I'm actually back, so here you go!

It was absolutely beautiful in Singapore and for that, Haru was beyond grateful. After spending who knows how long crammed in a tiny boat, for the second time, with five huge men and a little girl, Haru needed some nice weather while she took advantage of all the room she finally had to stretch her legs.

While she waited for the rest of her group to finish discussing where they would be staying for the night, Haru took this time to admire the scenery; the fountains sculpted like lions shooting out clean water the sparkled in the sunlight, the tall buildings and palm trees, and the beautiful blue sky filled with a small amount of clouds. Some birds also occupied the sky as well and though Haru wanted to admire its beauty a bit more, she looked away from it to avoid being blinded by the bright sun shining down on them.

Haru was about to join in the group discussion, until said discussion was interrupted by someone constantly blowing a whistle. The orphaned girl looked behind her and noticed a man dressed like some sort of cop sprinting towards them.

"Hey, you!" he called out, gaining the attention of the rest of the travellers. "You! I'm talking to you!" he continued, now pointing at Polnareff.

"You!" the cop repeated still pointing at Polnareff, still holding the whistle he had been blowing in his other hand. "You threw this trash didn't you? That's a fine of five hundred Singapore dollars!"

"What? Five hundred?" Polnareff repeated. Haru honestly wasn't sure if that was a lot. She was never good at converting currencies, which is why she was glad she wasn't the one handling all the spending in the group.

"In Singapore, the law says you will be fined for littering!" the officer explained to Polnareff.

"Five hundred Singapore dollars…" This time, Kakyoin was the one to repeat that.

"Is that a lot?" Haru whispered to the group, making sure the officer didn't hear her to avoid sounding super clueless to him.

"That's about 40,000 yen," Joseph answered. Haru stared blankly ahead of her, just thinking about the amount of odd jobs she'd have to do to get even just half that much money.

"Trash?" Avdol questioned, ignoring the discussion about money and focussing more on the officer's words.

"Got it?" the officer continued to scold Polnareff.

"Trash?" Polnareff questioned.

The group just stood there in silence, the only thing being heard were some cars driving by before Polnareff decided to continue speaking. "What are you talking about?" The officer simply responded by pointing, which caught Polnareff's attention and brought him to look down at his own bag next to his feet. Realizing the officer's mistake, both Avdol and Haru shared a snort.

"I don't see anything here besides my own luggage," Polnareff told the officer now pointing at him with what Haru would refer to as a somewhat scary grin. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what trash you're referring to?" By now, Polnareff was really up in this man's personal space, giving off quite an intimidating aura and based on the cop's facial expression, it was definitely working. "Where is the trash, sir?"

Haru could've sworn she saw the officer shudder as Polnareff now rested a hand on the man's shoulder.

"That's your luggage?" the man nervously asked, as if it hadn't been clear as day by this point.

"That's right," Polnareff confirmed as everyone else continued to remain silent. Well, aside from the chuckling quartet that consisted of Avdol, Joseph, Kakyoin, and Haru.

"I-I'm terribly sorry," the officer stuttered. Shortly after that, the group's attention was drawn to a fifth person's snicker. As soon as Anne noticed all eyes were now on her, she halted her giggling and angrily turned to the side to avoid eye contact with any one of them. "Well, I'll be going then…," the officer announced as he ran off while Polnareff simultaneously shoo'd him away.

"What's with the kid? She's still following us," Polnareff stated as Anne took a seat by some plants.

"Hey, weren't you going to see your father?" Joseph called out to her.

"Why don't you stop following us and get going?" Polnareff added.

"Yeah, I don't think your dad would want you to hang around strangers," Haru added with a nervous laugh.

"I'm meeting up with him in five days," Anne shot back with a hand now placed on her chin. "I can go wherever I want!" her voice began to raise. "I'm not taking orders from you guys."

Haru was surprised to see that after those harsh statements, Anne looked at Jotaro with what Haru would describe as the puppy dog eyes, but she could've been wrong.

"She'll be in danger if she stays with us," Avdol stated, being quiet enough for Anne not to hear.

