When Jotaro went to bed that night, he had planned on waking up to the same thing he had woken up to for the past 20 years: 「dolphin calls」. This morning, however, he was awoken by his cellphone. Looking at the called ID, he saw that it was Sayaka calling him.

"This better be good, Sayaka," Jotaro grumbled into his phone.

"KUJOSANOHMYGODOHMYGODHOLYACIDTRIPTHEREWASACRAZYDREAMWITHDOLPHINSANDROBOTSANDMEATANDYOUWERETHEREAND-"

"Sayaka, shut the hell up."

"...Sorry."

"Now what is it?"

"I have a 「Stand」!"

"...Meet me at the park in an hour."

The Battle Polygram (1)

「Mitakihara Central Park」. 5,000 meters in area, the park houses playground equipment, a baseball field, and a large fountain fashioned in the likeness of the town's mascot 「Mi-ta-kun」, all of which sits atop 15,000,000,000 yen's worth of grass imported from the Swiss Alps. None of this is relevant except for the fact that Sayaka is standing by the fountain of 「Mi-ta-kun」.

"Hey." Sayaka snapped her head to the left and saw Jotaro walking towards her.

"Kujo-san!"

"Just you? Didn't call Madoka, at least?"

"Well, I kinda just found out about this, and you know the most about Stands. Though I'd be lying if I said that having some one-on-one time with you wasn't appealing." Sayaka chuckled sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

"Just show me your Stand." Jotaro wasn't as amused by the statement as Sayaka.

"R-Right." Feeling embarrassed, Sayaka decided to just get on with it. From what Sayaka understood, Stands didn't require any specific thing to be called out except for concentration, so she simply focused on the image of what she saw just an hour ago. Concentrating. Concentrating. Concentrating.

"Yo!" She appeared! Sayaka's 「Stand」.

She's here! I didn't think that would actually work!

"So this is your Stand, then?" Jotaro asked. "Looks impressive. What can it do?"

"I… don't know."

"Didja miss the part about partner and I meeting an hour ago, you 「freaky fish guy」?"

"...Might as well get started."

"ORA!" Star Platinum suddenly emerged and punched Sayaka's Stand in the face, sending the two of them hurtling towards the ground.

"Owowowowowowowowow!" Sayaka cried as she and her Stand got up. "Why did you do that?!"

"The best way to figure out your power is in the middle of combat. 「Let's go」."

"Waitwaitwaitwai-"

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"

"-aitwaitwaitwait… Kujo-san, what are you doing?"

"?" Jotaro was confused. He had Star Platinum unleash his standard flurry of punches, but for some reason, none of them hit Sayaka. He and Star Platinum were, for whatever reason, facing the exact opposite direction! Jotaro then tried to turn back around towards Sayaka, but he immediately found himself doing an 「about-face」!

What the hell?

"Ahahahaha! Take that, asshole!" Sayaka's Stand laughed. "That'll teach you to mess with me!"

"Wait, you did that?!" Sayaka asked.

"Yepperoo! It's my awesome 「power」 that I just figured out!"

So she didn't even know about it until a second ago? The Stand then snapped her fingers towards Jotaro, who immediately gained a weird look of understanding.

"So that's it, eh?" Jotaro asked, turning back towards Sayaka. "It looks like your Stand's power is 「sensory manipulation」."

"'「Sensory manipulation」'?"

"「EXACTLY」! But if I'm being specific, I don't just have control over the five senses; my control follows the principles of 「Ayatana」."

「Ayatana」! A Buddhist term that has been translated as "sense base", "sense-media", and "sense sphere". While most people think of the human senses as numbering at five(「sight」, 「hearing」, 「touch」, 「taste」, and 「smell」), 「Ayatana」 brings the number up to six by adding a person's sense of 「perception」, or as the Buddhists say, 「Saṃjñā 」!

"So, basically, I can control any one of those senses at a time in a person… yeah, it felt like I could only do one sense at a time, and only if they're within… fifty meters! Yeah, that sounds good!"

"Hearing you be so uncertain about your own powers… it 「gives me a feeling so complicated」."

"Don't worry about it, partner. Even if I don't really get it all, you're the one calling the shots here. If anyone can use me the best, it's you, girl!"

"Really?" Sayaka already knew that Stands were manifestations of a person's soul, so this was basically her giving herself a pep talk, yet she still allowed herself to feel motivated. "Thank you… um… I got it! From now on, your name is… 「Conturbatio」!"

"I love that! 3kyu 4ever!" With that, Sayaka's Stand, the newly christened 「Conturbatio」, vanished from sight.

"Isn't this great, Kujo-san? My Stand totally kicks ass! Now I can help fight against 「Walpurgisnacht」!"

"...Why did you really call me, Sayaka?"

"Huh?"

