Chapter 2: Tomorrow
Josuke Higashikata shot out of bed, screaming. It had been a week since he and the other Stand users in Morioh had brought the serial killer Yoshikage Kira to justice, and he was still suffering from nightmares. Every night his brain would replay the terrors he experienced as he fought for his and Hayato's lives, assaulted by invisible bombs while still believing his best friend had been killed. However, even that paled in comparison to the one person he kept thinking about – Shigekiyo "Shigechi" Yangu.
The young boy had been a friend of his and Okuyasu's for a short time before meeting his untimely end at the hands of Kira, and Josuke held nothing but regrets over it. His nights were filled with a constant stream of self-condemnation. "I should've treated him better, I should've been there for him, I should've saved him."
Josuke was stirred out of his thoughts by the doorbell ringing. He quickly found his clothes for the day, and slipped in to them, running to the door. When he got there, he found his mother talking to Jotaro Kujo, his nephew (despite Jotaro being much older than Josuke).
"Well, here he is now!" Tomoko exclaimed. "I'll leave you two to it, I know Josuke has been working hard volunteering for the Speedwagon Foundation!"
"Josuke, I came by to tell you that the old man and I are leaving today at three pm. We'll be at dock seven, if you want to say goodbye," Jotaro said. He turned to leave, but then turned back, adding, "I nearly forgot, today is also the day Akira Otoishi is released from prison. Despite the stolen items being found in his apartment, we weren't able to get any long-lasting convictions due to a lack of evidence that he was the one who committed the theft. He shouldn't be much of a problem anymore, but I figured you'd at least want to know."
"I'll keep an eye on Okuyasu," Josuke reassured Jotaro. Jotaro simply nodded and turned once more to leave.
Suddenly, as if summoned, Okuyasu and Koichi, Josuke's two best friends, came running down the street towards the two Joestars. They looked panicked, both obviously freaked out over something.
"Josuke! Jotaro! There's something you need to see!" Okuyasu managed to pant out, clearly having lost all his stamina from having run all the way to Josuke's house.
The Joestars' faces changed to deadly serious.
"What is it? A new enemy?" Jotaro asked, clearly trying to puzzle out if the situation was serious enough to extend his stay again.
"We don't know yet. What happened is Rohan-sensei called me this morning, asking me to gather everyone and come to his house," Koichi explained, "Rohan-sensei usually likes to handle things by himself, so I took it very seriously."
"You're right about Rohan, Koichi," Jotaro sighed, looking down. He looked back up, saying, "It'll be faster if we take the car. Everyone in."
The group climbed in to Jotaro's rental car, and they set off for Rohan's house. Upon arrival, they saw the mangaka standing over something obscured by the grass. As they approached, Rohan turned around to address them.
"Koichi, I'm glad you were able to gather everyone on such short notice," Rohan said, attempting to come across as calm, but his voice had a tinge of edge to it.
"Well? What is it?" Jotaro questioned, trying to get a look at the object.
"Come see for yourselves," Rohan said, stepping aside. As the group gathered around the mysterious thing, Rohan continued, "From what I can tell it's some sort of corpse, or at the very least, part of one."
"Gross…" Josuke muttered.
"Is it some type of animal?" Okuyasyu asked.
"It looks… human. Mummified, but human." Koichi said.
"I don't like this," Jotaro said, "I'm going to go interrogate Otoishi. It's unlikely this and him getting out on the same day aren't connected. The four of you should go and talk to any other stand users who may be responsible. Kobayashi, Hazamada, Oyanagi, Fungami, anyone who may have a motive to do this. If nothing else, I want every Stand user in Morioh back here by two pm, so that gives you four and a half hours to get it done."
"Yuya and I are pretty cool these days, I'll talk to him," Josuke said.
"I'll take Hazamada," Koichi said, "his house is pretty close to Yukako's, so I can at least gather two people if it's not him."
"Kobayashi for me," said Rohan, "I cannot and will not talk to that child ever again."
"Does that mean I'm stuck with the weird rock paper scissors kid!?" cried Okuyasu, indignant.
"Actually, I heard he left Morioh a month ago," Koichi chimed in.
"Well then you come with me, Okuyasu," suggested Josuke, "We'll talk to Yuya, and then we can stop by Tonio's. And it can't be Mikitaka or Kanedaichi since they're stuck in that pylon."
"Alright. Remember, two pm. Do not be late," Jotaro said sternly
"Yes sir," Koichi said. The rest of the group simply nodded. Everyone then turned and went to go talk to their designated people.
Just as Josuke had hoped, Yuya Fungami was at Tonio's with his clique of girls. After he had went to Yuya's house and he wasn't there, Okuyasu had suggested they try looking at the restaurant, and even though Josuke knew his friend was thinking with stomach and not his head, logically it wasn't a bad idea.
