#make me live

[improveordie]

First sketch in a while. was introduced to this beautiful woman today with the most amazing freckles! had to draw me some freckled ladies when i came home.

[mistystarshine]

Make Me Live Chapter 3

Summary: Stand hunting counts as a sibling bonding activity, right?

Notes: I am SO SORRY for how long this took. I had some real life drama going on, including a sudden and unexpected move across the country. Have some rising action.

Wordcount: 3,019

Beta: @kousakukawajiri

She stayed at her brother’s house that night. Her mother didn’t have any problems with it and, by some miracle, didn’t ask too many questions. Shinobu’s usual over-excited and over-caring interrogation was something she was used to by now. As long as she didn’t get too specific, she didn’t have to blink an eye.

They got moving early in the morning. Much like the day before, she felt like she was trying to walk in shoes made out of lead, but thoughts of the errant stand pushed her onward. It’ll get easier after awhile, she told herself. It had better get easier after a while. They had agreed to do their search by foot to decrease the risk of missing something vital or getting in an accident if the giant road frog appeared again.

Yoriko was already regretting that choice and they were only five meters away from the apartment complex.

The bleary silence was shattered by Hayato asking, “you said you were with Shizuka when you saw it?”

She blinked up at him a few times as she slowly processed his words before nodding.

“Do you have her number in your phone?”

The nodding stopped. Slowly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She knew what she would, or more precisely, wouldn’t find in there well enough that she didn’t bother turning it on. “No… I, well, I didn’t think to ask.” The corners of her lips puckered and her gaze slowly drifted downward. If she turned on that phone, she would find a total of four contacts. They were Takuma, her mother, her brother, and emergency services. There was also the ‘daily trivia’  app that texted her, but that didn’t really count.

“I see.” Hayato didn’t sound like he thought that was very odd. Then again, it probably wasn’t from his perspective. “We’ll search by ourselves for now then. If we think we need to, I can call Josuke later.”

That wasn’t enough to satisfy Yoriko. Even knowing that her older brother should know her well enough not to expect anything great from her contacts, she couldn’t help but feel like she had failed in some way. Her lack of social connections had failed them. “I could ask Takuma to help, if he has already finished his weekend work,” she offered.

Hayato looked at her in confusion. “He doesn’t know about stands, does he?”

“No,” she said, “but we could think of something to tell him. He doesn’t really think about the ‘cause’, only the ‘effect’ and how to improve it.”

The sound that her brother made was simultaneously dismissive and frustrated. When combined with the way he narrowed his eyes, she knew the answer before he even said anything. “No, don’t call Fujita. We don’t… need… that.”

She sighed and allowed herself to look across the street. There weren’t any ghosts, but she also didn’t feel like looking at Hayato when she said, “I don’t know what you have against him.”

Now it was his turn to sigh. Well, sort of. She had noticed that his sighs tended to be the quiet, barely-there kind; like he was afraid to let anyone know what he was really thinking. “You have too much faith in people.”

Her steps almost faltered at his words. What’s that supposed to mean? It was fairly obvious to her that he didn’t trust Takuma, but why? He hadn’t done anything to earn that distrust. Was he because he was her friend? Did willingly spending time with her automatically qualify someone as weird and suspicious, even in the eyes of her own brother? It could just be because Hayato was a distrusting person, but he’d known Takuma for years by now. Short of being deeply mentally imbalanced, which he couldn’t have hidden for her for that long, or having endured a deeply traumatic experience, which she knew he hadn’t, she couldn’t think of any other reason to be suspicious of someone for so long.

That idea… she didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, he wouldn’t have made it clear that he didn’t trust Takuma if he didn’t clear about her. On the other hand… did he see her as a freak, too? Even though he knew about stands? He’d always looked at her weird. It was more common when she was little, but there were still times when…

Yoriko grabbed her forearm with her other hand to keep both of them from shaking. She quickly folded her arms to keep the original movement from being seen for what it was. “Maybe you just need to have more faith in people,” she finally said. Without waiting for a response, she picked up the pace and started walking ahead. Another one of those barely-there-sighs was faintly heard behind her.

They walked to the end of the block in silence. At that point, they crossed the street and continued on for three more. That was where she saw him.

“Oh.” A frown tugged at the corners of her lips. She never quite knew how to deal with this particular ghost. He wasn’t troublesome. In fact, he was even helpful from time to time. The thing was that there was something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. There was something that drew her to him. There was something else, too. Something that sent a shiver up her spine and made her feel like Reaper was trying to pop out without permission again. It was like it was trying to say something.

If only she knew whether it was trying to say ‘he is important to you’ or ‘beware’.

Her brother’s feet came to a halt soon after hers. “What is it?” he asked.

