Black Hermit

"Some people may be able to achieve awakening painlessly in just a few minutes, while others may struggle for one or two months, even ruining their health, without fully achieving awakening. Ultimately, it depends on each person's physical and mental condition."

"Hui's physical condition is quite good compared to her peers, and she has no mental problems either. She is already showing relatively obvious signs of awakening, so I think she will be fully awakened by the time we return to Tokyo at the latest, or within the next half hour if things go as fast as possible."

"Are the awakening processes really this different...? I hope my Stand awakening will be quick, I don't want it to take too long," Miyauchi Kouka complained. "So, when are you planning to awaken your Stand, Hinakage? Remember to let me know then."

"Let's wait until Megumi awakens... and it seems like we've reached a critical point," Miyauchi Hiyage didn't directly answer her older sister's question, but instead focused her gaze on Kato Megumi again.

It seems that cognition and willpower do indeed affect the awakening of a Stand.

Kato Megumi's awakening was proceeding at a normal pace, and it would probably take her a day or two to awaken a regular Stand.

But after he punctured this bubble and made Kato Megumi maintain a special breathing rhythm to think about what kind of power she wanted to obtain, the power fluctuations around her body began to become much more intense than before.

The immediate reaction was that Kato Megumi's body temperature rose to over 40 degrees Celsius within just a few minutes.

Kato Megumi's forehead began to bead with sweat.

"It seems the awakening process has accelerated. Guanghua, quickly help Hui to bed."

Miyauchi Kouka still cared about her friend. Upon hearing Miyauchi Hiyage's instructions, she quickly stood up and pulled Kato Megumi to lie down on the bed.

Over the next ten minutes, Miyauchi Hiyage watched as Kato Megumi's body temperature gradually soared to around 43 degrees Celsius, and the power fluctuations around her became increasingly chaotic.

Therefore, Miyauchi Kouka nearby, clumsily put a damp towel on Kato Megumi's forehead, hoping to alleviate her friend's discomfort a little.

There were even a few moments Wonder of U Miyauchi Hiyage felt a sense of threat from Kato Megumi.

It was likely that Kato Megumi's Stand, which had not yet fully awakened, became aggressive towards Miyauchi Hiyage and the other two girls in the room.

If Miyauchi Hiyage hadn't been controlling the Wonder of U, the initial Calamity Power would have directly descended upon Kato Megumi.

What surprised Miyauchi Hiyage was that Kato Megumi's Stand had shown aggression for a few moments, and even in his Eyes of Destiny, a phantom Stand image was vaguely appearing on Kato Megumi's body.

The result might be that Kato Megumi's Stand sensed the threat from Wonder of U and suddenly shrank back completely before it could even take shape.

From that point on, Wonder of U could no longer sense any aggression from Kato Megumi.

"Did something change during the Stand awakening process, or was this originally part of Megumi's Stand ability?"

However, this is something that Miyauchi Hiyage cannot see through at the moment.

But it was from this point that Kato Megumi's body temperature began to drop little by little.

At the same time, Miyauchi Hiyage noticed that a new power fluctuation seemed to be generated on Kato Megumi.

This time, however, the power seemed much more peaceful, without any sense of threat, and looked like a purely auxiliary force.

"This location is... Guanghua. Feel Hui's right trouser pocket and take out her phone."

Miyauchi Kouka paused for a moment, but still followed his younger brother's instructions. After Kato Megumi nodded in agreement, he took the phone out of the other person's pocket.

"Is there something wrong with Megumi's phone?" Miyauchi Kouka asked curiously.

Miyauchi Hiyage Hikage stared intently at the other person's phone, then nodded in explanation.

"If my senses are not mistaken, Megumi's Stand ability is now being used on this phone."

As Miyauchi Hiyage explained, Miyauchi Kouka's hand trembled slightly, and the hand holding Kato Megumi's phone gripped it even tighter.

"This... this phone is Hui's stand-in?"

"It's the Stand's ability acting on the phone, but I don't know what Megumi's Stand looks like right now. You'll have to experience it for yourself, Megumi."

He said this, then looked at Kato Megumi: "I can feel that your Stand should be complete. You should also feel it yourself. I think you should be able to feel how to use this power within you more clearly than I am."

There is definitely a connection between Stand User and Stands. Most Stand users will naturally know what kind of power they have gained when they complete their awakening.

Like Giorno after awakening Gold Experience Requiem, even though he didn't know what had happened, he could feel that he had defeated Diavolo and that Diavolo could never reach reality.

Only a few independent Stands with self-awareness are exceptions, such as Hirose Koichi's Echoes Act 3, Pocoloco's Hey Ya!, and of course Otoishi Akira's Cheap Trick.

Gotou Hitori is also this type of Stand, possessing extremely high self-intelligence, and can run around freely while her master Gotou Hitori, is unaware of what's happening.

However, Kato Megumi's stand-in looks much more normal.

After a long while, Kato Megumi nodded slightly. "It seems that there are indeed some new things in my head."

