The Stars That Guide Us ~ A Jotakak x OC fanfiction

♥ Chapter 14 ♥

"Hiroko, Kakyoin. I'm so sorry. It's just that I thought; so long as I could avenge my sister, I wouldn't care if I lived or died. But I understand now; I know Avdol was fighting for me. His sacrifice won't be for naught," Polnareff spoke softly.

I continued to look at the road ahead, avoiding eye contact with the Frenchman. It had been about 15 minutes since we escaped Centerfold and Horse Fa—I mean, Hol Horse, and the entire drive so far was spent in silence before Polnareff had spoken up and apologized.

"I'll fight to keep on living." The Frenchman sighed beside me. I felt Nori tense up upon hearing this.

"You sure you really mean that, Polnareff?" Nori snapped. I sank into the seat, wishing I wasn't in the same car as these two. I could see a fight happening between the pair, and I doubt it would be pretty either.

"Oui..." Polnareff sighed again.

Suddenly, Nori swung his arm out at Polnareff, and because I had sunk low enough into the seat, the redhead's arm was able to make contact with Polnareff's face without the worry of hurting me in the process.

"Noriaki Kakyoin!" I shouted his full name as if a mother was scolding her child.

Nori withdrew his hand and placed it back onto the steering wheel next to his other hand, glancing over at Polnareff. "That's all I'm giving you as proof that we have made up, Polnareff," he spat, the Frenchman's name sounding like venom on his tongue.

"Did you have to do that right this second? Especially since I'm sitting between you two?" I scolded.

"Sorry, Hiroko..." He muttered, adding, "When those bastards come after us again, I swear that we'll defeat them together. All three of us."

I sighed softly as I sat up in my seat, glancing up at the redhead. A tear started to form in the corner of his eye and roll down his cheek. I caught the tear with a finger and brushed it away. Nori blinked and glanced at me, smiling softly as if to say he was fine. I knew he wasn't. He was putting on a brave face. It was something Nori had always done since we were kids. I remembered one night; I was certain there was a monster in my wardrobe. Nori thought so too, but he held my hand and protected me from the wardrobe monster, as if he was a knight facing a vicious fire-breathing dragon. He was scared too, but never let it show. That was something I admired about him. Nori was able to keep his cool in any situation, even if he was shitting bricks at the same time.

Polnareff shuffled in his seat, breaking me from my thoughts. "It's bugging me. I was so sure that Scarlet Phantom had hit him with her scythe. I saw it with my own eyes."

"It's just as he said, neither of our Stands can get him while he's in the mirror and judging by what I've seen so far; his Stand can only fight from a mirror or reflective surface." I sighed, adding, "Even breaking that shop window didn't stop him. It was as if he jumped from one shard of glass to the next. Could that
be one of his abilities? Jumping from one reflective surface to the other?" I glanced over at Polnareff to see him looking at the rearview mirror. He let out a low growl as he grabbed the rearview mirror and tore it away from the car's interior, discarding it out of the window.

"If that's the case, how the hell are we supposed to fight him?"

"It seems we will need to go directly for Centerfold himself. His Stand can attack our reflections, and that attack can inflict damage on our actual bodies. Our Stands are unable to go into the mirror or attack his Stand through the mirror itself, so it's the only way," I explained.

"But what if Centerfold is in the mirror world as well? It's completely hopeless!"

"Polnareff, you keep talking about 'inside the mirror' and 'the mirror world,' but there's no such thing as a world in a mirror. Remember, this is reality, not fantasy," Nori pointed out.