“Just a ghost,” Yoriko murmured. ‘Just a ghost,’ because she knew that Hayato wasn’t particularly comfortable with the shenanigans surrounding stands and their users, no matter how hard he tried to push himself through. She didn’t describe the ghost’s blonde hair, bowler hat, or peculiar tie. She especially didn’t mention the way his gaze lingered on him for a moment or think too hard about the way Hayato happened to stiffen up that exact moment.

It was a coincidence. It meant nothing. The chances of the amnesiac ghost having a tie with her brother were low, let alone her brother having a strong enough connection with a dead man to sense his presence. Besides, the ghost was nice. Pretty average aside from being an amnesiac ghost, but nice. It’s probably just the wind, she concluded. There was no reason to worry about the wind.

The ghost’s gaze slid over to her soon enough. He tilted his head curiously, probably noticing her thoughtful expression. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“In a way.” Yoriko allowed herself to look at the area behind the ghost and raised a hand to run it through her hair.

This is going to sound weird, she thought. Then, I’m talking to a ghost. It was illogical for her to worry about something as bizarre as a ghost thinking that she was weird. She shouldn’t care about what it thought at all. Someone seeing her talking to the ghost was a different matter, but even then, the situation at hand was more important than her reputation. There wasn’t anyone anyway. Therefore, it didn’t matter. He had nothing to do with her in the grand scheme of things. There was nothing for her to worry about. There was...

There was an uncomfortable feeling churning in her stomach.

She forced herself to look the ghost in the eyes. “We’re looking for someone,” she said. “Someone who can summon a giant frog. A frog that I saw in my dreams. Have you seen anyone… do… that?”

Ridiculous. She sounded utterly ridiculous. However, the ghost appeared unphased beyond briefly furrowing his brow. “No. But I did see someone new to Morioh a few minutes ago. Something about her was… peculiar.” A look flashed across his face briefly, like he was reaching for something that had been pulled just out of reach. When the look passed, he pointed down a street. “Light brown skin, braided hair, slender hands… blue shirt.”

Yoriko opened her mouth, but no words came out. It wasn’t unusual for her not to know what to say, but it was usually because she didn’t know what was considered acceptable. This time, it was that look on the man’s face. ‘Peculiar’ was such a vague word. What was ‘peculiar’? Why did the way he said it set off warning bells in her mind when she had heard it many times before? She looked at Hayato for guidance and saw that he looked unsettled. His eyes were darting back and forth - paranoid?

A wave of guilt washed over her. Of course. He didn’t do well with things like this. She should have told him that she could search by herself, or at least not stopped to talk to a ghost.

She sucked in a quick breath before looking back at the ghost. “Thank you, I-”

Tap. Her eyes darted sharply to the left. Tap. A well-polished black shoe turned the corner. Tap. It was followed by the rest of the individual, a man with a black haze where his face should be.

He turned directly toward them.

“I have to go.” Without explanation, she grabbed Hayato’s hand and took off down the street the ghost had pointed at. Her brother made a surprised sound, but she carried on without acknowledging it, her fingers holding his in a death grip and her feet moving at a pace that was barely below a run.

After they had passed a block or so, she risked a glance over her shoulder. The faceless man was nowhere to be seen. With a relieved sigh, she dropped her hand back to her side and slowed to a normal walk. While her chest heaved to catch her breath, her brother asked, “what was that?”

An awkward laugh was forced out of her throat. “I got just got a little over excited.” Her voice cracked with her lie. She didn’t look at Hayato’s face to see if he had noticed. It was for the best. He didn’t do well with things like that. “The ghost I was talking to said that he saw a peculiar looking new person. We should look for a brown-skinned woman in a blue shirt with braided hair.”

Even though she didn’t look at him, she could feel his gaze boring into her. Her earlier guilt returned, this time accompanied by a starburst of shame. Although shame was a powerful emotion, her stand was not, to her knowledge, connected to her emotions. That didn’t stop her from flinching and wondering if it was some sort of tell when Don’t Fear the Reaper manifested out of nowhere.

When the stand appeared, Hayato started to look around.  He finally stopped to look at what was, to him, an empty space by her right shoulder. Where her stand had appeared. “Reaper?” he asked.

She never could understand how he was able to do that.

“Yeah,” she murmured. As she spoke, shapes began to manifest in the mist swirling around the stand. A picture of Azami’s frowning face, firm and unwavering. A faint image of Sekiguchi Eiichi waving a faintly familiar younger boy aside before walking to his next class. A blackbird flying through the rain.

Yoriko shook her head and huffed. “Just more nonsense.” Azami wasn’t a stand user, she didn’t care about birds, and she didn’t know what her stand’s new fascination with Sekiguchi was, but she was not fond of it. No one wanted the weird girl eavesdropping on them.

“Are you sure?” he asked in a voice that all but oozed with skepticism.

