A couple of days had once again passed since Molly and Jotaro had seen each other, both being busy with their respective work. Molly had just finished up a lesson in literature and was making her exit out of the classroom, when she noticed something small dragging itself on the floor at the back. Weird she thought, that looks just like a Stand? And when she noticed it was heading towards Josuke and Okuyasu there was no doubt that it was a Stand. Pretty soon it dissipated, leaving behind a single button. The button of a murderer.
All of the Stand users had met up with Reimi, confirming the fact that Shigechi had indeed died by the hands of a murderer, the same murderer that had taken Reimis life. When they figured the murderer was a Stand user too, Jotaro and Joseph had no choice but to get involved. Jotaro had Josuke hand the button over to him, hoping it would be of some use in tracking down the killer. When the meeting was done and over with, everyone headed to their respective homes, Molly and Kakyoin walking home together as usual.
"I can't believe it. A murder at our school, and there was nothing we could do about it" Molly said, voice barely above a whisper while the tears burned in her eyes. They had arrived at her house, Kakyoin quickly urged her to get inside before anyone could see her like this. The second the door closed he wrapped her in a tight embrace, and she didn't hold the tears back anymore.
"Ka-Kakyoin, how? How could this happen?" she managed to squeak out between sobs.
"I-I don't know... But I swear we'll catch that bastard, even if it's the last thing we'll do" he muttered into her hair.
Four days later Molly had just finished teaching for the day, and was about to head home, when she remembered she needed to run by the grocery store first. She didn't make it far into town, before she ran into a familiar white clad man. She greeted the man with a smile that almost threatened to stop his heart.
"Hi Jotaro! What are you up to?" she asked with a bounce in her step, and holy hell was she cute. So cute in fact, that Jotaro couldn't help but feel the corners of his mouth tug upwards.
"Trying to figure out where that button came from" he replied in his usual calm demeanor.
"Ah, I see. Would you mind terribly if I came with you?" she asked while batting her eyelashes in such a way that even Jotaro couldn't say no.
"I'd like that very much" he hummed in reply.
"Perfect!" she chimed happily and started walking next to the much taller male. She knew he wasn't much of a talker, so she filled the silence with talking about her day instead, to which he hummed in answer every now and then.
"Oh, that's my colleague Satoru-san" she suddenly exclaimed and nodded her head in the direction of the male and continued
"I have a few things I need to discuss with him, you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you" and with that she walked over to greet the rather average looking male colleague of hers. Jotaro eyed him suspiciously, he did not like the way this "Satoru-san" was looking at Molly. And he was standing way too close and his touches lingered for way too long. He grit his teeth in annoyance, it shouldn't bother him that much. He sighed and took his notebook out of his pocket and began walking away slowly.
He didn't make it far before a familiar voice caught his ears.
"Ah... H-Hello, Jotaro-san" Koichi greeted him shyly. Jotaro's gaze very slowly rose from the notebook to meet Koichis, but he didn't say anything, just hummed.
"Um, did you find anything out since last time? Like, about the murderer's button, or..." Koichi awkwardly inquired, scratching the back of his head.
"No, not really. There's nothing yet" he said and resumed walking.
"I-I see... Where are you going?" Koichi questioned, walking behind him.
"Nowhere really. Just over there" Jotaro said without even looking at Koichi, and the poor boy had a real hard time coming up with something to keep the discussion going.
"That's a really lovely coat!" he exclaimed after a while of thinking, pointing his finger where he thought Jotaro would still be walking, but he had stopped at a window, making Koichi point out at nothing.
"This store appears to be a shoe store" Jotaro said matter of factly.
"Huh? Oh! Yes, it's a shoe store. Is there something wrong?" Koichi asked, his gaze following the sign Jotaro was inspecting. The sign read "we also do simple tailoring" and Koichi then explained that many stores offered other services, like an electronics shop that sold flowers.
"Ah, there you are! Oh, hello Koichi-kun" Molly greeted her student, she had finished her business with Satoru and had caught up with the two. Koichi greeted her with a simple hello, and Jotaro wanted to ask her what her business with that dullard was, but refrained for now. Molly noticed the sign they'd been studying and read it too.
"Do you think the button could be from here?" she asked, glancing at Jotaro.
"I don't know, I asked all the tailors in Morioh, but didn't think to look in places like this" he muttered, a little disappointed that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Molly placed her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner
"Well, let's go find out then"
They soon found out that this was indeed where the button had come from, and that the killer was in that very store. The shopkeeper had been blown up, and now it was their turn for sure.
"He's... He's getting away!" Koichi screamed and pointed at the rack where the guy's jacket had been, and was about to go after him when Jotaro pulled him back by the collar.
"Don't go after him, Koichi"
"Huh? Don't go after him? What are you saying? If we go after him, we'll get to see the face of the person who murdered Reimi and Shigechi!" Koichi exclaimed, his confusion was clear to see. Molly felt bad for him, but they couldn't go after the culprit, not yet.
"We need to cautiously observe and act, Koichi" Jotaro replied with his usual tone.
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Koichi again exclaimed with a pained and confused expression.
"We just happened to miss the name tag on the jacket. But considering how big the jacket was, we can tell that the guy's about 175 centimeters tall. He's an office employee, and not married. If he had a wife, he wouldn't have brought his jacket here for a button repair" and that was where Molly stopped listening, if she hadn't actually known how to sew on buttons she surely would've commented on Jotaro's assumptions. Guess I'll make a good wife then she thought to herself, and she would've giggled if the situation hadn't been what it was.
She resumed listening to the man when he told them to walk out of the shop slowly. They didn't have time to walk even halfway through the shop when Koichi was attacked by the Stand. Molly was standing closer to him, so she had the Heart of Everything quickly swat the Stand in Jotaro's direction, who proceeded to ora the thing into the ground. But even then it didn't stop. Punching it did nothing, ripping it did nothing, and Jotaro was forced to throw it outside when it exploded again. When it crawled back inside through the now broken window, and charged at Koichi, Molly shot a knowing look toward Jotaro.
"Jotaro"
"Yeah, I figured it out too. It goes after the highest temperature" he said with furrowed brows and continued, his words now aimed at Koichi
"Bring out echoes and protect yourself! Even if I stop time, you're too far away!" and Koichi would've done that, had his stand not been 50 meters away from him. Listen to Jotaro next time, baka.
"Good grief" he muttered his catch phrase before "Star Platinum! The World!". He started a fire while time was stopped, and the Stand was now headed toward the fire. Molly's eyes widened in fear when she realised what was going to happen.
"Jotaro!" was all she could yell while she leapt between him and the blast, successfully shielding him from the worst damage. They both flew against the wall and onto a cupboard, destroying it in the process. Jotaro was barely conscious, Molly's limp body in his arms. Her backside had been completely blown open, he'd never seen so much blood in his life, and he had seen a lot. She was however still breathing, barely.
With the last of his strength he picked her up and staggered through the kitchen and into the backstreet, where he laid her against the wall. Before he faded to black, he gave Koichi one last command
"Call Josuke"