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To say Shizuka Joestar was excited would be like saying the suface of the sun was kinda hot. Technically true, but also a gross understatement.
The reason for her excitement was due to a piece of news she had been told maybe some three months ago. Upon hearing this news, she had both shrieked with joy and turned almost all of the kitchen she had been standing in invisible for five hours. This proved to be way more hazardous than it should have been when someone accidentally knocked over the knife holder over two hours later, but that's a story for another time. The news itself was simple, the weight of the things carried behind it less so; Shizuka Joestar could finally go to public school.
This may not seem like that big of a deal at first, but you see, as you may have gleaned from that previous tidbit about uncontrolled invisibility, all of her life Shizuka has had a very slight, extremely small, teeny-tiny problem. This problem of course being that Shizuka was part of a small minority of people in the world that possessed fucking superpowers.
These superpowers, or stands, as they were most often called, manifested themselves differently depending on who possessed them. To claim to know what stand a person possessed or would possess without actually seeing it would be folly of the highest order, as stands differed so extremely in terms of abilities, appearances and temperance based on the very spirit, the very soul of the stand user themselves. An example of this would be the purple physics-defying screaming punch ghost that her stoic-as-all-hell nephew possessed, or the golden physics-defying screaming punch ghost that her stoic-as-all-hell uncle possessed. Truly, stands are the epitome of diversity and uniqueness.
However, Shizuka did not possess one of those stands, oh no no no. No, Shizuka's stand could do one thing and one thing only. Shizuka Joestar's stand could turn things invisible. Usually without her control. Whenever she was happy. Or sad. Or nervous. Or angry. Or- do you get where I'm coming from here?
It was because of this little fact that Shizuka had been homeschooled most her life, after an unfortunate accident in kindergarten involving chocolate pudding an scissors, in which she had turned four other children and half of a teacher invisible.
(The poor woman had to recieve therapy for what she had been told was a 'mental break from all the stress' when, in reality, it was just the Speedwagon foundation covering their asses before news of unnatural stand-related phenomena got out.)
But that didn't matter right now! She could actually go to fucking school! And interact with peers of her age group, and actually make friends, and actually do assignments that weren't given to her by her mom who sat and watched over her shoulder as she researched and wrote them with the piercing gaze only old ladies could get. Now, she was free. Ish.
Oh god she was actually going to interact with people who are in her age group. How does a fifteen year-old talk to other fifteen year-olds? She wouldn't know, and her relative would all have different answers, probably. Mostly of the bizarre kind.
Maybe this wasn't a good idea, Shizuka said to herself as she stood outside her brand new high school, the red bricked building seeming so much more imposing than it had just a week prior. Around her, students of all years clustered in groups as they headed into the school, the vast majority bemoaning a new year of hellish education, with the occasional starry-eyed freshman dotgted amongst the crowd.
'Just breathe, Jojo,' she thought to herself, inhaling deeply before opening her eyes with a smile, and taking a single step forward towards her future.
Highschool would be awesome.
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Highschool was not, in fact, awesome.
Maybe it was that New Kid Look™ that Shizuka had about her, maybe it was her slightly odd behaviour that had come with being raised among people who were all already adults, no matter how immature, (looking at you, uncle Okuyasu,) or hell, maybe it was just the way she had decided to tie her hair up into a bun.
Whatever it was, the fact remained that when Shizuka entered the school, she had absolutely no idea how vicious highschool could be. How foolish of her, to think that all the over-dramatics that teenagers got up to in movies were merely exaggerated fabrications. You see, something Shizuka had done upon entering school had labelled her as the one to be bullied.
Thinking back, she had no idea what had done this. Maybe it was her failed attempts at socializing on the first day, maybe it was because she had swallowed a whole pack of gum on a bet, maybe it was because she had been a bit too honest about her family history, ommiting the supernatural mostly, and now people thought she was insane.
Whatever it had been, it didn't change the fact that two weeks in to her highschool career, Shizuka had to muster up every bit of willpower she could manage into not turning everything withing five feet of her completely transparent.
As she walked through the hallways, gripping her books tightly to her chest, she felt as if everyone was watching her. She knew some people were, the bolder ones actually pointing towards her and whispering among themselves about "Who would be so lame as to wear sunglasses indoors, seriously?". She would take her sunglasses off but she forgot her contacts, and with the stress she had been feeling lately every square inch of her body was invisible, so she had to compensate.
She had artfully done her own makeup, nobody could mock her on that, as not only did it look good, but it actively hid the fact that it was less "powder-to-conceal-acne" and more "full-body-skintone-to-hide-the-fact-I-have-no-visible-skin". She didn't like the whispers about the obvious wig she was wearing though, hair also having gone as clear as the rest of her.
So she would take off her sunglasses, if the action wouldnt make her look like a hellish nightmare of a person with two gaping pits where her eyes should have been. And don't get her started on how hard it was to fix the inside of her mouth, which was currently pressed into a thin line as her head sunk slightly between her shoulders, whispers echoing around her growing more prominent.
She really hated highschool.
"-Doesn't even match her regular colour-"
"-ink you would at least try-"
"-like some cool kid out of a movie oh my god-"
"-eal parents didn't even want her-"
Shizuka froze in her tracks. Had she not been wearing sunglasses, and had her eyes not been clear, one would think that the gaze she set upon the last girl to speak would have bored holes into her from the sheer intensity alone.
The hallway grew silent, whispers dying down into nothing as the girl who mocked- who mocked her family- turned her head to face Shizuka, "Yes?" She asked, raising a blonde brow.
"What did you just say?" Shizuka asked quietly. She didn't move her mouth much, for fear of anyone noticing that she had a white mouth protector instead of teeth.
