"Star Platinum: The World!"
The sound of a clock spinning—then stopping. The world was plunged into a deep-blue filter.
In the fraction of a second before the punch landed, Jotaro activated the full power of his Stand. Time Stop.
When he'd defeated DIO—the ultimate villain of that world—Jotaro had awakened his true ability in that same battle: Time Stop. Compared to Time Erasure, the concept was easier to grasp. For the next two seconds, the entire universe would freeze. Only Jotaro and Star Platinum could move within it.
The key advantage of Time Stop over Time Erasure was that he could attack during the ability—and all damage inflicted would register on the target the moment time resumed.
Two seconds was his current limit. At his peak it had been five. DIO, a vampire, had pushed it to nine. That was the trade-off: Time Erasure's duration completely outclassed Time Stop—not even a comparison.
Inside the frozen interval, Jotaro stepped clear of King Crimson's swinging arc. His pupils shifted—and he didn't attack. For a full second of his absolute dominion, he did nothing but stare into that girl's blood-red eyes.
Sometimes a second was long enough to feel like forever.
Sometimes it passed before you could even throw a punch.
Star Platinum's precision rating is A—though "A" is a lie. Its true ceiling is far beyond that. Star Platinum Printer. Star Platinum Pacemaker. The nicknames aren't wrong.
With time frozen, Jotaro studied the pink-haired girl's flawless face—Star Platinum still at his shoulder. He just wanted to know one thing: could she see him moving during Time Stop?
No change. She held perfectly still, the same as any ordinary person caught in the freeze.
So her ability wasn't Time Stop. Which meant—how had she pulled off that instantaneous flanking maneuver?
Two seconds elapsed. Time resumed.
"Huh?"
Inori tilted her head with a small, confused sound.
The punch had missed. Not surprising.
The target disappearing like a deleted layer—she'd had opponents who experienced that constantly. But experiencing it herself, from the other side, was new. Epitaph had already shown her Jotaro would make some kind of strange teleport after her Time Erasure resolved—Za Warudo, obviously. What she couldn't understand was why he hadn't used those two precious seconds to attack. That made no sense to her.
"Jotaro... if you don't hit me, I'll kill you, you know."
She knew what was going through his head.
Seventeen-year-old Jotaro—the delinquent in the black uniform—would have attacked without hesitation the moment anyone threatened his life, man or woman. But the Jotaro in front of her had lost that edge. Ten years away from combat while pursuing his doctorate had made him relax, probably more than he realized.
Inori intended to teach him a lesson. Make him take a hit so he'd start properly training Time Stop again—maybe push his limit from two seconds up to six. One extra second could change everything.
"...?!"
She turned around squarely to face him. Jotaro's expression froze in shock—how did she know exactly where I'd be? Was it a guess? Or could she actually see everything he'd done during Time Stop?
"King Crimson!"
The world cracked apart again.
The second time she got behind him. Honestly, there was something strange about the sensation—neither of them could react to the time manipulation the other was using, yet Inori could use Epitaph to see his position in advance, while Jotaro couldn't chain Time Stop this fast without a gap. Which meant: the next attack, he cannot dodge.
Flank complete. Time Erasure resolved.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!!"
By the time Jotaro realized Inori had manipulated time again, it was already too late. He was stunned she could activate so quickly—and in that one moment of shock, his window to defend himself vanished. And his Time Stop needed a breath between activations; he couldn't chain it.
No dodging this one. King Crimson's rapid-fire punches hit Star Platinum's back like a machine gun. Jotaro lurched forward, barely keeping his feet. He had Star Platinum brace for impact to keep himself from taking actual damage, but the sheer cruelty of her Stand's ability was beyond even his expectations.
"This ability—is it erasing time..."
"I know your ability, Jotaro. It stops time—two, three seconds, roughly?" Inori covered her face with one hand and laughed, something unhinged bleeding into it. "But can you see through mine?"
"...You made time jump forward?"
Jotaro exhaled and stood straight again. He didn't look at Inori. He looked down at his watch.
(③)
When she'd first started talking, he'd quietly noted the second hand's position. Now it had jumped forward by almost half a revolution. The implication was self-evident.
She hadn't gone all-out during that last exchange—because he'd held back during Time Stop and hadn't attacked her. She wasn't trying to kill Jotaro. If she were, she could have driven King Crimson's blade-hand straight through his chest the moment Time Erasure ended. That was its most lethal move. He'd be dead already.
"Yes."
One hand hiding half her face, she laughed—unhinged, elated.
A sweet voice with a melodic warmth, yet it inspired terror.
"After King Crimson activates, only the result remains in this world—I'm the only one who can act during that erased interval. And beyond that, I can see dozens of seconds into the future. If you try what you did before—using Time Stop just to move position—it means nothing to me."
"Not only does she steal other people's Stands, she can do this... Quite a terrifying girl." Jotaro let his eyes close for a moment and exhaled slowly. "Why are you telling me? Didn't you say exposing your ability was like showing someone your cards?"
"I know your ability, but you don't know mine—that's not fair, is it?" Inori shifted her weight and began walking in a slow arc to the right, always keeping more than two meters between them.
"Now we're on the same starting line. How will you handle my ability, Jotaro Kujo?"
He looked down at his watch, something strange and long-forgotten churning inside him.
I haven't felt this in years. The need to beat someone specific. Everything she'd said just now was enough to set any fighter's blood alight—she knew him, knew about the journey to Egypt, possibly all of it. But the way she'd held back, the way she'd voluntarily disclosed her ability—she was definitely not a bad person.
Just a kid who wants to fight the strong.
"First time I've met a Stand user like you."
He raised his head, and something that was almost a smile crossed his hard face.
"Come on then, JOtaro! Try stopping time!"
She said it—but Epitaph was already running, and she knew with certainty that the ORA barrage during Time Stop was coming. She wasn't afraid. She had already seen the result.
——Star Platinum: The World!!
Time stopped again.
This time Jotaro moved without hesitation. He stepped forward into Star Platinum's effective range and threw everything he had—dozens of punches in one second directed at the crimson Stand beside the girl.
Even Jotaro found it difficult to swing at a cute, smiling face. So he aimed for the ugly one—the Stand.
But reality had other ideas—again. He'd assumed that if he struck first with Time Stop, Inori would have no way to react. He'd assumed that nothing in a world of frozen time could interfere with him. But—but!
Star Platinum's rapid-fire barrage passed through King Crimson's body. The crimson Stand was there—the way a reflection on water is there. A ghost. An impression. Star Platinum was doing nothing but beating air.
"What the——could it be..."