He was worried about trespassing, although Jojo was sure that there was no secret edict against visiting the research hall. The only forbidden area that he knew of was the the forest at the heart of the school (students were not allowed in because the ancient trees harbored a critically endangered species of beetle, a laughing Miki had once quickly explained, and that was also the reason that the expansive marble campus had not razed the thick and twisted branches to instead build something more glamorous.) He had been mindful not to tread past any Under Construction signs, and he had seen no taped-off doorways or halls, but as he walked he had to fight off a continual sense of 'wouldn't it be nice to be back outside in the light of the sun and not in here where (possibly) a hundred students had died?'

It felt a little bit haunted, he had to admit. The day outside streamed in through the windows, but the building held a suspicious quietness that brought the same dread as darkness would have. Jonathan didn't like that his own breathing was the only thing that he could hear. He readjusted his sweaty grip on Nemuro's notes.

The notes had contained content that had flown stratospherically over his head— Jonathan did not consider himself dumb by any means, but the paragraphs he had struggled through had left him feeling like he was lacking a foundation when asked for a roof. There had been pages of mathematical proofs, balanced chemical equations, and symbols that Jonathan figured must have been alchemical. The esoteric quality of the drawings gave the clipped-together loose-leaf a grimoire-like mystique, but he also knew that astrology and chemistry had long been intertwined in ways both magical and mundane.

The academic height reached in Nemuro's notes was a high hurdle to jump for, but he was willing to take some leaps. The vague shadow of the occult that came with the notes and the quiet in the research hall only spurred his curiosity onward. Hence why he was walking through yet another doorway to yet another empty but beautiful hall while plaintively calling out "Hello? Is anyone there?"

There was, yet again, no one there. Jonathan took a deep breath and rubbed his wrist against his brow. The glint of light upon glass caught his eye. He turned to see a framed and pinned blue butterfly.

A voice came from behind. "Hello."

Cold shock shuddered through him, but Jonathan did not jump; he turned to look at the man standing at the same doorway he had just walked through. He seemed to have the serious, pensive air of learned man, or even a military one, though his face was still quite youthful. His posture remained stiff with his hands crossed behind his back as Jonathan looked at him. He didn't seem angry, at least, or even particularly surprised. There was only a guarded blankness.

"Hello," Jonathan said, and he straightened his shoulders. "This is the Nemuro Memorial Research Hall, yes? I was wondering if there was anyone I could talk to about— well, research."

"I would recommend talking to your academic advisor."

"Not my own research," Jonathan said. "I found Professor Nemuro's notes in the library archives."

At this, the man seemed to perk up; he glanced at the papers Jonathan clutched. "May I?" he asked, and he held out his hand.

Jonathan happily passed them over. The man flipped through the papers, his eyes scanning the content rapidly, and then, with a half-smile, he handed them back to Jonathan.

"That's a very lucky find," he said. "Those must be the carbon-copies. The originals would have been lost in the fire. Ohtori, as a scholastic body, retains the right to any discoveries made while under campus auspice, and so…" He trailed off even though Jonathan was listening attentively. "I am sure you do not want to hear about the school's intellectual property regulations. You would like to know more about what the research was actually about, yes?"

He nodded. "Absolutely. I have so many questions— and a lot of them are quite basic, I'm sure, but I'm always fascinated by this sort of thing— so much of it comes across as algebraic, or otherwise scientific, but I keep getting hints of almost— almost sociological implications, and—"

The man held out his hand and interrupted with another small smile. "Mikage Souji."

"Jonathan Joestar," he replied, and he shook his hand vigorously.

"I may not have time to discuss this in-depth with you," Mikage said, "but I may be able to point you in the right direction."

Jonathan nodded. "Thank you! That would be wonderful!"

"How much do you know about rituals of death?" Mikage said, and his hair brushed against his shoulders as he tilted his head.

The frankness of the question was refreshing. Jonathan grinned. "I'm no expert, and I don't mean to be too morbid, but they are an interest of mine— I convinced Father to buy me a translation of the Book of the Dead a few Christmases ago. It was just a part of a five-volume series on Egypt—and he did find all five volumes— I feel as if I read them through a dozen times last summer. There was this incredible chapter from an archaeologist that delved into the tomb of— I'm sorry," Jonathan said, suddenly bashful. He hadn't been able to speak so freely about his interests since, well, Erina had lovingly humored his explanations of the same. "You said you were busy. I'm familiar as— as a young enthusiast."

"No need for an apology," Mikage said. "They sound like very interesting books."

"I've brought them with me," Jonathan said, beaming. "They're in my dormitory. You're welcome to read them any time you would like!"

"Perhaps I will take you up on that offer. In fact, we could use it as material for the seminar. Based on your… interests, you might enjoy taking part."

