If you were to ask the people who know him what Kira Yoshikage's likes were, they would all answer that Kira has no likes, or rather; his likes are so plain and ordinary that it looks like he doesn't like anything at all.
If you were to ask him directly, he would confirm everyone's impression if him by giving the most uninteresting and boring answers possible.
Truly, Kira Yoshikage was the most ordinary person in all of Morioh-Cho.
If only they knew this was all by design.
After discovering his innate desire to murder young and beautiful women, Kira spent time and effort into being as average and uninteresting as possible. He was never too good and never too bad. He had several 3rd place awards in his room to prove his dedication to his fabricated persona.
But once inside the safety of his home, Kira allowed himself to show the side of him that no one else in the world knew or had an inkling of an idea about.
Well, no one except one…
"I'm h…!." He was about to announce his arrival, but he quickly held back. The house was filled by the enchanting sounds of music.
After taking off his shoes like proper etiquette dictated, Kira walked deeper into his home towards the origin of the music. When he arrived he found his little sister inside of her own room playing her most favorite musical instrument: the lyre.
An unconventional instrument to be sure, especially this day and age; but Pippi took upon herself to learn and master it after she found out their mother had named her after the instrument itself.
Kira remained quiet as he watched Pippi with her eyes closed concentrated in playing her namesake and carefully listen to her melody. He was no connoisseur in music, but he was an expert on his little sister and he could hear exactly what her musical piece was about.
It started out slow and soothing to try and relax you, put you into sense of calm and security; but slowly the tune changed, it stir and shifted not unlike a person when a pleasant dream started to become darker and darker; the melody was no longer comforting, instead it conjured a foreboding feeling of dread.
Then it happened.
What once was a pleasant dream, it had become a nightmare and the terrors once held back reason and optimism flow out like water from a broken dam. The shifts and turns became struggles against the bounds that chained you preventing you from escaping the cold darkness that surrounded you and started to consume you.
But soon the fear became something more. It became pain. The darkness that wrapped around you began to pierce your skin and burrowed underneath and slowly crawling to envelop the insides. It was a slow and lengthy process as the darkness consumed you on the inside, the cold burning worse than any fire; no longer do you wish to escape but rather you beg for the end.
And the end comes, not as a vengeful strike from an angry god, but as the soft caress of a mother consoling their child. No longer would you suffer from the pain of the darkness, all you have to do is close your eyes and soon you'll be taken to where nightmares do not exist and dreams become songs, so dream and soon the pain will fade away.
And that is the end of the song.
"Did you like it?" Pippi opened her eyes and looked up to her brother who she knew stood there in silence the whole song.
"As much as I like you." Kira gave an answer that she could interpret in whatever way she wanted.
"Thanks!" She gave him a very big smile, obviously elated by his words. Then her gaze move from him towards the clock on the wall. "Oh! Is it that late?! I forgot to prepare dinner!"
"It's alright. It is my turn to make dinner today." Kira said calming her down before she ran towards the kitchen in a crazed frenzy. "Meanwhile you can work on your strings."
"Mou, you know I can't work on my strings if I don't…" and before she could say more, Kira pulled out a plastic bag containing something special inside. "Oh my goodness! You are the best big brother ever!" Pippi jumped unto him and gave him the biggest hug she could muster. "You must really love my music then!" she said with a small laugh.
Kira would rarely say it out-loud but he really did love his sister's music. It was unlike anything he heard from any other musician, either from mainstream music or from a symphony. Pippi's melodies invoked all sort of emotions from him, emotions that he suppresses every single day in order to maintain his public persona and their peaceful life.
Kira silently lamented Pippi could never truly play at the best of her abilities outside of the confines of their home. She could be playing for the best orchestra in all of Japan, but just like him, Pippi holds back her true talents for the sake of their peaceful lives.
It was a true shame, talent like that could not be shared with the world. But a small part of him enjoyed the idea of being the only one who could enjoy his sister's exquisite music.
"I better start working; hopefully I can clean the fat before dinner!" Pippi took his gift and jumped excitedly. But before she could go get to work, she stopped and looked at him. "Did you bring a new girlfriend home?" she asked cocking her head to the side. "Should I wash up and dress up for dinner?"
"You should always do that regardless." Kira looked at her and how she was still dressed in her school uniform. "Tonight I'll prepare something special: Loin served with a Cumberland sauce of red fruits."
"Oh! Fancy!" Kira rolled his eyes at that. Loin wasn't that fancy of a dish; at least not without a proper side dish and plate presentation.
"Hurry along, and maybe after dinner you can play some more for me." He said and instantly he could see a sparkle on his sister's eyes.
"Ok!" She gave his a small kiss on the cheek before she ran off in direction of the basement with his present.
After she was gone, Kira took the opportunity to enter Pippi's room, something he had done less and less as time went on; she was a growing girl and he respected her privacy after all. What distinguished Pippi's room from the others in the house was towards the decorations hanging on the wall. They were his sister pride and joy: dozens of string musical instruments. Though her favorite was the Lyre, she also played the, the harp, the violin, the viola, the cello, several types of acoustic guitar and other instruments with names he couldn't remember. Pippi played them all.
She was a musical prodigy.
A shame she was born in the Kira family.
"Then again, if she were not for the strings she makes. Her music would sound as pure as it is." Kira commented out-loud as he ran his fingers through the strings of the cello magnificently crafted by Pippi.
Looking around, Kira was reminded of how unorganized his sister was compared to him thanks to how messy her books and trinkets above her desk were. It was a mystery how she managed to find something in that disorganized mess.
But Kira's attention move away from the unkempt desk and to a book that laid open. Inspecting it for just a second, he realized this was his sister's dairy. Though he respected her privacy and didn't want to stick his nose in her private thoughts, he had to admit that what little he saw had intrigued him.
"Working on a brand new instrument, huh?" Apparently Pippi was working hard in perfecting her technique to try and play a unique instrument and create music like it was never done before. She was preparing a show just for him. "I'll wait patiently, then."
On the basement of their home served as Pippi's work shop and in it she crafted strings unlike any other in the world.
"Let see what Yoshi-chan brought me today!" She smiled referring to her big brother by the pet name she gave him when they were little as she opened the package from it an exceptionally healthy small intestine fell out. "Wow, Big Bro's girlfriend really ate healthy took care of her body." She admired impressed by clean it was, so much that she couldn't help but smile. "With it I could create my best strings yet!"
She proceeded to clean them out and carefully take out all of the fat. A masterpiece required time and dedication after all.
