The Streets of Venice
Venice
Morning, a few days ago
It was April, 2029. Springtime. The best time of the year, especially in Venezia. For Fumoso Marrone, it was the usual desperation for some sort of financial gain.
The streets were bustling. There had to be some poor sap for him to relieve of their possessions.
Fumoso was not a bad guy. He just owed some bad people some money — nothing out of the ordinary.
He was walking, as one does, when he heard a minor commotion.
"Whaaaat?!" a clerk in a storefront yelled, "You haven't heard of Limonata?!"
The girl he was talking with seemed to respond, but Fumoso couldn't hear as he approached. He could see that she was Asian — maybe Japanese? Whatever. Didn't change the fact that money was money. And it looked like she had loads, with the high-class fashion she was donned in.
"Ahh, you're American, that makes sense. But you speak such good Italian!"
Fumoso took his opportunity and swiped her wallet just as she was taking out her cash.
She just stood there, almost unconcerned, until the clerk said, "What are you doing, Yank? He just nicked your money!"
But Fumoso was already gone, ducking down a side alley to count his earnings.
"Nice! Nearly two hundred euros! She was rich!"
He failed to notice two respectable-looking gentlemen approaching him from behind.
The fatter of the two roughly grabbed his shoulder, which caused Fumoso to drop the wallet.
"Look what we got here? I think that's Marrone!" the fat one jeered, "What are you doing out this early in the morning?"
"Aww c'mon guys, not fair—" he was cut off by the horizontally challenged gangster throwing him against the wall, Fumoso's wind being knocked out.
"Remember what we said, Fumoso, fifty percent goes to us, and another thirty goes to your debt!"
"I-I know! I just got that money!"
"Well—"
"Excuse me, kind signores," a voice with an American accent cut in, "Would you mind unhanding my friend over there?"
And he did, passing Fumoso over to the lanky man. The pig strutted towards the voice, and found an unimposing shadow entering the alley, holding a freshly bought Limonata.
"Oh yeah? Why should we do that!" he threatened.
"Well, how should I put this," she put her index finger up, "I'm the one that's paying off his debt."
'This 160cm Asian-American tourist is covering my ass,' Fumoso panicked internally, 'What is she doing?! She's gonna get herself killed!'
The two sneered, and the tubby thug further approached her.
"Really? Didn't you just get robbed? Speaking of which, we're keeping your wallet. Hope you don't mind."
As he got closer, he plucked a booger out of his nose and stuck it on her cheek. He saw her eyes close behind her fancy sunglasses as she sighed. "Now why are you doing this? What reason do you have to take that boy's money?"
"Because I can! Apatia rules this town, so I can do whatever I—"
Her fist shot out with surprising force, sending the engorged gangster's finger through the roof of his nose.
"Shut the fuck up, you walking McDonald's restaurant!"
Said restaurant was now on the ground crying in pain. His associate let go of Fumoso and pulled a gun on the woman.
"S-stay the hell away from me, or I'll shoot!"
He moved to box Fumoso in while keeping his aim trained on the woman, not letting him leave as the alley was a dead-end.
She opened her arms, as if to show she has nothing to hide. "Shoot me! I promise if you do, I'll snap your finger like a toothpick, you toothpick!"
"From all the way over there?! I'd like to see you try."
Meanwhile, Fumoso felt something off. He saw the air shift around the woman, almost imperceptibly, and in a split second, the cap of her Limonata shot off and twisted straight into the thug's finger. The force tore the finger off his hand, and the man was left squealing for his life alongside his rotund friend.
Fumoso turned his attention to the woman again, who promptly downed the entire drink in one go.
And she paused.
"SHIT! I've done it again! Fuck, Makoto's gonna be so mad at me!" She noticed Fumoso was getting up, "Hey kid, you okay? Let's get outta here!"
They ran for a while, until they were on a tiled bank underneath a canal bridge. Fumoso huffed and puffed, but still asked the woman some questions.
As it turned out, both of her parents died a long time ago, and she was now trying to find one of her cousins. And about the Limonata bottle, well, she didn't want to give an answer to that one.
But Fumoso had one more question for the woman in sunglasses.
"What's your name?"
She smirked.
"Joestar. Shizuka Joestar."
Venice
Night, a few days ago
It was a brisk night. Not out of the ordinary for an Italian springtime, and certainly not appreciated. The cold air rode the small waves of the canals, ruffling his suit jacket slightly. His hair billowed in the wind, and the paddle of his gondola bobbed up and down. He was quite the ways away from land, not that it mattered. The owner of said sea vessel was firmly under his grip, as was much of the city.
Another gondola pulled up beside him, his associate curtly greeting him. Another man sat at the end of the boat, warily watching the other two.
"Giuseppe, I presume," the lone man spoke up.
"Yes, boss," replied the man at the back of the boat, "What… Why do you request we meet here?"
'Boss' took a deep breath and crossed the gap between the two boats. Both boats wobbled with the change in mass.
"You've been causing some problems for me," he said, "nothing too major. A few missed payments and one report of unregistered business. How's that going, by the way?"
Giuseppe shifted in his seat, "I didn't–" he stammered, "it was just a bit of pot that I sold to a friend. A couple hundred euros, nothing more! My son, he broke a fence at school and–"
Boss interrupted with a sigh, "I thought so. Appreciate the honesty. Would your business help repay the loans you owe?"
Giuseppe frantically nodded, grateful, "Yes! Thank you, sir. I won't let you down!"
Internally, Giuseppe was looking for an opening. He knew the boss was a Stand user, but if he could catch him off guard, as well as his bodyguard, he could get away.
His opportunity came when the two men turned away from him. 'This is it!'
"Get 'em, ｢Beggin'｣!"
