Chapter 19: Death in the Family

Half a Year Prior, in Alliance High School…

"O-Okay, can everyone come for a head count?"

But of course, no one would listen to him. They never did.

Sakuna Hirose sighed at his unresponsive classmates. As the doormat of the class, he was unanimously voted as the class president. Moreover, despite the female rep being there, he had to handle things all by himself. Yuko Kuroki would never even glance in his direction, much less work with him as class rep. No, she was stuck with the toxic group of females in their class: her, Aia Ito and Hanako Kogawa.

Ignoring the females for a while, he turned to the boys. The first one he saw was a bored-looking blonde boy, wearing a scowl on his face.

"Um, Sasaki-san?"

"Haa?"

"Ack – n-nothing!"

So scary… how were people like that even in their class?

"Having trouble?" came the cheerful voice of his redemption for that day.

"Oh, thank god you're here, Sakurai-san," he groaned to the pink-haired midget Natsuki Sakurai, although he'd never call her that. "I'm trying to get everyone together for a head count."

"No problem," she shrugged, immediately stepping to the crowd of students and clapping her hands loudly enough to catch their attention. "Okay, everyone! Line up, we need to check if everyone's here."

"Haah, but everyone that matters is here, right?" said Yuko Kuroki, still leaning on the shoulder of her boyfriend Susumu Hino. Fluttering her short-cropped blonde hair from her eyes, she cast a mocking glance in a particular direction. "There are some people who shouldn't be here too…"

Nearby, Reina Endo shrunk in on herself. Sakuna couldn't blame her, though. Kuroki was rather vicious to her.

"I am perfectly where I need to be, as the perfect being that I am!" so said Daruma Kaneki, or Kanpeki Danna as he loved calling himself.

"Shut up, weirdo," Aia Ito chided him, twirling her casually. "Hanako, did you pack my bag properly?"

"Of course! I've properly sorted all your clothes and colour-connected them too!"

"Ahh, why is this class-wise?" Kuroki groaned out. "Why is our class filled with so many lames?"

Susumu grinned at her. "What, you think I am one?"

"Of course not, darling! You're the only way I'm managing in this suuper boring place."

Ignoring the two of them sucking face, Sakuna turned to the rest of the class. "Okay, you're all here…" He took a moment to look at the student list in his hand and ticked off the ones he noticed. "Ahame-san?"

"Hm." Azumi Ahame, as always, spoke as minimally as she could.

"Bushida-san?"

"The fuck's that response for, huh?!" Daichi Bushida chastised his childhood friend like always, not paying any attention to Sakuna in the first place. Sakuna sighed at how oblivious those two were to each other.

"Anyway, Chiba-san?"

"Here!" a soft voice squeaked out. Despite empathizing with the boy's predicament, Sakuna still had to look down at his dwarfism-afflicted classmate. As always, the boy scowled at how he had to look up at the president. For his own sanity, he chose not to keep that gaze for long and turned back to his marksheet and ticked his name off.

"Eguchi-san?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," Eguchi rubbed her head, calling Sakuna's attention to the bench she was sitting on. As always, a foreigner like her wouldn't find much place in their class.

"Endo-san and Hino-san are here, Itawari-san?"

"Yes, I'm here," Kenta Itawari spoke up. "I'm just glad my parents let me come for this trip…"

"I'm glad you're coming, Kenta-kun!" Nearby, Hana Tanaka spoke up, letting Sakuna know to tick her name off too.

"Y-Yeah, thanks for that." Yet another group that was oblivious to each other, although this wasn't without its drama involved.

"Aww, why are you there all the time, Hana-chan?" Noboru Iwata creepily grinned at the girl. "Come on, you can find better people to be with."

"A-Ah, Noboru-kun, it's okay!" Hana smiled at him as well. "I'll spend time with you too, of course!"

Despite Noboru's sheepish grin and Kenta's scowl, Sakuna couldn't ignore Kuroki's chortle. "What a whore," she remarked to her friends.

"O-Okay, um…"

"What's taking you so long, Hirose?" A more mature called out from behind him.

"I-It's almost done, Sensei! U-Um… Maki-san?"

"Here."

"Nakajima-san?"

"H-Here!"

"Omori-san?"

"Mm…"

"Sasaki… Tabata-san?"

"Y-Yeah!"