"Maybe she doesn't have any money," Kakyoin guessed.

"Yeah… That's very possible," Haru sighed.

"All right…" Joseph gave in. "I guess we can pay for her hotel room."

Haru perked up.

"I'll tell her the good news," Haru declared and jogged to where Anne was sitting before anyone could stop her. The five guys watched Haru smile and happily extend her hand towards a young girl who almost immediately slapped said hand away, shocking Haru as if she had just walked in on her family being murdered in front of her. Joseph sighed.

"Polnareff, bring the kid, but don't hurt her pride," Joseph said.

"Got it," Polnareff replied with a smile and soon joined the two girls. "Hey!" he called to Anne whose attention was now drawn away from the heartbroken Haru. "You're poor, right? We'll pay for you, so come with us."

Anne looked bothered again and Haru even more shocked and slapped Polnareff's arm. Now Polnareff was confused, completely oblivious to what he had said and how it had in fact hurt Anne's pride. Joseph placed his fingers on his forehead while Kakyoin let out a chuckle.

"Well then, let us check in…" Avdol said making an attempt to change the subject.

"I'm terribly sorry, but we are rather full at this time of year," the lady behind the front desk apologized to Joseph while Haru and the rest of the gang patiently waited for him to get them checked in. "The rooms won't be next to each other, is that all right?" she continued.

"Well, I guess we don't have a choice," Joseph answered. "Then for the rooms…" Joseph looked up at the ceiling to think about it a bit then continued. "Avdol and I will share a room... "

"Jotaro and I will share a room, since we're both students," Kakyoin added and Jotaro just silently nodded.

"That would mean the last room would be Polnareff and…" Once Joseph stopped Haru knew exactly what that meant, her, Polnareff, and, Anne would be left to a room.

"You're joking! Like I'd room with him!" Anne exclaimed.

"What? Haru's not complaining!" Polnareff retorted, but the truth was, Haru would room with a complete stranger at this point. Her only goal was to sleep in a proper bed tonight.

"Well, she is a child, but they are both ladies…" Joseph commented, while Haru was preoccupied by the thoughts of a warm bed, and Polnareff and Anne were still making faces at each other. "Could you make it four rooms?" Joseph asked, turning back to the receptionist.

"Yes," she simply answered, grabbed four room keys and set the down on her desk.

Polnareff was the first to grab his keys. The chain attached to the key read "912" and Haru then noticed the other three said "1010", "1122", and "1212", all one floor apart from one another.

"Hmph, I can relax more in my own room anyway!" Polnareff said as he held his room key up. "Nothing would suit me better." Then he was off, leaving the others to watch him for a brief moment before he turned slightly and began to talk again. "Let's go. We've been through hell since we left Hong Kong. Let's hurry up and take a shower where it's safe."

"A nice warm shower…" Haru thought aloud with a smile on her face while the rest of the guys slightly nodded and smiled as well at the thought.

After opening the door to room 1122, Haru immediately made it to one of the double beds and laid down face first on it, sighing in relief. Anne followed behind, closing the door and sitting on the unoccupied bed.

"So, who's going first?" Haru asked, now turned over and sitting up on the edge of the bed.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Anne asked.

Haru points towards the bathroom, the door wide open, making the bathtub visible through the sink mirror.

"Who's gonna be the lucky one who gets the first warm, undisturbed ba-"

"You can go. I don't care," Anne replied with a hint of attitude. Just like earlier today, Haru decided to let it slide, especially because she honestly wanted that bath right now.

"Alright, thanks a ton Anne," Haru nodded before she got up and made her way into the bathroom, leaving Anne in the room alone.

Haru locked the door before taking a long look at herself in the mirror. She frowned at what she saw. In reality, the journey to Egypt had really only just began, but from the looks of it, it was already wearing poor Haru out. She took note that her limbs felt a bit sore and the bags under her eyes have been becoming more noticeable. She then let her hand hover over the small scar that had formed on her left cheek from her previous underwater battle.

"If I keep this up," she began to say to herself. "I'll just be a burden."