Boss chuckled, before Giuseppe's head was sliced off in an instant, falling into the water below. The Stand didn't even get a chance to appear, much less attack. The body flopped inside the boat, spurting blood everywhere.
"Know your place. A deal like this is too good to be true for a man like you." He turned to his associate, "Make sure his body joins his head," he noticed the blood stains from where the torso toppled over, "and make sure this is cleaned up. The owner is a good friend of mine."
"No, Makoto, I didn't kill anyone. Yes– I know– ye– mhm– I– mhm,"
Shizuka Joestar had made it to her hotel. Five stars, of course. What could she say, she had the money, she was gonna use it. The only problem now was that she had let slip what she'd done earlier that day. To her wife. The scariest person on Earth.
"How could you be so reckless?! I get using your Stand to prank your friends, but you can't just go around assaulting people!"
"Mako, I know, but these guys pulled a gun!" She failed to mention the part where she punched the guy beforehand, "and besides, that guy, Fumoso, he needed help."
Makoto was silent for a few moments before sighing, "I guess that's understandable. But don't do it again! Using your Stand on non-Stand users isn't how we do things." They were silent for a minute, before Makoto changed the subject, "So how are you going to find your… cousin?"
"First cousin, once removed," Shizuka corrected. After the discovery of the Giovanna family, Shizuka had spent a long time memorising it. Makoto had tried to as well, God bless her, but people outside the family just didn't understand it as well as those in the know. "I know the name of his school, and Google Maps exists, so I think I'll check that place out first. It's a boarding school, so he must be there most times of the day."
"Good idea. I would also look at common youth hangout spots, like arcades, sports–"
"Oh my god, Makoto. 'Common youth hangout spots?' You were a teenager once, right?"
She sputtered, "I-I know where teenagers go!" The next part was significantly quieter, "Akira took me to an arcade once…"
Shizuka laughed haughtily, "Oh Mako, you are too good for this world," she forced herself to calm down, "But you make a good point. Arcades may not be a big thing here in Italy, but everyone plays soccer, right? I'll look around a few sports grounds."
"Don't get made. Italy has a lot of Stand users."
"Yeah, but they're all chumps. Especially here. Apparently this gang is like Giovanna's, but much newer. I shouldn't have much trouble."
"So this is Gioviale's school? Huh. Looks a bit different from Shujin."
And she was correct. While Shujin was drab and dated, Accademia Magistrale was well-designed and intricate.
"Who names their school 'Master's Academy'? Stupid name." Although, now that she thought about it, 'Shujin' could be read as 'prisoner', making Shujin Academy's name basically mean 'jail academy'. Huh. Weird.
She shrugged, and made her way down the path. There were only a few people around. Maybe classes were about to start, or just finished – Shizuka didn't know. She'd already forgotten everything about school. That didn't matter, she had a cousin (once removed) to find.
She stopped the first student she saw.
"Hey kid!"
He turned his head, his nose leaving the notebook it was buried in.
"What do you want, chink?" Shizuka blinked, and the kid peeked at the notebook for a second. "Oh wait, you're Japanese, not Chinese. That word doesn't work… hmm."
Shizuka, still shocked at the casual use of slur, sputtered, "Can you just… huh? Do you know where Gioviale Giovanna is?"
He smirked at his book before closing it and turning his attention to Shizuka. "Why yes, I do know where Giovanna is. Allow me to make your acquaintance. My name is Matito Romano. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Joestar."
Matito was having an average day. Normal school stuff, normal ｢Take On Me｣ stuff, normal blackmail stuff. Today he'd hit a personal record of how much money he'd been able to… procure. And that was before he'd even finished his list.
Next was… Lode Vantare. Ah yes, the 'popular' one.
He'd found out about Vantare's habits by complete accident, as was usually the case. Matito discovered that just by walking around with Take On Me, it would automatically record everything in its vicinity. And it just so happened that he had gone to the male bathrooms during one of these times.
He flipped to the page that had recorded that moment.
Lode Vantare, you damn homo, can't you keep it in your pants?
This one sentence threw Matito into a rabbit hole of uncovering everything there is to know about this student.
There were a few things to know about Vantare. He was boastful of his looks and money. He was always around pretty girls, and he was rather good with them. But this revelation, well, it was not hard to get Signore Vantare to part with his cash every so often.
So there he stalked down the front path of the school, headed to the dorms where Vantare was most likely knuckle-deep in another man.
A surprise visit would be–
"Hey kid!" He heard a woman's voice seemingly calling to him. He groaned internally. 'Damn Asian bitch. What the hell do you want?'
"What do you want, chink?" he said dismissively. He opened Take On Me, and was surprised to see what it must already be churning out.
Shizuka Joestar, Japanese.
"Oh wait, you're Japanese, not Chinese. That word doesn't work… hmm."
He heard her stuttering, before asking, "Do you know where Gioviale Giovanna is?"
He barely heard her, as he was reading the rest of what his Stand had to say.
Shizuka Joestar, born Japanese, raised in America. CEO of Joestar Realty. Agent of the Speedwagon Foundation. Current NET worth: 2.8 billion USD. Stand user of the Stand ｢Houdini Eclipse｣. Can turn invisible and manipulate light, amongst other uses. Married to Makoto Niijima.
Matito's mind was racing a million miles a second. 'What the hell? What is this Asian-American billionaire doing here?' he thought, 'And a Stand user… shit. Makoto Niijima… that sounds like a girl's name. Shit again. I better apologise if I want to gain anything from this.'
He smirked and turned his attention to Shizuka. "Why yes, I do know where Giovanna is. Allow me to make your acquaintance. My name is Matito Romano. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Joestar."
To Be Continued ===