Chapter 18: Kenta Itawari

"H-How do you do this every day, Issei?"

"I'm used to it." Issei chuckled as he finished his crunch reps, looking up at Asia. It had been a while since Issei went out for his morning run. It was certainly more refreshing than he'd remembered. He tended to finish his reps at home, but judging from Asia's worried look and Raynare's scowl, his new housemates were certainly not happy with his habits.

"Seriously, can you stop stinking up the place?" Raynare complained as she prepped some vegetables. "I need my nose to cook, and I don't want to deep clean this place every day!"

"Fine, fine," Issei muttered, wiping off some of the sweat on his forehead. "I'm done anyway."

Raynare tsked. "If you want to do that stuff, we've got a gym and a training room. Why don't you do it there?"

"… right, I forgot about the gym."

Raynare deadpanned at him.

"Hey, it's not every day my house gets a massively unnecessary upgrade! Although… training room? You never showed me that."

Raynare froze in the middle of her chopping. "… I forgot."

"Not so smart now, eh?"

"Shut up. Training room's in the basement. Built for magic training and the like."

Issei looked at Raynare for a moment. "… we have a basement?"

"Of course! It's the best place for such practice. What, did you think I would let you go undefended? I've been training in there myself!" Raynare gripped her knife and slashed her palm, letting her blood flow free.

"Raynare!" Asia cried in alarm, summoning Twilight Healing on instinct.

"Don't worry, girl," Raynare appeased her, focusing on the wound she gave herself. White sparks began to emerge from it. "I've been having my soul remember your Sacred Gear's ability." To their shock, the white sparks fused into her skin and closed the wound, albeit very slowly.

"It's a work in progress," Raynare admitted as her wound closed further. "But it's progress. I'd say I'm not so far from getting my second pair of wings back."

Issei smiled at her demonstration. "That's incredible! I didn't realize you could do something like that."

"It's you humans who can't do stuff like this," Raynare chortled. "I don't even get how you lot think you're so strong."

Issei couldn't help but smirk. "Are you sure? Want me to show off my Stand again? I can bet that I won't need the Boosted Gear to beat you anymore."

"Hah, you sure about that?!" Raynare grinned at him, setting down her knife and forming a light spear in her once-injured hand. "Let me show you what I've learned, then!"

"U-Umm…"

The two of them looked to the side and saw Asia and her quivering lip, shielding her shivering form behind clasped palms. Looking at each other again, they nodded in agreement.

"We'll do it later today, then. I'll be waiting in the basement after your school day ends."

"Of course."

"Mm!" The sight of Asia's smile never failed to warm their hearts. "Issei, we should get ready for school."

"On it. And Raynare, just wait for me to return. We'll have that spar, I promise."

Raynare nodded, returning to her cooking. "Of course."


"Familiar forest?"

"Yes, that's why Rias-buchou and Sona-san had that tennis match yesterday," Asia explained as they walked to their class. "They're fighting over which Peerage will go to the forest this month. We'll be having a rematch today evening, this time between the full peerages."

"Yesterday's match was terrifying," Issei admitted. "I had to convince Bushida-san that they weren't Stand Users in hiding."

"We, um, we could use your help today? We're going to play volleyball, and Beetles could help us…"

Issei looked at Asia's doe-like eyes and eventually gave a shrug. "Raynare'll probably be sad to postpone our spar, but sure."

"Thank you!"

By then, the duo had reached the front door of the class, opening the door to see something odd.

"You two!" Kenta Itawari ran up to the two of them. "Thank God you're here!" Issei bit back at how Asia yelped at the mention of the one above. "Please, convince these guys! I'm innocent!"

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Issei held back a rampant Kenta, still pleading to him, while he looked over his shoulder to see the rest of the class standing there.

"Look, man, we're not blaming you," Noboru appeased the boy, trying to calm him down. "We're just telling you what we heard from that enemy Stand User."

Issei's blood ran cold and his skin turned to ice. "… enemy Stand User?"

"Check the group chat, should I remind you of that?" the red-headed girl, Kairi Maki, reminded him.

"But we're not in the group chat…"

Kairi blinked. "Ah. Sorry. Susumu-kun, can you handle that?"

Susumu groaned. "Really?" Still shaking his head, he pulled out his phone.

"I'll tell you what happened, though," Kairi continued. "We went to that post office that delivered the corpse and we were assaulted by two Stand Users. One stole the data about the delivery, the second was there to kill us."

Asia shivered. "Are you okay?"

"Other than Susumu's epidermis breaking down and his feet dissolving, nothing severe."

"Susumu, do you need me to heal you?!" Asia cried out in alarm.

Susumu shook his head. "No need. I've replaced the parts."

"…"

"He's an android," Kairi explained to them.

"Well, that's okay the – wait, android?!" Issei yelled out.

"Yeah, the guy's our robot buddy," Noboru spoke up after appeasing Kenta. "Carrying on, we beat up that gal who fought us and Kairi pulled out some info from her. The one who sent her to us was someone named 'Itawari'."

