Chapter Text
Koichi Hirose found something comfortable about the routines of high school - the sound of the alarm each morning, struggling to find matching socks, walking with his friends to school, having a pop quiz in his worst class.
Of course it was boring, but after all the wild junctures Morioh-cho had been through in the past few months, a mundane life far was far more preferable.
Yesterday was the definition of an average day for Koichi. First he almost overslept. He barely finished eating his breakfast when Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura knocked on the door of his house, jokingly telling him to haul ass or they would walk to school without him. At lunch time Yukako Yamagishi prodded him about getting enough sleep and eating properly like she was his mother. The day would progress slowly until it was finally three o’clock and time to go home. Koichi finished his homework early, played with his dog, Police, and read comics until he went to bed.
Everything is finally back to normal, he thought before drifting off to sleep.
Koichi wished he could say the same thing the following morning.
It went without saying that if something batshit crazy hadn’t occurred in a while, it was bound to happen sooner or later. And now Koichi had really jinxed it this time.
Being a Stand user, he thought he’d seen it all, but when he arrived at Budo-ga Oka Middle and High School, the Japanese characters on the front entrance sign were replaced with English letters. Now it said East High School.
The sudden, odd name change was least concerning to Koichi. The building where Buda-ga Oka Middle and High School once stood was replaced with an entirely new one. Aside from the completely different design, this school was considerably larger in size and had three floors instead of two. Glancing around, he didn’t recognize any of the students walking to class. No one wore his school’s uniform - in fact, everyone dressed however they wanted.
Am I...at the wrong school? Koichi wondered, but that was impossible. He came to this location almost every day. How could he mess up something so habitual? Even Josuke and Okuyasu were with him, and they would have said something if he somehow strayed from their usual path.
Right, Josuke and Okuyasu. They continued walking to the main entrance doors, as if nothing unusual were happening at all. Koichi snapped out of his confusion and ran to catch up with them.
“Hey, guys! Wait up!” he called out to his friends. The two stopped before they reached the doors.
Josuke looked perplexed by Koichi’s panicked expression. “What’s wrong, man?”
“What’s wrong?” he repeated. “This isn’t our school! Who are all these people? I’m pretty sure most of them aren’t even Japanese or from Morioh! What the hell is going on?”
Okuyasu scratched the side of his head, as he usually did whenever he was trying to digest a situation that was beyond his level of reasoning. “What do you mean? We’ve always gone to East High School.”
Koichi flinched. “What did you say?”
“Come on,” Josuke continued, growing a little impatient. “What, were you up all night reading Rohan’s latest tankobon and forgot to sleep? We go to East High School. You’re a freshman here. Get your head in the game.”
Koichi could say nor do anything to stop Josuke and Okuyasu from going inside the school. Clearly this was some kind of dream, or possibly nightmare. He didn’t know yet. Any second now he would wake up to the sound of his obnoxious alarm clock and -
He got distracted again, this time by the sound of a horse neighing.
Several feet to his left, two young men dismounted their horses and tied their reins to the bicycle racks.
What on Earth is going on? As far as he knew, no one in Morioh-cho or the modern world rode to school on horseback. This dream was odd, but now it was almost comical.
Koichi wasn’t sure if they were students or staff. They dressed like cowboys from some American Western film he watched years ago. One wore a wide-brimmed hat and had blonde hair that went past his shoulders; the other kept most of his light-colored hair hidden under a knit cap printed with stars and a horseshoe on the front.
The two were speaking in English, but the strange part was that Koichi knew what they were saying. He didn’t recall Rohan using Heaven’s Door to give him the ability to comprehend foreign languages. Then again, dreams didn’t have to make perfect sense. He decided to test the limits of his new language skill and approached the two horse riders.
“And then I told that bitch Diego to go eat shit.”
“Yeah, because that’s the only insult you’re capable of flinging at people.”
“Shut up, Johnny.”
Koichi always felt rude for interrupting conversations, and was especially timid when talking to strangers. “Um, e-excuse me -,”
Johnny and the other unnamed cowboy looked down at Koichi like he was eye cabbage - a small, inferior worm that was impeding upon their important conversation. Their gaze pierced right through him, and what little confidence he started with was shattered.
“Well? What is it?” the long-haired one said. “Shit or get off the pot.”
Koichi gulped. “Do either of you know what’s going on? I went to Budo-ga Oka but apparently, now I go to this school.”
Johnny yawned and leaned against the wall of the school building. “He must be a transfer student, Gyro.”
Interesting, Koichi thought. When he spoke in Japanese to them, they were able to understand. Likewise, when they answered in English, Koichi also understood.
Gyro sneered, revealing a set of gold-plated teeth. The two cowboys made him ill at ease, but he wasn’t convinced they meant him harm.
“You’re right!” Gyro answered him. “Go escort him to the guidance counselor’s office, Johnny!”
“Do it yourself.” Johnny took his bag and walked into the school without them. His flippant attitude was surprising. Gyro seemed brassy, as well, after hearing him talk about someone named Diego so crudely. Koichi didn’t see how either of them could be friends for long.
He tried to keep close to Gyro as he led him through the busy hallways of East High School. Koichi saw few familiar faces. He once read that dreams always included people known to the dreamer, but he was certain he had never seen most of these students in his life.
Another thing that really made this place feel foreign were the “Go Wildcats!” signs around the school, replacing Budo-ga Oka’s owl mascot. Koichi would give this dream another five minutes to end, then he would lose his shit again.
“Well, here we are,” Gyro said and stopped by a door near the principal’s office. “I’ve got to get to class. See you around.”
Koichi looked up at the name plaque on the door - Robert E.O. Speedwagon, Guidance Counselor.
Speedwagon? He knew the name only from his brief experience with the Speedwagon Foundation, but its founder was long gone.
Koichi’s lightly tapped his fist against the door, which an ordinary person probably wouldn’t have heard. Yet less than half a second later, it swung open violently - an imposing, blonde-haired, top-hat wearing man standing on the other side.
“SCREAMING JESUS ON A FERRIS WHEEL! I SWEAR IF THOSE DAMN ITALIAN EXCHANGE STUDENTS ARE FIGHTING ALREADY, I’LL -,”
His baritone voice was loud enough to wake up all of Morioh-cho. Speedwagon halted his outburst when he noticed Koichi, and even relaxed his grimace into a warm smile.
“Ah! You must be Koichi Hirose,” he said in a much lower volume. “Forgive me for startling you. Please, come in.”
This is it, Koichi told himself. The dream should be ending now. Dreams usually end before the real action begins. I’ll close my eyes, and when I open them, I’ll be back in my bed.
Koichi was wrong. When he opened his eyes, Speedwagon was still there, waiting for him to enter his office. If this wasn’t a dream, it could only be one other thing, and that was a stand attack. Somewhere among the staff and student body of this enormous high school was a person with devious intentions.
He added “find the the stand user” to his mental to-do list. But first, he had to figure out which classroom he was going to.