[Malfunction In The Junction – Part 1]
A hooded figure walked down the side of the road, headphones over their ears as they tapped their right index finger against their pant leg. The person in question was listening to music on their commute to a local music store they frequented. It was no surprise that Kyoka liked going to that particular store, as it was one of the only ones in Okinawa that served Mutants like herself.
Seriously, how hard was it for her to just go to whatever store she wanted? It's not like her mutation was anything out of the ordinary. The city was supposedly more friendly to mutants, at least so she heard from those who moved from the countryside. If that was the case, then she wanted nothing to do with those country bumpkins. Hero she may soon be, but the last thing she wanted to deal with was that.
Speaking of things she didn't quite want to deal with…. Two days ago, with the USJ incident. She couldn't get it out of her head. One moment they were going to be doing rescue training. The next minute they were forced into combat to protect their own lives. She remembered being teleported to the Mountain Zone, surrounded by Villains.
She remembered being given a sword by Yaoyorozu, though she never particularly used it. She mostly used her boots to generate soundwaves to make sure the Villains didn't get too close. Then that idiot Kaminari used his lightning and screwed things up, only ending up empowering the villain that also had an electricity Quirk.
In that moment of desperation, and in that moment of panic and fear… that was when she used the Katana. It was all a blur to her now, but from what she did remember, she knew that she had chopped off that villain's index and pinky fingers. At least, she thought that was what she did, anyway.
The only thing that Kyoka could distinctly remember was that when she saw his blood she… she acted differently. And that was where it stopped for her. After that, her mind fogged over. Although she knew that she didn't kill him, however, she did rough him up a bit. She was actually one of the people the police heavily questioned due to the amount of blood that was on her clothes when the rescue happened.
She distinctly remembered Yaoyorozu calling her "scary" after that incident. She tried asking Yaoyorozu what she meant, and the only thing that she said in return was that "your eyes were different than they were before. You stopped being nice. You ordered us around, and you became very, very violent."
That… wasn't normal. Kyoka knew that and understood that it wasn't normal, even for her. But when she asked her mother, the woman completely shut down and told her to take her pills. She did, and that was what brought her here, wandering the streets and heading toward her favourite music store.
Again, the pills. What was with those pills? What were they suppressing? Why did her mom want her to take them? And moreover, why was her Dad so against her taking them?
Her Dad was a kind, caring man, but he couldn't act for shit. She knew he was merely putting up with the pills. Clearly, he was against them, but why? What was her mom forcing her to forget? She wanted to know, but Kyoka knew she would never get the answer as to what it was. All she knew was that it had something to do with her attempted suicide.
"But… if that was the case, then what does me lashing out at a villain have to do with it?" Kyoka thought as the song Believer played through her headset. She was quite the fan of pre-Quirk Era songs, specifically ones from America and Canada.
She didn't know what it was, but Japanese music never did it for her. She had tried to get into some niche rock bands from her fatherland, but she never really liked them all too much. Too depressing, and way too nihilistic if you asked her.
Walking up to the entrance of the store she frequented, when she stepped foot in and took off her hood and headphones, the man behind the counter smirked. He was tall, with short red hair and a pair of fly eyes, along with a pair of antennae sticking out from his head. Along with that, he sported a pair of massive wings that when folded just poked over his shoulders. The man also had three pairs of arms, along with mandibles. The man was wearing a blue and white varsity jacket, and a pair of black jeans, and to finish the look he wore a golden cross necklace.
"Afternoon, Beelz," Kyoka greeted as the Fly Man fidgeted his mandibles, his way of smiling as she grew to learn.
"Sup Kyo. You look a bit down senorita, wanna talk 'bout it?" Beelz, or as his full name was Beelzebub, asked. Beelzebub was named that because A, he was a foreigner from Mexico, and they were a part of cultists. He was a test-tube baby, and technically his parents weren't his actual parents, but that didn't matter.
Beelz didn't really talk about it that much. That was all Kyoka knew, and frankly, considering how grossed out he got about it, she didn't want to know either. She had known Beelz since she was 11, and from there they became pretty close friends.
"I'm fine, Beelz. I just… had a bad day at school, that's all," Kyoka replied as Beelz frowned, crossing his many arms while the purplette went to the CD section to look for some of his newer tunes that the fly mutant had gotten his hands on.
"The incident at the USJ, yeah?" Beelz asked as Kyoka grunted in acknowledgement, picking up a CD by The Beetles—probably a spoof but it was the best she was going to get for now. "Dios bueno senorita, that's a lot to unpack. And you're really sure you don't want to talk about it?" Beelz questioned as Kyoka sighed, looking over her shoulder.
"I said I'm fine, Beelz. You don't gotta worry about it. Now can I buy this CD or do you have it saved for someone?" Kyoka asked, flashing The Beetles CD, which had been labelled as "Helter Skelter – Remastered 2009." Beelz huffed, motioning her to come to the counter. The music geek smirked, walked over to the counter and placed it on the scanning mat, waiting for it to be scanned so she could get out the right amount of money to pay for it, assuming she had enough. Beelz did just that, and as he went to grab a bag, the front door burst open.
