It was an unusually warm day, Japan’s climate usually doesn’t go over 35℃ on even the hottest of summer days, but today it was a grueling 38℃. This made the lakes and oceans a popular spot for families to relax and cool off, except for one location. An unnamed lake is located next to the ruins of an organization’s headquarters, surrounded by fences rotted away by rust and foliage. After the facility’s destruction, teenagers and tourists would try and go to see the wrecked building, but as they grew closer, they would feel a sense of uneasiness, like something didn’t want them near it. A rumor began to spread that an old spirit was protecting the ruins as if protecting some kind of secret that hid beneath the rubble. But despite the warnings of the locals, the stories did nothing to waver the man who sought to seek the lake. This man was wearing long sleeves and a heavy vest jacket despite the extreme heat outside. His back pants seemed to had been tailored to his size out of fine silk and his hair matched the pant’s shade of color. He had a local taxi driver take him up to the ruins, as he got out of the car he told the driver, “Wait here, I won’t take very long.” The driver tried to protest waiting in the heat but was silenced as he was handed a very generous tip by the unknown man.
Over the past 7 years, life around the ruins was springing forth. Despite the dry weather, the grass was a vivid green and the trees full of leaves looming over the ground casting a cool shade over the area. As the man walked down the path he heard a rustling in the bushes, he stopped. The man felt uneasy as if there was a voice in the bushes telling him to turn back, to forget he ever came here, to forget all about the mission. A small shape emerged from the bushes and began to slowly creep forward towards him. It appeared to be a squirrel, but something about it was unusual. It was not a species of a squirrel he was familiar with, the tail was as thin as a rat’s but held an unusual amount of fur at the top. It seemed much older than a typical squirrel as well, like if it had experienced more than perhaps an average human ever would. The squirrel looked up at him, and the two locked eyes. The squirrel then let out a loud growl and scurried away. The man brushed off the encounter and continued forward, his uneasiness had faded.
The path and ended along the sand surrounding the lake, the sand looked soft and white and the water shimmered with a clear blue color. “ Finally,” the man said to himself, “this monster can finally die.” Then there was the sound of someone finishing a drink, trying to get what little liquid remained at the bottom of the cup. The man quickly turned to the sound, on his left unbeknownst to him there was a teenage girl sitting on a log holding a now empty cup of soda. Her apparel was suited for the heat, wearing shorts, teeshirt, hat, nothing unusual. “Darn,” she said, “I should’ve added less ice huh?” The man was surprised, he thought the locals didn’t come up to this place, this was a complication, but one that seemed easy to fix.
“Excuse me,” he began acting with some sort of authority, “You might want to leave this place, I’m here to test the water of this lake to ensure it is safe to be used by the public. My team will be arriving shortly and it’s imperative we work without distractions.” The girl looked up at him, meeting his gaze, he suddenly had that uneasy feeling return to him. “I’m meeting a friend here,” she responded, “I’ve been planning this for a while and I think it’s best that you come back another day.” This girl is stubborn, witnesses pose a danger to the mission. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” he told her. He moved his hand towards his back pocket, only to find that the pistol he had hidden in there had vanished. “Looking for that?” the girl said, pointing behind him. He turned around and saw strange squirrel from earlier scattering away dragging the pistol behind it with its tail. The man turned to the girl, he knows what he’s dealing with now, “You must be Sumire then, the briefing mentioned you. They said you might show up, but they weren’t certain. Nevertheless, in the event that you did come, I was instructed to bring you in alive, be thankful for that.” The man began to move closer to Sumire. With each step he took, the air around him seemed to warp further and further, until a figure appeared from startling Sumire. The figure was humanoid, its build was thin, but the muscles showing from beneath its checkered skin looked to be well built and strong. Its face was hazy for a second until its piercing yellow eyes opened and the face became clear. Much like the body, the checkered pattern wrapped around the face excluding the lips which were a bright yellow matching the eyes. Sumire’s eyes widened, but not out of fear or shock, it was one of interest. “You possess one of these spirits as well?” she asked. The man stopped, surprised he said, “You can see it? You can see my stand?” Sumire grinned, “Stand? Is that what you call them? I’ve just been assuming I was the only one like this.” The man was shocked, was this girl like one of the stand users the organization has been training? No, it couldn’t be, it wasn’t mentioned in any of the files, but it did mention she held some kind of psychic ability, but nothing resembling a stand. The man few into action, dashing towards her. His stand wound up a punch and thrust towards her heart, but seemingly in a blink of an eye, a pair of arms blocked the attack. The arms did not belong to Sumire, that part was obvious. The arms were a dark pink with white highlights around the edges. Bolts seemed to be drilled into the forearms like it was some kind of machine. Then slowly the arms moved forward, pushing his stand back. As the arms moved forward, a body started to form, the chest, legs, biceps, and finally a head. “So I guess you could say this is my stand as well,” Sumire told him. Her stand was pink and white, while humanoid it looked robotic, hiding its eyes behind a thick visor, and the body covered in bolts. “A stand huh? What a strange name to call them, I think I’ll call mine something a little more personal. Hmm, what about Mississippi Queen!”
This was going to be harder than he thought.
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