New Delhi, 1988
The floating genie Stand crosses its arms and folds its legs, with a bit of ambivalence.
"What, Joseph? You think you can defeat a Stand with your fists?"
"I'm sure I'll figure something out." Joseph cracks his knuckles, then charges the figure hovering in front of the park statue. Ripples of air and energy resonate from Joseph's ankles as his feet rocket off the stone path, culminating in a leap straight at his target. A purple vine extends from his open palm and wraps itself around the Stand's neck, leading into a falling punch from Joseph aimed directly at the Stand's skull.
I got you now-
Unfortunately, the fist passes right through the Stand's head, leaving Joseph dangling by the taut purple vine, an inch or two off the ground.
"How many times do I have to tell you, you fool? Only Stands can harm-"
"Shut your face, you ugly metal clunker!" Joseph slams his other fist into the stone and gets a handhold in the path itself. With a mighty pull, he yanks himself and his outstretched Stand towards the ground, causing Cameo to reach for its neck as the vine tightens around it. For a brief moment, air burbles out before Cameo grabs Joseph's Stand and starts yanking back.
"You tried to choke me, now it's payback time!" However, after a few moments of fighting back, Cameo simply stops floating and lands, giving Joseph a nonplussed look as the man flops to the ground.
Crap.
"So. Joseph." Cameo lifts an arm and winds up a punch and Joseph closes his eyes to brace for the blows.
"Don't say it."
"Only Stands can hurt-" And just as he's about to unleash a flurry of blows on the grounded Joseph, a sound cracks out in the distance, a mixture between a hundred whip cracks and machine gun fire.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA"
Leaves rustle and branches snap from deep in the park. Joseph's eyes slowly open in shock, but quickly the look shifts to smug confidence. A figure bursts up and out of the treeline, as if launched by a rocket. Its trajectory takes a shallow arc, and the body of a slightly muscular man with an awful, balding mullet crashes into the statue beside Joseph.
The torso of the statue goes flying off down the stone path leading out of the park, skidding and skipping across the stones. The head goes straight up a little bit, before falling and landing on the freshly crashed man's skull. Cameo looks at the man, then Joseph, then the man again. Joseph smiles a devilish grin.
"Ah, but you know what I can hurt with my fists, Cameo?"
"Don't say it-"
"This idiot!" Joseph kicks himself up into standing as he wraps his Stand around the dazed man's legs.
"Hey, stop that!" The Stand clamors and waves its hands in protest, not quick enough to save its Stand master.
"How about…no." Reeling the man in, Joseph raises a knee right into his midsection. Popping up a bit, the stunned foe coughs up a bit blood before catching a fist to the left side of his jaw. With a flick of his wrist, Joseph flings the man over his head and rolls his shoulder in preparation.
"Now, Cameo, let me show you what a metric ton of Hamon feels like!" The man begins to descend over Joseph's head and Joseph himself buckles down and squares his stance. In the distance, he can hear some familiar footsteps hurrying over. From the corner of his eye, Joseph spots Jotaro and Anne approaching, apparently chasing the man who got launched from the trees.
Excellent, this will be a great demonstration of how cool I am!
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" The falling man screams as he finally gets his bearings, waking up from the experience of being a human pinball. Joseph's eyes snap back into focus, his lungs breathing in the life of the park around him. Energy crackles from his shoulders to his fists and he winds back his first punch.
"SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!" A hail of blows crash into the midair enemy, his body rippling with each strike. The genie simply watches in horror as dozens and dozens of lightning fast, Hamon-infused punches connect on all the soft spots of its master's body.
With a final flourish, Joseph delivers a gut punch straight into his foe's solar plexus, launching the man into a rather large tree trunk about one hundred feet behind him. The finisher seems to have knocked out the enemy Stand user, as the previously recoiling Stand disappears from sight.
Turning with a wink and a grin, Joseph gives a big thumbs up in the direction of Jotaro and Anne.
"Got'em!"
New Delhi, 38 Days Remaining
"Jotaro! Did you see how cool he was?" Anne tugs on Jotaro's sleeve as her wide eyes sparkle with awe.
"Yeah."
"You don't sound excited, though." With a frown, she punches Jotaro's shoulder, who doesn't react in the slightest.
"Yare yare daze…" Jotaro approaches Joseph while pulling down the brim of his hat. It looks like Joseph took quite a few hits, but is doing his best to not show how tired he is.
"Did you see how cool I was, Jotaro?"
"Yeah."
"You don't sound excited, though."
Ugh. Good grief.
"Did you see another enemy run through here? There were two, Jojo."
"Hmm…." Joseph appears as if he's trying to remember, but is obviously hiding something. "Nope! All clear. Before I go throttle some answers out of this guy, how was your training?"
