shook his head, "I don't know. But what that does mean is that we won't be safe until we find this guy and stop him. We will always be in danger." He looked around the room, taking note of all the entrances. We'll sleep in shifts. Kane, Janos, you two should head home, the fewer targets we have here, the better." Kane started to object, but Jotaro raised his hand. "No arguments, you two should get going now. We'll see you in the morning and get the search started."
March 21, 2000, Shepherd College Campus
"I know I had said yesterday that I wouldn't have time for questions, but as it turns out, I have a little time. If your students have anything they wish to ask, now would be a good time." Jotaro nodded politely to Dr. Warburton and checked the clock above the door. He had promised to give Josuke and Kane an hour with no interruptions to search every room on the hallway, but his presentation had only gone one for 40 minutes, and the Dr. Warburton was going to end early. Thinking quickly, Jotaro had offered to answer questions. "They'd better be done when I am."
Just as the last question of the class period was being asked, Jotaro saw Kane through a window in the door, he was giving him the "all clear" signal. Jotaro breathed a sigh of relief and answered the question as quickly as he could. Once back out in the hall, he walked up to the two teens, who were trying to decide what soda to get from the vending machine. "Did you find anything of note? Anything to indicate how the thief might have known where Dr. Warburton would have been staying?"
Josuke shook his head, "Nothing. We searched the other teachers' offices, but none of their planners or notes or calendars indicate that day was anything special. I don't think it was any of his colleagues, though who it was is still a total mystery to me."
The trio exited the building and walked down the road deeper into the campus, turning onto the paved walkway that went past the football stadium again. Josuke looked around at the students coming and going. "I don't see anyone from yesterday."
Kane looked around as well, "If the people you saw were wearing black and white like that, they were probably on their way to practice for the upcoming orchestral performance on Thursday. They've been at it for the past few weeks. It's set to be a real good show too."
Jotaro nodded and looked behind them, as if he half expected to see the two teenagers stalking them. No one unusual appeared to be following, and he turned back to facing front. They continued on their leisurely stroll up the hill, keeping an eye out for stands, but none of them seriously expecting to find anything.
Main Shepherdstown
Meanwhile, Koichi and Janos were walking to the bakery in town to get breakfast. The cool air of the morning lazily breezed past them as the hum of the small town reached its peak. There it would stay for the rest of the day, until the twilight sky put it to sleep and quiet would resume. For their parts, the two boys weren't doing anything particularly loud. They didn't talk or shout or sing. They were watching out for doors opening into the sidewalk. Koichi had related his experience from the day before, and both were now slightly paranoid about avoiding a repeat performance.
As they entered the bakery, Koichi gave a start. "What's the matter?" Janos asked. Koichi looked around the bakery cautiously as they approached the glass display cases holding various confections and sandwiches. Janos gave a short glance around and switched to Japanese. "Are you okay?"
Koichi nodded slowly. "I just felt like I could feel someone staring when we came in. Oh! That's the woman from yesterday!" Koichi pointed to a woman sitting at an outdoor table in front of the shop. Across from her sat a man with a plaid sports coat on, and a bright blue tie, at odds with the dark maroon of his button down. He was listening carefully to whatever the young woman was saying, nodding from time to time.
They were about to turn back to the counter, when a curious thing happened. A young man walked past the table and into the bakery. The woman's face went from normal to horrified as he passed, and she turned away from him, clearly scared of him. Once he had passed, she stood up and quickly walked away. The man in the sports coat frowned after the other man, then, after a moment of watching the woman walk away, followed him in. Koichi moved back from the younger man who had gone up to the counter to order. "I don't like how this is looking," he said nervously. The man in the sports coat stopped just inside the door, and that's when it happened: his body was surrounded in a blue aura, and a stand appeared over his left shoulder.
It was shaped like a human, but had fire red skin covered by silken Arabian clothing with a lilac hue. But the most striking feature was the head, which belonged to a snake. The stand moved up behind the man as he was ordering at the counter and put its hand on his shoulder. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the man's face shifted from a smile to a look of utter despair. He turned away from the counter and slowly walked out of the door. He paused for a moment, then threw himself in front of a passing truck.
There was a screech of the brakes as the driver attempted to avoid him, but it was too late, the man was instantly crushed by the multi-ton vehicle. Janos and Koichi stared in disbelief. Then Janos jumped into action. "Koichi-san, that man's is walking away, we need to follow him." Koichi looked around and saw Janos was right, the strange man was walking up the street towards where Kane and Koichi had first seen him. The two of them dashed out of the bakery and ran after him. He turned in to the door and closed it behind him, just before Janos reached it. Once Koichi had caught up, Janos silently tested the handle. It was locked. He brought out Twilight Zone, a black/blue aura surrounding him. Janos focused on altering the lock and after a moment there was an audible "click." He opened the door carefully and ceased manipulating the lock, which instantly reverted to its former state. Before the two boys was a staircase heading up. At the top was a red door with a sign on it. "P. Nesmith, Therapist" it read.
