"Is this for real? Man, you have to remember a buncha crap when you're an idol."

"It's nothing but learning new things, Saki-chan."

"Hey, me, me, me!"

"What's all the noise about, shrimpy?"

"My name's not shrimpy! I'm the shining star of the stage, Lily Hoshikawa!"

"…You wanna die?"

As per Kotaro's orders, the seven zombie girls are currently in the shed outside the mansion to practice for tomorrow's guerilla performance. They're not the only ones because Kakyoin and the boys are in the shed too. It is suggested three would go outside to guard the shed, but since they're in the safe zone, it doesn't seem likely a Stand attack would happen within the confines of the mansion. Still, as much as being in the mansion means they are safe, you'll never know when and where a Stand attack will happen.

After Lily did a little pirouette and a cutesy pose, Sakura glances at her and asks, "What is it, Lily-chan?"

"Before we start practicing, shouldn't we pick a 「leader」?" Lily suggested.

"Leader?" The redhead repeated.

"Yeah! Every idol group needs one, right? That way, they can make decisions and keep things moving!" She elaborated.

"In that case…" Sakura pointedly turns to Ai, remembering from Kotaro's words that she used to be Iron Frill's leader. Maybe she has the skills necessary to lead an idol group. "We should let Ai-chan take the lead-"

"That is not happening." Ai curtly refused.

"…Oh." Disheartened to hear it, Sakura drops the subject with a frown. Guess she's still conflicted to this day.

"Ahem."

"Hmm?"

Hearing someone clear their throat, Sakura looks up to see Saki standing beside the mirror, rising in attention. Everyone's eyes are on her, all wondering what she's doing there and why she got their attention to her.

"Umm…" Taking a deep breath first, Saki proceeds to reveal what she wants to say… through yelling so loud that Kotaro may have a competition in the shouting department. "I'M THE ｢KAMIKAZE SQUAD LEADER｣ OF ｢DORAMI｣, A LADIES' BIKER GANG FROM SAGA! SAKI NIKAIDOOOOOOO! GOOD TO MEET YAAAAAA!"

Not expecting Saki to yell so loud, everyone flinched or got startled as Lily, Kakyoin and Mamezuku covered their ears.

"I THINK THAT THE FIRST CAPTAIN OF THIS TEAM IS OUGHTA BE ME! SAKI NIKAIDOOOOOO! GOOD TO HAVE YA ABOOOOOOOOOARD!"

"Geez, we heard you…" Lily winced.

"And here I thought Kotaro is too loud for my own good…" Kakyoin sighed, thinking he must chastise Saki next. He hopes his eardrums are still okay, regardless if they may still be damaged while being undead.

"Anyone else wanna step up?" Saki questioned, wanting to see who wants to take the leadership role. When no one else did as confirmed by Sakura, she continues with a smile and thumbs up. "Then I've got this captain thing down! So what, are we gonna take over Kyushu first?"

"Hmm, I can see you being a captain or leader of your group, signora Saki." Bucciarati complimented, looking interested and believing she possesses a talent to be a leader of a group, whether it's a biker gang or idol group.

After no one objected to Saki taking the role of being a leader, Lily moved on and suggested this, "Next, I think we should settle on a name for the group!"

"A name for the group?" Saki repeated.

"Yeah! These two titles, ｢Death Musume｣ and ｢Green Face｣, sound so ugly…" The kid reminded everyone of Kotaro's atrocious names for the idol group. "None of Kotaro-san's ideas are idol-ish at all!"

"That's true…" Sakura concurred.

"Well, what do you think of this name?" Somehow their imagination kicks into overdrive when Lily does a flashy transformation dance similar to how girls in a magical girl anime transform into their magical forms. And also, like it's shown from Tokusatsu shows, six other Lilies appear besides the main Lily, all posing too. "｢Lily With Cutie Lily Magic｣!"

"Uhh, where's the rest of us?" Sakura asked with a confused smile.

"Damn it, shrimpy. Even your ideas are kiddy as hell," Saki agreed, shaking her head in disapproval. "A team's gotta have a name like this!" Holding a whiteboard marker, she writes her suggested name in kanji to the group, which reads "Wicked Rage Void Slackers".

