Chapter 22: Itawari Pharmaceuticals (II)
Thankfully, the roof's door remained unlocked, which meant the 2-E members could freely enter the building. After descending a short flight of stairs, they found an opening on the floor beneath and no further steps leading beneath that. Having no other choice, they opened the door and stepped through.
Large tanks and machines surrounded them. The machines whirred in activity, revealing the electrical operation of the building beneath them. The air felt oddly humid to the group. Aside from the machines, nothing stood out about the place. The walls were gray and minimally painted, there were no quality-of-life aspects to the floor of the building operations. There were some windows left to bring in sunlight and the artificial lights remained on, but that was all.
"We need to find the next set of stairs," Azumi said. "Kenta should be further down."
"What about the others?" Hoshi added. "The zombies?"
"Don't call them that!" Hanako chided her.
"Look, ah know that you're worried about Aia, but we need to accept that she's one o' them now, right?"
Hanako bit her lip in frustration, not knowing what to do in that situation.
"What do you think these machines are?" Noboru asked, hoping to calm the air.
"Probably the basic machines used for any building," Azumi replied. "You know, chillers, generators, satellite dishes."
"What are those?" Daichi looked at his girlfriend.
"Don't you worry about it. They're just important things for the building, not that we really care about that now."
Daruma softly knocked against one of the machines, feeling its soft thin-metal body. "There's no point in someone as wonderful as me being here. We need to move on and find the others."
"You're right," Hanako said. "No way we can find Aia-chan by staying here."
"We're here for Kenta, you know?" Fumihiro said.
Hanako snarled at him. "You think I care about that bastard?! No, he did this to Aia. He can die in a ditch for all I care."
Immediately, the rest of the class turned to Hanako. "Kogawa-chan… are you certain about that?" Nyoko murmured.
Seeing everyone glowering at her, Hanako forced her head low. "I'm sorry to say such a thing, especially after what we all agreed on that day… but my best friend's life is at risk. I need her back."
*rumble rumble*
Everyone jerked out of their conversation and scanned their surroundings. "Anyone wanna bet that we're not alone here?" Noboru remarked with an uneasy smirk.
"Beetles," Issei commanded, immediately letting out one of his insects from his eye. The insect flew up into the air and watched the whole area. "There isn't much going on here… the only movement I'm seeing is from us."
"Keep that Beetle up for now, Hyoudou," Fumihiro said. "Kiyoshi, can you hide us?"
"S-Sure! Silence." With a toss of his brush, Kiyoshi immediately washed the group in the grey shades of Silence. Assured in their privacy, the group kept moving forward.
"There's not much point in that."
The group paused, immediately wary at the automated voice that blared around them. Summoning their Stands, they stood at guard.
"Susumu!" Kairi cried out. "Why are you doing this?!"
To their surprise, one of the machines in front of them split in half. Issei watched in shock as the metal sheets parted to reveal an endoskeleton of some kind slowly approaching them. However, it seemed that the others from the class were further on edge from the appearance of the robots.
"You dare use those robots, Susumu?!" Fumihiro cried out, balling his fists with Eye of the Tiger by his side.
"I used these robots as a sign of what you're putting us through," Susumu spoke through the speakers of the robot, his voice retaining a metallic tinge. "This is to show you how you are ripping us apart. Hanako Kogawa, for you to say such a thing against the class that you've united with…"
"I know what I said, but I'm not taking it back, alright?! I just… I just want Aia-chan back."
"There's no way back for her, Hanako. Didn't you know? She's dead. If you really want to be with her again, just let us kill you. You'll be with her."
"Why aren't we dead already, then?" Issei asked.
"Haven't I told you this already? Hayate's still waiting down there, waiting anxiously for the command to bring the building crashing down. We just don't want unnecessary property damage. This is our building, after all."
"… he's alive, then," Hoshi murmured.
"Tch, like I would ever lay claim to such a gaudy place for myself," Daruma chortled. "Only the grandest of castles are meant to bask in my presence, not this dilapidated building."
"You'll be speaking a very different tune once you join our side, Kaneki. Of course, once you join us, we can have all our members call you Kanpeki Danna as you deserve."
Issei cast a glance at Daruma, worried that such a prompt would tempt him. However, Daruma only snarled in response. "Hah. As if I would allow myself to be debased in such a way. I deserve to keep my humanity more than become a monster like you."
"… So be it. Different people have been sentried on different floors, with Kenta at the end of every populated floor in this building. If you wish to find him, you just need to go deeper."
"That simple, huh?" Daichi said, immediately pulling his Stand's hand back, aiming it at the ground.
"Thankfully, as this is an industrial building, the construction of these floors are durable enough to sustain any Stand's attack. I do believe that none of you are able to break these floors at all."
Not taking his word for it, Sleep on the Floor smashed through the floor beneath – but no, Daichi only shook as the fist was cleanly rebounded, leaving only a slight dent behind.
"Now we need to pay to fix that. Thank you."
"Haah, not the time to be sarcastic, you know?" Noboru countered.
"True. In any case, I will still attempt to bring you to our side. Even as you move down to the next floors, everyone in the way will try to convince you to join us."
"B-By convince, you mean…"
The sound of whirring caught their attention. Looking around, the group noticed more and more robots emerging from the machines, losing their concealment.
"We have already identified you through the lenses of these devices, meaning that Silence would be worthless to you. Moreover, the others under Gangster's Paradise share my skills, meaning they can see you as well. And yes, by 'convince' we mean to kill you."
