Chapter Text
It’s close to 1:00 AM in Italy, nearly 8:00 AM in Japan, when something shifts in Florida, a new power coming to be.
Giorno’s eyes widen. He takes in a soft gasp, freezing in place at his desk. His pen hovers over some papers, various reports from his many capos sitting in front of him.
On the other side of the table, Mista looks up from sorting files, slightly concerned at Giorno’s blank expression. “What’s up, boss?” he asks.
Giorno says nothing, staring out blankly, his breath starting to grow heavier. He drops his pen onto the desk.
Without warning, Golden Experience Requiem appears from thin air, hovering over Giorno protectively.
On instinct, Mista lowers his hand down to the hilt of his gun where it sits, as always, tucked into the front of his pants. “Giorno,” he insists, sitting forward.
Giorno seems to snap free of whatever had a hold of him, still looking worried, but at least responsive enough to make eye contact with Mista. “Something’s wrong,” Giorno murmurs.
“Like what?” Mista asks in response.
Giorno squints, shaking his head slightly. “I sensed something,” he whispers.
“Like . . . what?” Mista asks again. He eyes Golden Experience Requiem slightly warily, but the stand seems preoccupied with something else.
“I don’t know,” Giorno murmurs, starting to stand from his chair. He looks behind himself, a bit surprised to see his stand hovering near him. He pulls Golden Experience Requiem back, the stand withdrawing. “It’s . . . someone,” Giorno begins to explain, speaking slowly. “Someone’s woken up, or . . . No, that’s not . . .”
Mista gives Giorno an extremely concerned look, standing cautiously. “Giorno,” he whispers. “Are you alright? I know it’s getting late . . .”
Giorno immediately shoots Mista a look, a slight warning. “I’m fine,” he says, sternly. “I know I sensed something just now. I can still sense it, Mista, something happened.”
“Okay, okay,” Mista assures. He lets his hand fall away from his pistol. “I believe you.”
Giorno sighs. “Thank you,” he murmurs, resting a hand over his eyes. “I’m sorry. I just felt it so strongly, but I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Hey, you don’t have to explain it to me, boss,” Mista says. He rests a hand on his hip, his other hand resting against Giorno’s desk. “So. What do we need to do?”
Giorno looks up, his hand falling away from his face. “I don’t know,” Giorno begins. “I don’t even know who I’m sensing.”
“Is it a stand user?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. Something about this connection feels . . . deeper.”
For a moment, both go quiet, pondering their options, all the various possibilities as to who Giorno could be sensing.
“Can you tell how close they are?” Mista eventually asks.
Giorno pauses, concentrating on the strange sensation, trying to hone in on whoever he’s feeling. “They’re far away,” Giorno says, realization dawning on him, his eyes widening. “They seem familiar, related almost, but . . .” Giorno shakes his head. “They’re a powerful stand user. Dangerous, too.”
Mista nods. “. . . Do you remember that man who was trying to investigate you?” he asks. “Right before you met Bucciarati?”
“Of course,” Giorno says. “Jotaro Kujo.”
“Is this . . . ?”
“It’s not him,” Giorno says, assuredly, looking off into the distance. “I’ve never felt a connection like this before with any of my other relatives.”
Mista tilts his head to the side slightly. “Your other relatives?”
Giorno nods. “Mm . . . There’s one who lives in Japan, and there’s Kujo. There used to be another, an older man, Kujo’s grandfather I believe, but he passed away.”
When Mista doesn’t respond, Giorno looks up, finding Mista staring at him, baffled. “What?” Giorno asks.
“Well, I know you’ve met Kujo once before,” Mista says, “but I didn't know you two were related.”
Giorno blinks. “Did I never tell you about that?”
Mista grins. “Psh, no.”
“Oh.” Giorno’s face falls slightly. “Sorry,” he murmurs.
Mista gives a laugh. “It’s fine,” he assures. “You’re all good, Giorno.”
Giorno cracks a smile, grateful for the levity. “Thank you, Guido,” he says.
