AN: I have not read the manga past where the anime is now, so forgive any canon inconsistencies. I never thought that I would want to write JoJo fanfic, but Yukako's behavior was just SO creepy and abusive (even though it was played partially for laughs), and Koichi is such a kind and senstive soul, that I knew there would have to be repercussions. And you know me. I love writing the aftermath of traumatic events.
"But you're okay, Koichi, right?"
Koichi looked pretty rough. But he was grinning, now they'd gotten away for good, and he'd come through the battle on his own. He'd rescued himself, and Josuke was proud of him. But there was blood running from the corner of his mouth and his forehead, and there were marks across his face and wrists that looked like rope burns.
Koichi panted. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I'm alive." A hint of hysteria shone in his eyes. "Did you see Echoes? Echoes evolved! Echoes is stronger now, and I think I might have more range..." He turned away to look toward the cape, shielding his eyes and staring off into the distance. Something wild had obviously gone down over there, and Josuke wanted to hear the whole story. Right now, though, he was mostly just worried about Koichi's condition.
The guy was shaking. It was a gentle motion, barely visible. It looked like the kind of thing that might just...go on. For a long time. Josuke reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, and Koichi jumped at the touch and stared at him as if he didn't know him. Josuke frowned.
There were a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but when he opened his mouth, what came out was, "Why did you cut your hair?"
Koichi halted, flummoxed. He raised his hand and patted the top of his own head, which was now cut flat. "I...I'm not sure. It seemed important when I did it. I guess...because Echoes was evolving, I needed to evolve, too." He gave Josuke a grin, just a little manic, then looked over at Okuyasu. "Don't you like it?"
Okuyasu raised his eyebrows, but he nodded. "Yeah, it looks good on you, man." He went back to staring into the distance at Yukako, making sure she wasn't going to come after them again. "Is she okay?"
"She'll be fine," Koichi said. He waved his hand in the air as if physically pushing the question away from himself, then started walking down the street. "Come on, let's go home. Did you bring a car? I'm really tired. Did Jotaro-san drive you?"
Josuke shook his head and lengthened his stride to catch up. "Nah, we haven't been in contact with him for a few days. Sorry, if we had known how dangerous your situation was we would have brought him in to help you sooner." He glanced behind himself at the wrecked house. It was pretty impressive.
Koichi halted on the sidewalk and looked around, bouncing on your toes. "I guess you came in a cab, then? Could you please call another one? I don't have any money." He gestured down at his pajama pants as if that was explanation enough. Which it sort of was.
Josuke and Okuyasu exchanged glances. Josuke tossed a coin to Okuyasu, and he headed off for the phone booth while Josuke stayed beside Koichi on the sidewalk.
Once again, Josuke could only reflect on how insane life had become for him. For all three of them. In ordinary circumstances, if a teenage boy was kidnapped, you would call the police. Even if he escaped on his own, it would still be important to call the authorities. The perpetrator was also a teenager, but she was incredibly dangerous, and Josuke was not at all convinced that she wouldn't try to attack Koichi again.
But the police were useless here. They would have no way to deal with Yukako if she decided to treat them as a threat, and even if they locked her up, she would probably be able to escape without too much trouble. Josuke sighed. This sucked.
Koichi was pretty tough when the situation called for it, and he had a weirdly awesome stand to protect himself, but he had still gotten kidnapped out of his own house. And there was no telling when something like that might happen again. None of them could predict or prevent the insane things that were happening to them.
Koichi raised a hand and dabbed at his split lip, then looked up at Josuke. He fidgeted a little, and Josuke stared at him, not sure what the trouble was. Koichi sighed. "Umm... I'm sorry, to ask, but would you mind...? I, uh, I got a little beat up back there, and if Crazy Diamond..."
"Oh!" Josuke blinked. "Yeah, sorry. Of course. I meant to, I was just, you know...distracted..."
It didn't take much. They were standing close enough that Crazy Diamond only needed to extend one arm to touch Koichi. In an instant, Josuke was aware of all of the wounds that marked his friend. None of them were serious, but there were kind of a lot of them. The battle had been much longer and fiercer than that piece at the end that he and Okuyasu had been in time to witness. A slight effort of will, an outpouring of energy, and the wounds were gone.
They even went to school. It felt a little weird, but hey, everything was weird now. Josuke had gotten a little blase about weirdness. So had Okuyasu and Koichi. Heck, Koichi used to be the most normal of the three of them, since Josuke and Okuyasu had both had their stands for years and Koichi's had only been brought out of him a few months ago. But so much had happened in such a short amount of time that Koichi was basically over it, too. Life was weird, weird was life.
