"Go ahead."
Jotaro looked at the girl's pure, hope-filled eyes, and it was like a warm current flowing through him, melting his iron-clad heart. He knew he'd have a hard time refusing whatever Inori was about to ask—provided it didn't cross any of his lines.
"You see, Mr. Jotaro, I have no family ties at all with the Hirose family. A day or two is one thing, but over time, anyone would start to resent it. Kind of like how even the best movie gets old if you watch it over and over. I don't want to owe Koichi's family such a big debt..."
"And aside from just the food expenses—I'm a girl, you know. I can't keep wearing someone else's clothes forever."
Jotaro thought there was some truth to that, and nodded. He remembered a certain favorite movie of his: even when he loved a film, he couldn't keep watching just that one on repeat. Revisiting it now and then was the better experience.
Inori might have been an impossibly cute girl no one could refuse, but keeping a freeloader around would inevitably wear on the household. He didn't know Koichi's family personally—but that was what any reasonable person would conclude.
"Don't worry. I'll put my intel network on finding your family the moment I get back. There should be results within two days."
Jotaro's voice carried solid conviction. He placed absolute trust in the Speedwagon Foundation's reach.
"No, that's not what I meant..." Inori puffed her small cheeks, words caught at the tip of her tongue.
"Then what is it?"
"That sort of thing... is just a little embarrassing to say out loud."
Inori dropped her head, face buried low, her fingers tangling nervously together.
Damn it, is Jotaro doing this on purpose? Does he want to watch me squirm? Even with my easygoing nature, there's no way I can just come out and say 'please give me money'! That'd make me sound like some trashy woman begging to be kept!
"...You need money?"
With a little mental effort, Jotaro figured out what she was driving at.
Inori nodded very enthusiastically.
"Fair enough. At your age, a girl with no spending money really does have it rough..."
A sixteen-year-old girl, right in the bloom of youth. She should be out enjoying school life like Josuke... but because of that bastard father of hers, she's probably suffered plenty growing up. Otherwise she wouldn't have ended up dumped in Morioh with no memory to her name.
Would his own daughter turn out like Inori when she reached this age?
As a father, Jotaro's thoughts drifted unbidden to his six-year-old girl.
While chasing down the Stand Arrows DIO had left behind, Jotaro was also pursuing a doctorate in marine biology. The price of juggling both was the time he sacrificed away from his family. He knew he wasn't a fit father. He also knew that in all the years since his Stand had awakened, he'd made more enemies in the world than he could count. If something ever happened to him, Jolyne...
Would she end up suffering something like what had happened to Inori?
"Mr. Jotaro, do you have children?"
Inori saw the heavy look on his face and guessed at once what he was thinking, so she asked on purpose.
"I have a six-year-old daughter."
"Ehh~ Then she must be adorable!" Inori squinted, smiling a bit too innocently. "I have zero resistance to tiny little girls, you know. Could I meet her?"
"If the chance comes up."
Jotaro didn't pay much mind to her slightly off tone—his daughter really was a universally adored little princess, after all.
He tucked the two photos away, then pulled out his wallet and fished out a few large bills, handing them to Inori. In that moment she stole a quick glance inside... bulging stacks of crisp bills, and a few gold and silver cards. Tsk, why were all the Joestars so loaded?
"That's fifty thousand yen. Should be enough?"
Jotaro held the money out in front of her. Inori took it with bright-eyed delight and thanked him repeatedly.
What Jotaro didn't know was that, internally, Inori had just cursed him up and down from head to toe.
This stingy Fishmonger Jotaro! All that cash on him and this is all I get? Hmph—time to practice the Golden Spirit!
The instant she took the bills, she activated Time Erasure—a mere half second, invisible and inaudible. In the single heartbeat where Star Platinum couldn't react, she slipped a Soft & Wet bubble straight into his wallet.
"Thank you, Mr. Jotaro! I promise I'll be a good girl and stay away from that Angelo!"
Jotaro smiled with quiet relief, noticing nothing amiss. After all, they weren't in combat, and not even he could detect a jump of just half a second.
"By the way, Inori... there's one more thing I wanted to ask you."
"What is it? Go ahead."
Inori gleefully stuffed the five bills into her pocket as she answered, only half-paying attention.
"Out in the sun—do you feel any discomfort?"
"Nope."
Inori blinked. The question had come out of nowhere... what did it have to do with what they were talking about? Why would he think that under the sun she'd feel... wait.
Sharp as she was, she caught his meaning in an instant.
"It's nothing, Inori. You can head home now."
Jotaro nodded.
"I'll be in touch again soon."
"...Okay."
He turned and walked off, missing the spectacular transformation happening on Inori's face—from an innocent young girl straight into a gloomy, scheming woman.
Damn it, this Jotaro Kujo—he, he actually thinks I'm DIO's daughter?! Are you kidding me, what part of me looks anything like that guy?! If you had to pick someone, it should be Diavolo's daughter!
No, wait—that's still a losing trade. I'm me. I'm no one's daughter.
"Hmph, whatever. Let him keep the misunderstanding for now. Doesn't really hurt me."
It was precisely because Jotaro thought she was DIO's daughter that he was suddenly taking such an interest in her. No matter how kind-hearted he was, no one opened their wallet this freely for a girl they'd just met.
None of that mattered, though. Right now Inori only cared about one thing.
Behind her, the silhouette of Soft & Wet flickered into view. The poor Part 8 Stand's very first task under its new owner turned out to be petty theft. It couldn't resist; it had no choice but to go retrieve the bubble it had quietly planted in Jotaro's wallet.
"Hm?"
Only a short distance down the street, Jotaro felt something off. Something had brushed past him.
Ordinary people couldn't perceive Soft & Wet at all—even when a bubble burst on them and drained their moisture, all they felt was a little thirst. By the time Jotaro registered the change, it was already too late. The bubble had long since zipped back out of Star Platinum's range at tremendous speed.
"Yare yare daze..."
Jotaro stared at his now-empty wallet, nothing left inside but a few bank cards. Picturing that bad girl gleefully counting her stolen loot, he felt equal parts annoyed and amused.
Nothing for it. Change of plans—he'd have to swing by a bank and pull out some more.