[X-X-X]
Pippi hadn't cried in years. She hadn't done so since the funeral of her late mother where she promised she wouldn't cry anymore and be happy for everyone's sake. But the phone call she received, made her broke her vow.
Yoshikage…her big brother… they found out about him. They found out he was the mass murderer that had been making people disappear for more than a decade. And the peaceful life they had worked so hard to maintain was over.
All because a stupid kid mistook Yoshi's paper bag for his own.
Her brother was forced to kill him and in doing so, brought the attention of a bunch of people with similar powers as her brother's. Stand users they called themselves. And now they were on their way to their house for her too.
The person on the phone who told her all of this was none other than her brother Kira, which should've made her happy to know he was alive, but this did little to dull the pain of his next words.
"I had to assume the identity of another man. Kira Yoshikage is dead." This broke her heart.
Yoshikage needed to remain hidden as the man whose face and life took over. Meaning that besides this last phone call he would never contact her again. She would never see or hear her brother ever again. She'd ever be able to give him hugs or prepare dinner for him. Never celebrate his birthday or watch his favorite movie with him. And worse of all, she would never be able to play for him.
Her life was over.
Kujo Jotaro, the man with the invincible Stand, was going to come for her any minute now and unlike her brother, she didn't have the luxury to exchange faces and take over the life of another to hide. Jotaro and his companions would most likely try to apprehend her to interrogate or use her to find her dear brother, something she would refuse to do even if it killed her.
Over. Her life was over. If she didn't spend the rest of her life in the run she most likely end up dead. Well, if her life was over there was nothing stopping her from taking the people who ruin her and her brother's lives with her.
"Father!" She called out for the spirit of her late father that still resided inside the house. "Whatever happens please take care of Yoshi-chan!" She knew how much her father loved her and how he would most likely refuse to leave her on her own.
Her pleas were answered when a polaroid camera took a picture by itself and the photograph fell out. "Pippi please! You're my sweet little angel! Let me protect you from those people!" said the ghost of her father from inside the photograph.
"It's already too late for me. My life is already over, but he can still live the peaceful life he wanted for the two of us. Please father! Do it for me, protect my dear brother's now that I can no longer do it."
"Pippi I can't…!"
"Please father!" She shouted as tears fell down her face and into the floor. "You have to promise me that you'll protect him no matter what."
"L-Pippi…"
"B-besides…" She said with a sniff. "Maybe I'll get to see mom too." She tried to find the silver lining of this whole mess, which in turn cause her father to cry even more, as he said yes to her request.
"Come Kujo Jotaro…"She said with steel in her voice wiping away her tears. "I'm waiting for you."
[X-X-X]
Morioh-Cho Jouzenji Block 1, number 28
The house the serial killer used when he was still Kira Yoshikage. With a new identity to hide in, it was unlikely for him to come back to the house anytime soon, even so Jotaro and his allies Josuke, Okuyasu and Koichi went there to investigate and find any clues or leads to help them find him.
Once they arrived, Koichi couldn't help but notice something peculiar about the name plate at the entrance. "Um… Jotaro-san is that how Kira's name is spelled?"
"Yes, what of it?" The tall man look down to him wondering what caught the short boy's attention.
"It's just… there's a girl in my class whose last name is written exactly the same." Koichi pointed out much to Okuyasu surprise.
"Oi, Oi, are you serious?!"
"Maybe it is just a coincidence." Josuke cut in before his pal got any wrong ideas. "There's no way a classmate of yours is related to a serial killer."
"No, he is right." Jotaro said agreeing with Koichi. "According to what little info there is about Kira Yoshikage, we found out he had a little sister Kira Pippi, a student at your school."
"Are you telling me we have been going to school with the sister of a mass murderer?!" Okuyasu shouted, scared of the whole idea despite the fact that he too was the sibling of a murderer.
"After our confrontation with Kira Yoshikage, no one has seen signs of his sister anywhere. She most likely ran away." Jotaro explained as he pulled a picture showing Kira Pippi.
"Makes sense, it's not like she could change faces just like her brother did." Koichi figured the most likely possibility of her own disappearance.
"Hey, isn't she kinda cute?" commented Okuyasu as he looked at the picture of the girl with cyan hair and a white streak running down it,"She defiantly doesn't look like the sister of a murderer."
"Oi Okuyasu! What the heck are you thinking at a time like this!?" Josuke chastised his friend's lack of focus at the matter at hand.
"Neither did Kira look like a serial murderer." Jotaro brought everyone back to the point at hand. "We aren't just looking for clues to find Kira, but we also trying to find his sister as well. She knows him better than anyone and whatever info she has will help us find him." Though even if they found her, there was the issue of getting her to speak. "We do not know if she was directly involved with the murders or not, but if we find her we must treat her cautiously as if she was a stand user as well."
With those sobering thoughts the party made their way inside the house to investigate. And not soon after they stepped inside, music started playing resounding all over the supposedly empty house.
"Wasn't this place supposed to be empty? What's up with that music?!" Josuke asked alarmed fearing the attack of an enemy any second now.
"Maybe they left the TV on." Okuyasu proposed much to everyone's dismissal.
"It was silent until we all stepped inside." Koichi clarify before looking at Jotaro. "Do you think this is some sort of strategy from an enemy?"
"It could be, or it could be just to distract us from the real attack." It wouldn't be the first time an enemy use distractions like this. "We cannot stay still, we must found whoever or whatever is producing that music. Everyone be ready and if it is a sound based attack, be prepared to cover for us Koichi."
"Yes, sir." Everyone tensed as they made their way in to find the origin of the music.
What they found inside, would haunt them in their nightmares to the end of their days.
Inside a ample room, Kira Pippi stood with one hand on the neck of a cello and the other on the bow. But what she was playing wasn't a cello or even a musical instrument at all.
It was a woman.
A woman with a cello neck jammed down her mouth and her neck cut opened exposing the vocal cords, which Pippi was playing like the most disturbing string instrument of all time.
Jotaro who was accustomed to grizzly scenes, was shocked with what he was seeing. Josuke and Okuyasu looked completely sick but they managed to hold it down relatively well and poor Koichi ended up puking on the floor. Nobody could blame him for it though.
Everyone stood frozen in place in what could be described as the disturbing horror picture of all time, as the girl with mint hair played without a worry in the world. Nobody said anything, nobody dared, as an ironically pleasant melody was played with the corpse of what once was a woman.
"You should be honored." Pippi finally broke the silence as her haunting song was over. "No one was supposed to ever see me perform this piece with my brand new, one of a kind, one-use-only instrument, besides my dear brother Yoshi."
