The handsome man came to the hospital again, he comes every day to visit his mother, together with his father. I have to tell Tomoko-chan that I fell in love, that today I am going to talk to him, definitely; he is going to be there for a while so I have time to call her and tell her. I picked up the phone from the hospital desk and called my friend. The waiting tone rang a couple of times.

Answer it, I know you are at home.-

Hello! Higashikata House.-

Tomoko, it's me!-

Hello Kyoko-chan. It's been a long time! How have you been?-

Here, at the hospital, bored. I think they're going to leave me here forever waiting on the counter.-

And you're complaining?! At least you can sit down, I have to stand up most of the day.-

Stop it, I didn't call you for that, I called you for something important.-

Did something bad happen?-

What? No! Oh, my friend, I fell in love!-

You scared me!-

He's so handsome, Tomoko. I fell in love at first sight as soon as I saw him come in.-

He's not a patient, is he?-

How could you think I'd do something like that with a patient... He's a patient's relative.-

…-

I heard you sigh! Don't be like that, he could be my future husband! This is the story we will tell our children about how we met. He comes to visit his mom every visiting day, he comes with his dad. He's a little young, but he's so attentive.-

I see, so what's his face like?-

It's the best thing about him, he looks like David Bowie!-

COF COF COF COF! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!-

There are no men this beautiful in Morioh, he's like a magazine model!-

And what did you tell me his name was?!-

I have no idea, I haven't talked to him yet, but he's coming to see his mom... let's see, let me see the file... he's coming to visit Mrs. Kira. I love it, even her last name is cute. And to top it all off, the lady is terminally ill so when we get married, I won't have a mother-in-law.-

You are an idiot... Hey, an absolutely unrelated question, do you still bite your nails?-

Tomoko! I'm telling you about my future husband and you interrupt me to talk about my nails. Wait. Do you think men are bothered by ugly nails?-

NO! No, it's not that. It's just that you told me about it the other day and I'm worried about you.-

Oh, you're cute. Well, it went bad, my friend. I tried to use nail polish with a bitter taste but I got used to it very quickly and now I like it; to top it off, the soap here is horribly strong and the files are full of dust, my hands are terrible, I don't know what to do.-

Yeah, don't worry. If you want, one of these days I can come to see you and I'll bring you a cream that works perfectly for me. I can come right now, it's visiting hours, isn't it? I think you're freer there.-

What a good idea! No, better yet, come earlier! So you can see him when he arrives and we'll talk about him afterward.-

You're crazy, Kyoko. Besides it can be very suspicious, I don't want to go around harassing men.-

Hypocrite.-

Hey! Do you want the cream or not?-

Yes, hun, I do. Yeah, look. You come to leave me the cream, we eat together and then you stay a little longer to see him go out, that won't be so suspicious. He comes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from three to five in the afternoon.-

I can't believe you know all that, but... congratulations.-

I have to get to know my future husband better, of course, I pay attention to his mother's file that I have in my hands now.-

Leave your wedding dress in the purse and remember, men can smell your desperation.-

You only say that because you don't care about your future, but at least I want to get married. I'm not going to be working in this hospital forever.-

See you the day after tomorrow then?-

It's a good day, Fridays come with my future father-in-law.-

...take care of yourself, okay? I love you, crazy woman.-

See you later, don't forget my cream!-

I'll write it down so I don't forget it. I'm leaving now because my son just broke something and I have to go see what it was.-

See you later! Bye-bye!-

I cut the phone off just before the head nurse arrived and saw what I was doing; I pretended I was tidying up some papers so she wouldn't bother me with any favors. Oh, I forgot to tell Tomoko that I wanted to talk to him today. It must be a sign of fate; Monday, Monday I will definitely talk to him.

Take your hands out of your mouth. You can't do that while you're working in a hospital.-

Yes ma'am, excuse me, ma'am.-

You nasty old woman, don't she have anything better to do than to bother me? When is she going to retire? I can't stand her.

The only thing worthwhile in this life are beautiful men.

oOo

I'm inside the closet, literally not figuratively. I'm hiding inside the closet of a serial killer's house with a Stand because I had the brilliant plan of stealing his arrow to prevent him from making other Stand users and as a bonus I could have my own.

It was a stupid plan and now I'm going to die, how did I not think that one of them might come back earlier, how did I trust myself like that, how stupid am I? I can't die here, I don't want to die here.