She sighed, thinking that it was maybe a little selfish to insist on joining Jotaro and the others on this very important mission for her own gain. But there had to be something else to it, right? Haru wanted to believe that but she couldn't think of anything. It was just an illusion to try to convince herself that she wasn't a complete horrible person.

Haru made her way to the bathtub, turning both the knobs and feeling the water that came out of the faucet, till the temperature was to her liking. She began to strip down while simultaneously trying to convince herself that a warm bath is exactly what she needed to deal with this unnecessary stress.

Once the warm water had touched Haru's skin, she felt a wave of sleepiness hit her. She didn't fight hard to keep her eyes opened and just let herself relax, not completely falling asleep, but almost in a trance. Haru's mind began to wonder and before she knew it she was reflecting on events in her she had put on shows with her Stand in order to make a little extra cash. When did that all start? Where in the world did she get that idea? As she silently asked herself these things, the answer came to mind.

Mom…

Even that simple thought stung a bit. Her heart ached.

Mom was all alone. Mom had to raise me. Mom made sure I was fed, well behaved, healthy… Because of me… Mom… Mommy got sick.

She remembered the first morning she noticed. Mom wasn't there to wake her so she slept in. Haru wandered to her mom's room to see what was up. Mom breaking her routine already worried her, so seeing her mother breathing heavily still in bed had Haru almost scared to death. Haru remembered her mom looking at her, still managing to smile at her daughter even in this state, telling Haru not to worry a hair on her pretty little head.

Haru was young, but she was well aware her mother didn't have enough money for a doctor. She couldn't believe that she wouldn't even know the name of the sickness that would take her precious mother away from her, but she was convinced that it was from overworking herself.

Haru was told to go to school despite the circumstances. She protested, but after a bit of arguing, she decided it was best not to have her mom waste energy on being upset at her, so Haru left the house. She didn't go to school though. She found a small alleyway that was on her way to school from home and sat down. She looked around to make sure no one was around, and began to cry.

At the time, she thought there was nothing more she could do but cry, but looking back on it now, she found herself utterly pathetic.

Haru was unaware of how much time had passed, but due to the rumble of her stomach, she assumed it was lunchtime. She sniffled, then rolled her backpack around in front of her, unzipped it, and pulled out the homemade bento box her mom had prepared for her the night before.

Mommy was probably tired when she made this, Haru thought, staring at her meal. Maybe if she would've rested instead… Mommy would be alright.

Haru felt like crying again, but before she could get back to her own self-loathing, she felt the presence of someone. She didn't hear anyone walk down this alley, so it had Haru frozen in fear. She slowly turned around, shivering, and almost shrieked when her eyes landed on, not a person, but a thing.

It was about her size and looked like some sort of mangles marionette, with strings falling from parts of its thin dark arms where she assumed its joints to be. The part that was probably its face, was covered by a white mask, with several other masks around its head, if it even had a head under all those masks. Each seemed to have a different expression, each representing an emotion.

Haru let out a small shriek, her back making contact with a wall. As she did so, the marionette looking creature mirrored her actions, making contact with the opposite wall. The mask it was currently wearing looked quite frightened and non-threatening at all.

After witnessing this, Haru attempted to calm her breathing and began to approach the thing out of curiosity. The creature's masked started spinning then finally halted once a more surprised looking mask was face to face with Haru. By now, she could tell it was copying her, at least a tiny bit, but how far would it go? Haru tested this and slowly lifted her right arm above her head. It did the same. She lifted her left arm and violently waved it. The creature did the same. After about a whole day of crying, Haru was surprised to find herself laugh. The marionette's masks started rotating again until it landed on a mask that looked slightly amused and, although it didn't make a sound, the way its body moved made it look like it was giggling along with Haru.

Haru's next instinct for some odd reason was to touch the strange thing. Her arm extended and she reached for its cheek and to her surprise her hand went right through. Haru jumped a bit before quickly bringing her hand back, becoming afraid again. The creature's head tilted as it switch to a more worried mask, as if it didn't want Haru to be frightened by it anymore.