The only point during the day when Koichi seemed bothered was after English class. Josuke asked him what was wrong, and he gave Josuke a distressed look and whispered, "I understood most of it." As if it was somehow shameful to be doing well at his classes. But, you know, whatever. Life was weird now and Koichi was dealing with it, somehow.
But Josuke couldn't shake the feeling, all day long, that something was wrong. Something was off, but he didn't know what. It was a feeling like walking down a hallway and being sure that something was waiting to jump out from the darkness. This wasn't the end of it.
After school, the three of them met on the sidewalk, as they often did. Okuyasu and Josuke's houses were in the same direction, and Koichi usually rode his bike along with them for a while before he had to split off. Okuyasu was cheerful, swaggering around. He bumped Koichi's shoulder with his arm, knocking him forward a step or two, and slapped a hand on his back. "Hey, you got the new Nintendo racing game, didn't you? We should play it tonight!"
Josuke kicked Okuyasu in the shin. "You can't just invite yourself over to someone's house, you barbarian." Okuyasu was a good guy, but he had the manners of an ape. Okuyasu shrugged and grinned at him.
Koichi didn't look put out by the rudeness. If anything, that might have been relief on his face. "Yeah, you should definitely come over. After dinner, maybe? I don't want to spring guests on my mom without warning, and I'll need to do my homework... But yeah. Come over if you want. We'll play the new game."
Josuke nodded, warming up to the idea rapidly. "Yeah, that would be fun. But there's only two controllers, so Okuyasu and I will have to trade turns. It wouldn't be fair to take Koichi's own game from him when it's so new."
Koichi shook his head so hard his hair flopped from side to side. "No, I don't mind! We'll all play. It will be fun."
Okuyasu grinned, broad and delighted, and kicked a stone across the street. "Great! I'll bring snacks."
"Me too," Josuke said.
"Don't trouble yourselves too much!" Koichi said, waving his hands. "We won't be able to stay up that late, anyway, since it's a school night. There's no need to make a big deal about it."
"Naw, we'll make a little bit of deal," Josuke said. He felt good about the plans. Maybe it was a stupid, small thing, but it felt right that he and Okuyasu should go out of their way to do something for Koichi, even if that just meant bringing some snacks to his house.
Josuke's mom had no objections to him going to visit "that nice Hirose-kun," and Okuyasu had no one even to ask permission from anymore, so they met up at Koichi's house not long after dinnertime. Okuyasu's arms were piled high with chips and rice crackers and koala cookies, while Josuke carried a half dozen glass bottles of soda between his fingers.
Okuyasu stuck his tongue out and nodded in vigorous approval when he saw them. "Man, I wouldn't be brave enough to carry that much glass around like that, but I guess if you drop a bottle it's no big deal, huh?"
Josuke let the corner of his mouth curl up in a grin. Yeah, he could afford to be reckless, sometimes. Broken glass was nothing. "Can you knock? My hands are full."
Koichi must have heard them coming, because the door flung open before they got there. Koichi looked soft and relaxed in casual clothes, much more at ease now than he'd been this morning in his pajamas. He gave them both a welcoming smile and ushered them inside. "Come on back to my room! The Nintendo is all set up."
"Uwwaah, you have your own TV?" Okuyasu asked.
Koichi shrugged. "It's just a little one. My parents let me have the old one when they bought a better set for the living room. But it's nice to have my own for playing video games."
"Yeah, that is super cool." Okuyasu's admiration was completely genuine. "Good for you, Koichi."
Koichi's room was a good size, and he had a pretty sweet setup. The bed was along one wall, the TV set up on the opposite side on the floor in front of the desk. Koichi's desk was covered with books and pens with no sense of organization, and the bed was cushy and inviting. The rest of the room was messy too, but Koichi had shoved everything into piles in preparation for his guests. It was more than Josuke would have done.
Koichi started up the Nintendo while Josuke and Okuyasu settled on the floor with their backs to the side of the bed, jostling each other with their knees for the best position. When Koichi moved back, though, they silently moved apart to make room for him to sit in the middle. He was holding both controllers, and he looked down at them, then up at his friends. "Who plays first?"
"Well, you get Player 1 first, of course," Josuke said. "Me and Okuyasu will do rock paper scissors for who goes next. And whenever someone loses, the third one can tap in."
