"Uwaah! Snakes! Big Sis, those are snakes!"
Josuke sprinted back toward the yard with Inori in tow, only to find a sight that nearly made his eyes pop out of his skull. Venomous snakes of every color were closing in from all directions, converging on them from every angle. Josuke had always been sensitive to reptiles—snakes, turtles, the whole lot—and now goosebumps erupted across every inch of his skin.
He whipped around to flee the yard, but the tree line beyond was crawling with just as many. And those relentless stone fragments were still coming too.
The mere sight of those cold-blooded killers was enough to make him dizzy. But there was someone behind him who needed his protection—the same Big Sis he'd sworn to Mr. Jotaro he would keep safe. She'd been ambushed, and now it was on him to carry that weight.
"Big Sis, let's get into the garage!"
Josuke's reflexes were already sharp, and he swallowed his fear with a surge of quick thinking. He grabbed Inori and bolted through the open security door of the garage. The snakes immediately changed course, streaming toward them like two magnets snapping together. Unless they'd been given professional kill-training, there had to be something on Inori and Josuke that was drawing these creatures in like a beacon.
"DORARARARARARA!!"
No time to find the door switch, and no luxury of waiting for it to close. Josuke summoned Crazy Diamond and hammered the ground with a barrage of punches, smashing stone and reassembling the debris into a towering makeshift wall that sealed the entrance. Then he built a smaller one to block the only window. That bought them a moment of safety.
"Hah... hah..."
Josuke dropped to the ground, drenched in sweat, heart still hammering. At least they had a second to breathe. But this wouldn't hold forever. Who knew what those two would throw at them next? And staying pinned down in here was no plan either.
"How did this happen..." Josuke scratched the side of his head, face twisted with worry. "We didn't see any of this when we were checking the place."
"It's simple."
The pink-haired girl behind him—the one who'd had her Stand stolen, who should have been drained and listless—spoke up.
Her voice was subtly different from the Inori he knew. A touch warmer. Softer.
"Because when we checked the yard earlier, none of this was here yet."
"Big Sis, are... are you okay?"
Hearing Inori finally respond brought Josuke a flood of relief.
On his own, he had no idea how to deal with wave after wave of these attacks. First venomous snakes—who knew what would come next? But now that Big Sis was back on her feet, he could breathe easier. Even without King Crimson, she'd find a way to turn this around. She always did.
"Sorry for worrying you, Josuke-kun."
"I'm fine. Thank you for protecting me."
The pink-haired girl crouched beside the boy and gave him a gentle smile, thanking him for throwing himself in harm's way.
"...I-it's nothing. It's what I should've done."
Josuke blinked, caught off guard. The Big Sis he remembered wasn't usually this... tender. He'd never noticed how pretty her face was up close. He swallowed hard and turned away, heat rising in his cheeks.
"Anyway—what did you mean by 'not here yet,' Big Sis?"
He shook off the stray thoughts and forced himself to focus on what she'd said.
"You didn't notice anything strange about the way those snakes were moving?"
She tilted her head, eyes narrowed, asking with a quiet smile.
"I—I didn't look that closely, Big Sis. I'm really sensitive to reptiles. Even when I can't see them, my body reacts. I've been trying to get over it, but I just can't work up the nerve."
Josuke hung his head, frustrated with himself.
The girl blinked, then continued.
"Those snakes weren't crawling. They were being pushed toward us, like something was blowing them in our direction."
"What... does that mean?"
"There's only one explanation."
She pressed a hand to her knee and stood, her expression sharpening into something careful and deliberate.
"That woman's Stand ability lets her control objects within a certain range. First the stones, then these snakes—they must have prepared all of it in advance. Once she—once I had my Stand memories stolen, that was when she locked the ability onto me."
"Because you never had any contact with either of them, Josuke-kun."
The Inori standing here was, of course, Mana Ouma at the helm. The exhausted Inori had already clocked out. Mana had been watching from the sidelines, catching every detail of the battle, and the experience she'd built up from observing Inori's several Stand battles had paid off—she'd already pieced together the enemy's ability.
"That's amazing, Big Sis! You figured out their power that fast!"
Josuke's admiration was genuine. She'd lost her Stand and she was still this calm? So that silence earlier was her thinking through a counter. Now that they knew the ability, fighting back should be—
"Big Sis, tell me how to beat them!"
"There isn't a way."
Mana shook her head. An honest answer.
"Huh?"
Josuke's face went blank.
"I don't have a Stand right now. You can't take them on alone."
Never mind the fact that this boy—close to 180 centimeters tall—was terrified of the reptiles waiting outside. Right now it was snakes, but once they stepped out, those two might drag in something even worse. The yard was lined with Kira's potted plants—heavy ceramic pots full of soil that would do real damage if they came flying.
"But we can call Mr. Jotaro and his invincible Star Platinum to come help."
Mana smiled and fished the old keypad phone out of her pocket.
Born in the 2020s, Mana had obviously never used a relic like this, but a phone was a phone—no matter how many redesigns it went through, the basic dial-and-call workflow hadn't changed.
—Invincible Star Platinum. A nickname Inori whispered in her head all the time. Somewhere along the way, Mana had picked it up too.
"Oh yeah! Mr. Jotaro just gave you that phone!"
Josuke's face lit up.
"Call him, quick! Tell him to come save us! Big Sis!"
"I'm already dialing."
Following the earlier setup, Mana opened the contacts list. There was only one number. She tapped it without hesitation, but after a brief delay there was no ring—just a series of rapid beeps before the line went dead.
"What... does that mean? It didn't connect?"
Mana's composure cracked. She'd never used a phone like this and didn't know what the signal meant.
"Let me try, Big Sis."
Josuke took the phone and tried dialing again. Same result.
"That's impossible! Why would Mr. Jotaro not pick up? Unless... they're in danger too?"
"Almost certainly."
Mana drew a deep breath. An already dire situation had just gotten worse. If it had been her calling the shots, she never would have agreed to Inori's plan to split up. Stand abilities were too varied, the house too full of closed rooms—one misstep and you walked straight into a trap.
"Then what do we do?!"
Josuke was so anxious he could barely keep still, tugging at his ears and scratching his cheeks.
Just then, the wall Josuke had built began to shudder in a steady rhythm. Heavy impacts slammed against it one after another, accompanied by brutal crashing sounds. The two Stand users outside seemed to be battering it with something large and blunt, like a medieval siege ram.
The acrid, musky stench of snakes crept in through the cracks. Josuke was afraid. But he knew, more clearly than anyone, that he could not afford to be a coward right now. Whatever came, he had to hold the line. Right here. Push past his limits. Overcome this.
"Josuke-kun, you should go."
Mana made her decision after careful thought.
"I'm the one they're targeting."
"Go rescue Mr. Jotaro, and bring them back with you."
"Until then... I'll hold these two here."