Beelz sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with one of his hands as he reached under the counter. "Not again…" the fly mutant grumbled. The person in question was a man with no hair and a jewel embedded in his forehead. Along with that, he was wearing a white jacket with a pair of grey shorts and black shoes. On his jacket was a patch that she recognized as belonging to the CRC, or the Creature Rejection Clan. A lot of them gathered in Okinawa, and they quite prevalent in the area that Kyoka lived in.
"The fuck I tell you freak! I told ya to pack up and get lost by the end of the week, or I'd bring trouble!" The CRC member growled, snapping his fingers as some strange liquid began to form on his finger tip. Kyoka was shoved out of the way, stumbling as she nearly fell to the ground whilst the man slammed his hand down on her new CD. The liquid came into contact with it, and it promptly turned into goo sliding off the countertop.
When that happened, a revolver was aimed at the asshole's forehead, held by Beelz, making the man grit his teeth in fury. "And I told you to kick rocks, amigo. Now you'd better leave before I call Knuckleduster. You know he doesn't like your type around here," Beelz growled as the CRC member grabbed the gun, and melted it into goo, making Beelz stalk backward, reaching for another weapon that Kyoka couldn't see.
"What do you think we did before we came here?" The CRC member spat as four more people entered the store, all armed with their Quirks active. One had vines, the other had bone blades coming out of his arms, and the other had electricity sparking off of his hands. The one with vines noticed her, and when they did, vines wrapped around her neck as she lifted off the ground.
The purplette gripped at the vines, trying to pry them off of her neck as she choked for air, her eyes widening as they drifted to her attacker. He was tall, lanky, and wore a bandana over his head with a thunder tattoo over his right eye. He also had darker skin than the others, with a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.
"Oi, boss, what about this one? She's also a mutant, yeah. Look at those ugly things hangin' off her ears," The one with vines spat as the man with Acid Touch scoffed.
"I guess we can lynch her too. C'mon fellas, let's take 'em out back and—"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence, as he suddenly started screaming, grabbing at the sides of his head, before running away and clawing his own eyes out. Kyoka had to blink a handful of times at what it was she saw, as at the same time, she felt the vines unravel around her neck as she gasped for air. When she found the reason as to why, it was because those guys simply ceased to exist.
"D-Did'ja see that, senorita, or w-was I j-just seein' things?" Beelz asked as Kyoka didn't know what to say. Their assailants simply… disappeared, as if nothing ever happened to them. What she did see, however, was the briefest hints of a man in an orange suit walking into an alleyway, the only thing noticeable about him being his large build, and the fact that he was living at the same time those guys disappeared.
"Who… who was that guy?" Kyoka thought, before shaking her head. "Y-Yeah… I saw that too. I… um… I think I'm just gonna go home, m'kay?" The purplette said as Beelz nodded, but not before tossing her a CD. She looked at it, and it was the one she had pre-ordered. It was a song by Imagine Dragons—a physical copy of the song she had been listening to on the way here.
"On the house, senorita. Have a good one," Beelz said, his voice still slightly shaky. Kyoka flashed him a smile, before standing up, dusting herself off, and sliding her headphones and hood back on with her earphone jacks tucked away within them.
Whatever happened today she probably wouldn't remember it. But the fact that it happened was something that Kyoka knew was going to stick with her. Especially considering the fact that she got the feeling that she was still being watched….
xxXXxxXXxx
Yoshihara sat at a desk in her bedroom, a notebook open with various notes taken revolving around the Stand Bullet, including a detailed sketch of the object in question, such as why it looked the way it did, why it had Latin scrawled into the side of the casing, and how it functioned. She was watching through past news reports on the attacks carried out by the mysterious gang that used them, trying to get down as much information on it as humanly possible, to no avail.
Everything she saw and or heard was stuff she already knew, theories that went nowhere, and wacky conspiracy theories saying that the government was trying to track people using miniature microchips inside the drug. No matter how many times she re-watched interviews, news coverages, or whatever else she found regarding the elusive Stand Creating Drug, she couldn't find anything new.
It was getting to the point that she had been extremely close to just giving up on the endeavour and moving on with something else—like going on a run, doing homework, or catching up on some well-deserved sleep. She slumped back in her chair and looked out her bedroom window, watching as birds flew by, the wind blowing away cherry blossoms into the air, decorating the ground below as they floated down with grace.
"Damnit," Yoshihara groaned, her head hitting the desk as she sighed. "This is going nowhere…." It was at times like these that Yoshihara wished that her friends weren't busy. Josefumi was off doing the same thing she was, and Izuku was doing homework and training with his Quirk to get a better handle on it with All Might, after which he and his mother were going to have some mother-son bonding time over old pre-quirk era movies.
She briefly considered calling Karera, but she assumed that the happy-go-lucky girl was busy doing the same stuff that Josefumi and herself were up to. Slipping out from her chair, she outstretched her back and arms, yawning in the process. Sitting down for too long gave her neck and back pains, and that was something that she was not willing to deal with, on top of doing boring research.
Currently, she was wearing a short sleeve pink tee-shirt with white vertical stripes going across the center, a pair of black jeans held up by a belt with a golden belt buckle, and a black scrunchie that Nemuri gave her out of the blue this morning.
