Killer Queen Beyond the Grave

Chapter 2

- Five Years Ago: Gracyn's POV -

'Someone for me to meet? What is this guy even talking about?' I thought to myself. Rohan began walking away from the table. I scrambled all of my belongings back into my backpack, and had to jog to catch up to him. "I'm sorry, Rohan, was it? Where are we going and who are we meeting?" Rohan stopped in his tracks and turned around to face me. "You asked too many questions, Gracyn" he snapped. I scoffed. "Well, you see, being a crime junkie like me, you'd be wary of following a strange man you've never met in a city you don't know." He just stared at me and sighed. "I guess you're right, but first, I need to check something." He said something under his breath and suddenly I felt a hot presence across my face and things went black for a minute. Suddenly I snapped back into reality. "I-I'm sorry, Rohan, did you say something? I think I just blanked out for a minute." I had a nervous tone in my voice. "No, nothing at all, Miss Gracyn. Would you still like to follow me?" I felt a sudden change of heart than I did previously. Somehow, this man was not scary to me anymore, I trusted him completely. I smiled at him. "Yes, Rohan, I'd love to."

- Rohan's POV -

I muttered under my breath, hoping she wouldn't catch on to what I was saying.

"Heaven's Door."

Gracyn's face turned into a book. Although this Yoshikage was dead, it was unsettling that some strange girl suddenly appears in Morioh talking about him. It may have been five years since the incident, but I have been extremely wary of people I meet ever since. I needed to know about this girl.

'Gracyn Elizabeth Evans. Twenty one years old. Born and raised in a rural town in South Carolina. Lives with her mother, Lauren, her father, William, and a twenty seven year old brother, who is married and expecting his first child with his wife, Chelsea. An isolated murder case in her small town peaked her interest for true crime. Is not an enemy. Her only intentions are to solve her questions about Yoshikage Kira. Does not have a stand ability.'

'Okay so she is safe to be around.' I couldn't believe I nearly offered her to meet everyone before even knowing she's safe. I paused for a moment. It would be smart of me to write down that she won't remember this happening, and probably have her trust me so I don't have to hear her question what I'm doing every thirty seconds. I scribbled down what I needed to and released her from Heaven's Door. "I- I'm sorry, Rohan, did you say something? I think I just blanked out for a minute." Gracyn had a nervousness to her voice. "No, nothing at all, Miss Gracyn. Would you still like to follow me?" She smiled. "Yes, Rohan, I'd love to." I can't imagine my life without a stand ability. God, I feel bad for those who don't have one. I silently chuckled to myself, continuing to walk, Gracyn just a step behind me.

- Gracyn's POV -

I still don't understand where my change in heart came from, but I have always trusted my gut so I just followed alongside Rohan until we approached this restaurant. "What is this place?" I asked Rohan. "An Italian restaurant. Come inside, I had plans on meeting everyone here and was on my way when I saw you." Rohan opened the door for me. He went ahead as he approached a table with three guys around my age. I made eye contact with one of the boys and immediately felt myself go hot. My Lord, he was attractive. Rohan stopped and introduced me to his friends. "The shortest one right there is Koichi Hirose, the scary looking guy in the middle is Okuyasu Nijimura, and the one on the far most left right there is Josuke Higashikata." So that was his name, Josuke. "You three, this is Gracyn Evans. I met her today, she is currently writing a book about Yoshikage Kira, so I thought she would benefit greatly off talking to all of us." Although the three of them were already silent, the mention of Yoshikage Kira made the silence even deeper. I just knew they could see how red my face was. "I-I'm so sorry, Rohan I think this was a mistake." I pivoted my foot towards the door when a hand grabbed my wrist tightly, making me turn back around abruptly. I followed the hand up to it's owner. It was Josuke. "I'm sorry, Gracyn. It's just... a lot of us have avoided talking about him since the incident. Frankly, it's been awhile since I've even heard his name. It just, it caught me off guard. Please, stay." Josuke jumped up and grabbed a chair from the next table over and placed it next to his. I cautiously sat down beside him.

"Are you sure?" I looked at the group.

They all nodded at me.

"Well, I have a lot of questions, and most of them don't make sense." The group looked amongst themselves and back at me.

"We think we may be able to answer those, but you have to be prepared to hear some things that may be hard to understand." Josuke looked up at Rohan. "How much does she know?" Rohan shook his head. "Nothing, she had no reaction to Heaven's Door." I finally looked away from Josuke to Rohan. "Heaven's Door?" I asked. Josuke sighed. "We may be here awhile."

-----

"You're telling me that there's this thing called stands? And they're unique to each... what do you call them?" It had been nearly three hours, Okuyasu, Koichi, and Rohan gradually left, as they had other plans to do. "Users, we call them stand users." Josuke informed me.

"Josuke, are you sure you still want to talk to me? I have nearly seven pages of notes from this entire conversation and you seem to have much better things to be doing." I felt like such a burden. Josuke placed a hand on my knee, but swiftly pulled back, looking up at me to see if I realized he had touched me. "Gracyn, it has not been a burden, frankly it's been nice to have someone who wasn't involved hear the story. Besides, don't you have somewhere to be? I'm sure you're not here for very long." I felt my heart sank. He was right, I was supposed to leave in a few weeks. "I'm here for another three weeks." Josuke's face dropped slightly. "Well, would you like a tour of the town while we continue this conversation?" I've haven't been too far from my hotel and frankly didn't even know where I was."

"A tour would be wonderful." Josuke stood up and reached a hand out to help me up. "Well, we have another hour or two before the sun sets, so let's get started, shall we?" He smiled at me.

------

"Finally, this is the Morioh Grand Hotel, which is where you're staying, I'm guessing?" I looked up to the beautiful hotel, one of the few places in this town I recognized. "Yes, this is me. Thank you again, Josuke. You have no idea how helpful you've been. You've answered all of my questions and have given me more than plenty of information about Kira." Josuke grinned warmly. "Well, I'm thankful I was able to help you. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you, Miss Gracyn Evans." I don't know what it was about this guy, but the way he said my name gave me butterflies. God, I wish I didn't have to leave. "The pleasure was all mine, Mr. Josuke Higashikata." I did a small curtsy and giggled at the stupid gesture I made. A small yawn made it's way to my mouth. It had only been three days ago that I was in South Carolina. "I will say, I am still extremely jet lagged, so I think it is time for me to go. Thank you again, Josuke." His warm grin slightly faded. "Of course, Gracyn. Sleep well. Maybe I'll see you around before you leave?" I gave a small nod. "Maybe so. Goodnight, Josuke." "Goodnight Gracyn."

That night, I had no trouble falling asleep, I think as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light. The only thing I remember was an alarm going off around 9:00am. I had planned to call my family from my cell phone around 9:30am, so I quickly got up, changed into a white Clemson t-shirt I've had since high school and a pair of jeans, brushing my hair into a half up half down ponytail, and have a cup of coffee before my call.

I was on the phone with my parents for almost an hour, mostly just listening to my mother's countless worries she had about me staying in Morioh, but it still felt nice to hear her voice. I went back to my bed and sat down, surrounding myself with the notes I had written down from my conversation with Josuke.

I was deep into thought when the hotel phone rang. 'Why would someone be calling me? Especially from the hotel phone?' I thought.

I answered the phone."Hello?"

"Gracyn? It's Josuke. Do you have a few minutes?"