The boy – Josuke – had escaped to a small public park, coincidentally just outside of Echoes' range. He peered around a wired fence at the airport in the distance before making an audible and animated 'phew' sound, priming up his hair. He aired his cheek and popped it with a clucking sound. "That was close…" He mused to himself and wondered how his car broke down so easily. He shrugged it off and shuffled through his pockets. Here we go, a small swatch of leather crumpled around some other fabrics and papers that he'd stuffed in his pocket. Josuke crouched down close to it and nervously – and obviously shadily – peered around his shoulder, there wasn't anyone here, one or two people in the distance.

A pink flash of a fist punched at the fabrics & papers and he gripped on tight to it. He looked up as the parts he had left behind him reassembled themselves in his hands, as he'd predicted. He shifted the now reassembled suitcase around in his hands, turning it around and inspecting it. He breathed out a sigh of relief and gently put it on the grass as if it was fragile. He slowly peered over his head and jumped forward tripping over the suitcase as he scrambled to get up.

"You're 'Giouschi Higasciaccta'… Right?" The man slouched over by him after approaching him. He seemed unfazed by Josuke's shock. Josuke grabbed up the suitcase, turned around and scratched his temple in order to regroup. He looked at him suspiciously and put his hand on his hip, tilting his head up. The man continued, "This is the first time we've met, huh, 'Giouschi'…? Do you know who I am?" Josuke stayed silent and eyed the shovel in this man's hand.

He glanced up to his face and eyed the scar on his cheek. He did know who he was, 'Leaky-Eye Luca' – after refusing to back down from a fight he got stabbed under the eye now his eye won't stop leaking, is the story – but he wasn't an idiot either. "No… And it's 'Josuke'."

Luca took out a napkin and wiped his already tearing up eye. "Sorry, sorry, 'Giooschi'." Josuke didn't bother to care that he got it wrong again. Either he couldn't get it right or he was returning the insult of not knowing a name. He moved behind them to a bench and sat down. "Hey, sit down for a second, right here." Josuke tilted his head up and ignored him. "Sit down already! I'll get a stiff neck having to look up at you when talking!" Josuke still didn't budge.

He turned his head to the side and put on a slightly more youthful voice. He spoke loudly, "So~ory, but my mum always tells me not to talk to strange old men in the park!"

Leaky-Eye-Luca dropped the façade for a moment and glared at him. He smiled again, "Wow~ Youth these days are so paranoid!" He moved the spade around in his hands and propped it up, resting his hand on the handle, whipping his eye again with the other before propping up his head on it. "You know… 'Giooscci'," He was purposefully making the name lesser and lesser accurate now, "There are three 'Don'ts' when you establish a good friendshi-"

"What do you want?"

Luca visibly snapped out of his façade from Josuke's interruptions. He got up quickly, leaping forward with a long stride and shoving the spade's handle in the taller boy's face. This obviously would have been more effective at the short range if Josuke had played along. "I'm the one doing the talking right now! Who the hell gave you permission to ask questions, you idiot?!" Josuke dropped his suitcase and lifted his hands up in a mocking pose of submission. He waited as the other tip toed up close to him.

He tried to regain his calm but his voice was fluctuating with anger as he spoke. "I've heard… You've been doing some 'part-time work' at the airport?! Huh? I, Leaky-Eye-Luca, haven't received my 'gift' of respect from you. Show me your wallet! Where do you have it?" Josuke kept his hands up as Luca rummaged through his pockets.

"Looce, I already paid for protection-"

"You paid the security guards! That's got nothing to do with me! Too bad!" He pushed his spade into Josuke's cheek and pulled out his wallet, looking through it with one hand. He looked at the photo in the front, it had a Japanese woman with a young boy on her lap. A family photo? He threw the wallet to the ground when he realized it was empty. Luca reached his arm down to reach for the suitcase.

Josuke shrugged his shoulders and interrupted. "You're crying, are you ok?"

