Opening Notes: My co-writer has taken a leave of absence to focus on other endeavors. I wish him good luck and await his return.

XXXXXXXXX

As he sat in his seat, several thousand feet above the ground, Mandom stared at the pages of the book he packed, but did not read the words. His mind was too bust wandering, thinking back on a rather annoying man he once met who ranted on about airplanes. It had been many years since they had seen each other, and yet the memory of his whining was still like nails on a chalk board.

Another somewhat unwelcome sound pulled Mandom from his thoughts. The clicking and clacking had a loose rhythm to it. He glanced to his left and was met with the sight of a man with purple hair, hunched over as far as he could given both of them had only sprung for coach seats. His fingers glided along the keyboard of a paper thin laptop, typing away fervently. Evidently, he had a soft spot for the color purple, as he was covered in it. His hair, his sunglasses, his shirt. All different shades of violet.

After several moments of entering words into the piece of technology, his eyes peeled away from the screen and focused on the man next to him. "Do I know you?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"I would think I'd remember somebody like you. Not many men have a skull shaped soul patch."

Mandom gave only a shrug as he turned his attention back to his book. He only made it past the first sentence before he felt pressure on his wrist. His fellow passenger had grabbed him and slightly adjusted his arm while he moved his own head lower. Evidently, personal space meant nothing. He read the title of the novel. "Di molto. A classic." He let go.

"Thanks."

"So, what has summoned you to the far East?"

"The short answer is a job." His answer seemed to satisfy the man's curiosity.

XXXXXXXXX

Diego tapped his fingers on the arm of the recliner he had situated himself into. Brando Manor had an air of intensity about it. The interloper had been invited in without resistance.

This is the last thing I need right now, he mused bitterly. I'd hoped Gramps would eat you, not become entranced! The young man, roughly as old as him, was standing completely still as DIO circled him. The ageless one curled his fingers onto his so-called son's shirt collar and pulled it down, revealing a star birthmark on the left shoulder.

"It's true," DIO said, letting go of the fabric. "You are my son."

Giorno could tell it was the truth. He could... feel it. Like a sort of spiritual connection. He looked over to his other present relative. They, oddly, lacked said connection.

Diego suppressed a growl as he thought back to his days at the orphanage. The filth, the reek, the pain of it all. He never wanted to experience it again. His grandfather had given him salvation and all his dreams. Money. Respect. More money.

And now this... this stranger had blown the door down, surely to swipe it all away. But then something else entered his wretched thoughts. That star. It had apparently sealed the deal. I don't have that on my back...

Giorno kept his composure as he addressed his father. "My mother always spoke fondly of you... when she wasn't partying."

DIO looked at him like he was trying to see the image hidden in a trick picture. "Is she still alive?"

"Yes. Although I hardly see her anymore."

"And just why is that?"

"She does not care if I come home, so I don't bother. I've a few friends willing to let me bunk with them. It meshes perfectly. We all go to UA."

DIO grinned slightly. His progeny had come from a blackhearted mother. Just the type he liked. He thought back to the week they shared. She had been wild, insatiable, and completely selfish. And now, standing before him, was the result.

Standing behind the chair holding Diego, Pucci felt a sense of accomplishment. First Diego, now Giorno.

While his relief swelled, Diego had a different mindset. Fine. Fine! It doesn't matter, so long I don't go anywhere. Just know this, Uncle. The family fortune is MINE! I was here first! And unlike you, my name is Brando!

"Tell me," DIO said. "What can you do? Have you a Quirk, or a Stand? Or perhaps both?"

Giorno maintained his veneer as a yellow humanoid, thin and decorative, manifested next to him. "I call it Gold Experience."

DIO observed the Stand like a judge in a contest. "What is it capable of?"

Answering his question, the Stand landed a punch on his armlet. The impact was minimal, but was enough to show the power behind it. The gold band's color changed to black as it became less solid. It unraveled and fell to the floor, revealing that it had changed.

"Garter snake. Harmless. That is the power of my Gold Experience," Giorno explained. "To imbue things with life."

DIO picked up the serpent as it reverted back into jewelry. "Fascinating..." He grinned, sliding it back onto his limb. "Telence. Go prepare a room for my boy."

Giorno looked at the man who had sired him. "You're letting me stay here?"

"But of course. Who turns away family?" DIO asked, the irony of it all not escaping him. "Now, Telence!"

The teal-haired butler gave a bow. "Right away, Lord DIO. Please, follow me, Giorno."

As the two men left the room, Diego glared daggers at their backs. "Preferably far away from my room!"

As he followed the gamer down the massive hallway, Giorno looked to the wall to find what could only be portraits of his paternal family, each being detailed to the point that they could he mistaken for photographs. The first was a simple abstract background with the man in the center obviously being his father, smiling knowingly with his fingers interlocked

Next came one with furious brush strokes that gave the impression that the artist had been in a bad place when creating it. The person in it, Giorno did not recognize. Her hair was jet black save for two tufts of yellow above her forehead. She had a gentle face but the eyes of a steeled soul. The young son of DIO looked closer and saw that she had the same cyan eyes as his nephew. It was then that Giorno surmised just who he was looking at. His eyes drifted to the words at the bottom of the frame, confirming it.