I put one of my hands to my mouth, to try to hide the sound of my breathing. I hear heavy, graceful footsteps through the house as if searching for something. I move very slowly to better settle in this small place and not make noise. I think my hand bumps into a box at the same time I hear footsteps pass down the hallway outside the room.

Huh. The window was left open.-

His voice, I thought I had forgotten his voice, but it hasn't changed much since the last time I heard it at school; I could almost feel his cold hands on mine again, I could almost hear his nails growing. I hear a strange noise in the place where I am, am I shaking? I bit the hand I was covering my mouth with so the pain would ground me.

The sound is not coming from me, but it is close to me. I realize now that it's coming from the box I had bumped into, it's moving as if it has a rat inside that wants to escape. I grab it and clutch it against my contracting body to try to make the sound die down but it only makes it worse.

I hear the footsteps enter the room where I hid, it's going to find me, it's going to hear the box and it's going to find me. The noise gets closer as if moving things.

What is that?-

More footsteps. Other sounds, glass breaking, a growl, a step, and the specific sound of a cat running and being chased by a person.

I felt his voice as if it was in my ear, just as I felt his footsteps moving away to chase the animal away. The box was still loud. It must be the damn arrow with its stupid will; if it shoots out and attacks me Kira is going to find me.

I need to get out of here alive, don't let him find me. I moved again to hide the box with the arrow.

Sooner than expected, that man came back to the room and opened the door of the place where I hid.

I hope these clothes will be enough for mother.-

I could hear his voice even while hiding inside the bag. I heard him grab the clothes he needed and I heard him leave the house. Only after I spent a few minutes confirming that I was alone, I was able to recover myself to get out of the bag and out of that scary house.

I ran all the way home, clinging to the bag that had saved my life.

oOo

I feel like I'm lying on the sand, listening to the sea breeze and basking in my loneliness. I love my son, but between him and my career, I haven't known what it's like to fully enjoy such a moment for years; everyone knows that prolonged silence with a child of that age is a dangerous thing.

Querida, cada momento de mi vida Yo pienso en ti más cada día Mira mi soledad

The beach begins to nourish quickly with lush bushes of roses, it's beautiful how the sea breeze illuminates the flowers like diamonds, each time I can see them closer and closer to me.

Que no me sienta nada bien ven ya Querida No me ha sanado bien la herida

So close that thorns begin to pierce my skin, thorny vines compress my body tearing my skin on my torso and belly. I bleed liquid diamonds.

Te extraño y lloro todavía Mira mi soledad Que no me sienta nada bien, ven ya Querida

Until all my inner self is lost with the sand of the beach, getting lost in the roots of the plants that grew beside me. I travel inside those plants until all that's left of me, transforms into a rose.

Piensa en mí, siempre piensa en mí

I feel like I'm standing in front of the bush again, cutting the roses.

Date cuenta de que el tiempo es cruel

I cut one, two, three. No matter how many I cut, there will always be more.

Y lo he pasado yo sin ti, así, ven, ven ven Querida Hazlo por quien más quieras tú

And I leave them one by one in the wide hat of the woman who accompanies me. I feel it is essential that these roses are with her.

Yo quiero ver de nuevo luz en toda mi casa

I can't see her face, the sun is so strong that I can barely see her silhouette.

Querida Ven a mí que estoy sufriendo Ven a mí que estoy muriendo En esta soledad Que no me sienta nada bien

She embraces me.

Querida Por lo que quieras tú mas, ven

The dazzling strength of will fills my every cell, the air around us is filled with the fragrance and the rose petals surround us, coloring the atmosphere.

Más compasión de mí tú ten

I know you are looking into my eyes, you are looking into my soul.

Mira mi soledad Que no me sienta nada bien Querida

It was a beautiful sight, until for some reason wild horses started running along the beach, singing the end of the song.

Dime cuando tú Dime cuando tú Dime cuando tú vas a volver, ¡ajá!

And then I woke up. Great, now I'm dreaming musicals. Should I start keeping a dream journal? What could Juan Gabriel mean? Or the horses?

Mom! Are you awake? Mommy, wake up!-

Noo…-

Despite my efforts to hide under the blankets, my smart, handsome son discovered my hiding place, laughing.

