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Chapter Text

Josuke Higashikata is going to attend college in early August. He is 18 years old, 180 cm tall and has bright blue eyes. He want to become a doctor and return to his hometown of Morioh.

He cares deeply about his friends, and would do anything for them.

He has a stand named Crazy Diamond.

__________

Josuke was tired.

It was only 3pm, yet his body ached with each step, feeling more like he was finishing a marathon than walking home. Squinting against the afternoon sun, he pause for a moment to catch his breath, before hissing and clutching his side.

Today was one of the bad days.

His scars, while already a year old, were aching when he had woken up, and it had progressively gotten worse throughout the day. He felt a slight need to limp, but stubbornly ignored it, hoping the lack of acknowledgement would make it disappear.

It didn't.

Holding back a groan, he began to walk again, ready to get home and finally relax. He was jumpy today, and it didn't help that he was taking the long, less familiar way home, but Josuke had stopped using the shorter route after the whole... Kira incident. Too many reminders of how close he had been to death, and that's not something he wants to deal with right now. Or ever.

Wiping the sweat off his face, he was suddenly realized how thirst he is. Since he knew all he had at home was water, he decided to make a quick stop to grab something that actually had some flavor, and began the detour to the nearest store.

After a five minute walk, which was strangely uneventful (and of course it would be, why is he so nervous?), he stepped inside of the store.

The cool air hitting his face nearly made him want to just lie down and go to sleep right then and there, but he firmly reminded himself of how stupid that would look and continued inside. The only other person inside was at the check out, and she waved politely as he walked in. Returning the gesture, Josuke noted that he had never seen her around before. She must be a new employee.

After grabbing his treat, a strawberry flavored soft drink, he returned to the checkout before pausing, staring at the woman. Something about her felt... Wrong. Was she hiding something?

Realizing what he was doing, he shook his head in disgust and continued to the register. Why could he think about people normally anymore? Not everyone was trying to kill him. Why can't he make himself understand that?

" Hello! How are you today?" She asks as she scans his drink.

"Uh, not to good. It been rough."

What...

What did he just say???

His brain finally catches up with what he said and his face blushes in embarrassment. Why did he say that? Was he that out of it right now? Maybe he should have went straight home after all.

"Oh?" She responds casually, like he didn't just overstep smalltalk boundaries. "Can you tell me about it?'

Huh? What was she saying-

" I still have trouble feeling safe anymore. I was attacked last year and-"

He cut himself off. What is wrong with him? The words just are tumbling out of his mouth and it reminds him of a stand-    oh no. The realization make his stomach turn and he curses himself for not trusting his gut earlier. He has to leave, now.

However, as he lurches backwards, drink long forgotten in the goal of getting the hell out of here, he makes eye contact with the girl.

Another mistake

Immediately, the world goes grey and he falls onto the ground. Scrambling for a purchase, with tears beginning to stream from his eyes, Josuke desperately tries to hold onto his thoughts but with each passing second his mind goes progressively blank. 

As a last ditch effort, he calls out Crazy Diamond, who charges into existence and reaches out to him, but it was to late, and he sees the stand slip back into nothingness. He feels numb as a static fills his head, pushing out the last of his emotions and replacing them with an unnatural calm.

_________

Drawing in a deep breath, he sluggishly opened his eyes (when did he shut them?) It felt like he was underwater, the color and noises dull and hard to pin down. A face leaned over his. She was talking to him, but the words slipped by him like water and he just found himself staring at the face. He had never seen such grey eyes. Maybe she had contacts in?

Suddenly the world pitches as Josuke is pulled to his feet. How did he get on the ground again? Letting himself be dragged, he stumbles as he is led to a chair and gently placed into it. Realizing he shut his eyes (again) he cracked them open to see the grey eyed girl. Was she the one who helped him up?

"So, as I said earlier, can you tell me about it?"

Tell her? Why would he tell her about-   The pressure in his head surged, and his mind went blank again. Words begin to spill out of his mouth without permission.

"I was fighting a stand user last year, and since then I can't calm down."

He begins to talk about everything. He talks about his fears, how he already lost his grandfather, how he almost lost Okuyasu, how he was scared to lose anyone else. He talks about how many times he almost had died, how many times he had to do everything in his power and then some, and it still not be enough. He talks about Remi, about Kira, his mom, about his stand, his scars. He talks about how his loneliness as a child, feeling so isolated being the only one who could see Crazy Diamond, not knowing his dad, and the judging looks from his neighbors.

He mainly talks about how he wishes he could be who he was before Kira. When he could be normal and didn't have to hide things from his friends.

When he wasn't so... Broken

The grey eyed girl simply nods along, encouraging him to continue when he hesitates. With every pause, the pressure would return, nudging Josuke onward, and he obeyed. It was so much easier to talks now, so why not? It didn't matter, anyway...

Some small part of him was screaming, begging him to wake up, to do something, but it was easily consumed by the never ending static. So what if something was wrong. It felt so... peaceful, there was no way he was in danger.

Eventually, his throat grew raspy and the lazy red sunset started to grow dim. How was it so late already? ...how long has he been here-   the pressure gently washed away those thoughts.

"Ok, that's enough." A soft voice broke his rambling. Looking up, the grey eyed girl was still sitting on the counter in front of him. Blinking a few times, he felt a wetness on his face and slowly reached up to brush it off. 'Tears' his mind helpfully supplied. Why is he crying?

"You are worthy of a second chance, Higashikata. You need a break." The girl stood up and faced him. Something golden and pink flittered around her shoulders, before drifting down and materialising into a humanoid figure. A crown of feathers sat on its head, a vibrant pink and golden, while the rest of it's body consisted of a dark grey sludge speckled with white. Glowing, grey eyes peered at him from the otherwise featureless face, a mourning tilt to them.

A stand! He has to get away... but the static returned, and his head was empty once again.

"Not everyone deserves a happy ending, but I think you do." She continued, reaching out to touch here stand. It leaned into her touch, seemingly enjoying the affection when suddenly, she plucked a golden feather from the crown. The stand gave no indication of pain at the action.

She took the feather and began to reach for Josuke's face. His fear, once forgot, came roaring back, and he shrank back from her grasp and shook his head, attempting to deter her from whatever she was doing. However, the static surged forward again and he grew still. The stand reached forward and cradled his face in their hands, preventing any further movement.

Pausing her hand centimeters away from his forehead, she hesitates before continuing.

"Just... Don't worry. If you're in any true danger, you will be released and your memories will return. But please, just live a normal life for now, ok?" She smiles as if to comfort him, but his mind is racing, static or not. What was she doing.?!? He wants to beg for her to stop, please, anything, just let them talk about this, but he was frozen. Then, she gently slides the feather behind his ear.

The pressure surges forward, leaving him gasping as it flooded every inch of him. He couldn't breath, he can't see, someone help please anyone-

The last thing he sees is the grey eyes. Then, he's gone.

_________

Josuke Higashikata is going to attend college in early August. He is 18 years old, 180 cm tall and has grey eyes. He wants to be a doctor and return to _____________

He cares about his ___________ and would do anything for them.

He has a _______ named ____________.

Chapter Text

Waking up was easier on some days than others.

If there was something that Josuke hated with all of his existence, with all of his soul and down to the fibers of his very core, it was early classes. Particularly, early history class. Why did he, someone who was trying to become a doctor, need to take a world history class?

Stretching out from his cocoon of blankets, he yawned as his eyes slowly adjusted to the bright room. Humming softly, he laid in his bed for a moment, debating on just skipping before deciding against it.  He already was struggling with the class, might as well not make it any worse.

Pulling himself out of the warmth, he stumbles to the bathroom to take a quick shower in an attempt to push the sleep from his mind.

When he finished, he grabbed a towel to dry himself off, and them slipped into his clothes for the day. It was early October, and the chill was starting to bleed through his other outfits, so today he decided to wear a set of jeans and a simple dark purple shirt with a thick brown jacket to help keep out the cold.

As he pulled his shirt over his head, he winced as a soft pain bloomed across his abdomen. Sighing dramatically, he walked over to a cabinet and pulled it open.

"Come on, where is it?" He murmured as he dug through the messy cabinet. Finally, wedged at the bottom, he found his prize, a small vial of cream. Returning to the bathroom, he lifted up his shirt and began to spread it onto the large scar on his stomach.

Frowning, he groaned, irritated as he waits for the cream to dry before he could put his shirt down. It's so stupid that he had to do this so his skin wouldn't dry out... If only he hadn't hurt it when-

Umm

When he-

...

Oh well.

Dropping his shirt, he began the task of creating his signature pompadour. After a ungodly amount of hair spray later, he smiled with satisfaction as he looked in the mirror. It looks great!

Grabbing his jacket, he slipped it on before collecting the rest of his supplies.

Notebooks? Check

Pens? Check

Laptop, phone, wallet? Check, check and check

Shoving them into his bag, he slung it over his shoulder and walked out of his apartment, locking the door behind him as he left. Pulling out his phone, he looked at his messages and rolled his eyes, not the least surprised by the emptyness. It's not like he had anyone besides his mom to talk to anyways. He hadn't made any friends so far, and he didn't have anyone else back home who would bother with contacting him.

"Hey!! Get out of the way!!"

Startled, Josuke jumped back, slamming into the wall in an attempt to get out of the women's way. He didn't even notice himself almost crashing into her!

"I'm so,  I uh-  I'm so sorry!!!" He stammered out, quickly bowing as a deep red spread across his face. Scoffing, she continued on without a second glance, leaving him alone clutching his sore shoulder, wincing as he felt the bruise begin to form.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, he sighed and looked at his phone again.

oH NO!!!!

HOW WAS IT ALREADY 6:50??!!!?

Scrambling, he threw his phone in his bag and took off running, hell-bent on getting to class on time. If was going to wake up for this class, he wanted to be on time at the very least! It wouldn't do him any good to miss half of the lecture!

Why did he take this stupid class?

_________

As soon as the class had ended, Josuke weaved through the crowded sidewalks, heading straight for the library. Everyone had been assigned homework and since he had the next hour free, might as well get some of it done so he wouldn't be swamped with tasks later on.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally cleared the most densely populated areas and spent the remaining trip in silence, simply enjoying the colorful fall leaves drifting around him. Arriving at his destination, he pushed the library door open and slipped inside, mindful of the silent atmosphere that he was entering. Looking around, he grinned as he realized that the library almost empty, with just a scattering of fellow students tucked into their own personal projects.

Picking a desk near a window to continue admiring the autumn view, he pulled out a chair and sat down. Quietly pulling out his laptop, he put headphones on, being mindful of his hair, and started to focus.

Time passed by, with the only interruptions being the occasional person walking past him, but nothing caught his attention. Soon he was almost finished and began to stand up, before immediately sitting back down, eyes wide.

Someone was staring at him.

Pretending he wasn't just about to walk away, Josuke pulled out a random book from his bag and opened it, opting to act like he was reading. Sneaking another glance, he ducked down just as quickly when he noticed the man was still staring at him from a table ten feet away.

This guy was massive. Josuke didn't take himself for being a small guy, and he was larger than most of the people he had come across, but this man made him feel like he was an ant. He was tall and muscular, as opposed Josuke's own lean shape. He was wearing a black hat and coat, with a golden chain attached to the collar, and looked to be at least 5 years older than him. His tall frame was made even more intimidating by the cold glare that was currently being aimed in Josuke's direction, piercing blue eyes never breaking contact.

Josuke just wanted to sink into his seat and disappear.  Forever, preferably. The first tendrils of panic began to unravel in his mind as he scrambled to think of how he possible offended the man. He was certain that he had never met him before, but there was something... Familiar about him.

Still didn't change the fact that he looked like he was ready to murder Josuke.

Making up his mind, Josuke decided to make a run for it. If he was getting his ass kicked today, it wasn't going to be in a library. Besides, maybe if he was fast enough, he could get away? Unlikely, but still, maybe.

Tossing everything into his bag, he swiftly stood up and made a bee-line for the door, making a point not to glance in the man's direction. Pushing them open, he threw himself outside and started racing across the campus grounds. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed his stalker was behind him, which prompted him to go even faster, looking around wildly for something to throw him off his tracks.

A large group of students were fast approaching him, and a wild grin split his face as he thought of the perfect way to throw Mr. Intimidating of his trail. Heading straight for the crowd, he started into the middle of it, before taking a sharp turn to the right and continued running. After a few more turns, (and some hastily yelled out apologies for almost mowing down 2 or 3 people) he turned around and was relieved to find no sight of the man. Catching his breath for a moment, he took one last look around, still wary and confused, but buzzing with adrenaline, before deciding to go to his next class.

_________

When Jotaro first walked into the library, he hoping to have a productive study session so he could get part of his essay done. Instead, he was greeted by a massive pink and blue armored stand hovering behind a person who was sitting beside a window, writing with headphones on.

What the hell

He's first reaction was to do a u-turn and walk back out, but he instead frowned and pulled his hat down, trudging over to a vacant chair. Sitting down, he turned back to the stand, which had yet to move from it's position.

Star Platinum hummed in his head, the unspoken offer of assistance there, but Jotaro pushed it aside. He didn't want to reveal that he was also a stand user unless absolutely necessary, not wanting to let go of a possible edge if there was to be a fight.

Speaking of which, the stand didn't really seem to be doing much. He just... floated behind the stand user, a sorrowful expression on his pink face. The guy (who barely looked 18, so more like kid [not that he was one to speak, he was only 24]) didn't seem to acknowledge the stand at all, and continued to write as if nothing was happening. Didn't he know his stand was behind him? If he wasn't the owner, that why was the stand so close to him?

Scowling, pulled out his phone and texted 3 other stand users.

-there a stand in the library

He didn't have wait long for a reply.

Nori- what???? which one are u at?

Avd- where are you? Don't go after them on your own

Avd- wait for us

Poln- ??? do u see the user? did it attack u?

Frowning, he looked up again, the scene unchanged, and looked at the kid again. If he was the user, why did he just have his stand out like this? He still had made no indication of awareness of the stand, and the stand had yet to do anything else, so what was going on here? This whole situation didn't make sense, and Jotaro did NOT like it.

-it hasn't done anything yet. meet me outside of greywater hall

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and turned to the two, contemplating the bizarre situation in front of him.

If you ignore the stand (and the pompadour), there wouldn't be anything that stood out about the kid. He was wearing a brown jacket, had dull grey eyes, and didn't seem to be aware of Jotaro examining him, picking him apart for some sort of reason behind this unusual occurrence.

Suddenly, movement. The kid stretched out and started to stand up, glancing around lazily before making eye contact with Jotaro. Paling, he immediately threw himself back down into the chair, pulling out a book and hiding behind it.

Jotaro's eyes narrowed. Did he recognize him somehow? ...maybe he worked for Dio. After all, there was still some fanatics that hung around even though Jotaro had personal taken care to insure Dio was not coming back. Ever.

If he was a Dio fanboy, it shouldn't be to much of an issue to deal with him, but that still didn't explain why he already had his stand out. Wouldn't it be better to try to catch him off guard? Did he want Jotaro to know he had a stand?

Without warning, the kid swooped down, collecting all of his belongings and depositing them in a bag. Swinging it over his shoulder, he half walked, half ran past Jotaro, not once turning to look at him. Waiting until he had past through the door, Jotaro stood up, almost knocking over his chair if not for the insane reflexes of Star Platinum, and followed him outside.

Squinting into the bright sunlight, his eyes burned by the autumn colors surrounding him, he scowled even more as he watched the kid sprint across the lawn. Growling, he took off after him, determined not to let him out of his sight. The pink stand, which had been trailing behind it user, turned to Jotaro with wide eyes, locking gazes. What was it doing?

Skidding to a stop, they both stared at each other, the stand with a mournful expression on its face, before it faded into nothingness. Confused, Jotaro shoved his hat down again and continued running.

They were fast approaching a large crowd, and Jotaro had to resist the urge to snarl as the kid darted into the gathering. Calling out Star Platinum, who materialized behind him with a soft "ora", they both scanned the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious stand user. Star floated above him, all thoughts of earlier stealth forgot in exchange for finding the kid, but it was for nothing.

He was gone.

"Ugh, damn it." He growled, and an apologetic "ora" echoed in the back of his mind as he let Star fade away. Looking around one last time, he shoved his hands in his pockets and began to walk away. He was going to have some explaining to do. He would have to tell the group what happened, then Avdol would want to involve Joseph. Then the Speedwagon foundation. Then this would become a mess.

Damn it. All he wanted to do was his essay.

Chapter Text

_________

Josuke unlocked his apartment and walked inside, slamming the door behind him a little to harshly, the noise sparking a wince out of the frazzled boy.

Throwing his belongings haphazardly onto the ground, he fell onto his bed. Squinting against the afternoon sun streaming into his room, he let out with groan.

He was exhausted.

After narrowly escaping his library stalker (which was pretty impressive in his opinion), he was plagued with the constant paranoia that some was watching him. Spending the rest of his day constantly looking over his shoulder and flinching when someone brushed into him was more tiring than one would think.

After his last class ended, Josuke decided to head straight home, skipping his usual stop at the library (he didn't think he would be going back there for a while) and his favorite restaurant. In hindsight, however, he probably should have gotten something to eat, as he can't remember the last time he restocked his pantry with anything edible.

But that's a problem that he can deal with tomorrow.

Ignoring the ache echoing his movements, he kicked off his shoes and threw a blanket over himself, contemplating his next course of action. He was certain that he has never met that guy before, so why was he staring at him with such animosity? Josuke hadn't insulted anyone, or even talked to anyone for that matter, and the only fight he had been in was a... Hair related incident.

But that had happened months ago, and Josuke hadn't seen anyone involved in that mess since then, so why would they send some random guy after him after all this time?

His eyes began to slide shut and he nestled himself deeper into the thick covers. Maybe a nap would help to clear things up.

_________

Two weeks went by and Josuke hadn't seen hide nor hat of the library weirdo. He went back to his old routine and it was almost as if the whole encounter was a dream. The only other notable thing that had happened during that time was he watched a squirrel fall out of a tree, landing on a group of students, but that really didn't contribute to helping him figure out the intimidating man.

Though it was hilarious.

Walking home, encompassed by the autumn colors in all of it glory, he relaxed and hummed to himself, enjoying the blissful quiet. It was late in the afternoon, and the sunlight further enhanced the kaleidoscope of colors that spread out around him. Classes were over for today, and many students were spending there time with friends, leaving the area absent of the usual crowds. Relaxing into the quiet atmosphere, Josuke let his mind drift.

He was going home to see his mom soon! They had been talking about it for weeks, and they both had planned some time together so they could catch up on each others lives. He was already planning on taking take her to that Italian restaurant in Moriah, it was one of his favorites! Josuke remembered eating there with-

With-

with someone, (maybe [probably] ) his mom, and it always helped with his headaches.

There was always something so strange about how you ordered though... what chef picks out what you're going to eat for you? Eyebrows furrowing with concentration, he thought back to every time he talked to the chef. He could have sworn that he had been told the reason behind the lack of a menu... But maybe it didn't matter.

Continuing down the path, Josuke veered to the right to widen the path as a few students started walking his way. He didn't want to run into anymore people if necessary, remembering his soreness after he (unintentionally) launched himself into a wall.

Two more people started towards him, and Josuke frowned slightly as the continued to drawn near. Something about them seemed... Strange? Not in a bad way, just unfamiliar. Unknown.

The one on the right was slim, with pale skin and violet eyes. He had red hair, with a large strand framing the side of his face, and a relaxed expression on his face, mouth pulled into a small grin. His long, dark green jacket was buttoned up neatly, with no signs of wrinkles or rips on the fabric.

His companion was taller and had a muscular build, similar to the man in the library. He had dark brown, almost black hair, and warm brown eyes. He was adorned with many golden bracelets and a neckless that shimmered against his light brown skin, and was wearing a long, flowing jacket with loose white pants.

Josuke had to ignore the urge to stare at them as they drew closer, and instead politely offered a small smile when both parties made eye contact, before turning away. Passing by them, he continued onward, turning down a small, isolated road he likes to use as a short cut.

However, the normally empty road was populated with four people, who were closing in on him, fast. Eyes wide, he took a step back before realizing that one of them had positioned himself behind him, effectively trapping him.

This was going to be bad.

Forcing aside the rising panic, Josuke gulped down a breath before deciding to get this over with.

"Can I h- Can I help you?" He stuttered out.

Damn it. He was trying to sound intimidating, but here he was, squeaking like a 5 year old.

"I don't know, Mr. Higashikata, we have yet to see." The one to his left responded, his voice nasally and grating on Josuke's ears, perfectly matching his unkept appearance, oily hair hanging limp around him. Seriously though, they all really needed to take a shower and get some laundry going, they looked disgusting. He took a step closer, snapping Josuke out of his thoughts.

How did they know his name?

"Who are you? If you're going to rob me, I'll give you what I have, just let me go by..." Better to just comply for now, Josuke really didn't want a hospital visit from being beat by some random thugs.

" That's not it at all. You see, Mr. Higashikata, you and your pink friend over here pose as a... Unique problem for me, and I have yet to see how I want to deal with it."

???

Pink friend?

Is he on drugs?!?

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Josuke gripped his bag tighter and took a step back, forgetting about the fourth man until he was roughly shoved forwards, knees crashing into the asphalt. He cursed himself for not paying attention (that's how he keeps ending up in these situations) and suppressed a hiss as pain shot through his legs.

"You and your dumbass hair are going to stay here until...."

Josuke froze.

The oily guy was talking once again, but Josuke's was no longer listing. He didn't care anymore, his fear being replaced with a much more unstable emotion, rage bubbling under his skin.

"What about my hair?" He stood up, drawing himself to his full height as the man continued speaking, eyes going dark.

"... You're hair?  I said it looked like a dumbass, what, are you deaf?" The man responded, a look of uneasy flashing over his face before that stupid, smug look returned. Josuke's vision went red, fury twisting inside him like a thunderstorm, begging to be released. And Josuke had no intention of holding back now, it was too late for that.

"You're going to regret that." Then, Josuke's fist went crashing into the man's face.

__________

As Jotaro had suspected, this turned out to be a lot more trouble than it was worth.

After loosing sight of the pompadour kid, he was forced to walk back and meet up with his friends, not wanting them to start panicking if he failed to show up. When he arrived, after waiting for everyone to stop the onslaught of questions thrown at him (coughPolnarffcough), he explained what had happened. Avdol did contact Joseph, but the old man was apparently busy with some real estate issues, and wasn't able to help.

"Are you certain that the stand wasn't doing anything? Was there any type of movement at all?" Avdol asked for what felt like the hundredth time from his seat on a rather flimsy looking picnic table.

"Like I said earlier, no." Jotaro all but growled, his irritation from before bleeding into his tone. "Other than when they turned around, they didn't do anything."

Avdol frowned, face furrowed in thought. Kakyoin turned to him and started,

"Well first, I think we need to find out who he is. Maybe if we can find out something about him, it can help us understand what's going on."

"Yeah, I agree with Kakyoin over here!" Polnareff chimed in from his spot beside Avdol, leaning into the warmer, and much more appropriately dressed for the cold, man. "If we can figure out who he is before he can do the same for us, it will be a breeze if we have to fight him! We'll know everything about him!" He waved his hands wildly as he spoke, and Jotaro had to supress an exasperated sigh at the older man's antics.

"Ok, but that still leaves us with finding him again. For all we know, he could be on a plane, continents away from us. There is the possibility that it is a one time encounter." Avdol interjects, and Jotaro really, REALLY hopes it would be that easy. But when does life give the the easy way out? Hardly ever.

"...Maybe, but you said he looked young, right Jotaro?" A nod. Kakyoin continues, "There's the possibility that he could be a first year student, which means-"

"We're going to see him again." Polnareff cuts off, snickering at the glare Kakyoin gave him for the interruption, but is then silenced himself by Avdol delivering a firm kick to his leg.

"We are going to have to split up if we want to find him faster. Polnareff, Avdol, since neither of you attend college, you both can scout around during classes." Jotaro stated. "Kakyoin and I will keep trying to find him after classes."

"If you see him, don't approach him. Just texts us, and don't let him out of your sight." Jotaro frowned, memory of his earlier failure fresh on his mind.

_________

It took them two days, but they did find the kid (courtesy of Hierophant Green hiding in a tree to cover more ground) and his name (courtesy of the Speedwagon foundation.)

Josuke Higashikata

After some more stalking, this time from Polnareff and Avdol, they weren't able to find out anything to remarkable about the kid. He was attending college after all, trying to become a doctor of some sort. He lived in an apartment about six miles of campus, and didn't really interact with any of his peers, but was always kind to anyone who did talk to him.

Nothing really screamed "Evil Stand User!!!"

He was just... Normal, painfully so, and it was really confusing Jotaro. He wasn't sure if Josuke could even SEE stands.

Which was why he was currently crouching behind a bush with Polnareff, watching from a distance as Kakyoin and Avdol walked up to Josuke, who seemed to be lost in thought. Jotaro had wanted to go with them, but if Josuke recognized him, it might make him suspect something was going on. He and Polnareff instead were back-up, ready to intervene if things got messy.

"Wow! You were right, look at the size of that stand!" Polnareff loudly whispered, pointing at the ever present stand behind Josuke. Jotaro grunted, eyes already locked onto the being, watching carefully for any signs of trouble. But he was right, the stand was a sight to behold.

