Shizuka sat cross legged on her bed as she enjoyed the distant hum of her mother's record player downstairs. Suzi Q was a very worldly woman who enjoyed everything from the classics to modern pop. In fact, she was currently playing "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears as she knitted by the fireplace. Suzi might have enjoyed all kinds of music, but she exclusively listened to her favorites on the record player. Shizuka always found that charming. The little girl was toying with a rubix cube and staring out her bedroom window. The city was bright as ever, and the glass was frosted from a bitter winter's night. She felt happy to be inside, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
The sight of her body being impaled on Rapture's arm flashed before her.
She opened her eyes and gasped, looking around. Everything seemed normal. Despite that, a feeling of dread crawled up her spine. She glanced over at her cracked bedroom door and felt her anxiety spike in response. Somehow, she knew going through that door would result in something terrible. What was even happening? Was she dreaming? As she stared out the window and saw the winter frost once again, she realized that it was supposed to be summer.
Typically, Shizuka could wake up if she realized she was dreaming. There was always that moment when she told herself that it was all a dream and decided to wake up… She'd just close her eyes, open them again and find herself in the waking world. That wasn't working this time. She stared out the window with an empty feeling in her stomach. Something was happening…
At first, she didn't notice. Over time, however, it became a little hard to miss. The lights of New York City were turning off. It seemed to be happening in a perfect circle all around her home. It started in the distance and grew closer by the second. Her dread increased tenfold as she watched the city that never sleeps slowly fall into darkness. After a minute or so, the entire city was black. Even her bedroom went dark. The hallway outside her room still had light, but she was afraid to go through there… As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, they noticed something faint by her closet. There was a dim silver light attempting to seep through the slits in her closet door.
Shizuka hopped off her bed and slowly approached the closet. She attempted to summon Flower Child, but found herself unable to do so. She was alone… The girl took a deep breath, grabbing the closet door knob and swinging it open. She was bathed in a powerful silver light and felt a cold breeze against her skin. The girl glanced over at her bedroom door and frowned. She'd take another way for the time being… No need to rush anything.
She walked into the closet and found herself in a completely different place! It was a grassy plain with a forest visible in the distance. The breeze was replaced with the warm embrace of a summer day. She enjoyed the smell of the outdoors and was hit with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. It was odd, considering she'd never been there before. Shizuka walked through the grass, feeling a sense of peace easing over her as she went along. After a moment, she realized she wasn't alone in the field. The girl turned around and was met with a familiar face.
Tsuru.
She didn't know what to think… That face brought a lot of mixed feelings to the child. She felt pity, shame, anger, regret, and above all… dread. It wasn't only Tsuru's face, after all. In a very real sense, it was Shizuka's own face looking back at her. This wasn't only due to her being a reincarnation of the woman, but an exact copy. That's what she was going to look like in the future. She was staring at her adult self… Assuming she lived that long.
"Tsuru… What are you doing here? I…" She looked around, her eyes narrowed like she was looking directly into the sun. "It's all so bright."
"Do you know where you are right now, Shizuka?" The woman asked softly.
"No? I'm really confused." She admitted.
"That makes sense. You weren't conscious for most of it." The woman nodded.
"Do… Do you know where I am?" She asked cautiously.
A sudden breeze rushed through the plain and sent grass circling around the two. Tsuru's shoulder-length hair rose with the wind before falling back down. Her expression remained neutral the whole time. She took a deep breath and answered the girl's question.
"You're dead."
"She's gone!" Marina shouted as she kicked the motel's dresser in rage. "She's fucking gone! Where the fuck has she gone!?"
"Where would she even go? She knows the stakes! She's not just a clueless kid." Ripley bit her nails as she looked out the window.
"She is a kid!" Marina stomped her foot against the floor. "Nobody lets her be a kid! It's all 'destiny' this and 'fighting' that! When I was her age, I paid a classmate to eat a weird-looking bug because I had a crush on her! She shouldn't have to be dealing with this!"
"Are we talking about Shizuka, or the girl you paid to eat a bug?" Ripley tried to bring some levity to the situation.
"I'm obviously talking about Jojo! That other girl moved to Wales anyway! We were perfect for each other. I was really upset about it!" Marina cupped her face in both hands and screamed into them.
"Marina, c'mere…" Ripley brought the taller woman in for a hug. She rubbed her back, taking a deep breath. "We're all worried, okay? We're going to do everything we can to find her safe and sound."
The blonde tried not to cry, but she was letting out the occasional whimper as she nodded. Marina clung to Ripley tight, burying her face in the woman's shoulder. "You think she was taken?"
Ripley shook her head. "Why wouldn't they have killed the rest of us? No… She left on her own accord. That's a good thing."
"Then I'm gonna kill her!" Marina pulled away and swung Bubblegum Bitch's bat right into the motel's TV. She shattered it instantly, causing a few sparks to fly around the room.
"We're all going to kill her, assuming Blondie hasn't done it first." Pepsi strutted into the room with both hands in their pockets.
Shirlie was right behind them. "The city's really loud right now, emotionally speaking… I hoped we could follow Shizuka's empathetic trail, but I'm not getting anything."
Ripley nodded, rubbing her chin. "What about Ezra?"
"Last I checked, she's rummaging through the garbage." Pepsi muttered.
Ripley walked into the bathroom and saw Ezra hunched over the trash can. She was digging through everything and inspecting each piece of trash carefully. Ripely cleared her throat to alert her presence, but this didn't slow Ezra down.
"So… Digging through the trash? We all have coping mechanisms. Were you raised by raccoons?" Ripley walked over and leaned against the wall beside Ezra.
"I've had my fair share of experience on the streets, but no. My parents were far more neglectful than raccoons." Ezra huffed, inspecting a used tissue.
Ripley's nose wrinkled in disgust as she saw Ezra looking so closely at something of that nature. "What on Earth are you looking for, Ezra? We're kind of on code red right now. High alert? Huge emergency."
"I'm looking for something of Shizuka's, anything. It has to have been a part of her as recently as a few hours ago. It could be a shoe, a sock, or even a snotty tissue." Ezra explained.
"I see… Well, the only girl here who's been blowing her nose today is Shirlie, so you're probably going to come up empty handed." Ripley sighed.
Ezra hung her head and dropped the tissue back into the garbage can. "Can you think of anything she might have discarded today? Anything that was a part of her?"
