Chapter 21: Itawari Pharmaceuticals (I)

Although anyone could tell, no one would admit it. Their only chance of victory would also be their loss.

Oddly enough, Issei learned of this idea from Raynare. Once the others of Class 2-E left his house, leaving Issei, Asia, and Raynare behind to clean up, Raynare pulled Issei aside and confided in him.

"The only way to stop this issue is to kill that boy who showed up today," she harshly revealed, making Issei shiver. "If he can resurrect people who can die over and over, the only way to end this issue is to kill him."

"… why didn't you do it?" he managed to ask through his dawning horror.

"The whole point of my being here is to restore my trust with the Grigori. Killing humans, especially a seemingly innocent one I can't report the crimes of because of you, would be another black mark on my record."

Issei frowned, looking back at the table where Asia was stowing the last of the cups. "That hasn't stopped you before."

Raynare groaned. "Call my actions reckless back then, if that's enough. You showed mercy to me when we last fought. I'm telling you this because you don't have that luxury here. That boy's power is out of control. If Azazel-sama were here, even his solution would be to put him down as painlessly as possible."

"That's not fair," Issei grunted. "He's – "

"Human?" Raynare finished for him, smirking. "What? Can't bloody your hands a little?"

Issei kept scowling at the Fallen Angel.

"Look, I know it's difficult," Raynare's grin fell, surrendering to Issei. "Even if it was millennia ago, I still remember my first kill. We Fallen Angels had an initiation before entering war; we would be presented with a prisoner on death row, irrespective of race, and we would have to kill them. I had gotten a yokai that tried stealing from Azazel-sama." Raynare's eyes closed, her expression turning morose. "Even today, I remember the tiny details of his face. The little tremors he had behind that gag on his mouth. The constant whining. It was almost like… whatever part of me that remained an Angel died that day."

Shaking her head furiously, Raynare shot her look back at Issei. "In any case, stop being a wimp. You're the Red Dragon Emperor. This won't be the last time you'll have to do such things, especially to ones you call close. Best to rip the bandaid off."

"You're talking about taking another life like ripping off a bandaid?" Issei chortled. "You really don't get us humans then."

"You're right. I don't." Raynare shrugged. "You lot switch generations in the blink of an eye, you think your little issues of land and food are so worldbreaking it demands mass murder, and you barely make any impact on the world as a whole."

"Our generations are what make those impacts," Issei retorted. "Even a single life lost would be significant."

"And yet you treat life so carelessly. Even the Devils were disgusted by Adolf Hitler's actions."

"Yes, well, we are too!" Issei yelped back. "Can we just stop talking about history and talk about why I need to kill Itawari-san?"

Raynare shook her head. "You're the new one in that class. A single look at those people you call classmates and I could tell that they don't know how to spill their own blood. They don't have the stomach for it. You do."

Issei silently growled. "I've never killed anyone before."

Raynare blinked rapidly. "What? You haven't? Not even another race?!"

"What the hell do you take me for?!"

Raynare's expression fell into exasperation. "Right… you're human. One would think the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation would have killed someone though."

"Kill?" Another voice called out, revealing to be Asia peeking in on them past the corner of the kitchen. "Kill who?"

"Asia – it's, um…"

"You don't need to worry about it, Asia," Raynare added, turning back to Issei. "And you. You may not have done it before but consider this your initiation. I would have brought you a prisoner for safety, but we don't have time for that. You need to kill that boy tomorrow. If you don't, then it'll become our problem. I know you don't want this exposed."

Issei scowled, looking away from the two of them. "… I'll think about it. Right now, I need some sleep."

Nodding, Raynare turned to Asia. "You should sleep as well. You can help me in the house tomorrow."

Asia frowned but nodded. As Issei walked up the stairs, Asia took a moment to look at his back wistfully. Raynare, who'd just picked up a mop, paused upon seeing Asia before setting her mop down.

"Issei cares for you, Asia," Raynare said nothing that Asia already knew. "You know he's only keeping you here to protect you."

"Mm… it's just…" Asia gripped the edge of her skirt. "I wish he could rely on me a little more."

Raynare looked up at the stairs. "Will you show him that you can be reliable?"

Asia looked away, trembling.

"Look, we'll talk about this tomorrow, alright?" Raynare groaned. "Sleep on it for now. Hopefully, you'll be alright tomorrow…"

Issei tugged at the ends of his unfamiliar getup. As advised by the rest of the class, Issei wore the Alliance High School uniform provided to him the previous day. The combination of beige, red, and blue was much more fitting than one would think. Sasaki's siblings did a very good job as the dress fit him properly. It only felt uncomfortable because of how stiff its new fabric was.