They are massive, almost the same size as Star Platinum. Their body was covered in armor, the pink being cover up by crystalline silver, almost blue plates. Hearts and various other shapes adorned them, which somehow didn't effect the intimidating aura of the stand. Cables crossed over their back, and a helmet sat on their head, with piercing sapphire eyes gazing out from underneath. They would look much more intimidating, however, if they didn't look like they was about to burst into tears at any moment. A sorrowful frown seemed permanently affixed to their face, and every time they were seen, they would staring sadly at the Josuke, uncaring of the events happening around it.

The only time it had looked away was when Jotaro had chased them across the campus, but asides from that, there was no other reactions from the stand.

Jotaro brought himself back to the present as the two almost were beside Josuke. Eyes narrowing, he tensed, ready for anything.

As soon as Kakyoin was within an arms length from him, Hierophant Green and Magician's Red materialized instantaneously behind there users, before throwing themselves at Josuke. They raced towards him, fists pulled back, ready to strike!... Before stopping centimeters away from his face.

There was no reaction.

Josuke gave not even the slightest glance, and just continued walking, completely unaware that he was almost about to be pummeled by two invisible, at least to him, spirits.

Kakyoin stopped, Avdol following suit, and motioned for Jotaro to come over after Josuke had walked out of sight.

"So, we know he's not a stand user." Kakyoin started, the rest of them nodding in agreement. It would have been near impossible to ignore being attacked by two stands in such a manner, even if you were pretending to not be able to see them. Self preservation would overrule.

"Since that's the case, we need to find out what the stand is doing to Higashikata. There could be another stand user who is attacking him, and he wouldn't even notice." Avdol frowned, anger evident on his face.

Jotaro couldn't blame him. It always grated on his nerve to see people who, once given a little power, use it to control others. Those jackasses always reminded him of Dio, which also never failed to ticked him off.

Jotaro opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted of by a sudden scream filling the air. Everyone froze, eyes wide until it is abruptly cut off, plunging the area back into silence.

Features turned into a frown, and ignoring his pounding heart, Jotaro glances at the group and with a slight nod, they all go running into the direction of the noise.

_________

Chapter Text

In hindsight, that was a really stupid idea.

However, Josuke couldn't deny the spark of satisfaction as he watched the man jump back, clutching his bleeding nose in his hands.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" He roared, and lunged at Josuke, who yelped and ducked out of the way.

Immediately, Josuke was surrounded, wildly dodging the punches aimed at him and- hell, why were they so fast??? Josuke scrambled to find an opening, an escape, but then his feet were kicked out from under him and he went crashing down. His head slammed into the ground and his vision blackened, patches of darkness obscuring his eyes.

It suddenly got a lot harder for Josuke to think, his mind filling with fog. It felt like someone stuffed his ears with cotton, everything sounding so warped and muted.

Wincing, he gasped as someone delivered a hard kick to his ribs, the bones letting him know of the mistreatment by aching with his every breath. 'Thats gonna bruise' he thought sluggishly as he struggled against his attackers. The group, taking advantage of his disoriented state, began swarmed him, grabbing and pinning him down even as he weakly struggled and kicked against them.

How were they this strong!?!

They weren't even budging, and Josuke felt like he was being squished into the pavement beneath him, arms forced to his sides. Fighting his rising panic, he managed to kick one away, just for the others to take him place and hold his leg so tight he could feel the bone creak. It hurt, so bad that Josuke wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but he forced himself to breathe. He had to focus.

It was time for Josuke to use the last trick up his sleeve.

Drawing in as much air as his aching ribs could handle, he let out a VERY loud, VERY shrill scream. The idiot closest to his face flinched before slapping a hand over his mouth, cutting him off with a gruff , "Shut up!".

Josuke wasn't screaming to annoy them, despite that being a nice bonus of the painful noise. He was hoping that someone would be close enough to hear the sound and come help him, all early pretenses of embarrassment gone in the hopes of someone intervening to rescue his dumbass.

"Get him up."

Roughly, he was hauled to his feet, still unable to talk or move against the men holding him. The leader, confident now that there was no chance of Josuke fighting back, stalked up to him and delivered a sucker punch to Josuke's stomach.

"Not so cocky now, huh?" He grinned triumphenly, but Josuke couldn't give a shit because holy hell, if they weren't holding his mouth shut he probably would be throwing up right now. Instead he was forced to gag and push it down, which did nothing to subdue the pain and nausea growing in him.

Josuke was to distracted to even attempted to dodge the punch aimed at his face, and stars burst into his vision as his head whipped back from the force of it. His face burned in pain and his eyes involuntary slid shut, unbothered by the fact his brain was screaming about how bad of an idea that was right now.

"Maybe we can... Restart his conversation, don't you think?! How about I start with asking you what your stan-"

"HEY YOU JACKASSES!!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!"

Who-

Suddenly, Josuke was tackled out of the steel grip encasing him and sent rolling across the ground. Whoever had tackled him went flying with him, but Josuke was positioned so that the stranger took the brunt of the fall. Small blessings, because he didn't think he'd be able to stay awake if he was slammed into the ground again.

Muted sound of struggle surrounded him, but all Josuke was focused on was trying to convince his head to stop spinning. Someone was impatiently tapping his face, and he slowly cracked open his eyes.

Wait

Was it...

?!!??!!!Library man?!?!?!?!!

Josuke almost wonder if he was hallucinating, but he blinked again, and nope, the large man was still there, scowling as he stared a Josuke, face shadowed by his hat, waiting for a reaction. Josuke then realized that he was trying to talk to him, mouth moving, but unfortunately his still ringing ears refused to cooperate and let in sound.

"Wha... What?" He slurred, blinking in confusion.

That apparently wasn't the reaction the larger man was looking for, as his frown grew even larger. Huffing, the man, with surprising gentleness, lifted Josuke off of his chest, ( Josuke would have been embarrassed, but he was in too much pain to care that he was slumped against the man like a drunken idiot), and placed him on the ground, mindful of his head. Standing up, he glanced down at him one last time before disappearing out of Josuke's view, presumably to help with the sounds of conflict still going strong somewhere out of sight.

Josuke drifted for a bit, trying to get his breathing under control and, more importantly, sit up without his stomach contents emptying itself, to put it kindly.

Soon it was quiet, and Josuke heard footsteps walk around him. He really, REALLY was hoping the library guy was the winner in this fight, because Josuke couldn't even stand up, much less escape if those thugs started after him again.

"Hey, are you awake?" Someone asked above him. Dragging open his eyes, he was mildly surprised to see not one, but two people crouched beside him. Library guy was there, his face unchanged, a stoic mask.

But beside him was one of the people Josuke walked past earlier, the lean redhead. His green jacket was ripped on the sleeve now, he was missing a cherry earing, and his expression was polite but serious, emerald eyes sharp and watching for... Something.

They continued to stare.

Josuke realized that they were waiting on a response from him, and blushed in embarrassment.

"Yeah..." He shakely answered, and the redhead nodded.

"Ok that's good. Do you think you can stand up?" He asked, and Josuke grimaced. He could try, but...

"Im- ... I'm not sure?" Josuke's whole body felt like jelly, weak and unstable. But it was already mortifying enough that random strangers had to come save him, so maybe he could scrap some of his dignity back and stop laying on the ground like a limp noodle.

Propping his arms up behind him, he attempted to get into a sitting position, but then his ribs screamed and

Nope nope nope no no no no nope, no way that was happening. Hissing, he instead settled for a slightly more elevated position, still on the ground, but less pebbles digging into his skull.

"I'm going to take that as a no." The man said flatly. His expression had morphed into a frown, and he turned to library man, who had yet to move.

"I don't think anything is broken, but there might be a concussion." Josuke wasn't really sure if that was aimed at him or a the other guy, but it was still good new. Last time he had broken something, he was stuck in the hospital for a month! At least then he had been visited by -

By-

. . . . . . . . . . . . ?

Was it his mom that visited him? He could have swore it was someone else, didn't his mom have to work? But who-

"Jotaro, Polnareff and I are going to see if the attacker is in the vicinity. We may be able to catch them if they are close enough."

Two more men walked up to the small group. One of them Josuke recognized as the companion of the cherry man, but the other was new.

He was just a built as the rest (were they all professional weightlifters or something??) and his silver hair was styled to stick straight up. His sweatshirt was covered with dirt, and he was holding his arm, face scrunched in displeasure. Glancing behind him, Josuke was relieved (and slightly satisfied, serves them right) to see his attackers in a lump on the ground.

The first spoke softly, but his voice had an undercurrent of steel, and Josuke could see his was furious. In fact, everyone here looked angry, but at what, he doesn't know.

And what did they mean by the attacker being in the vicinity? His attackers were all unconscious, so why would they all look so worried?

Hat man, apparently Jotaro now, nodded.

"We'll stay with him until we can find someone to get him." He said, gesturing towards Josuke. "I'll call when we are ready."
The men glanced around one last time before walking out of sight. Jotaro watched as they left, face impassive, before turning back to Josuke.

"Do you have anyone who can take you home?"

"Oh... no, I'm sorry..." Josuke didn't miss the way the two's frown grew slightly deeper.

"But I can walk!!!" He rushed, hoping to smooth over the worry (at least, that's what Josuke thinks it was) on the others face. "I live close to here, and I was already heading home earlier, before all of... This."

" ... Are you sure? "

"Just give me a minute, I'll be out of here in no time!" Probably. Hopefully? The pain was steadily dying down into an uncomfortable ache, but it was still going to be some time before he was in any condition to go anywhere.

Cherry man seemed to have also came to this same conclusion, and started moving to the other side of Josuke.

"I don't think it a good idea for us to stay in the middle of the road. I'm Kakyoin, by the way, and this is Jotaro." Kakyoin said while sliding his arms under Josuke's shoulders. "We going to help you get up now, ok?"

"That's fine. I'm Josuke."

It took a moment, but eventually they managed to haul Josuke to his feet. Immediately when their hands left him, however, he felt himself sway and began stumbling back.

Arms flailing, he was stopped from his sudden descent by a strong arm around his chest. Looking up, he was met with the impassive face of Jotaro staring down at him, unimpressed.

"Ha... Sorry about that." He says sheepishly. Jotaro huffed, before throwing Josuke's arm over his shoulder to prevent him from falling again. Kakyoin joined on Josuke's other side, and they started walking out of the street.

Damn, Jotaro probably thought he was a absolute idiot, ever both time they have interacted so far ending with Josuke acting like a fool. Speaking of which...

"Hey, uh... Jotaro?" He started, still intimidated by the larger man. "Why did you chase me at the library that one time?"

He glanced at Josuke's face before turning back to the sidewalk.

"I thought I recognized you." Huh. Ok then.

Feeling that was all he was going to get out of Jotaro, Josuke decided to let the subject drop and instead focus on not tripping over his feet. They continued to walk in silence.

"We have to get back to our friends. If we left you here, do you think that you could get home by yourself?" Jotaro started, pointing in the direction of a small coffee shop. It was mostly empty, with only one customer visible through it curtained windows. Maybe he could rest inside for a bit before going home?

"Yeah, that would be great! And I'm sorry again for-"

"Stop apologizing." Jotaro cut him off, and Josuke paused, having to physical stop himself from blurting out an instinctual "sorry".

Jotaro continued on, dragging Josuke into the little shop . The employee behind the desk only raised her eyebrow at the three, before Kakyoin walked over and started talking to her. Meanwhile, Josuke (with some help from Jotaro) gently lowered himself into a empty chair, thankful to be off his feet and out of the cold.

"Go straight home after this, ok?" Josuke looked up to see Jotaro staring sternly at him, and shifted uncomfortable. " We don't know why those guy targeted you, so we don't know if they will try it again." Josuke frowned at the thought.

"Uh- Maybe they were just trying to rob me? It might be a one time thing?" He offered, but Jotaro's face indicated that he thought otherwise. The excuse was flimsy even to Josuke, though, because his attackers had plenty of time to take his bag and run, but instead decided to beat him (however, that was partially his fault, but even before he threw the first punch it was easy to see that the guys didn't exactly have... wholesome plans for Josuke)

Just then, Kakyoin appeared behind Jotaro, and placed a cup in Josuke's hands

"I didn't know if you drink coffee or not, so I got you a hot chocolate. We probably should be leaving now." He said while beginning to walk towards the door.

"Really?? Wow, thank you so much!!!" Josuke smiled, staring in delight at the beverage. First they save him, then they get him this? That one of the nicest things anyone has done for him in a long time!

"No problem. Goodbye Josuke!" Kakyoin returned his smile, then ducked out of the door, with Jotaro right behind him. Looking back one last time, Josuke could have swore Jotaro's face softened slightly, before the moment was gone and they both had left, leaving him alone.

He sighed leaned back, letting his sore muscles relax. Today had been very bizarre.

_________

Jotaro hadn't run this fast in a long time. Feet pounding against the pavement, he essentially threw himself forward with each step. He could hear the footsteps of the others fade behind him as they all raced to where they last heard the scream. Well, at least he had backup if this went bad.

'what if it's a trap what if it's a stand do you think it was Dio who-'

'Shutup' he growled, silencing his intrusive thoughts. If it's a trap, than whoever set it must be an idiot, of better be ready to fight three of the... more competent (strongest, but Jotaro wouldn't admit that out loud) stand users that Jotaro knows. Besides, he had Star Platinum, who definitely was wanting to brawl, if the way they were almost vibrating with anticipation was any indication, ready to spring into existence at a moment's notice.

'Soon, ok?' Jotaro thought, not wanting Star to appears to early, and an enthusiastic, but quiet "ora!" echoed in his mind. He wanted to let Star out already, but he needed to keep the element of surprise until he could figure out what the hell was happening. Speaking of which...

Jotaro turned into a small, isolated street, almost hidden from sight by the tall, reed-like bushes surrounding the edges, and skidded to a stop, eyes narrowed.

It was Josuke.

Well, not just Josuke, as there where four other people alongside him. Two had Josuke pinned between them, holding his arms tight behind his back and preventing him from moving. The third was a step back, watching as the fourth, possibly the leader, screamed angrily at Josuke, before punching the defenseless kid square in the face, his head snapping back at the force of it.

Jotaro scowled, eyes dark with anger.

"HEY YOU JACKASSES!!!!" He yelled, and their head snapped to him, eyes widened with surprise at his sudden appearance. He began running again, while continuing, "LEAVE HIM ALONE!!"

He barreled at the nearest man, who yelled and jumped back. But Jotaro wasn't aiming for him. With the leader out of the way, it left Josuke open in the front, and Jotaro grunted as he collided with the smaller body, wrenching him out of their arms and sending both of them flying. Rolling across the asphalt, he sent a silent thanks to Star Platinum, who had managed to take the brunt of the fall, leaving him unscathed.

He glanced up and was relieved to see that the rest of the group had caught up to him, each focused on one of the thugs, before turning his attention back to the limp figure in his arms.

"Hey. Wake up." He stated firmly, tapping Josuke's face while scanning him for any other injures. He hadn't even checked to see if he was seriously hurt, what if the fall made it worse? After a moment, Star Platinum appeared at his side and stared intently at Josuke, before turning back to Jotaro and giving a small thumbs up. 'All good' he seemed to imply. Jotaro nodded before continuing to try and wake Josuke up.

Something pink flashed above Josuke's head, and Jotaro snapped up, quickly scanning for the source. After a pause, the armored pink stand flickered into existence, staring sadly down at Josuke. Jotaro sucked in a breath and paused, Star Platinum hovering defensively over him and they both watched the other stand with undisguised suspicious.

However, after a moment, they slid their gaze into Jotaro, then, to Star Platinum. They stared, wide sapphire eyes studying both of them, before letting out what was unmistakable a sigh, then a small nod before fading back into nothingness.

What was tha-

Now was not the time to begin to unpack all of that, Jotaro swiftly reminded himself as sounds of fighting reach him. Deciding to try and wake Josuke up one last time, he stopped just short of slapping him, impatiently tapping. It eventually worked out, and Josukes eyes cracked open.

"Can you sit up?" Jotaro asked, hesitant on leaving Josuke laying out in the open. He was meet with a confused blink, hazy eyes finally focus in on Jotaro.

"Wha... What?"

Damnit. Fine then.

"Ugh, just... Stay here."

Carefully, he lowered Josuke to the ground, mindful to not jostle him any more than necessary, before standing back up. Throwing him one last glance, Jotaro ran over to where the fight was beginning to die down. Curiously, Avdol, Polnareff and Kakyoin all had there stands out, while the thugs didn't seem to have any. They could definitely see the stands though, and seemed to be alternating between attacking the stands, then the users.

"Jotaro!" Kakyoin called from where he was wrapping up one of the attackers, one with a obnoxious orange coat, in the tendrils of Hierophant Green. " They didn't call any stands out, but they can still see them! We need to watch out in case their stands are long range."

"Owww!!! Why you-" Polnareff's voice called out beside Jotaro, and he turned to see Polnareff clutching his wrist while Silver Chariot was alternating between slicing and punching another thug with extreme prejudice.

"That jackass kicked my wrist! It felt like he smashed it with a brick!" He held the limp appendage closer to his chest. " It better not be broken!"

Just then, the man on the ground lunged upwards, hands balled into fists and snarling as he swung towards Jotaro. He must have thought that Jotaro was the easier target since he doesn't have a stand out. Tch, Idiot.

Easily catching the wild strike in his hand, Jotaro's eyes widened as he felt the man begin to push him back, overpowering his normal strength. No way that was natural, there had to be a stand making him stronger.

Gritting his teeth, he called out Star Platinum, who materialized in between the grappling men. Eager to defend their user, they let out a loud "ORA" before their first cracked into the man's face, sending him flying back, then crumpling to the ground in an unconscious heap. Star turned and smiled, while Jotaro

Polnareff watched the man collapse and cracked a grin. "One out, three to go."

"Well, not really." Jotaro turned, and Kakyoin approached them with a proud look, pointing behind himself where two of the men laid slumped beside each other. "Hierophant and I took care of those two, and Avdol already is finished with the last one." Hierophant Green appeared behind Kakyoin and wrapped their green tendrils around their user, like a makeshift scarf, looking rather pleased with themselves.

"Why do you think they tried attacking that Higashikata kid anyway?" Polnareff started, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I mean, why would you try to murder someone out in the middle of a street? C'mon," Polnareff shrugged. "It's not exactly the most hidden place here. Wouldn't it have been better to chose somewhere a little more... isolated?"

"Maybe they weren't trying to kill him." Avdol respond. "They could have been trying to rob him or threaten him in some way..."

"That doesn't explain how strong they were. One punched me and I had to have Star help me block it. They were way to strong to be not have a stand." Jotaro frowned, and crouched down beside the nearest attacker. "If we can get one of them to wake up, we can interrogate them and see why-"

"Wait... Jotaro, look," Avdol cut him off sharply, eyes narrowed as he stared down at the nearest thug. Glancing back down, Jotaro stared at the man, looking for what was wrong.

The man looked... really pathetic, if Jotaro was being honest. His nose was broken, blood dripping out, and his clothes appeared to have been dragged through the mud. His hair was dirty and limp, splayed out around him on the ground. He even had drool running down his face.

Wait.

That was not drool.

Jumping back, Jotaro watched with disgust as... something slimy crawled out of the guys mouth, a yellow trail following it's path. It resembled a small slug, and as soon as it plopped out onto the pavement, it wiggled in place, flailing, before disappearing.

Eww. Also,

What the absolute hell?

"So, I think that was the stand." Kakyoin started, unease showing on his face. Jotaro nodded, then looked at the other thugs. All had similar slime trails on their face.

"I don't think any of them were the user. Do you think that maybe the slugs were controlling them somehow?" He wondered aloud, and didn't miss the way Kakyoin and Polnareff's faces grew somber.

"Like the fleshbud." Kakyoin said sharply, and Jotaro nodded again. Polnareff scowled, and Avdol put a hand on his shoulder, a show of silent support. None of them had fond memories of mind control.

"So there's a stand out there that basically is Dio all over again? Of course! Why not!!" Polnareff exclaimed angrily, kicking a rock in frustration.

"If these people, "Avdol gestured to the unconscious lumps on the ground, "Actually where being controlled, we have another issue at hand. Why would Josuke be targeted by a stand user why he doesn't have one himself?"

"He can't even fight back. Damnit." Jotaro sighed and turned back to where Josuke was still of the ground.

Walking over, Jotaro hoped that the kid wasn't unconscious, as he really didn't want to have to deal with an ambulance right now. Crouching down beside Josuke, with Kakyoin to his right, he started,

"Hey, are you awake?" Jotaro internally winced at his own harsh tone. Luckily, Josuke's eyes slowly opened, and he stared wearily at Kakyoin, then slide his eyes to Jotaro. This time, he had more awareness, which was good, but that also meant he probably recognized Jotaro from the library, which wasn't good.

After a moment Josuke let out a unsure "Yeah..." Still trying to process what's going on.

"Ok that's good. Do you think you can stand up?" Kakyoin asked, while Hierophant gently poked at Josuke's chest with a few tendrils, gingerly feeling for anything broken before drawing themselves back.

"I'm- I'm not sure?" He responded shakily, before trying to push himself up. Immediately, Josuke winced and his arms gave out, wheezing a bit as he tried to catch his breath.

"I'm going to take that as a no." Kakyoin said flatly, before turning to Jotaro. " I don't think anything's is broken, but he might have a concussion." The unsung question floated between them for a moment, neither of them wanting to leave Josuke here, but if they went to a hospital, they would want to involve the police.

Avdol walked over from where he and Polnareff had been looking for clues on the stand users identity.

"Jotaro, Polnareff and I are going to see if the attacker is in the vicinity. We may be able to catch them if they are close enough." Avdol was careful with his words, aware that Josuke was awake and didn't know anything about stands.

That made sense. If the stand user had a limited range, then he would have to be hiding somewhere nearby. They could catch them if they were fast enough.

"We'll stay with him until we can find someone to get him." Jotaro said, gesturing towards Josuke. "I'll call when we are ready."

They walked off, and Jotaro glanced back to Josuke.

"Do you have anyone who can take you home?"

"Oh... no, I'm sorry." Jotaro frowned, and Josuke quickly continued, " But I can walk! I live close to here, and I was already heading home earlier, before all of... This."

" ... Are you sure?" Jotaro asked, unable to keep skepticism from coloring his tone.

"Just give me a minute, I'll be out of here in no time!"

"I don't think it a good idea for us to stay in the middle of the road." Kakyoin began to slide his arms under Josuke's shoulders, and tendrils of Hierophant Green wrapped around Josuke's upper arm, ready to assist when called. "I'm Kakyoin, by the way, and this is Jotaro. We going to help you get up now, ok?"

"That's fine. I'm Josuke"

Jotaro took it as his que to help, and went to the other side of Josuke to support him. They began lifting him as gently as they could to his feet, with the unseen help of Hierophant Green stopping Josuke's legs from buckling out underneath him.

As soon as he seemed to be stable enough they let go, but it was clearly to early for that, as Josuke immediately pitched forward, falling again.

Star Platinum lunged and caught him, and Jotaro scrambled to follow his stands movements, not wanting Josuke to realize he was being held by (from his view) thin air.

"Ha... Sorry about that!" Josuke mumbled, a light blush spreading across his face as Jotaro looked down at him, still propped up in his arms. Huffing, he threw Josuke's arm over his shoulder, Kakyoin doing the same.

The all started walking, and had gone a few meters when Josuke asked,

"Hey, uh... Jotaro? Why did you chase me at the library that one time?"

Oh no.

Ok Jotaro, think fast

"I thought I recognized you."

Damnit, this was more of Joseph's thing. Jotaro didn't like coming up with lies on the spot, so he could only hope it didn't sound too fake. Besides, it wasn't 100% a lie, as Josuke did remind Jotaro of his grandfather. Not the reasoned he had chased him, but still.

Luckily, Josuke either believed him or didn't care, and didn't pry for more answers. Jotaro frowned again as he realized how far away he was getting from Avdol and Polnareff. If they managed to find the stand user, Jotaro wanted to make sure that they had backup.

"We have to get back to our friends. If we left you here, do you think that you could get home by yourself?" He pointed in the direction of a little coffee shop that the were approaching.

"Yeah, that would be great!" Josuke replied cheerily, but Jotaro could hear the exhaustion in his voice. " And I'm sorry again for-"

"Stop apologizing." Jotaro cut off. It's not like Josuke was doing this intentionally, so why waste his time with a apology?

As soon as they approached the door, Jotaro kicked it open and dragged Josuke inside, while Kakyoin walked up to the counter. Scanning the room, Jotaro marched over to a empty window seat and Josuke quickly sat down, looking happy to get of his feet.

"Go straight home after this, ok? We don't know why those guy targeted you, so we don't know if they will try it again." Jotaro needed to make sure that Josuke understood that this is serious, even though he couldn't tell him everything.

Josuke winced, uncomfortable at the suggestion.

"Uh- Maybe they were just trying to rob me? It might be a one time thing?" He hesitantly replied, but Jotaro just stared, undeterred.

Kakyoin appeared behind Jotaro, and held out a drink, before placing it in Josuke's hands.

"I didn't know if you drink coffee or not, so I got you a hot chocolate. We probably should be leaving now." He said while beginning to walk towards the door. Jotaro nodded in response and moved to follow him.

"Really?? Wow, thank you so much!!" Josuke beamed, staring at his beverage with wide eyes before looking back at them.