Kiyoshi shivered, watching more and more robots emerge from the fold.
"Don't listen to him, Kiyoshi. Just keep Silence up for now, we'll figure out a way," Azumi said, immediately calling out a few green seeds. "Ophelia!"
Throwing them around her, vines immediately spurted throughout the machines, catching their limbs.
"Good carry, 'zumi! Sleep on the Floor!" Daichi's Stand immediately pulled a group of the incoming robots together and blasted through them.
"You guys go ahead, we'll keep these things away!" Azumi called out to the others, smirking while cracking her knuckles. "Honestly, this is just nostalgic, right, Daichi?"
Daichi grinned in turn. "Of course. We just need to find that exit."
"It's there!" Issei pointed in one direction. "Beetles has seen it already!"
"Good. Everyone, follow Hyoudou!"
Daichi and Azumi immediately took the lead, however, smashing through the machines and robots in their way, parting a straight path for the rest of the group to escape. The others immediately used the path given to them to charge through, with Issei calling out directions in between. Noboru, lagging behind and noticing a group of robots running after them, used Army of One to create a wall of clones to stall the robots and to push him forward a little more.
The exit was clearly marked by a green neon sign, suggesting it was the fire escape to the lower floors. "Check the stairs first!" Kairi called out, immediately making everyone pause as she took the lead and opened the door. Looking through for a short second, she charged through, giving everyone the sign that they were clear.
The group descended the dark steps as the door closed behind them, while Daichi and Azumi stayed guarding the door. As Noboru's clones had all faded away, all that was left was them, the door and the army of robots against them.
"Yeah, this really is like old times," Daichi said, grinning as Sleep on the Floor manifested above him, its arms immediately slamming against each other in glee.
"Let's do this, Daichi!"
"Got your back, 'zumi!"
Unsurprisingly, they found that the stairs past the next floor was broken. Fumihiro made to jump down, as he could see that the stairs from the floor below them was fine, but another one of those honeycomb-like barriers that kept them from attacking Homura earlier stopped them from moving through. In the end, they had no choice but to open the door to that floor, facing whatever laid within.
The floor was rendered barren. The marks from several desks and chairs were on the ground, but none of the actual items remained. It was clear that they were in an executive hallway of the building as there were more glass-shielded offices around and the now-missing seats had enough space between their leg marks to resemble sofas more than desk chairs, but even then, the floor remained barren. To their right, they immediately noticed the elevator whose meter remained on the ground floor.
"So, the lift probably worked, then," Nyoko murmured.
"Maybe, but it's still good that we didn't take it," Kairi replied, moving to the elevator door to inspect it. Briefly knocking on it, she frowned as she found another honeycomb-like shield atop it. "I probably could have used this if I posed a challenge to that guy in the ground floor."
"Would your ability work if you were dead?"
"It's the spirit of the challenge, goddamit!"
"Don't expect these folks to be honorable," Fumihiro countered them. "They are trying to kill us, after all."
"… are they, though?"
Fumuhiro scowled. "And what do you mean by that, Hanako?"
"Look, I know we need to stop them, but…" Hanako softly bit her lip. "Is this really so bad? Sure, we will die, but we'll still be together, right?"
"I don't know about you, ugly Hanako, but I refuse to let my wonderful self rot."
"Isn't that the problem here, Daruma?! We just want to keep ourselves alive, even though these people have a better option. It just… it doesn't seem so bad to join them."
"You're only saying that because you don't know the consequences of something like this," Issei retorted. "You may want to join them, but there will always be a rebellion from others, the least of which will be from other humans who don't want to be enslaved. In the long run, Itawari-san's Stand will only lead us to ruin."
"So, what are you saying, ugly Hyoudou?"
"I'm saying that if we nip the bud here, we can stop this from causing death and destruction across the world. In the end, we may end up losing people we care about… but at least it's just us who will lose. Nobody else will be thrown into this hell."
Hanako scowled. "Then why the hell should we care about others?! I don't care about any of that, I just-"
*thud*
Once again, they were interrupted by an estranged sound. Looking to the opposite end of the room, they found someone entering the floor from the stairs right across from them.
Hanako hissed upon seeing her head of pink hair. "Aia-chan…"
Aia Ito smiled upon seeing them. "It may have only been a day, but I've missed you all."
Fumihiro snarled. "That's what you say after poisoning your best friend?!"
She sighed. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Hanako, but I needed you to be aware of us somehow. Merely telling you about us would not have brought you here like this. The only way we can seriously have you turn to our side is by showing you just what we are capable of."
Hanako seemed to shrink in on herself with every word that Aia said. She looked out the window, not willing to meet any of his friends or much less Aia in the eye.
"I know you've heard this spiel already, but we're not trying to hurt you," Aia continued. "We just want you to have a painless death, after which you can join us. It will be as simple as going to sleep."
"If you know that, you already know our response, yeah?" Fumihiro barked back, summoning Eye of the Tiger. "Then why aren't your eyes cloudy already?!"
Aia sighed. "Listen… you don't want to do this. As part of Gangster's Paradise, each one of us can use the Stands of others among our ranks."
Immediately, a series of guns popped out of the walls, all training at them.
"A combination of Janice's Heat Seeker and my Ocean Eyes alongside Susumu's iRobot… this is not something you'll find easy to defeat. For your sake, please surrender instead."
"Like I said before, it's nowhere near that simple," Issei immediately retorted. "Even if we all surrender, at some point we will all be killed."
