Okuyasu

I sent Josuke a text letting him know I was on my way over. I raised my arm hailing a cab. After a minute a cab stopped to let me in. I looked up to the cab driver, who was trying to hide a stack of money he was counting. He turned his head back to me putting it in a compartment below the wheel. "Where too?" He asked. I scratched my head for a second as I remembered where I was going. "The Morioh Hotel," I tried. The man sighed and gave me a frustrated look. Had I gotten it wrong? "Which one, we have got two or three?" He asked. I tried to remember. "I think it was The Grand hotel?" I tried. He nodded and turned back to the wheel. "Let's get going then?" He said.

The man locked the doors and began to drive. My eyes wandered around the cab unable to sit still for too long on one thing. I wonder if Jolyne is in trouble. It's sad what happened to her father but I think I understand how she feels. Like she needs to hit something but don't have anything to hit. Like you need to do something to keep yourself occupied. As I was left to my thoughts I suddenly became curious about the money the driver had. Where did he get it? He must have saved it up, no cab driver makes that much? If he had saved it up why did he have it now? It wasn't my business but I couldn't stop myself. I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned up to the front seat.

"Where did ya get that money?" I asked hoping he wouldn't brush it off. He laughed nervously. "Oh, you saw that just pay for a job. "Wow, I didn't know you could make that kind of money driving people around," I commented. He began to sweat. "Well ya, cars are a big business nowadays," he chuckled to himself. "What do you do…" he tried to change the topic, but I shifted it back. "Ya know my friend Josuke says he wants to buy me a car someday, do ya know any good ones?" He stared at me with fear in his eyes and sweat running down his face. I wiped my own face instinctively and noticed I was also sweating heavily. "It's pretty hot in here mister, you might want to turn on the air conditioning." He chuckled nervously again and reached for his air conditioning turning it up.

As the dial turned the car began to speed up. "Oh," he said confused. "Well that's bizarre, I don't think I've ever seen that problem. "Try putting a window down or something," he told me. I pointed to a button on the window. "Is this the one." He turned his head back and gave me a nod. I pushed the button causing a slow buzz to get louder as I held it. I turned to the front seeing that the car's heating had kicked in. I wiped more sweat off of my brow. I needed to stop this heat. "We might need to punch a hole in the window at this point," I said. He turned down the dial, slowing the car until it had stopped. "I think it might be best if you wait here for a minute while I go and check to make sure the car is okay to drive. He flipped a switch on the door attempting to unlock it. Instead of unlocking the door, a loud sound began to ring in our ears.

The car next to us began to beep loudly as if something had triggered its anti-theft alarm. This was becoming a problem. "I'm going to break the door to get out," I told him. He shook his head frantically at me. "No, no. Hold on. I can open the door." "The Hand!" I cried. The stand raised his hand ready to cut open the door. He pressed at the dashboard frantically looking for an answer. However, as it became harder to breathe I told him that I was going to do it. "No!" He cried desperately. "Hold on!" He opened up the compartment below the wheel and dug around. As every function, the car had seemed to join together like a choir tickling a person to death, I sighed feeling lightheaded. "You have ten seconds." I could barely feel my arms anymore but I knew I could last that long. The man held up a small light at the end of a handle. It was some kind of child's toy. He held the light to the window. "Stop!" He seemed to shout through the foggy windows. But no response came. Ten seconds passed. I realized my hand hadn't dropped. I had nearly lost it. The Hand's palm fell erasing the car wall bringing in a rush of fresh, cold air.

I gasped glad to be free and annoyed the driver had wasted so much time. I turned to see him slowly being torn apart by countless mechanical arms. Every bone in his body was separated into piles based on size. In the blink of an eye, the man had become several piles containing a lot of bones. It stared in horror as a familiar figure walked forward. It was the doctor Jolyne has brought here with her. "What are you doing?" I cried with rage building in my voice.

The arms cleaned him up as he began to speak. "I was killing him you idiot, what did you think I was doing?" I sneered at him, "Does death mean nothing to you?" He stared mildly amused at my shock. "His death is a tragedy but if we play this right no one else will have to die," he tried to explain. I could barely hear his justifications as I stood up and ran at him. He stopped his explanation when I began moving in his direction. "Factory Showroom!" He called. The thousand-armed mechanical stand appeared blocking my path. I couldn't see him as the hand tore through the arms in a diagonal across the stand. The moment the motion was done more hands sprouted up from stand grasping at The Hand freezing it in place.

"A stand battle is about information. Not strength." The doctor spoke with cold confidence. His serious demeanor was a far cry from his goofy act from before. "My stand might not be as strong as yours but I've had the time to make sure I won't lose," he said. I felt my skin being torn off as the arms played with The Hand's arm. I began to bleed as it worked it's up slowly and efficiently. I struggled to move but couldn't. If I attacked him again Both of my arms would be stuck. I could only see one way out of this.

