TheCommonCold: Thank you. Also, it's very...bittersweet. Jojolion has been the current part for so long, it's both exciting and sad at the same time. I also can't see Araki giving up on JoJo any time soon, I think there is definitely going to be a Part 9, but I will understand if I'm wrong.
Euphoria: That is such a fantastic idea, that is probably the direction I'm going to go. Furthermore, I think I have the perfect antagonist for him.
TheSBRdude: Thank you, I want to create a story that you all can enjoy, it makes sense that I would need to take a break once in a while. Thanks for your encouragement!
CoolK: Thanks for the stand ideas!
"Hmmmm...most interesting..."
A weasel looking man stood in the street, his head angled towards UA high and a grin plastered into his face. His blonde hair was slicked back with tons of hair gel, to the point of it looking more like yellow grease than hair. However, there was one trait that stood out among the rest:
He had no eyes. Just empty sockets.
"What's interesting?" His partner said from behind him.
"Kujo is dating the earphone girl, I can see them getting all-"
"Hey hey hey hey hey! Get your eyes out of there! We have a job to do, you can be a pervert later!" Hol Horse reprimanded his partner with a look of disapproval .
"Relax, they're just cuddling! Aren't they both targets anyway?"
"They aren't our problem right now! I think you're just bein' a creep! Your job, is to find the kid with One For All, and my job is to shoot 'em! Stick to it, or I'll be shooting you instead!"
"Easy Hol Horse! Ralph Quinn is no slouch. I don't know which of these kids has One For All, but I'll find them in no time!"
"You better." Hol Horse said, lighting a cigarette. "I'm already going to have a kid's death on my conscience, may as well get it over with."
"Don't sweat it, it gets easy after a while." Ralph replied, earning a glare from Hol Horse. Hol Horse took a puff from his cigarette, and turned to Ralph. "What does your stand do again?"
"Private Eyes warps my eyes to a location of my choosing, allowing me to spy on anybody anywhere. For some reason I can also hear...but I don't even want to understand that. You?"
"Gun."
"Ah...gun."
The two remained silent for a moment, before Ralph broke the tension. "Any idea why Lord Santana wants this quirk gone? He seemed pretty adamant about it."
"Apparently All For One wants this quirk more than anything, if Santana destroys it, then he'll break All For One's spirit. I just...I don't like that a kid has it. I don't really want to kill children."
"Get over yourself, weren't you the one saying we should get this over with? Just pop a few shots and run. You'll get over it."
Hol Horse gritted his teeth. He really didn't like this guy.
Gyro stared down at his busted alarm clock, wishing he had thought first before punching it.
Oh well.
The Italian slowly put on a t-shirt, wincing from the phantom pain from the Yakuza Raid. He had put everything his body had into the fight with Overhaul, and now he was really feeling it.
Still, he could have ended up like Kyoka.
Gyro gritted his teeth at the image of the heroine after her fight with Susan. She was beat up pretty bad, almost every inch of her was covered in blood, although some of it was probably Susan's. And yet she had the biggest smile on her face when she saw Johnny turn up alive...
He had almost lost both of them that day.
Gyro sighed and looked in the mirror, pointing an accusing finger at his reflection.
"You...yeah you fuckface. What the hell is going on in that brain of yours? You almost let your friends die...the most important people in your life, and you're sitting here pretending as if it never happened. What the actual hell are you thinking, Gyro Zeppeli?"
Johnny and Kyoka were happy, he had succeeded in playing matchmaker, but could he protect that happiness? Stand users were popping up all over the place, how soon would it be before that happiness would turn into despair? What if one of them died? What if both of them died? What if the whole class was massacred, and Gyro was the only one left?
It didn't matter in the end. Right now, he should only focus on the present.
"So...have you guys noticed that JoJo has been spending a lot of time with Jiro lately?" Kaminari asked.
"That isn't anything new Kaminari, they've been close friends since the USJ." Kirishima responded. "Besides, they both have the same work study."
"I'm pretty sure she has a thing for him." Mina chimed in. "She was making goo goo eyes at him when he came back. During the Sports Festival too! Actually, I think she's always looking at him like that..."
"Now guys, it isn't nice to speculate about our friends." Momo said with a stern voice. "Even if they were romantically involved, we should wait until they are comfortable telling us."
"She didn't deny it!" Mina shouted, and Momo facepalmed.
"Can you imagine if it was true though? Jiro could be making a lot of girls very angry right now." Hagakure said.
"We've speculated about this before *ribbit*, and nothing came of it. I don't think they're dating." Tsuyu said, crossing her arms.
"I don't think JoJo is the romantic type anyway. I think he wants to be alone, you know? I don't really see him dating anyone." Uraraka said. Besides, I'm still pretty sure she has a thing for Deku...
