Chapter 29: Remembrance
Moving away from Japan was far easier than MC had expected.
All he had to do was complain to his parents over the phone about not being with them anymore. They happily accepted his sob story and were willing to let him skip school until he could move to America so that he could live with them. However, getting the transfer certificate from his school was much harder. While MC was glad that he hadn't stumbled upon Wallace on the way, he ended up pausing in front of the Literature Club.
He had obviously taken a moment and entered the class. Since classes were already over save for clubs, he hadn't had much to worry about. After all, the Literature Club did not exist anymore.
Seeing the unusually unsurprising stability of the room, despite everything that had happened there, MC couldn't help but feel his mind could over.
He didn't know how to handle it. He always had someone to rely on in the past few weeks, when things were difficult. After facing so much, he just couldn't find it in himself to become an otaku once again. To feel that sense of hopelessness, knowing that everything he had built up was now undone in an instant, with no way of redeeming it. And having no one to talk about it with.
Looking down at the tiled floor morosely, MC finally slid out of the room before anyone could notice the loss of his presence.
Soon enough, he had found himself exiting an American airport. He started to live in his parent's home. Now, he was walking in his casual grey shirt and dark blue jeans to his new school.
'Okay, this is a new start for me,' MC steeled himself upon standing by the entrance of the school, briefly sparing glances at the new people around him who were already talking to each other. 'No more Stand business. This is my break before I can get ready to defeat Wallace.'
He had checked Day One earlier that day and was pleased to find out that he still had his first three saves. He knew that once he was ready to beat Wallace and avenge his friends, he would simply rewind to any of those moments and face him again.
'I owe that much to JoJo at least,' MC reasoned. 'I will avenge him.'
Speaking of JoJo, MC had managed to ask his parents about his heritage earlier as well. As it turns out, the Load Save had somehow turned MC's dad impotent, a fact that he was rather ashamed to share. MC ended up groaning at the TMI, but it was quickly washed away once he heard the most important part. Luckily, his mother hadn't minded his father's disability and ended up receiving a donation from a sperm bank once they were ready to have children.
MC was quick to reason that JoJo's father had to have been the sperm donor. It wouldn't be surprising either. After returning from the last run, MC found that he was considerably taller than before, now at about 5'11. While he found it awkward to adjust to the sudden height increment at first, he had a lot of time to get used to it.
'But aside from all that, I need to tackle my new school.'
Taking in a deep breath, he started moving his longer-than-before legs into the unfamiliar hallways of Stark High School.
"We're glad to have you here, Mr Caulfield," his new principal smiled as he shook his hand. "I can assure you that this school is certainly the best for you. But if I may ask, what made you leave your old school?"
"Oh, well," MC looked away, knowing that he would have to lie his way through this one. "I… well… I wasn't really comfortable there. Also, I was living away from my parents, and I wanted to come back to meet them."
"Ah, I see," the principal nodded as he pressed his chin in thought. "A noble cause. Now, I believe someone needs to guide you across the school. Please wait here for a moment."
Since the bell hadn't rung yet, the principal left his office and called the first person that he recognized. The person turned out to be a red-haired girl fashioned in braided twintails, adorned by a cherry red clip on top that MC knew the girls would have loved. She had hazel eyes outlined with full-rimmed square glasses. She was wearing a beige blazer over a white shirt, and a dark blue knee-length skirt underneath. MC was briefly reminded of the girls' school uniforms upon seeing her, the thought souring his mood once again.
"Mr Caulfield, please meet Amy Steele," the principal introduced her, while the girl, Amy, sheepishly waved at him. "Ms Steele, this is Mark Caulfield. He just joined our school today, and I was hoping that you could show him around the school and his first classes?"
"There is nothing for you to worry about, sir," Amy reassured with an easy-going smile. "I can handle that."
"Thank you, Ms Steele," the principal nodded. "Please, don't let this old man hold you back. Mr Caulfield, I'll handle all your remaining paperwork that I hope you've done your part in. Your schedule will be in that file I provided you as well. Now please, get going."
Nodding in thanks, MC made his way out while following Amy into the hallway.
"So," Amy walked up to MC's side and looked at him, keeping her hands folded behind her back. "You're Mark, right?"
"Call me, MC, please," MC said, still looking around and memorizing the layout of the school. "And you're Amy, right?"
"Yepperooni! MC's a pretty neat nickname, though," she said with a smirk. "Anyway, what brings you to Stark High, MC?"
"A whole bunch of issues," MC waved her off. "You don't really want to know."
"Hm, mysterious type, then," Amy looked away, pressing her chin. "I wonder who you truly are… and what stories you can have… I certainly hope they're interesting…"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Ah!" Amy jerked back in surprise at MC's comment, the boy widening his eyes as well. "D-Did I say that out loud? I'm so sorry! I'm not really socially adept, but I'm still trying my best here, I hope you can consider that and-"
"You're okay," MC interrupted her with a smile and a wave before she could go off on a tangent and remind him of Yuri all over again. "No harm done. But if you're okay with it, I'd like to keep my stories to myself for now."
