**KUROKO'S POV**

It's him.

He's the killer.

I'd recognize that face anywhere.

Especially the beauty mark on his chin.

He's the one that hunted us down.

That hunted Josuke and I.

He's the reason why Genji and Yuki are dead.

He's the reason why Josuke and I almost died.

He's the reason why I can't even see Josuke.

He's the cause of all of this.

Of everything.

And he's standing right in front of me.

Right in front of Ms. Hana.

Right in front of my mom.

"Dr. Watanabe," my mom started. "Kuroko's my daughter, so be really nice to her, OK?"

"Why of course Dr Izumi. I will,"

"Can I have a new physical therapist please?" I asked. Everyone in the room was now staring at me. "I mean, I would prefer a female doctor mom."

My mom sighed. "Sweety, he's one of the top physical therapists in Morioh. It's not like he's going to give you a physical examination."

"Dr. Izumi is right," Ms. Hana agreed. "Dr. Watanabe is usually booked months in advance, but your mom was able to pull some strings to get multiple appointments with him."

"Don't worry Kuroko," Dr. Watanabe placed his hand on my shoulder. "Like your mother said, it was hard to squeeze an appointment with you in my schedule. I've been in the practice for thirteen years and most of my patients, no matter the injury, have made a 100% recovery."

He touched my shoulder.

That means…he can control my body.

I need to get out of here!

"Mom, please!" I begged. "I'm okay with not doing physical therapy at all as well! Any doctor to replace him is okay!"

My mom rolled her eyes. "We're doing everything in our abilities to make sure you heal up completely. You almost died more than two weeks ago. So please, be obedient. You've been causing a lot of trouble for me recently, Don't cause any trouble for Dr. Watanabe or Ms. Hana, OK?"

She won't listen to me. She hasn't listened to me since I've gotten in this mess. And in front of Ms. Hana, I sound like a spoiled brat.

Damnit.

Ms. Hana gave the clipboard that she was holding to Dr. Watanabe. He took it and scanned its contents. "We're doing basic leg therapy on both your right and left legs. Are you in any pain right now?"

"Yes."

"But on the sheets, it said that you're fine."

"I lied - OW!" My mom pinched the edge of my ear with her fingers and glared at me. "OK! OK! I'm fine!"

"Then, let's start this therapy session." Dr. Watanabe waved at both my mom and Ms. Hana. "The two of you can leave now."

"Okay," My mom then waved to me. "Bye, sweetheart!"

Ms. Hana waved to me as well as they made their way to the door.

As soon as my mom closed the door shut, leaving the two of us alone, I immediately summoned Iron Maiden. "YOU BASTARD!"

Dr. Watanabe pointed to the corner of the room and grinned. "There are cameras that are scattered all around this wing for the safety of our patients. Are you sure you want to attack me?"

"YES!" The second Iron Maiden went in for a punch to his face, a navy blue humanoid "person" blocked her fists. Its arms and legs were thin as bones and had the appearance of a sickly older man that was struggling to stay alive. The stand's eyes were pitch black with red dots in the middle as well.

"I don't think you understand the position you're in. Allow me to educate you." Dr. Watanabe's stand vanished, then, a faint blue floating curvy thin line started to appear floating above the ground. The line branched out into two, then four, then multiple lines, almost like the branches of a tree, forming the shape of a tall person. In the middle was a blue heart, pulsating. "You're a smart girl, right? Let's do a pop quiz. This is my stand, Dirty Diana. I can control anything I want. Though its full form is fragile, its range can reach hundreds of kilometers. Now, tell me: whose body did I drag up the hill almost three weeks ago."

"Jo…Josuke's." I muttered. Each syllable that traveled out of my mouth was shakier than the last.

"Right. Since I was able to control Josuke, whose blood vessels do you think these are?"

"Josuke's."

"Good girl." The blue heart that was now above the ground started to constrict. "Now, one last question: what do you think happens when a person's heart gets crushed? Or expands? Or bursts"

"They…die."

"Yes. Do you know how quickly they die?" He started to smirk.

"…instantly."

"Yes. Although you can't hurt me, and I can't hurt you, I can hurt your friend. So for as long as you're here, we're going to get along, OK?"

What should I do? What the hell do I do?! What would Josuke do?! I'm in no condition to fight, and if I could, I can't hurt him because of all the cameras there are. Iron Maiden's not strong or fast enough to punch a hole through his chest. If I hurt him, he'll kill Josuke. He knows my mom. He could hurt her as well.

I just…why?

Why is this happening?

Why now? After Yoshikage Kira, everything was fine. Everything was great. Josuke, Okuyasu, and I were walking to school every day, eating lunch together. Sometimes we would all go over to Josuke's house and Ms. Higashikata would cook dinner for us.

So…why now?

Why are stand users attracted to each other?

Why are they all enemies?

I just…want everything to end

Everything to stop.