"You…!" Josuke growled finding his voice once again. "You are a sick bitch!" If this was a taste of what she and her brother did, then they put Angelo to shame.
"Now thanks to you I will never be able to play for him this song I worked so hard for this past year or any other of his favorites ever again." She said, her voice filled with melancholy.
"Are you even listening?!" Josuke continued to shout angry not because he was ignored but because of her nonchalant attitude towards the corpse she had been desecrating.
"I heard your stand is very powerful, Kujo Jotaro." She turned and looked at the tall man who remained silently staring at her. "They say it can stop time. Star Platinum, the invincible Stand. Not to mention you have three other stand users to help you. Nobody could stand a ghost of a chance."
Jotaro looked at her curiously at her admission. Was she implying her surrender? Or was this some sort of distraction?
"But I believe there is a power far stronger than that of your Star Platimun." Pippi's eyes narrowed with fierce determination. "And that is the power of Love! And let me tell you, the Kira family love is unlike any other."
Of that, they had no doubts. The Kira family was obviously out of their damned minds.
"And the love I feel for my family, for my brother Yoshikage is reflected in no better place than my own soul!"
"Everyone stand back!" Jotaro ordered as Star Platinum appeared ready to attack or defend appropriately.
"Come forth!" She shouted as she called out her Stand.
"Come forth!" Pippi called out but no stand appeared besides her. Instead an object dived towards Jotaro and the rest from behind.
"From behind!" the tall man called out and everyone dodged to the side as the flying object the size of a softball passed them by.
The flying attack continued its trajectory towards the cyan haired girl until she lifted her right hand commanding it to stop.
"That's! That's Kira's heat seeking bomber!" Koichi pointed out at the thing that nearly hit them. He still remembered how Jotaro and he were almost defeated by that tank-looking stand.
"It may be similar, but look closely!" Jotaro said focusing on their opponent.
It was true. Now that Koichi took a better look at it, it wasn't exactly the same as Kira's. While the man's bomber looked like a tank, this one looked like a sphere shaped remote-controlled model plane, except that instead of a propeller in the front, it had the same eerie skull as the tank bomber.
"So, you know about my brother's Secondary Bomb ?Sheer Heart Attack?, huh? If you survived it that means you must know how it works." Pippi said looking not very surprised or concerned about the fact. "Then allow me to introduce you to its sibling, my ?Dragon Attack?Dive Bomber!"
"We already defeated Kira's bomber, yours doesn't stand a chance!" Koichi shot back, ready to use his ?3FREEZE?attack to immobilize the bomber the same way he did with Kira's.
"I promise you, you've never seen nothing like it no never in your life." Pippi sent a wicked smile towards the short boy. "Like going up to heaven and then coming back alive, so let me tell you all about it." And with a flick of her hand, the dive bomber went straight to the boy.
"?Act 3?!" Koichi summoned his own stand. He was ready; he had encountered this type of bomber before, and knew how it operated. It tracked by heat and only moved in straight lines. And knowing this, made it easy to counteract.
"3FREEZE!" The small humanoid stand shouted ready to pummel the bomber and turn it extremely heavy just like with Kira, but the moment the bomber was inside Act 3's reach, something unexpected happened.
It swerved!
That shouldn't have been possible! The bomber only moved in straight lines! Yet there it was right in front of his eyes, changing directions mid-flight, circumventing Act 3 and going straight for him.
"I told you! You've never seen nothing like my bomber!" Pippi laughed as she flicked her right hand again. "Give him the business, Dragon Attack!" Then the spherical plane burst into flames ready to seriously hurt the boy.
That is until Jotaro intervened.
"?The World?!"
Time stopped for 2 seconds. And when it resumed, Koichi was no longer in the bomber's line of sight, so it ended up crashing against the wall. Unlucky for them, this caused a fiery explosion that sent everyone flying outside the house and into the yard. Thankfully they managed to get away unscathed with the help of their stands.
"Is everyone alright?" Josuke asked looking at his friends, who didn't looked like they suffered any damage.
"Just what was that?" Okuyasu asked confused by all of this. "Didn't you say that thing move on straight lines?" He remembered the talk they compared notes about Kira's abilities before coming to search the house.
"I don't know! Kira's bomber couldn't do that." Koichi said distraught. Once again he committed a mistake that almost cost him his life.
"She did say it was different." Jotaro pointed out, though at the time he didn't know if it was a bluff or not. Guess this solved that mystery.
"Though they look similar, they are completely different, the bombers of my brother and I." Pippi said as she stood at the smoldering hole that once was a wall with the small bomber floating next to her head. "While both are indestructible and cause explosions, Yoshi-chan's SHA has an unlimited range and it's autonomous but a little clumsy and straight-forward. Mine on the other hand only has a range of fifty meters but it has way better mobility and tracking." Then she turned her gaze towards Jotaro. "That Time Stop ability of yours is certainly impressive. I don't know if I'll be able to defeat it."
"You won't." Not with the current abilities she was showing. But if she was like with her big brother, this girl could be holding back her real stand, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. "You said it before; four against one are almost impossible odds."
"If only that kid hadn't being so stupid, I wouldn't be in this situation." Pippi sneered with cold anger in her eyes. "What was that retard's name? Shigeki…? Shigenchi…?"
"Shigechi!"Okuyasu responded furious that she was insulting their late friend."His name is Shigechi you bitch!"
"Shigechi? What a stupid name…" Pippi said shrugging. "I bet his parents are glad he's gone. I bet they are relieved they don't have to deal with a stupid retard of a son."
"What the fuck did you just say!?" Okuyasu clenched his fist seething at the girl. And he wasn't the only one, Josuke was barely holding up, wanting nothing more than to rush and beat the smug expression out of her face.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had a son that was as stupid as he was." The girl continued not paying attention to the angry glares she was receiving in return. "If I were her mother I would've drowned him in boiling water a long time ago." She finished with a small laugh imagining how amusing it would've been.
"Shut the fuck up you bitch!"
"Oh, was he your friend?" Pippi asked, the amused tone never leaving her voice. "Makes sense, you look just as stupid as Shigechi was made out to be."
"I said shut the fuck up!" Okuyasu couldn't help it anymore and he rushed towards her. Insults towards him he could deal with, but no one insulted Shigechi in front of him, much less the bitch whose brother killed his friend.
"Okuyasu!" "Wait!" Josuke and Koichi tried to stop him but it was useless, their friend was just too angry to listen to reason.
"Take no prisoners, Dragon Attack!" Pippi commanded her bomber to attack once more.