She glanced over to the mirror and saw that her hair had grown over the course of the month, and scowled. It used to be just shoulder length, but now it was reaching past her shoulders and going down to her back.
Maybe she should try something new with her hair. She always saw Nemuri do cool things with her hair, like braid it, or even that one time when she wore it in twin ponytails with paintbrush tips. Or maybe she should just cut it? Bring it back to how it was before. After all, normalcy was something she preferred to change.
Leaving her bedroom and entering the bathroom, she walked over to the mirror and grabbed a pair of scissors, grabbed the excess hair, opened the scissors, and put the open blades around the hair, moments away from cutting it, when she stopped. Did she want to cut her hair, or was she just forcing herself to? Strangely enough, it felt wrong.
Yoshihara hated change. It was one of the things that made her life as shitty as it was when she first moved to Musutafu at the tender age of 8 years old. Her life just got worse after that, doing humiliating things just to get money to buy food, even committing a cardinal sin as a pre-teen and selling her body for money.
Before that, her hair was long and flowed down to her back. When she cut her hair, it was when she got the job as a custodian at Akira's Brothel. After that, she didn't stop cutting her hair and always kept it short.
She saw herself having short hair as an omen of good things to come, and the inverse to be an omen for bad things to come. But now it was getting longer, and as if the world was trying to prove her wrong with her personal beliefs, she was in a far better place, while at the same time having longer hair.
She was living with someone who cared about her, had friends that she was willing to stick her neck out for—something she never had before—and was at a school to become a hero, even if it was for all the wrong reasons. All of the things she would've never seen herself doing, having, or even attempting. And it was all because of change.
If she really hated change so much, why did she cut her hair in the first place? If she really hated change so much, why did she accept Nemuri's offer? What harm would be growing out her hair just a little bit? Honestly, the more she thought about it, the more Yoshihara decided against cutting her hair, putting the scissors down back on the counter and letting her hair flow past her shoulders. Besides, maybe growing her hair out would benefit her in the long run.
Just as Yoshihara was about to leave the bathroom, she noticed the star-shaped scar thing by the nape of her neck and frowned. She remembered seeing a glimpse of something similar on Josefumi during the battle trial. That would be something she would have to ask him about at a later time. But for now, she was going to stay out of his hair, just so he could focus on the Stand Bullets.
She covered the scar with her hair and left the bathroom, walking down the stairs to the main floor, where Nemuri was watching a RomCom about a Quirkless girl falling in love with a Boy with a Quirk that gave him a plant-like appearance. "Honestly, the stuff they put on T.V. now is kind of boring. I'll stick to my pre-Quirk era Anime and TV shows, thank you very much."
"Oh, Yoshi-chan, you're out of your room?" Nemuri perked up at seeing her enter the Kitchen. "How's the homework coming along?" Nemuri asked as Yoshihara stuck her thumbs up. That was the excuse she told Nemuri when she went to research the Stand Bullets. The ravenette seemed good with the answer and went back to watching her show.
Putting a piece of bread into the toaster, Yoshihara stood around and waited for the toast to pop. While she did so, she scrolled through her phone until she got a text from Karera. Opening the message, the blond read over the text that her acquaintance sent.
Karera Sakunami: Hey Bestie! I was just wondering if you plan to join Mina, Kirishima, and me at the Mall later today, kinda like how you said you would? If you forgot, here's your reminder. What time do you want us to pick you up? I have my driver's license thanks to my mom, so…?
Yoshihara inwardly sighed. She forgot about that. At the time, she had more important things to think about and thusly forgot the mall trip she and Mina had thought about doing. But Karera being the plus one that she brought up? That was a surprise.
Kira: You knew Mina and Kirishima in Junior High? Also, 2:30 PM is a good time.
Yoshihara grabbed the toast that popped out and put it on a plate. She walked over to the fridge and grabbed some margarine to put on the toast when another text from Karera came in. She put the plastic container down on the counter and then opened up the text message.
Karera: We knew each other from an online group chat. We talked regularly, and we've been talking off and on during lunch and after school. Also, 2:30 PM sounds good. Be ready at the door for 2:15, m'kay?
Yoshihara sent an 'OK' in response and then put her phone back into her pocket. It was 1:45 PM right now, so she had around 1 hour and 25 minutes to get prepared for their mall trip. All she really needed to do was put on her leather jacket and get her shoes on, so in other words, she had all that time to do whatever it was she wanted.
Besides, since she couldn't do any more research on The Stand Bullets, she had the rest of the day all to herself. Taking her toast up to her room, she closed the door behind her with Killer Queen and put the toast down on the table before grabbing Volume 1 of Fire Force. Nemuri bought the whole box set for her on her way home from the meeting after the USJ attack.
The USJ attack…. "There's no way they didn't have a mole in the school. Someone was giving them information. They have to be someone in Class 1 – A, which means that someone in Class 1 – A gave that guy the information. But who?" Yoshihara thought as she bit her lip to stop herself from openly talking about it, then grabbed a piece of her toast, then took a bite out of it to keep her mouth full so she didn't speak her thoughts out loud. She really didn't want to believe that one of her classmates was a traitor, but it was looking more and more unavoidable. "Unless, of course, it was one of the staff members."