"I don't think you needed my help to figure out your Stand; it seemed like it just needed some time to figure things out, so why'd you really call me out here?"

"...I wanted someone other than Madoka and the others to talk to," Sayaka said with a sigh as she sat down at the 「Mi-ta-kun」 fountain.

Not really sure why she came to me, then.

"You know, one of the reasons I acted so crazy before was because I was jealous that Madoka got a Stand and I didn't. She got the power to fight and protect, even though I was the one who really wanted something like that. Sure, I became a magical girl and made Kyosuke's hand better, but I couldn't work up the nerve to talk to him. Then, things just kept getting worse and worse for me, especially after I learned that magical girls lose their souls. I got… 「angry」 at Madoka. Having a Stand doesn't turn you into a 「zombie」, so I was hit by the 「Arrow fragment」, I would have been able to stay a human! And then, when Kyosuke turned me down, I needed someone, anyone, to vent all my 「despair」 at, and the only one I could think of was… the person I thought was responsible for ruining my life was… was 「Madoka」!"

"..."

"Now, after all of that, I finally get my own Stand. What the hell is this supposed to be? Am I being awarded for being a stupid kid in love? For being a jackass to my friends? For trying to kill my best friend?! What the hell is that?!"

"...Life… is bizarre."

"..." Sayaka looked at Jotaro expectantly, making the man feel a bit uncomfortable. This was definitely not his field of expertise.

"We, um… We get to choose a lot of things in life, but, uh… some things are beyond our control, yeah… but there's always a silver lining. Maybe it's not exactly right for you to have a Stand… given what's happened… but you know what? You need to, um… make it right."

"'Make' it right?"

"That's right! Um, you need to… you know… be a better person than you were before? If you don't think you as you are now deserves this kind of special treatment, then just work on becoming someone who does deserve it."

"Easier said than done," Sayaka snorted. "...But… it's not impossible, right?"

"It shouldn't be, but the first thing you need to do for that to happen is talk to Madoka… you know that, right?" Sayaka nodded in agreement. Good, 'cause I am not the kind of guy who does this stuff.

"Thank you, Kujo-san. This… I really needed this."

"Yeah, well… I'm just happy to help."

"...Do you wanna, maybe, go to the aquarium?"

"..." Without a word, Jotaro reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two tickets for the local aquarium.

"「YAY」!"

Monday, April 18th., 2011. Today was the day that everyone agreed to get together and discuss their plan for fighting the ultimate Witch, 「Walpurgisnacht」. At 8:15 pm, Madoka, Sayaka, Mami, Kyoko, and Jotaro arrived at the designated meeting place: Homura's house.

"「Holy acid trip」!" Sayaka exclaimed as soon as they entered Homura's house, a sentiment shared by the others. Surrounding a small table and several colorful couches were four walls of pure white. One wall was adorned with lit candelabras and thin pillars and the wall exactly opposite to it had a multitude of odd pictures coupled with what appeared to be the silhouette of a swinging pendulum. Completing the abstract decour was what appeared to be giant gears hanging from the ceiling. "Your house is crazy, Homura!"

"That's a compliment, right?" Homura asked, looking at Madoka. Madoka quickly nodded her head. "In that case, thank you."

"These pictures…" Mami started, "they don't look like they're on the wall, they look like they're part of the wall." Looking to feed her curiosity, Mami touched the wall and immediately gained a look of surprise.

"What's with that face?" Kyoko asked before touching the wall and gaining the same expression. "Whoa! This texture… it feels just like a computer screen!"

"Please don't touch my digital walls. They're very expensive," Homura said.

"How expensive is expensive?"

"「6,000,000,000 yen」."

"!"

"...Kyoko, please stop touching the wall with your greasy fingers." Mami said as the two of them quickly moved away from the wall and sat down on a red couch.

"Now, then, is this everyone? This can't be everyone."

"Josuke's running a little late," Jotaro said.

"Ishijima-san… she said that she wasn't coming," Madoka said. "It's not because of what happened the other day, though; I told Ishijima-san that no one's mad at her! She just thinks she'd be more useful if she helped protect people from the 「side effects」 of the battle."

"I see. Well, then, we'll start once Josuke-san gets here. That will give me enough time to bring out the food."

"You cooked?" Kyoko's ears perked up.

"Yes. 「Cream stew」." That was Madoka's favorite! "We'll be talking for a while, and it's easier to think on a full stomach. Plus… I wanted to be a good host."

"..." Everyone was silent as they watched Homura act so sheepish.

"A-Anyway! Jotaro-san, can you help me get the bowls and the stew ready?" Jotaro just shrugged as he followed Homura out of the room and into the kitchen "The drinks, too. I made 「coffee」, and I have 「soda」. Also, if anyone's still hungry after the stew, there's 「toffee」 and 「pasta」 that you can eat."

