Chapter Text
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BE-
"Shut the Hell up..." Johei groggily muttered as he hit the snooze button on his alarm. After a few minutes of trying to go back to sleep and failing, he reluctantly got out of bed. It was for the best, now that he thought about it. His mother would have probably dragged him out of bed kicking and screaming.
It then hit him. His mother would have gotten him out. Not a guard, not a cellmate, but his own mother. A smile crept up across Johei's face at this. This wasn't just a sick dream, this was his reality. And he was glad to live in it.
After a quick shower, Johei threw on some clothes, a red hooded shirt, blue torn jeans and black sneakers- normal enough attire for the middle of May. He styled his hair as he usually did, spikes pointing upwards save a stray strand that reached his eyebrow- he always seemed to miss that one for some reason- and after giving himself a good once-over, headed downstairs.
"Yo," he casually greeted his parents with a quick wave.
"Good morning, JoJo!" sung Mrs. Tojo. "Breakfast is on the counter."
Johei noticed the breakfast sandwich and coffee and gladly took it, sitting next to his father, who turned from his own meal and gave him a small smile and nod.
"So, everything is all packed up, right?" Mrs. Tojo asked.
"Yes, dear," nodded her husband. "JoJo and I double-checked last night."
That was all the Tojo clan had been doing these past few days, Johei mused, packing and worrying about packing. At least it was done now and as soon as they were finished breakfast, they were leaving Karai Town forever. It was sad, especially since Johei had lived his entire life here, but there was nothing left for him now. None of his old friends wanted anything to do with him after he was arrested and the adults around town had looked at him with such disdain, remembering the little Hellspawn he used to be. Johei guessed this was why they invented the term "bittersweet".
"Sawako's still not up yet?" Mr. Tojo asked to nobody in particular.
"JoJo..." his mother began and without a word, Johei went to his little sister's room.
"Yo, half-pint," he called while knocking on her door. "Time to get up. Today's the big day."
"Nooo!" Sawako cried from her room. Johei sighed and tried opening the door, only to see it was locked.
"C'mon, don't make this harder than it has to be!" he said, trying to turn the knob.
"I don't wanna leave! I don't wanna say goodbye!"
"I know you don't want to," he told her, "but we all have to do things we don't want to."
"But Yumi and Miki and Kisuke..."
"Wait, who the Hell is Kisuke!?" Johei asked, getting into "overprotective big brother mode" upon hearing a boy's name on Sawako's list.
"My friend, dummy!" Sawako giggled before getting serious again. "And I don't wanna leave him..."
Johei internally sighed, Give me a break, it's way too early for this... What he said aloud however was, "Look, it's not like your never gonna see them again, you know? We're only a couple hours' away from here. And you have their phone numbers and stuff right? So, it's not like you won't be gone completely, y'know?"
"I guess," Sawako uncertainty said.
Johei smiled. "Then come in out already. Otherwise, I'm gonna eat your breakfast."
"No!" Sawako cried, unlocking the door and bolting down the steps, nearly trampling her brother.
Looks like Mom was right. Best way to cow a Tojo is to mess with their food, thought Johei as he chuckled at his sister and thinking back to the times he nearly went insane in juvie all because he was being prevented from eating because of schoolwork or something.
"And that's the last of it," said Mr. Tojo as he and Johei put the last box in the moving van.
"Thank God," muttered Johei, wiping the sweat off his forehead, cursing his choice in attire.
"Told you we were lifting heavy things," his father teased.
"Yeah, yeah," Johei brushed off as he rolled his eyes. The two exited the trailer and shut the door.
"Ready, boys?" Mrs. Tojo asked from the family car.
"Just about," replied Mr. Tojo with a nod. He reached into his pocket for his glasses, but saw they were missing. Turning to his son, he asked, "Uh, Johei, where's my glasses?"
"I think you put them on the driver's seat," Johei answered. Mr. Tojo took a look inside and sure enough they were.
"Got 'em," he announced. "Thanks, son."