Luca immediately swung the spade at his head. Josuke managed to dodge it by jumping out of the way, barely. Something fast moved from behind his back that pushed the spade back so it would miss. He threw his leg out, pressing the sole of his shoe against Luca's chest and kicking him back. Luca stumbled back keeling over slightly. He trembled with anger and looked back up at him. He had obviously been riled up by the situation. He pouted and muttered out a few times. "You, you're… You're…" Josuke relaxed his shoulders and stared at him, getting ready. "You're finished!"

He threw his entire body into attacking him. Running at Josuke to close the gap, grasping tightly to the handle of the spade with both hands. He swung with velocity turning his entire body into it, aiming the sharp tip of the spade into Josuke's neck. Josuke slouched forward, squinting for the right moment, and as soon as his swing got close that same pink flash erupted from behind his back.

ＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａＤｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ ＤｏｒａＤｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ Ｄｏｒａ

A barrage of pink fists matched the echoing war cry. Each fist punching a different part of him and the spade at such a speed that he managed to get punched 37 times before the impact was enough for Luca to be sent flying backwards into the bench he had previously sat on. The bench gave wat under the impact and cracked down the middle, cradling him in place. Josuke shifted his weight on his feet and returned his hand to his hip.

Luca came to shortly after, his entire body stopped aching from the punches in less than a moment. Although there was evidence of getting hit from coughed up blood on his shirt he didn't feel hurt, and he couldn't see any wounds. He snapped his glare back up to Josuke in an instant. He had no idea what had happened. He shunted forward to try and get up. He couldn't move. His body wouldn't budge. He pulled at his back but it felt abnormally stiff. His head turned and gaped at his back. His entire shoulder was merged with the wood of the bench. He broke into a sweat and twitched forward once more. His eye began to leak. Reflectively he moved his hand up but managed to hit himself in the nose with a sharp pole. As soon as his head dazed back from the hit, he rolled his head forward in disbelief. Both his hands were locked together with a long metal pole… This- He recognized the writing on his left hand. 'SPQR' was engraved into the skin that used to look like his hand, and his finger nails were poking out a round handle shape. His hands were the same as his back, merged. His skin had been stretched over the hard metal of his spade. It was warped and sickening just to look at. He felt no real difference. His hands were cold but he hasn't even noticed until he'd tried to move them. He couldn't even more a single hand without moving the other. He gritted his teeth and stared up at Josuke in disbelief. He started to yell and scream obscenities and questions of what he'd done to him. He didn't even see the kid punch him- but Josuke ignored him.

Josuke picked up the suitcase and placed it on the bench next to where Luca was trapped. Luca squirmed and tried to twist to reach him but he had such limited movement he couldn't move in the slightest. Josuke let out a 'phew' audibly to prove he was ignoring him.

He unlocked the sides of the suitcase with a wince. He opened it up as if it were a rare treasure chest and closed his eyes. He grasped his hands together as if to pray. Once he winced his eyes open he burst into clapping and a series of 'bravos' to himself.

He giggled joyfully to himself looking inside. Not everything had been recovered, he didn't manage to pick up every scrap but it was full of clothes, a few toiletries, an expensive looking watch, miscellanies items like a passport that he really didn't care about, and, of course, the jackpot; money. He beamed in a smile, ruffling his hands through showing off the money to mock him.

He found a few pairs of boxers. He lifted them by the tip of his finger. Oh no he would not be able to sell these. He arched back as he moved them out by the tip – coincidence throwing them over at Luca as he struggled. This would be so much money! He spoke out loud, "Good job, good job, good job!" He chuckled to himself. "I can finally replace the shoes my mum made me sell!"

He smiled widely at Luca and patted himself on the back again. He packed back up the suitcase and shuffled his shoulders up. He smiled again and waved to Luca over his shoulder. "I should get back to school my mum will be mad if she finds out I'm skipping!"