Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Doctor Kaneko Izumi

In the human body, I genuinely believe that in your DNA there's a genome for whether you're a morning bird or a night owl. I am definitely the former. I purposely keep my blinds opened to allow Mother Nature to wake me up instead of an obnoxious alarm clock. Today, however, is different.

Instead of slowly alerting me of the newest day, she slapped me across my skin with needles of ice. I completely forgot about swapping my thin comforter for a quilt for seasonal changes resulting in a weak head start to another school day. It only takes me 20 minutes to get ready to leave the house since I pack my school bag and prepare my uniform the night before. My school uniform was similar to the girls in the same school as me, except mine was mahogany red, a baby blue scarf around my blouse, a skirt that was slightly above my knees, and black tights that went up to my thighs. I accompanied this outfit with black loafers.

As I walked into the kitchen, I noticed a pot of coffee sitting on the counter with a yellow sticky note on the side

I made extra coffee this morning. Have a good day!

Love, mom

ps. I'll be home early in the afternoon. If you go to the Kame Yu market after school and grab some crab legs and vegetables, maybe we can have some hotpot tonight.

Crab hot pot? YES! After I added milk and sugar to my coffee, gulped it down and grabbed one of the leftover rice balls from yesterday for lunch. The ring from my doorbell went through my entire house. Between 7:00 AM and 7:10 AM Okuyasu, Koichi and Josuke usually pick me up to go to school.

"Oi! Kuroko!" A raspy voice called for me. "Time to get going!"

I went through the hallway and looked for the scarf I wore yesterday, immediately forgetting that I gave it to Josuke. I went through the closet and grabbed a black scarf instead, grabbed my school bag, and opened the door.

In front of me was Okuyasu and Koichi as normal, but next to the smaller of the two was a Josuke with rosy cheeks, my burgundy scarf tucked in his school uniform, and wearing the "lame" puffy jacket from last semester. His signature hairdo was slightly lopsided as well."Hey Kuro." He sniffed. The tip of his nose reminded me of that American reindeer song that would sometimes play around Christmas. "Let's get going."

"Josuke," I started. "Are you sure you should be going to school? You look like you just came from hell"

"I'm…" he sneezed mid-sentence. "I'm fine. Besides, my mom wouldn't let me stay home from school anyway."

I let out a massive sigh as I stepped out the door. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."

The four of us sauntered to school as red and yellow leaves descended from each tree. The sky was covered completely with muddy gray clouds to match the temperature outside. A huge gust of icy wind slapped our faces on our journey to school. I'm not a fan of using my standability for trivial things like this, but the last enemy I want to fight is a fever in the middle of the school week.

"Iron Maiden!" I summoned my stand. An ebony colored knight with shiny ivory armor formed behind my back. The entire head was covered with a white helmet and there were two slits to show its black eyes. It left my body and manifested into a large ivory hexagonal force field to block the weather from my friends and me. "This will make the trip to school easier."

"It sure is getting cold early," Koichi spoke as he pulled his jacket collar closed. "I wonder if we are getting snow early as well."

"I sure hope so," I added. "I love seeing the snowfall from the sky, making snowmen, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate under a kotatsu,"

"Oh!" Okuyasu interrupted. "Don't forget the scary stories that are coming up in a few weeks!"

"I'm actually not too good when it comes to scary movies," Koichi added while rubbing his neck nervously. "Last time I watched a scary movie, I wasn't able to sleep peacefully for a month."

"That's probably because you watched it by yourself," Okuyasu replied. "We should have a sleepover just to watch scary movies all night long!"

"We can have it at my house!" I recommended, "Tomorrow, my mom is going out of town for a few weeks to give a few medical lectures. She usually doesn't mind if I spend some money here and there as long as I don't buy something outlandish. We can buy snacks at Owson.'' Both my short friend and my tall scared friend gave me a peculiar expression. "I mean, we can have the sleepover at Koichi's house if you don't want to come over to mine."

"Kuroko, that's nice if you offer, but I'm not too sure if it would be right to have a sleepover with the four of us." Koichi acknowledged.

My face tensed up from his response. "Wait why?" Did I say something weird?