Dahlia Brando

Daughter of DIO

Mother of Diego

So... she is my sister. But where is she? Somewhere in the manor? Giorno, realizing that he would not know the answer quite yet, moved on, both mentally and physically. The third portrait came into his line of sight. Unlike the two before it, the subject's entire body was visible. It portrayed Diego in his usual stance. Hand on a hip and one heel raised. His expression would have those looking at it thinking he was listening intently to a deep conversation.

Part of Giorno wondered if he too would have a painting of himself hanging on this wall.

"Here we are," Telence said, pulling Giorno out of his thoughts. The younger D'Arby brother opened a door, revealing a room as large as an average apartment. "Sorry that it is so... plain. This is a guest room, usually."

Giorno looked around. The bed was massive. As was the window on the far wall. More art pieces were on the walls, along with a mirror over a large dresser.

"This is fine," Giorno said truthfully.

Telence gave another bow. "Should you need anything, just let me know. I'm never far off."

Giorno nodded as he walked over the window. Through the glass, he had a lovely view of the statues and bushes of the courtyard garden. A considerably better view than the pitch blackness his mother often left him in. He pulled out his phone and swiped the screen, unlocking it. He tapped it a few times, selecting a contact. It only rang twice before being answered.

"Buonasera, Giorno."

"Buonasera, Bucciarati."

"Is it true? Did you find your father?"

"Si. Among other things."

"Are you alright?"

"For the time being, si."

XXXXXXXXX

Mandom stretched as he walked into the terminal. "Sixteen hours in a cramped seat."

"Perhaps it's our own fault," his purple-haired acquaintance, who had claimed his name to be Melone, said.

Mandom gave no verbal response as he waited to claim his baggage. He found it curious that Melone did not do the same and apparently was only following him around at this point, but he kept it to himself. "You never mentioned why you are here."

"Let's call it an opportunity."

The American just looked at him, and decided not to pry. He collected his belongings and made his way out into the fresh air. Foot traffic was heavy that day. Countless people coming and going, some with Quirks that allowed flight took to the sky. But the majority of them had to rely on vehicles and kicking the dirt. He raised his hand to hail a cab, only to be tackled to the ground. He heard an ecstatic laugh and felt a hand run itself through his hair.

"Miss Tsuchikawa," he greeted with a deadpan tone.

The blonde woman, currently atop him, thus making more than a few people turn their heads, scoffed. "Don't be so formal, Ringo." She continued caressing him like a pet. "You have no idea how excited I was to hear you were coming! It's been too long!"

"Will you please get off me?"

A new feminine voice laughed lightly. "You might as well ask the sun to rise at midnight."

Ringo craned his neck to see another of his old acquaintance. Like her teammate, she was currently dressed in civilian clothes. "Sosaki." His eyes drifted slightly to see a very sour looking child. Even though they had never met before, Ringo knew who he was. The news of what had happened to Water Hose had reached even his circle of Heroes. He thought about giving his condolences, only for his newfound friend to speak up.

"Salve, madonna!" Melone, who strangely was not carrying any luggage, not even the laptop he had on the plane, gave a small bow to the Pro Hero widely known as Mandalay. He brought his body back up to being straight... and licked his lips with a perverse look in his eyes. "I like this country already."

"Uh huh," Sosaki replied, unimpressed and rather disgusted.

Melone glanced down to the young boy next to her. "Is he yours?" Before she could answer, he crouched down, making the two males eye level. "Buon giorno, giovane. Presto, mi chiamerai padre. That's how we say 'hi' where I'm from."

"Enough, Melone," a deep, authoritative voice said with the air of power and fear. The motley group all looked over and was met with the sight of a man who would have made a fine living being the villain in horror movies. He towered over everyone around him, and his irises were red like a demon surrounded by pools of black.

Melone stood up and greeted him with a smile. "Nero! So nice of you to greet my arrival. Did you get my message and specifications?"

Nero simply pointed to the curb, revealing a newly bought purple motorcycle waiting for its owner. Why Melone spent his hard earned money on it, Nero could only wildly guess.

"Di molto!" Melone climbed onto his newest toy. With a turn of the key and twist of the throttle, it roared to life like a beast. Nero climbed onto the secondary seat behind him. Melone looked towards Mandalay and held a out a hand toward her with his palm skyward. "Fino a quando ci incontreremo di nuovo!"

The two men sped off with such speed one might think the devil himself was chasing them, leaving a trail of dust behind.

"Well, that wasn't creepy at all," Ryuko said.

"Now will you get off me?" Ringo asked again.

XXXXXXXXX

Morning came and Izuku walked towards the archway that led to UA's main building. As he approached his destination, something caught his eye. Coming from the opposite direction was Diego and somebody he did not recognize. Like the young Brando, he had blonde hair and a steeled look. He wore the student uniform of UA, making Izuku wonder if he was an upperclassman.

He waved to catch their attention. "Brando!"

