As I read through this part of the manga one thing jumped out at me... Why did none of the girls argue about the accusations of cheating? You'll understand what I mean soon enough.

Those who knew Atroe seemed a little off-put by her new demeanor. Not only was she more sociable, especially around Jolyne, Ermes, and Rainbow, but she was never far from a large cup of water. It was mostly to stock up on water for the next time they'd be fighting, and Atroe knew enough about comic books, which their lives seemed to have veered into, to know there would be a "next time". "So," Ermes said, "You made sure that no one else could find the other discs, right?"

"Yep," Atroe said as she put down her cup, "I'm the only one who knows where they are. Right now Pucci doesn't know I have Foo Fighters' disc." "It's better the rest of us don't know," Jolyne noted, "There's a lot of people that like to spy on each other in this prison." "Hey!," Atroe said when she someone drinking from her cup, "What do you think you're doing!?" The woman was dismissive. "Relax, Atroe, I'm just thirsty. So back off before you get pummeled again."

Atroe clenched her fist. She might have done what the woman said before, but now she wasn't so weak. "Put it down... Or you'll get hurt." The woman smirked and gulping down the water. Atroe scoffed, then pointed at the woman and shot her Stand power through the cup with her finger. The result caused the woman's jaw to dislocate, her saliva spilling into the cup. "Ugh... Waste of good water," Atroe said as she retrieved the cup, "But at least next time she'll think twice about taking what isn't hers."

Pucci was inside his office, which was well-furnished. He acted as a priest in the prison for those that chose to turn to God for forgiveness for their various crimes on Earth. He took a bowl of fruit and offered some to the young woman with him. "No thanks," she said. "As you wish," Pucci said, snacking on a pair of cherries, "So, how do you feel now that we have spoken?" The woman nodded. "I've come to realize just how foolish my actions were."

She smiled. "My motivations were all about money and desire, and for that I took to thievery and petty violence. But I know that feeling of wanting is what drives me to the edge, and how foolish that is." Pucci nodded. "In recent studies of animals, it's been proven that, depending on the trainer, dogs and parrots can learn to read, or to use fire, or even appreciate art. Do you know what the difference is between animal and man?" He finished snacking on the cherries, leaving only the stems and seeds.

He smirked at the woman's confusion. "A little trick I developed out of boredom. Using it, I don't even need my fingers to finish it. The trick is to use a certain tooth to bite into the second cherry when you finish the first one, because if you don't do it right you'll wind up biting off the seed of the first cherry." He cleared his throat. "Now then, as I was saying, the difference between animal and man is a very fine one. Man evolved from animals over thousands of years, and still has traces of that heritage. But there is one thing that elevates man above common animals."

He closed his eyes. "The desire to go to Heaven. Humans think about it, but animals can never grasp that concept. The idea of Heaven is a concept that has started from man's earliest concept of religion. Yes, even before Christianity. That is the beauty of humans. You see?" The woman nodded. "I... Guess so." Pucci smiled. "Splendid. We'll talk of this another time. In the meantime, I can speak with the committee to recommend your parole." The woman seemed elated. "Thank you, Father!"

Suddenly, Pucci grabbed the woman's head and pushed her into the table, grabbing his crucifix from her bag. "I must admit... I've taken a liking to those clever hands of yours... It seems your true colors cannot be fixed. But this is a talent I cannot ignore." He got out a pair of discs. "It might be harder to secure your parole. But if you were to work for me on commission, that would make it much easier..." He slid the discs into the woman's head.

The girls had taken to playing catch with each other to pass the time. "So what about those other two guys with Baseball Kid?," Ermes asked, "Are they in or out?" "Dunno," Jolyne said, "For now they seem content to just stay in the ghost room. I haven't even learned their names yet." "There was something familiar about the guy with the white hat," Rainbow said, "So I called my folks and they're using their position in Speedwagon to look him up. Hopefully they can get back to me with a name at least."