"How do you pronounce that?" Johnny asked, sitting on a chair while leaning on the backrest.

"Jeanne d'Arc!" Saki proclaimed with a smile.

Unimpressed, Lily says, "Lame."

"It sounds fitting for any kind of group… except cute idols." Kakyoin pointed out.

"I think it has an impressive ring to it." Yugiri seemingly likes Saki's name suggestion, surprising Sakura, Lily and Kakyoin. The blonde in question feels proud when she hears her opinion, stating, "You got an impressive eye, Sis!"

"Well why not something along these lines, then?"

Yugiri writes the third proposed name for the group, which is…

"The Mibu Wolves? Hey, that might work!" She approved with a smile.

"No it won't." Lily disagreed.

Their imagination kicks into overdrive again as Yugiri, holding an umbrella with a moonlit sky as the backdrop, reveals some of her past to the group. "When I was alive, they'd visit me all the time when I was in Shimabara…"

"If I may…" Everyone turns to Kakyoin, who has his hand on his chin as he thought up a name for the idol group. He may not be well-versed with the idol business yet but that doesn't mean he's gonna sit here and not help them. "I have come up with a name for your group, Saki-chan. Would you like to see it?"

"Sure! Any contribution helps!"

With Saki's approval, Kakyoin wrote the fourth proposed name, which is…

"Stardust?" Sakura read out loud.

"Since you girls are needed to be famous in order to bring recognition to Saga, I think Stardust fit you seven, as you will be the ｢stars｣ of Saga whose fame will spread beyond the prefecture like ｢dust｣."

Sakura sees where Kakyoin is getting at, stating, "Ooooohh! I think that sounds nice."

"Eh… I don't know. It sounds like something shrimpy might come up with." Saki, on the other hand, disagreed.

"Hey!" The offended kid exclaimed.

Narancia stands up, wishing to suggest a name. He's been thinking about this name for a while and now, it's a perfect time to write it down. "Well, if you don't like that name, how about mine? I came up with it and I believe you will all like it!"

The fifth name of the day is revealed to be Intrattenitrice.

Since everyone except Bucciarati and Narancia knows Italian, they're wondering what the word means. "Um… What does that word mean, Narancia-han?" Yugiri asks.

"It means ｢entertainer｣ in Italian!" He answered. With his hands on his hips, he then asks, "Well? What do you think of the name? Sounds cool, right?"

"No, it isn't. It's a bit of a mouthful and on the nose." Lily deadpanned.

"Oh, really?" Narancia is taken aback over her answer.

"And that doesn't sound cutesy at all!" She stated. Wanting something different, she hops in place like she's throwing a tantrum as she shouts, "Lily wants something cuter, so come on, let me have my turn again!"

"We are an idol group after all, so we do need a proper fitting for the kind of entertainment we are working in…" Sakura said, standing next to Saki who's holding the marker with her upper lip. Suddenly, Tae snatches the marker from her, surprising her and Sakura.

"Oi, what are you doin'!?" Saki demanded.

As Tae tries to imitate what Saki is doing to the marker, Sakura tells the mindless zombie they need the marker to write proposed names for their idol group. The zombie naturally didn't listen, who then stared at the tip of the marker next after failing to hold it with her upper lip twice. Everyone is wondering why she is staring at it. Is she curious?

A few seconds pass and before everyone knows it, Tae bites the tip and sucks on it. "Mmmmm."

Surprised again, everyone is disgusted by Tae's action. Sakura reacted quickly, running to her as she shouted, "Tae-chan, you can't suck on that! It's really bad for you!"

"Miss Tae, please exercise caution!" Avdol follows.

We're already zombies, though. Some of them thought, seeing Tae wouldn't have any problem getting sick if she sucks an unpleasant substance like a marker. Speaking of the marker, amid the trio's struggle, it flew in the air and landed on Junko's hands. When Tae saw her holding it, she chased after it, and in turn, Junko. The poor girl could only scream in panic as she attempted to get away from the feral zombie.