"Ah, that's good," she said, then tightly pressed her lips together and looked ahead. "W-Well, h-here are all the classrooms. You're probably gonna be in any one of these."
"I can see that," MC said back with a light chuckle.
"Ahahaha, well, I'll show you some other places then!" she said, then turned away and masked her mouth. "Gosh, why is this always so haaaardd…"
MC chose to not voice the loudness of her thoughts and simply followed her as she presented the rest of the school.
Soon enough, MC's tour was finished, and he was shown where his first class was. After giving his new classmates a pre-set introduction of himself, excluding all the valuable bits of him like his possession of Day One, he found his seat and sat down. Classes went by in a flash, mainly because MC recognised most of the concepts taught from his earlier lessons back in Alliance High. History was completely new, however, so he had to focus on that one especially.
What worried MC, however, was the fact that no one was approaching him. They had all seemed to have formed their own factions already. MC could never talk to other people suddenly, which rendered him unable to join other friend groups.
'That's what I get for transferring schools midway, I guess.'
In a few hours, MC heard the lunch break bell ringing. He ended up following the rest of the crowd to the cafeteria, where he managed to get a paper tray with a cheeseburger of all things alongside a side of fries.
'Why am I not surprised?' MC thought to himself in glee as he inspected the cheeseburger on his plate. Briefly irritated that he had to hold his paper tray from the bottom, he ignored the culture shock at the odd cafeteria food as he picked out a packet of milk to accompany his meal.
Once he was happy with his selections, he turned around and faltered at the sight that he saw.
Everyone sectioned off to their own friend groups once again. With him having nowhere to go.
'The troubles of every school newbie,' MC thought to himself with a smile, having missed normal life for so long. 'I'm really lucky that I had always been with Sayo-'
The dark-haired boy quickly grimaced upon thinking about his deceased girlfriend. Shaking himself out of the negative thoughts, he looked back at the crowd in front of him.
"Hey, MC!"
MC turned to the side. He smiled once he saw a familiar redhead running up to him.
"Amy," he called out as well, walking up to her. "What is it?"
"Hey, um," Amy faltered in her gait a few feet away from him while adjusting the bag on her back and nervously grit her teeth while pressing her fingers together. "Well, um, do you, maybe, want to, um, eat with me?"
Seeing Amy's pained expression and her pressed eyes made MC let out a chuckle in amusement. "Sure," he said. "I don't really have anyone else to sit with. New guy, remember?"
"Oh, thanks!" Amy suddenly brightened at his words and started running away, out of the cafeteria. "Follow me!"
MC stood frozen in confusion for a moment, then upon seeing Amy poke her head through the door and nudge her head, he forced himself to move after her as well.
He ended up following her all the way to the courtyard. It was a vast open field of freshly moved grass, shrubs finely pruned around its edges. Beyond the lawn were several worn out and marked dark oak tables and row chairs with metal stems, welded to the ground and with most of them occupied by random groups of people. A certain group of boys were even tossing a rugby ball in the middle of the field, beyond the shrubs and clear upon the noon horizon.
"This is seriously the best place to eat," Amy said, dragging MC to one of the free tables. "It's so free, you know? The fresh air can really help get your mind ready for the upcoming classes."
MC shrugged, not knowing what to say in response to that. However, as he let his mind wander, he noticed that other than the two of them, no one else was sitting at their table. There were no bags left in reserve that Amy brought along either.
"Um," he gently asked. "Are we still waiting for someone? Or is it just us?"
"A-Ah!" Amy froze with her hand in her bag. "W-W-Well… about that…"
MC paused for a moment to regard Amy's nervous state and then widened his eyes as he realized what was going on. "You don't have any friends, don't you?"
"Y-Y-Yeah…" Amy hung her head in shame, a frown on her face. "I-I'm a nerd, after all. I-I understand if you wanna leave, after knowing that."
"Really?" MC quirked a brow at her, making the girl tilt her head in surprise. "Some of my best friends were introverts in their own ways. I don't see any problems in hanging out with you."
"R-R-Really?!" Amy widened her eyes at him and gaped in wonder. "D-don't you w-want to meet t-t-the others, t-though? M-Make… b-better friends…?"
MC simpered at her stammering, even though he found that it agonizingly sounded like Yuri. "Nah, I'm good," he said with a smile to reassure her as he picked up the burger in front of him. "I kinda get how hard it can be to spend time alone. I knew someone as shy as you, after all."
"A-Ah, well… umm… knew?"
"Hm?"
