Chapter 35 - Three Stands in a Day
Tokyo, Japan, 2 May 1986
After we carried Megumin's unconscious body inside her room, Yoshikage-san mentioned for me to get out of her room before he softly closed the door.
"She seems so happy about it," said the elder Kira solemnly as the three of us sat around the table at the living room. "The only time I've ever seen her grinning from ear-to-ear like this was when her mother is still alive and healthy."
There is heavy silence in the room, save for the Police sirens that keep blaring from the direction of the beach.
"So, the explosion we heard earlier was caused by my daughter's stand power? What did my sweet Megumi-chan has done?" said the elder Kira. "What happened, Jozuma-kun?"
"We... We had met with a sword-wielding murderer at the beach..." I pooled my courage to just said the events honestly to them, as this is just so sudden and out of the blue, even to my standard.
"Murderer?" said Yoshikage-san as he raised his eyebrows. "Did you just say... Murderer?"
"Sword-wielding murderer that is also a stand user... I mean, that murderer is a stand user whose stand is armed with a sword," I said, recalling the silver-haired Frenchmen that we met completely by freak chance. "We caught him-red-handed as he just went out of the trees, carrying a severed human hand as it was a trophy or something."
"Severed... Human hand?" said the elder Kira while he looked towards Yoshikage-san, while the later just start biting his nails.
"Well, yes... And worse, as soon as he was aware of our presence, he started chasing us as if trying to silence the witnesses," I said softly, noting the panic that rising from both the elder Kira and Yoshikage-san, but then remember that this was a completely normal reaction for they must be greatly concerned about Megumin. "I tried to fight him with my stand, but his sword-wielding stand managed to almost effortlessly bats away my attacks. I told Megumin to run, but out of a sudden, her stand manifested and she drives the silver-haired murderer away with the first explosion."
"Wha... Who is that silver-haired murderer?" said Yoshikage-san with deep concern in his eyes. "Driven out? He was only driven out? Running away or..."
"Well, that was the first explosion and it only hurts him lightly. He then introduced himself as Jean-Pierre Polnareff and outright admitted about being the one who killed the man we have seen earlier near the tunnel. I managed to land a hit on him, but he ends up being even more enraged and brutal in his attacks, it was there that Megumin saved my life, by attacking him with the best explosion she got..."
"Is... Is he still alive?" the elder Kira whispered in a shaky voice.
"I don't think he could survive that explosion though. Megumin's bomb drags him to the sea before being detonated with such force, it caused minor tidal waves. Surviving from a point-blank explosion like that is impossible."
At least Yoshikage-san stopped biting his nails, and his father wiped away beads of sweats from his head.
"Ah, so he must've been died and blasted into pieces, his corpse broken and torn everywhere into the sea," said Yoshikage-san softly. "And... What about the severed hand?"
"Who knows? We are too busy fighting that silver-haired murderer, it could end up fallen somewhere after Megumin's first explosion, or maybe destroyed after Megumin's second explosion," I said as the elder Kira and Yoshikage-san exchanges a worried look toward each other. "Aside from that moment, we didn't really care and didn't want to know if there are other mutilated body parts there. The second explosion is extremely loud and obviously telling everyone else to go investigate there, so much that we are basically forced to run away before they could have any ideas about us.
More silence reigned in the room before Yoshikage-san stood up and peeking through one of the windows.
"So there is a chance that the Police end up finding that severed hand on the beach..."
"Of course Yoshikage-san, that was obvious."
For a split second, I think I saw Yoshikage-san's face distorted in anger, but then he just shook his head and sighed.
"Well, at least you are coming back in relative safety... Why did my sweet sister end up unconscious thought? Is she standing too close to the blast, or..."
"No, she is unconscious because she effectively put all her mana, I mean stand power, into that one explosion attack," I said, trying to assure Megumin's family that she would be ok, that was just her way to use explosion magic.
"So, my Megumi-chan is just tired, right?" said the elder Kira. "Do you plan to report this incident to the Police, or..."
"Of course not! With stand powers like this, it would be looking for trouble if the Police knew of this! Better keep them in the dark about all this kind of supernatural business..."
"Arigatou... Jozuma-kun," said Yoshikage-san as he politely bows towards me. "That was everything to... Our family... We only wanted a peaceful, quiet life... Once again, you have our deepest gratitude. Thank you for saving the life of my little sister too..."
