I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or the Persona series.


May 29, 2011:


"There are way too many options on this thing." Johnny thought to himself with a frown as he looked at the menu in front of him. "Too many options and so much crap that I don't want to touch the stuff that I actually want to eat."

Johnny could hear the rain pour outside of Aiya Restaurant. The rain had hit hard and fast, catching everyone by surprise. Except for that chick who wanted to be a meteorologist, she was so damn smug about her prediction being right as she walked home under an umbrella. Everyone else had to use their book bags for shelter, and ran home.

Johnny wasn't so lucky. He just had to go as far as he could before the rainfall became too heavy and he couldn't push his wheelchair around as good.

So he decided to hunker down in Aiya's until the storm passed, dry off and maybe get some food too.

"My, my. Listen to that." The cook whistled as he looked out a window. Almost on cue, a flash of lightning and then the roar of thunder. "Haven't seen a storm this bad since that hurricane last year."

"You mean the one that wrecked most of the coast?" Another patron asked, and Johnny started wishing that the restaurant had put on some tacky J-Pop song he could listen to and drown out their stupid conversation.

"Yeah, that one. I remember that trees were torn down and a couple houses got damaged. I heard all the coastal towns got it even worse. It's almost a miracle that Tatsumi Port wasn't affected at all…"

"Are you ready to order?"

Johnny blinked as he looked to his right and saw the server girl Aika staring back at him with her near emotionless eyes. "When did you get here?"

"Since a minute ago."

"And you've just been there staring at me?" Johnny clicked his tongue as he looked back at his menu. "Could've said something.

"I thought that you were thinking hard about what you wanted, so I was giving you some time to make a decision." Aika glanced at the menu. "There isn't much to choose from though."

…Was she making fun of him?

"Look, I just need some time okay?" Johnny tapped on the menu with his right hand and said, "I don't know what to order, and it's been a while since I ordered for myself without anyone else's suggestion. So it takes me a bit."

Took him about thirty minutes, to be exact. Without Yosuke or the others to give some suggestions, Johnny didn't know what he wanted. He could order the same thing he had last time, but what if something tasted better than that? What if Johnny made the wrong decision and ate a meal that was total crap? There were so many things that could go wrong…

"Why not have our Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl Special?"

"Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl?" Johnny repeated, arching an eyebrow at the rather grand sounding meal.

"It's a meal we cook only on rainy days." Aika explained before pointing at the menu. "It's something only the locals know, so we don't bother putting it on the menu."

"And what's in it?"

"Rice, meat, and an egg on top." Aika gave a small shrug. "It's a pretty simple dish. And if you're able to eat it all, then your meal is on the house."

Johnny raised an eyebrow at that. If he finished a meal, a meal that sounded hearty but not impossible, then it was for free? "What's the catch?"

"No catch. It's just like I said. You gotta eat it all or else you pay for it like normal."

"And how much is it?"

"3000 yen."

"That's… not too bad." Johnny looked at his menu. "It's a little pricey and way more expensive than everything else on the menu, but even if I don't eat it all it won't burn that big a hole in my wallet."

Besides, even if he didn't finish the whole thing he could take the rest home and save it for later.

"Alright fine, I'll have it."

"You have to say a line."

Johnny stared blankly at Aika. "There's a line."

"Yes. Say 'I want Mega Beef' please." If Aika was joking, then she was making sure that he couldn't see it.

Johnny clicked his tongue. "I'm not saying that."

"Then you aren't getting the special."

"You can't be serious."

"I am completely serious."

Johnny felt like he was being harassed a bit. Even if it was just one line, was it really necessary for just some beef and rice? Johnny might've fought more against it, but it would just be time wasted arguing when he could be eating so he relented.

"…I want mega beef." Johnny groused.

"Close enough." Aika turned her head towards the cook and said in a slightly more raised voice, "We've got one!"

"Ooh! Great! Good choice sir!" The cook winked at Johnny before turning around and running to the kitchen.

"Your meal will be ready shortly." Aika told Johnny before taking away his menu. "I'll get you some water too. And I hope you're really hungry." With that, she turned around and began walking away.

"Hey! What does that mean!?" Johnny called out to Aika, but she didn't even answer. "Hey!" Johnny then stopped as he noticed something. Aika's uniform had the subtle stains of grease and sweat… which meant she had been working for a while "But school ended less than an hour ago."

Was that seriously what happened to kids in this town? They just ditched school to go to work in the family business? Doing nothing but work for hours on end?

Johnny didn't get it.

"Must be a cultural thing." Or something normal. Johnny knew that he didn't have to really work for his money. All the money he made back when he raced was just a nice little side benefit.

Speaking of horses, Johnny felt that he could say with confidence that he was making some improvement. He was riding Slow Dancer much longer than before, and he was getting on using Gyro's technique a bit easier.

But staying on and getting off were another story. Eventually, either because he did something wrong or Slow Dancer was being a pain in the ass, he fell off the saddle and fell onto the floor. And sliding off Slow Dancer's body was hell on Johnny's own. He had so many black and purple bruises that Dojima would freak out over if he ever saw then.

"But I have to figure this out. I have to master it. It's not impossible. It can't be… I mean, it can't be impossible for me if Gyro can do it…"

Speaking of Gyro, Nanako wouldn't stop gushing about how much fun she had building the garden with him and the Italian. She was going on and on about how Gyro was funny (How she thought any of Gyro's crappy jokes were funny was beyond him). And Nanako was wondering if he would come over again to hang out…

"At least she's happy." Johnny thought to himself with a sigh. Now with the garden, Nanako had something else to do besides doing house work and watching TV.

Something about sitting in front of a TV all day every day never seemed right to Johnny. Maybe he was old fashioned or whatever.

"But on rainy days like this, I guess it's all that you can do."

"Here's your meal."

With a loud bang that shook the table, Johnny was snapped out of his thoughts. He looked down to see a huge bowl, a foot high and wide. It was massive, and the contents made it seem even bigger. "Where the hell is the rice?" All Johnny could see was meat… and an egg which was cooking on top of the meat mountain. "No wonder they say whoever can finish this gets it for free! This thing is a monster!"

"And here's your water." Aika then nonchalantly placed a glass of water right next to the giant bowl and stepped back before sitting on a stool, still facing towards Johnny.

"…You people are insane."

"We're not insane. It's very possible for you to eat all that." Aika then looked up, giving a soft hum as if she was thinking. "Although, possibility and reality are two very different things."

Johnny groaned as he then noticed the spoon dug into the meat on the right edge of the rightmost edge of the bowl. "Well, I ordered this." Johnny gripped the spoon and began lifting up. "Might as well eat it." Johnny groaned some more as he noticed that he only got a spoonful of meat.