"A seminar?"

"A secret society, even," he said, and his expression shared a hint of slyness. "Like the Rosicrucians."

"Gosh," Jonathan said. "I greatly appreciate the invite, but— who else is taking part? Are there boys my age— or girls— or are there more senior students, or—"

"I understand," Mikage said. "You would like to fit in. I can assure you that the seminar has accepted members as young as those still in primary school. We have also allowed adults— academics, bureaucrats, royalty. All kinds are welcome."

"Well, I'm very curious about it," Jonathan admitted, but he had to quash some small and nagging fear in order to say so. Perhaps it was the now-ingrained fear of having some nice thing snatched away from him; perhaps it was the oppressive quiet of the research hall, and the way Mikage now seemed to be appraising him. It was surely not the man's fault— George Joestar had hosted many sour-faced yet otherwise friendly noblemen— but it was suddenly hard to find kindness in his expression.

"A little initiation test, then," Mikage said, and when Jonathan quailed a bit he smiled again. "You won't find it disagreeable. Write a short essay on the significance of the Daisenryo Kofun. I'll use it to judge if you will make for a good member of the seminar."

"The kofun," Jonathan echoed, and he blinked as he thought. "I'll— I'll do some research."

"It may help you with that, as well," Mikage said, and he nodded to the sheaf of notes clutched in Jonathan's hand. "My office is in the wing to the right of the main entrance. You're welcome to stop by whenever you finish."

"Oh," he said. "Yes! Thank you! I'll— I'll start it tonight! After class—" He backed away, his mind racing. "Thank you, again!"

There was a bright flash and the whine of a dimming bulb. Once the light faded, two shadows became discernible upon the wall.

The first girl rapidly flopped a developing photo in the air. "Such a pretty picture of you!" she exclaimed, and she flipped it to display the image. "You should keep it forever so that when you're old and wrinkly, you'll remember how cute you were."

"Maybe I should take pictures of everyone I know," the second girl said. "My brothers and my sister. My mama and my papa. My aunts and uncles. Nieces and nephews. Cousins and second-cousins."

"You could make a scrapbook!" the first girl suggested.

"If I take a photo, I can look at it and remember," the second girl said. "If I don't take a photo, I can't look at it and remember. Ergo," she said, as pompously as possible, "if I don't take a photo, it never happened."

"Now, I don't think that's true," the first girl said.

"It is, it is!"

The first girl took the photo and pinched two opposite corners. "Then what would happen if I…"

"Hold on, hold on," the second said, and she leaned forward, attempting to snatch the photo away.

The first girl tore the photo in half. The second girl released a dying wheeze and slumped to the ground. Then, she sat up and crossed her arms.

"We would have had much better sound effects if Jojo had come in today," she complained. "He told me that he could totally tear that phonebook in half."

"A phone?" the first girl asked.

"Book," the second clarified.

"Huh?"

"Huh."

"Aw man!" Utena exclaimed, and she slumped over the table. "I'm so jealous! Himemiya, when am I gonna get to meet your brother?"

"Maybe he will be available for lunch on another day," Anthy said, and Chu-chu patted at Utena's shoulder.

Dio grinned and crossed his arms, obviously preening. "The view from the tower really is incredible," he said. "Akio makes for excellent company, as well." He surprised himself due to how much he found that he meant it. The chairman had been a gracious host, a skilled conversationalist, and, if he was anything like his sister, an absolute mirage.

Dio had come to terms with the fact that his own wolf-in-sheeps-clothing act only barely made concessions towards the costume. He was still refining his charm. The chairman, however— Dio couldn't help but feel that his engagement to the Ohtori heiress was a bite landing on a throat, and that the prey would only thank him for it. The Ohtoris didn't stand a chance. Dio would have to hone himself here, sharpen himself beyond their enviable subtlety. "And Kanae is lovely, too," he added, and he glanced at Anthy.

She smiled and nodded in agreement. "She was wearing her favorite scarf today," she said. "It is very lovely."

Dio grinned. Who gave a damn about Kanae's scarf, aside from the fact that the silk had cost a small fortune? Who gave a damn about the Ohtoris, aside from the weight of their wealth? Kanae was still in school, for God's sake. She wouldn't know how to make any decisions about the estate. Old man Ohtori was all but pushing the campus into Akio's clutches.

He would visit him again, Dio decided. It wasn't as if Anthy would refuse the request.

His bragging session was interrupted by Jonathan dumping a pile of books onto the other end of the long dining room table. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I've got to work on— just need some room to—"

"Whoa," Utena said. "What are you working on? I though you were gonna join us for Miki's math tutoring tonight."

Jonathan smacked the back of his hand against his forehead. "Oh, I completely forgot! I'll— I'll take part for that one question we all missed towards the end. Other than that, I must work on—on—" He hesitated.