She didn't want to think about that kind of crap right now. Yesterday was already a shitshow, so she didn't need to be reminded of that garbage. All she wanted to do was forget about it and move. Besides, it was a one-time thing. She was sure she wouldn't have to worry about that nonsense again. As of now, she just wanted to read to pass the time. That, and the less her head hurt from overthinking about something that really didn't matter in the long run, the better.
The reason why she decided to get Fire Force was that, according to some online forums, it was a pseudo prequel to Soul Eater, and she wanted to see what it was that linked the two, outside of the same Mangaka being the one who did it. It didn't take her long to make it through the first volume and get deep into the second before it was 2:10 PM.
Closing the book, she put it down on her bed, walked out of her room, grabbed her leather coat, told Nemuri she was going to the mall with Ashido, Kirishima, and Sakunami, put on her shoes, then got into the elevator.
Once she exited the building and stood at the entrance, she waited for a car to come to pick her up. What she wasn't expecting, however, was a red convertible that looked like something that came from one of those cheesy 21st-century movies.
Sitting in the driver's seat was Sakunami, who was wearing a black shirt and red puffy jacket with a fluffed collar and jean shorts. Her hair was done up in a braided ponytail with the same two rolls on the sides, and the same orange bandana she wore around her head—Yoshihara assumed she liked bandanas, seeing as that was the only hair accessory she wore.
Then there was Mina, who was wearing a giraffe-patterned top with one of her shoulders exposed, and black yoga pants. Her hair was just as puffy as it always was. The pink-skinned girl waved to her, and as she scanned the car, she noticed a distinct lack of a certain redhead. "Hey, girl! Get in!" Mina shouted as Yoshihara couldn't help but smirk. She walked over to the car and got into the back, buckling herself into the seat as Karera took off.
"So, where's Kirishima?" Yoshihara asked as Mina sighed, looking over her shoulder.
"He decided to opt out at the last second. Said he had homework to do. Whatever, besides, no offence to Kiri, but he would drag down the vibes," Mina said as Yoshihara nodded, watching as they drove past other cars. Surprisingly, Karera was a good driver. She stopped at all the red lights and used her turn signals. She even didn't pull the 'speed through yellow light' Nemuri did a majority of the time.
It didn't take them long to make it to the mall, around 30 minutes in total, and when they did, Karera parked in one of the spots closest to the store's entrance, two spaces behind the Handi-cap spots. As the group of three got out of the car, Karera made a smirking expression and spoke. "So… I heard that a certain blonde has a crush on a certain green-haired hero nerd, huh?" Karera said, elbowing Yoshihara lightly as Yoshihara jolted, sending a scathing look over to Mina.
"H-Hey! Don't look at me like that!" Mina pouted, crossing her arms. "Besides, if there's anyone who can help you with getting the right clothes to look appealing for Midori, it's Kunami-chan! Ain't that right?" Mina asked as Karera blushed with embarrassment walking through the mall's entrance.
"O-Oh, please! You don't have to say that!" the teen said, rubbing the back of her head before straightening herself out. "Well, she's not wrong. I do have a knack for spotting people in terms of fashion. Speaking of which…!" Karera said, suddenly turning around and getting into Kira's face unexpectedly, which caused the blond to recoil.
"Too Close…! Too Close!" Yoshihara thought. A light blush scattered across her cheeks as Karera smiled. Yoshihara never really had people act like this in front of her. The only times that she's ever blushed and not felt sick about it afterward was when she found herself sleeping atop Midoriya, and now, with Karera, the overly energetic teen's face being a fraction of an inch away from Kira's face.
It was also time for Kira to face the facts and admit the truth. Karera, in no uncertain terms, was cute. It was hard to avoid that fact now, and if she wasn't already dating Josefumi, and if Kira didn't already have feelings for Midoriya, Karera would've been her target.
"From what I can tell, your style of fashion seems to be a mixture of normal civilian clothing and punk. I've seen you wear more than your fair share of leather jackets and ripped jeans. But you don't have any piercings, so I can assume you dislike those. You usually wear pink… so… hmmm…. Not pastel goth…. Damn Kira, you're strange. Maybe just street fashion is better suited for you, kinda like what I'm wearing, just…. More conservative," Karera said, nodding slightly, almost as if it was a signal to acknowledge the obvious.
Kira nodded in response, both knowing exactly what each other meant, though Mina was a tad confused. "Does this have something to do with… those?" Mina asked, catching Kira's attention. A silent nod was all Mina needed to understand before she smiled. "Gotcha, well, let's not waste any more time, let's get this party started!"
The group of three wandered deep into the mall, although, unbeknownst to any of them, was that someone was following them. The person in question looked down at two pictures that had been given to him, one of Mina, and one of Kira, with a question mark underneath that said 'potential Stand User, if so, kill immediately'.
The person grimaced, pocketing the photos before sighing. "Two of those kids were from class 1 – A, the victims of the USJ attack that he spoke about… that other one, though, she wasn't. If I were to assume, I think she was in class 1 – B." The person shook their head, their eyes narrowing as they cracked their neck from side to side. "I swear, if that guy doesn't give me what I want after this crap, I'm gonna have a guilty conscience after this," the person mumbled, flipping a hood up over their head to obscure their face.