"Y-You said, 'knew'," Amy asked, her worry suddenly shifting to a concerned curiosity so fast that MC had to look away for a moment to keep up. "What happened to this person?"
MC froze in the middle of taking his first bite from his cheeseburger. 'Shit,' he chided himself.
"A-Ah, you d-d-don't need to tell!" Amy suddenly yelled at him, once again, reverting to her cowardly self. "I-I'm stupid! I-I shouldn't h-have asked s-something s-s-so c-clearly p-personal!"
"N-No, it's fine," MC said, setting down his burger and raising a hand into the air. "C-Can I tell you later? I don't think I'm ready to share that yet."
Frantically with boggled eyes, Amy bounced her head up and down.
MC sighed and finally took a bite of his burger. It was alright, but he certainly had better at fast food joints. "Anyway, aren't you gonna eat?"
"O-Oh, yes!" she said, then pulled out a box from her bag.
"A bento?" he quirked a brow and asked.
"Tiffin," she clarified as she set down the tiffin and opened it up, revealing a green salad with poached slices of chicken on the side. "The cafeteria food contains far too many saturated fats," she said, pulling out a tub of sauce and drizzling it over the food. "If I'm going to keep up with my courses, I will need a diet that can assist me. Not whatever garbage this school has to offer."
MC hummed in response. "I can see you're nerdiness right now."
Amy frowned at him. "Are you trying to insult me? Because I take my nerdiness pretty seriously, you know?"
"Didn't I already say this?" MC clarified with a light groan. "I really don't mind you being like that. I was just teasing."
"A-Ah, alright," Amy gulped as she twirled through her salad with a fork. "I-I've never been teased before."
"What, didn't you have friends before?" MC asked, setting down his burger in concern.
"Well, a long time ago, yeah," Amy said. "But ever since we got to middle school, people started to find me… boring."
MC stayed silent and took another bite from his burger. He knew what that was like, after all. He had spent far too long living like a NEET. It took Sayori to force him out of his shell and actually interact with the Literature Club.
'And look where that got me?'
"Anyway, let's forget about that!" Amy suddenly yelled as she stuffed herself with a forkful of salad. "Your old school was in Japan then?"
MC widened his eyes in shock. "How did you know?"
"You called a tiffin a bento. It's pretty obvious."
"Huh," MC chuckled. "You're right, I did. I've only known you for a few hours, and I can already see how observant you are."
Amy chuckled a little as well. "It has been an awesome skill of mine," she said, taking another bite of her salad. "I'm seriously considering growing up to be a detective. Maybe then I'd be a part of some real drama."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Well, you know what I said earlier? About being boring?" she said, looking off to the side to watch the group of boys toss their football around. "I've always felt like they were right. I don't have anything to talk about. I don't really do anything. But if I actually become a detective, then I might be able to spice up my life a little. It's all I've ever wanted to do."
MC slowly dropped his burger onto his tray and looked at the table beneath him, not knowing how to put his next words properly.
"Amy… I really need you to think about this," he slowly said, making the girl in question turn back to him with a quirked brow. "Do you really want to get into that kind of stuff? Do you truly understand the risks involved?"
"Well, I don't want to be normal anymore," she exasperatedly said. "I just wanna try doing something like that."
"Take it from me," MC continued, keeping his expression stern enough to worry Amy a little. "This life you call boring? I've been a part of some drama that goes beyond all understanding of everything we know in my past school, and safe to say, I just want to be normal now. I am actually finding this boring life a breath of fresh air."
"Wait, you've done stuff like that? But… why don't you want me to do that as well? Can't I just do what I want?"
"Because I don't want you to go through what I went through!"
Amy recoiled at MC's outburst. MC himself sat surprised with an agape mouth at how heated his words had become. Quickly casting a glance across the courtyard, he noticed that some foreign eyes were on him as well.
"S-Sorry," MC slowly said, announcing it loud enough for everyone else to hear, "I didn't mean to raise my voice." Upon hearing that, everyone else turned back to their own friends or partners.
"W-Well, can I a-ask what you meant?" Amy asked now that their conversation was private once again. "You went through something like that? What did you do?"
MC sighed once again. "I'm really sorry, Amy," he said. "But I don't want to talk about that just yet. It's pretty fresh… and I'd rather not think about it for a while."
Amy suddenly widened her eyes and looked down at her food again, disappointed. "O-Oh," she muttered. "W-Was it t-that b-bad?"
"Yeah, it was," he admitted. "Maybe at some early point, we all saw it as fun. But all in all, we ended up seeing things that I wish we could have forgotten."
"O-Oh…" Amy stuttered out, looking to the side. "D-Do you think, maybe, you c-can l-let me i-in-"
"No," MC interrupted with a second thought. "I'm not putting you through that torture."
"O-Oh…"
As if to break their conversation, the bell suddenly rang.
"Ah, shit!" Amy yelped. "I haven't finished my food yet!"
