Chapter 18

As Highway Star was sent out to harvest more victims to heal Yuya, the Morioh Trio were going to the Morioh Grand Hotel. The reason being that Boingo and Hol Horse were still staying there, with Hol Horse's reasoning being that since Boingo is a sort of popular comic artist, Kira wouldn't risk killing him.

Anyway, they needed to see if Thoth had any new predictions that could help with the investigation. However, on the bus ride to the hotel, they noticed a certain green haired man. "Oh great, Rohan's here, that's just great." Josuke thought sarcastically.

"I wouldn't have to be here if you didn't burn my house down, Higashikata..." The mangaka mentally sneered. "Why are you even here?"

"First of all, that was your own fault and second of all, we need to visit someone who's stand can help with finding Kira." Josuke responded telepathically. However, before Rohan could retort, he noticed something. A room in the tunnel. Inside was what seemed to be a woman being killed.

"What the... Josuke, I know I was literally bitching at you, but I think there's something you should see out the window." Rohan thought, thinking this could be tied to the killer they're after.

Looking outside, Josuke didn't see it at first. But then once the woman collapsed, he saw what looked like Kira slinking away. "Stop the bus!" Rohan immediately yelled; the driver yelped but did put on the breaks. "I saw him right there, it's Kira!"

"Uh, you sure?" Josuke grumbled, the sudden break sent him flying out of his seat and he wasn't amused in the slightest. "Well, you seem serious about this, if you say so."

Crazy Diamond came out as Josuke slowly got off the bus, approaching the room Rohan was pointing to. "Well, that's definitely weird, where did this room come from?" The high schooler thought as they approached the room in the middle of the tunnel.

Luckily it seemed Killer Queen was nowhere in sight, but that was odd. Wouldn't Kira take advantage of this room to lure the pair into a trap? It was a trap alright, but the murderer wasn't the one responsible for it. "Man... This is creepy, could it be some kind of stand?" Josuke thought, slowly approaching.

As soon as Rohan had one arm in the room, an arm grabbed him, sinking its fingers deep into his neck. "GAH!! It's got me!"

As Rohan was stabbed, it was like his life energy was being sucked out of him. To the point that his skeletal system was becoming visible as his skin was becoming transparent.

"What the fuck?!" Josuke yelled, seeing how this was very disturbing. However, the pompadoured teen noticed something odd, other than Rohan becoming a literal skeleton.

There were feet prints on the ground, footprints that were approaching him slowly, leaving a set of footprints in its path. "Great so this stand has a foot fetish..." Josuke said as it backed up. The only problem was trying to figure out who the hell this stand belonged to.

"It's a bit of a stretch but, isn't this the tunnel that some biker crashed into? It's possible that it could be his stand-"

"Can you stop hypothesizing and do something?!" Rohan snapped, still getting his life force drained from him.

"Huh? Oh right!" Josuke immediately punched the new stand away with Crazy Diamond, as well as helping Rohan recover from nearly having all the life being sapped right out of him. "Uh... Are those footprints getting closer?"

Along the side of the tunnel was a wrecked bike, most likely the one that was crashed. Josuke had it repaired right away and hopped onto it. "Uh... I never rode a motorbike before, but there's a first time for everything, right?" He thought as he stepped on the gas.

As Josuke drove out of the tunnel, the footprints continued to follow him. Forming itself into the stand known as Highway Star before making chase again. "Oh man, this guy is persistent!" The pompadour haired teen thought as he floored it as much as he could.

It seemed no matter how far Josuke was driving, the stand continued to pursue him. It seemed to have unlimited range with how it kept chasing him. "Damn, the user could be anywhere if it's still chasing me!" He thought. "I gotta warn the others somehow!"

Then he remembered that Okuyasu and Koichi were with him. "Oh right. Well, Koichi is a reliable guy so I think he heard me literally yelling about that guy, if he got off. Anyway, I still need his help to since if I stop that foot stand is probably going to suck me dry like it did to Rohan." He thought as he rode towards the hospital.

Luckily, since Koichi was in fact off the bus and aware of everything Josuke said, he decided to go to the hospital since y'know, that's where the stand user is, most likely.

"I read about his crash in the news, his name is Yuya Fungami. Now to find out what floor he's on." The platinum blonde thought as he entered.