"Koichi is right," Okuyasu added. "Don't get me wrong. The three of us enjoy hanging out with you during the day, but sleeping over at a girl's place, with three teenage guys, doesn't that sound weird to you?"

"No, not really. I slept over at Josuke's house a ton when we were kids."

"And that's the thing, the two of you aren't little kids anymore. You're a grown woman and he's a grown man."

"I still don't understand the point you're trying to make Okuyasu."

Okuyasu pinched his chin between his fingers and crossed his other arm around his chest. "Ok. Let's say you sleepover at a guy's house. Where would you sleep?"

"In the guest room," I replied

"Ok good. Now, what if he doesn't have a guest room?"

"I'll sleep on the couch. If they're nice they might let me use their bed. I still don't know where you're going with this Okuyasu."

"One more question: Let's say that you're sleeping on his bed or the guest room, and he decides that he wants to sleep with you. What do you do?"

I take a few seconds to think of the best answer. "Well, I would either scoot over so we can both sleep in the bed or I'll get up and sleep on the couch."

"Ah! That's not what I mean!" He slapped his hands on his face in frustration.

"Which is why we would stay at my house! There are three guest rooms so we won't have to share a bed! Josuke! Help me out here!"

I glanced at my sick friend. His eyes were struggling to stay open for every second that passed, similar to a zombie that just awoke from their slumber. He sniffed his nose again. "What?"

"Josuke," Koichi signed. "You really don't look well enough to go to school."

"I'm fine guys, you don't need to worry about me."

"You know, my mom is getting off early around our lunch break. Maybe you could go back to my house around then for a check-up." I said.

Josuke shook his head. "There's no way I can bother Dr. Izumi during her time off."

"You'll be fine," I explained. "I don't think she would mind at all. The only thing is that I don't think she would want me to skip any time in class to get you there. Jotaro did tell us to travel in pairs in case the stand murderer attacks us."

"Yukako and I actually planned on eating lunch together," Koichi declined. "What about you, Okuyasu?"

"I wouldn't mind going with you Josuke."

"Guys I'm fine. I'll go back to Kuro's place during lunch to see Dr. Izumi myself. The chances that the stand murderer would attack me in the middle of the day are low. Besides, you're struggling in math Okuyasu. I don't want you to fail because I got sick and you needed to take me there."

Okuyasu rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you better come back to us alive, or I'll kick your ass when I see you again."

The four of us stand users continued our walk to school while we fought with the wind pushing us to turn back.

**Josuke's POV**

In every single human being, I genuinely believe that in your soul you're either a morning bird or a night owl. I am definitely the latter. Not to mention that this cold is stabbing every muscle in my body with pain, making me want to sleep even more. I skipped classes this morning and laid down in the nurse's office to wait for lunch to come around. I know that my grades aren't the best, but if I stayed in class I wouldn't understand what the teacher was saying.

Once lunch rolled around, I made my way back to Kuro's house. The weather warmed up a bit, making it slightly more comfortable to get there. I hope Dr. Izumi isn't too busy while she's on her day off, but if she's annoyed that I'm skipping class then I can just say that her worrywart daughter insisted that I come here.

Kuro has always been like this since we were kids. When there was a problem, she was always the first one to jump up and do something about it, even though she would be endangering herself. With her caring nature and determination to help those in need, each time I look at her, I question if she cares about herself just as much.

I arrived at my destination and rang the doorbell. The beat of footsteps became louder. "Coming!" I tighten the scarf around my neck. Wait a minute… this is Kuro's scarf. Shit. What would her mother think if she saw me wearing her daughter's scarf? I quickly stripped myself of her red scarf and stuffed it into my brown school bag right before Dr. Izumi answered the door. Kuro's mother had a tall stature, almost as tall as me, with burgundy hair just like her daughter. The only difference regarding the hair was that Dr. Izumi had hers cut down to the sides of her neck. Her lab coat was still on along with a thick teal sweater, gray jeans, and black and white striped socks. A smile spread across her cheeks when her eyes met mine. "Josuke! I haven't seen you in a while. Wait, aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Yea, about that, I'm really sick today, and Kuro said that maybe you can give me a quick doctor's check-up."

Dr. Izumi sighed. "Yea that's something Kuro would do. Come now."