MC looked down at his empty tray. "I don't think you can finish anytime soon, really."
"A-Ah, you're right," she said, slowly placing the lid back on her tiffin. "Well, I'm lucky I've got something else then!"
Quickly stowing away the tiffin, she immediately pulled out a packet of strawberry-flavoured yoghurt and a spoon.
"Yoplait's are awesome, let me tell you that," she said, quickly opening the packet and heartily scooping up a spoonful and putting it in her mouth.
"Ah, that's alright, I guess" MC nodded as he slowly stood back up, picking up his bag from his side as well.
However, just as he stood up, a rugby ball suddenly landed on Amy's cheek. The impact made her stumble away and unknowingly drop the entire bowl of yoghurt on herself.
"A-AH!" Amy yelled out as she massaged her jaw and inspected her ruined clothes.
"Oh shit!" one of the boys playing ball nearby exclaimed, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. "Dammit, I told you not to overshoot!"
"Shit, I'm so sorry!"
MC ignored the boys running up to them and looked at Amy, crying over her ruined clothes.
And that was when he knew that he had to do something, even though he hoped that he didn't need to.
He estimated where the ball had come in and put his right hand around that area, palm facing outward.
"Day One," he called out, enveloping his Stand around his right hand. Looking around, he was delighted to find that no one was reacting to it if only giving him weird looks for his odd actions. "Rollback."
And sure enough, time reverted back by about 6 seconds, until MC deemed that it was enough.
Keeping his current position, he quickly tensed his palm as the rugby ball made its way into it. Gritting his teeth, MC fought the recoil from the rugby ball as he successfully managed to catch it. He had saved Amy from ruining her clothes
Amy, however, was taken aback by MC's sudden appearance in front of her. Looking to the side, she understood once she saw the ball in MC's hand.
"Holy shit, that was close!" the boy from earlier called out. "Hey, we're so sorry about that! And awesome reflexes! Can you toss the ball back?"
Nodding wordlessly, MC pulled the ball back and tossed it back to the boy in question, who gratefully caught it from him.
"He's right," Amy said, still frozen in surprise with her hand firmly gripping her Yoplait, threatening to make it overflow. "Those were some… ridiculous reflexes. And speed. If I hadn't known any better, I would have said you teleported to catch it."
"A-Ah, of course not!" MC stammered out, waving her off. "Let's get back to class, shall we?"
Pausing for a moment at MC's reaction with crossed eyes, Amy soon dropped the expression and nodded.
"Hey, do you wanna hang out after school?" she asked as she stood up and quickly downed the rest of her yoghurt. "You're new here, right? I'll show you around town."
"Well, sure," MC shrugged as he picked up his bag. "I've got nothing better to do, after all."
"Great!" she beamed at him, making MC cringe at the familiarity of the expression. "I'll see you after school then!"
"Yeah, see ya," MC nonchalantly replied as he made his way into the school, Amy following closely behind.
However, as Amy followed him, she was frowning.
'There's definitely more to this guy than meets the eye,' she pondered. 'But even then, I feel like I can trust him, so I don't think he's gonna hurt me, or anything like that.
'Shut up, Amy! You've got class! Get there quick! Worry about your new friend later!'
The school day was boring as always, so MC slowly made his way outside after conferring with the principal one last time. Standing out by the parking lot, he looked around to find the person whom he was waiting for
"Hey, MC!" the girl in question called out. Turning to see the one calling him, MC smiled upon seeing Amy running up to him, panting as she did so.
"Pant… pant… I really need to start running at some point…" she muttered.
"Yeah, I feel that," MC said, helping her up to a stand. "I need to start working out a bit as well."
"Alright, cool!" Amy wiped the sweat off her head as she beamed at him again. "Let me show you the best spots in town!"
"Lead the way, then," he said, keeping up with her gait as they made their way.
They walked around town with Amy pointing out certain great places to go like some cafes, malls and tourist spots. MC could make out that she hadn't talked about her experiences there, suggesting that she knew about this stuff but never went to them herself. However, there was only one exception to that.
And that place was a bookstore of all places.
"This… brings me back," MC said, grimacing at the store within the mall they were in.
"You read too?" Amy asked, turning to him. "Reading's the best pastime of all! You can relax and educate yourself at the same time!"
"Yep, you're definitely a nerd," MC offhandedly remarked, making her scowl at him.
"Hey, I thought you'd stop that teasing thing!" she said. "And you read too!"
"Well, I'm not really into books, per se," MC clarified. "I just used to be a part of the literature club in my old school. But even then, I was more into manga than anything."
"Oh, manga's cool too," Amy shook her head. MC blinked in surprise at Amy's response. "It's a good storytelling medium despite its bad rep, and it can be rather educative on its own as well.
"Now, come on!" Amy said as she walked into the store, MC following close behind her.
