Chapter Text
Rohan Kishibe hated the radio.
It needed only one of the notes of the annoying "Morioh-Jo Radio~" jingle to play, and the radio was already smashed against the wall before their "neighbor" could say "Good Morning!". Who needed to know if a lady lost her cat, or if strange things happens around here! (But, it was reassuring to know something was happening around here).
Another thing Rohan Kishibe hated was being bothered by "Josuke Higashikata and friends" when he was drawing at Café De Maigot. Ever since their previous win against Kira Yoshikage, the town's serial killer, the small group of teenagers stayed together like magnets, walking together like some kind of gang, especially with their weird customized uniforms! Stand users attract other Stand users, that's for sure, but Rohan hated always having them in his business, like they were supposed to "trauma-bound" over killing a hand fetish or something...
But today, Rohan Kishibe was surprisingly glad that three teenagers approached him.
"Good morning, Rohan-sensei!" Okuyasu Nijimura greeted with a childish wave.
The three high-schoolers sat at the table uninvited like usual. Rohan often wondered if their ignorance was contagious as they seemed immune to the concept of boundaries.They all sat, talking with loud voices and gesturing with big movements of their arms, almost spilling several times their drinks all over the table and Rohan's work,which he would probably wouldn't mind today.
His sketches were too hasty, less precise and the proportions too coarse. The legs seemed too long for a normal human, the eye's of his characters were going to different directions and the overall looked like the drawing of a toddler that would be sticked to a fridge. Disgusting.
His inspiration had been running short. With his recently acquired Stand, "Heaven's Door", it wasn't supposed to be a problem; Rohan could get inspiration from anyone's story, or just by his surroundings as Morioh had its own strange and unsual atmosphere, with yellow skies and purple bushes that seemed to not surprise anyone. He could also now draw his weekly chapters within minutes, and even had time for himself. But, after their encounter with Kira Yoshikage, Rohan has had a certain discomfort with horror, he wanted to experiment something new. Maybe it was linked to the sudden recalling of his childhood babysitter, Remi Sugimoto, a victim of the killer because she had let him run away... "Probably not, but it is an interesting theory" Rohan thought.
"You," because he refused to refer to him as the usual "Jojo" the others would call him "Doesn't your family have a bizarre story or something?"
The teenager's smile slowly faded, like he was bothered by the question.
Josuke Higashikata was the illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar, the result of an affair the English man had 16 years ago. The man never knew about his son, and Josuke never met him until a few weeks ago, after the now old man arrived in Morioh to lend a hand to his family,much to his grandson's bother, as he seemed ready to carry on the blame. The story had been a shock to the Joestar family, and it was still an uneasy talk for Josuke, as his mother, Tomoko, raised him alone and promised that he was the child of a loving couple. To him, Jotaro Kujo and Joseph Joestar were like distant relatives, with whom he shared similarities like the starshaped birthmark on the down back of his neck.
"Something like that..." Josuke nodded; his strange hair accompanied his gesture. "But I don't know that much" he took a sip of his soda.
Josuke and Rohan had a conflicted relationship. Probably because the teenager had tried to extort money out of the mangaka, with the help of his supposedly alien friend Mikitaka (nobody knew what that guy's deal truly was), which resolved in Rohan's house partly burning, or maybe because Rohan had abused his Stand on Koichi and insulted his "great hair"...
"Why do you ask so suddenly? It's unusual for you to be interested in family stories" Koichi Hirose, a reliable and really short guy, pointed out.
"Is it for a new story?!" Okuyasu exclaimed, excitedly.
"For a guy who doesn't think at all, he sure can be awfully insightful..." Rohan thought
At the lack of response from the oldest, Koichi and Okuyasu's eyes widened while their friend stayed quiet.
"That's awesome, Rohan-sensei!" The smaller one wowed while the other one nodded frantically in support.
Their excitement showed as their voice grew louder, and other clients of the Café turned to take glances at them.
"I want to try new things" Rohan explained, because he'd rather die than tell them that he was meeting difficulties,"The Joestar family seems interesting enough" the mangaka looked at Josuke with insistence.
His two friends turned quickly their gazes to the tall teenager. If eyes could talk, theirs would scream "Please".
Josuke awkwardly shifted on his seat.
"Wait, why my family? Plenty of people here have interesting stories, right? Like Okuyasu, for example!" He tried to divert the attention.
Rohan had thought about the Nijimura brothers, after all it was thanks to the oldest one that he had now Heaven's Door, but he was also scared that it would be too boring, or kind of sad for readers.
The two others blinked rapidly at him with insistence: "please please please please...".
The pressure finally made him sigh, and Okuyasu and Koichi grinned, proud of themselves.
"I don't know much about it, but I do know someone who would be able to tell you about the family."
"Absolutely not" Jotaro crossed his arms against his chest.
"Huh?! Why not?!" Josuke insisted.