It didn't take him long to reach the vicinity of Itawari Pharmaceuticals. His bike slowed to a stop as a sound filled his ears. Upon seeing him join the group, Kiyoshi Nakajima closed the boundaries of Silence behind him. Looking behind, he saw Chimon Tabata simply waving at him, staying well away from the line of fire due to his inability to fight, albeit staying there because he still belonged to Class 2-E.

"This is so creepy…" Daruma Kaneki remarked with a shiver, none of his ever-present narcissism now seen.

"That'd sound weird comin' from ya, but I get it," Hoshi Eguchi frowned at the reaction of the employees. "This just ain't right."

The entrance to the main building of Itawari Pharmaceuticals was full of employees applauding at the presence of the group of high schoolers.

"Class 2-E, right?" A woman wearing a suit approached them and looked down at a notepad upon seeing them all. "And… yep, that's all! We thank you for accepting our position here at Itawari Pharmaceuticals!"

"We're not here for an interview, you braindead whore," remarked Fumihiro Sasaki, cracking his knuckles in fury. "We're here to meet Kenta Itawari. I already know he's inside the building, my Stand can still sense him."

"Yes, our leader is currently in the building," the women bowed at them. "Hopefully by the time you reach him, you will finally see reason and join his cause."

"You mean kill us, right?" Daichi Bushida grumbled out. "Azumi, that's what they mean, right?"

Azumi Ahame kept her frown despite how she'd usually chuckle at such a comment from her boyfriend. "Yes, Daichi."

"We'll show 'em, then!"

"Aia-chan! What about her?!" Hanako cried out at the suited woman.

The woman cocked her head mirthfully. "Of course! She's in our hiring team within the building right now. We all trust her to convince you to join us."

Hanako gritted her teeth and leaned ahead, ready to pummel the woman for speaking of her friend like that. A hand in her way stopped her, though. "Soooo, you're telling me…" Sakuna Hirose dropped his hand and walked up to the woman. "This 'hiring team' is the people who can kill us and have us combine with Kenta's Stand?"

"That is one way of describing it, yes. We prefer to say that – "

"No, we're not interested in your perspective. Is there anyone from the hiring team here right now?"

The women didn't mind the interruption in the slightest. "Everyone here is cheering for you to join us because they are part of us. They haven't gained the privilege of joining the hiring team with Mr Marker's initiation."

"Marker's initiation?" Nyoko Omori wondered out loud, despite remaining behind the rest of the members of the team.

"Isaac Marker's Stand ability," Kairi Maki enlightened her. "He can imbibe the properties of anything he's seen on anything if he has a model for it. He's seen a Stand Arrow before the Alchemist destroyed them all, which is why this is such a high-profile issue. This was in our report."

"So, these guys can give people Stands?" Issei wondered, crossing his arms. "Yeah, we can't let that get out."

Hanako hissed, training her eyes on the higher windows of the skyscraper before them. The sight of the height to reach her best friend became more and more daunting as she gazed at it.

"So, Kenta's inside, right?" Hayate Chiba called out, grinning despite the grim situation. "That makes this pretty easy. Oi, Danna, remember our talk yesterday?"

"Certainly, Ugly Chiba! This 'Kanpeki Danna' will certainly keep an eye out for him."

"He's in the upper floors!" Fumihiro called out to the two of them. "Break the lower ones and cave in the walls. Be careful, Hayate, don't kill him."

Hayate frowned at the reminder, but nodded, pasting an uneasy grin on his face. "No problem! That's why I've got Danna here, after all!"

"Sorry, what's going on?" Issei questioned, turning to everyone else who seemed to be nodding in understanding despite looking worried.

"The most surefire way of smoking out Kenta," Sakuna whispered. "Is by destroying the building holding him. Don't tell them, but I've got Lucky You placed on them to help."

Issei wanted to reply, but Hayate stepped ahead, approaching the team of zombies who were still clapping. "Time to go Giant."

The wind kicked up, fluttering everyone's hair. To Issei's surprise, the wind pooled around Hayate's limbs, condensing into extended limbs across his arms and legs, raising him further into the air. The air compressed even further, expanding the figure into a white mass of mist that finally formed a large torso around Hayate and large, bulky limbs towering over all other people on the ground. It took a while to reach there, but the Giant soon became 15 feet tall by the time it was done. Oddly enough, the whirlwind it was causing wasn't pulling in any of the people around him. Outside of the wind catching their hair and clothes, nothing else was pulled into the suction of Hayate's Stand.

"Tch," Daichi murmured. "I hate that Stand."

The Giant stepped ahead, stepping over the still applauding employees. Issei revolted as the people were crushed underneath, turning into splatters of blood, but once the Giant moved on, the blood coalesced back into the form of the same people, still applauding at them as if nothing had happened to them.

"So that is Kenta's Stand," Azumi scowled. "It's a shame that he had to be stuck with something like this."