“Yeah. It almost always is.” Because that was the nature of her stand - a useless and uncontrollable thing that liked to play probability roulette.

If he had something to say to that, he didn’t get the chance. A scream cut through the air. Yoriko, naturally, took off running toward it. She was almost too caught up in the way her heart started racing and horrible scenarios started flying through her head to appreciate the way her brother cursed before following. (Almost.)

The sight that greeted her made her try to stop dead in her tracks. Unfortunately, her momentum carried her forward several more paces, making the slathering dog that had Azami cornered against a fence turn its gaze toward her.

Whether or not the word ‘dog’ was appropriate was questionable. It was definitely a canine with a build similar to a domestic dog, but it was at least four feet at the shoulder. A mangy black pelt clung to its heavy frame. The foam covering its muzzle did little to hide the glistening white fangs so proudly displayed by its snarl.

There wasn’t much that Yoriko took pride in. Her mind was one of the few things that fell in that very small category. However, as it came prowling toward her, all thoughts vanished. Azami’s face was ashen and her expression terrified. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Reaper had disappeared. Hayato was running, but he was behind her and standless. That finally made something enter her mind, but rather than a plan, all she thought was, run away.

The dog started to run, which meant she only had a matter of seconds. She tensed her legs to (futilely) start running -

    - and blinked when the dog was sent crashing to the ground out of nowhere.

It snapped in frustration for a moment before disappearing.

Silence filled the air. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Azami. Instead, she looked at the place where the dog had vanished before looking at Hayato when the sound of someone panting by her side alerted her to his presence. “Did you see it?” she whispered.

He nodded shakily. Her brow furrowed. Did that mean that if wasn’t a stand? How else could it have just disappeared? She didn’t hear anything thrashing around and wasn’t being invisibly attacked, so it had to be gone and not just invisible. “But how… maybe it’s meant to b-”

“What the hell!?” the enraged shriek cut off her train of thought. She reluctantly looked at Azami and was rewarded by the sight of an accusatory finger pointed her way. “What is wrong with you? Why does weird shit always happen when you’re around!?”

If she looked to her side, she would have seen Hayato bristling beside her. Instead, it was all she could do not to let herself stare at her feet. “I’m not-”

“Save it,” Aza- Yokoyama spat. “You can’t go around talking to yourself and telling people about their doom and then say you’re not involved when something like this happens. Maybe you’re a bad luck charm and a liar.”

Yoriko flinched. Hayato noticed the movement and growled, “watch your mouth.”

“Don’t,” she murmured.

Yokoyama snorted before walking forward. Her hands were shaking, but she still moved with more confidence than Yoriko ever could. “Get out of here before I tell Eiichi to call the cops.” With that, she opened the gate in the fence and strode in, shouldering Yoriko out of the way in the process.

Once she had entered the house, Shizuka Joestar faded into sight beside her. Her face was red and her hands were clenched into fists. More importantly, her clothes and hair were ruffled. Angry red scrapes marked her exposed knees. “I shouldda kicked the bitch when I had the chance,” she grumbled.

Yoriko’s eyes widened. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before choking out, “Shizuka - you…?”

The girl gave an uneasy chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well… I couldn’t let it eat you, could I?”

It felt like she should say something. Something not only meaningful but more meaningful than the traditional ‘thank you’. That was really reckless. No. That was a terrible thing to say to someone who just saved you, even if it was true. I didn’t know you could tackle. Also no. It was a pointless observation. Your hair looks nice like that. Fluffy. Also true, but it was an air-headed compliment that had little to do with what had just happened. She also didn’t know if she would take it as a compliment when ‘fresh out of a stand fight’ probably wasn’t the style she had been going for.

“Sekiguchi,” she blurted out.

Shizuka blinked. “What?”

“Azami said that she’d tell Eiichi to call the cops if I didn’t leave. She has to mean Sekiguchi Eiichi. Reaper showed me him yesterday and a little while ago. If he lives here…”

“So much for nonsense,” Hayato muttered.

Yoriko glanced at him, but she had to admit that he may be right. The odds of this being a coincidence somehow managed to be lower than the odds of her stand having shown her something useful for once. Still, she would have appreciated it if the warning about Azami came a little earlier.

“Do you think he could be the stand user?” Shizuka asked.

Yoriko shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. Yokoyama… he likes her. They’re friends. He’s not… his life is not that bad. I don’t see why he would attack her, let alone set a giant frog loose in the street.” That was operating under the assumption that the dog was connected to the frog, but if they were unrelated… she didn’t think they were unrelated.

“Well, is there anyone who doesn’t like her?” she pressed. “Anyone who would be around here?”