“Anytime,” Mista assures.
For a moment, both go back to sitting as they usually do, Giorno tucked into his desk, Mista across from him. They settle, thinking, Giorno trying to distinguish who and what he’s sensing, Mista thinking up a plan of action.
“I can try and contact Kujo,” Mista offers. “We got him and Polnareff back together, I think we can get a hold of him again.”
Giorno nods. “If you wouldn’t mind,” he says, sighing softly. “I might try to contact my relative in Japan. See if he’s felt anything strange as well.”
“Do you know his name?” Mista asks.
Giorno takes a breath, trying to remember on an exhale. “Uhh . . . Higashikata, if I remember correctly. I have it written down somewhere, I’ll find it.”
“Mm.”
Mista and Giorno both stand, starting to search through drawers in Giorno’s office for phone numbers for a few minutes. While Mista lounges back in his chair, trying a couple of different numbers listed as possible contacts for Jotaro Kujo, he notices Giorno acting strangely. As he digs through contact lists, Giorno occasionally pauses, staring off into space, perhaps sensing something far off that he can’t quite place. He shakes it off quickly though, getting back to the task at hand.
Soon enough, as Mista waits on hold with a university secretary, Giorno finds an old house number for a ‘Higashikata Josuke’ in Morioh, Japan. Below the house number is another notable contact, a home phone number for ‘Hirose Koichi.’
Giorno smiles fondly at the contact for Koichi, reminiscing on the first and only time they met all those years ago. He got the number a while later from Jotaro, along with Josuke’s number. He’s never once used it.
“Found something?" Mista asks, lazily holding his phone up against his ear, still waiting for someone to pick the line back up on the other end.
“Mm.” Giorno settles back into his desk chair, pulling out one of a few phones he has in his possession. “I’ve got an old house number for Josuke Higashikata.” He starts to dial the number. “And a number for Koichi Hirose.”
“Koichi . . . That’s that short guy, right?”
“Mmhm. Any luck on your end?”
“Not with the universities, no. From what they’ve told me, your relative seems to have dropped his research all of a sudden. Said it was a family emergency, but it’s been a while. No one’s heard from him since. This secretary’s trying to find me a contact with some foundation or something. Said they might help.”
Giorno nods slowly, thinking on their options. “Follow up on that foundation,” he says. “Let me know the name of it if you can.”
“Got it, boss,” Mista confirms.
Giorno brings his phone up to his ear, counting the rings, hoping silently that someone will pick up.
The line clicks.
“Higashikata residence,” a woman’s voice says in Japanese.
Giorno sits up straighter, easily recalling a language he hasn’t spoken in many years now. In Japanese, much to Miata’s surprise, Giorno begins to speak. “Uh, hello, good morning. My name’s Giorno Giovanna. I was trying to get in contact with Higashikata Josuke. I’m a distant relative of his. Kujo Jotaro gave me this number if I ever needed to contact Josuke.”
“Ah, I see,” the woman says. “I’m Josuke’s mother, Tomoko. Josuke doesn’t live with me anymore, but I can give you his number if you’d like.”
“I would really appreciate that, ma’am, thank you,” Giorno says, putting on an earnest tone of voice that has gotten him a lot of favors in the past.
“Of course,” Tomoko says. “You said you were a relative of ours?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Giorno confirms. “Quite distant though.”
Tomoko laughs. “I figured,” she says. “Not a lot of Japanese folks with a name like yours.”
Giorno just chuckles. He doesn’t feel like explaining to Tomoko that he’s half Japanese himself, that he has a Japanese name in fact, one he hasn’t heard in ages. “Right you are, ma’am,” he agrees instead, letting it be.
“Ah, but your Japanese is good!” Tomoko praises. “You know, my son’s actually half British. And I’m pretty sure Jotaro’s mother’s part Italian. Oh, that must be how you’re related to us, huh?”