Though, once at the hospital, there was a problem. The staff. Mainly the reception/nurse. "Um, excuse me, can you help me I'm looking for a Yuya Fungami? It's kind of an emergency." He stated, getting an annoyed look from the receptionist.

"Are you family?"

"Uh no-"

"Do you have any affiliation with him?"

"Listen I-"

"Look kid, I have no time to deal with you. If you aren't related to Mr. Fungami in any way, then I suggest you go and let us adults work." The receptionist grumbled.

Koichi's eyes narrowed; summoning Echoes Act 3. "She sure is being rude for someone who's supposed to be helping people get better. Echoes, we're gonna need to get rough with her."

"Right master, let's KILL DA HOE!" The talking stand declared. There was a counter filled with different medicine bottles behind her, surely one of them would cause a volatile reaction when knocked over.

And he was right. One of the bottles was moving the bottles over towards the edge, pushing another. The noise coming from behind her was enough to cause her to turn and stop them. However, due to threes freeze, it was really heavy, catching her off guard.

"What the hell?! These are just filled with 200 mg pills! How is it so heavy!?" She thought, struggling a bit. As she was, Koichi leaned in, grabbing the door frame as he did so. "Hey, can you help me with this?" She said, realizing that the guy she told off was the only one there at the moment.

"Oh? Me? I thought you told me to go home and let you adults work." Koichi said as he just watched. "Damn it! Is there something you want from me? Are you seriously blackmailing a medical professional-"

"This isn't blackmail, though, I will help if you tell me what floor and room, Fungami is in." Koichi stated. "Okay, fine!" She exclaimed before telling him the room number. Once he got the info he needed, Koichi removed the hold of Echoes act 3. But, as soon as that was dealt with, Josuke rode in, breaking the glass doors with the motor bike he was riding on.

"Gah! I think I lost them now; I just went through a dirty sewer on my bike." Josuke panted as he got off the motorbike after crashing it. However, he would soon be proven wrong as Highway Star's footprints entered the hospital after him. "Oh, come on! Can nothing shake that damn stand?"

Koichi had to change targets, now aiming Act 3 at Highway Star. However, with the state the pursuing stand was in, it could only freeze one of the feet. "Ah!! It's got me!" Josuke screamed, falling over once the other foot attached itself to him.

The shorter teen gasped as he saw Josuke's visible skeleton with Highway Star about to sap him dry. Luckily, he was able to use Crazy Diamond to pull himself into an elevator. "Alright, which room is he in?"

"525."

Back in said room, Yuya Fungami was already recovering nicely from Josuke and Rohan's energy, he could finally sit upright and get a better look at his three girlfriends. "Mmn, I'll be out of here in a day." He thought to himself.

However, there was something off. He knew one of his girlfriends was on their period, but now it smelt like a different one was also on their period, or at least he thought since the smell of blood was more pungent.

"Hmmm... If my nose is correct, one of you two beauties is on your period. I'm right, aren't I? Which one of you is it?" Yuya smirked. However, he was wrong.

"It's me." A masculine voice said from behind him. It was Josuke. He had got some cuts when he broke the hospital door open with the motor bike. "Now then, call back your stand right now or I'll-"

"You're going to hurt an injured man?!" Yuya exclaimed, trying to seem like the victim here, causing his three girlfriends to get in defense mode. "We won't let you lay a finger on Yu-chan!" Akemi, one of his girlfriends, stated.

Josuke was taken aback, this man had three groupies who were willing to defend him? He knew they wouldn't know about his stand, but there had to be some way to get him to call back his stand. "Damn, uh look buddy. I won't hurt you much, if you tell your stand there to find someone else to feed on! I know a guy who's more than deserving to have the life sapped out of him." The pompadour haired teen groaned.

"Sorry but it seems Highway Star's mind is made up; he's going to need your energy." Yuya smirked, watching as Josuke could barely stand from his own stand catching up with him. "Damn, you sure have a lot in you, this would be more than enough to get me out of here."

Little did he know, Josuke was able to grab onto the IV bag he was attached to before passing out. "Man, this guy sure was just a pushover. But how did he know I had Highway Star with me? The three girlfriends of mine couldn't see him, but this little runt can?"

As he was about to sit up, Crazy Diamond gave him a good sock to the jaw. "Gah!"