“Lots of people, probably,” Yoriko murmured. “Or maybe not. Just the ones who…” Yokoyama Azami wasn’t overly aggressive toward most people. She had her web of friends, friends like Hirohito, Hairu, Gima, and Eiichi. They were people who tended to dislike and earn the dislike of the same people. The ones who didn’t have a web of friends to support them. Things like who they were related to didn’t matter.

Eiichi. The name meant, ‘excellent first son’.

Isolation and jealousy could be powerful motives.

[mistystarshine]

how about ravens/crows for the yoriko ficlet prompt?

I close my eyes, only for a moment…

His mother had told him not to go too far. Because he was a good boy, he didn’t go very far at all; just to the house three doors down from theirs. He liked that house. It had a colorful garden that attracted all sorts of birds. Today, there was a really big bird rifling through one of the bushes. It had sleek black feathers. When it moved, the sunlight made the feathers look like they were almost shining. 

A giggle escaped the little boy’s throat. That sound alerted the bird, who quickly flew out of the bush. “Nuuu,” the boy cried, “birdie!” He had seen similar birds before, but this one was especially pretty. His mother’s warning forgotten, he took off chasing after the bird.

The bird flew for a good distance, but not far enough to shake off the child. It eventually landed on the branch of a large tree. Once more, the boy laughed, but the bird was high enough off the ground not to feel threatened by him. “Found ya!” he cried. He raced over to the tree and pressed his hands against the bark to stare happily up at the feathered wonder.

After a few minutes, the boy got bored, as children tended to do. He stepped back from the tree and looked took in his surroundings. His pursuit of the bird had taken him directly to the nearby park. Whenever he went, it was filled with other kids and their parents, but right now, he didn’t see anyone at all. “M-mama?”

A voice called out. He didn’t know what it was saying, but it was soft enough for him to turn toward it none the less. A red-haired lady was approaching him from several meters beyond the tree. “Huh?” he asked. All he got was a repeat of her previous gibberish. It was comforting-sounding gibberish, though.

The boy began to take a step toward her but hesitated when the bird in the tree started cawing. Instead, he mumbled, “Idunno what you saying.”

There was a moment of pause before a soft ringing sound split the air. Laughter. She tilted her head back somewhat, making loose ringlets of her red hair slide off her shoulders. Something about her looked warm. “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t speak Japanese very well.”

The boy made a confused face. She couldn’t speak well? When she started saying things that he could understand, she didn’t sound that bad to him. Her voice wasn’t like the people in Morioh, but it was weird in a pretty way. Her words were clear enough anyway. Before he could say anything about it, the woman walked past the tree. The caw of the bird started sounding more like screams.

When she was a few feet away from him, the woman crouched down. He could see that her eyes were bright blue from this level. Pretty, he thought. Between that and her hair, she looked almost like a fairy. He found himself reaching forward to touch one of her curls without thinking about it. She didn’t protest.

“You can call me Cece,” she said. She smiled the way people did when they were trying to make friends.

“‘M Ryou,” he said.

The bird was getting louder.

“Ryou,” she hummed. “I like it. Can you close your eyes for a moment, Ryou? I have something fun to show you.”

His mother told him not to go too far or talk to strangers, but she was so nice and so pretty. He closed his eyes without hesitation.

At first, he didn’t feel anything. Then he felt a little dizzy. Sleepy, too. Was it because he closed his eyes? His limbs were starting to feel heavier too. It felt like he could fall asleep right here. Was it because he had closed his eyes?

Ryou gasped when he opened his eyes. A sickening feeling started in his stomach and slowly spread out through his entire body. The dizziness grew into the beginnings of a headache. By this point, he felt like he had the flu while he had been perfectly sick seconds before. That gross feeling wasn’t why he had gasped.

Cece’s face had gone cold.

“Close your eyes,” she repeated. “It will be faster that way.” Her voice was still soft, but there was something else behind it. He didn’t know exactly what he sensed, for few children ever did, but he knew it was something wrong. Those bright blue eyes were without the spark he originally thought he saw - nothing more than a trick of the light. All the warmth he had thought he had seen in her was sucked out through those eyes.

Or maybe it wasn’t the eyes.

With the bird’s caws echoing around him, Ryou turned and started to run. Energy drained from him with every movement until his legs gave in a few steps in. He fell forward and quickly scrambled to face Cece. She was walking toward him slowly. At least, he thought she was? Darkness was closing in on the edges of his vision. It was hard to try and see through the darkness, for his head was hurting so much and, oh, when did it start hurting to breathe.

“Mama, ‘m… scared…” his eyelids began to droop. He was scared and he knew he was supposed to go get his mother or sister when he was scared. But he was so tired too… and it was so hard to move. Maybe it would be easier if he just… didn’t? As long as the cold lady didn’t get any closer…

He forced himself to look at Cece once more. Through his fading vision, he swore he could see a flickering silhouette of a hand on her shoulder.

