"Tch... no more trash coming out to pick a fight?"
Accelerator wandered the streets until roughly two in the morning, but he didn't encounter a single enemy after his brief brush with the octopus headed man.
Starting to feel bored, he decided to find a place to sleep rather than heading back to Yuuki.
While he wasn't afraid of being ambushed, the same couldn't be said for her. If Yuuki were attacked, she wouldn't even have a chance to scream, let alone run.
In a place like this, where even he had to pause to unravel the secrets of the local powers, the risk was simply too high. He couldn't afford to lead an enemy back to her location.
He took small comfort in the fact that she was tucked away in a medical capsule. Unless another Master happened to be hospitalized in the same building, her identity should remain safe.
Accelerator's figure slowly melted into the darkness, vanishing beneath the silent night sky.
"Hoh..."
"So Diavolo actually chose to flee from that guy?"
Tailing Accelerator from a safe distance, DIO murmured to himself.
While he hadn't seen the exact details of the exchange, he had sensed the activation of temporal Stand abilities. It was clear that the octopus-headed man had tried to make a move, only to find it wanting.
"It seems this war won't be as easy as I initially thought."
DIO fell into a deep silence as he processed this information.
First, he had run into Jotaro, and now he had witnessed this strange, white-haired boy.
If he hadn't been worried about the ripples of a time-stop alerting Jotaro to his position, he would have loved to personally test the boy's limits.
Tch!
Yoshikage Kira was startled awake in the middle of the night, and he was far from pleased about it.
He glanced at the sleeping woman beside him and ignored her, instead walking over to the window.
"What's wrong, Yoshikage? It's not like you to lose sleep."
"Are you still worried about your identity being exposed?"
"We have that Servant acting as a cover. Even if Rohan Kishibe comes looking, we have nothing to fear."
His father, Yoshihiro Kira, poked half of his ghostly body out of a small photograph on the windowsill to address him.
Yoshikage was a man of extreme self-discipline. As his famous self-introduction proved, he was not the type of person who suffered from insomnia.
"It's not just the uncertainty that's bothering me."
"This thing is being so noisy I can't sleep."
Yoshikage answered his father truthfully.
Yoshihiro followed his son's gaze and realized that the [Arrow], which should have been integrated into Yoshikage's body, had emerged once again.
"This is..."
"It fused with my body before to grant Killer Queen its new ability, but now it has detached itself."
"Then..."
"It doesn't affect me. I haven't lost the ability. But this vibration... it means it's searching for someone."
"It must have sensed the presence of someone with immense potential."
Yoshihiro swallowed hard. As one of the primary individuals who had used the [Arrow] to create Stand users, he was intimately familiar with this phenomenon.
The [Arrow] only reacted when it detected a potential candidate.
And the more violent the reaction, the greater the potential of the individual.
"I see. So it believes someone has appeared who is even more valuable than I am?"
Understanding the logic, Yoshikage looked down at the vibrating artifact in his hand, his expression darkening with a cold, simmering malice.
"Hmm..."
In this situation, even Yoshihiro didn't know what to say.
He could take the [Arrow] and find this new candidate, but whether they would be a loyal subordinate or a dangerous rebel once they awakened their Stand was an entirely different question.
The people they had gathered so far were manageable, so Yoshihiro hadn't worried about an uprising.
But the [Arrow] was vibrating with an intensity he had never seen before. It looked almost desperate to reach its target.
This meant that the person it was searching for was likely to be a Stand user of terrifying power.
Awakening them would be a gamble. If they were a loyal ally, it would be a massive boost. But if they became an enemy, they would be a catastrophe.
"Forget it. Take the [Arrow] and go see who it's looking for."
"If we can use them to deal with Jotaro Kujo, then it doesn't matter who they are."
"After all, I have nothing left to fear."
Yoshikage handed the [Arrow] to his father. The thought of his [Bites the Dust] ability washed away the last of his anxiety.
To a man who could rewind time itself, it didn't matter how strong the opponent was.
With his Servant's cooperation, he was already invincible. There was no need to worry about such trivialities.
"Understood. I'll go find out who this person is."
Yoshihiro took the [Arrow]. He doted on his son and trusted his judgment implicitly.
'Do you want to make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl?'
'A Magical Girl is simply a Witch in the making...'
'Don't be so pessimistic. Your existence is for the sake of the universe.'
BANG!
'If a [Soul Gem] eventually gives birth to a Witch, then isn't everyone just born to die?!'
'Everyone will eventually turn into one of those monsters!'
'Stop it...'
Miyu watched the scenes unfold in her dream, her pupils trembling with shock.
She saw girls who had discovered the truth starting to tear each other apart until only two remained.
She understood now.
These were the memories of Archer's past.
These were the events that the Magical Girl named "Homura Akemi" had lived through.
'You can go back in time... right?'
'Can you go back and save the version of me that was too stupid to see through Kyubey's lies?'
'I promise you. I will save you. No matter how many times it takes!'
'I don't want to become a Witch...'
Seeing the two blood-soaked girls lying on the ground, their voices full of a desperate, agonizing regret, Miyu felt a deep ache in her heart.
Were Magical Girls really such terrifying things?
The idea of destroying monsters was an illusion. In the end, the path only led to endless suffering and a tragic, inevitable conclusion.
It was too much.
Even a girl as young as Miyu could understand the crushing weight of such a revelation on a young girl's heart.
"!"
She gasped as she woke from the dream. The grey, overcast sky visible through the window reflected her own troubled mood.
7:42 AM.
Miyu checked the clock and sat up in bed.
"Archer?"
"What is it?"
Sensing Miyu's distress, Homura appeared beside the bed instantly.
"Is your wish... to save your friend?"
"!"
Homura's pupils constricted at the question, but she didn't answer immediately.
"You've been... you've been working so hard, and in so much pain, for so long."
"That's why you want the wish so badly, isn't it?"
Understanding the depths of Homura's obsession, Miyu lowered her head and spoke in a soft breath.
Endless loops, all for the sake of finding a single path to save a friend.
While Miyu's own experiences were different, she could still understand the feeling. Her own brother had given everything to protect her and send her away from their dying world.
Everyone was struggling so hard.
Everyone just wanted to protect the person most important to them.
"I'm sorry..."
"?"
Homura stood there, confused. She didn't understand why Miyu was apologizing.
But there was one thing she did know. The spikes of magical energy coming from Miyu in that moment confirmed her suspicion.
Miyu was definitely not an ordinary human girl.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]