"I'm not scared of your stupid bomb! I'll just make it disappear! ?The Hand?!" Okuyasu called upon his Stand, which swap its right hand towards the bomber.
"I heard your stand was also dangerous, but it's far too slow to catch my bomber! Max Speed Dragon Attack!" Indeed the spherical plane was too fast and too small to ever be caught by The Hand's eraser ability, especially since it could veer, twist and turn even at maximum speed.
"If I can catch the Stand, then I'll attack the user!" Okuyasu announced as he did a wide downwards motion which erased the space between him and her. In the blink of an eye she was no longer 10 meters away, but right in front of him. "You're now in my range!" He scream as he launched a powerful punch that could break bones. He would've never use against a woman, but she was an exception.
Pippi smiled without an ounce of fear as if she had expected this to happen. "So are you!" Then a spectral black hand appeared and caught the offending fist in its grip.
Then Okuyasu let out a painful scream as if he was being tortured in the most painful way possible. And since nobody knew what Pippi's stand abilities really were that could be most certainly the case.
"Okuyasu!" Both Josuke and Koichi yelled as they jumped to both save their friend and to attack Pippi.
Seeing them coming, the cyan-haired girl let go of the punk's hand and jumped backwards to step out of their range as Dragon Attack return to her and circled around her in a two meter radius.
"Okuyasu are you ok? What happened?" Koichi asked worriedly, that scream of his really sent chills down his spine.
"My hand… I can't feel my hand." He said and everyone turned to look at the appendage. And after they did they reeled back in shock.
"Okuyasu, your hand…!" Josuke didn't need to know about medicine to know that it didn't look good. "It turned completely black!"
"And that's just a taste of what she can do." Pippi said making everyone turned towards her. "She's vulgar 'buse and vile, She boils and she bakes, and she never dots her "I's." she said in a singsong. "She is none other than the?Black Queen?!"
At the mention of "her" name "she" made itself known.
It was a humanoid looking stand, with a dark female like body features and a grayish skull-like face with yellow bulging eyes and a strange crown adorn on top of the head, and on its back there skeletal protrusions in the form of wings and very few black feathers.
"That's one creepy looking Stand." Koichi couldn't help to point out. Yet it was fitting for a nutcase like her.
"That the hell did you do?" Josuke demanded, but was intercepted by Jotaro who inspected the wound.
"I think I know what she did." The man kept on sounding calm and collected. "Okuyasu's hand is showing signs of necrosis."
"?NECROSIS?!" shouting at the same time was the teenagers' reactions.
"How can that be?!" Koichi who was a little more well-read than his peers was the first to ask. "Did she implant some sort of venom or bacteria?!"
"No, I don't believe so." Jotaro shook his head before he turned to look at Kira Pippi and her stand and repeated something about her strange lines from her stand introduction. "She boils and she bakes, she said; Thermal effects of extremely high or low temperature can result in necrosis due to the disruption of cells."
"You mean…!"
"Good Grief, her Black Queen's touch cause burn damage to a cellular level." He said as he fidgeted with his hat. "What a dangerous and troublesome stand."
"Congratulations, Kujo Jotaro. You paid attention in biology and health class." Pippi clapped her hands in a slow and very sarcastic way. "Everything that my Black Queen touches burns and dies!" Then her stand retreated back enveloping her in a black aura. "And so can I." to emphasize her point the grass she was standing on turned black before it crumbled into ashes.
"Oi, Jotaro what should we do?" Josuke asked wondering how they could defeat an enemy they couldn't touch. Of them all he was worried a bit because his Crazy Diamond Ability didn't work on him and Necrosis wasn't something he could recover from without some intensive surgery.
"Leave it to me." Jotaro stepped forward looking at Kira Pippi with analytical eyes. "Try and heal Okuyasu's hand in the meantime."
"My! You are so confident, Kujo Jotaro." Pippi responded with a wicked smirk. "That Time Stop ability of yours puts you in a level far above others, but it makes me wonder…" she tapped her index finger to the side of her cheek posing thoughtfully. "Will you still burn in the Frozen Time?"
Not even Jotaro was sure of the answer, but he was willing to find out even if the skin of his fists burned off. "Let's find out together." He said without a hint of worry in his face or voice.
"I'm afraid it won't be as simple for you to catch me." Pippi then of all things she could do, started elevating up in the air until she was at least 10 meters overhead.
"SHE CAN FLY?!" The trio of high-shcoolers shouted in disbelief! Just how many abilities did this girl have up her sleeve?
The only one who didn't seem shocked or impressed was Jotaro, who just fidget with this hat for a bit. "Good grief." He hadn't seen someone used their stands to float like that since Cairo.
"That's not all I can do!" Then the same wings from her Stand appeared on her back. "Just because you got lucky with my big brother doesn't mean you can defeat us! I'll bring you down to size!" From her stand's skeletal wings, the black feathers shot down like a rain of arrows. "?Spread Your Wings?!"
"Move!" Jotaro didn't have to tell everyone twice to jump out of the way as the barely managed to dodge them.
"What is this? More Abilities?" Josuke questioned as he saw the places where the black feathers had stuck start to burn or darken. Then from the corner of his eye he saw something approaching at a fast rate "Duck!"
"Don't you forget about my Dragon Attack!" She laughed watching from above how her bomber attacked the group relentlessly.
"What do we do?!" Koichi asked desperately. Not only could they not attack her physically for fear of her Heat Burn, but she also could fly and stay away while she attacked from afar with her feathers and bomber.
"I don't know!" Okuyasu used his newly healed hand to use his stand to erase the feathers that rain from above, but he found it difficult to do so with that plane going around threatening with exploding in a ball of fire.
"Jotaro!" Josuke asked for some sort of plan from the eldest of the group, who despite of all odds remained very calm and collected.
"Good grief! I never thought I would use this again." Jotaro sighed as he too was enveloped by the aura from his own stand power ?Star Platinum? and started to float in the air.
"Wait, you can fly too!?" Pippi asked perplexed, voicing the question that was on everyone's minds, she thought she was the only one that could accomplish such feat.
"It is not something I usually want to do." Not only because it required and incredible amount of power and concentration, it would also bring a lot of attention to him, something he really didn't appeal to him. Thankfully this place was far away from other houses and populated roads, so there wasn't anyone around to freak out when they see two people battle in mid-air.
"Well, it seems this battle comes come to just you and me." Pippi said, knowing this was always the case, if she could Kujo Jotaro then victory was assured. "It's time for you to dance with the devil."
