"So, do you know either of these guys?" Okuyasu asked, walking to school with Josuke and Koichi.
"Well, I recognize Yamagishi at least." Koichi said.
Okuyasu looked hopeful, "Yeah, you know her? Is she... is she cute?"
"She's... pretty cute." Koichi said, blushing, "probably the prettiest girl in my class."
"And a Stand User too. That's great." Josuke said, "It's strange, how us Stand Users tend to be nearby. Okuyasu, me, Koichi, and Yamagishi, all sharing the same class. And at least one other Stand User in the same school."
Koichi shrugged, "so do you know anything about this other guy, Hazamada?"
"Heh, I can help with that," The three highschoolers started, not noticing Tamami until he was right in front of them, "hey there Sir Koichi!"
"Oh, uh, hey Tamami."
Okuyasu and Josuke leaned in, bending down so their faces would be level with Koichi's, "Hey, Koichi, isn't this guy that troublemaker from Sunday?" Josuke stage-whispered.
"I can hear you, jerk." The conman growled, "here I am, helping you out of the goodness in my heart and my loyalty to Sit Koichi here, and you're suspecting me of fowl play."
Okuyasu glared at him, "How are you going to help us?"
"I dug up some information on a potential Stand User. That Toshikazu Hazamada guy. He's a messed-up character. Y'see, he had this friend, and they got into a fight, next thing you know, the kid he got in a fight with rips his own eye out with a mechanical pencil." All three teens winced at the image. "The victim has no idea why he did it. He said that one moment he was just working on his schoolwork, the next he was looking at the eye in his hand with the one still in his head."
Okuyasu outright shuddered, "that's pretty messed up. And you think this guy used his Stand to do that?"
"What, you think people go around absentmindedly tearing out their own eyes. Oh, whoops! Pulled out my eye with a pencil again, I sure gotta get rid of this bad habit!" Tamami muttered back sarcastically.
"Probably not a very stable character then." Josuke said. "Well, we'll have to be careful with him then."
"Thanks Tamami!" Koichi said as the three walked through the gates. "This is your first day attending, right Okuyasu?"
"Yeah." He said, staring at the building, "my bro was originally gonna attend too, he got uniforms for us and everything, but he decided he was gonna focus on rethinking life without the Arrow."
"Rethinking life without the Arrow?" Josuke asked.
"I don't really get it myself. I guess he's trying to be a good guy, cause' Jotaro is watching now."
"Hm." Koichi reached up and patted Okuyasu on the back, "well, let's get the day started. How are we going to contact Yamagishi and Toshikazu?"
"Simple, we leave them a message."
Yamagishi Yukako's heart skipped a beat when she found the small card fall out of her locker. A love letter! It had to be. Not that the occurrence was rare, exactly, but every time she saw one, the hope that it might be someone worth loving back who wrote it lit up inside her. Knowing that no one was looking at her, her hair darted down, grabbing the letter before it even hit the ground. She turned it over, and smiled triumphantly when she recognized the hand-writing.
Hirose Koichi was a boy who appeared on her radar only recently. She initially dismissed the boy out of hand, short, average-looking, and cowardly. But as of a few weeks ago that all changed. A quiet determination and courage began growing inside him, she could sense it. The boy was by no means a perfect boyfriend, barely even her type as he was, but he had potential. And for Yukako, that alone made him more exciting than an already-perfect boy. A good amount of the women in the school had eyes for Higishikata Josuke, who Yukako could sense had that same type of courage and fighting spirit. But Josuke was already set in his ways. If she were to cling to him like the other girls, there'd be nothing she could do to change him. With someone like Koichi, he was a person she could shape into something better.
She noticed that it was anonymous, and frowned. It was a good act, leaving a love-letter for her to see, and to set up a meeting place. But it was a little cowardly at the same time, not even leaving his name, simply telling her to meet up somewhere. It showed that Koichi seemed to think that she wouldn't bother meeting with him if she knew who he was. A lack of confidence, she supposed.
Grinning, she placed the card in a folder, and went off to her classes for the day. It was only after school was done for the day, that she would be expected to go up to the roof to meet with her 'secret' admirer.
Hazamada blushed a little, holding the card in his hand. "S-Someone wants to meet with me? Me?"
Surface materialized behind him, a transparent and intangible reflection of him, as he wasn't copying anybody, and didn't have a doll to apply the copy to, "You think it's a love letter?"
"Of course it's a love letter!" Hazamada growled, "D-Do you think it'll be Junko?"
"Are you dumb?" Surface asked, merely grinning smugly as Hazamada stabbed a pencil through the intangible body, waving it around to no effect on the Stand, "It says 'Come to the roof after classes, I believe we have something in common, and it's important to discuss it, signed, anonymous.' That could be anything."
