When Jolyne was a little girl, her parents were the center of her world. Her mom was sweet but strict, having her husband completely wrapped around her finger. As for the man himself... Children commonly fought over their parents being the strongest, but she was sure that in her case, it couldn't be more true.

While her mom's side of the family was ordinary like most other children's, her dad's side was special. Although he and Jolyne carried the surname Kujo, they both hailed from the Joestar clan; they even had a star-shaped birthmark to match, along with all the other family members within the bloodline. Her mom explained to her that her family descended from a line of English nobility, and for her that meant being a kind of princess.

Sometimes she would visit her dad's grandparents. Great-grandpa Joseph was a kind old giant of a man who told the best stories. Her great-grandma Suzie Q. was great, too; she spoke a very funny language at times, the same one her mom sometimes spoke, and gave her tons of delicious food.

Shizuka, her great-grandparents' adopted daughter and her favorite cousin, was much younger than her, but it was really fun to play with her. Everybody in her family was so old while Shizu was just a child like her, so they understood each other. They played magical mermaids together often. Jolyne didn't like hide and seek much though; for some reason, she was never able to find her cousin in a single one of their games.

One day, her mom and dad explained to her that they were no longer going to continue living together. Jolyne knew that Dad had to travel a lot for work, but she didn't understand then that it meant he wouldn't be coming home anymore. Jolyne knew that Dad loved her, she was sure of it. But as she saw him less and less, her little heart harbored more and more doubts.

She remembered the vacations in Morioh, that town in Japan, the country where her dad was born and where Grandma Holy had lived until she got divorced and moved in with Great-grandpa Joseph. Jolyne hardly understood what the local people around were saying because they had only taught her a few words, but she still managed to have a good time. Slowly, over the course of the trip, she began to learn her dad's mother tongue.

Gruncle Josuke—she thought grand uncle was too long—was wonderful and healed like nobody else when she hurt herself while playing. His friend with the strange face was very funny too. She didn't like his short friend much, though she did not know why.

Everyone had warned her that Gruncle Josuke's green-haired eccentric friend-who-was-not-a-friend was probably going to be mean to her, but he was the one who spoke English the best and gave her helpful drawing advice, not to mention he was very handsome too. She threw a tantrum when her dad told her that the butterfly and sword drawing he had made on her arm would eventually fade since it wasn't a real tattoo, and she wouldn't be appeased until he took a picture of it for her. She later learned that Shizu had also been born in that town, so it didn't seem like a bad place.

Jolyne missed her dad, but at least she saw him during vacations and talked to him via phone calls. He would also send her gifts occasionally. Even if they were dolls and things that she really didn't care for anymore, it was good to know that he remembered her.

Her favorite of all the presents were two goldfish. Her dad told her that their scientific name was Carassius auratus and explained that auratus meant golden, so she had named them Caraso and Golden. When Gruncle Josuke told her that they reminded him of the name of his favorite album, The Gold Experience, her fish were renamed Caraso Experience and Gold Experience. Whenever she gazed at the fish tank while missing her dad, Mom told her that she would explain things to her when she became a big girl, that daddy still loves her even though he couldn't stay with them.

One day when she was 13 years old, she was told that Great-grandpa Joseph had passed away and Great-grandma Suzie and Grandma Holy were moving with Shizu to Japan. She hadn't even been able to say goodbye, nor could she travel to see them anymore. From that day onward, it was as if her dad had erased himself from the face of the earth. He called from time to time, but they were more check-ups rather than real conversations. At first, she thought her dad was very sad too, but as more time passed, she realized that he no longer cared. She stopped hoping and begging for affection.

Her mom, being the amazing woman she was, tried to fill the gap that her dad had left. Jolyne knew that there were many girls her age who were fatherless too, so she really shouldn't have anything to complain about. But she'd lost too many family members in one fell swoop, and it hurt more to have lost something than to never have had it at all. To make matters worse, her maternal grandparents passed away that same year as well. Thus, Jolyne went from having a huge family to having no one but her mom.

With no relatives left in the vicinity, when her mom got a better job offer in Florida, they didn't hesitate too much to take up the offer and make the move. It had never been difficult for Jolyne to make friends, but suddenly being away from familiar surroundings made her feel confused, scared, and so very alone. She didn't like the other girls, though apparently, boys liked her enough... The other girls liked her even less.

When Caraso Experience died, Jolyne didn't cry. It was normal, goldfish did not live for many years. Her mom quickly bought another, and there was still Gold Experience too. She made sure to take extra care of him, keeping him under her attentive eye.

No friends? She didn't care. There were always guys willing to hang out with her. She didn't care about anything; she told herself this every day. Everyone was an idiot, and she had no time for idiots.

But then one day she came home from high school to find Gold Experience floating lifelessly in his tank. He was just a stupid fish, it's not like she cared. She stared at the last remnants of her childhood for longer than necessary.

Sometimes in the solitude of her bedroom, she thought that maybe it wasn't so much that others were idiots, but rather, there was just something wrong with her. Other girls had friends and not just boys who tried to touch her where they shouldn't. She wondered if she was the only person her GRANDMA didn't want to hear from. Alone in her room when she was sure that her mom wasn't listening, her inner demons were the only ones accompanying her as she cried till she couldn't anymore.

When her eyes and throat had dried up and the sniffles had ended, she wiped her face, braided her hair, and put on makeup while telling her reflection that none of it mattered. She was strong, she had to be. She couldn't let her mom see all the emptiness that was forming in her chest, a hole having formed there after everything was torn from her. But, she thought, as she finished caking her face in makeup, she was strong and would carry on even if her heart bled from the inside out.