"It was my pleasure, Yoshikage-san," I said while returning the polite gesture towards him.
...
About one and a half hour later, the commotion has mostly died down and not even a police car ends up passing through the road in front of us. We listened to the Morioh-cho radio announcement about the event, and the local police seem to be adamant that this accident was caused by 'Korean Terrorists'.
There is a fact that Yoshikage-san also suddenly developed a stand, and the elder Kira could now clearly see the stands. It was puzzling at first, but then I do remember that being in a life-and-death situation might end up triggering a stand awakening, and awakening stands seem to run in the family. Considering that the elder Kira almost died yesterday, and our meeting with that silver-haired murderer could be said to be that as well in regard to Megumin... There is no surprise on why the Kira siblings got their own stands. About the elder Kira, it seems that his stand just not yet manifested.
"So Jozuma-kun, what is all the stand business all over again? What is the definition of a stand?" said Yoshikage-san as he finally managed to summon and unsummon his cat-man at will.
"Stand is the projection of the user's soul and their nature," I said, trying to remember what has Avdol said about that. "But basically, you have your own ghost-thing that you could control, and that comes with a specific power that seems to stem from the original stand user's personality."
"So, projection of the user's soul and their nature... eh..." said Yoshikage-san as he summoned his pink cat-man only for it to stare blankly at me. "It sure feels weird to have this kind of 'ability' but..."
"I am actually far more surprised that your stand is almost identical with Megumin's. You two must have very similar nature deep down there."
"Oh well, you do know my sister better, you knew the reason," said Yoshikage-san with a knowing smile, and I could only grin back at him, remembering our first meeting and my 'diagnosis' that this guy must be secretly a chuuni down there. "So, she had a... Whatever thing you used to describe this cat..."
"I'll tell you all of the deepest truth that hath been revealed unto me! My uber magical power is simply too powerful to be returned to mine alone, and thus, the Gods deem fit that my family is given a portion of my supreme power!" said Megumin as her room door suddenly opened, revealing herself and her cat-man stand for all of us to see. "You two could start thanking me for sharing the ultimate expression of magic, as it was my power who blessed both of you to follow the path of Explosion!"
The look on Yoshikage-san and his father is priceless, it was a near perfect mix of being annoyed, confused, and happy about whatever chunni bullshit Megumin just spew out of her mouth.
"Well, it seems that your stand and mine is... Almost identical?" said Yoshikage-san when he looked for himself about the very minor difference, that he has two cat-skull emblems in front of the shorts, and Megumin's have only one cat-skull emblem there.
"Say Megumin, about your cat-man stand, and your brother's..."
"SHE IS NOT A CAT-MAN! SHE IS KILLER QUEEN!" exclaimed Megumin as she huffed up, raised her index finger high in the air, and making the metal sign with her other hand across her body, all while her cat-(wo)man stand strike a pose with his(her) back bent backward and arms raised.
"But that was obviously a cat-man, just look at how similar your stand is to your brother's in the first place!"
"Well... Well..." said Megumin, slowly scratching her chin as she looks toward the cat-man with two cat-skull emblems. "The emblem on mine is a single big one, and yours have two smaller ones onii-sama... That means yours shall be named as KILLER QUEEN NUMBER TWO!"
"You idiot! The one who has the wrong stand is you Megumin! Yoshikage-san, you could just name your stand as something much more appropriate like Killer King or King Crimson!" I said as I put my palm onto my forehead, thinking about how lame-ass it would be if Yoshikage-san ends up with a stand that is named [KILLER QUEEN #2].
"Well, I do like the name though... So Killer Queen Number Two, that is..." said Yoshikage-san with a straight face and unbelievable calmness, so much that I end up facevaulted in disbelief of what just happened.
"ARE YOU TWO SERIOUS?!" I shout in disbelief while Yoshikage-san just tussled his sister's hair, and the later only stupidly grin like she was just done something worth mentioning in a history book, like naming two stands in the same day with so imaginative names of Killer Queen and Killer Queen Number Two.
It is definitely a travesty of common sense, just like back then when she named my brand new sword 'Chunchunmaru'. And seeing that the name of the stand sticks after their master named it...
"Ufufufu... See that Jojo? That is just my powerful Magic works! I think I should re-name your stand too, because Whitesnake is such an unimaginative name for a creepy stand like that, so..."