Johnny then put the meat into his mouth and began to chew. It was well seasoned, but greasy. It was perhaps the greasiest thing Johnny ever tasted besides this one pizza that had all the fatty meat toppings, which he only ate half of. "Haven't these people ever heard of grease catchers!?" Johnny then swallowed and then dug into the egg. The yolk burst, and the yellow liquid began pouring on top of the meat. "Perfect…"

By his second bite, Johnny noted that this bowl had that pizza slice beat in the area of grease.

By his fourth bite, Johnny was beginning to think that there wasn't any rice in the dish.

By his sixth, he was full.

Johnny pushed away his plate. "I can't… nobody can finish this thing!"

"Three people would say otherwise." Aika noted as she thumbed over to a small board in the back of the restaurant. Indeed, there were three pictures of people holding finished bowls on it.

"Then… then they're inhuman! Nobody can eat this much meat! No sane person can pull it off." Johnny crossed his arms and leaned back. "Whatever, I'll pay your damn bill. This was a stupid idea anyways…"

Johnny did indeed feel stupid. He took up an eating challenge why exactly? Just so that he could pull it off?

What a lot of good that did for him.

"…Would you like to finish the bowl?"

Johnny blinked as he looked to Aika. "What did you say?"

"I didn't think you could finish that anyways. You don't look like someone who eats heavily that often." Aika got off her stool and walked towards Johnny. "But you seem upset because you couldn't beat it. That you couldn't beat something like an eating contest. It's interesting"

"It's not that big of a deal…"

"You made a big fuss about it a second ago." Aika's stoic voice was so matter-of-fact like, it was kind of annoying. "So how about this? You come over here once in a while, and I'll train you a bit as to how to eat heavily. That way you can finish the Mega Beef Bowl eventually."

"Are you telling me… that you'll train me how to eat?" Johnny asked, a bit put off by the girl's odd proposal.

"Yep."

"…I don't wanna gain weight."

He already felt like he gained ten pounds just from those few bites he already took.

"Then just exercise more."

Yeah, as if it were so simple.

Looks like Johnny's breakfasts would be reduced to a banana for a while.

"…Fine. I'll do it." Johnny then lifted his arms and waved them around. "I just can't wait to be taught in the temple of Aiya."

"Just come over here from around three to four." Aika mentioned with a frown. "That's when business is at its slowest before dinner hours."

It was kind of strange. It's as if Aika was trying to make sure these lessons didn't interfere with her work, when someone like Yosuke would be just dying for someone to distract him from his job if even just a bit.

Johnny couldn't help but be amazed at Aika's dedication…

*SMASH*

Thou art I… And I am thou…

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana…

Thou hast established a new Social Link…

It brings thee closer to the truth…

Jonathan 'Johnny' Joestar has established the Social Link: Temperance with Aika Nakamura…

"Temperance?" Wasn't that a bit on the nose? Restraint… but restraint from what?

He was really going to need to ask Igor and Margaret about what these titles meant…

"I'll pack up your leftovers for you." Aika brought Johnny back to reality, and he saw the girl pick up his food. "In the meantime, please place the 3000 yen you owe for the meal on the table."

Johnny looked back at the beef bowl. Not even a quarter was finished…

Looks like he was eating nothing but beef for a couple of days.

Dojima was probably going to be pissed.


June 1st, 2011:


"It's a surprise to see you up here." Chie stated as she took a bite of her ramen as she sat on the concrete rising on the roof of the school.

Johnny simply sighed as he looked up to the sky. "Well, I eat lunch all the time. Is it that much of a shock that I decided to eat it in your spot?"

"First off, this isn't my spot. I definitely didn't write my name on it or anything." Chie stated as she lifted her index finger. "Second..." She lifted her middle finger to emphasize her next point. "There's no need to be an ass. I was just trying to start a conversation."

"Whatever." Johnny then brought his cheese sandwich to his mouth and began chewing on it.

Chie frowned a bit at Johnny's attitude. Something was definitely eating Johnny. It had been a while since they last talked with one another without the others around, so Chie thought that it was a nice coincidence that they were eating lunch at the same spot so they could catch up and stuff.

But Johnny hadn't exactly been in a talking mood. He seemed to be... thinking.

"In fact, isn't it kind of weird that he's here?"

Usually he was off in the library studying with...

"Hey, what happened to your little study sessions with Noriyuki?"

The expression on Johnny's face told her that whatever was bothering him had to do with Noriyuki.

"I'm taking a break from studying." Johnny grumbled out while closing his eyes. "I just want to eat my lunch before I waste away another few hours of the day 'learning'."

"I don't know about that, I mean I was ahead of you grade-wise on the midterms." Chie couldn't help but brag. To think that the new kid would somehow do worse than her on tests. Ah well, it was all in good humor.

"You were ahead by, like five points. I don't think that's something to brag about."

Chie waved her right hand a bit while laughing nervously. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what's going on between you and Noriyuki? I mean you two seem to get along, as weird as that is."

Johnny looked at her before sighing a bit. "Dunno. It's just...it kinda has to do with his love life."

"Oh, you mean this has something to do with what happened with Shizune?" Chie gave a small smirk as she said, "You know, you aren't exactly boosting your reputation with the rest of the school."

"Whatever." Johnny gave a shrug. "It's just... I dunno. It sort of feels like something's off whenever we're studying. Like he's avoiding something."

"Well, this is surprising." Johnny seems really bothered about what's happening concerning Noriyuki. It didn't seem like concern... not really. More like something Johnny can't ignore and wants to solve as soon as possible so things don't seem awkward. "He really wouldn't have done this a month ago."

And Chie didn't think she would be giving Johnny advice on what to do with a friend of his.

"Well, it may surprise you but Noriyuki doesn't really have that many friends here." Chie said as she slurped her noodles. "I mean yeah, he talks to people and he's super nice and polite but he doesn't hang out with anybody. He pretty much just goes off and studies all the time, and that's when he's not on a date. Hell, the closest thing he has to a friend is Yukiko and that's just because they study together from time to time."

"But what about all his dates?"

"Surprising thing is he never asks anybody out. I've heard that they all come to him. And he just takes them up on it." Chie may not be a social butterfly, but she heard gossip. Pretty much a lot of girls were attracted to Noriyuki's politeness and his looks. And his mysterious nature, of course. But still it did seem kind of weird to Chie that they would go after a guy who went through girlfriends like tissue paper, and kind of creepy. "In fact, you're the guy he's been spending the most time with."

"...Hm." Johnny looked at Chie as she slurped on the noodle's broth.

"Look, I'm just saying that maybe if you wanna clear the air about this maybe you should just sit down and... you know... talk to him." Chie scratched her cheek. "You know, kinda like what you did with me."

"But with less tears and curses I guess?"

"Ugh." Johnny was still himself it seemed. Chie set down her bowl and looked at Johnny, who was back to staring at the clouds. He was probably thinking about what she just said...

But still, Johnny looked kind of depressed. This whole situation was bumming him out and he was probably thinking about what he would do next.

Maybe she should cheer him up.