"It's obviously a love-letter. Whoever wrote it thinks we're compatible!"
"They worded it weirdly."
"So?"
Surface's shit-eating grin grew even wider and smugger, "Besides... would you really want to date a person so horrible that they'd think they have something in common with you?"
Hazamada held back swearing, and applied Surface to a piece of paper, the paper folding into a doll before turning into a miniature version of himself. Hazamada grinned evilly, before crushing the tiny person his Stand had become, as easily as crumpling paper. He knew it didn't really hurt Surface, but it was darkly satisfying to him all the same.
Surface reappeared over his shoulder, sighing.
When Tomoko dropped her off here in the morning, she wasn't sure what to expect. Her main goal had been staying in Morioh, staying close to Josuke and Tomoko and the action, when she suggested Keicho watch her. She wasn't actually sure what she wanted to do with him. At first, he had guided her to a room with a little TV, and then sat on the opposite end of the room from her, going through newspapers.
About an hour in, she began to pester him with questions, and for her trouble she was then sitting alone in the room, a silent platoon of soldiers watching the room in place of Keicho in-person, who had gone to some other room to read quietly.
"This is worse than staying at the hotel." She muttered, getting up to turn the TV off. "Keicho!" She shouted. "I'm hungry!"
"Then get something from the fridge." One of the soldiers gruffly answered in his voice.
"Where's the fridge?" She asked. To her surprise, and amusement, five of the soldiers split off from the main group of the platoon, and with a strange bubbling sound, vanished to be replaced with a toy-sized military helicopter. The other eight soldiers piled in, and it took off with a whir.
"Follow it." the soldier barked, and she grinned as it lazily hovered through the house, leading her slowly down the stairs and into another room, that she recognized as the kitchen. She walked over to the fridge, reaching for the handle when she jumped in place, surprised when a soldier jumped from the top of the fridge, using a little parachute, to land on her head. "We don't have much." Keicho's voice said, coming out of the soldier on her head. She opened the fridge and frowned at the selection.
"I'm going to make toast." she decided. Pulling the bag of frozen bread out of the fridge, she dragged it over to the counter, only to realize that the top of the counter was well above her head. "Um..." she began, looking at the helicopter pleadingly. The helicopter came in closer, and a soldier lowered a hook with a sigh, dragging the bag of frozen bread through the air and setting it down on the counter. In another room, she heard Keicho getting up, moving a chair in the process. Smiling, she shouted "No! Don't, make the soldiers do it!"
One of the soldiers turned to her, "Why? It'd be easier if I just came in and put the thing in. They're barely taller than the goddamn toaster anyway."
"It's more fun this way!"
"It's troublesome is what it is." But he played along. The helicopter landed, and became five soldiers. Other members of Bad Company, who were already stationed in the kitchen, as there were soldiers in nearly every nook and cranny of the house, left where they were hidden to help in the effort. Jolyne watched, amused, as the soldiers managed to get the plastic thing holding the bag the bread was in tight off, and then made a group effort to push the bread out of the bag.
When one of them tripped, Jolyne began to giggle, prompting the entire group of soldiers to glare at her. "Why can't you make the damn toast?" Keicho demanded, beginning to get frustrated with the task.
"Because I shouldn't be allowed near something dangerous." She said. "Red Hot Chili Peppers could be in the toaster."
"Feh." Bad Company returned its attention to getting the bread out. Once the bag had been slid back enough, they forced the frozen slices apart with their rifles, and then carried it over to the toaster. "Done. I hope that was entertaining for you, brat."
"It was." She said, smiling. She then picked herself up with Stone Free, levitating to the right level with the counter easily, and pressed down the bar on the toaster, sending the bread down and beginning to toast them.
"You could have just floated up the whole time!?" Keicho asked angrily through a soldier, before he physically made his way into the room to glare at her. "What the hell was the point of making me go through that, when you could have gotten your Stand to do it!?"
"I told you. It's more fun this way." She stuck her tongue out at him, before floating off, Stone Free carrying her through the house back to the room Keicho had been sitting in. "What are you reading?"
"None of your business." the moody teen growled, grabbing the newspaper up before she could grab it herself.
"Fine." Jolyne said, setting herself down back on the ground in the reading room, before walking off and grabbing something off the small library. She frowned at the cover, before putting back the book on war history and looking for something more interesting. "How come all your books are boring?"
"They're not boring." Keicho responded.
"They're all about fighting."
"I thought you liked fighting."
"I like Stand fighting. Regular fights are automatically boring if they don't have a Stand."