"No problem. Goodbye Josuke!" Kakyoin returned the smile, then walked out. Jotaro paused for a moment before doing the same.

Now, to find a stand user.

Chapter Text

_________

Jotaro was frustrated.

So far, they had nothing.

The Speedwagon foundation detained the thugs after the fight, taking samples of what was left of the yellow slime and hoping to find out some more about the strange slug stands. They had interrogated them, but it turns out they didn't remember anything from the past week. The guys didn't even have stands, so it proved to be useless and they were released within a day. Jotaro and Kakyoin had combed through police reports and security footage, trying to find anything suspicious or out of place, while Avdol and Polnareff had asked around campus, hoping to learn of something that maybe would be too weird to report. Again, nothing.

It was torture.

Ok, maybe Jotaro was exaggerating, but he deserved to feel a little irritated right now.

Besides, they still had some options to find some information, which was why he was currently calling his grandfather.

Standing on the balcony of his apartment, Jotaro looked out at the fall scenery with a passive expression. On any another day, he might have appreciated the mesmerizing autumn colors, leaves swaying in a gentle breeze, but right now he was currently trying to call his grandfather, (begrudging) asking for his help in finding the stand user. Speaking of which, if he would just answer his phone...

"Hello, this is Joseph Joestar!" And, there he is.

"Jiji, it's Jotaro."

"Ah, and hows my favorite grandson doing?"

"I need you to meet with me, in person."

A pause.

"Is it about that stand you saw the other day?"

"No, this is a new one." Jotaro sighed, remembering that he hadn't told Joseph about the fight or the slugs. "Remember the fleshbud? We think it works similar to that."

"Hmm..." Joseph's tone grew somber, silent for a moment before continuing, "I'll have to talk to Suzie, but I should be there in a few days. Did you find out anything else?"

"No."

Joseph let out a laugh at his short response.

Jotaro heard shuffling on the other side of the phone, like someone was moving paper stacks. He waited for the noise to stop before saying

"I am going to need you to look into the other stand user too. He was attacked the other day, and we are trying to find out why."

"The one you meet at the library? Wasn't he called... Jessie or something?"

Jotaro rolled his eyes at the butchered name.

"Josuke. Josuke Higashikata."

Immediately, Jotaro heard violent hacking flood his ear, and he pulled his phone away in surprise. What, was the old man choking?

"Oi, Jiji, what's happening?" He demanded, ignoring his growing concern.

"What did you, *cough* What did you say his name was?!"

Raising an eyebrow, Jotaro repeated, slower this time, "Higashikata, Josuke."

Joseph inhales sharply, but doesn't start coughing again, so that's good.

"I have to- I'vegottagobyeJotaro!!" Joseph rushes, and before Jotaro can get another word in, he hangs up.

Weird.

Jotaro will ask him about that when he gets here, but for now, he doesn't feel like trying to drag answers out of the old man. Joseph is slippery enough as it is, and is damn near impossible to get a straight answer from him when he's actively hiding something, especially over the phone, where he could just hang up when it got uncomfortable.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a soft knocking at his door.

Walking back inside, he headed to the door, wondering who could possible be wanting him right now. Cracking it open, he peaked his head out to be greeted by Noriaki, who had an inpatient look on his face.

"You were supposed to meet me at the library 15 minutes ago."

Oh. Uh... Oops?

He fully opened the door, and Jotaro realizes he had been focusing so much on the mysterious stands dilemma that he forgot about his other plans. Such as his promise to study with the redhead, where both had agreed that it would be a nice break from all of the stress of the stands.

Kakyoin must have sensed his regret, and his faced softened.

"It's alright. Is near lunch anyway, we can just go get something to eat for now."

"Ok. Let me grab my wallet." Jotaro turned, intending on going to grab the item, but halted before he bumped into a bright purple chest. He looked up to see Star Platinum floating behind him, silently watching the exchange with his white hat perched on their wild hair.

"Who said you could come out?" Jotaro asked, seemingly stern, but hints of fondness betrayed the scolding. Star Platinum just grinned, handed him his wallet before trying to ruffle his hair. Rolling his eyes, Jotaro pushed away his stand, who's smile grew wider before they placed Jotaro's hat back in it's respective position, then faded away.

A soft snort was heard behind him, and Jotaro turned back to Kakyoin, who was (attempting) to hide his laugh at Stars antics.

"I don't want to hear it." He says roughly, slamming his door shut and pulling his hat low, hoping it will hide the blush on his cheek.

Kakyoin's laugh just grew louder.

_________

The two took their time, having no need to rush , and simply enjoyed each other's silent company. Today was colder, a sign winter would soon be arriving, and the students seen wandering around were adorned in thick jackets and scarves.

As they began to near a on-campus coffee shop (the food was meh, but they gave college students discounts so whatever), Jotaro paused as he heard a faint noise coming from behind him. Looking back, he was surprised to see Josuke running full tilt in their direction.

"Hey Jotaroooo!!!! Kakyoin!!! Wait!!!" He yelled, steadily getting louder as he drew closer. Jotaro put a hand on Kakyoin's shoulder, ignoring the puzzled look the other gave him, and motioned towards Josuke. Seeing the pompadour clad boy, Kakyoin's expression softened into a smile, and he turned around.

Seeing that they were no longer walking, Josuke let himself slow down to a light jog, cheeks rosey and panting as he tried to draw in a breath.

"Thank you both so much for helping me the other day! I owe you both!" Josuke exclaimed, then dropped into a bow. Jotaro and Kakyoin exchanged glances, the former raising an eyebrow while the latter looked stuck between amused and confused.

"You're welcome." Kakyoin responds, "We are glad to see that you're ok."

Jotaro studied Josuke for a moment, and felt a knot in his chest loosen as he realized that Josuke was doing well. He had a bandaid on his cheek, likely cause by when he hit the ground, and a dark bruise stretched across his hand, but he carried himself with confidence and ease, likely indicating that none of his injuries had been serious. Jotaro almost frowned to himself when he felt the surge of relief swell inside him. Why was he so worried about this kid again?

"It's thanks to you!" Josuke tugged at the end of his jacket, his face donning an embarrassed look as he stared at the ground. "If it wasn't for you, I would have been in serious trouble... Please let me pay you both back somehow!"

Jotaro frowned.

"We didn't help you because we wanted an award." He crossed his arms. " Just... don't get in that situation again."

Josuke let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "It will only be something small! At the very least, let me buy you something to eat in return for your hot chocolate." He continued, the last part of the sentence directed at Kakyoin.

"No, th-" "Well, we were just about to go and grab something to eat. You can come along with us." Kakyoin smoothly interrupted Jotaro, ignoring the glare he got in response.

Jotaro's irritation was paused by the look of excitement that flashed across Josuke's face at the invitation. Damnit, he was getting soft, and his earlier rejection died on his tongue.

"Fine, but keep up." He growled, before turning on his heel and marching off. He heard the sounds of scrambling behind him, then Kakyoin and Josuke appeared on either side of him.

The rest of the short walk was... bearable (almost pleasant, but Jotaro wasn't going to admit that.) Josuke did most of the talking, with Kakyoin and himself occasional interjecting their own questions or stories. He found out that Josuke was from Morioh, (information he filed away for later) and that he was an only child. He was also very, very touchy about his hair, proudly proclaiming that anyone who insulted it should expect a fist to the face.

Josuke was a fan of video games, and as soon as he relayed that information to them, Jotaro watched as Kakyoin's face split into a grin, before enthusiastically responding about his own passion for it. Both of them beamed at each other, and Jotaro resisted rolling his eyes as the two talked rapidly between each other, rambling about their favorite games and consoles.

"- I know, but I really don't need to get a Switch when I can-"

"Hey, we're here." Jotaro cut Josuke off, and the boy's head snapped up to see that they were already standing outside the cafe, the conversation making the time fly by. Snorting at his sheepish expression, Jotaro pushed open the door and strode inside, jacket flowing behind him as he was hit with a burst of warm air radiating out from the room.

This cafe was slightly more spacious than the one he had been forced to dumped Josuke in, and it's walls were painted a soft green, creating a welcoming atmosphere. It wasn't as packed as Jotaro thought it would have been, the only other customers being two men seated in the corner of the room. The closest wore a dark pink jacket and had long, golden hair, braided elegantly down his back, while parts were pinned high on his forehead in rings. The other had an strange red hat on, with a blue arrow pointing down in the middle of it. He was in a dark brown sweatshirt and was talking animatedly to the first, who was listening with a thoughtful expression.

"Do you both drink anything in particular? I was going see if they had hot chocolate here, but if you want something else, I can get it!" Josuke squeezed around him, squinting to study the menu. Jotaro glanced up, reading for a moment before shaking his head.

"He's fine with that," he nodded in Kakyoin's direction, "But get me a water. You just get the drinks, we will pay for our own food." Josuke opened his mouth to protest, but Jotaro shook his head forcefully, so he took the hint and went to order their drinks. After a moment, the Josuke handed the cashier some money and walked over to a empty table with the drinks in hand.

Deciding to try one of the sandwiches, Jotaro then ordered for himself and for Kakyoin, despite his grumbling about how he can do it himself, since he already knew what the redhead liked.

"Really? You do know I have money with me, right?"

"Yep."

Kakyoin huffed, hiding a smile, and turned away, pulling out a chair across from the already seated Josuke.

"Hey, Josuke." He started, as Jotaro sat down next to him. "How did you feel having to travel so far just to attend college? Are you adapting well to being away from your hometown?"

"Yeah, it's great here!" Josuke let out a little laugh, but his face fell slightly, happiness fading. "It only about two hours from here if I wanted to go home, so it's not too bad. I really didn't have much to leave behind anyway... And things are so different here!"

Jotaro raised an eyebrow. "Did you have any friends?" He thought that while Josuke looked like a loner, it could have been that he was just shy, and he surely would have someone that he was friends with, somewhere. But, judging by the way Josuke's face scrunched up, that would be a no.

"Well- Uh- not really? It was just me and my mom. My grandfather died a few years ago and- and I don't know my father." He rushed out the last part, staring down at the floor.

"I'm sorry about you grandfather." Jotaro offered, hoping to steer the conversation away from the somber mess it had become.

Kakyoin apparently didn't get the memo and pressed on, asking, "What about your old classmates?"

Jotaro stiffened and stared out the window, remembering his own old classmates. While they were rarely rude to his face (his intimidating and delinquent nature silenced anyone who did), he would have been an idiot to not know that they whispered things about him behind his back. He knew better than most that just because you're forced to spend time with people, doesn't mean that they will like you.

Josuke paused, and leaned back in his chair for a moment, a look of concentration on his face.

"Now that you say that, I think-"

Josuke stopped.

Jotaro turned back, wondering what was causing him to pause, then frowned as he studied the boy. It was like he was frozen, mouth parted slightly between words and eyes glassy as he stared into nothingness. Kakyoin, also realizing something was wrong, glanced around, trying to find a reason for whatever the hell Josuke was doing.

"Uh, Josuke?"

No response.

"Josuke" Jotaro snapped, careful to keep his voice down. Hesitating for a moment, he then reached out and slapped him on the shoulder. Still nothing.

Well... Desperate times call for desperate measures.

However, just as Jotaro was reaching to down to throw his water at Josuke's face, he bolted up in his seat, blinking rapidly.

"... What were we talking about?" He asked, confusion evident into his voice as he stared at his drink like it might answer his questions.

"Don't worry about it." Kakyoin said, giving Jotaro a look that screamed (we'll talk about this later, just shut up for now) when Jotaro opened his mouth to try and ask what the hell was that.

After that, there was a awkward silence, Jotaro and Kakyoin both focusing on eating while Josuke was lost in thought, eyebrows furrowed as he stared out the window. The cafe was empty now, and the only other noise came from a speaker softly playing music in the corner of the room.

The peace was interrupted by a two people barging into the small shop, banging the door against the wall and sending a rush of cold air into the room.

"Hey Kakyoin! Jotaro!" Polnareff yelled, uncaring to the glare thrown his way by the barista as he and Avdol made their way over to the trio.

"What are you doing here?" Jotaro asked flatly.

Polnareff scoffed. "What, we can't talk to our friends? You hurt me Jotaro." He dramatically swooned into Avdol, who simple sidestepped away from him.

"I saw you in the window as we were walking by." Avdol explained, then gestured to Polnareff. "And he was hungry, so..."

"That's fine." Kakyoin said, finishing the last of his sandwich. " We weren't doing anything either, so feel free to join us."

"You're Josuke, correct?" Avdol asked, acknowledging Josuke who up until then was silent. " My name is Mohammed Avdol, and and this is Jean Pierre Polnareff.

"Wait, I remember you! You both helped save me the other day, right?!" Josuke said excitedly, his face lightning up as recognized the two men.

"Yes, we all happened to be close enough to intervene. I'm glad to see that you're doing ok now."

As soon as Avdol finished his sentence, Josuke stood up with a serious expression on his face, knocking his chair back as he did. He stared at them.

Then, he dropped into a deep bow.

"Thank you both so much!!!"

Jotaro groan, mumbling out "good grief" at Josuke's antics while Kakyoin gently pushed Josuke back down into his seat. Polnareff let out a wide smile at the praise and Avdol politely nodded in acknowledgement.

"No problem! Those guys were idiots anyway, taking them out was a piece of cake!" Polnareff responded.

"I'm sure your hand agrees with that." Jotaro said, eyeing the wrapped appendage.

Polnareff scoffed and waved his uninjured hand. "It's not even broken, just sprained."

Josuke frowned, studying the frenchman's arm. It was wrapped in white bandages from the tip of the palm to the wrist. "Did that happen during the fight?" He asked, his voice softer now and full of regret, as if he thought he was responsible for the injury. Which, given how he has been acting so far, Jotaro wouldn't be surprised if he believed that.

"Yeah," Polnareff started, then, seeing how downtrodden Josuke looked, continued with, "But it's fine now. See?" He wiggled his fingers. Josuke looked slightly less concerned, but not by much. He went on with,

"How have you been treating it? Have you seen a doctor?"

"... No?" Polnareff said, a little abashed, and pursed his lips. "I just wrapped it when I got home."

Josuke looked scandalized by that, and he narrowed his eyes. "Let me see that." At the questioning look he got in response, he explained, "I just took a sports injuries class... Maybe I can help?"

Polnareff hesitated, before laying his hand out on the table. Josuke took it and started to gingerly press at certain points, flipping it over and watching Polnareff for any reaction as he did.

However, after a few minutes, as he was unwrapping a portion of the bandage, Jotaro noticed a pink, armored hand shimmer into existence next to Josuke's own. Polnareff tensed and silently called out Silver Chariot, who stood motionless beside his user. Everyone else froze, save for Josuke, who was unaware of the sudden mood change.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" Josuke asked, mistaking Polnareff's tension as a sign of pain. The pink stand still had yet to fully materialize, but it moved closer to the injured wrist, stopping directly above it. It began to glow a soft gold, but did nothing else.

Jotaro narrowed his eyes, watching and debating on if he should call out Star Platinum, when the hand suddenly clenched, the glow fading, before disappearing all together. Josuke finished rewrapping Polnareff's arm, who was still stiff as a board, and offered a sheepish smile.

"Sorry I can't do anything else. Just make sure to put ice on it and please go see someone if it takes too long to heal." Polnareff held his hand out in front of him and gave it a suspicious stare, looking for anything out of place.

"... Well, thanks I guess."

Josuke nodded, before standing up and grabbing his drink.

"If I don't leave right now, I'm going to be late for my next class. It was nice to see you all again!"

"And you as well." Avdol replied, and Kakyoin continued with a, "Goodbye!"

Jotaro gave a small wave as Josuke walked out, then turned back to the group.

"Polnareff, is your hand ok?" He asked, still suspicious of what the pink stand was doing.

"It's fine. It feels the same, the only difference is that Josuke wrapped it a little tighter." He waved his hand in Jotaro's face, who proceeds to swat it away.

"Why do you think the stand chose then to appear?" Avdol mused, leaning back in his chair. "Most of the time when we see them, they don't really do anything... Why would now be different?"

"And did you see the light it gave off? All of that, only for it to disappear after doing nothing." Kakyoin added.

Jotaro was silent, going over everything in his head. There was no clear reason behind any of this, and it was getting really.... bizarre.

Chapter Text

_________

He was a man on a mission.

Josuke strolled through the massive store, pointedly ignoring the tempting snacks stacked around him in favor of marching straight back to the school supplies section. He was in desperate need of an actual notebook, as his old method of taking pictures and screenshots instead of writing down notes in class was failing him, and his grades were going to continue dropping unless something changes.

Scanning the empty aisles, he turned down one that seemed to have what he was looking for. Staring at the selection, he picked up two notebooks (he cringed slightly at the prices, but he wasn't about to buy a piece of garbage that would fall apart) and began to backtrack to the nearest checkout, flipping absent-mindedly through the blank pages as he walked.

He should have been paying attention, however, because as he began to round a corner, he ran directly into a wall.

Reeling backwards, books falling to the ground, Josuke's arms flung out beside him as he tried to catch himself. Cursing under his breath, he bent down to grab his fallen items and stood up, throwing an irritated glare at what he ran into.

His irritation melted into surprise when he realized that,

1. It's not a wall that he hit, it was a person, and

2. Its a very familiar person, who is currently staring back at him with a bemused expression on his face, apparently unbothered by Josuke walking into him.

"Jo -Jotaro??" Josuke stuttered out, his embarrassment overriding his confusion as a light blush began to spread on his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you!"

Jotaro shrugged, face returning to it's neutral expression. "Don't worry about it."

It had been two days since Josuke had last seen Jotaro, when the had all gotten lunch together. This time he seemed to be alone, no signs of Kakyoin or the others trailing behind him. His hat and large coat were ever present, but today he was also adorned with a, of all things, red scarf wrapped around him.

"So... What are you doing here?" Josuke asked, a little curious as to why he ran into the larger man again.

"Shopping." Jotaro replied, lifting his arms slightly to show the two bags in his hands that Josuke had failed to notice, each filled with groceries. "What about you?"

"Oh! I'm trying to get some extra supplies for my English class." Josuke laughed, adjusting the books in his arms. "It's not the... easiest class, to say the least."

Josuke might have imagined it, but he could have swore a small wince of sympathy flashed across Jotaro's face.

"I remember when I was taking that. You have Mrs. Rembrandt, right?" Jotaro asked, and Josuke gloomily nodded, already thinking about what assignments and homework that lady throws at him. Then, an idea popped into his head.

"Wait... You've already done this before?"

A nod.

"Can you help me with it? Please?"

Jotaro hesitated, but Josuke pushed forwards. This was his chance to raise his grade!

"It won't be too long, just a little? I'll even pay you if you want it!" He continued, voice rising as he tried to get his point across. "I promise I will-"

"Quiet down, we are in the middle of a store." Jotaro snapped, interrupting his speech.

Josuke's face fell, and there was silence for a moment before Jotaro let out a long sigh.

"Ugh, Good grief. One time, ok? And only because I've been through that already, and I know that your professor is an idiot when it come to teaching." Jotaro finally says, relenting.

A wide smile split Josuke's face. This is PERFECT!! He really didn't want to ask any of his classmates for help, and never talked with them unless absolutely necessary. But, since he was already (he hoped) sort of friends with Jotaro, it should be a lot easier for him.

"I'm free all next week, what about you?" Josuke excitedly asked.

"I don't know... I'll ask if Kakyoin can help as well, he is better at it than me." Jotaro replied flatly, before continuing, "I'll need to have some way to contact you."

Josuke snorted, "Yeah, we can't just keep relying on randomly running into each other. I'll give you my phone number."

After they had exchanged numbers, Jotaro shifted slightly, looking down at his bags, and it suddenly dawned on Josuke that he was probably interrupting Jotaro's shopping. Deciding to not bother the man any more than he already has been, he nervously scratched that back of his head before excusing himself,

"It's nice seeing you again Jotaro! I need to be getting home, so bye!" He waved back slightly as he began to walk away. Jotaro mumbled something under his breath before returning the gesture and pulling his hat low, walking in the opposite direction.

Josuke payed for his books, then shove them in his bag and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Shivering, his jacket doing nothing to stop the wind whipping around him and talking away his body heat, he started home, hurrying so he could get out of this awful cold.

Tch, he knew shouldn't have trusted the forecast, and instead should have grabbed his thicker jacket and gloves. Now he felt like his fingers where going to freeze off!

Grip tightening on his jacket, he wrapped it tighter around himself and broke out into a light jog.

________

After Jotaro had finished shopping, he went straight home, hiding his relief about getting out of the chilling wind. Walking up to his door, he frowned with confusion as he realized it was already unlocked. He was certain he locked it that morning, so who-

He was interrupted by a loud crash from inside, followed by muffled cursing.

Rolling his eyes, he stepped inside to see his grandfather clutching the remnants of a broken cup, hastily shoving the pieces into the nearest trashcan. Spinning around, as he bent over to grab the last few bits, he went wide eyes when he realized Jotaro was watching him silently from the doorway.

"AH! JOTARO?!!? You can't scare me like that!" He stammered out, before a quick kick sent the remaining cup shards skidding out of Jotaro's sight.

He let out a sigh, wincing when it sounded more like a snarl.

"Which cup was it?" Jotaro asked, and Joseph gulped.

"Um, I think it was a black one."

"That doesn't narrow it down."

"With a cracked handle."

Jotaro hummed, so at least it wasn't one of the good ones.

"How did you get in." He continued, turning and locking the door before brushing past Joseph to drop his grocery's onto the counter.

"You gave me a key, remember?"

"Only after you begged me for months about it."

Joseph let out an indignant squawk.

"Hey! I did not "beg", I'll have you know! Isn't a grandfather allowed to be worried about his own grandchild?!" He complained, and Jotaro rolled his eyes as he began to unpack the bags, slowly filling shelves and restocking the cabinets.

Joseph rambled on the whole time, bringing up one thing after another despite Jotaro's own lack of input to the conversation. He went from Suzie, to his company, to asking how the Avdol and the others where doing, then back to Suzie. Soon, Jotaro had finished and he sat down across from Joseph, who had yet to stop talking. It felt like he was never going to stop.

Jotaro knew that when his grandfather acted like this, it was for only one reason.

He's hiding something.

"Oi, Jiji." He interrupted, and the rest of Joseph's sentence died in his throat. "What wrong with you."

"What do you mean 'whats wrong with you.'? I haven't done anything. Is this about the cup? I can go get a-"

"That's not what I mean and you know it." Jotaro interrupted again, and Joseph winced, glancing around nervously.

"Uh... Well you see- Um..." He stammered, and Jotaro felt his patience wearing thin.

"Just spit it out." He growled, already preparing himself for the worst. Whatever had his Joseph acting like this wasn't going to be good.

Joseph sighed and looked down, shoulders drooping and looking like a puppet with it's strings cut.

"Jotaro, about Josuk-"

He was interrupted, for the third time, not but Jotaro, but by a loud knocking.

"Oh! That must be Avdol and Polnareff!! I asked them to come by while I took some pictures with Hermit Purple." Joseph exclaimed, already moving to the door. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"This isn't over." Jotaro said with a frown, staring directly at Joseph, before going over to open the door.

"Hey Jotaro!"  Polnareff yelled as he walked inside, Avdol and Kakyoin on his heels.

"Hello Jotaro. Joseph." Avdol greeted from behind the frenchman. "We thought it would be best if we brought Kakyoin as well, seeing as how he is involved in this."

Said person slid around the two to sit down on the couch, throwing a smile at Jotaro as he did.

"Is that my scarf?" Kakyoin asked, eyeing the scarf still wrapped around Jotaro's neck.

"Yeah, you left it here last time." Jotaro pulled it off before tossing it to the redhead. "It pretty warm."

"Yeah, I picked this one out because I liked how thick it was. It's good quality." Kakyoin grinned as he wrapped it around himself.

"Now that everyone is here," Joseph started as they all filed into their own seats, "I'll get started!"

He pulled out an old camera from his bag and set it on the table, then lifted his hand up high and slammed it into the camera in a burst of gold and purple.

_________

Josuke slowed down as he drew near the building, tired from his impromptu workout. Pausing for a moment, he shifted his bag so that the strap was not digging painful into his shoulder before continuing, thinking as he walked.

Josuke did feel a little guilty for essentially strong-arming Jotaro into helping him, but it's not like he had anyone else! He wasn't about to ask his teacher, and the only other person that might help him is Koichi, but he's all the way in Mor-

Koichi could help-

_

K o _ c _ i could-

_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ could-

...

...

Who could help?

...

...

...

And no one could help him in Morioh, so he was out of luck there as well.

Realizing he had paused in the middle of the street, he embarrassedly continued onward.

Stepping inside his apartment building, he let out a sigh of relief as warm air radiating from around him began to thaw his icy hands. Walking up the stairwell, he pushed open the door leading to his floor and went in before halting.

Something felt... Off.

Josuke wasn't sure how to put it, but as he stared down the empty hall, he felt an uncomfortable sensation growing inside him, pleading with him to stop, turn around, and throw himself back outsidе, cold or not.

But why?

Josuke checked behind him again, then scanned the hallway, looking for something he could have missed. Nothing was out of place as far as he could tell, and no one else was around. It was only him.

Maybe he was just being paranoid?

Convinced that his mind was playing tricks on him, Josuke continued down the hall.

