Chapter Text
Jolyne Kujo froze for half a second before flinging away the pencil she had been twirling between her fingers. It hit the person sitting in front of her squarely in the back of the head. Amidst a loud cry of pain, Jolyne twisted her head to the side and shifted her eyes toward the window, her hand half-covering her face.
"Give me a break…"
The teacher at the podium was introducing the new transfer student, Giorno Giovanna, who was dressed in all pink, his golden blonde hair glowing in the sunlight.
The students looked at the new student curiously. A few girls, unable to suppress their excitement, noisily chattered about his handsomeness.
Jolyne, however, was not one of them, for when she saw Giorno's face, a string in her head snapped.
Horrible memories from the day before came tumbling back with such force that Jolyne couldn't breathe.
It was so embarrassing.
One Day Ago
As dusk fell and the heat of the early summer air faded, Jolyne bought a quick snack for two from the convenience store. Just as she was planning to catch a train home, she happened to pass by an alley and heard wailing.
In the alley, there were several bruised and battered students on the ground, begging for mercy from a blond teenage boy.
Sweeping his gaze over the mess of them as if they were garbage, he patted the dust on his clothes and took the wallets they offered with a blank face.
'It's been pretty chaotic around these parts lately.'
Jolyne frowned and immediately fished out a can of Coke from her shopping bag before smashing it against the blonde boy's head.
By the time the boy overcame the pain and realized what had happened, Jolyne was already straddling his waist, and her clenched fist was coming down with a strong wind.
The boy immediately raised his hand and squeezed Jolyne's wrist, pulling it to the side. Taking advantage of her unstable center of gravity, he flipped over his body with both legs and pressed back. With the offense and defense reversed, Jolyne had to struggle to break free. She had not expected the slender boy in front of her to have such strength, making her unable to move at all.
Facing the light, Jolyne could not make out his expression clearly, but she felt his judgmental gaze sweep over her. After a stalemate for an unknown period of time, the boy finally spoke.
"Hey, you," he said, sighing with barely contained anger, "I think there's a misunderstanding here.”
The force on her waist slowly moved as the boy rolled off and pulled her up. Only then did she realize that the boys from before had long since disappeared.
"Those guys robbed lone students for so-called protection money, and it looks like they're repeat offenders," he calmly explained.
"So, you..."
"Were planning to turn them over to the police station."
Jolyne's face immediately reddened to the ears. She glanced at the bleeding wound on the boy's forehead where she had smashed the soda can. Flustered and at a loss, Jolyne fished out a band-aid from her school bag and offered it to him in apology.
"No, thank you," the boy said politely, then turned and left.
It could have gone worse, Jolyne comforted herself. If she were him and had her head smashed for maintaining law and order, she might have beaten her up instead.
If only she hadn't run up so impulsively that day.
When Jolyne's mind drifted back, she found that Giorno was also looking at her with some surprise. The moment their eyes met, Mr. Kakyoin's voice hit her eardrums. "Oh, there's an empty seat next to Jolyne. Giorno, you can sit there."
Empty? What was empty?
Jolyne watched stiffly as Giorno stepped off the podium and finally settled into the seat next to hers that was piled with textbooks and snacks.
Giorno looked over, polite, as if they were meeting for the first time. "Nice to meet you, Jolyne. Please advise me in the future."
Jolyne swept aside the chips and video games on Giorno's desk and tried to put on a genuine smile. "I'm really sorry for what happened the other day... You…"
"It's okay. Let's leave it behind us."
Giorno took out his bag of books and turned his gaze to the blackboard, seamlessly saying "Sorry, but I'm in class, so please don't bother me" without actually saying so.
This unconcerned tone made her uneasy.
The frosty atmosphere lasted until the bell rang. Jolyne left the classroom in a hurry, ready to skip the rest of the day. Unfortunately, she had only reached the end of the corridor when a familiar voice called out.
"Jojo, wait."
Jolyne straightened her expression, turned around, and smiled at the red-haired man. "What's up, Mr. Kakyoin?"
"I couldn't help but notice that you were a little distracted during class. Do you dislike your new deskmate?"
"Of course not. Giorno is very nice. How could I hate him?"
Kakyoin looked at Jolyne for a moment, pushing up his gold wire framed glasses. "If that's the case, don't think about cutting class today. You've reached the limit for the number of absences this month."
Jolyne cried out in disbelief, unable to comprehend how he had caught on. She immediate made a plea. "Please, please, please, Uncle Kakyoin! Just for today. I promise it'll be the last time this month!"
Seeing that Kakyoin was unmoved, she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. "The newly released Wilderness Hunter 2 game is also yours!"
"It's useless to try to bribe me," Kakyoin finally uttered, smacking her head with a book. He blinked and gave a helpless smile. "Also, I've told you many times to call me Mr. Kakyoin at school."