Sighing, Kakyoin has Hierophant Green catch around Tae's legs to stop her. This causes her to trip, hitting the floor headfirst…

ポーッ

…which causes her head to fly off her neck and bounce up in the air.

"Uowaaaaaa…!" Tae exclaimed.

"Whoops! Didn't mean that to happen!" Kakyoins stated in surprise.

Tae continues yelling until her head lands on Mamezuku's hand already extended beforehand, like he projected where she'll land.

"Orgh?" She lets out, looking up to Mamezuku's analytic face.

Observing her expression closely, Mamezuku mumbled, "I see. Being reduced to a head doesn't do much to faze her, huh? It is like what happened yesterday. And her body…" Glancing sideways, he sees Tae's headless body saunter around, seemingly not paying heed that it's lacking a head. "…It's capable of moving around while headless. Again, it's like what happened yesterday."

"If you're done talking to yourself, can you put her head back?" Kakyoin, weirded out by his odd words, pulls Tae's body toward Mamezuku so he attaches her head back.

"I-Is she going to chase me again…?" Junko meekly asked.

"I'll make sure she won't. Besides, you should drop the marker as it's the reason why she chased after you in the first place." Kakyoin pointed out. The white-haired zombie promptly drops it so she can't be chased by Tae again.

While their antics are occurring the whole time, Sakura, Saki, Yugiri and Lily try to come up with a proper name and fast, because every precious second is wasted that should be used for practice. Sakura thinks of a name starting with the letter F and finds one, which is "Framboise".

"Framboise? Hmm, it sounds cute." Lily opined. But Saki writes the name in kanji that roughly reads "Rotten Chaos", causing Lily to wince. "I changed my mind! That name stinks when written like that!"

"Ya calling my writing stink?" Saki insinuated with narrowed eyes.

Then Yugiri says, "It wouldn't surprise me if we stink because we're zombies."

Her statement acts as a wake-up call for every zombie as they all have a look of surprise. They realize they haven't taken a bath for days, and barring that, the fact they were most likely buried after they died means they're gonna smell bad. Fortunately, after sniffing themselves and their clothes, they don't smell bad, prompting Sakura, Saki, Lily, Kakyoin, Narancia and Gyro to laugh. At least they don't have to worry about smelling so bad.

Continuing coming up with a name, Sakura stammers to find an appealing name, such as "Franchise", "French Bread" and "French… Cream Puffs".

"FURANSHUUSHUU!"

Alarmed by someone suddenly sneezing, they turn around to see Tae looking at her ink-soaked palms in confusion, unaware of some ink drooling from her mouth.

"Ew! The ink from before!" Lily squirmed.

"Was Tae sneezing just now?" Johnny asked, similarly disgusted. Tae sneezes again to answer his question.

"FURANSHUUSHUU!"

"Is she gonna be okay? She may be a zombie but…" Kakyoin inquired out of worry, only for Lily to interrupt him, her eyes widening in realization after catching on something hidden in Tae's sneezing. "Ohhh! Hang on a sec!"

"Huh? What is it, Lily-chan?" Sakura queried.

"You know what? I don't think she was just sneezing," Lily started explaining. When everyone looked baffled, she continued, "What I mean is… It's not just her sneezing."

Bucciarati guesses where Lily is getting at. "Is it the sound she was making?"

"FURANSHUUSHUU!" Number Zero sneezed again to prove his guess.

"Yes! That's right, Bucciarati-san!" Lily confirmed. "That's our group's new name now that we're reborn! ｢Franchouchou｣! That's the name of our group!"

Hearing the suggested name, everyone repeats it to get the feel of what Lily is going after. Tae stares at them while sniffing an ink hanging from her nose as Sakura exclaims, "That might actually work…!"

"Well now. That sounds lovely." Yugiri agreed with a smile.

"I know! It sounds super cute!" Lily added. "It's way better than Kotaro's!"

"Franchouchou… Franchouchou… Franchouchou…" Repeating the name, Sakura sees the appeal of it, stating, "The more you say it, the cuter it sounds! That's amazing, Tae-chan!" She praises her, who offers a grunt and a dull stare in return.

