Stardust Crusaders: Around The World

Death 13, Part 2

After everyone settled down, Joseph made dinner for everyone, even made some coffee. Polnareff was happily eating his food, Joseph was cooking up some baby food while Noriko sat far from the group. She was alone, her face covered by her hand again while the other holding her food that she hasn't touched yet. She was beginning to doubt herself about her suspicions.

From a distance, Jotaro had withdrawn himself from the group. He was sipping his coffee while gazing up at the dark sky filled with millions of tiny stars.

"Saudi Arabia..." Jotaro thought to himself. "We're roughly eight-thousand, eight-hundred kilometers from Japan. It has been about four weeks since we left. If we don't hurry, things will just get worse..."

He slowly turned around and walked back to the group, passing by a scorpion without knowing. His gaze fell onto the lonely Crusader that sat the farthest from the group. Noriko still hasn't touched her food and had a depressing look on her face despite trying to hide it with her hand while hunched over.

"Noriko..."

A part of himself wanted to walk up to her, wrap his arms around her slender figure to comfort and help her with whatever she's dealing with to bring back her usual talkative, happy self. But he held back against that idea and silently sat down next to Polnareff.

Continuing to stare at Noriko, this was the moment Jotaro was beginning to realize that he didn't see her as a friend, it was something much more than that. He knew these strange feelings had grown much deeper whenever he saw her smile, laugh, have simple conversations with her and fought side by side against enemy Stand users. Staring at her for a longer period of time than he has to.

She is different.

She is the only female that doesn't annoy the hell out of him like the other girls at school. She understood him like nobody else and she knew how to act around him. These feelings were something that only Noriko brought out from him.

That's why now seeing Noriko like this hurts him.

Polnareff leaned over to Jotaro, "Hey, Jotaro, what's going on with Noriko?" Polnareff whispered and looked over at Noriko.

That's one of the biggest questions Jotaro has been asking himself ever since he saw Noriko with a troubled look on her face back in Yarpline.

"She's been like this ever since she had her episode on the plane earlier. And then all of a sudden she goes after the baby too."

Noriko frowned, almost wanting to cry for feeling so miserable at herself.

"She's a danger to herself. I think she's losing it..."

Jotaro frowned at the assumption. The entire time he has known Noriko, she has always been able to pull herself together and fight back even if the situation is difficult.

"She may have to sit out the rest of this journey..."

Whatever Noriko is currently dealing with must be extremely hard for her, but Jotaro knows deep down in himself that she will be able to overcome the problem because Kakyoin, Noriko is someone who's determined to overcome anything that she's forced to face.

*&*&*&*

The baby had a devious smirk on his face as he watched Noriko mentally struggle with herself. He silently chuckled to himself.

"I was afraid that Noriko figured out my secret for a second but now... She's even beginning to doubt herself." The baby told himself. "We're in the middle of the desert. I just need to wait for all of them to fall asleep... If there's nobody to wake them up..." He chuckled again.