"Nonsense." He set down the paper, pulling out another book from the shelf and pushing it into her hands. "These books contain the greatest events in human history! Battles that decided law, right and wrong, and the form of the future! And, most importantly, how those battles were won! Strategy, plans, leading opponents into your trap flawlessly!"
"Did they talk about the fight against the Pillar Men?"
"Pillar what?"
Yukako and Hazamada began walking to the stairwell after classes ended. She eyed him up and down, and then promptly dismissed his existence. Another girl would become worried that the long-haired older boy was the one waiting for her, but she recognized Koichi's presence in the paper.
Hazamada similarly looked her up and down, and began getting flustered. Was she the one who wrote the letter to him? Was she not saying anything in order to surprise him?
The two made their way to the roof, opening the door and seeing Koichi, Okuyasu, and Josuke waiting for them, sitting together on the pipe. Hazamada felt a stirring of ambition, recognizing them as Stand Users. This was an excellent chance, with Surface he could... but would Yukako notice? He didn't want to have to particularly kill her.
"Ah! Josuke, she's cute, Josuke, really cute!" Okuyasu whispered, excited.
"Oh, hello Koichi~!" Yukako said sweetly, smiling demurely at the shortest boy, "Could it be that you are my secret admirer?"
"S-Secret admirer?!" All four boys said simultaneously.
Hazamada turned towards Yukako, pulling out his own card. "Then you didn't send this to me?!"
"Of course not. Why would I give something like-" she recognized a similar letter, the same exact words, but not written by Koichi, "...what is the meaning of this?" She asked the group, coldly.
Josuke, Koichi, and Okuyasu got up as one, summoning their Stands. Both Hazamada and Yukako took a sudden step back, Yukako staring in utter surprise, while Hazamada gulped, remembering what he had been told by Red Hot Chili Peppers. All three at once were dangerous...
"Yo." Josuke greeted, waving his hand. "So, as you can see these three fellows, that means that what we've heard is true. You two are Stand Users, like us."
Hazamada looked at Yukako, who was transfixed on Echoes, unable to tear her eyes away from the lizard-like Stand, "You have a Stand too, Yukako?"
She didn't answer, but a smile grew on her lips. "Oh, Koichi! I knew there was something special about you!"
"Sp-special about me?" Koichi asked surprised.
"Hey, we're special too." Okuyasu said quietly, a little bit sad.
"I knew it, something changed in you recently, a quiet determination, it's made you very cool, you know." She walked forwards fearlessly, grinning at Koichi. "Koichi, I was going to wait until next week, but thanks to your letter, I agree with you! We do have something in common, and we should discuss it. Would you join me at Cafe Magots on Saturday?"
"Uh... sure?" Koichi said, blushing a little. "I mean, yes, sure!"
"Josuke!" Okuyasu grabbed onto the other tall teen, "I'm jealous! I'm insanely jealous! What is it about that frog-like thing that's so much more special than the Hand, huh?"
Josuke laughed a little, comforting Okuyasu. "Who knows."
Yukako turned towards the two, "both of your 'abilities' are too complete. Koichi's got amazing 'potential'!"
Koichi blushed in earnest. "You really think so?"
"I know so! I can tell these things, it's instinct."
Josuke glanced toward Hazamada, who had remained quiet. "What about you? Why don't you bring out your Stand?" he asked casually.
"Yukako, you should get away from those three." Hazamada warned.
"I'm fine where I am, thank you."
"You don't know about them. I do."
"You know about us?" Okuyasu asked surprised, "I mean, my bro shot both of you, he's the one who gave you these powers, so I guess you might recognize me."
"I had thought that was just a dream..." Yukako asked, surprised.
Hazamada growled, "Get over here Yukako! Those three are dangerous. They're trying to pull you onto their side in the war!"
"The war?" she asked.
Koichi and Okuyasu looked just as confused, but Josuke took a step forward. "So, he's made contact with you then, Red Hot Chili Peppers?"
"That's right. And unlike you morons, I recognize the winning side when I see it." he pointed at Yukako, "if you're a Stand User, this is a good opportunity for you. Help me kill these three, and the most powerful Stand User in Morioh will be on your side. We'll be able to do anything we want, use our abilities for whatever we want, not giving a damn about society's rules or school or anything like that!"
Yukako looked between the Hazamada and the other three. "There's a war of these 'Stand Users' going on in Morioh?"
"Some bastard named Red Hot Chili Peppers stole the Bow and Arrow that gives people Stand Powers... usually people who get shot with it just die though, it's only the lucky ones that get a power out of the deal. Red Hot Chili Peppers started making threats after that, telling us to get out of town, or he'd kill our families." Josuke summarized. "We're not asking you to get involved, we're just trying to make sure you two aren't our Enemy."