Aia crossed her eyes, suddenly letting them be hazed by the signature clouds of Ocean Eyes. "I know that you are somehow involved in something deeper… but are you certain about this not working?"
"Humans themselves are extremely powerful, even without Stands. There are also forces in that world that are greater than humans."
"You mean God?" Daruma snorted. "Grow up, ugly Hyoudou."
"With what I know… God would only be one of our worries."
Aia hummed. "You're not lying… but whatever it is, collective humanity will be able to defeat it. I'm looking forward to learning more about whatever this thing is once we kill you."
Suddenly, one of the guns shifted angles. Issei barely managed to put up a shield around himself to stop the fired bullet from hitting him.
"Shut the hell up, already!" Fumuhiro cried out as he rode atop Eye of the Tiger, charging at Aia. Aia merely stepped away from the incoming tiger and had one of the guns fire a bullet at its legs.
Aia was about to face the others while Fumuhiro grunted in agony, only to involuntarily freeze.
"You may be ugly, but I know you'd have expected this already," her voice spoke from her mouth alongside Daruma's. "Creep."
Despite not being able to do anything, the guns on the walls immediately shifted angles, facing another person. Issei immediately sent out his Beetles to Daruma to protect him, but the guns aimed at another person instead.
Nyoko cried in agony as the bullets fired through her. She slumped to the ground, and despite her agony, everyone only remained confused at the choice. This was made clear as the red mist of Blood in the Water immediately grew out of her, manifested into the vampire like Stand and diving at Aia, who she knew was responsible for the attack. Aia, still paralyzed by Creep, was forced to stand still as it approached. Just before Blood in the Water made contact, Daruma let go of Creep to keep himself from being affected. The stand easily stole the injured parts from Aia, but the girl hadn't even bat an eyes as portions of flesh were consumed from her body. As the Stand returned, the group watched Aia regenerate the lost flesh as though nothing had happened.
To their shock, more bullets were fired against Nyoko as she stayed down. Blood in the Water manifested yet again to steal from Asia, only for the cycle to continue.
"None of this matters," Aia insisted as Blood in the Water stole from her yet again. "Don't you see how far out of your depth you are here? You can destroy every part of us and we'll be able to recover in moments, while a single fatal blow to any of you would render you dead. Isn't it better to just give in?"
Crying out, Hanako immediately threw herself at Aia, hugging her just as Blood in the Water departed. Shocked by the contact, the guns stilled, finally allowing Nyoko to recover normally.
"Stop this, please…" Hanako murmured. "Aia-chan… please stop."
Hanako hadn't seen it as she remained within Aia's chest, but the others noted her reaction to those words. Her eye oddly twitched and her arm jerked, almost as though something else was trying to take over her. Despite that, Aia only hung her head low. "I can't stop, Hanako. I'm sorry."
"… then take me."
"What?!" Noboru cried out in alarm, with everyone else understanding what Hanako was suggesting.
"Leave everyone else alone, Aia-chan. Just… just let me join you. Please… kill me."
Aia's whole body jolted under Hanako's embrace, stunned by what she was saying.
"… I can kill you, but I can't leave the others. My orders are to turn everyone to our side."
"Just… please, can't you do this much for me?!"
Aia's hand immediately rested behind Hanako's head. "Don't worry, Hanako. You'll understand why I'm saying this once you join us."
"… she would have done it, you know?"
Aia's eyebrow quirked up.
"The real Aia-chan. She would have accepted my sacrifice. You claim that you have some bigger reason, but I know Aia-chan. If I asked for something like this, you would have accepted it for me. If there was any part of her left in you, you would have accepted my sacrifice."
"~They say oh my god I see the way you shine~"
"Monkey Dance."
Immediately, her body stilled. Hanako pulled away from her, revealing how she now scowled at her while all her motions moved according to the beat of the song. Aia's body remained still. She immediately withdrew into herself to activate iRobot and Heat Seeker, only to find that the guns weren't working. In shock, she wasted her next movement beat by looking around to find what happened to the guns on the walls.
Issei Hyoudou stood by one of them, smirking as Beetles returned to his arm, leaving behind the smoking remains of the barrel.
Meanwhile, Fumihiro Sasaki ran at Aia, having Eye of the Tiger bite into her torso and ripped it off clean. While her torso began to regenerate, Fumihiro punched her in the face, making sure her next movement beat was only her being pushed away from them.
Her body rolled on the ground several times, all still going to the beat of the song, until it stilled. Yet, her body remained immobile due to the song of Monkey Dance. Aia immediately grit her teeth. She and Hanako always worked well together because they were able to cover each other's weaknesses. Hanako would allow her to perceive the world at her own pace and move faster than anyone else, while she would provide the firepower by reading any weaknesses in a person's frozen form. However, Hanako maintained her advantage in firepower while accompanied by the other Class 2-E members, while Aia remained all alone with her additional contacts from Gangster's Paradise rendered invalid. Reading the room, she could tell she was at a disadvantage.
She immediately used Ocean Eyes to watch Hanako, identifying when her next beat would come. As soon as it hit, she made to jump at her, only for Hanako to cry "Now!" at that very moment. Despite her jump, Aia found that her feet remained stuck to the ground and her body remained frozen.
"Creep," her own mouth said, making her mentally groan in frustration.
"Aia!" Kairi immediately called out. "I challenge you! Try and move a single step for the next five seconds!"
