"All fixed!"
Being late was certainly serious, but kindhearted Josuke still healed Inori and Jotaro's injuries before leaving. As for the rest of the people lying on the ground, Josuke initially planned to just leave them. He made it two steps before doubling back.
It wasn't that he couldn't bear to see the punks suffer. He just figured that many people showing up at the hospital at once would cause the staff a lot of headaches. That was all. The repairs were sloppy, too—when the thugs came to, they had no memory of what had happened, only the bewildering discovery that their faces and bodies looked somewhat... different from before.
...
...
Five minutes later, on a side street not far from the plaza, Inori was walking alongside Jotaro.
"Mr. Jotaro, if something's on your mind, you could talk to me about it."
She could see how glum he looked and couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for the big guy, so she offered a tentative word of comfort.
"I can tell you about myself too!"
"...Didn't you just say you didn't want to?"
Jotaro looked back at the girl, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
She'd been willing to throw down to protect her secrets. Why the sudden change of heart?
"That was then, this is now!"
Inori tapped her own forehead, stuck out her tongue, and flashed a playful grin.
That's right—she knew exactly how to leverage her appearance to lower people's guard. Acting cute was shameful, sure, but not exploiting a body this naturally gifted for it would be an even greater waste. It was also a pragmatic choice, given her current circumstances.
Even if Jotaro could see through the act, she privately believed no one—man or woman—could resist this coy, sweet voice of hers.
"After fighting you, I realized you're actually a good person, Mr. Jotaro. Not nearly as scary as the rumors say."
"Who told you I can stop time?"
That question still bothered Jotaro.
He'd only just arrived in Morioh and had no idea his Stand ability was already common knowledge here.
Inori was in a similar boat—but unlike her, Jotaro had been famous for over a decade. She, on the other hand, was a total newcomer who'd crossed into this world with nothing to her name. She'd been using King Crimson for less than an hour. Who could have noticed her so quickly?
"I can't remember. I must have heard someone mention it somewhere."
Inori put on a troubled expression, eyes closed, acting as though she were trying very hard to recall but coming up empty.
Jotaro's brow furrowed again. Not even a fool would buy a lie that flimsy. He'd already decided to let her go, yet she kept pushing. Now she was feeding him this nonsense. What was this girl after?
"Mr. Jotaro, you have to believe me!"
Inori puffed out her cheeks, her face the very picture of pitiful helplessness.
"I woke up on the Morioh seaside yesterday. Everything before that is a blank. Just hazy fragments—like my name, and a few habits."
"When I met you, I recalled some things about you. That's all it is, I swear."
"You're saying you don't know why you ended up in Morioh?"
Jotaro lowered his head, thinking it over. He was weighing how much of this to believe. A quick background check would reveal everything about her anyway—with the Speedwagon Foundation's reach, tracking down where a girl like her came from would be trivial.
"Mm. If it's possible, I'd like you to help me find my family, Mr. Jotaro. I have no one right now. If I hadn't run into Koichi and his sister, I'd be sleeping on the streets."
Inori clasped her hands against her chest, looking uneasy. Her plain jacket was slightly disheveled, and a few conspicuous flecks of blood still dotted her naturally rosy lips. She looked utterly helpless and pitiable—and all of that was Jotaro's handiwork.
"Could you... help me?"
"I can, Miss Inori..." He'd been planning to investigate her anyway, so this actually saved him the trouble. Even without her asking, he would have—
"Just Inori is fine!"
The girl's tears gave way to a radiant smile, as if the overcast sky behind her had suddenly cleared.
"Inori, I need you to tell me every detail you can remember. First—and you don't have to answer if you don't want to—how many Stand abilities do you actually have?"
One person could only possess one Stand, but a Stand could have multiple abilities. Most consisted of a primary power complemented by a secondary one that enhanced it. His own Star Platinum, for instance, had overwhelming strength, speed, and precision, paired with Time Stop—a combination that made him nearly invincible.