Sakuna shook his head. The sheer number of shy folks in their class was probably what caused that sheer division within their ranks, not that he was any better. Huffing, he was glad to see that he finally took note of the whole class.

"S-Sensei! We're all here!"

"Good! That flight to Hokkaido is waiting for us! Everyone in!"

The students of Class 1-E began to board the bus, ready to head for what would turn out to be the worst trip of their lives.


Half a Year Later, at the Hyoudou Household…

Asia walked into the house to the sound of humming. Curious, she ventured into the kitchen and looked past the open entrance to see Raynare humming to herself as she twirled some pasta, not bothering to keep her wings hidden. Asia noticed something else – her wings, there were four of them.

"It happened when we were sparring today," Issei said, creeping up behind her and ignoring her jolt in surprise. "She must have known she was at a breakthrough, and she just wanted someone to push her past that wall."

Asia looked back at him. "You were fighting?"

Issei shook his head, a casual smile on his face. "No, it's just a spar. Think of it as practice."

"Boost!"

Asia looked down in alarm to see his Boosted Gear active. "W-Why are you using that now?"

"Oh, this?" Issei looked down at the gear as well. "Raynare told me I needed to get used to it as well. I've grown too, I can handle 4 boosts comfortably now, and I need an Explosion for the fifth boost."

"Explosion?"

"You'll see in a bit, it'll come next."

It took a few seconds, but sure enough, the Boosted Gear declared "Explosion!" next. Issei grit his teeth and swung his head about, as he clenched his fists tighter than he ever could have before.

"I can hold this mode of 5 boosts for a whole minute," he explained to Asia with a grin. "Explosion helps me keep up a difficult boost level while extending it for that minute, but once that's up, it will Reset entirely."

"Oh…" Asia smiled at him. "That's nice, Issei!"

He nodded, then walked past her and approached Raynare. Together, they both finished up their dinner, with Issei breaking more dishes than normal due to his greater strength followed by Raynare magically restoring them. Thankfully, Issei did not keep Boosting while having dinner that night.

Issei told them about his experience at the Itawari Household during dinner, much to Asia's glee. She was thankful to know that he was doing alright and that his family cared for him so much now after everything that happened to him in the past. In turn, Asia spoke of the volleyball match between the ORC and the Student Council, and how they'd unfortunately lost the match. Sona Sitri's peerage would be the first ones to get their Familiars; the Gremory Peerage would have to wait for another month before they could find their own familiars.

As the three of them washed their dishes, Issei felt his phone ping in his pocket. Expecting some jab from Matsuda or Motohama about not visiting them, he dried his hands and pulled out his phone. However, the message sender was someone he had not expected.

Aniki: hey issei

Aniki: sorry I couldnt get to you sooner

Aniki: was too busy at work

Issei shivered at the messages, quickly looking around at the renovated house. He hadn't told Aniki about any of that. More importantly, he hadn't even told Aniki about 2-E or his Stand!

"Issei, are you okay?" Asia asked. "You're looking a little pale…"

Issei shook his head and explained the message he got to her and Raynare.

"So what? Just tell him what happened," Raynare said, not bothering to look up from her dishes.

"No, it's just… I know he's part of this too," Issei said. "He… he might take this more seriously than I'd think."

Feeling his phone ping, Issei looked down again.

Aniki: don't leave me on read, kiddo

Aniki: hey, that was instaread!

Aniki: whats going on?

Issei: im here don't worry

Issei: its just

Issei: I have a lot I need to say

He looked expectantly for any answers from Raynare or Asia.

"I… I don't know," Asia shook her head, hanging her head low in defeat. "I'm sorry."

"Look, just tell him, won't you?" Raynare chided him yet again. "What's the guy gonna do? He's your brother, isn't he? It's not like he's gonna hurt you unless he's the abusive type."

"N-No, he's not that," Issei reaffirmed. He looked down at his phone and bit his lip.

Issei: my new class

Issei: student pres made me change my class

Issei: and you wont like where I ended up

Aniki: you sound so serious

Aniki: why?

Issei: theyre from alliance high school

Issei: that class

Issei: you know which

Issei: and im like them too

Issei: same as you

Issei let out a breath at the confession, looking down at the swirling dots next to Aniki's icon. "What did he say?" Raynare asked.

"He didn't reply back yet."

RING! The phone rang out, making Issei freeze at the "Unknown Caller" icon displayed on it. He briefly showed it to Raynare and Asia, and while Asia looked confused, Raynare simply nudged him to pick it up. So, he did.