"Say, why don't you clear things up with Noriyuki tomorrow?" Chie stood up and placed her hands on her hips and flashed Johnny a grin. "Today after school, you and me are going to go and train!"

"That sounds a lot like work."

"Usually my mind clears up after a good workout, so who knows, this might help you out!" Johnny raised an eyebrow at her. "Come on Johnny, you could use the extra exercise after all."

Johnny gave a sigh.

Chie grinned. "Victory."


xxXXxx

Chie cracked her neck as she raised her arms up, leaning back and feeling her muscles stretch. "Oh man, this feels great!"

The smell of fresh air, the nice cool breeze, and the chirping of birds...

The perfect environment to train in!

"It feels like any other day." Chie looked over to Johnny, who was sitting on the grass with his legs crossed. He had gone through some minor stretches earlier... It was still sort of weird for him to only slightly stretch his legs.

"But they do seem more muscular than before... I guess that's the benefit of being able to walk again.

"Come on Johnny, can't you just appreciate nice weather?" Chie then began hopping from one foot to the other. "And perfect weather to train with!"

"What exactly are you going to do today?"

"Try to hit faster." With that, Chie stopped hopping and took a deep breath. Her hands clenched into fists. Then, she shifted to the Jeet Kune Do on-guard stance and shot out her right fist, breathing out. She repeated this motion fifteen times, remember to keep her stance solid but not make her arms stiff. She needed to be like water.

"How exactly does that make you hit faster?" Johnny asked with a frown, causing Chie to freeze up.

She gave a sigh. Johnny broke her concentration. She got out of her stance and turned towards him. "Well... it's more like the more I practice the faster I'll get. Then my body will get used to it, sort of like muscle memory you know?"

"So... punch enough and you'll be faster than sound or something?"

Chie then gave a laugh. "Please, you would have to be some sort of monster to do that!"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Well, who knows? Maybe you'll become one with how much you go off to train."

Chie frowned a bit. She didn't know if that was actually some kind of encouragement or just him being sarcastic again. "Maybe you should be training too."

"Training in what?" Johnny patted down his body. "In case you haven't noticed, I can't exactly use weapons or really fight."

"Yeah, but what about that ability Tusk gave you?" Chie made the sign of a gun with her right hand. "I mean, that thing is like a pistol! You need to learn how to aim..." Chie then pointed the 'gun' at Johnny. "And bang!"

Johnny raised his right hand and looked at his nails. "A pistol huh?"

"Oh yeah. Sort of like a cowboy." Chie then chuckled a bit. "You know, you even ride horses and have a hat! Maybe you were a cowboy in a previous life or something."

"Tch. Yeah right." Despite saying that, Johnny looked to the side, as if thinking about that statement.

"Still, it's a good thing that he can fight." Since Johnny only relied on his Personas in order to fight, a part of Chie always wanted to defend him. To keep him safe.

And that kind of thinking led to the creation of her Shadow.

Suddenly, Chie felt something on her hand. Something small, and and skittering about...

Chie froze. "Oh no, please don't tell me..."

She looked down at her right hand.

On top of it was a grasshopper.

It looked at Chie with its many beady eyes.

"EEEEEKKKK!" Chie screamed as she placed both hands on her cheeks, raised her right knee up and stood up on the tip of her left foot.

Then she remembered that the grasshopper was still on her hand.

"Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" Chie shouted as she waved her right hand hard and fast, closing her eyes in fright.

When she no longer could feel the thing on her hand, she stopped and opened her eyes to see the grasshopper was no longer there. "Oh man..."

"Pfft..."

Chie blinked and looked at Johnny who was now pointing at her.

"Pftahahaha!" Johnny was slapping his knee as he bent over laughing. "Oh man, that's rich!"

Chie's cheeks reddened a bit. "T-There's nothing funny about it!"

"Are you kidding? It's hilarious! You can face down Shadows but you freak out over..." Johnny bent over laughing and continued to laugh.

Chie growled in anger before shouting, "You asshole! It's not funny!" Johnny stopped laughing, and Chie began hugging herself. Her right hand gripping her left shoulder while her left slid over her left hip. "Those bugs crawl all over your skin and have so many eyes and their legs are all spindly... At least Shadows try to kill you! Bugs just like to crawl all over you and stuff!"

Another thing that contributed to this fear was the fact she and Yukiko watched that bug horror movie starring that American named something Goldblum. It was Yukiko's favorite, but all it did for Chie was give her a new thing to be scared of.

So she didn't exactly appreciate it that Johnny found it funny.

"Alright, alright. Look, I'm sorry okay?" Johnny gave a sigh. "Look, I used to be scared of heights and stuff. It's not that big of a deal."

Well he seemed to be honest. "...Fine. I forgive you. Just don't do it again" Chie gave a small chuckle. "You know, I like kung-fu and stuff. And yet me being scared of bugs is the only really girly thing about me huh?"

"...I don't know about that." Johnny gave a shrug.

"He doesn't think I'm too masculine for a girl?" Well, she supposed Johnny wouldn't really care for that stuff. But it was still nice that someone wasn't saying that she should act more like a girl and stuff.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to get over it huh? I mean I'm fighting monsters on pretty much a weekly basis. Bugs shouldn't bother me that much." Chie gave Johnny a smirk.

"So what? You'll go off and expose yourself to bugs to get over it?"

Chie shook her head. "One step at a time. I'm not crazy."

Unknown to Chie, the bond between them strengthened just a bit more...

Chie clicked her tongue as she looked at her right hand. There were two red dots on it now. "Aw man, I think the thing bit me..."

"Ghk!" She looked back at Johnny, and he was now on his stomach lifting himself up with his arms. "I-I'm going to go through my exercises now! I didn't come out here for nothing!" His cheeks were now red, and he seemed a bit flustered.

Chie simply raised an eyebrow at the behavior. "What's up with him?"

Maybe she wasn't the only one that had problems with bugs...


June 2nd, 2011:


Johnny bit his lip as he looked across the hallway, staring at Noriyuki. The other teen was scratching the back of his neck as the girl Johnny yelled at last time was saying something and looking pretty pissed. It was lunch time, so the hallways were practically empty.

"Can't believe I'm doing this..." In all honesty, he had been hoping to not talk with Noriyuki ever since last time. Johnny had numerous suspicions as to what happened. Perhaps Noriyuki was just dodging the chick and used him as an excuse.

Maybe that what he had always been from the start.

Johnny wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. If istory had proved anything, it's that Johnny had a bad habit of hanging out with shitty people.

But he didn't want to know. He didn't want to find out. Maybe he was a coward for not trying to find out for himself, but so what? "If I stopped being around him, I never would find out."

Then he wouldn't be disappointed in Noriyuki, and himself.

But Chie had a point. "This shit'll keep bothering me if I don't clear it up now."

So he would talk to Noriyuki, and see whether or not Johnny was in the wrong for giving the guy even a small crumb of trust.

The girl ran off, fuming. She didn't even know that she passed by Johnny. With a shrug, the American rolled up to Noriyuki and asked, "What was that all about?"

