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Holly Kujo dreams. Her fever is high, thoughts mangled together and dreams as vivid as ever. She dreams of a gigantic man with blond hair, stone-carved muscles and oh so malicious smirk. He gleams in the darkness, pale skin and golden hue, a star-shaped birthmark beneath the ragged scar. His look spews daggers, his presence fills Holly with primal fear.

She sees him handling roses. Those gentle flowers Holly loves and has planted in her garden despite her fascination with everything Japanese. They remind her of her grandmother in Italy, of her innocent childhood, where an old cream-coloured rose bush blossomed between the ancient stones. On the island of Air Supplena, her grandma taught her how to take care of the plant: how to prune the stems and handle the thorns. Roses had been her friends, and she always made sure to wish them good morning and good night.

They remind her of Sadao when he was just her boyfriend, who wooed her with elegant bouquets of white roses with a divine smell. No matter how much she begged, he never revealed where he got those roses, promising to tell her after the marriage. Only years later she got to know that Sadao had an old friend working at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens who, seeing the man utterly and completely smitten, had given him roses to impress the one who had stolen his best friend's heart.

Now these capricious flowers bloom in her garden, reminding her of Sadao when he's away, of his deep love for her, of the promise to come back after each tour. But the petals of the roses the man (the beast, Holly's mind whispers to her) aren't snow-white of pure love. The flowers are turning violent red, the colour of blood – and to her horror, Holly realizes it is blood dribbling down the stems. And the stems almost seem alive – they are twisting like snakes in man’s hold, thorns glistening like metal.

At this exact moment, the man finally turns around and Holly feels her hair stand up. It feels so real, the man's feather-like steps despite the huge frame looming at her, overpowering. She sees the blood staining his perfect features, the scary grin showing sharp canines, and feels helpless. The man wields the roses like a whip, and suddenly she’s suffocating, the thorns stabbing into her skin. She's blacking out, and on the verge of consciousness, she hears the man laugh. Don't worry, little miss Joestar, your son and father will soon join you in the Hell where you belong are the last words she hears.

Holly wakes up with a gasp, a cough shaking her body. The Speedwagon Foundation doctors are at her futon in a second, asking her questions, but she doesn't hear them, the dream still loops in her head. This is the moment something in her shifts.

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Holly Kujo is a perceptive woman. Her optimism and joy, often perceived as naivety by others, stem from a simple fact – she sees through people. It’s easy for her to judge the character of a person after a brief conversation with precise accuracy. As a child, she called out her father on his lies, until her mother sat her down and explained the whole lying while telling the truth thing. Similarly to her mother, she grew up to cherish the joy of the world and behave in her own way only when important decisions were concerned.

That's why it was easy for her to fool the Speedwagon doctors. To their pointed questions she replied with the truth – yes, she had a nightmare, yes, it was something scary and yes, she would like some chamomile tea. She then tried to close her eyes and relax, letting the doctors believe she was sleeping. The conversation they had about half an hour later in hushed tones behind the paper wall really did prove to be insightful.

Poor girl, , one of the doctors said. Her Stand seems to be draining her fast, the raspberry vines are now all over her back. It’s so unfortunate she doesn’t have the spirit to bend it to her will. Her curse seems to be progressing fast, and this nightmare… Could that be connected? Another answered him with a sigh: We are dealing with supernatural business, this is certainly a possibility. We should watch her closely and report to Mr. Joestar when he calls. If everything goes well, he should soon be in Singapore, if another catastrophe doesn’t divert him.

What happened? He, Mr. Kujo Jr., Mr. Kakyoin and Mr. Abdul were supposed to board a plane. Did they crash?

They did. It was the work of one of the enemies’ stands. They then went ahead to board a ship with our trusted men. Let’s hope it will suffice this time.

The doctors left, while Holly’s mind tried to process the information. First, Dio. The man from the dream was certainly Dio, he was in the photo her dad showed her and Jotaro in that café. He was suffocating her with roses, which resembled the Hermit Purple of her father. If that were so, why did the Speedwagon Foundation doctors mention raspberries? The dream seemed too real, and considering the whole stand business, it would be foolish to take it as a simple nightmare. One of the two had to be mistaken: either Dio or the doctors. She supposed she had to see for herself.

This mystery led her to think of another remark the doctors made: her lack of fighting spirit. There weren’t many things that could awaken her righteous fury, something that everyone in the Joestar bloodline inherited, man or woman. Truly, she was optimistic and kind, nudging people in the right direction when things got dire. Her justice was served in a roundabout way, she didn’t have to fight to stand up for the weak or secure her own position. She had to find the right people, say a comment or two, enchant them with her smile and voila – they bent to her will. Bullies went to fight each other, which led them to realize their wrongdoings, teenage gangs’ members were somehow reminded of the times someone showed them true kindness in their childhood and strived to try and change their ways, and angry dogs were as meek as puppies when she pet them.