“It will all be…”

“…over soon.”

The bird took flight before she could finish her sentence. He closed the distance between himself and the little boy just in time to see him take a shuddering last breath. He winged upward with a scream at the woman - no - demon he had unknowingly lead the loud child to. She looked up at him, but didn’t do anything. Ryou’s corpse began to crumble at her feet.

His caws of warning and rage gave way to a more mournful sound. Knowing that there was nothing he could do, he flew away and, when he was several blocks away from the park, over the head of another individual.

Yoriko looked up when a bird flew overhead. “A raven,” she murmured. Seen as omens of death in many cultures. She snorted at the thought. They’re clever, but… what a silly superstition.

Within half an hour, a few small bones and a scattered pile of dust was all that remained of Yokoyama Ryou.

Now, don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky…

[mistystarshine]

829/??? words of the next chapter of Make Me Live are done. Judging by the chapter outline, it’s going to be a long one. I have to stop for now, since it’s three in the morning (I only started at two forty-five - for shame), but here’s a small (and unedited) preview.

“I could ask Takuma to help, if he has already finished his weekend work,” she offered.

Hayato looked at her in confusion. “He doesn’t know about stands, does he?”

“No,” she said, “but we could think of something to tell him. He doesn’t really think about the ‘cause’, only the ‘effect’ and how to improve it.”

The sound that her brother made was simultaneously dismissive and frustrated. When combined with the way he narrowed his eyes, she knew the answer before he even said anything. “No, don’t call Fujita. We don’t… need… that.” 

She sighed and allowed herself to look across the street. There weren’t any ghosts, but she also didn’t feel like looking at Hayato when she said, “I don’t know what you have against him.” 

Now it was his turn to sigh. Well, sort of. She had noticed that his sighs tended to be the quiet, barely-there kind, like he was afraid to let anyone know what he was really thinking. “You have too much faith in people.”

Her steps almost faltered at his words. What’s that supposed to mean? It was fairly obvious to her that he didn’t trust Takuma, but why? He hadn’t done anything to earn that distrust. Was he because he was her friend? Did willingly spending time with her automatically qualify someone as weird and suspicious, even in the eyes of her own brother? It could just be because Hayato was a distrusting person, but he’d known Takuma for years by now. Short of being deeply mentally imbalanced, which he couldn’t have hidden for her for that long, or having endured a deeply traumatic experience, which she knew he hadn’t, she couldn’t think of any other reason to be suspicious of someone for so long. 

That idea… she didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, he wouldn’t have made it clear that he didn’t trust Takuma if he didn’t clear about her. On the other hand… did he see her as a freak, too? Even though he knew about stands? He’d always looked at her weird. It was more common when she was little, but there were still times when… 

Yoriko grabbed her forearm with her other hand to keep both of them from shaking. She quickly folded her arms to keep the original movement from being seen for what it was. “Maybe you just need to have more faith in people,” she finally said. Without waiting for a response, she picked up the pace and started walking ahead. Another one of those barely-there-sighs sonded out behind her.

[mistystarshine]

so i have been reading your fic (btw i love it and i anxiously wait for more updates!!) and i have been wondering, how did Yoriko and Shizuka meet??

Yoriko let out a tiny huff. She wasn’t eager to be outside, yet she was there anyway. (Since she wasn’t much of an outdoors enthusiast, it was actually rare for her to want to be outside, but that was another matter entirely.) Hayato was talking about moving out again. When you combined that with their mother’s intense desire not to see him leave, the atmosphere in the house got a lot tenser. She had left with the hope that the issue would resolve itself in the time it took her to walk around the block.

The intensity with which she gazed ahead was odd for a nine-year-old. It was the gaze of someone trying to avoid looking at something; but what was there to avoid looking at? The answer was ghosts. There weren’t too many and they tended to move around, but she knew that she looked like a freak when she looked at them. It would be worse if she saw one like the faceless man or exploding lady - then she would be a scared freak.

Where her eyes told of some brand of determination, the way she kept winding and unwinding a lock of hair around her finger spoke of anxiety. She hadn’t even noticed that she was doing it, just like how she didn’t notice a girl in roller skates come barreling down the street.

A scream was the only warning she got. Too little, too late. The pair girl slammed into her and sent her sprawling to the ground with a thud and alarming crunch. 

Yoriko was immediately aware of a starburst of pain in her wrist and shoulder. The part of her mind that wasn’t caught in the unexpected pain dully realized that she’d landed on her side. With a somewhat delayed yelp, she wiggled out from under the catastrophic stranger, who was sprawled across her legs. Once she was free, she heard her struggling to sit up and a faint whimpering noise.

