Silent Stardust of the Moon

Chapter 19: The Wheel of Fortune, part 1

It took the group no time to get tickets for a bus. The destination this time was the sacred city of Varanasi. The woman who had knocked down Polnareff was on the same bus with them as she told them her family lived in the city they were traveling too. Hikari sat next to Jotaro on the bus leaning against him asleep. Jotaro had no trouble with Hikari leaning on him and even shifted himself so she could sleep better.

Polnareff spent the whole bus ride lecturing the woman on why she shouldn't be with Hol Horse and how she was making bad decisions. When Polnareff realised that he didn't know her name, she answered. "Nena." Polnareff complimented that it was a pretty name. Nemuru rolled her eyes at Polnareff. He just had to go and flirt with the woman who tackled him to the ground. "Moron." She mumbled.

"Hey." Kakyoin called out to his teammates. "Where almost there. The city of Varanasi." He said as they all looked out the window. When the bus stopped, Jotaro picked Hikari up bridal style and carried her off allowing her to sleep some more. Joseph had been constantly scratching at his arm the whole bus ride, a large welt growing in the spot that he was continuously scratching. He and the others failed to noticed this "wart" had bit off a fly's head when it flew near it. "What's wrong, old man? You don't look well." Jotaro said.

"Looks like my bug bite just got a lot worse. This thing must be infected." Joseph showed everyone his arm. There was a large growth on his arm and it looked like it had a face. "It's definitely swollen. It would be best to have a doctor look at it before it gets worse. I'm not sure if Soundless Voice can heal that." Kakyoin said. "I agree." Nemuru said.

"Hey, doesn't that sort of look like a person's face?" Polnareff said staring at the growth. Joseph pulled his arm back. "Stop kidding around, Polnareff. That's creepy."

"Hehe, Sorry 'bout that. Want me to go to the hospital with you?" Polnareff asked the elder Joestar. "No! Stop treating me like an old man," Joseph said before walking away. Nena stayed behind the Joestar group as she kept her eyes on Joseph. She opened her mouth to let out her tongue, which has another wart on it. It had made the same ominous sound as did the one on Joseph's arm.

After a while Hikari had woken up to find herself in a bizarre position, Jotaro's arms. Hikari's became beet red with embarrassment and thanked Jotaro for carrying her and questioned where everyone was. He told her that Joseph went to take care of his bug bite while Polnareff went to go see the woman home. With that said her, Jotaro, Kakyoin and Nemuru decided to explore the different vendors.

Hikari marvelled at all the products, she bought some spices and herbs that could be used for medical purposes. Kakyoin had told that Joseph to the doctor to get that infection looked because he didn't think her Stand would be able to heal. Hikari felt bad about that so she thought she should be more useful to the group in a different way, healing wise. She even found a few materials that her mother might like for her clothing line.

The guys were checking over the different food vendors and Nemuru looked over a vendor that was selling some really nice gemstones. She found a sparkling amethyst stone and called over to Hikari. "What do you think of this stone here?" She asked as she turned around. "I think that I can figure out what your favourite colour is." Kakyoin chuckled as he smiled at her. Nemuru jumped slightly when she saw him. She looked around but didn't find Hikari anywhere... or Jotaro.

"Where did Hikari and Jotaro go?" She asked him. Kakyoin rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit nervous yet amused at the same time. "Jotaro saw that she was going to view a snake charmer and he immediately went after her." He told her. Nemuru sighed and shook her head. "Seriously? That child's scared of snakes, and other things. I wonder how that girl's been functioning all these years if she forgot that."