"And I'm telling you, I have no idea what they mean!" Kenta Itawari, still frantic, yelled out.

"I told ya, right?" the brunette Hoshi Eguchi murmured. "He's not our guy. I can't believe what that girl said."

Noboru looked down for a moment. "Kenta," he started, his normal teasing nature against him all but gone. "Do you think your parents are responsible?"

Kenta looked at Noboru in shock. "T-that's impossible!" he cried out, even more desperate than normal. "They're better people now, I promise!"

Noboru held his gaze for a while, then nodded. "I'm glad to hear that, man, but we need to cover our bases. Do you mind if we head to your place today?"

"My place?!" Kenta recoiled. "Umm, c-can't I just call my parents here or something?"

"You're hiding something?" Daichi spoke up, balling his fists.

"Nonono! It's just… I'm not comfortable having so many people back home…"

Noboru crossed his brows. "Are you sure everything's okay back home, man? Your parents aren't doing… that anymore, right?"

"I'm telling you, they aren't!" Kenta refuted him with a furious wave of his hand.

"He's not lying," Aia spoke up, her eyes ablaze with Ocean Eyes.

Kenta slumped his shoulders. "To think you'd have to read me to get that…"

"But you are hiding something, that I can see," Aia continued, glaring at him. "You'd better tell us before Kairi makes you."

Kairi grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Run all you want, you'll lose to me."

Kenta gritted his teeth, looked at his classmates, and then slumped again. "Fine, I'll show you," he relented. "But I honestly don't have anything to do with this corpse situation. I've, umm, got something else. Come to my house today, I'll show you there."

As if on cue, the door opened to reveal their homeroom teacher walking in, glaring coldly at the students. Nobody said a word as they returned to their seats. However, Issei couldn't stop noticing Kenta's fidgeting from next to him.


"So, you're the two stuck in 2-E?"

Issei looked up from his bento at a girl with glasses staring at them. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Ack, stay away from her, Issei!" Matsuda yelled. "She's too weird!"

"Oh, pshh, calm it, won't you?" The girl chided him before turning to Issei and Asia, pressing a hand to her chin. "Aika Kiryuu. I should say, you're much more… capable than your more perverted friends."

Noticing where her gaze drifted, Issei shivered and reflexively covered his crotch.

"Hihi, don't worry, you'll see me again! And Asia-Chan, you certainly are a lucky one!"

Asia tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you're too precious!" Aika cried out, quickly grabbing her shoulders. "Come with me, I'll educate you on these matters."

"Okay, that's enough," Issei said, pulling Aika away from a now nervous Asia.

Aika chuckled despite being pushed away from the group. "Don't worry, you'll come for my advice someday, I'm sure." With a wave, she left the group of four to their lunch.

"Who was that?" Issei asked his friends, finally returning to the cafeteria seat and to his food.

"Think someone with my 'ability'," Motohama pushed his glasses up his nose to depict what he meant. "But on the woman's side."

"So… when she looked at me…"

"Yep. That info's out now." Matsuda pressed his temples.

Issei sighed. "That's exactly why I put this stuff behind me…"

"U-um, I don't get it…" Asia murmured.

"It's okay, you don't need to," Issei appeased her.

"Hyoudou-San? Argento-San?"

The four of them looked up to see a boy with blue pants: a 2-E member, approaching them.

"Can we talk?" Kenta Itawari asked the two of them. "It's about… what I told my friends I'd do today."

Ignoring the chokes of shock from Matsuda and Motohama, Issei blinked. "You mean them visiting your place?"

"Yes, well, there's a reason why I don't want them to come over. Can we talk, please?"

Issei looked at Asia, who simply kept her gaze trained on him in return as if she meant to say that she'd do whatever Issei did.

"Fine, then," Issei agreed. "Sorry, guys, but let's talk later."

Matsuda looked back at Issei and sighed. "You're leaving again, huh?"

Issei grimaced. "I'll make it up to you guys, I promise."

Nodding slowly, the two allowed their friends to follow the stranger.

Issei and Asia followed Kenta out of the school premises to the gate. While the gate was closed, security was not around, so they were free to hold private discussions.

Kenta sighed. "I guess this is as good a place as any. You… you probably don't know what Noboru was talking about when he mentioned my family, right?"

Issei and Asia stayed quiet.

Kenta hung his head low. "Before the 1-E incident… I was under severe pressure from my parents.

"Mother and Father… they were both extremely busy because of work. Being major shareholders of our company didn't give them any time to raise me. I… I never knew what it was like to be cared for for the longest time. The only time they would talk to me was whenever I did badly on my exams, only to tell me off and make me do better.

"At some point, I intentionally got poor marks on all my subjects so I could spend some time with them, but I could see them losing patience with me. The hits became even more frequent –"

"I'm sorry, hits?" Issei interrupted.

Kenta smiled, but there was nothing happy about it. "Noboru said the same thing. I thought it was simply them disciplining me, but I've understood that it was abuse, no need to worry about that."

"And you're still living with them?!"