But this girl's powers were strange. Precognition and Time Erasure were at least thematically consistent. Stand theft, however, didn't fit the other two at all. It was terrifyingly out of place.
The mere thought of someone like DIO getting hold of that power sent a chill down his spine.
"I'm not entirely sure myself. I think it's just these few."
Inori rubbed her forehead with a pained expression.
"All I know is that King Crimson can do these things. But how it appeared... I can't remember."
She reached back into her pocket and produced the Stand Orb representing Soft & Wet. Under the sunlight it reflected a brilliant gleam, quite beautiful. Its cool, smooth surface was oddly pleasant to hold.
"That guy used these bubbles to transmit sound and trick Josuke into attacking me and Koichi. I had no choice but to chase him down and take his Stand. I was worried he'd keep using it to hurt ordinary people."
"This Stand Orb—can I use it too?" Jotaro asked after a moment's thought.
"Sure." Inori smiled with a hint of mischief. "Want it, Mr. Jotaro? It won't come cheap."
"No, that won't be necessary. Just confirming." Jotaro tugged at his hat and cleared his throat. "How old are you? And your hometown—do you remember anything at all? Even fragments."
"Probably fifteen, maybe sixteen?"
Inori thought about it.
"Hometown, I don't know."
"Fifteen..."
There was no rational basis for it, but it was as though a needle and thread had suddenly stitched all the loose ends together. Jotaro thought of a possibility. Far-fetched, yes, but right now it was the most logical explanation. Stand users capable of manipulating time were extraordinarily rare in this world. As far as Jotaro knew, aside from himself and DIO, there were no others.
And DIO had resurfaced from the ocean floor in 1983—sixteen years ago. Jotaro and the five other Stardust Crusaders had defeated him in 1987, meaning DIO had been active in the world for four years, traveling across nearly every corner of the globe. Just recently, Jotaro had received intelligence suggesting DIO might have left behind offspring, though he hadn't yet been able to verify the rumor. Could it be that...
Jotaro studied the pink-haired girl before him anew. The hair color was different, but those eyes—they really did bear a certain resemblance to DIO's. Especially that look of instinctive excitement she'd shown during their fight.
—Could she actually be DIO's daughter? A time-related Stand, skin so pale she could play a vampire without makeup... a birth year that lines up perfectly, and those crimson eyes... it's almost certain.
Inori noticed Jotaro had fallen deep into thought and didn't interrupt him, simply waiting patiently.
If she'd known he was pegging her as DIO's daughter, the look on her face would have been priceless.
"Inori, I'll do my best to help you find your family. For now, stay at that boy's house and don't go wandering. Morioh hasn't been safe lately."
Jotaro spoke patiently.
"Huh? Why not?" Inori whined, drawing out the syllable. "It's so boring staying home all day!"
—This era doesn't even have widespread internet. Koichi's family doesn't even own a game console. Josuke at least gets to play video games.
"Besides telling Josuke about the inheritance, I came to Morioh for another reason—to track this man down." Jotaro pulled a photograph from his pocket. The slightly blurry photo showed a man with an extremely ugly, vicious face. "His name is Anjuro Katagiri—commonly known as Angelo. He's a serial killer with a Stand. Inori, have you seen this man?"
Inori shook her head with an innocent expression.
"If you spot him, don't engage under any circumstances. Understand?"
She didn't get why Jotaro was suddenly so protective of her. She'd actually been planning to help him deal with Angelo and earn some pay for her trouble.
What Inori didn't know was that Jotaro had already concluded she was DIO's daughter—and of course he wouldn't let her put herself in danger.
Jotaro reasoned that Inori had lost her memories. Powerful as her Stand abilities were, battles between Stand users were never decided by raw power alone. She was young and inexperienced; one careless mistake could get her killed.
More importantly, a girl this beautiful was exactly the type a psychopathic killer like Angelo would target.
"...Okay, Mr. Jotaro. I'll remember that."
She had no idea what had been going through his head just now, but she decided to agree for the time being.
And then another idea took shape.
"Mr. Jotaro... I have a small favor to ask."
"Go ahead."