"NO THANKS! I already liked Whitesnake as it was, and stand name sticks after their first stand master gives it the name! I could just pull out your stand disc and check your stand's name anyway so..." I said while Whitesnake is pushing away at Megumin's crazed cat-(wo)man, who apparently already grabbed a permanent marker and tries to write whatever name she deems fit for my stand.
"Wait... Jozuma, if my sister's power is basically causing an explosion... And I was supposed to have the same power... What do you mean by 'pulling out stand discs'? Is that your stand power?"
"Of course, Jojo's stand power is none other than stealing other people's stands and memories!" said Megumin as she just outright blurted out my stand power, thankfully only in front of her family.
"You... You could steal... Memories?" said Yoshikage-san with a fearful, quivering voice. "You mean... Memories within our brain?"
"Correct, that's it, more or less."
"That means you already knew everything when you sent out your stand? Just like your friend Vanir?" said Yoshikage-san while looking at myself and Megumin with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Geez Megumin, you've told him about Vanir, aren't you?"
"Of course I did!"
"Look at how you suddenly caused your onii-sama to become a quivering wreck!" I just point out toward Megumin that her older brother is apparently very disturbed by the implications of someone being a mind-reader that could freely look at someone else's memory and therefore no secret could be kept away from him. "And no Yoshikage-san, I am not on the level of Vanir, as Whitesnake's stealing process need him to make direct contact with the target's head, turning their memory and stands into discs, before ripping away those discs out from their head."
"Oh... So... That's it? You are not an automatic mind-reader?" said Yoshikage-san as he breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, but that kind of mind-reading power just give me... A philosophical existential terror..."
"Well, I could take out only the stand and left the memory intact, I've done that a handful of times when checking someone else's stand, and technically the reverse but I've never done the later."
"So you could take someone's stand out and..."
"I take the stand out as a disc and it could be inserted to someone else to transplant the stand, or so to speak. The memory is quite a bit different with it could be read by glancing toward the memory disc, inserting that into your head will cause you to 'see' what is inside the memory disc more thoroughly."
"Well, that's pretty insidious power to have..." said Yoshikage-san as he gives me a painful wince in his face. "Is there are signs that someone is having their memory stolen by you?"
"They will fall into a coma until their memory disc has been properly returned into their head. From what others have experienced, the memory and or stand ripping process is painful, and could be said to be a traumatic experience for anyone that didn't expect it."
Of course, I'm talking about Avdol, Kakyoin, and my own great-grandmother. The first two have their memory directly read, and the later end up not saying anything about it even if I refrained to peek on her memories. It was circumstantial, but she seems to grow paranoid every time she saw me after Aqua's re-awakening, not that I could blame her for that.
"But if that was your power, how could you used that from a range?" said Yoshikage-san as he scratches his smooth chin. "You said that the... sword-wielding-stand of that murderer end up batting away your attacks."
"Well, that was just Whitesnake having hallucinogenic acid spit," I explained my other power to Yoshikage-san. "It is kind of medium-ranged attack, I discovered that by accident too..."
"Hmmm..." said Yoshikage-san as he just looking at Whitesnake intently. "Maybe I should try my stand powers at somewhere silent, I do not wish to cause a ruckus as my sister does."
...
At least, everything has been said and discussed between us. Yoshikage-san seems to already grasp the basics, and he said he'll inform me if there are some unexpected developments or something.
And to make sure that the current ruckus caused by Megumin's explosion really died down, I sent Whitesnake to climb on the wall and looking around as he perched himself on top of the roof. There are still some police cars on the beach, but there is nothing else notable to be said of.
"How does your stand could easily move that far while mine can't?" said Megumin in irritation as she tries to move her Killer Queen away from her, but apparently stuck in a range about two meters away from her body.
"That obviously meant your stand is a close-range stand, even if the effective range of your bomb could be pretty far," I said while remembering what Avdol have explained to me before. "Close-range stand is said to be more powerful in direct combat, but yes, they are basically limited by their limited range."
"Well Jozuma-kun, do you plan to stay here for the night or..." said Yoshikage-san as I remember that it was almost night already.
"Well, maybe it's time for me to go back. Hey Megumin, you want to stay here or..."
"I think Megumi-chan should back to your home with you, Jozuma-kun. You two do have classes tomorrow, right?"
Damn 1980s Japan and how they still have Saturday classes!
"Well, I guess so onii-sama," said Megumin sadly as she hugs her big brother.