Johei nervously rubbed his arm. "No prob..." he muttered.
"Alright, everyone!" Mrs. Tojo told her family. "Say goodbye to the house!"
"Bye, house..." sadly said Sawako, waving her hand back and forth like she was saying goodbye to an old friend. She really was too cute for her own good, at least that was what Johei had thought.
The two men climbed into the van and all four of the Tojo family begun their trip to Horihiko Town.
The van was silent for the most part, with the only thing speaking being the radio. True it was in part because Mr. Tojo didn't like to be interrupted while driving, but Johei also knew it was because it had been a good while since father and son had spoken one-on-one.
Eventually, Johei couldn't stand the silence any longer and spoke up. "So... what's it like? Horihiko, I mean?"
Mr. Too gave a brief pause to think over what he wanted to say. After that, he said, "Quiet. Peaceful. Really friendly. You'd like it, I think."
"Cool," nodded Johei.
After another small silence, it was Mr. Tojo's turn to speak. "JoJo," he said, "I know that you must feel a bit awkward around me..."
Johei was about to deny this before his father cut him off. "You don't need to lie, I can feel it. Comes with the whole parent gig, you'll find out when you become one."
"Hopefully not for a while," Johei quipped, making his father laugh.
"But seriously," Mr. Tojo said after letting the laugh out of his system, "I know I didn't visit you as often as I should have, and you probably must have felt like I didn't want to be around you."
Johei lowered his head, trying to hide his expression. His father was more right than he knew.
"But, I want you to know that I'm here now and that I love you," Mr. Tojo continued. "And I'll always love you. And I want you to know that I'm so proud of you for turning your life around. I'm betting that it wasn't easy, but you stuck through it and... I'm proud of you."
Johei felt a tear forming from his eye and hastily rubbed it away. "Dad..." he said, trying to turn his focus on the road.
Mr. Tojo wrapped an arm around his son. "It's okay, JoJo..."
Johei's eyes widened. "No, Dad! The road!"
Mr. Tojo's eyes widened as well and he barely managed to avoid crashing against a nearby car.
"Hey, asshole!" the driver yelled. "Watch where your freakin' goin'!"
"Sorry!" Mr. Tojo apologized while his eldest laughed.
"Well at least one of us is in a good mood," sweat-dropped Mr. Tojo.
"S-Sorry, Dad," chuckled Johei as he calmed down.
After a couple of hours driving, Johei was bored out of his mind. He fiddled with the necklace around his neck, the one he got in juvie.
Just where did you come from, anyway? he thought to himself as he inspected the sharp edge that pojed him earlier in the week. And what's so important that I need you for?
"Hey, Johei!" called his father, grabbing Johei's attention. "We're here!"
As they drove by, the paor passed a sign reading, "Welcome to Horihiko Town! Where the seeds of new beginnings grow!" in bright letters. How fitting, Johei thought, as they passed by a few bulidings.
Another ten or so minutes passed as the Tojo clan made their way to their new home. The house was small and cozy-looking in a quiet neighborhood.
"Ready to unpack?" Johei's father asked, giving a wide grin to his son.
"Nope."
"Why do we have so much crap, anyway?" Johei asked himself as he set down a drawer in his sister's room. For the last two hours, all the family had been doing was bringing stuff in fron the truck and unpacking. They were nearly finished unloading, to Johei's relief. He wasn't sure if he could take much more of it.
Ding-Dong went the doorbell without warning. Johei wondered who it could have been. "Neighbors, probably," he reasoned to himself.
"Johei!" Mrs. Tojo called. "Get the door!" He rolled his eyes, but did as instructed.
Johei opened the door and saw a middle-aged woman, around his parents' age he guessed, with bright blonde hair and a wide, warm smile.
"Ah, good morning!" she sunnily greeted. "You're the new family, right? I'm Kiyoko Sakamoto, you're next door neighbor! Welcome to the neighborhood!"
Johei was never the most talkative of people to begin with and spending two years separated from 99% of society didn't exactly help. Still, he knew enough to politely say, "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Johei Tojo."