MC found that the bookstore reminded him of those that were there back in Japan. There were rows of books lined up on the shelves, especially the new releases on display in the very first section of the store. There were also some desks nearby, where people could sample the books set there by reading a few chapters themselves. Oddly enough, there were only about three people other than the two who just entered and the employees. Amy went straight to the new collections and surfed through them all, while MC stood by awkwardly.
"You know, I've always wanted to open up a book club in our school," she said with a frown as she looked through the books. "I never found enough members to open up the club. It sucks, but no one likes hard-cover books anymore. The world's more about those supremely violent video games now."
"Yeah, okay," MC thoughtlessly replied, looking through the selections of manga volumes there. However, as he strayed his eyes around, his whole body froze upon seeing and incredibly familiar title nearby.
Amy, sensing MC's odd motions, looked back to see him slowly walking up to a shelf on the opposite end of the room. She saw him pull out a purple book in one of the shelves, with an ominous-looking eye on the cover.
"The Portrait of Markov," Amy smiled as she recognized the text. "An interesting read, although I will admit, it's a tad bit too dark for my tastes."
"One of my friends used to read this," MC said, gingerly inspecting up the copy. "It had seriously helped us as well."
"Well, they had good taste then," Amy said. "Books like these are the absolute best. They're like anchors to another world. You just open them up and you're transported to another dimension, where anything's possible. I really liked the style of this book mainly because of that."
MC kept looking at the eye in the centre of the book, then halted as he processed what she had said.
"Say that again."
Upon seeing the intensity in his eyes, Amy ended up faltering back at his sudden urgency. "U-Um… I-I liked the style?"
"No, before that," MC said, suppressing his irritation.
"O-Oh, um… Y-You're transported to another dimension if you read a good book?"
"And?"
"A-Anchors to another world…? Why are you asking me this?"
"Transported to another dimension…" MC muttered as he looked back at the book in his hands. "So, you're saying… books are anchors to alternate timelines?"
"W-Well, the phrasing is a-a l-little odd there… b-b-but yes, I think."
MC looked back down at the book, while Amy could swear she heard the gears creaking in his head. "Whenever someone is deleted, they turn into a book," he told himself. "A book is a record of everything they've done. Elyssa, she told me, 'Your path is shown in my time. Your path is shown in my tome.' This is what she was talking about, wasn't she?"
"W-Wha – MC, you're losing me," Amy stuttered at her new friend.
"Amy," he said, showing her the book in his hands. "Elyssa Libitina was once a real person. She got deleted, erased from our timeline, and got turned into this book."
Amy blinked in surprise. "W-Wait, are you saying-"
"With my Stand, I may be able to bring her back!" MC reasoned. "B-But no, Wallace said that I can only manipulate my own timestream, not others. H-How am I going to bring Elyssa back?"
"MC, stop!" Amy yelled out, placing her hands on his shoulder. Slightly gaping at their height difference, she pursed her lips as she pulled her hands back. "What are you talking about? Manipulating your timestream? Wait, are you saying you can-"
Suddenly, Amy gasped out loud as she remembered something.
"The way you caught that ball during lunch," she started to theorize. "You had already seen it coming, didn't you? And that speed at which you did it, you hadn't just teleported, you went back in time, didn't you?"
MC stood alarmed at how quickly Amy had broken down his ability, after getting a clue of it and seeing it in practice just once. "I'm going to buy this. Come with me, we need to talk about this somewhere else."
MC headed over to the counter and bought the book, while Amy kept stewing in her thoughts nearby. She dared not speak about any of it, clearly seeing the urgency in MC's eyes and his unspoken urge to keep whatever this was a secret. MC finally dragged her out of the store and brought her into a nearby alleyway and made her stand opposite her.
"Okay, you've already found out most of it, so I'll tell you everything else," he said. "Day One."
As he had predicted, Amy hadn't reacted in any way to the sudden appearance of the green ghost.
"Okay, you can't see it, but there's a ghost right next to me," MC said. To demonstrate, he held out the book in his hand and willed his Stand to hold it instead. Amy gasped as the book suddenly started to float in the air.
"That's not telekinesis," MC explained. "That is a rare ability that I have. A ghost that always stands by my side, protecting me with its ability. A Stand."
"Stand…?" Amy blinked with an agape mouth as she watched the Stand seemingly toss the book around its hands. "So, you're saying that you have actual superpowers?"
"Yes, I do."
"How did you get them?! And how can I get them?!"
"Trust me, you don't want one," MC said, looking back at his Stand. "I could give one to you with my ability, but I'm not going to. I'm not going to put you through all the torture I've been through because of it. It is seriously not worth it."
"Oh, come on!" Amy pleaded, grabbing his hands. "Please! I've always wanted a superpower! Please give me one!"
