"How can it be like this..."
Rohan Kishibe's disappointment was written all over him. Anyone could see it—how desperately he didn't want Reimi Sugimoto to leave. But fate, as ever, was merciless.
"Soft & Wet can help you."
Inori pinched her chin, thinking for a few seconds.
"It won't work." Reimi shook her head gently. "The bubbles can't be used on myself."
"That's not a problem." Inori turned immediately to the man who was a few seconds away from crying. "Rohan—starting now, you're going to take control of Soft & Wet."
"What?"
"Just like I took control of Crazy Diamond before to treat Josuke—now you take control of Soft & Wet and use its bubbles to extract Reimi-san's spirit. Her soul. That way we can keep her here until I find my brother!"
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to steal the soul of an ordinary living person through such a terrifying method. But Stand abilities and soul energy operated on the same frequency—just as Rohan could use Heaven's Door on Reimi even though she was a ghost, Soft & Wet should be able to "extract" and preserve both her soul and her beloved dog's, by means of that same theft.
"Wait—will I be sucked into a bubble?" Reimi hugged herself, suddenly frightened. "No, please! I have claustrophobia!"
"Don't worry." Rohan let out a long, slow breath. "I'll talk to you every single day. I won't let you be lonely."
"Oh?"
Reimi let out a string of confused sounds. She froze on the spot, her wide pink eyes flickering with something complicated—surprise, excitement, anxiety, and... a flustered, barely-contained terror.
"So that means I'll be... temporarily living with Little Rohan~? That's so embarrassing~!"
"You've been dead for fifteen years—stop acting like a schoolgirl!"
Rohan fired back without a shred of mercy.
"Then it's settled."
Inori cleared her throat and cut in, because she had suddenly and completely inexplicably become very, very irritated.
She was the protagonist here, wasn't she? She was the one who came up with the soul-preservation plan and the new-body idea, wasn't she? So why had the situation taken such a baffling turn? Why was there suddenly a faint, nauseating whiff of something romantic in the air?
"I'm leaving for Italy very soon. Until I'm back—Rohan-sensei, I'll leave Reimi-san in your care."
"Well. I suppose there's no helping it."
Rohan sighed and shook his head, then, very earnestly, began talking to himself:
"Though—conversations with a ghost should give me some inspiration for my manga."
—Ugh!! I really want to punch him right now!!
A vein throbbed on Inori's forehead.
That insufferable little punk was obviously thrilled beyond words on the inside. Yet here he was, performing this whole what-an-inconvenience, I'm-only-doing-this-under-duress production.
"Then I'll leave it all to you~, Little Rohan. Heheh."
Rohan suddenly ducked his head, and the shift in him was real—he was trying to hide something getting past his guard.
"Back then..." he said quietly, with absolute sincerity. "You saved me. So now it's my turn to protect you. That's only fair."
"Little Rohan is so dependable~!"
"..."
Inori stared at the two of them. The smile on her face froze. And then it slowly, completely calcified.
—Don't be sad~! Little Inori, I'm still right here~ Come find me whenever you're lonely—I'll give you all the comfort you need, body and soul~...
—SHUT UP.
Mana Ouma's perfectly timed entrance was cut off by a single wall of silence.
...
...
"Sis! Over here! Come this way!"
Little Jolyne was beaming.
Her wonderful big sister Inori had brought her to what she single-handedly declared the most beautiful spot in all of Morioh—she'd said so herself, in her own words. The place was called Lovers' Cape. Why it had that name, she had no idea.
"Go play on your own for a bit, Jolyne-chan. Don't wander off."
"Okay!"
Jolyne began collecting stones beneath a nearby tree. She lived in New York—1999's New York, a city already fully modern by any standard—and she rarely got the chance to just be outside, in actual nature.
Once Jolyne's attention had drifted away, Inori immediately called out King Crimson and got to work, beginning her search through the undergrowth.
Yesterday, after settling Reimi's situation, she'd gone back to Yoshikage Kira's old family home. By now it had been cordoned off by the police, branded a murder house. After another thorough search—leaving no stone unturned—she'd come up completely empty. So today she was here.
Alerting everyone else to join the search would have been convenient, but Inori wasn't sure whether the Saint's Corpse might produce some unusual effect, so she'd decided to hold off until she confirmed things herself. And besides—Jotaro-san had been away lately. Asking Josuke and the others to come dig around for an unverified human bone without any real explanation was just asking to be peppered with questions she had no good answers to.
—Ugh, I could really use Yasuho right now.
"What are you standing there for? Get moving."
Inori spotted the big red figure planted in place and snapped at it impatiently.
"..."
King Crimson blinked. Then it pointed one finger toward the tree branch directly above Inori's head.
Inori looked up with a frown—and there, woven into the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, she spotted something that didn't belong. An unusual patch of dry, brittle yellow.
"Bring it down!"
Inori clapped her hands. King Crimson immediately floated up and retrieved it—a bundle of tattered strips of cloth, wrapped in multiple layers around something inside. Could this be what Yoshikage Kira had brought across from a parallel world... a piece of that other JoJo world's Saint's Corpse?
(③)
In the worlds of Steel Ball Run and JoJolion, most Stands were awakened through contact with the Saint's Corpse. The moment she reasoned it was a human bone, Inori was certain—this had to be a fragment from that world. Finally. With this found, she could leave Morioh without any unfinished business weighing on her.
"Sis! Look, seagulls!"
Jolyne came running, calling out to her. Inori quickly tucked the Corpse into her shoulder bag.
"Coming, Jolyne-chan, just a moment."
She'd been about to spend a little more time with the girl before heading back—but unexpectedly, her phone rang.
The caller ID read: Jotaro Kujo.
"It's your dad, Jolyne-chan."
"Is Daddy coming to pick up Jolyne?"
The little girl sprinted back, twin buns bouncing with each step.
"Hello, Jotaro-san? I'm out with your daughter right now—at Lovers' Cape."
"Thank you for looking after her, Inori."
The man on the other end was driving, a state-of-the-art wireless earpiece fitted to one ear. He'd been away from Morioh for three days when he'd only promised one, and he was already forty-plus hours past deadline. He'd been worried Jolyne would resent him for breaking his word.
But hearing that Inori had taken her out—somewhere she could run around in the open—settled something in him.
Kids don't like being alone. Jolyne just wanted company. The person didn't have to be him.
He thought this, and then continued:
"No trouble, I hope?"
"None at all. She's been very good." Inori glanced at the girl and smiled. "Do you want to speak with her?"
"...I'll be at Lovers' Cape in half an hour to pick you both up. We'll talk properly then."