"H-Hello?" he asked, making sure to keep it on speaker.

"Can you hear me?" a familiar voice called out. It was a little raspy from the static, but that shrillness of tone could not be mistaken for anyone else.

"Aniki! Why aren't you calling on your phone?"

"This is a secure line. It's what I use for… work."

"… right. Work. Are you… working now?"

"I just finished an operation today. The perps in jail and I have some downtime, but I've got to attend to another mystery soon after this."

"So… what, you're some kind of spy?"

"More or less. I go to anomalies that can't be explained normally, I check if it's done by a Stand or not, and I catch the Stand User responsible if it is."

"Haa… so you really do have a job like that. MC hasn't told me about you, but when he mentioned the Speedwagon Foundation, I guessed as much."

"You've met MC?! Wait, did he tell you about the Joestars?!"

"You know about the Joestars too?"

There was a short pause before Aniki replied. "… look, Issei. There's so much I want to talk to you about all of this. So many… truths you deserve to know. I just couldn't tell you about any of it before, not without you knowing about Stands at all."

"It's okay. In fact, it was your training that helped me push my Stand to its fullest."

"… so, you really do have a Stand, huh? I can still remember the day when you asked me about why I trained you so much. Also, how did you know I have one?"

"I've lived with you long enough to know that you could do supernatural stuff. I still remember my Limited-Edition Anime Trope-Emulating Alarm Clock breaking out of nowhere."

"I'm so glad I did that too, it was annoying."

"So, it was you."

"Heh."

Issei shook his head. "I just didn't know what you were. It could have been either Stands or some kind of Magic, but I narrowed it down once I found out about the Speedwagon Foundation."

"Neat, but… magic? What do you mean by that?"

"Issei, you – " Raynare murmured, slapping her head in frustration. Issei only winced in remorse, unknowingly letting that slip.

"Wait, is someone else there?"

"Ah – yeah, they're some friends. Don't worry, they know about Stands."

"Classmates?"

"Not exactly, but… well, things have been happening here. Just like how you said you can't say everything right now, I can't say everything either. It's a lot to swallow."

"… are you sure?"

"Positive. Trust me, you trained me for this, right? Also, you knowing about this stuff might be more dangerous in the long run." Issei took a breath. "Also, quite a bit has changed back home too. I'll send you a photo."

Issei took a moment to forward the photo of their new house to his brother, then awaited a response. "So, who's mansion did you get into?"

"Ours."

"… what?"

"So, the people I've gotten involved with, they're richer than rich. One of them pretty much forced this change in the house on me after some of his… guys gave me trouble."

"…I'm not gonna clean that much house."

"Me neither. He's sent someone to help."

"And I do my job dutifully," Raynare chided him. "Hello, Issei Hyoudou's brother. My name is Raynare. Your room has been left alone by us at Issei's insistence, even if I find those photos far too creepy."

"… you'd better not have touched them, or I'm turning you into salt."

Raynare looked quizzically at Issei, who only shrugged. "He says that," he admitted.

"I have no reason to be afraid of a human, however," Raynare continued, immediately summoning her four wings and pruning them proudly.

"Human? Issei, just what kind of people have you gotten involved with? Should I come back?"

"You coming back is going to turn heads here, and I want to keep this on the down low even to Stand Users. We struggle enough with our own matters, other Stand Users don't need to know that Angels and Devils are real."

"Angels and Devils? Wait, I thought you said you didn't want to talk about it?"

"I guess I'm talking about it now, then. Yes, and they're warring. Recruiting too. That's why I'm keeping it secret."

"I'm a Fallen Angel myself. A four-winged one at that," Raynare admitted unabashedly.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

Raynare frowned. "Your brother needs to learn manners."

Issei could hear Aniki's grin behind the phone line. "Anyway, Angels and Devils are a thing? And you're involved with them somehow?"

"Things are a little more complicated than that. I've got a dragon living in my body, for example."

"… did you say a dragon?"

"Look, there's just too much to talk about now, alright?! Just… don't tell anyone else about this. I don't want 2-E to suffer any more than they already have, especially with this mission MC's giving us."

"Ah, you're part of that too, huh? That's a shame, really. Isaac Marker committed suicide before I could properly secure him, and that speaks of how strong he is. Be careful."

"We will, but the only lead we had so far is a bust."