Mrs. Sakamoto seemed taken aback slightly. Was their something wrong with his face? "Tojo... Did you just say your last name was Tojo? Would you happen to know a Takeru Tojo by any chance?"
"How does she know Dad?" Johei asked internally. He knew that his father lived here until leaving for university and knew a lot of people, but this person never seemed to come up whenever he talked about his childhood. Or maybe he did and Johei just wasn't paying attention. He tended to do that.
"JoJo? Who's that at the do-?" Mr. Tojo asked before coming to a sudden stop. "K-Kiyo... ko?"
"T-Takeru!" Mrs. Sakamoto exclaimed, grabbing him in a tight hug.
"It's been forever!" Mr. Tojo cried, hugging her back. "How've you been?"
"Just fine!" she said back. "I'm guessing the same for you?"
"Um, dear, who is this?" Mrs. Tojo asked. It seemed that she and Sawako had wandered in and were understandably confused at the sight.
"Ah, right!" Mr. Tojo slapped his forehead. "Kiyoko, this is my family: My wife, Mayumi and our kids, Johei and Sawako. Everyone, this is Kiyoko Nakajima, my best friend since we were kids!"
"Actually, it's Sakamoto now, but it's still nice to meet you all!" she instantly scooped up Mrs. Tojo in a hug and did the same with Sawako. "You have such a beautiful family, Take!"
She moved to hug Johei, but the boy backed up a bit and shook her hand instead. "Not much for hugs? My son's the same way. I swear the minute they turn thirteen, all of a sudden, it's "not cool" to hug anymore!"
"I must say Mrs. Sakamoto, you're just as lively as Takeru said," Mrs. Tojo smiled. So he did mention her before, Johei mentally nodded. And it looked like his mother had no problems with how over-affectionate Mrs. Sakamoto seemed, either. Then again, he was certain that woman was incapable of being upset with anyone.
"Oh please, call me Kiyoko," she giggled. "So, what brings you all the way back here after so long?"
Three out of four Tojos went silent. Guess which one was the odd one out.
"JoJo had to-" Sawako obliviously said before getting muffled by her brother's hand.
"What she means is," interjected Mr. Tojo, "We just got bored with how things were and felt we needed a change. It's been too long since I've been here and no one had any objections to it, so..."
Mrs. Sakamoto didn't seem to buy the obvious lie, but thankfully for Johei, she didn't press any further. "Well, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. Oh! Need any help moving? My son's not doing anything right now. Ryuichi! I see you hiding! Come over here and meet our neighbors!"
A minute passed and a boy Johei's age cane and stood near his mother. His brown hair was messy, he dressed like he was some kind of retro-90's hipster and looked really awkward. He pulled his beanie under his face as he introduced himself.
"I'm Ryuichi Sakamoto. Nice to meet you and stuff..."
"This is my old friend, Mr. Tojo," Mrs. Kiyoko introduced. "He and his family are just moving in, and they could use an extra set of hands."
"Actually, we just finished bringing everything in, and it'll take a while to unpack," Mrs. Tojo replied. "But all these boxes laying around need to go."
"If it's not too much trouble..." Ryuichi shyly said. Johei wondered why he was being so quiet- the irony was not lost on him-, perhaps he was just shy around new people?
"Not at all!" Mr. Tojo insisted. "JoJo, you and Ryuichi grab some boxes and start taking them upstairs." The two boys did as told and started up the steps.
The silence was a tad awkward for Johei's liking. He didn't want to come off as rude, but at the same time, he really didn't know how to break the ice with his new neighbor.
"Um... so... where'd you come from?" Ryuichi hesitantly asked after a while, as they pulled up a bin into the master bedroom.
"Small Town just like this one, actually," Johei replied, thankful the silence was broken.
"Was it any fun?"
"Eh. Had it's moments." Johei tried hard not to recall such "moments" as he put it. Such memories were still too fresh for his liking.
"Well, I hope you weren't expecting much outta here," Ryuichi shook his head and lightly smiled. "Just about nothing ever happens around here. The most interesting event is our high school festivals."