_________

The group sat in silence as they waited on the photo in Joseph's hand to finish developing. Jotaro looked at the crumpled remains of the camera and resisted the urge to sigh. They still had yet to find a way that his grandfather could make pictures without destroying a camera, and while they had the Speedwagon foundation to thank for them not having to constantly go and buy an antique camera, it was still a hassle. (How Joseph ever discover this ability of Hermit Purple was beyond him. Did he just have the urge to punch a camera one day?!?)

"It's almost ready everyone! I can see an outline of something..." Joseph trailed off, eyebrows furrowed as he squinted down at the picture. "It's... a door? What?"

"Let me see that." Jotaro reached over and grabbed the picture from Joseph and stared at it with mounting confusion. Joseph was right, it was just a plain white door, but as he looked closer, he could see some more details. The door was slightly cracked open, and a small sliver of the room behind it was visible. Something was on the ground behind it, and the door hand shined oddly in the light. Before he could look any closer, calling out Star Platinum to help, the picture was snatched out of his hand by Polnareff.

"I was focusing on trying to find the slug stand?! I don't understand why it showed a door..." Joseph sat back, a confused expression on his face as he watched the group pass the picture around.

"Let me see it after you're done, I'm going to use Star Platinum to see what's on the ground behind the door. Maybe it will tell-"

"Wait, Jotaro, I know where this is!" Avdol stood up abruptly, face becoming unreadable as he held the picture out in front of him.

"What-" "How- " "Huh? Really-" Everyone talked in front of each other, but they were silenced by a exasperated glare from Avdol.

"Please let me finish." Avdol hands the picture to Jotaro, who looks down at it. "It may not be the same door, but I am certain I have seen a similar door, which might be in the same area as that one." He pointed at the picture.

"Where is it?" Kakyoin asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

_________

Josuke hurried through the hall, anxious to reach his apartment and take haven inside it's familiar rooms. Reaching his door, he hastily unlocked it and stepped inside. As he began to shut the door behind him, he stopped when a cold burst of wind blew from behind him.

Cold?

...

Why was his apartment cold?

Door still cracked open, he turned around to see one of his windows wide open.

_________

"That," Avdol said, "Is one of the doors in Josuke's apartment building."

Jotaro's curiosity vanished, replaced by a cold sinking feeling. And from the looks of the others, it was mutual.

"When we were looking into Josuke a few weeks ago, the Speedwagon foundation gave me his address. I went over for a few minutes to see if I could find anything amiss, but there was nothing."

"Do you think that Josuke and the slug guy live in the same area?" Polnareff asked, his voice rising in pitch as he spoke. "Are they working together? But, Josuke can't see stands, right?"

Jotaro and Star Platinum stared at the picture, both focused intently on the the small opening in the door. He realized that the shining door handle was actually covered in a dripping layer of yellow slime; Joseph's hermit Purple wasn't failing at least. He looked past the door, into the small sliver of the room. The more he looked at it, Jotaro would have swore it was a puddle of something behind it on the floor... But what? It was too dark to be water, and it was almost a dark... red...

Blood.

"Something is happening behind this door. Avdol," His head snapped up, and he forced his face to take on a harsh expression to mask his growing fear. "Can you take us there? If Josuke was targeted by the stand user  before, he might be again, and there is blood on the floor behind this door. I think we caught him in the middle of another attack."

Everyone jumped up, and between all the noise from the pushing and shoving of them trying to squeeze out the door, Avdols, "Yes," was almost unheard by the time the got out of the door.

They turned to Avdol.

"Lead the way." Joseph commanded.

Jotaro stubbornly pushed down his concern (it kept coming back, why nowjustlethimfocusstopdistracting), and focused on pushing himself to go faster, hoping he wouldn't be walking into a nightmare.

_________

Josuke stared in confusion at his open window. He didn't remember ever even touching it, so why would it be open?

Taking a tentative step forward, he quietly placed his bag down before creeping over to the window. It didn't look broken into, the paint and trim untouched, but Josuke did notice a strange yellow slime coating the bottom seal.

As he stared, confused as to what he was looking at, he failed to notice the movement behind him.

Something slammed into his head from behind.

He slid to the floor, never even getting the chance to understand what was happening before his vision faded to black.

Chapter Text

_________

They all ended up cramming themselves into Joseph's car, Avdol and Joseph in the front seat while Jotaro, Polnareff and Kakyoin had to almost sit on top of each other, stuffed into the back. Jotaro might have found it slightly more amusing if the situation wasn't so damn dire.

For the second time this month, he was running to (hopeful) save someone from a stand that Jotaro still knew absolutely nothing about, and he was starting to get pissed. The entirety of the ride was silent, everyone strung to tight to try and alleviate any of the tension, and even Polnareff sat motionless, face twisted into a deep frown. Jotaro's glad no one was speaking, because he wasn't sure if he could stop himself from snapping at the first person who tried filling the space with useless small talk.

Jotaro could tell Avdol was going as fast as he could, with a few red lights being pointedly ignored in favor of not loosing the car's momentum, but it felt like a snail's crawl. Frowning, he resisted the urge to growl as his impatience tried to make itself know.

Star apparently felt no such inhibitions, as a purple fist appeared and began to crush the handle on the door.

'Hey, not now,' he mentally snapped, knowing Star could hear him. The hand retreated, but Jotaro could feel his stands displeasure echoing back at him. 'I know, but wait a little longer and we can do something actually productive.' Star gave him the mental equivalent of an eyeroll, but didn't continue.

He wasn't the only one with an overeager stand it seemed, because Kakyoin, who was wedged in between Jotaro and Polnareff, was almost completely draped in tendrils of Hierophant Green. The stand twisted and grabbed the nearest object with every bump. The majority of the time, however, that's nearest object ended up being Jotaro.

As more and more strands began to twine up his arms, Jotaro had half the mind to tell Kakyoin to call off his stand, but a quick glance at the other man made him stop. Hierophant, while still spread out around the car, had wrapped part of itself around Kakyoin's lower stomach, forming a protective barrier.

It was directly over... that injury.

The one Dio gave him.

The one that almost killed him.

Pulling his hat lower, he decided to keep his mouth shut even as Hierophant began to wrap around his shoulders. If Kakyoin wanted his stand out, then who is he to care. Kakyoin did chastise the green stand when it tried latching onto the back of Avdols seat, nearly scaring the man into swerving into a ditch, but other than that did nothing else.

After what took entirety to long in Jotaro's opinion, Avdol pulled wildly into a small parking lot behind a row of apartments. Nearly ripping the door off the car as he stepped out, ignoring Joseph's scandalized, " HEY!!! Be gentle!" he turned to Avdol, a heavy frown still dominating his expression.

"Do you remember which one it is? We don't have time to search each one together if you don't, we'll need to split up if-"

"Wait Jotaro, look." Kakyoin interrupted, pointing to the side of one of the buildings.

A man was running around the corner, eyes wild as he twisted around, searching for something. He looked out of place, wearing something you would see at a high end restaurant rather than in the middle of the day and dirty blond hair pulled back in a small ponytail. When he caught sight of the group, his crazed expression morphed into a snarl and he jumped back.

"You again? Ugh, damnit!" He yelled, before turning and bolting the other way.

Jotaro's eyes narrowed.

Time stopped.

Before the others could even move, the beginning of hermit Purple and Hierophant reaching out to ensnare the man, Jotaro was already on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Maybe calling out Star Platinum to stop time was overkill (he didn't even see a stand yet) but he was angry, and since the man under his foot right now had something to do with this anger, he felt slightly justified taking it out on him.

"Jeez Jotaro, you gotta let him breath a little!" Polnareff joked as the others ran up around him.

Rolling his eyes, he glanced between the building and the man still struggling under him, debating on what to do.

"Avdol, take Kakyoin and Joseph to see if Josuke is ok. Polnareff is staying with me to get some answers out of him." He ordered, jerking his head towards the man.

Kakyoin and Avdol nodded, turning to make their way inside, but Joseph paused.

"Are you sure? I could tie him up with Hermit Purple..."

"No, if something happened to Josuke he could need your sunlight crap-"

"You mean hamon?"

"Shut up and just go with them."

As they ran into the building, Jotaro stepped off the man and roughly hauled him up, shoving him back as soon as they made it apparent to him that he was not escaping, glaring suspiciously at the man.

"How did you find me again?!" The man cried incredulously as he stumbled away from the two.

"You're making it clear to us that you already knew who we are, so talk, now." Jotaro said, emphasizing his word's with a threatening step forward, Star Platinum eagerly by his side and smiling coldly at the man.

"I don't have to tell you anything! And I'm not going to either!" He said shakely, trying to keep a confident exterior, but failing as he glanced nervously between Jotaro and Polnareff.

"Hmm, try again?" Polnareff put a hand under his chin, as if contemplating something. Silver Chariot materialized beside him, and faster than Jotaro's eyes could track, the tip of their blade was positioned under the man's neck. "I think I misheard you. You were saying that you are going to tells us what you're doing here, yes?"

Jotaro resisted the urge to roll his eyes again at the frenchman's theatrics. The man audibly gulped, taking a step back that was copied into double by the two stands. Some people apparently needed encouragement before they would talk, and Jotaro was all too happy to give it to the man via his fists, but before he could, the man doubled over, clutching the sides of his suit as small sounds of... laughter came from him.

"Oi, what's wrong with you?" Jotaro growled, wondering what the hell was the man's game. Was he trying to lower Jotaro's guard? Or was his nerves getting to him?

"I'm not- I'm not even here, assholes!!" He wheezed out, and as Jotaro and Polnareff shared a look of confusion, the man crumpled to the ground, Silver Chariot darting back to not slice the man on the way down.

"What the hell? What are you trying to..." Polnareff's stepped forward but paused as the man began spasming on the ground. If he was having a seizure, Jotaro thought, than this was the absolute worst time for it, but after a moment something familiar caught Jotaro's eye, crawling out of the man's mouth.

"Wait, get away from him." Jotaro said sharply, stepping back as Polnareff also scrambled away, learning a long time ago to trust Jotaro's judgment. They both watched in disgust as a small, yellow slug plopped out of the man's mouth and writhed pitifully on the ground.

They continued to stare before Polnareff broke the silence.

"Eww... So I guess we won't be getting anything else out of him?" He nervously joked, the tip of Chariots sword poking the slug, which was rapidly disappearing.

Jotaro scowled and pulled his hat low, anger filling him once again as he realized that Polnareff was right. Another chance to get information was gone, all because this stupid stand can disappearing at any time without consequences. He didn't feel like having to go track down the user, but when he did, that fool was going to get the beating they deserve.

Cowards that use people like puppets infuriate him.

They are no better than Dio.

A small noise on the ground drew his attention back to the man. He was groggily pushing himself upright with a sleepy expression.

"How... much did... I drink?" He looked around in confusion. Jotaro sighed and crouched down in front of the man.

"Hey, listen." He ordered, and the man gulped, looking at Jotaro with fear in his eyes. "Tell us the last thing you remember. Now."

"I- I don't remember anything!" The man stammered, "I thought I was going out to eat... Did I really drink that much?"

"Where."

"W-what?"

"Where did you go to eat." Jotaro nearly growled, patience growing thin.

"I don't- I can't remember-"

Of course. Damnit.

"Go home." Jotaro stood up and turned to the buildings, beginning to walk away from the man. Polnareff glanced between the two before shrugging and following Jotaro.

"So... We're just going to leave him?" Polnareff questioned as he caught up to Jotaro.

"He can walk."

"...If you say so."

Kicking the door open, which wasn't necessary, but Jotaro needed to get his anger out, he paused as he realized that he didn't know where Josuke's apartment was.

"Polnareff," He leveled the older man with a stare. "Text Avdol and have him tell us where they are."

"Ok, but why sound so serious Jotaro?" Polnareff teased as he dug around in his pockets. "Aww, are you worried for Josuke?"

"Polnareff, if you don't shut the fuc-"

"OK SORRY!!!"

_________

Kakyoin was silent as he hurried behind Avdol, Hierophant trailing after him. He wasn't really sure how he felt right now, he wasn't worried per say. More like... apprehensive.

After Dio, he promised himself not to let anyone control him in such a way ever again. Knowing someone was out there with a power frighteningly similar to the one that upended his life was alarming, and seeing that the victims weren't even stand users made it worse.

"We are here." Avdol stopped abruptly, Magician's Red floating cautiously beside him. Joseph and Kakyoin nodded, with Kakyoin taking a half step forward to look at the door. It was cracked open, just like in Joseph's picture, and the handle was covered in a disgusting yellow slime that made Kakyoin grimace.

"I'll go in first. I don't think anyone is still any here, but if they are, Hierophant Green would be best at apprehending them." He warned as he stepped around the two and slowly pushed the door open.

Peering inside, he looked cautiously inside the cold room before his eyes widened, taking in the sight in front of him.

Josuke laid still on the ground, a small pool of red growing under his head. He was in his side, blood caked on his forehead, and was so pale that for a moment Kakyoin would have swore he was already dead. Panic gripped him, and he almost ran across the room, desperate to get to him if it wasn't to late.

Above him, however, was the armored, pink stand, floating over the boy like a protective mantle. As Kakyoin took another step inside, their eyes shot up to him, and he froze.

They were furious.

Kakyoin has been the object Star Platinums anger only once, and that was an experience he never wanted to repeat. But this stand... It's gaze held a promise of only death for whoever crossed it's path. Whatever their ability was, Kakyoin had no doubt that it would be destructive. Hierophant wrapped itself tighter around Kakyoin as he took a half step forward, eyes still trained on the pink figure, debating what to do.

It lunged.

Kakyoin threw himself backwards, hissing as his back crashed painfully into the wall, his companions yelling around him. The stand grabbed his shoulders, unflinching every as Hierophant threw themself into them, tangling itself around their armored arms and squeezing in an attempt to get them off of Kakyoin.

"KAKYOIN," Avdol yelled, as Magician's Red prepared to unleash a volley of flames, "DUCK WHEN-"

"Wait!" He ordered, despite the two's confused "what's?" he got in response.

The stand's anger, while still there, had seemed to have taken the back burner, and their face was twisted into a mournful frown as they stared down Kakyoin. They almost looked... pleading?

He tugged experimently against the stands grip. They didn't budge.

"Do you want something?" Kakyoin asked stiffly, silently asking Hierophant to stop their attempt at choking the other stand.

They stared at Kakyoin, bright blue eyes almost glowing despite the shadow cast by their helmet. Starting to think the stand wasn't going to respond, Kakyoin was surprised when they broke their hold on him and pointed at Josuke, still unmoving on the ground.

"Do you want me to help him?" He questioned, and the pink stand nodded, and the anger that still lingered on them melted away, pure sadness taking its place as they seemed to fold in on themselves, staring at Josuke.

The pure suddeness of the swap between intense emotions, anger and sorrow, almost gave Kakyoin whiplash. Most of the stands he interacted with expressed their feelings through small, unnoticed action. Like how Silver Chariot would occasional twirl their sword when pleased, or how Star Platinum liked helping Jotaro clean (a sight that he had swore to never tell anyone.) But this stand seemed like an open book, apparently finding no need to hide how it felt.

"Ok... We are going over to him now. Don't attack us." Kakyoin said, pointing at Avdol and Joseph, who where watching the exchange with narrowed eyes, minds obviously whirring at the interaction.

The stand eagerly nodded once more, and Kakyoin nearly jumped back into the wall again as the stand, much more gently this time, grabbed him and began dragging him over to Josuke.

"Uh- Hey- I can walk!" He protested, but he was already standing over Josuke by the time he could get the words out.

"Don't do that again!" He said, slightly annoyed, Hierophant emphasizing his point by poking accusingly into their pink chest.

The stand turned away, a sheepish look on their face before fading away, and Kakyoin pushed back the guilt that began forming within him at the sight of the admonished stand. Instead, he dropped down beside Josuke and slowly felt over the boys head.

"Joseph, what can your hamon do?" He murmured, worry filling him as his fingers danced over a deep cut on Josuke's head. He wasn't sure if they should take him to a hospital or not...

"Let me see him." Joseph walked up and crouched beside him. After a moment, examining Josuke with uncharacteristic seriousness, he looked up and said, "I think I can help him. We need to get him off the ground first."

Kakyoin nodded and they, with the help of Hierophant who was serving as a brace, wrapping around Josuke a few times, lifted him up and set him on his bed, pushing the rest of his belongings off to make space. Avdol was standing guard by the door, watching to ensure no one would sneak up on them, but Kakyoin could see the unease on his face.

"How bad is he Kakyoin?" He asked, watching as Joseph tried unsuccessfully to get a better look at the gash on Josuke's forehead without destroying the pompadour.

Oh well.

Hopefully Josuke wouldn't be too mad at them.

"I couldn't find anything else wrong other than a blow to his head. That's what knocked him out." Kakyoin didn't miss the way Avdol minutely relaxed at the news. He guessed Josuke had grown on him as well. "I think that the intruder was only trying to search Josuke's apartment for some reason, but he was surprised when Josuke caught him in the act."

Josuke's apartment, now that Kakyoin had gotten a better look at it, had definitely been trashed. Almost every draw and cabinet were open, and papers and books where flung around carelessly. It would be a pain to clean up.

Hierophant, while being useful earlier, had yet to unwind itself from around Josuke and was beginning to get in Joseph's way.

"Come on. Get off of him." No response. If his stand was fully formed, Kakyoin had the feeling they would be glaring at him.

"Now." He ordered.

His stand slowly, begrudgingly, disappeared, but Kakyoin rolled his eyes at his stands dramatic behavior. Just because you're worried doesn't mean you can bother people.

Mr. Joestar was beginning to use his hamon, sparks of gold intertwined with strands of Hermit Purple which where putting light pressure around the cut, and Kakyoin watched in fascination as it slowly but surely began to close, leaving pale scar tissue in its place. They where all silent as Joseph worked, no one really feeling up to filling the quiet space.

"Well..." Joseph started after he was done, checking Josuke over one last time. "He's lucky he's so receptive to hamon. His body took over at one point and finished the healing for me!"

"Really?" Kakyoin interrupted, gazing curiously at Joseph. "I thought you said hamon didn't work like that on normal people."

"Uh, well, yes but-" Mr. Joestar stammered, a nervous laugh leaving him. "Um... maybe someone in his family used it? In the past? You now, like one of his ancestors or something."

"Really? How far back do you think-" Kakyoin paused, a small movement caught the corner of his eyes. "I think Josuke's waking up." He said, much quieter this time.

Josuke shifted again, mumbling something incoherent before his eyes slowly slide open. He stared, dazed at the ceiling above him before his gaze shifted to Joseph, still hovering beside the bed.

"Uh...... Who are.... you?" He slurred, squinting as he tried to place the other man. Kakyoin took that as his que to intervene.

"Hey Josuke," he called, and Josuke sat up slowly to face him, his expression brightening as he recognized the redhead.

"Kakyoin?" He asked, his voice a little clearer this time, but still holding a confused edge to it. "What are you doing here?"

Everyone blanked.

Glancing nervously between Joseph and Avdol, he frantically tried to come up with an excuse as to why he was in Josuke's apartment after the owner of said apartment was literally unconscious from someone breaking into his apartment minutes ago without incriminating themselves.

"I was searching for a new apartment!" Joseph replies with a laugh, hiding his nervousness. "We walked by yours, saw you collapsed on the floor and panicked. I'm glad to see that you're ok!"

"Really? I don't remember anything..."

"Oh yeah, that's what happened! Are you ok now?" Joseph waved him off before continuing, concern coloring his voice. "We think you hit your head pretty hard."

"He's right." Avdol said as he walked over from the door, smiling politely at Josuke who let out a startled "You too?"

"You weren't doing well when we found you. Do you think anything else is hurt?" Avdol asked kindly, and Josuke frowned, looking down at himself.

"No... I feel normal now, my head's still a little sore but I think it's ok..."

"Still?" Joseph questioned, leaning closer, "Here, let me see it again-"

"Ah- Uh, No thanks!" Josuke said with a nervous laugh, scooting away from Joseph's outstretched hands and he reached with his own to feel his head. "I don't want my... hair..." He stopped, eyes wide.

He patted his head once more, fingers pausing in the space where his pompadour normally perched, now gone, locks flowing freely around his face.

"What haPPENED TO MY HAIR!!!!" He exclaimed, panicking as jumped off the bed, staggering before catching his balance, pushed past Kakyoin, and ran straight into what Kakyoin assumed to be the bathroom, slamming the door behind him as he went.

Joseph tilted his head in confusion at the space Josuke had filled moment's ago.

"Is that normal?"

Kakyoin snorted.

"For him."

A muffled "OH NO!!!!!" Was heard from the bathroom, followed by fainting cursing and the sound of cabinets being thrown open.

"Jotaro and Polnareff should be up in a minute, " Avdol started, lips pursed as he stared down as his phone. "Apparently the man we intercepted was being controlled by the slugs, and they weren't able to get any information out of him..."

Kakyoin frowned.

Of course it couldn't be easy.

While Josuke was preoccupied, Kakyoin decided to help reorganize the mess that the room had become, Hierophant fetched paper towels from who knows where and cleaned up the drying blood on the floor. Joseph put everything knocked off the bed back on it, and Kakyoin and Avdol had just finished putting the last of the books on a shelf (he was hoping it's was where it came from, it's not like he had seen the room before it had gotten trashed )when Josuke re-entered the room.

"Sorry about that!" He said with a nervous smile, hair haphazardly thrown into what vaguely resembled his normal hairstyle, strands still hanging out. "I had to get this," pointing up at his hair, "Back under control."

"It's alright. We're just glad to see that you ok." Kakyoin replied. "By the way, this is Joseph Joestar. He's Jotaro's grandfather." He pointed at Joseph, who waved happily.

"It's nice to meet you!" Josuke laughed, turning to shut the still open window. "Anyway, it's thanks to you all that I'm ok! It's the second time that you saved me, it's almost creepy! I wonder why I passed out anyway..." He continued, a look of concentration appear on his face. Kakyoin shifted nervously. They couldn't call the police (or an innocent man would probably be going to jail), so hopefully Josuke will forget about what happened.

Just then, footsteps was heard from down the hall, and they all turned just in time to see Jotaro and Polnareff come barreling into the room, both breathing hard from running.

"Why did you have to run Jotaro? I'm not young anymore, I can't go galavanting around like a 25 year old!" Polnareff whined as they finally caught their breath.

"Shut it, you're not that old anyway." Jotaro snapped before finally acknowledging the others. Scanning the room, probably to check if they missed any clues (as if, Hierophant was very thorough), he paused when he made eye contact with Josuke, who was staring, confused at the twos sudden arrival.

"Josuke."

"Jotaro! And Polnareff! It's nice to see you again!" Josuke grinned after a moment. "Second time today right? I wish it was under better circumstances..." He continued, the last part directed at Jotaro.

"Wait... You two met today?" Kakyoin asked, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

Jotaro grunted, pulling his hat low. "I was shopping early and ran into him." He explained, before marching up to Josuke. He looked the smaller boy over, ignoring the puzzled expression he got in response, before staring seriously into his eyes.

"Are you ok?" He asked slowly, and Josuke squirmed, blushing under Jotaro's intense scrutiny.

"I-Im fine, see!" He assured Jotaro, who frowned and turned to Kakyoin to confirm Josuke's statement.

"He's okay now." Kakyoin started, careful not to reveal to much. "He thinks he collapsed earlier, he can't remember much."

Jotaro got the message and just nodded, satisfied that Josuke was out of danger, and didn't press for anymore information. After a moment, he sighed and walked back to the door.

"If you're ok now, I think we should be going." Joseph said, walking over to stand by Jotaro, the others following, and Kakyoin gave Josuke one last smile before joining them.

"We don't want to bother you if you're under the weather after all!" Avdol continued, "Get some rest, Ok?" Before ducking out of the door. Polnareff and Joseph both have quick, "Byes!", Which Kakyoin followed with his own, but right before they left, Jotaro yelled,

"And get some locks for your windows." Before shutting the door behind him, cutting off Josuke's reply.

_________

Josuke stared confused at the door for a few moments after they had left. How did Jotaro know his windows didn't lock? Also, he was on the 3rd floor, it shouldn't be that much of an issue... After all, who would put in the effort to climb all the way, just to get in his apartment?

Eh, he'll still get them. Guess it's better to be safe than sorry!

Pulling out a piece of paper from his desk, slightly confused to see other books strewn inside the drawer, (he doesn't remember putting those there...) He wrote down locks for his next shopping trip.

He also doesn't recall ever passing out like that before, which was sort of alarming, but as long as he doesn't start doing it regularly then it shouldn't be a problem. Maybe he just needed to eat something... But, wow, did he have a strange dream when he was out!

Someone was being forced to light themselves on fire! And what even weirder, they looked like they were made of paper! Josuke couldn't remember many of the details, but he did remember the horror and concern as he tried to find a way to get them to stop. He thinks he remembers a fight afterwards? Maybe? But what he felt, it was so vivid...

But the more Josuke tried to think about it, the more memories slipped from his mind. Oh well, he guessed it didn't really matter.

_________

"Huh, that's strange..." Kakyoin murmured, taking off his thick jacket.

"What is?" Asked Jotaro from beside him. They were alone at Jotaro's, the other three leaving in favor of doing who knows what, and Kakyoin was happy to have some alone time with his friend. Even though they would probably end up studying, (Jotaro's doctorate wasn't going to earn itself), it always was fun being with the larger man.

