The Hierophant's March

"-...A lot has happened."

Hierophant just tilted his head in confusion. Noriaki kept speaking.

-I mean, my life has changed completely in ways I couldn't have expected in just the span of a few days, it's crazy! Like, how did we even get here?

Noriaki was sitting by a pool next to Hierophant Green, alone.

To answer Noriaki's question, it all started a week ago, when he woke up at DIO's mansion with only one mission in mind: "Find the Joestars, & kill them for me, Noriaki". He put on the gakuran DIO had given him & he was off to Japan on the flight He had got for him. When he was finally there he found Kujo's school with the help of DIO's fleshbud & managed to get transferred in halfway through the school year, perhaps with the help of DIO's charisma.

-Oh yeah, then that happened, handkerchief, the puppet... t-the nurse & all... I remember that, no need to remind me, Hierophant.

When he finally found Jotaro again, after all these years, Noriaki was met with a reality DIO had posed as a possibility: Kujo Jotaro had developed a stand, & a very powerful one. Even with all his experience, Noriaki didn't stand a chance against Jotaro's newly awakened power, & got knocked out almost instantly.

When he woke up again, he felt that sharp pain on his forehead again, but the cause was different now: Jotaro was on top of him, trying to extract DIO's fleshbud while it entered his body. Noriaki still had mixed feelings about that day & thinking about it still gave him chills, not clear which kind.

-Do we need to remember this bit? I still feel weird about it. -Hierophant just jokingly poked Noriaki's side.

After Jotaro successfully go rid of the fleshbud, Noriaki had to stay at his house, & he met Jotaro's family while being there. First it was, of course, Jotaro himself. Noriaki didn't have much information to build an opinion of Jotaro on, except their meeting in junior high & everything DIO told him, which was so biased it was hardly valid. What Noriaki knew was Jotaro saved him without knowing him, & that act caught Noriaki off guard.

-I never thought something so selfless could be done, for me of all people. He could've left me to die, but he risked his life to save me from DIO's grasp instead, & that is... is the word "dreamy"? - Hierophant questioned Noriaki with his expression alone, (basically a "bruh" face)- "Dreamy" as in "out of a dream", unreal & fantasy-like, don't get me wrong.

After being freed from DIO's flesh, Holly Kujo, Jotaro's mom, took care of both teenagers' wounds while they stayed at her house. She didn't know much about Noriaki, but regardless of that, she took care of him like her own son, quite literally. Her house was a warm place & her aura was calming to everyone around her, so when she fell ill because of her stand, everyone felt the urge to protect her, including her own stoic & careless son, &, of course, her father.

At first, Noriaki was slightly scared of Joseph Joestar, but as time went on Noriaki came to respect him. He was unpredictable in a sense. He could be a nice & jolly old man in a moment, a smart, ingenious & creative fighter in another & a serious strategist in another. Even then, there was one thing clear about him: He cared a lot about his family & he treated his friends as part of it, including Noriaki himself, Abdul, & now Polnareff.

Muhammad Abdul was the one that helped find DIO was hiding in Egypt, along with Noriaki. In contrast to his stand's destructive power, Muhammad was a very calm & understanding person. Noriaki almost saw him as a father figure due to all of their similarities: they were both calm & rational born stand users with sentient stands that were their best friends for part of their lives. Having someone that understood his situation & ideas was a nice change for Noriaki.