I entered my friend's house and took off my cool Italian shoes. It's reminiscent of Rohan-sensei's interior, except the living and kitchen space was connected to form a large area with a four-cushion couch in the middle and a big tv against the wall. The house was also slightly smaller than Rohan's. There wasn't a set second floor, however, there was a flight of stairs by the entrance that would lead up to an open hallway with a railing, with five doors against the wall. It's a large house, but in terms of being one of the houses in Millionaire Village, it's on the small side.

I followed the red-haired doctor into her office. A spruce desk covered with documents was the first thing I spotted along with a matching bookcase filled with medical encyclopedias. Multiple diplomas and awards hung side by side along the turquoise wall. The amount of pride this room exploded with is overwhelming.

"You can sit in the chair right there." Dr. Izumi pointed to the red leather seat in the corner. I followed her orders as she pulled out a stethoscope, thermometer, a popsicle stick, an otoscope, and a blood pressure gauge. I took off my school jacket so she could listen to my lungs. "Take a deep breath in." The icy metal of the stethoscope pinched the skin on my back as she went under my yellow T-shirt. I inhaled too quickly and coughed harshly. "You definitely have some mucus in your lungs," She commented as she grabbed her thermometer and placed it in my mouth. She took out the thermometer and frowned. "37.8 Celsius. Yep. You have a mild fever." She took the wooden popsicle stick and pressed it on my tongue, making me cough lightly. "And your throat is a little bit sore as well." Dr. Izumi removed the stick from my mouth and discarded it. "I can give you some medicine that will pretty much cure you of your symptoms. It's a new vaccine that my team of doctors has been working on. The only downside is that it's a shot. Would you want that?"

My face scrunched up after she said the word 'shot'. "Um, I'm actually not a fan of needles."

"Don't worry, you'll only feel a small pinch. Are you sure you're as tough and cool as you look?" She smirked.

I sighed "Fine, I'll take it." The doctor pulled out a small syringe with a four-centimeter needle protruding from the tube and bent down. She squeezed the corner of my shoulder.

"Now, you need to close your eyes, no matter what. Promise me, ok?"

"Ok". I followed her directions. A tiny pinch went through my skin and into my muscles. The slight pain only lasted for a few seconds.

"And you're done." Kuro's mom rose up and placed the needle in her medicine cabinet as I got up and swung my right arm around to relieve some of the stiffness in my shoulder. "Keep moving your shoulder. In about five minutes I'll check your temperature one more time to see if it went down any." Dr. Izumi glanced at her wristwatch. "I actually have a phone appointment right now, so just make yourself at home Josuke." I slipped my jacket back on, left the room, and did what she told me to do.

Already I can feel the guck in my lungs disappearing into nothing as my breathing eased. My stuffy nose cleared up, and every muscle in my body loosened. I never knew medicine today could do this! Well, those plaques in her office aren't just for show. Usually, when I go over to Kuro's place, the first place we go is into the living room to watch TV. However, I don't want to cause any trouble for Dr. Izumi while she's on the phone, so I made my way into my friend's bedroom.

Kuro's neatness and tidiness personally are definitely reflected in her bedroom. Two large oak bookshelves covered half of one of the pink grapefruit walls in her room. A twin-sized bed with baby blue sheets squeezed in the corner, and directly across from that was a small TV. By the door was a desk, similar to her mothers, including the scattered papers on top of it and a single black notebook on top. Like mother like daughter I suppose. To the right of the TV was a Nintendo Entertainment System with two games: Super Mario Bros 3 and Tetris. I only remember her using the console whenever I was here in middle school, but outside of that, the console would collect dust until I would come back to play with her. I guess I'll play Super Mario while I wait. She did say "Make yourself at home."

As I made my way toward the console, I noticed that on her desk, the ebony notebook was embroiled in a shinny gold English font with the word "Diary".

Wait. What's a "Diary"? I think about a few nights ago, a diary showed up in this rom-com on TV. The main character went through the book and it had a ton of embarrassing things about herself in it. This could be the perfect future material for teasing her, but I don't want to invade her personal space. Then again, aren't I doing that right now by going into her room without permission?