"When we where at Josuke's, I hit my back on the wall, but it doesn't hurt at all." He rubbed his shoulder, surprised by the lack of soreness that he had been expecting.

"Maybe you didn't hit it as bad as you thought?" Jotaro offered and Kakyoin laughed.

"No, at the time it felt like I had been hit with a baseball bat... I wonder how it could have been healed this quickly..."

"Hm, weird."

"Yeah."

Chapter Text

_________

"So everyone! What are we going to do now!" Polnareff cheerily asked as he threw himself on Jotaro's couch, ignoring Jotaro's scowl at the action as he sprawled out across the cushions.

"Well," Kakyoin said while glaring at Polnareff for taking up all the seats, the others pulling up chairs while the man in question refused to move and laid out with a smug grin on his face. "The Speedwagon foundation is already looking into possible locations for the stand user, but they haven't found anything concrete yet."

Polnareff let out a squeak as Kakyoin decided to sit down anyway, crushing the Frenchman's legs. Jotaro ignored the two as it turned into a light brawl on the couch, instead turning to Avdol and Joseph.

"They based their search on a restaurant that the man might have been seen in." Jotaro explained, waving a list the foundation had given him before setting it down on the table. "If we can find out where the stand user decided to possess that man, it could give us a lead."

While the guy they had talked to outside of Josuke's apartment didn't remember much, they were able to piece together some things. He had been dressed to go out somewhere classy, and it was apparently a restaurant, so that had narrowed it down somewhat. Speedwagon employees had been everywhere, asking each restaurant if they had seen anything suspicious or anyone who's description fit the man's.

"The second time Josuke has been attacked. " Avdol mused, staring down at the list, his face pinched slightly with worry. "We need to find out why him in particular."

Jotaro frowned, trying to think of any reason why Josuke would be a target.

He wasn't rich as far as Jotaro could tell, and he didn't seem like the type to pick fights that could leave someone with a grudge against him.

Well, excluding his hair.

But would that be enough to spur someone into literally breaking into your house in retaliation?

Probably not.

And besides, if someone, with the power to literally possess people, decided that the best way for revenge against a beat down was to lightly trash your house and knock you out, Jotaro would honestly be a little disappointed by the lack of creativity.

It looked more like the stand user was trying to get some information on Josuke. But again, why? The only other thing that made Josuke a target was his stand, but it's not like he can even use the thing. He can't even see stands!

...But any other stand user could see his.

Could that be it?

"I have an idea why they're after Josuke." Jotaro started, the conversation silencing as everyone turned to him.

"Josuke can't control when his stand is out, right? It could be that the stand user got his stand naturally. He might have never known that other people can have stands, so if he saw Josuke with his..." He trailed off.

"He probably would see Josuke as a threat." Avdol finished for him. Jotaro nodded grimly.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why he's not after us?" Kakyoin chimed in. "The user would have to know by now that we have stands as well."

"Maybe he thinks of us as more of a threat than Josuke? After all, we've used our stands, while Josuke's has, for the most part, just floated around." Joseph said, twirling Hermit Purple in the air as an example. "He probably views Josuke as easy pickings."

Jotaro sat back again. The explanation made sense, but something still didn't sit right with him. It felt too easy... There had to be something more to it, but what was it? If they just wanted to intimidate or kill Josuke, why search his house? Was it for blackmail? Information?

What else is he missing...

"Ok, so what are we going to do with Josuke." Joseph says after a moment. "He can't even use his stand... well, at least not intentionally, so someone's going to have to protect him."

"Maybe we could have some Speedwagon employees watch him?" Polnareff offers from his new seat on the ground, Kakyoin perched behind him with an innocent smile on his face. "That way, they could tell us when something suspicious is going on."

"True, but not many foundation employees are stand users. There could be something happening that they end up missing entirely because they can't see the threat." Avdol countered. "I say one of us should guard him."

Jotaro scoffed. "So what, now we're babysitting? You want us to just walk up to him and say 'Hey! I hope you don't mind me watching you for no reason!'"

Kakyoin snorted, holding back a laugh at Avdol's eyeroll.

"No, we would have to come up with a reason to be with him. And it doesn't need to be all the time, I was thinking we could try to plan it while we are looking into the restaurants." Avdol explained. "That way, while the others are busy, one of us could be with Josuke incase something goes wrong."

"Jotaro and I should be the ones to do it. We are still in college after all, so it wouldn't be too weird." Kakyoin said. "All we have to do is come up with an excuse to be with him."

Jotaro frowned. He had a perfect reason to be with Josuke, but he didn't really want to be helping with English assignments while everyone else was galavanting around searching for a stand user. Not that he didn't trust his friends to take care of themselves, mind you, but if something did go wrong, he wanted to be there to protect- ahem, he meant assist, them.

"Well..." He begrudgingly began after a moment, "Josuke did ask me to help him with some of his homework."

Everyone paused, sharing a glance before breaking out into a grin that made Jotaro scowl.

"Jotaro the babysitter it is then!" Kakyoin cackled, dodging the pillow thrown his way in response.

Jotaro collapsed back into his chair with a frown."Good grief, I don't want to be stuck with the kid. Why can't someone else do it for now?"

"Now now now Jotaro, you were the one who agreed to help the poor boy after all." Polnareff snickered, before yelping as another pillow, this time courtesy Star Platinum, thudded hard against the frenchman's face

Avdol gave Jotaro a sympathetic smile. "Would you rather we leave him alone?"

...

...No, definitely not. The thought of Josuke being hurt again made something twist unpleasantly in his stomach.

Avdol nodded victoriously, taking Jotaro's silence as confirmation despite his scowl.

He sank further into his chair. He's getting soft now, isn't he.

"Well! That settles it!" Joseph announced. "Jotaro, you tell us when you and Josuke are going to meet up! While you're gone, the rest of us," he pointed at Kakyoin, Avdol, and Polnareff, "Will split into groups of two while we investigate."

"Seems good to me!"

"Ok!"

"I'm fine with that."

"... I guess."

After everyone agreed, Jotaro cleared his throat.

"I was actually going to meet up with Josuke today." He deadpanned. "In about an hour, to be accurate. If you plan on getting anything done, you should be leaving now. Don't do anything stupid."

As they all began heading out the door, Kakyoin must have felt sorry for the disgruntled man, walking over and putting his hand on Jotaro's shoulder.

"It will be fine Jotaro. You don't mind Josuke anyway, that should make it better."

"Teachings more your thing, Noriaki."

"I'm an artist?"

"And I'm a marine biologist."

"Ha, not yet you aren't."

They went back and forth, but Kakyoin must have sensed some of Jotaro's worry, as his expression softened and he pulled Jotaro into a hug. Jotaro froze for a moment before hesitantly returning the gesture, arms wrapping gently around the smaller man.

Star Platinum decided now was apparently impeccable timing to come out, and their bright eyes widened at the sight before them, before sweeping the two into a tight bear hug, nearly knocking Jotaro's feet off the ground.

Jotaro blushed by how excited his stand was, huge purple arms hugging them both with a gleeful expression while Kakyoin just smiled and reached up to pat Star's head.

'tone it down a little' Jotaro asked mentally. Star narrowed his eyes, before his grip got even tighter with a mischievous grin.

"Here, how about you go give Hierophant some attention." Kakyoin wheezed, calling out his own green stand, which proceeded to be tackled in a blur of purple with an excited "ORA!". Star spun around, the feedback making Jotaro slightly dizzy, before picking up Hierophant bridal style and cuddling them to their chest. He could feel the phantom touches of Hierophant wrapping themselves around Star to return the affection, the green stand trilling happily.

Jotaro rolled his eyes at the stand's antics, but neither him nor Kakyoin let each other go.

They all stood together for a moment. Jotaro normally didn't like people touching him unless necessary, but right now...

It felt... nice.

Comforting

(But it'd be a cold day in hell before Jotaro admitted that out loud.)

"We won't be long. I'll text you as soon as we see anything suspicious, ok?" Kakyoin murmured into Jotaro's chest, and he snorted.

"You better. But you're coming with me next time!" He threatened as Kakyoin stifled a laugh, before pulling apart and leaving with the others. Hierophant and Star waved one last time before both stands disappeared

Jotaro sighed and went to go pack his things when the sound of his door reopening made him pause.

"Ahmm, Uh, Jotaro."

He looked up to see his grandfather sticking his head back into his apartment, nervously glancing around as he did so.

Oh, Joseph's still here? Why didn't the old man leave already?

"Remind me to talk with you when we get back."

Jotaro raised an eyebrow.

"And why can't you tell me what it is now, Jiji?" He said with a glare.

Joseph grimaced at the passive-aggressive tone, but it serves him right for dancing around whatever the hell's been on his mind for the past week.

"It's hard to explain Jotaro. I can't just drop the news and leave, you'd be furious haha-" Joseph weakly chuckled, then rushed out, slamming the door behind him as he went. Jotaro shook his head, an exasperated sigh escaping him as he went back to packing his things.

_________

"Josuke? It's Jotaro."

Jotaro stood patiently outside of Josuke's apartment, waiting for the boy to let him in. Now that Jotaro could focus on his surroundings a little more (looking for possible threats to your well being is different than looking at some scenery) he was surprised to see that Josuke's apartment was in the richer section of town. How he managed to afford this was beyond Jotaro, he guessed Josuke must have saved up in the past.

"Coming!!" A voice yelled back to him from behind the closed door. After a moment, Josuke opened it wide and looked up at him.

"Hello Jotaro!! Thanks again for helping me with this!" Josuke beamed at Jotaro as he walked inside. "I hope it's not taking up too much of your time!"

Josuke looked well, Jotaro noticed as he set his bag on the table. He didn't see any signs of the pink stand today, and the hamon must have done its job perfectly in regards to his head wound. His pompadour was perfectly shaped, not a hair out of place, and he was dressed in a comfortable looking sweater and jean combo; the light peach color of the sweater contrasting nicely against the denim.

The room itself, now that Jotaro could take a better look, was simple but elegant, unique decor made up for where there was none. The table and chairs were a little small, and Jotaro's knees brushed against the bottom of the table as he sat down.

"It's not" Jotaro hummed. "So, what project do you need help with."

Josuke nodded, pointing to a stack of papers and a laptop.

"I already pulled up the assignment she wanted me to by Friday. It's supposed to be about a memory that helped shape us into who we are today... But, before we start," He jumped up, walking into the small kitchen area, "Would you like something to eat? Or drink? I'm going to have a soft drink if you want one as well."

"No thanks." Jotaro declined, but he didn't miss the way Josuke's expression fell slightly before he turned to search the refrigerator.

Jotaro frowned minutely. Should he have accepted? Was he being rude by not taking something? Maybe he should have taken something, even if he wasn't going to eat it. But wouldn't it also be rude to waste food? Good grief, guess it doesn't matter now.

Once Josuke walked back over, Jotaro decided to continue, but as he did...

"You're going to say, 'I remember having to write that essay as well!'"

"I remember having to write..." Jotaro trailed off, eyes narrowed as he stared at Josuke, who had a wide grin on his face.

What the hell.

In that moment, Jotaro swore he was looking at a carbon copy of Joseph.

Jotaro had never seen anyone except the old man pull off that trick before.

Josuke cleared his throat, smile gone and now looking uncomfortable.

Oh. He realized he should probably stop staring a hole through the boy.

"...Yes, you're right." Jotaro started slowly, hoping to alleviate the awkward tension that now fell across the room. "She says she only wants two pages worth of words since it's homework, but she won't give you a higher grade than an 80 if you don't write more."

Josuke groaned dramatically.

"Dammit... Why can't she make anything easy for once in her life?!" He complained as he slid into a seat across from Jotaro, pulling the laptop over to him.

Jotaro shrugged sympathetically. Writing wasn't his strong suit either.

"It's easier after you get an outline in place. Do you already have your topic chosen?"

"Yep! I planned on writing about my hair."

Jotaro blinked. Huh. He's not really sure how a hairstyle could be a defining memory, but if Josuke thought he could do it, Jotaro's not about to stop him. He is a little curious on what exactly happened though...

"Can you tell me about it?" Jotaro asked, and Josuke's face lit up, grey eyes sparklingly.

"Sure!" He replied, looking to be almost bouncing with enthusiasm.

"I was sick with a really bad fever when I was younger." Josuke explained. "My mom was taking care of me at home, but it kept getting worse. It got so bad one night she tried to take me to the hospital, but there was a sudden blizzard and the car got stuck in the snow."

"Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone showed up and helped push us out. Thanks to him, I was able to make it to the doctors before the fever killed me."

He pointed up proudly at his hair.

"This is the only thing I could remember seeing the man wearing, and I wear it as well to honor his brave and selfless action! If you insult it, you're insulting him, and me as well!" Josuke proclaimed with a fire in his eyes.

Jotaro was... oddly touched.

He had honestly thought that it was just for vanity that Josuke wore that hairstyle, (even though it was outdated) but it seemed that the boy was less shallow than he had thought.

But something else in Josuke's story caught his attention.

"A fever?" Jotaro prodded. Josuke nodded distractedly.

"Yeah, it was super strange! The doctors couldn't find out what was wrong with me, and it kept getting worse and worse. But after about 50 days, I suddenly got better overnight!"

Jotaro froze.

Exactly 50 days...

That's how long his mom was sick with the stand fever… how-

"When was this?" He asked seriously, and Josuke glanced up from the laptop in mild confusion at his gruff tone.

"Um… I think I just turned 6? I was still really little, I can't remember much more than that."

Jotaro slowly took in a long, deep breath to keep himself grounded.

Some of the clues were starting to line up, and Jotaro did NOT like the picture they were painting.

1. Josuke's fever sounded eerily similar to Holly's fever, with the same time frame and everything. 2. Joseph wanted to talk to him about Josuke. 3. Josuke looked so damn similar to Joseph sometimes it wasn't funny.

Jotaro realized with horror that even Josuke's name could be read out as Jojo.

Oh no

Son of a bitc-

_________

Josuke ushered the stoic man inside, following behind him as Jotaro put down his bag. This time, Josuke noted, he was wearing a matching white coat and hat, golden pins adorning both pieces.

"So what project do you need help with?" Jotaro asked, straight to the point. Josuke gestured at his school supplies heaped messily across the table.

"I already pulled up the assignment she wanted me to finish by Friday. It's supposed to be about a memory that helped shape us into who we are today... But, before we start," Josuke jumped up, remembering his manners on being a good host. "Would you like something to eat? Or drink? I'm going to have a soft drink if you want one as well."

"No thanks." Jotaro said, and Josuke's smile became slightly forced as he turned back to grab his drink. He hoped he's not coming off as annoying to the larger man.

Turning back after a moment, he paused momentarily when he saw Jotaro about to speak. He impulsively cut him off with,

"You're going to say, 'I remember having to write that essay as well!'"

Yes!! He pulled it off this time! It's not easy guessing what someone else is going to say, and if you don't get it right you look like an idiot.

"I remember having to write..." Jotaro trailed off, eyes narrowed as he stared shocked at Josuke, who had a wide grin splitting his face at his little success. He waited patiently to see what Jotaro thought of it.

But as the seconds ticked on, Jotaro's face remained in its confused state, and Josuke blushed as he realized he probably shouldn't have blurted out in front of the man like that. He cleared his throat nervously.

"...Yes, you're right." Jotaro started back slowly, "She says she only wants two pages worth of words since it is only homework, but she won't give you a higher grade than an 80 if you don't write more."

Seriously? Wouldn't that be considered lying to your students?

Josuke groaned dramatically.

"Dammit... Why can't she make anything easy for once in her life?!" He complained as he slid into a seat across from Jotaro, pulling the laptop over to him.

Jotaro shrugged.

"It's easier after you get an outline in place. Do you already have your topic chosen?"

He had procrastinated writing up until this point, but Josuke had got the basics done earlier.

"Yep! I planned on writing about my hair."

If there ever was a defining memory in his life, Josuke would definitely bet it would be that one. After all, he did sort of place his morals, at least when he was younger, on what he thought that man he saw would or wouldn't do. He had idolized him.

For a moment, Josuke felt the beginnings of nervousness settling over his mind as Jotaro's face remained blank. Did he think it was stupid? But then-

"Can you tell me about it?" Jotaro asked, looking genuinely curious.

Josuke was shocked for a moment, but then grinned.

"Sure!" He said, "It started when I was sick with a really bad fever when I was younger. My mom was taking care of me at home, but it kept getting worse."

He paused, remembering the hazy, pain filled days.

"It got so bad one night she tried to take me to the hospital, but there was a pop up blizzard and our car got stuck in the snow. Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone showed up and helped push us out. Thanks to him, I was able to make it to the doctors before the fever killed me."

He pointed up proudly at his hair.

"This is the only thing I could remember seeing the man wearing, and I wear it as well to honor his brave and selfless action! If you insult it, you're insulting him, and me as well!" Josuke declared, finally finishing his story.

Jotaro had been silent, but his normal stoic expression had softened into something a little looser, so Josuke took that as a sign he wasn't being TOO annoying.

"A fever?" Jotaro asked, and Josuke nodded offhandedly, starting to type out the basics of the essay.

"Yeah, it was super strange! The doctors couldn't find out what was wrong with me, and it kept getting worse and worse. But after about 50 days, I suddenly got better overnight!!"

A pause.

"When was this?" Jotaro almost growled, and Josuke looked up, confused at the sudden mood change. He shifted uneasily.

"Um… I think I just turned 6? I was still really little, I can't remember much more than that."

Jotaro frowned, eyes focused down at the table, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. Josuke wasn't really sure if he should just leave the man for a moment, or ask what that was all about, but in the end he decided it probably wouldn't be worth trying to drag answers out of the giant man.

"...So uh… you got any tips?" He joked, and Jotaro finally glanced back up at him, looking like he had forgotten about Josuke's presence.

"For this essay in particular, no." Jotaro started, shaking off whatever had occupied his mind. "It really just depends on how well you remember the event and how much you're willing to write."

Josuke sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'm lucky she didn't ask me to write about something else then. My memory is absolutely garbage." He said with a little laugh.

Jotaro looked a little worried by that, eyebrows tilting downwards ever so slightly as he stared at Josuke. "... What do you mean?"

"Well- Uh- I guess some of my memories are just really weird?" Josuke admitted, feeling self conscious at the confession. "Like, I'll sometimes remember bits and pieces of a memory, but the more I think on it, the blurrier it becomes."

He shrugged. "Once, I was eating ice cream at a little shop back in my hometown. I remember buying myself one, then holding an ice cream for someone else. But the thing is, I can't remember who it was!"

Honestly, Josuke was sort of frustrated with his patchy memories. He did think he forgot anything important, but the fact that he couldn't focus on the little details was annoying.

"Maybe you bought two and just don't remember doing so?" Jotaro offered, but his intense stare had yet to disappear, face now unreadable.

Josuke shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure the other one was pistachio flavored. I only ever eat strawberry or chocolate."

"... … You can remember the ice cream's flavor, but not the person." Jotaro monotoned, and Josuke blushed. Well, when you put it like that, it sounded kind of pathetic.

"Yeah? I'm sorry, I know it sounds stra-"

"Don't apologize." Jotaro cut him off sternly, and Josuke's mouth clicked shut. "Good grief, you're not doing it on purpose, so you don't need to be saying sorry for something out of your control."

Josuke's blush grew deeper as he had to physically bite his tongue to stop a reflexive "Sorry!" from coming out in response. His mind went back to his first (well, second) meeting with Jotaro where they had had a similar conversation back then.

"Ok…" He said instead.

Jotaro had yet to relax however, eyes still searching Josuke's face as if it could give him the answers to whatever he was thinking about.

"...Can you tell me a little about Morioh?" Jotaro asked out of nowhere.

Josuke tilted his head curiously. "Yeah, but it's not going to be very interesting? Can I ask why?"

It was Jotaro's turn to shrug, eyes glancing around the room.

"I was just wondering about it. Has anything unusual or strange happened that you can recall?"

Josuke hummed. "Well, not that I can think of. I'll still tell you about the place, but my stories aren't going to be the most interesting." He was lucky to have had a, by his standards, pretty normal upbringing. Boring as hell, but normal.

"The only thing I can remember is that Morioh has a high rate of women going missing. Every few months it seemed like another girl would be gone." He said with a frown.

An involuntary shiver went through Josuke, and his scars, the ones on his stomach and thigh, inexplicably began to ache. He rubbed gently at them with a frown. Why now?

"But even that stopped a while ago. Everything else is normal about it."

As soon as the words left Josuke's mouth, a weird feeling of irony passed over him. Something about that sentence seemed… odd, but he couldn't place what it was.

A strange pressure, not quite painful, but not pleasant either slowly, pulsed inside his head. Josuke wondered if it was the early onset of a headache.

Josuke continued to talk, Jotaro nodding and interjecting his own questions here and there, but for the most part let him ramble in peace. It felt really relaxing to just converse freely with someone as a friend, Josuke realized, and it started filling a gap in his chest he hadn't realized was there.

"- that restaurant has really good Italian food, I recommend it if you ever visit. I would stop by sometimes after school, it was close enough for me to walk."

Jotaro interrupted, "Is there anywhere else you would go often? Besides school?"

Josuke sat back in thought. "Well, not really. I would sometimes stop by the library to do my homework or study," He continued. "Well… … actually, I remember going to Okuyas-"

He choked.

The pressure surged forward, and Josuke couldn't think.

Going to Okuyasu-

...

Going to Ok_y__u

...

G_in_ _o_______

...

_____ __ _______

….

….

…

..

..

.

What?

___________

Jotaro sat silently as he listened to Josuke go on about his hometown. Originally, he was trying to see if Josuke might have seen anything that could lead him to a stand user, but it was nice listening to the boy talk passionately about the little things he loved about his home.

"- that restaurant has really good Italian food, I recommend it if you ever visit. I would stop by sometimes after school, it was close enough for me to walk."

Jotaro stored this information away for later, he might need it in case he went to Morioh looking for clues. "Is there anywhere else you would go often? Besides school?" He pried.

Josuke sat back, a look of contemplation crossing his face.

"Well, not really. I would sometimes stop by the library to do my homework or study… or… actually, I remember going to Okuyas-"

He stopped mid sentence, eyes widening. Jotaro glanced around in confusion.

Umm-

The seconds dragged on, and Jotaro realized something was very, very wrong.

"Josuke." He said, reaching forwards to tap the still boy. Shit, it was just like what happened at the cafe. "Josuke, snap out of it-"

A pink, armored figure slowly appeared behind him.

Jotaro froze, bristling at the new development. He called out Star Platinum, who floated motionlessly beside him, watching what happened with a serious stare.

Was Josuke's own stand be behind this strange behavior?

"Hey you," He ordered, and the pink stand slowly turned to face him. Jotaro faltered when he saw the look of pure sadness on their face, helmet doing nothing to hide their emotions. He doesn't think he's ever seen a stand look like- well, that, especially one that looked that massive and intimidating.

"Are you doing this?" He asked, a little softer this time, as he stared into the stands blue eyes. For a moment, he didn't think he would get an answer, but then they slowly shook their head from side to side.

So they can understand Jotaro. Good to know.

"Do you know what is? Did something attack him?" He says, Star Platinum nodding encouragingly beside him to try and convince the stand they aren't a threat.

The stand nodded, but this time, looked as if they were about to cry. They suddenly moved, and Jotaro watched in surprise as they wrapped around Josuke in a one sided hug, pulling the still motionless boy to the side. They looked up after a moment, meeting Jotaro's stare with a new expression of determination.

They pointed at him, then at Star. Jotaro raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Do you want us to do something?" He questioned.

The armored stand pointed to Josuke, then back at him again.

"... Do you want us to help him?" He said, and the stand nodded enthusiastically, face now looking like he was pleading with Jotaro. He sighed.

"We're trying, but we don't know what's happening to him. You need to give us some information-" Jotaro cut himself off as Josuke began to blink groggily.

The pink stand faded away, leaving unceremoniously now that their master was awake. Jotaro resisted the urge to growl, he had still wanted to get some answers before they left. Star Platinum patted his back sympathetically.

"Josuke." He commanded, the boy's grey eyes finally focusing in on him.

"Wha-"

"Are you feeling ok?" He cut off, and Josuke nodded unsteadily.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" He shakily responded, looking around the room as if it might give him the answers.

"You sort of zoned out for a minute. Do you need to lay down or anything?" Jotaro asked worriedly.

He shook his head. "No no, I think I'll be ok, just give me a moment."

Jotaro frowned. "Do you remember what we were talking about?" He had a weird feeling about this…

"Um… I think you just asked about Morioh? Maybe?"

His frown grew deeper. Ok, that confirmed something was going on with Josuke's memories, and Jotaro bet it had something to do with a stand. It seemed like it was preventing Josuke from remembering things about his home, but why?

Jotaro made up his mind. He's going to have to take a trip if he's going to find out what the hell's going on.

"...Yeah, that's right." He confirmed, not wanting to trigger another episode by continuing to push Josuke. "How far are you along on that?" Jotaro changed the subject, looking down at the laptop still in front of Josuke.

"Oh- Um- I think halfway? It's going pretty good so far." Josuke said with a laugh. Slowly, they both focused back on the work, and the earlier events were forgotten.

The rest of the time Jotaro spent there was uneventful, and soon it was time for him to leave. Kakyoin had texted, saying that they hadn't found anything and where headed back. Jotaro smiled minutely at the news, glad to see that they were ok.

