🪄You🪄

After leaving the police station, the five of us stopped by at a cafe, called Coffee and Wine, to talk about our spirits. Each of us got a hot beverage as we took the time to settle in before discussion.

Holly was hugging her son's arm, while saying, "thank you. Thank you, Jotaro. I'm glad you finally left that awful jail cell," in happy relief.

But Jotaro did nothing but scoff coldly, "why are you such an annoying bitch?"

"Okay~! I don't know." Mrs. Kujo smiled, which I was shocked by, still. If I ever spoke to either of my parents that way, I'd get a whole can of whoop-ass.

Mr. Joestar may have shared the same feeling. He pointed at his grandson and scolded him, "hey! How dare you address your own mother that way! And what kind of language is that? And stop smiling, Holly," he then turned to his womanly daughter, "You'll only encourage it."

"Okay~" God, help this woman.

It was Jotaro's turn to talk again and he had a question for his grandfather. "Hey, Jiji, one question. There's something I can't quite wrap my head around. You seem to know all about this.. evil spirit, the stand, whatever you want to call, but how do you know this?"

That was a valid question. I didn't know who I'd expect to know about this supernatural phenomenon, but it certainly wasn't this old man from the Americas. As I slipped on my (hot beverage), Mr. Joestar responded.

"How do I know? I guess I did come all the way from New York to explain it to you and your friend-"

"She's not my friend." Jotaro plugged in and I flipped him off.

"I don't care," Mr. Joestar continued, "but in order for both of you to fully understand, I must start from the beginning. This is part of the legacy of the Joestar family."

Oooohh, story time! He pulled out some polaroid photos and told us to look at them closely. They showed an image of a boat seemingly left afloat in the middle of ocean water, two photos showing a coffin closed then open, and the last one was gold lettering that spelt-

"D-I-O; Dio," I said aloud, "as in the Italian word for God?"

"What are these about?" Jotaro and I separately asked the old man.

"That coffin's a hundred years old," He said, "and four years ago, it was pulled out of the Atlantic off the coast of Africa."

"Okay. so?"

"I did a little research. My grandfather, Jonathan Joestar, your great-great-grandfather, died while at sea. Turns out this exact same coffin was on that boat with him when he died. When they discovered it four years ago, it was empty. But I know exactly what was inside it. Avdol and I are trying to locate him as we speak.

"Hold on. Did you say, him?" Jotaro asked again. "Are you suggesting there was a person inside that thing?"

"But, that's impossible." I added, "how could anything, like a human being, survive a hundred years at the bottom of the ocean?"

Mr. Joestar slapped his hand on the table and stood up, clenching his fist in anger. "Because that person is an evil incarnate, and his name is Dio! And now that he has been awakened from his hundred-year slumber, it is our fate to fight that man!"

I stared in awe of this man's story, or more like his family's history, but it was almost hard to believe. Jotaro thought the same as he sighed and looked the other way. Mr. Joestar took offense from his lack of reaction.

"What the hell does that face mean?! And don't you turn your back on me like this has nothing to do with you!"

"Look, you old man. This face means: your story is so lame, I don't know what to say."

"What? Old man??"

"Sir, with all due respect," I cut in, "I kinda have to agree. Not the lame part, but I'm practically at a loss for words. Everything sounded so far-fetched."

"Exactly," Jotaro followed, "did you really expect us to fall for an unbelievable story like that?"

"Heh. I know the story sounds far-fetched, but would you also say our spirits are equally unbelievable?" Avdol rebuttaled.

"I guess that's true," I shrugged my shoulders.

"Think what you want, but soon you will have no choice but to believe it, Jotaro," Mr. Joestar huff, sitting back down. "If you want me to tell you how I know that Dio exists and why I've chosen to go after him, the best way to explain it is to show you." He said, asking his Egyptian friend for something with his hand. Avdol pulled out a camera and handed it to Mr. Joestar. What's he gonna do with that? "See, the truth of it is I myself had a rather startling revelation that prompted all of this. About a year ago, I suddenly obtained a stand of my own."

The Kujos and I gasped. "What did you say?!"

"For real?!"

"Jiji, what did you.."

Mr. Joestar prepared his demonstration by setting the camera onto the table. "Let me introduce...my stand!" He raised his hand up, a golden aura surrounding it for a few seconds that felt strangely familiar, but then purple vines with thorns appeared before Mr. Joestar brought his hand down again and destroyed the camera. Despite it now being broken beyond repair and photo printed itself out and Mr. Joestar took it out. "Did you see it, the thorns that came out of my hand? This is my stand." He explained further, "it can reveal far away visions and place them on film. The only downside is I have to bust a 30,000-yen camera every time I use it."