Their shoulder-length blond hair obscured their blue eyes, their mouth was covered by a mask with some sort of mechanical giraffe motif on it, their right arm was a metal prosthetic, as was their left hand, and while their entire body was covered by a black hoodie and black pants, if one listened hard enough, one could hear the sound of whirring gears as the person moved using their right side.
They followed the group of three, all the while making sure they were not spotted stalking the group every so often going into a store, waiting five minutes, then coming out. Every time he exited a store, a ghost-like wire would come out of their pinky finger and hook up to a camera to spot where they were going next, then follow them after the fact. Finally, after 20 minutes of them constantly wandering around, they stopped and entered a store only known as Kahana Kishibe's Fashion Parlour.
"Now all I have to do is wait for them to seclude themselves, then I will attack…." The mysterious person said, sitting down on a chair a few feet away from the entrance of the store. "This better be worth it. If he said he can revert my body back before The Accident, then I can finally do what I've wanted to do for so long."
Inside the store, the group of three went snooping around for some new clothes, and with a shared amount of 150K yen between one another, they went on a shopping spree. Yoshihara spent more of her time in the jacket and shirt section, Mina in the pants and shoe section, and Karera was bobbing between every aisle possible.
As Yoshihara combed through the jacket section, she came across a pink leather jacket with black shoulder pads, spiked cuffs, and side pockets that were deep enough to carry a phone. Yoshihara smirked, looking at the price tag, only to frown. "50K yen… that's all my money… I'm not about to blow it all on one jacket. I'll come back in my own spare time with more cash next time," Yoshihara muttered, putting the jacket back on the rack.
She spotted a shirt nearby, a pink shirt with black waist stripes, on the back, there was a giant black bubble inside which said: "I'm a bad girl" in white katakana. The price was 5K yen, and it was the right size, and therefore, she put it over her lower arm then continued her search. She ended up picking up a pair of sweatpants which cost her 6K Yen, and a few pairs of jeans, which cost her 38K Yen, 8K yen per pair. In total, she spent 49K Yen, with 1K left over for something at the food court.
Using the money she had, she purchased her clothing, put it all in a bag, and waited at the front for Mina and Karera. It took them another 30 minutes to finish doing what it was they were doing, and when they met up at the front of the store, Mina was smiling ear to ear.
"Well, I got what I wanted, and I know Kunami-chan got what she wanted, but what about you, Kira-chan?" Mina asked as the blond lifted her bag.
"Well, there was a jacket I wanted, but it would've cost me all of my money. So I settled for a shirt, some sweatpants, and a few pairs of jeans. I have around 1K yen left, which I plan to use half at KFC for the 500 Yen meal deal. The other half I'll give back unless you just want the 1K Yen back, Sakunami-san," Kira said as Karera waved her off.
"Nah, just keep it all. My mom sends me more than enough money to keep living in the city. 150K Yen is literally nothing, especially with the money that Fumi-kun gets from his parents," Karera replied, smiling as Yoshihara nodded. "Anywho, I have some extra money on my debit card, and—my treat—I'm gonna get everyone new top-of-the-line iPhone XVs!" Karera said as Mina's jaw dropped.
"Aren't those, like, 199K Yen EACH!" Mina freaked out as Karera shrugged, scrolling through her bank account on her phone. Mina looked at Kira, who simply shrugged. "Why aren't you freaking out, Kira-chan! She's going to buy us the new phone that Apple made a month back!" Mina said, grabbing Yoshihara by the shoulders and shaking her like a drama queen, and despite the worried look that Karera gave the pink-skinned girl, Kira allowed it to happen. She knew Mina meant no harm and was just being goofy.
"Well, I can cover the costs, but you have to pay for the phone bills. I have like… 2 Million Yen in my account, so—"
"2 MILLION YEN?!" Mina shouted as Kira repressed a giggle. "How do you have that kind of money? How long have you been this rich!?" Mina said, her shoulders sagging as the teen in question smirked.
"It pays to have a pro hero as a parent, you know?" Karera said as Kira nodded.
"I can agree, especially when that pro hero is Midnight-Sensei, at least in my experience," Kira said as Mina's jaw dropped.
"I'm surrounded by rich people…." Mina groaned, looking down at the ground as Karera suppressed a snicker.
"Don't be a downer Ashido-san, I used to be dirt poor. The only reason I have the money I have now is because of Midnight-Sensei," Kira said, patting Mina on the back as the pink-skinned girl smiled slightly. "I don't know about Sakunami-san, though. Her mother's a pro hero in…." Kira stopped, sighing before continuing. "In her hometown, therefore, it should be no surprise. Oh, and Sakunami-san, if you could, a pink phone, please, with a pink phone case. I'll cover that bit as well as the bill," Kira stated as Karera nodded.
"Sounds good enough for me!" the scrappy teen said, smiling like a kid in a candy store as they walked out. As they left, the person in the chair stood up, a figure summoning behind him for a brief second before flickering out. The person huffed, clenching his metal hand into a fist.
