"Don't worry about me, Onee-san! Run!"
Hayato was on the verge of blacking out, but he'd already steeled himself to sacrifice everything if that was what it took to defeat Yoshikage Kira.
"If he catches you too, it's all over!"
He screamed at Yasuho with every shred of breath he had left, begging her not to worry about him, to get to Lovers' Cape and meet Inori. If the intelligence he'd risked everything to gather never reached the one person who could act on it, none of it would mean anything.
"Go, Onee-san!"
Seeing her hesitate, Hayato cried out again.
There was no better option left.
Yasuho's hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists, her lip bitten bloody without her even noticing. She raised her eyes one final time to the boy held in Killer Queen's grip—Hayato's eyes were shot through with burst capillaries, his skin an ugly purple-red. And yet, even now, the light of resolve in his gaze hadn't dimmed.
"Yoshikage Kira... if you kill him, you will pay for it!"
Yasuho steadied herself. She delivered the words like a blade, cold and absolute, then turned, swung onto the motorcycle, and was gone. Paisley Park had already started the ignition ahead of her. With one sharp fishtail, the girl vanished into the night and did not look back.
"Hmhm. Looks like you've been abandoned, Hayato~"
Kira turned to the boy with a serene smile.
He knew exactly who Yasuho was going to meet. But he felt no urgency whatsoever.
"You're finished, Yoshikage Kira... I'll be waiting for you in the next world!"
"Hahaha."
As if the child had said something genuinely funny, Kira couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh.
"You've read my diary. You know what I'm capable of."
"You're going to use Bites the Dust?" Hayato's stomach dropped, but he rallied almost instantly. "I already told you! Nothing you do from here can change the fact that I know you're Yoshikage Kira! Even if you rewind and kill me, Inori will notice. But as long as you don't kill me, I'll make sure Inori finds out who you really are!"
"No. I'm not activating Bites the Dust."
Kira was perfectly composed. He appeared cornered, yes, but this time there was no rage, no humiliation—only a calm so total it made Hayato's skin crawl.
"You know, I was forced to loop so many times trying to find a way to kill Inori. But I couldn't do it. In a direct fight, she's simply too powerful—the sharpest battle instincts and tactical mind I've ever encountered. I could never beat her. In the end, all I could do was become your father and hide. But this time is different."
"I should really thank you, Hayato. If it weren't for your little performance, I might never have gotten the chance to kill her~"
"Wh-what are you planning!?"
Hayato sensed something was very wrong.
Had Yoshikage Kira awakened yet another new ability? The man was supposed to go pale at the mere mention of Inori's name—so why was he suddenly this confident?
"You see, my Fourth Bomb, Great Days, has a special mechanism that I didn't write down."
"...Wha...t?"
Kira's words plunged Hayato into despair.
"The diary exists to keep my memories from scrambling across loops. But the mechanics of my abilities don't change with each reset, so there was no reason to record them. And as it turns out, that little habit has brought me an unexpected windfall."
Kira explained, brimming with satisfaction.
"The mechanism... what is it?"
"It's simple. If the person I summoned from the parallel world attempts to share the secrets of the Fourth Bomb with anyone else—it automatically triggers. To protect me, it detonates and kills every person who hears the secret."
"But I'm still alive!" Hayato shot back. "You're bluffing!"
"You learned all of this from my notebook. You fall outside the Fourth Bomb's range of effect." Kira smiled again. "But think about it. Your ally Yasuho Hirose—the person I brought to this world using the Fourth Bomb—to save you, to kill me, what do you think she's going to do the moment she meets Inori? Hmhmhm... hahahaha!"
"Ah... AAAHH!!"
Hayato's blood ran cold. A scream of pure anguish tore from his throat.
It can't happen... If Inori dies, there's no one left in the world who can stop Yoshikage Kira.
"Great Days is invincible!"
"I truly am grateful for your efforts, Hayato! You really are my good son! Now I can finally... finally send Inori straight to hell! Mm... nngh."
Kira was trembling with emotion, tears streaming down his face.
He'd been waiting for this moment for so, so long. He'd endured so much torment to reach it—every death and reset, every nightmare that jolted him awake drenched in cold sweat. Now, at last, the final page was turning. And the victor was Yoshikage Kira.
...
...
It was close to nine o'clock. Inori didn't have a watch, so she couldn't be sure of the exact time.
She stood beneath the same tree where she'd first woken up in this world. Lush grass stretched in every direction. Not far off, the sea churned below the cliff's edge, waves crashing against the rocks in a ceaseless rhythm. Tonight's moon was especially bright, its silver light spilling across the water where a few fishing boats drifted with faint lantern-glow. The scene was tranquil.
—It's gotten this late already, huh?
She knew she was probably about to face Yoshikage Kira, but she wasn't particularly worried.
What she was worried about was Jolyne. She'd promised Jotaro-san she'd look after her, and now, only a few hours later, Inori had vanished without a trace. Hopefully Josuke was doing a decent job keeping the girl company.
Then again, there was no real need to fret. A gentle soul like Josuke had a natural way with girls of any age.
The buzz of an engine grew from a distant hum to a roar. A motorcycle was racing toward her, and the sound alone told Inori the rider was frantic—even after hitting the grass, there was no sign of deceleration.
Inori snapped back to attention and turned, eyes fixed on the blinding headlight cutting through the still darkness of the cape.
"Inori-chan!"
The rider hadn't even worn a helmet. She pulled off a white-knuckle emergency stop, leapt from the bike without bothering to put the kickstand down, and let the machine topple onto the grass as she sprinted toward Inori, her chest bouncing in rhythm with every stride.
Inori's eyes narrowed. She swallowed.
"Yasuho? Since when can you ride like that?"
Of all the things to lead with. Yasuho blinked, momentarily thrown.
"Paisley Park was driving, not me."
"Inori-chan! Come on, we need to go back and save Hayato—he's in danger!"
"Slow down. Tell me what's going on first."
Yasuho was drenched in sweat and wild-eyed, which told Inori immediately that she'd run into an enemy. Her own expression sharpened.
"...Right. I need to tell you about Yoshikage Kira's abilities first."
Inori's composure steadied her. Yasuho understood: even if they turned around right now, they'd be too late to save Hayato. The boy's only hope was to pray that Kira hadn't killed him already—and the odds weren't good.
"He has an ability that rewinds time—by blowing himself up with his own bomb, time reverts to twenty-four hours before!"