Atroe suddenly noticed a girl walking between them just as she threw her next pitch. "Hey, watch out!" Jolyne managed to get ahead of the girl and catch the baseball, but she did bump into her as they did. Atroe sighed. "Managed eighty-seven solid catches so far..." "Really?" the girl said. They didn't know it was the same girl who was meeting with Pucci. "That's impressive. Think you could get to a hundred?" "So long as no one else walks between us," Rainbow snarked.

The girl chuckled. "In that case let's bet on it. One hundred dollars, for one hundred catches." Ermes raised an eyebrow. "I'm... Sorry, who are you again?" The girl smiled. "Right, intro. Name's Miraschon." "And why would we bet on this again?," Atroe asked, "I mean, yeah it's only thirteen more tries, but you could try to interfere with our game somehow. Everyone knows how far a little money goes in this place, even a hundred dollars."

"Besides," Jolyne said, "We left all our cash in our cells. We couldn't make the bet even if we wanted to." Miraschon shrugged. "Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be cash. Anything that's worth a hundred total could do." "It's fine," Ermes said, "I've got the cash on hand." Miraschon smirked. "Good!" Jolyne pulled Ermes aside. "Do you really think this is a good idea? What if she's an enemy?" "Please, she'd have attacked us by now if she was working with Pucci," Ermes pointed out.

"Not all attacks are violent," Jolyne countered, "The way she said 'good' reminded me of a story my dad told me about when he and his friends were in Cairo. There they encountered a gambler named Daniel J D'Arby, whose Stand could steal people's souls when they lost to him or otherwise admitted defeat. It was useless for combat, but D'Arby was skilled at luring in unsuspecting victims with seemingly easy games. Miraschon could be doing something similar."

Ermes considered it. "Okay fair enough, but at the same time we need more money if we're going to get that disc to your dad so he can revive Gwess. Transporting items could be considered smuggling, and gathering the right amount of cash to have guards ignore it isn't easy." Jolyne rubbed her chin. "How about this?," Rainbow said, "Let's take the bet first and see if she tries anything. Once we've determined if she's really a Stand user or not, then we decide what to do next."

Jolyne nodded. "Okay, we're in. But we set the rules. First, you have to stay there and not move. Second, the timing will also be decided by us." Miraschon considered it for a second. "Okay, but that'll have to be set right away." "Ten seconds to throw," Jolyne said, "Sound good?" Miraschon smiled. "Good. Looks like the game is set." As Jolyne and Atroe continued to change it back and forth, Miraschon sat down on the bench next to Atroe's freshly filled water cup.

Atroe didn't seem to notice this, focusing on finishing the challenge. Miraschon raised an eyebrow but said nothing. It didn't take long for the challenge to be completed. "How's that?," Atroe said, "Looks like you gotta pay up now." Miraschon shrugged and handed over the cash. "By the way," she said, "Atroe, earlier you were bothered by another girl getting near your water, yet you said nothing when I sat down. Why is that?"

Atroe raised an eyebrow. "How did you know about that?" "Yeah," Rainbow said, "I don't remember your face in the crowd when that girl squirted water out of her nose." "I thought her jaw got dislocated," Miraschon said. The girls looked at her. Either she really was there when Atroe used her power to deal with the bully or she had some sort of telepathic power. Either way she was looking more suspicious. Atroe just responded with a shrug. "Well, you weren't actually drinking the water, so I saw no reason to get upset."

Miraschon grinned. "So you can focus easily... Perhaps you'd like a different challenge. If you can get another one hundred catches, I'll offer one thousand dollars. So what do you say?" "Fine," Rainbow said, "But it'll be me and Ermes playing this time. And the same rules apply. You stay over there near the bench, and we get ten seconds to throw." Miraschon chuckled. "Good." The two girls took the gloves and started tossing the ball and forth.

