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The Kakyoin family sat at the table having dinner. Miko Kakyoin looked at her son. He was silent as he ate and more stiff than what was usual. Her husband, Haru seemed to notice it too but was silent.
"Noriaki?" The boy stopped eating. "We're so happy that you're back but how exactly did you get lost? Where did you go and how did you come back?"
Her Noriaki gave her a polite smile. It hurt. It felt like she was being treated as an outsider to some big secret he knew. "Don't worry about me, Mother. I just met…" His smile grew genuine and dreamy. "A precious new friend. He helped me come home."
This was news to Miko. Her son wasn't good at making friends. He always subtly pushed people away since childhood. When he was really young he used to tell her that the reason was because everyone was too different from him. Who had he met in Egypt that was similar enough for her son to call them a friend? Miko's eyes drifted to the white scarf around her son's neck. He was abnormally protective of it and hadn't even let her touch the thing when he stepped through the door. "Did your friend give you that scarf?"
Her Noriaki smiled and squeezed it fondly. "It was a parting gift. Something that he asked me to take to remember him while I'm gone. Don't you think it's lovely?"
Miko smiled. It felt awkward on her face. "Oh, yes dear. It's beautiful." It was expensive silk and looked to be a designer. Who on earth gave designer scarves as a parting gift? Miko was very uncertain about this friend her son had found.
Her husband was at his breaking point. "Noriaki." He sighed. "Just who is this friend of yours? Describe him to us."
Noriaki abandoned his chopsticks entirely. He looked between the two of them cautiously. "Describing him accurately would be a bit hard." Noriaki got that dreamy look in his eyes again. "There's just so much that I want to say that words might not even be enough. You'd have to see him in person for yourself to truly get it."
Haru grimaced. Miko could see him desperately trying to make it into a smile. "Just try, Noriaki. I'm sure that your mother and I will get the picture."
Noriaki squeezed his scarf. "Well, I guess the first thing of note is that he is a beautiful British man who has made a temporary home in Cairo."
Miko's eyebrows raised. "Man?"
Haru hardened his gaze. "How old is he, Noriaki?"
"He's definitely older than the both of you but he looks to be in his early twenties."
"Darling, how did you come across and befriend a fully adult man? Where did you meet him?"
"In an alley."
Miko could see her husband forcefully hold back an outburst. "An alley?"
Noriaki paused for a tense second. "He was taking a walk."
"Son, we lost you in the middle of the night while going to our hotel. Why would a man be taking a walk at that time?"
Noriaki hardened his eyes in a way Miko had never seen in her well-behaved son. "I don't think that that matters. I think that the two of you are forgetting that this man saved me. I would have never seen you again if not for his mercy. He is the first friend that I have ever made and I won't deny that he is strange but please don't interrogate me on his intentions."
Miko had to swallow her grievances. Her son was right. This was normal. Any person would be protective of the person that saved them from a terrible situation. She just had to keep telling herself that. She locked gazes with her husband and they made a tacit agreement to stop hounding their son for now. It wouldn't do them any good if he clammed up.
"Alright." Haru sighed. "Why don't you just tell us how and why this stranger flew you home?"
Noriaki softened immediately. "Well I lived with him in his manor for a few months so we weren't quite strangers by that time."
Haru pulled at his shirt collar in agitation. Miko responded for him. "Darling, why did you stay with him? I'm sure that he could have borrowed you a few coins to call us."
Her sweet Noriaki's eyes grew distant. They were not quite dreamy, just distant as if he was reminded of a memory from a hundred years ago. "I guess I just forgot. Time just seemed to stay still in that mansion. It felt like the moment I entered and the moment I left was all in the same night. I had just gotten my very first friend and every other want or desire I had was also fulfilled in quick succession. I guess I got caught up in all the excitement." Noriaki smiled and his eyes narrowed in happiness. "Imagine that, mom, dad. Everything you ever wanted, offered on a silver platter by the most beautiful person you had ever seen. Would you remember to leave?"
Miko put a hand on her son's shoulder. "What could be more important than family?"
Her Noriaki's eyes turned sad but present. "Acceptance, Mom. The ability to completely and totally accept all of the good, bad and secret within a person. Lord DIO accepted and understood everything that makes me the way I am. He knew me better than I knew myself with just a glance. The sort of euphoria I experienced of finally being understood on such a basic fundamental level was near impossible to give up. I only had a few reservations and even those were able to be overcome with a bit more persuasion." Noriaki stood from the dinner table. "You always take what I say with a grain of salt like I don't know what I'm saying. You also don't understand me like you think you do."
And just like that Miko's mild-mannered, well-behaved son retreated into his room like a phantom. The next day he left to go to school and didn't say goodbye. After being missing again for 50 more days, he came back in a coffin. After the service where Miko cried until the tears ran out, she stood beside the only other person who stayed standing in front of her young son's grave. Her husband had left to break down in the privacy of his home. Miko would pretend that she didn't know. He had held it in to comfort her while she cried. The boy beside her had steely eyes and smelt like cigarettes. She hadn't spoken to him throughout the service. Now could be the time to start.
"Did my Noriaki know you?"
The boy looked at her for a moment like he was surprised that she could speak before turning his hard eyes back to the gravestone. "We were friends."
Miko sighed hopelessly. "Like him and DIO?"
The boy exhaled slowly through his nose before looking at her with tired haunted eyes. They were eyes that were much too old to be in such a young boy's head. "DIO wasn't his friend." He murmured, drawing his hat down over his eyes. "DIO was the name he screamed in his nightmares."