"What are we talking? Anything she's even touched?" Ripley raised a brow.
"No, no. It needs to have had long term exposure to her body. Something like a sock, a shirt, even underwear." Ezra sighed.
"Underwear?"
"I'm doing my best, Ripley!" Ezra raised her voice, clearly just as stressed as everybody else. "If I can find anything with an attachment to Shizuka, I might be able to follow it back to her." She explained.
"Follow it back? Like dowsing?" Ripley seemed interested.
"Much more direct than that." Ezra shook her head. "We'll be able to literally follow it, most likely on foot."
"And it needs to be something she's regularly in contact with?" Marina called from the doorway. "Something like…"
The blonde was swinging a pair of sunglasses around her index finger with a grin. They were Shizuka's! The girl had left them on her nightstand before she left.
"You don't typically wear these at night, but she always has them on." Marina grinned.
Ezra stormed over to Marina and swiped the sunglasses from her hands. She took a deep breath, hiding the sunglasses in both of her hands and focusing her energy for a moment. "We should be able to make this work… Everyone, grab what you need! I won't be able to control its speed once it gets started."
"Lady, what are we even following? The sunglasses?" Marina questioned.
"In a manner of speaking…" A golden light flashed between Ezra's palms. When she pulled them apart, a frog hopped out of her hands and onto the floor. It hopped right over to the motel room's door and tried to find a way out.
"W-What the actual fuck?" Marina whispered into her own hand, trying to be polite.
"Frog!" Shirlie pointed with a huge smile. "I love frogs!"
"Then follow it! All of you, let's go!" Ezra ran to the door and opened it up for the hopping boy.
"Why the hell are Shizuka's sunglasses a frog!?" Ripley asked in disbelief.
"I'll explain everything later. Please, just follow him!" Ezra stepped out of the apartment and let the semi-aquatic creature lead the way.
Shizuka stared at her not-mother like she was crazy. The field was so peaceful! The sun was so nice against her skin! How could she possibly be dead? It didn't make any sense! She would remember something like that! The girl's breathing became uneven, and she began to sweat despite the lovely weather. Some part of her knew it to be true.
"I'm sure you have flashes of a memory, don't you? Blondie lifted you into the air and punched right through your chest. You died in less than a second. She destroyed your heart and lungs in a single strike." Tsuru frowned.
Once again, the image of her death struck Shizuka. She saw the gruesome image in terrible detail… Her little sneakers dangling in the air, the lifeless sheen to her eyes, all of it was horrible. She couldn't even begin to believe it. She failed? Blondie actually killed her?
"I thought I could trust you!" She balled her fists and stared at the ground in anger.
Tsuru didn't respond. She just stared toward the trees as the wind blew through her hair. She let the girl experience her emotions without interference. Everyone deserved to come to terms with their own death uninterrupted.
"You said all I needed to do was bring The Circle Game to Blondie and everything else would be taken care of!" Shizuka cried, pointing right at Tsuru. "You liar!"
The older woman hung her head and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Shizuka."
"You're- ha! S-Sorry!? You're sorry!? I was a lamb standing on a conveyor belt heading right for the slaughter, and you told me to stand still! If I'd have known any better, I would've run for my life!" Shizuka shouted.
"Would you really?" Tsuru tilted her head.
"Yes!"
"You'd have let Blondie infect the world with the Stand Arrow's virus, killing billions of people in the process?" Tsuru raised her brow.
Shizuka tried to respond, but she felt the air leave her lungs. It was the young girl's turn to hang her head in shame. She closed her eyes, feeling tears in them at that point. "I don't know? Maybe…? What was I supposed to do?"
"Your best, Shizuka. All you were supposed to do was your best." A gentle smile came to the woman's lips, a rare sight to be sure. "And you did."
"My best." Shizuka closed her eyes, sniffling as she came to terms with her fate. "Look where our best got us, Tsuru… Look where it's always gotten us! Right here! Now we're both dead!"
"Only one of us is dead, Shizuka." The woman shook her head. "There's only ever been one of us."
"Oh, right! Excuse me… That's extremely easy to wrap my head around! There's only one of us! That's why you're saying things that I'm not thinking of, right? That's why you knew I was dead before I did?" Shizuka laughed.
"You were there when you died. I'm only saying things that you know." Tsuru explained. "The Tsuru who created you is gone. Nothing can ever bring her back… She is you. I'm just a shadow."
"I don't understand." Shizuka frowned. "What does that mean?"
Tsuru flashed a brilliant white light before appearing once again in a different form. She was The Circle Game, a Stand Shizuka had quite a bit of experience with, but had only seen in the story of Tsuru's life… She'd never been face to face with it before. Er... was it even polite to call the Stand an "it?" After another flash, Tsuru's human appearance returned.
"I am a Stand, Shizuka. Your Stand. Tsuru didn't create an exact copy of herself for no reason. She did it so you could use her Stand Ability alongside your own. Your Achtung Baby grew and evolved alongside me for your entire life. I watched as it changed into Ultra Violet, and as it finally took its true form in Flower Child. Whenever you needed help, whenever life was too much for you to handle on your own, I was there. I was able to control your Stand and protect you."
Shizuka's eyes lit with recognition as she remembered the first time something like that happened. It was in Amsterdam during her first Stand Battle against Wagner. She had been completely paralyzed by the stress of the situation, so what did her Achtung Baby do? It sprang into action all on its own and turned the pavement invisible. Her Stand deceived the hellhounds and gave her an opportunity to escape.
"A-All this time…?" She asked with a weak smile. "You've been helping me since the very beginning?"
Tsuru nodded. "There were a few times where I had to get a little more involved than I would have liked. When your friend Rohan tried to read your personal history, I had no choice but to knock him away. I couldn't risk him discovering just how much information existed on the first few pages of your story."
Shizuka nodded as she put all the pieces together. "I can't believe it… You were the one masking my Joestar birthmark."
"You were never meant to discover Dio's blood in your heritage. The birthmark was a result of his power flowing through your veins, nothing more. I'm not familiar with the specifics of the Joestar birthmark, but it seems to have a spiritual property. When you came into contact with Giorno, he felt the relation even more due to being the immediate son of Dio. The rest of your family wouldn't have ever noticed the difference. Any familial instincts they felt toward you would've been explained by raising and loving you."