"Come on, Dakima! They're just kids! They're sitting ducks! They can't fight back against Steam Powered Giraffe! So why are you hesitating!" Dakima thought, clenching his jaw. He continued to follow the group of three through the store, making sure to look as inconspicuous as possible as he entered stores, buying small things, then popping out, using Steam Powered Giraffe's ability to see through the cameras, then followed them once more.
The blonde-haired kid seemed to stop as the other two entered a store. Dakima sighed, knowing what it was he had to do. "Damnit. I hate hurting kids. But if I get my humanity back, then I'll be damned if I'm going to let a guilty conscience stop me!" Dakima roared in his head, tapping the kid on the shoulder. The blonde spun around, narrowing her eyes at him, as did he at her.
"Who are you?" the blonde kid asked as Dakima's eyes narrowed further. He let out a sigh before glowing in a bright grey light. The blonde stepped back, glowing in a purple light before the man shrugged.
"Nothing personal, kid," Dakima stated as ethereal yellow wires shot out from his back, created by Steam Powered Giraffe. The blond summoned her Stand, and it appeared to be a pink cat-like humanoid. The Stand's fist came extremely close to Dakima's face, but it stopped short of his nose as, the wires wrapped around her. She was electrocuted and turned into electricity, which resulted in her Stand disappearing. Her eyes went wide as Dakima pulled out a cell phone, and her entire being was zapped into it.
Inside the phone was a static facial profile of the blond with her eyes closed. Underneath was the name of the girl. Yoshihara Kira. "Right… now to grab the other two, then smash the phone, then report back to him." The man said, letting out a shaky sigh. He really didn't want to do what it was he was doing, but he wanted to feel like a human again.
He would do anything to have his body returned to normal. So if That Man was willing to do that, he would do so within a heartbeat.
Behind him was an exact model of a human, with a framework-like body, seemingly made out of metal scaffolding, coloured black, while its insides were made of wires that mimicked organs, muscles, veins and human features, all colour coded to fit each part of the insides of a human body. Red wires mimicked muscle, yellow mimicked facial features and veins, and blue mimicked organs.
"Steam Powered Giraffe is the fastest Stand known to man. If it wasn't for its speed, it might as well be useless…." Dakima muttered to himself, the Stand disappearing behind him as he watched the other two look around for the blond.
"Kira-chan?!" the pink-skinned girl called out as Dakima frowned. The pink girl looked over at him, paused for a second, then walked over to him with a worried expression, which only furthered the build-up of guilt in his chest.
"Hey, have you seen a blond-haired girl? Dull expression—not to be mean—black leather jacket, jeans, pink shirt with white stripes?" The teen asked as Dakima pointed over to the food court. A good place to nab her. That way he could blend into the crowd. The two girls nodded, then ran past him. However, he couldn't help but notice the girl wearing a bandana slipping him a glare for a split second.
"Is she onto me? Is she also a Stand User?" The man thought, frowning. "Or, perhaps it's something else. With Quirks and whatnot and how crazy their abilities can get, I don't need to worry about being outed as a Stand User. I just need to corner them both, zap them into the phone with Steam Powered Giraffe, then smash it. It's not that hard…." Dakima thought, following the pair discretely, sliding the phone into his pocket.
As he watched them from a distance, he saw the pink-skinned girl separate from the other girl, then followed the pink girl. She shoved his hands into his pockets, grabbed his phone, and as soon as he got behind her, he summoned Steam Powered Giraffe, and then, yellow wires wrapped around the pink girl, whose eyes widened upon feeling the constricting snag.
She was turned into electricity, and zapped into his phone, her picture showing up on the screen, along with her name, Mina Ashido. He slid the phone back into his pocket and then looked over his shoulder. That other girl was somewhere within the crowd. "Collect her… go to him… smash the phone… Get my prize…." The man thought, his narrow-track mind sinking in.
He was going to finish the job. He was going to get what he wanted. He was going to get his humanity back, no matter the cost.
xxXXxxXXxx
Josefumi had been discharged from the hospital a couple of hours after the USJ attack's conclusion, much to his and Karera's relief. Recovery Girl and Medi-lady were pretty good at doing their jobs. Medi-Lady was Recovery Girl's ward and trainee. She was being set up to take over for Recovery Girl once she retired in a year or so. In his opinion, Medi-lady was a sweet woman in her early twenties, and her Quirk, Heal Aura, was much like Recovery Girl's Recovery—he found that name funny, seeing as it was part of her Hero Name, but whatever.
She said that there would be some light scarring on his back, but that was about it. No permanent damage was caused by Die Very Rough, which was a good thing. The last thing he wanted to be was a paraplegic because of a Stand battle. He was wearing a black shirt and blue pants—clothes given to him by the hospital while his Hero Costume was patched up after the USJ attack, as it was in shambles the last time he saw it.
Karera had been extremely emotional the whole day after the fact, not once leaving him alone, and often crying into his shirt because she had been worried about losing him. Of course, he knew he would've been fine, but Karera didn't even know about the attack, so it was unfair to assume that she was fine as well. When she saw his scars when they went to bed, Karera almost cried again.
Josefumi made sure that he made her 'feel better' after the hell, he put her through unintentionally. After that, they slept peacefully, and the next morning, she was happier than she was the night prior, which was all that mattered to the pompadour-haired teen.