"I disagree." Mineta said. "JoJo could have anyone in the school that he wants, he could have a harem and nobody would bat an eye. Him with Jiro though? Can't see it. I think he would want to be with someone with a little more...bust."
The entire room went silent, and Mineta looked around before coming to a sudden and terrifying realization.
"JoJo's behind me...isn't he?"
"Try again."
Mineta slowly turned around to find Kyoka glaring down at him, a small purple flame glowing in one of her eyes. His face went pale as an earphone jack hovered menacingly over his eyeball, just mere centimetres from piercing it.
"Just to be clear Mineta, you didn't get lucky. Unlike JoJo, I will not be merciful. We have given you several warnings now...this is the last one. Next time I hear you say shit like that, about me or ANY of the girls, I will turn you into a fucking rowboat, kapeesh?"
"Y-yes Ma'am..."
"And for the rest of you...JoJo and I are just friends, okay? We're close, yes, but there is nothing romantic going on in the slightest. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go plan for when we go back to our hero studies, and yes, with him."
Kyoka strutted out of the common room, bristling with anger. While she couldn't deny that what Mineta said hurt, she could take comfort in the fact that he was wrong. Johnny loved her, and that had to mean something.
Damn her insecurities, damn Mineta, she knew the truth.
Kyoka reached Johnny's dorm and flung open the door, startling the Joestar that was inside. Without saying a word, and found herself into his bed and began screaming into his pillow.
Johnny deadpanned at his girlfriend's sudden intrusion. "Good morning Kyoka."
"Good morning." Came the muffled response.
"Any particular reason as to why you are screaming into my bed?"
"Multiple."
Johnny sighed and plopped himself next to Kyoka. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I caught people spreading rumors that we were dating, and Mineta said some perverted shit as usual."
Johnny frowned. "Did he say something about you? Do I have to set his "manga" collection on fire? "
Kyoka shook her head. "I already chewed him out. He basically said there was no way you would ever go for a girl like me...I wanted to tell him he was wrong, I wanted to so bad."
"Hey, look at me."
Kyoka rolled over onto her side so that she was facing him. He could clearly see that she was upset, but he could also see that it wasn't because she believed Mineta, rather that she was angry that the grape-headed bastard would ever say such a blasphemous thing.
"There could be no one else, Kyoka."
Kyoka's face relaxed, and a soft smile came to her face as she reached out and caressed Johnny's cheek. "I know, same here. I have faith in you, remember?"
Johnny pulled her in close and ran a hand through her hair, and the two just laid like that for a while. Eventually, Johnny spoke up.
"I'm visiting Eri today, with Izuku. I was wondering..."
"If I wanted to come? Duh, of course I do. We almost died for her, I want to see how she's doing. Does...does Midoriya know about us?"
"Not yet, the only person who knows is Gyro."
"And Yaomomo, I told her."
"I'm okay with that."
"I'd be fine with Midoriya knowing too, I mean, we know about his quirk, what's a relationship compared to that?"
"Fair enough."
If only they were paying more attention to their surroundings, they might have noticed the eyeball that was merged into Johnny's wall.
Midoriya's quirk? I think I might have found a lead.
Gyro entered the common room, only to find Mineta sitting in the middle of the floor, stewing.
"Stupid Jiro, I wasn't calling you ugly or anything..."
"What did you do to Kyoka?" Gyro said, his expression darkening as Mineta jumped.
"I-I was just s-saying how she didn't seem like JoJo's type! H-He's a good looking guy, I just thought he would have higher standards, no? Not that Jiro isn't pretty, it's just that she doesn't have big boo-"
"You're on thin ice pal. Better not break it, or your neck is next." Gyro said as he walked past the class pervert and made his way to the kitchen, where Momo was currently brewing tea.
Recently, Momo had been brewing "too much", which clearly meant that she had been making more than one cup, and was just making an excuse to share it with him. Honestly, Gyro thought it was sweet.
Momo set a mug down for Gyro and plopped herself down next to him, a content smile on her face. "You're a good friend, you know that? You could just let him get away with saying those things, but you defend them every time."
"I always defend the people I care about."
Momo took a sip of her tea before continuing. "I know. The class was debating on whether or not Jiro and JoJo were dating again. Even though Ashido was right this time, I respect their wish to keep it a secret."
Gyro nodded thoughtfully. Speaking of relationships, it was no secret that he and Momo had developed feelings for each other. How could he not? She was smart, dedicated, she always laughed at his jokes, drop dead gorgeous, and kind-hearted to boot. He already knew she felt the same way, they had already gone on a few test dates.
The issue was that she was messing with him, playing hard to get. Their unspoken love for each other had turned into some weird little game, and Gyro was pretty sure he was losing. Basically, they were trying to see how long it would take until one of them cracked, and Momo had proven herself resilient.