She was finally getting all the answers, but at what cost? All of the cards were on the table at this point. The Circle Game didn't have a reason to withhold any information from her. What would be the point? She was dead after all. There was an old adage about dead men not telling tales… Dead girls couldn't do it either. With all that in mind, she had one more question in mind.
"Tsuru…" She asked quietly.
"Yes?" The woman tilted her head.
"...what is Heaven?"
Jotaro and Josuke approached a lone church in a quiet part of town. Both men were on high alert, knowing full well that an enemy could be at any turn. They left the turtle under a dumpster in a nearby alley. If they didn't return soon, Joseph and Trish would come looking for them. The taller of the two took a single step forward, pulling his cigarette out and puffing a cloud of smoke past his lips.
"Your guy is sure about this?" Jotaro flicked his cigarette onto the asphalt.
"There's no such thing as being sure with such little information, but he thinks it's a positive match." Josuke nodded, clenching his fists. "She could be in there."
"Well then, would you care to join me at church this evening, Josuke?" Jotaro smirked.
"I've never been to a Christian service." Josuke admitted.
"Maura was raised Catholic. I've been to a few baptisms and funerals for her side of the family. Interesting stuff." Jotaro mumbled casually as he walked up to the church.
"It's hard to imagine you going to church, Jotaro." Josuke grinned, walking up the concrete steps alongside him.
"I'm definitely spiritual, but organized religion isn't my thing." Jotaro grabbed the front door and pulled it open.
The men both stood up straight when they saw the contents of the sanctuary. There was blood, a lot of it. A crimson trail dragged from the middle of the aisle to the side exit by the altar. Jotaro grimaced, shaking his head in disgust.
"We're too late."
"I know." Josuke growled. "That blood's over an hour old, easily. I've seen enough crime scenes to tell."
"Good eye, Josuke." Jotaro walked deeper into the church, making sure to avoid the blood as he did so. "It's hard to tell in the bigger pool, but look at the specs lining the carpet along the drag marks? Some of it's already dried up."
Star Platinum manifested in front of Jotaro and stared at the blood carefully. "I'd say we're about two hours late. We spent a hell of a long time looking for this place."
"Still, Blondie was here. We should look around, see if there's anything that tells us where she went." Josuke sighed.
They both nodded before combing the church for anything of note. After about five minutes, Jotaro was about to give up. That's when he noticed something white reflecting the moonlight in the far corner of the room. He walked over to it and bent down to get a better look. Jotaro's eyes widened, and he picked it up with Star Platinum. "Josuke! Here."
Josuke walked over and tilted his head. "I'll be… It's a tooth."
Jotaro nodded. "Knocked right out of someone's mouth. This belongs to an adult, too."
"At least that means it's not Shizuka." Josuke sighed.
"Look here…" He lifted the tooth even closer, noticing a faint red smear near the bottom of its front side.
"Blood?" Josuke scrunched up his face as he tried to tell what he was looking at.
Jotaro smirked. "Been to a hundred crime scenes, but you've never had a wife. That's lipstick."
"Excuse me, I know lipstick. I wear lipstick." Josuke argued. "I just haven't had the chance in a while."
"Red lipstick…" Jotaro rolled the tooth between Star Platinum's fingers in contemplation. "Remind you of anyone?"
"Blondie, yeah." Josuke nodded.
"This wasn't an execution. Blondie fought someone here. They managed to knock one of her teeth out in the process, then had their guts unloaded onto the carpet soon after." Jotaro's expression darkened as he thought the problem through.
"You'd have to be one tough son of a bitch to take one of Blondie's teeth." Josuke marveled.
Jotaro glanced over at the pool of blood once again. How much was he looking at…? He thought it was rather small. His stomach sank when he considered the implications. There was a lot less blood in a 4"3 girl than in a grown man… He hoped against all odds he was wrong.
"Josuke… Can we 'fix' Blondie's tooth back to her?" He mumbled.
Josuke pondered it for a moment. "She's probably healed herself with those freaky Pillar Man powers. Still, it should work. I've never tried to heal someone who's already been healed, though."
"What about the blood? Can you send that back to the owner?" He frowned.
"Not when it's already clotted, no. This blood's way too old to send anywhere. Besides, the blood's owner is dead for sure."
Jotaro's face was pale, though he hid it well in the dark church. "You're probably right… Let's get the others and follow that tooth, now."
Tsuru stood there silently after Shizuka's question. This made the girl uneasy. The Stand had volunteered so much information without any issue, why was this so different? The older woman seemed almost troubled as she considered the question. Shizuka bit her lip, shifting awkwardly between each of her feet in her white sneakers.
"Uhm, The Circle Game? Tell me about Heaven." She asked again.
"What do you want to know?" The Stand cocked its head.
"About Heaven. Anything." Shizuka countered.
"Heaven is a concept that many believe in. Some say it's a place on Earth, others believe it's where a soul goes upon its death."
"Okay, fine. Let me rephrase the question. What did Heaven mean to Dio?" Shizuka pursed her lips and put a hand on her hip.
Another awkward pause.
"You have to tell me. I'm your Stand User." Shizuka warned.
"Nobody should know about Heaven." Tsuru finally admitted.
"Well, I promise to take it to my grave. I'm already halfway there!" Shizuka crossed her arms with indignation.
"I wasn't lying when I said that some people believe Heaven is a place on Earth. Dio thought that could be the case." Tsuru explained.
"Okay, then what did he think it could be?"
"In the simplest phrase? Peace of mind." The Stand began. "He believed that everything a person did was fueled by their desire for peace of mind. Every act of violence, every war, every theft, it was all for peace of mind. We make friends for peace of mind. We make enemies for peace of mind. At the end of the day, Dio believed that humans wanted to be safe and comfortable. That was what motivated him."
Shizuka scoffed. "He didn't give peace of mind to all those women in his corpse-pile."
"Dio wasn't exactly a proponent of giving peace of mind to all. In fact, he was mostly concerned with peace of mind for himself."
"And what was peace of mind for someone like Dio?" Shizuka frowned.
Tsuru thought about it for a moment. "Ultimate power. That's the only way a man as weak-minded as Dio could ever achieve peace of mind. He was terrified of betrayal. In fact, I don't think he had a single genuine relationship in his entire life. In Dio's eyes, the only way to prevent betrayal is ultimate power. If someone knows there's no point in challenging you, they'll have to do whatever you say. And if they have to do whatever you say, they'll never disappoint you... "
Shizuka almost felt sick to her stomach. That was quite the achievement, considering she was in the afterlife.