"I have to be going now. Text me if you have any other questions." He said as he stood up, grabbing his things while walking towards the door.

"Ok, thanks again for your help Jotaro!" Josuke said sincerely as he walked over beside Jotaro, a sheepish smile on his face. "I don't know what I'd do without it."

"... Ok. Goodbye Josuke." Jotaro said quietly, not really sure how to respond to Josuke's openness. He left before he could here Josuke's reply.

But now, he needs to have a loooong talk with someone.

_________

As soon as he got home, Jotaro threw his things down and immediately called his grandfather.

"Joseph Joestar." Jotaro growled, ignoring any form of greeting.

"Jotaro? What's wrong?" The man is question asked, confusion seeping into his voice.

"Josuke. He's yours, isn't he."

"..."

The silence he got in response confirmed his suspicions.

"Jiji, I'm going to give you exactly TEN seconds to tell me what's going on before I drive to your house and personally haVE STAR PLATINUM BEAT YOUR SORRY A-"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!! JOTARO I'LL EXPLAIN!!"

Joseph cut him off, and it took all of his self control to not throw his phone through the wall.

Oh he better explain alright, and fast.

"Are you home? I'll meet you there if you are."

"Yes, but I want you to explain now-"

He was cut off with a click.

Joseph just hung up.

This time, Jotaro did throw his phone into the wall, which thudded into the hard surface as he dropped his head into his arms, face first on the table.

Something poked his shoulder.

"ora..."

He wearly looked up to see his stand floating out in front of him, holding his phone in their gloved hands. Jotaro sighed.

He took back the phone, flipping it over to see a small crack formed in the bottom of the screen. It probably would have been worse if the stand wasn't there.

"...thanks Star."

They nodded.

"Ora!" Then, they reached out and ruffled Jotaro's hair, before disappearing.

_________

Chapter Text

_________

Jotaro paced back and forth, eyes trained on the ground with an icy scowl on his face. Joseph sat on his couch to his right, back ramrod straight, and looking caught between uncomfortable and scared. He had an ice pack on his cheek from where Jotaro decked him as soon as he walked inside, a bruise already forming, and all around looked rather pathetic. Jotaro had no pity on the man.

He

Is

F u r i o u s

"Jiji, you absolute bastard." He growled, clenching his jaw so hard it ached.

"I didn't know Tomoko had a child!" Joseph weakly defended, and Jotaro clenched his fist.

"So, you never thought to check? You just left her?!" Jotaro snarled. Joseph gulped, progressively growing paler as the conversation went on. "Were you going to tell us?"

"Uh, maybe? I-"

"Wrong answer. Jiji, were you going to tell us, asshole?!" Jotaro demands, turning and staring down the man who shrank back defensively.

"What do you want me to say Jotaro? I don't know, I didn't want to ruin my marriage!" Joseph cried, and Jotaro pinched the bridge of his nose, trying half-heartedly to stave off a headache that was rapidly building.

"You already DID that when you decided to cheat, you idiot!" He hisses, spinning around to avoid punching the man a second time. "Have you told Suzie now?"

"...yes."

"And? What did she say?"

Joseph sighed, dropping the ice pack and putting his head in his hands. "She told me to leave for now. She'll call me when she's ready to face me again."

Jotaro pulled his hat low, mumbling "good grief" again for the 5th time since the conversation started. "And Holly? Did you tell mom yet?"

Joseph shook his head. "Not yet." At Jotaro's glare, he hastily added, "But I'll tell her as soon as I leave, promise!"

"You fucking better." He orders, leaving no room for arguments before turning back to Joseph.

Jotaro… didn't really know what to think right now.

His anger had been mainly driving him up to this point, but now, he just felt tired. And disappointed, and he really, really, wanted the old man to get out of his face and let him sleep. He fell gracelessly onto the coach, throwing off his white jacket as he did so. He didn't need to open his eyes to know that Star Platinum had caught it, feeling the stand's feedback as they laid the clothing over the back of the coach as opposed to its original destination of the ground.

"So, when do you think I should tell Josuke?"

Jotaro glanced up at Joseph, a smartass comment dying on his tongue as he thought over the question.

"...not yet. Something is wrong with his memories, we don't need to mess it up even more by dropping this on him. Might not even end up remembering it for all I know." He huffs.

Joseph finally looked up. "What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"If you ask Josuke questions, sometimes he'll just… blank out. Like, he physically can't answer you." Jotaro waves his hand, trying to emphasize his point. "I don't know, it's hard to describe. He will be fine, talking normally, then will abruptly stop mid sentence."

"He's sort-of frozen for a few minutes, but will slowly come out of it afterwards. He won't remember the question or story he was talking about, and he won't remember parts of the earlier conversation. You can't snap Josuke out of it either, I've tried."

Joseph frowns, leaning back into his chair. "Are you sure the boy is not just... dissociative or something? That sounds so strange…"

Jotaro shook his head. "No, I already looked into that. I have a feeling some outside force did this, but I don't know what yet. I'm going to Morioh to look into it."

"WHAT? Are you going by yourself?!" Joseph asked incredulously, and Jotaro scoffed.

"I'm not a dumbass Jiji. I'm taking Kakyoin with me."

"Hmm, ok then. By the way, I've tried taking more pictures." Joseph abruptly changed the subject, digging through his jacket pockets. "Something is wrong with them however. Every single one came out blurry." He held them out.

Jotaro frowned, taking the pictures from him and calling Star to help him study them. Joseph was right, all the pictures had a strange hazy over them and something was... off about it. The top of the picture seemed to be in a different location than the bottom; one picture showing a blue sky which abruptly cut off half way into a dark room, a chair barely visible, but nothing else. He was disappointed to find no hints, every detail too distorted to properly see.

"There's nothing." Jotaro stated, throwing the pictures on the table.

Joseph nodded. "I know. I can't figure out why."

"Then don't waste any more cameras. It's obviously not doing anything." Jotaro tsked. The poor Speedwagon Foundation had to track down an old camera every time the old man used Hermit Purple.

Joseph wringed his hands nervously. He cleared his throat. "Umm, Jotaro, I-"

"Joseph?" Jotaro says stiffly, "If you're going to make an excuse, don't. I… don't want to hear it. Leave."

Joseph hesitates, before silently standing up and leaving.

"I'll call you if something changes." He calls out, before shutting the door.

Jotaro sighed, rubbing his face.

This was a mess.

He needed to talk to Kakyoin and Avdol tomorrow about this, probably Polnareff as well, even though the Frenchman said he was meeting up with some friends from Italy for who knows what. Who knows what their reaction to the bastard's infidelity would be.

_________

"He did wHAT?" Avdol gasps, looking appalled as he jolted in his chair, brown eyes wide. Polnareff jumped up, slamming his hands onto the table with a shocked expression. His jacket, which was in his lap, crumpled pitifully to the floor as Jotaro watched in mild disgust. The floor here was not the most sanitary thing to put that on.

Jotaro had invited everyone out for breakfast, wanting to break the news to them as soon as possible. He settled on the nearest Waffle house, not that he enjoyed it in the slightest, but more for the fact that it was closest to him and would give him an okayish breakfast. That is, if you were lucky. Really just depended on the cook to be in a good mood if you wanted something that could pass as edible.

"Are you serious?! Josuke's his child?!?!" Polnareff all but screeches, ignoring Kakyoin's attempts at dragging him back down.

"Can you be quiet? We don't need the whole damn world to know this." Kakyoin chidded as he kicked Polnareff's knees out, sending him crashing back into the restaurant's chairs.

Polnareff scoffs. "Well SORRY if I'm so surprised Kakyoin." He sniffed defensively. "And why are you so chill about this?"

"Jotaro told me last night."

"Figures."

"Jotaro," Avdol interrupts, face frozen between disappointment and concern, "Have you told Josuke? He needs to know."

Jotaro frowned. "About that. I need all of you to promise not to say anything to Josuke about this."

Avdol tilted his head to the side. "Are you sure that's the best idea? Josuke deserves to know this, even if Joseph doesn't want to interact with him."

"No, that's not why I want you to keep quiet." Jotaro says with a shake of his head. "I think someone is messing with Josuke's memories. Remember a few weeks ago, when we invited him to the cafe? And he had that weird reaction to our questions?"

Kakyoin nodded, shifting his red scarf as he did so, but Avdol and Polnareff glanced at each other in confusion. Jotaro waved them off.

"You two missed it, it happened before you arrived. We were asking Josuke some questions, but he suddenly locked up out of nowhere half way through." Jotaro explains, Avdol and Polnareff listening intently. "Kakyoin and I couldn't figure out what was the cause of it at the time, but I think I figured it out."

Or, at least figured out part of it.

"He did the same thing to me while you all were searching the restaurants. If you ask Josuke too many questions about his past, he'll blank out and stop responding. He won't remember the conversation from before, and you can't snap him out of it when it happens." Jotaro says, echoing his words from yesterday.

Avdol sat back in thought. "Are you sure someone is doing this to him? Maybe that could be a past trauma or trigger of some sort that is stopping him…"

Jotaro shook his head. "No, I'm betting on it being a stand affecting him. Besides, Josuke pink stand told me yesterday that he was attacked-"

"IT CAN TALK?!?" Everyone interrupts, staring at Jotaro in shock, and he rolls his eyes.

"No, I was asking them questions." Jotaro ignored everyones disappointed looks. "They can't talk, but they can understand you, and nodded yes or no to my questions. It disappeared before I could ask it much, though." He finishes, somewhat regrettably.

"Back what I was trying to say, do not tell Josuke. We'll tell him after we figure out what's going on." Jotaro reiterated, and the group nodded.

"That would be wisest." Avdol agrees after a moment, "We don't want to cause Josuke any more shock than necessary until we can find the truth on what's happening to him."

"Right. That's why I'm going to Morioh tomorrow." Jotaro says.

The table was quiet for a moment.

"Tomorrow?!" Kakyoin asks, a hint of worry in his voice. "Um, by yourself?"

Jotaro rolls his eyes again. "What, am I five? I can go places with someone needing to hold my hand you know." He said, somewhat defensively. He's not helpless; he has Star Platinum for crying out loud. "Besides, I was going to ask if you wanted to come along."

Kakyoin's eyebrows shot up. "A little last minute, don't you think?" He reached down to pick up Polnareff's jacket, which was still laying abandoned on the ground. "I'm going, of course, but what if I was busy?"

"Then you'd be busy?"

"That's not what I meant Jotaro. I'm meaning that you'd be going by yourself into potentially dangerous territory, which isn't a good idea."

"Again, I'm not 5-"

Polnareff suddenly snaps, looking over to Jotaro. "By the way, did Joseph learn anything else about that slug guy? He told me and Avdol that he was taking more pictures soon."

Kakyoin shoved the jacket into his face, and the silver haired man had to scramble as to not let it drop again, this time into a plate of half eaten pancakes. Jotaro frowns, looking down with a sigh at his own breakfast.

"Yes, but it was useless. All of them turned out to be too blurry to find anything with."

"Tch, that's a shame." Kakyoin says disappointedly. "Also, what are we going to do with Josuke while we are gone? I thought the plan was for one of us to keep an eye on him while the others investigate?"

"Right." Jotaro says, turning to Avdol. "Can you do it? Josuke would probably get along fine with you anyway, it wouldn't be that hard."

The man in question spluttered, cheeks darkening as he was put on the spot. "This is a little abrupt, Jotaro…"

They both ignored Kakyoin mutter, "told you…" triumphantly to their side.

Jotaro felt a little sympathetic towards Avdol, but just the other day he had also been strong armed into the exact same scenario, so maybe this is just payback. (And no, just because Jotaro was already going to be with Josuke anyway did not change the fact that he still felt forced to go)

Avdol sighed. "Fine. I'll try to figure out something, but I'm not really sure how I can come up with a reasonable excuse like you or Kakyoin to be with Josuke. I may come off as imposing or rude if I force him to stay with me…"

"I'll help you Avdol!" Polnareff volunteers, and Avdol smiled gratefully at the man.

Jotaro waves him off. "Josuke could probably be friends with a brick wall. He's nice, don't stress it." He encourages, mainly because it was true. Jotaro had never seen someone who acted like Josuke and DIDN'T have half a million friends with him. Which, honestly, was suspicious in and of itself, but he doesn't have the time to try and solve that particular mystery at the moment.

"Also, I invited him here, so you can plan your babysitting in a minute."

Avdol squints. "Wait what-"

"SOOOooooo Jotaro?" Kakyoin cuts in, "Any ideas on where we are going in Morioh? I know it's a solid 2 hour drive from here, do you have a plan on how we are getting there?"

"Yeah, I planned on us taking the train. It would be easier since it's a straight stretch from here to Morioh." Jotaro explains. "Once we get there, I'm going to ask around and see if anything unusual has happened recently. We can stop by some of the places Josuke hung out at to see if we can find anything there as well."

Kakyoin smiles, purple eyes sparkling. "Ok, no problem then. I'll search with Hierophant!" He says cheerily, the green stand materializing for a moment beside him, looking smug as they twirl green streamers in the air absent-mindedly.

Jotaro senses Star Platinum wavering on the edge of his mind, wanting out as well. 'no, you stay put' he orders internally. He can feel the disappointment as the purple stand begrudgingly obliges, still wanting to be around Hierophant Green, taking the other stands presence as an invitation for themselves to appear.

Speaking of appearing-

"Hey, here comes Josuke." He jerks his head towards the entrance, where a familiar pompadour is visible in the crowded doorway. Kakyoin nods, silently ordering Hierophant away.

"Remember, not a word." He reminds them, everyone nodding as the boy finally notices their table. Josuke smiles widely, waving at them as he walks over.

"Hey guys!! Sorry I'm late, I overslept!" He says with a laugh, fiddling with the lapel of his dark pink jacket. Jotaro could see embroidered diamond shapes lining the collar, some even cascading down onto the sleeve, intertwined with swirls of gold. Definitely custom made.

"Don't worry about it. Sit." He says, shrugging, and Josuke wordlessly does so. No one talks for a moment. Holly raised him with manners, so he eventually continues, "So how was your paper? Did you get a good grade?"

"Yep!" Josuke says cheerily, looking relieved as he remembered the dreaded project. "Thanks again for your help! It would have been a dumpster fire with ya!"

Jotaro nods, skipping the unnecessary "your welcome", as this has to be at least the third time Josuke thanked him. He didn't even do THAT much, just barely guiding him, while Josuke asked every now and then for his opinion on a sentence.

"Hey Josuke," Avdol turned, pausing until he was certain the boy was listening before continuing. "Polnareff and I are planning on volunteering at an orchard tomorrow. If you are free, would you like to come along? We could use the help, the owners want to move some pumpkins around."

Polnareff mouths "pumpkins?" silently to Jotaro's side, looking disappointed at Avdol's impromptu plan. Jotaro dutifully kicks him in the shin.

Meanwhile, Josuke had leaned forward, looking uncertain. "Are you sure? I would hate to intrude on your plans or anything…" Avdol shook his head.

"No, it would not bother us at all! We could use all the help that we can get."

As Jotaro listened to the small talk the two exchanged, he spied a thin strand of green making its way under the table. He curiously glanced over at Kakyoin.

The redhead shook his head softly, asking without words that Jotaro don't intervene. What he is trying to do becomes apparent when Hierophant slowly begins fishing Josuke's phone out of his bag. Jotaro's eyes widened with alarm.

He's not really sure if he should be letting Kakyoin pickpocket his… uncle.

Ugh, nope, he's never calling Josuke that again, it's too strange for him to wrap his head around.

Once Kakyoin finally got his prize, he tucked it neatly into his pocket and stood up gracefully, announcing, "I'll be back in a moment!" Before making a beeline to the door, stepping outside. Josuke thankfully didn't notice the theft.

"So back to what I was saying," Polnareff starts, eager to continue the conversation, "My dog, Iggy, likes to be a lazy lump for most of the day, but don't let him fool you. He's pretty smart when it comes down to it."

Josuke listens intently as Polnareff continues to ramble about the little dog. Jotaro wondered if Iggy could help them find the stand users… but he doesn't think the mutt would forgive them if they roped him back into another fight that he wanted nothing to do with. He lost his damn leg in the last one.

"I've always wanted to get a pet." Josuke says, looking irritated for a moment, "My grandfather always said that I wouldn't be responsible enough, and to wait until I got older. I mean, he was right, but it was still annoying." He joked.

"And I'm back!" Kakyoin pops up suddenly beside the table, leaving Jotaro blinking as he jumps back into his chair in a blur of green. "Did I miss anything important?"

"Well, I was just telling Josuke about Iggy!" Polnareff informs him, and Kakyoin grins.

"I said anything important."

"HEY!!" Polnareff yells, indignant, and Avdol and Josuke each stifle a laugh, faces scrunching up. "Well, don't let him hear you say that if you want to stay on his good side."

Avdol snorts, taking a sip of his coffee. Rooming with Polnareff lets him say from first-hand experience that the little dog had a… interesting personality, to put it lightly.

"Hey Josuke?" Kakyoin starts, looking over at him. "I really like your jacket, I haven't seen many with that level of details."

Josuke smiles, poking at the fabric. "Thanks! Yeah, it's custom!" He says with a laugh, confirming Jotaro's earlier thoughts. He ran his hand over the design absent-mindedly. "I got it as a present a year ago! I was exchanging gifts with… … Um-" He paused, looking more and more uncertain.

Oh shit.

Jotaro recognized this behavior.

"Yeah my jacket is custom made as well!" He interrupts, probably a lot more forcefully than he intended by the way Polnareff and Avdol look at him in confusion, but he needs to distract Josuke immediately. "I wanted something that would last me a while, but didn't look generic."

He watched Josuke carefully, unsure if he stopped the kid in time.

Josuke blinked a few times, took in a deep breath, then finally glanced over at Jotaro, pulling himself out of whatever episode he was about to fall into. Ok then, crisis averted.

"Pfft, as if you could be generic." Polnareff laughs, pointing at Jotaro's chest. "You've got so many charms and pins on that thing you might as well be wearing a disco ball."

"Ok, first of all, I'm only wearing two," Jotaro says flatly, looking down at the pins, "And second, that's rich coming from the man who goes around in a crop top for majority of the year." He finishes, unable to hide a small smirk.

"I look great, I'll have you know."

"I wore pins on my school uniform all the time." Josuke says after a moment, "My favorite is a golden heart, but I have a lot more."

Jotaro nodded in solidarity. "... one of my favorites is a dolphin. My mother gave it to me."

Kakyoin and Polnareff laugh, swooning into each other. "Awwwwww, Jotaro, that's so sweet!"

"Good grief, you two shut up."

"Jotaro, Kakyoin," Avdol says, drawing their attention to him, "Thank you again for the invite, but Polnareff and I had best be leaving soon. We are supposed to be meeting someone later."

Polnareff nods. "Yeah, we're going to have to bail on you guys." He stood up, finally putting on his jacket. "Thanks for breakfast!!"

Josuke stands up as well, grabbing his drink as he did. "Yeah, I better be going too. I have a class in about 25 minutes that I need to get ready for." He smiled widely at them all. "I'm glad I got to see you all!"

"You too. Bye!" Kakyoin responds, waving as Josuke left, followed closely behind by Polnareff and Avdol. Jotaro watches them leave, before turning to Kakyoin.

"So why did you just steal from Josuke?"

Kakyoin jumps in his chair, looking offended. "I didn't steal," He objects, emphasizing the word steal as though it were a personal insult. "I gave it back to him after I was done."

"...ok, but that still doesn't explain why."

Kakyoin shrugs, looking very unbothered by his nonconsensual borrowing. "I was looking through his contacts. I was wondering if there was anyone that we could ask about Josuke, but all of the names are custom."

Jotaro sighs. The idea made sense, but it still felt wrong to pry THAT much into Josuke's life… but, they needed any lead they could get their hands on.

"... How did you know the password?" He eventually asks wearily.

"It's just his birth year, so it was super easy." Kakyoin responds. "Some of the names of the people he texted were 'small egg, eraser, hair and alien,' just to name a few, and I couldn't find any real names without reading through the messages, but I ran out of time. Someone's name was literally just 'green bastard' in all caps. Did you know you're called 'Library man'?" The redhead teased, and Jotaro rolled his eyes, pulling his hat lower.

"No, I didn't."

"Yeah, I thought so." Kakyoin hums, but grows serious."Something strange was going on with them. Except for his mom, who's just called mom, everyone else hasn't talked to Josuke for months. Up until then, they seemed to talk all the time, but then suddenly stopped."

Jotaro narrowed his eyes. "That is strange." He agrees, "...I thought Josuke said he didn't have any friends? Why would he talk to so many people if he didn't like them…"

Well, that just added another layer of mystery to Josuke. It could be that they were just old classmates from school that he hasn't yet gotten rid of, but that wouldn't explain why they had continued to talk regularly until recently. Maybe Josuke had a falling out with them?

Hopefully their trip tomorrow would answer some questions...

Chapter Text

_________

Jotaro looked out the train window and studied the swiftly passing scenery, the morning sun shining brightly and creating a glare that made him squint. They only had about fifteen minutes until they finally would arrive at the station, and from there, could take a taxi into Morioh.

And Jotaro could NOT be more impatient to get off this train.

The chair was slightly too small for his larger than average frame, and his back felt pinched and cramped. He couldn't even move to try and alleviate the discomfort, since Kakyoin had decided that, apparently, Jotaro's shoulder was a prime place to take a nap. He was so close Jotaro could smell the cherry shampoo the other insisted on using after Polnareff had bought it for him as a joke. Glancing down at the redhead, he wasn't sure if he should try and wake Kakyoin up before or when they arrived; he would probably not like being woken up at the last minute, but the man could use the rest...

It looked like he didn't have to make that decision, as Kakyoin shifted minutely, then slowly cracked open his eyes. They make eye contact, vivid purple meeting ocean blue.

"Hey." Jotaro says curtly.

Kakyoin blinked a few times. "Hey..." He returns, looking a little confused as he sits up, finally releasing Jotaro from his immobile prison. "How close are we?"

"About fifteen minutes." Jotaro replies, rolling his shoulder now that they were free before turning back to Kakyoin. "Did you sleep well?"

Kakyoin nodded, adjusting his now tangled cherry earrings and giving Jotaro a grateful smile. "Yeah, thanks for that!" He laughs, reaching over to pat the larger man on the arm. "You were an okay pillow. I'd say a seven out of ten."

Jotaro rolls his eyes. "I should have pushed you onto the floor."

"Uh huh, sure you would."

As expected, the train finally arrives 15 minutes later, and they both step off, immediately calling a taxi to take them into Morioh. Jotaro asks the driver if he's seen or heard of anything strange in the town, but the man just shakes his head and said he doesn't know much, before dropping them off in front of the Morioh Grand Hotel. Jotaro had booked a room for the day so that they could have a place to relax before heading home (and he used Joseph's money to do it; the old man had given him access to his credit card months ago, and now Jotaro didn't feel guilty about spending it. Serves the bastard right for cheating)

The town was relatively relaxed, Jotaro noted, especially compared to the packed college campus he was accustomed to. People walked leisurely on the side walks, some in groups, and others alone, as they all went about their Saturday morning, each enjoying the cool but clear weather. The buildings looked average, if maybe a little old, but each well taken care of.

Everything looked normal, but looks can be deceiving.

"Kakyoin," he says, adjusting his bag he brought with him, "I'm going to drop this off inside our room. Can you find out where the public library is? We will start looking there."

The redhead nods, pulling out his phone to pull up a map. "Yeah, I'll wait for you outside."

Jotaro turned and walked inside, stopping to sign in at the reception before heading to his room. The place was nice, with pale walls and a high ceiling. The room was large enough to easily accommodate both of them, but he was in a hurry, so he simply threw his stuff in the bed and left, making sure to relock the door as he went. He hurried out to meet back up with Kakyoin, who had yet to move from his former position, but as soon as he was within arm's length, the redhead shakes his head sharply. Jotaro paused in confusion.

"Jotaro?" Kakyoin says, voice low and eyes focused on the ground. "Act normal. But to your left, about 10 meters away from you, is a stand user."

Jotaro froze.

Did they really just find another stand user that fast? They had only been in this town for five minutes, how in the hell--

He glanced to his left slowly, already feeling Star Platinum becoming alert and ready to defend on the edge of his mind. Kakyoin was right, in the shade of the building, a small stand floated motionlessly besides a white haired teenager. The majority of its color was grey, with green, lined circles adorning its head and arms. A large three was on its front, and the eyes were covered with a hard shell that was similar to Hierophant's.

As for the boy, Jotaro's first thought when he saw him was that he was… small. Well, to be fair, most people are small compared to him, but the boy was even more so than normal, probably only reaching up to Jotaro's waist.

He wore a green sweater, and his hair vaguely reminded him of Polnareff's with the way it stood up, and he couldn't have been taller than Jotaro's waist.

Talking animatedly with him was a tall girl with long, luscious black hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She wore a baby blue jacket and skirt, each highlighted with pink pockets and patches. At one point, she smiled widely and planted a quick kiss on the boy's cheek, causing him to blush so vividly that Jotaro could see it from where he stood, and his stand faded away.

Jotaro narrowed his eyes. "Do you want to try talking to them or head to the library?" He offers, pulling his hat low as he looks over to Kakyoin. The redhead pursed his lips, eyebrows furrowed.