That fight hadn't been the first near-death experience he had. He had plenty in the past, and while a majority of them weren't when he was with Karera—they had only gotten together seven months ago—but when he was with her, he never did once.
In fact, he planned to stay a virgin till he married her. However, he decided to change his mind. Besides, he used protection, so nothing bad was REALLY going to happen. That, and he got to make his girlfriend happy, so it was a win-win. And right now, she was out shopping with a couple of friends, leaving the house all to Josefumi.
At the moment, he was sitting in the shared room that he had with Karera in the one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, typing away on his computer as he analyzed the sample that was inside the Stand Bullet. The equipment was the same stuff the scientists at the Speedwagon Foundation had in their complex labs. He was able to get his hands on the stuff thanks to his father and the access he had within the Foundation… seeing as he WAS the head of the place.
Joestar Privilege. He loved it.
"That's… concerning…." Josefumi mumbled, reading what the sample came back with. "Human tissue, though untraceable due to the heavy altering. The same virus that The Stand Arrow has, meaning that whoever is doing this has a Stand Arrow and is making bullets out of it. The needle at the end is made of the same metal, meaning they probably have more than 1 arrow, especially if they're able to make 200 and use them all in the span of one night," Josefumi muttered as he wrote.
He took the sample bullet out of the container and placed it on a piece of paper towel. The yellow shell casing was used to hold all of the vital compartments that were mixed together in the chamber as soon as it was fired. However, there was one thing on the bullet that confused him.
There were etchings on the bullet, and those etchings were in Latin. The etchings said: De mortalitate hominis. Using a Latin to English Translator, then translating that into Japanese, it roughly came out as "Mortality Of Man."
"Ominous…" Josefumi said, typing out the information and his findings on a private Google document that he planned to share with Karera, Kira, Inko, and Izuku. He did a little bit more research on the bullet, but when he came up with nothing, he saved the document, then closed the laptop. "And now I'm at a dead-end… great," Josefumi said, cupping his chin. There wasn't much else for the teen to do, so, he decided to take a break for the time being.
He got up from his chair and walked out of his room, looking over at his phone. Karera said she was going to be at the mall with some friends, Kira being among them. He couldn't call Kira then. He was about to phone Izuku, then stopped.
"No, can't call him either. He's having a family day with his mother." The pompadour-haired teen groaned to himself, grabbing his phone as he popped earbuds in and put on a song. Ah, Sono-Chi-No-Sadame. I remember when my father actually created it as an homage to Jonathon Joestar, then he and his friends started making songs for the rest of my ancestors. They just finished one on Great Grandma Jolyne, so the next one would be himself…. Though he doesn't want to do it yet. Said something about how he was getting too old. Whatever." Josefumi finished his thought as he sat down on the couch in the living room.
The living room was small, but it was nice. There was a wall with a small opening that separated the kitchenette and the room, both of which were technically connected, but not really. The living room had one loveseat, one small coffee table, and a flatscreen T.V. propped up on a wooden T.V. stand that Josefumi bought for relatively cheap.
There was a small shelf off to the right corner of the room with a photo of himself, Karera, and his father, though the portion with his father's face was out of frame, seeing as the guy was just that much of a giant. His mother died when he was born, and despite getting multiple chances to re-marry, his father never did. The picture was taken a week before he moved to Musutafu to track down the Stand Creating Bullet, or The Stand Bullet as he and everyone else at the Speedwagon Foundation called it now.
However, just before he left for Musutafu, his father gave him a small round ball made of metal. It was completely smooth on each surface, and on both the left and right hemispheres of the ball, there were the words 'JoJo' engraved into it.
The ball was sitting on the coffee table with a mug tray underneath it so it didn't dent the wood. Josefumi took in a deep breath and reached out for the ball. He had nothing else better to do, so why not attempt using that, just to see if he still had the potential to use it.
He doubted it, but there was no harm in trying, now was there?
He summoned Soft & Wet to his side and closed his eyes. He got a good, solid feel for the object, and inspected each side for any imperfections, just like his father told him to do all those years ago. He placed it in the palm of his hand and opened his eyes.
He looked down at the ball and its surroundings. After a few seconds of concentrating, the ball began to Spin. As it spun, golden energy flittered off of the object, but, as soon as his eyes widened, and the elated expression appeared on his face, the ball stopped spinning before it could get any real meaningful velocity.
But Josefumi didn't care. He was just happy it spun.
"YES! YAHOO! I DID IT!" Josefumi said, hopping up from the couch and looking into the Steel Ball with a wide smile on his face. Ever since his Grandfather, Jouta Kujo, met someone extremely vital in his family's history, every Joestar or someone with Joestar blood had the ability to use The Spin.
And it was thanks to Jouta meeting a man by the name of Julius Caesar 'Gyro' Zeppelli on an outing in Italy. He befriended the man, and after knowing him for over 5 years and travelling the world with the man, Julius taught Jouta The Spin, and after that, Jouta taught his father The Spin, and ever since then, The Spin became a technique that was passed down from Joestar to Joestar.
However, his father only started teaching him it when he was 14, and even then, he showed no potential in being able to use it. But now, after all of his failed attempts, he was. He could finally make his father and his grandfather proud!