"Spooky," Utena said as she peeked into a book full of illustrations of skeletons excavated from ancient graves. "What class is all this for?"

"I'm joining a seminar," Jonathan admitted. "Or, trying to, anyway. I'm writing an essay for my application."

"Ooh, that's exciting," Utena said, and Anthy clasped her hands together with a smile. Dio glanced over the books once with clear disinterest. To Jonathan, the apathy was a relief.

"I was just talking about how I had the opportunity to meet our acting chairman," Dio said, and he glanced over his nails as he waited for Jonathan's reaction.

"The acting chairman," Jonathan repeated. "Oh! Himemiya's brother. How was it?"

"Quite good," Dio said. "It's a pity you couldn't join us. I looked for you everywhere during the start of the lunch period, but I couldn't find you. You missed out on a rather exclusive invitation."

"My brother is often very busy," Anthy explained. "But perhaps some day you will be able to visit him."

"And Kanae," Dio added.

"Of course," Anthy replied, and she smiled, her eyes closing as she offered a single nod.

"I'd love to," Jonathan said, but his brows had furrowed; the tension in his expression remained when the doorbell rang.

"Oh," Anthy exclaimed. "That must be Kaoru."

As she left, Dio stood to follow. "Kaorus," he said, smugly; Utena frowned at him in confusion as he strode out of the room to follow Anthy.

"Well," she said, shaking her head. "At least those two are getting along a lot better now. Dio actually ate the breakfast Anthy made today. It was burnt toast, but, you know."

"She seemed sad," Jonathan blurted out.

Utena blinked at him. She stretched her arms out behind her and tilted her head one way, then the other. "Himemiya did?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he answered. His fidgeted his hands against the hem of his shirt. "It's just… sometimes I notice things like that. What mood a person is secretly in. There was just something about how…" He trailed off, doubting himself.

"Something about how?" Utena said, looking at him with equal parts curiosity and concern.

"She closes her eyes when she smiles, but only sometimes," he explained. "Like when she…" wants you to stop talking to her, he had realized— she had done the same when he had approached her in the rose garden greenhouse. But he often wondered if that interpretation was no more than his own neuroses drawing too many wild conclusions out of nothing. It was hard to imagine Anthy as being anything other than her pleasant, placid self.

Utena hummed as she thought. "Her brother is getting married," she said. "And she's pretty shy. That's a whole new family of in-laws to have to deal with. Maybe it's one of those things that is exciting and scary at the same time. I got really bratty when I moved in with my aunt just because I wasn't used to her, but I still depended on her a whole lot. Maybe that's something like what she's dealing with. But I don't know," she said, and she laughed. "I'll have to ask her about it! If she'll talk about it, that is. I mean, she kept her brother a secret all this time."

"Maybe," Jonathan replied, more than half-convinced, but some dissipating ripple of melancholy still disturbed him.

"He's laying it on thick, huh?" Utena said, leaning over so that her whisper would catch Jonathan's attention.

Jonathan, who had buried his head in one of his archeology books, looked up with a start. "Huh?"

She nudged him with her elbow and subtly nodded towards the other end of the table. "Your brother."

Miki had offered his math tutoring services to everyone in the dorm; Jonathan had already run though the most challenging problem on the paper with him and had then escaped to his seminar research. He had planned on doing so from the start, but it still felt like a retreat, and he continued to have the thought that perhaps he would have been more productive (and comfortable) if he had fled all the way back into his room. After all, Miki had not come alone. His twin sister, Kozue, sat disconcertingly across from him. In Jonathan's peripheral vision, it looked as if the table had been mirrored, but he knew that appearance was where the similarity ended.

Dio had been flirting heavily with Kozue, or at least just-heavily-enough to have plausible deniability if Miki did anything other than give a disapproving frown. Kozue had reciprocated just enough to torture Miki, who had continued to explain trigonometry with the composure of a saint the entire time, albeit a very put-upon one. Dio had pulled her chair out for her, and she had giggled; he had made a joke, and she had laughed; however, as if making an effort to madden all involved, she often shot sly looks down Jonathan's way, and she had asked several questions about the research he was doing. He had explained it, briefly at first, and then at more length as she pressed him. He faltered as he spoke, as the expression she held was in some cryptic place between friendly amusement and outright mocking. She did not actually seem interested in what he was doing, he decided. She just wanted the satisfaction of getting him to talk— especially when Dio was then forced to wrangle the conversation back to where he wanted it.

At least Dio wasn't aiming any venomous looks his way. His mounting frustration remained centered upon Kozue, who did not seem to be playing the same game as he had expected. Jonathan wondered how he had framed this invitation to Kozue in the first place. Come over, visit the dorm, and let me torture your brother for a few hours? (And, was her response in turn: sure, but only if I get to torture yours?) And what was Dio's angle in this? Jonathan knew of no enmity between Dio and Miki— between Dio and Juri, sure, but he and Miki had always been politely neutral. What had brought on this attack? Had Dio merely been bored? And at what point was it necessary for Jonathan to step in?