"That girl could see it. She glanced at the stand several times during their conversation…" He informs Jotaro, shaking his head. "I didn't see her stand at all… we should talk, but let's not tell them we are stand users unless we have to."

Jotaro nods. "We don't want to give up the element of surprise, but they might be able to tell us something about Josuke. Stand users attract other stand users. "

Or, well, sort of stand 'user' in Josuke's case. Jotaro still hasn't 100% confirmed if the pink stand was Josuke's own, but given the way it acted around him, there weren't any other options on what else they could be. Still didn't explain why Josuke can't see or interact with his own damn stand, but whatever.

...could it have something to do with the weird memory loss? Would amnesia even take your stand away?? He needs to ask Avdol about that later.

He straightened up and began walking towards the duo, Kakyoin trailing behind him with a watchful eye. As soon as he gets them within Star Platinums range, close enough where they could hear him, but he has enough space to dodge an attack if necessary, he starts,

"Hey, you two."

They both pause and turn, the boy looking reserved but slightly apprehensive at the sight of Jotaro and Kakyoin, while the girl just looked annoyed at being interrupted from whatever conversation she was having before they walked over.

"Ah, hello sir!" The boy stutters, bowing ever so slightly. "Um- Can I help you?" He glanced over Jotaro and Kakyoin nervously.

"Yes, actually!" Kakyoin cheerfully responds, taking the lead and stepping forward. "I'm Noriaki Kakyoin, and this is Jotaro Kujo. We were wondering if you could answer a few questions for us."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "May I ask what they are about?" She questions.

She didn't seem at all intimidated by Kakyoin OR himself (which was a rarity, considering Jotaro's large height often led to people being wary of him by default), but that could also be an indication that she knew with confidence that she could defend herself. Her stand must be powerful; if they were to fight at any point, Jotaro would need to stay back until he could find out the extent of her stand's range and abilities.

"It's our first time visiting Morioh." Kakyoin explains pleasantly, and the boy finally relaxes, coming to the conclusion that they meant him no harm. "We just want to know some more about the town. Are you two from here?"

They shared a glance, seemingly weighing the risks of entertaining the two strangers that have approached them.

"Yes… we both have lived here our entire lives." The boy says after a moment, tilting his head. "What is it that you want to know about Morioh? I know that it's a vacation spot, are you looking for some popular attractions?"

Jotaro shook his head. "Not quite. We are wanting to know if anything unusual or strange has happened here. Does anything come to mind?"

The two share another look, this time much more serious than the last. It was honestly starting to annoy him; why were they so paranoid already?

"Something good, or something bad." The girl asks, crossing her arm and eyeing the two even more suspiciously. A sudden tension fell across the groups.

Kakyoin raises an eyebrow. "Is there a reason we should be specific?"

For a moment, silence.

Jotaro bristles; his fists clench, and he studies the two closely, waiting for their reaction. He sees the faintest traces of Hierophant glowing behind Kakyoin's back.

Then, the boy sighs.

"Sorry about that, I guess we're just a little jumpy." He laughs weakly, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm Koichi Hirose, and this is Yukako Yamagishi. And we'll be glad to tell you about Morioh."

_________

"Hey Josuke!?! Can you help me move this wheelbarrow?" Polnareff calls across the small field, pointing down at the item. "The brace is broken, but I already stacked all of my pumpkins in it!"

It turns out it wasn't something Avdol had made up on the spot when he asked Josuke to help him at an orchard; he had been volunteering at a small establishment for weeks now, since it was just a 15 minute drive from his temporary home that he used while in Japan. The farm, with its many fruit trees, coupled with plots of pumpkins, squash, and other fall vegetables meant the place had plenty of chores that needed to be done.

It gave Avdol a nice distraction from any Speedwagon foundation jobs, and the owners, a sweet old couple, were happy to accept any extra help on maintaining the place. When Avdol had arrived with a white haired Frenchman and a pompadour-hair 18 year old in tow, they had simply smiled and handed the two buckets and gloves. Currently, they, alongside some other volunteers, were all organizing the remaining fall produce, and stacking the scraps and sticks into a pile to burn.

Josuke looked up and nodded, lightly jogging over the dried remains of stems and weeds which crunched faintly under his boots, before coming to a stop beside Polnareff.

"Where were you going to put these?" Josuke asks with a grunt as they both grab a side of the wheelbarrow, half lifting, half dragging it toward the piles of pumpkins.

"The medium one. They aren't quite big enough to go in the large." Polnareff jerks his head towards the middle pile, not trusting himself to keep a grip if he lets go to point.

"Um… guys?" A voice starts quietly behind them. They both glance over to see Avdol, holding a stack of firewood, and watching them with a pained expression.

"That is not… how you use that…"

They both pause, Josuke blushing, while Polnareff blanched, yelling, "We're not idiots!!"

"Uh- the front brace is broken. The left one." Josuke explains sheepishly, and Avdol sighed in relief.

"Ok, good. You both had me worried there for a second!" He teases, dark brown eyes shining with mirth as he grins. As they throw the wheelbarrow down, Polnareff sticks his tongue out at Avdol, which just makes the man's smile even bigger.

________

Koichi leads them to a small italian restaurant out of all places, saying he was meeting with some friends later, and insisting that it was a good place for them to talk privately. Jotaro's not particularly hungry, and is a little confused by the chef's insistence on reading his palm to get his order, but after seeing Kakyoin basically inhale his pasta after taking a sample bite, he gives in and tries a slice of the lasagna he was given.

It's… really good.

Like, really, really good.

If he ever has to go back to Morioh, he is definitely going to stop by here again.

"So," Koichi starts, "You're both looking into incidents in Morioh, right? Are you two investigators or something?"

"... You could say that." Jotaro pulls his hat low, looking down at his now rapidly diminishing lasagna. He should have asked for another serving. "We are searching for information about one of our friends. He's been acting off, and we're trying to find out why."

Yukako tilts her head to the side. "Then why don't you just talk to your friends' family? Wouldn't that make more sense than wandering around and asking strangers if they have seen anything bizarre?"

Of course, but that wasn't an option for Jotaro right now. He couldn't go visit Josuke's mother, she would surely recognize him as a relative of Joseph's; that would, in turn, lead to Josuke knowing about Jotaro's blood relation to him, which was NOT a can of worms that he wanted to open right now, no thank you.

And, since stand users have a track record of attracting trouble, Jotaro had decided the next best thing to do was to start looking into anything irregular in the town. (Take Polnareff as an example; that poor man is still getting attacked by random stand users regularly. If a month goes by without Polnareff encountering at least somebody hostile, then it's a damn miracle.) Jotaro would bet that, if he searched hard enough, Josuke would be wrapped up in some sort of incident.

"He has a habit of getting into trouble." Kakyoin offers, shrugging. That wasn't a lie, Josuke had already been attacked twice since they met him. "We just want to know the basics, you don't have to go into detail about anything."

The two share a look for what must have been the 10th time in this conversation, though much more subtle than earlier. Jotaro resists the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well…" Koichi starts, poking at the remains of his tiramisu, "Some things are… hard to explain. You might not be able to see what the true problem is." He finishes seriously, stressing the word 'see' and watching Jotaro carefully for a reaction. Even Yukako, who had been relatively uncaring about this whole event, was now staring down Jotaro and Kakyoin, her posture screaming unease.

Jotaro nodded, staring back with an equal intensity. "... I think we should be able to see the problem." He says, voice low.

Koichi hesitates, then the same stand he saw earlier appears slowly behind the boy, draped against his shoulder and eyeing him seriously. He can hear Kakyoin suck in a breath beside him, and he can't stop himself from glancing up at it.

Koichi shoots up out of his chair.

"So you can see Echos!!! You're stand users!!" He yells, taking a step back and pointing at the two accusingly, his stand taking a combat stance beside him. Yukako slams her hands on the table, her… hair? floating and growing around her menacingly.

"What do you want!" She hisses, looking two seconds away from lunging at the Jotaro.

He scowls; he hasn't even DONE anything to them yet, what the hell are they so worked up for.

"Good grief you two, calm down." He orders, not calling out Star yet, hoping to defuse the situation. "We aren't going to hurt you, put them away." He looks meaningfully at the stands.

Kakyoin nods besides him, the only clue of his underlying stress being his white knuckle grip on the silverware. For a minute, Jotaro is convinced that they weren't going to listen to him, but then, miraculously, the small stand disappears from behind Koichi.

"What are you doing?!" Yukako asks sharply, face pinched in confusion as she glanced at the smaller boy.

"Well… they haven't done anything to hurt us yet, even though they had the chance to earlier." Koichi says, rubbing the back of his head thoughtfully. "And, if they are trying to help their friend, it's not going to hurt us to just tell them some of what happened here."

Yukako frowned, crossing her arms. "... If either of you hurt my Koichi," she threatens, glaring at Jotaro, "You won't live to regret it." Then, her hair finally stops having a mind of its own and falls back, and she sits down. Jotaro raised an eyebrow at the threat, and Koichi facepalms in the corner of his eye.

"Everyone!" A voice calls from across the room. "Is everything fine in here? I thought I heard some yelling…" Jotaro looks up to see the same chef from before standing at the entrance to the kitchen, looking at the group concerned.

"Oh, Tonio!" Koichi yells, "No, it's fine, we're all good! Sorry for interrupting you!" He apologizes, assuring the chef that everything was fine before he finally went back to the kitchen. Once things quiet down, Jotaro decides now is a good time to ask the question that's been on his mind since he first started talking to them.

"Oi, you two." He says, drawing their attention back.

"Do you know anyone by the name of Josuke Higashikata?"

_________

Josuke sighed and threw down his shovel, taking off his gloves to brush a few stray hairs out of his face. The day was mercifully cool, a gentle wind now blowing over the landscape, but he still managed to work up a sweat, causing his shirt to stick uncomfortably to his chest. He stretches his sore arms over his head, wincing when he hears his back pop loudly at the action. He should probably work out more...

"Yo, Polnareff!" He calls, causing the white haired man to look up from his attempt at balancing the pumpkins into a tower. "I'm going to the car to grab a drink, you want one?"

"Do you have any gatorade?" He yells back, then scowling as the small tower topples over from his lapse in attention.

Josuke shook his head. "Sorry, I only brought water with me." He says apologetically.

Polnareff grins, giving him a thumbs up. "That's fine! Thanks Josuke!!" He turns around, seemingly looking for something. "Oh, and if you see Avdol, tell him I'm looking for him! I need to ask him something."

"Will do!" Josuke responds with a smile, nodding, before trekking across the field to the small row of vehicles parked next to the larger barn.

He didn't know what it was, but something about Avdol and Polnareff made them so comfortable to be around. To be fair, maybe he's just lonely, but so far he found himself really enjoying their company the few times he was with them, and this day was just further cemented that sentiment. Polnareff, while dramatic on occasions, was always kind and funny to be around, and Avdol seemed to bring his own brand of humor to the table, going from serious to smiling in a blink of an eye.

And it wasn't just those two. Josuke found himself, for whatever reason, drawn to Jotaro now that he's gotten to know the older man better. He's gone from, "Very scary giant who would probably kill me without a sweat" to more of a, "tired dude who needs a nap" in Josuke's mind, so that's a definite improvement. In fact, Jotaro seemed to be a very thoughtful guy; he just was not the best at showing it (and would probably not hesitate to beat Josuke if he ever dared to voice that particular thought). But after all, who else would help the kid you saw getting his ass kicked with writing homework, even though you don't know him?

Josuke hoped to change that anyway. Maybe, they could all… stay friends? He knew not to push his luck; after all, there must have been some reason he didn't have any friends growing up. But perhaps, if he wasn't TOO annoying to them, they'd let him hang around.

Weaving through the rows of cars, lost in thought, he didn't realize someone had paused in front of him until he almost ran them over.

Oh shi-

"IM SORRY!!" He yells, more out of instinct than anything else, and he throws himself backward. Wincing as he catches himself on the gravel, the sharp stones biting into his hands, he looks up to see a girl standing motionlessly in front of him.

"Are you ok?" She asks stiffely, looking down at him with wide eyes on an otherwise blank face. He nodded shakily.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He says, pushing himself up and patting off the dirt still clinging to him. "I almost didn't see you!" He laughs, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. She nods stiffely, her pixie cut swaying at the motion.

"Do you want water?" She questions suddenly, taking a step closer and continuing to stare him down, posture ridged.

Josuke blinks in confusion. "Uh- pardon?"

"Water." Without warning, a bottle is shoved in his face, and he takes a step back in surprise. "You said you were going for a drink? Here, have this." She all but demands, grabbing Josuke's hand to try and force the item into his grip. He panics, pulling back reflexively.

"Oh- Um-- Hold on now!" He stutters nervously, holding his hands up. "It's ok! I already have some, I don't need--"

"Hey." She interrupts, all but growling, "Take it." He shuts his mouth with an audible click. Jeez, what's wrong with this lady? He doesn't want to cause trouble, so he just nods shakily and grabs the bottle with both hands. That seemed to calm her down, now taking a step back and crossing her arms, but her gaze remains icy.

"You are going to drink it." She says, not questioning, but ordering, as she continues to stare down Josuke. Sweat begins to form on his brow, but this time, it's not from the heat, and he ignores the urge to bite his lip.

"Yeah, sure!!" He lies, trying to come off as more genuine than he felt. There is no way in hell he is drinking this now, he is going to throw it in the nearest garbage can the SECOND he finds one. For a moment, he holds his breath (Does she know he's lying? And more importantly, what is she going to do if he doesn't drink it?!) but then she nods once, seemingly satisfied.

"Good."

Then, as quickly as she appears, she turned and sprinted away, as if though the whole encounter hadn't just happened, leaving Josuke standing there in confusion.

"Um, Why…?" He murmurs, squinting as he eyed the bottle suspiciously, while the woman ducks out of sight. It looked normal, and the seal was still on the vivid green lid, but he still isn't going to drink it. He'll just have to find a way to dispose of it without anyone seeing.

Finally making it to his car, he pops open the trunks and pulls out his own water bottles, ones with blue labels, leaving the suspicious bottle tucked in the back under some spare hair supplies. Making sure to lock it, he starts back, jogging so he would get there fast, but not trip over the many dried sticks littering the ground.

Glancing around as he went, he could stop the thought that something felt wrong; a thick, uncomfortable feeling settling in his gut, and Josuke increased his speed. He needed to get back to Polnareff as soon as possible.

_________

Koichi and Yukako freeze, faces blank.

Jotaro waits.

And waits.

And waits. As the seconds tick by, the stillness grows more and more unsettling. What was taking them so long to reply? Surely they would remember faster than this--

"No…" Koichi starts slowly, as if the answer was dragged out of him. "I'm sorry, I don't know anyone with that name."

"I don't know anyone as well." Yukako confirms, shaking her head. "It sounds familiar… but I just can't remember…"

Jotaro frowns.

That's unfortunate; it would have been beyond useful if they had any information on Josuke, no matter how small.

"How old is he? You said he lives here, right?" She asks, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. "We can look through our yearbooks later to see if he went to our school. If he did, maybe I can ask some of our old teachers about him?" Yukako leans back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"He's probably about your age." Jotaro suggests. He had to admit that that would be helpful to know. Maybe not for this trip, but if they had to come back to Morioh,then it would be nice having some people they could possibly interview. Though, hopeful it wouldn't come to that. "And… we would be grateful if you did."

"Back to what we were saying earlier," Kakyoin says suddenly, "Can you tell us about any strange incidents now? We are going to have to be back to our home by night, and we need to know where to look so we can get started as soon as possible."

Koichi blushes. "Oh! Right, sorry. I'd hate to hold you both up." He apologizes. "So, where do I start…"

After a roughly 45 minute talk, they find out there were even more stand users in Morioh.

ALOT more.

Jotaro is going to have to report this to the Speedwagon foundation, because holy shit, why the HELL is there so many in one place?!? It was different with Dio's group; that bastard had actively been gathering stand users together, it wasn't like they just happened to live near each other. Otherwise, natural stand users could almost go their whole lives without encountering another like them.

But this town was a very obvious outlier.

Jotaro wondered faintly if something in the town could be actively making all the stands, but he pushed that thought aside. In all of his research and studying on the topic, he had never heard of anything that could create stand users. It must have just been a, very, very, rare coincidence, or the stand user attracts stand user theory was time 11 here. He definitely is going to have to get the SWF to set up a base here, just to keep an eye out.

It made the fact that this is Josuke's hometown even more intriguing. There was no way anyone could say that his amnesia was caused by anything other than a stand; it was too suspicious to be a coincidence.

He made sure to ask Koichi that as well, if he knew anyone with a stand that could mess with your head, but it was another no. After getting a list of locations to look into, (Koichi vaguely dropped the bomb that one of the areas had been the site of an explosion, but he refused to go into specifics despite Kakyoin and Jotaro's pressing,) and Kakyoin finished his second helping of pasta, they decided that they probably need to be leaving.

"Koichi. " Jotaro says as soon as there is a break in the conversation, "I will need a way to contact you in the future, so I'm giving you my number." He pulls out his phone. He was hoping that these new… allies would greatly cut down on the time it took for them to solve this case. Koichi seemed to be a reliable guy so far, and probably someone he would like to know a little better if they had more time, but Jotaro had places to be.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Koichi agrees, "I can ask some of my other friends if they have heard of anyone named Higashikata. I'll call you if Yukako or I find out anything!"

They exchange a few more pleasantries, but as soon as they finish, Jotaro stands up and begins to head for the door, leaving money behind to pay for their meals. "Thank you both for your help." He calls appreciatively over his shoulder, and the two wave goodbye as he walks outside, pausing on the steps to wait for Kakyoin. In the past, he probably would be smoking, but thanks to his friends and some insistence from his mother, he had kicked the habit.

It was getting closer to midday now, he noticed, but the horizon was rapidly becoming filled with ominous grey clouds. Must be a pop up storm. Jotaro frowned; it would be cutting into their investigation time even more.

"Pardon me!" A rough voice says hurriedly, and Jotaro looks up to see two men beginning to ascend the steps. Realizing he's probably going to be in the way, he steps aside silently, letting them pass, before something catch's his eye.

The first man had dark green hair brushed to one side and an aloof expression that screamed, "don't talk to me,". Small, pen nib earrings hung from each ear, and his green eyes barely glanced at the marine biologist before brushing by him. He didn't catch Jotaro's eye, but his companion, a younger man with scars on his face forming an x with a small pompadour, did.

His jacket… as he walked by, Jotaro subtly studied the many designs sewn into the collar. Yen and dollar symbols were scattered randomly, and a large, stylized hand, facing palm up was embroidered on the back, framed by a thick white border lined with small diamonds. It reminded him of the jacket Josuke had worn just yesterday.

Maybe both were from the same store? Jotaro's tempted to walk back in and ask Koichi if there are any seamstress or tailor shops in town that would do something like that, but just then, Kakyoin walks out, holding the door open for the two strangers before joining him.

"Ready to go, Jotaro?" He asked, before laughing at his own rhyming attempt. Jotaro rolls his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, let's get moving."

_________

Polnareff sat back in satisfaction as he looked down at his handiwork. He finally finished gathering all of the squash into the back of a wagon, and looked over at the attached tractor thoughtfully. Surely it couldn't be that hard to drive… and it would be so much quicker than waiting for someone who could to finally walk over. It would be just like driving a car, right?

"Polnareff." A low voice whispered directly in his ear.

"SHIT-" He cursed, flailing as he was cut off by a hand over his mouth. Silver Chariot comes out instinctively, looking concerned but determined as they immediately rush at the offender, only to be caught by two strong hands, grappling them away.

"Polnareff, calm down. It's Avdol!" The same voice continues, and now that Polnareff finally registers the tone, he realizes he does, in fact, recognizes it. "Be quiet."

"Aabol?!?" He tries, his voice muffled by the hand still over his mouth. Avdol releases him, and he spins around to face him.

"What was that for?!" He hisses indignantly, poking into the Egyptian's chest while glancing over at Silver Chariot, whose wrist is still caught in Magician's Red vice like grip. The bird stand glanced at their master, who nodded reassuringly, then finally let go of Chariot. Polnareff can't be too mad at the stand though; he knows that it was just trying to prevent their master from becoming a pincushion.

Avdol stares at him seriously, face set into a grim mask.

"Polnareff," He starts, voice barely above a whisper, "Someone is watching us."

_________

Chapter Text

_________

The first place Jotaro and Kakyoin decide to go is to an abandoned farm.

The old owners apparently went missing a year and a half ago, and since they had no family to pass it on to, the whole estate was put up for auction. However, after a series of mysterious accidents which lead to many serious injuries to potential buyers, the police got involved and another investigation was launched to find the cause.

The farm was quartinened, but after several weeks and a few injured officers, it was abandoned due to, "no evidence of foul play," but rumors circulated that the place was haunted.

Normally, Jotaro wouldn't have even glanced at the place; plenty of reports came to the Speedwagon foundation about similar areas which all turn out to be either blown out of proportion stories of wild animals, or teens who "insisted" they saw something.

However, Koichi said something that caught his attention. Many of the injuries that occured at the farm were unique; the affected part of the body was literally melted. No one could see what caused it, and the flesh had to be… removed to prevent the spread of the melting. One reported that they felt, "a small, dart-like sting" before their arm started dissolving, but when they looked for the cause, they couldn't find anything.

While it wasn't directly involved with what they were looking for, there was a chance that it might lead them to a stand user who could answer some of their questions. Which was why Jotaro and Kakyoin were currently walking down a dirt road which cut across unkempt fields, with a small house visible in the distance.

"I wish you had him drop us off a little closer." Kakyoin grumbled as he adjusted the backpack he had slung over his shoulder.

Jotaro grunted. "We don't know what we're going into. We can risk someone getting hurt because of this."

"Still…"

The two continued their slow walk, both watching their surroundings closely for the slightest movements. When they reached the small fence warning off trespassers, Star Platinum simply lifted up the entire gate, and Jotaro slipped under it.

He heard a small laugh from above him, and glanced up to see Kakyoin, suspended in his own stand's green tendrils, and using them to pass himself over the barrier.

"Really?" Kakyoin asked, raising an eyebrow and looking back at Star's property damage. Jotaro just shrugged. The red head rolled his eyes and lowered himself down beside Jotaro, eyes now trained on the house.

"I'm going to start unfurling Hierophant now. Remember, we need to watch out for projectiles." He cautioned, remembering the report of the dart as he began to take a few steps towards the home. Jotaro nodded, following behind.

Star Platinum breaks the lock, and the two slip inside quietly, leaving the door slightly open to prevent further sound. The foyer leads directly to a flight of stairs, while the other direction went to another dark room. The light didn't work when he flipped the switch, so Kakyoin reached in his backpack and pulled out two flashlights, handing one to Jotaro who turned it on, shining the beam around the room.

His first impression of the inside of the house is that it's a mess.

Any furniture that remained was shredded, the cushions torn to pieces and covered with garbage, which didn't help the smell. There must be rodents somewhere, its dropping scattered in the corners and under the small dresser near the door. The carpet was mangy and ripped in some places, with a deep brown hardwood peeking up through it. Jotaro grimaced as he stepped over an unidentifiable mass caked onto the floor, glad he wore his work boots; he's tempted to throw them away after walking in this.

Tapping Kakyoin on the shoulder, Jotaro wordlessly pointed up the stairs, then at himself. Kakyoin nodded, eyes glinting determinedly as he got the message, and motioned to Jotaro that he would be going straight forward.

Now that they both knew where to look for each other, Jotaro pushed past his friend and started silently up the steps.

Upstairs didn't seem to be victimized as badly as the lower level, something which Jotaro was grateful for as he peered into each room, looking for anything out of place. They all were barren, with some of the white paint peeling in the first room, and the second had a decrepit rocking chair which looked to be only a strong breeze away from collapsing under its own weight. Jotaro frowns and shuts the doors, a reminder that he already searched it. Stepping out into the hall again, he eyed the crawl space leading to the attic wearly. He REALLY didn't want to go crawling up there if it was anywhere near as dirty as the rest of the place… maybe he can send Star to-

Something flashed from behind him, and he spun around, fists raised and Star Platinum materialized at his side, ready to fight.

His eyes narrowed onto…

A rat.

He sighed minutely once his mind registered the animal, letting Star fade away once he realized it wasn't a threat. So, this confirmed that the farm has a rodent infestation; to be fair, it would be hard not to expect something like this in an abandoned house. He watched as the grey creature seemed to consider him suspiciously, before scrambling into a hole in the wall, disappearing out of view. That cemented his resolve; he's not about to go into that attic and get sick from a damn rat spreading it's germs all over the place.

Just as he was about to continue his search, a sudden crash rang up from beneath him. Freezing, he strained to hear anything else for a moment; more crashes and then sounds of struggle come from downstairs.

Where Kakyoin is.

shit-

Jumping down the stairs, Jotaro is just able to catch a flash of green slam into the ground, followed by a sick squelch that made his stomach turn. He continued running, only faltering when the world pitched to grey for a moment.

A time stop.

He can't even be mad at Star deciding to stop time without permission, instead throwing a quick thanks to them for the extra time it grants him. Jotaro hoped he's not too late for whatever he was about to run into.

"Kakyoin--" He started hurriedly, skidding into the room to see Hierophant holding a cast iron frying pan, and Kakyoin poking at a lump of red, surrounded by shards from an emerald splash. On the floor with the leg of a destroyed chair, and the old refrigerator had a door torn off. Wide ocean eyes meet bright violet.