I went back and forth with this decision, but curiosity and my childish demeanor took over. Besides, how would she know that I looked into her notebook? I flipped the leather cover over to see the first page, which contained a date and a photo of the two of us the spring before middle school and a picture of my stand I drew years ago. Kuro had her eyes closed with a slight smile while I held a peace sign behind her head. Neat Japanese calligraphy is followed below.

May 17th, 1994

I bought this book purely because Josuke bought me a camera as my "going away" gift, even though I'm permanently moving back into Morioh right before junior high school. It's been a fun school year in this town. Before coming to Morioh, I always thought friends were a commodity, but Josuke taught me the complete opposite. Even when I tried to shut myself off from him, he would forcibly break down the wall that would keep us apart and still be my friend. Yea, he's a big weirdo. A REALLY big weirdo. He keeps telling me about his friend named Crazy Diamond. He can fix things that have been broken before but I've never seen him. He drew a picture of Crazy Diamond when I met him, but I can't believe what I can't see.

Although he's weird, I'm glad he's the first friend I've ever made.

This is the last memory of Josuke I want to have before moving to Italy for two years.

P.S: This was my first time using a camera, and I'm not too good when it comes to technology, so I didn't know when to smile. I look dumb in this picture haha.

The sweet nostalgia sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach as I smiled softly. I turned to the next page.

June 3rd, 1994

I didn't know Naples was so pretty! The building is slightly reminiscent of Morioh, but it makes sense that Italy is located in Europe

Picture of Italy here

—-

June 15th, 1994

Mom and I have settled in our apartment. This will be our new home for a while. While she attends seminars. My stay here will be boring unless I go explore by myself.

June 30th, 1994

Italy is a lot more dangerous than I expected. Unlike Japan, not everyone follows the rules. As I walk with my mom, there's always a bunch of creepy guys in the alleyways holding packets of white powder. I'm assuming that's my signal not to talk to people like them.

July 3rd, 1994

I was walking down the streets of Italy to buy some ice cream. There were these few boys that I assume were bullying a short Japanese kid with bobbed hair. They pushed the kid down to the ground and spat on him. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but I couldn't just stand there and watch. With my barely learned broken Italian and basic English, I stood in front of them and asked them to stop. BAD IDEA. They punched me to the ground and kicked me repeatedly to the side, leaving me on the ground barely conscious. I should've learned my lesson from the last time I tried to stand up for someone. When they left, I lifted myself up and looked for the Japanese boy, but he wasn't there. I don't plan on going out for a while, so I won't update my diary as much.

January 8th, 1995

My days are filled with self-studying and nothing else. Recently my mom has been speaking Italian through the phone in her room at night. I wonder who's she speaking to?

August 28th, 1996

I'm finally back in Morioh. My mom bought a new house in Millenaire Village since we're becoming permanent residences. Nothing has changed in this little town, well almost nothing. On the first day of school, I met up with Josuke for the first time in years. He grew. A lot! It feels like he grew 25 centimeters! I can barely reach his head without jumping, and he's a lot muscular too. I never knew boys could grow that fast over two years. Here's a picture of him and me on the first day of junior high school.

A picture was taped to the page of the two of us on the first day of junior high with her hand raised trying to reach my head.

I skimmed through the rest of the book, looking for something, ANYTHING, to make fun of her for. Sadly, my time was cut when Dr. Izumi called me back into her office. She checked my heartbeat, breathing, temperature, eyes, and nose once again and nodded her head. "Yep. You're all good. I should warn you that there's a small chance you might feel drowsy later on, but other than that you should be good to go!" She then glances at her watch. "School should be ending for you soon. Do you want to stay for dinner?" Dr. Izumi suggested she takes off her lab coat. "We're having crab hot pot today."

"Yes!" I yelled in excitement as I followed her into the kitchen. "How could I say no?" Crab legs, especially around this time of year are extremely expensive, even for a town like Morioh that has its own coral reef. It would be disrespectful to my own body to deny a food as tasty as a crab hot pot.

"That's great! Kuro should be bringing some of the ingredients, so she'll be coming home late. In the meantime," She opened up one of the kitchen drawers and removed two aprons, one with pink hearts under a milky white background with red frills on the ends and the other one was completely baby pink with the words "cutie" written in a darker shade. I lowered my head and sighed. "You'll have to help me prepare the vegetables we have at home until she gets here. Now, which one do you want?"

