Movie Protagonist

With defeating Diavolo as their goal, Li Qing and Giorno officially became allies.

At the same time, they had completely sealed off the Well of Lava.

"Let's go."

"The American convoy will be here any minute. Let's get out of here first and find somewhere safe to talk."

Li Qing called for Giorno to leave, and Giorno quickly nodded and followed.

But just then, an unexpected guest suddenly appeared in their path.

"You?"

Staring at the street punk blocking the road on his motorcycle, Li Qing frowned deeply.

His expression was far from pleasant. To save this reckless, stubborn guy, he had nearly gotten both himself and Giorno killed.

"Looking for your motorcycle?"

Li Qing pointed at the mess of ground that had been crushed by the Meat Chunk. "There. Go dig around in the dirt."

"Haha."

The street punk smiled ingratiatingly, completely lacking the ferocity and anger he had shown while chasing them with a gun.

He did not mention his stolen motorcycle or phone at all. Instead, he studied Li Qing and Giorno with a complicated gaze full of excitement, curiosity, and longing.

"Hello, my name is Guido Mista."

"Sixteen years old, freelancer. I like watching movies, and I hate anything related to the number '4.'"

After introducing himself, the man named Mista excitedly extended his hand toward Li Qing and Giorno.

"You two..."

"You're the kind of superpowered people you see in movies, right?"

"..."

Li Qing and Giorno silently shared an understanding, and neither reached for Mista's outstretched hand.

Yet Mista did not notice the subtle, awkward atmosphere at all.

He looked excitedly at Li Qing. "One of you can fly and burrow underground."

Then he looked at Giorno. "The other can summon a golden warrior and control plants."

"Anyway, I saw the whole fight with that terrifying Meat Chunk!"

"So saving the world wasn't some excuse you made up to steal my bike. It was all real!"

"You two are superpowered people who save the world, just like in the movies!"

"Wait." Li Qing and Giorno sensed that something was off. "You could see the golden warrior and the Meat Chunk? You could see Stands?"

"Stands? What are Stands?"

Mista asked in a completely unaffected tone.

"You don't have a Stand?"

Li Qing tried to explain the existence of Stands in simple terms.

"Like the Pokémon you can play on a Game Boy, a Stand is basically a kind of 'creature' you can summon, command, and use for some special ability."

"Only Stand Users with Stands can see other people's Stands."

"Huh? I don't have anything like that."

Mista answered with a blank expression.

"I don't know why, but just now, I suddenly became able to see that huge Meat Chunk and the 'golden warrior' floating beside you."

"But..."

He thought back over Li Qing's explanation, and his eyes instantly lit up.

"From what you're saying, I... I'm actually a superpowered person like you, right?"

"So that's it! I couldn't see them before, then suddenly I could—I must have awakened some kind of superpower!"

"Uh..."

Li Qing and Giorno exchanged glances. They roughly understood the situation.

This punk named Mista had clearly only just awakened his Stand ability. He was a rookie Stand User who had no idea he even possessed a Stand.

"Randomly robbing someone on the street and he turns out to be a Stand User."

Li Qing sighed helplessly.

"Are Stand Users magnets that attract each other?"

"I've only been here for a little while, and I've already run into..."

He looked at Mista and briefly counted the Stand Users he had encountered since crossing over.

"One, two... three, four."

"Huh?"

Like a mouse catching the scent of a cat, Mista shuddered the moment he heard the number four. "I'm not the fourth one, am I?"

"..."

Li Qing gave him a strange look. "No, you're the fifth."

"That's good."

Mista let out a huge sigh of relief. Then he immediately sidled up to Li Qing and Giorno as though they were old friends, asking eagerly,

"Tell me, do I have superpowers too?"

"If I do, why haven't I felt anything yet?"

"Can you teach me how to use these superpowers?"

"Can I take part in saving the world too?"

"..."

A string of ear-grating questions poured from Mista's mouth, like a loudspeaker with no off switch.

At that moment, this sixteen-year-old who usually loafed around and treated movies as life's greatest joy suddenly discovered that he might be able to go from ordinary to extraordinary, from a passerby to a protagonist, just like in the movies.

Yes, from Mista's perspective, he was completely the protagonist of a movie now.

A sixteen-year-old punk, a delinquent looked down upon by the world, whose ordinary life was shattered by a sudden adventure. Not only could he see gigantic monsters that ordinary people could not, he had encountered superpowered people fighting those monsters, and he himself seemed to have awakened some special ability.

It would be a waste not to make this script into a movie.

And Li Qing and Giorno, the two superpowered people who had been strangers to him, were obviously the sort of "guides" from the beginning of a movie who led the protagonist onto the path of the extraordinary, then acted as babysitters and mentors all the way through.

Especially Li Qing, that bald guy.

Put that look in a Hollywood movie, and he was clearly some kind of "Eastern warrior monk who had mastered mysterious qigong"!

So...

Under Mista's immensely expectant gaze, the two "guides" responded:

"No time."

"The fact that you can see Stands means you've already awakened an ability."

"Take your time figuring it out yourself. Don't bother other people."

Only thirteen years old, Giorno lectured Mista, who was three years his senior, in a mature, matter-of-fact tone.

"Don't look at me."

"Are we even close?"

Li Qing's answer was much simpler.

He merely glanced at Mista before preparing to leave directly with Giorno.

Li Qing had never even heard of this "random extra," a newbie who did not even know what his Stand ability was. Since he was still being hunted, he had no interest in wasting time on Mista.

"Hey, hey."

Mista was somewhat disappointed by Li Qing and Giorno's cold attitude.

"Don't go!"

"Can't you teach me how to master this Stand ability or whatever?!"

As he spoke, he pedaled his motorcycle forward again, blocking Li Qing and Giorno like a piece of gum they could not shake off.

"What do you want?"

Li Qing frowned and said very seriously,

"Let me make this clear: I'm doing something extremely dangerous right now."

"If you stay too close to me, you might get dragged into it. You could even die—just like earlier."

He was not joking at all.

No one knew when Diavolo's assassins would come again. If this obviously unreliable rookie kept sticking too close to him, he could easily get caught up in it.

And in Li Qing's eyes, Mista was just some ignorant passerby who did not know his own limits. He did not think Mista could survive the aftermath of a battle at that level the way Giorno, a born protagonist, could.

He was ignoring Mista because it was genuinely for the guy's own good.

However, after hearing Li Qing's grave warning, Mista became even more excited.

"Something extremely dangerous?"

"Yes... that's it, exactly like in the movies!"

"Senior!"

He said excitedly to Li Qing, "Take me under your wing!"

"..."

Li Qing and Giorno were speechless. Then, in perfect unspoken agreement, they looked away, bypassed Mista, and continued forward.

"Wait!"

Mista chased after them again.

Li Qing and Giorno still ignored him, silently taking a detour around him.

Mista caught up with them a third time, turning his motorcycle sideways to block their path.

"How can you just leave like that?!"

This time, he was a little unhappy.

"Considering you took my phone and motorcycle, shouldn't you give me some 'compensation'?!"

"This motorcycle?"

As if he had genuinely been persuaded, Li Qing nodded thoughtfully.

"What?" Giorno was somewhat confused. "You really want to waste time on him?"

"No, no, no." Li Qing shook his head. "I just thought of something."

"What?"

"He just reminded me..."

Li Qing smiled at the brand-new motorcycle beneath Mista.

"Having no transportation is pretty inconvenient when you're on the run."

A few seconds later...

Li Qing and Giorno rode away on the motorcycle.

Mista clutched the revolver he had not even had time to raise, swaying dizzily as he collapsed to the ground.