Hayate finally approached the vicinity of the building to bring it down. The Giant raised its arms to the side with its forearm straight, intending to shear through the whole wall to expose everything inside. Looking back, Issei saw Daruma raise his arms, ready to take on any pose Kenta might use to freeze him in place. However, looking past him, he noticed another student of 2-E raising their arms at Hayate's Giant.

Susumu Hino glowered as he aimed a fist at the wind Giant. With a boom, his fist blew out of his forearm and shot ahead at the Giant. To everyone's surprise, the mechanical fist blew up within the gusts of the Giant, and the streams of wind were overtaken by a raging firestorm, trapping a screaming Hayate within.

It wasn't noisy anymore.

Turning into a zombie wasn't as bad as Susumu had first thought. As someone who'd already renounced his own humanity due to his fears, ending up in service to someone else wasn't as bad of an issue as he'd thought.

He could feel in influence Gangster's Paradise was having on his mind. A level of affection for Kenta Itawari filled his mind, rendering him willing to do anything for him. He was already considering android models for Kenta to take over when he became too old to survive. As for the transference of souls, that is something he could learn by studying his own Stand. With the collective intelligence of the entirety of humanity, especially Haku-senpai's intelligence and Stand by their side eventually, he knew he would find a way to render Kenta immortal.

What mattered at that moment was helping his other friends see things that way.

Watching the wind giant formed by Hayate Chiba burn due to the extra oil he'd filled up in that fist, he knew that by the time the giant came down, Hayate would be burned to a crisp. As it was Gangster's Paradise's soul that killed him, he too would be taken over. He could notice his friends becoming enlightened to the situation, immediately turning to him and summoning their Stands in response.

"Susumu?! They got you too?!" Fumihiro cried out, Eye of the Tiger snarling by his side. He'd always been the most emotional one among them despite his outward appearance. Those scars below his eye came from protecting them, after all.

"I'm not really supposed to kill any of you, you know?" Susumu spoke honestly. "I was told to only do it if you broke out of the plan we've set for you."

"Plan?" Hanako questioned. "What plan?"

"Everything we've done so far is to guide you to join us willingly. We don't want to cause you undue harm because of who you are to Kenta, and to us. Hanako, despite everything, Aia doesn't want to cause you any pain. She just wants to turn you to our side as painlessly as possible."

"So, you want us to surrender?" Daruma snarled. "You clearly don't know us, then. To think we called you family."

"No, I know you well enough to know you wouldn't just accept out of nowhere." Susumu shook his head. "We're trying to show you how hopeless this situation is. You will be turned to our side anyway, isn't it better that you volunteer instead?"

Hanako snarled. "Aia poisoned me."

"And she regrets it. She hated having to hurt you, but we had to introduce ourselves to you in some way. It's also why we sent Kenta to you yesterday; it was to affirm this fact."

"And Reina-chan?!" Hoshi cried out. "What about her?!"

"While she didn't have a pre-determined role and was killed mainly because she was there that day, it does help to have one of your strongest fighters on our side. Moreover, she eventually followed without argument after learning one thing. The same reason why I joined as well.

"Kenta can resurrect the ones we've lost. He can bring back Yuko-chan. Noboru, you'd want to know that he has plans to resurrect Hana as well."

"What…?" Noboru staggered away, recoiling at the thought of his crush coming back to life.

"Just look at Hayate, there." As he pointed in the direction of the building, Class 2-E was shocked to see the Giant having fully faded, revealing the cremated corpse of what used to be Hayate Chiba. To their shock, Hayate's blackened skin was slowly regaining color.

"Why did he have to be burned in such a way?" Susumu said, earning him the horrified looks of everyone there. "We have euthanasia shots with us. If you surrender, we will turn you with a simple injection. You would only gain from joining our side. You would see the birth of a new world, one filled with nothing but peace. Conflict would be a thing of the past. Overpopulation would have been a problem if it weren't possible for people to die as soon as they were ready to move on. There would be no resource management issues, as nothing would become necessary anymore. You would be immortal in a completely happy world, and you would see those who were unfairly taken from us returned to you. As you're all close friends of Kenta, you would all be placed higher in the social hierarchy as well. To a Paradise like that, how could anyone say no?"

The members of Class 2-E remained silent. They had no idea how to respond to something like that. The sight of Hayate's regenerating skin stalled any voices of dissent among them.

A Paradise such as that, wasn't that worth fighting for?

"Sounds like nothing but a lie," said Issei Hyoudou. "Do you really think there would be no consequences to this? Do you think the only warring Faction in the world is humanity?"

The applause stopped, introducing an eerie silence to the area. Susumu scowled. "And what would an outsider like you have to say about it, Issei Hyoudou?"

