Related post: “Wonder of U” and its mechanism so far
Curiosity killed the cat…
Before chapter 107 was released, we thought that the 'trigger' of 「Wonder of U」's calamity was the intention to 'pursue' or 'harm'. Even the slightest action is capable of activating 'calamity'.
Then what about Caato? Why didn't she get hit by calamity even when she had chance to immobilize Tooru with her Stand?
What is exactly the trigger of calamity? Let’s review some previous chapters for awhile:
Poor Tom
(Warning! Some of the pictures are gory)
JJL chapter 76: Ozon Baby's Pressure - part 4
In the very first 「Wonder of U」’s debut chapter, Poor Tom who was getting pressured by Josuke spotted an ambulance and thought that they must be his 'comrades' coming to pick him up. When he was 'pursuing' the ambulance, calamity immediately got rid of him.
Rai
JJL chapter 85: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 2
Back when Josuke’s group were looking for The Head Doctor, they were pursuing Mr. Akefu and Rai got 'calamitied'. At that time they were curious about the doctor’s identity.
JJL chapter 100: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) - part 17
Calamity finally hit Rai fatally after 「Wonder of U」 managed to provoke him to harm it. Anger had led to his defeat.
Mitsuba
JJL chapter 85: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 2
After 'having fun' with her husband, Mitsuba saw Mr. Akefu outside the window, standing in their yard. Curiosity about the reason of why he was there made Mitsuba to go after (pursue) him and got a small calamity.
JJL chapter 91: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) - part 8
Mitsuba saw Mr. Akefu once again standing in their yard when she was cooking, she saw him through the living room-open kitchen windows. This time she was not only curious but also panicked, and calamity had attacked her once again.
Josuke
JJL chapter 92: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 9
After Holy rescued him, Josuke immediately intended to fight 「Wonder of U」. Still in the same room and just by thinking of fighting WOU, calamity had already attacked Josuke first.
Bus-Stop Murderer/The Prisoner
JJL chapter 96: Just Don’t Move
Actually, this scene confused me a bit (in telling it), so I'll just take a summary from JoJo wiki):
A man held in jail for murdering elementary school children with a kitchen knife while they were waiting at a bus stop. He shared a cell with Rai and was shown from the start to be very distressed. Rai told him about the existence of the head doctor but the man angrily told Rai to shut up, thinking he's crazy. After Rai described the crime scene that led him to the cell he sit in, the man was affected by calamity. As he was about to attack Rai with the very knife he used to kill the children at the bus stop, his karma led to him slashing his own neck instead.
So the point is that this bus-stop murderer was struck by a 'calamity' for the crime he committed (read: karma), but how can he deal with 「Wonder of U」 in the first place? I think, as he shared a cell with Rai, and Rai began to tell about Mr. Akefu/WOU to him, the murderer acted as if he did not care, but in his heart, (I think) he was curious about the figure that Rai was talking about.
The Reporter
JJL chapter 97: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 14
Mr. Akefu had provoked the reporter to reveal his 'intention'. The reporter said that he intended to 'pursue' him and ‘harm’ him indirectly through defamation. He was immediately killed by calamity not long after.
Jobin
JJL chapter 97: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 14
Seeing that his wife had been constantly seen being 'terrorized' by 「Wonder of U」, Jobin became curious and wanted to help her by getting rid of the ‘source of terror’ (which also potentially disrupts his plans). He saw Tooru's shadow through CCTV, curiosity about the mysterious figure made Jobin intend to ‘pursue’ him and calamity befell him.
Kei
JJL chapter 104: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 21
Kei who just received a call from Yasuho and immediately caught up on events that occurred during her absence, she went to meet Josuke to deliver Yasuho's call. 「Born This Way」 manifested and accidentally ‘harm’ 「Wonder of U」 when she arrived, then the calamity hit her.
The Nurses
JJL chapter 106: Go Beyond
Seeing Mr. Akefu is injured, the nurses tried to ‘approach’ him to help him. The calamity then also seemed to affect the nurses. Apart from wanting to help him, the nurses were probably curious about what made Mr. Akefu got injured in the first place?
So…
After reviewing some chapters on how 'calamity' strikes, it's easy enough to relate it to 'pursuit' and 'intention to harm'. However, witnessing Caato who didn't immediately hit the 'calamity' even when she managed to incapacitate Tooru with her Stand makes us think, didn't she 'approach/pursue' and 'attack' Tooru?
Some argue that calamity did not attack her because Caato did not 'harm' Tooru either, just immobilized him.
But seeing how close she was, why didn't calamity attack her? Didn't Caato also walk up to him (an act of pursue)?
She had no intention to harm him, she literally said that.
But the nurses in chapter 106 also had no intention of harming Mr. Akefu, right? In fact, they wanted to help him.
The nurses were approaching/’pursuing’ him.
But so did Caato!!
Let us end this debate first, looks like we're just beating around the bush right now.