"… you've got this, don't worry. Just keep investigating, maybe find more missing corpses, and you might find something of value."

"… are we seriously talking about missing corpses in our call?"

"All for the mission, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You must be way more used to stuff like this. Ah, you haven't met the other person I'm living with. Asia, come on, say hi."

"U-Um, hello! T-Thank you for raising Issei so far."

"… seems unnatural for someone with that tone to be involved with Stands."

"She's not a Stand User, but she does have a Sacred Gear. Supernatural Stuff, don't pay too much attention to it."

"When I get back there, you're giving me a crash course on all this."

"Allow me to teach you how to act to your superiors along the way," Raynare chided Aniki of all people. "You cannot hold the same tone you used on me against Lord Azazel or any other major member of the Three Factions."

"Right, well, that too. Good luck with that person."

"Oh, I'm trying."

"And what's that supposed to mean, Hyoudou?"

"Anyway, this talk was… enlightening. I wish you all the best, Issei. My Stand's telling you to stay safe too."

"… your Stand?"

"Yes, he talks. I'll tell you more about him later."

With that, the beep of the phone rang out, letting Issei hang his head back.

"Well… that happened."

"H-He seems nice," Asia commented, trying to calm Issei down.

"Not really, not a mannerless man like that."

"Let's just… call it a night, Raynare. Quite a lot happened today, after all."

Once again, his phone pinged. Expecting another message from Aniki, Issei checked it only to find a message from an unknown number.

?: this is Aia Ito

?: this is Issei Hyoudou's number, yes?

Issei: yeah, what is it?

Aia: im just messaging you to let you know that my fears were unfounded

Aia: the Itawari's are fine, nothing suspicious about them

Aia: also, we promised something to them on behalf of the two of you as well

Aia: dont tell anyone about Janices existence yet

Aia: Kenta is still worried about how it would be seen

Issei: i see

Issei: fine I wont tell

Issei: ill let Asia know too

Issei: thanks for letting me know


It would not be wrong to say that Aia Ito was the most important person to Hanako Kogawa, especially after everything they had gone through together. After Yuko Kuroki's death, after everything that happened with Reina Endo and Susumu Hino, after that entire commotion in Hokkaido. Tragedy brings people together in a way one would never expect, and their misunderstood bond had finally been revealed that day.

That was why Hanako knew that something was wrong with her best friend.

"Just what happened yesterday, Aia?" she tried asking her as they walked to school together as they always did.

"Oh, it's nothing, trust me," Aia smiled like she always did, nothing was wrong with that. However, Hanako still felt something off with it. "We just spoke to Kenta's parents for a while, and we returned. We've told them about the corpse, saying that the Speedwagon Foundation wanted it found, and they said they'd look into it."

"So… you just told them like that?"

"Kenta seems to trust them enough. I don't see why not, and they do seem like good people." She smiled again, and Hanako realized why this unnerved her so much. Aia never smiled this much. Aia was someone who chose to express herself through her outlook rather than her expressions, and her smiling so much did not agree with that.

"Um, sure. If you're sure you're alright," Hanako muttered, still not letting go of her concern for her friend.

The rest of their conversation was as normal as it could have been as they reached their class. The whole day passed by as it normally did, and yet Hanako could not let go of the concern she felt. She looked back at the other people who went with her that day: Reina's hair was as pretty as ever, Fumihiro still grumbled about how awful he was in his studies, Hyoudou still hung out with Asia far too much to simply call them friends. Nothing seemed wrong about the rest of the group, but it wasn't as though Hanako knew them so well she could tell.

However, Kenta seemed much more mellow than normal. He no longer jibed back against Noboru like he always did, he was far too quiet. Did he know something?

But nothing was wrong. Hanako finally admitted that she was simply imagining things, then resolved to squash those fears she had. She went to dance practice after class like always, she chatted with Aia like always, and nothing was different.

Truly, everything was normal.


Issei groaned as he stood up from a bench, stretching to relieve himself. The ambience of the Market Square always soothed him. The bustling commotion of the people enjoying themselves echoed under the roar of the fountain behind him.

"We're done, Issei!" Asia remarked, stashing away the rest of her fliers in her bag. "Rias gave me some time before she wants me to answer contracts."

"Seriously, that worries me way too much," Issei confessed. "Just what do these contractors make you do?"