His blonde friend indeed looked at him, but his mood evidently did not change. As they all got closer to one another, Izuku found that Diego looked downright insulted.

"Izuku," he said in tone that screamed that he wanted to crawl back into bed. Or run up to the nearest living thing and kill it.

Midoriya turned his attention to the other blonde. "Hello. I don't think we've met. I'm Midoriya Izuku."

The stranger looked at him for a moment in silence. "I'm Giorno Giovanna." He gave a small bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Midoriya smiled with relief and gave a small bow of his own. "Are you a friend of Brando's?"

Diego cut off any potential response. "He is not my friend."

"O-oh," Izuku stammered, slightly taken aback by how adamant Brando had inflected the denial.

At that moment, Diego opted to just rip the bandage off and get the truth out in the open as he led the way into the building. "Giorno here is my uncle."

Izuku's face took on an expression not unlike when All Might told him to eat a hair. "... huh?"

Giorno nodded. "I am DIO's son."

Midoriya struggled to process the two coinciding bits of information. "Buh-but... but... how?"

Diego rolled his eyes. "Surely you know the reproductive process."

"No, I mean-"

"This is where we part ways, Giorno." Diego dragged Izuku through the massive doors of 1-A, leaving Giorno to continue on alone to 1-B.

It was a short trip, simply down the hallway. The son of DIO walked into his homeroom and sat next to two of his close friends. He greeted both. "Narancia. Bucciarati."

"How did it go?" the latter asked.

"He seems... accepting of me. Interested in me and my Stand. Although I cannot say the same for Diego."

The other comrade, struggling yesterday's homework, looked away from his incoherent work. "Which one is Diego again?"

Back with 1-A, the two unlikely friends made their way to their seats.

"Ehi, Izzy!" Gyro happily greeted. "Looks like your legs are better. Up for a game of hopscotch after class? Nyo ho ho!"

Normally, the newest holder of One For All would give a courtesy smile, but his mind was still racing about the latest revealed branch of the Brando family tree.

"Looks like he's in shock," Johnny observed with his trademark detached disposition.

"Huh?" Midoriya shook himself from his thoughts. "Oh! Sorry, I was just... lost in my own head."

Before any of them could ask what had gotten him so distracted, the Class Rep stood up before then all, moving his arms as he always did when assuming a serious tone. "All right! Its time for the morning homeroom period! All of you get to your seats!"

Johnny pointed out the reality of the situation. "The only one not in a seat is you, Iida."

An unfamiliar man spoke from the doorway. "A truth to behold."

Everybody looked over and saw him. He seemed to be perhaps in his early thirties. His color scheme was the opposite of Aizawa's. While their sensei wore predominantly black, this one was garbed in white. Even his hair, moustache, and soul patch were all hoary.

Siri recognized him instantly. He certainly is a long way from home.

"Hello, young'uns. I'm sure you all are wondering the same thing, so I'll cut right to it. Aizawa's surgeons have more or less ordered him to take a long breather, so Principal Nezu called in a favor. I'm your temporary, substitute homeroom teacher. My name is-"

"The Temporal Hero, Mandom!" Izuku, ever the giddy fanboy, could not contain himself any longer. The skull goatee was a dead giveaway.

The American Pro looked at him with slight surprise. "Correct. Though I suppose you'll all be calling me Roadagain-sensei for the time being." He usually avoided the limelight, preferring silence and privacy.

Murmurs filled the room, several classmates repeating the same word. "Temporal?"

In the space next to Roadagain's left shoulder, something came into existence, catching all their attentions. It looked like a faceless head with a netting pattern printed on the face. From what could have been considered its neck formed a large shoulder pad that latched onto Roadagain's arm, and from it sprung what seemed to be numerous tendrils that spread out and latched onto various parts of his torso and limbs.

"This is my Stand, Mandom. It allows me to rewind time by exactly six seconds. No more. No less. Everytime you've ever had a sense of deja vu, it was most likely my inadvertent doing."

This brought a sense of excitement to most of 1-A. Controlling time itself was something to behold.

Mina eagerly raised her hand. "Does that mean you can keep going and going backwards?!"

"No. There is a limit. There is a sort of cooldown. I can rewind, but only once every six seconds. Ergo, I can only go back to one instant, no further." He gave a placating gesture before more questions could be asked of him and his Stand. "I'm here to fill in Aizawa's teaching duties. And right now, that includes preparing you for one of the biggest events this country has. The Sports Festival."

Those two words reignited the fires with the students. Each of them, except Johnny, lit up with anticipation.

"Wouldn't the Villains just try to infiltrate that as well?" The dour Joestar asked flatly.

Roadagain looked at him. He could see there was something under all the depression and mentally built walls. He made his Stand vanish before responding. "On the contrary, going forth with it shows a sense of confidence. But leave that sort to the Pros. What all of you should be focusing on is getting the attention of influential audience members. Millions will be watching you, seeing what you've got to offer the world of Heroics. The ones at the top will surely be watching, so seize the opportunity while you still have it." He checked his watch. "And to help you all ready yourselves for it, I secured a training area for a battle royale this afternoon."