Kenta smiled. "As much as I hate our class's incident, there's one part of it that I'm grateful for. Ever since that day, my parents have treated me far better. They apologized for everything, and they're even taking time off from work to be with me. That's why…" Kenta's smile slowly faded. "That's why I was upset at how the other accused them."

Asia looked at Kenta for a moment, then turned to Issei. "… but isn't that normal?"

Issei blinked. "What is?"

"Mothers and Fathers being too busy to spend time with children and disciplining them?"

Issei balked at her words. "When… did anyone hit you like that, Asia?"

"Patre and the other sisters were always busy, only calling me when I had to heal people. And, um, I've seen some other mommies and daddies slapping their children whenever they were too loud."

Kenta bristled at those comments. "But you've never been hurt yourself?"

Asia looked down for a moment, then looked back at them. "There were a few times when the sisters would slap me for wanting to go out and explore. They said that they didn't want me being corrupted by the world."

Issei gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Asia. You won't be put through any of that ever again."

Asia frowned, still not understanding. "But I deserved that, didn't I? I went against God's – " she flinched, making Kenta bolt up.

"It's fine, don't worry," Issei appeased him as he rubbed Asia's back. "So… you think that happened because the Bible God was punishing you?"

"Yes. Is that wrong?"

"Of course it is!" Kenta cried out. "Asia-chan, my parents are apologizing to me even to this day! Those sisters were wrong in keeping you away from the world like that!"

Asia hung her head. "I…I still don't get it. Wasn't it my fault?"

"It was never your fault, Asia," Issei appeased her. "But no matter how you got out, I'm glad you're here now."

Asia slowly nodded, still not understanding but not wanting to oppose Issei.

"Let me get back to my point, please," Kenta carried on, making the others turn to him. "During the incident… I was forced to kill someone. With Hoshi's and Noboru's help, I was able to drive a knife into Janice's chest – Janice was a Stand User we were fighting at that time. But what people don't know is that… she's working with me now."

Issei blinked. "Huh? But you killed her?"

"She survived, somehow. We took down that Yakuza group, so she was left without anywhere to go. So, she came to me and sought my help."

Issei bristled. "The suspicion that the others have, could it be – "

"No, it's not," he shook his head. "Janice has no role in the company, she's just a maid in my house. She's pretty much incapable of doing anything there."

"But her Stand?"

"Sniper Stand," he explained, holding up his arms in front of his eye like he was holding a rifle. "She looks at someone through the scope, her bullet homes in on them." Cocking his hands up with a 'bang', he settled down. "It gave us way too much trouble when we fought against it, and she did kill someone we, even I cared about, but…"

Issei and Asia looked at each other, a wordless message moving through them. They turned back and nodded. "We get that," Issei said. "Asia and I are in the same situation, oddly enough with a girl who's our maid now too."

Kenta blinked. "Really? Did she kill someone you care about?"

"No, she didn't kill anyone. But she almost killed Asia and me in separate instances. It's because of her that my Stand awakened."

"I see… so, you understand why I spared her?"

"Yeah. You want to give her a second chance, right?"

Kenta's eyes lit up as soon as Issei said that. His lips curled up, his face turning brighter than he'd been for that entire day.

Before he could say anything back, the bell rang, marking the end of lunchtime. "We should head back," Kenta turned back to the two. "Thanks. I needed that talk."

Issei shook his head. "Anytime, man. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Friends… yeah, I guess we are," he chuckled. "I've been getting too many of those, but I'm not going to complain."


The end of school bell was the mark of the beginning of Kenta Itawari's troubles. It was time that everyone learned his dirty secret.

"So, whoooo's going this time?" Sakuna Hirose spoke out, leaning against the teacher's desk as their last teacher had finally left.

"Me," Aia said. "I'll keep an eye out for lies."

"But Aia-Chan, I've got dance practice today!" Hanako cried out. "I can't join you!"

Aia sighed and rubbed her shoulder. "It's okay, Hanako-chan. I'll be fine on my own."

"We'll need defence as well," a drill-haired girl said, standing up and slamming her table. "I'm coming too!"

"Riiiight, Aia and Reina are in. Who else?"

"I'll join too," Noboru supplied. "I'm not losing a chance to check on Kenta."

"Me too!" Hoshi called out. "I ain't missin' that!"

"You two already went yesterday," Fumihiro Sasaki said. "You're not getting another turn."

"Screw that, man! I know you're worried about us getting tired, but this is our friend we're talking about. Don't worry about us."

"That's why I'll go in your stead," Fumihiro replied with gusto. "I'll let you know how things are as soon as I can."

"Can I ask someone to join?" Kenta asked, making everyone turn to their subject for the day. "Hyoudou-San and Asia-chan, can they join as well? They need to get used to how we handle things, right?"

Sakuna nodded and turned to the two in question. "What about it?"

"I can make it, yeah," Issei shrugged and agreed. After that discussion with Kenta that afternoon, he wanted to see how things turned out and if any help was needed.