Jotaro Kujo was sitting accross from them, his long white coat discarded on his desk. It made him look more casual, even if his green eyes were menacingly piercing the four young men. They had invited themselves in the hotel room, interruptiong him on his thesis. If it wasn't for Joseph Joestar's friendly demeanor for his son and his friends, they would have probably been sent home long ago. The old man had however disappeared, taking care of the crying invisble baby he had found a month ago. Koichi had explained the situation to Jotaro, as they all agreed that it would be best if he did, because the biologist seemed to have some faith in him. He almost seemed to give in until the matter of the Joestar family was brought up. He had thrown an even more menacing look at Josuke, who began to mumble a clumsy explanation.
"I am not letting him,"- his nephew cut (they also have an interesting family tree) pointed at the mangaka- "get in my head"
Actually,the refusal was not that surprising to Rohan; Jotaro Kujo rarely spoke about anything. The few things Rohan knew about him were that he was a Stand user, Joseph Joestar's grandson, a marine biologist and, judging by his daughter's terrible name (whose he had learned about a week earlier), a Dolly Parton fan.
"Come on Jotaro, you love mangas. You read tons of them in prison!" Joseph Joestar patted his grandson's shoulder, appearing out of nowhere after taking care of the baby.
"Gramps..." Jotaro grumbled, slightly embarassed.
"You went to jail?!" Josuke exclaimed.
"That is something I should add to my list" Rohan thought
Joseph laughed at his grandson's reaction and put his disgusting leopard hat on the coffee table. The old man seemed to love joking aroud, his green eyes always glowed with some kind of mischief, like a teenager on a grand aventure. His favorite joke was to guess someone's "line" before they could say it, and it always amused him. With his old age, he apparently (and thankfully) lost some of his energy, but Rohan suspected him to play the senil card way too often. However, another side of Joseph Joestar was his big affection for the young people, a sort of admiration or maybe nostalgia of his own time.
"Can he read your memories then, Mister Joestar?" Koichi asked politely, still a little bit intimidated by his status as Josuke's father.
"Memories of an old man wouldn't be that interesting..." The old man replied quickly with an embarrassed smile.
"The story would be too unbelievable. Even I have trouble believing in it," Jotaro nodded.
"What's so hard to believe?" Okuyasu raised his hand, like he was assisting a lecture.
"Sending an Aztec god with a weird name to space, collaborating with nazis..." Jotaro sighed.
"It wasn't that bad" Joseph laughed.
"Your answer alone should tell how that bad it was, Gramps. How did you even survive the landing?"
"Then is it a yes for your memories, Jotaro?"
"Absolutely not." His grandson concluded, turning back to his four uninvited guests.
Rohan stood up with a sigh. This family was full of insufferable and stubborn people, pushing through it would be impossible. As much as he loved his job, going against Jotaro was something isn't a risk he'd take for it.
"I'm sorry for bothering you," The mangaka bowed, the three teens imitating him and taking their leave.
The two Joestars watched them in silence.
"Jotaro," Joseph simply said, with that tone he'd only use with his grandson.
"Give me a break... Wait."
That made Rohan turn slowly.
"You can read my memories, Rohan Kishibe."
Jotaro Kujo loved the sea :
His hotel room's view gave to the sea, he read books about marine wildlife, he wore stupid little golden dolphin ornaments on his white clothes, And one of his conditions for Rohan to use his Stand on him was that they'd be close to the sea. It was oddly specific, and by the tone he used, the author knew negotiations were useless.
And so, currently, the small group were gathered around a bench on which Jotaro and Joseph sat. Actually, Joseph's presence wasn't recquired. Unlike Rohan and the others who were there by curiosity, he was present during the trip to Egypt, it was simply a condition of his own, a support Jotaro never asked for, but the old man was insistent on that condition.
"I'm letting you do it, but you are not allowed to talk about it afterwards." Jotaro repeated for the tenth time as Rohan grabbed his notebook and pen to take notes.
"Got it" Rohan nodded.
"I won't answer any questions afterwards," Jotaro shot a quick glance at the three teenagers sitting on the sand.
"Yes!" They replied in unison, like soldiers to their officer.
"You are not allowed to contact Polnareff or anyone linked to this story," He added
"Okay," Another reply in unison.
"And also-"
"Can we start, Jotaro?" Joseph interrupted.
His grandson crossed his arms against his chest and finally gave in, not before mumbling something about some "stupid senil old man".
"Heaven's Door" Rohan Kishibe said, and a little humanoid form appeared.
Joseph gripped Jotaro's shoulder, as pages appeared, opening by his right eye. Like this, Jotaro Kujo looked like he was sleeping, peaceful, a contrast from his usual composure.
"Oi, Rohan, don't write a thing inside Jotaro," Josuke warned.
"Who do you take me for?" The mangaka replied with a huff.
Actually, he did think about it. From what he had heard from Koichi, Star Platinum was a powerful stand and had nothing Josuke's Crazy Diamond. It would be good to make sure Jotaro couldn't do him any harm....
He crossed Joseph and Josuke's gazes and gave up, slowly reaching out to open the pages across Jotaro's face.
"Okay, here we go..."