There were, of course, people she could not change for the better – people too far gone, with true evil nestled in their hearts. That was the kind of person Dio was, and she was sure of it. Her strategy in dealing with them was to resort to the unforeseeable circumstances; she organised herself. Men catcalling her on the street? The taxi she had ordered five minutes ago arrived and splashed them with dirty water from the road. A coursemate stole her research? A professor she arranged a meeting with passed by the lab and saw said coursemate doing something shady. However, it would be foolish to assume she could play the same trick with Dio.

The impression she got from Dio was that he was too sure of himself. He was evil and cunning and capable of violence, sure, but not invincible. Men like him have drowned in the sense of superiority, of the certainty that came with thinking they could cheat fate, which inevitably led to their downfall, either by the hands of their enemies or the mysterious ways of fate. Still, Dio was dangerous. Way too dangerous. And it seemed that he was set on destroying the Joestar bloodline. Which included her son and father.

The only thing capable of waking up the dormant fury within Holly Kujo was a direct threat to her family. Accustomed to the roundabout way of evading problems, this was her reaction to a direct confrontation. She has long ago accepted that her father had countless enemies and could battle them well with his wit. He was still very much in shape and had a lot of vigour. But Jotaro? He sure has grown up, inherited quick thinking in dire situations and was out there fighting yakuza thugs on the streets since seventh grade, but he still was her baby. He was only seventeen! Not even an adult yet! And Dio was claiming he would kill her precious boy. That was simply unacceptable.

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Holly's resolve grew with every minute. It didn't register to her that she had been sitting up, the fabric of the blanket clutched in her fists until she heard the heart monitor beeping loudly. She let the blanket go as the doctors rushed in again.

She calmed them down and told them that she felt better and that she would like to sit on the couch instead of lying on the futon. When they helped her up, she was not a deadweight anymore and even took her own steps. After leaving her on the couch, they made sure everything was okay and disappeared from the room, without a doubt to discuss the long-awaited improvement.

At first, it seemed like her imagination. Holly could clearly feel relief and disbelief radiating from the doctors, as well as suspicion. It was as if she was in a manga with the doctors' feelings surrounding them like a cloud, except she felt those emotions and did not see the auras, words or colours. It was when she realized that her hands were covered in raspberry vines, berries and flowers surrounded by leaves and thorns. It made her feel relief, the doctors were right: she did not have the roses Dio suffocated her with. The plant itself was rather pretty, glowing softly in a dimmed-lit room.

But what about the emotions? Holly tried to do something about the vines, move and feel them when she realized, she felt a connection between the plant and something small, like little buds. To confirm her suspicion, she called the doctors in, asking them for another cup of tea. And there - she saw little leaves peeking behind their white coat collars and disappearing in their hair. The sprouts were moving a little, seemingly having detached themselves from the main vine when the doctors touched her hands to help her up. When she chatted with the doctors, asking questions and asking about her condition, she felt their emotions all over the place and tried to calm them down. To her surprise, it worked - the men instantly felt less suspicion, stopped pestering her and let her rest. "What a strange day," Holly thought.

Even though Holly seemed carefree and was by nature jolly and optimistic, she liked order. That is why she took out her favourite pink notebook, filled with cooking recipes, poetry, sketches and remarks, decorated with kittens and sparkles, and opened the secret compartment. Holly then took out the purple sparkly pen and wrote down everything she could about the situation. It was obvious she was now a stand user, like her father, son, Abdul and that Kakyoin boy. The emergence of the stand was connected to Dio, who somehow got a stand and Jonathan's body made the Joestar bloodline get the stand as well. Her stand could grow buds that detached upon contact and migrated to the person's neck, connecting with their head. They let her feel and influence the person's emotions. Overall, it didn't feel like a lot, but she felt the potential it could bring her. Doing something about the whole Dio situation seemed like a fantastic way to put it to use.

But first, the stand needs a name. It came naturally as if something compelled her to choose it. Angel of the Morning, she called it. It was time to rise.

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Giving the stand a name truly did wonders for Holly’s inner peace and awakened the need to tell somebody about it. Holly felt the need to talk things over and decide on the course of action because there was no way she was going through this alone. She needed to get her father and son out of danger as soon as possible and do it fast. Sadao was unfortunately still on tour and none of her friends knew about stands, so the only true option was her mother. Since she hadn’t heard from her in a while and especially not since her sudden illness, she assumed her father had kept the news from her. Upon that thought Holly called the doctors in and asked them to help her to the house phone and leave the room.