Therein lay the power of Kairi Maki's Stand, Aia noted. She preached so much about fairness and sportsmanship, and yet she wasn't shy to make cheap wins like that. Naturally, being trapped by Creep, Aia wasn't able to fulfil the conditions of that challenge.
As soon as the song enabled her to, Kairi continued. "Champions. Tell me if you've installed any more guns in this building."
On the next beat of the song, Aia found herself free by feeling her mouth move. "No." Taking that chance, Aia immediately charged at Daruma who was closest after pulling out a knife that rested in her hip, only to find her grip slackened after a loud bang and a piercing pain on her wrist, making her drop the knife.
"I've got enough ammo to keep her at bay," Hoshi said, immediately reloading her gun.
Aia quickly recovered from the gunshot, letting her regeneration take care of the wound, only to find her form frozen yet again. Her body moved unbidden, making her look right at Daruma. Ocean Eyes gave her nothing more of value. Still moving with the beat, Daruma and Aia turned around and walked away from each other by a few paces.
"We'll stay here for now," Kairi said. "That is me, Hoshi-chan and Narcy. We'll extract as much about these guys from her before we join you guys. Hanako-chan, you can move on with the others."
"No," Hanako refuted. "This may not be Aia-chan… but I need to stay here with her."
"Stop being an idiot, Hanako," Kairi chided back. "We've got more to do before we can get Kenta back, and we need all the firepower we can get. Narcy and Creep are with us, you're better off working with the others instead."
"She's right," Fumihiro replied. "We're a team, Hanako. I understand you want to be here, but we need you more. Please, come with us."
Hanako looked at the other members of the class, all urging her to join the group instead of staying behind. She sighed as she turned off her MP3 player.
"Let's go, then."
As the rest of the group left, Kairi turned back to Aia. "I challenge you to move in the next 5 seconds." Once she failed it, Kairi carried on. "Who are they going to face in the next floor."
Aia smirked as she felt Creep leave her. As she moved to Daruma again, she spoke. "Another 2-E member will attack them next." It was Hoshi's well-placed bullet that kept her from striking Daruma.
"You mean Reina-chan?! They'll be fighting her next?!"
Aia smirked just before Creep took over her. They certainly had no idea what was happening.
Pain was awful. Despite her dereliction for getting hurt, Nyoko Omori despised feeling pain. It was why her darker side always emerged when someone hurt her. She could never just sit by idly as someone else wailed on her. No, a large part of her would demand retribution. That was probably the reason for Blood in the Water's existence.
Despite how her Stand kept her safe, she hated it. She hated how she had to be hurt to trigger her Stand. She hated how her classmates began to see her as the tank of their team, with her being able to survive any injury and even find the ones responsible. Back there, when facing Aia Ito, what exactly had they done when those bullets fired at her? Nothing. They all knew her Stand would help her, so they didn't bother helping her at all. They left her to succumb to her injuries, only to face that pain yet again as soon as she woke up.
As much as she wanted to, however, she couldn't blame them for it. That was her Stand ability. That was her worth. She had the ability to take any fatal hit, so she was supposed to use it. If she were someone else, she would have said the same thing about Nyoko Omori.
And yet, being killed hurt. She could never change that. Even as Class 2-E moved down to the next floor which resembled another office space, her skin tingled from all the skin and flesh she'd absorbed from Aia. Her Stand terrified her. Just how much of her body was still her?
"Who do you think we'll be facing here?" Issei Hyoudou wondered out loud. "Endo-san was with them too, right?"
"T-That's not all… I've been wondering about this," Kiyoshi Nakajima said, slightly shrinking in on himself despite wanting to speak. "That ability we saw on the ground floor, with the shields and the immunity to Stands…"
"That guy must have put those shields up between the stairs to keep us from just jumping through," Fumihiro reasoned. "We should be lucky we're not facing that."
"No, but you heard what Ito-san said, right?!" Kiyoshi barked out. "T-They can use each other's Stands… so why haven't Ito-san or Hino-san used that yet? They could be immune to everything we throw at them… so why aren't they?"
Nyoko shivered at that. If Aia Ito had used a Stand like that once she killed her… would Blood in the Water even work with something like that in the way? Would she still be alive? She nervously paced around the room, trying to keep the though off her head.
Hanako glowered. "You're saying… she could have resisted everything we did?! We need to go back, then! The others are in danger!"
"No, there might be some kind of restriction to it," Issei reasoned. "Why else would they just take our attacks like that?"
Despite the argument, Fumihiro walked back to the stairs they came from. Unfortunately, he found yet another honeycomb shield placed right over the door, keeping them from going back.
Noboru scowled. "This is suddenly turning into a dungeon crawler, huh?"
Issei looked at his phone as well. "… no reception, either. They've covered their ground."
"Phones at a moment like this are a bad idea," Fumihiro said.
Hanako started to breathe more audibly, frantically looking around in alarm. "We need to go back! We need to save them some-"
"We can't, Kogawa-chan," Noboru said with a soft frown. Ignoring the way she began to scowl at him, he continued. "As Hyoudou said, we don't understand this ability yet. Can these shields be only placed at one location at a time? Then we must keep someone at one place to keep the shield active there."
"We should try that, then. Try to trigger to shield at the same time," Fumihiro reasoned. "There's 6 of us left here, so we can easily split up and get this verified."
Nyoko nodded in understanding as everyone discussed. However, she maintained her pacing around the hallway, feeling her nerves catching up to her. She navigated in between the desks, briefly inspecting each one. After all, if anyone were to be hurt from any surprise attacks, it would be best if it were her.
