Lessons whizzed by in a flash. Teachers droning on about topics being important in our midterms didn't bother me in the slightest. In fact I found it quite exciting. A strong focus for every lesson meant that I could never get bored. And the topics would be different each time. For once learning was interesting.

I returned home to my decently sized apartment once school ended. My parents decided to give me some responsibility and bought me my own apartment. All of the furnishings were picked out by me, so there was a distinctive aesthetic. Blue carpet covered a lot of the floor. Moving boxes were piled on top of each other. I've been pretty busy so far and could only unpack the essentials. Vibrant pop art paintings had been left up from the previous owners; one picture was just multicoloured lipstick in green, blue, red and yellow. My apartment had two floors, which I was grateful for. The space was large and more than I could have hoped for.

Without an alarm it was no surprise I woke up late. But thankfully I made it to school on time. In homeroom, Mackenzie and Alex had grave expressions. They led me outside and we had a conversation.

"That blonde kid got paid off by a group to target our school." Mackenzie said.

"Why would anyone want anything to do with this school?" I asked.

"Yo, don't you know? The concentration of Stand Users here is higher than any other school or town in the country."

"It makes sense they'd try to prey on the vulnerable. Anyways, we might want to have a conversation with the person who discovered this."

Since there was an hour before classes were actually due to start, we moved over to Class 1-C. That's where Mackenzie said we would find the person we're looking for. Mackenzie walked straight over to his desk and slammed her hands down. The thundering sound caused anyone already in the classroom to vacate immediately.

"We're all here now. Start talking." Mackenzie said. The boy had grey hair that was extremely messy. Like he had just stepped out of bed and left it like that. His clothes were baggy and his trousers had scratches and holes. A knot for his tie and toothpaste on his collar. He seemed to be quite scruffy. In particular, he reminded me of a stray dog.

"I'm Griffin, by the way. Everyone calls me that." He turned to me and Alex and ignored Mackenzie completely.

Smiling sweetly, Griffin laced his fingers together and rested his head on his hands.

"So, you two want to know about the group that bribed Nate," Griffin placed special emphasis on 'two'. His voice had a pleasant tone that could hardly cover his malice. "Well, it's harder than you expect. They're based locally but finding them will be a pain. And working out what Stand abilities they have will be even more work." He signed and rolled his head backwards. A growing tension filled the air. Alex was going to respond but Mackenzie reacted before us.

There was a sizable hole in the table. Splinters dug into her balled up fist and blood dripped from her hand. It was starting to become red but due to all the adrenaline I don't think she felt anything.

"Is this a game to you? Do human lives not matter? Cut it out before things get out of control." Mackenzie glared at Griffin, keeping her hand in view. Alex only smiled in admiration. I stood, in shock, wondering if that really just happened.

"Come close." Griffin gestured to us. We leant forwards, curious as to what he was going to say. Instead he pulled out a gun. Mackenzie and Alex both ducked backwards, summoning their Stands. I stayed still, but turned to get a closer look at the gun.

"They let you bring a gun into school? That's so cool!" I said. His semi-automatic pistol was fully black, with a large blue gemstone above the magazine.

"Interesting. I'll work with you guys, just for your funny reactions. Any information we get we share on this group chat."

Simultaneously, our phones vibrated. Griffin had added us to a group chat without even checking our numbers. Some might call him a social butterfly, others would call him creepy. I went for the latter. How did he get our phone numbers? In such a short amount of time as well.

The rest of the day was spent by Alex calming Mackenzie down and us ranting about Griffin. Of course we wanted to stop the group targeting kids, but it's like we didn't have a choice in the matter. Oh well, at least in Kendo it would be more relaxed. And the gym was completely cleaned up. Was it the school who had done this? Or maybe a Stand had cleaned it up. Regardless, I'm glad I wasn't the one cleaning.

Our club leader was a loud, older man. He took pride in the uniform and expected us to do so as well. Only a few grey hairs had started showing up.