"I may be new to this class, and I may not know what it's like to lose someone close to me like you all. But this won't end as easily as you'd think. There are higher powers in this world that you would not rival against. Races that would gladly destroy humanity on a mere whim."

"What powers are you talking about?"

Issei balled his fists. Despite speaking about them, he still did not want to directly mention the Supernatural. He still held onto hope that 2-E would escape this situation.

Moreover, he didn't want to think of a reality in which Gangster's Paradise learned about the supernatural. He didn't want to see them infecting those involved with other races, learning and sharing their secrets and magic, and incurring more war amongst themselves.

Seeing his silence, Susumu merely pointed his fist at him. Just as plates parted from his wrist revealing a primed ejectable fist aimed at him, Kenta suddenly froze. The hissing on his wrist stalled as he set his arm down, an odd smirk taking over his features.

"Creep." Both Susumu's voice and one behind him spoke. Looking back, Issei was shaken to see Daruma Kaneki holding the same pose as Susumu. "I don't know what that guy is talking about, but I agree with his first point. You'd be living a lie, that's all."

Issei could see the conflict in Susumu's eyes. He could tell that Susumu wanted to keep speaking but was forced to remain silent under Creep's hold.

"Everyone, into the building," Sakuna spoke up, snapping everyone out of their daze. "Susumu won't follow us if we go in. He'd rather stick to that plan of theirs, I'm sure."

2-E immediately rushed to the building behind them, ignoring the now glaring regular employees on either side. Hoshi moved to pick up Hayate's healing body, but a firm clasp on her shoulder from Kiyoshi and a shake of his head discouraged her from continuing. Tears in her eyes, she followed the class, leaving her friend behind.

Meanwhile, Daruma walked into the building as well. As he had to turn around, he made Susumu's android body walk away from them as well.

With a ping, the sliding doors closed behind them, and the click of a lock sounded. Daruma took in a sharp breath, finally letting go of Creep. Looking through the glass, Susumu only looked back at them and nodded, not bothering to approach them.

Despite them being safe from immediate danger, nobody said a word. Hayate's death and Susumu's betrayal were fresh in their minds. Moreover, some of them couldn't help but consider the points Susumu raised. Would it be so bad to simply lay down their arms and accept this change?

"Look, it's best not to listen to what that guy said, alright?" Issei said, wanting to break the doubts surfacing through everyone's minds. "Who's to say the guy isn't lying, either? Susumu Hino is dead; that guy is just an imposter. And keep in mind, he killed Chiba-san too."

A tremor rippled through the group, resting their doubts into scowls. Yet another one of them was now lost and they barely entered the building. This was not going to be an easy job.

"But… how'll we stop this?" Hoshi spoke up, twiddling her twitching thumbs. "Gangster's Paradise isn't going to stop. Even if we find Kenta, what will we do? Kenta said he can't control it, right?"

"That… is an issue we'll tackle later," Fumihiro replied. "For now, let's - "

"No, we cannae continue withou' an answer! What'll we do?!"

Once again, the group stilled at Hoshi's question. Issei balled his fists and turned to them. "If it comes to it… I'll do the job."

"What… what are you talking about, Issei?" Azumi asked, warily raising her eyebrows.

"You know what I'm talking about. I'm the outsider here. I won't have so many… restrictions… as you all. If I have to… I'll be the one to end Kenta's life."

The anger in the group resurfaced, only now targeted at Issei instead. However, they were still at a loss for words. Out of them all, Issei was the only one who could offer a solution, no matter how awful it seemed.

"But, wait…" Hanako stammered. "If you kill Kenta… what will happen to the others? The ones who were turned by Gangster's Paradise? Since it's his Stand, will they…"

Issei hissed. "We have to accept it. We have no choice."

Those victims were dead already. Killing Kenta would only help them finally rest. Hanako began sobbing as soon as she heard that idea, immediately cradling her head in her hands to hide her despair.

"Like I said, I'll do it," Issei insisted. "And once it's done, I'll speak to Shitori-san and move out of the class. You won't have to see me again."

"… Fuck that."

To his surprise, it was Fumihiro Sasaki who spoke up. Despite glaring at him, Fumihiro walked up to Issei and slammed a hand on his shoulder. Repressing his wince, Issei kept his gaze trained on him.

"I gave you that uniform because you're one of us now. Don't make my sister's work worth nothing."

He let go of him and turned back to the others. "If we can find a way to help Kenta without killing him, we just have to find it. But if we can't… I want you all to promise that you won't hold it against Issei for making that choice."

He gave them a moment, but nobody responded.

"Say it, already!"

"We can't!" Hoshi cried out. "It doesn't matter if he does it to help us. If he single-handedly kills more people from our class, no one will look at him the same way again."

