Koichi (hirose) wrote in antecedents, @ 2010-06-23 06:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | hermes costello, koichi hirose, rohan kishibe, teletha testarosa, weather report, yukako yamagishi |
Koichi, Rohan, Tessa, Yukako, Hermes & Weather
Koichi finds himself really wishing that Josuke were around. Not just because Crazy Diamond is the only healer Stand they have, but because things don't turn out this way when Josuke's around. He's as strong as he is clever, and he's not afraid to make split-second decisions. He resembles Jotaro in more than just appearance that way; Koichi admires those traits in the man he looks at sort of like a mentor, and he can appreciate them in his friend as well. Sure, they've walked away from battles together with the bruises to show for it before, but definitely on the winning side of things. Meanwhile, Koichi's judgment and actions just seemed to come too late when he didn't have his friends at his side. He's still coming into his own with all of this, and in the mean time, he's no leader. Could this of been avoided? If he'd run faster, come up with an alternative plan quicker, just done something differently?
"No, man," Josuke would tell him, "There's nothing you could of done about those two. You know how they are, the unstoppable force and the immovable object." But even if it was just to hear him say that, it would be enough for Koichi right now. He doesn't have anyone to get that reassurance from; Weather and Hermes stepped outside of the room a little while ago. He barely knows those two anyway, the only interaction they've shared is that it took their combined effort to get from the train station to here, the first hotel they could find, paid with one of the cards Rohan had in his wallet that Koichi was able to find (he was the only one among them who actually had any substantial amount of money on him). Yukako, who's resting in one of the bedrooms, is not someone who makes him feel particularly assured even when she insists there's no reason from him to feel guilty that she ended up getting hurt in the end. He told her that's how he felt, but he also made it very clear that he's upset with her right now. He's annoyed with her for her creating this situation where he has to be annoyed with her, when he'd rather be caring for her.
After Hermes pulled her sticker, the explosion it caused thankfully didn't occur close to Yukako's face; the force of it at that close of range could of taken her scalp off. It happened primarily to one of the most extended pieces of Love Deluxe, therefore almost all of the harm was suffered only by her hair-- though there is so much of it when the Stand is active, it thankfully didn't do any serious damage to her appearance (something which was very important to the girl, Koichi couldn't imagine how she'd react to losing much of the hair she spent so much time keeping well-groomed). However, because it was her Stand that was effected, she experienced the same impact that it did, and that was a considerable shock to her system. It had dealt such a blow, that the pain from it was what had ended up knocking her out. Now she seemed sore but at least conscious and not physically wounded anywhere on her body subtract for some scrapes, but Koichi kept his words of relief to himself for now. He'd tell her later how much she had worried him when he hadn't been able to wake her up at the station, when he wasn't as cross with her.
He leaves the bedroom that Yukako is staying in after a short conversation which resolved little, but made the clear point he wanted her to take the time to herself to prepare to treat Tessa civilly. Crossing the hallway, he enters into the other bedroom, which is also occupied. Approaching the bed, Koichi checks to see if it's occupant has awoken yet like Yukako, but that wasn't the case. Lying there atop the covers is a bandaged Rohan. His shredded shirt has been removed to bandage the wound across his back, inflicted by the Love Deluxe's unforgiving attack. The result of the collective force she'd summoned to slam down into Tessa, is a large blossom of dark purple colour on Rohan's back now, and much of the skin there had been effortlessly broken from the impact. It was a miracle that he'd gotten away with only a flesh wound all things considered, the force behind it being that which could of broken bone. Considering how slender the artist was, no muscle there to endure the brunt of the impact, it had been pure luck on his part Yukako hadn't snapped him like a twig. Still, he probably wouldn't be too fond of 'moving' for the next week or so.
Koichi put a hand on Rohan's side, attempting to lift him up a bit so he could see if the dressings needed changing yet. There had been a decent amount of blood this morning, enough that there had been talk about the potential for stitches at one spot where a stray piece of hair had struck more like a whip than a weight. That was when Koichi had first wished for Josuke's presence; explaining this to a doctor might be a bit difficult. It didn't look too bad right now, although he could see a few patches where the blood had started to soak through; maybe when he woke up, they could be changed.
