Chapter Text
Jotaro and Giorno had just left the Coliseum on their mission to find Bucciarati and Fugo, both of whom had been corrupted by the mysterious being only known as the Noble One. As per Jotaro’s instructions, Kakyoin and Joseph stayed behind to essentially babysit this small, black-haired, Italian teen. The three were standing there at a bit of a loss as to what to do. The silence dragged on, becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second. Joseph coughed into his fist. He had to start some kind of conversation or else he felt he was going to die from the sheer awkwardness of it all.
“So, young man. Tell us a bit about yourself. What should we call you?”
The boy was startled at being addressed so suddenly, “Oh! Uh, you want to know my name?”
“That is usually where people start, yes.”
“It’s, uh, Narancia. Narancia Ghirga.”
“Well, Narancia, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Joseph Joestar, and this is my companion Kakyoin Noriaki.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Kakyoin replied.
“Kat-o-in?” Narancia was having trouble getting his mouth to wrap around the word, “That’s a weird name.”
“Kakyoin,” the redhead corrected, “and it’s not weird, it’s Japanese.”
“Kak-you-in?”
“Kakyoin.”
“Kak-yo-een.”
“Sure. That’s close enough.”
The awkward silence returned.
“So, Narancia, how old are you?” Joseph began again.
“Seventeen.”
“Ah, so you’re still in high school, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I mean, kinda. I’m not a very good student. And I’m not super smart either.”
Joseph frowned, “Well, that’s not a very kind way to speak about yourself. You must have at least one subject that you’re passionate about. Or at least some kind of incentive to do well in your classes.”
“Some kind of incentive…” Narancia thought about it for a moment, “Ah! Well, I am working pretty hard on learning my maths right now. My friend Fugo has been helping me out.”
“Fantastic! Good for you, young man.”
“Yeah, if I get too many of the questions wrong he gets super pissed. One time he stabbed me in the face with a fork.”
The encouraging smile dropped from Joseph’s face. That was not something he was expecting to hear.
“That is, well… Whatever works best for you, I suppose.”
“I have trouble in my math classes too,” said Kakyoin, “but I’ve never had one of my tutors stab me if I messed up.”
Narancia looked to the person who stood nearly half a foot taller than him, “Your math classes? Wait a minute, how old are you? Are you in college or something?”
“What? No, I’m in high school. I’m seventeen, just like you.”
“Huh?? Wait a minute, you’re huge!”
“Sure, I mean, relatively, I guess.” ’But you’re also tiny…’ Kakyoin thought to himself.
“Besides, I thought Japanese people were supposed to be… Ya’ know,” Narancia held his hand out flat and gestured downwards.
Smart remarks were ready to fly from Kakyoin’s mouth before Joseph rushed in to change the subject.
“Narancia! You’re a Stand User as well, I assume?”
The shortest of the bunch brightened at the mention of his Stand,
“Yeah! You guys too? You wanna see Aerosmith?”
“Absolutely! That would be fantastic.” Joseph was glad the previous topic had been dropped, but Kakyoin was still grumbling nasty names and rude remarks about the other boy’s hight under his breath, though Narancia seemed to be oblivious to it.
A red and white plane with a propeller on its nose appeared in the air beside the Italian. It flew upwards and started circling around the three before doing loops and barrel rolls through the air.
“See?? Isn’t he cool?”
“Yes, he’s very impressive.” And Joseph wasn’t just pandering to him, it really was an impressive Stand. Its agility was obviously something to be reckoned with, and though it didn’t seem to pack too much of a punch, it’s range was far superior to that of Hermit Purple’s.
“This radar makes it so I can detect lifeforms using their breath,” Narancia pointed to the little headset-like gadget floating near his head, “It can also tell me the size of the creature it’s detecting based on how much CO2 they’re exhaling.”
Kakyoin was also impressed, though begrudgingly.
“So are you controlling it? Or is it like a sentient airplane or something?”
“Nah, Mr. Smith is in there!”
The tiny aircraft dove down and stopped to hover in front of the other two Stand Users, something a normal plane of that type could never realistically accomplish. Kakyoin and Joseph leaned in to look into the cockpit, and just as Narancia had said, there was the vague shape of a tiny man wearing fighter pilot gear, just barely visible through the tinted glass. The figure gave a little wave before flying off to make a landing on Narancia’s outstretched arms and vanish.
Once the excitement of showing off his Stand was gone, Narancia’s face fell a bit. His expression became downcast and the gleam in his eyes dulled.
“You know… This might sound crazy but I think… I think I died.”
Joseph tensed and looked to Kakyoin out of the corner of his eye. But his expression was unreadable, and that only made Joseph more nervous.
At the silence, Narancia backtracked,
“I- Yeah I know, that’s crazy, right?” He chuckled awkwardly, “I don’t usually just spill my guts like that, sorry. Uh, just, just forget I said anything.”
“No,” Kakyoin interjected, “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. Nothing is making any sense right now.”
“Yeah, but… That has to be impossible, ya know? And even if it is, what am I supposed to do about it? How am I supposed to feel about the fact that I’m… that I shouldn’t be here right now.”
“But regardless, you’re here anyway, aren’t you? With your friends and loved ones… What difference would it make? It’s in the past. Nothing can be done about it.”
His words were meant for Narancia, but Joseph could tell that Kakyoin was speaking to the other teen just as much as he was to himself. They hadn’t mentioned what had happened or what might have happened, both because too much had been going on and that none of them seemed to want to bring it up. Joseph had had his close calls with death himself, but to be gone, to be completely and entirely gone, and then to come back with no memory of where you were or what you had been doing, it had to be something else entirely. Narancia looked to Kakyion confused for a moment, but it melted into something softer, something that suggested that his words had been some kind of comfort.
“Yeah… Yeah, I guess you’re right. What real difference does it make.”
The moment died when a distant shouting was heard coming from somewhere else in the Coliseum. Someone was looking for them, and Joseph had a pretty good idea of who it was.
“That sounds like Speedwagon. Kakyoin, Narancia, let’s go find him. Hopefully, he’ll have some more answers for us.”
Kakyoin was about to follow before a hand was placed on his arm. He was startled by the sudden contact and turned to see that it was Narancia who had stopped him. The boy was looking up at him with understanding, something which surprised Kakyoin even more.
“So… you too?”
He could only nod. He thought that he hadn’t noticed. Kakyoin made a mental note to give the other boy more credit in the future.