That was when Reaper decided to manifest. It stared blankly down at her. Yoriko stared haggardly back. For a moment, frustration over her situation overwhelmed her reluctance to seem odd(er) enough to make her say, “you are useless.”

“Y-you have a stand?”

The fact that the girl had said something was processed before what she said. Yoriko had tensed up and, upon recognizing the words, did not relax. She quickly forced herself to her feet despite the ache and looked at the girl. She looked like she was around the same age as her, dark hair, Japanese - so why did she sound like it was a second language? Her eyes were watery with unshed tears. Hadn’t gotten up off the ground yet. All these details were filed away while she dealt with the urgent matter. “You can see it too?” A hint of undisguised skepticism colored her tone.

Despite all evidence pointing to the answer being positive, a part of her was still surprised when she nodded. “I have one too. I-I’m Shi-zuka Joestar.” Her speech was broken up as she occasionally paused to grit her teeth.

A series of thoughts ran through Yoriko’s head. The first was that the name ‘Joestar’ sounded familiar, but she didn’t remember where from. The second was a warning siren of sorts. Her brother’s many, many, many warnings about strange stand users echoed in her mind. As she continued to watch the girl and finally noticed one more prudent detail, they got a little quieter.

Shizuka’s ankle was at an odd angle.

“Your ankle’s broken.” It wasn’t how someone generally responded to an introduction and said more monotonously than such a statement ought to be. Yoriko furrowed her eyebrows in concern, but their lightness made the expression hard to see.

Despite the shards of bone that were doubtlessly sinking into her muscles as they spoke, Shizuka forced a smile. “It’ll be fine - my brother has a healing stand.”

That was when the meaning behind ‘Joestar’ came to her. “You’re Higashikata’s sister.”

Something that she thought was surprise rippled across Shizuka’s face. It also might have been a spasm. “You know him.”

“In a way.” There wasn’t a term for ‘he’s an acquaintance of my older brother and helped me understand what a stand was’ that didn’t take up too many words. Rather than elaborate, she went on to change the conversation in a way she knew her brother would consider needlessly risky. “Do you have a way to reach him?”

Shizuka bit down on her lower lip. “No...” It looked almost like she was growing translucent. Yoriko squinted, but wrote it off as a side-effect of her fall. Unfortunate, since she would have to tell her mother what had happened or ask Josuke for help too if that was true.

“I see.” She looked out into the street then. No cars had passed since their fall, but one would have to come eventually. “What about hitchhiking?”

This time, she knew exactly what expression Shizuka made. That was definitely alarm. “N-no! What if I’m abducted!?”

Yoriko tilted her head to the side a little. “I didn’t think of that. There are a lot more people who would rather help someone than abduct them. Most people.”

While she was speaking, Shizuka tried to rise to her feet. Tried. The way she wobbled and the strain on her face was downright pitiful. “It’s oka-y, I-I’ll just w-walk home.”

This time, Yoriko didn’t hesitate at all. She nodded decisively and said, “okay. I’ll help you.” Her own pain had started to fade anyway. Apparently, the instigator of the collision was the one who suffered the most.

More surprise - or maybe another spasm. “W-what? Why? You don’t h-have to.” 

Maybe it was a little odd to go out of your way to help someone you just met in such a way. Since she had already wrapped an arm around Shizuka to help support her, that didn’t matter. Besides, she had a much better question. “Why wouldn’t I?”

She was too focused on getting them moving to notice the small but genuine smile that Shizuka had managed. Once they had made in several yards, she finally remembered to add, “I’m Kawajiri Yoriko.”

[mistystarshine]

MML Chapter Two: Frog

Summary: With the right context, frogs can be terrifying.

Notes: A short chapter to bridge the gap into the first arc. Also, I am looking to re-name this chapter and chapter one after songs, so if you have a suggestion, shoot me an ask. 

Wordcount: 2,076

Beta’d By: @sentochoryu

The Kawajiri household was one of peculiar contrasts. None were so apparent as that between mother and daughter. When she finished cooking at sat down at the breakfast table, Shinobu immediately started chatting about her plans for the day. A quick look at her daughter would reveal that she wasn’t listening too closely.

It wasn’t that Yoriko was trying to ignore her mother - she just wasn’t a morning person. That trait was only intensified when she hadn’t slept well. Don’t Fear the Reaper insisting on manifesting behind her mother to show her random nonsense wasn’t very helpful either. Despite knowing better, she couldn’t help letting her gaze slide over her mother’s shoulder every few seconds. Reaper’s mist had enveloped her mother, putting her right in the center of the visions.

First, there was a dog digging through a dumpster. Useless. Second, a man having an argument with his wife. Also useless. A giant leopard frog hopping through the road - that one had her resisting the urge to scowl. Since when did her stand reflect her dreams back at her? It was swiftly replaced by some football game in America. After that came one of her classmates, Sekiguchi Eiichi, laughing with someone on the phone. An awkward shame at that unintentional invasion of privacy began to fall over her. Thankfully, before it could get too bad... the mist shifted… back to the giant frog. For the love of-

“Yoriko?”