"N-Not much, I promise! There's this one girl that dresses up my hair for me, she's very nice. Also, one person plays cards with me. There was this one boy who offered me clothes to wear, but I told Rias about it, and she forbade me from meeting him again…"

"See, that's what I'm worried about!" Issei groaned out. "You can't ask me to just let you go for this anymore!"

Asia looked down remorsefully. "B-But… Buchou wants me to do this…"

Issei had long since realized that he had a crippling weakness in Asia's puppy dog eyes, even if they weren't intentional. When she looked like that, he found all resolve to carry on dissipating. "… very well," he conceded. "In any case, want something to eat? I'm sure Raynare'll understand."

Asia frowned. "She won't be happy when we don't eat her food."

"We can always save it for tomorrow. Come on, let's have some fun!"

Asia's lip quivered for a moment, and then she firmly nodded. Together, the two set out for a good restaurant to go into.

"How about ramen? I don't think you've had that before, right?"

"… if you want that, then sure."

"Okay… um… what about burgers? You liked them last time, right?"

"They were tasty… but we'll go if you want to."

"… is there anything you want to try, Asia?"

Asia looked befuddled. "Huh? I just… I don't mind having what you're having, Issei."

"… okay… ramen, then."

"Sure!"

They walked into the ramen bar, Asia following Issei's steps as they both sat before the counter. Issei ordered a spicy special bowl as was his norm, and Asia asked for the same. Once again, Issei looked at Asia blankly, then back down at his hands. "Asia… you don't need to get everything that I'm getting, you know?" he tried to reason with her. "You can try things for yourself, sometime?"

"Myself?" Asia was taken aback by the request. "B-But, I don't know anything about any of this, Issei. I don't know what this is, so… I just want to try it with you."

"… alright, sure. Just know, it can be quite spicy."

"I-I'll try it!"

Nodding, the two waited a few moments before their bowls finally reached them. Steaming bowls of soup filled with a redder-than-normal broth, noodles and several toppings. Asia gaped at the presentation of the dish, while Issei smiled at her expression and picked up his chopsticks. Asia looked at his actions and picked up her own chopsticks as well, but they slipped from her fingers and cluttered on the ground. Issei widened her eyes at her mistake, finally realizing that she probably didn't know how to handle chopsticks yet. Before Asia could bend down to pick them up, Issei stalled her and pointed back at the utensil set nearby. "There are forks there too. I'll teach you how to use chopsticks later, for now, you can use that."

Asia looked back up at the tray, then back down. "But the sticks…"

"Don't worry, you don't need to use them. We can just throw them away once we get up."

"… okay."

At Issei's directions, Asia first took the soup spoon and scooped up some of the broth alongside him. Taking a sip, she jolted a little from the heat.

"It's good, right?" Issei asked, still looking down at his bowl and digging into the noodles. "I order this pretty much every time, it's the best thing they have on their menu."

Asia slightly shook her head. The broth quickly coated her mouth, filling it with an odd numbing. Wanting to give it a chance, Asia took another scoop of broth and tried it. However, in that spoon, she did not notice a red chilli being scooped up as well.

"I-Issei, I – "

"What's wrong?" Issei noticed Asia tapping his shoulder, only to realise she was desperately airing out her mouth. Alarmed, he quickly asked the chef for a bottle of water and immediately gave it to Asia. She eagerly drank out of it, calming her tongue from that errant chilli that had gotten her.

"So… you can't handle spice very well. Got it," Issei realized.

"S-Sorry!" Asia immediately bowed to Issei. "I-I'll still finish it, I promise!"

"… why? You can't eat it, right? We'll just ask for another bowl that's not as spicy."

"… okay."

Issei huffed for a second before resting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? Did you not like it?"

"N-No! I-I liked it! Look!" She dug into it with her fork that time, taking out some of the noodles and stuffing it into her mouth. Once again, her face turned extremely red and her nostrils flared open, but she still forced herself to swallow the noodles before gasping out in agony.

"Asia, stop!" Issei ordered her, handing her the water yet again. "Look, you don't need to keep eating, alright?"

"I-It's okay… sorry, Issei," Asia murmured once she finished drinking. Issei offered her a tissue from nearby as well, and Asia took it to freshen herself up. "But… but you like this, right? I want to like it too!"

Issei grimaced. "Asia… you can't enjoy this. Not with a low spice tolerance."

