"Gyaaaahhhh!!!"
Whether from fear or pain, Rohan Kishibe's voice cracked and warped.
But this was actually just an act, meant to make Inori let down her guard and truly believe he was helpless. Only then could he finish what he wanted to say.
"Calm down, miss... I, I'm telling the truth! My name is Rohan Kishibe, and I'm a fairly well-known manga artist! I would never do anything so deplorable! You can look at the manuscript in my bag... it has my signature!"
Rohan pleaded desperately, but in reality, behind his panicked expression was a feeling of enduring humiliation while eagerly anticipating what came next... Come on! Hurry up and take out my manuscript to confirm my name, Rohan Kishibe!
No matter how powerful her Stand ability, once she sees that "original manuscript," she'll have no choice but to become material for me, Rohan Kishibe!
"Go ahead and look at my manuscript quickly, and then you'll become material for me."
Inori heard his plea and simply smiled disdainfully.
"Right, hurry up and... what? What?" Rohan had been going along with her words when he realized something was wrong. Now he was genuinely panicked, a few more drops of cold sweat beading on his forehead, his heart pounding wildly. "What are you talking about?"
—She actually knows the activation conditions for my Stand, Heaven's Door?
Incomprehensible, utterly incomprehensible. Rohan lost all hope in an instant. Normally, people would follow his words and open his bag to see the manuscript! Now that his trap had been seen through, all of Rohan's cards were exposed before this woman. He was helpless!
"Hmm? Still playing dumb?"
Inori tightened her grip, forcing Rohan to bend over so their eyes would make eye contact.
"I really don't know what you're talking about! If you don't even believe this... my house is nearby. I can take you there to verify that I really am a manga artist!"
Rohan hadn't completely given up hope yet. He could only deny the facts that had already been seen through, though it was ridiculous and pathetic. But he truly had no other choice.
"I believe you."
Inori smiled cheerfully, her eyes narrowing into crescents.
"Eh?"
"But first, I need to put one line in your head."
Before Inori finished speaking, Rohan saw silver-white light rings suddenly blazing around her body, followed by a piercing pain in his chest... Rohan was horrified to discover that his chest had developed a glowing hollow. What was this? Could this woman's Stand ability actually be...
As long as she made eye contact, she could trigger the Everlasting Crown's extraction ability. It wasn't limited to King Crimson—Inori herself could use it. And because it had been converted into a Stand power, no matter how spectacular the light column effects during the extraction process, ordinary passersby couldn't see them.
"Young people these days are so bold."
A middle-aged woman carrying fresh vegetables from the convenience store noticed the peculiar pair. In broad daylight, that girl was brazenly groping the man's chest... She couldn't help but sigh about how the world was going to hell, shaking her head repeatedly before choosing to quietly leave.
"Come out!"
With Inori's excited shout, Heaven's Door—controlled by King Crimson—was rapidly sucked in by a mysterious vortex, then fished out of Rohan's chest by Inori's hand, like a girl playing goldfish scooping at a festival!
"My Heaven's Door..."
Seeing this scene, Rohan immediately understood the situation without needing an explanation. This girl's ability was to steal other people's Stands? No matter how you looked at it, this was too terrifying... Damn it, why does she know about Heaven's Door's ability? She must have some earth-shattering secret!
Unfortunately, Rohan would never have a chance to find out.
"Ora! Heaven's Door!"
Inori made a silly face and showed off in front of the Stand-less Rohan.
"No! Give it back quickly! Without it... I..."
Rohan Kishibe didn't rely on Heaven's Door to be a manga artist, but if he lost his Stand, finding inspiration would become incredibly difficult. He might develop some kind of anxiety disorder.
"Don't worry, I'll give it back in a moment."
Inori bent down to pat Heaven's Door's hat. This little boy Stand in a transparent cap and white coat was incredibly cute, and his compact size suited her perfectly. Unlike King Crimson over there—while powerful, his imposing frame really clashed with her delicate build.
But she'd been using him for so long now that it felt wrong to complain. She'd just have to make do. What, dump him?
"Don't tell me you want to do something to my body... you want to modify my memory!"
"No, just adding a new rule."
As she spoke, Inori had already activated Heaven's Door's ability. She had to admit, Rohan was one of the most handsome male characters in the JoJo series besides the naturally charismatic Joestar family men. That handsome, refined face with its sharp angles had now transformed into a book cover. Inori directly opened Rohan's face, revealing densely packed text with illustrations, like an old newspaper's layout. She didn't think much about it, simply having Heaven's Door take up a pen and write a single line.
—Cannot use Heaven's Door on Inori Yuzuriha.
"Inori Yuzuriha? That's your name? It's really... really a good name, not vulgar at all. I, I need to record it as manga material..."
Rohan saw the text she'd written on his own face, but what caught his attention was something rather strange.
"This is me using my ability as Heaven's Door's Stand user on you. Only I can remove it. Now you'll never be able to pry into my secrets again."
If she remembered correctly, Rohan only awakened the ability to use Heaven's Door on himself in his spin-off stories. But even if he could use it now, since this was a mark she'd left, he couldn't erase it no matter what. It was a completely foolproof choice.
"Why go this far... now I'm even more curious about you."
Rohan no longer cared much about his own life or death. This girl he'd thought was just an ordinary pretty face actually had such a bizarre Stand ability. She probably knew other Stand users like himself too... Damn it! I really want to see her memories!
"Curiosity killed the cat, Rohan-sensei."
"And then... before I give your Stand back, let me take a look at your experiences. Mm-hm~ Rohan Kishibe, born in Morioh in 1979, moved away to Tokyo in 1983, started working as a manga artist in 1995 serializing 'Pink Dark Boy'..."
"Don't, don't read it out loud!"
Rohan felt incredibly stifled. Now he finally understood how the victims of his Heaven's Door had felt. Having all his life experiences from childhood displayed to a stranger like this... with no privacy left whatsoever... this feeling really wasn't pleasant.
Inori already knew everything about Rohan's life. Looking through his memories was mainly to confirm whether his experiences and the abnormal phenomena in Morioh had any connection.