Koichi and Okuyasu nodded. The terms were fair. Josuke and Okuyasu played a short game of rock paper scissors over Koichi's head (won by Josuke), and they began.
The game was fun. Josuke got way too into it, as usual. He moved the controller around with his elbows jutting out and yelled at the screen when the race didn't go his way. Koichi laughed and ducked his arm, but Okuyasu was more likely to lock arms against him and try to push him away. The races were fairly short, so they traded controllers plenty of times, standing and moving when necessary to avoid the controller cords getting tangled. The one currently not racing would eat snacks and drink soda, occasionally whistling and cheering the others on.
Josuke didn't get why his mom thought video games were bad for kids. She seemed to think that they would keep him cooped up indoors and not getting exercise, but the three of them were plenty energetic as they moved and fought each other and talked and laughed. Koichi's parents didn't even come and tell them to shut up, which was really nice of them. Josuke wished his mom was like that.
Eventually, though, Koichi got worn out. He climbed up on his bed behind the other two and lay down on his stomach to watch them play. He waved off all attempts to give him a controller when Josuke or Okuyasu lost. He hugged a pillow under his chin and just watched the screen, the colored lights flickering over his pale face and the bags under his eyes.
Josuke didn't mean to, but he kept glancing back at him. It even made him lose a couple of races. He and Okuyasu were both much quieter, now, worn out by the long day. The sat elbow to elbow and knee to knee, almost in silence, just playing race after race. The sight of the pixelated car moving around the track began to be hypnotic. Josuke had to blink strongly to bring himself out of a nod, then opened his eyes wide and looked back at Koichi again.
Koichi was asleep, sprawled over his pillow with his mouth open and drooling. If Yukako could see him like this, surely she would stop loving him immediately. Then again, who knew. That girl had strange tastes. Josuke shuddered and looked forward again, a frown tugging at his mouth.
He kind of wanted to get a blanket and cover Koichi up, but he didn't know how he would find one in this mess. And Koichi looked pretty comfortable anyway, all cuddled up in sweatpants and a baggy sweater. He was probably okay.
But that thing... The thing that had been bothering Josuke all day... It hadn't gone away.
He had thought that it might after this evening spent being childish and stupid with his friends. Losing Koichi like that... It had scared him, deep in his bones. Koichi had vanished off the face of the planet, and if he hadn't been brave and smart and managed to get a message out, Josuke and Okuyasu never would have found him. Koichi could have died out there. He almost had. Josuke shuddered to think what might have happened to Koichi if Echoes hadn't suddenly evolved and become more powerful for him. That girl was crazy, and her love had manifested in horrible, hurtful actions. She might have ended up doing permanent damage to Koichi or even killing him.
But no. It hadn't happened like that. Koichi had gotten away, and Josuke and Okuyasu had only arrived in time to speed up his escape. Koichi had needed rescuing, but Josuke hadn't done it.
Was that what was bothering him? Josuke knew he could be a little possessive sometimes. About his hair, about his family...especially after Grandpa... Maybe he was possessive of his friends, too. He and Koichi had been through a lot together in just a short time, and Josuke had come to rely on him a great deal. The idea of someone taking him away, just like that...
Well, Josuke didn't like it, that was for sure. Maybe he needed to be sure that Koichi was really okay, for sure, and then whatever was bothering him would go away. So he glanced back at Koichi again.
Koichi was curled up tighter now, the side of his face pressed into his pillow. He didn't seem comfortable anymore, and Josuke frowned. Then Koichi twitched, and Josuke frowned harder.
He had thought that Koichi was sleeping soundly. But now that he took a moment to look more closely, that didn't seem to be the case. Koichi was curled up tight, too tight, and his face was drawn in distress. As Josuke watched, his face twitched and pulled into a grimace of fear. Koichi's lips moved, but Josuke couldn't hear what he said.
"Hey." Okuyasu was poking him. From the impatience in his tone, he'd been doing it for a while. "Hey, Josuke, let's start the next race. Are you listening? Hey."
Josuke turned to him, and Okuyasu leaned back, blinking at the look on his face. "Whoa... What is it? What's wrong?"
"Koichi." Josuke set the controller down and got up on his knees so he could creep forward and turn the volume on the TV to off. Then he turned around where he sat and stared at the bed where Koichi was sleeping.