"That's disgusting." She frowned.
"Indeed. The only way Dio could ever hope to achieve happiness would be to strip the human race of its free will. All because his father hit him." Tsuru shook her head. "Pathetic is an understatement."
"But you kept Heaven a secret… Why would you burn down a building just to hide some philosophy?" Shizuka asked.
Tsuru closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wasn't burying a philosophy, Shizuka. I was burying instructions."
"Instructions!?" Shizuka nearly choked on air when she heard that. "Instructions to obtain Dio's idea of Heaven!? Are you insane?" She asked, only realizing a little too late that her question was a bit of a self-burn.
"I'd like to say that I did it for my survival… But that's not the case. The truth, Shizuka, is that we were intrigued by the idea. We were asked if we could grant a man ultimate power, and we were so interested in the process that we forgot about the end result." Tsuru admitted with a sigh.
"...but we didn't do it, did we? I mean… Ultimate power is impossible." Shizuka whispered.
"There's no such thing as ultimate power, Shizuka. However… If you shoot for the moon, you'll at least end up among the stars. Even coming close to ultimate power would be enough to end life on Earth."
"And we didn't do it, did we!?" She demanded.
"...we came close."
Shizuka fell to her knees, staring at the grass with vacant eyes. Was this her nature? She was so transfixed by the concept of creating ultimate power that she never even considered the consequences of granting it to man? Standing at death's door, could Shizuka face this fact? Could she accept that she had that kind of negligence for humanity within her?
Before she had the chance, a dark wind blew through the field. Shizuka lifted her head and saw a storm approaching over the trees. The girl frowned, biting her lip.
"This is just like earlier…" She mumbled. "If this is supposed to be death, why do things keep happening?"
"I don't know." Tsuru admitted. "It's my ability to know things, but that knowledge has its limits. We're beyond anything a living person could know."
"That makes sense… You're just an echo of me, aren't you? The real Tsuru is right here, and so are her smarts." Shizuka gave her chest a pat. "I'll figure this out myself. Thank you for talking to me."
"Thank you for listening." The woman smiled. "It's so wonderful to meet you after all these years. I only wish it was under better circumstances."
"Yeah, well…" Shizuka stood up, facing the storm. "Maybe I can save us both."
Ezra led the group behind the hopping frog as it bounded toward its location. Everyone was pretty confused by the nature of their guide, but things had been pretty wacky for the past few weeks. After seeing an old woman restore her youth with monster DNA, being trapped inside of a magic hotel, playing parlor games to keep their souls and everything else they'd experienced, why was it so odd to think a frog might know the way to Shizuka?
"Can it hop any faster?" Marina sighed as the group took baby steps behind the creature.
"Like I said, I don't control the frog." Ezra explained patiently. "It's a living organism capable of thought and feelings. Right now, it's trying to return to its owner."
"And that owner is Shizuka, right? Because the frog is actually just her sunglasses?" Ripley frowned, barely following the situation.
"You can laugh all you want, but this is our best shot at finding her. What was she even thinking?" Ezra sighed.
"She was probably trying to spare the rest of us." Marina frowned. "She's got this whole savior complex because of her mother. Apparently, the woman had a ten step plan to self-improvement and murdering Blondie. The kid's been really torn up about it lately."
"Why hasn't she said anything?" Ripely asked.
"She's been riddled with doubt since we left California." Shirlie mumbled. "It's been suffocating. I think Marina's right. One of the biggest emotions she's been feeling lately is guilt. She probably doesn't want to get us involved."
"Well that's dumb." Ripley shook her head. "If anything, I feel guilty for bringing her along. We never should have taken her somewhere so dangerous."
"Guys," Pepsi interrupted them and pointed toward the frog. "It's about to hop onto a really busy sidewalk."
They had been walking through quiet neighborhoods for about twenty minutes. The frog had taken a few alleys, and appeared to be hopping directly toward a busy part of town. Almost every part of New York City was busy, so things were about to get complicated. The frog hopped out of the alley and right onto the sidewalk. Multiple people stepped right past it, coming dangerously close to stomping the life out of the poor thing.
"Protect that frog!" Ezra shouted.
Everyone stumbled out of the alley and formed a defensive perimeter around the hopping lad.
"If it's crushed, will we lose track of Shizuka?" Ripley asked.
"No, it can't be crushed." Ezra frowned.
"Then why the hell are we crowding the sidewalk!?" Marina groaned.
"Any damage done to the frog will be dealt back to the attacker. If the frog is stepped on, someone could die." Ezra panted as she waved confused passerbys away from the animal.
That definitely got everybody moving. Shirlie tried her best to keep everybody calm and passive as they were shooed off of the sidewalk by a group of crazed lunatics. Marina was literally shoving men out of the way, and Ripley tried to explain to each bystander why they should avoid the frog.
"This is fucking ridiculous!" Marina growled at Ezra.
"Do you want to find Shizuka or not!?" The woman spat back.
People were getting rather angry with the blob of teens blocking the road. A few men tried to shove past them, causing Marina to toss them aside with Bubblegum Bitch. Pa-Pa-Power was panicking at that point. He got down onto his hands and knees and tried to blow the frog ahead with a gust of wind. Unfortunately, he did not have any actual air in his lungs.
"Can't we pick it up?" Shirlie asked in frustration.
"It won't hop toward Shizuka if we're holding it. We need to let it go on its own. Just keep it safe! I'm sure it'll hop to a less crowded area soon!" Ezra groaned.
A uniformed police officer walked up to the group with both hands resting on his belt. He stopped in place, rocking his hips back and forth before the frog parade with a scowl plastered on his face.
"Excuse me, ladies." He adjusted the rim of his hat. "You're causing a disturbance. I'm going to need you to disperse."
Marina marched up to the officer and sized him up with a judgmental stare. She looped her thumbs between her two belts and mimicked his posture. "I'm not very familiar with American law, but I'm pretty sure protecting a frog from being stomped on isn't a crime."
"Ah, I figured you were out of towners." He smiled. "I'm pretty familiar with tourists, but I've never seen them flocking around a single frog like this. Have you been taking any substances tonight, young lady?"