It didn't matter which one I wore. Either one would make me look any less manly. "The polka dot one." I guess it's the sacrifice I'll have to make for a free crab hotpot meal.

"All right!" Kuro's mom gleefully wrapped the polka dot apron around my waist and neck. She then placed a small kitchen knife in my right hand and two small potatoes in my left. "Let's get cooking! I'll need you to peel a couple of potatoes while I start the broth."

The two of us worked together as a team for the past 45 minutes to prepare for tonight's dinner while we engaged in small talk. How my day was, how's school, how's my mom, things a worried neighbor would ask of their daughter's normal highschool boy. I can only really tell her the normal details though, leaving out the various details that have happened over the past few months. If I told Kuro's mom about her daughter hunting down an unknown killer, I'm pretty sure that would be the last time I'll ever get to see her again. Does Dr. Izumi even know about Koichi and Okuyasu, considering that whenever the three of us go over her house, it's always empty? Either way, It's none of my business.

The woman behind me stopped chopping bundles of green onions to let out a somber sigh. "Josuke, how's my little girl doing."

I paused from cutting malformed star shapes out of the top of the shiitake mushrooms. "I mean, she seems happy. She's made friends beside me. And when I'm with her, she's smiling all the time."

"That's good." I heard the clang of her knife being dropped on the counter. "Listen, I have to leave again for two weeks to go to Hokkaido. I have to leave Kuro again. It's why we are having crab hotpot today." Dr. Izumi's eyes dulled down. "I know that I can barely be there for my daughter, and it's pitiful that I have to ask about her from another child. Sometimes, I feel like I failed as a mother."

"That's nonsense!" I shouted, grabbing her attention. I rubbed my neck out of embarrassment from shouting. "I mean, I never hear Kuro say anything negative about you. And the fact that you're doing all of this to make sure that she stays happy shows that you care. I don't think Kuro's the kind of girl that looks for the negatives in a person, but rather the good in them." It was strange to try and comfort a woman more than twice my age.

Kuro's mom giggled softly. "Thank you but, the way you talk about my daughter, it's kind of cute. it's as if you've fallen for her." My cheeks flushed red as I waved my hands. "No no no no it's just that we've known each other for so long that you kind of understand that person's thought process you know?"

"I'm home." A familiar voice came through the entrance. The familiar face matched the familiar voice that just entered the house. Our eyes meet. Her topaz eyes scan my body from head to toe along with the pink polka dot apron I was wearing. Our eyes met once more.

"Pfft!' She snorted. Kuro proceeded to go into a hysterical fit of laughter on the floor as she dropped her grocery bags. My face turned as red as her hair. This is just GREAT. "Josuke," she struggled to say as tried to catch her breath. "Why is this the second time I see you wearing an apron?"

"Second time?" Dr. Izumi asked. This is just SUPER GREAT.

"Maybe I should call Okuyasu back to see your outfit. He shouldn't be too far from the door." Kuro said as she reached for the door, still giggling. "He should still be outside." No. I dashed to the front door and grabbed her hand from reaching the doorknob.

"I won't allow you!"

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" She teased, patting my hair before standing up and picking up the groceries. "I want this memory to myself." Damn it. I hate it whenever someone touches my hair but when she does it with that smile, I couldn't help but giggle a little. Besides, I can consider it payback from me patting her head like a dog yesterday. Her hand goes from my hair and to my cheek. "And you look like you're feeling better!"

"Yea. Your mom fixed me right up!" I stood up and gave her my hand to pull her off the ground.

"Good evening sweetie," Dr. Izumi called. "Did you get the ingredients for me?"

"Sure did mom." My friend placed a bundle of crab legs, dumplings, raw shrimp, five bottles of melon soda, and enoki mushrooms on the kitchen counter. She pulled out a bundle of receipts and Kame Yu stamps and beamed. "The shrimp and the mushrooms were on sale, so I got more and got some melon soda and some stamps out of it."