Suzi picked up on the first ring.

“My baby, how are you? I’m worried about you; you haven’t called me in two weeks! Tell me what happened!”

“Well, it’s a rather crazy story, Mom,” started Holly. “First, Joseph came over and helped me with Jotaro, who was convinced he was going to hurt somebody and put himself in prison. And to prove he has supernatural abilities, he even shot himself!”

Suzi was in disbelief. “How awful! I almost can’t believe it, but Joseph was as risky when he was young, I was hoping Jotaro wouldn’t go to such extremities! And to hurt his mother like that…”  

“Mom, it all ended well, and he was the first to find me when I fell ill because I didn’t give him his forehead kiss that morning! Speaking of my illness, this is related to those powers that Jotaro, Joseph and I now have. Long story short, there was this vampire-“

Suzie didn’t let her daughter finish. “Stop right here. You falling so ill suddenly and now being able to call me, Joseph hiding this from me, Jotaro’s behaviour, new superpowers which I’m assuming aren’t Hamon – I need to come over immediately! I’m booking the flight this instant with the Speedwagon Foundation. Now tell me, dear, how do you feel? Do you have a doctor nearby?”

Holly laughed. “Yes, I’m feeling much better, but there is a mystery here, and I need your help. The doctors I assume Papa called over from the Speedwagon are here, and they’re doing their best to help me. Could you please keep this a secret though? Just tell your assistant you’re surprising me with a visit!”

“Of course, my dear rose petal! Roses is a wonderful man; he has been a lot of help and wouldn’t suspect silly old me! Bye-bye, see you tomorrow!” With these words, Suzie Q hung up her phone and called Roses to start packing her bags.

In the meanwhile, Holly decided that she was due to some social contact and stand experiments, so she told the doctors she wanted to go out to the nearby park. The doctors were hesitant, but upon an agreement to bring one of them with her and reassurances not to do anything strenuous, they quickly folded and helped her get dressed.

As soon as Holly and her guard for today, Richard, stepped out of the estate, they were greeted with a clear sky, a rare occasion for late November. They made their way over to Holly’s favourite bench in front of the pond. To her surprise, the bench was already occupied by a man and a woman, who were visibly stricken by some sort of grief. Holly made her way over and sat next to the woman.

“This pond is my favourite place when I want to think about something, but you seem to be grieving on this beautiful day. I’m sorry for this impolite question, but did something happen? Are you okay?” As soon as those words left her mouth the woman broke down in sobs.

Something about Holly’s demeanour screamed that she could trust her. “It’s my boy, my darling, Noriaki… We were so happy for him, we just moved here and he went to a new high school, we hoped he would make new friends, he has always been antisocial. Always gaming in his room, he never wanted to play outside. And now he’s gone! He barely had his first week of school and now he has disappeared and nobody knows where! We filed the police reports, but no one has seen him after that altercation at school…”

The situation the woman was describing felt awfully familiar, so Holly had to double-check. “I’m sorry for a sudden question, but isn’t your name Kakyoin by chance?” The woman perked up. “Yes, it is, how did you know?” she asked with hope. Holly answered with an awkward smile: “Well, you see, my own son Jotaro has recently left home, but not alone. He has made this new friend, a very polite young man, with red hair in a mullet and cherry earrings. His name was Kakyoin.” The woman gasped and the man stared at Holly with sudden focus.

“My father has just departed for an archaeology expedition in Egypt and didn’t want to take my son, who wanted to skip school. So he and the boy snuck out and my father discovered them in the airport. Since the expedition was only supposed to last a couple of months, the old man decided to show youngsters the world and took them on a plane. When he told me all about it, I was furious, but there was nothing I could do. Rest assured, my father is known for reckless decisions such as this one, but he has experience and won’t let any harm come to the boys,” finished Holly.

The Kakyoins seemed both relieved and mortified. To smooth out the situation and help them to calm down their fury at their son, Holly decided to test her stand. She brushed a stray leaf from the woman’s hair, barely touching her face. It seemed to work, as Holly could now see her vines. She tried to project calm and acceptance through Angel of the Morning onto the woman and it seemed to work. Instead of barely restricted angry words directed at her son, the woman sighed and told her husband that the most important thing was that their son was okay. They could deal with the consequences later.

Upon this Holly asked for the couple’s numbers to keep them updated on the situation and they eagerly latched on to the possibility. Holly invited them in for tea and warned them that her father didn’t have frequent opportunities to call and report back, as he spent weeks camping out, doing archaeological work. It didn’t matter for the poor parents, who agreed to follow Holly home. She had to do some more reassurance and attention lulling to avoid any complications and interference with stand business and a frankly quite dangerous situation her family had involved Kakyoin in.