"Yikes, that is quite a waste."

Suddenly a waiter came by to see what was going on behind all this racket. I suppose it was easy to forget that we were in a public area and everyone could hear our raised voices, especially the old man's. But Avdol shooed him away.

"In a matter of seconds, a vision will appear in this photograph, Jotaro, and it will reveal your very destiny!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Jotaro, Holly," the man sat down again, "have either of you ever taken the time to look carefully at the back of your necks?"

"What does that mean?" Asked Jotaro and I raised a brow, too. Where was this going?

"You each have it, but you probably never thought much about it, a birthmark shaped like a star. It turns out we all have it."

I was sitting next to Mrs. Kujo during this whole conversation. So when I saw her lift her hair, I saw it. The star shaped birthmark that resided on her trapezius: the space between the back of her shoulder and neck. Then there's no denying if I checked Jotaro's and Mr. Joestar's necks, they'd have it too.

"I'll say it again. What the hell does all this mean?" Jotaro repeated.

"My father died when I was young, so I asked my mother about it, and she said he had one, too. It seems that everyone from the Joestar bloodline is born with this same exact birthmark."

"That's so cool." I grinned.

"All right, and just what the hell is gonna turn up in that photograph?" Jotaro asked again.

"It's our destiny, a path that until now has been unknown-" Mr. Joestar remain being cryptic and dramatic tease that Jotaro was growing tired of this.

"I'm losing my patience, just show me the damn photo already." He finally took a good look and just by reading his expression, I could tell what he saw shook him.

"Dio. He shows up in all my spirit photos, and look what's just above his shoulder. From the neck of this bastard on down is Jonathan Joestar, my grandfather! This son of a bitch took over his body!!"

When Mr. Joestar took back the photo, I was given the chance to catch a glimpse of this Dio guy. A blonde man, whose face was covered in the shadows, was back turned and showed not just the birthmark, but body of a once dead man. Dio's aura in the photo looked sinister and it was no wonder he was labeled as an evil incarnate. Mr. Joestar then went on to explain further about the shipwreck his grandfather was one, according to his grandmother Erina, who was one of the two survivors of that incident. Somehow, Dio took over Jonathan's body and survived the sink and stayed dormant for all those hundred years.

"This much I know is certain. This bastard is currently hiding somewhere on the globe, plotting something. It's been four years since he's revived, and the reason my spirit photography and your evil spirit have manifested since is most likely connected to Dio."

"Wait." I stood up from my seat. "What about my guardian- or Stand. It manifested a little over two years ago, and with this story now being told, does this mean he had something to do it, too?"

"Well, (name)," Avdol addressed me, standing up with us, "to society in general, our gifts are considered a kind of psychic power. I've had mine since the day I was born, and it's safe to say that might have been the same for you. But you just never needed it's protection, until that fated day it came about."

"Maybe," I tilted my head in thought. "I was always a rambunctious, troublemaker as a kid but had never gotten into any real danger. Even if I did, my family was always there to stop and protect me from it."

"And it was only then when they weren't around, your spirit came to your aid." Avdol concluded, and I nod. Then he put his explanation back to grandfather and grandson. "But your powers seem bound to Dio's body, or, rather, Jonathan Joestar's body. There's some sort of invisible string that connects you all to him. His rebirth is also your own, awakening your sleeping powers."

Mr. Joestar then handed the photo to Avdol, asking if he could figure out where Dio was if there was any context given. Sadly, he said there wasn't, but will take a closer look later. I then look at Mrs. Kujo who looked so fear stricken. Mr. Joestar also noticed this and went to comfort his kind-natured daughter.

"Oh, Holly. I'm sorry I sprang this all on you out of the blue," he apologized. "Let's head home now."

"Alright," she said softly.

Everyone began to gather their things and started heading out. But I noticed Jotaro voluntarily keeping behind from the group. I slowed down to match his pace on the way home.

"Kujo, you doing okay?" I asked the tall, dark teen.

He gave me a quick glance and stared forward again, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me."

I nodded, "if you say so. But if you ever need to talk, I'm always available." I gave him a small sheet of paper. It had my house number written on it, and once he took it, I bowed my head. "I have a few errands to do right now, but I'll say bye to your folks before I go. See you later, Jotaro!"

🌠Jotaro🌠

I watched as (name) sprinted ahead to say bye and give thanks to my mom, Jiji, and Avdol before heading off on her own. I looked down at the paper she gave me, it was folded so I opened it up and saw a phone number with a happy face and a thumbs up. She's so oddly forward. I thought to myself, but smirked subconsciously at it. Like I'd actually call her.