“That sounds about right, ma’am,” he says, still speaking cordially, calmly. Though part of him wants to let Tomoko know he’s in a rush, the better part of him knows this will require a bit of patience. Besides, Tomoko’s a relative, and though she’s quite off about how they’re related to each other, Giorno doesn't really have a full enough understanding of their family tree to explain how he’s technically the son of Jotaro’s grandfather’s grandfather, much less where that places him in relation to Josuke and Tomoko.
It was a very long time ago that Jotaro gave Giorno the basics on their living relatives, and while Giorno knows Josuke’s the son of Jotaro’s grandfather, the explanation about how Giorno fits into the family lineage got a bit sidetracked when Giorno learned his father was technically the head of a British vampire named Dio fused with the body of Jonathan Joestar, and that Jotaro killed Dio in Egypt many years back. Besides, they were only meeting to hand off Polnareff to his friend again, and any other conversations they had were a bit limited as Jotaro had somewhere to be.
Giorno keeps up the small talk with Tomoko for a little while as she gets Josuke’s home phone number for him. Meanwhile, Mista finally gets off hold with the university secretary, learning that some colleagues knew Jotaro had connections with the Speedwagon Foundation, and that he had mentioned them once or twice before disappearing. Moreover though, Mista gets a piece of gossip that he knows Giorno will want to hear about.
“Thank you,” Mista says to the secretary, quickly jotting down notes on some scrap piece of paper. “Yeah. Yeah, grazie.” He hangs up with a sigh just as Giorno’s saying his goodbyes to Tomoko.
“Thank you again,” Giorno says. “I’ll be sure to keep in contact, Ms. Higashkata.”
“Oh, please,” Tomoko says. “Just call me Tomoko. And, hey, if you get a hold of Josuke, tell him to come visit me. I know I sound like an old lady, but he’s been putting it off, I know it.”
Giorno chuckles. “Of course,” he assures. “I’ll let him know. Thank you, Tomoko.”
“Anytime, Giorno.”
Giorno hangs up. He sighs, leaning back in his chair. “She seems nice,” he says to Mista, switching back over to Italian.
“Who was that?” Mista asks, grateful to no longer be deciphering the secretary’s highly accented English over the phone.
“Josuke Higashikata’s mother,” Giorno answers, looking at the home phone number and personal number Tomoko gave him. He starts dialing the home phone number, wanting to try it out first. “Did you get anything from the university?”
Mista nods, leaning forward in his chair. “Uh, yeah,” he confirms, looking at his notes. “So, the secretary said Kujo gets some support from this foundation, uhh, Speedwagon. She gave me a number I can check out with them. But there are also rumors going around that something happened with his daughter.”
At that, Giorno looks up. “His daughter?” he asks.
“Mmhm.” Mista looks up at Giorno. “Get this. Kujo’s been divorced for a while, and it sounds like it was messy. The secretary just started going on and on about how he never makes time for his family and how much of a troublemaker his daughter is.”
Giorno smirks. “She absolutely should not have told you that,” he says.
“I know,” Mista agrees, grinning. “No, but I was thinking. Do you think you're sensing Kujo's daughter?”
“Could be,” Giorno nods. “I’ve never seen it, but Jotaro supposedly has a very powerful stand. It’d make sense that his daughter would have something similar. The person I sense is definitely powerful, but they’re also . . .” Giorno pauses, staring off, trying to collect his thoughts, trying to tune back in to whoever he senses. “. . . There’s something off about them. And I sense a sort of . . . malice. Something dangerous . . . I’d hate to think that Jotaro’s daughter went down a bad path.”
Mista nods slowly, both falling silent. After a beat, Mista asks, “You gonna try to call Josuke?”
“Yes,” Giorno confirms. “I want to get this sorted out. I know we have a lot to handle as it is, and I’d rather figure this out quickly and be done with it as soon as possible.”
Mista grins. “Got it, boss,” he says. “I’ll see if I can get the Speedwagon folks to talk.”
“Thank you, Mista,” Giorno says, smiling faintly.
Both go back to their phones, dialing the numbers they were given. While Mista almost immediately begins the process of being transferred around and put on hold again and again, doing his best to explain, again in English, what he’s looking for, Giorno waits to see if anyone will pick up the phone.