"I-I won't let that get in my way! I-I just…"

"…"

"… I don't want to be a bother…"

"You're not, Asia. I can promise you that."

Yet, Asia didn't meet his eyes. "It's okay. I can still finish this – "

"Sorry, but I won't be eating either," Issei refuted her. "Raynare's probably expecting us to eat tonight, right?"

"… right."

"Come on, let's head back. I can probably lend her a hand if we reach back on time, right?"

"… sure."

They stood up to leave, but they didn't move. Issei gestured to Asia to move ahead, so she gulped and walked ahead of him. Just as she slipped in front, however, she looked back at Issei. She saw him bowing in apology to the chef as he still laid out the money for their barely touched meals on the counter.


Aia: hey can we talk

Aia: in person

Aia: im at home

Hanako blinked in surprise at the request; she had not expected Aia to want to talk to her in person. They typically text each other throughout the day, but she's never asked to meet her face-to-face.

'Maybe… it's about how she acted today? She probably wants to talk to me about whatever was bothering her.'

Hanako shot back a text confirming that she'd be there before finishing getting dressed. She checked once more to confirm her light-blue hair was on point. Just before she left her room, she looked past her shoulder and noticed her MP4 Player still sitting by the counter. She probably didn't need it, she was going to meet Aia, after all. Still, her hands felt clammy without the device, so she still stuffed the small device into her pockets, albeit with the earphones on.

As she left the house, she looked up at the setting sun covered by the neighbouring houses. Huffing, she took out her bike and started pedalling to Aia's house. It was a shame that she lived pretty far away from her best friend; they lived in very different economies, after all. Aia's family was far richer than anything Hanako could ever hope for. In fact, that was exactly why she had made friends with her at first, even though their friendship grew deeper than that over time.

"Ah, Hanako?"

Hanako was taken aback by the recognition before pressing the brakes on her bike. Riding over the pavement to a stand, she looked back at the person who called her name.

"Sakuna?" she recognized their class president. "What are you doing here?"

"Nooooothing, just getting some new beans from a roastery. What about you?"

"Aia wanted to talk, for some reason. I'm headed to her place."

"Aia Ito, huh? Are you suuuuure you want to meet her?"

"… what do you mean?" Hanako cocked her head to the side. "Can't I meet her?"

"No, you can, it's just… haven't you noticed something… weird?"

Hanako pursed her lips. "I don't know what you're talking about, but that's still Aia. She's fine, I'm sure."

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Hanako blinked at the sudden question, then snarled at him. "Look, prez, that's my friend you're talking about. What's so wrong about her? What's your problem?"

Despite using a term that used to be insulting to him, Sakuna didn't lose that annoying glint in his eye. "You know, I've been able to 'read' people even before Aia got her Stand," he explained. "I'm not the only one who thinks that something is wrong with her. You should have noticed something by now."

"Could you shut up, already?!" Hanako yelled out, wildly waving her hand about. "What the hell are you talking about?! Aia-chan is Aia-chan, what could have happened to her?! She would have beat anything that tried to harm her, you can't tell me she couldn't!"

"And yet, you noticed something. I can already tell."

"…know-it-all," Hanako hated cursing, but there were times she had to do so. "Look, I'm done talking to you."

"You have your speaker, I hope?"

"It's an MP4 Player! And yes, but I won't be using it."

"We shall see."

Shaking her head, Hanako got onto her bike and pedalled away. Unseen by her, however, Sakuna pointed a finger at her. A green pulse moved through his arm and emerged as a small dragon that trailed behind the girl.

It took a little longer for Hanako to finally reach Aia's house. The sight of her house always amazed her, although surprising her was not a hard thing to do. The fact that Aia's house had three whole levels was enough to shock Hanako, who'd lived in a bungalow her entire life. Dismounting from her bike, she walked through the gate and knocked on the door.

"Ah, come on in." Aia smiled at her, once again stirring Sakuna's words to her in her mind. Shaking them off, she smiled back and walked in. Judging by the lack of office shoes at the entrance, Hanako could tell that Aia's parents hadn't returned yet.

"They're having a late night at the company, so it's just us for today," Aia said, giving Hanako the time she needed to remove her shoes. "Want something to drink?"

"It took me a while to get here, so just some juice, thanks! I hope you still have mango!" Hanako eagerly hopped into the house and went straight to the kitchen. In a few moments, Aia poured out two glasses of mango juice for both of them. Hanako eagerly took her glass and gave cheers to her friend before bringing it to her lips.