But he wouldn't give up just yet.
Suddenly, Gyro caught a glimpse of something on the wall. A pair of eyes was staring down at them, at the entire common room. While most people would just brush it off as a trick of the light, Gyro had been through enough to know better.
"Momo...I think we might be in trouble." Gyro muttered quietly. Momo's face quickly became concerned. "Trouble?"
"There...on the wall, try not to make it too obvious that you're looking, there's a pair of floating eyeballs."
Momo subtly angled her head and put a hand to her mouth. "We're being watched."
"Enemy stand...we need to be very careful, we don't know what it does."
Momo slowly created a flare gun from her palm. As usual, Momo is a genius! Blinding it is a brilliant idea!
The eyes moved to the wall opposite them, and Gyro had an idea.
If this guy is going to be nosey, maybe we could lure him in...
"So, Momo. I have a secret to share."
"Really, do tell."
"So there's this secret Spin power, one that once learned, can give you the power of a God."I
"A God?"
"A God!"
Secret power? Could this be One For All?
The eyes moved closer to the two in anticipation, and Momo took the opportunity, swiveling around and firing a flare directly at them.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ralph fell back screaming in pain, and Hol Horse woke up from his nap with a start.
"What the hell?! Why are your eyes smoking?!"
"Those fucking kids! They shot a flare gun at me! Somehow they knew I was there!"
"Some spy you are...alright where are they?" Hol Horse said, summoning Emperor.
"They were in the common room last time I checked. I can't see right now!"
Hol Horse grunted in annoyance and unloaded a bullet into the window.
"Bullet!"
Momo created a bow staff and knocked it aside, only for the bullet to loop back. "It's following us!"
"It's judging where we are based on the impacts! We need to dodge it instead, only deflect it when necessary!"
"Good call! There are definitely two of them, the one with the eyes and the one with the gun."
Gyro tilted his head to the side as the bullet whooshed past him, and Momo created a hammer and began bashing the wall. "Two on two, even odds! Now we just need to find them."
"What we need is an open space, hence I'm taking this OUTSIDE!"
Momo smashed through the wall and into the daylight, followed by Gyro. The bullet whizzed around the common room, blindly searching for the two heroes.
Momo fell to her knees, panting heavily.
"Are you okay?!"
"I...didn't eat much this morning...I'm afraid I don't have enough lipids for a prolonged fight, we need to end this quickly..."
"Shit on a stick! How much do you think you can create?"
"I'd say about four more things...don't worry..." Momo propped herself up with a determined look on her face. "I'll fight to the last."
"Save those creations for when we need them then, I'll do the heavy hitting, if you can create me some steel balls."
"Already did."
Gyro grinned as his signature throwing weapons found their way into his hands, Ball Breaker materializingbehind him. "Now we're talking!"
Johnny breathed out as he paused behind the door to the hospital room. Kyoka and Izuku stood behind him, followed by Mirio.
"Let's go."
The group entered the room, where Eri was sitting on her bed. The little girl's crimson eyes met green as they shined with recognition. "It's you..."
"Hi Eri...how are you feeling?"
"Better...how...are you?"
"Better."
Eri nodded, looking down. "Um...what's your name again?"
"Johnny, but you can call me JoJo if you want."
"JoJo."
"How has everyone been treating you Eri?" Izuku asked, a bright smile on his face. "We were worried about you."
"Everyone has been so nice to me...especially you guys." Eri once again turned her attention to Johnny. "Your mom died, right?"
"She wasn't my mom, not really, but yeah she did."
"She fought her." Eri pointed at Kyoka. "I saw..."
Kyoka deadpanned. Did I commit homicide in front of the child? Dammit Kyoka!
"Thank you for beating her, she was mean to me and JoJo. What's your name?"
"Uh...Kyoka Jiro...my hero name is Earphone Jack...and you're welcome." Kyoka was caught off guard by the sincere gratitude Eri gave her, but she couldn't deny that it gave her a warm feeling in her chest.
"Well...you're free! Now you can do whatever you want, isn't that exciting?! Come on, show us that smile!" Mirio said. Eri made a weird face, and then she began pulling her cheeks upwards, much to the confusion of the others.
"Um...how do I smile again?"
That was the moment Johnny's heart shattered.
"You little shits!"
Gyro and Momo turned to see a pair of bloodshot eyes hovering over them. "I bet you think you're so smart, using a flare gun like that. Well you've run out of luck kids, because I can see you now, and if I can see you, HE can hit you!"
BANG!
A bullet came directly towards Gyro, luckily Ball Breaker was fast enough to bat it away. He hurled a steel ball at Private Eyes, but they merely zipped out of the way.
"Really? Do you think you can hit a target this small?! My eyes can be hit by some dumb glorified softball! This isn't my first rodeo kid!"