"I'll give you one last chance, surrender now and tell us what we want to know, or…"
"To hell with all of you!" Pippi snapped, not caring to hear the consequences of her defiance. She knew that she would die either way! "I will burn you with my touch! You'll turn black from every finger nail down to your very toes." She lounged forward aura flaring all around here ready to put an end to Jotaro's life.
"You ask for this." Jotaro said as he too lauched forward to meet her midway. "Star Platinum!"
"Black Queen!"
Pippi was finishing with the dishes from breakfast when she heard her big brother at the entrance preparing to leave. "Going to work already, big bro?" she asked, usually he would hang around a bit more before going to work.
"I'm going to take my suit to a tailor as have a button fixed." Yoshikage informed as he held up his suit to show her.
"You know I could have that fixed for you." Pippi said with a smile. "I learned to do so from my Home-Ec. class."
"Sorry, but I prefer to have someone with experience to fix up my suit, especially since last time." He reminded her causing his little sister to pout.
"Mou! That was when I was in Middle School! I'm way better at it now!" Yet even now he still reminded her of the mess she made when she was still learning.
"Still I rather have a professional do the job."
"Don't you know when you say that to a girl you are insulting their housekeeping skills?" She pouted even more.
"Really now?" He asked feigning ignorance. He wasn't an ignorant of societal norms.
"Yes! In fact you are telling me I'll be a lousy housewife!"
"Well if the usual state of your room is any indication…"
"Idiot Big Bro!" She huffed angrily and crossed her arms.
Yoshikage just shrugged and placed a hand on top of her cyan hair. "It is not only the fixing; I also do not have the button with me." He explained making Pippi relax a bit. "If I had it with me, I would ask you to fix my suit instead."
"Really?"
"That's right."
"Mou, Big Bro you're such a tease." Pippi smiled brightly feeling much better. "Maybe I shouldn't fix your favorite dinner after all."
"Now, now, is that what a good housewife would say?" He asked making her groan. "Besides, today is my turn to fix dinner." He reminded her making her previous threat meaningless. "Just make sure to wash up and put on something besides your school uniform." Seriously, there was no reason to be wearing that thing all day long.
"I know, I know." She waved him off. "You better go now or you'll be late for work."
"See you later tonight, Pippi."
"See you later, Yoshi-chan!"
She didn't know it then, but that would be the last time she would see her dear brother ever again.
[x-x-x]
"Yo…shi…chan…" Pippi uttered recalling the last memory she had of seeing her brother and feeling tears falling from her eyes. "S-so…rry…" She was sorry for not being a good enough seamstress, sorry for not being a better sister, and sorry for not being strong enough to kill the people who ruined their lives. "I c-couldn't…kill them for you…"
Jotaro Kujo, one of the people who came to destroy their peaceful lives just stood over her, watching her breath erratically while she suffered pain for her recently acquired injuries from combat, with her back against the wall she crashed into after she was sent flying away.
"Tell me all about your brother." He demanded prompting Pippi to spit blood towards his feet in retaliation.
"I-I'll never t-tell you a-anything…" She said through gritted teeth. "I'll p-pro…tect Yoshi…at all costs…"
"Your brother is a monster and should be stopped!" Higashikata Josuke said joining Jotaro's side.
"Y-You know n-nothing about my b-brother…"
No one did, she was the only one who knew of the real him.
[x-x-x]
"I'm back." Kira announced as he entered his home after another day at work. As he was taking off his shoes at the entrance, his little sister rushed to receive him.
"Welcome back, Big brother." Pippi answered with a bow, just like it was proper, which made him raise an eyebrow in doubt.
"Why so formal today?" Kira knew his sister like the back of his hand, and this sudden formality and manners was out of character, at least whenever it was the two of them in the sanctuary that was their home.
In order to keep their quiet and peaceful lives, Kira and Pippi lived their daily lives trying their best to never stand out in any way shape or form. Always polite and never seeking accolades or confrontation, in order to be seen as average and as boring as one could be.; all for the sake of keeping their "True Nature" hidden from the outside world.
"Do we have visitors?" He asked keeping his cool and collected visage, wondering if the sudden politeness was caused because of other people in the house.
Though he allowed Pippi to act more "freely" inside the comfort of their home, it was strictly forbidden for her to bring home her "friends" from school. Even if she had to paint him as a strict authoritative figure to her schoolmates, he didn't want others to intrude in his safe heaven.
"Did you forget what day is today?" Pippi gave him a 'stern' look, as if she was disappointed in him. "Today's your birthday!"
"It is?" This revelation actually caught him by surprise. "I completely forgot about it." He was never to keen in celebrating anything, let along host parties for his own birthday.
"Surprising since it is the same day, every year." Pippi teased him with a look that told him she wasn't going to let it go for some time. "Come, I've already set up everything." She smiled before she turned around and walked back inside.
"Pippi…!" Kira warned. He recognized that smiled of hers, it meant she had done something to try and surprise him. And he wasn't a fan of Pippi's previous attempts for surprises.
With a tired sigh, Kira decided to bite the bullet and follow Pippi's to see whatever she had prepared for him. The sooner it started, the sooner it would end.
"Surprise!" Pippi shout at the same time as party poppers went off with a small bang to receive him inside the dining room.
Thankfully there wasn't anyone else there besides her and the place wasn't and overly decorated mess like he thought it would be. Instead everything looked the same except for a banner that hung from the ceiling that read: "Happy Birthday!"
"Huh?" This was pretty tame to what he had expected.
"Geez! Is that the only you have to say? After I did all of this for you?" She said with an obviously faked tone, trying to tease him again.
"You shouldn't have gone through all that trouble." Really, she shouldn't.
"And that's not all! I also prepared some cake for you!" In an instant she dashed out of the room, and into the kitchen, and soon after she brought said cake. Once again, instead of a large and overly decorated cake, she surprised him again by bringing in a small plain round cake, just enough for two people.
"Plain Vanilla! Just like you!" She teased him again. He couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Come on, sit down!"
"Thanks." He sat on his seat with poise and accepted the cake.
"As for drinks!" Pippi walked up to a small pretty cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Moët et Chandon champagne. "I think today's a special enough occasion for this." She laughed.
"Pippi…" Kira tried to say but he was ignored as his sister poured some of the beverage in a Champagne flute. He had recognized the bottle and that it wasn't too fancy or too pricey to be considered a waste.
"And to top it all off! I got you an English version of your favorite movie "The Remains of the Day". We can watch it after you are done with your cake!"
