Chapter Text
Since Jotaro was leaving for America in a few days, the surviving Crusaders were all at the Kujo residence to see him off. Holly had cooked enough to feed a small village, so when Kakyoin had arrived with his mother, Holly had sent her off with a pile of filled Tupperware, and that had hardly made a dent in the dishes. Jotaro and Kakyoin claimed the sofa, Joseph sank into a couch, and Polnareff splayed himself inelegantly across the floor as Holly trotted about, an old episode of Columbo playing on the TV in the background.
'You're making the right choice heading to Florida,' Joseph said, 'Brilliant state, I've got plenty of properties there too, once you're out of dorms you can take your pick of 'em!' Jotaro grumbled something at that, tipping the brim of his cap down, and if Kakyoin didn't know better he'd think the guy was expressing gratitude. 'All of you, if you ever find yourselves in the states, I'll sort you out a place to stay,' he said, and with a heart and fortune as large as the Joestars had, Kakyoin knew he meant it.
'It's crazy that you're only just heading off into the world,' Pol piped up, 'Especially after all we've been through, it's weird to think you're still just a kid. Both of you, you seem so grown up.' He was right, Kakyoin supposed; they were certainly more prepared for the world than their peers, but he was still in high school and Jotaro had only recently graduated. Stands seemed to be like that, made everything different.
Holly was bringing in food before they got too reflective, and with cooking as good as hers, it was hard to dwell on the depressing. Still, Kakyoin couldn't help having the thought ringing in his mind; he's still just a kid. He couldn't quite tell if it was a good thing or not. He didn't care much to ponder. Joseph was retelling old crazy stories from his youth, and Polnareff was on his fourth pair of chopsticks in ten minutes - staying in the moment, being with his friends, that was what tonight was about.
He was staring at the ceiling, barely able to make out the wooden panelling in the dark, even with his glasses. He could still hear Polnareff and Joseph in the garden, talking about who knows what. Holly must have gone to bed by now, given how late it was, and Jotaro had slunk away to his room even before Kakyoin had. The house was mostly quiet, save for the men outside, far enough away to be background noise. His meds were working as well as they could, and he'd learned to sleep through worse pain. But he was wide awake and thinking, Hierophant swirling and pacing around the room. He supposed it was jealousy - Jotaro certainly hadn't come out of his brush with DIO unscathed, but he'd been far more able to return to normality than anyone else in the team. Even Joseph had spent time in intensive care despite being magically revived through the sheer power of being a Joestar. Kakyoin wasn't the only one who'd suffered. But still, Jotaro and Kakyoin, closest in age, having spent so much time together during their crusade - he felt they were so far apart now. He didn't want Jotaro to have to understand, but he wished his friend could appreciate being able to go to Florida; that was just a dream for some. He didn't think about his future prospects, because he couldn't quite bear to accept the fact his dreams of studying in Cairo were trashed. At least money wasn't going to be the problem though, a small win for his parents.
He drifted off eventually, and dreamed of Cairo, of the campus he'd visited less than a year ago, with his parents, aunt, uncle, and of course Ryoko. He didn't dream of losing her this time, but he felt a looming presence just out of sight. He awoke just as tired as when he'd fallen asleep.