JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Thin Air

Chapter Twenty-Three: What Once Was (Part I)

Sitting in Anne's living room, Team Joestar sipped their tea as they discussed their next steps.

"It would be ideal to know just how capable Nicholson's Stand is," Josuke said. "The fact that it is probably a powerful one means we need to prepare ourselves to fight him. I've gotten into more than a few fights with Stands whose power I wasn't aware of, and trust me, it isn't fun."

"You're right," Clapton said. "But we have no other information to go off of besides that poem. And will the Italian authorities even give us his info? I mean, there's a chance he's hiding off in some other European country. You don't need a passport to enter EU countries from other EU countries."

"That's true, Keith. But it's still worth going to Italy." Josuke said.

"How so?" Monica asked. "Italy isn't exactly a small place, let alone the European Union."

"Yeah, I know. But... I know someone there who would be able to help us." 

"Mr. Giovanna!" Shizuka said. 

"Yep- 

Josuke was then cut off by Monica, whose jaw dropped.

"Gio-Giovanna? As in the Giovanna? The leader of Passione?" Monica said in disbelief. "H-How do you know him, Signore?"

"I haven't known him for a long time, but, I know him enough that he would be able to lend us a little hand. He's, well, a family member."

Monica's brain started to put the pieces together. There had been rumors that Giorno Giovanna was born in Japan, despite being the leader of Italy's most powerful gang. Was he related to Josuke's Japanese side? No,  was he connected to the other side of his family? 

"So... what's the plan, Josuke?" Shizuka asked.

"We leave for Italy tomorrow evening. We find Giorno- no, Mr. Giovanna, and he helps us look for Nicholson. From there... well, we can think of that later on. But for now, we need to rest. We've been traveling for three days straight, we need a break."

Just then, a vibration came from Clapton's phone. He turned it on to find that he had received an email from his school, the Lennon Institute.

"Hey, Shizuka, Monica..."

The girls looked in his direction.

"What?" Shizuka asked.

"I just got this... the school caught on fire."

"Again?" Shizuka sighed.

"Wh-what do you mean, 'again?'" Monica said. "Is that normal?"

"Of course it is. The school's old as hell, it's bound to happen. In fact, it's happened three or four times during my time there. The greedy administration keep most of the money to themselves and barely use it to maintain the school." Shizuka said. "They practically wait for something to happen to act on it."

"It's going to be closed for around a month." Clapton said.

"So we have a month to find Nicholson now, huh?" Shizuka said. 

"It's a pain knowing you kids will have to be out of school for that long," Josuke said. "But... it does give us extra time. We should use it to our advantage."

Little did Josuke know that Monica and Clapton were elated, not having to go back to that crummy institute for a while. As for Shizuka, her views were conflicting, even to herself. She didn't know what to think of it.

Some moments later, Anne returned to the group from another area of the house.

"Um, Bryson?" she summoned the boy. "I've got some news for you."