"Ugh, that was enough to get me back up." Josuke grunted. "So, are you gonna call back your stand? Or should Crazy Diamond beat the stuffing out of you?"

"I- Uh- You can't beat me up, I'm still kind of injured so-"

"Fuck this." Josuke said, using Crazy Diamond to heal this douchebag, just so he can get to it. "Right, you feeling better?"

"I mean, Yeah-"

"Good, now I won't feel bad about beating your sorry ass." Josuke commented before dora doraing Yuya till he was knocked out, unsummoning his stand. In fact, he beat him so hard he flew out the window and into the fountain in front of the hospital.

With that, it felt like Josuke was feeling better, though he didn't know if it was due to his stand returning his energy back to him or the I.V. he used.

"Well, that's one enemy stand user down, that was surprisingly easy aside from me barely being able to stand up from all that energy he sapped out of me. Heh, energy sapping, that sounds like the plot point of some other manga series I know of." Josuke joked to himself as he watched Yuya stumble his way out of the fountain.

"Might as well try to get some answers out of this guy." He thought as he walked down out of the hospital, Koichi by his side. "You know how you got Highway Star?"

"I uh... I just sort of woke up and saw him. It all happened so randomly too. First I thought I felt something stab me in the neck and then I felt like I was surrounded by energy." Yuya explained. "Honest! And I promise I won't do any more energy sapping out of you. I mean, I already fully recovered anyways."

"Well, looks like Kira's dad was here alright." Koichi replied.

"Yeah, sucks that this guy's basically useless and can't help us now." Josuke sighed. "Well, we better get out of here."

"To check on Rohan?"

"I mean, I guess, I was think more so we don't get in trouble for this. If you really want to check on him I guess we could." Josuke stated as the two went back to the tunnel where they left Rohan. Luckily he wasn't dead.

"Gah! Is it over? Is that stand dealt with?" Rohan asked, looking up at Josuke. "Obviously, if it weren't you would be dead right now." The teen replied. "Ah, I guess I should probably thank you for saving my life or something... Thanks..." Rohan stated before a random thought came into his head. "Wait a moment... Do you remember that radio hostess?"

"You mean Kimiko? yeah she told us you did her dad."

"That part isn't relevant, what is relevant though, is that could she use her stand to find Kira? I mean it's not like his secrets have changed."

"Right, that could work, although she would have to use her stand on every person in the city just to weed him out. Although since it is bound to her glasses, I suppose he won't suspect something is off." Koichi theorized.

"It'll be a lot easier than asking Paura to just use his stand and see which clone exposes Kira's murderous tendencies. Dad's stand should be able to pick up what he looks like too, but so far, all the spirit photography is showing us is wherever his dad is at, and a blank sheet of paper for some reason too. It's frustrating that you can't get Hermit Purple to tell you exactly what you want to know."

Rohan just nodded, Thoth would be of use too, as long as the pages don't detail something like Kira becoming unstoppable. "Well, we should get to the hotel now that that stand user has been taken care of."

"Yeah." Josuke said, helping Rohan up before they went to the hotel to meet up with Boingo. Though, their conversation wasn't private, of course, they were in a public space. Which wasn't good because someone, a future foe, heard about this.

"Kimiko, if her stand can read secrets, she probably has other information as well. Like an address. But before I strike I must prepare for this..." A mysterious voice spoke to itself before going off.

Meanwhile, back with Boingo, nothing of use had come up yet. "Damn, so it only prophesied what we went through?" Josuke asked, flipping through the pages of Thoth carefully. "Yes, though there may be another prediction coming up." Boingo stated.

And just like that it started glowing, indicating a new prediction. Flipping to the new page, what was there surprised the group. "Kira's dad found not just one stand user, but a whole lot of them, a total of 4. Though they won't be any trouble for the group." Josuke read. "Well, good to know they'll be easy to deal with."

But it was still a lot to deal with, four new stand users in their town? And what if Kira's dad told them specifically to target Josuke and the others due to them knowing too much? Although there was also the issue of what they get in return. "Maybe they can be reasoned with, it's not like Kira has any sort of reward to give out to anyone who helps him stay hidden." Josuke thought.

As they continued to look through Thoth's pages, no one noticed a new figure emerge, holding a single sheet of paper. "I'll keep them in here." That same voice said before slinking off.

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