Even now, Koichi can't really believe what he witnessed. Everything had happened so quickly during that last minute at the station, it would of been easy to imagine he'd seen things wrong. He'd finally caught sight of Yukako after she'd seized Tessa, and he had dashed towards her, yelling at her yet seeing no sign of response on her face, but rather a look of concentration, one that had indicated to him what she'd planned to do. He'd thought no, you're not really like this, you won't do it all the while knowing that yes, she would; there is a difference between being optimistic and being blind. He'd turned to look back (he didn't know what seeing the attack would of accomplished, in retrospect-- it was too late to stop it, perhaps he'd hoped to shout a warning the others, but his voice would of reached them too late as well), and that was when he witnessed Rohan throw his body atop Tessa's at the last moment, before Love Deluxe had slammed down heavily on the two of them. He had shielded her from injury in the only way he could, with his own person; his Stand didn't possess the power to be able to do much of anything when it came down to the physical elements of a fight.
It wasn't the action in itself that was strange. Josuke, Okuyasu, himself, they all would of done the same in a heartbeat, even for a stranger. But Rohan wasn't any of them, that's the thing. Doing something so risky to himself (he's lucky he wasn't paralyzed by the blow, if not worse; what if it had struck the back of his head?) for the sake of another's well being just didn't match up with his personality, which was intelligent and calculating, and almost never gave way for him to act irrationally or 'in the moment'. He'd made it evident to Koichi when they first met that he was a far cry from being the type who couldn't stand to see another hurt, that he could be much more ruthless than Yukako herself was. Perhaps it was in Rohan's understanding of himself in this way, he'd been able to observe the same trait in Yukako (in that split-second where Koichi was thinking of her best side), and know if he didn't do something, that may of been it for Tessa. What does that girl mean to you? Koichi found himself wondering, unable to ask Rohan right then.
He might not be left completely without an answer; no sooner had the question come to mind, did Tessa walk into the room. Koichi, who was sitting on the side of the bed, looked over to see who it was, and smiled more out of obligation than genuine feeling, at least at first. He felt bad for the girl for getting mixed up in all of this, and that he was not only responsible for Yukako, but for Rohan as well. Yes, what Rohan had done had been admirably self-sacrificing, but it was also selfish in it's own way, that he do something that could of had a myriad of terrible consequences and left the rest of them to deal with the result. Koichi set aside what insecurity, disappointment and frustration he was currently feeling to remember to be friendly towards Tessa, who'd done nothing to deserve any less. Anyway, he wasn't someone who liked to mull around in bad feelings for very long; her company is an appreciated distraction.
"Ahh, it doesn't look as bad as we thought it might be," he pipes up, as if to explain his presence in the room. He returns to the action of slightly turning the man over to check the injured area; he had felt strange not performing at least some kind of action, that she'd come upon him just thinking to himself. "It might leave a mark, but we have a friend who can take care of that. Whenever we find him," Koichi adds, with a somewhat more genuine smile. Yeah, that's likely, he thought re: getting Rohan to accept Josuke's help. "Don't worry about him," he went on to say, even though Tessa hasn't said if that's the case yet; it's Koichi's attempt to make things a bit less awkward. "He's been through worse. You know, he was practically in a full body cast last winter, from another Stand fight... Oh, and before he passed out from it, he found a pen and insisted: 'I just have to record this experience before I crash'" Koichi's slightly screwed-up expression expressed he was drawing a direct quote from his memory. "He tried to write faster than he was bleeding. It was the first time he'd met someone else with Stand powers... That was actually when I met him." Koichi didn't hide the sound of burden in his voice, like he may as well of been saying and it was around that time my life got fifty times more difficult.
He really looked at Tessa then, not just to acknowledge she was there, but to see how she looked. "How are you doing?" he asks her, as he gets off the bed. "Does your ankle still hurt?" Tessa hadn't said anything about it, maybe because everyone's attention had been on Yukako and Rohan at the end of that skirmish, but he'd noticed how she hadn't been immediately right on her feet after having it tugged so sharply by Love Deluxe.