She quickly switched her attention back to her mother. “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong? Is there something on my shoulder?” Shinobu twisted around to look at her shoulder and, when her attempt to brush the invisible something up, began to inspect the other one.

Yoriko took a hasty bite of her breakfast before shaking her head. “No, there’s nothing. I just didn’t sleep well.” That elicited a concerned look from her mother. She attempted to put on a reassuring tone when she added, “I’m fine.”

She knew that she wasn’t the best at expressing her feelings. Judging by the look that her mother gave her, she hadn’t exactly nailed ‘reassuring’. However, it was enough to make her drop the subject. Yoriko held in a sigh of relief when her mother went back to chatting about what she had to go shopping for today. She nodded faintly before looking down to work on her breakfast.

Either realizing that it was being ignored or having finished its rambling, Reaper vanished. That left only the radio to distract her from her mother. It was only white noise. A report on a missing child a few towns over wrapped up before switching to a cheerful pop song. Normally it would be nothing, but when paired with her grogginess, focusing became a much more difficult task.

It took her a few moment to realize that her name was being called again. Yoriko rapidly blinked a few times before looking up, fervently hoping that she hadn’t done something to make her start worrying again. “Hm?”

Shinobu sighed. “You know, it’s a Saturday. You could sleep in.”

She shook her head. Something about the way it made her mother’s eyes light up told her that she had walked right into something. Thankfully, she didn’t need to wait for long to find out what it was. “Oh? Do you have plans then?” An eager grin bloomed across her face.

Seeing her mother excited should have made her happy. Instead, she found herself struggling to ignore the guilt seeping into her chest. She would by lying if she said that she was alright with her social isolation. It was more like she had gotten used to it. Her mother, on the other hand, was visibly bothered whenever the subject came up. It was no surprise that she found the idea of her daughter not spending another weekend holed up reading was so exciting to her. Knowing that she could give her a positive answer for once was a small relief compared to the amount of stress she must have caused her. “Actually, yes. Shizuka’s in town and invited me to come over.”

Shinobu gleefully clasped her hands. “Oh, that’s wonderful! I hope you have fun!”

Yoriko was not having fun.

On the bright side, she was wide awake now. The bad news was that she felt like she was about to find out if it was possible to have a heart attack at age sixteen.

“Okay, so turn right- NOT THAT FAST!”

It was a good thing she had preemptively grabbed the roof handle when Josuke started giving his instructions, because with how quickly Shizuka made that turn, she may have been tossed into the other seat otherwise, seatbelt be damned.

“I’m trying!”

In reality, it only took a few seconds for the car to turn, but for Yoriko, it felt like an eternity. This is it. This is how I die. That despondent thought resonated through her very soul until the car straightened out. At that point, she leaned back into her seat with a sigh.

“Alright. Just… keep going down this road for a while. See if you can keep the speed from changing.” Yoriko listened to Josuke’s instructions with a frown while she prayed for life in his car.

Scheduling errors happened. It was a little irresponsible, but she could understand Shizuka forgetting that she had a driving lesson with her brother. What she didn’t understand was why she had insisted that she come with her instead of hanging out some other time. It was almost befuddling as her agreeing to it. As it turned out, Shizuka was not a good driver. At all. The fact that she was still in training did little to relieve the absolute terror that she could generate behind a wheel.

She should have seen this coming. Better yet, Reaper should have seen this coming.

A few silent moments passed. They were punctured by Shizuka twisting around to look at Yoriko. “Sorry about this, if you want, you can dr-”

“SHIZUKA!” Josuke’s cry was followed by a poorly stifled scream. Yoriko’s face paled and, when Shizuka turned back around, she added her own scream to the chorus. Despite the car barreling down on her, the woman standing in the crosswalk was frozen in place.

Yoriko didn’t recognize the english word that Shizuka cried when she slammed her foot against the breaks, but she was pretty sure that it was a swear. A shared sentiment. The sudden stop sent them all flying forward several inches. The seatbelts prevented anyone from going through any windows, but resulted in a sharp pain as it bit into her chest. She leaned backward as soon as the initial shock wore off. It eased the pressure off, but the ache remained. She rubbed at it with a wince.

“Shit.” That one, she recognized. Shizuka muttered it with her head in her hands. Yoriko found herself looking between her and the woman they had nearly hit. The car had only stopped inches away from her. Her brown eyes had narrowed into an accusatory glower.

