Morioh had once been a summer retreat. This stretch of villas used to be a samurai estate, and the Kira family line traced back to the warrior class—though they'd fallen from prominence long ago. The old compound had survived, and it was the only inheritance Yoshikage Kira's dead parents had left him.
But his uncontrollable urge to kill had forced him to abandon even that. Yoshikage Kira was powerful and terrifying, no question. Yet for all the abilities at his disposal, the man had no ambition. All he wanted was to live a quiet life—and murder the occasional woman to scratch a particular itch.
Evil didn't come in sizes. Whether it was DIO, that supremely wicked villain who fancied himself a savior, or Yoshikage Kira, a garden-variety deviant—their endings were written the same way: defeat.
—In this town of Morioh, in this bizarre summer of 1999, the Golden Spirit gathered here will surpass Yoshikage Kira's dark dominion over time and space, and burn his evil to nothing.
The Kira house had been renovated several times but never lost its old-world charm. Inori and the others stood before the outer wall, where the nameplate bore the family name in two neat kanji: Kira.
"Seems pretty quiet. Is Kira not home?"
Josuke leaned past the gate and peered inside.
"..."
Inori's face stayed blank, but internally she flinched.
Every time that name came up, something bad happened. For all she knew, Kira was about to roll up in his shiny new Stand, "Black Luxury Sedan," and gun one of them down on the spot.
"Let's go."
Rohan rolled his shoulders and looked at his companions, dead serious.
"Alright."
The girl answered quietly, then fished a black hair tie out of her jacket pocket. With practiced ease she swept back her pink-to-white gradient hair, exposing the side of her face and the small, fair-skinned ear that had been hidden beneath it, and began tying her hair up.
"Stay close to me. I'll use Epitaph to predict any Stand attacks in the next few seconds."
Inori fixed them with a look. The youthful face was all business—absolute seriousness.
"Inori, how often can you activate that ability?"
Jotaro asked, erring on the side of caution.
"About every five seconds, at the fastest." Inori tapped her forehead. "But the more frequently I use it, the longer the cooldown before the next one."
She wasn't being entirely honest. The truth was, she didn't fully know her own limits. Humans had their ceilings, and five seconds was far from hers—at peak adrenaline she'd once fired off two Time Erasures in under a second. But when her stamina ran low, the recovery time stretched out dramatically. Staying Power: E.
"By the way, what exactly is your Stand ability?"
Rohan frowned, smacking his lips, curiosity getting the better of him.
He'd always assumed Inori's power was stealing other people's Stands. But the previous night, in a brief exchange, Jotaro had let slip that Inori was also a time-type Stand user—and that had nearly floored him.
Kira's ability to rewind time was frightening enough. But these two—one who could stop time and one who could see the future—were absurdly overpowered. Rohan resolved on the spot that he never, ever wanted to be on the wrong side of either Jotaro Kujo or Inori. Nothing good would come of it.
"Next time, I promise."
Inori flashed Rohan a sly grin.
"Hmph. Don't want to talk about it? Fine."
Rohan turned away with a look of practiced disdain. Textbook tsundere.
"Inori, if anything goes wrong, signal me."
Jotaro looked at the girl, concern in his voice.
"I'll activate The World the instant I hear from you."
"Got it."
The four of them lined up in front of the Kira Residence. Josuke stood with both fists clenched, the picture of a man bracing for war. Rohan held his enviably straight posture, brow furrowed tight. Jotaro kept his hands in his coat pockets, expression grave. And Inori, standing in the middle, raised one hand and pointed straight at the villa, brimming with confidence as she gave the order.
"Morioh Kira-Hunting Team—move out!"
...
...
The battle cry was impressive—it even carried a whiff of the old Stardust Crusaders setting off from Japan for Egypt. But the reality was less stirring, because the fight between them and Yoshikage Kira wasn't going to be a head-on battle. It was a war of wits.
The grounds were unnervingly silent. Inori used Epitaph three times, confirming no incidents in the next several minutes, before they finally approached the house. The yard held a scattering of plants and flowers, most of them wilted and half-dead, clearly neglected for some time.
"Yoshikage Kira! Get out here!"
Josuke strolled into the middle of someone else's yard and bellowed at the top of his lungs. The only answer was the faint rustle of wind passing through the trees behind the house.
Around the back was the garage. Inori had already circled to the side for a look—the garage door stood wide open, miscellaneous items strewn across the floor. It looked like the place had been ransacked by someone who'd taken only the important things and left the rest. Or it could have been the scene Kira left behind in a panicked flight. Either way, it warranted a thorough search.
"Let's go inside."
Rohan was losing patience. Inori's hyper-vigilant, everything-is-a-threat approach was wearing on him.
"Not yet, Rohan-sensei."
Inori patted his shoulder, her tone serious.
"We need to leave one or two people outside. If there's an ambush in there, the whole team could get wiped."
Stand abilities ran the gamut of the bizarre. Even though their four-person roster looked flawless on paper—range being the only gap—they couldn't walk blindly into an unknown situation. Leaving people outside as backup meant that even if something went wrong, reinforcements could respond.
"I agree."
Jotaro nodded. In a straight-up Stand fight, he could take on ten opponents by himself. But the real danger was dirty tricks. Plenty of Stand types specialized in area-of-effect attacks. Inori's plan was the rational, correct call.
"I was actually hoping to check out the garage in back. The three of you can search the house while I handle the yard."
"No." Jotaro's voice was firm. "We go in pairs. You alone is too dangerous."
"Rohan and I will take the interior. Josuke, go with Inori. Follow her lead. Don't do anything reckless if you encounter an enemy."
Jotaro sorted the assignments in three sentences.
Rohan and Josuke were both relatively green when it came to Stand combat, and the bad blood between them made them a poor team. Having himself and Inori each take one was the optimal split.
The interior was a maze of rooms—an enemy could be hiding behind any corner, even inside a bathroom. Higher danger meant he needed a partner who wouldn't hold him back and could help spot things he might miss. Rohan fit that bill.
"Don't worry! I'll protect Big Sis for sure!"
"Hah, you don't seem to realize who needs protecting here, Josuke Higashikata."
Even now, Rohan couldn't resist a jab.
"Oh yeah? Just make sure you're not the one cowering behind Mr. Jotaro, shaking like a leaf! Rohan!"
Josuke fired back without hesitation. The two of them had been at each other's throats since last night's hair incident, and the tension showed no signs of fading. Inori couldn't be bothered to referee—given enough time, they'd come to respect each other on their own.
Jotaro had no interest in playing peacemaker either. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a brand-new keypad phone, and placed it in Inori's hand.
"Inori, here's the phone I promised you. Good timing—it'll come in handy."
"If you run into trouble, call me. I've already saved my number in the contacts. And if Rohan and I run into something, we'll call you."
Inori accepted the gift with a bright smile and a polite little nod.
"Thank you, Mr. Jotaro~ I understand."
The four-person team split into two groups. Not that the distance between the yard and the house amounted to much—a shout would be enough for Inori to rush in as backup, and the same went for Jotaro reaching her and Josuke.
With that, the operation began.