Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: Short Story Collection

Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: Short Story Collection (岸辺露伴は動かない 短編小説集) is an anthology of short stories based on the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series. They released with various issues of Ultra Jump. The first and second stories were included with the August and September 2017 issues to coincide with the eighth episode release of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series, while the third was released later with the January 2018 issue.

Published by Shueisha, the stories are written by four Japanese authors, with the original concept by Hirohiko Araki. They all revolve around the adventures of Rohan Kishibe from Diamond is Unbreakable, the fourth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

The first volume includes three short stories (159 pages) written by Ballad Kitaguni and Ryo Yoshigami. The second contains two short stories (95 pages) written by Yusuke Iba and Mirei Miyamoto, and the third contains another two short stories (117 pages) written by previous writers, Ballad Kitaguni and Mirei Miyamoto.

A fourth volume was included with the November 2021 issue of Ultra Jump, released on October 19, 2021, in commemoration of the second season of the TV drama. It contained two short stories (161 pages) written by Ballad Kitaguni.

Two compilations containing all of the stories in the first three volumes along with two new ones released in 2018. The first collection, Rohan Kishibe Does Not Shout: Short Story Collection (岸辺露伴は叫ばない 短編 小説集), was released on June 19, 2018. The second titled Rohan Kishibe Does Not Frolic: Short Story Collection (岸辺露伴は戯れない 短編 小説集), was released on July 19, 2018.

Kushagara

 * Written by Ballad Kitaguni (北國 ばらっど)

At, Rohan organizes his material for a new story when he is caught by a fellow manga artist who had the same idea, Jugo Shishi. Jugo starts making small talk with Rohan such as his change of editor. His new editor gave him a list of prohibited terms for manga, but Jugo found a word in the list that he wasn't familiar with, "kushagara". Jugo didn't understand the meaning of the word or why it was prohibited. He tried to investigate about "kushagara" but couldn't find anything meaningful. After telling Rohan about it, Jugo asks Rohan to immediately inform him if he finds any clues.

About a month later, Rohan and Jugo coincidentally reunite at an antiquarian bookstore. Rohan gets the feeling that Jugo is extraordinarily obsessed with the meaning of "kushagara" and tries to find out what is happening to him.

The word "kushagara" used in the story is set as a substitute term for an actual prohibited term that cannot be written. People who are interested in this word gradually become oblivious to other things as they try to investigate it.

Blackstar.

 * Written by Ryo Yoshigami (吉上 亮)

At the café, Rohan gets in touch with a man named Agent Gabriel (エージェント・ガブリエル). One week prior, Rohan was contacted by Gabriel who claimed to be from the Speedwagon Foundation and had a request for Rohan. The agent wanted a portrait of a person and offers Rohan $500,000. Rohan is bewildered by the amount of the reward, but when he hears that the name of the person is "Spaghetti Man" (スパゲッティ・マン), Rohan agrees. Rohan had actually recently encountered Spaghetti Man and was the only one who survived, so he tells the story to Gabriel.

Targeting those who notice his existence in photos, the Spaghetti Man sucks his victims into a black hole on his chest.

Blood-Stained Bookmark

 * Written by Mirei Miyamoto (宮本 深礼)

Investigating poisoning, Rohan visits the library in S City and asks the librarian to take out the rare book "Introduction to Eating Fugu" from the closed stacks. There were only a few people in the library and Rohan finds out that people stopped coming due to a rumor that finding a "bright red bookmark" caught between the books there would cause unhappiness.

Interested in the story, Rohan begins searching for bookmarks while the librarian goes to the closed stack library to get the book he wanted. However, in the children's corner, Rohan discovers the "Introduction to Eating Fugu" book which shouldn't be there. Upon opening it, he sees the bright red bookmark.

Censored Equation

 * Written by Yusuke Iba (維羽 裕介)

Rohan was asked by Shueisha to write a short story on the theme of encountering the unknown, and so he visits a university library near Morioh to find out about aliens. Yuto Chikamori (近森 優斗), a graduate student, assists Rohan in finding documents because he was Rohan's fan. However, Rohan was interested in Chikamori's notebook that was placed on the desk. Rohan finds a partially torn page with a mathematical formula on it. When asking Chikamori about it, the student reacts strangely and reveals that it was a fragment of a mathematical formula to interfere with another dimension. It is said that his girlfriend became unconscious in the middle of trying to solve it.

Assuming the cause of his girlfriend's state was due to the equation, Chikamori attempted to solve it but could not do so due to it being incomplete. Since his girlfriend had little time left to live, Chikamori pleads with Rohan to use this in his short story to bring attention to it and find any clues. Rohan becomes curious about his story and goes to the hospital where Chikamori's lover was hospitalized to find out the truth.