A ghost? Why is it staring like me like that? Am I going to die?

This time it reached for her. Not knowing what to do, Haru shut her eyes tight, trembling. She then felt it caressing her cheek, something she attempted to do to it but had failed. Upon opening her eyes, she now saw it wearing a comforting smile. It then removed its thin hand from her cheek and placed it on her head and patted it, as if trying to tell her there was nothing to fear. When she let out another giggle, the creature took that as a sign that she was relaxed once again and started messing up her hair.

"H-hey! Knock it off," Haru said between giggles, attempting get its hands off of her.

Once the creature stopped, Haru took that opportunity to fix up her now tangled hair.

"Wait, till mom hears about y-" Haru cut herself off, remembering why she was hanging out in this alley in the first place. She looked down at her sneakers and felt herself about to cry again.

Meanwhile, the creature was violently waving its arms around, trying to get Haru's attention back. Once it was finally successful, Haru looked back up at it with a confused look.

"Huh?" Haru began to question. "What's wrong?"

The creature put a finger over its own mouth, clearly signalling to keep quiet about it.

"I can't tell mommy? Why not?"

It covered its eyes in response. It took Haru a few seconds longer to figure this one out, but then it clicked.

"Oh! She can't see you right?"

The creature nodded violently and looked beyond ecstatic.

"Ah, I see," Haru told it, a little disappointed. Sure, it wouldn't have healed her mom, but maybe it could at least brighten the mood? Thinking about it now Haru had no idea why it made her feel so hopeful.

Lost in thought, Haru didn't even notice the creature focussing on her, then eventually wrapping its stick thin arms around her, its masks resting on top of her small head. The creature she had been so afraid of not too long ago, comforting her? Today was one bizarre day for Haru, that's for sure. Once Haru finally felt like she collected herself and came to terms with all that happened to her today, she spoke up again.

"We're gonna save mommy," she muttered then looked at the strange creature in the eyes. "Together."

Haru almost jumped out of her skin on account of being so startled by the loud banging she heard on the bathroom door. How long how she been daydreaming? Haru looked at her fingers and noted that she didn't exactly look like a prune but it was about time to end her bath time.

"Geez, how long are you planning to stay in there?" Haru heard the sound of Anne's voice on the opposite side of the door. "Jojo and Kakyoin wanna speak to you."

"A-ah! I'll be out in just a sec."

"Just hurry up," was Anne's final response.

Embarrassing…, was all Haru could think before hopping out of the tub, quickly drying herself off and dressing herself in the clothes that still smelt like the sea. Unfortunately, Jotaro's and Kakyoin's surprise visit didn't give her enough time to find a robe to wear while she tried to clean her outfit, but whatever.

Once she was all dressed again, Haru quickly opened the bathroom door. She saw Anne sitting on a bed and almost looked as if she was trying to avoid eye contact with Haru. Haru then looked in the direction of the hotel door that was left wide open and spotted Jotaro and Kakyoin, waiting out in the hall for her.

"Come here," Jotaro bluntly commanded and Haru raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse us," Kakyoin politely began with a smile. "There's just something we need to let you know real quick."

Haru nodded then headed towards them, closing the front door behind her, assuming it was probably something Anne shouldn't hear.

"What's up? Did something happen?" she asked.

"Polnareff was attacked in his room," Kakyoin said, getting straight to the point.

"What? Is he ok?" Haru asked, concerned and a little frightened.

"Don't worry," Kakyoin tried to calm and reassure her. "He's fine now. He called Avdol and Mr Joestar and they said he sounded fine, but just to make sure, we're all meeting in their room. Haru-"

"You need me to stay with Anne, right?" Haru interrupted. Kakyoin smiled and Haru felt her heart melt.

Dammit..

"We already told Anne not to open the doors to strangers. Sorry if this sounds weird but the same applies to you."

At first, Haru was a tiny bit offended, but considering the circumstances, it was understandable that he just wanted to make sure so she nodded.