Soon enough a rough-looking guard approached. "Hey, exercise time is over." Jolyne got out the money they just earned. "Listen, we're trying to finish up a game here. How about giving us a little more time while we rap it up." The guard looked around, then took the money. "Fine, I guess I look away for two minutes." Ermes smirked as she threw the ball again, only for the guard to grab Rainbow's glove. "But I still have to confiscate your glove! The ball's all you need!"

Rainbow narrowed her eyes as the ball came right at her, summoning her Stand to slow the ball down with her flight field to grab it without injury. Just then, a dirty gold-colored humanoid appeared near Miraschon, with what looked like a calculator display on its forehead. "In her heart Rainbow realizes she cheated," Miraschon said, "Now the Debt Collector can appear." The strange being went to attack Rainbow, but for some reason it's movements slowed as it tried to approach her.

"What's this thing!?," Rainbow demanded. Miraschon growled. "Turn off that field! You cheated, so you lose the game! Marilyn Manson can't do its job if it can't collect what you owe!" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Me cheat? What do you mean? Nothing I did was against the rules we set. We only had two rules, but no other restrictions. So explain to me how using my Stand to slow the ball down counts as cheating." "That's true," Atroe said, "By that logic, Rainbow and Ermes haven't lost yet. You basically called them out on a cheat that never happened. I'd say that means you lose by default."

Sure enough, the Stand called Marilyn Manson disappeared. "Looks like when it was spelled out for you," Jolyne said, "You realized Rainbow hadn't been cheating after all. So, now we're the ones who get to collect that thousand dollars." Miraschon gulped. "There's something else," Ermes said, "Where did you get this Stand? You clearly understand what's going on here. I'm guessing you might be working for Pucci." Miraschon was sweating now. "Please... I just wanted to get my parole..." Jolyne scoffed. "That's got nothing to do with us. Stone Free!" The fist of Jolyne's Stand was the last conscious image Miraschon had.

Later in the cafeteria, the girls were going through the two discs they obtained from Miraschon. "So Pucci works in the prison in some capacity," Jolyne said as she went through the memories, "And he convinced her to use the Stand disc for Marilyn Manson to obtain the Goo Goo Dolls disc, promising her parole in exchange." "Why go to all the trouble?," Atroe asked, "From what you've told me of Goo Goo Dolls, it's not a very strong Stand." Rainbow tapped her chin. "Maybe it's more that he doesn't want Gwess to recover for some reason. Or maybe he's trying to maintain a semblance of control over our situation."

"Does the memory include Pucci's face?," Ermes asked. Jolyne shook her head. "No, that seems to have been erased. No memory of his position in the prison either. What about Marilyn Manson? Any further details about it?" "Besides what we know?," Rainbow asked, "Well, apparently it can't be attacked while trying to collect its debt. It can go for anything of value, even organs based on their value on the black market. That might be why my Stand slowed it down, because trying to tear out my organs would have made it more difficult to fly."

"What about the whole cheating thing?," Ermes asked. Rainbow checked the disc. "Apparently it can appear if a person knows in their heart that they cheated. While I was aware that using my Stand to catch the ball without the use of a glove was a little unfair, once Miraschon's Stand was halted I had time to think and realized that it wasn't necessarily cheating, since we only ever included two restrictions, and using Stands wasn't one of them. That put the idea in Miraschon's head that I wasn't actually cheating, removing her Stand."

Jolyne sighed. "Well, regardless, it's clear Pucci is putting pressure on us to get back the disc. We'll need to move our schedule ahead. I'll talk with Ryusei and see about contacting Dad and the Speedwagon Foundation." Atroe glanced behind her, but her thoughts were on the Stand disc for Goo Goo Dolls, which she hid inside her body using Foo Fighters. This was the real reason for her drinking so much water, because using her Stand for an extended period tended to dehydrate her. 'I guess we're really doing this. It's like all those other times I went along with someone's crazy scheme... Except now it's my choice.'