Taking the 'I'll tell your parents if you skip class again' hint in Kakyoin's smile, Jolyne said in disgust, "Okay, I'll go back. I promise."
"What about the game?"
"No... you can't." Jolyne raised her voice, but then looking up and meeting those fox-like eyes, she conceded. "Fine, you big bully. I… won't go back on my word."
"It's Mr. Kakyoin," he reminded with a smile.
"Yeah yeah, Mr. Kakyoin." Jolyne waved goodbye to him and resentfully turned to leave.
Jolyne returned to class. Before she could lie down on her desk and pretend to nap to avoid the awkwardness between her and Giorno, she was surprised to find her seat blocked by people.
She stood frozen in the doorway, her expression gradually becoming contorted as the afternoon sun fell on every corner of the classroom, reflecting the harsh light from the snack bag on her desk.
As she looked at Giorno, who was surrounded by the crowd, she suddenly realized that her precious peace of mind might be gone for good.
The unlucky day was a bit of a letdown for Jolyne, and with it, Jolyne's interest in soccer class waned.
The soccer coach left early to go on a date with his girlfriend and mercifully made the entire class time a free period. In the midst of the cheering, Jolyne stared at the round soccer ball on the lawn and began to miss the watermelon her brother had frozen in the freezer.
As usual, Romeo, as a coach's assistant, was in charge of organizing the soccer practice game. Although the two teams were randomly grouped by lottery, Jolyne couldn't help but grimace when she found herself grouped with Romeo and his little henchmen.
Almost all of them were members of the varsity soccer team, which undoubtedly meant that the other team was devoid of game experience.
Jolyne didn't care too much about the unbalanced teams. To her, class practices like these were akin to stretching exercises before swimming or the first lazy day after waking up in the morning.
She wasn't shameless as to bring out her A-game to show off like how Romeo did.
When Romeo stole every shot to earn the screams of the girls watching, Jolyne didn't even bother to give him a blank stare.
It wasn't until Romeo led the team to pull away and started to work with a few other players to keep pinning Giorno, who was on the other team, that Jolyne saw the truth behind this unbalanced team coincidence. Romeo wanted to teach Giorno a lesson, so that the newcomer wouldn't get carried away with his welcome that morning, and show him who the "boss" of the class was.
Jolyne frowned. Why were boys so rude and immature?
Oh, except for her beloved brother, of course. He was empathetic and never got into trouble with anyone. He wasn't like Romeo, an arrogant, suspicious, stupid hedgehog who could only poke his spikes at empty air.
When Giorno's knees were knocked hard once more, Jolyne could no longer just stand back and watch.
She began to miss on purpose, stiffening her kicking by an order of magnitude. After Jolyne received several yellow cards in a row, she waited for Romeo to request an early halftime.
Before Romeo could accuse Jolyne of watering down, he unexpectedly heard her statement of intent to switch to the red team.
Romeo lifted his chin and warned with an unsuspecting look on his face. "Jolyne, I advise you to stay out of this. It's none of your business."
"Of course!" Jolyne valiantly put on the other team's red sweatshirt and, ignoring of the surprised looks from both teams, lazily bent her knees and did a leg stretch. "It's just that I don't want to be on a team with people who play foul."
"What did you say?!" Romeo growled incredulously.
Jolyne covered her ears at his loudness dramatically. "It's no fun pretending you didn't hear me. If you have time, you should start thinking about how to hold the score in the second half."
"Oh yeah," Jolyne added, "the referee's eyes don't seem to be working very well today, as he missed a few red cards, so I've just contacted Bucciarati. He'll be coming over to fill in later when he's done. I hope you can still perform well in front of the disciplinary committee."
The second half soon began. Jolyne had only thought that joining would make Romeo and the others tighten up a bit, but surprisingly, her and Giorno's rhythm were unexpectedly in sync. Often, with just a glance from her, he would understand her signal to pass or shoot. When they won the game by one goal, Jolyne cheered as if she had won the district championship instead of the intra-class practice.
Her mood was so good.
"I hate to admit it, but you did play well!"
Jolyne clenched her hand into a fist and stretched it out in front of Giorno, as if she had forgotten all about the unpleasantness of the morning and was completely immersed in the joy of victory.
Giorno froze for a moment then gently clinked his fist in response. "Thank you. You're pretty good too."
"So, can we call it even?" she said. "Let's start over. I'm Jolyne Kujo. Why don't we play soccer together next time too?"
Their silhouettes stretched out by the setting sun. Giorno wiped away a few drops of sweat that stuck his blond hair to his forehead. His eyes were no longer slightly uncaring like before, but more serious.
Jolyne abruptly remembered the last time they look at each other unkindly; it was just like this. Only then, his hand had held her arm in a death grip, and her face was not half as friendly.
