According to his instructions, the person he would be staying with lived in Yongen-Jaya, specifically, the backstreets surrounding the outskirts of the ward. Cramped passages, long alleys, vendors on every corner, and more foot traffic than Akira had been expecting, it was definitely a different kind of area than he was used to. A place unique to large and bustling cities like Tokyo.

It took him a while to get from the subway station to where he was pretty sure 'Sojiro Sakura,' his keeper, lived. However, it was honestly a pretty nice house, gated with a small garden, white paint, and close-curtained windows in the front.

That said, the house was definitely crammed in, with two larger buildings on either side, the entrance of the home being in the middle of a small and grimy backstreet.

The teenager walked up, double-checking the address before ringing the bell.

Nothing.

Nobody had come to the door, even after Akira waited a few minutes and rang again.

Although it was probably something simple, like this Sakura guy having gone out to do errands, it was still disheartening. It seemed like every single step of the way, this trip was falling off the rails. And it was still the first day!

"Oh, are you looking for Sakura-san?"

Akira blinked, turning to look at what seemed to be a delivery man down the alley, holding a small package.

"Um, yes. Do you know where he could be?"

"Yeah. He's usually working in his cafe 'round this time, it's down the back alley- called Leblanc. You'll definitely find him there, kid."

"Thank you!"

After wandering the general area, asking around for exactly where the cafe called "Leblanc" was located, Akira finally came across a small, out of the way storefront, a crimson and cream-white color scheme around the outside, and a sign above the store saying, 'Leblanc, coffee and curry.'

...Coffee and curry seemed like sort of a weird combination, but Akira supposed he'd never exactly had them together, so maybe it would be pretty good.

He walked through the door, a small bell announcing his arrival, and came into a cozy eating area with a few booths and a long bar table. A middle-aged man with slicked-back hair and an apron sat behind the counter, reading a newspaper, while two older folks sipped coffee at one of the booths. The TV was on, the news announcing some kind of nasty traffic accident.

Akira paused for a moment to think about it. He had been hearing a lot about all kinds of traffic and subway accidents on his way through the city… it wasn't a very comfortable experience. He supposed that in a place as dense as Tokyo, there was bound to be much more danger than what he was used to. But he didn't worry too much; Arsene would protect him if something like that ever happened.

The man behind the counter stood, yawning slightly as he took a good look at Akira.

"Oh, right. I guess today's the day."

He put down his newspaper, walking around to stand next to Akira as the elderly couple paid and left the small store.

As the two others left, the man stared out after them and sighed again, rubbing the back of his head.

"Damn. Four hours for a cup of joe…"

Akira stood awkwardly as the man in front of him seemed lost in thought, before shaking his head and looking at the teenager again.

"So you're Akira."

"Ah- yes. It's nice to meet you."

Akira bowed slightly, speaking quietly and calmly. He had already experienced the fact that everyone he met would think the worst of him, thanks to his new criminal record, and he had to always make a conscious effort to appear non-threatening.

"...Uhuh. I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody for the next year."

The man spoke with a casual yet somewhat tired tilt in his voice, as if he just couldn't bring himself to pay much attention to the world around him.

"You know, I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh?"

Akira tried not to grimace, and simply shrugged half-heartedly in response.

"Yes, I guess so."

Sojiro raised an eyebrow, putting a hand in a back pocket.

"Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other, and, well- I guess it doesn't matter. Follow me."

The man turned and started walking towards the back of the store, motioning for Akira to follow.

The pair walked to a flight of stairs tucked at the end of the building, climbing up and entering some kind of attic.

The room was clearly meant for storage, yet it seemed to Akira like nobody had even set foot in there for years- dust coated every surface, old and worn-out appliances, books, and furniture were littered around and piled up at the walls.

A large cardboard box was sitting in the middle of the floor, a label with 'Akira Kurusu' stuck on top, and a ratty old mattress sat on a small, springy bed frame in the corner below a window.

Akira suddenly stopped, hoping that Sojiro wasn't about to say this would be his room.

"This is your room."

Shit.

"You look like you wanna say something."

Positive thoughts. Think positive thoughts. Don't say anything offensive.

"It's… ah, well, it's big. ...Thanks."

Sojiro huffed at the response and turned an assessing eye on the cluttered room before responding.

"I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid, got it? I'll throw you right out if you cause any trouble."

Akira nodded silently.

"Good. I got the gist of your situation. You saw a man forcing himself on someone, and injured him pretty badly, then got sued for it, right?"

The teenager nodded again, his thoughts drifting back to that night…

"Well, that's what happens when you stick your nose in a matter between two adults. From what I heard, you busted that guy up badly, yeah? You got expelled from school, and the courts ordered you to transfer out here, which your parents agreed to."