Dr. Izumi hugged her red-haired daughter and rubbed her head. I'm starting to see a pattern here. "Well, the broth is almost ready! Kuro set the table and we'll be able to eat soon. You can just sit and wait since you helped me earlier"

"Yes, mother." Kuro sighed as I sat down at one of the kitchen chairs. In a matter of minutes, the three of us were at the table surrounded by a large portable burner, and on top was the pot that bubbled with perfection. The aroma of fish broth and miso flew around the whole house. We said our thanks and chowed down on the flavor bomb that was absorbed by the sweet crab legs and shrimp. The three of us were too busy devouring our meal instead of talking. The night fished with Kuro and I watched sumo wrestling on the TV while Dr. Izumi washed the dishes. The hot pot filled my soul with warmth, making me take off my school jacket and wear just my yellow T-shirt. The TV host showed up on the screen and presented the next opponents.

"And coming up next in the circle: Takamisakari Seiken and Wakakirin Shinichi!" The crowd roared as two overweight men walked into the circle wearing nothing but red and blue loincloths.

"Kuro, who do you think is going to win?" I asked, but when I turned around, my friend was laying on the sofa on her side half asleep. She gave me an incomprehensible mumble while her eyes were closed. "Kuro, you can't go to sleep now! It's only half-past six and the fourth match just started."

"I think I ate too much." She said right before her house phone rang. Dr. Izumi went into her office to answer the phone, leaving the two of us alone. "Hey, Josuke." She spoke in a soft tone.

"Hm?"

"Come a bit closer." I scooted right next to the couch she was laying on. "Closer." I moved right next to her head on the floor. I could feel the heat radiating from her body. My cheeks heated up. "I need to tell you something."

"W-what?"

"You know how when you're dozing off, random past memories or even ideas just spring up?"

"Well, yeah?"

"Well, one of those memories just came up, and got me thinking." She laid on her back and stared at the ceiling. Her words slurred out as she struggled to stay awake."This might sound dumb, and kinda embarrassing, but hear me out. When I was 7 years old and living in Hokkaido, I had to take a test at a school for gifted kids in order to be placed in special classes. They put me in a white room with nothing but a folding chair, a desk, the test I had to take, and a man on the opposite side of the desk. The man asked me questions and I filled the answers in on the test. Then near the end, I flipped the test over to see one extra problem. There was a train on the railroad, and on the main train track, there were five people tied to the track. The was also a diverging track with a lever right next to it. And that track had one person tied to the railroad."

She has always rambled about weird nonsense topics right before she would go to sleep, even as a kid. The last time this happened, she went on about how stands could communicate with each other using their own kind of language. I'll just follow along as always. "Hmm."

"The man explained that I had the choice of pulling the lever, which will force the train to switch tracks and run over one person. Or I could not switch the lever, and allow five people to die. I thought about this question for a bit. I didn't want anyone to die. So I said that I would move the one person off the track. He said that wasn't a choice. I asked if I could tell the train conductor to stop minutes before and he said no. Every scenario I asked was immediately rejected and I was forced to decide whether or not I chose to let five people die passively, or to take action and murder one person to save four more lives. Eventually, I ended up having a mental breakdown and started crying. I didn't want to hurt anyone in that hypothetical question. My mom had to pick me up from school early. Silly, huh."

"That's not silly," I responded. This ramble had felt different compared to her other peculiar questions that would spring up in the middle of the night. "It just means that you care about others."

"Yea, but here's the thing. The problem doesn't end there. What if you were the one who was strapped into the railway?" I noticed that her hand started to quiver as well as her eyes. "I really wouldn't want to lose you, but…" I held her hand before she could continue any further.

"Look, like you said, it was a hypothetical question. That kind of scenario would never happen. And besides, if you get into a situation like that, I'll be there right beside you to help you out." I gave her a bright smile to ensure her safety. She returns it as she slowly falls asleep. I went upstairs and into the linen closet to grab a blanket and laid it on her sleeping form. A few minutes pass of me flipping through the TV channels and as soon as Dr. Izumi got off the phone, she saw her sleeping daughter and figured that the visit was over. She made my mom and my leftovers of the scrumptious hot pot dinner and sent me off to go home.

At the end of the day, my fever was gone, I had delicious food, and I got to spend time with one of my best friends. Hopefully, these leftovers will make my mom forgive me for staying out so late.