Yukako looked at Koichi, filled with new admiration. "You've been fighting in a war?"
"No, not like a regular war. I've only been in two fights in my whole life! But both of them were with Stand Users."
Hazamada sighed. "Look, Red Hot Chili Peppers is the stronger Stand User, it's only a matter of time before he wipes out you guys. People like you make me sick, Higishikata Josuke." Hazamada announced, "People who get all the luck in life! It's guys like you, with looks, but no brains, who drag down people like me! With Red Hot Chili Peppers, Yukako, we can do whatever we want, standing above the normal idiots of society. But Josuke's group just wants to keep our powers hidden, and force us to stay within the bounds of society when we're better than regular humans! Doesn't having a special power want to make you live a little more successfully and dangerously?! What's wrong with that?!"
All four stared at Hazamada, a little shocked by his outburst.
Yukako recovered first, and placed her hand gently on Koichi's shoulder. "I don't care about being better than anyone else, or anything like that," she said with a shrug, "besides, I like Koichi. Why should I join you and some guy named after a fruit?"
Hazamada's expression turned dark. "Fine, then." He reached into his pocket, and Okuyasu reacted the fastest, the Hand jumping forward, ready to block whatever Hazamada pulled out. "Hey!" He shouted, jumping back, getting out of the Hand's range, holding up a small doll, "I just wanted to give her a gift!"
"I don't want your gift." Yukako said haughtily.
"Red Hot Chili Peppers gave me this. Sowed inside is a piece of paper with his contact information. I've been debating whether or not to call him and join him officially... and I'm not," he said, glaring at the boys, "I know that if I don't agree to stay neutral, you guys won't let me leave this roof alive. So I surrender." Okuyasu let out a breath of relief, the Hand retreating behind his User.
"That's great." Josuke said, "are you giving us the doll then?"
"I'm giving it to Yukako. I doubt you guys are going to kill her if she disagrees with you. Take Red Hot Chili Peppers number, let him talk to you." He set the doll down. "You may find yourself fighting on the opposite side as them."
With that, he turned around and opened the door to the stairwell, heading downstairs. Koichi smiled at Josuke, "well, at least he won't be fighting against us."
Yukako bent down and picked up the doll, only to drop it again with a shriek as it turned into a miniature version of her. "An Enemy Stand!" Josuke announced.
The doll landed on its feet, smiling demurely just as Yukako was earlier. "Hello, boys. My name is Surface." She walked forwards, and Yukako found herself mimicking the tinier counterpart's actions, walking in the opposite direction.
"Wh-What's going on!?"
"You really should have accepted Hazamada's offer, Yukako. I hate to harm a face as pretty as mine." Surface said, before starting to run. Yukako repeated the actions, to her horror, bringing her closer and closer to the edge of the roof. Surface then leaped, and Yukako did as well, taking her above the railing, and off the side.
"Yukako!" Koichi shouted, Echoes rushing out and grabbing onto the girl's hand, managing to catch her before she fell, but already sweating and shuddering with effort as his weak Stand tried to hold the entire weight of a human up in the air.
Yukako's hair spread and expanded in every direction like an explosion, darting out and forming tentacles, pulling her back over the railing and onto the roof. Koichi let out a breath of relief, before the hair wrapped around him and dragged him over to Yukako. "You saved my life!"
"Well, it was really you who saved your own life, I just kept you from falling for a second..."
"Nonsense!" She said, hugging him close. "You're my savior!" He turned beat-red, and then, turned purple as Yukako's hands, without her volition, began to strangle him. "Ah! Koichi!" She glared at the doll, her face morphing into a mask of utter rage at Surface for harming her potential boyfriend.
Okuyasu rushed over to the doll, the Hand shooting out and taking a swipe at the doll. Surface deftly dodged, and Yukako was forced to follow the action, slamming herself and Koichi into the wall of the stairwell. "I may not be strong like the Hand or Crazy Diamond, but my speed is more than enough to make up for it." Surface proclaimed proudly.
"Damn it!" Okuyasu growled, the Hand continuing it's swiping motions, carving grooves in the school's roof and kicking up dust as space was erased in each strike's wake. Sneering, the Hand made a circular motion in the air, carving away a good amount of space between him and Surface. The doll was dragged closer as the space between them was erased, Surface surprised.
Josuke reached over with Crazy Diamond, quickly healing both Yukako and Koichi, as well as forcefully separating them. "Damn that Hazamada. He should still be nearby, Stand Users usually have a fairly small range. Hey, Okuyasu, can you keep that doll occupied?"
