Convincing a Stubborn Mayor (2013) (Chapter 7)

Mitsuha, Josuke, and Okuyasu all make it to the main government building before too long, and the three of them rush to the room that Mr. Miyamizu was in. Mitsuha noticed that her grandmother and little sister were in the room with her dad, so she started to catch her breath. Mr. Miyamizu asks "Where have you been, Mitsuha? We still need to finish our conversation! And who are these two, and why did you bring them into my office?"

Both her grandmother and Yotsuha look at Mitsuha with a concerned expression, but Mitsuha steels herself and says "Father! You need to listen to me, and I'll accept whatever consequence you have for me later, but we need to evacuate the town to the school building!" Mr. Miyamizu slowly rubs his temples after hearing that, and he eventually says "I'm not sure why you're so obsessed with this evacuation nonsense, but I don't want to hear it again."

Mitsuha looks down, but then clenches her fist, and looks back up and says "Please! Just this once!" Mr. Miyamizu just sighs and says "Just stop this Mitsuha. I will not accept this behavior from my daughter." Then, Mitsuha suddenly snaps and yells "So you actually care about me, and not just my reputation for your sake?" Mr. Miyamizu's eyes fill with shock, and Mitsuha soon shares his expression, and she just says "I'm sorry…"

After a few moments of tense silence, Josuke coughs and says, meekly "Umm… excuse me Mr. Miyamizu, but I think you should listen to Mitsuha! The comet is looking really suspicious!" Mr. Miyamizu glares at the boy, filling him with fear, and he bluntly asks "And who are you? I don't recognize you from the town."

Josuke rubs his neck and says "Oh, I'm sorry! My name is Josuke Higashikata, and I'm here on vacation from Morioh, with my friends Okuyasu Nijimura and Koichi Hirose." Mr. Miyamizu raises an eyebrow, and asks "And why should I listen to some schoolboy?" Josuke nervously laughs and says "Well, I am just a regular highschooler, but I could contact my old man! He's actually a pretty respected business man." Mr. Miyamizu flatly asks, "And who is this father of yours, who's opinion I'd value so heavily?"

Josuke pauses for a moment, before saying "Joseph Joestar." Mr. Miyamizu and Mitsuha's grandmother both shouted, "What?" and Yotsuha asks her, "Granny, who's that? Is he famous?" Futaba calmly explains "Joseph Joestar is a famous real estate mogul from America, but he does business globally. He doesn't have much of a presence these days, though." Mr. Miyamizu adds "And, how are you related to Joseph Joestar, when his only daughter has the family name 'Kujo'?"

But Josuke says "Well, technically he had me after an affair with my mom, but we're on pretty good terms now. I can give him a call for you guys!" Mr. Miyamizu responds, saying "Alright then, call him up! I'd like to see this for myself." So Mr. Miyamizu sets up his desktop computer, so he can prepare a video chat with Joseph Joestar, and once everything was properly ready, Josuke puts in Mr. Joestar's contact information.

After a few seconds of connecting, Mr. Joestar picks up on the other end, and everyone can see him in casual wear and just how much older her looks when not in public appearances. He mumbles, "Hello? Who is this? Is this another scam artist?! I'm not buying!" Everyone, except for Josuke and Okuyasu, react with shock and surprise, and Josuke says "Old man, it's Josuke!" Mr. Joestar smiles and says "Oh, Josuke! And Okuyasu! Are you all enjoying your vacation?" Mr. Miyamizu still looks shocked, realizing that Josuke wasn't lying about his relationship.

Josuke says "It's been great, gramps; but we have a big problem!" Mr. Joestar immediately thinks that they encountered an enemy stand user, but he doesn't bring it up after noticing that the room was filled with strangers, who wouldn't have any knowledge of stand users. So he says, in a more serious and controlled tone, "What's going on, Josuke? Are you in danger?" Josuke replies, saying "Yeah! Well, not by a person, but it's the comet. It's going to crash into the town tonight, and we need to evacuate!"

Mr. Joestar's eyes widen, and he yells "Huh? Are you sure Josuke? How'd you find out?" Josuke says "Well, it wasn't me, technically… Someone I met recently, Mitsuha, was telling me all about it. And she seemed really determined, and the comet just looked suspicious enough to believe her." Mr. Joestar pauses for a moment, and eventually says "Hmm, that's not the most convincing argument, Josuke… Is the girl standing near you Mitsuha? Is it alright if you tell me about it, young miss?"

Mitsuha gets nervous, as her father looks at her sternly, but Okuyasu gives her a supportive back pat, which might have hurt her more than he meant it to, but she eventually says "Hello! My name is Mitsuha! It's an honor to meet you, sir!" Her father thinks to himself 'At least she hasn't forgotten her manners!' Mr. Joestar replies warmly, saying "No need to be so formal. Now, why don't you tell me why you believe a comet will strike the town, Miss Mitsuha?"

So Mitsuha explains, saying "Well, someone really important warned me about it. I can't remember his name, or who he really was, but he was sure of it! He knew that if we didn't do anything, the town would be wiped out and we'd all die! But why… why can't I remember his name? He was so important to me! I just know it! Why…" She starts to trail off, and Yotsuha gets up and hugs Mitsuha, while her father and grandmother look at her with pity.