"Pippi…"
"Come on! Let us eat cake!" She announced regally, as if it was an invitation that no one could decline, that is except for Yoshikage.
"Pippi…"
"Oh! I also got some gelatin in the fridge if you want to." She kept ignoring him fastidiously. "I guarantee its flavor will blow your mind!"
Ok, now he knew this was just to get him, but he refused to let her drive him mad. "Just what is up with you today?" He finally asked making Pippi stop momentarily. "I'm grateful for your attempt but I'm not in the mood today."
"Yoshikage…" She said softly, no longer acting playfully as a cat like before. "I just wanted us to have fun…" This made him raise an eyebrow but refrain from saying anything. "We used to have so much fun during your and my birthdays, but ever since Mom and Dad are gone…" her voice broke a bit at the end.
"Pippi…"
"I understand."Pippi wiped off a small tear from her eye "You are a grown man with different interests and full responsibilities; you don't have time for silly things like birthday parties and the like." She then stood up prepared to leave and go directly to her room; that is until her brother stopped her on her tracks.
"I would like you to hear you play."
"Excuse me?"
"I would like you to hear you play." Yoshikage repeated something he really didn't like to do very often. "I enjoy hearing you play the lyre in my birthday; much like Mother and Father did too."
"You mean it?"
"Of course." He said with a nod; then he took a knife and cut the cake. "But before that, we shall enjoy this cake you prepared for me."
Pippi just stood there looking at her brother with water threatening to fall from her eyes. Yoshikage may be somewhat distant at times but he really cared for her. "Yoshi-chan."
"Come let us eat cake."
[x-x-x]
None of them knew.
No one knew Yoshikage like she did.
To them he was just a monster.
But to Kira Pippi, he was her dearest brother; so sweat and caring, underneath his façade of aloofness and reserve.
The only man who she had ever love in her life. The only one she could love. Since no other person could ever understand the true nature of their family; that unnatural desire that forced them to hide themselves from others except for each other. The love the Kira family had for each other was far stronger than any other family bonds there were.
Because only a Kira could truly love another Kira wholeheartedly.
Not like any other could ever understand.
"You b-better kill me now, because I'll never talk." Pippi said looking at the group she failed to kill for her dearest brother, who were now looking down at her.
"We won't have to." Kujo Jotaro declared. "If you don't receive urgent treatment for your wounds you'll end up dying."
Pippi knew that already. After their initial clash Pippi tried to use both Black Queen and Dragon Attack in conjunction to take Kujo Jotaro down. She believed that would be enough to defeat his Time Stop abilities, but in the end that power was far above her combination.
Jotaro was able to recognize that Pippi controlled Dragon Attack giving it commands with her right hand, so he used his technique of Star Finger to pierce her hand making her unable to control her dive bomber, and worst of them all, he did so when she was in the bombers trajectory, unable to dodge.
That's why she lost, and why half of her body was covered in third degree burns and her clothes torn to shreds or melted unto her skin. Not to mention most of her hair was gone too. She must look terrible, she mused.
"We shall wait then." She said failing to sound amused, since half her body felt completely numb.
"Are you really that stubborn?!" Koichi couldn't keep quiet. "Do you really prefer to die a slow death than to talk? Are you really that loyal to that bastard that killed our friends and all those people? The monster that killed Shigechi and Reimi?"
"Reimi…" Pippi repeated almost melancholic. "Is she…?"
"Sugimoto Reimi, your brother's first victim." Jotaro clarified, hoping that this could help as an opening to have her talk.
"So she's the one…"This made everyone looked at her strangely, and she never elaborated.
"What?! What do you mean?" Josuke pressed her for answers, but that was the only thing she was gonna tell them about it, knowing she had already said enough.
"Kira Yoshikage was 17 when he killed Sugimoto Reimi back in 1983, the same year you were born." Jotaro said slowly connecting the dots. "Despite knowing next to nothing about him, I can tell that he would've felt threatened by your mere existence." Because a sibling was just another person what would know his True nature; a liability that would only become a bother in the long run or could get him exposed. "So the question becomes: why didn't he kill you?"
"…"
"Killing is in your brother's nature, yet instead of killing you he decided to kill Reimi." He continued. "Maybe that is why he continued to kill women, because it was his way of killing his sister without killing you."
"Really?!" Okuyasu was impressed by the man's deduction ability. "You discovered all that from just one single sentence?"
"You couldn't be farther than the truth!" Pippi responded looking angry at Jotaro. "Yoshikage loved me the instant he saw me for the very first time!" At least that's what her mother told her and she never lied to her. "Because the love a Kira has for their family is stronger than any other."
"…" the group remained quiet as Pippi started to ramble on.
"My parents…were very old when they had me," meaning that her existence put both her and her mother's lives at risk. "Despite that they persevered and I was born." There were no complications despite the huge risk her birth entailed. "Their love for me made it so." She even believed that she gave them the will to live far past what they originally believed they could.
All for Yoshikage and her sake.
" ?Mother Love?" Pippi suddenly said.
"Huh?" Of course no one knew what she was referring to, specially not Okuyasu. "What did you say?"
"Mother Love…that's the name of my mother's Stand." This revelation earned her quite the shocked expressions from the group. "She loved us so, and she worried even more." She laughed despite how much it caused her pain. "She would send these toys to look after us… a little plane to always keep an eye on Yoshikage, and a little tank to look for me when I went playing on the street."
It didn't escape anyone's notice that those sounded awfully familiar.
"And the day she died… she passed her love unto us… ?Mother to Son?and so her power now belonged to us."
"You mean…?!" Koichi said exalted.
"What? What does she mean?" Okuyasu asked since he was barely keeping up.
"I knew there was something weird about the tank and plane bombers!" Kiochi recalled with surprise when he found out the killer and thought he had two stands. "He called it a secondary bomb, but that alone was powerful enough to be its own stand!"
"Koichi! What are you trying to say?" the younger Nijimura continue asking for someone to give him a straight answer.
"He means that Sheer Heart Attack and Dragon Attack were passed down to them by their mother." Jotaro explained solemnly.
"What did you say?!"
"No way…!" Josuke could barely believe it.
"Good grief! What a terrifying ability." To be able to pass one's stand powers to another user to increment their powers; no wonder the Kira siblings had been hard to defeat.
Although, there was something that didn't make sense.
"Why would a mother send bombs after her children if she wanted to watch over them?" Koichi was the one to bring it up. Not only did it not make sense but it was dangerous as hell.
"You know… nothing." Pippi spat.