Okami-sama

 * Written by Ballad Kitaguni (北國 ばらっど)

Rohan visits a tax office where his tax accountant, Seiko Sakanoue (坂ノ上 誠子), preaches to him about how he should manage his money. His story of "I bought six mountains just for collecting data on the Yokai legend and went bankrupt" was particularly disturbing to her. While Rohan acts as if he's remorseful, Seiko finds a receipt with "Okami-sama" written in the address field. Rohan asks about it, and Seiko reveals that if you write "Okami-sama" as the recipient of a receipt, the fact that you would have to pay for it disappears. However, Rohan couldn't hear the whole story as Seiko received a call from another guest.

Interested in the effects, Rohan tries out writing "Okami-sama" on his way back from the fan event that he appeared in.

Box of Happiness

 * Written by Ballad Kitaguni (北國 ばらっど)

Rohan is called to the home of Ikkei Gozan, an antique dealer with whom he was acquainted with, under the pretext of "I want to show you a strange item." He places an item wrapped in in front of Rohan called the "Happiness Box", which apparently has happiness packed inside. Rohan becomes angry thinking that Gozan was scheming something and is about to go home without touching the box. However, the furoshiki wrapping suddenly unravels itself to reveal innumerable ceramic pieces.

Rohan becomes irritated that he was falling for Gozan's trick. He then understands that it is actually a puzzle and could only be assembled by someone with special talents such as a Stand user. Thus, Rohan starts assembling the box out of curiosity.

Yuyanagidai

 * Written by Mirei Miyamoto (宮本 深礼)

Rohan sketches children playing in the park in search of the reality necessary for drawing his next one-shot work. Rohan is about to leave before being treated as a suspicious person, but notices that one child is touching his sketchbook. Rohan tells him to apologize for tampering with his work tools, but the boy doesn't. After a while, his mother appears and apologizes on behalf of her son. She tells Rohan a mysterious story about the reason why he "does not apologize".

The boy, Ken-chan (ケンちゃん), was playing at a park in Yuyanagidai where they used to live when he was suddenly attacked by a laughing black monkey. Since then, Ken could no longer speak. Curious, Rohan asks Ken to sketch the monkey.

Symmetry Room

 * Written by Ballad Kitaguni (北國 ばらっど)

Rohan is informed that the president of Morioh University of Information and Communication Technology had died, and so he visits the university for coverage. He meets Shohei Tsuchiyama there, the architect who was in charge of the new school building's construction. Rohan gradually becomes dissatisfied with the man's aesthetic sense and professionalism, as he was only obsessed with symmetry.

As Rohan brings this up to him, the architect does not listen and informs Rohan that he is now trapped in the multipurpose hall on the fifth floor of the new school building, which is his masterpiece and the president's death site. Rohan immediately tries to escape but is also attacked by a mystery that seems to have killed the president there.

Gleanings of Paradise

 * Written by Ryo Yoshigami (吉上 亮)

Rohan is asked to work by a culinary magazine publisher and visits a recently opened casual French restaurant in Morioh to hear their presentation. The editor of the magazine, Toshiya Utsurogi, tells Rohan of their plan to publish a monthly collaboration gourmet manga with a popular writer in their magazine and Rohan as the artist. Rohan is reluctant because of the difference in style from his normal works.

Utsurogi then tells Rohan about the Gleanings of Paradise, which is said to be a legendary variety of wheat that can change the composition of the person who eats it. Utsurogi believes it could cure his daughter's allergy of wheat. He heard that a friend from his college days, Shozo Yaginuma, was growing that wheat. Thus, Rohan decides to go with Utsurogi to visit Yaginuma's cultivation area.

Golden Melody

 * Written by Ballad Kitaguni (北國 ばらっど)

Rohan meets an audiophile named Kyomei Isaka (伊坂 恭明 Isaka Kyomei) who is not at all business savvy and takes pleasure in showing his superiority towards people over hiss audio equipment knowledge. Rohan sees his attitude and reprimands him for being arrogant, and tells him that if he is going to "pursue" one medium to devote his life to, he should put his all into it.

Seven years later Izumi and Rohan visit Kyomei after being invited to his audio equipment store and discover that he's transformed himself into a monster made of audio equipment. Inspired by Rohan's words, he devoted his entire life to "pure audio," finding the purest sound in the world and eliminating all unnecessary sound. He achieves his goal after mutating himself and his town to create this "pure audio," and merely invited Rohan to see him achieve this goal. Rohan returns to his work after this event and decides his passionate pursuit of drawing and writing manga will not end for quite a long time.

Original Author Rohan Kishibe

 * Written by Ballad Kitaguni (北國 ばらっど)

Rohan encounters an extreme form of method acting, which allows an actor to wield the paranormal powers of his character.