"Perfect, we'll let you know when everything is alright," Kakyoin said before he waved at Haru, heading to the elevator, Jotaro silently following behind.

Haru waved back before jokingly commenting "Don't die!" then went back inside to Anne. Once she closed the door behind her and saw Anne exactly where she had been when Haru left the room. Haru was starting to get real curious now. At first, she thought her and Anne got along fine, but now Anne seemed to hate her. Was she just overreacting? Or could it be...?

Dammit, she thought for the second time in the last two minutes.

Haru cleared her throat, earning a glance from Anne.

"Um, is everything alright, Anne?"

Anne just stared at Haru without a word.

Here we go.

Haru sat on Anne's bed, while also maintaining her distance, not wanting to be too pushy. She then mumbled something inaudible.

"What..?" Anne questioned.

"Lady problems?" Haru repeated, a bit louder and a lot more embarrassed than when she said it the first time.

Haru thought she heard Anne choke and when she looked back at Anne, her face was flushed, making Haru regret this even more. If she could turn back time.

"How did you-" Anne cut herself off and looked at the floor, pouting.

Things were quiet for a bit, Haru was busy cursing herself in her mind while her face rested in the palm of her hands, wondering why in the world she went down this path.

"We don't gotta talk about it if you don't wan-"

"No! I kind of do… if that's alright?"

Crap, how did mom do this with me?

After Haru realized no amount of time would even prepare her for this talk, so she decided to just rip off this bandaid already.

"Of course, of course, of course! Haru's listening." Haru let out a nervous laugh which made Anne a little skeptical but she went on anyway and mumbled a bunch of words at light speed.

Haru blinked a couple times before questioning "What?"

When she wanted to quickly rip off the bandaid, she didn't mean that quickly, though she wasn't really sure why she even asked for clarification when she didn't even want to be apart of this conversation in the first place.

"I like Jojo, okay?" Anne ended up stating way louder than she intended and almost instantly became a little red in the face, turning away from Haru.

Haru was speechless. Not only did she not think this is what they were going to be talking about, but Jotaro? Really?

"You're kidding," Haru replied out of genuine shock and Anne seemed a mixed of offended with a hint of surprise herself.

"Wh- No! I mean it, alright?"

Silence.

"But now I'm wondering something," Anne finally continued and Haru began to listen again. "Don't you… I thought you liked Jo-'

Anne was cut off by a fit of ugly laughing, which left her still very confused.

"What's so funny what did I say?" Anne attempted to shout over Haru's donkey laughs. Anne was real eager to figure what made this brunette almost fall off this hotel room bed laughing.

Haru finally managed to calm herself down enough where only a few giggles now escaped her lips now as she began wiping away some small tears that ended up coming out of her eyes during that laughing fit she just had.

"Are you done?" Anne asked slightly annoyed and Haru apologized.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she managed to finally get out. "But now i'm curious, why exactly?

"You guys flirt! Like, a lot," Anne answered so quickly there was no doubt she've been thinking about it for some time already. This response gained an eyebrow raise from Haru, which Anne took as an opportunity to explain further. "When the ship was about to sink you guys held hands the whole time and even when we managed to get off the thing you guys even talked about marriage."

As Anne spoke of these two incidents, Haru began to remember that her arm was still a bit sore from being dragged off the sinking ship by Jotaro, for good reason in his defense, but she was still surprised that she didn't start bruising around her wrist from his harsh grip. And marriage? Was Anne not listening when Haru had explicitly said she would not ever in a million years marry him?

While Haru was lost in thought, Anne took this as a sign to keep going and said "Even just the way you guys talk to each other, it's pretty obvious."

Most of our conversations are just him calling me stupid. Is that really what 11 year olds call flirting now?

"Anne, I think you're misunderstanding-"

'Oh yeah?" Anne cut her off, seemingly not wanting to be wrong about this for some reason. "Then how come you came back in the room blushing just a minute ago? You were talking to Jojo, weren't you?"

"I like Kakyoin, alright?" Now it was Haru's turn to be beyond embarrassed about be way louder than intended, and also at the fact that she didn't mean to blurt out her admiration for the redhead, but she just wanted the accusations about her and Jotaro to stop.