"Fran… chouchou." Saki writes the name on the whiteboard. In kanji again. As such, the combined kanji word and literal meaning reads, Rotten Chaos Stank Gang.

"No kanji." Sakura told her. One rewrite later, the name is in katakana, which now reads the same as it is pronounced.

"I guess we're doing this." With the group's name decided, Saki is ready to announce the following statement with valor. "Starting today, seven of us are going by this name, ｢Franchouchou｣!"

"With that, we will be able to get the dance and song number down!" Sakura optimistically said.

"Alright then! Let's go and practice our asses off for the performance tomorrow, girls! Let's do this!"

"YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!" Sakura, Yugiri, Lily and Tae shouted in unison, eager to start practicing. The sight of them didn't fail to bring smiles on Kakyoin, Avdol, Narancia and Gyro's faces, wanting to see if the girls have what it takes to perform the guerilla show tomorrow. Even Johnny and Rai feel like wanting to smile at the thought of witnessing the girls- no. Franchouchou's proper performance as full-fledged idols.

Franchouchou, huh? I wonder… Could my team have a name? Tatsumi didn't come up with a name for us yet, but I think I already came up with a name that is unique and fitting to our nature. Like we are reborn… I'll just have to tell the others of the chosen name…

Bucciarati's thought about his team's name doesn't detract him from noticing that not all zombies are on the same page as the five girls, as Ai and Junko's hesitant looks can attest.

"I don't think we can pull this off…"

"I guess we need more guts, huh."

"I thought I understood, but… dancing and singing are so hard."

Nighttime arrived faster than they expected, and currently they are all outside the mansion, specifically in a small park. Despite being determined to come up with dance moves and a song number this morning, Franchouchou hasn't done any significant practice at all, and because of this, Sakura, Saki and Lily are downtrodden.

Remembering how the Black Sabbath started, The five bodyguards, Kakyoin, Avdol, Johnny, Gyro and Mamezuku, stood near the girls and kept their eyes peeled for any sign of a potential Stand attack. Carrying this intention, Kakyoin deployed Hierophant Green to scout their vicinity and make sure their surroundings are truly safe.

While Yugiri inhales her kiseru with Johnny and Gyro on her side, Sakura, Saki and Lily are sitting on a carousel being spun by Tae as they lament the fact they're not making progress in their practice. At this rate, they won't be able to make it in time even if they spent the entire night rehearsing.

Kakyoin isn't blind to their worries and as much as he likes to help, he doesn't know where to start. Sure he knows idols sing and dance for the audience but the inner workings on how exactly they do it is something he's not used to yet. The same applies to Avdol and Mamezuku, the former sharing Kakyoin's thoughts and the latter inspecting Tae as she continues spinning the carousel.

In fact, Mamezuku is watching and observing Tae's actions the entire day. When asked why he is so fixated on her, he says it's for research on how different being a living human and a walking corpse are. He explains that he's an analytic type of person, which is how he's able to get one step ahead of appraising plants and dealing potential threats to himself and his job, be it an enemy Stand or something mundane.

What should we do? No one has any experience other than Ai-chan and Junko-chan. Sakura thought with a frowning look.

Lily and Saki continue looking miserable, until they notice the speed increasing courtesy of Tae. Sakura doesn't notice however. "Tae-chan?" Lily uttered in puzzlement.

We have never been able to pull it off in practice, and tomorrow, we have to do it in front of people? She continues in her head, not paying attention to the fact that her world is spinning faster.

"Whoa, hold up there! This is getting dangerous!" Saki exclaimed, getting off the carousel

"Don't wanna, don't wanna, don't wanna, don't wanna!" Lily blurted out as she got off too.

Noticing Sakura is too occupied to notice the carousel is spinning faster, Avdol says, "Sakura?"

If you think about it logically, there's no way it'll work. I mean, the idea of zombies being idols in itself is…

The carousel is reaching max speed as Saki, Yugiri, Lily, Avdol, Johnny, Gyro and Mamezuku see Sakura is still busy thinking to pay heed. Similarly, Kakyoin is not seeing this because he's controlling Hierophant Green and by the time he's done sweeping the area and concludes there's nothing amiss, Avdol gets his attention. "Kakyoin! Hey, Kakyoin!"

