The year was 2025, and, for the most part, Karaat had a fairly decent life, well at least after he took some time to recover from that summer. He had been able to reconnect with Murasaki, though it hadn't been easy. They had fought for some time, and he had needed to take time to grieve each of the girls and his time with them. Through the whole time, Murasaki had been by his side, letting him take his time to heal. Eventually, he crawled out of the depressive episode over time and after time, he asked her out. And they were now expecting their first child together! They were also married and he had a steady job as a teacher. He didn't know how it came to this, but he was grateful that he had a good life. While he was still a fairly friendly and cheerful man, he was known to get emotional because of his past depressive episodes. He still liked nerf blasters and he still enjoyed pizza and spaghetti but it was clear his time with the deadlies had changed him in many ways.
For the most part, he was a fairly happy man. He went to social events with his wife and joked with his students. And he cared about his students! He had a pretty good relationship with all of them. And he always worked hard to make sure they understood what he was teaching, even spending time after class so they could come in and ask questions. But, sometimes, especially late at night, he would lay deep in thought, regretting how he could never give Chiyako the proper sendoff she deserved. He regretted this the most and this was one of many nights where he laid in bed, his wife sleeping soundly next to him as he played over every moment in his head, as if seeing it again would give him a solution to fix the situation.
This was one of those nights. It would usually start off with the happier memories, from various dinners or cute dates that he had set up for the girls. But then, as the thoughts continued, it would slowly turn into the sadder moments. Sakura's attack on his arm as well as the kiss he gave her as payback, the arguing with Kotoha, Mari accidentally calling his mom her mom and seeing how his mom grieved for her when she passed, Ichiru getting into fights and smoking, Nene being cornered by those men, even Chiyako's last day with him and her painful goodbye. And, of course, the revelation of who killed them all, Chiyako's grandfather. Sighing, he closed his eyes. These thoughts always seemed to plague him when he was stressed. He hated this feeling, even more so when he knew what was causing the stress and couldn't stop it.
He had class the next morning and, even worse, he had to get up early for a meeting with the rest of the staff members. Usually he wouldn't mind, but tonight was definitely not a good night. If he didn't get some sleep soon, he would be a mess. And he needed to be alert, not only for the meeting but for students. His kids weren't trouble makers or anything, but any time he had sleepless nights, they would fuss over him. Usually, when he didn't get much sleep, he would try to have a quiet day so he wouldn't have to focus too much on his lesson plan. He felt bad when it happened, but they didn't seem to mind. And it wasn't like he could vent to them. Not only was it not right to vent to students as a teacher, but how could someone explain that when they were their age, they had to help put seven girls to rest? Yeah, that was impossible and not worth it.
While he still wore glasses, he had changed quite a lot physically. His usual outfit was flashier, with a suit that had a pattern that looked like dashes making the form of x's. The base of the suit was greenish in color while the dashes had an orange tint to them. His tie was light brown with an orange geometric line design. His hair was shorter now and it was barely visible under his brown hat, which had another orange geometric design that looked like diamonds. Black shoes and white gloves completed the look. He had also grown a lot. Whether it was his stand or puberty, he had gotten a bit more muscular. He wasn't crazy buff, but he clearly was stronger than he used to be.
He glanced over at the suit, that was hanging up on the hook outside the closet. He would be getting up soon to get ready for that meeting and classes. And he would be rushing to get breakfast, saying goodbye to Murasaki before rushing to get to the school on time. Closing his eyes, he sighed softly. This was going to be a long day.
But as he thought this, he felt an odd tug. He couldn't explain it but it was like someone grabbed him by the shoulders and tugged him forward, even though he didn't move at all. And when he opened his eyes, he was definitely not in his bedroom anymore. Thankfully he was dressed in his suit since he had been wearing just underwear minutes ago. He did not need to be flashing anyone. As he looked around, he slowly realized he was in some kind of U-boat. It was somewhat dark but there were lights littered among the U-boat giving it an eerie red glow. In a way, it kind of reminded him of a movie he had seen ages ago. It had been a horror movie set in a U-boat where a demon basically possessed the computer controls and the crew was struggling to stay alive and override the computer. It wasn't great, but now that he was in a similar setting, it was kind of creepy.
He was about to say something when he saw three people ahead of him. There was what looked like a teen boy who looked about as confused as he was. Well, at least he wasn't alone in his confusion. Though once he looked at all three of them, he was pretty sure all of them were confused. At least they weren't expecting him. He couldn't even imagine what he would do if they had been waiting for him to arrive.
The boy had short messy black hair and had a black shirt and pants with some kind of patterned material around his waist. There was another teen boy with wavy black hair which almost made him look like a star with how the points of the waves ended. His collared t shirt had a star on it with the word "JOJO" in a repeated pattern inside the star. His outfit was completed with shorts and a belt as well as some sneakers. But the strangest one of all was clearly the long-haired horned man standing next to the two young boys. He focused on Karaat and before he could say anything, the man asked, "Who are you? How did you get here?" Karaat was speechless, but only for a moment. Just what in the world was going on? Shaking his head, he muttered, "I don't know. I was in bed with my wife and then I appeared here. Which, speaking of, where is here? Because this looks like a U-boat but that doesn't make any sense. And who are all of you?"