Nyoko stopped at one of the desks. She didn't really understand why, but she opened the drawer on the desk. There was a kitchen knife within. Despite her internal protest, her hand closed around the weapon.
"Stop!" Nyoko suddenly called out, making the rest of the group look at her turning against them with that knife in her hand. "I'm not doing this! What's going on?!"
"Something puppeteering us?!" Fumihiro wondered, summoning Eye of the Tiger in response. "Nyoko, just hold on! We need to find whatever's doing this!"
Nyoko found her feet moving to the rest of her friends, her knife hand raised threateningly at them. She gagged as she felt her flesh twitch against her will. It was almost as though two parts of her were fighting against each other, but the thing controlling her was quickly taking over.
Suddenly, the knife came down on her own heart. Nyoko gasped as she felt the searing pain of the injury as well as the flush of heat that came from internal bleeding. Her throat remained caught as she tried to find some respite in the horror-striken gazes of her classmates, but there was none.
Blood in the Water emerged once more. For some reason, it hadn't gone away from her body. It took from Nyoko's own flesh to restore her heart, rendering her arm stripped clean. As soon as Nyoko woke up, she cried in agony upon seeing her missing arm –
But no, it was growing back. Even without Blood in the Water, the stump of her arm slowly grew back, eventually returning back to normal. Once restored, that same arm went back down to pick up the knife yet again.
"No… she's infected by Gangster's Paradise," Issei realized upon seeing the unnatural restoration of her arm.
"H-How?!" Kiyoshi cried out. "She can't be killed!"
"No, but she takes the cells of anyone that tries to kill her," Fumihiro realized. "And if those cells were infected by something in the first place…"
Noboru scowled. "So, when Aia started to randomly fire at her…"
Nyoko screamed as the knife was plunged into her yet again, only for the same action to repeat. As she stood up for a second time, Nyoko squinted in expectance of another injury on herself. However, her body began to walk closer to the others, making Nyoko shriek in worry.
"We can't fight her!" Hanako cried out. "That would only kill us!"
The last 5 of them immediately ran around Nyoko through the different rows of the office. Nyoko scrunched up her eyes, only to open them in alarm yet again.
Her body immediately threw itself at one of the drawers and pulled out a large set of throwing knives. Her hands began throwing them at the group. Issei quickly set a thin shield of Beetles around everyone, knowing that those knives wouldn't be enough to break it.
However, just as they reached the stairs, Nyoko began to run after them. They all knew that if they took the stairs, Nyoko would just follow them down to the next floor.
"There are knives in all the drawers!" Nyoko called out for the others as her body opened yet another body and took out the knives inside.
"This is stupid… but let me try!" Noboru cried out, forming two clones with Army of One. Each clones went to drawers and pulled out individual knives, and they both ran after Nyoko. Before Nyoko could act with her own weapons, they simultaneously plunged their knives into her chest.
"You idiot!" Hanako cried out as Nyoko fell to the ground. "Why would you do that?!"
"She might target the clones instead of me," Noboru muttered. "At this point, we don't have the luxury of just testing things. If I die… just go on ahead."
"Goddamit!" Hanako cried out just as Blood in the Water emerged from her. The Stand cast furtive glances at each clone, but to their horror, it chose to ignore them. It immediately moved towards the original Noboru Iwata.
Noboru smiled as the vampire-like Stand approached. "You guys go ahead. Just… don't let this be for nothing, alright?"
The group and the two clones watched in horror as the vampire plunged through Noboru's body. Noburu's breath hitched as two stab wounds appeared on his chest. As Blood in the Water left, Noboru fell to the ground, crying out in agony from his wounds.
He then vanished in a flash of blue.
Noboru's clones blinked. They looked at each other, confused about what exactly was going on. They reflexively held their hands onto their chests, only to be surprised that the wound was no longer there. The original had died, so… why were they still alive? Moreover, why did the original vanish like a destroyed clone?
Looking at Nyoko Omori as she stirred, grins grew on the two Noboru's faces. Immediately, each of them created five more clones, filling the hallway with more of him.
Nyoko opened her eyes only to see Noboru Iwata leering over her. That was odd. Her last memory was of being injured by him. How was he still there?
"There's no original," one of the Noboru's said. "We're all clones. It doesn't matter if you kill any one of us. The only way you can kill us is by killing every one of us. You can't do that, Nyoko-chan."
Nyoko's arms came up and stabbed the Noboru speaking to her. It vanished in a flash of blue.
"There's no point," another Noboru said as he stabbed her in the back. "Don't worry, Nyoko-chan. We'll override all those dirty cells in you."
'How creepy', Nyoko thought just before falling down and summoning Blood in the Water again. The clone that stabbed her gave up its flesh happily before dissipating, allowing Nyoko to awaken to see more clones being generated by Army of One.
"Not even Blood in the Water can tell the difference now," Noboru realized.
"Man, shouldn't we be kinda scared about this?"
"Nah, bro. This is helping, isn't it?"
"Yeah, bro, you're right! Let's fix Nyoko-chan, shall we?!"
"Sorry, Nyoko-chan," another Noboru leaned down to Nyoko only to be stabbed in the face and vanish.
"We'll have to kill you a couple times," another Noboru said before being killed as well.
Nyoko felt a knife in her heart right after that. "I'm really sorry for hurting you," another Noboru whispered into her eye. "Just tell us what parts of you are left to rewrite. We'll make this quick."
