The curry fish ball rice Inori made turned out, to her own mild surprise, to be genuinely good. She had spent two years living with Hare in the other world — clearly some of it had rubbed off. All that time in the kitchen had paid off more than she'd realized.
She and Jolyne had gotten it together: a modest spread that wasn't fancy, but was warm and satisfying. Inori sat on the sofa afterward, one hand pressed idly against her pleasantly full stomach, and turned her head to watch King Crimson washing up in the kitchen. She gave a satisfied nod.
—Easily doing what other Stands couldn't manage. Truly unbeatable.
Yoshikage Kira dealt with. Morioh's anomalies repaired. Yasuho safely returned to her original world. And now a late-night meal eaten, dishes being washed — life was, honestly, ridiculously comfortable~. She even found herself understanding a little of what Kira had been so attached to.
"Inori-nee, can you help Jolyne take a bath?"
Just as she was leaning back into the soft leather sofa, eyes half-closed in contentment, a small head poked around the bathroom doorframe.
"...The bathtub here is different from Jolyne's at home. Jolyne doesn't know how to use it..."
The little girl's voice went sweet and helpless in the way that reached directly into the chest.
Inori licked her lips and said "Okay."
She obliged without further thought. Jolyne was still small, and Inori was her temporary guardian. This wasn't something to refuse.
Bath done. Jolyne tucked into bed, blankets arranged. Not until the faint, rhythmic sound of soft snoring confirmed she was asleep did Inori finally lie down and close her own eyes — but she'd barely had them shut a few minutes before she opened them again, staring up at the white ceiling as her thoughts slowly stalled.
—Odd. Couldn't sleep. By every ordinary law of nature, a full stomach should mean drowsiness. She felt none.
Nothing to be done about it. Lying there tossing would only make the mood worse. Inori slipped out of bed, didn't bother with slippers, padded barefoot to the sofa by the window.
She drew back the curtain and let the silver moonlight fall into her deep red eyes.
This was the sixth floor of Morioh Grand Hotel. From here she could take in a wide sweep of the small town in a single glance.
—Morioh, 1999. There really is no word for it but quiet.
She lay on the sofa watching the night sky outside, and gradually drifted into sleep.
A warm and uneventful night passed. Nothing else disturbed it.
...
...
The next day, after lunch, Inori went to visit Rohan. She explained the situation, and the two of them made their way to Ghost Girl's Alley — where Reimi Sugimoto and her beloved dog Arnold were bouncing happily around in the clusters of bubbles Soft & Wet had produced, having the time of their afterlife.
(③)
In terms of how it looked to any living onlooker, it must have been a thoroughly surreal image.
"I see... I'm sorry, Inori. I was wrong before."
Rohan Kishibe bowed his head toward the girl, an unusually sincere apology.
Through Reimi's account they had confirmed what they needed to: Yoshikage Kira's soul had truly departed. Only after that did Rohan finally believe Inori's version of events — up until this point, he had been completely convinced that Heaven's Door could not be wrong.
"I hadn't imagined he could slip away by swapping souls with someone else."
"Which is exactly why it was a strategy tailor-made to defeat your ability."
Inori sighed.
"He knew you'd use Heaven's Door to examine the body. So he voluntarily abandoned his flesh."
She explained it, then looked over at Reimi. A happiness Inori hadn't seen at their first meeting now lived openly on the girl's face. The pink hair swayed in the breeze.
There was something different about Reimi Sugimoto now. Owning a Stand was part of it — but more than that, she had finally killed her enemy with her own hands, and the dark cloud that had hovered over Morioh for fifteen years had lifted at last.
"Thank you both, so much. Little Rohan, Inori-san."
Reimi said it with deep feeling.
"You protected the Morioh I love."
"And now... I can finally leave this place."
A radiant day. There would never be a better moment.
—Kill Yoshikage Kira, then say goodbye to the people who matter. Make a promise that one day, we'll meet again.
Reimi raised her face to the sky. The slight, fragile body began releasing small drifts of golden light. With her long-held wish finally granted, she had no more ties holding her here. This pure and beautiful soul was preparing to return to where it belonged — to heaven.
"Wait!"
Inori spoke up urgently.
She had come here today precisely for this. She had to keep Reimi here. She had to try.
She couldn't heal all the wounds this damaged town carried. But this, at least, was within her reach. And it was something she wanted to do wholeheartedly — for a girl this kind and this brave, who deserved far more happiness than her short life had offered.
"I have a way to bring you back to life, Reimi-san. Please don't go yet!"
"Is that true?"
Rohan Kishibe's head came up, visibly moved.
He had probably thought about this day too — imagined it for a long time. The moment Yoshikage Kira's death was confirmed, the chains on Reimi's soul would dissolve, and she would ascend to heaven like the rest of his victims.
"Of course."
"I have a brother in Italy. His Stand's ability is to bestow life onto objects — if it's him, he should be able to create an entirely new body for you."
"...A brother?" Rohan blinked. "Since when do you have a brother?"
"Whether it's a brother or a sister doesn't matter — there's a way to bring Reimi-san back, and that's what matters. Let it go."
Inori shot him a look.
The fifth JoJo — Giorno Giovanna. His Stand was Gold Experience, the power to create new life. He should still be in school in Italy right now. She didn't know how far his abilities had developed.
But honestly — she didn't have complete confidence. Theoretically it was possible. But this was a world guided by fate, and fate treated questions of life and death with extraordinary sensitivity. Even if Gold Experience could vest life in something dead, what woke up would be a new life, not the same person who had been.
—No ability, however powerful, could truly resurrect the dead.
Just as alchemy's great taboo is human transmutation, among Stand users no ability could guarantee a full resurrection. Reimi's soul had stayed behind only because she'd been bound to Morioh by the strength of her attachment — but now that attachment was fulfilled. Who could stop her from leaving?
"That's alright~"
Reimi listened to this first with a flutter of surprise, then with quiet acceptance settling in.
"Thank you for the thought, Inori-san... but I've truly run out of things to hold me here. I should return to where I'm supposed to be. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust — we'll all meet again someday."
"What are you talking about!"
Rohan Kishibe's brow pulled tight. He couldn't hold himself back any longer. He spoke out in Inori's place, loud and abrupt.
"You have a chance to come back and you're turning it down!"
"Didn't you say Morioh was the thing you loved most in this world?"
"Don't you want to keep living — to see more of it, more of everything that's beautiful?"
His voice was high and raw. Both girls were staring at him.
"Ara~" A delighted smile spread across Reimi's face, and she covered her mouth with a quiet laugh. "Little Rohan, you really don't want to let me go, do you."
"I do not!"
The denial came fast.
—Typical.
"I — I simply can't stand watching someone do something stupid!" Rohan turned his head, eyes anywhere but on Reimi. "Having a chance to come back and choosing not to — is there anything stupider than that?!"
He was attacking her with words, but Reimi didn't feel a flicker of offense. She felt, instead, a warmth brimming so close to the surface that the tears were nearly overflowing.
Maybe Little Rohan was right. There are so many wonderful things in this world still waiting to be found. And at the very least — right here, right now — there are two people who don't want her to leave. If Inori-san truly has a way... maybe she shouldn't waste it.
But whether she stayed or went was not entirely hers to decide.
"Thank you... Inori-san. But — a soul stays in this world only by clinging to a powerful attachment. My body is long dead. The only attachment I had left has now been fulfilled. I don't think I can hold on long enough to wait for your brother."
The death of Yoshikage Kira. The farewell to her two precious benefactors — Rohan and Inori. After this, she had no reason left.
"Arnold and I... we no longer have any reason to stay here."