In complete contrast to the 「6,000,000,000 yen」 living room, Homura's kitchen looked like a completely normal kitchen. It was almost as if it was just that first room of the house was designed to be edgy and cool while everything else was normal.

"Are you mad, Jotaro-san?" Homura asked as she, in her magical girl form, put dishes and silverware into her hammerspace.

"About what?" Jotaro asked, picking up pitchers of 「coffee」 and 「soda」 while Star Platinum grabbed the 「toffee」 and 「pasta」.

"Don't play dumb. I told you that Kyubey was a Stand just so I could keep you around for my own plans. I don't see myself as being wrong for doing that, but I can't imagine that someone like you would be alright with being manipulated like that."

"..."

"So what now? Are you going to 「ORAORA」 me for lying to you? My actions were right and necessary, but if you feel the need for catharsis, I won't object."

"...I am pretty pissed that you lied to me and wasted a lot of my time, but I'm not the kind of guy who hits people that don't deserve it. Dealing with this Witch is bigger than my own problems, and if you know as much as you claim, I trust your judgement."

"I see… thank you for that," Homura said with a smile as she picked up the pot of 「cream stew」. "For trusting me, I mean."

"Don't get sentimental. It's time for stew."

"By the way, Mami-san, have you and Kyoko-chan thought about having Higashikata-san make you human again?" Madoka asked.

"We did think about it; Higashikata-san even asked us if we wanted him to do it," Mami said. "But after discussing it with one another, Kyoko and I decided against it."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, Higashikata-san said that while you got a Stand, he's not certain that it would always happen. You might have been a fluke, Miki-san, whereas anyone else would simply become a normal human again."

"He also said that we could get stuck in a 「transmission tower」, whatever that means," Kyoko added. "Back to what Mami said, it'd be nice to go back to a normal life, but after all the stuff we've seen, there's no way we could do it and feel good about ourselves. I don't want to just sit back and let people get killed by Witches."

"Huh? You don't want to do that?" Sayaka asked, finding it hard to believe that someone like Kyoko would say that.

"H-Hey! Don't get me wrong, I still think it's stupid to risk your life for random people on the street, but I've just, um, started to think it's less stupid than I used to. Especially if…" Kyoko's eyes moved slightly to the left, where Mami was sitting, "especially if someone important might be there, for some reason."

"That's really great to hear, Kyoko," Mami said, inching a little closer to Kyoko. The action did nothing for Madoka, but Sayaka gained a very sly look on her face.

"The hell's with that look, Saya-"

DING DONG

"That should be Josuke," Jotaro said as he and Homura entered and put down all the food, drinks, dishes, and silverware(obviously stopping time to do so, since it seemed nearly instantaneous). Jotaro then headed for the door while Homura started giving everyone their servings.

"Sorry we're late, Jotaro-san. 「She」 fell asleep and I didn't want to wake her up."

"「She」"? Madoka thought as she heard Josuke's voice, distracting herself from the reverie brought about by the sight of Homura's 「cream stew」.

"Are we having a dinner party? Yay!" This was a new voice that sounded like it belonged to a little girl. This caught all five girls' attention.

"?" Right in front of Josuke, heading straight to the table, was a little white-haired girl with multicolored eyes in a polka dot dress. None of them, as far as they were aware, had ever seen the girl before.

"What's that, 「cream stew」? Yuck! 「Nagisa」 hates cabbage! Ooh, 「pasta」! Is there any parmesan?"

"...Yes," Homura said with hesitation, pointing to the kitchen. The girl quickly dashed off with a smile. "...What was that?"

"Josuke, since when do you have a kid?" Kyoko asked.

"What?! She's not my daughter!" Josuke shouted. "I'm not married, and I wouldn't just knock up some chick I meet in a bar! I mean… I'm more of a love kind of guy."

"Well then, who the hell is she?"

"Well…" Sayaka started, "if she knows Higashikata-san, then she must know Kujo-san, which means she's probably, um… some sort of… tiny Speedwagon agent."

"That's not a thing," Jotaro said with zero emotion.

"Then who is-waitIremembernow! That girl… she's the 「dead girl」 we found in the 「Dessert Witch's Barrier」!"

"That's right!" Mami added.

"But how is she alive, then?!" Madoka asked. "Unless…! Is she-"

"That's right," Josuke interjected. "Her name is 「Nagisa Momoe」. She's the original form of 「Charlotte the Dessert Witch」... and I used my Stand to bring her back to life."

TO BE CONTINUED

Conturbatio

User: Sayaka Miki

Destructive Power: A

Speed: C

Range: B

Durability: B

Precision: A

Developmental Potential: C

Abilities

Sensory Manipulation: Conturbatio has the power to manipulate one of six senses(sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell, and perception) in a person at a time.