Koichi looked at Janos, "I don't remember that word very well. But isn't that a type of doctor?"
"They're the kind that help people deal with stress or mental health. It seems this one also enjoys causing it. What do you think of us making a doctor's appointment?"
Koichi brought out Echoes Act 3 and nodded. "Sounds good to me."
They quietly walked up the stairs and opened the door. Inside, the man sat with his back to the door, writing something in a notebook. He turned around as they entered. "I didn't think I had any… oh my. You're that boy from yesterday. I'm very glad I don't have to go looking for you." His stand appeared behind him again, it's presence silent but menacing. "I am Mr. Nesmith. This is Paint it Black," Nesmith continued. "I'm an abuse specialist, I do other work, but that is my true calling."
"I'm glad to hear it, but doesn't inducing suicide seem counterproductive?" Janos asked, forgetting for a moment that he was still speaking Japanese. When he saw the man's quizzical look, he repeated the question in English.
"That man killed himself of his own free will. Paint it Black brings all of your failures and regrets to the forefront of your thought. He simply had so many that his only escape was in death. A pity really, I didn't mean for him to die, only to suffer."
"You're a sick, perverse man," Koichi growled at him.
Nesmith laughed. "That's rich coming from you, insolent bastard. You nearly gave Annete an anxiety attack yesterday. And you didn't do anything other than shrug it off. Prideful people like you are the reason there are so many people that need my help!"
"I apologized!" retorted Koichi, indignantly.
"You called what you said an apology? You're even worse than I thought. I'll make you pay for your pride." Paint it Black lunged forward, but Echoes got in between, "3 Freeze!" Nesmith's jacket suddenly grew in weight dropping him to the floor on his back, halting Paint it Black's progress.
"Now you're going to sit right there and we're going to have a talk," Koichi began. But Nesmith was laughing.
"You think this will stop your punishment? I have other means of inflicting pain." As he said this, Paint it Black twitched its tongue out, just enough to catch Koichi's attention. He looked at its face and into its eyes and suddenly he saw in its eyes everything he had ever failed to do. He looked away, but now the images were in his mind and pushing their way in, and he couldn't stop. He began to feel the weight of his worries, that maybe he'd be more of a problem than a help catching the thief; that he'd mess up, like he just had, and never see Yukako again; that the two new American's he'd met secretly laughed at him behind his back.
As Koichi slumped to the floor in despair, Echoes turned to him, now partly engulfed in Koichi's void. Consequently, the jacket went back to normal and Nesmith stood up. Janos stood and looked straight at him. Nesmith looked him and Twilight Zone over for a moment. "I'd rather not have to do this to you too, you didn't actually do anything. But you don't seem intent on letting me continue my practice, and anyone who tries to get in the way of my helping my patients is just as bad as those who hurt my patients." Paint it Black leapt forward and grabbed Janos's arm, holding on for just a moment.
Janos was still for a moment, then looked at the floor with a sorrowed expression. Nesmith stood up and went over to the office door to close it. "I admit, you've got some power there."
Nesmith whirled around and saw Janos looking at him, straight in the eye. "Don't jump to conclusions, I'm no stronger willed than Koichi here. In fact, given the stories I've heard, he's probably braver than I am. But I'm no stranger to introspection. I have a good friend in town, the priest, Fr. Maxi, we talk every week or so. At this point, I'm used to reflecting on how to make myself better, and I've learned not to let my failures keep me from doing good."
"Oh don't give me your 'holier than thou' bull…"
"I'm not. I'm just saying that for all the intensity your power has, it's only really effective when someone tries to run from their mistakes. I think you'd have just as much of an issue with Dr. Kujo and Mr. Joestar. Oh, and Mr. Nesmith?"
Nesmith looked taken aback, but was clearly getting ready for a fight. "What is it?"
"Watch your step." Twilight Zone's eyes flashed and the floor where Nesmith was standing sloped down suddenly, sending the man tumbling down the short staircase. Janos heard a cracking sound as he landed at the bottom. "I suppose Josuke is going to have to make a hospital visit," he mused.
To be continued...
My apologies for the quality on this one, I feel like I could have made Nesmith and Paint it Black enter a little more smoothly, but he'll be back eventually so if you like him, don't worry. When I return, we'll be picking up with another stand or two back on campus, before going back to Nesmith's office. Also, I'm lacking a picture for the story, as I'm sure everyone has noticed. I'm looking to get one (probably of Janos and Twilight Zone), but I'm not sure who to go to, so if anyone has artist suggestions, I'm all ears.