"Wow, that is sad," Johei remarked with faux-sympathy.
"Truly, a more tragic tale was never sung," Ryuichi solumnly added, lowering his beanie, which revealed his full mop of brown hair.
Johei was surprised at how easy it was to talk with the other boy. He figured it would take a little longer to let his guard down, but then again, his companion seemed pretty easy to be relaxed around. He didn't seem very threatening and looked rather uncomplicated.
"Wait, did you say your name is Johei?" Ryuichi asked.
"Yeah," Johei unsurely answered. "Johei Tojo." It wasn't a weird question, but the way Ryuichi asked it...
Ryuichi's eyes widened, as if he came upon a great discovery. "Holy crap! If you take the "Jo" from your family name and your given name, it makes out "JoJo"!"
"Tell me you didn't just figure that out..." Johei pleaded on the inside.
"From now on, that's what I'm gonna call ya!" Ryuichi grinned widely and Johei sweatdropped. "It's got a cool ring to it, y'know?"
"If you say so..." Johei was never particularly fond of the nickname, but even he had to admit, it sounded better than his normal name.
The two went downstairs to see the elder Tojos, who were moving around the living room couch.
"It'll look best right by the window," Mrs. Tojo insisted.
"I still think by the wall would be better," argued Mr. Tojo. "It'll take up less space."
"Uh, Mom... Dad..." Johei coughed, getting his parents' attention.
"Oh, JoJo! Ryuichi!" Mrs. Tojo giggled in embarrassment. "You boys done moving the boxes? Thanks again for helping by the way, Ryuichi."
"Yep, and it's not problem," Ryuichi nonchalantly replied. "Beats sitting around in my room doing nothing."
"Is there anything else you need done?" Johei asked, eyeing the couch.
"No, we've got it under control," insisted Mr. Tojo. "As a matter of fact... Ryuichi, would you mind showing Johei around town a bit? Might do him some good to get to know the place."
"While you're at it, take Sawako with you," added Mrs. Tojo. From out of nowhere, the child in question arrived in the living room and began protesting.
"But, but Sawako still needs to unpack her room!" she insisted.
"You'll have plenty of time to do that later," her mother gently, but firmly told her. Johei knew fron experience that whenever his mother used that tone, there was no further questioning her. He hoped his sister would be wise and drop the act.
Sawako looked ready to argue some more, before relenting with a pout. Mrs. Tojo smiled at her daughter.
"Now, be nice for JoJo and Ryuichi, okay?"
Sawako sighed, "Okay." It was clear by the look on her face that she wouldn't enjoy her little guided tour.
"And over here, lady and gentleman, is Ichihara Elementary!" Ryuichi excitedly exclaimed, pointing to a building. This was supposed to be Sawako's school, just up the street from Johei's. He supposed it was convenient at least.
The tour had been surprisingly useful. There wasn't much to the town, but getting a chance to familiarize himself with the place was a great opportunity for Johei. He turned briefly to see his sister soaking in all of the information, but trying not to let it show.
"Um, what's so special about this place, Mr. Ryu?" she curiously asked.
Ryuichi looked flustered. "Um well, I actually didn't go here, so I really don't know..."
"But you're the local, you should know everything!" Sawako pouted. Poor Ryuichi looked desperate looking for an answer that would please the girl, Johei was about to say something when something- or rather, someones- caught his eye.
The scene before Johei honestly didn't look like much, at least at first. Some otaku-looking girl was talking to a pair of boys. But she must've said something they didn't like, because one of the boys- who Johei noticed had weird spiky white hair, grabbed her by the wrist. Now, Johei wasn't the best person on Earth, he never claimed to be and hoped no one ever mistook him for it. But, even during his gang days, there was one thing that even he couldn't stand seeing and that happened to be watching some alleged "tough guys" try and pick in someone who couldn't/wouldn't fight back. "Oi, shitfaces!" he yelled at the two, grabbing their tenuous attention. They seemed almost curious as to just whom he was talking about. "No, I'm talking to your imaginary friends!"
