"Two minds are better than one, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Tsutsugami?" Seeing Gai with his head down and his hands white-knuckled around his pant legs, King Crimson pressed the advantage immediately. "And I will provide you with support."
"What kind of support?"
Gai looked up, his voice cool.
"Hey." King Crimson turned toward Inori Yuzuriha, who was still at the helm. "The genome — have you already used it?"
"Yes, Mr. Diavolo. As per your instructions."
Inori answered herself.
The feeling was... genuinely bizarre. Playing both roles in a live performance, as if she'd been forcibly split into two personalities. Maybe this was simply the price of carrying King Crimson.
"This woman is the support I'm offering you."
"You mean...?" A small, involuntary hope flickered in Gai's chest. He'd been trying to figure out how to keep the girl in his organization, and now the other party was simply offering her to him for free. G-inori was obviously no pushover, but Gai had a suspicion he needed to confirm — whether this girl was truly the vessel rumored to be intended for Mana Ouma's resurrection. If she was, no reason he might have for refusing would be strong enough. Whatever his motives, he needed her under his control.
"She'll stay with you."
King Crimson said it calmly.
"So this is surveillance."
"You can think of it that way."
King Crimson nodded, then shifted tack.
"Though I'm sure you already know who she is."
"..."
Gai's expression went still. He looked down, said nothing. The fear underneath was harder to suppress — this man emanated a pressure he'd never felt before, and it wasn't just the string of escapes that defied all reason. He seemed to know things about this world that shouldn't be known. The implication in those words was unmistakable: a reference to inori's identity.
"We're here."
Inori eased the speedboat against the shore, cut the engine, let go of the wheel, and stood — then turned around to find the atmosphere had gone very strange. Both men were silent, and Kyo appeared to have passed out, probably from blood loss. She arranged her expression into a look of innocent confusion.
"Mr. Diavolo, did you two say anything just now?"
"Nothing of consequence. From now on, follow Gai Tsutsugami and Funeral Parlor — but notify me before any significant operations. I'll be in contact with you regularly."
"Hmm~" The girl's brow furrowed slightly. "I'd rather stay by your side, Mr. Diavolo."
— No. This is too weird.
Having this kind of self-directed pseudo-flirtatious exchange carried a deeply uncomfortable quality of embarrassment she hadn't anticipated... At least nobody here knew what a Stand user was.
"It's only temporary, inori. Don't disappoint me."
"All right~"
Inori put on her best reluctant-but-resigned expression and accepted.
"Does that work for you, Gai Tsutsugami?"
"It seems I don't have a choice." Gai laughed quietly, a wry sound with no real humor in it. He pushed himself to his feet using the bench as support, the boat rocking gently underfoot, and extended a hand toward the gas-masked King Crimson. "Pleasure working with you, Mr. Diavolo."
"A handshake won't be necessary."
King Crimson shook its head, declining, and continued in a measured tone.
"Treat inori well. If you make any inappropriate moves toward her... I can't guarantee your safety."
"Don't worry, Mr. Diavolo." Inori took the cue smoothly, her voice warm. "Mr. Tsutsugami is a well-mannered man. And I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself."
Gai looked at the pink-haired girl smiling like a sunlit afternoon, and felt a jumble of conflicting emotions.
He'd watched with his own eyes as she took apart squad after squad of armed soldiers with her bare hands. She'd picked up an Endlave with her Void. Anyone who tried to mess with her would be inviting their own destruction. And as for anything else — Gai had neither the bandwidth nor the interest. Every shred of his attention was currently on guard against the man called Diavolo.
He couldn't know, then. That the most dangerous person here had slipped to his side without him noticing at all.
Inori and Gai — who was still carrying Kyo — came ashore, while King Crimson took the boat and disappeared into the dark of the night.
"This way,Inori ."
"Let me introduce you to my people."
...
...
And so inori joined Funeral Parlor — while keeping her personal sovereignty entirely intact. She had no obligation to follow Gai Tsutsugami's commands. She only needed to follow the will of "Diavolo"... who was, of course, her own Stand, King Crimson, playing a role she'd scripted for it.
Once the boat was a few hundred meters from shore and safely clear, King Crimson docked it back at its original berth and slipped silently back into Inori's body.
Gai couldn't sense it. King Crimson had gained remote-operation range through the Void upgrade, but at its core it was still a Stand — its ability to fully materialize as a physical body was something Inori only released when she chose to. And the right moment for that, she knew, would come only at the end, when everything was already in hand.
The two of them walked in single file along the exclusion zone wall toward the interior. Neither spoke. The only sound was Inori softly humming a tune.
It was a quiet sound — and yet it carried, rich and inexplicable, like a spirit singing in the dark of night. Intoxicating, somehow. The rhythm was fast, almost urgent, and even the weight sitting in Gai's chest began to ease despite himself.
"That song. What's it called?"
"Nameless Monster."
Inori had produced a Pocky stick from her pocket at some point and was chewing on it contentedly as she hummed, her face relaxed with a light, easy smile.
"Do you like it?"
"A dark fairy tale, is it?... It's good."
"I wrote it myself. If you like it, don't forget to follow my page." Inori finished the last of the Pocky in one bite and smiled mischievously.
"So that's it — you're that singer who's been getting popular online lately."
Gai blinked, then smiled in quiet recognition. He stopped walking, studying Inori's face — in the clean white light of the moon, her pink hair gleaming near-silver, a few crumbs of biscuit caught on the corner of her lips, and that confident, playful smirk on her face.
For just a moment, he saw her shadow in G-inori.
"G-inori... is it all right if I call you that?"
"Sure." Inori shrugged. "Are you hungry?"
"I'm fine." Gai shook his head. "Kyo's condition isn't good. Let's not drag our feet — we need to link up with the others as soon as we can."
Inori glanced at the boy in his arms — face pale and bloodless, wound dressed but breathing faint.
"Why did you bring a child like this along on something this dangerous? He's too young to be much help."
"He asked to come." Gai sighed, accepting the rebuke without deflection. "I had planned to go alone — this kind of mission doesn't get easier with more people. But my comrades were worried."
"In the end, Kyo used his small size as an argument and forced his way along."
"Didn't expect it — you actually care about the people under you."
"There was just no need for it."
Gai shook his head. He knew what kind of person he was. Logic first, always. For the sake of victory, he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice a comrade if it came to that.
He was tempted right now to press inori for anything she might let slip about Diavolo, but after turning it over a few times, he let it go for the moment.
"Let's go, inori."
"What are the people in Funeral Parlor like?"
Inori arranged her features into an expression of curious, slightly anxious innocence — wide-eyed and genuine-looking, the manufactured emotion flawlessly worn.
"They cause trouble sometimes. But they're people you can rely on."
"I'll introduce you."