Asia was looking at Issei for a while, but then the door sounded. Yuuto Kiba opened the door. "The ORC is asking for Asia Argento?"

They all turned to her, making her stumble in shock as she gathered her things. "Right, we have that competition, I forgot," she chided herself.

"Ah, I said I'd join you for that, didn't I?" Issei remembered.

"Ah, um…"

"Pardon, Issei, you want to join?" Yuuto spoke up from the door.

"Yeah, I already promised Asia."

"I'm sorry to say that this is exclusive to our Peerage. I'm sure you understand, yes?"

Issei held Yuuto's unflinching gaze for a while, then turned to Asia. "Stay safe, alright?"

With a quick nod in response, Asia left the class.

"Well, let's see who's going…" Sakuna returned to their conversation. "Aia, Reina, Fumi and the stranger. Anyone else wants to join?"

"Can I?" The short boy asked.

"Once again, we're not smashing anything," Kairi replied with a grin.

"Aww…"

"In that case, we're all good!" Sakuna declared with a clap and a hop out of the table. "Gooooood luck, you four – sorry, five including Kenta – and let us knoooow how things turn out!"


Do you know what it's like to have blood stain your hands? To drive a knife into a person's chest, feel the warmth of their blood escape onto your palms, to watch the light in their eyes slowly fade out?

That was the memory that went through Kenta's head as he guided his friends to his home.

Aia Ito. Fumihiro Sasaki. Reina Endo. Issei Hyoudou. Each and every one of these have had a good life, filled with family. The events they had gone through had only reinforced that concept of family within them. Aia had Hanako as her best friend, Fumihiro had his siblings, Reina had her family, and Issei had… her.

Kenta couldn't help but feel attracted to someone like her. Not only was she cute as a button, she lived a life that was so similar to his. A neglected nun that somehow left the church for reasons still unknown to him, but is now living with Issei. He felt a connection with her even stronger than he had with Hana, even though he didn't like thinking of her. It was far too easy to get a crush on Asia, but he knew that it wouldn't lead anywhere.

Issei was clearly a major influence on her life, and he wasn't blind to the way she looked at him as well. Maybe she didn't recognize her own feelings, but Kenta had years of experience watching such things from the sidelines. There was no way he could be with her, and he was glad for it. She deserved to stay with family, which Issei had become. Looking to the side, he saw Issei being ribbed by Reina in her classic tsundere nature.

"Seriously, why is this pervert coming with us?!" She chided the others. "There's a jail cell with his name on it, why's he here then?"

Issei sighed. "After all my effort to stop doing that, I still get ridiculed?"

Fumi shook his head. "Just deal with it. He's part of the class, even if he ain't one of us. His Stand is good, so let's get used to it."

"Hah! He won't beat me, though!"

Fumi deadpanned. "He beat Sakuna. You're not stronger than him."

"Sakuna went easy on him; that's what he told me," Reina countered. "This pervert won't beat the strongest of our class at his best, and he definitely won't beat the second strongest at her best!"

"Dunno about second, not with Nyoko there to counter you," Aia intervened.

"Wait, you guys have rankings?" Issei asked. "Tell me more about that!"

Fumihiro, in a rare show, actually grinned. "Sakuna first, then Nyoko Omori, then the princess."

"Wait, you're not up there, Sasaki-san?"

Fumihiro glowered at him. "My Stand finds people, there isn't much else it can do. It's strong physically, but it really can't do anything else."

"Okay, then, who's next?"

"Then we have the shorty. Hayate."

Issei blinked, trying to place the name. "The guy who always wants to smash things? What's his Stand?"

"Tch, and just what will you do with that information?" Reina broke in, crossing her arms as she spoke. "Just take your rankings and be done with it."

Fumi shook his head. "I'm a little petered out. Why don't you continue?"

"Huh?! You can't finish it?!"

Fumi stood straighter, glaring down at her. "Get along with him, Reina."

"Just… stop treating me like your siblings, would you?" Reina choked out under his gaze but then turned to Issei. "Fine, if the big brother here is making me. After Hayate is Susumu, the android. Then we have Azumi, then Daichi."

"Those two always say they're tied though…" Kenta couldn't help but wonder out loud.

"Anyway!" Reina crossed her arms with a huff and returned her scathing look to Issei. "Azumi, Daichi, then there's Fumi here. After that is the Aia-Hanako duo, then Noboru- "

"Wait, duo?" Issei interrupted.

Reina's gaze filled with even more venom as she spat her next words. "Yeah, those two fight together all the time. Now will you let me finish?!"

"… sorry."

With a nod, she continued. "Noboru, Hoshi, Kairi, and now we're reaching the weakest ones. Kiyoshi is the strongest of them because he can at least hide himself. The bastard Daruma is down there, what with a Stand to simply hold people in place. Then we have Kenta here," she gestured at the non-Stand user among them. "But we don't know if he's that weak after all this."

"Hey, I'm telling you I don't know anything!"

"That's what they always say," Reina huffed. "The weakest is Chimon, who can only make prophecies."