"...Well, let's just say that I'm no longer in a relationship." Noriyuki replied wearily. Johnny noted that the guy looked absolutely tired and a bit... sad? "She had some very valid criticisms, and I respect her choice."

"Whatever." Johnny could care less about the girl. She was an annoying bitch anyways. "Look, we've got to talk later."

Noriyuki simply gave a nod. "Yes, we do. I had been wishing to speak to you for a while, but I..." Noriyuki gave a sigh. "...I guess I just wanted to try and find the right words to say."

...Well, that was surprising. Noriyuki also wanted to talk to him? "Why? He doesn't have a date to skip out on." With a shrug, Johnny began pushing himself to the library with Noriyuki following after him.

The library was pretty much empty, not even the librarian was around. So it was the perfect place to have a private conversation in.

Noriyuki walked over to the table and sat down, with Johnny rolling his chair in front of it.

Then they were silent for a few seconds.

Deciding not to make things too awkward Johnny said, "Look..."

"I'm sorry."

The American blinked as he looked at Noriyuki. The other teen had his head down and his fingers intertwined in front of him.

"Forgive me, Joestar-san. I did not mean to put you through that before."

"I..." The guy was already apologizing? Not smirking or bragging or anything? It was... kind of unexpected. "...Are you apologizing over the fact your old girlfriend barged in on us last time?"

"Yes, yes I am."

Time to see if his suspicions were correct. "...Was that whole thing about studying during lunch just you getting out of a date?"

Noriyuki's hands tightened a bit. "Yes."

Johnny's hands clenched into fists. "So you only became my tutor just to skip out on some fucking date-!?"

"No, no I assure you that's not it!" Noriyuki shouted, standing up suddenly and surprising Johnny enough to stop his angry rant. "Joestar-san, I respect you as my underclassman. I would never have started our studying sessions for personal gain!"

"...Is he telling the truth?" He remembered his 'old friends' reactions when Johnny confronted them about only being friends because of his skills and money. They laughed at him, confirmed it, and said all kinds of things. None of them denied the truth when Johnny figured it out.

But Noriyuki was.

So either the teen was a good liar... or he was telling the truth.

Part of him didn't want to believe Noriyuki. A big part in fact.

Yet he also remembered Chie, how her Shadow revealed that initially, Chie just wanted Johnny to rely on him. Yet Chie still cared for him and has shown time and time again that she did not just want to use him.

His mind also wandered to Yukiko, and how her Shadow revealed that Johnny was practically Yukiko's mealticket out of Inaba. Johnny didn't want to forgive her, just push her to the side and secretly despise her for the rest of the case. But when he told Yosuke, he was called out. And because of that, Johnny had enough patience to talk to her.

And learn there was more to Yukiko than her initial hidden desires.

"I guess I can hear him out."

"...Fine. Let's say that you didn't start this whole thing so you could use the cripple as a convenient excuse skip out on dates." Johnny said, making Noriyuki wince at the younger boy's. "Why? Why this one time?"

Noriyuki looked to the side. "Well, you see... I had recently broken up with Rin-san... She had become too clingy and had been focusing too much on herself. So then Shizune-san asked me out and I said yes... She wanted to make things different because she heard of my prior relationships but... we didn't seem to connect. So I had been thinking of... breaking things off. Yet I also didn't want to make things too hard on her so I tried to stretch things out. That's why I forced our study session together."

"He used me just to make his relationship last a bit longer? That's... pretty bad." Johnny didn't know whether to be angry or just confused. Surely Noriyuki would've known that it would have just pissed the girl off even more. It's like the guy was already willing to burn the ship and didn't care how it was done.

"So why do you keep doing this crap?" Noriyuki blinked in surprise. "Come on, I heard about the stuff you've gotten into over the years from Chie. If none of these relationships work out why the hell do you keep dating every woman that falls into your arms!?"

"I-I..." Noriyuki coughed a bit, and his hand was shaking. "It does not matter. The point is that I'm a failure of a Sempai who used our relationship for selfish reasons. I betrayed your trust. I just wanted to say that I am sorry, and do not blame you for not continuing our study sessions.

"..." Johnny was kind of angry for being used. Who wouldn't? Especially since Noriyuki didn't just tell him from the start. But... "He's saying he's sorry... he's not bragging about it or brushing aside my anger."

It earned the guy some points.

"Look... the chick was annoying anyways." Johnny said with a sigh. "I'm not going to stop our study sessions. I need better grades so that my... classmates stop bragging about getting higher grades than me. Just don't use them as a way to skip out of dates. Or I don't know, just tell me and we can go someplace other than the library. I could go without some girl screaming at you and bothering me."

"...Shizune-san is a nice girl. She's not that annoying." Despite his chastising, Noriyuki gave Johnny a small smile. "But... thank you."

*SMASH*

Thou art I… and I am thou…

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana. Jonathan 'Johnny' Joestar has reached the Fourth Level of the Social Link with Noriyuki Kakyoin…

When time resumed once again, Johnny simply nodded a bit. His prior feeling of uneasiness was now gone, no longer there. The mystery was solved. However... "He's still hiding something."

But before he could contemplate on that, Noriyuki suddenly said "With that taken care of, and considering we have time left, I think it's time we practice a bit with your material for this week."

Johnny groaned. "Come on..."

"Now, now. We have much to catch up on and I would be an irresponsible senpai if my kouhai's grades were slipping."


June 4th, 2011:


"Dude, you should be thankful that you don't need a job." Yosuke groaned out as he slunk into the metal chair in the Junes food court. "Every day feels like a prison and every hour it feels like you're losing a piece of your soul."

"You're getting paid, so why the hell are you complaining?" Johnny asked as he sipped on his Coke, his basket containing a box of doughnuts. Yosuke lightly glared at the American at that statement.

"Dude, the fact that I get paid isn't the problem. The biggest problem at having a job at a place like Junes is the customers."

"...The customers."

"Dude, it's like..." Yosuke waved his arms about. "Nobody knows where to go man! There's signs and stuff that tell you where things are and where to go, but nobody wants to tilt there head a bit! And the worst part about it is when the thing they're bugging you about is just behind them!"

"Oh no, what a nightmare. I weep for your two seconds that are wasted."

Yosuke gave a sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose. "I think you're missing the point dude."

Johnny simply gave a small shrug. The Joestar had gone off to Junes in order to buy a few boxes of doughnuts apparently as a surprise for Nanako. Yosuke thought it was kind of sweet for a hardass like Johnny to go through the trouble of being that nice.

But then he said that he was going to give them to Nanako 'when she really needed them'.

Yosuke was pretty sure that whatever the situation that Nanako would need them was, probably had to do with Dojima in some form or another.

"Still doesn't have that much confidence in his uncle huh?" Well at least he wasn't voicing his low opinion of authority figures like he used to. Well, then again it might be that Johnny wasn't pissed enough to just say it.