"I see, well, the good news is this means we can go back to earth," the half-naked man said. "The only issue is that with the four of us now here, we have about four hours until the oxygen runs out for you. I do not need oxygen to breath so I am fine." As the man and the two boys looked at him nervously, Kars said, "Relax, little humans. As much as I would love to see you slowly suffocate, it would get boring after a while. Besides, I have a solution. I'll make a ship of my own and we will be able to leave. Though, I don't know if you'll be making it through the trip. A little human snack does sound pretty good. And when there's three, well, I am tempted.
"Right, your own spaceship. Wait, did you mention eating us?!" When Kars nodded, he looked at the other two who shrugged, as if they didn't know how to process that information either. At least he wasn't alone. And it was probably for the best they didn't think too much on it. Right now, they had to focus on getting out alive. They could worry about potentially being a horned man's meal later. Continuing, he turned back to Kars, asking, "And, how are you going to do that?" He glanced around before turning to the other two. "Who are all of you anyway?" He probably should ask what the man was, since he mentioned that he couldn't breathe, but he was a little bit concerned about offending him and possibly being the first one to be eaten.
"I'm Jorge and this is Narancia. And the man next to us is named Kars. It's nice to meet you, well maybe not under the circumstances but still. Wait, what's your name?" The boy in the middle said.
"Karaat Utsusukowashi," He explained, looking over confused when he saw the man apparently named Kars starting to do something with what looked like what looked like an eyeball balloon and some devices that may or not be probes as he started to move to the exit. "What are you doing? How are you even planning to build a ship, especially with this eyeball balloon?"
Kars paused, glancing over. "Quite simple, really. Well, simple to me, though I'm not sure how your little human minds will adjust to it. Still, I'll try so pay attention, humans." Kars muttered, "You see, this eyeball balloon, as you call it, is made up of thirty-six different versions of me from each universe. Each version of me is holding a Giotto probe, which I'll need to build this ship. As for the room, don't worry. Like I said, I don't need oxygen. So, I can take my time outside to build the ship. Though, you'll have to breath carefully to make sure you four don't run out of air!" He reminded, smirking slightly before continuing, "And if it works, which I've calculated that it will, I'll be able to eat all four of you as a celebratory feast!"
"Thirty-six different versions of you? Like from an alternate universe? Wait four of us? Last time I checked, it was three since you don't need to breath." Karaat asked, almost wanting to get close but quickly deciding against it. Something about what was happening was telling him it was best to give the man some space. He remembered the mention of four and started counting, about to wonder if the man counted himself. After a moment, he found the fourth one. The fourth man was on the floor and it looked like he was badly injured. Shuddering, he moved over so he wasn't risking stepping on the poor guy.
"Well, yes. The universe has looped about thirty-six times. And in each one, I was defeated by Joseph Joestar and flung into space, where I met myself. And, another bonus is I don't really need to eat to survive. Technically, I have an agreement with someone that I wouldn't eat any Americans, but you see this isn't easy work. Got to celebrate somehow. And you four seem like the best options, especially since your oxygen will only last four hours. What fickle little things. So, you'll understand if I ignore my little agreement, well if this works, which it should. Anyway, I would suggest resting." Kars said, practically giddy at the idea.
"You keep saying four, Kars. But there's three of us, isn't there?" Jorge asked, looking at Narancia and Karaat. When Karaat shook his head, he looked around before paling as he saw that on the ground, a man who he knew as Enrico Pucci was on the ground. Oh, that's where the four came from. Rushing over to him, he cursed. He was alive, but he was badly wounded.
As Kars left, Karaat walked over as well, sighing. "Keep him still. As long as he's not bleeding, he should be alright." He glanced over at Jorge and Narancia before sighing softly. "We'll keep an eye on him. Let's try to stay calm so we save as much oxygen as possible?" When they nodded, he frowned, feeling bad. These were teen boys and yet they had to deal with this. Still, they seemed braver than he imagined they would be.
Sure enough, over the course of a few hours, the ship was being made and Karaat had to admit he was impressed. He had been watching out the window as Jorge and Narancia kept an eye on the injured man. It was almost fascinating how Kars carefully built everything, as if he was setting up a model of a transformer or a Lego model. He was about to say that he was impressed by the craftmanship until he noticed that several Kars were melting themselves. "Woah, wait what are they doing?" Karaat asked as he, Jorge, and Narancia watched in horror.
"Turning themselves into fuel. We need fuel to leave, after all." Kars said, not even reacting as he walked in for a moment, probably taking a break as the ship fueled itself. It took a bit but sure enough, much to their shock and confusion, they soon had a working ship. Kars turned to the young boy named Narancia and said, "Shrink the U-boat once you're on the ship. It's time to leave."
Karaat knew from the summer as a teen that things in the world weren't black and white. And if there was such a thing as cursed Blu-ray discs, ghosts, and even stands. Even so, he never expected to see anyone, let alone a teen boy shrink a U-boat into something he could hold as they boarded the ship. What in the world was going on? It had to be a stand, right? Either way, he followed them on to the ship, confusion forever on his face. He just hoped that he would get answers before Kars got bored and decided to eat them. He needed to get home to his wife!