Johei started to move closer to the scene, scowling at not only the bastards right in front of him, but the people around them, just sitting around not doing a thing to help the poor girl. "Dad didn't mention that his town was filled with a buncha pussies!" thought Johei as he kept walking. The cows seemed to sense the tension in the air and quickly dispersed.
"Wait, JoJo!" Ryuichi called out to him. "What d'you think you're doing!?"
"What does it look like?" Johei grunted, not taking his eyes of the bullies, who gave him a challenging look in return. "Tell me you have no problem watching some dickheads beat on a girl."
"You don't know who those guys are, man!" the other boy pleaded.
"JoJo, don't do anything stupid!" Sawako insisted. "Mommy and Daddy told you not to!"
"Tch, he's right, JoJo," the second boy sneered, piercings covering his face and wild blue hair giving off the impression he wasn't supposed to be taken lightly in spite of his ridiculous appearance. "You must not be from around here if you don't know who we are."
"Yeah!" White-hair cockily smirked. "Wouldn't want to make your parents upset, now would we?"
"I make it a point to not get to know woman-beaters," Johei dryly replied. He nodded at the girl. "She do something to you?"
"What's it to ya?" Piercings asked, irritated with the interruption.
Johei shook his head. Some people just couldn't calm down. "Well, she must've done something to make you this upset. I mean, unless you're just the type of scum that picks on weaker people for fun-"
Johei was cut off by punch to the face from Piercings. "Don't push your luck, stupid outsider!" he yelled as Johei reeled back from the hit. Said hot was followed up by a few others that Johei was too disoriented to dodge. This guy was a lot faster than Johei assumed, considering the boy's thin appearance.
"P-please stop it!" pleaded the girl, struggling to escape White-hair's grip. "I'll give you what you want, just please don't fight!"
"Hey, Hinata, do you know this loser?" White-hair asked her. The girl- Hinata- shook her head.
"I-I've never seen him before, ever!" she insisted.
Johei was even angrier now. Now they thought he was some kind of friend of Hinata that she asked to help deal with these boys. "Stupid pricks, I ain't doing this for her! I'm doing 'cause I can't stand punks like you!" he yelled, nearly smashing a fist at the brick wall behind him. He so badly wanted to throw a fist their way, but knew that wouldn't lead anywhere good. "If only there was some kind of way to scare then off..." he thought as he touched the wall.
"I don't think I can trust her, Shiro," Piercings shook his head. "First, she doesn't give us her homework to copy, even after we gave her an extension and now, Mr. White Knight over here," he gestured at Johei with a thumb, "shows up outta nowhere and conviently comes to her aid. That don't seem suspect to ya at all?"
"Now that I think about it, Kenji, it doesn't. Well, Hinata, got a rebuttal?" Shiro asked. "You're smart, I'm sure you can think of one."
"C'mon, guys, this is all just a dumb coincidence!" Ryuichi looked desperate to prevent any kind of fight from breaking out. For his troubles, he got a middle finger from Kenji. "Hey, there's a kid here!"
"Who's a kid!?" Sawako asked, offended at the choice of words.
"Just shut up, or you'll... be... What the fuck is with your arm!?" Kenji pointed at Johei's arm and it was then that Johei noticed it himself. His right arm was now colored various shades of red and felt rather heavy. He wasn't sure how this happened, but he wasn't about to question it.
"What're you talkin' about?" Shiro asked his friend, momentarily distracted. "His arm looks fine to-" Johei threw a punch that Kenji intercepted. Johei took his chance and swung his heavier arm right at the boy, who blocked it with his other arm. However...
"Aaahhh!! Fuck!!!" Kenji cried, holding his now-brokem arm, his face riddled with pain. Johei took advantage of his weakness to push aside his enemy.
"I... don't believe it..." Kenji weakly moaned. "How'd you get one? Those powers, they... they aren't supposed to belong to outsiders!" "That explains the guy's speed," thought Johei.