Right before the call goes to voicemail, someone picks it up. “Higashikata, Nijimura house,” a voice answers, lower and gruffer than Giorno expected. “Hit it.”
Giorno clears his throat. “Hello,” he says, switching back into Japanese. “I’m Giorno Giovanna. I’m looking for Higashikata Josuke. I’m a relative of his. I got this number from his mother, Tomoko.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line. “Uhh, you said you’re a relative of his?” the man asks.
“Yes,” Giorno confirms. “And I hate to do this, but this is quite urgent. Is he there?”
“Uh, yeah, yeah, he’s here,” the man confirms. “He’s just been a little off this morning.”
“Oh, is he unwell?”
“Kinda, yeah. Oi, Josuke! Hold up, I’ll get him for you. Josuke!”
Faintly, Giorno can hear someone, presumably Josuke, yell back, “What, Okuyasu?!”
“Babe, there’s someone on the phone for you!” Okuyasu says back, trying to muffle the receiver to little avail. “Says he’s a relative of yours!”
There’s a beat of silence.
“Josuke?!” Okuyasu calls.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!”
“He says it’s urgent, babe,” Okuyasu adds.
“I’m going as fast as I can, baby,” Josuke assures. “I’ll be right there.”
Okuyasu’s voice comes in clearly once again. “He’ll be down in a minute,” he tells Giorno.
Giorno purses his lips. “Thank you,” he decides to say, choosing to let Okuyasu believe he did a good job concealing all the yelling between him and Josuke.
“So, you got this number from Tomoko?” Okuyasu asks.
“Yes, I did,” Giorno confirms. “I’ve never met Josuke, but I did meet Kujo Jotaro once a few years back. He gave me the number to Tomoko’s house if I ever needed to contact Josuke.”
“. . . D’you say Jotaro?”
“Yes, I did.”
From the other end of the line, Giorno hears Josuke ask, “D’you just say Jotaro’s name? Shit, wait, is that him?”
“Uh, no,” Okuyasu says. “No, this guy says he knows Jotaro though.”
“Oh. Okay, let me talk to him then.”
There’s some shuffling around.
While Giorno waits for Okuyasu and Josuke to get sorted, Mista’s finally taken off hold. A representative of the Speedwagon Foundation tells Mista that they can’t disclose information about Jotaro or where he is, but that they’re thankful for his concern. Mista stands, heading for the office door, knowing the conversation’s about to get a bit loud.
Giorno shoots Mista a look. Mista just rolls his eyes and points to the phone. Giorno nods, understanding.
“Alright, listen here,” Mista begins, stepping outside. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are-”
He shuts the office door, leaving Giorno alone.
“Uh, hi,” Josuke says on the other end of the line.
“Hi,” Giorno says back, realizing quite suddenly it’s the first time he’s ever contacted this relative of his, the first time they’ve ever talked.
Josuke clears his throat, doing his best to contain his excitement at meeting a new relative as well. “Umm . . . What’d you say your name is?”
“Giorno. Giorno Giovanna.”
“Giorno,” Josuke repeats. “Uh, I’m Josuke.” He grins. “I think you know that already though, huh?”
Giorno smiles. “Yeah,” he says. “I, uh, I met Jotaro a few years back. He sent a friend of yours, I think, to investigate me in Italia.”
“Yeah,” Josuke says, lighting up. “Yeah, I remember. Koichi told me about you.”
For a moment, both say nothing, just amazed somewhat by each other’s existence, that they’re even able to talk to each other.
Eventually though, Josuke clears his throat again. “So, uh, how exactly are we . . . related?”
Giorno hums. “Alright,” he begins. “So, you’re Joseph Joestar’s son, right?”
“Yeah,” Josuke confirms. “And I think Koichi mentions that you’re a son of . . . Dio. Which means you’re also technically a son of Jonathan Joestar.”
“Right,” Giorno nods, putting the pieces together finally. “I suppose that means I’m your . . . great uncle.”