"Sure thing Josuke!" Okuyasu said proudly.
Crazy Diamond lifted up Yukako with one arm, and punched through the door to the stairwell with the other, repairing it back to its former state as he stepped through it. Koichi rushed to jump through the hole after them before it re-sealed with Crazy Diamond's healing.
Surface cursed, and took off for the edge of the roof. Okuyasu ran after her, erasing space every few steps to quickly catch up with, then overcome the Stand-Doll. He grinned cockily as he stood at the edge of the balcony, the doll by his foot. "Sorry, Surface." He stomped down, before recoiling in horror at the sight of a tiny crushed Yukako. "Wait... what if that carried over to Yukako?" he asked himself, suddenly becoming worried, "Agh! I'm so stupid! Yukako! Josuke! Are you alright?!" he called as he started running towards the stairwell.
However, mid-step, his body froze, and then, without him willing it, turned around and began walking like a zombie back towards the edge. Looking down, afraid, he saw Surface get up, slightly crumpled and damaged, but still standing. And, most importantly, now a copy of him, rather than Yukako.
"Hey, dumby." Surface said to him in his own voice, "Nice going, turning your back on a bad guy."
"Oh crap..." Okuyasu murmured as he limped towards the ledge. "Agggh! Josuke! Koichi!" He shouted. The Hand appeared, trying to erase Surface, but the doll was outside the range, and was only getting farther away. He erased more arcs of space, trying to drag Surface closer to him, but the doll managed a burst of speed each time, only pushing Okuyasu closer to the edge. Luckily, those same swipes pulled him backwards, away from the edge, each time as well. The two had reached a kind of equilibrium, each desperately trying to alter the distance between them, and the distance between themselves and the ledge.
The floor of the school's roof was only getting more and more warped as space bent around it. He was running out of space to erase behind him, slowly 'sharpening' the roof, and bringing the edge closer as well. Okuyasu was sweating bullets. "GUYS! KOICHI! JOSUKE! PLEASE!"
Hazamada ran through the halls, searching for a telephone. He wasn't as familiar with the uppermost level of the school, and didn't know where to find one. Just one phone call to Red Hot Chili Peppers, and he'd have taken out four Enemy Stand Users! For all he knew, Surface might be able to take them all out on its own.
But before he found one, he heard the sound of running feet coming down the hall. He darted into a nearby room, trying to quiet his breathing. "Fan out!" he heard Josuke call, far too close to where he was hiding. "He's probably still in the school! Probably even on this level!"
"Don't give me orders." he heard Yukako snap back, so she was alive and moving of her own will. That means that for some reason, Surface had switched targets. Now, who was the third person. If it was Okuyasu, he might have a chance at hiding, but if it was Koichi- he stared in horror as Echoes passed through the far wall, nearly screeching to a halt. Echoes could just use its long range to search the entire floor in a minute. He was found out! Hazamada ripped the door open, running from the pursuing Echoes.
The lizard-like Stand however easily caught up to him, darting between his legs and tripping him. As he fell forward, his head hit the wooden floor with a strong knock sound.
Knock... knock... knock!.. Knock!. Knock! KNOCK! KNOCK!KNOCK!KNOCK!KNOCK~!
He pushed his hands against his ears, trying to silence the cacophony of knocks Echoes had plastered across his face. "Ahhh!"
Koichi advanced on him, walking towards him determined. In a moment, Yukako appeared at his side, her hair beginning to grow and reach out towards him. Finally, Josuke appeared from a nearby room, grinning down at him darkly. "Call back Surface, you jerk."
"O-Or what?"
"Or I combine your face with a curtain, and we'll see how you like being a cloth doll."
He gulped.
On the roof, Okuyasu was perilously close to the edge. The Hand had stopped trying to pull him back with erased space, and was now physically holding him back from the edge. But now Surface was being cocky, picking up pieces of gravel or crushed rock, and throwing it at him at high-speed, distracting the Hand as its first instinct, if one could call the impulses of a psychic projection an 'instinct', was to reach out and protect its User from the ultimately harmless pebbles.
As another rock hit him dangerously close to his eye- he had a brief worried flashback to Tamami's story that morning- the Hand let him slide another few inches closer to the railing. Surface crept in even closer, a replication of Okuyasu's most savage grin plastered on its tiny face.
"Dammit." Okuyasu managed. "Guys! Come on, help me!"
"Let it in closer," came a familiar voice. Okuyasu blinked, looking around for his bro, relieved beyond words to hear the voice. But he couldn't see him, "down here." His eyes fell down to his school bag, still at his side, and the strange small soldier that just poked its head out of a pocket on his bag.