I think it's a bit inconsistent and unfair, why could Caato get away from calamity when she literally used her Stand to immobilize Tooru? Some readers think that Tooru purposely disabled 「Wonder of U」 at the time because he needed an 'equivalent exchange'.
A reasonable thought, but I have other ideas about the true trigger of 「Wonder of U」's calamity.
It’s not really ‘pursue’ and ‘harm’, it’s actually ‘CURIOUSITY’.
At least that's my theory.
So how does 'curiousity' play out in triggering 「Wonder of U」's calamity?
In the earliest chapter of 「Wonder of U」's debut, the end of Ozon Baby arc (chapter 76), Poor Tom spotted an ambulance and guessed that it was his comrades picking him up. Of course 'curiosity' is at play there, did the ambulance really come to save him? What if, instead of his comrades, an unknown medical team boarded it?
Even if it were his comrades, what was their intention to come there (was it just to save Poor Tom and take the New Locacaca’s branch)?
Josuke's gang's pursuit of the Head Doctor since chapter 85 involved 'curiosity' in finding his identity.
「Wonder of U」's terror against Mitsuba often involved 'curiosity' on Mitsuba regarding Mr. Akefu's 'sightings'.
In Josuke and Holy scene in chapter 92, it was possible that a sense of 'curiosity' was involved when Josuke intended to attack 「Wonder of U」, the curiosity about what he would do next in defeating WOU and also about its identity (since Josuke and Holy had just talked about 'The Head Doctor's identity').
In chapter 96, Rai kept talking about 'the Head Doctor' and 'calamity' even when the bus-stop murderer did not ask. But if your friend keeps babbling about someone who is stranger to you, even though it's annoying, won't you be curious over time?
In chapter 97, the reporter got hit by calamity after the Head Doctor provoked him to confess his pursue. But remember, that right before that, the reporter received a mysterious package from Josuke which was a hint of Head Doctor's involvement in Locacaca and Holy as human test subject. It's very possible that curiosity came over him, “what really happened in Locacaca's research and what was the Head Doctor actually doing behind the scenes?”
Still in the same chapter (97), Jobin was struck by calamity because of his curiosity about the shadowy figure outside Higashikata's yard (Tooru) and tried to pursue him.
In chapter 100, Rai who managed to get very close to 「Wonder of U」 was provoked to directly attack it and Calamity killed him. If it was pure anger, where would the 'curiosity' be?
JJL chapter 100: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) - part 17
Just after Rai managed to get close to WOU and prior to WOU provoked him, Rai's curiosity arised about what will happen after he got this close? Would calamity befall him or not? Even WOU added that it itself was 'curious' about it, whether it was sincere or just an act to provoke Rai.
In chapter 104, Kei must be curious about what really happened (to Yasuho and Josuke), her job was only to convey Yasuho's message to Josuke, but of course the 'opponent' that Yasuho told to her at that time made her curious, "who are Yasuho and Josuke fighting right now?"
Lastly, the nurses in chapter 106, they must be 'curious' about what happened to Mr. Akefu to the point that he suddenly got badly injured.
Then what about Caato? Did she not have any ‘curiosity’ as she approached Tooru and used her Stand against him? About who is he and how does his Stand work?
Regarding Tooru’s identity, there is Yasuho who immediately told about what just happened and who Tooru is.. to Caato who had just appeared in the scene. She didn't even forget to explain how his Stand works, Yasuho basically recapped everything in the previous chapters to Caato.
JJL chapter 107: Kaato Higashikata's "Attack"
「Wonder of U」 only started to be seen attacking Caato when she did 'equivalent exchange' against Tooru and Tsurugi. But wasn't the reason WOU attacked her was because of her action that intended to 'harm'? Yes, but in that scene there was also 'curiosity' in Caato's mind, what was that? It is regarding the result of the ' equivalent exchange ' she just did, “will this work or not? Can Tsurugi be saved and Tooru be defeated?”
Then what about Caato's line: "how do you feel? Do you want to touch me?” a few pages before, isn't that a curiosity? It could be, but for me the following questions did not need to be answered. I mean, Caato did not seem really care about his answer.
What Caato had in mind could be like this:
“How do you feel?” -> 'of course he doesn't feel pain because I don't hurt him'
“Do you want to touch me?” -> ‘of course he can’t, I'm immobilizing him right now.’
It was more like a taunt as she just walked away after immobilized him, but I could be wrong though.
Afterall, this is just my theory, not something we should consider 'canon' (yet): that the main trigger of WOU's calamity is 'curiosity' which in the end often results is 'pursuit' and 'attack'.
Hence the phrase: curiosity killed the cat.
If my theory proves wrong, then the answer to why 「Wonder of U」 didn't immediately attack Caato might be there in Mr. Cesar Gallardo’s comment.
Also, I left Yasuho’s case out because her situations are still ambiguous rn.
