MAANANTAI 18. SYYSKUUTA 2000, 01.15 CEST
MILANO, ITALIA
VIA ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
It's been four days, and I haven't found shit.
Kyuwa continued to search for the Stand user with the ability to replay the past, but it had come to no avail. He'd overstayed his visa by the better part of three days, and it wasn't easy. He'd slept in bars, taken showers at local gymnasiums, and acted like just an ordinary guy who was on vacation to Italy. His Italian still sucked, but it was getting better the more he immersed himself in it.
The student didn't carry much with him; he'd had Ramone ship his suitcases back to Helsinki, no questions asked. All Kyuwa had on him was a backpack (containing: his passport; house keys; car keys; his wallet; a credit card; currency in Euros, Italian Lira, and Finnish Markka; a toothbrush; toothpaste; shampoo; body wash; conditioner; a change of clothes; and multiple pairs of boxers); his mobile; his glasses; a trench coat; his Moomin scarf; a Phantom of the Opera mask he'd bought at the opera museum's gift shop; photos of his Japanese parents and his Finnish parents; and the clothes on his back. He'd gone to various laundromats, spending his change on various washings (because he really did NOT want to carry dirty boxers around). There were a couple of times where the machines wouldn't cooperate, but he'd had Mr. Roboto jailbreak them and get them back up and running.
If I don't end up deported by the end of the week, it'll probably be a miracle.
He walked down a sidewalk on Via Alessandro Scarlatti, pausing to look up at a streetlamp.
This is hopeless.
Useless.
Muda, muda, muda!
How much longer can I keep at this? It's been four days, and there's nothing! Nothing at all that can help me find the man I'm looking for!
For all I know, he could already be dead.
Or captured.
Who knows.
Kyuwa groaned in frustration, glaring at the streetlamp. "Paska!"
The streetlamp did not respond.
Nor did he expect it to.
"Okay," he told himself. "Think."
I just need to vent.
Kyuwa took out his mobile, looking at the Moomin keychain dangling from the side of it. He dialled his mother, feeling slightly homesick.
What if this was all for nothing?
"Kyuwa?"
"Hei, Äiti," Kyuwa said dully.
"Hei," Sinikka Mäkinen acknowledged, concern in her voice. "What is it?"
Kyuwa shrugged. "I just wanted to talk, that's all."
"Well, talk away. I'm here."
Kyuwa nodded, sighing. "It's been four days, and I'm about to give up. I'm starting to wonder if this is all for nothing."
"It didn't sound like it was something you wanted, or should, give up on," Sinikka retorted. "This is somebody's life you're talking about, for God's sake!"
"I know. It's frustrating," Kyuwa admitted. "How can I expect to find this guy when the only thing I know about him is his Stand? He could be anywhere!"
"Don't give up. And don't limit yourself," Sinikka advised him. "Your Stand is a manifestation of your soul. Mr. Roboto is also sentient, so he should know that as well. My advice is, test the waters. Don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone and grow. This applies to both of you. You will be able to find him, my son. I believe that."
In other words: Don't lose hope.
"Kiitos, Äiti," Kyuwa said gratefully.
After the call ended a few minutes later, Kyuwa walked down the street, soon coming across multiple abandoned mobile phones and various body parts cleverly hidden in various bushes.
"That's...not creepy at all," the student said uneasily. He summoned Mr. Roboto, who studied the phones carefully.
"There's one thing with technology that you should know about, Kyuwa-sama," Mr. Roboto said. "It just about always leaves behind a cybernetic fingerprint. Just as humans leave behind fingerprints all the time, technology leaves behind imprints. Ones that can be traced. Ones that can be reconstructed."
"Like Ramone's text messages," Kyuwa guessed.
"Correct."
"Huh." Maybe Äiti was right. Maybe I had started to lose hope too soon.
But perhaps the wait might be worth it after all.
"Do you think you can do it?" Kyuwa asked his Stand after a moment. "Can you reconstruct what happened?"
"It's possible," Mr. Roboto admitted. "It'll take a bit, though. Not to mention I'll likely end up causing a streetwide power outage."
Kyuwa shrugged. "It's one in the morning," he said. "Not a lot of people are gonna be up at this hour."
"Fair enough."
Mr. Roboto walked over to the smashed mobiles, drawing whatever power and data was left in them and transferring them to when they were last used. Streetlamps flickered and darkened.
Like holograms in Star Wars or Star Trek, the reconstruction took form.
Kyuwa saw multiple figures on the street: an SUV; several corpses; and a man with long, white hair, goth makeup, and violet-gold eyes. He looked to be around Kyuwa's own age. The audio was slightly distorted, given that the reconstruction was based entirely on phone signals, but it was enough.
The goth ran for the van, holstering a couple of pistols. "AIDA?" he hollered in Italian, a frantic expression on his face. "Aida, can you hear me?"
A door opened and closed. A young, androgynous woman around the goth's age walked around the front of the van. Her blue eyes were a bit unfocused, and she looked pale, but otherwise she seemed to be unharmed.
The goth came to a halt, heaving a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God. Are you doing okay?"
Aida ( "A-ï-da", from how Kyuwa's ears detected the umlaut sound that might not necessarily have been included in the Italian spelling) looked at him, but Kyuwa saw that she really looked out of it. "I'll be fine," the ravenette responded.