She said softly to Miyauchi Kouka, who was curiously examining her phone, "Guanghua, can you open my phone for me?"

Miyauchi Kouka did as instructed, but the phone's interface remained unchanged.

But Kato Megumi then asked Miyauchi Kouka to open the search bar.

"And then, what do you want to search for?"

Kato Megumi shook her head. "Just search for whatever interests you, any search is fine."

"Something I'm interested in?" Miyauchi Kouka blinked, then glanced at his younger brother. "Then I'll search for my brother's name."

But as soon as Miyauchi Kouka had this thought, she typed in the two characters "Miyauchi" and found that Kato Megumi's phone seemed to have frozen and was completely unresponsive.

"Hey Megumi, is your phone frozen?"

Upon hearing this, Kato Megumi's expression was slightly subtle, but after a while, she regained her composure.

"If it's Himakage-kun, then it's quite normal... Guanghua, why don't you try changing your name to your own?"

"There's no problem, but your phone crashed... wait, how come it suddenly came back to normal?" Miyauchi Kouka still didn't understand what was going on, but still entered his name as his friend had suggested.

Then, a few seconds later, she saw the photo of herself smiling at the camera on her student ID.

"This is my photo! How did it find out so easily? Are search programs this intelligent now?" Miyauchi Kouka exclaimed, expressing her disapproval of the privacy of ordinary people.

Both Kato Megumi and Miyauchi Hiyage couldn't help but show a stiff expression upon seeing this.

"I mean, is it possible that Megumi is showing you her Stand ability?" Miyauchi Hiyage patted her older sister's shoulder helplessly.

At this moment, Miyauchi Kouka finally reacted and let out a surprised cry.

"Eh, so this is your Stand ability, Megumi?"

"I would say this is part of my ability. I feel that my Stand has not fully awakened yet, and I cannot fully exert its power right now," Kato Megumi said as she took the phone back from Miyauchi Kouka.

At this point, she can only be said to have initially completed the awakening of her body double.

She held up her phone, and several people crowded around to watch as she searched for the phrase "Ripple Breathing" on her phone. Half a minute later, a long text image appeared.

The above content is not complicated. For Miyauchi Hiyage Hidekage, this is the introductory method of Ripple Breathing. It only teaches how to breathe to generate life-giving Ripple, without any advanced applications of Ripple.

However, the method of practicing Ripple Breathing was clearer and more intuitive than the contents of his previous Diary, and even a short video was provided at the end for guidance.

It might be too complicated for those with talent, but for ordinary people, it can be said to be the most foolproof way to learn Ripple Breathing.

If you follow this method of learning, as long as you are not mentally challenged, a normal person should be able to independently complete the practice of Ripple Breathing with some time.

"So, Megumi, your Stand ability is for gathering information?" Miyauchi Hiyage asked Kato Megumi, adding, "I'm just curious. You don't have to go into so much detail. After all, the extraordinary abilities of superhumans are very important information. It's best to keep some trump cards in your hands and not easily reveal them to others."

Kato Megumi nodded first, then shook her head. "They should organize and optimize the content and information that I know and can find online, and then give me feedback."

"Then it seems that I can also hide my own information, but I don't seem to be able to do it easily right now."

As she said this, Kato Megumi didn't show any regret on her face.

Miyauchi Hiyage nodded, indicating that he roughly understood the scope of Kato Megumi's abilities.

As it stands, Kato Megumi's Stand is indeed a support-type Stand.

Information-type Stands are not uncommon in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

The most classic example is Joseph Joestar's Hermit Purple, which is how he discovered DIO's hiding place.

Although initially there was a limitation that you had to smash a camera every time you used it, later on, you could actually use televisions and dust as a way to obtain information. It was because of his ability that Kujo Jotaro went to Morioh to conduct an investigation in Part 4.

Then there's the fifth installment, Melancholy Blues, which can play back events from the past.

The eighth season's heroine, Hirose Yasuho's, Paisley Park can guide Stand User to the locations they want to go.

Kato Megumi's Stand ability is somewhat like a combination of Hermit Purple and Paisley Park.

However, the key to this ability is that Kato Megumi needs to obtain information herself in order to analyze what she knows and find the most suitable solution for Kato Megumi.

However, for information that Kato Megumi herself is unaware of and that cannot be found online, the stand's usefulness seems limited.

From this perspective, this is indeed not a proper intelligence-related stand-in.

There's no such thing as an intelligence Stand that requires the Stand User to gather information themselves.

I wonder if, when faced with incomplete information, Kato Megumi's Stand will simply make things up like some dim-witted AIs.

However, judging from Kato Megumi's appearance, this stand-in shouldn't be capable of doing such a thing.

Overall, it's a stand-in with rather limited capabilities, but it works quite well when used on oneself.

With this ability to organize and optimize, Kato Megumi can play a good supporting role whether she continues to live a peaceful life as an ordinary person in the Front World or plans to develop in the Reverse Side World.

Chapter 362: The Black Hermit

"But why did the search for information about this guy, Riying, fail? It's just a photo, it shouldn't cause any problems, right?"