Without the video game noises, he could hear Koichi panting. His breath gusted in and out in short gasps of air. And...that might have been a moan, low and pained. It was the kind of noise Josuke had made the last time he had a really bad stomach virus and had to stay home huddled under his covers, waiting for it to go away. Sometimes, when you were hurting really bad, the only option was to moan.
But Koichi was dreaming. He shouldn't be in physical pain. Besides, Josuke had healed him.
Okuyasu was staring now, too, his gaze flipping between Koichi and Josuke and back to Koichi. Then Koichi's lips moved again, and this time Josuke could hear the words.
"No...it's coming...so black...it's coming again... I can't get away..."
The despair in those slurred words made Josuke shiver. He looked at Okuyasu and found him staring back at him, his eyes wide with distress. Neither of them knew what to do.
"No..." Koichi curled up tighter, his hands against his chest and his head ducked down as if he could hide from the world if he tried hard enough. "Please stop. Please don't hurt me anymore. I'll be good, I'll do whatever you want. Please, please stop..."
Josuke's heart lurched sickly. He was pretty sure that Koichi was crying now, and that was... That was too much. He felt numb all over.
Okuyasu crept closer to him, looking just as freaked out as Josuke felt. "Dude, you gotta do something."
Josuke stared at him. "You do something."
"I don't know what to do!"
Josuke shivered, and some shell of paralysis seemed to break, falling away from his limbs. Wait, why was this so hard? His friend was having a bad dream. There was an obvious solution to this problem.
"Poke him so he wakes up."
Okuyasu's face screwed up. "I don't want to hurt him. Little dude's been through enough today."
Josuke made an exasperated noise. "Then don't poke him very hard. Just enough to wake him up."
Okuyasu just shook his head, slow and certain. "No way, man. You've been his friend longer. You do it."
"Only by a couple of weeks," Josuke hissed, but Okuyasu just raised his eyebrows. He had decided that this wasn't his job. So that meant Josuke had to do it.
Josuke groaned and looked up at the ceiling in the despair, but he didn't have a choice. Koichi was hurting, so he had to do something about it. Still, he crawled reluctantly over the floor to the bed, his knees and knuckles dragging. He didn't know why, but a strange sense of dread had grabbed him like a giant fist.
He didn't want to wake Koichi up. He didn't want to... He didn't want to have to talk to him. Why?
Because he didn't want to know exactly what Koichi had been through, exactly how much he had suffered. This morning, Josuke had assumed that it had been a little rough, but nothing all that terrible. Koichi had seemed pretty much fine, beat up, but fine.
But hearing Koichi now, the terror in his voice, the way he was trying to hide... This was worse than the usual stand battle. That girl had harmed Koichi in ways Josuke didn't want to think about and didn't want to know.
Josuke couldn't stay still for long, even when something inside him wanted to. Before he could talk himself out of it, he lunged forward and put his hand on Koichi's back. This close, he could feel him shivering, not just see it. It made it all feel much, much worse.
"Koichi. Hey, Koichi. Wake up."
He didn't raise his voice. He knew instinctively that calm was called for here, not urgency. It seemed to work. Koichi went still, freezing under Josuke's hand. Even the shivers stopped for a moment, as if Koichi's muscles were locked in a moment of shock. Then he relaxed, his back smoothed out under Josuke's hand, and he uncurled enough to peek at Josuke with one eye.
"Josuke?"
Koichi's voice was hushed, as if he was ashamed. Josuke gave him a nod, smooth and calm, to let him know that everything was cool. Everything was normal.
"You didn't seem comfortable," he said.
"Oh. No. No, I wasn't." Koichi slowly, slowly uncurled the rest of the way, until he sat up on the bed on his own. Josuke's hand slid off his back, and he pulled it back to his lap. Koichi blinked at him, then at Okuyasu. "Sorry. Did I bother you?"
Okuyasu's eyebrows shot up to his forehead. "What? No, man, that's not it at all, you were..."
Josuke punched him in the arm, hard and swift, and Okuyasu bit off with a yelp. He glared at Josuke and rubbed his arm, but he seemed to have caught the point. Josuke didn't look away from Koichi. "No bother," he said. "Just...you know. It's getting late. So I thought maybe you'd want to go to bed properly."
"Oh." Koichi looked around again, his eyes widening when he spotted the clock on his nightstand. "Oh, wow. Yeah. It's late. And we have to get up for school tomorrow. You guys should... You should go home." Toward the end, his voice dropped to a mutter, and his rubbed his hands together as if they were cold. His shoulders slumped, too.