"Well-" Before Jotaro can respond, Anne interrupts by running up and shouting.
"It went great! I almost stabbed a guy!"
The park goes almost silent, before Joseph kneels down a bit and pats Anne on the shoulder.
"You'll stab him next time, kid."
"Jojo-" Jotaro goes to protest, but just pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers in frustration.
They're both idiots.
"Anyhoo, I got you guys presents for doing well in your training!" Joseph scrambles over to the nearby bench, only slightly covered in the remains of a statue, and produces two bags. He tosses one to Jotaro and the other to Anne before walking back over.
"Don't tell me you used the travel card for these…" Jotaro grumbles as both he and Anne rummage through the bags. Anne's eyes light up as she locks on to the cassette in her bag, causing her to hug the bag tight in joy.
"Hey how'd you know, Joseph? My favorite song's on this album!" Anne jumps for joy and goes to hug Joseph. Jotaro, meanwhile, finally gets his hand on the cassette in his bag.
"Oh, y'know, I've got a great read on people." Joseph grins ear to ear with smugness, but for some reason, Jotaro is speechless.
How did he…
Inside the bag is a cassette. A very familiar one. Variety by Mariya Takeuchi. His mother's favorite album and, as a little bit of a secret, his favorite as well.
"Jotaro, what did you get? Let me see!" Anne tries to sneak a peek inside his bag, but Jotaro holds it high above his head.
"You've got terrible taste, Joseph."
"Hey, I did my best! You're kind of unreadable, Jotaro. I knew I should've gone for something less obvious…" Joseph resigns a bit and sighs. Jotaro also sighs, but far more subtly.
Ah. He mixed up the bags. Still…a very thoughtful gift…for an idiot.
New Delhi, 1988
Joseph walks the sunset city streets, eyes tracing the lines of the concrete below him. People bump into him here and there, but he doesn't waver in his stride.
Caesar…I think…I think I understand.
Joseph passes by a few tourist families, all admiring the sights around them. He sees a man and woman holding hands as their small child stands in front of them, pointing in awe at the setting sun behind the Indian skyscrapers. A daughter, maybe 10 or 11 years old. A plane's contrails decorate the outline of the city, and flocks of birds dot the sky.
"Look, dad! It's just like back home!"
"Sure is, sweety. But those birds are just a little bit different."
"It'd be okay, dad, even if they were the same! It's great just seeing them with you and mom! It's all so pretty!"
Joseph has a small, weary smile as starts walking again. The sky truly is gorgeous. He digs his hands further into his pockets.
We're all missing something, huh.
He wanders his way back to the hotel strip, his tired legs continuing to soldier on despite the hard day.
I really do understand, Caesar. It's not about what you cared about so much. It's what you wanted so badly…
New Delhi, 38 Days Remaining
Jotaro waits in his hotel room, his gaze drifting over the New Delhi skyline. His hands rest on the bedside phone, still waiting on the call from his grandfather. A few hours have already passed since they handed over the enemy Stand user to Speedwagon Foundation, who assured them that they are quite familiar with how to handle a Stand user. Apparently, they had been working with Avdol and his grandfather for quite some time and had many ways to restrain and handle captured users.
"Hm."
The sunset has tinted the sky orange and rolling thoughts of family and urgency surge through Jotaro's mind. A loud, cacophonic noise echoes from the other room as Anne blasts the music she received from Joseph.
"Pounding out aggression/Turns into obsession/Cannot kill the battery/Cannot kill the family/Battery is found in me!"
Of course he thought I would like Metallica…though I'm not sure he knew what he was buying in the first place. Was it his Stand, or…
His eyes drift to the bag carelessly dropped on the bed beside him. He stares at it, motionless, before a hand nudges him. Star Platinum, just as silent, hands Jotaro his cassette player and earphones. He sighs, knowing that his Stand had saw through his indecision already. Jotaro takes the cassette player and leans back, stretching his legs out.
Been a while since I could relax…
The worn headphones slip over his ears comfortably, and as he leans back Star Platinum takes out the cassette and locks it in. Instinctively, he skips the first track, having taken and listened to this album on his own many times in the past. The second song was always his favorite. The cassette player clicks and the music starts up.
Sounds of summer, sadness, and longing ring through his ears. His tense muscles collapse further into the hotel bed, his eyes close with a wave of comfort. Star Platinum draws the curtain for him, cloaking the room in subtle shadow. With a quiet voice, Jotaro thinks of his mother, struggling for life, and sings along with a song she used to sing in the kitchen, all alone.
"Dance to the plastic beat/Another morning comes…"
END of CHAPTER 20