It was silent. Haru didn't even want to look at Anne after that confession, but when she finally did, Anne's eyes were lit up like a Christmas tree to Haru's surprised.

"Wh-what?" Haru stuttered.

"That's cute!" Anne exclaimed.

At first, Haru didn't really see what Anne meant, but as she thought more about it maybe it was. Haru never really had any girlfriends, or any friends at all to talk about stuff like boys with, so this situation began to excite her.

"Heh, yeah, I guess so," Haru finally admitted, now getting a tiny bit giddy.

"Sooo, what do you like about Kakyoin?"

Hearing this question made Haru's heart race even more than it already was, if that was even possible. After her initial excitement, she then began to wonder, what did she really like about Kakyoin? Sure, he was polite and friendly, but so was everyone else she was traveling with, Jotaro probably being the exception. So, why?

Fearing that Anne was getting impatient, Haru Finally said "Well, he's nice and he always encourages me, so that's nice I guess."

Anne seemed to still be listening intently and to be honest, Haru didn't have much else to say.

"S-so what do you like about Jotaro so much?" Haru asked in an attempt to take the spotlight off of herself. Anne didn't seem to expect to be asked that, but she seemed happy to do so nonetheless.

Haru sighed in relief.

After maybe 20 minutes of the boy talk, Anne had tired herself out and decided to take a nap. Haru took this as the opportunity to call up Mr. Joestar for a status report. If she was being honest, she didn't really enjoy being kept this much in the dark. Yeah, she knew someone had to make sure Anne was safe, but she couldn't help but feel like they thought she was in danger as well.

Haru picked up the phone on the bedside table and dialed the number for room 1010 and waited impatiently as she heard the phone ring.

"Polnareff?" greeted Joseph's voice from the other line rather than a polite 'hello'.

"The one and only," Haru jokingly replied but Joseph sounded a little less amused, which made Haru worry a bit. "Did something happen, Mr. Joestar? I thought Polnareff was supposed to be with you guys, no?"

"He was. Everyone else is waiting here, but leave it to Polnareff to be late for a meeting he was the cause of."

"Are you sure something didn't happen to h-"

Haru was cut off by the sound of a door opening and closing through the phone before Joseph said "Speak of the devil, I'll call you right after he gets an earful." And before Haru could protest, the line was dead. Haru let out a deep sigh before hanging up the phone and lying back down on her bed.

That warm bath she took moments before was finally getting to her because she found herself drifting off. It's not like Joseph was going to call her back anyway. She was right.

The next day was just as beautiful as the previous. The four kids of the group decided to take advantage of that, though Joseph just asked the boys to maybe try asking the girls to hang out, since he did feel slightly bad about not keeping Haru up to date with the whole situation yesterday, and obviously Anne wasn't expected to stay in their room alone.

Anne seemed super ecstatic about the invitation and whispered to Haru the whole way down how lucky they both were and Haru had to admit, it was like lady luck was on their side. Just think about it, the day before they're both talking about their fondness towards these two teens and the next day, said boys ask them to send the day together.

Haru was surprised no one could hear her heart race since it felt like that's all she could hear right now. The four were outside the hotel, Anne walking close beside Jotaro, holding onto his sleeve, looking the happiest Haru's ever seen here. This left Haru and Kakyoin walking side by side, slightly behind the other two.

Haru was finding it hard to even look in front of her, since Kakyoin would be visible in her peripheral, but upon realising how stupid the reason sounded, she decided to suck it up and talk to the dang boy. She looked up at him about to speak, but suddenly felt nervous again, this time for a completely different reason. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was almost like he was giving off some menacing aura while seemingly glaring at Jotaro.

"Heyo, Kakyoin, buddy? You feeling alright?"

Kakyoin looked down at Haru and she could've sworn she felt a drop of sweat drip down her forehead.

What is with him?

I didn't even expect to give away some of Haru's backstory yet, but I like how it fit into this chapter and I hope you guys did too. Until next time!