The woman snarled, stepping even closer to the officer as the group slowly walked around them to follow the frog. Marina thrust her hips forward, adjusting her belt and looking up into the man's eyes.
"Don't you have a group of peaceful protesters to tear gas or something? We're just looking at a neat frog. Eat a donut and move along." She growled.
The officer was mad. He pointed to the coffee shop right beside them and grinned. "I could nail you guys for loitering outside this store. Is that what you want? You should treat me with some respect, honey."
Marina put her hands in her pockets and shook her head. "Are you wearing a bodycam, officer?"
"It's on the fritz." He sneered.
"Figures." Marina rolled her head, cracking her neck and letting out a long sigh.
Bubblegum Bitch swung its bat and struck both the officer's feet in a single blow. He cried out in pain, but found himself unable to lift his feet from the concrete. The man flailed his body awkwardly as both feet were stuck to the sidewalk.
"W-Wait! What the hell is this!?"
Marina reached over and gave the officer's cheek a gentle pat. "Stick around."
With that, the woman stomped forward and caught up with her friends. She had a bit more confidence now, screaming at the people around her. "Oi! Stay the fuck away from my frog!"
The officer flailed around before falling onto his back. His feet were still firmly grounded to the concrete, causing his body to arch as he struggled to get up. He rolled like a turtle stuck on his back, swearing like a sailor as people started to record his behavior with their cellphones. Fortunately, nobody had been filming Marina. The sticky effect would wear off after a few hours, or sooner if it started raining. Aside from hesitating to confront people on the sidewalk in the future, he'd be completely fine.
Shizuka walked into town, fleeing the field and the incoming storm over the woods. As she wandered into the city, she noticed that it wasn't a typical American town. In fact, she'd never been here in her life. Despite that, she knew exactly where she was. Even on the edge of town, she could recognize the iconic skyline in the distance.
"Tokyo." She muttered to herself.
Tsuru spent a great deal of her childhood in this city. In a way, Shizuka had been here. Memories flashed before her as she remembered Tsuru's favorite restaurants, her secret reading spots, and the field that she always ran through with Stella. That's where she had just been. Why had her bedroom closet lead to a place from Tsuru's childhood? Wasn't this meant to be her afterlife?
"Tsuru?" She called out for her Stand.
"Yes?" The Circle Game appeared beside her.
"We're in Tokyo, aren't we…? This isn't my memory."
The Stand nodded, looking around with a fond smile before answering. "You and Tsuru are one in the same. Though she doesn't exist in any solid form, a great deal of her still exists inside of you. Eventually, all of her knowledge and experience will be yours for the taking. That includes her memories, of course. It makes sense that you'd be experiencing some of her fondest memories while passing into the afterlife."
The girl nodded as she took in the atmosphere of a city distantly familiar to her. It was like coming home in a way… She smiled, feeling a rush of peace washing over her.
"I love it here." She mumbled.
"I know you do. There aren't many people who can fondly remember growing up in two places at once." The Circle Game smiled.
"I guess I'm pretty lucky, aren't I?" Shizuka rested a hand over her heart.
"Tsuru never thought that. You're living proof of who she could have been without the trauma from that night. It makes me very happy to see you like this, Shizuka." The Stand admitted.
The girl tried to focus on the positives, though a darkness was still looming over her in the distance. She turned to see the storm growing closer by the minute. She frowned, allowing her hand to drop from her chest and hang in the air.
"Dying at ten isn't very lucky…" She stared at the concrete below her feet.
"No… It isn't." The Circle Game sighed.
"That storm keeps getting closer, but I don't think it's really a storm." Shizuka mumbled. "When I was in my room, all the lights in the city went dark. It got closer and closer just like this."
"What do you think it is?" The Circle Game asked softly.
"Darkness, maybe? I think it's represented by whatever suits my surroundings. The darkness keeps getting closer and closer."
"Does that scare you?"
"Yes." She admitted. "But I'm dead, right? I shouldn't be afraid of anything."
"How did you get away from the darkness last time?" The Circle Game looked around curiously.
"I went through my closet door… Maybe if I go through another door, I'll end up somewhere new." Shizuka nodded.
"That sounds like a way forward, yes."
The young girl approached a nearby building and took a deep breath. After focusing for a moment, the door began to emit the same silver glow as her closet door had. She wrapped her fingers around the handle and pulled it open. She couldn't see anything on the other side. When she stepped through, the entire world around her changed in an instant.
She was sitting in a restaurant booth. The place was completely silent and empty, just like everything had been since she died. Shizuka didn't even need to look around to know where she was. This was one of the happiest places she'd ever been. The Circle Game appeared beside the table and folded her hands.
"Tick Tock Diner." The Stand mused to herself. "Your parents brought you here every year on your birthday."
"My gotcha day…" Shizuka corrected the Stand. "We weren't sure about my birthday, so we celebrate it on the anniversary of my adoption every year."
"July 26th." The Circle Game nodded. "You don't like when people refer to that as your birthday."
"That's because it isn't." Shizuka shrugged, looking around the shiny diner. She'd never seen it so clearly before. It was an incredibly busy place located just outside Penn Station. Her booth was brown with blue trim on either side. The ceiling was almost curved like the inside of a train with blue glowing against the foggy glass. This place felt like home to her. She always loved having dinner here with her family. It only happened once a year, and that made it all the more special.
"You didn't eat here this year, did you?" The Circle Game asked.
Shizuka felt a pang of grief as she nodded. "I was in Amsterdam, remember…?"
"Sleeping in an alley with an empty stomach, yes. Do you regret that?"
"No." Shizuka admitted. "It's the only reason we found out about Blondie's plan. I might be dead, but the others still have a chance of stopping her."
"Do you actually believe that?" The Circle Game tilted her head.
"...no." Shizuka hung her head. "I don't think they can stop Rapture. But I have to believe, right? I have to root for them anyway."
The Circle Game didn't respond right away. Instead, she took in her surroundings. Being an extension of Tsuru and Shizuka meant she had a residual fondness for the diner. She enjoyed being there just as much as Shizuka. After a long pause, she changed the topic.
"Do you want to know your birthday, Shizuka?"
The girl perked up. "Wait, what?"
"Your birthday. The day Tsuru had you."
Shizuka let her head fall against the cushioned seat behind her. She gave up on knowing her real birthday years ago. A few doctors gave educated guesses when she was a baby, but they provided a rather large window. Based on how she looked when Joseph adopted her, she was probably born sometime around December.