"Wait, Tabata-san!" Issei remembered. "Why don't we ask him to make a prediction about this issue?"

Those words placed a frown on Reina's face, looking at Fumihiro who only shrugged.

"We don't prophesy matters amongst ourselves," Aia spoke up. "We respect each other that much. But for when we first discovered this corpse… Chimon was sick for the past few days, so we couldn't ask him."

"Yeah… I hadn't seen him in class." Issei realized with a pause.

"Alright, enough of that," Kenta called out. "We're here already."

Issei blinked, having lost track of his surroundings while talking to the others. Looking past them, he found them just outside a 2-storie villa, just the average size of a house of a middle-upper class family.

"… I honestly expected more," Reina spoke up. "Aren't you loaded?"

"They don't really care much for flaunting," Kenta explained, ironically pressing a buzzer by the gate. "It's me," he spoke into the intercom. There was some buzzing past it, after which the gates opened to reveal the house past a large lavishly green lawn.

"And there it is," Reina chortled as they walked through the marbled pave, briefly noting the Porsche parked near the door.

"They're home?" Kenta wondered, failing to hold back a smile. "Just because I called them?"

As soon as they reached the door, they opened to reveal a woman in a black maid uniform, her brown hair tied into a bun. "Welcome to the Itawari Residence."

"The fuck?!"

Issei shot back to see the other three jump back, Eye of the Tiger next to Fumihiro, blue irises of Ocean Eyes on Aia and a pearl white figure on the floor that looked like a drawing under Reina Endo's feet.

"What… what the fuck is she doing here?!" Reina screeched out, pointing at Kenta. "You have some explaining to do, you bastard!"

Kenta bit his lip at the angry glances of his classmates. "Janice, why did you come out so early? I… I wanted to take this slowly."

"If you had, then you would have never told them of me, sir," Janice said with a slight bow. "I thought it best to… rip the band-aid off, so to speak."

Kenta shuddered and turned back to his friends. "Okay, I know what this looks like. But please, you have to trust me that she's turned a new leaf!"

"You killed her, didn't you?!" Aia barked out louder than she normally did. "Did you lie to us then, too?!"

"No, no! I actually did kill her then, I promise!" He then looked at the still-breathing figure of Janice at the door and winced. "Yeah, I know what this looks like, but… I…"

"I had miraculously survived our last encounter," Janice explained in his stead. "The only reason I attacked you was because I sought power, and those with power over me had used me as a weapon against you. With your elimination of the Stand Users in the Yakuza, I found myself unemployed. Our organization was left in disarray by the time I returned, and there was no chance of resurrecting it. So, I left. I instead sought out the one who seemed to overpower me back then."

She gestured to Kenta. "Sir Kenta has been a gratuitous leader for me. He has already ordered me to leave my sniper equipment behind, for I will never need to use them again."

"I can't believe that," Fumihiro cut in with a shake of his head. "You would simply put your power away? You sought him out because he overpowered you, right?"

"Sir Kenta overpowered me despite being a normal person without a Stand, which was why I decided to follow that order with no questions asked. After all this time in peace… I must say that I have come to enjoy my current role far too much."

"You still killed Hana, you bitch," Aia spoke with more venom in her tone than Issei had ever heard from her.

"Janice, has Kenta returned?" a woman called out from within the house before Janice could speak. As everyone turned in to check, a suited woman with light brown hair and soft features much like Kenta's own approached them, taken back by their appearance for a moment before smiling upon seeing Kenta with them. "My baby, you're home!"

The others were bewildered at how quickly the lady had charged at the boy, quickly wrapping him in a hug. "M-Mother, not so tight!" Kenta complained.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kenta's mother stepped away from her son and brushed off her suit. "And please stop calling me that, baby. Just call me Mom! Mama is nice too, and maybe even Mommy…"

Kenta shivered for a moment at how the others looked at him. "R-Right. Anyway, isn't Father here?"

"Same for him! But I'm so sorry, Kenta, we really were busy today. Your daddy's dealing with a new client at the moment. I was supposed to be with him, but since you called, how could I not see you?!"

Kenta's lip quivered. "H-Huh. Okay, um, Janice? Could you set up the table?"

"Already done."

"… right. Guys, um, you all can come in now. D-Don't mind my mother, though, she's a little eager."

As much as Issei wanted to deny it, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of him there. The guy had two absolute beauties (with insane tits) absolutely enamoured by him! Sure, one of them was his mother, but when has that ever stopped things?! You saw that all the time in eromanga, right?

The house itself was a lot humbler than they'd imagined. Just like a regular house, it had the common kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, halls, everything. It was cleaner than most houses, especially with two working parents, however.

"So, tell me!" Kenta's mother, who'd introduced herself as Ichika Itawari, cradled a cup of tea before addressing them. "What brings my baby's friends here?"

"Y-Yes, um," Reina muttered, still frazzled by the display from earlier. "We… we have some friends in the Speedwagon Foundation, and they wanted to ask something about your company."