Then again, it wasn't like Yosuke to focus on the bad stuff in people's lives.

The week had been pretty dull. Other than visiting Teddy with Chie and Gyro last week, Yosuke had been mostly working or hanging out with the guys at school. Everyone seemed pretty busy doing their own things, which was cool. Yosuke wasn't going to actively hang out with the guys since he wanted to make up the money he lost to pay for Chie's stupid collector edition Bruce Lee movie.

So it was sort of a relief that Yosuke spotted Johnny shopping while he was on break.

"More like I don't get the point." Johnny's words snapped Yosuke out of his thoughts. "You know, if you're so pissed about the job maybe you should just take a break."

"My dad would think I'm being lazy and would just fire my ass." Yosuke then gave a small chuckle. "And trying to find a new job here would be near impossible."

Especially since he was the 'Junes Prince' and the person every store owner in Inaba looked at with distrust and anger since Junes was stealing their business.

Yosuke didn't really blame them, but he didn't run the store. If anything they should just voice their complaints in colorful language to the higher ups if they were so pissed about it."They should just leave me out of it."

"So have you gotten Chie a replacement DVD yet?"

"Gah, yes I did. But don't remind me." Yosuke placed his hand on his face. "The stupid thing cost over 9000 and took a huge chunk of my paycheck. This is going to be the last time I borrow anything from her. I mean seriously, I know it's a good movie but for a collector edition to cost that mu-"

"Hanamura!"

Yosuke groaned as the shrill words hit his eardrums. "Great." Tapping his face and making his face become neutral (A little something he liked to call 'professional mode'), he didn't pay Johnny's annoyed look any mind as he got up and turned around to see two girls a bit older than him. One with brown hair tied up in a ponytail dressed in a yellow top with blue short jeans and brown boots along with silver charms on her shirt. The other having black hair with a red blouse and hot pink pants with black shoes.

Their outfits weren't exactly stylish... more like tacky. As if they were begging for attention.

"Sayaka-senpai." Yosuke gave a nod to the brown haired girl before turning to the black haired girl. "Ryugasaki-senpai. What's wrong today?"

He emphasized the today part, since these girls seemed to always have a problem with something or another.

"You, like, need to do something about that blockhead manager!" Sayaka shouted in anger while stamping on her foot. "He says that we have to work on Saturdays and Sundays! We can't do that!"

"He says that the place is low on staff, and if we don't work he'll fire us! It's criminal! It's child labor! Doesn't he know that we, like, totally have lives of our own!?" Ryugasaki backed her up with a nod.

"Ah christ..." These two were another reason why he hated his job. "Look, didn't you guys say you could work on weekends on your application?"

"Well yeah, because they wouldn't hire us if we didn't." Sayaki said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But we weren't, like, actually going to do it!"

Yosuke gave a groan as he looked down. He didn't want to deal with these two. It wasn't his responsibility to tell his dad what employees wanted or demanded.

"Hey, buzz off. He's on break and you're bothering me."

Yosuke's head shot towards Johnny, who was glaring at the two girls. "Dude, what are you doing!?" Yosuke hissed out. He totally had this under control!

"Hey, you can't talk to us like that!" Sayaki yelled out as she pointed at Johnny. "This is, like, a conversation between employees! You can't...!"

"And you're pissing me off! Get lost!" Johnny shouted out, and the two girls took a step back in shock. They probably hadn't been talked to like this by anyone in their life.

"Y-You...!" Ryugasaki glared back at Johnny before looking at Yosuke. "You better tell that manager what we said!" With a huff, the two girls left.

"Dude, what the hell was that!?" Yosuke shouted out in anger as he slammed his hand on the table. "I was going to make them leave!"

"You were taking too long." Johnny replied crossly.

Yosuke couldn't help but get even more pissed by that statement. Did Johnny not see what he did wrong? "Dude, you don't talk to other people like that even if they piss you off! Now those two are going to complain to my dad and I'm going to have to spend all night explaining what really went down because if there's one thing those two don't do it's tell the truth!"

Johnny looked to the side, frowning a bit. "Ok, ok fine. Sorry."

Yosuke looked at Johnny, really looked at him. Johnny obviously wasn't sorry about yelling at Yosuke's co-workers, but was probably sorrier about unintentionally getting Yosuke into trouble.

"Fine, fine. Look, it's probably not a big deal. My dad doesn't have a good opinion on those two in the first place. He'll probably believe me over them anyways." Yosuke sat back down on his chair and gave a sigh. "Still, shouldn't talk like that to other people man."

"Tch." Johnny took another swig of his Coke. He probably took Yosuke's words into consideration, but wasn't going to really implement them anytime soon. "What the hell were those two bit-"

"Johnny."

"...Girls doing talking to you about that crap anyways?"

"Being the manager's son may come with its perks like holiday bonuses and stuff, but it also comes with its downsides." Yosuke gave a sigh as he crossed his arms. "I'm the 'Junes Kid' to them. That means I'm the guy they go to instead of just going to my dad and saying it to his face." Yosuke looked off to the side as he said, "Normally I don't mind, but I'm trying to do my job, have some free time to do homework and hang out with you guys from time to time, and on top of that we need to solve this murder. It's stressing me out to be honest."

Yosuke looked back at Johnny. "I mean… if... no when we catch this guy... could the cops really contain him? What if the powers we have allow him to enter that world through more than just TV screens? Would they even be able to convict him? Stuff like that's always going through back of my head man."

Catching the murderer... was such an easy thing to say. But the more you applied reality to their situation, the less likely an ending that Yosuke would like was. There was always the possibility that the murderer could slip through the cracks, escape, not get convicted...

...If that happened, the feelings of guilt and sadness of Saki-senpai's death within Yosuke would remain unresolved.

"Look, before we worry about any of that we have to catch the guy first." Yosuke looked up at Johnny, who was simply staring at him. "We can worry about all the 'after' stuff later."

"...He's right." If Yosuke kept thinking about all the horrible crap that came after this guy was caught, then Yosuke wouldn't be able to go after the murderer at all.

He's just sit around and mope.

Like any other normal, powerless person. A simple bystander, unable and unwilling to do anything.

No, he was not like them. He had a Persona.

He had the power to make a real difference in this case which the cops couldn't handle by themselves.

"Yeah, I guess so. But man, you make it out like it's easy." Yosuke gave a small chuckle. "Guess that's why you have the Wild Card huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you stop and listen, and give out stuff without any bullshit." Yosuke smirked a bit. "Anyone else would tell me that I was being too negative, or say that I need to keep my spirits up. You just told me to focus on catching this guy."

"...Whatever. Let's just stop talking about it." Johnny muttered out with a frown.

"Seems like the whole Velvet Room and cards thing are still a sore spot huh?"

Unknown to Yosuke, the bond between him and Johnny had grown once more...