"Huh? What is it, Avdol?" After dispersing his Stand, he turns to the fortune teller, alerted.

But I need to know… I need to know what I felt when I went up on the stage for the first time!

Tae continues spinning the carousel with enthusiasm, getting hooked up doing it. But then she sneezes, of which in the process, abruptly stops the carousel with one hand…

…which the sudden halt in momentum sends Sakura flying in the air.

"W-What the…?!" Kakyoin exclaims, now realizing what's going on and surprised to see Sakura shoot up in the air from a carousel.

As they worried about Sakura getting flown in the air, they didn't see Sakura's smiling face as she remembers the way she jumped to the audience at the climax of her first performance. She lets out a laugh, happily feeling the adrenaline of remembering it the same way she did during the performance.

ドッゴォォン

"GAH!"

She cried out when she landed on the ground face first, her legs hanging up in the air.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura! Are you alright!?"

Saki, Lily and Kakyoin called out, running to the redhead. They watch Sakura pull her head off the ground, shake off the dirt off her head, before making a declaration to everyone present. "…I'm going back and rehearse some more!"

"Hey, are ya…?" Saki started, only for Sakura to interrupt her as she continued, "Saki-chan! Lily-chan! Tae-chan! Even us… Even zombies… If we work hard… If we don't give up, we can-!"

パァン

"Urgh!?"

Sakura whirls around to face her friends with a merry look only for Yugiri to suddenly slap her hard. As everyone is surprised to see Yugiri slap Sakura hard enough to send her skidding on the ground, the courtesan takes a few steps forward before saying, "Sakura-han! What happened to practicing? Even us… Even zombies… If we work hard… If we don't give up, I'm sure we can manage!"

Blinking in confusion, especially since Sakura is about to say the same thing as what Yugiri said, she stands up, stating, " But that's… That's what I was about to-"

"No Sakura. Big sis is right." Saki conceded Yugiri's statement.

"Eh…?" Sakura lets out.

"I think Yugirin snapped me out of the funk, too!" Lily joined. Sakura looks at the three sporting determined looks, intending to see their practice to the end. The redhead isn't feeling the same thing as them, though that's because she was slapped when she's about to say the same thing as Yugiri said.

As the boys look on, Kakyoin, after Avdol told him what just happened, wonders why Sakura didn't get off the carousel when Tae starts spinning it faster. And why hasn't she screamed in fright when she was launched out of the carousel? It's as if she's not good at paying attention to what is happening in her surroundings.

"Not gonna lie," Johnny said, somewhat impressed Yugiri has that kind of slapping power. "I felt Yugiri slapped me out of my thoughts when she slapped Sakura…"

"Uh huh. Remind me not to make her angry." Gyro stated warily, rubbing his cheek as if wanting to protect it from getting slapped.

Meanwhile, in the mansion's shed, Ai, Junko, Bucciarati and Narancia are lounging around near a piano waiting for the others to come back. When Sakura, Saki, Yugiri, Lily and Tae left after a failed practice session, Kakyoin, Avdol, Johnny, Gyro and Mamezuku followed them to make sure they're not harmed by an enemy Stand and not seen by anyone. With the two not leaving, the former gangster members opt to stay and look after them.

Holding her knees while sitting, Junko stares on the floor forlornly. She's not too keen on working with others due to her shyness and having worked alone when she was alive many years ago. As if sensing her despondent aura, Narancia sneaks some glances at her every second or so out of worry. He wanted to cheer her up as he doesn't like seeing her frowning face. If only Kotaro would come and, somehow, motivate her and Ai to start taking this gig seriously.

But seeing how the producer called Junko a loner after expressing her concern, an act he felt was unnecessary, Narancia believes it's not a good idea.

"They're taking a while," noted Junko. The three stayed silent as the girl continued speaking. "Yugiri-san went to get them and hasn't come back, either… Did they give up?"

"No, I believe they didn't," replied Bucciarati, turning to Junko, "Perhaps the difficulty in coming up with a song and dance number in one day is getting onto them. They must have gone outside to get some breather and think clearly on what to do."