"The Speedwagon Foundation?!" Ichika briskly covered her mouth in shock. "Kenta-kun, you've made such a valuable contact?!"

Kenta stiffened at the words.

"Oh… I'm so sorry," Ichika relaxed at the sight of her son's terseness. "Ever since… that day, we have disavowed all talk of business in the house." She took a gentle sip of her tea before setting it down. "I would love to say this discussion for later, but from the sounds of it, you are here on urgent business? Kenta-kun, are you okay with us discussing this here?"

Kenta lowered his head, slowly nodding. "Y-Yeah. I'm okay."

Ichika gently touched her heart in gratitude. "Thank you. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"I'll do it," Fumihiro raised a hand over Reina before nodding at Aia. With a nod in return, Aia's eyes blazed blue with Ocean Eyes.

"Oh, you poor soul," Ichika spoke up instead. "That scar on your face… it is from that day, isn't it?"

"… the Speedwagon Foundation had lost track of a body they were keeping in preservation," Fumihiro explained, ignoring Ichika's words. "We cannot go into details about why they were tracking it, but it was smuggled away under our noses. We discovered that it had appeared in your company last, but the shipping documentation is surprisingly difficult to trace.

"A 'body'? We do take in several plant bodies and the occasional animal for testing, but – "

"No. A human cadaver."

"Oh dear," Ichika hummed in alarm. "I must say, we at Itawari Pharmaceuticals have no need for preserving dead bodies for our research, so I am sorry to say that I cannot help you here."

"Any information at all would be appreciated," Reina spoke up with clasped palms. "Could you please look through your recent deliveries and check if there are any suspicious entries? Maybe even connecting deliveries through your company, if you would do such a thing?"

Ichika giggled. "No, we do not receive any other person's deliveries. Although, there is the chance that some employee of ours made a personal order for the cadaver, even though that would lead to another concerning set of enquiries." Ichika smiled at the group. "Thank you for bringing this to light. You are all Kenta-kun's friends, so we have the best interests in mind for you all. I promise that we will look out for any information on this matter."

No one could notice, for they were focused on the speaking woman, but Aia bristled at that statement. Before she could speak, however, a loud ping was heard in the room. "Oh, that was me," Fumihiro said as he pulled out his phone. "Let me just silence this – "

"No, please, take your time and check," Ichika waved him down. "This is no official meeting, after all."

Fumihiro took a moment to look at Ichika, then nodded and looked down at his phone. In a few taps, he groaned. "The kids are being brats again," Fumihiro grumbled. "Sorry, but I need to run back. Is there anything we need to ask?"

"Yes, there is," Aia immediately spoke up, nearly glaring at the woman before them.

Fumihiro looked at her in confusion but shook his head. "Alright, you can carry this out. Just remember… keep it peaceful, okay? This seems like an emergency, so I need to go."

Just in time, Issei got a ping on his phone as well. Checking it, he found that Raynare was asking where he was and why he wasn't home for their scheduled training. Finally remembering that he forgot to tell her, he quickly let her know of the situation and retold it to the others around him.

Aia sighed at the admission. "Fine, you can go too. We both can handle ourselves well enough. Although, there shouldn't be too much of a problem here anyway."

"Wait, I can stay!" Issei confirmed. "I'm just saying – "

"Seriously, we're fine," Aia clarified. "If you have something else to do, it's best you do not miss it."

Issei held her gaze for a moment, then nodded.

"Please, let me show you to the door," Ichika said, standing up and walking past them. "Kenta-kun, can you keep these two lovely girls company while I'm gone? Janice, you may come with me."

"As you wish, madam."

With a wide smile, she pulled both Fumihiro and Issei to their feet, ignoring their flustered looks, and pulled them out of the hall, Janice following behind brusquely.

"Hey, um, Aia?" Kenta spoke up. "Did you see anything?"

"Her words did not lie, but something of her demeanour just seemed… wrong. I'd like to speak to her a little further if you wouldn't mind."

Kenta's lip quivered, looking past them at his now disappeared mother. "… really?"

"Why? Have you suspected anything?" Reina asked.

"No, it's just… ever since the incident they've been so different. Mother and Father act like nothing I've expected of them. A part of me… thinks that something is wrong with them for that."

Reina blinked. "For being good parents after their kid suffered a Yakuza attack?"

Kenta frowned. "Alright, um, you can forget that. I just… it's hard to believe, that's all."

Aia held her gaze with Kenta for a moment, then sighed. "I understand. That incident revealed more about other people than I'd care to admit. I'm just glad that it turned out positive for you." In a rare show, Aia smiled at him.

"Ahh, it's such a wonder to have met your friends, Kenta!" Ichika cried out as soon as she returned to the room. "Now, you two wanted to discuss some more?"

"Yes, I had a few more questions," Aia said.

With a hum, Ichika jaunted back to the table and sat before them. "Alright, I'm all ears."

"You said that you had the best interests in mind for us all. Can I ask what exactly you meant by that?"

Reina looked at Aia oddly. Why was that something that triggered her Ocean Eyes?