"I got it." Kakyoin said with a smirk, glancing down at the red blob that Jotaro just realized was the bloody remains of a rat, not unlike the one he saw earlier.

He stared at Kakyoin disbelievingly. "...Why did you kill a rat?" He eventually asked.

Kakyoin scoffed, laughing as he threw the remains of the chair out of his hands. "A stand user, more like. That rat tried to kill me several times." He stated as he put away his flashlight, pointing at the wall which is missing round chunks. Walking forward, Jotaro sees small, barbed bullets embedded in the plaster, each a deep red. Frowning, he reached out to touch it when an iron grip on his waist dragged him back.

He looks down in surprise, he sees Hierophant Green tightly wrapped around his chest, and looking at Jotaro disapprovingly (a feat, since you can't see their eyes.) The pan, now forgotten, drops to the floor with a resounding crash, and Kakyoin's lips press into a thin line.

"...Were you seriously about to touch that?" He asked after a moment, and Jotaro nodded, confused. If anything, the severe expression gets worse, and Kakyoin rubbed his face exasperatedly.

"You do know what they do to your body, right? Melting. Flesh?" He deadpanned, and Jotaro nodded again, now seeing why Kakyoin was reacting so adversely.

"I wasn't going to touch it myself." He assured, and Kakyoin relaxed slightly while Jotaro continued, "I was going to let Star."

Kakyoin's head snapped up. "...What?"

Jotaro started to unwind Hierophant from his arms. "If it hurts Star, they can rip it out fast enough to not cause a serious injury. We need to know if it's bullets will still affect us even if the stand is not alive anymore. If they do, we'll need to bury them to prevent anyone running their hands over the wall from losing an arm." Once one is free, he reached out again.

This time, Jotaro is almost launched away, swept straight off his feet and sent a few meters backwards. Hierophant is even tighter now, wrapped around his legs to not even allow Jotaro a step and wrenching his arms away from possible harm. He glanced over at the redhead irritably.

"Kakyoin. Really?"

"Jotaro!!" Kakyoin returned disbelievingly. "No! Just because you aren't going to lose your arm, doesn't mean you can touch it! You might not lose your arm, but what about your hand? Your fingers? You don't even know how fast it spreads?!!?" He chidded, crossing his arms.

"It can't be faster than stopped time."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!"

A faint scratching sound distracts the two, and they both turn to see another rat watching them from the door. It's black, beady eyes stared, motionlessly, before darting out the still cracked open door.

They exchange looks.

"So…" Kakyoin continued, but Jotaro cuts him off with a motion of his hand.

"We need to find that rat." He said, eyes narrowing on the space it was once in. Kakyoin frowned slightly, so Jotaro continued, "These types of rats don't tolerate competition, even among their own kind. It will kill any that are weaker than itself so they don't have to compete for resources."

Kakyoin's eyes narrowed. "If this rat had a stand this powerful… the only thing that could survive against it is another stand." He realized darkly, finally drawing back Hierophant Green, who faded from view. "We can't leave it alive; even though it doesn't have anything to do with Josuke, it will continue to hurt anyone who it feels threatened by. It's only a matter of time before it kills again."

Jotaro nodded curtly. To be safe, he has Star Platinum destroy the bullet ridden wall, the chunks of plaster serving as a makeshift cover in case the bullets were still active. Walking over the rubble, they make their way to the door, heading outside.

"Can you describe the rat's stand to me? I didn't get to see it." Jotaro asked as they cautiously headed out into the open fields, looking for any possible trail to follow.

"It was a little sniper rifle, if I'm being honest." Kakyoin explained. "If this rats stand is anything like the other one, we will need this. It fires bullets that melt anything organic in contact."

Jotaro frowned. Normally, projectiles serve no threat to him and Star, with his stands base speed being much faster than any bullet, but with the threat of losing a limb, the only thing they can do is dodge instead of catch. And since Jotaro can't move as fast as Star Platinum, he's going to have to stop time.

"Hey Jotaro, over here." Kakyoin called, pointing down at the ground. Walking over, Jotaro is able to see some chewed on stalks of grass, alongside a few rat droppings. "I think it ran out on an old path it had created. It wouldn't just run randomly, so let's follow it."

"Ok, you keep an eye out for any movement, I'll track it." Jotaro stated, calling out Star Platinum to help him. Thanks to the stands superior vision, he is able to follow the trail the rat left with relative ease, while Hierophant is stretched out to the limit to catch any movement or threat around them. Eventually the trail leads them to a runoff ditch, and they both pause.

"It wouldn't be down here." Kakyoin said, eyes narrowing. "It knows the terrain would put it at a disadvantage. If I would guess, I think it would be there." He pointed at the hill on the other side of the gully. "It would have a good vantage of the surroundings up there, and if it's stand is anything like the other one, it needs space to be effective."

"How do you think we can flush it out?" Jotaro asked, looking around for something to give him an advantage. A few stones laid scattered around, and he picked some up, wondering if he could throw them hard enough to take out a rat.

"I could use the emerald splash…" Kakyoin mused, "But I would need to get eyes on him first. If I just randomly fired, it could use the in-between period to take a shot at me."

"I have an idea." Jotaro said after a moment. "This hill doesn't have any barriers on it, aside from those few rocks. If the rat is watching us, it wouldn't resist taking an easy shot at someone walking unprotected up the hill."

"...You're going to walk up the hill, aren't you?" Kakyoin responded, leveling a glare at Jotaro. He shrugged.

"Star Platinum will let me dodge. If it doesn't shoot me going up, then it's stand is different, and Star can just beat it into a pulp. But if it does, it's up to you to take him out; when you see the bastard, take your shot." He ordered, and Kakyoin huffed, but took up a defensive position behind a large rock, letting the barrier serve as his cover.

Steeling himself, Jotaro began the slow trek up the hill, eyes scanning every possible movement and flicker.

Immediately, a glint flashed on the hill; the first bullet came flying towards him. That confirms that the stand is the same as earlier; Jotaro's not sure if that's any better or worse.

He stopped time and dodged it, ducking behind a smaller rock as he did. He looked over to Kakyoin.

"Did you see it?" He called, but the redhead shaked his head. Frowning he got ready for his next move, already planning out where he'll hide next.

Then, his phone rings.

Freezing for a second, Jotaro then jolted into action, hastily digging into his pocket to grab the item before the incessant ringing gave away his position. He winced when he sees who the caller is, before answering and holding it up to his ear.

"Jotaro sweetie!!" Holly greeted excitedly, not allowing Jotaro a word as she barreled onward."Did you hear the news??"

"Hold on mom, I'm going to call you back in a--"

"No, this is important!! We have a new relative!" For a moment, Jotaro blanked, wondering who she was talking about as he carefully peaked his head over the rock, before ducking back down when a bullet flew threateningly close to his head.

Wait... was she referring to Josuke?

"So Joseph told you, I assume." He said harshly as he thought about the old man. Holly sighed over the phone.

"Yes, I've already had a long talk with him…" He winced at her now sad voice, regretting his earlier tone. "But it's too late to change that now. And besides, I have a baby brother, isn't that exciting!!!" She laughed, and Jotaro rolled his eyes.

"He's eighteen you know." He said half-heartedly, then frowned when another bullet kicked up dust to his right. "I need to call you back, ok, I'm in the middle of something. And don't try to talk to him yet, I'll explain later." Jotaro ordered, just barely hearing her sounds of protest before he is forced to hang up, shoving it back into his pocket.

He needed to move.

Throwing the signal over to Kakyoin, who nodded, Jotaro stood up. Immediately, he sees a glint of light shine up the hill, before the time stop lets him see the bullet suspended in front of him. Wasting no time, he lept behind another sliver of cover, laying flat to minimize how much of him could be seen.

"Did you see it?!" Jotaro yelled, growling when Kakyoin shakes his head. He doesn't know how many times Star is going to be able to stop time before they get tired, and then, it's game over.

"Get ready, I'm going again!"

"Ok go!"

Jotaro jumped up again, then time stopped, but this time, he could feel the strain of it in his chest as he forced himself to move out of harm's way. The bullet whizzes by him.

"JOTARO MOVE!!" Kakyoin suddenly yelled, and Jotaro immediately threw himself down, Star Platinum hovering defensively over him. He glanced up in time to see the bullet ricochet off the rock behind him and go sailing right where he would have been standing. His blue eyes narrow as he dragged himself behind another, even smaller rock.

Gritting his teeth, he glanced over at Kakyoin once more. If he doesn't hit it soon, this could get bad--

A stream of emerald goes flying up over his head, a perfect arc that crashes into the land with a deafening shatter. Obliterated rocks and dirt go flying, and Jotaro held his arm up to shield from the dust.

"Got it." Kakyoin called up at him proudly, finally standing up straight and patting off the clay sticking to his black pants.

Jotaro sighed in relief, slowly standing up as well as he let Star fade away. "Took your time." He said flatly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Kakyoin rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I needed time to charge up the Emerald splash. I wanted to get him with the first shot."

Jotaro pulled his hat low, hiding a small grin. "Good grief…"

Suddenly, a drop of water landed on his exposed hand, and he squinted up at the sky. The clouds from earlier have almost completely overtaken the sun, and no slivers of blue could be seen, only an angry, rolling grey. A few more drops land on his face.

"...We should probably be going." He stated, and Kakyoin nodded.

"I second that. I don't want the dirt to get caked into my jacket before I can wash it." He said with a frown as he ran a hand over the dark green fabric. They both start walking down the path, glad to be leaving the property (and the rats) behind them.

Hopefully this town can now rest a little easier, without the threat of an unseen enemy hanging over its shoulder.

_________

"What?!?!" Polnareff asked, eyes wide in shock as he stared at Avdol. "but I haven't seen anyone watching me!?"

"I spotted her earlier when I was coming back from the bathroom." Avdol said seriously, shaking his head. "She stays back from the group, and hasn't been helping anyone with the chores, only watching. When she noticed me, she ran into the barn."

Avdol's frown deepened. "I don't know what she wants with us, but it can't be good. Where is Josuke?" He questioned, crossing his arms.

"Oh, he went to go grab a drink." Polnareff responded, pointing in the direction that the boy went in. "He left a few minutes ago."

Avdol's eyes widened. "By himself?!" He asked, clenching his fists. "You need to find him, now. I'm going to go after that girl, you protect Josuke." He turned swiftly, taking off in the red buildings direction. Polnareff blinked in surprise.

"Whoa, wait!!!" He hollered, grabbing onto the collar of Avdol's sweater and tugging him back. "Hold on a minute!" He hissed as he hauled the other man to him. Avdol throwed him an irritated glare.

"We can't waste time Polnareff." He admonished, but the white haired man shaked his head.

"Avdol, if you have to use Magician's Red, this whole forest will catch on fire!!" Polnareff gestured around wildly. "The ground here is super dry, one spark and this place is going up in flames!"

Avdol frowned again, studying the piles of dry brush and wood stacked throughout the field, alongside the dehydrated grass at their feet.

"...You're right. Magicians Red is extremely accurate, but even I don't think I would be able to stop all the spare embers from igniting." He stated, a small flame appearing in his hand. He studies it thoughtfully, before closing his fist, extinguishing it. "But we still can't let her escape before we find out what she was doing."

Polnareff nodded in agreement. "We need to switch rolls. I'll go interrogate her, you find Josuke. Try to distract anyone from coming to the barn, I don't know how long this will take."

"She has a pixie cut and electric blue jacket, you won't miss her." Avdol described, but then his eyebrows furrowed.

"Polnareff," He said hesitantly, brown eyes staring down the Frenchman, "Don't get in over your head, ok? If things get out of control, it's a lot easier for the Speedwagon foundation to fake an accidental forest fire than to bring you back from the dead."

Polnareff smiled, throwing his friend a lazy salute. "Don't worry, I'm the pinnacle of carefulness!!" He said jokingly, but his eyes softened. "I'll call if I need back up, ok?" He assured, pulling the Egyptian to him with an arm around his shoulder like a pseudo-hug, before beginning his trek to the barn.

As soon as Polnareff disappeared from sight, Avdol sighed and took off in the direction Josuke should be in, waving at some other volunteers as he passed by. He felt a frown tugging at his face as he looked around, trying to catch sight of the familiar pompadour in the woods when he didn't see Josuke anywhere in the rows of cars. Where was he…?

"Hey Avdol!" A cheery voice yelled faintly behind him, and Avdol sighed with relief, turning around to see Josuke. The young man's face was split in a wide grin, and he waved with his free hand, the other clutching two bottles of water.

"Josuke! I was looking for you!" Avdol said, unable to hide the relief in his tone. If something bad happened to Josuke under his watch, Avdol isn't sure if he would be able to keep his composure; the boy's upbeat and helpful personality made the thought of possible harm to him an unpleasant one indeed…

Josuke pursed his lips, noticing Avdol's relief. "I'm sorry I was gone so long." He said apologetically, looking around. "This lady was acting all weird when I was trying to get some water for me and Polnareff… speaking of which, where is he?" He spinned around, trying to catch sight of the Frenchman.

"Don't worry about him." Avdol stated hurriedly, grabbing Josuke by his arm and pulling him in step beside himself. Thankfully, Josuke doesn't question it, and Avdol is able to corral him away from the barn with relative ease. Polnareff should have found the stalker by now, and if things get bad, he wanted to make sure Josuke is out of the danger zone. They continue walking down the gravel driveway, eventually stopping at a few rows of dilapidated raised beds.

"Do you mind helping me with these? I've been putting off them during the summer, and if we did them now, we would be able to plant strawberries in the upcoming spring!" Avdol said, kicking the rotted wood sides as he did. Luckily for them, there were only two that needed to be completely redone; the others only needed some new dirt and the removal of the lingering dead plants.

"Sure!" Josuke agreed, squatting down to look at the weeds growing inside the bed. "Is there any new soil we can replace this with? This is almost empty, the wind must have blown it away." He poked at the thin layer of dirt with a grimace. At this point, he's not even sure if this could be considered a raised bed.

Avdol nodded, pointing at the black truck backed into the ditch a few meters away. "The owner's niece brought some yesterday." He confirmed, crossing his arms. "But first, let's find the new planks so we can replace the sides."

Avdol then turned and walked over to a smaller tree, where the boards are stacked in a untidy heap. Josuke followed behind him, and once they got close enough, he crouched down to inspect the beige wood. It seemed to be in good quality, and Avdol was thankful that it was the type that could handle being exposed to the elements.

"Here, let me help." Josuke offered as Avdol picked up the first piece, grabbing onto the end to stabilize it and to take some of the weight off. After two trips, they finally had enough to begin the work, so Avdol started ripping the rotten wood up, laying it to his side.

"If you check the back of the truck, there should be a navy blue case, it has some tools in it. Can you go grab that for me? You can't miss it." Avdol asked as he eyed the rusty nails sticking out of the wood. He wasn't about to get tetanus from that, he needed gloves…

"Yep! Just give me a minute." Josuke said, walking away to go get the tools while Avdol continued to tear and dismantle the old frame. Some dirt spilled off into the grass, and earthworms, now unearthed, wiggled helplessly in their new predicament. He made sure to throw them back into the dirt before they dried out.

"Um… Avdol?" Josuke faintly yelled, and Avdol glanced up to see Josuke looking back at him with a frown. "...I missed it."

It took a moment for Avdol to understand what Josuke was getting at, but when he did, his eyes crinkled as he let out a low chuckle.

"Hold on, I'll be there in a minute." He called back, and Josuke nodded before disappearing once more into the interior of the vehicle.

Sighing, Avdol stood up and brushed the soil off his hands, making his way over to the truck. Josuke stepped aside once he got close enough, and he scanned the seats for any sign of the bag. His eyes narrowed at the emptiness. It was literally just here; he had seen someone put it inside before he left to find Polnareff, so where was it now?

"I think I saw some hammers and stuff in the barn? Do you want me to go grab that for-" Josuke began to offer, but Avdol shook his head.

"No, no! We should be fine," He hastily interrupted. "We can start replacing the dirt in the good beds instead!" Avdol motioned to the bags of soil in the bed of the truck and the shovel laying on top of them.

Josuke raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged and grabbed the shovel. Slinging a bag over his shoulder with a quiet grunt, Avdol walked it over to the nearest raised bed and threw it down gratefully as soon as he was close enough.

"Most of these are dry enough to be pulled out by hand." Josuke noticed as he tugged a whole dead plant up, roots and all.

Avdol hummed, breaking open the bag of soil. "That's good." He said after a minute. "Make sure you get all of them out; we don't want the old plants to mess with the strawberries."

Josuke nodded determinedly, setting to work ripping up the offending plants and throwing them into a haphazard pile beside him. They both settled into a comfortable silence, each content to do their own task, when Josuke suddenly jerked up, scrambling away from the plant.

"SHIT THAT'S A BIG SPIDER!!!!!" He yelled as he jumped away, staring down at something with wide eyes. Avdol raised an eyebrow in question, leaning over to try and catch a glimpse of this spider that sent Josuke running.

…

Well, Josuke wasn't lying. Avdol wasn't even sure if spiders this big were even native here; the thing looked like a cross between a tarantula and something else, with grey markings crisscrossing it's back.

"Sorry about that!" Josuke said sheepishly as he let out a breath, sitting back down a good distance away. "Normally spiders don't bother me, but that guy scared me." He pointed down at the arachnid accusingly. "It jumped at me!"

Avdol suppressed a snicker as he pushed the creature aside with a nearby stick, watching as it crawled off into the grass. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Josuke letting out a quick shudder.

"You sure you aren't scared?" He asked teasingly as he returned to his former task. Josuke shook his head vehemently.

"It's not that! I just remembered a story of someone who licked a spider… Rohan is such a weirdo sometimes--" Josuke started, before cutting off abruptly.

Avdol waited for the boy to continue, interested (but still slightly disgusted) on hearing why this Rohan fellow decided to snack on an arachnid, but the silence dragged on. Glancing up, he frowned as he looked over Josuke. He was just staring into nothing; his blue eyes unfocused and glassy, mouth slightly parted.

"Josuke? What's wrong??" Avdol asked hurriedly as he pushed himself up, all but running over to him. At the lack of a reply, Avdol's concern spiked into straight up worry, and his eyebrows furrowed.

Suddenly, he remembers what Jotaro mentioned just the day before.

This must be what they were talking about, when they said Josuke "blanked" out! Jotaro also said it was triggered by memories of the past, and Avdol cursed himself for not asking more about the phenomenon, because now he has no idea how long this episode will last... (he just planned on not asking Josuke anything about his past to avoid the problem all together; he didn't expect for the boy to do it to himself!!)

"Damn it, ok." Avdol said to himself, reining in his panic. He just needed to watch Josuke for now; if it doesn't clear up within 15 minutes, he's calling Jotaro. Taking a deep breath, he sat across from the pompadour teen, and began to wait.

_________

By the time Jotaro and Kakyoin made it to the taxi they called ahead of time, they were one hundred percent soaked. The driver gave them a glare when they all but threw themselves into the cabs warm interior, but Jotaro couldn't give a rats ass, just glad to be out of the rain. Besides, Jotaro's cold stare killed whatever complaint the man had on his tongue. The driver gulped and hastily turned on some background music, which filled the small space.

Jotaro didn't even spare the farm a second glance, just glad that business was over with. Starting the day off with a rat hunt wasn't what he had in mind, and they had yet to find anything related to Josuke.

But, if one person is spared a gruesome death at the hands of a… rat, then it's better than if they had done nothing. A quiet cough drew him out of his thoughts.

Glancing over, he noticed Kakyoin just barely shifting and squirming in his seat, his arms wrapped around his torso. His back was ramrod straight, and his shoulders were tense. A look of discomfort was in his eyes, which were refusing to meet Jotaro's own.

"...You good?" He eventually asked, looking over the redhead again to see if he missed any injuries. Kakyoin nodded slowly, the move looking very forced.

"I'm… fine." He said through gritted teeth, and Jotaro frowned. After a moment, Kakyoin relented and continued in a low voice, "My... back is acting up."

Oh.

Jotaro knew that the only reason Kakyoin is alive today is because Dios fist didn't go all the way through him, but that didn't mean he made it out unscathed. It had taken months of physical therapy to let him walk again, and that was with strict warnings to not overdo it, and to let his back rest. Jotaro had the feeling running around the field, trying to avoid getting shot would probably count as overdoing it...

It has been at least 5 years since then, but occasionally, Kakyoin had one of those days where he could not even get out of the bed. The redhead was too stubborn most of the time to ask for Jotaro's help, so the fact that he is admitting that he's in pain now is worrying.

"Did you bring your meds?" He asked, already planning the detour to the hotel to grab them, instead of the library where they were headed now.

Kakyoin shook his head hesitantly. Jotaro scowled.

"Ibuprofen works for it." Kakyoin assured, "That's what I use when it gets bad."

Jotaro nodded.

"Hey," He ordered, causing the driver to glance over his shoulder at him. "Drop us off at the nearest store."

The man nodded, making a quick turn onto a side street. Kakyoin didn't appreciate the sudden jerk from the car if his muffled hiss was any indication. Jotaro frowned even deeper and tugged his hat low to cover his face.

They can investigate later, as soon as he grabs that ibuprofen and maybe something else to eat, they are going straight back to the hotel. Having Kakyoin run around town when his back feels like it's trying to take a bath in lava wouldn't help anyone.

Luckily for them, the store was within walking distance of the Morioh Grand Hotel, so they didn't need to call another taxi. It looked fairly new, at least compared to the buildings around them. As soon as they pulled into the parking lot, Jotaro jumped out of the car, uncaring if the rain was still coming down at a steady pace, slamming his door behind him. Kakyoin got out himself, but Jotaro could see him use Hierophant as a brace before straightening up.

"I'll grab it, you find us something to drink or whatever." Jotaro ordered once they stepped inside. Kakyoin scowled, but nodded, slowly making his way over to the small refrigerated section to the right of the checkout.

As he walked back, he caught a glimpse of the cashier. They made eye contact, and she gave him a cold smile.

Her eyes… they were so grey.

They had to be contacts, no way someone's eyes actually looked like that. However, something in the back of his mind struggled to make a connection. Who had he seen with grey eyes.. wasn't there someone? But who-

He felt a little better about leaving Kakyoin for now though; at least if he collapsed or something, she could keep an eye out.

__________

Josuke startled, looking around in confusion. What was he just talking about?-

"Josuke, are you feeling ok?" A voice cut through his thoughts, and Josuke glanced over with wide eyes to see Avdol sitting across from him, staring at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Um, yeah. What were we-"

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." Avdol hurried, standing back up, leading Josuke to realize they were sitting in a pile of dirt. Ok then, now he's definitely confused, but seeing Avdol's lingering concern made him not question the man.

A small alert rang through the air. Frowning, Josuke dug his phone out of his pocket, looking at the screen in confusion.

"Oh, it's just a weather alert for my hometown." He said nonchalantly, missing Avdol suddenly tensing behind him. "It says there's a bad pop up shower… I hope my mom is inside."

"Indeed…" Avdol agreed distractedly, looking around for… something. Josuke frowns at his odd behavior.

A crash, followed by a loud cracking rung out over the land. Both of them jump, spinning in the direction of the noise. Josuke stared, adding to his mounting confusion; what could have caused that? ...Did it just come from the barn?

When he turned over to Avdol, about to ask if he knew what it was, he was taken aback by his appearance. The Egyptian looks several shades paler, eyes wide with worry. His hands were clenched tight, and Josuke could see the faintest tremble in them.

"Whoa, Avdol! What's wrong?!" He asked, worry overtaking him as he took a step toward the man.

"Josuke." Avdol started, voice steely and low despite his appearance. Josuke immediately shuts up, listening anxiously. "If something happens, don't be afraid to use this."

Suddenly, something long is pushed into his hands. Josuke looked down to see a dagger now in his hands. He gawked at the weapon.

"Avdol!! What are you-"

"Josuke, I'm being serious!" Avdol yelled over him, glancing between Josuke and the barns direction. "It might not do much, so if something happens, run first. Use it if you get cornered. Hopefully, you won't need to."

What the hell? What is Avdol about to do, he's acting like he's about to die? Does he need to call the police?!? And why did he just give him a dagger?!?!

Josuke's eyes widened, and he gripped the dagger tightly. "O-Ok. But w-what are you doing?!" He stuttered out, but Avdol ignored his question.

"Do not follow me. Call Jotaro if you can't find me or Polnareff later." He commanded, then immediately took off running in the sound's direction, leaving Josuke alone.

The grey eyed boy looked over the dagger warily, noting the extremely sharp blade. Where was Avdol even keeping this? Josuke didn't look forward to stabbing someone, but he also didn't want Avdol to lose his knife, so he gingerly held it a distance away from himself as he debated his options.

Maybe he should call Jotaro now? Something told him not to involve the police, but then again, he has no idea where the larger man is, and he really does want to bother him or Kakyoin. But if something happens to Avdol… Josuke bit his lip.

Then, a number Kakyoin gave him popped into his mind. It was for that old man… what's his name? Mr. Johnstair? Johnstar?? He said he lived near Josuke's apartments, right? He could be here fast, and he seemed to be close to Avdol and Polnareff.

Josuke guesses it doesn't matter, all he needed to do is see if the man could help, so he started a call, and began to wait.

____