Okuyasu blew out a gusty sigh, but started to climb to his feet. "Ugh, yeah, I guess so. Man, I wanted to play the game some more. Who cares about school? Maaannnn..."
Josuke stayed where he was, cross-legged on the floor looking up at Koichi on the bed. He saw the way Koichi's eyes shifted away, unwilling to watch them. Unwilling to watch them go. And Josuke's hand shot out again and grabbed Okuyasu's trouser leg. Okuyasu halted, staring down at him, but for once he didn't say anything.
Josuke still watched Koichi. "You know..." It was strange to hear himself being so careful with his words. It wasn't like Josuke was uncouth or reckless-his mother had raised him well-but he also didn't usually put this much thought into what he was saying. He was a teenager. Careful word choice was usually far outside the realm of things he cared about it. But now...
"We don't have to leave," Josuke said, and Koichi stopped rubbing his hands together. He still didn't look at them, but he no longer looked like a hunched and lonely hermit in a cave. "It's so late now, it makes just as much sense for us to spend the night here."
Okuyasu nodded enthusiastly. "Yeah, yeah! That's true. It makes sense."
Koichi was still for a moment longer, then turned to face them. His shoulders relaxed even more. He looked more like himself. "But...you didn't bring a change of clothes or anything."
Josuke shrugged. "We'll stop home tomorrow morning and freshen up. No biggie."
"No biggie," Okuyasu echoed, oddly cheerful. Maybe he had picked up on the gloomy atmosphere in the room and was glad to see it dissipating now.
Koichi nodded. He even attempted something like a smile. "Well... Okay then. If you're sure. That would be nice."
Josuke nodded firmly. "Yeah, I'm sure. Maybe you should go ask your parents if it's okay, though."
"Oh. Yeah. I should do that." Koichi looked around, then climbed off the bed and brushed himself down. "I'm sure Mom won't mind. Um. I'll bring back a couple of futons, too."
"I'll come with you and help you carry them," Okuyasu said.
Koichi shook his head. "Nah, you're my guests. I'll take care of you. Just give me a few minutes."
He gave Josuke a hesitant smile, then left the room. Okuyasu stared after him for a moment, then plopped down next to Josuke with a hefty sigh. "What's going on here?"
"Koichi's having bad dreams," Josuke said. He didn't want to have to talk about it, and he was annoyed at Okuyasu for making him. Hadn't Okuyasu figured out that much on his own? How stupid was he?
Okuyasu shook his head. "No, I get that much. And I get that he's not ready to talk about it. All the bad stuff just went down today, after all. But I mean... What are we going to do? Are we gonna stay here every night until he feels better?"
Josuke faced him. Oh, right. Okuyasu could be an excellent ally, after all, even if he wasn't as quick on the uptake as some people. As a lot of people. "If we have to."
Okuyasu considered this for a moment, then nodded. He accepted things so easily sometimes that it could be astonishing. "All right. Let's see how it goes, then."
Stand users are drawn to each other, Josuke thought, and he almost laughed out loud. Yeah, it was true.
Suddenly, this didn't seem so insurmountable. Life was insane now, the city was full of crazy stand users and murderers, and Josuke's friends could be attacked at any time. They could be kidnapped out of bed on a clear night and trapped and hurt far away from help, forced to endure all kinds of indignities and pain, and even so inwardly injured that they ended up having nightmares from the ordeal.
But Josuke had amazing luck. He kept finding good people among the carnage who became his allies and friends and even relatives. Life was insane, but he and Okuyasu and Koichi, they had each other's backs. So it couldn't be that bad.
After a few minutes, Koichi came back with his arms full of futons. He didn't have two, he had three. He giggled nervously and said he'd be embarrassed to sleep in a bed while his guests were on the floor. Okuyasu chuckled and accepted it, and Josuke squeezed his shoulder, and Koichi looked at him gratefully. And they all slept on the floor close enough to smell each other's breath, which was gross.
But they all slept well, and Josuke was pretty sure Koichi didn't have anymore dreams, because he spent the whole night with one hand on Koichi's futon just in case there was any movement or muttering. In the morning he woke up with Koichi's head on his stomach and Okuyasu's arm across his face. Of course he shoved them both away the second he was fully awake.
But for a moment before he woke up fully, he lay there on the floor, listening to the breathing of the two closest friends he'd ever had. It was calm and steady and soothing. He liked the sound.
And Josuke was glad to be where he was.