"Take care, and don't end up blasting Jozuma's house without a good reason," said Yoshikage-san as he tussled his little sister's hair.
"Without a good reason?" I momentarily said that to myself, but apparently, Yoshikage-san did hear it.
"You making her cry is a good enough reason, Jozuma-kun."
Oh damn...
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
...
As Youjiro-san drives us out of Morioh, the calamities seem to die down quickly. Yes, there are still crowd looking at the 'Have you seen a man with two right hands' message painted in blood, but nobody dares to cross the police line placed around them.
From the Morioh-cho radio, we could still hear the news about the explosion, and how the Police and IJN representatives keep blaming that on 'Korean Terrorists'. Well, at least this alternate Japan had a ready-made boogeyman that is the Korean Liberation Army. They rarely make any fuss after the 1960s, but they are still the easy-to-blame target, for some obvious reasons.
We entered Tokyo well deep into the night, and just before we entered my house... I spotted Aqua sweeping the street in front of my house.
"Hi Jojo-dono, Megumin, what could I do today?" said Aqua cheerily as she opened the gatehouse.
"Ummm... Nothing? Who wakes you up? My mom?"
"Nope, I just going out of the room after the sun sets, and your mom asked me if I could start by sweeping the street clean."
"Ah, that was fast..." I said while getting out of the car with Megumin in tow. "Where is my great-gra..."
"That old Hamon bitch apparently shut herself up, while your mom introduces me to your damned grandfather's mistress and his bastard son. They seem to don't really mind me, but Tomoko-san did ask something about you having a dinosaur, while that toddler is apparently having another pair of pink arms dangling from his back.
"Well, thank you Aqua, just don't mind that..." I said as thinking that maybe this is the start of her peacefully settling down, but just as we about to enter my home?
"Ne Megumin, who is that cat-man that walked behind you?" said Aqua, pointing toward the Killer Queen, who Megumin just summoned somewhere after getting out of the car.
"Wait a minute, you could see THAT, Aqua?!" I said while summoning Whitesnake at my side as well. "You could see him too?"
"Kuzu gesu kuzu gesu kuzu gesu... Puuu kusu kusu kusu..." said Aqua as she laughed hysterically after reading what is written on Whitesnake's stripes. "Why I'm not surprised to see your Hiki-NEET stand having such trashy pervert design at the first place?!"
"Hold on... Hold on... You could... REALLY SEE THEM? You do remember not seeing mine right?"
Aqua ends up only scratching her head, apparently also wondering with the fact that she could suddenly see stands.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" said Aqua as if she has done nothing wrong, which it is, but the very fact that she could suddenly see stands worried me.
"Wait a moment Aqua! You drank my father's blood, didn't you?!" said Megumin while pointing her finger toward the idiot Pillar Woman.
"Well, that was spilled on the floor! I thought it would be a waste if I just wipe them out, so..."
"YOU DRANK MY FATHER'S BLOOD AND TAKE AWAY HIS MAGICAL POWER! IF NOT BECAUSE OF THAT HE WOULD ALREADY HAVE KILLER QUEEN NUMBER THREE!" said Megumin as the Killer Queen is now pinching Aqua's cheeks.
"At at ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch... Stwoop iwt Mweegumwiiinnn!" said Aqua as a blob of water pushed the pink humanoid cat stand away before being absorbed back into Aqua's body and starts floating out of her head as kind of floating hagaromo.
"You still stole my family magic! Now my father did not develop his stand yet and you already have one!"
"Is that..." I said while noticing that, while she usually has biological tentacles, that hagaromo-like water that now floats around her is definitely... "A stand?"
"What are you saying Hiki-NEET? This is My Divine Necklace! You could call it Aqua's Necklace!" said Aqua as the hagaromo-like blob of water suddenly coalesced into a short humanoid with eyes drawn around its transparent bodies, and it's head sort of reminds me to the old dogu figures, just with long hair made of water, just like an uglier little version of Aqua, honestly.
"Give that stand back to my father!" said Megumin while she tried pulling the miniature ugly-Aqua with Killer Queen, but apparently Aqua's stand just can't be grabbed.
"Puuu kusu kusu kusu, that was divine water! Not a stand! You just can't grab mine!"
"Oh crap, this kind of stand business just get out of hand! Not with Megumin and her family, and now you! Isn't that stand ability was supposed to be super rare or something?!"
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