"Yes, please."
"You were born December 20th at 6:43am Greenwich Mean Time. You're a Sagittarius." The Circle Game smiled fondly.
She just let that set in for a moment. December 20th… That was her birthday. She was born on December 20th at 6:43am. Why hadn't she thought to ask The Circle Game about her birthday sooner? She looked around the Tick Tock Diner with a new sense of wholeness and a big smile on her face. She'd love to eat here on December 20th… It could be a new tradition. Why shouldn't she eat here twice a year? It was good food, after all!
"Thank you for telling me." She sighed.
"Well, you have the right to know. You were there, after all. Twice."
The girl laughed awkwardly. She still didn't fully understand how she was a reincarnation of Tsuru if they were both alive at the same time.
"I've got one more question for you, okay?"
"By all means." The Stand smiled.
"How did Tsuru die?"
The Stand pondered Shizuka's question for quite some time. She pursed her lips, recalling the specifics and searching for a way to phrase them in a way a human could understand. After a little while, she was satisfied with her answer.
"Your body was an empty vessel upon its birth. A human body without a soul is a very rare thing, and it can end in disaster. Fortunately, you didn't go without a soul for very long. When Tsuru brought you to Morioh, she was prepared to transfer her essence into you…"
"But how did she do that?" Shizuka frowned.
"She died, of course." The Circle Game explained. "Tsuru took a lethal dose of a heart medication she stole from Neil Archer and passed away shortly after. Upon her death, she transferred her soul and Stand into your empty body. Since they were a perfect match, her soul instantly took to your body… They became one, being completely inseparable. Her mind and memories were carefully locked away by my ability with the express intent to share them with you when the time came."
"If that's true, why am I me? Why aren't I… her?" The girl sighed.
"Nature versus nurture." The Circle Game mused. "Tsuru pondered this until the moment she died. If her soul lacked its memories and experiences, would it even be Tsuru anymore? What if you took that blank slate and allowed it to grow up in a new environment? Once the slate accumulates enough experiences and individuality, can you even consider it the same soul you started with?"
"That's why you said we're the same person…" Shizuka stared at her own hands with fascination. "I'm not just a clone of her… I'm a direct, linear continuation of her soul? One minute she was her, the next…"
"She was you." The Circle Game nodded.
Shizuka leaned even further into her booth as she finally grasped the nature of her existence. Tsuru needed more than a fresh start. She needed a mind without the weight of her trauma, and she needed a body capable of powering The Circle Game at full capacity. She was the same nature as Tsuru, but experienced a completely different stage of nurture. That was the difference between Shizuka Joestar and Tsuru Nishioka. Nurture.
"I feel old." She finally spoke. "Older than I really am…"
"That makes sense. You don't have all of Tsuru's memories, but you certainly have enough to feel much older than your body. It's important to keep in mind that you are no older than your body, though. Your brain is nowhere near at the end of its development, and you lack various essential traits of an adult. That's why you don't have access to everything at the moment.
"I'm not a kid, but I'm not an adult." Shizuka sighed. "What does that make me?"
"Do you need a label? There's nothing else like you, Shizuka. The circumstances that lead to your successful and stable existence spit in the face of probability itself. You should be proud to be."
"I am…" She smiled softly. "In a way, I feel bad for Tsuru. But I'd be lying if I said I'm in a hurry to bring her back. Even if it were possible, I think I have an equal claim to this soul now."
"You're speaking illogically. Tsuru isn't gone. I'm speaking to her right now. You don't remember being her, of course. Even when I give you all of her memories, they will seem foggier than your own lived experiences… That doesn't mean you're not Tsuru, Shizuka. It means that you're both a single unit. Would it be right for Joseph to grieve the past version of himself? Should he surrender his body to the Joseph of a decade ago? Of course not. You are a continuation of Tsuru, not a replacement. That's why your afterlife has destinations from her life as well."
"I guess instead of taping over something, this is more like adding footage to the end of the film then?" Shizuka asked.
"Exactly." The Circle Game smiled. "A beautiful sequel, if you will."
That certainly made the girl feel better. She was startled by the lights suddenly flipping off. Her heart sank as she remembered her situation… She was dead, and the world seemed to be going dark every time she got comfortable. The Circle Game was good company, but it didn't seem like Shizuka had the rest of eternity to chat. She was probably in some kind of in-between state. Eventually, she'd move on to whatever was next.
Unless she did something stupid, of course.
Joseph rubbed his chin in thought as he tried to let the young men's report set in. It was pretty sensational, but things had been rather wild for the past few weeks.
"Blondie gutted someone in the church, huh?" He mumbled to himself. "That's bold, even for her."
"There was a lot of blood." Jotaro nodded grimly.
"Why move the body?" Joseph muttered.
"Covering up the crime?" Josuke suggested. "But that's not very likely with all the blood she left on the carpet."
"That means she's hiding the identity of the person from us, not the police." Joseph nodded. "That's not good. Someone we know is dead."
"I know." Jotaro clenched his fist. "I'm trying not to think about it."
"Keep that repressed until we put Blondie in a hearse. We don't have time to grieve." Joseph adjusted his tie and stood upright.
"What are our options, Mr. Joestar?" Polnareff asked. "We don't even know where she is! If we find her, we could be walking into a trap."
"I say we follow the tooth." Joseph shook his head. "It pains me to say this, but we have to assume that any of the kids could be dead now. The rest might even be captured. We have to act under the assumption that Blondie has the feather, and that means we don't have time to worry about things like traps."
"I agree." Jotaro said. "We need to move now. If anyone's not willing to run headfirst into a trap, I suggest they leave now."
Everyone glanced over at Trish, the odd one out. She knew Polnareff, but other than that she was a complete stranger. She was a young woman, a pop icon from Italy of all things. Yes, she had a Stand, but she had nothing to do with Blondie or the Joestars. She was only dragged into this by the Hotel California. Still, she didn't seem deterred. The woman scoffed, sitting with her legs spread confidently as she rested her cheek against her fist.
"If that's your way of telling me to leave, I'm not biting." She mumbled. "Blondie killed Giorno, right? She's also trying to end the world. I've got a Stand, I've got to fight, plain and simple."
"Well said." Jotaro nodded. "There's not much room for misogyny when we're hopelessly outmatched against a woman anyway. I'll take all the help I can get."
