JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Thin Air

Chapter Twenty-Two: Enter The Foundation (Part III)

Team Joestar plus Anne found themselves exiting the teleportation room, stepping out onto the first floor of a modest looking two-story house. It looked like it could've belonged to any middle-class American family, but this one was slightly different. Its matriarch was an employee of the Speedwagon Foundation, so it was located within their Dallas Compound.

"'Welcome to my humble abode!" Anne said to her guests. "I'll take you to my boy's room, and then I'll put some tea on the stove for all of you. You guys deserve a refreshment after all the trouble you've gone through. Come, follow me."

"I appreciate your generosity. Thank you." Josuke said with gratitude, his normal calm demeanor having returned to him.

Soon after, the group found themselves in front of a door that looked like all the rest on the second floor. There was nothing unusual about it, but they were closer to what they, especially Josuke, had been eager to get to.

"Hey, sweetie, Mom's got some guests over!" she said to the boy behind the door, who couldn't be seen. Only the loud volume coming from a TV set could be heard.

"God, this kid," Anne said. "He's lovely, but sometimes he can be a bit of a pain. Teens, am I right? Let me try again."

She cleared her throat and prepared to speak again.

"My guests would really like to see you! Come on, be a good boy and show yourself to them!"

At that point, Anne started to realize that her son was not alone inside his room. From under the voices coming from the TV set, she could hear him conversing with another person inside his room. She sighed, and although she didn't want to, she resorted to raising her voice at him.

"Emporio Alnino! Open your door right this moment! The Joestar family wants to see you right now!"

The TV ceased to produce any sound, as if prompted by Anne's voice.

"Hide somewhere! Now!" Emporio said to his unknown companion.

A moment later, the door creaked open. A 16 year-old boy a couple inches taller than Monica appeared before the group. His shoulder length, curly light hair was kept together with a hair tie. He wore a Chicago Cubs uniform.

"You said... the Joestar family was here..?" he asked his adoptive mother, the woman who volunteered to care for him after he had left his lifelong home, Green Dolphin Street Prison, five years prior in 2012. She wasn't his biological mother, of course, but he felt that she was the only person capable of giving him the love his real mother would've given him, so he called her Mom. Not only that, she allowed him to keep his birth last name, the only thing that still tied him to the woman who birthed him. 

"Well, look at them! They're right here with me! You apologize to them right now for keeping them waiting."

"I'm... I'm really-"

"No need for that, Emporio," Josuke said. "I realize that you're probably in the middle of something, but your mother here said that you could help us out with something. It won't take too long, I hope."

"Of course. Ummm, come inside. You're welcome to sit on my bed if you wish,"

With that, Anne went to the kitchen, leaving Team Joestar in the hands of Emporio.

The group entered his bedroom, with Shizuka stepping foot last. She and Emporio made eye contact for a moment. Emporio's eyes glistened melancholically as a name came to mind.

"Jo...lyne."

Shizuka heard him and offered to correct him.

"I'm not Jolyne, dude. I don't look anything like her." she said, curving the side of her lips in an effort to not appear rude. She was far shorter than Jolyne, and they weren't even related by blood. Not to mention that while Shizuka was pure Japanese, Jolyne was almost fully European.