However, she looked past the glass to her and noticed her looking at her oddly. Blinking, she brought the glass down, slightly thankful that she hadn't drunk from it yet. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Aia shook her head before drinking from her glass. Hanako looked down at her own glass; she picked out the glass herself and Aia drank the same juice, so there was no chance of anything wrong being added. Shrugging, she drowned her concerns and downed her glass in a single gulp.

"So, what's up?" Hanako asked her best friend as she set her glass down. "You rarely ever call me like this."

"It's… something important," Aia muttered, looking down in concern.

"What's wrong?" Hanako's grin faded. "Did Ocean Eyes tell you something wrong?"

"… something like that." Aia drained her own glass of juice. "I lied about yesterday."

"…I trust you had a good reason to do so. What is it?"

Aia smiled. "Nothing fazes you, Hanako. It's what I like so much about you. It's also why I want you to join us."

Hanako blinked in confusion. "Join… wait, who's 'us'?"

"The Itawari household," Aia said, still smiling at her. "They were the ones who stole the corpse, after all."

A shiver ran through Hanako's spine; her hair stood up on its ends. Reaching a hand into her skirt pocket, she unplugged her earphones from her MP4 and turned it on. "Aia… no, who are you?"

"I trusted you would notice," Aia smiled and nodded. "I'm still Aia Ito, only… better." Aia's eyes blazed blue; her Stand was active. "You can turn on your music if you want, it won't stop what's coming to you."

Hanako stared at her once best friend in the eye. "What are you talking about? What's coming?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Aia pointed at the glass she had just drank from. "Itawari Pharmaceuticals had recently been experimenting with fugu. An attempt to repurpose its poison, although that was only a front."

"You… you poisoned me? But you drank that juice too!"

"I did, yes. I drank the poison as well if that's what you're thinking. Do I look scared?"

Hanako gaped at her for a while, then sharply inhaled and turned to the door. "Monkey Dance! 32nd!"

Play.

"They say oh my god, I see the way you shine~!"

The lyrics escaped her as she charged to the door. Aia made no motion to trail behind her, probably affirmed in her soon-to-come death. Hanako herself didn't know much about poison, especially Fugu Fish poison, but she assumed she had a couple hours left. Speeding herself up with her Stand to escape was the only way. It took her 3 32nd beats to reach the door. 1 to open it; it was already unlocked. The music carried out of the house as she took a few more beats to reach her bike, 1 to set straight, 1 to mount and from then 1 for each pedal. By the time she got on the bike, only one stanza of the song had passed.

Monkey Dance on the 32nd beat made her move much faster than anything she could perceive. One push down from her legs per beat was enough to send her wheels blitzing forward. The music from her MP4 kept playing, her making nearly 2 moves on her pedals with every syllable spoken in the already fast-paced song. She smelled rubber burning as she sped away from the Ito house, but she didn't care.

She had to survive.

She pulled out her phone, her pedalling now fast enough to ignore the handlebars. With every 32nd beat, she typed out a single letter of her text to the main 2-E group.

Hanako: aia poisoned me

Hanako: help

With a beat, she sent her current location to the group. Looking straight, she still kept pedalling. Monkey Dance would make it so stamina becomes a non-issue; the strobe effect of her movements turned everything mechanical. However, in a beat, her chest constricted.

'Already?!' Hanako began to choke as she kept on pedalling forward. 'The poison's acting up already?! Wait… Monkey Dance?! The poison is progressing every 32nd beat as well!'

There was only one thing she could do. She willed her Stand to drop the meter down to the 16th, then the 8th –

Her front wheel's rubber broke off, leaving it to skid dangerously on the concrete, emitting sparks at its speed.

Still, Hanako forced herself to keep her bike up. She couldn't let it fall yet. Once again, the beat must go down to 8. Then… then 4!

Hanako reached for her MP4 and slammed the Stop button, ending Monkey Dance's effect. She immediately felt the lethargy of her bike riding and the poison coursing through her, but she still willed herself to keep moving. Her pedalling slowed to a crawl, but it was all she could do to keep herself moving.

A black band manifested around her wheels, stalling them in place. Before Hanako could be thrown off, however, another band of black wrapped around her torso and pulled her back.