"Okay then." Josuke held the tooth in his palm and took a deep breath. "Joseph, you should help me track the tooth outside. The others need to stay here. We've gotta keep a low profile."
"Attaboy! Let's follow that trail! A detective and his quick-witted Pop! You could sell that script in a night." Joseph laughed, slapping Josuke's back and stepping out of the turtle.
Josuke exchanged glances with Jotaro for a moment. The older man nodded, lowering the rim of his hat and walking over to one of the various couches.
"Keep an eye on your old man." He mumbled.
Shizuka had left the Tick Tock Diner behind her and was now walking around the first playground her mother ever brought her to as a child. Well, Tsuru's mother… She still viewed Suzi Q as her real Mom, but the nostalgia was poignant as she walked around the Japanese park. She approached a swing and ran her hand up one of the poles that burrowed into the ground for support.
"Hey, The Circle Game?" She called for her Stand once again.
The Stand appeared on the swing, gently swaying back and forth with folded hands in her lap. "Yes?"
"Why doesn't Hamon destroy my body if I'm made of vampire and Pillar Man DNA?" She asked softly.
"Ah, yes. It was very surprising when you channeled Sting's Hamon and used it yourself. Tsuru certainly never anticipated that. If she'd known she was such a natural at Hamon, I imagine her interactions with Dio may have gone differently."
"It should have burned me up, right? That's what Sting was counting on. But when I got hit by his blast of Hamon I felt a huge burst of energy. It was almost overflowing from my body. I had to do something with it or else I'd explode or something!"
"Blondie erroneously assumed that your basic composition was similar in nature to her own. In layman's terms, she thinks she's all that." The Circle Game smirked. "Her transformation was indeed fueled by a mixture of Hamon and Pillar Man DNA, just like your own. She's also right to assume that disrupting the balance of Hamon would cause it to destroy the Pillar Man cells in her own blood. Unfortunately for her, that's not how Tsuru's formula works."
"I'm built differently than her?" Shizuka asked.
"Indeed. Blondie is a human being who introduced Pillar Man DNA to her body decades into her life. It's reasonable to say that her balance is teetering right on the edge. A large enough dose of Hamon might knock her right back into her nineties where she belongs."
"Why am I different?"
"From the moment of your conception, you've been exposed to these supernatural elements. They've woven into your DNA, Shizuka. They can't be removed."
"I don't understand…" The girl admitted.
"Imagine it like this… Blondie's transformation is like a temporary tattoo. Sure, it might look very convincing, but over time it will fade. Eventually, it'll wash away and return her skin to its original appearance. You're different. You have the ink embedded in your skin. It's never going to fade away, right? Even if you run it under the faucet for hours, it'll still be there."
"I produce the cells myself?" She asked in amazement.
"Exactly! It's not something that's lying on the surface, it's woven into your very core. If you use Hamon, your body naturally produces more Pillar Man and vampire cells to replace whatever was destroyed."
"Does that mean I'm immortal?" She mumbled nervously. "Why don't I magically heal?"
"You weren't exactly built for immortality. Blondie has a much more aggressive, haphazard formula that primarily focuses on restoring her youth and allowing her to heal any injury. You were built for strength. Your Stand Power far exceeds Blondie's. You're able to use two Stands at the same time without breaking a sweat. You're also much more durable than a normal human. I wouldn't be surprised if your body aged slower due to the youthful properties of Hamon, Pillar Man cells and vampiric DNA, but you'd absolutely have grown old and died someday."
"Okay…" She nodded. "I guess it'll make more sense when I inherit Tsuru's memories and remember how she did it all."
"I imagine so."
The sun was setting over the horizon. That must have been this scene's way to show the darkness coming… Shizuka felt nervous as she watched the sun lower faster than usual behind the distant hills. How many times could she run away from the darkness before it completely enveloped her?
"What happens if I refuse to die?" She mumbled.
"Pardon?" The Circle Game sat upright.
"If I just… don't move on. I can be a ghost, right? Ghosts can have Stands. My dad said so."
"Shizuka…" The Stand frowned. "That's not a good idea. Being a ghost isn't something a soul does willingly. They're bound to the world by their inability to move on. If you can, you absolutely need to let go."
"I still have you, right? I've also got Flower Child. If I get another shot at Blondie, I could win. We just need to try again!" She argued.
"Or she might destroy us. We could be broken down and scattered into useless particles of energy. Until you move on, your soul is in danger. There's a reason you don't see ghosts around every street corner. Most souls move on immediately."
"I can't move on!" She stomped her foot in anger. "My family is down there! Josuke, Jotaro, Dad… They're gonna throw themselves at Blondie without any hope of winning because they're heroes, okay!? If I can save them, I don't even care if I stay dead."
"Most ghosts are bound to the site of their death. It's very rare for them to be able to travel without a host." The Circle Game shook her head. "You're not being rational."
"You're not human." Shizuka crossed her arms. "You're close to it, but you're just not… I'm telling you plain and simple that I refuse to die. In fact…"
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Shizuka let the darkness overcome her body. When she opened them, the girl was back in her bedroom. The door to the hall lingered in the corner just like it did before. She saw the slit of light spilling in through the cracked door and understood what it was. She hadn't known she was dead before, but now it was so clear… The girl walked up to the door and took a deep breath.
"This is the door that I have to go through. This door will let me move on." She explained, resting a hand on the knob.
The Circle Game appeared beside her. "Open it."
Shizuka sighed, shaking her head. "I was afraid of this door the minute I laid eyes on it. The darkness that's been chasing me for hours was trying to bring me back here to this dark, empty room… It was drawing me back to the door."
"If you walk through, you'll move onto whatever's next. Our journey will be complete. After everything you've been through, Shizuka, all the decades of misery and pain… don't you deserve this? Don't you deserve to rest in peace?"
Shizuka's hand trembled over the knob as she bit her lip in rage. Rest in peace? The Circle Game was talking about Shizuka like she was dead. Shizuka refused to die. She wasn't going to lie down and take it.
"The only person who died was you," She muttered. "I wasn't in control… I barely even remember it. You used my body and got me killed."
"It's what you wanted." The Circle Game argued.
"It's what I used to want! People change! Nobody gets to say that more than me, either! I've changed a whole heck of a lot over the years. Who says I'm finished? Maybe it's time for me to be a cool ghost or something!"