Fumihiro was about to respond, but a palm on his shoulder stalled him. "Thank you, Sasaki-san, for speaking up for me." Issei smiled at him. "But they are right to hate me for this. I'll be the scapegoat for that pain of theirs. It's better if it's me who does it than any of you, after all."

Fumihiro sighed. "Just… don't strain yourself, alright?"

"Of course. But now, we need a way into the upper floors."

Once they finally understood their situation, they looked around. The reception was impeccably maintained as expected of a company of their status. Multiple cushy sofas were placed on either end of the room surrounded by tiny plants for decoration. At the other end of the room was the receptionist's table, and to their surprise, someone else was sitting there the whole time.

"Ah, you've finally noticed me," the man said as he stood up, presenting himself to them by closing his suit button and tugging at his cuffs. "I should say, I am a little concerned about how you plot to kill my son. It won't go as easily as you think, however."

"Your son?" Kiyoshi questioned. "Oh. You're Homura Itawari-san."

Homura slicked back his brown hair and clasped his hands behind his back. "Precisely. I should say, Gangster's Paradise was an eye-opening experience for me, especially with everything I had once put my dear son through. Now, I certainly will no longer do such things."

"So, you're a zombie too," Daruma scowled. "It's natural you ugly folk flock around someone as ugly as Kenta."

"In that case, we await the day you join us, Kanpeki Danna-sama."

Daruma scowled. "It doesn't sound right when you say it like that. Someone as perfect as me must never serve another, so don't expect me to join so easily."

"And that is what we endeavor to change. Unfortunately, I am not here for you. I am here for Sakuna Hirose instead."

No one was surprised when he mentioned that. Sakuna would be a priority target for them because of how unpredictable his Stand was.

"Certainly, you aren't boooothered by some mere luck?" Sakuna countered, smirking. "If my Stand could defeat your entire operation here, you certainly don't live up to your confidence."

"No, we are sure we will turn you all despite the presence of your Stand. This is more of a personal interest, instead. Ever since I heard of your Stand, I've always wanted to see how you would measure up to a quick game with me."

"A game?"

Grinning, Homura reached behind the receptionist's table and picked up a box of something. "Monopoly, of course." He immediately set the box down.

Sakuna laughed as if Homura made a casual joke. "I see, I see. But I refuse."

"Disappointing. You would not want the key to the upper floors, then?"

"The key?" Fumihiro questioned.

"The elevator requires a key to move you to the upper floors. You could use the stairs, but since there are about 50 floors here, you would rather conserve your stamina than spend it all on climbing up some stairs, I'm sure."

"We'll take our chanc – "

"It also helps that we destroyed our staircases as well."

Fumihiro scowled. "Yeah, that would do it. Kairi?"

Kairi Maki grinned. "You really think you can keep that key from us, old man? I'm sure you know what my Stand can do?"

Homura shrugged. "I do, but you're a non-issue."

Kairi scowled. "I challenge you. The next one to speak between the two of us loses."

"What do you wish for me to say?"

Kairi blinked in shock at the voluntary loss. Moreover, Champions did not trigger despite Homura clearly losing the competition.

"That's one of our Stands, you see?" Homura raised his hands to his sides. "Of course, it would be stupid of me to reveal its ability to you. Just know that none of your Stands will affect me."

Growling, Fumihiro called out Eye of the Tiger and ran alongside it. The Tiger immediately pounced at the man, clawing his eyes out –

The Stand only phased through Homura's form, leaving him behind completely unhurt.

Despite being surprised by his Stand, Fumihiro turned back and went in with his own fist. Homura still smiled as a golden honeycomb matrix appeared around his body, deflecting Fumihiro's punch and sending him stumbling to the floor.

"That's useless, and quite frankly, boring." Homuro chided Fumihiro, turning around and lightly chopping the crown of his head. Ignoring the boy's growl at the babying, Homuro turned back to Sakuna. "I will say this: Sakuna Hirose is the only one here that can hurt me. Only once he agrees to sit with me will I open the elevator for you all."

"Who's to say you won't just send the elevator crashing down, killing us all?" Nyoko questioned.

"Once again, that's too boring," Homura whined. "Wouldn't it be better if you joined us after being properly initiated to our side? It would make things so much more streamlined in the long run."

"Are you for real?!" Fumihiro shook himself off and jumped to a stand. "You're just lying!"

Homuro shrugged. "I have absolutely no reason to lie to any of you. Keep in mind that if you want to meet your friends, maybe meet Kenta again, you have to go up. The only way you can do that is by taking the elevator."

"… that's not true," Azumi said, making everyone turn to her. "Everyone! We need to leave the building! I can help us up to the top from outside!"

Immediately, Class 2-E followed Azumi out of the door. However, just as Sakuna stepped ahead, his head bounced off a wall. Wincing and rubbing his head, he looked up and frowned to see another golden barrier in front of him.