"Josuke! Okuyasu! There you are! I knew you were outside, but I didn't want to get up and leave my girls," Exclaimed Yuya, not even turning towards the pair. Josuke had said the two of them were cool now, but even now, Yuya's ability to smell people from inhumanly long distances unsettled him, and Yuya's obsession with those groupies annoyed him.
Josuke swallowed those thoughts, and replied "Hey Yuya! Life treatin' you OK?"
"I've been great! Mom's finally let me go back out on the bike, so I've been havin' fun with that, and of course I've had my cheer team to help me back on my feet," Yuya said matter-of-factly. That last remark got a squeal out of the three girls surrounding him.
"Really? Does 'great' include leaving a dead thing on Rohan-sensei's front lawn!?" Okuyasu yelled.
"What!? How dare you talk about Yuya like that!" one girl yelled.
"He wouldn't hurt a fly!" the second screamed.
"He wouldn't even hurt me when I asked him to!" the third squealed. The other two turned towards her with disappointed expressions. "What?" she asked, indignantly.
"Okuyasu! Use a little subtlety why don't you!?" Josuke aggressively whispered to his friend.
"It's ok Josuke. I understand the suspicion. After we beat Miyamoto, I swore I would never use my powers for evil again, so to answer your question Okuyasu, no, it wasn't me. I'll be happy to help you look for the culprit though. As you know, my Highway Star has impeccable smell, so bring me to this 'dead thing' and I'll track whoever did it down for you guys." Yuya said, calming everyone in the room down.
"Well, that works perfectly. Mr. Jotaro said to gather up all the Stand users in Morioh by two pm at Rohan-sensei's house," Josuke said. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, happy that Yuya had been willing help out.
"I suppose this means I'll need to come to," said Tonio, who up until now had been standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching the group.
"Yes, if you would. I'm sorry if this inconveniences you!" Josuke said, bowing to show how apologetic he was to the chef.
Tonio laughed, "Oh it's no problem at all. Friday mornings are often quite slow anyways."
Yuya stood up from the table, and the group left the restaurant. Outside, Yuya told the girls to go home, and the Stand users began heading back to Rohan's.
Everyone gathered at Rohan's house, except Jotaro, Joseph Joestar, and Otoishi, who were running late. However, the large group soon heard Jotaro's car, and soon, it came in to sight, parking in front of Rohan's house. Jotaro exited, walked around to the passenger door, opened it, and then pulled Otoishi out by the ear, all the while Otoishi was repeatedly saying "Ow." Meanwhile, Joseph calmly got out of the back seat, holding Shizuka, the invisible baby he had been taking care of, and walked over to the crowd.
"Did anyone find out who did it?" Jotaro asked, ignoring the guitarist's pain.
Everyone looked around, waiting for someone to step forward. No one did.
Jotaro sighed. "I'll take that as a no. And here I was hoping I'd get to see my daughter tomorrow."
Everyone except Joseph was visibly shocked by this offhand comment
"Y-You have a daughter!? And you never told anyone!?" Josuke yelled in complete and utter disbelief.
"It never came up," Jotaro said simply. "Anyways, does anyone have any idea about how we're gonna find this person? If this is another Yoshikage Kira we need to nip it in the bud right away before anyone gets hurt."
"I can use Highway Star on it. My stand has an excellent sense of smell and incredibly long range, so it should be able to find the person who last touched it," Yuya said, stepping forward.
"Well then go ahead. We haven't got a lot of time," Jotaro said. "And don't touch it, it could very well be a trap!"
But it was too late. Yuya Fungami's stand had already touched the corpse part. A portal opened up, sucking the group inside it, alongside the corpse. Once everyone was inside, the portal closed, leaving no evidence anything had happened.
Josuke opened his eyes, and sat up in bed. For once, he hadn't had a nightmare about Kira. He looked around. This wasn't his room. And he wasn't in a bed either. He was lying on the ground in what looked to be some kind of Japanese park, but unlike any in Morioh. As a matter of fact, it was unlike any he had ever seen before. Something felt incredibly different, yet he couldn't quite place his finger on it.
"Where did that portal send me?" Josuke asked himself.
"A much different universe than your own." A voice said, coming from behind him.
Josuke turned around, and what he saw was a light blue humanoid stand, with piercing pink eyes and large rabbit-like ear-shaped things coming from it's head, complete with pink highlights across it's whole body and no mouth to boot.
"Find your friends and tell them that. Also tell them that there is a great evil approaching, and you all must help to stop it. Good luck"
And with that, the stand delivered a swift kick to Josuke's head, knocking him back out.
