JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Thin Air

Chapter Twenty-Seven: What Once Was (Part V)

Shizuka searched for her phone in the dark room and saw that she'd received a text. It was from Josuke:

Leave that party right now and go home

I'm gonna get u out of there, believe in me

She felt butterflies in her stomach as she read the message. Josuke knew where she was, and he was going to help her? She could hardly believe it. But for whatever reason, despite the implausible situation she was, she did. Her trust in her brother was just that strong.

She left the room, phone at her side. The girl from before recognized her and said she exact same thing she said before.

"Ah, look who woke up!" she said.

Instead of trying to figure where she was, Shizuka smirked at the girl.

"You bet I woke up."

She strutted out to the front door without saying anymore words and left the building.

She called her own Uber and within an hour, she returned to the apartment she shared with her father.

"Miss Shizuka," an older man with a flat cap, a black-and-white suit, and a distinct mustache said. "I didn't expect you to return so early. I could've picked you up!"

Shizuka smiled humbly at the man who had served her family ever since her sister Holly was a young girl. Despite his significant age, he still proudly worked for the Joestar family. He was still fully capable of defeating a Yakuza member should they try messing with his employers. Still, he expected to retire by the end of the year, and was still on the job so he could train whoever his future successor would be.

"I didn't want to trouble you, Roses. You know how far Staten Island is from here, right? I didn't want to keep waiting in traffic."

"Oh, Miss Shizuka, so kind of you to be thinking that! But still, it is my duty, so you should've called me."

"Is Papa awake, by any chance?" Shizuka asked as she stepped inside.

"Mr. Joestar actually just got off the phone with Miss Holly, yes, he should be awake."

"I'll just see how he's doing." she said, hurrying upstairs to the upper floor of her apartment to Joseph's room.

She knocked on his door first to see if he was asleep or not. 

"Papa, is everything alright in there?"

"Shizuka, is that you?" an old man with an English accent said. "Come in, sweetie, I haven't seen you all day!"

She entered the room to see Joseph Joestar sitting on his bed, holding his phone in his hand. Joseph was certainly an elderly, hoary man. He was indeed 95 years old, but he didn't look like it. He hadn't changed much in the past 18 years. He hadn't aged visibly because when he had visited Morioh in 1999, he had actually been faking his senility in an attempt to not take responsibility for Josuke. But after meeting and getting to know him and the baby girl who would become his sister, Joseph changed. This caused the Hamon in his body to naturally reactivate, and while it didn't reverse his aging up until that point, it made him look and act much the same nearly 20 years later.

"How was your day, Papa? I heard from Roses that you were talking to Holly."

"Yes, I did. She's still as jolly as ever! I'm glad that damn husband of hers finally retired so he can actually look after her."

"Mr. Kujo retired?" she asked of her brother in-law, being careful not to mix him up with Dr. Kujo, his son.

"Just last night. Maybe now that useless man will finally step up and spend time with his family. I've only seen him with Jotaro and Holly about four or five times, and he's been married to Holly since '68! I don't even know if he's met his granddaughter or not," Joseph sighed. "Well, anyways, how was your day, Pumpkin? Had fun at the party with Nick?"