"Just how many…" Sakuna grumbled, turning back to Homura. "You really want me to stay here that much?"

Homura grinned. "I've never been able to turn down a good Monopoly match. With your penchant for luck, I'm sure you would be wonderful to play against."

Shaking his head, he turned back to the rest of the group, who were all crestfallen upon seeing him trapped. "You all go on. I have no choice but to stay here."

Fumihiro stepped up. "I'm staying here with you."

"Don't," Sakuna said. "If I die, I die. I'll keep Lucky You active, don't worry."

That statement was too ambiguous to tell them anything about who he would use the ability on, so Sakuna kept them safe from triggering Lucky You's counter.

"Go!" Sakuna cried out. "I'll keep this man… entertained for now."

Homura chuckled despite the heavy situation he was in. "I sure hope so, kid."

As his team left the lobby, Sakuna watched as Homura picked up the Monopoly set and set it out by one of the sofas nearby. Sitting down, he opened it and set down the board. "Have a seat, please."

Just before Sakuna took a step, a bang and a tremor shook through the building. Looking outside, Sakuna let out a sigh upon seeing how a tree trunk suddenly appeared in front of the building. He quickly thanked Azumi for coming up with such an idea. It would have been better if she'd come up with it before he got trapped in his current situation, however.

"Why Monopoly?" he asked once he recovered, biding his time as he walked to the opposing sofa.

"It's a good expression of both luck and skill, it is a generally fun game, and it takes a long time to finish." Homura laughed. "Which piece do you want? I'm taking the Top Hat."

Sakuna sat down. "I'll take the Racecar. I intend to finish this quickly, after all."

Sakuna helped Homura set up the Monopoly board mainly to speed things up. Once they dealt each other the right amount of money, they started playing.

"I wouldn't try using your Stand, by the way," Homura confided, making Sakuna blink. "You're currently under the effect of my Stand."

Concentrating for a while, Sakuna frowned. "I can't make any more of them."

"It seems you've been busy," Homura said as he rolled the dice. "The barrier you encountered earlier belongs to my wife. My Stand ability Stuck in a Moment makes it so you cannot summon your Stand when you're doing some task with me."

"But it seems it hasn't done anything to the Stand I have already summoned," Sakuna concluded. "I can still help them."

"I was genuine in my interest in this match." Homura moved his piece. "I just don't like people cheating with their Stands while playing this game."

"You won't stop me from helping them, then?"

"You can hardly use it well without seeing them, after all. I know you'd rather not have them realizing their luck and unleashing your Stand's ire." Homura picked up a Chance card.

Sakuna smirked. "Now, now. I wouldn't have come this far without a few tricks up my sleeve."

Daichi immediately moved to Azumi once they made it outside. "Oi, 'Zumi, how'll you get us up there?"

"That's for you to see, you oaf." Azumi rubbed her palms and a spark of green emerged from between them.

"T-Those people outside aren't coming after us anymore," Nyoko stammered. "A-And no one's clapping either."

"They were probably bored of it," Hoshi grunted. "But what about Hayate? Is he – "

"He's probably regenerated by now," Noboru said, looking away from them. "He's on their side already."

"Best not to think about it," Hoshi slapped his back. "Azumi, you good?"

"Just a sec…" Azumi huffed as she threw the spark into the ground. "Now, Ophelia. Everyone, hold onto me!"

The first one to grab onto her was Daichi, of course. Just as the seed she threw on the ground began to sprout, everyone held onto each other forming a chain.

The seed grew up and became stable enough for Azumi to stand on top. To their surprise, the tree was modified to form a large wooden plate to carry all of them. The handholding was more for stability, which they needed due to the rumbling of the growing tree.

"Coast Redwood!" Azumi announced. "The tallest tree in the world is from this breed! I've told it to stop just as we reach the top too!"

True enough, just as they reached the roof of the building, the tree's growth slowed to a still. Azumi hopped off the wood and skipped onto the roof, turning back to the class and raising her arms. "See? We've made it!"

"Couldn't you have used this to break the building down like Hayate?" Issei couldn't help but ask.

Azumi frowned. "If I had any more control over the growth of these trees, I would have. I don't want to kill Kenta." Azumi quickly wore a smile and turned back to him. "Let's jump already!"

Nodding gratefully, the rest of the group jumped off the tree. Once they were all off, the massive tree withered away into nothing.

"Let's get going, then." Azumi led the group. "On to save our friends."

Lucky You.

