Chapter Text
The grass of that particular house got trimmed again, yet the tulips are dying.
But of course. There wasn't a single person tending to them. No insects or birds joyfully prancing about in the plush garden. Not a single soul in sight.
That was the constant state of the house with the green roof. He couldn't get enough of it.
This same Josuke, who was so easily spooked by this lingering thought, walks past this very house everyday in hopes of getting back a sense of sentimentalism of what he thinks might be something very important indeed.
What could it be…?
What was it…?
These thoughts attack him, day and night.
It has been months. Years, even. He lost track. It wasn't 1999 anymore.
What happened that very day? No, not that day he woke up in the hospital, further back. He only gets a mild sense of adrenaline but not a single new recollection of the events that occurred on what seemed to be a life-changing day.
Jotaro keeps his mouth shut. He changes the subject for some reason, and josuke knows better than to pry. He had always wondered why he had to change schools and stuff, but Jotaro said it was to protect him from kira and so that he could focus on his studies. He tells Josuke not to let his mom worry and to shut up afterwards.
He stops in his tracks. There's no one around him right now. He closes his eyes and for the umpteenth time, he tries to remember the dreams he onced lived in.
That day, the rain poured…what happens after that?
He's running, fearful, sweating dripping into his eyes, sliding down his cheeks, tickling his nose and dripping from his chin. The thunder rumbles in the distance as he tries not to slip and fall. He was out of breath but he had only one thing in his mind. No, not just terror, but a desire, an urge to make it somewhere, to ensure….someone’s….safety??
Josuke trips on a small uneven patch of concrete and is wide awake now.
“Oh, yo angelo.” he huffs while raising his hand in a wave.
The weird looking monument stares straight ahead and says nothing.
This was the junction at which Josuke had to wait for the traffic light to turn green. He knew that and routinely closed his eyes once again.
His mind drifted back to the dire situation.
Oh…this is where it happens.
The gap.
The deafening clap of thunder. That moment, all he knew of was that God had thrown a bolt of lightning right through his skull and he swore that it had broken him.
Ahh.. the tinnitus strikes again…josuke uses both hands to cover his once bleeding ears. If it was anything he remembered through all this time he had been digging, it was that the pain he felt in his mind at that moment was far more severe than the agonizing perforation of his eardrums.
And afterwards……..It’s no use. He can't remember anymore.
If he could just remember who it was….
….
…who?...
…who said anything about a person??....
A car horn blared and Josuke crossed the street.
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The cafe Josuke frequents is just right after he crosses the street.
The ringing of the bell has just become background noise for Josuke. He’s bombarded with the thoughts again. It always gets worse here, and yet…
“Here’s your hot green tea, enjoy!” The waitress beams and settles a cup full of piping hot tea onto the small coffee table. Josuke gives her a quick grin before retreating into his musings.
The aroma of green tea for some reason brings back a sense of nostalgia for him. The same smell that hit him that time in the hospital. His tears no longer fell, but the languishing still resides in the boy. It's funny, he has smelled green tea everywhere since young, but he's never gotten so fond of the scent before, until a few years ago. The same year the gap appeared in his mind. 1999.
It was laughable, how feverishly he chased this dream of his. He wasn't even sure it had happened. This onslaught of fragmented memories that he wasn't even sure were real pained him day and night. What was real and what was a dream? It was entirely possible that all this time he had been chasing something his subconscious made up in his week-long slumber.
Josuke grasped the warm cup with both his calloused hands. Feeling the calming warmth radiate to his palms, he silently vowed never to come here ever again.
“I'm tired.” Josuke chuckles and heaves a heavy sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair and freed strands. He drank all of his beverage, including the fragments of tea leaves.
The cup was still warm.
The tinkling of the bell at the door was heard. It somehow stood out more than the others. An odour, a soapy, alkaline smell made its way up his nose. The light but striking smell was faint, yet was it enough to send josuke’s heart in a frenzy. He immediately knew what it was.
Beta ink.
He whipped his head around in the direction of the aromas. He saw two figures, a tall and short one making their way out of the cafe.
Josuke ran.
He knew in his heart immediately that that was the answer he had been so ardently seeking.
“It was a person!!... That person!!!!” Josuke chased. His heart was in his mouth.
A wave of emotions he kept locked away for years came rushing back at him. He knew that once he’d reached them the years of turmoil will finally end for real, that he can be himself again, that the things
that haunt him will vanish like snow and leak out of his ears. The gaping hole in his brain would be filled again, no longer with fear, but with warm light and sweet aromas.
How long he had dreamed of this moment. He banished all thoughts of when he believed it would never come to fruition. The bolt of destruction had been removed. Now all that's left is to patch it up again.
Josuke felt his emotions ooze out of every gaping hole in his body.
He was very sure that he had loved this person with all his heart.
The silhouettes burned in the midday sun. Josuke tried to suppress all his desires to run up straight to them. He slowed his pace in anticipation.
As Josuke got closer, he realised it was a girl he had never met before and a very, very familiar-looking man.
The couple joked and played, pointing at each other in mock arguments.
The man spoke and a voice full of inexhaustible charm played. Once Josuke heard the playful tone carried in the voice, he could only let the disquieting thought slowly engulf him.
Josuke squinted in the sunlight.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
The grass was freshly cut, the bees and butterflies were sleeping, and the tulips were dead.
The cup in the cafe had turned tepid.
The aroma of green tea and beta ink was still emanating ever-so strongly in josuke’s mind as it had in 1999.
He remembered everything.
On the hand around the girl’s waist, a ring of stone-studded silver glistened on the man’s fourth finger.