MC didn't break. "No. You're not changing my mind about that. I'm not giving you a Stand, no matter what. I'm sorry, but I won't."
"Argh! Come on!" Amy persisted still. "How bad can it get, huh?"
"All of my friends died because I gave them these abilities!" MC exclaimed, scowling down at her. "I'm not going to let you into my fight as well."
"W-Wait, died?!" Amy asked, quirking a brow as she forgot about the prospect of getting her own abilities. "What do you mean, died?"
MC sighed, but then proceeded to finally tell her everything. About his clubmates, about JoJo, about all the Stand Users they had fought, about all the times he had to save his own club members, and finally, when he had lost them all at once due to Wallace. He also talked about the history of his birthmark and its true origins.
"O-Oh," Amy gulped once MC finished his tale. "Why does that all… sound so fake?"
"I guess I can get where you're coming from," MC said. "It really was a bizarre journey for all of us. One that I haven't finished yet. But still, everything that I said is very real."
Amy nodded, still keeping her grimace. "I-I'm sorry, I had no idea it was that bad for you," she confessed, looking away in nervousness.
"It's okay, I understand," MC said. "I was pretty excited when I first found my ability, too. That all went to hell when I saw deletion for the first time, though."
"Y-Yeah, I can imagine," Amy shivered. "I m-mean, an ability that changes a person's past choices or any choices that influence them, shifting everyone to an alternate universe where that new choice is made? How insane is that?"
"Yeah, it really is," MC said. "And that's what I need to fight someday when I decide to revert back to the start and go back to my old school."
"Wow," Amy gulped. "B-But can I ask something?"
MC slowly nodded, letting her speak.
"I'm actually finding a lot of discrepancies in your story," she said. "First off, why hadn't this Wallace guy just deleted you? Why did he have to delete everyone else instead?"
"Apparently, if he deletes me then he deletes himself," MC said. "That was what he told me while in the Breach."
"Huh," Amy pressed a hand to her chin. "But how could that be the case?"
"Well, the only time I saw something like that happen was with Natsuki," MC revealed. "Her father was getting deleted, so she was getting deleted too."
"Her father never existed, so Natsuki wouldn't ever be born," Amy nodded, leaning back against the wall. "Understandable. MC, do you want to hang out at my place? I know this is sudden, but I need to talk to you about this some more. And it's getting late."
Looking to the side, MC also noticed that the sky was slowly taking the orangish hue of sunset.
"Well, um, sure," he accepted. "Just, what about your parents?"
"Oh, they're out on a business trip in Italy," she said. "I've got the whole place to myself. The only factor that I'm worried about is that you need to somehow break through my security detail."
"What have you got?"
"Window trip alerts, so the fire escape route is impossible. Also, a facial recognition scanner that tracks people who enter through the front door," she revealed. "My parents don't like having to constantly check cameras all the time, so they thought that this would be the best way. I could maybe try to freeze the computer an-"
"No need," MC interrupted her. "I'll just walk in through the front door."
"Huh?" Amy froze, taken aback. "But the facial recognition-"
"Reverting time, remember?"
"Oh, right. You've got that too."
Amy swiftly gulped as she stood back straight again. "Okay, let's go," she said. "And let me make this clear, this is not a date or whatever."
"I don't even want it to be," MC easily said. "I just met you today. I don't have feelings for you."
"Ouch, that's harsh," Amy faked a wince as she clutched her chest in a pretentious agony, making MC chuckle.
"Alright, we're burning daylight," MC said, walking ahead of them already. "Let's get going."
"A-Ah, yeah! Yepperooni!"
It took a quick bus ride for both of them to finally reach Amy's apartment. MC quickly let his parents know that he would be with a friend at that time through a quick text.
"Okay, MC, you ready to go in?" she asked, turning to the boy on her side. But to her surprise, she found that she wasn't there.
"MC?" she called out, looking around the entrance. Suddenly, she felt her phone beep. Taking it out, she noticed that MC messaged her with the number she had given him during their bus ride.
MC: I used my ability. I'm in the elevator already. The guy at front would have seen us.
Amy blinked in surprise at the one thing she forgot about. She had completely forgotten about the landlord taking visitor signatures since she would always just walk past him.
Nodding to herself and sending MC a text on which floor she was on, she walked into the building like she always did, ignoring the silent nod of the landlord from nearby when she entered and went straight for the elevator. Pressing the button to the floor, she ended up stewing in her thoughts once again.
'So, superpowers actually exist,' Amy Steele thought. 'They're apparently rare, but they exist. How messed up is that? I wonder what kind of ability I'd get if MC gave me a Stand…'
Hearing the familiar ding of the elevator, she stepped out. She sighed in relief once she noticed MC waiting against the wall.
"So, you really have those powers," she said with a smile. "Let me show you where my flat is."
Nodding, MC followed her through the hallways.