"Kogawa-san!" Issei Hyoudou of all people was the one who'd caught her, the band across her chest now dissolving into Beetles. Looking past him, she also noticed a terrified look on Asia Argento's face, although she manifested her green rings and was approaching her with them. Past them both, however, Hanako widened her eyes as she noticed a green Chinese dragon hovering over them, slowly fading away.

'Lucky You…' she recognized with a smile. 'Thank you, Sakuna…'

Now that she was in safe hands, Hanako had no problem finally falling asleep.


Stand User: Hanako Kogawa

Stand Name: Monkey Dance (inspired by 'Dance Monkey' by Tones and I)

Abilities: Move to the Beat. Whenever there is music playing, this Stand commands every person who hears the song to move as per the song's rhythm. The speed can be further controlled by the User by determining the meter of the song to follow. Physically unreachable beats can be accessed with this Stand as well. Additionally, it is good at restricting any fast-moving beings to manageable speeds.

Destructive Power: E

Speed: A

Range: C

Durability: E

Precision: A

Development Potential: D


A/N: There's a lot to unpack in this chapter, so I'll go para by para.

Since this entire arc will highly depend on the Class 2-E characters, I've decided to write out the entire 1-E incident as omakes in the start of every chapter in this arc. The real concern here is whether I will be able to fit all of it within the upcoming arc. To be fair, the actual battle will take quite a few chapters, seeing as we're dealing with over 20 characters here, so I'll have to do it Bleach style and split every battle up into different showdowns.

A few facts about the 1-E incident: I've learned that the time period I set for MCBA was entirely inaccurate. It should be before the culture festival, but I set it in February. Thank you, Persona 3 Reload, for letting me know that is wrong. Ergo, I'm unofficially retconning that date back to October-November and setting the 1-E incident during a Winter Break trip organised by the school. Why Winter? The Perfect Human messing with history. That's the perfect asspull answer for everything, after all.

Also, if anyone notices any inaccuracies with how I depicted Hokkaido, don't point it out. I know literally nothing about the region and I had to google how it is for tourists. That's how I know what I know now, and I'm not gonna accept anyone saying 'but that can't be in Hokkaido' or whatever bullshit you cook up.

Next, we're finally talking with Aniki. I know I'm leaving his name unsaid, but really, there's no reason for it. I can promise you that Aniki's real name gives no additional information to the story. He's an OC. In fact, I'll say his name here: Kaito Takahashi. Info on his Stand will have to wait until his official reveal, though.

You might have thought this interaction between Asia and Issei would have been for more fluff, but there's no room for fluff when there's plot. That entire scene in the ramen bar is actually vital to understanding the characters and how things will play out later. If you skipped it, go back and read it. Although my real question is why you'd be skipping sections like that.

Finally, the whole reason for the name of the title. Hanako Kogawa and Aia Ito. I've already established that Aia Ito was killed and resurrected by Gangster's Paradise last chapter, and that's what Aia tried to do here to Hanako. Anyone killed by the Stand or its User will be resurrected by the Stand, which means that if Hanako died to the Fugu poison, she would have been resurrected as Gangster's Paradise. That's also why Aia could safely drink the same poison. She's already dead.

What do you think of Monkey Dance? There's a reason why I emphasised the Aia-Hanako duo so much prior to this. Hanako controls their enemy's speed with her Stand, while Aia reads them in between beats and announces their next move with her Stand. Frankly, those two are ridiculously powerful together. They can even dodge large AoE attacks after Aia reads them and Hanako raises their meter to run away fast enough. Also, Lucky You comes to the rescue yet again. You might have already guessed what it is; Lucky You is just a legal way of adding plot armor. Batman, eat your heart out; Sakuna Hirose is here.

Right, that's all for the chapter. Hoped you enjoyed it and are willing to wait another year for the next. No, I'm just kidding, it won't take a year. I hope.

Review!


masteorias: Look, I don't really hate Issei, I hate how Ishibumi handled his story. Yes, I hate perverts, but I am aware enough to notice the good parts of Issei. I can say without question that Issei is not just some other pervert; he's an honest pervert with a go-getter attitude. Yes, honesty. He wears his heart on his sleeve and that's the most redeeming part of his character. It's what attracts girls to him. It's what sets him apart from the past generations of Red Dragon Emperors. The Issei in my story has lost that honesty, and that's fully intentional. That is something I will resolve in his character at the very final arc of the story, so you can look forward to that.


I'll see you next chapter!