The two walked towards one another, oblivious to everything around them except for each other. They stopped a few seconds later, face-to-face only a few centimetres away from practically colliding. Aïda said something Kyuwa could not understand (it did not sound Italian, whatever it was), and the goth smiled, responding in the same language. His smile quickly faded, and he hugged Aïda tightly, placing one hand on the back of her head and the other around her shoulders. Kyuwa saw that his expression was one of worry mixed with relief, like a scared mother finally reuniting with her child after a long time.
"Leone?" Aïda asked, voice confused.
"Hush," the goth-Leone-whispered, switching back over to Italian. "I'm just happy to see you in one piece, that's all."
"Oh."
Leone's response was to pull Aïda in closer. He said something in Italian, but Kyuwa couldn't understand all of it. Only the first part: "I was so worried about you."
Kyuwa saw one of the "corpses" get to his feet, evidently only having been unconscious. This man disengaged the safety on his pistol, training it on Aïda. Leone's eyes went wide, and he shoved Aïda to the ground just as the gun fired. Three shots hit him from behind, but Kyuwa saw him only grimace in pain. He'd survived.
Thankfully.
"Moody Blues!" Leone called out.
A slim, humanoid Stand around the goth's height materialised. Kyuwa saw that the entity was indigo-blue, had speakers for eyes, white, leg-length go-go boots, and had a digital clock running along his forehead. Moody Blues tackled the would-be assassin, snapping his neck with a sickening crack.
"Is there any way you can pause it?" Kyuwa asked his Stand.
"Give me one second," Mr. Roboto responded. The reconstruction froze, holographic avatars flickering in the street's darkness. Kyuwa approached Moody Blues, curious.
"Why would there be assassins after a Stand user of all people?" Kyuwa mused. His eyes widened. "Unless…"
The digital clock on Moody Blues's forehead. It's not a clock at all; not really.
It's just like the footage time on VHS players.
And, judging by how heavily armed Leone was, he seemed to know that people were after him.
Kyuwa blinked. "It's him," he said quietly.
This Leone person is the man who I am looking for. Him, and Moody Blues.
My extended stay in Italy...it wasn't for nothing.
"How long do you think it'll take for you to download this data?" Kyuwa asked.
"About...two to three minutes, considering I have a shit-tonne of information to store," Mr. Roboto informed him.
"That's good enough for me."
Kyuwa studied Moody Blues' avatar closely, thinking about what he had just witnessed.
This is Leone's Stand. And Aïda is more than likely Leone's girlfriend, based on how they were interacting with each other. For all I know, she could also be a Stand user.
But why are people trying to kill this guy? I don't understand.
Footsteps approached from behind.
Real ones.
Kyuwa whirled around, seeing three men walking towards him. The one in the middle held a cigarette in his hands, a smirk on his face. A Stand materialised in front of this particular guy: one that looked to be a large 18th-Century war cannon, complete with a barrel and large wheels.
And Kyuwa saw that he was the target.
The Stand user said something to him in Italian, but Kyuwa couldn't understand it.
"Uhhh...parli inglese?" Kyuwa asked, confused. "My Italian's terrible; I'm still learning."
Cannon Guy nodded. "Yeah, I speak English," he said, switching to the requested language. "Tourist?"
"International student," Kyuwa corrected, also switching to English. Come on, Mr. Roboto. Hurry it up already.
"I see." The enemy Stand user gave him a curious look. "Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking? I've never heard such an accent before."
"Finland," Kyuwa said curtly. "But enough already; what is it that you want?"
Cannon Guy held up his cigarette to the roof of his mouth for a few seconds, blowing smoke out into the cool air. "Well, you see, my boss and I have been searching for a man who can replay the past. But, so far, everyone we've sent after him has ended up killed."
"Sucks to be them, I guess," Kyuwa responded.
"Indeed." Cannon Guy looked at him closely. "We didn't know who he was before, but now we do. And, unfortunately for you, signore, the boss isn't too pleased about your continued existence."
Mr. Roboto glanced at his user. "Download complete," he said in Finnish. "Should we take care of this guy now?"
Kyuwa held up his index finger, gesturing for the Stand to wait. Something didn't seem right.
It's almost as though this guy thinks...
"Wait…" Kyuwa looked at the cannon Stand user, panic kicking in as he realised that he was dealing with a case of mistaken identity. "You think I'm him?"
"No shit, Sherlock," he said. "It's pretty fucking obvious."
Voi kyrpä.
Kyuwa had very few options. But he also had the advantage: He knew his quarry's face. He also had his name: Leone.
And he was not about to tell these guys or let them anywhere near him.
"My name is Dante Russo," Cannon Guy introduced himself. "The name of my Stand is 'For Those About to Rock'." He blinked, tossing the butt of his cigarette on the ground. "I salute you, Finlander. Allow me to be the one who brings you to the next world."
Kyuwa's lip curled into a snarl. "I'd hate to break it to you, but I'm not going to Valhalla without a fight."
Russo smirked. "That can be arranged."
MR. ROBOTO
User: Kyuwa "Kilroy" Mäkinen (Birth Name: Kubota Kyuwa 『久保田急羽』)
Stats
Destructive Power: C
Speed: B
Range: C (5m)
Persistence: B
Precision: A
Development Potential: D