"Well, even if they did, I think that might be for the best," Ai's eyes turn to Junko as she continues, "An idol act isn't something that can be pulled off overnight. Also, I don't think a hastily put together show is what an audience wants to see… Even if it's a rush job I think a crowd will appreciate it if it's sincere. But that's only an if." She further remarked, stepping forward to the mirror to see herself in the reflection.

As much as Bucciarati and Narancia want to comment, they cannot think of any words that could sway the two from their doubts. They know what it's like being a mafia gangster but being an idol is understandably out of their league. As stated by Bucciarati, the girls didn't give up practicing, just overwhelmed. If much effort and cooperation are put into practicing, they could get it done.

"All right! Let's get crackin'!"

Saki's voice rang near the door, indicating they had returned. They turn their heads to see Sakura kneeling on the floor for some reason. "We're gonna get this done by tomorrow!" Saki declared, eagerness present in her voice. That eagerness prompted her, Sakura, Yugiri, Lily and Tae to cheer in anticipation.

Not wanting to bother them, Kakyoin and the boys stand on the sidelines, awaiting their practice.

"One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!"

With Ai and Junko taking the lead after getting some convincing, the girls copy their moves as they follow the rhythm and beat of the music coming from the boombox. So far, they're doing the dance fine though it's not without any difficulty. Still, they press on as they follow the duo's moves, not letting the thought of failure get to their heads.

When the next step involved moving their bodies, Lily tripped. "Ow!"

"One, two- Ah, Lily-chan!"

Sakura rushed towards her out of worry while Narancia stopped the player when he saw her trip. Groaning, Lily says, "The movement in this part is way too hard!"

"You gotta put more guts into it!" Saki reminded her.

"I tried that already!" She retorted.

"No fighting, please." Yugiri reprimanded. Sakura lets out a nervous chuckle.

As if getting fed up with their apparent failure to keep up and having enough, Ai takes her leave, not even speaking up and only letting her act show what she's feeling.

"…I'm sorry." Junko soon followed, taking her leave as well.

As the girls look to the door in dismay, Narancia is seen walking to the door, prompting Sakura to ask, "Narancia-kun?"

Holding the grip, Narancia turns to address everyone why he's leaving as well. "I'm gonna go and accompany them. Just… try to rouse them up, somehow. I don't like seeing them so doubtful and hopeless."

"I'm going as well," stated Bucciarati, walking to the door too. "The two need some reproaching if they're gonna continue to be their skeptic selves."

Happy Bucciarati is on board, they left the room.

As everyone continues staring at the door, Saki says, "Sakura, even if we're the only ones who wanna try, we should keep at it." Smiling optimistically, she affirms, "Let's start from the beginning! I'm gonna roll the music!"

Outside, Narancia and Bucciarati didn't have to find the two for long because they saw Junko leaning against the wall and Ai walking away. Carrying on his intention, Narancia makes his presence known to the two. "Hey! Junko, Ai!"

"Oh? Narancia?" Junko lets out, apparently not expecting the two would go outside. Wondering why they followed, Ai asks, "What is it?"

"Err, well…" Rubbing his head, Narancia takes a deep breath before saying, "Are you gonna leave the girls in the dust like that? I believe they are doing fine rehearsing their dance steps as they follow the rhythm. I mean sure, Lily messed up one move but given enough tries, they may do it near-perfectly."

"And based on my brief observation, they are working together with no issue," added Bucciarati, stepping forward. "Perhaps you and Junko's contribution can be a big help to make them be better idols."

Tilting her head down, Junko sighs, replying, "I see what you're getting at, Bucciarati-san, but I don't think I can work with someone or a group together."

Remembering her words this morning, Bucciarati asks, "Is it because you performed solo before and not as part of a group?" Junko nodded.

"You think I'm gonna accept being an idol as a zombie?" Ai's stern words rang for the two to understand her skepticism towards being a zombie idol. "Kotaro's plan of saving Saga by reviving seven girls to act as idols is hysterical enough that it's not gonna work. Also, the girls are not gonna do the performance with only one day of practice, especially when they're all inexperienced."