Her mom's ability did not have any destructive capabilities at all, and in fact was not able to transfer any powers if it were not by the fact she stabbed herself with the arrow that gave them all powers in the first place. And event the only daughter of the Kira household witnessed. Mother gained that new ability and with it she was able to make the transfer happened; and when she did so they fused with the siblings' own abilities; Kira became a bomb to erase the opponents while hers became a diver that exploded in flames burning them down.
That was the truth, but she was never gonna tell them that. But what she was gonna tell them was this: "Mom loved us both, and she transferred all of her powers to the both of us." She revealed with a wicked smile. "Especially to me."
"!?"
"The proof of my love for my brother!" She was able to summon her stand once more. She did not look at it but she could tell it also had a terrible appearance with all the damage it took. "?God Save the Queen?!"
Indeed.
This was her ultimate sacrifice.
If Pippi was unable to put a stop to Kujo Jotaro and his crew with her powers alone, then perhaps Yoshikage would be able to put them to a good use.
"Wait stop!" They shouted.
"The Worl-"But even Jotaro was far too late.
'Yoshi-chan, now I'll be able to look after you forever.' These were Pippi's last thoughts before her own stand snapped her neck so that the transfer could begin!
And Kira Pippi knew no more pain.
[x-x-x]
Far away from the Kira household, Kawajiri Kosaku, or at least the man pretending to be him, jolted up from his seat at his room's work desk.
"What's these feeling…" It felt awfully familiar, but he couldn't recalled what it was. That is until Killer Queen appeared besides him and showed him a new addition to its right arm. "That's…!"
It was Dragon Attack!
Pippi's Dive Bomber she acquired from Mother.
"That mean's this sensation was…?"
The transfer.
Pippi had transferred her powers to him; and that could only mean one thing.
"Pippi's dead."
There was no denying it, since the proof was right on the back of his hand. His little baby sister was dead, and the ones responsible were definitely those troublesome brats that destroyed his peaceful live and forced him to change faces with Kosaku and steal his life.
"Pippi…" Yoshikage Kira wasn't one to show emotions. He couldn't remember the last time he cried, if he ever did or even if he was even capable of doing so. And as Kosaku, this hadn't changed at all.
But he was so damn close to actually do it.
So instead he focused these feelings into anger and hatred for those who dared destroy his life and take away his sister's life.
"I promise you. I'll kill them all." That was his last promise to her and he would make sure to keep it. "Goodbye Pippi."
Sail Away Sweet Sister.
"Where should I rest for tonight?" Among the few things that he could consider as truth, looking for a place to stay for the night was one of the most bothersome tasks he encountered; and even more so now that he lacked a left arm after his mission went awry.
"I really liked that house." A ghost house, where every single thing was made out of 'ghost' including the fire created from the matches. It was a damn shame it was infested with those cleansers, which were the one's responsible for him losing his arm.
"It's not just their fault." It was also that Bitch's fault too; the one who gave him the assassination assignment and set him up to be destroyed by the cleansers. "You better say your prayers." Because he was coming for her, and maybe take one arm of hers to replace the one he lost.
But all of that had to wait, because he needed a place to rest for the night.
"It's just a damn shame." He was still sore about the Ghost House. It was filled with all sort of object he could've used to entertain himself, since the life of a Vagabond Spirit was terribly dull and hazardous.
"It's already dark." If had being allow to stay at that house he could be relaxing with a good book or listening to Mozart's Piano Concerto n° 27 or Schubert's Swan Song in 78 RPM records. But no, he was walking with no idea where to go risking bumping into people or other ghosts.
The Vagabond Spirit wandered around for hours and he was about to resign himself to a restless night on the streets, when he heard it.
A very faint sound in the distance, but he was able to hear it.
It was Music.
And it was coming from a High School.
"Who's playing music at this hour?" He doubted it was the music club because this late at night there shouldn't be anyone around the school grounds. So this intrigued him even more.
"Should I…?" He wondered. He wasn't exactly in optimal condition with his lack of an arm and all, but the music had some alluring quality to it. It felt vaguely familiar and he could sense it was calling for him.
After debating with himself for a bit, the Spirit decided to investigate, more so out of curiosity but there was also the idea that he could use one of the many empty classrooms in the building to rest. And since there were no students or members of the faculty he could enter any room without having to ask for permission first.
So with no more roundabouts, he made his way towards the source of the music.
Following the sound of music, it didn't take him more than a few minutes to cross the school grounds, to finally find the source. Standing completely alone in the middle of the track field, a feminine figure sway back and forward as she play a tune in one o the most particular instruments the vagabond had ever seen.
A lyre.
The spirit stood silent as he watched afraid of startling the girl and interrupt her piece. The music itself was pleasant enough, yet it somehow was evoking all sorts of strange emotions he rarely felt before.
'What's this feeling…?' he wondered. He had no idea why but the more he heard the figure play the most melancholic he felt, experiencing a strange case of nostalgia.
While he sorted his feelings, he continued to listen to the song to the very end. Had he had both his arms he would've clapped.
"How was it, Mr. Stranger?" The figure asked turning around, revealing herself to be a young girl with cyan hair with a white streak running to the side. "Did you like my song?"
"You can see me." It wasn't a question, but a fact.
"And you can see me also." She giggled. "I guess that means we are both spirits." She then looked towards his missing arm, but made no comment of it.
"Indeed." There was no way around it; both were stranded ghosts in the world of the living. "Although I admit, I've never seen another ghost as lucid as you before."
Most of the other ghost he had encountered, were just husks of their former self, who already given up on their "after-life" and just crawl into small places, sitting in the shadows or up in the tress just to avoid being touch by the living.
"You and me both." The girl nodded in agreement. "You still haven't answered me though. Did you like my song?"
"I never heard anything like it before."
"That doesn't tell me if you liked it or not!" She pouted with her arms crossed, something that would have put him off in any other occasion, yet with her he found it strangely endearing.
"I liked it."
"Was that too hard?" She said finally uncrossing her arms. "Say, have we met before? You look strangely familiar to me."
"Maybe you have seen me walking around before." He answered without admitting that she too looked very familiar to him. "I'm sort of a Vagabond Spirit." Meaning he wasn't bound to a single place like many ghosts were. In fact the idea of being bound and unable to leave terrified him; it would drive him insane and he'd become like those ghosts on the streets, he disliked so much.
"Maybe so." The girl said tapping one finger on the side of cheek in a thinking pose. After a few seconds of silence after that, soon turned into a whole minute in which none have any idea what to say to each other. "You know, I haven't talked with anyone for so long, I don't know what to say and how to hold a conversation."