"Is there something wrong with worrying for my son?" Ichika defensively retorted. "I am merely looking out for his happiness because that is the most important thing to me."

Aia's brow furrowed. "And you do that by employing Janice of all people? She killed Hana Tanaka, our classmate, I'm sure you know. If you know your son enough, you'd also know that he was attracted to her as well."

"I-Ito-san?! Where's this coming from?!"

Ichika laughed and hugged her son, pushing his head into her breasts. "Oh, I do know everything about my little boy's errant heart. And as much as I hate Janice for hurting him, there is something that I am much more grateful for that only she could provide to me."

Reina frowned. "Something that only Janice could give? What the hell could that be?"

Ichika smiled. "It's about time we stopped hiding, yes?"

Aia was immediately alarmed. Reading her through, she identified her focused gaze on Reina. Hastily looking back, she saw Reina stuck looking at Ichika confused, ignorant of how Janice was looking at her through a handheld scope out of her sight.

Before she could even open her mouth, a gunshot was heard and red flew out of Reina's head. Her body limply thudded onto the table, blood gushing over the wood.

"Reina!" Aia cried out, before gritting her teeth and looking back at Janice, the one who killed her. She charged at her regardless of the scope in her hand that was turning to her. Aia ripped off her shirt and threw it at the lens, knowing Janice's Stand enough to be wary of being on the other end of that scope. With a yell, she dashed at Janice, before feeling pain shoot through her back, her skin feeling damp. Stumbling at her lost energy, she reached a hand back to feel something wet. Blood covered her back.

"Such wonderful girls," Ichika Itawari muttered gleefully. "Don't be scared, this is only temporary."

Before Aia could register the knife that was thrown in her back was from Ichika herself, another bullet was shot at her head, making her collapse dead just like Reina.

"Good job, Janice," Ichika decreed, lightly dusting her hands. Janice, meanwhile, nodded and put her scope away.

"What… what just happened?"

Both Ichika and Janice nodded upon hearing the voice, looking back at the table to see a terrified Kenta hugging the wall, keeping the table between him and his family.

"What did you just do?!" Kenta cried out. "You killed them! Janice, I… I trusted you to not hurt anyone anymore! And Mother… I…"

"Shh, baby, it's okay," Ichika muttered, walking up to Kenta only for him to crawl further up into the wall. Sighing, Ichika rubbed her temples.

"We had to do this, Kenta," Ichika explained, lowering her head. "This is all for you, my son."

"For me?! How the fuck is this for me?! You killed my friends!" Kenta's eyes dampened at the sight of the two girls spilling blood on his home. A rush of bile from an emotion he'd never felt since the 1-E incident reared its head once more.

"Son, it's ok –"

"Stay away from me!" Kenta dashed out of the hall and ran to the front door, quickly grabbing the lock and trying to pry it open. The knob did not turn.

"We knew you would try to run, sir, so we had to lock the door before you did anything rash," Janice casually explained.

Kenta, meanwhile, was sobbing as he looked at Janice and his own mother, slowly losing strength and collapsing onto his feet.

"Please… why are you doing this?"

"As I said," Ichika continued. "It's all for you, Kenta. You are our Master, after all."

"… master?" Kenta froze at the odd term being used.

"Homura and Ichika Itawari were extremely business-oriented people," Ichika spoke of herself like a stranger. "They had their son, Kenta, all so that he could become the perfect heir to their throne. They were too busy to even speak to their son, but they always groomed him to be the perfect businessman. Knowing when to bow to a superior is an essential skill, after all."

Kenta shivered; he had never expected his mother to know so deeply about him.

"Once they had discovered that Kenta had killed someone, even in self-defence, they were outraged," she continued despite Kenta's budding confusion. "A murderer would never have a proper place in the future, much less as the heir to a company. To this betrayal of their beliefs, the two parents had readied themselves to disown their neglected son for good."

Kenta's breath hitched; that was what he'd expected them to do at first. But that wasn't true! They made peace with him! They began to care for him!

"This event would have come to pass if it were not for me," Janice was the one to speak next. "I murdered Homura and Ichika Itawari, thereby saving Kenta Itawari's life."

"… murdered?"

Ichika beamed at her son, briefly looking behind her. "Things should explain themselves right now."

From past the wall connecting the hall, two more figures walked in, looking right at him. Aia Ito and Reina Endo stood there, grinning at him like they normally did.

Kenta couldn't say anything anymore, he just gaped at the sight of the two girls. Just moments ago he'd seen their brains blown out in front of him, and now there they were standing before him like nothing happened. However, there were signs of a struggle.

"God, my clothes are ruined!" Reina bemoaned as she plucked against her blood-soaked clothes. "Mom, could you help me clean them?"

"I'll get you a brand new set if that's what you want!" Ichika grinned. "Aia-Chan would certainly need it."

Aia nodded, regarding how her clothes were torn away from her, even though she didn't bother covering herself up. Kenta would have complained about seeing Aia in just her bra, but the blood plastered over her face was what drew his attention instead.