The Hand raised its arm and brought it down on my shoulder freeing me from the grasp of the enemy stand and my arm. I didn't bleed out, that was just the way The Hand worked. Instead of bleeding out skin stretched further then it should have been able to. I felt my toes tense up as the skin I had tightened all over my body. In a second The Hand had turned and brought its hand down once more carrying me away from the doctor. I needed to warn Josuke.

Yukako

I started nervously at my watch. What if he was late. We had made plans to meet up here today. But as the hand of the watch ticked forward I was greeted by his warm smile. "Sorry, have you been waiting long Yukako?" He spoke with a warmth I could never understand. I was lucky just to know him. "You're late," I scolded. He looked at his watch confused and looked back up. "No, I'm not, exactly six pm." He held up his watch to show me. "It's not good enough to be on time, you need to be early if you want to impress anyone." I scolded him but I loved that he was so reliable.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You know were just getting tickets for a flight to Italy right?" "How romantic," I said with love in my voice. He knew I was mostly messing with him. I had managed to move past a lot of the anger I had when we first met. Koichi had helped me move past that, and I was grateful to him. "I thought you said you saved up for a trip this year," I teased. He sighed. "We might have to move that romantic vacation you wanted back." I felt my face tense up with anger for a second as I met his eyes. Instead of turning away like he used to, he stepped towards me and gave me a hug. "I'm sorry, this trip meant a lot to you didn't it?" I felt the anger flow out of me in his embrace. My frown slowly became a smile. I remembered why I had fallen for him. He was so kind to everyone. Even towards someone as horrible as me. I pulled away blushing a bit.

We began to make our way to the terminal. It was standard as terminals went with a screen glowing and ready. It wouldn't be an exciting venture, but honestly, I just wanted to spend more time with him. He pulled out his wallet. As he combed through it for the proper amount a sleazy looking man slipped up to us. He placed his arm on the top of the machine and looked at us with a grin that put me off. From his greasy hair hidden behind a trashy baseball cap, to the tattered jeans and heavy jacket. Nothing about him seemed trustworthy. He scanned us and must have noticed my distrust as his gaze shifted down to Koichi with a casual smirk. I opened my mouth to tell him to leave but he spoke to Koichi before I could stop him.

"Hey kid you might want to change machines, this one chewed up a bunch of my money earlier," he said. Koichi looked up surprised. "Oh, really?" He looked at the machine. I don't know how I didn't notice it before, the screen isn't moving at all. "Same with all the other machines here," he said motioning the rows of machines behind him. "There was a power surge earlier, and now none of them are working." I scanned the room not believing my eyes. All of the machines were stuck on the same screen. Koichi sighed in frustration. "Was there any statement on when they'll be working again?"

The man gave him a mischievous smile and leaned in close. He raised a hand to his mouth like he was disclosing a dirty secret. "I know a trick to get you a ticket if you want," he said. Koichi blinked surprised. "Really?" "Of course," he said. I felt my hair stand on end as he said this. I have no idea who this guy is but something about him is unnerving me. I pulled Koichi back and leaned down to speak into his ear. "I don't trust this guy Koichi, you need to be careful." His eyes locked with mine. We shared an intimate exchange for a second. "I understand," said Koichi with confidence in his voice.

He turned back to the man. "You're not giving us these for free are you?" Koichi asked. The man replied without missing a beat. "Of course there will be a small convenience tax," replied the man. "I'm John by the way," he said extending a hand. Koichi took his hand, "that's an English name isn't it?" He flashed a white grin as he began to walk away. "I only need ¥20,000." Koichi was shocked by the man's price. "That's only a third of what is usually paid." He said confused. "Just tell your friends about me," said John slipping Koichi a wink in a way to stop me from noticing.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, we came to St Gentlemen's. "Let's grab a bite to eat before we talk business. He walked inside, holding the door open for us. Koichi turned to me. "Do you want anything Yukako," I'm fine I said turning away from him. "Ok," he said confused. I wanted to make John feel like he was in control and that he had Koichi to himself. They wet up to the front to order while I picked out a table. I looked around sitting in the chair. Once I was sure no one was watching I ran my hand through my hair nervously. I needed to play this carefully. This guy could end up being a stand user, but then why is he tricking us.

Koichi and John both sat at the table engrossed in their conversation about a shared love of sandwiches. They ate their meal without incident but I beginning to speculate about what could be going one. Maybe I was wrong and he was just a normal person. Regardless of whether it was better to be safe than sorry. Just then it struck me. I was sitting here with the person I loved thinking about being attacked. This is why I could never be happy. The incident with Kira had messed me up more than I let myself admit. Whenever I hung out with Koichi I always spent my time worrying about his safety. What if they have a gun, what if there a stand user? I hated myself for this. I couldn't get over this, and I was letting it tear me away from him. I felt an emptiness well up in my stomach. Maybe I'm the problem, not this John character. Am I wrong? There must be something broken inside of me. I felt like I needed to be somewhere, anywhere away from Koichi. If he saw me crying he would blame himself. It's never his fault, it's always me. I'm always the one responsible for his suffering. Ever since we met.