"B-Bad Company?!" Okuyasu shouted, surprised.
"Shush, idiot!" Keicho's voice growled from the small soldier. It pulled out a knife and a pistol. "I didn't send one with any bulky weapons, so you wouldn't notice him."
Okuyasu began to cry tears of joy, "Bro! You sent a Bad Company soldier with me?"
"...I couldn't send you into danger without any way to know what was happening, could I?"
"Bro..." Okuyasu grinned, letting go of his own body with the Hand. Once more, he was carried toward the edge, but also closer to Surface, who had been circling the roof, to find pebbles to throw. The doll-Stand quickly forced Okuyasu to change direction, aiming for another ledge, and also keeping the Hand out of range.
But not out of Bad Company's range.
The small soldier launched himself from the pocket and landed in a roll on the school roof. Surface stared in surprise at the sight of a competitor on equal, less-than-a-foot-tall footing, and allowed it to get close to him before reacting. The Bad Company soldier fired its pistol, blowing apart Surface's already-crumpled leg, and tossed its knife into the other leg.
Okuyasu whipped around, dashing away from the edge the moment his control over his legs returned to him. Within a few moments he was within range of Surface, and the Hand vindictively brought down his palm on the doll, erasing it, and about half a foot of the roof below it.
"Yeah!" Okuyasu shouted. "Nijimura brothers victory!"
The Bad Company soldier sighed as Okuyasu lifted it up and held it close to his chest, like a favored toy. Not that the sensation was unpleasant. "Yeah, Okuyasu. A Nijimura brothers victory."
Jolyne grinned at Keicho. Okuyasu's elder brother blushed slightly.
"You beat him?"
"Easily." Keicho said simply. "Surface was nothing. If the others hadn't left my fool of a brother to face it alone, they could have beat it just as simply. It can only control one person at a time, after all."
"Nice!" Jolyne complimented. "So, you sent a soldier with him? You love him after all."
"Be quiet." Keicho brushed off the insinuation, "I'm responsible for him after all. And it's not like I don't have soldiers to spare."
Jolyne looked back over the full army that filled the room of the old, falling-apart house. The lights had begun to flicker around noon, and both were feeling suspicious. Joylne had wanted to go to the park, where she thought there was less electricity, but Keicho refused to leave the house. "This is my fortress. If I can't beat Red Hot Chili Peppers here, I'm not going to beat him, period." He had said.
"So does that mean that the Enemy Stand User at the school was beaten?" she asked.
"Probably." Keicho said. He checked his watch, "I'll keep watching through the Bad Company I left with Okuyasu. He, Josuke, and Koichi won't be back for at least a half hour, regardless." He looked at Jolyne. "What was your Dad doing today, then, if he asked those three to confront the two Stand Users at school?"
"Daddy said he was going to check on the other guy, the mangaka."
"Kishibe Rohan?"
"Yeah! Him."
Keicho sighed, "Looks like everyone but us are having a pretty dangerous day."
"Tomoko's at her school, that's not dangerous!"
"Hm."
"So... what you're saying is, no one else can help you right now?" Red Hot Chili Peppers asked, appearing from a socket nearby. "That you're utterly helpless?"
Keicho and Jolyne stared in shock at the Stand, who had appeared silently in literally a moment. Before either could even begin to react, the golden dinosaur-like creature reached over and grabbed the back of Jolyne's shirt. He smirked evilly at Keicho, "Well, if that's the case... tell Jotaro that he'll get his daughter back once he's left Morioh, and that I'll be watching. And that goes for the Higishikatas, and you Nijimuras, too!" The Stand waited smugly for Keicho to fight back the surprise in order to respond, only to drop Jolyne as the lights flickered out once more, Bad Company once more disconnecting the power from the house. "The same damn trick, Nijimura?!" RHCP screamed.
Keicho managed a grin, "Well, if it worked once..."
"You don't have a time-stopper with you this time." RHCP said, reaching down to grab Jolyne once more, only to get a fistful of Stone Free instead. He was flung backwards by the impact, and he aimed himself at a window once more, hoping to escape back to the street and access the public power. However, as he went through the open window, he found himself bounced back into the room, and under fire from the army of Bad Company soldiers inside. Blocking the bullets with a fury of punches, he snarled at the mass of string that had filled the window, making the net that had caught and tossed him back into the room. "Fine! I don't need the power from the street, it's troublesome, but I was prepared!" the Stand reached under his crotch guard, pulling out a net marbles bag filled with batteries.