"Yes, this blood is certainly annoying. But it seems that Master is our first concern here."

Kenta pressed his lips together. Something was wrong here. They were not acting like themselves.

"Don't you see it, Kenta-kun?" Reina spoke up, adding the 'kun' suffix to his name for the first time. "We just died, so now we're part of you!"

"P-part of me?! What the hell are you talking about?"

"It all started with me," Janice said, bringing everyone's attention to her. "You were the one who killed me, a girl that sought strength over everything else. To think a powerless person like you killed her, the true Janice would have sought revenge against the shame you inflicted upon her. Fortunately, I intervened."

"I killed Ichika and her husband, thereby turning them into us."

"Now the two of us killed Reina and Aia, turning them into us."

"Don't you see, Kenta-kun?" the being wearing the face of Ichika walked up to him. "This is the Paradise that you were seeking! A world where you will be treated as King, where you will be the most important person! No one will ignore you anymore, not your parents who only saw your profit, not your classmates who saw you as merely the plain boy, no one. We are your Gangster's Paradise."

"You always complained about your absence of a Stand, right? Even though you could see them?" Aia said.

"Well," Reina continued. "Sorry about that, we had to make some preparations before we could show ourselves to you."

"But now that you know of us," Ichika continued, "We can rule the world together! What do you say?"


Stand User: Kenta Itawari

Stand Name: Gangster's Paradise (inspired from "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio)

Alarming Notes: Sentient Stand, Untamed

Abilities: Corpse Possession. Gangster's Paradise is capable of infecting any dead body and reviving it, then control their mind as if it were its own. "Zombies" will retain the memories of their previous lives and will retain their own characteristics, making it near impossible to distinguish them from their original persons. Victims will retain their own Stands and can still gain Stands via Arrow if they don't have one.

Power: E

Speed: A

Range: A

Precision: C

Durability: E

Development Potential: A


A/N: Shocker, I know. Zepp is here with yet another mass possession type Stand as an enemy. Just know that I don't intend for this to be like Mess is Mine. It's also not temporary like Monika's Stand; Gangster's Paradise has actually killed Aia Ito and Reina Endo. If you're disappointed that you didn't see their Stands in action, don't be. They will be using them against the class. Also, don't expect waves of enemies coming after the gang like with Monika or even with Wallace. This will follow the JoJo fashion a little closer. I don't intend to repeat the disaster that was the final battle between MC and Wallace.

Reina Endo's Stand is actually heavily inspired by another canon JoJo Stand. Virtual cookie to whoever guesses the source, and feel free to guess Reina's ability as well. I actually intended to reveal Reina sooner, so it's a little difficult to write her here as a fresh character. She was in several deleted drafts of previous chapters, so a part of my mind always sticks to the idea that I've already introduced her. Bloody hell, I still remember including her in a demo fight alongside Aia and Hanako against Issei; what the hell was I thinking?! How in the world was Issei going to beat a trio like that? Sure, you don't understand why this is such a big issue; you don't even know Reina's or Hanako's Stands. Trust me, Aia and Hanako are strong enough as a pair, they certainly didn't need a monster like Reina with them.

I just finished my sister's wedding, and I'm a little washed up from all the time I spent in my home country. Writing on my phone is never as satisfying as on my laptop, so I could never write this chapter as properly as I'd like. There's a lot of stuff that I wanted to delete from this chapter, but I hate rewriting even more. And now my laptop battery is dying; there's some problem where it refuses to charge even with the charger connected. I need to get it serviced, so things will take a bit of time.

I've decided to stop the other story I've been writing, The Hero and the Wimp. One thing I regret losing from it was the concept of a SI where the POI escapes Hell and enters the world of interest. Seriously, I'm tired and sick of the cliched "God kidnapped my spirit after Truck-kun lost sight of personal boundaries" bullshit. I do want to include that in another fanfic possibly, including the ability to detect and read souls that comes from it, but I don't know which. If you'd like to see it somewhere, let me know. I'll see if I can fish out a story if I know the main enough. Or else, feel free to use it in a story you want to make. Take this as incentive to finally write your own fanfic and you'll have me as a fan. Just, you know, let me know that you're taking it.

Review!


dragon20042004x: If you consider that Blood in the Water can work on anyone that damages Nyoko, even if there are several people, it pretty much cancels out that problem. Also, the Stand works even if the User is dead. I may have forgotten to mention that detail in her description though. There are other weaknesses to it, but I'll leave those to you to either figure out if you enjoy the challenge or you can wait and see them for yourself.


OJ: Glad to hear you like my iteration of Issei. I honestly despised Issei from canon DxD; why was he getting rewarded for being a pervert? Sure, his honesty is good, but that doesn't remove his faults. And you're the first to talk about the characters from MCBA, so thanks for enjoying that. You're also right about these two worlds coming closer. Expect major developments on that soon.


Of course, Re:Teyvat is coming next. I just need to figure out the next story I'll be doing for it. So, I'll see you next chapter!