Now Giorno handed her some mineral water, smiled, and promised to play soccer with her again next time. Jolyne suddenly perceived some of his handsomeness.
Jolyne was about to take the water bottle, a token of friendliness, when a distant voice suddenly interrupted her movement.
"Jolyne, are you ready to go home?"
Looking up at the voice, she saw Haruno standing a few steps away in the shade of a tree, watching. Who knew how long he had been there.
"I'll be right there!" Jolyne's outstretched hand toward Giorno turned into a wave at Haruno. Hurriedly saying goodbye to Giorno, she grabbed her bag and ran towards the shade.
Giorno stood silently, instinctively staring at Jolyne's back. Someone came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder to notify him of his presence. Guido Mista, who had gotten to know Giorno "well" in the classroom, had come to congratulate him on his victory.
"Not a bad kick, Giorno," Mista said. "Hey, have you noticed? The girls' eyes are glued to you now. Pretty great, huh?"
When Giorno didn't respond to his words, Mista didn't get annoyed. He traced Giorno's gaze and soon locked on Jolyne and the dark-haired boy beside her in the shade.
"That guy's name is Haruno Shiobana. He's Jolyne Kujo’s brother," Mista said smoothly.
"Brother… But isn't his last name Shiobana?" Giorno said.
"Well, the two of them don't seem to be biologically related, but no one knows what the case really is." Mista shrugged. "But they've always been very close… Oh, the thought of Jolyne Kujo the baddie actually having a brother complex gives me goose bumps." Mista swallowed hard and shook his arms exaggeratedly.
"Brother…?"
Giorno unscrewed the mineral water bottle in his hand and shoved it to Mista, a strange suspicion floating in his heart. The dark-haired boy gave him a polite nod before turning his attention to Jolyne. Of course, that was no different from any other brother who picked up his sister from school. But unexpectedly, from the corner of his eye, he somehow sensed a not-so-friendly sharpness from Haruno.
Giorno shook his head. Maybe it was just his imagination.
Jolyne gave Haruno a quick hug and looked at him with a smile. "When did you get here? And you didn't call me!"
"Just arrived a while ago. You couldn't hear me with all that running around, playing soccer." Haruno took Jolyne's school bag and handed her the thermos tucked in his arms, acting like a parent picking up his child to go home.
Jolyne couldn't wait to open it; the coldness came out instantly. It turned out to be lime juice. She hated everything sour-tasting, firmly believing it to be the antithesis of sweet. Although her face had already turned into a bitter melon in advance, she gritted her teeth and approached the cup because of Haruno's expectant look.
However, surprisingly, the lime juice wasn't very sour. She couldn't help but gulp it down; most of the drink was gone in no time. She contentedly licked the juice left in the corner of her mouth from having drank it too quickly, as if she was still relishing it.
"That was so good! How did you get it to be so sweet?" Jolyne asked, her eyes shining.
"I just gradually added some sugar when the waxberry were boiled. If you want to learn, I could always teach you." Haruno pursed his lips and smiled, knowing that Jolyne would not be interested in learning, though he asked anyway.
As expected, Jolyne immediately waved her hand and said, "No need. I already have you for that."
Haruno felt as if his heart was tickled by a feather. His eyes became softer. Like a concerned parent, he said, "How was your day? I heard from Mr. Kakyoin that there's a new student in your class."
"That's right," Jolyne replied. "He was just playing soccer with me."
"The blond guy?" Haruno pulled Jolyne closer, taking a handkerchief with a killer whale pattern out of his jacket pocket before pressing it to her forehead and beginning to wipe her sweat. This was Jolyne's handkerchief, but she couldn't be bothered to carry around such a small thing, so she let him hold on to it.
"Such a coincidence, isn't it? He's the guy I punched the day before yesterday, yet he ignored my apologies and sat next to me like a rock." Jolyne bristled and continued. "I tried to get away… but accidentally got caught by Uncle Kakyoin. It's just awful, bro. Can you imagine? I had to sit next to him all day, and the air was so thin, it was almost suffocating."
"Well, now it seems like you guys are getting along just fine. Did something interesting happen in between?" Haruno said absently, touching his fingertips to Jolyne's jaw through the handkerchief to guide her head. Jolyne naturally exposed the other side of her fair neck for him to continue wiping, not noticing the probing tone in Haruno's voice.
"Oh, maybe it's because I helped him out a little during gym class. Speaking of which, it's the first time I've seen a halfback who played the match so well. If Giorno joined the varsity team, the school ranking would definitely go up again."
"That sounds great."
Haruno nodded and folded the handkerchief stained with the young girl's sweat before tucking it away, then naturally taking her hand and holding it in his palm.
"Come on, Jolyne. Let's go home."