"Why are you doing this?!" Momo yelled out as she narrowly avoided the bullet.
"Lord Santana wants a few of you gone! Kujo, Jiro, Zeppeli, whoever has One For All, you are all in his hit list! Of course, you already knew that, didn't you Zeppeli?"
"What?" Momo paused and looked at Gyro in shock. There was a deathly glare on the Italian's face. "All these stand users...they're targeting YOU?! And you KNEW?!"
"Yeah, so what? We've got to deal with these clowns, stay focused!"
"They've been targeting the school Gyro! You could get KILLED! Why didn't you tell someone?! Why didn't you tell ME?!"
"Because you'd get dragged into this too, and-"
"JoJo...Jiro...oh my God Jiro! She never told me either! No wonder the dorms blew up when they were alone together, someone attacked them, specifically! My best friends are in danger, and you guys chose to HIDE it from me?!"
"Can we talk about this after we get out of this situation?" Gyro said, hurling a steel ball at Private Eyes.
"Gyro this is serious!" Momo quickly batted the bullet away from her face, dropping her staff in the process, but it returned with a vengeance and hurtled towards her head.
"Alright that's enough! I give up! You win, I'll tell you everything you need to know about One For All." Gyro put his hands up, and the bullet froze before it could go through Momo's skull. She slowly backed away from the bullet, the peeved look still on her face. Obviously, Gyro had a plan, but she wasn't too happy with him at the moment.
"Go on then...tell me."
"I need to whisper it, if I speak it out loud...you know."
"Alright then."
The eyeballs moved closer, and Gyro immediately snatched them.
"OW! HE'S GRABBING MY EYES, HE'S-"
Gyro's fingers sparked, and the eyeballs began to rotate in his hands. Ralph's screams echoes throughout the courtyard, followed by violent puking sounds. Soon, the enemy stand user fell from the roof and landed with a CRUNCH.
Gyro kicked the twitching stand user in the ribs. As much as I would like to kill you for knowing about OFA, I don't think I'd be able to do that on school grounds.
Gyro angled his head upwards to see a man in a cowboy outfit pointing the barrel of a gun directly at him. The man's eyes met his as his greying blonde hair was blown by the wind. Honestly, it felt like Gyro was looking at some future version of...
Himself.
A piece of cloth shot out at the aged cowboy, and the man turned to see Aizawa charging at him. Hol Horse turned back to Gyro with a smirk on his face, a smirk that Gyro himself often wore, and said:
"Until next time kid."
And with that, Hol Horse ran like a chicken, comically waving his arms around as Aizawa chased him down.
"Yeah...next time..."
"Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't want to drag anybody into this."
"I would've been more than happy to help." Momo responded. "Do you think it's easy, having the people I care about lie to me? I didn't have any real friends until I came to UA you know, and now the friends that I do have are being hunted by a Pillar Man and his army of maniacs, and instead of asking for my help, they hide it from me. It hurts Gyro..."
"I never meant to hurt you."
"I know, but...you didn't trust me. Out of all the secrets you could've shared, this was probably the most important. I won't question as to what One For All is, because it didn't sound like it was your secret to share...but...I need some time alone to process all of this."
"Momo-"
"PLEASE. I...I can't talk to you right now." Her voice was dripping with hurt, and guilt ate away at Gyro as she briskly walked away.
"Smooth Zeppeli, very smooth."
Gyro groaned as he turned to see Valentine sitting at a table, casually watching the exchange. "Look, I already fucked up, I don't need you making it worse."
"That was not my intention...sit, I have a feeling you need to talk to somebody right now."
Gyro rolled his eyes and reluctantly did so, as Valentine pushed a mug towards him. "So, you have feelings for this girl, right?"
"Yes, we were like...semi-dating. What's it to you?"
"I know how it feels, to have your heart broken." Valentine said. "Do you remember the first lady?"
"Yeah, Scarlet Valentine, right? She disappeared."
Valentine shook his head. "She ran away...and left me a note. She was interested in women, and while I can accept that...why did she marry me? Did she feel like she had to? I never forced her into it, and why did it have to be a note of all things? Why couldn't she just talk to me about it, instead of leaving me with a piece of paper?"
"So she broke up with you in the most neglectful way possible."
"I'm sure she didn't mean to, she was probably afraid of my reaction. I wouldn't have been mad, I just wish she was more upfront about it, that way I could've given her a proper farewell. I did love her though..."
"Jeez, with your father dying and now your wife leaving...you had a really lonely life didn't you?"
Valentine nodded. "No one would ever stick around...eventually the mission became the only thing that mattered. People...didn't...matter..."
"You know what Valentine...I think I'm finally starting to understand you." Gyro said as he took a sip from the mug, only to spit it back out.
"YOU SONUVA BITCH!"
"And now Gyro Zeppeli...we are even."