"All right, partner yourself in year groups. Start by doing basic warm ups with each other. Then, move into basic attacks. I don't want to see any hostility from anyone." I only recognised a few people in my year. I think my Stand was able to detect aura, or something like that. Because I could tell the difference from the people in second year classrooms to first year.

"Wanna partner up?" A first-year boy said to me. Nobody was wearing their headgear, seeing as it wasn't going to get dangerous. He had dark bags under his eyes and a constant stare. Most other boys had their hair cut short, but his messy hair reached around shoulder length, like mine.

"Sure."

Both of us had gotten the basics down well. Akihiko seemed to have been practicing for a long time. His strikes were controlled and he seemed to be bored. However once we got on to sparring he seemed more alert. Like a switch had flipped in his mind. The way he attacked was rapid and aggressive. No opportunities were missed against attacking me. If we didn't have so much padding on I'd be concerned about bruises.

While we were fighting I noticed a small opening. After every three attacks, no matter what, he'd attack the upper right. Timing it right would be hard, but it would land a point. Right now I could only manage the defensive, so landing a hit would help considerably. One hit, two, three. I lunged at his throat the instant he swung at me. Stepping to the side made sure he wouldn't be able to attack in time. Inching further and further I could almost taste the hit. Then he summoned his Stand.

I jumped back in fear, dropping my shinai and landing on the floor. My back hurt and my head was spinning. But he was a Stand User! I couldn't let up my guard that easily. Akihiko dropped his bamboo sword and moved over to me. If he went to attack I'd have to bind him with my Stand.

"So, you're the idiot that went flashing their Stand around yesterday," Akihiko said. What? Through his thickly mitted hands, he picked me up off the floor. "Sorry for attacking you like that. But don't do something as idiotic as that again. People here have had their Stands for their entire lives. Showing off like that will only get you hurt." How many people in this school are Stand Users? I mean, Alex said there was a lot but still. I shouldn't just get attacked in Kendo practice for God's sake.

Practice ended after watching the few third years fight. Compared to them, Akihiko was pretty skilled. Although it was obvious he wouldn't beat them in a fight. We left together, and started talking about school. Noticeably enough he was wearing a surgical mask. Maybe he was sick or he just liked the aesthetic. I didn't bring it up since we were involved in more pressing matters. Like Stands. He wasn't happy to answer all my questions but did it anyways. His was miniature and could possess animals, not humans. To be honest that seemed really weak in combat. But for inexperienced people like me it seemed to work rather well.

Akihiko's apartment was located only a few blocks away from mine. Our conversations had remained varied, but limited. He wasn't annoyed but it seemed like Akihiko didn't like talking. It was one of the silent periods when I bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry," As I was beginning to apologize a paper plane whizzed past my face. Despite being made of paper the wing managed to cut my cheek. He had to be an Enemy Stand User.

Right now was the first proper time I faced another Stand User. Akihiko wasn't trying and the earlier one was fodder. In spite of the extremely dangerous situation ahead of us I couldn't help but get excited.

"Akihiko, his Stand is a paper plane! How cool is that?" I said. Currently, Akihiko was swatting away the plane with his bokken. Indents were being made in the stick of woods; chips flying away as he fought to not get injured. Right, this was a battle. I turned my focus to the Enemy Stand User. But there were two people. If I could disrupt the right one we'd gain the advantage in the fight. It was only a 50/50 chance.

I brought my wooden sword down as hard as I could. The guy who was here first had to be the one controlling the paper plane. He wasn't wearing any school uniform, or noticeable accessories. Just a grey hoodie and sweats. By the time my sword reached his side it just phased through him. His body turned a yellowish colour and he moved forward to attack.

Jumping backwards, I helped Akihiko assault the paper plane away. The original user caught the plane and unfolded the paper. While that was going on Akihiko reached in his bag. I caught a glimpse of shining metal. Before he could grab his sword I stopped him.