As Nyoko fell yet again, one of the Noboru's turned to the rest of the group. "Don't dilly dally, ya'll! Go on. I'll help out Nyoko-chan and I'll follow after you."
"… are you okay, Iwata?" Hanako murmured, only seeing the clones fill the room. "You're not under Gangster's Paradise, are you?"
"Honestly, at this point I don't think I can be put under by that thing," Noboru chuckled. "Tell you what. I'll come with you. We're all clones, after all. I'll give you the numbers you need."
"And Nyoko?" Fumihiro countered.
"Just me," Noboru clarified. "I'll make more clones for you if you need me to. The other clones can stay here and help Nyoko instead. This'll keep me from dying, too."
Issei took in a sharp breath. "You scared us there for a second."
Noboru grinned. "Guess it turned out well in the end, right, bro?"
Kenta Itawari sat with his mother in her office. While one might think this was a casual 'Bring your child to work' day, even a cursory glance at the situation would say otherwise. For starters, they were all alone at that floor. His mother seemed a little too happy to be there all alone, while Kenta remained with a haunted look on his face.
As much as he hated to admit it, Gangster's Paradise made a good decision in not telling him about its existence. One of the first things that Ichika Itawari gave him upon entering the office was a set of binders filled with names and identities. Upon inquiry, Ichika said that all the binders were full of people that have been converted by Gangster's Paradise already. Seeing the number of people under his control nearing the thousands… Kenta still felt the urge to throw up. The worst part was the names he recognized. People he knew from the Itawari Pharmaceuticals office. His old bullies and anyone that belittled him in Hashira. He even noticed the girls he'd developed a crush on in the past. There were so many other names that concerned him, especially the major Diet members and even one or two billionaires.
It was that sight that made Kenta lose all thought of rebellion. Even if he ran away, Gangster's Paradise was everywhere. While he stayed content within Class 2-E, his Stand was gaining enough influence to establish a new world order in his name.
What worried him most, however, was the next steps. The Stand needed a means to convert a large number of people into their members. Singular murder was not going to do it anymore, it needed something bigger. However, with the resources it has gained access to, it became far too easy to force conflict to occur.
World War 3. That was the plan. With the administrations Gangster's Paradise has taken control of, it will be able to declare an unnecessary war on fellow global powers. The death and destruction wrought by the wars to come would slowly turn everyone into thralls of Gangster's Paradise.
And yet, Kenta could not escape it. He may be at the head of this operation, but he couldn't stop the dice from rolling as he wasn't holding the dice in the first place.
Ichika remained positive while explaining such a horrid future to Kenta. What worried him most, however, was the part of him that was eager to claim the world for himself. The part of him that didn't care for the mass sorrow and suffering because it meant his own eternal pleasure in the future. He wouldn't have to do anything to sustain himself at all. Since the people would become immortal, all the issues that plague humanity can be easily eradicated. A momentary period of suffering in exchange for eternal happiness. Was that really so bad?
Kenta shook his head in frustration. He couldn't ever forgive himself for thinking that way. Only if he could actually stand up to Gangster's Paradise. Whenever it spoke, he could never get a word in. It was almost as though that Stand was forcing its own perspective onto him, thinking it knew best for him.
Ichika stood up, making Kenta jerk up. "They're here," she said, sending a shiver to run through his spine. His classmates. People who were willing to die for him just because they considered him to be part of their family. How were they doing? His mother told him about Susumu Hino voluntarily joining them, but how about the others? Were they all still alive? He wished they were, but after seeing how Aia and Reina treated him afterwards, a treacherous part of him wished they fell to the same curse.
The door to the stairs opened, and Kenta's heart leapt into his throat. Five. There were only five of them left. Where were the others? Dead?
"… Kenta," Noboru said, his perpetual grin fading. That was the first time Kenta heard Noboru address him by name and not some derogatory term. Kenta looked away in shame, only for his mother to stand in front of him.
"You've all done well to get here so quickly," Ichika said with a soft smile. "At this point, we're expecting you to not simply give in anymore. You all are fully set on escaping us, yes?"
"Escaping?!" Hanako cried out. "We don't belong to you in the first place! Just… just why are you doing this?!"
Ichika cocked her head. "Ichika Itawari had committed so many sins against her dear son… is it so wrong to want to give him the world instead? We want this Paradise for our master… and we're willing to have anyone in our way join us. I hope you understand that."
"Argh, shut up already," Fumihiro groaned. "We know how fucked up you are in the head already. We don't need any more confirmation of that. Oi, Itawari! Can't you get these guys to stop?!"
Kenta shrunk in on himself yet again. He knew how headstrong Fumihiro was… but he couldn't match that enthusiasm in his current situation.
"It won't work…" Kiyoshi recognized. "He has no control over this."
Kenta looked down at his chest, only for a black shape to phase out of his chest. He stumbled back as he found a black knife hovering in midair, once again going through him, only to phase through his body yet again.
"… this is why the outsider shouldn't have joined," Ichika said, turning to a now snarling Issei. "That knife was made by your Stand, right? Unfortunately, I'm protecting my son, so your Stand won't be touching him."
"That shield Stand…" Kiyoshi muttered. "It's yours?"
Ichika giggled. "Yes, of course! Anything to protect my darling son!"
Kenta immediately clutched his chest, looking horrified upon seeing Issei. That knife made of Beetles was aimed to kill him. Seeing his glance, however, Issei grimaced and hung his head low. Mouthing a soft 'sorry', Issei ran at Kenta, immediately summoning a horde of Beetles behind him. Fumihiro charged behind him as well, getting on Eye of the Tiger, while Hanako pulled out her MP3 and Noboru began splitting into clones.