Sokiro then raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"So in other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass."

Akira had to refrain from clenching his teeth.

Positive thoughts. Don't punch the guy you're staying with. You don't want another assault charge.

Sojiro started to walk past the teenager, moving towards the stairs and talking over his shoulder.

"Just make sure you don't say anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know? Just behave yourself for the year."

Akira could only sigh.

He really was about to stay an entire year with this guy…

The teenager supposed he would just need to get used to Sojiro's oh so sunny disposition.

"Oh, and we'll be going to Shujin tomorrow- the school you're going to, remember? We'll need to introduce ourselves to the staff, so make sure to get some sleep."

Akira nodded, and the man exited the room, walking down to the cafe proper.

"..."

He turned back to the rest of the attic, looking around to see the piles of old items.

Broken and worn-out tools and machinery, generators and old electrical appliances, empty tanks of gas and the like, piles upon piles of old books, ladders and desks, dead and dried plants, pottery, a bicycle, blankets, and just so much dust…

...It looked like he needed to get to work. Hopefully, he could clean the whole place before evening.

But as he summoned Arsene, he let himself enjoy a small smile, admiring the figure standing in front of him.

Luckily, he had the perfect ability for chores like this.

It took a lot of mopping and a whole lot of dusting to get just the floor looking decent, and he didn't have nearly enough time to clear out all the junk lying around, but with some heavy-lifting from Arsene and hours of hard work, he was able to at least get the place looking decent.

Well, the place looked decent if you ignored the still-massive piles of trash around the walls and on the desks, and the cobwebs in the ceiling, and the old wood floor creaking.

But besides all that, it was getting pretty cozy!

Eventually, he heard a yell from Sojiro about locking up for the night, and the front door closing.

It seemed like a good time to get some sleep. He didn't want to stay up late and force Sojiro to wake him up. That seemed like an easy way to make the man's attitude even worse.

So he decided to change into more comfortable sleeping clothes and lie on the old mattress Sojiro had put out.

It was uncomfortable, obviously, but with how tired Akira was at that moment, he barely noticed.

Now done trying to clean the room to occupy his mind, he simply stared up into the rafters.

He remembered that day clearly. It was something he had been told time and time again not to have done. Intervening between those two adults, and stopping what could have been a horrible situation… it just didn't feel like a mistake.

Even if he had a second chance to redo, he would make the exact same choices again. He didn't have any regrets, even if it wound up with him in this situation.

A strange beeping sound from his phone broke him from those deep thoughts.

He pulled out the appliance, staring at the screen and realizing the strange app was still there- the one with a red and black eye icon.

After that bizarre creature had entered his phone, the app had appeared, and somehow, even though he had already deleted it once, it had come back.

He trashed it again.

Not dealing with that. It seemed way too troublesome.

With all the stress of the day gone by, and the general exhaustion starting to sweep through his body, he could already feel his eyelids getting heavy and almost immediately fell asleep right then and there.

But just before he lost consciousness, he saw a figure out of the corner of his vision.

His eyes snapped open.

The humanoid figure was directly next to his bed, staring at him.

It was the same creature that he had seen at the station early in the day.

The skin was a white and black checkerboard pattern, two large golden eyes above a small mouth, and the whole body was clothed in royal blue robes.

Except this time, the creature was much larger. Around a meter and a half tall.

And it was right next to his bed.

Before Akira could do a single thing, the creature lashed out one hand, and a wave of red and black energy poured outwards, enveloping the teenager's prone body and washing away his line of sight.

Akira gasped, trying to summon Arsene to defend himself, but instead, he found his mind and body feeling horribly disoriented as if he was falling in multiple directions at once, being swallowed up by a massive creature.

He landed on what felt like a carpeted ground.

The grating sound of rattling chains emanated throughout the area.

And he heard a voice, one that was raspy and deep, as if its speaker was a hundred years old but with a body still healthy and in its prime.

"Hello, Trickster. And welcome to my Velvet Room."

Akira looked upwards, towards the source of the voice, and his eyes widened.

"I hope the trip wasn't too unpleasant."

Author's Note:

Yes. Even Igor has a stand. I think it's a really cool one too. I'm also trying to name all the original stands in this story after bands and music, to keep the Jojo theme going. Thinking up cool stands that go well with their respective characters is honestly a lot more fun than I was expecting.

I'll try to get up a new chapter tomorrow as well, but the one after that won't come out for a few days. I'm trying to update pretty frequently since this is still a really new story.

Anyways, that's all from me, please feel free to leave a review so I know what you guys think about the fic so far.