Get up, Mom!-

I hugged him, dragging him to lie down with me. I'm still sleepy and it's a cold morning.

Mommy is sleepy, Josuke. Do you want to sleep with me some more? Five minutes.-

Grandpa said it's going to snow. I want to play with Okuyasu in the snow!-

Okay, okay, but later. Shall we sleep?-

Nooo... lazy mom.-

Then he settled into my arms and I started stroking his cute hair. It felt warm as a hot water bottle, so I hugged him more. Even though I had just woken up, I wanted to keep sleeping and hope that it would relieve my headache.

Stupid musical dream that makes me miss JuanGa even more.

Stupid headache. That's all I got from getting hurt by the wretched arrow that almost took my life. Headaches. And ulcers from stress. And more headaches.

I dozed intermittently as I felt the wind and snowfall outside the house. It's a nice feeling of security, of being sheltered from bad weather, cuddled up to the human hot water bottle that is my son. Who needs a scaldasonno like that?

I wake up and fall asleep almost uncontrollably and my headache continues. How come Josuke hasn't asked me for breakfast? What time is it?

I reach out for the clock on my bedside table. Half-past one! Wait, my head... That's the long hand, the other one is shorter... IT'S SIX O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON!

That was enough to make me jump up and down on the bed, Josuke jumped away but didn't wake up and was breathing heavily. I touched his forehead and it felt warm but my hands were very cold, so I took out the thermometer to confirm that my baby had a sky-high fever.

I got out of bed to confirm how late it was, as well as to start getting dressed and call Kyoko for help.

Tomoko-chan... One of the ambulances crashed, we are only running with the one that is left... I don't think they will prioritize a fever now, because there are several accidents.-

I-I understand.-

No, wait! Don't do anything stupid. The roads are terrible. And it's just a fever, calm down, okay? Give him something to bring his fever down and wait at home until I can send help or something.-

Yes, thank you Kyoko-chan.-

Is this another one of the key moments of the original plot? It feels obvious and very different at the same time. Josuke is suffering from this fever and the culprit is a resentful vampire gay lawyer, therefore no medicine I can have here is going to help him; I need to get him to the hospital as soon as possible because at least there he can be stable. If I get out fast maybe everything will be okay.

I dress him and wrap him up like an only child and put him in the back seats of the car.

Now love, take it easy. We are going to get to the hospital with aunt Kyoko and her friends, they are going to help you feel better, okay? Hold on a little longer, please.-

…-

Are you awake?-

I dreamt... something weird, Mom.-

Did you? Tell me what your dream was about. I really like it when you tell me your dreams.-

I dreamt that...ice cream... vanilla... ice cream... ate... people.-

If you want, when we get to the hospital we can draw together. You can draw your dream or anything else you want. Would you like that?-

... Yes.-

The snowstorm only let me see a few meters ahead of my car and the snow is so high that it delays my trip even more. I should have arrived by now, Josuke barely responds to me and my headache is still here. I have to keep driving, that's the most important thing. Maybe I'm confused by the headache, I feel like this is not what I think it's about.

Keep driving, Tomoko!

Finally, the car stopped because of the snow, damn it, why am I so useless! If I were stronger, if I had a Stand... if I could have changed things for the better, maybe my son wouldn't have to be suffering for this, locked in the car in the middle of a storm.

The history I knew is so altered that I no longer know what things happen and what things will no longer happen; I feel so lost.

I am afraid. I'm stuck in the snow and with every second it builds up more. I look in the mirrors for something or someone who can help me but the sight of only snow fills me with hopelessness. Did I... did I make a mistake?

I feel my heart choked with thorns and anguish.

It's my fault, this is all my fault, stupid me! This is happening to me again for thinking I know the plot and know what to do.

Now my chest hurts, I hear my son's labored breathing, I feel like I'm having trouble breathing too and the fucking car won't start!

PAF!

I slap myself on both cheeks to keep from crying. Josuke can't see me cry.

Come on! You have to get out of the car and push a little, it shouldn't be that heavy, it's just a small car with a kid.

It's freezing outside and inside. I cover Josuke up more.

My hand trembles on the door handle and when I go to open the door; a sound from the window startles me, I jump in my seat.

There is someone standing outside the car but I can barely see his hands. He points to the back and starts walking towards the back of the car. The taillights reflect their light in the snow, I see the injured boy taking off his school coat to put it under the wheel of my car.

