During the Higashikata family's breakfast, I finished my cup of tea, and talked a bit about myself. Nothing major, I just let them know that I'm new around here, that I'm in the same year as Josuke, and that I only met him recently. 

 

"Must have been some meeting for you to show up at his house so early in the morning" Tomoko-nee commented with a playful smile. 

 

Josuke stopped eating for a moment, and stared directly at me.

 

Judging from the look in his eye, I guessed his family didn't have any knowledge of stands or the supernatural. So I decided to be a little vague in my response. "Actually, you might not believe this, but Josuke saved my life yesterday. I came here today, because I wanted to thank him for it, and apologize for the injuries he received in the uh…accident." I said, while gesturing at the bandages on his face and on his right hand. 

 

"Oh? I just assumed the boy got into another stupid fight over his hair at school again when he showed up like that yesterday." Ryohei remarked with a smile. "I didn't think he had it in him to go out and save damsels in distress."

 

The little girl smiled in excitement. "Wow! Oni saved a Tanuki yesterday? That's amazing!"

 

Like a good big brother, Josuke raised his chin and smiled with pride. 

 

'Huh, I guess I might have overreacted a bit earlier, the protag is the same, well actually he might be a bit of a siscon now, but aside from that he's the same as in the manga.' I thought. 

 

Although I felt relieved, I didn’t like how my "I'm not a tanuki!" retort went unheard under the gentle laughter from Josuke, Tomoko, and Ryohei. 

 

Norisuke finally spoke up for the first time. "In this case, I'm glad things worked out well for you, Jojo. However, I don't want to see you getting hurt again. Try not to worry your family, alright?" 

 

Josuke smiled and nodded obediently at him.

 

'Damn. I hope he doesn't get hurt too bad when shit hits the fan, but I know for sure, this is only the beginning for him…sorry you guys' I apologized in my head. 

 

Like that, We continued talking for a bit during breakfast, but soon it was time for us to go. Ryohei and Norisuke took the little girl to school on their way to work, while me and Josuke headed to ours together on foot.  

 

On the way, I asked him about it. "Hey, does your family know about your stand?"

 

"No, but my stepdad might have some suspicions. He may have seen me fix things and heal people once or twice in the past."

 

That word caught my attention, it wasn't like I hadn't expected it, but I still had to know more. "Stepdad? Norisuke-san isn't your Biological Father?" I asked, while feigning  cluelessness.

 

Josuke hesitated, but under my curious gaze, he started talking. "No, actually…my Biological father was married…to another woman when my mother had me. He didn't even know he had a son, until I was 4 years old." He explained.

 

"Oh? What happened?" I casually replied, trying not to show how badly I wanted to know. 

 

'He's actually willing to talk about it!? 

What changed in the past that brought us here? Does this only affect him, or will this affect the rest of the people in this town?'

 

"Well, one day he showed up on our doorstep out of the blue. He knelt down and apologized to my mom, and offered her a lump sum of cash as child support. Although, when my mom found out he was already married, she went ballistic and nearly killed him on the spot! I'd never seen an old man run so fast before!" He said, with a nostalgic smile. "Anyway, after that, the rest of his family came by and paid us a visit. They also apologized for my biological-father's irresponsible actions and tried their best to make peace with my mother." 

 

'That's it! In the original manga, Josuke's father, Joseph, never knew he had another son until 1999! In this timeline, He found out 12 years earlier!!! Wait… wasn't that around the time part 3 took place? Who told him? Did someone else from my past world visit here?'

 

I fell silent, and let him keep talking so I wouldn't miss anything important. 

 

"Nowadays, they sometimes come by and visit us during the holidays. I think that they're very kind people, especially my older half sister, she lives in japan and comes often. She always brings us some home cooked western pastries every time she visits."

 

'Wait, He's talking about Holly Joestar here right? The mother of part 3's Protagonist? She brings him cakes !? Wait wait wait, what happened to Joseph? Josuke's mom chased after him and…then what?'

 

In his story, he glossed over it, but I really wanted to hear more about it. "What about your dad?" 

 

"Well, after they finally caught him,(with the help of my nephew…long story) he got beat up pretty badly, by both my mom and his wife. When he woke up a week later in hospital, my mom broke up with him on the spot, but his wife stayed with him. They now both live together in the United States, but they come to visit us sometimes. I have to admit, it's still a bit awkward for me, but I'm glad to have met them." 

 

'That's how she has a husband now! She found closure for her old relationship, and married Norisuke! That's why Josuke now has a stepdad, and a new little sister! Though it still doesn't explain how his grandfather, Ryohei survived the first arc. ooh I really want to ask him now, but how do I even bring it up?' 

 

While I was putting it all together in my head, I came to a sudden realization: I actually really admired Josuke. This should have been something deeply personal to him and yet he was able to talk about it so easily. 

 

"Wow, that's a crazy story man, I'm glad you told me." I smiled at him in gratitude. 

 

"Well, your brother already told me everything about you guys, I figured I'd tell you a bit of myself, to even the score." He replied, with a hand behind his head and sheepish grin.

 

'Yes! If we learn more and more about each other, I'm sure we can become best friends!' Whether or not he was a character in the story, didn't matter to me anymore. I just thought he was cool and really wanted to be his friend.

 

“I suddenly feel a lot closer to you now, Josuke. Is it alright for me to think of you as a friend?” I asked him.

 

“Yeah man, I feel the same way.” he replied with a smile. 

 

Half way through our walk out to Budo-ga Oka High, Koichi caught up with us on his bike.

"Hey guys" he greeted us. ""Hey~"" we greeted him back. 

 

He got off it and walked with us on foot, while pulling it along. It looked like he had something he wanted to talk with us about,

 

"After I got home yesterday, I played around with my stand. I think it's really cool!" as he spoke, I noted how he smiled so innocently, it felt like watching a child talk about a new toy he got for christmas. I guess he didn’t take his near death experience to heart.  

 

"Oh right, you only awakened it yesterday, right? What have you learned?" I asked him.

 

"I can see and hear everything it does! Since it can fly, I can get a bird's eye view of the entire town!!" He cheerfully explained

 

Watching how happy he was as he talked about it, made me feel a bit mischievous. "You aren't gonna do anything pervy with it are you?" I asked him with a teasing grin.

 

He glared at me aggrievedly and shouted."No! God, No! Why would you think that?"

 

 I tried not to laugh at how flustered he got. 

 

"Well, it's like a ghost, right? It can travel through walls and no one else can see it. Additionally, You can control where it flies, and you can see everything it sees. Imagine all the possibilities!" I said triumphantly. 

 

Immediately his face turned a deep shade of crimson as he stammered out a retort."Y-You pervert! Only you would think to use it that way!" 

 

The atmosphere seemed to darken as I showed him my most evil smile. "Nu-uh, I'm a girl now, I don't need to use a stand to peek. I can legally enter girl's locker rooms and look all I want!!! Ahahaha!"

 

Meanwhile Josuke feigned a look of horror "What Have we Done! Nooo!!!" He cursed!

 

Immediately, all the tension in the air vanished and we all laughed together """Ahahaha""".