I stood up to leave. Koichi seemed to break immediately from his conversation. His full attention focused on me as I was leaving. "Where are you going?" Koichi asked. "I need to leave for today, I'll see you tomorrow," I told him walking out the door. "Are you sure?" He asked me. "Of course I'm sure!" I yelled back at him. I stomped out the door. The moment the door closed behind me I regretted my decision. I wanted so badly to be with him but the moment we start hanging out I shout at him. No one would want to hang out with you. As I stepped away from the door I heard the bells ring as someone followed me outside.

I turned to see Koichi. In an instant, he recognized my face and wrapped me in a warm hug. "Get off me!" I shouted at him before I knew what I was saying. Koichi jumped off of me in a flash. "I'm sorry, I thought…" he trailed off as I became even more frustrated. I had it, and I had thrown it away without thinking. Why am I so bad at being a person. It shouldn't be this hard, it's just me messing up everything. "It's not you, it's just, I need some space for a bit," I said stomping away in quiet, frustrated rage. "Yukako," Koichi called after me. "Please be safe, I care about you." I stopped in my tracks unable to stop the tears any longer. "Koichi…" I said, trailing off. "Can we talk over there for a second?" I asked. "Sure," he replied beginning to walk over to the side of the building where I had pointed. As soon as we arrived, he turned around. "W…" He began. I pulled Koichi into a deep embrace as the tears ran down my face. "Can we stay here for a bit." Koichi began to try and speak but I squeezed him causing to lose a bit of his air. My hair instinctively wrapped around him and I forming a cocoon. After a few minutes, I let go. He gasped for air, causing me to feel a bit guilty. I turned away from him embarrassed by my actions. The hair returned to its natural state only leaving a few strands on the ground. He's got to be angry at me for that. "Koichi I…" I began. But it was his turn to interrupt. "Don't be afraid to ask if you need a hug," he said reaching for my hand. I made no move to resist as I felt his hand warm mine. "Thank you," I said, "I think I'll be fine now, I just had some heavy stuff on my mind. You can go back inside now." "Are you sure your okay?" Koichi double-checked. "Of course," I said. This was a lie, I had put enough on Koichi already. I didn't need to burden him anymore with my stupid problems.

Koichi gave me a smile and walked back inside. He stopped at the door and turned back to me. "Let's meet here next weekend," he said with a big smile. I hadn't seen him smile so genuinely in a long time. "I can't wait," I said to him with a feeling of joy that I couldn't express with words alone. It was like warmth and protectiveness and love and so much more. I blushed and laughed to myself as Koichi headed back inside. I think I was ready to go home. I stood up and began to walk home.

I had made it about a mile before I was stopped by a painting figure calling after me. I turned around to see John. I stepped back. "Where is Koichi?!" I asked in a panic. He held up a hand still exhausted from the run. After a minute of anxiety building, he swallowed and looked up at me to answer my questions. "He is safe and will stay safe as long as you do what I say." I panicked and ran up to him. "You're on Fire," he said summoning a stand made of large spaghetti running a single strand from him, to somewhere else.

I gritted my teeth and slapped him with an open palm knocking the hat off of his head. "Do that again and you'll find your boyfriend won't be in good condition when you get him back. I clenched my fists in anger, but at least I had gotten a hit in on him. That might make whatever he demanded more bearable. "What do you want?" I demanded to know, "To kill us or something." He chuckled. "Murdering would be extremely dumb, which is why I'm using it as leverage and not my plan. Plus I could go without anyone else's death on my conscience." I stayed silent while he talked. "Persephone wants me to get you out of the picture, but that doesn't have to mean killing you.

So I'm going to make sure neither of you can be part of this fight any longer. So basically." He concluded, "Stand still." I began to panic as he pulled a handgun out of his oversized jacket. "BANG!" I felt a stream of blood run down my left leg. "BANG!" I felt a stream of blood run down my right leg. I fell to the ground grasping desperately for something to pull me up. I needed to get to Koichi. He was going to be in trouble without me. This man was a stand user. My eyes darted over to see him put away the gun and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number into it quickly. "Yes, I need an ambulance, someone has been shot in the legs." John ended the call and fell back against a wall. "I'm sorry you had to be part of this, but you'll both be fine now." He said. To my amazement, he released his stand causing the noodle in the air to disappear. "He's not!" I began to panic. "Relax, I've just made it so he can't leave the restaurant until I return there. Even if its unusual, love always finds a way, and I think that is beautiful."