After briefly seeing Kato Megumi demonstrate her Stand ability with her phone, Miyauchi Kouka was still slightly puzzled.

After all, they were sisters who grew up together. Even though her younger brother had become unusually mysterious in the last two months, Miyauchi Kouka's image of Miyauchi Hiyage would not change in the short term.

Furthermore, under Miyauchi Kouka's instructions, Kato Megumi also searched for many other people with extraordinary powers, such as Shinomiya Kaguya, Tonio, and Masamichi Yaga, who had arrived in Morioh today.

Even though Kato Megumi had only met Masamichi Yaga once and only knew that he was the principal of the Jujutsu High, her phone still accurately displayed Masamichi Yaga's appearance. She also quite astutely analyzed from the calluses on his hands that he was skilled in handicrafts and needlework, things that most people would not notice.

To put it bluntly, if Kato Megumi were to debut as a high school detective, she could probably figure out the murder method and find the culprit within a minute just by taking a quick look at the crime scene.

This efficiency is so high that even Conan and Kindaichi would have to admit defeat.

Moreover, according to Kato Megumi herself, she feels that she can now ensure that no one on the internet can find any information about her.

If the Stand ability can be further developed in the future, it may be able to erase all traces of one's existence in reality, making it impossible for others to investigate one's existence.

From this perspective, the true ability of Kato Megumi's Stand should be related to "information," one being information about others, and the other being information about concealing oneself.

If Kira Yoshikage were to be presented with this Stand ability, he might actually choose to exchange Killer Queen for it in order to completely conceal his information.

After all, Killer Queen only makes it easier to clean up corpses, but this double means that even if a corpse is left behind, no one can find any trace of the killer on the body, and the killer's whereabouts will be impossible to find.

Hearing Miyauchi Kouka's question, Kato Megumi pondered for a moment before tilting her head and saying, "I can't really explain why, but I have this feeling that keeps reminding me not to investigate anything related to Himakage-kun, otherwise something bad might happen."

Kato Megumi's explanation clearly failed to satisfy Miyauchi Kouka, who pouted slightly. "What's with all the mystery? Is Hinkage really that scary?"

Muttering to herself, she lightly kicked her younger brother's shin. "I guess it's your Fate ability that's affecting Megumi's Stand. Why don't you put your ability away and let Megumi try again?"

Before Miyauchi Hiyage could even respond, Kato Megumi shook her head and said, "No need. I think no matter how much testing we do, it probably won't change anything. It's probably because Himekage's existence is already beyond the reach of my Stand ability."

Miyauchi Kouka scoffed again upon hearing this, as if to say that no matter how special her younger brother was, he was still her brother who was born half an hour later than her.

On the other hand, Miyauchi Hiyage, seeing Kato Megumi's confident demeanor, felt that Kato Megumi might have genuinely sensed something from him through her substitute.

After all, he had only sensed the power of the Wonder of U being triggered once from Miyauchi Kouka, but he had not sensed this fluctuation from Kato Megumi.

This means that the other party's stand-in indeed never intended to investigate his information from the beginning.

While the results of an investigation may seem similar—that one did not investigate at all versus that one did not intend to investigate at all—the process and the nature of the ability involved are entirely different.

Could it be that Kato Megumi, this Stand, has a hidden tendency to avoid harm and knows that he is not someone to be trifled with, so she simply excludes him?

This does indeed fit Kato Megumi's character in the original work.

She just stood there calmly, as if she hadn't done anything, had no presence, and hadn't deliberately tried to compete with anyone. She naturally overpowered Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri Spencer Sawamura, becoming the final winner.

For this, she also earned the nicknames "Saint Megumi" and "Zhuge Megumi".

From this perspective, the Stand's abilities seem to evoke the feeling of "strategizing within the command tent and winning battles a thousand miles away" and "leaving without a trace after accomplishing the task, concealing one's merits and fame."

Even without combat ability, Kato Megumi's Stand was considered a pretty top-tier Stand by Miyauchi Hiyage Himekage.

Is it because he prematurely revealed the fact that Kato Megumi had awakened her Stand, causing a change in Kato Megumi's will and perception, that Kato Megumi's abilities became what they are now?

Miyauchi Hiyage pondered this, Miyauchi Kouka beside him, seemed to have thought of something else.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. So, Megumi, have you thought of a name for your stand-in? Did you have any names you were satisfied with before?"

"I heard from Mashiro that Stands are usually named after their favorite bands or songs. I've been looking for a lot of songs that I like these past few days, and I plan to pick a suitable name from them after my Stand awakens."

As she said this, Miyauchi Kouka took out her phone and started searching for popular music on music apps, intending to give her friend a nice and suitable stand-in name.

Kato Megumi, on the other hand, appeared much more composed.

"I haven't thought about it yet. I never thought it would be my awakened stand. But I can just ask my phone and see if it has any ideas of its own."

As she said this, she actually took out her phone and asked the question.

What's somewhat intriguing is that her phone didn't give a direct answer, but instead displayed a picture of the back of a Tarot Cards.