A Stand that is extremely powerful despite its gimmicky nature and its being an autonomous Stand. However, Sakuna always believed that its true power lay in the fact that Sakuna could summon multiple versions of the ability if he so wished. It all relied on his ability to multitask: if he summoned more Stands, he'd have to be able to impart commands to all of them simultaneously. However, with his Stand being autonomous, allowing certain releases to be more autonomous than the rest would ease the pressure on his mind. A fully autonomous version would act as more of an afterthought to him, as it would never require his intervention.

He hated creating fully autonomous versions of his Stand because of the lack of control over the negative effects, but in certain situations, he knew it would be necessary. Merely giving the autonomous Stand the clause that the recipient of the power discovering that they are lucky would be an unlucky thing was sometimes enough to alleviate his concerns, but not enough to remove the conditions of his Stand entirely.

Before they had even entered the building, Sakuna had discretely summoned one version of his Stand that flew away into the distance. He didn't give it any thought, only giving it the wish to influence the luck of the rest of his class, even the dead ones, to somehow escape this inescapable situation. This Stand had moved so far away that Sakuna was no longer able to keep track of it; it was fully autonomous at that point.

If Sakuna were to see it, however, he would be confused at why it approached Rias Gremory of all people.

Rias frowned as she walked down the hallway. Their start of school was as standard as always, with the students parting a way for her as kind as they all were. Yet, a slight sense of unease failed to leave her. She trusted her instincts enough to understand that something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what it was.

Looking ahead, past the throng of starstruck students watching their idol, she was confused to see a teacher grumbling to himself, standing in front of… Class 2-E. Issei and Asia's class.

"Excuse me?" Rias approached the man. "Is there a problem, sir?"

"Ah, Gremory-san," the teacher greeted, feeling better upon seeing her pretty form as much as he wouldn't admit such a thing. "This class… they've reached the height of their rowdiness with this."

"Rowdiness? What happened?"

The teacher scowled. "A mass bunk, that's what. None of the students in this class showed up today. If you'll excuse me, I need to talk to the principal and see what punishment I can give to those things."

As the teacher walked away, Rias felt a slight anger at his unjust accusations against that class. Maybe they did bunk their class for some reason, but he had no right to call them 'things' because of how they kept themselves alive. Unfortunately, the average Japanese person did not understand the critical nature of a life-or-death situation.

Rias opened the door of the class and looked in. Surely enough, it was fully abandoned. Not only were the original Class 1-E members missing, but so were Issei and Asia.

Once she walked out, she headed into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. Out of sight, she activated a magic circle next to her ear.

"Ah, B-Buchou!" Asia cried out as soon as the communication line opened. "S-Sorry I can't make it to class today! I-I forgot to tell you too…"

Rias smiled; Asia's innocent nature had quickly proven to be quite therapeutic for her. "It's no problem, Asia, but you know it's not just you who's skipping today, right?"

"Ah, so you found out…" Asia said, making Rias frown.

"What do you know about this, Asia?"

"… Issei asked me to not tell you everything, but… something bad is happening here. Something with one of our classmates."

"Bad? What kind of bad? Do you need my help?"

"I-Issei said that he didn't want supernatural beings to interfere. R-Raynare and I are staying in the house. He asked us to not come along."

"Whatever this is, are you sure that these kids can handle it themselves?" Rias shook her head. "I know how difficult it can be to accept what they went through, but they can ask for help. Issei should understand that."

Asia remained silent. Rias cursed under her breath, wondering why that boy was so arrogant to go at something like this by himself. He was still new to his abilities, Boosted Gear be damned. If he faced a treacherous foe, he would not be able to survive. And without Rias being able to revive him, she risked losing him entirely.

"Should I help them, Asia?" Rias asked once more.

"… Issei said – "

"I'm asking you, Asia. Not Issei. Please tell me if Issei is in danger, so I can help him."

Asia remained silent once more. Rias rubbed her head, feeling frustrated by the situation.

"Fine. I will go – "

"No!" Asia suddenly cried out. "Please… don't go to them."

"What if they are in danger, Asia?"

"Then I will go," Asia firmly concluded. "I'll ask Raynare to come with me. Issei won't like it, but if it's to keep him safe…"

"…Can I ask where they are, at least?"

Asia said nothing.

"You're that firm on not letting me help them?" Rias sighed. "If you're sure you can help, then please go to them. As much as they say otherwise, they would definitely want you by their side for their endeavors. You can just heal them without letting them see what you are doing, after all. Raynare will be more difficult, due to how flashy her abilities are, unfortunately."

"… Okay. I will go."

Satisfied, the autonomous Lucky You left Rias behind, racing to reach Asia Argento before she left her house.

A/N: Like I said, Asia will have her moment. Don't worry about it.

Early release from my monthly schedule. Late release from my promise of two months. I was kinda stuck with this chapter because writing just a fight was just boring to me. It was only upon writing and reaching to one point that I finally found direction in how Gangster's Paradise wanted to have the 2-E members surrender instead of viciously die. With that notice, I was able to actually complete this chapter.