Everything…

…

No.

I can't.

This man won't just kill Josuke.

This man will kill other stand users

He will kill Okuyasu

He will kill Koichi

He might even Kill Jotaro

He won't stop taking stand user's hearts until he dies.

I need to stop him.

But I can't.

Not in the condition I'm in.

I need to stay calm.

Now's not the time to do anything irrational.

I need to be compliant, for now.

I took a shallow breath in to try to clear my racing thoughts. "OK."

The killer gave me a smile. "Good girl. Now let's start physical therapy."

Doctor Watanabe pushed my wheelchair towards the two wooden banisters that were in the middle of the room. "Now, I want you to use the banisters and push yourself up in a standing position. Can you do that?"

"I'll try." I struggled to lift myself from my wheelchair and barely succeeded with both my legs and my arms trembling. I looked behind myself. "I can't move around because I'm still connected to the oxygen tank on the back of my wheelchair."

"Then as you walk I'll push the wheelchair." Dr. Watanabe got behind me and held the wheelchair's handlebars in his hands.

No.

I don't want this man to stand behind me.

"Ms. Hana said that you only had strength in your right leg. Start with that."

I lifted my right leg and placed it forward. A bullet of pain shot up from the sole of my foot up to my knee. I used my right hand to cover my mouth to prevent myself from yelling.

Dr. Watanabe pushed the wheelchair forward a step. "Now, try moving your left leg forward."

I tried with all my might to move my left leg with no results. "I can't."

He moved next to me, grabbed my left leg, and manually made me take a step down with my left foot. "Do you feel any pressure when I push your left foot down?"

"A little bit."

"That's good. That means we can rehabilitate your left leg fully."

We continued this pattern until I got to the end of the other side. I would take a step with my right leg and Dr. Watanabe would move my left leg and push the wheelchair. Once I got to the end, it felt like I ran a marathon. It was getting hard to breathe as well with all of the movement I was doing. Dr. Watanabe got in front of me. "We'll continue your therapy the day after tomorrow. Part of physical therapy is rest. I'll wheel you back to your room."

"Right." I sighed.

Once he wheeled me out into the therapy room and into the hallway, on the way back to my room, many of the nurses in the hallway would greet him. He would stop my wheelchair and chat with them for minutes on end.

"How was your day Dr. Watanabe?"

"Did you grab lunch yet Watanabe? The intern is running to that curry shop nearby. Want something?"

"Dr. Watanabe, plan on going out to drink tonight? I'll pay. My treat."

No.

Stop.

This guy is not who you think he is.

Stop it!

Dr. Watanabe pushed me into my room, wrapped his arms around my waist, picked me up, and placed me back on my bed. "I have to meet my next patient." He then made his way towards the door. "Oh, and before I forget, you should know what will happen if you tell anyone about anything. It only takes three seconds to end his life."

He then left, leaving me alone.

Alone with the oxygen ventilator.

Alone with my broken body.

Alone knowing that this man plans on killing even more stand users in the near future.

…

I know what I need to do.

It felt like life forever for my dinner to come at seven o'clock. Ms. Hana came in and placed the tray on my bedside table. This time it was miso soup, oatmeal and a single cup of pudding from the cafe downstairs. "Here you go Kuroko, your last soft meal."

"I'm…actually really nauseous right now." I said, holding my stomach. I don't think I can eat anything right now. I'm sorry."

Ms. Hana looked at me with solemn eyes. "Is that so? We'll do you want me to leave it here on your table?"

"N-no. I think I'm good for the night."

Ms. Hana gave me a weird look. She then sat on the edge of my bed and held my hand. "Did something happen during physical therapy?"

I can't tell anyone at this hospital.

If I do…I lose him.

"No," I lied. I couldn't even look her in the eye. "Nothing happened."

Ms Hana let go of my hand and stood up. "Well, if you want to talk about something, you know who to go to. I'll be back with your medicine in an hour."

"Actually, can I have my medicine now? I think I want to go to bed early."

"Eh? But it's not even eight."

I slumped my back into my bed. "Yeah, but I'm just tired today. Physical therapy made me sore as well.

The nurse gave me a weird look. "If you say so."

Ms. Hana gave me my medicine a few minutes later. I gulped all the pills down in one go and almost choked. "Good night Ms. Hana."

Ms Hana smiled. "Good night Kuroko." She turned the lights off in my room, leaving me in the dark and lying on my bed silently. The yellow sky started to dim as the moon rose. The chatter from the nurses in the hallway simmered down into pure silence. The only noise that went through my ears was the music of the oxygen ventilator.

OK.

It's time.

I need to tell Jotaro.

Josuke.

Koichi.

Okuyasu.

Rohan.

Anyone that's a stand user.

I need to tell them the truth about Dr. Hikaru Watanabe.

And in order to do that, I need to escape from this damn hospital.