Mr. Joestar thinks for a moment, and then says "Well, she is telling the truth. I've gotten quite good at discerning lies and truths over the years, and your daughter is definitely not lying, Mr. Miyamizu. But that may not mean that it was correct, but only that she strongly believes it, from the bottom of her soul." Mr. Miyamizu replies, saying "Well, what does it even matter! We can't evacuate the town tonight, of all nights…" But Mr. Joestar cuts him off, and adds "Because of the festival, right?"

Mr. Miyamizu gasps and says "Yes! How did you know, Mr. Joestar?" Mr. Joestar explains, saying "Well, I did some research on the town after Josuke told me about his planned vacation, and I saw how large this festival is. It must make up a large percentage of the town's yearly income. If you cancelled it early, you'd probably need to make steep budget cuts." Mr. Miyamizu sighs and says "Yes, you're exactly right. I'm sorry Mitsuha, but the town just can't afford without reasonable proof…"

Mitsuha's eyes well up with tears, as she realizes that she will fail to save the town, but Mr. Joestar clears his throat and says "I'm willing to cover the financial losses, if an evacuation were to occur. It'd be a shame for a whole town to be wiped out, if we could prevent it." Mr. Miyamizu replies, with a shocked expression, "You would be willing to go that far, Mr. Joestar? For just a bad feeling?" Mr. Joestar scratches his chin, and says "Well, you have a point that it'd be pretty foolish of me to do this is I wasn't 100% sure. But I know how I can fix that."

Then, out of nowhere, Mr. Joestar turns and shouts "Holly! Get me one of my 30,000 yen cameras!" The group in the office, minus Josuke and Okuyasu, were thoroughly confused by Mr. Joestar's sudden outburst. Eventually, Holly Joestar enters Mr. Joestar's room and hands him the camera, before scolding him, saying "You shouldn't order around your daughter like that, Papa!" But Mr. Joestar meekly says "I'm sorry Holly, but this is serious! Josuke might be in danger!"

The Miyamizus expected Holly Joestar, the legitimate heir to the Joestar family, to react poorly to Josuke's presence, since he was produced form an affair, but Holly casually says "Hey Josuke! I hope you're having a fun vacation! Tell Jotaro I said hi, if you see him around!" Josuke meekly says "Thank you Mrs. Holly, I will." Holly walks out of the room, while saying "Stop treating me so formally, Josuke!" She laughs as she leaves the room Mr. Joestar was in, and Yotsuha could only mutter to Mitsuha, "They're definitely weirder than you've ever been, sis!" Mitsuha silently nods.

Mr. Joestar explains, saying "I have a way to determine for myself whether or not this comet scare is legitimate or not. It probably won't have much weight with any of you, but depending on what I see, I will pledge to support the town with whatever revenue losses it will incur, Mr. Miyamizu." Everyone remained silent, as Mr. Joestar seemingly focused, and he eventually shouted "Purple Hermit!" Mitsuha, Yotsuha, and Futaba could all see a faint outline of a vine wrapped around Mr. Joestar's hand, but none of them could make it out clearly.

Then, Mr. Joestar suddenly chopped the camera, completely destroying it. The Miyamizu family looked on in shock, not understanding why he would just destroy a regular camera. Okuyasu mutters to Josuke, saying "I guess Mr. Joestar wanted to take one of those sprit photos that Mr. Jotaro mentioned. Did you ever see the old guy do it before?" Josuke shakes his head, so they focus on the screen. Then, a photo popped out of the ruined camera, causing the Miyamizu family to react with even greater shock, and Mr. Joestar quickly grabbed it and examined it closely.

Once the film dried and focused, Mr. Joestar's eyes widened, and he calmly said "Mr. Miyamizu, I strongly recommend you to evacuate the citizens of Itomori. I will definitely compensate for you, but you need to hurry." Mr. Miyamizu remained silent, and he wasn't sure if his daughter's frantic pleading had finally gotten to him, or if the serious demeanor of a respected figure like Joseph Joestar had affected him, but he eventually nods and says "Alright. We'll evacuate the town. Thank you for your time, Mr. Joestar!" He then bows, and Mr. Joestar laughs and says "Don't mention it! I'm just a washed-up old man trying to look out for his kids!"

But then he adds, saying "And thank you Miss Mitsuha, for not giving up. Don't lose that quality, alright?" Mitsuha blushes, and manages to say "Thank you for the praise sir…" Then, Mr. Joestar says "Josuke and Okuyasu; I need you both to watch yourselves too. I've still got a bad feeling about the situation." They both nod, and Mr. Joestar ends the call by saying "I'm going to send my grandson, Jotaro, to the town tomorrow, as a representative of the Speedwagon Foundation. Be safe everyone!" Mr. Joestar grumbles as he tries to end the video call, and he eventually does, after which Mr. Miyamizu contacts his staff to start the evacuation order.

Mr. Joestar looks at the spirit photo, which was a snapshot of the town of Itomori exactly 24 hours in the future, with worry. The photo showed the entire town devastated from the comet's impact, and he knew that the townspeople would die if nothing was done. Mr. Joestar mumbled to himself, saying "What was with that girl, Mitsuha? It was as if she saw the future with her own eyes! Was it because of a stand? I'll definitely need to give Jotaro a call tonight."

Time until the comet lands: 3 hours.

←To Be Continued