However, just before Issei could reach Kenta, a yellow honeycomb barrier appeared right in front of him, making him slam onto its surface and slide down. Regaining his bearings quickly, he formed a Beetles ball to explode the barrier, only for a second barrier to collide against him from the left and push him through the whole hallway. Issei hugged the barrier to keep his bearing, only to wince as the opposing wall closed in faster and faster. Looking to the side, he barely noticed another fire exit before his prepared Beetles ball to explode the door. He threw himself at the new opening, barely escaping the claustrophobic trap he was caught in.
To his surprise, the other members remained in the floor, with them all getting caught by Ichika's walls. Issei slammed against the opening he'd made, only to find a barrier stuck against it. He threw another bomb ball at the wall, only for it to do nothing at all. Moving to the side, he threw another bomb ball against the concrete wall. To his shock, the wall only dented under the impact of the bomb. Issei frantically threw bomb after bomb against the wall, hoping to eventually break through. However, another honeycomb appeared atop the crater. Issei slammed uselessly against the barrier, immediately understanding that any further attempts would only lead to more of the same.
Gritting his teeth, Issei left the wall and stormed down the stairs of the fire exit. His next best choice was to find openings from beneath that floor. Moreover, the stairs to the upper floor were broken and barricaded with that same honeycomb, leaving him with no other choice than going down.
The next floor was an odd one. The floor was completely clear, almost as though this were a floor that wasn't meant to have anything in the first place. The windows were all boarded up, keeping any light from entering the hallway. The only source of light was a singular lamp in the distance.
However, Issei didn't pay attention to any of that. As soon as he left the door of the stairs, he created another bomb ball and threw it at the ceiling. To his shock, the ball froze in place right before colliding with the wall. Issei noticed some kind of crystal forming around the ball.
"Did you seriously not notice me here, you damn pervert?" Issei balked; he thought he was all alone there. Looking ahead, he noticed a familiar head of silver hair, now flowing down free unlike how she always set it in some unique way. Her grey eyes narrowed at him with her brows furrowed, placing a nasty look onto her naturally pretty face.
"Just how blind of an idiot can you be?" Reina Endo, the so-called second strongest of Class 2-E casually walked to him without even the slightest hint of fear. "I'm the only thing here, how have you not seen me?!"
"… I don't have time to waste on you," Issei remarked, looking up. "I need to stop him."
"Uh, hello? I'm part of Gangster's Paradise too?" Reina chuckled. "You're standing against me and you're asking me to ignore you? How stupid."
Issei quietly formed another bomb ball in his other hand and threw it at Reina, hoping to blow her up so he could have time to break through to the top floor while she regenerated, only for the ball to freeze yet again with that same crystalline body forming outside it.
"Oh, and now you attack me?!" Reina cried out, nearly frothing at the mouth. "Oh, how stupid are you… Listen, pervert, you can't defeat me. Your Stand is terribly weak to mine. There's a reason why Ichika sent you to face me alone."
Issei scowled. "Oh? Why, do the others stand a chance of defeating you?"
"No, no… I have a hard time holding back. The others can get a chance to voluntarily turn, but you were never part of that. We only want you to die painfully."
With a shrug, Issei noticed a white figure creeping through the ground under her feet. Reina held a hand out to him.
"Diamonds in the Sky."
The white figure that lay flat on the ground, which Issei recognized as Reina's Stand, immediately charged at him. Not wanting to experience whatever that thing had in store for him, Issei jumped into the air, using his Stand to support him in the air. The Stand simply passed under him without emerging into the air, and Issei smirked at the escape.
But his body wasn't moving. Something was covering him. He couldn't turn his neck. Something covered his vision, turning it white. His body fell to the ground and he barely noticed how his arms, still in front of him, were now covered in crystal.
Issei felt something shatter inside him as he fell to the ground. The crystal over his face was covered in red. He gasped in agony as the crystal faded from him, leaving him free to look down. His legs were nearly snapped in half after the collision with the ground, there was an unnatural concave in his stomach and his right arm was just… gone. He breath hitched as he looked around and found the crystal seeping away from his severed arm a distance away from him. Issei cried in agony as he clutched his stump with his other hand, hoping to stall the blood, only to feel another wad of blood escaping his mouth from the exertion in his chest.
"Don't you see, Hyoudou?" Reina emphasized. "You can't defeat me here. Just give up and die, already."
Issei made sure to keep his breaths short and immobile while glaring at Reina. "I can't…" Issei muttered. "I won't…"
Reina watched with a mild interest as Issei forced himself to a stand. Something filled the concave in his chest, and despite Issei's sudden cry of agony, his chest appeared to return to normal. Black straps emerged around the wounded spots of his legs, bracing the bones together as he stood up. He still gasped in agony as he put his weight on his damaged legs, only to continue glaring at Reina before spitting another wad of blood on the floor.
His eyes were sunken, his vision was spinning. The blood loss and pain was getting to him much more than he'd care to admit. He barely managed to keep further injury from his movement by setting Beetles over and under his wounds, but that wouldn't help him for long.
No, Reina was too powerful for him to only use his Stand for.
"You wanted to know… just what other things you'll have to face, right?" Issei didn't know how he could talk anymore, but the words still emerged. Looking up at Reina's raised eyebrow, Issei forced a bloody grin. "I should stop holding back, then. I need your help, Ddraig."