"Crap! Bad Company! Fire!" Keicho ordered, a hail of tiny bullets flying to destroy the batteries, but the Stand tossed the batteries down its throat and swallowed them. The dull bronze color its skin had suddenly became a glowing pure gold. It whizzed around the room incredibly fast, dodging gunfire from the soldiers.
Stone Free appeared, and Jolyne dived for him, screaming "ORAORAORAORAORA!" Stone Free's fists exploded in a flurry of punches that caught the golden Stand in the chest. The impacts had cracks forming, and sent the Stand crashing through the wall into the next room, but it got back up, laughing.
"Even a power-type Stand's punches can't hurt me when I'm charged up enough!" RHCP bragged. He shot forward, almost faster than either could react to, and he made to punch Stone Free in the face. Before his fist connected though, the blue Stand unfurled into a mass of string. Jolyne began to growl with effort as string erupted from the floorboards and ceiling, wrapping through the windows and around support beams, creating a great mess of string, with RHCP stuck in the center.
"Demolitions Squad!" Keicho barked, and a group of soldiers rushed forwards, easily navigating the gaps in the string with their smaller size. RHCP glared down at the soldiers as they threw grenades and fired miniature rockets at him. With a flurry of his own punches, that group of Bad Company was no more.
"Is that really the best you've got?" Red Hot Chili Peppers taunted.
Keicho grinned. "No, no it isn't." He then took a step to the side, revealing the single-file line of tanks that had been positioning themselves quietly behind him.
Before RHCP could dodge, the wild mess of strings suddenly pulled taut, trapping each limb specifically and even wrapping threads around his neck.
"Fire!" Keicho ordered, and the tanks shot off as one, the shells, nearly the size of normal bullets, and much faster, all impacted the same general spot on RHCP's belly, punching through to the other side.
"G-Gah!" Red Hot Chili Peppers gagged, staring in horror as his power began to flow away, the hole in his belly leaking not blood, for Stands had none, but the innards of the batteries he had swallowed. "Y-You were aiming for my power source!?"
"Well of course." Keicho grinned. "That's just strategy."
Jolyne glared at RHCP, forming just the arm of Stone Free, removing only some of the threads holding the electricity Stand in place. "ORA!" She cried, "Eat this, you asshole!"
"Damn." The fist knocked into skull, leaving an indent and sending the Stand seemingly out cold.
"I did it!" Jolyne proclaimed, proud. "I can stay in Morioh!" She shouted, ecstatic. "Dad's going to be so happy-"
"Well, I doubt that." Keicho murmured.
"-we can stay, and we'll get back the arrow, and I can go to school!"
"Is that what you've been fighting for?" Keicho asked, amused.
"I've never been to school before." Jolyne said, suddenly shy. "Josuke and Koichi always talk about it, and it sounds fun."
"Heh." Keicho walked over to the fallen form of Red Hot Chili Peppers, nudging it with his foot. Unsurprisingly, it passed harmlessly through the Stand, his physical foot unable to harm the Stand. "Not so terrifying after all, were you Peppers? This is the second time you've fallen inside the Nijimura house. Maybe this place is just bad luck for you."
"..." the Stand coughed, color fading by the second, "or... maybe it's bad luck for you." It lashed out, grabbing Keicho's foot and swinging him towards the open window, now empty of Jolyne's string.
"Keicho!" She cried, Stone Free forming in full, extending its arms to grab onto the man's shoulders before he could tumble outside. Red Hot Chili Peppers forced itself into the air, speeding quickly outside the room. "No!" She wanted to grab for him, but Keicho had not yet climbed back inside.
RHCP floated down the steps, and towards the front door, when Father Nijimura walked past, eyes fixed on the glowing Stand. "Uh..." Peppers began, before the mutated man tackled him. The man had also been a Stand User, once, after all. RHCP kicked free with some more trouble, but now had so little power left the best he could do was limp back to the street.
He reached a lamp post on the corner with a sigh of relief, zapping inside, and replenishing his energy, healing his wounds. "That house... is bad luck. The next time we fight, Kujos, Higishikatas, Nijimuras, I'm choosing the terrain!"
Okuyasu had placed the Bad Company soldier, which had gone silent as soon as Okuyasu was out of danger, proudly on his shoulder. The soldier seemed to stay in place, automatically holding onto the cloth of his uniform in order to not fall. "My bro saved me." He repeated to the group, "You shoulda' seen our teamwork!"
"Good on him, and you Okuyasu." Josuke praised, patting his friend on the other shoulder. "You beat a Stand User, today."
"Oh yeah! I lost to you, when we fought." He grinned. "Good thing, too. Seeing the way this has all turned out."