Yosuke then gave a sigh as he looked at his watch. Seemed like he still had ten minutes of break. Time to make this conversation a bit more positive. "Say dude, you want me to tell you about this guy who spent like two hours trying to find the perfect carton of eggs?"

Johnny arched an eyebrow. "The perfect carton of eggs?"

"I'm serious. He was doing all these little tests and competitions between all the eggs in the fridge."

"You're shitting me."

"I swear to god! Look, some of these tests were like..."


xxXXxx

"Glad to hear it, Pilgrim! 'Cause there's a little girl lyin' dead out there that needs avengin'. You kin talk the talk, now let's see ya walk the walk!"

Johnny sighed as he picked up the remote. "Next week on Preache-"

"Swear this show is getting more ridiculous every episode..." Johnny muttered out as he leaned on the couch. After meeting in Junes he headed straight home, but he also ran into Gyro on the way. They talked a bit about stupid shit, like the real purpose of those opera binoculars and whatnot. "He didn't have to remind me that we were going to church tomorrow though."

Then again, it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Is your show done?" Johnny looked up at the kitchen table to see Nanako staring at him with curious eyes. Right, she gave him the TV so that she could do some homework.

"Yeah, sure." Johnny waved about the remote. Nanako gave a small smile and a nod before she walked over to the couch and sat to Johnny's left, taking the remote and pressing the on button before changing the channel.

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to Magical Detective Loveline!"

Johnny couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable. He knew that Nanako was warming up to him a bit and for whatever reason called him 'Big Bro', but he wasn't exactly ready for this close contact.

"It shouldn't be that big of a deal though right?" Johnny looked at Nanako, who was humming the theme song of Loveline. "I mean, we're cousins and stuff... Although I've known her for like only a bit over a month. Yet she's fine just sitting right next to me?"

Then again, he wasn't exactly an expert in knowing how families act around one another.

Johnny then noticed that Nanako had stopped humming the theme song, and was looking at him curiously. "Um..."

Looked like she wanted to ask something, "What's up?"

"You promise not to get mad?"

Johnny raised an eyebrow at that. What would he get mad about? "Sure. What is it?"

"...You lost family too. Cousin Nicholas I mean."

Johnny's entire body froze at that. His hand clenched into fists. Why the hell would Nanako ask that? She already knew damn well what the answer was. "Calm down, calm down."Johnny's jaw clenched as he let his muscles relax. "That wasn't even the question." Johnny let out a small breath. "Yeah, yeah that's right."

"...Do you feel lonely without him around?" Nanako asked in a small voice.

Johnny looked down at the ground. "Yeah, yeah I do. A lot."

After Nicholas died, Johnny felt lost a lot. The first year was the hardest. Expecting his big brother at his usual spots, reading a book on the couch, in his room getting ready to go out and race... Johnny may have mourned and moved on to the point where he didn't cry at night, but the feeling of missing his brother was still there. Still making him sad and guilty at times.

But Johnny supposed those feelings would never really go away.

"I lost my mom. So I feel sad at times because I can't see her anymore." Nanako replied glumly. "I can visit her at her alter here. But... it isn't the same."

"No, I guess it's not." Johnny himself tried talking to his brother's grave a couple of times, but he didn't feel like he was talking to anyone. Just a stone tablet that had his brother's remains buried underneath it.

"But it's not so bad anymore!" Nanako suddenly said, causing Johnny to stop thinking his depressing chain of thought. "I mean, now with you around I'm not so lonely anymore!"

"R-Really?" Johnny stuttered a bit in surprise. He was not expecting that statement at all.

"Yeah." Nanako frowned as she went, "A while ago dad said our family wouldn't grow anymore... but you came here and became my big brother! So I'm really happy!"

Johnny scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "But we never really saw each other before all this..."

"But we're still family, so it's okay!"

Johnny's face flushed as Nanako gave him a beaming smile. How could this girl be so positive and happy with him just being around? It was sort of amazing.

"But she still felt lonely before I even showed up..."

But that was something Johnny already knew.

What he didn't know was that his presence made Nanako feel that much better.

*SMASH*

Thou art I… and I am thou…

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana. Jonathan 'Johnny' Joestar has reached the Second Level of the Social Link with Nanako Dojima…

Johnny could not help but wonder if the whole update thing was just background noise at this point.

"Well, I bought those things for a reason." Besides, Nanako could use a treat. "Hey Nanako, go into the cabinet by the microwave. Got something we could both enjoy."

Nanako gave a nod. "Okay!" She then ran off and grabbed a chair before placing it in front of the counter. Stepping on it, she stood up and opened the drawer. "Oh wow! Doughnuts!"

Johnny gave a small chuckle as Nanako took out the box from the drawer and got down before sitting beside Johnny. "Yum! And they're chocolate too!"

"Yeah. Don't tell your dad though. I could go without a lecture." Nanako giggled a bit before handing Johnny a doughnut and taking one for herself. Almost simultaneously, they bit down on the pastry.

Sometimes Johnny could appreciate the little things.


June 5th, 2011:


"And so, let us look upon Deuteronomy 31:8" Pucci spoke out in his usual soft tone. "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

"Ugh. This is so boring..."
Johnny thought to himself, halfheartedly uttering 'Amen' with Gyro and the other churchgoers. He had decided to dress up lightly for the day, a red sleeveless shirt tucked into tight blue jeans with a red belt along with red sneakers. His hat was a simple blue beanie hat with red stars on it. Johnny seriously did not understand why Gyro dragged him out to this, especially since Johnny didn't even believe in the stuff. Then again, Johnny supposed that going to church alone was pretty boring all things considered.

"Hey come on, Johnny!" Gyro said as he tapped on Johnny's shoulder. The Italian had decided to wear a pair of purple slacks and a blue plaid shirt, which sort of contrasted with his boots and belt. As always the Italian's hat was to the side. "It wasn't that boring!"

"Yeah, because you're actually into this kind of thing." Johnny drawled out as the churchgoers began filling out. "I'm just the guy you keep dragging to go with you. Couldn't you ask Yosuke and Chie to do this kind of thing?"

"Well, for one they actually follow a religion, unlike you whose only gripe with this boils down to killing an hour or two." Johnny gave a grunt. "The other thing is that we can go and chill out before practice."

"I could just do that by, you know, sleeping more."

"Better be careful with that Johnny." Gyro began grinning. "Otherwise someone will have to call the zoo! Because you become a sloth if you sleep too much!"

"Man, I really have never heard of that one before." Johnny muttered as Gyro laughed at his own joke.

"Really? Man, lucky me!" Gyro of course didn't get the message.

"Mr. Joestar." Johnny turned his head to see the priest staring at him. "Would you mind if you come with me? I would like to speak to you about something?"

Johnny raised a suspicious eyebrow at Pucci. "that's kind of weird."

"I assure you, I just want to talk to you about a private matter. It will only take a minute or two." Pucci said while raising his hand up.

