Chapter 34: Can We Reconcile?
Why was Noriaki Kakyoin, who should have been frozen in ice, appearing here?
And it wasn't just Noriaki Kakyoin.
Even Jotaro Kujo and the others were...
Hadn't they all been frozen for protection?
How did Shirou Emiya dare to release the freezing on Kakyoin and the others at a time like this?
Wasn't he afraid that he would respond by deactivating [Judgment's] Stand ability, immediately detonating the bomb blades placed right in front of their faces?!
Cameo had a mountain of questions he wanted to demand of Kakyoin and the rest.
But he didn't dare.
Blocked by Kakyoin and the others, Cameo's only thought now was how to find a way to escape with his life.
"The answer is actually temperature."
Cameo didn't dare ask, but Kakyoin, having seen the doubt in his eyes, was more than happy to clear it up: "You were focusing so much on the battle on the other side that you probably didn't notice.
As that battle continued, the temperature on our side was being constantly raised by the flames of [Magician's Red]."
Ice melts at high temperatures.
This is a well-known physical change.
And after learning that Polnareff not only possessed swordsmanship capable of cutting flames, but also likely hid a large number of unspent bomb blades created by [Judgment]—and that these bomb blades would explode under the influence of high heat—Shirou Emiya had still insisted on using the fire abilities of [Pseudo-Magician's Red] instead of the freezing ability achieved through heat absorption or projecting another Stand.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought of it.
It was that only by doing this could he, quietly and unnoticed, melt the icy protection he had previously placed on Kakyoin and the others.
After all, Cameo needed to use the bomb blades to keep Kakyoin and the others in check.
Therefore, he couldn't possibly detonate them ahead of time, which would cause the threat to lose its deterrent power.
If he couldn't detonate them, he couldn't stop it.
Shirou Emiya had thus openly released Kakyoin and the others from their frozen state.
Simultaneously, Kakyoin did not disappoint. After the ice was quietly removed, he secretly used the transformed, extended tentacles of [Hierophant Green] to search for and locate Cameo's hiding place.
"Could it be... that guy actually calculated this from the very beginning...!?"
Cameo finally understood why Kakyoin and the others had appeared.
It wasn't the "aha!" moment of a mystery being solved; he only felt a wave of spine-chilling horror.
Shirou Emiya—from the very first moment of the duel with Polnareff until now—had all of this been calculated?
To be against such a terrifying enemy...
Never mind that Kakyoin and the others had already been unfrozen and come out. Even if they hadn't, Cameo no longer had any intention of staying.
—"I need to find a chance to escape, to hide in a place where even Lord DIO can't find me..."
Just as Cameo was thinking this, Kakyoin's voice continued to drift over: "By the way, you have already been caught by the tentacles of [Hierophant Green]. Right as we were speaking."
"...?!"
A tightening sensation followed.
It was obvious that the only reason Kakyoin had said so much to him was to wait for the tentacles of [Hierophant Green] to stretch over. Once his attention was diverted, they captured him in one fell swoop.
At this moment, even if Cameo understood all this, it was useless.
The only thing he could do now was...
"Can we reconcile?"
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"A Prophet?
Is this the reason Joseph and the others could find my location so quickly and know the Stand abilities of the other Stand users?"
Cairo, Egypt.
DIO had never relaxed his guard regarding the Joestar bloodline.
Or rather, once DIO vaguely realized the existence of that piece of sh*t called "Fate," he understood that if he wanted to achieve his goals and obtain eternal peace of mind, he had to purge the Joestar bloodline—which always appeared before him like summer mosquitoes—from the gears of his destiny.
Given that, how could he not constantly use his other Stand ability to perform spirit photography on Jotaro Kujo and the others?
Shirou Emiya, this strange intruder, was captured on a photograph under these circumstances.
The same went for the battles between Shirou Emiya's group and the Stand users he had sent out.
Everything was permeated with the feeling that they already knew the walkthrough in advance and only needed to follow it to win.
"Let's test him a bit more."
DIO, having thought of something, decided to slightly adjust the arrangement of the Stand users under his command: "Let me see if you can truly see through the future, Prophet."
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"Polnareff, although I really want to use [Hermit Purple] to help you, other things would be fine, but once it involves anything related to DIO, my spirit photography gets interfered with by him.
It's really not that I don't want to help you."
On the sea.
Having successfully dealt with Cameo and prepared a ship for the voyage with the help of the SPW Foundation, Shirou Emiya and the others had naturally soon embarked on their journey toward Egypt once again.
In the process, Polnareff—who in the original story would have joined the Egypt-bound "DIO-beating group"—successfully had the control of the vampire flesh bud removed with Jotaro Kujo's help.
Furthermore, after Shirou Emiya, who was familiar with the plot, informed him in advance that the enemy he was looking for was J. Geil and that the man was indeed one of DIO's subordinates, there was no surprise at all: without even needing an invitation from Shirou, Polnareff was deathly eager to join the team.
As for the reason...
Joseph, who was being harrassed by Polnareff every single moment, finally blurted this out during another round of nagging, and that was the reason.
Joseph's [Hermit Purple] was simply too useful.
Polnareff, knowing exactly who his enemy was, wanted nothing more than for Joseph to directly manifest J. Geil's location through spirit photography.
"Alright, alright, this is the last time."
Although it was a hassle and drained his mental energy, was Polnareff wrong to do this?
He wasn't.
So, Joseph, who could understand Polnareff's feelings, could only helplessly pull out another blank photograph: "Let's get this straight, I can't guarantee it will work this time... Eh?"
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