"Not only that, but there's a chance an enemy Stand could ambush and attack some of us. The thought of it makes me scared over the possibility that I get killed…" She quivered in fear, remembering almost getting killed by Black Sabbath and its cold, tight grip it had when it captured her briefly.

"Hey, hey! It's okay. You two are safe as long as you have me, Bucciarati and the guys with you," Narancia assured them. "And if any enemy Stands do appear and lay a finger on you, I'm gonna make sure they regret crossing the paths with us!"

"…You will?" Junko inquired with a hopeful look.

"Obviously! I mean, that's the reason why Bucciarati, the guys and I are revived as zombies, right?" He reminded them. Hearing his words seemed to influence Junko as she felt comforted, even if a little bit.

At the same time, Ai tries to take her leave after saying her reason but she stops when Kotaro is blocking the door with a frown and arms folded. Feeling exasperated and annoyed at the sight of him, Ai asked, "What do you want now?"

"…A zombie that doesn't dance is just a regular zombie." He replied. The three noticed his presence when he said it.

"Being an idol isn't as simple as you're thinking." Ai retorted, still holding on to her belief zombies and idols don't gel well with Kotaro's crazy plan.

"What difference does that make?"

Getting a little frustrated, she exclaims, "I'm saying this can't possibly work!"

"…Do you seriously think that?"

Averting her eyes, she scoffs, "Of course I do…"

"Then why were you two 「idols」?"

Ai and Junko seem to be taken aback when Kotaro reminds them of their profession through a question. Narancia wants to say something, but Bucciarati stops him, looking at him and silently telling him this is between the two that they hopefully need to understand.

Not skipping a beat, Kotaro continues telling Ai and Junko that, "The others are zombies but they're trying to ｢live｣. That includes the Stand Users, Bucciarati and Narancia over there." The two look at them, none of them saying anything as they seemingly want the two to be reminded that, like Kotaro said, they want to live and take advantage of this second chance in life. "Are you just going to carry on rotting?" After finishing his reprimanding, Kotaro takes his leave.

Watching him leave, Narancia took a glance at the two and saw the words must have gotten to their heads. He cannot deny Kotaro is being a little harsh to the two but there are no hints of animosity in his voice. He wanted the two to not agonize over their status as zombies and doubt being an idol is going to fail. After all, they used to be idols when they're alive.

In fact, Kotaro asking the two if they're gonna rot as zombies they are or continue their occupation when they're alive reminds Narancia of the time Fugo found him scavenging garbage after getting an eye infection and his so-called "friends" left him in the dust after letting him take the blame over something he didn't do. After Bucciarati fed him spaghetti and took him to hospital, curing his eye infection three weeks later, he stated his intention to join Passione after discerning Bucciarati's motives of saving him only to be angrily scolded by Bucciarati to go back to school and live an honest life. When he did like he told him to, Narancia eventually realizes that he acted that way not only for his own good but also, refusing a young man like him to join a dangerous mafia.

Having found someone who cared for him, even if they had to be angry for their own good, Narancia chose to join Passione half a year later under Bucciarati, never regretting how his life turned out even if it ended up killing him.

Oh, and for the silver lining of his tragic past, Fugo did get to punish the drug-addled false friend when he returned to try browbeating him into giving him more money, which Narancia instantly rejected. Safe to say he won't miss him after he's beaten badly by Fugo, who remarkably showed restraint in not using Purple Haze to reduce him to a pile of rotting flesh and bones.

For now, he and Bucciarati take their leave by returning to the shed, leaving Ai and Junko alone to comprehend Kotaro's words.

To be continued

What changed?: I added that part about Narancia's false friend getting punished by Fugo. Hated that guy for framing Narancia and how he got away with that, so I disagreed and changed it. Thought it natural Fugo would be the one to deliver it since he took Narancia into Bucciarati's group despite his objections.

That'll not be the only one who had got their just desserts, as Giorno's birth mother and stepfather and Diego's father received their punishment later down the line. Not gonna go into details yet, just wanted to throw it out so I can be satisfied these pricks received their due and long-awaited karma.