"What did I just-? Holy shit," the Blonde, who was older than her, probably a sophomore, snorted, flipping back her high-ponytailed hair in such a way that grated against Shizuka's nerves, "Freshie thinks she's fucking scary."
"Oh," Shizuka spoke with a wide gesture, voice raised. She had to slip into the showy personality she had picked up from her dad, because anxiety was burning in the back of her throat like an all-consuming acid and if she didn't do something quick half the people in the hallway that were watching the exchange take place were going to disappear under her power- "my sincerest apologies, I didn't realise I fucking scared you." Her tone was sharp, challenging, nothing at all like what she had acted like these past weeks.
Icy eyes narrowed dangerously at Shizuka, the blonde picking herself up from where she leaned against the lockers and standing to her full height and oh, she was tall, a good 5"11 to Shizuka's 5"6. "Better watch your fucking mouth, you delusional freak." She hissed out through clenched teeth, and it took everything Shizuka had to not flinch at the waves of "ooh"'s that passed through the hallway like wildfire.
Blonde Bitch, which was an accurate name as far as Shuzuka was concerned, looked like she was going to continue speaking, but the bell rang out through the hallway and people started shuffling their way to class.
"Your next line will be, this isn't over, right?" Shizuka muttered under her breath, unheard of over the hustle and bustle of the hallway. She began to move to class but a firm hand clamped down on her shoulder. She found herself yanked back by the straps of her bag, the Blonde Bitch leaning in close to her face.
"This isn't over," she hissed, before turning and heading to her own classes. Shizuka's stomach felt like it had dropped into a bottomless pit.
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It had been three days since Shizuka called out the Bitch, (Hayley, as she had learnt, mostly from jeers about how she was going to be fucked over from crossing Hayley, but Shizuka still felt that Bitch fit more.) And she found herself standing warily outside the mouth of an alley that sperated the school walls from other buildings. This was a mistake, probably, but it was a mistake she was going to see through.
"Holy shit," an unrecognisable voice called from behind her, "she actually showed up."
Shizuka turned to see Hayley, flanked by a few of her underlings like she was actually unironically trying to be a supervillian, along with some unaffiliated members of the student body. All of them, with the exception of Hayley, were here to watch the fight.
What fight? The fight between Hayley and herself, one on one. The whole thing had started from some bizarre challenge, Shizuka wasn't too clear on the details.
Which, Shizuka admits, had been her fault, technically, but she didn't think the Queen Bitch would have actually taken her up on it.
Hayley stepped forward, brushing off her sharpened acrylics and sliding off her jacket to reveal toned muscle, something Shizuka also had, from the basic combat training she had begged her parents to let her partake in when she was younger.
"Alright, Freak," Hayley spoke, cracking both her knuckles and her neck. Her sweet sounding voice offset by both the words she was saying and the amount of venom behind them, her relationship with Shizuka having devolved from annoyance to animosity in just three short days.
(Shizuka wasn't sure if it was a sign she was certainly her father's daughter, what with the stories he had told her off his youth, but she counted it as a win anyways.)
"I'm going to show you just why your useless ass had to be taken in by your old-ass fucking grandparents." She continued, and Shizuka's mood dropped.
"Bring it," She hissed at the older girl, and her body tensed in preparation.
Hayley ran at her, arm pitched back as if she were about to swing, but Shizuka ducked down and underneath the blow, darting around the taller girl.
This early pattern kept up for a while, Hayley would attack, Shizuka would dodge, rinse and repeat. It went on for long enough that it started to grate on the older girl's nerves.
"Jesus fucking christ," she hissed out as Shizuka ducked under another puch, only for Hayley to let out a bark of laughter as a foot hit her in the ribs, sending her tumbling against the wall. "Got you, bitch."
Shizuka smacked her head against the cold brick wall as she fell, stars bursting into existence in front of her eyes. She yelped as another foot caught her midsection, flinching in on herself despite trying not to. But she could do this, there was something right around here, what- oh, right.
Shizuka looked to see where Hayley was stading in the alleyway, and where the bystanders where placed. A quick calculation ran through her head, and her foot lashed out to a seemingly empty space close to the wall. There was a sharp crack.
"What the-" Hayley started, but there was thunderous crash and she collapsed to the floor, pinned underneath the wight of an invisible dumpster.
"Yo, what the fuck?" Someone on the sides yelled, but Shizuka didn't care, it had taken so long to set up but she had won.
"What the hell is going on here?" An older voice asked, and Shizuka retracted that statement as she froze like a deer in the headlights, and looked towards the angry teacher standing at the mouth of the alley.
Shit.
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She buried her now-fading hands inside her coat, as she listened to the muffled conversation eminating from inside the principal's office. The door opened, and she glanced up, face still buried in her jacket due to the semi-transparent skin on her neck.
Her dad was standing there, bemused principal behind him. He looked tired.
Hermit Purple coiled around his arm in an on-and-off manner as they walked to the car, both of them remaining silent as they hopped in and started driving back home.
Joseph looked at her in the mirror, slight bags under his eyes accentuated by the light.
"Shizuka..." he started.
Shizuka sat with a passive expression on her face, the only thing reflecting her roiling emotions being that fact that she slowly turned more and more transparent. "Yeah?" She muttered.
"What's-" he paused, "what's going on with you? At school."
"Nothin'."
He level her with an unimpressed look. She thought back on how peope had been talking about her behind her back, how she didn't fit in despite her trying so hard, how talk about not fitting in at school spiralled into thoughts of not fitting in anywhere, not with friends, not with family-
"'M fine." She hiccuped, and Joseph pulled the car to the side of the road and got out.
Her hands were shaking.
The door next to her opened, and a pair of warm arms wrapped around her, and Shizuka lost it.
Sure, she might not have fit in at highschool. But, she realised, she would always fit in with family.