Chapter Text
The beginning of the year, and things did not start well for Josuke. It was literally his first day of school and he already had to deal with absolute assholes of seniors. Well, not that it was difficult to take care of... on top of that crazy fiasco, he also found out that he was some sort of illegitimate son?? From a complete stranger, at that. He also found out that he belonged to the joestar blood line?? Like what the hell was that??? He let out a loud, frustrated sigh as he made his way into the school compounds, giving a little kick to a small, unsuspecting pebble lying on the concrete pavement.
“Woah, josuke-san,” a voice Next to him piped up: “Are you feeling alright?”
Josuke sniffed, followed by a little sheepish laugh, “yeah I’m fine, Koichi. It’s just... a lot has happened today and it’s literally still morning.” He twirled his school bag around by the handle, a habit which helps him cope whenever he feels annoyed.
Josuke rubbed the back of his neck, another apparent habit, he notices, which some people from his class kind of fancy.
“It has been, hasn’t it?” Koichi replies, sympathetic. “Anyway, let’s just forget about it. It’s the first day of school, you should enjoy it!”
“I suppose.” Josuke smiled at his newfound friend, trying to lighten the mood a little. Being the friendly giant that he was, he knew koichi was trying to make him feel better, despite it not really working. After all, some major news was broken to him, and he wasn’t really sure what he could do about it.
“Josuke-san, uh, it might be a little awkward for you and all, but would you like to accompany me after school? Apparently, a new bookstore has opened just two bus stops away from johzenji, and I heard the have the newest stuff!! It might help take your mind of all the things that’s happened today,,” koichi offered, as he shyly fidgeted with his fingers. Once he heard the way koichi had spoken about the store, josuke could tell that he was a big fan of books or something. Despite himself not being much of a reader, (he was much more into hammering controllers and defeating the final bosses), he couldn’t decline his newfound friend because 1) koichi seemed quite enthusiastic about going to see the new bookstore that declining him would make josuke seem like a selfish bastard. And 2) he wanted to spend more time with his newfound friend.
“That’s great!!” Koichi said, almost sounding overly-enthusiastic, but quickly covered it with a clear of his throat. “See you after school!”
Phone numbers and a quick wave of hands were exchanged right before the school bell commenced, and josuke smiled to himself, watching his friend run off further into the year-two block of classrooms. Resting his hand on his hip, and slinging his brown, schoolbag over his right shoulder, he started to make his way towards his classroom. “I feel like it’s going to be an interesting year...” he started, whisper fading as the wind bid it farewell before sending it away.
“Josuke! Have you heard of ‘pink dark boy’ ?” That same excited voice shook josuke out of his little trip down the memory lane of the school’s orientation that happened literally just hours ago. Josuke gave a slightly startled look and a gentle shake of his head, shaking some hair loose.”Nope.” He replied, as he tried to fix his hair back into place.
“Ah! Haven’t you heard of it? It’s once of the most popular manga currently!!” Koichi’s voice has a hint of disbelief, but he was determined to make sure that Josuke knew about it too, at the end of the day.
“Oh, so you like reading comics, eh?” Josuke gave a little tilt of his head. He had kind of thought that Koichi was a bookworm, and into novels, not so much of comics. They stepped off the bus and walked to their destination.
The little ring of the bell that occured everytime the door of the store was opened followed by the wafting smell of newly opened books immediately set the atmosphere of...well, a newly opened book store. Rather homely, josuke thought, as he and koichi excitedly walked with a slight hop with each step to the closest aisle.
The shelves were literally filled with pink and black, up until closer inspection then did the two realise that there were tons of the ‘pink dark boy’ manga on the shelves. Koichi, brimming with glee, carefully slid out two volumes wrapped in cellophane.
“It’s really good, josuke!!” Koichi Held the comic like a prized possession in front of him, beaming with pride. “The art, the plot,” Koichi made an ‘ok’ sign with his fingers and kissed it. “fantastic.” He marvelled.
Josuke, seeing how absolutely enthusiastic koichi was about ‘pink dark boy’, he couldn’t really help but hold back a small laugh and shrug his shoulders. “Sure, I’ll give it a go.” He said, pulling out the first volume of the comic from the shelf. Well it was about time he’d find some good comics, maybe he’d even like it as much as koichi, josuke thought.
A bad idea it was, a really bad idea indeed. Unexpected, unprecedented. What did he want to do? He wanted to read a few chapters. Minutes passed and our dear boy, Josuke has read the entire manga, contents and all. He was sucked in by the plot of the comic, and beautiful imagery and interesting characters. Heck, he loved it whole. He just had to know more about this story and how did someone write this so magnificently??
............Wait a minute,, that’s right, the author!! He had to know. Just who was the person capable of coming up with something that spoke so much to him. The person capable of making something which captured his adoration from the very first panel. Josuke quickly flipped to the end of the book to find the person capable of writing such an impressive storyline. His eyes quickly scanned the small words as his finger traced underlines for them. Right under the “author/illustrator” label, a name was written.
“Kishibe Rohan...” He mumbled in admiration. With a satisfied sigh, he closed the book and put the volume aside on the desk next to him. Thinking about how wonderful it would be, meeting the person who created this masterpiece.