Heart Full of Diamonds

A New Adventure Begins

Josuke groaned as he read over his test paper, "Man, a 75? My mom is not going to be happy about this." He shoved the paper back into his bag and sighed. "What about you guys?"

Koichi shook his head, "A little better but not by much I'm afraid. This test's got us all beat it seems." He folded his paper up neatly and put it back into his bag as well then grimaced. "This sucks, we all need to start doing better or we might be in trouble."

"Speak for yourself," Okuyasu declared loudly as he clasped his hands behind his head. "I'm just happy I passed. That's all I need."

Koichi gave him a look of scepticism. "Seriously? That's your standard?"

Josuke couldn't help but laugh as he clapped Okuyasu on the back. "That's only because you don't have anyone at home who's gonna kick your ass when you do bad. My mom's not too strict on most things but she doesn't pull her punches either."

For a moment, Okuyasu didn't respond right away. Koichi shot Josuke a pointed look and he in turn widened his eyes with sudden realization.

"Oh shit, my bad. I didn't mean to be insensitive," Josuke said softly and reached out hesitantly to put a hand on Okuyasu's shoulder.

This seemed to snap Okuyasu out of it and he shook his head with a wide grin on his face. "It's fine bro, you're right anyway. I guess I don't really have any pressure to do well. Not to mention studying is just so boring!"

Josuke relaxed slightly seeing Okuyasu smiling again, "You're telling me, especially after how crazy last year was for us. School feels like the last thing I wanna do right now." He threw his arms up dramatically and laughed, "Where's the action?"

Okuyasu cheered in agreement and Koichi chuckled at the childishness of his friends. Despite their tough exteriors, they really were still kids on the inside. "Maybe I should get Yukako to come help us study," he mused. "She may have been harsh but you can't argue with results."

This shut the other two up instantly and they shared a look above Koichi's head. A mixture of horror and concern at the suggestion.

Koichi looked up at his companions and tsked at their serious expressions with a laugh. "Come on you two, I'm only joking. I love Yukako but that's an experience I'm not keen to relive any time soon."

Josuke and Okuyasu laughed with him while letting out simultaneous sighs of relief. "You have got to work on your 'I'm being sarcastic' face," Okuyasu whined. "It looks the same as your 'I'm being serious' face."

Suddenly, Josuke stopped in his tracks and looked around in confusion, "Guys, why are we here?"

The other two looked around as well, paying attention to their surroundings for the first time in a little while. Somehow, without any of them noticing, they'd ended up outside of Kira's old house. A shudder rippled through the group.

"Creepy," Okuyasu breathed with a slight shudder, "Weren't we going to go back to Josuke's house?"

"Yeah, we were," Koichi agreed. "I guess we need to watch where we're going more. We just started wandering and ended up here." He took a small step towards the house, "It's hard to believe all the crazy stuff that happened here just by looking at it."

"Not so scary now, is it?" Okuyasu said, a taunting tone in his voice though it seemed to be directed towards the house rather than his companions.

Josuke meanwhile, was looking not at the house but at something just beside it. Or rather, someone. "Hey who's that over there?" he said as he nudged his companions to get their attention and pointed.

The three of them watched as an unfamiliar figure peered in through one of the windows before creeping around to the back of the house. They looked around at each other nervously as the figure disappeared behind a corner. "What do you think that was about?" Okuyasu asked.

"Maybe they're the new owners of the house," Koichi suggested, though even he seemed unconvinced of the theory. "Maybe someone's moving in now."

Josuke chewed at his bottom lip nervously as he considered the possibility. "Maybe," he said slowly, "But you'd think Mr Jotaro would have said something if that were the case."

"Guys, look," Okuyasu interrupted and pointed urgently at one of the windows.

There, through the glass, was the same figure now inside the house. They wore a large hoodie with the hood up, preventing the three friends from making out any distinguishing features. But still, they watched as the figure moved back and forth before the window. Occasionally stopping to rummage through some drawers as they themselves had done so long ago when they were looking for Kira.

At last, the figure straightened up, cast one last look around the house, and disappeared from view. Though right as he was doing so, there was a flicker behind them, momentarily taking the form of a second humanoid form.

"Was that what I think it was?" Koichi said nervously.

"A stand user," Okuyasu agreed, "That would explain why we ended up here too. Stand users attract each other, don't we?" But Josuke held a hand out to both of them to hold them back.

"It might have been a trick of the light, or maybe we're just still on edge. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet, okay?" Josuke frowned at the house for a while but the figure did not reappear and he gestured for the two others to follow him as he began to leave. "Let's just go home for now and keep this to ourselves. No need to stress out the adults, right?"

Reluctantly, the trio began to move away, back in the direction of Josuke's house. "Are you sure about this?" Koichi asked, "Shouldn't we at least warn Mr Jotaro of the possibility?"

Josuke shook his head. "You know how he gets. If we told him about it now and it turns out to be a false alarm, we would have just stressed him out for nothing. He's supposed to be in Morioh working, not looking for a fight."

"I guess you're right," Koichi sighed, "I guess I just can't help but worry too."

Okuyasu threw his arms around both of them and smiled, "Relax you two, Kira's dead now. So what if that was a stand user? It's not as if they'll be someone we can't handle." He drew his arms back as he felt his friends loosen up and gently nudged Josuke in the side. "Now, tell me again about that new game you bought."