Technically, since she was in the crosswalk, the woman had the right of way. The look she was giving her put a sour taste in her mouth anyway. Moron. Why didn’t you move? She knew that she shouldn’t blame her. Some people froze up when they were afraid. However, that didn’t give her the right to try to glare Shizuka into a puddle, especially when it was so clearly working.

Josuke started moving to unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door. The woman began briskly walking away before he could. That only made him move faster. The door closed with an audible stand in his haste. Unfortunately, the woman had a head start and clearly didn’t want to talk to them. The way her brunette braid swayed as she vanished around the corner, Josuke in hot pursuit, was almost mesmerizing.

The pair were silent for a moment. Finally, Yoriko said, “that’s probably enough driving for today.” She only succeeded in making Shizuka give an embarrassed squeak and begin to turn translucent.

Yet another sigh escaped her lips. Unbuckling her seatbelt was a relief given recent events, but climbing into the passenger seat was something of an awkward affair. It wasn’t until she had sat down that it occurred to her that she could have just used the door. That awkward realization was shoved aside for the time being. “It’s alright,” she began. “It could have happened to… it happened and no one got hurt.”

Shizuka turned completely invisible, marking the second time that Yoriko had failed to reassure someone in one day. She looked around, knowing that an answer wouldn’t magically manifest, but hoping that, somehow, one would anyway. All she saw was another highschooler walking down the sidewalk. Gima; one of Azami’s friends and the opposite of something helpful.

She turned back to the seemingly empty car seat and reached out to where she hoped her friend’s shoulder was. Instead, she got the top of her head; it seemed that Shizuka had started to slide down the seat. Close enough. She proceeded to awkwardly pat the springy black (when visible) locks. “Sorry. I’m not great with… words.” Strike me down now. “I mean, driving is difficult. Probably. I haven’t tried yet, but hit and runs are a common cause of death, from which one can infer that vehicles are hard to control.”

One can infer that vehicles are hard to control. Yoriko’s face began to twist into a grimace. It froze when she heard a small snort, followed by a chuckle. Slowly, her friend began to reappear. The grimace inched upward until it was a small smile.

That was when the frog appeared.

For a moment, she thought she had lost her mind. Why would there be a leopard frog the size of a grizzly hopping across the road? It occurred to her that it could be a stand, but she quickly wrote that off. That was just too much of a coincidence.

Then Shizuka turned invisible and opened the door.

Oh, she thought. It’s real.

Suddenly, she wanted to scream, or at least stay in the car, where she was safe. That was unacceptable. With shaking hands, she stepped out of the door. Her knees felt like they were about to lock up at any moment. Yet all she could think about was the row of cars slowly building up behind the parked car. That problem was fixed when the frog looked at her with horrible golden eyes.

Yoriko tensed up and forced herself not to step back. Instead, she reached her mind out to Reaper and pulled. Don’t Fear the Reaper was a difficult stand by nature. Worse yet, she had only attempted to summon it a handful of times. Her first tug proved useless. The frog hopped a step closer to her. The second tug - useless.

A too-loud footstep echoed from a few feet away. You couldn’t see anyone there, but it got the frog’s attention anyway. With a surge of alarm, Yoriko yanked again. This time, mist began to swirl in the space beside her, followed by Reaper manifesting.

The frog took one look at it and disappeared.

Shizuka turned visible again, a few feet away from where the frog had been. She crossed her arms and frowned. “If that was supposed to be a stand attack, I don’t think I’ve heard of a dumber one.”

It was a good thing that Josuke returned at the moment, because she wasn’t sure what to say to that. Yoriko didn’t look away from where the frog had been, but he heard him jog over to them. “Couldn’t catch her.” A beat, then, “what happened?”

A few hours later, Yoriko laid on a couch, a book held in front of her. She didn’t move when she heard keys jingling in the door. The door opening and someone entering then stopping a few feet away from her provoked the same non-reaction. She didn’t even stop reading at, “This is breaking and entering.”

“Don’t care. Had a key.”

“It doesn’t excuse your crimes.”

Yoriko finally sat up and closed the book. She neatly placed it in her lap before looking up at Hayato. He looked a little curious and slightly concerned, but not particularly irritated. Good. “I need to talk to you. Something weirder than normal happened.”

The next several minutes were spent explaining the events of that morning. Toward the end, she started to hesitate. It was her brother’s prompting look that got her to continue. “I saw that frog last night. In a nightmare.”

Hayato’s frown pressed his lips into a thin line. “It was probably a stand.”

“I know. That’s why I’m worried.”

[mistystarshine]

Yoriko people: what are your feelings regarding non-plot-significant material? Are you alright with Make Me Live having some content that is less relevant to the plot, but helps delve further into the characters, or would you rather it stick to the main plotline? Extra stands, or just the terrifying ones? The first couple of chapters will be fairly low-key, as is the nature of introductory chapters, but I would like your input for after.

What do you think?