It hurts my heart to see him like this.

He taps on the rear window, alerting me to start. Josuke is still breathing heavily, barely able to open his eyes.

I need to help him... I want to know who he is!

It hurts so much.

JOSUKE!

I start the car and drive down the road again, but the vine in my heart reaches out to the person we left behind. I see in the rearview mirror how he clings to his arm to leave something in his hands.

The snow doesn't let me see any more, nor am I able to feel anything other than the urgency of getting my son to the hospital.

oOo

A few days in the future, but not many... days after Jotaro managed to remove the DIO parasite I had in my head, we'll leave Hong-kong for Singapore. Mr. Joestar keeps bragging about the resources of the foundation of which he claims to be practically the leader, so we'll be leaving by a big boat.

On the plus side, I often manage to have a hotel room to myself, without having to wake up to the snoring of old people or the moods of teenagers.

I woke up rested, ready to start my day. I prepared my hair, put on my earrings...earrings...plural...

On the nightstand, there was also a paper note that I read in half a second.

I ran out of the room, to where Mr. Joestar was; I knocked on his door so hard that I thought I would break it down.

Polnareff, what's wrong?-

Is it a Stand user?!-

What? No! Maybe? Look at this!-

I waved my pair of earrings in front of my four fellow travelers' noses, smiling happily.

Your earrings?-

Exactly!-

Give me a break. All this fuss about something dangling in your ears.-

It's not just that! Don't you understand? There's two of them!-

You've got two ears, that's what it's all about.-

Kakyoin! Listen to me! I used to have a pair of earrings, but when I woke up from DIO's influence, I realized I only had one. I assumed I had lost it in Egypt, but now it appeared on the nightstand next to a note. I finally got the pair!-

What did the note say?-

Ah, Avdol! Did you see I have both now?-

I passed him the paper as I tried on the perfect complement to my personal stamp. I missed it so much.

What does the note say, Avdol?-

It's addressed to Polnareff. It is like a divination of his life, past, and future.-

It must be a scam.-

Whoever sent it knows of the fight he has just had with us, and of his desire to avenge his sister.-

Everyone knows that Polnareff wants to avenge his sister.-

Avdol, read the message to all.-

"Saved by the magician and the star, looking for the false god. Time is running out and it runs out twice for all those who cannot fight. It is not the woman that makes the sea dangerous, but its captain." I guess it must be cryptic, but it just reads strange.-

This situation should not be ignored. It could be a Stand user who wants to get into our minds. Polnareff, be on the lookout for a repeat of this.-

Yes, Joestar-san! Do you think he'll bring me any more missing things?-

Everybody go down to breakfast, we have to leave soon to get to the port.-

What kind of a Stand user would give me a gift? I hope it will continue to bring me a good fortune so I can find the man who killed Sherie.

oOo

I have been in the hospital for several days and I know I have many more to go. I will be months clinging to my suffering son's tiny hand, hoping that a five-man trip around the world will solve my problems.

I feel so useless and tired. And repetitive.

I remember a few days ago he was playing with his best friend and now he is suffering, my poor baby. I stroked his head and whispered to him, hoping he can hear me in his dreams.

You're feeling like this for now, but you're going to be better. I know, I know. And... and I'm going to buy you the Nintendo for Christmas, if you get better we'll play together as many times as you want.-

…-

Calm down, love. Everything will be fine, trust me. I know you are very strong, I know you can do it... beat this. Josuke please, get well soon. Open your little eyes and smile.-

…-

I miss you so much.-

*Knock, knock, knock.*

The door frame was knocked politely.

Tomoko?-

Dad! You're here! Josuke's fever hasn't broken yet, but he was able to get some sleep at night.-

Go home, daughter. Get some rest.-

Bu-but…-

Don't argue with me. You need it.-

What if he wakes up?-

I'll be here with him and call home to let you know.-

Thank you, Dad.-

Go on.-

I took my bag and coat to go home. I have a lot of things to do; among them sleep, eat, take a bath, sort out the clothes I am wearing and bringing from the hospital along with toys for Josuke, get permission from my job so I can spend more time with him, send a new message to the crusaders and continue training with my new stand. The muse of light. Querida.

/ppBh0SdG

/crjH5NSc