This definitely seemed like something to look into later, but for the time being, Johei shook off his curiousity. He turned to Shiro and gave a heavy glare. "Your friend looks like he's gonna need some serious help," he told him. "Go take him to a hospital or whatever, I don't care. Just leave the girl alone and don't let me see your faces again."
Shiro was about to say something, but after a quick glance at Kenji, he let go of Hinata and moved towards his friend. Johei was quickly swarmed by Ryuichi and Sawako, but his main concern was the girl he just rescued.
"Hey, you alright?" he brusquely asked. Hinata looked somewhat frightened, but nodded her head positively.
"Alright, good," Johei said, about to leave before being pulled back.
"Hold on a minute!" Ryuichi demanded. "What was with all that just now? Those guys, they're in this really tough gang!"
Johei raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And now they're gonna sick their boss in you!"
"Oh no!" Sawako fearfully cried. "JoJo, they're gonna sick their boss on tou- whatever that means!"
"I-it's true," Hinata insisted. "Haven't you read a delinquent manga? The underlings always call on the boss when they can't beat an enemy that's really strong!"
Johei scoffed. "Have you ever actually met a delinquent? Those numbskulls won't waste his time with a petty fight like this. They'll just get their asses beat. Real gang members don't go waving around their status like it's a badge of honor, especially if they're low-level like those two clowns."
A brief pause took over, during which Johei thought to himself about Kenji's last words, the ones about his powers. Maybe they would end up being in their superior...
"Anyway, we better get going!" Ryuichi broke the silence. "Hinata, you gonna be fine getting home?" She nodded and walked off, fixing her shirt and blue hair along the way. Ryuichi, Sawako and reluctantly Johei continued the tour from there, nobody bringing up the events that had just occurred.
It was late at night and Johei was sitting in his bed, looking at his necklace. "So, this thing gave me some kind of weird power," he thought to himself. "But why?" he asked.
Johei sighed as he put the necklace aside and turned on his TV. He knew that he should be sleeping, especially given that tomorrow was his first day of school, but the events of the afternoon still weighed on Johei's mind.
He flipped to a local station that was airing the nightly news, hoping it would put him to sleep. Joheo felt his eyes get heavy as he watched the news half-heartedly, barely paying attention.
"And in other news, recent reports of strange activity have been all over Hirohiko Park," claimed the newscaster. "Several teens and young adults of the town have been gathering at the spot where almost a year ago, a strange meteor hit the statue of the town founder. Rumors say that they're in league with a local gang that is threatening the peace of our fair town. I'm not quite sure what to make of this myself, but stay tuned as this situation develops. We now go to popular events with Kai Harada..."
"And Kenji said that this guy had a weird power?" said the boss from the other end of Shiro Yoroi's phone.
"Yeah. I didn't see nothing, though," Shiro explained. The events of the afternoon still lingered on his mind. He was glad Kenji got to the clinc relatively safe, but it would be a while before he and his partner could go tearing up the town together again.
"And what was this guy's name?"
"The kid and Sakamoto called him "JoJo", boss." The other line went silent for a moment.
"They said it was "JoJo"?" the boss ased, almost sounding hesitant. Shiro wasn't sure why. Not that I don't believe ya, but I just wanna be sure."
"Would I bullshit you, boss? C'mon!" Shiro exclaimed. "Now, what are ya gonna do about it?"
Another pause. "I'm not doing anything."
"What!?" Shiro was outraged. Nobody messed with the After-Dark Gang. Surely, the boss wouldn't-
"Look, no matter how you look at it, this was your guys' fault. You want to avenge your friend, do it on your own time."
"Alright, I get it," Shiro bitterly admitted.
"Now, hold on, I wasn't done yet," the boss continued, regaining Shiro's attention. "I'm not gonna fight JoJo, but that don't mean, I can't help ya out..."
Shiro asked his boss just what he meant. He was desperate, he'd do anything to avenge his best friend.
"Come over to the spot- you know the one- after school. I'll explain everything."