Anthy, at least, was still wholly focused upon the algebra laid out in front of her, but her steadfast attention only seemed to fluster Miki further. Jonathan had noticed that every time she asked Miki a question directly, he stuttered.

"Hello?" Utena asked. "Earth to Jojo?"

He had been so lost in thought that he had never even replied to Utena, whose question had stated everything he had just considered in a way so obvious that it now seemed silly. "Yeah," he said, and he smiled in a way that he hoped invoked a mild embarrassment. "He really is."

His concentration was broken by a small bowl being placed within his line of sight. Jonathan glanced up and saw Anthy, who smiled and nodded at him. It seemed genuine, as far as he could tell.

"Shaved ice," she explained. "Blue raspberry."

"Oh, thank you," Jonathan said, and he pulled the bowl toward himself. Kozue and Miki had left a while ago. Miki had attempted to leave earlier, but Anthy had asked supplementary questions sourced from earlier assignments. As Miki had done his best to explain them, Jonathan had noticed with muted consternation that Dio had sidled up so closely to Kozue that their knees were touching. Kozue was only partially playing along, however— something in Miki's manner had irked her. Perhaps it was the way he continued to stoically help Anthy rather than recognize the scene happening across the table. Dio, however, seemed satisfied in having done whatever it was he had set out to do. He was all too polite in walking Miki and Kozue out whenever they had finally left, and he had slipped a note into the band of Kozue's skirt as she trailed behind Miki.

"You've been working very hard," Anthy stated.

"I think I've read myself into a headache," Jonathan admitted, and he dug the spoon into the ice, lifting a heap of it out on his spoon. "I hardly know a single thing about Japan. I'm glad that the library here is so incredibly extensive."

"Eat it slowly or you'll get a brain freeze," she added.

"Right," Jonathan said, and he looked around to ensure that she hadn't actually directed the statement at Chu-chu.

"You must be very interested in this," Anthy said pleasantly, and Jonathan offered a half-smile; it was odd, but welcome, for her to initiate a conversation with him, although he still harbored remnant awkwardness from his confrontation with Dio about her. At least it was true that she and Dio were getting along quite well, now— Jonathan had no idea what to make of that, but he welcomed that oddity, too.

"I've always enjoyed reading about this sort of thing," he replied. "Ancient societies, and how they held their funerals. What they decide they need to have in a tomb. How people are made to be remembered. And every time I read about them, it's like something about them is alive for a little longer." He dug out another scoop of shaved ice. "If that makes sense."

Anthy hummed. He could not discern if it was meant to be affirmative or otherwise.

"Even though I've never met them, and even though I haven't the slightest idea of what they were like, I can still…" He put the spoon in his mouth and shrugged.

She leaned over and delicately flipped open a book. It contained dense text and etchings of graves. One held a woman, mummified, her knees drawn close to her chest and a hole cracked through the back of her skull. The darkness within that broken aperture seemed infinite. A bundle of woven cloth in her arms could have been a child, or emblematic of one. "It doesn't upset you?" Anthy asked.

"Of course it does." The spoon clinked against the bowl. "Some of it is rather gruesome, but… it's still something to learn from. You know, I quite like the Egyptians of late. The Pyramids are just so spectacular."

Anthy peered over the scattered materials for a few more moments. "On Friday, I will have lunch with my brother again," she stated. "You're welcome to join us."

"Gladly! It would be wonderful to meet him. And Kanae. Oh, and Utena was so excited to meet him, too—"

"Ah," Anthy interrupted, and she made a small pout. "I have already asked Utena to go, but she has an obligation to the basketball team."

"Terrible luck," Jonathan said, and he frowned. "Another time, then."

"Of course." She nodded towards the bowl. "Would you like any more?"

"Oh, no thank you," he said, and the bowl was whisked away before he could insist that he would wash it up himself. He felt a vague unease as he returned his attention to the books before him. Then, he felt a vague guilt about having a vague unease. He folded his elbows over the table and allowed his head to rest against his arms.

He thought, briefly, of the cameo image of his mother preserved behind glass, and with that thought followed the curt recognition of the fact that the painting was of a stranger's face. He nestled his forehead further into his arms. After a long exhale, as if to rally himself, he sat up, shook his head, and stretched; then, he returned himself to the task at hand.

The Daisenryo Kofun, a thrice-moated tumuli twice the length of the Great Pyramid of Giza, contains a densely forested keyhole-shaped mound. It has long been declared sacred, with entry barred even to royalty …