"Shizuka… You are dead." The Circle Game said sternly. "The issues of the living aren't your concern anymore."
"I died a long time ago… I died when those men killed my family. I died when Dio took me hostage… I died when I fell into Blondie's clutches, and I died when my soul left that body to enter a new one… So what if I've died again? That's all I do. I die, and I change!" She growled, clenching the knob with all her might.
"Shizuka…"
"I'm done playing by everybody else's rules… I'm done being told what's possible… I'm done playing passively on the sidelines. I used to be weak, but I changed… No offense to you, but I never should have listened to you in the first place. All Tsuru did for her whole life was fail. She made me for a reason. She made me to win… She made me so I'd say 'no!' when a situation seemed impossible… She made me a survivor… And I am going to SURVIVE!"
Shizuka slammed the door shut with all its might. Even though it was only wood, it crashed closed with the reverbing roar of a heavy metal door. The wood began to crack and splinter. The fracture branched all throughout the door and caused chips of paint to fling in every direction. Shizuka watched as the damage spread to her bedroom wall. Large cracks began to surge through the drywall. Picture frames fell to the floor and shattered as the walls threatened to crumble entirely. She clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth as energy flowed through her veins.
"What's happening?" The Circle Game whispered.
Shizuka hunched over, closing her eyes and letting out a pained roar. Adrenaline coursed through her, causing her heart to pound three times as fast. Meanwhile, The Circle Game noticed her own chest was beginning to glow. She slowly transformed back into her real appearance, the facade of Tsuru fading away for what might be the last time. The arrow resting on The Circle Game's chest began to radiate with a silver light.
Shizuka's eyes shot open when she saw that light. She turned to face The Circle Game with a sense of recognition.
"It can't be… The arrow is calling out to you? Or, could it be that you're calling out to it?" The Circle Game gasped.
Shizuka stomped over to her Stand with glowing pink eyes. Her hair was blowing every which way as she stood before her Stand Ability.
"I'm a Requiem Stand. The Arrow has been a part of me ever since Tsuru put it into Mother Dawn all those years ago." The Circle Game mumbled. "Tsuru created me with the desperate desire to defeat Blondie and protect Stella… Her fighting spirit was strong enough to awaken a latent power in the Stand Arrow… It unlocked her Requiem Ability and gave her a fighting chance… I understand that. But what is this?"
Shizuka stared at the shining light as it grew even brighter by the second. "I won't die." She whispered, flexing her arms so hard that she felt like her veins might burst. "The Arrow has to have one more secret up its sleeve… It has to…"
The Circle Game watched in awe as the Stand Arrow slowly rose out of her chest and hovered in the air. This caused her to ripple and weaken, though she maintained her form for the time being.
"If you're worthy, the arrow can't kill you… Even if you're shot through the head, the Arrow won't kill a worthy host… That means it has healing properties, right?" Shizuka asked through gritted teeth. "Heal me, Arrow… Heal my body and bring me back!"
The Circle Game was amazed by Shizuka at that moment. She'd never even thought of something so outlandish! It was her job to know things, yet she never pieced it together. The Arrow did heal its chosen. Tsuru never fully understood the secrets of the Stand Arrow. She died before she had the chance to unlock them. Shizuka was a living continuation of Tsuru's knowledge and will… If anyone could command the Arrow, it was her.
"Shizuka…" The Circle Game looked down at the child. "If you use the Arrow for this, I'll go away…"
Shizuka flashed a sign of trepidation, but it was quickly replaced with firm resolve.
"I'm happy to go if it means you can live." The Circle Game smiled. "I just want to say goodbye… And that I'm proud to be you."
Shizuka grinned, reaching up for the arrow and swiping it out of the air. She held it in both hands, pointing the tip toward her chest. It gravitated in that direction naturally, almost as if she were playing with two magnets. The Arrow wiggled in her grip, eager to get a move on.
"I really appreciated this conversation, The Circle Game…" She smiled. "You've answered so many of my questions… Thank you for everything."
"Get her." The Stand closed her eyes, fading into the blinding light.
Shizuka screamed at the top of her lungs as she swung the arrowhead directly into her stomach. It plunged through her shirt and flesh like a hot knife through butter. She didn't feel an ounce of pain. Instead, it felt like she was injecting herself with raw power. Her eyes absolutely beamed with a bright pink light and cut through the darkness like high beams on a dark country road. Her body began to tremble and soon she couldn't feel the floor beneath her feet.
The girl found herself in a trail of light as she flew through space at an incredible speed. She'd never moved so fast in her life! Her soul was flying, and she knew exactly where it was going. A smile grew on her bright face as she blasted through this dream-reality and returned to the real world. She felt an odd pressure forming in her throat. The girl coughed a bit, surprised that she could cough without a real body.
Shizuka's coughing grew more and more in intensity. She curled up and coughed as hard as she possibly could. Something was stuck in her throat! The girl was too distracted by the extreme discomfort at the moment to notice that she was no longer flying. She was hunched over on a cold concrete floor. She felt like she was hacking out a lung at this point, but the pressure only grew. She placed her hands on her throat and gasped upon feeling something sliding under the surface of her skin. It was pointy! What the hell was happening?
After a full minute of the worst coughing Shizuka ever experienced in her life, she finally coughed something onto the floor. Her eyes were blurry from tears, and her chest ached from the violent heaving. As she stared down at the floor, her eyes eventually adjusted to the sight before her. She was looking at the head of the Stand Arrow… She'd just coughed it out of her own body? Where did she even get the Arrow? Her head felt so foggy…
The girl reached down in an attempt to touch the arrow, but just as she did this it began to dissolve into a black powder. She stared in horror as the arrow crumbled into dust before her very eyes. She tried to grab what remained, but it slipped right through her fingers like sand. Shizuka was still for a long while before letting out another little cough. Dry tears stuck to her cheeks, and she sniffled quietly.
She was alive! The girl lifted her head and looked around cautiously. Her eyes could barely make heads or tails of her surroundings. It was so dark. She tried to stand, but her body wasn't quite ready for a maneuver like that. The girl propped herself up with one hand as she took in her surroundings. It was dark, damp, and cold… She could feel concrete. After a minute, she heard a loud roar of machinery. It was followed by the familiar sound of tracks in the distance. She was in the subway! She was sure of it…
Why the hell was she lying alone in the subway?
To be Continued...