#dmq

Shut up and trust this (based off of this)

Wanted to mess with lines so finished this up.

Well I spent 23 hours on this art lmao... But I'm happy with the result.

since DMQ doesn't give an exact date for when Kira starts doing his whole Ghost Hitman Thing, I'm just going to say this takes place a bit over a year after DiU and a few weeks/months before Part 5

so Kira's vibing right? Going around Morioh, doing his Hitman things, and vaguely aware of the presence of Stand Users. He knows they exist and he thinks their powers are kinda cool, but they can't see him so there's really no point in paying them much attention when he could use that time looking for a place to stay

so one day, he ends up passing by Koichi who was simply floating around by himself and at first he doesn't think much of it. He'd seen the little Stand around more than a few times, enough that he was used to his presence, but never tried approaching him because...... well, why would he? As far as he knew, "Echoes" wasn't that much different from any other Stand. Sure it was little weird he never saw the Stand's User, but eh Stands were weird in general

but then Koichi's gaze flickers to him as he hovers by and it hits Kira with all the subtly of a lightning strike that he can see him

unfortunately for Kira, Koichi also recognises him and he

flips

out

he uses every ability, every attack, every single offensive thing he'd learned how to use and does so immediately because Oh God Oh No Kira That's Kira How Is Kira Here He's Dead And Gone And I Saw It I Saw Him Die-

and he actually ends up forcing Kira to retreat. As trained as the guy is, he's used to his targets being more or less completely helpless against him. He's never had anyone fight back before, not to mention he's completely unequipped to go against a Stand. While Koichi isn't able to do anything permanent or "life treating" to him, Kira can't do anything back and could be left at the mercy of something that can kill him later on

so he runs and Koichi chases

at this point Kira's managed to put together that this "Echoes" seems to know who he is, or at the very least who he was. The fact he keeps shouting things like "I won't let you get away again!" and "you think you can run from what you've done?!?" and seems to be on the verge of an emotional breakdown really just adds more to that line of thought

unfortunately for him, Koichi knows Morioh better than he does and manages to catch up thanks to the fact he doesn't have to worry about bumping into people or going around obstacles. They fight again, and this time Kira actually gets a bit fucked up. A couple of his limbs are detached and he's barely standing, his Ghost Gun is out of bullets and he's debating the merits of using it as a bludgeoning weapon-

and suddenly Koichi just stops. Him running on this many emotions already wasn't going to be good, but because of how long it was going on for? Yeah it was completely overwhelming. Koichi's terror finally wins out over the rage and it finally hits him that Kira hasn't sustained any permanent damage. How he simply reattached all the limbs he lost, how there hasn't been so much as a single drop of blood, how Kira's pose and gaze right now is so similarly That Day

In that moment Koichi doesn't see Kira as a helpless opponent on the ropes. He sees a terrifying monster biding his next move to kill him all over again

so he runs. He flies as fast and far as he's willing to dare to get away from Kira

this ends up starting a sort of back and forth between the two for a few weeks. Koichi and Kira will spot each other in public, one will pursue the other, but just before anything gets done one of them will flee in a way the other can't follow until their next encounter. Koichi does end up telling the others, of course he does, but because of the whole Ghost thing only Koichi's able to actually see him

and as time goes by, with every fight both sides slowly put more pieces together. Koichi learns Kira is in fact dead. Kira learns Echoes's User was murdered. Koichi learns Kira doesn't remember him. Kira learns Echoes is his own User. Back and forth, fight after fight they slowly get a better look at the picture they're looking at

On Koichi's side of things it's....... it's going. Learning Kira didn't remember him pissed him off beyond belief and added more emotional conflict with the angry vs terrified thing going on in his head. Ironically though, fighting Kira so regularly ends up serving as a weird kind of Exposure Therapy. The fact he actually wins most of their fights does loads for his confidence, however it is slightly undercut by the fact Kira keeps escaping

and on Kira's side, he's Not Having The Best Time. With every piece of his past identity he slowly gleams from Echoes, the more he starts to fear who he used to be. Kira knows he's no saint, he literally kills people with little remorse as his job, but...... but he still has some morals. He kills people a monk tells him to, so my vibe about his victims was he was a killer of other killers and has some kind of ethical decency he lacked when alive. And Echoes..... based on what he's learned about the Stand from some eavesdropping on friends and some spying, the Stand seems like genuinely a good guy. During said eavesdropping he even ends up hearing his own name dropped a few times, and with the anger poison disgust hate they say his name with..... Kira gathers he must've done something awful to him

they only manage to get any proper headway when one of Koichi's friends ends up accidentally popping in during the middle of one of their fights and calls Koichi by his human name. The fight ends the same as it always does, but this time Kira actually has something to work with now. He ends up trying to learn whatever he can about any "Koichi's" of note in the last few years. And eventually, after a lot of different dead ends, he ends up investigating one Koichi Hirose who reportedly died in a gas explosion a few years back

this then leads to the pair's final fight. Kira goes to the graveyard to Koichi's tomb and finds him sitting there

the fight wasn't even that physical this time. Aside from a thrown attack or two from Koichi (which were very carefully aimed as to not hit any of the other headstones), it was mostly the pair shouting back and forth as Koichi hovered protectively in front of his tomb and Kira tried getting answers

And eventually Koichi gives him the final piece

"What, it wasn't enough to kill me?" he spits. "You have to disrespect my resting place too?!?"

and Kira stops

at this point he knew Echoes, Koichi, was young. Far younger than he was, and after learning his name and seeing the date on the tomb he realises Koichi would've been a teenager

and suddenly Koichi's loathing and terror and offence at being forgotten makes so much sense

He'd killed him. When he was alive, he'd killed a teenager, and by the looks of things, it had been an innocent one at that. Every word Koichi had spoken, every action he'd taken, how he'd been so desperate to kill Kira but so hesitant to get close suddenly made a painful amount of sense

it's at this point he finally explains he doesn't remember anything about his life. Aside from his name, every memory he has was created only after he woke up as a ghost

and this....... makes things a bit awkward. Neither know what to say or do in the face of all the new information that's suddenly been brought to the table or how to feel about it

maybe Koichi tells Kira what he'd done in life. Maybe he ends up having one of his friends do it

they don't become friends after everything is said and done. With all their history that would be impossible so soon after both their deaths. But they say hi when they pass each other in the road. Koichi shows him the Bad Alley for whenever he'd like to sleep in a house without being bothered. Kira teaches him a bunch of tricks he picked up for how to experience a world not made for people like them. They share information when Kira has a job

they stay distant, but slowly they become more comfortable with the other's presence. And who knows. Maybe a few decades in the future they could get closer

💜Kira birthday edit (5/?)💜