"Well, here's my home," she said after some time. "Please do your magic."
"Sure," MC said, after which he clapped. And he blinked out of existence with a pop, making Amy gasp in surprise.
'Okay, if I still had any doubts, that thing he just did took it all away.'
Biting her lip, she inserted her key and opened the door, standing by the entrance for a moment for the scanner to finish its job. Upon entering, she sighed in relief once she noticed MC sitting on the couch already.
"I made myself at home if you don't mind," MC said, leaning back on the couch in front of her TV, his plastic bag splayed out on the table in front of him. "Future you let me."
Looking ahead, Amy watched the camera in front of her take her image. As the computer in front of her ran the embedded software, she sighed in relief once she noticed that her face was recognized and that there were no other discrepancies. She finally crossed past the kitchen and the dining table and sat next to MC on the blue couch, resting her feet on the glass table in front of her.
"Damn, those powers are absolutely amazing," she cheered as she drank in the comfort of her own sofa.
"Yeah, they can be fucking amazing, I know."
"Language!"
"Oh right, you're a nerd."
"Hardy har har," Amy slowly rubbed her temples with closed eyes, dropping her head back on the backrest. "Anyway, I had some time to reflect on everything I found wrong in your story. I honestly think I need a book to list them all out."
"Well, let's start with something," MC leaned forward, hoping to finally understand something from this discussion. "You mentioned Wallace's inability to delete me?"
"Yes, about that," she said, leaning forward into a hunch and dropping her feet to the floor. "I think he's your kid who travelled back in time. Or your future self, coming back to haunt you."
MC narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I don't think he's either," he said. "He looks exactly like me. If he was my kid, then he'd be a little different. The only difference is that he's a bit shorter than me, so that throws the future self part out of the window as well."
"Wait, he looks like you as well?" she noticed. "That means that there has to be a connection between you two. What do you think, then?"
"What, you think I know?" MC retorted with a frown and a shrug. "Why do you think I'm talking to you about all this?"
"Well, fair," Amy smirked. "I'm just coming to with the fact that you're stupid."
MC sniggered. "You'd have to do better than that to get a rise out of me," he said. "I've been called dense way too many times for that."
"I can see that," Amy nodded, not seeing MC scowling at that. "Anyway, let's keep the issue about your connection with Wallace on standby since we don't have enough evidence for that yet. The next thing that I don't get is your ability."
"What's to it?" MC said. "It's time reversion. A simple ability, and I won't ever be able to beat Wallace with it."
"It's not just time reversion," Amy abruptly revealed, making MC flinch in surprise.
"W-What are you talking about?!" MC asked, gingerly faltering back in concern. "W-What else could it be?"
"If it was just time reversion," Amy leaned into him and squinted her eyes. "Then how can you give people Stands?"
MC opened his mouth again, but then closed it as he looked away, thinking about that one outlier that had been pointed out numerous times in his past.
'How… How did I forget about that?' he pondered, wincing in worry.
"Before I get to my theory, I need to confirm something else," Amy carried on, ignoring MC's temporary crisis. "You fought Wallace, right? How did he fight?"
"What do you mean?" MC finally asked, quirking a brow in his rising confusion. "You're not making any sense anymore."
"Just answer me this," Amy insisted. "Wallace, did he use any underhanded tactics? Like threats? Below the belt hits?"
MC was about to answer but then paused upon seeing Amy's eyes. Her hazel eyes had seemed to glow under the sunlight beaming into the room, revealing an intensity in them that MC found all too familiar. A light in her eyes that he had seen in all his friends, and one that he knew that she had seen in him.
'I'm bringing her into this no matter what, aren't I?' he realized, frowning.
Gulping to stall his thoughts, he shifted his thoughts back to Amy's question.
"Well, he did hit me in the balls with his Stand," MC explained. "Then put me in a chokehold and bashed my face in."
Amy winced upon imagining that. "That… would not have been fun, wouldn't it?" she reasoned. "I've heard about guys getting their balls hurt. It can't be that bad, can't it?"
"It's worse than you're imagining, I can guarantee that. Especially when it's a Stand that did it."
"Ah, well, okay," Amy said. "But that just proves my point. Wallace doesn't care about something as fleeting as honour. He just chases after what he wants, no matter what he must do to get there. I like to think I'm something like that as well, so I somewhat understand the motions he would take."
MC shook his head at her. "Where are you going with this?"
"I need you to consider something," Amy said, gulping as she looked straight into MC's eyes to emphasize her point. "With a personality like that, wouldn't Wallace lie about some things?"
MC paused, trying to consider it.
"Well, I certainly did think so back then," he said. "I thought he was lying about deleting the girls. I… was proven wrong."
Amy sighed in defeat, hiding her face behind her joined hands. "MC, you need to understand something," she explained, keeping her eyes closed. "Lying 101. You need to add a semblance of the truth within.