"I enjoy silence myself." He said aloofly. "But I can see where you are coming from." Girls were much more talkative than men, and with no one to talk to being a ghost would be such a pain for a woman.
"Speaking of which, what are you doing here?" The musician ghost finally asked, "Pr were you so enthralled by my song that you ended stumbling here?" She said with a teasing smile.
"I was looking for a place to rest for the night." The Vagabond answered keeping quiet of the fact that he did come this way because of her alluring melody.
"You're in luck. Today is Saturday so tomorrow that school will be empty. You can stay in one of the many empty classrooms if you like." She offered without having second doubts. "Save for the Girls' Locker Room, you perv!" She teased him again.
"Thanks for the offer." The man accepted ignoring that last one jab. "I really need to rest." He signaled to his lack of an arm.
"Have a good night's rest." She bowed to him. "If you need to find me for anything I'll be in the music room."
"Thanks."
[x-x-x]
No matter how much he tried the Vagabond Spirit just couldn't find a way to get comfortable in any of the classroom he chose. So he spent the better part of an hour going from classroom to offices trying to find something, but no matter what it always felt awkward.
As he continued to roam the hallways, he ended up in front of the music room where the young girl's spirit told him she resided. He was about to just go and don't bother her, until the caught faint sound of music coming from inside.
"She's still playing…" He mused. It made sense since she appeared to love music so it was logical that she would spend her nights playing with the instruments at night since she wouldn't be able to do so during the day. Otherwise students would begin to spread rumors of the Ghost in the Music Room; which would only led to them calling some sort of medium and spiritualist to come and chant endlessly or throw around salt everywhere.
Soon his musings were interrupted by the door of the music room opening and the girl stucking her head out from inside. "You can come in if you please." The girl gave him explicit permission to enter, allowing him to do so. It was one of the many rules Ghost liked them had to follow.
"Thank you." He said accepting her offer and entered the room.
"Do you need anything?" She walked back to the center of the room and took up her Lyre. "I hope I didn't wake you up."
"Hardly." These rooms where designed to keep sounds inside the room from leaking outside. He wouldn't have even heard a thing if the door hadn't been ajar. "I'm having trouble settling in." He didn't know why he even said that, maybe because he needed an excuse to even be here in the first place.
"You can stay here if you want to." She offered without a hint of worry towards him. Was she fearless or was she that trusting towards anyone. If the later was true then that might explain why she was dead in the first place. "Shall I play something to lull you to sleep?" She teased with a giggle.
"That might help." Not really. Ghost didn't need to sleep, just rest in a place to recover their energy. "What will you play?" He asked jetting his curiosity get the better of him.
"There is this one song …" She said looking to the side feeling somewhat self-conscious. "I've been wanting to play for someone but…" but being a ghost limited the amount of people you could play at without having them freak out in terror.
"I'd be honored to hear it." The Vagabond said as he took a seat in a comfy chair. This was his way of repaying her generosity of allowing him to stay, not to mention he was intrigued to hear her play even more.
"It is somewhat of an old song." She warned as she pulled up her lyre. "I hope that's fine with you." She waited for this response, which was a silent nod from him, before she began playing.
"So sad her eyes
Smiling dark eyes"
He hadn't expected to play such a sad melody, yet he remained silent as he immersed himself into the notes and the feelings they were evoking in him.
"On such a breathless night as this
Upon my brow the lightest kiss
I walked alone."
Despite the unexpected sad nature of the song, he found himself enjoying despite the strange melancholic feel it was filling him with.
"The White Queen walks and the night grows pale
Stars of lovingness in her hair."
He tried deciphering the meaning behind the lyrics of the song, and he found himself picturing in his mind an image of a woman who is aloof, precious, magnificent, and the man who admired her from afar could simply not have her.
"How did thee fare, what have thee seen
The mother of the willow green
I call her name."
He didn't know why but the slow tune combined with the lyrics of the song reminded him of the works of famous play writer William Shakespeare. All like his famous works this song will not have a happy ending.
"White Queen how my heart did ache
And dry my lips no word would make
So still I wait."
It was a song of unrequited love, and worst of it all for the man in the song it wasn't because she rejected him or her distant nature but because he simply couldn't gather the courage to close the distance between them.
"My Goddess, hear my darkest fear
I speak too late
It's for evermore that I wait."
Like he predicted, the man waited for so long that he lost his chance and he would never get her back, and so he was destined to remain alone forever in regret; truly an inspiring tragedy like the classic plays of the days of yore.
"Dear friend goodbye
No tears in my eyes
So sad it ends
As it began."
And so the song came to an end and once again he regretted his lack of an arm since he couldn't clap in appreciation for such a piece.
"Did you like it?" The young Musician Spirit turned to look at him, putting the Lyre down.
"It was acceptable." He answered not wanting to sing it praises and let it go to the girl's head for fear of being teased more. "A fine piece of music."
"Is that all?" She asked tilting her head to the side.
"Yes."
"Then why are there tears in your eyes?"
As soon as he heard that, the Vagabond stood up from his seat and brought his hand to his face and finally noticed that he was indeed shedding tears. "Why?" He couldn't recall when the last time he cried had ever being. Heck, he didn't know he was capable of doing do. So why? Why did he cry because of a simple song?
"You know… this song I wanted to play it for someone really special?" She confessed, without commenting on the tears any further.
"For whom?"
"I don't remember…" She said sadly, her eyes threatening to also spill tears. "All I ever know is that I wanted to play it for someone I loved…"
It wasn't hard to believe. He knew spirits dwell in the world of the living for some specific and sometimes unknown reason, and hers was as common as they come. And since she doesn't remember for whom the song was for, then just like the man he pictured for the song, she was destined to wait forever with that regret.
"I'm sorry." That was all he could say.
Then she surprised him when she approached him for a sudden embrace, resting her head on top of his chest.
"Thank you for listening…"
The man stood completely still, not knowing what to say or how to handle this sort of situations. Once more she cursed his lack of memories from his life that could help him in this predicament.
"I… I'm sure he would've loved it."
"You think so?"
"I know so?"
"Is it fine if we remain like this for a while?" She asked hopefully, without moving her head from his ample chest.
"It's fine." He resigned himself to it, besides it didn't felt as bad as he would've imagined.
"Pippi…" She suddenly said.
"Excuse me?"
"My name." She clarified. "My name is Pippi… I don't remember my family name."
"Yoshikage. Kira Yoshikage." He introduced himself in turn. "Nice to meet you Pippi."
"Nice to meet you too…Yoshi-chan.