"Nobody is getting killed over this. Just try and work out their abilities." I said. He grunted and we faced our opponents again. Turning away from the people your fighting was a bad idea, so I wasn't going to do it again. Within the span of our conversation the Paper Stand User had fashioned his Stand into three separate shuriken. Smaller weapons meant faster, less powerful attacks.

I turned my attention to the other Stand User. Akihiko seemed to be handling himself fine, so I could spare a few minutes to deal with the other attacker. Now that his Stand was fully summoned, I could see certain details about it. The Stand was slim and shorter, more proportionate to a human. Overall, it was a golden colour with grey circles stretching from head to toe. Headphones blasting a familiar tune were worn by the Stand. They were bulky and I didn't think the Stand had ears. A thin wire lead from the head to a Walkman morphed into the Stand's body.

"Golden Groove!" He shouted. Was it the name of an attack, or the Stand? People actually name their Stands? When I was pondering this thought the Stand jutted forwards and punched me. I blocked and tried a counter attack. But my sword phased through the body. Thinking quickly, I summoned my Stand from my elbow. The black substance moved forward quickly and made contact with the Stand. That at least proved it was a conscious ability. Likely, the Stand couldn't attack me when it was intangible. So there was a small opening.

Golden Groove came towards me again, with the User around 5 metres away. Alex mentioned something about Stand's having a certain range, this one seemed to be 7 metres maximum. For some reason the User stayed at a distance, maybe they were weak in actual combat. Once Golden Groove was close enough I swung in a light diagonal motion. Like expected, Golden Groove's body became permeable and shone a little darker. Its arm moved forward to punch my body. The instant before it was going to attack I dropped my sword and used my own Stand to grab his. Though the moment I tried my tendrils phased through the body.

A barrage of attacks hit my body. Since I had dropped my sword there was hardly anything I could do to avoid the attacks. The punches weren't that quick but they were pretty powerful. Using my stand, I latched onto a nearby telephone pole to evade the attacks. Golden Groove had evaded my attack by phasing out. But why would it be intangible right before it was going to attack. What if the ability wasn't conscious? I looked at Golden Groove as both the Stand and User were approaching. Slowly lifting myself from the wall, I noticed it's headphones and Walkman. And the oddly familiar tune playing. Stand abilities are weird, and don't work the way you'd think in the first place. So maybe his phasing ability was linked to the song.

For round three of our battle I was confident I was going to win. He was courteous enough to let me pick up my sword. But the moment I did he went in for an attack. Listening to the music was hard enough, since the sound came out muffled through the headphones. But Akihiko's fight had stopped. Most sound around us had halted as well. Golden Groove tried attacking but I swatted away the hand in time with the music. On beat, the Stand would phase out momentarily. One second it was permeable, the next the Stand was completely solid. I took the opportunity to push back the golden body. Then, on beat I summoned my Stand through my fingertips. It stretched completely through the Stand and reached the User. Now that I was choking him his Stand was faltering. After a minute it dissipated and he fell unconscious.

I turned to Akihiko and saw he had no injuries. His sword was completely wrecked and only had a short stub with splinters sticking out.

"Sorry about your sword." I said.

"It's fine, stuff like this usually happens. I have 5 more at home." He responded.

"That's awful. People just get attacked in the middle of the street?"

"You get used to it after a while." Akihiko said. Just getting used to it didn't seem like any way to live.

"Akihiko, help us take out the people behind this. Each day we're getting closer to stopping them." He paused for a few moments, then stared at me.

"Stop with the naivete. You've been here two days and were shocked at being attacked. Things like this will continue to happen, regardless if you want to stop them happening. You have no idea who your enemy is, but they clearly know who you are. The only way I'll consider helping is if you make considerable progress." He didn't even say bye before leaving for his apartment. Although I didn't want to admit it Akihiko was right. We had no idea who our enemy was. All that meant was we had a lot of work to do.