Then, a thought came to his mind, and he made Soft & Wet shoot out a bubble, just out of curiosity's sake. What he saw, made his eyes widen. As he paid closer attention to the bubble, he noticed that every few seconds, he could see a glimpse of some sort of line show up in the center of the bubble, and that was when it hit him.
"The 'Bubble' is spinning…. That means…! I've been using The Spin ever since I got my Stand, and I didn't even know it?!" Josefumi thought, clenching his fist in both annoyance and joy. He always wondered why his bubbles didn't act like normal bubbles—outside of the obvious fact that they were created by a Stand, but still—and now he knew why.
The "Bubble" wasn't actually a bubble at all, it was a piece of string of some kind that was constantly spinning that acted like a bubble and had bubble-like properties. His Stand was linked to The Spin, just like his father's Stand was.
This was a shocking development. It explained why Soft & Wet was as powerful as it was. It was why his father even bothered trying to teach him in the first place. It was why his father kept trying to teach him even though he showed no ability to actually use it! It was because he was already using it with Soft & Wet and didn't even know it.
Despite how exciting the development had been, he was going to have to wait to continue to test it out. He had other things he had to do at the moment, and if he was going to try and learn how to effectively use The Spin, he was going to do so in the forest, that way, he could train his ability in peace and without damaging something important in his house.
After all, the last thing he wanted to do was break something of Karera's that would make her upset. "Speaking of Karera, I wonder how she's doing right now?" Josefumi thought, shrugging before turning on the TV.
It was time for a break to watch some good old-fashioned TV.
xxXXxxXXxx
Karera was NOT having a good time. At first, she thought that Kira was playing a practical joke on her, but now Mina was gone, and she was freaking the hell out. She had a feeling someone was after her, but now with Mina disappearing, it more than confirmed it. And she wasn't being paranoid either. Mina wasn't answering her phone, and Mina always, without fail, answered her phone.
Whoever the person was, they were either making her friends disappear somehow using some sort of busted Quirk, or they themselves were a Stand User, and they had just been incredibly good at concealing it, to the point where she couldn't even sense it.
She ran through the halls of the mall, looking over her shoulder and all around her just to try and spot the bastard who was doing this. But she couldn't find anyone suspicious. No matter where she looked, everyone just seemed to be minding their own business.
Whoever this person was, they were good at blending into the crowd. And that was when it hit her. "That guy wearing the hoodie! He was the guy outside the store Yoshihara was waiting for us outside of! And then he directed us toward the food court where Mina vanished from! He's the Stand User!" Karera thought, immediately turning around as she stared at the man in the hoodie, who had been following her, a short distance apart from her and himself.
"You! You're the Stand User who kidnapped my friends!" Karera snarled as the man stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes narrowed towards her, knowing full well his cover had been blown. "Well, speak up! Tell me what the hell is wrong with you!" Karera shouted, earning looks, gasps, and whispers from the crowd. The man closed his eyes, taking the hood off of his head and the mask around his mouth as Karera gasped.
Half of the man's forehead was made of metal, including his left ear and parts of his jaw were made of cold steel. His entire right arm was made of metal, as shown by him rolling up his sleeve with his left metallic hand, which was all the extent of his prosthetics on his hands and arms. She didn't know how much of this man's body was made of metal, but one thing was for sure.
Something horrible happened to him that caused him to look like this, and now, for whatever reason, he was hunting her and her friends.
"I was offered something that I couldn't refuse. Someone told me to come after you and your friends and kill you guys. I haven't killed your friends yet, they're simply trapped in my phone. But if you think that I, Dakima Stroheim, am going to stop just because you asked me to, you've got another fucking thing coming!" The man spat, summoning his Stand, which made her eyes widen even more than they were before.
The stand Behind him was an exact model of a human, with a framework-like body, seemingly made out of metal scaffolding, coloured black, while its insides were made of wires that mimicked organs, muscles, veins and human features, all colour coded to fit each part of the insides of a human body. Red wires mimicked muscle, yellow mimicked facial features and veins, and blue mimicked organs.
"By that look in your eyes, I can tell that you're a Stand User. This means only one thing. THIS IS ABOUT TO GET INTERESTING!" Dakima shouted, his eyes lighting up with righteous fury. "But it won't matter. I'll get you, and then I'll get my humanity back! Besides, my Steam Powered Giraffe will be more than enough to get rid of you!" the blond-haired cyborg exclaimed as a bright gray aura coated his entire body.
In response, Karera's body glowed in a bright yellow aura, and a figure appeared behind her. It was a humanoid Stand, that much was obvious. Its body was mostly featureless and had a feminine appearance. It had gray mechanical joins at the waist, hips, shoulders, elbows and hands. A set of metallic cables also connected its chest to the neck.
The Stand was covered in orange patches of fur that covered its legs, arms and body in a way reminiscing of a dress with arm gloves and tights. It also had a large orange, almost afro-like head of hair with a braid going down the middle of it, resembling a zipper. The main body of the Stand was yellow, and its eyes were a bright, brilliant, ruby red.
"I'm not gonna let you take me without a fight. My Love Love Deluxe will make sure you pay for taking my friends!"
-To Be Continued-