As for why else it took so long, well I had released a new story in between. Persona XX is a story I am proud of and definitely took way more effort to make than is warranted by a fanfiction, but I had already expected it to not do well on this site. It's an original story, after all. People aren't here to imagine. Aside from that, because of the troubles I had with this chapter, I decided to upload a chapter of Re Teyvat instead. Now that this chapter is clear, it's out.

Next chapter will have the remaining members of 2-E fighting the 'hiring team' of Itawari Pharmaceuticals.

You may have noticed that I didn't put in the flashback to 1-E this time. That's because I'm not doing that anymore. I tried it, but the images aren't coming to my head very well. I've never been to a snowy landscape for skiing like that before, so I'm having trouble imagining such a thing. Due to that, everything I'm writing for it just reeks of 'artificialness'.

Might I say how difficult it is to manage so many Stands at once? So many Stands are being frequently used, but even I forgot about Ophelia before this. My original idea was to have them ride the elevator to the top, but then I realized their paranoia would not allow for that. So, I switched to Azumi pushing them up to the roof instead.

Now, I want to make myself clear on one thing, because I've been getting a lot of bad rep for this. People say that it's bad how I see Issei as an awful person. I just want to clarify that I never said that Issei was irredeemable. I don't believe in anyone being irredeemable, after all. Yes, I stand against Issei in a lot of things he does, especially his perverseness, but I want to reiterate that I still respect the good aspects of his. He is honest to a fault, which is something I know I have omitted in my story, but for good reason. He is constantly enthusiastic and can always cheer up anyone he is around. He is extremely perseverant: one might think he only holds on to stuff for the promise of more perverted stuff, but the dude trained under Tannin and Sun Wukong of all people without any quarrel. I am sure they were slave drivers, but Issei handled their training like a champ.

I hope these review responses explain your individual questions a little more.

Temsen: It will, but that does have its own problems. I hope I've explained that well in this chapter. I should thank you for this review, though. It was a constant reminder that I should emphasize that detail in the chapter.

Azure-Star-Dragon: Well, I definitely haven't read the light novel, so I can't really attest to that. All I know is the anime, and how badly portrayed he is in there. Maybe I should give the light novel a shot, then. I just don't know where to read it, when I'm definitely not gonna pay for it.

As for the bug Stand, I will admit that I compared Issei to an insect and came to that conclusion. Part of me also wanted a protagonist without a punch Stand, so I leaned in the direction of Beetles. Now, these are some asspulls I'm making right now and definitely not what I thought back then, but there are ways to make the insect Stand better for Issei by looking at his positives. Like I said, Issei is perseverant. Even to his enemies, who end up seeing him like a pest constantly trailing behind them. Moreover, insects are generally hated by most people, but there are a select few that actually like insects. Same with Issei: he is hated by most people because he is seen as a pervert, but only the select few can see past that and find his heart of gold.

Finally, as someone who treasures honesty, that is one thing I really admire about Issei. I just hate seeing his honesty bring him down in society, because if I were to follow my own ideal of honesty a little more, I'd probably be in his place in the real world. I'd hate that to happen to me, and so I hate to see Issei in that place too.

Guest: Tbf, I do want to incorporate devil politics, but you are right in how I don't know much about it. I have a few manufactured ideas, mainly stuff taken from other fanfiction that I cannot back with canon knowledge. But who knows, I might end up reading the light novel sometime. I will put it down if it's too cringe, though.

As for the connections between the Stand world and the supernatural, a lot of Stands you know aren't actually in this universe. This is the pre-MiH universe, in a variant where Pucci never reached Heaven cause he was stopped by Jolyne and her gang. I didn't mention it earlier because there's no way I can put that into the story as of now. So, don't worry about D4C coming in and screwing things up; Funny Valentine doesn't exist in this universe. Just a sneak peek for you, Heaven is the endgame for this story.

Other than the cohesion between the abilities, I really do believe that there are parallels between supernaturals and stands. There is strong divine imagery used in JoJos, with literal Jesus being used as a character in Part 7. Sure, Part 7 isn't included here, but that doesn't mean that one can't draw religious connections to Stands. I fully intend to do so, and I don't want to explain further for the sake of spoilers.

OJ: I hope this chapter puts it into perspective a little better, but rebirth is essential being killed by GP and being resurrected as a zombie. Zombies here aren't the brain-eating lot most are familiar with; they resemble actual people. They recall their lives, they can do everything the person normally does, no one would suspect them of being an imposter unless they were really close with them. However, they would essentially become slaves to Kenta's will. There's nothing bad with it for now, because Kenta isn't using this ability for anything, but once Kenta starts using it, that's when the idea of free will can get shattered.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll see you next chapter!