Josuke laughs. “And how old are you?”
“Uh, I’m twenty five.”
“Hah, and I’m twenty eight.” Josuke sighs. “Sounds about right for our family. I mean, I’m technically Jotaro’s uncle, and he’s like forty.”
Giorno laughs softly, grinning. “Yeah . . . Uh, your partner, I believe. He said you weren’t feeling well?”
“Oh, yeah,” Josuke says. “Okuyasu’s my husband. And I’m not, like, sick, I just . . . I’ve been feeling kind of off for the last, like, hour.”
Giorno nods, his expression growing solemn. “Like something bad is going to happen,” he says. “Like someone powerful has just appeared.”
Several thousand miles away, Josuke’s eyes widen. Okuyasu’s still hovering nearby, listening in on the conversation. The two exchange nervous glances. “Yeah,” Josuke agrees. “Exactly like that.”
“I’ve sensed it, too,” Giorno murmurs. “I think I may be able to feel it more strongly than you. I know for sure that it’s a person causing this feeling in us. A very powerful stand user has just come to be. And I was hoping you might have a better idea of what’s going on.”
“Josuke,” Okuyasu says quietly, though Giorno still hears. “D’you think this might have to do with Jotaro?”
Giorno’s eyes widen for just a moment. “Did something happen to him?” he asks Josuke. “To Jotaro, I mean. We’ve been trying to contact him as well, but he hasn’t answered any of the contacts he left us.”
“Oh, god, you don’t know,” Josuke murmurs. “Yeah, umm . . . Jotaro’s been in a coma for a while now. The Speedwagon Foundation guys are looking after him in Florida, but it’s not . . . He’s not looking too good right now.”
Giorno sits up. “What happened?” he asks.
Josuke inhales slowly, trying to recall what he knows. “Uh, okay,” he begins. “I don’t have all the details exactly, but a few days ago, the Speedwagon Foundation reached out to me for some help. Umm, my stand Crazy Diamond can repair and heal things, and they wanted me to see if I could get Jotaro out of his coma. I couldn’t really help him, though.”
Giorno blinks, taking a moment to think. “I’m . . . sorry to hear that,” he murmurs. “Did they tell you what happened to Jotaro? Why he was in a coma in the first place?”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line as Josuke gathers his thoughts. “It’s complicated,” he says. “I don’t have all the information, but I know it was a stand attack. The stand was able to take both Jotaro’s memory and his stand out of him in the form of a . . . What was it, not a USB. A disc, it was a disc. Jolyne managed to get Star Platinum’s disc again, and the Speedwagon guys are keeping Jotaro alive, but she didn’t get Jotaro’s memory disc back yet. I think that’s about right, that’s at least all I know.”
Giorno lines up all his questions, trying to decipher as much of Josuke’s answer as possible before asking anything. “So . . . So an enemy stand attack took Jotaro’s stand from him. I assume that’s Star Platinum?”
“Yeah, sorry, yeah,” Josuke answers. “It took Jotaro’s memories and his stand Star Platinum both. There are two discs, one for the user and one for the stand. I think Jotaro also got injured pretty badly, but his body’s not the issue. It’s that disc of his memory that’s still missing.”
“But they’re working to get that back?”
“Right.”
“And, uh, who is Jolyne exactly?”
Josuke’s eyes widen. “Oh, he never . . . Uh, Jolyne Kujo. She’s Jotaro’s daughter.”
Giorno nods. “And she’s working with the Speedwagon Foundation?”
“Yeah.”
“Well that’s a relief.”
“What d’you mean?”
“I found out that Jotaro had a daughter a few minutes ago,” Giorno explains. “My partner is helping me get in contact with my relatives, he found that out. But we were worried that whoever you and I are sensing might be Jolyne.”
“Oh, no,” Josuke says quickly. “No, whoever we can feel, they’re bad news. It’s definitely not Jolyne though. She’s, uh . . . Well, I actually haven’t seen her in a while, but she’s a good kid. Kind of a troublemaker, but nothing like whoever we're feeling.”