Johnny narrowed his eyes at Pucci. He wasn't exactly the type to be suspicious of all priests and whatnot, but one asking for a private conversation to a place he was not familiar with did make Johnny a bit wary.

"I can also make us some tea if you'd like." Pucci offered.

"...Is that supposed to put me at ease?"

"Look Johnny, I'll wait for ya here. If it takes too long, I'll come looking for you." Gyro assured Johnny with a pat on his shoulder.

"...I guess I can trust Gyro at least."
Johnny let out a sigh as he said, "Fine, let's get this over with."

Pucci gave a nod and motioned at Johnny. "Please follow me." Johnny picked himself up from his pew and got onto the chair before following the priest.

To the side of the wall behind the platform, Pucci opened the door. It revealed a relatively small hallway that lead to several rooms. Two on each side, but enough room for Johnny to turn and go down the thing with his wheelchair.

"The kitchen is to the right." Pucci spoke as he opened said door. Johnny took a look inside. The thing was fairly spartan, with a clean white table that had a small fruit bowl in the center, two wooden chairs, a gas powered stove and oven, a refrigerator, and several white cabinets in the mostly beige room. On top of a counter was a strange machine that looked similar to a coffee maker, brewing something.

"Don't decorate much huh?" Johnny muttered out, to which Pucci gave a light shrug.

"I don't exactly see the need." Pucci pointed at the machine. "Would you like some tea? One of my visitors bought it for me for Christmas last year."

"Yeah, sure." Johnny rolled up to the table as Pucci walked to the cabinets and took out two cups. "Wonder what this is all about." Pucci didn't seem like the kind of guy who talked to people much outside of the Church. In a minute, Pucci walked back to the table and placed a cup in front of Johnny.

"Here you go. One cup of Pink Chai."

Chai, a popular drink in India and steadily gaining popularity everywhere else in the world.

It's a sweet drink that's usually made of boiling black tea, sugar, and ginger with milk.

However, Pink Chai is completely different!

Normally called Kashmiri Chai, Pink Chai uses gunpowder tea as well as cardamon pods, pistachios, cinnamon and baking soda alongside the standard milk and sugar!

This combination gives the tea its unique pink color.

"Is it supposed to be this color?" Johnny asked as he picked up the cup and stared at it with curious eyes.

"I assure you, it's very good." Pucci took a sip of his own tea. With a shrug, Johnny took a sip as well.

"W-Woah!"

The tea was definitely something else. It had some spiciness to it, but there were little pieces of nut in it that gave the thing a crunch. It was also buttery and had the tangs of sweetness to it.

It definitely made Johnny feel warm inside.

"Should probably tell Nanako to try making this sometime…"
Johnny continued to sip his drink, basking in the flavor.

"Now then, I'm sure you would like to know the reason I brought you here."

Johnny froze a bit before setting down his cup. "Y-Yeah. What do you need?"

Pucci sighed as his fingers intertwined with one another on the table. "I would like your opinion on something. Your unbiased, unclouded opinion."

"My opinion?" Johnny asked. "Couldn't you just tell me up there?"

Pucci now seemed a bit hesitant. "Yes, but… this is something I believe that I can only talk with you."

Johnny looked to the side. Was he seriously going to do this? Give his opinion to a priest of all people? Sure maybe he gave his opinion and then some to the priest that came to that hospital years ago, but it was completely different.

"Fine, what is it?"

"Why is it that the people who come here do not seem… interested?"

Johnny blinked in surprise and stared at Pucci. The man was just staring at him, awaiting an answer. "He sees it too?" Johnny just thought that Pucci was just too wrapped up in his sermons to even notice.

Johnny gave a light shrug. "Dunno. They seem… I guess depressed. A bit bored also."

"So they are bored with my sermons." Pucci muttered thoughtfully. "Do you know why?"

Why the hell was Pucci asking him? "I guess maybe they're expecting… something. And not getting it. That's what I think." Johnny gave a groan as he said, "Look, I don't really know. I'm not someone who goes to church and knows what to expect. But to me they were expecting something and weren't getting it. I can't help you much here."

"No, no what you said helped a lot." Pucci stated with a calm tone as he took another sip of his tea. "They have been like that for some time… my sermons used to draw in a few more people than what I have today. As time went on…" Pucci then looked down and muttered, "Is the failure in me or…"

Pucci didn't say anything else after that. Johnny could see that this whole thing was troubling him. Being a priest was this guy's life choice, and if he was failing at that it must be seriously screwing with him. "Still, what else is there to blame than maybe him?"

It was as if Pucci knew what might actually be wrong, and didn't want to admit it.

*SMASH*

Thou art I… and I am thou…

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana. Jonathan 'Johnny' Joestar has reached the Second Level of the Social Link with Emilio Pucci...

"Still, thank you for that opinion Joestar." Pucci spoke as time resumed. "It does bring a few things into perspective. Although…" Pucci took another sip of his tea. "I wouldn't mind if we spoke more on similar things."

"Yeah, sure." Johnny then finished his own cup of tea. "Just don't be weird about it next time."

"Forgive my bluntness."

"Yeah, yeah." Johnny then finished his tea and then got out of the kitchen. Once he met up with Gyro, the two of them headed out to Gyro's place to practice with the horses.

Johnny made sure to look up the recipe for the tea and gave it to Nanako.

It didn't turn out right.

Unfortunately Johnny couldn't find the will to say it to his cousin's face.


June 6th, 2011:


"So Johnny, what do you think?"

Johnny looked Gyro up and down. Both teens were in front of the shoe lockers, with other kids either milling around or heading straight home. The man's uniform had changed since last time. For one, the jacket was opened and showed that the interior was no longer a simple black. It was now a slightly dark violent and light green swirls in it. The fabric also came out a bit from the sleeves and were hemmed at the cuffs. Two stitches of fabric circled around each sleeve just below Gyro's shoulder. Also on Gyro were these silver pins that had metal spheres on them. Four down on each side of the front of the jacket, each symmetrical with one another if Gyro buttoned up. There was also a small bear pin by Gyro's right collar, for what purpose Johnny did not know.

"I think it looks okay." Johnny said truthfully while Gyro grinned.

"I know right? Gotta say that while I like shopping at high-end fashion places, shopping locally can get you unexpected rewards. For instance..." Gyro then began to flex and show off his new jacket. "I doubt I could do this to my uniform with this fabric anywhere else!"

"Probably because nobody thought of radically changing the thing." Johnny then glanced around the room. Everyone was whispering and staring at Gyro. That had to be it. Sure they thought that using pins made them unique enough, but changing the uniform that much?

"Well I did, and it's allowed according to the rules! I just can't change the front that much." Gyro began chuckling. "y'know, maybe we should change yours a bit."

"I like mine just the way it is, thank you." Johnny had already made his improvements. He did not need to make any more.

Gyro gave a shrug before blinking and snapping his fingers. "Ah! I just realized something!"

"That his jokes suck?" No, Johnny should probably not get his hopes up. "Yeah?"