Yukako held Hazamada in the air upside-down, wrapped in her hair. Koichi glared at Hazamada, Echoes hovering around him, trying to be intimidating. "So... you didn't call back Surface when we told you to."
"I-I couldn't! Surface doesn't come back until the doll he's attached to is destroyed!"
"You tried to kill me." Yukako snarled. She looked to Koichi, "Should we toss him off the edge of the school, like he tried to do to me and Okuyasu?"
"N-No! We don't execute people. We didn't kill Okuyasu's brother, after all."
"I didn't even kill Angelo." Josuke said, looking back at the group.
"I thought this was a war?" Yukako asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Between people who just want to live decently, and protect their town, and people who want to run rampant, who don't protect anything." He looked her in the eyes. "And we don't kill. Okay? Let's give him the chance to redeem himself. Koichi got Tamami to make himself useful, right?"
"Yeah..."
The girl shrugged, dropping Hazamada unceremoniously. "It's up to you I suppose. I'm not about to get blood on my hands regardless, not if my dear Koichi doesn't want it."
"D-Dear seems to be going a little fast, isn't it?"
"But you will go out with me, won't you?"
"I mean, yes, I already agreed to, so I will-"
"So you want to be my boyfriend?"
"I... yes?" he answered, beginning to get nervous.
"Then why can't I call my little Koichi 'Dear'?"
Josuke felt a little bit of pity for Koichi, while Okuyasu went back to pitying himself, jealous at Koichi's seeming sudden popularity.
Josuke and Okuyasu summoned their Stands, grabbing Hazamada and setting him on his feet. "Come on, let's call Jotaro and tell him the good news."
"...Call him?" Hazamada asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Could I make a call too?"
"Who to?" Koichi asked, suspicious.
Hazamada looked at the floor miserably. "If you guys are going to kidnap me or something, I want to at least tell my Mom I'll be okay so she won't worry."
Okuyasu gasped, finding it heartwarming, "there's hope for this guy!" he proclaimed, slapping Hazamada on the back.
The group of students made their way over to a pay phone, Josuke dialing in Jotaro's cell number. "Hmm..." he said, after waiting for about a minute. "Looks like he's busy or something. I'll call him back later. We can bring this guy to Keicho and Jolyne." He nodded for Hazamada to move forward, and the boy gave a grateful look at Josuke, dialing in a number.
"Hey, you said to call you if I was ever in trouble with something, and I needed to stay somewhere else for a few days... yeah, I am... about four meters."
"Four meters?" Okuyasu repeated, confused. Before he could ask for clarification, Red Hot Chili Peppers erupted from the phone, grabbing onto Hazamada's shoulders.
"Brace yourself." The Stand said, wincing as he moved his stomach wound.
"G-Got it."
"You tricked us!" Okuyasu shouted, the Hand appearing and erasing space, teleporting himself inside the phone booth, ready to punch out both Enemies, but in the time it took for him to pull back his arm in preparation, both had already disappeared, shooting into the phone once more. Hazamada and RHCP, simply there one moment and gone the next.
Koichi groaned in disappointment, "All that, and he gets away?!"
"Damn it!" Okuyasu shouted to the sky.
Yukako was still trying to process what just happened.
Josuke frowned. "Well, that's just great."
Notes: Tomoko/Jotaro is off the plate, don't worry, that won't be happening in this fic at least. What I think was the final nail in that ship's coffin was samandmax95's comment "don't make the Joestar family tree even more tangled".
I've gotten a few reviews from different people saying that the way the characters speak is off, sometimes out of character, or just speaking strangely. I think there are two main sources for that; first, I haven't watched the Part 4 anime. I'm waiting til it's complete so that I can marathon it from start to finish. I think that a lot of people who read this story are people who are currently following the part 4 anime. As such, I haven't heard Josuke's voice, and I don't know what kind of language he uses in the subs. My main (only) source for how the characters talk is the manga, which of course will have translation issues and the like.
Phant0mz0ne said that they thought Josuke is rougher and less kind than in canon, swearing too frequently, etc. And I absolutely agree. I tried to tone that down a bit this chapter. Josuke is a kind guy who hides it behind a sometimes-tough exterior. As for him saying 'fuck' a lot, in scan of the manga, he shouted "Don't fucking touch me!" at Angelo, and that kind of stuck with me.
(Insert obligatory "let Josuke say fuck" joke.)
Thanks for the reviews guys! I'm enjoying writing this, and I'm glad to see others are as well.
Another question for the readers; after RHCP's arc and Kira's two arcs are over and done, I'm considering having some other characters from Part Six appear for a final arc. What are your opinions of Pucchi interfering in a young Jolyne's life?