"Deleting the others while you fought someone else definitely seems like something he'd do," she explained. "So, that was most definitely the truth. What I still don't get is why he talked about his ability so openly."
"Didn't I tell you already?" MC crossed his eyes at her, wondering if she was going to get to her point anytime soon. "He wanted us to be afraid. He wanted us to know why he was unbeatable."
"Yeah, but it just doesn't fit his modus operandi," Amy continued, nervously biting her nails. "From what I've heard, it seems more believable that he'd touch JoJo and delete him without giving you guys any room to think."
MC widened his eyes in surprise. "You're… you're right," he admitted. "So, why didn't he?"
"That's because he had a reason," Amy deviously smile. "I know what he lied about."
"Really?" MC asked. "What?"
Amy took a quick sigh and turned back to him.
"He lied about your ability."
MC blinked in surprise. "I… don't think so. He's right about-"
"Do I need to remind you about your Stand-giving ability again?"
MC held his tongue, finally seeing what Amy was getting at.
"There's another bit of evidence as well," Amy looked ahead. "Don't you remember what you did to Natsuki?"
"Natsuki?" MC asked. "I just rewound her."
"No, you didn't," Amy said. "Do you even realize what truly happened?"
MC stayed silent. 'What could she be talking about?' he wondered.
"You literally rewrote Natsuki's entire history with a single touch," she explained for him. "She was about to get deleted due to her dad. In response, you literally changed her dad."
MC let his mouth hang low once he fully processed what Amy was talking about.
"I… I changed her timeline," MC finally noticed. "I can change other people's timelines and choices, just like Wallace."
"MC," Amy looked at him, grimly. "I seriously don't know about this, so I want to ask. Is it actually possible for two people to have the same type of Stand, like you and Wallace?"
"The… the same type of Stand?" MC asked. "I mean, JoJo told me about his, or I guess my great-granduncle now, who shared the same ability as his enemy. He didn't really say much about how, though…"
However, anything else MC had to say went blank in his head once he noticed the bag in front of him.
'… Could I, possibly…?'
"Amy, I want to ask you this again," MC gulped as he reached into the bag and pulled out The Portrait of Markov from within. "What did you say about books in the store earlier?"
"Umm… you get transported to another dimension? They're anchors to another…. world…" Amy drifted off as well, finally seeing what MC was getting to.
Suddenly, the redhead chuckled. "I see you're growing smarter now," she said. "Do you… think it could work?"
"Elyssa came to me in my dreams once," he explained. "She told me that my path was in her time. Her tome. I don't see any other way to reach her time other than through her book. The very last trace of her in this timeline."
Amy warily looked down at the book in MC's hands. "Do it," she finally said.
MC looked down at the book as well, then finally closed his mouth and nodded.
"Day One."
MC willed his green Stand to reach out for the book. MC then pressed the bottom-most slot in his Stand, ready to enter the Breach.
"Wait."
MC turned to Amy, who was phasing her hand through his Stand and holding his shoulder.
"Don't make me forget," she begged, her plea resonating in her eyes.
MC slowly grasped the hand on his shoulder. He nodded, conveying to her his understanding. "I'll try."
Looking ahead again, he took a deep breath.
'Time for me to see if I can actually bring someone back from deletion.'
"Enter the Breach."
A/N: Full disclosure, I've never studied or even been to America. Nor have I been to Japan. I don't know if things are always like I mentioned here, I'm just making this stuff up depending on the light research I've done. And I'm sorry if some things I said are offensive, I wouldn't really know if it was.
Anyway, I think I've upped my writing game. I've been watching a couple videos to help, and they all came in handy.
My semester is in full swing now! It's gonna be harder for me to find time to do everything I need to do, especially considering how much time I waste on random YouTube videos. I'll have to try and cut that down, though.
Hope this chapter turned out well! I certainly think that it did. Action scenes will not be many from now on, most of it is just going to be discussions and uses of Stand power. A while bunch of Breach scenes, though.
And now, I'm finally getting to reveal the secrets from the very beginning of the story. Thinking back, I probably should have distributed these secret reveals a little better, but that's a problem for future me if I ever plan a remaster of this series.
For once in such a long time, excluding the first chapter, I've got multiple reviews! You there! Yes, you the wonderful person reading this! Review! Right now! Favorite and Follow while you're at it too!
IzuOchaShipper99: Yep. That reaction is exactly one of the things I was aiming for.
Xero619: And that's the other reaction I was aiming for. Nice.
aaaaaaa (Guest): Fun fact, that was exactly my motivation for JoJo's death. For once, let a JoJo be the JoBro. Well, I guess Joseph in Part 3 and Jotaro in 4 and 6 would be like that as well. But for once, have the JoJo JoBro meet the same fate as the others.
Welp, that's all for now! I'll see you all next chapter!