"Do you read manga?"

...Well, that was a strange question to ask. "You mean those Japanese comics?"

"They're called manga Johnny."

"But they are just Japanese comic books." Johnny gave a small shrug. "No, not really. But I know Nanako is crazy for that Magical Witch Detective Love-whatever."

"Well, that's a start." Gyro then began clearing his throat. "So anyway, I was talking to this guy from the Soccer Club. You know, Daisuke Nagase..."

"You joined the Soccer Club?"

"They asked for another guy on their team for a game so I played for a bit." Gyro then gave a wave of his hand. "Anyway, he told me about this secret Inaba has." Gyro leaned down and whispered, "A famous mangaka is living here in Inaba!"

"Mangaka... a writer and artist for a manga..." Well that was something surprising. Chie made it out earlier that Inaba really had nothing special other than pottery and the Amagi Inn. "Why's it a secret?"

"Apparently the guy paid the mayor and the city a lot of money, so they built his house in the mountains on the down-low. Barely anyone knows he even lives there." Gyro then tapped his hand. "But Daisuke found the place while jogging and the guy gave him an autograph and an original sketch!"

"And this has to do with me because...?" Johnny said with a raise of his eyebrow. Comics weren't exactly his thing after all. Well, not manga anyways. He didn't really see anything good with them. All the manga he had ever seen were either stuff about children's card games, little girls with some freaky animal thing and a wand, and also some dude who gets a bunch of chicks for god knows what reason.

"Well, after school I was thinking we could go and check it out, say hi and get an autograph." Gyro then placed his hands on his hips. "Plus, you can get something Nanako would like and you can have your body get used to riding on horseback for long distances."

"Would be better if you got it yourself." Johnny didn't really want to go. Manga wasn't his thing and it seemed like just another thing Gyro didn't want to do alone. But then again, Gyro wouldn't know what Nanako liked. And Johnny could use some practice riding on Slow Dancer for a long distance (Hopefully the horse would not drop him automatically).

"Ugh, fine. But just for the practice."

"Great!" Gyro then opened his shoe locker and got out his boots. "So anyway, we'll need to stop by my place to get the horses and some volumes of manga I have on me, not to mention paper so that he can sign...!"

Johnny was already starting to regret his decision.


xxXXxx

Johnny gave a low groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gyro, are you sure that this guy's place is this way?"

Gyro sat on Valkyrie with a frown on his face, holding a map in front of him. Slow Dancer huffed underneath Johnny, as if amused by their predicament.

They had been riding around the back roads and mountain paths of Inaba for about an hour, and Johnny had yet to see any road that a car could travel smoothly down on. "'It'll be quick Johnny' he said! 'You're worrying over nothing! He said!" Johnny could not help but seethe. "I swear to god that if we're lost…!"

"Johnny, this is the fifth time you asked me that and for the sixth and final time yes!" Gyro then began stuffing the map in his pocket. "Probably."

"Probably?!"

"The road to this guy's place is just past those trees." Gyro then gripped Valkyrie's reigns and the horse went forward. "So let's get going or else we went get back until nightfall!" Gyro looked to the side. "Hopefully."

"Gyro…" How can a man be so bad with reading a freaking map? With a sigh, Johnny instructed Slow Dancer to go forward which he did, reluctantly.

Slow Dancer hadn't been causing that many problems for Johnny. Probably because like Johnny he just wanted to go out and get back. Plus it was probably studying it's new surroundings. "Still doesn't like me much tho-" Johnny's thoughts were interrupted, courtesy of a low, hanging branch whacking him on the face. Johnny groaned at the small scratches and red mark on his face before glaring at Slow Dancer, who gave a huff in response.

"Hah! I knew it was here!" Gyro cried out, and Johnny saw that Gyro and Valkyrie were now standing on top of a small cobblestone road, big enough for one car to go up and down. "I mean..." Gyro gave a cough. "I always knew it was here."

"Sure." Johnny replied blandly before the two teens and horses went up the road.

It stretched on for a while and kept climbing up, it took a total of ten minutes to reach the top. And Johnny could not help but notice how... normal the place looked. It was a small western-style house, a mix of French Colonial and Creole cottages only one story tall and had a red wood door as well as a stone chimney to the right side. The back was facing to the mountain cliff, and Johnny could see even from here that the house had an excellent view. The forrest below, the beach and ocean far off to the right, and a city to the left

It was definitely secluded. The guy wouldn't get any guests unless he asked for them.

"We can just tie them to this tree here for a bit." Gyro said as he jumped off Valkyrie and guided both horses to a tree, tying them to it. "Ready to head off?"

Johnny gave a nod before patting Slow Dancer's right leg. It lifted up, and Johnny turned his body before falling off. Johnny's back hit the inner ankle while the horseshoe hit his butt. Johnny hissed in pain as the force was felt, but it still slowed his descent down. Slow Dancer then began moving his right leg back into its usual position, and Johnny's knees hit the ground.

"Still can't do it right..." Johnny grumbled out a Gyro took off the collapsible wheelchair from the back of Valkyrie.

"You just need more practice that's all." With a tap, the wheelchair turned to normal and Gyro set it down. Johnny climbed on while Gyro got his own supplies.

"This better be worth it." Johnny grumbled out as he pushed himself past the resistance of the dirt and rocks while Gyro followed next to him.

"Oh it is. Guy's manga is great." Gyro continued to gush with a smile beaming on his face. "It's eight parts long, and the eighth part is still going on! Every part is a different genre and has a different protagonist. Part 8 is basically a retelling of Part 5, but think of Part 5 as The Godfather and the current one as that comic, The Spirit."

"Man, what a fanboy." Johnny thought with a roll of his eyes before reaching the steps. Gyro went up them and knocked on the door. After a second, it opened up.

Johnny could not believe it. The guy looked like someone that was no older than he was. The guy was wearing a baggy white suit and pants over which he wears a semi-unbuttoned vest. The suit's buttons were replaced with what appeared to be fountain pens, as were the man's earrings. His eyes were green and his wavy black hair was comped to the left. But the most defining feature of the man was his headband. Green and pronounced, covering most of his forehead. It looked like it was either intentionally zig-zagging or the torn up bottom of an actual hat.

The man stared at Johnny while Gyro grinned and motioned at the man.

"Johnny, say hello to the mangaka of Pink Dark Boy... Rohan Kishibe!"


[To Be Continued |\|]


Note: Here's the newest chapter, freshly betaed from Kiiam! Be sure to check out his stories!

Yes, that is indeed Rohan Kishibe. This is not a hoax or an imaginary tale (Then again, aren't they all?) What does this actually mean, well tune in next time to find out.

I'm really proud of this chapter for the interactions, especially with Nanako and Chie. Love these characters so much.

Please check out the TV Tropes page and add whatever you find appropriate. Also check out the Spacebattles page for this story for a more in-depth discussion.

Please leave constructive criticism.