"BOOST!"
With another cry of pain, Issei slammed the Boosted Gear against the ground, shattering the ground and jumping down to the lower floor.
Asia Argento wondered why she was so unlucky. Every time she took a turn, something would happen to keep her from going that way. Be it a car veering off course and colliding on the pavement, a collection of falling debris, or anything. Nobody was hurt from the incidents, by God's – ow! – grace, which meant that Asia didn't have to spend too much time healing the others. In fact, she was able to ask some good people for help. It was surprising how willing people were to provide you directions to a place you barely knew. All she knew was that its name was Itawari Pharmaceuticals, and yet these strangers were so willing to help her. Thanking them all, she went in the direction they supplied.
Soon enough, she found herself seeing a building with the name Itawari written on it. It was still a little difficult for her to interpret kanji, but at least there was an English version of the name written as well. Even then, she could recognize the kanji used for the name. She smiled, thanking Issei and Rias for having taught her.
'Issei…'
The boy quickly grew to be a close friend, something she'd never expected to have, and yet sometimes… she felt like she couldn't be a friend to him. Issei had done so much for her already, but what had she done for him? She lightly bit her lip in frustration. She thought she could be of help to him somehow in that fight they were going into, but Issei insisted that she stayed behind.
But if she simply stayed still, just how could she pay Issei back for everything he'd done?
She didn't understand what being a friend meant. Lately, her heart seemed to beat faster upon seeing him. She always thought of that day where he taught her to fly… but why couldn't he fly with her? She felt happier when she was with him, so why was he keeping her on the ground?
Why… why couldn't she soar into the air by herself? Why couldn't she follow him?
"Argento-san?" a voice called out. Blinking, Asia looked up to see another one of their classmates, Chimon Tabata, approaching her. She barely knew him, only having seen him in Issei's house the previous day for the first time, but she bowed at him.
"T-Tabata-san!" she addressed him in Japanese custom. "I-I'm looking for the others… I want to help…"
Chimon grimaced. "Yeah, I know what it's like. It hurts to not be able to do anything."
"… are they…?"
"Inside? Fighting? Yeah. You can't see it out here because of Kiyoshi's ability, but the building is in pretty bad shape by now. If we can't fight, it's best we just stay out."
Asia bit her lip. Everything around her was telling her to stay put… and so she wanted to. She could stay with Chimon and wait for everyone.
But then… where would she be? She'd never wanted to fly before, but Issei taught her how to. The thought of it crept into her idle mind. Was she succumbing to the Devil by wanting to help Issei?
Would that even be such a bad thing? She was a devil, after all.
Asia licked her lips. "I… I want to try going inside." A shiver ran through her body. She'd never done something like that before. It made her jittery.
Chimon shrugged. "Suit yourself. Just… be careful. I don't want to face your boyfriend if you end up dead."
"B-Boyfriend?!" Asia felt her face flush. She knew the term; it was thrown around quite generously in the church despite its noble origins. A precursor to husband… who was Chimon talking about? Issei? Her husband?!
That… didn't sound so bad. In fact, her heart pounded faster upon thinking of him in a tuxedo, putting a ring on her finger.
Asia shook her head in frustration. It wasn't the time to think of things like that. "I-It's okay! I promise I'll stay safe…"
She walked past the shroud provided by Silence only to gasp at the state of the building. The sign she'd read was completely taken off by a vertical shear running through the concrete. A number of people were just lounging by the building, seeming far too casual despite the decrepit state of the building.
"They're all part of Gangster's Paradise," Chimon explained. "Don't bother with them, they won't hurt you."
Asia warily looked at all of them, while they quickly came to terms with the new person there. Upon looking at her, however, they all grinned.
Ichika seemed to perk up as she set more shields around her son's classmates. She turned back to her son.
"Good news, Kenta-kun! Your darling Asia-chan is now here!"
A/N: You know, this is the problem with writing original stories. You can take the story pretty much anywhere. This means that there are too many variables to keep track of, which leads to certain variables being forgotten. This leads to plotholes that readers would be able to correct, only to lead to my personal embarrassment. Moreover, there will be a bunch of people saying 'why didn't they do this' or 'that' - ok, shut up. I get it. There are a million ways I could have written this chapter, but this is how I did it. I get that it's not realistic for the 2-E members to stay alive for so long in this place. I get that Ichika's Stand is far too OP for me to have left it out for so long, just as I described in the Nyoko section of the chapter. I get that Aia could have done a much better job against the others. I get that having a nuke in the form of Hayate Chiba on their side isn't good for the team. I get all of this. I don't care, though. This is how I wrote this chapter, so just suck it up already.
This chapter was long and pretty droll in the early parts, I know. I did my best to make it more interesting later on. Conflict shouldn't really exist for no reason, but this whole chapter is more of a setup for the general conflict that Gangster's Paradise has caused. This is just discussing the minor issues and the way that Gangster's Paradise operates.
I hope that at this point, the OC characters are all recognizable by name. I don't want to keep on giving full names and Stand names to keep people in the know, although I'll probably still do it. God, writing this story and managing all these characters is way harder than I imagined. It hurts that I'm able to edit a dialogue tag and have the dialogue fit automatically. Sure, it's less work for me, but it does mean less characterization for the actual characters.
I did ask people what Reina Endo's Stand Diamonds in the Sky is inspired by earlier. I'll leave you with the answer to that. Vitamin C from Jojolion.
Anyway, let me know what you think. I'll see you next chapter.