Work Text:
It was a pleasant morning of the mid-70s in S-city when it was playtime on the children’s playground in a preschool. There were parents around the area who sat on their benches to watch over their children and cheered them, but there was a parent who felt worried instead of joining the vibes of her fellow parents.
That parent was Noriaki Kakyoin’s mother. She had a red short hair with a noodle hair on the other side—she and her son’s hairstyles were very alike. She observed Kakyoin attempting to be with the other preschoolers, but he still hadn’t succeeded, so he sat down on the bench by himself. As a mother, she had to be concerned about her son’s welfare, so her knees strained to stand up to ask him, but a certain boy approached him.
“Do you have a playmate?” A boy asked. He had ocean blue eyes and brown complexion—proof of his half origin. He wore a long sleeve shirt and denim pants with red straps attached and wrapped over his shoulders. He held a red ball with his two hands.
Noriaki shook his head. The other smiled in response, which was unusual for him.
“Do you want to play ball? I will throw, then you will catch,” the boy clarified. He ran in a certain distance and waved at Noriaki, “come with me… Ummm… what’s your name?”
Noriaki’s eyes brightened and released his small imaginary green boy, “Noriaki Kakyoin.”
“Come with me, Noriaki,” the boy called him. Noriaki stood up and looked at the green humanoid beside him, who nodded at him. He walked fast and the boy threw his ball to him. With the help of his ‘buddy,’ he got the ball. He giggled when he had a ball on his hands, but he hoped that the boy didn’t see him cheating after several rounds.
“You are an expert in ball-catching!” The boy praised, “I barely caught that.”
So, he didn’t see my green friend. Kakyoin glanced at Hierophant before he threw the ball again, but when the boy was about to throw his ball to him, the bell rang, and the preschool teacher approached the playground to tell everyone to pack up.
“How’s your day Jotaro?” A blonde woman walked to the boy and asked him, “you seemed so alive today. What’s the name of the red-haired boy?”
“His name is Noriaki,” Jotaro replied while they took the outside gate exit, “he is such an expert in ball catching. I barely caught my ball.”
Noriaki watched his playmate walk away with his American mother, then his mother arrived beside him.
“You truly enjoy the playdate today,” she commented. She offered his hand and he accepted it, “I wish he’s around you know. He seemed to be in good accompany you.”
When Noriaki and his mother were about to ride a bus home, she asked him, “do you know his name?”
Noriaki pondered, attempting to remember the name of the blue-eyed boy he met, “Jo—ta…ro … yes, his name is Jotaro. His yellow mom called him that name.”
His mother’s expression changed from a wide smile to a pout, “I heard rumors that Kujo family will move out of S-city tomorrow, my son. That boy might not be around next week.”
“Oh,” Noriaki summoned his green friend and clung to his mother with appendages. He wanted to assure her that he had a companion, but he was
As the bus drove to a certain stop, Noriaki and his mother went down, but as he looked at the midday sky, he had one wish—for Jotaro to see his green friend and feel well accompanied by people who had the same ‘hallucination’ like him.
The small back then didn’t realize that it turned into a reality for more than a decade later.
“So, you are Noriaki Kakyoin,” Holly asked him as she bandaged Noriaki’s wounds after Jotaro took away the fleshbud from his forehead, “Jotaro talked about you a lot.”
Noriaki was stunned, “he talked about me?”
Holly nodded and placed the clothes he would wear next to his futon, “he told me when he was in preschool that you were an expert in ball catching. He wished to be like you since then.”
Noriaki’s thoughts turned blank as Holly giggled, “I don’t think I remember.”
“That’s sad, maybe it’s because you were a young boy back then,” Holly packed up the first aid kit and stood up, “lie down now, Kakyoin. You need to rest.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Kujo,” Noriaki thanked her as Holly went away. He noticed that she stopped on her tracks when she saw Jotaro standing near the sliding door. They had a small conversation and she let Jotaro went inside his room.
“Are you okay?” Jotaro asked him as he sat down on the matted floor.
“I am fine, Jojo,” Noriaki smiled, “so I had a moment with you before we even meet today.”
“Yep, we have. My mother remembered a lot of things of my past that she couldn’t stop mentioning your name to me,” Jotaro moved closer and smirked, “and today I realized that you cheated on our ball game.”
Kakyoin chuckled as memories of his childhood slowly registered him, “at last you got it.”
“Now I’m convinced that you are not an expert in the ball game,” Jotaro pouted, “I can’t believe that a young boy birthed with a stand would make a fool to me!”
“I’m sorry Jojo,” he laughed, “I’ll never cheat around again now that you have your purple guy.”
Jotaro summoned his stand and Kakyoin summoned his. They approached closer and Hierophant embraced Star.
“So, this is how it feels like to have a companion,” Kakyoin spoke.
Since then, his bizarre life started—with people who had the same ‘hallucination’ as his.