“Mm.”
For a moment, the two of them go silent. Giorno thinks hard about whether or not this warrants his attention, if instead he can trust that whoever he and Josuke can sense is being taken care of elsewhere, or if they should try to track them down. Additionally, he wonders if they should attempt to aid Jolyne Kujo with saving her father.
Giorno squints, something relatively obvious coming to mind. He wonders if Josuke’s made the connection as well.
“Josuke,” Giorno begins. “Do you know if what Jolyne is doing has anything to do with who we’re sensing? Do you think she may be dealing with the stand user?”
Josuke blinks. He looks to Okuyasu, both considering the possibility. “I don’t know for sure,” Josuke answers. “The Speedwagon guys didn’t tell me all that much.” He clears his throat quickly. “I wouldn’t be surprised though. I mean it’s kinda a crazy coincidence if they’re not related.”
Giorno’s about to keep going when Mista walks back in, a triumphant look on his face. “I’m on hold right now,” he explains, “but I got a hold of someone who actually knows something about Jotaro.”
Giorno smiles, a little relieved. “Thank you, Mista,” he says in Italian.
“. . . Uh, who’s that?” Josuke asks over the phone.
“My partner, Mista,” Giorno explains, switching to Japanese. “He’s been trying to get the Speedwagon Foundation to cooperate with us. Seems like we finally got through to someone.”
“Ooh, can we listen in?” Josuke asks.
“Of course,” Giorno assures. “Mista, let me catch you up.”
Giorno very quickly goes over everything they know, that Jotaro was attacked by an enemy stand user who can capture a person’s memory and their stand on discs, and that his daughter is attempting to get back Jotaro’s memory disc. Still, with no information on who Giorno and Josuke are sensing, they decided to try and get more from whoever they talk to about that, as opposed to discussing Jotaro any further.
“D’you think you’d, like, go to Florida to help?” Josuke eventually asks once Giorno’s done talking to Mista.
“If needed,” Giorno answers, switching back to Japanese. “I get the feeling that this is something that needs to be dealt with now. I’d rather not have to take care of it later down the line.” In Italian, Giorno says to Mista, “If I had to go, do you think you could take care of everything here?”
“Whatever you need to do, Giorno,” Mista assures. “I can hold it down here.”
“Uhh, can I ask something?” Okuyasu says, speaking tentatively.
“Sí, certo,” Giorno says. Realizing he spoke in Italian, he switches back to Japanese. “Or, yes, sorry,” he says.
“Oh, wait, do you guys speak English?” Josuke asks quickly, still speaking in Japanese.
“Yes, we do,” Giorno says, switching over to English. “Uh, Mista knows more than me.”
“Ah, we are not so good at it either,” Josuke assures in English as well, speaking slower. “But just so we can talk together.”
“Thank you,” Mista sighs. “What were you asking, Okuyasu?”
“Oh,” Okuyasu begins. “I, uh, was thinking, uhh, where are you from?”
“We’re Italian,” Mista answers.
“I thought so,” Okuyasu says. “What, umm, what is your work?”
“Like our . . . jobs?” Mista asks.
“Yes,” Okuyasu confirms. “Your jobs. I’m a cook, Josuke’s a teacher.”
Giorno and Mista exchange glances. “Might as well,” Giorno murmurs in Italian. “Tell them.”
“Uh, Giorno’s the head of the Passione mafia here in Italia,” Mista explains in English. “I’m his second in command.”
Josuke and Okuyasu look at each other, Okuyasu looking slightly confused, Josuke’s eyes going wide. “Did you say mafia?” Josuke asks.
Before Mista and Giorno can begin to explain, Mista’s phone finally stops playing hold music, and everyone falls quiet, listening in.
For a long time, no one speaks.
Then finally someone from the Speedwagon Foundation takes a breath. “So,” an older man’s voice begins from the other end of the line, speaking in Italian. “Tell me how exactly it is you know Jotaro Kujo.”