Erina Pendleton believed herself to be a practical young woman.
After her mother’s death and her father’s withdrawal into his work, she faced the world on her own. She cooked breakfast for herself and her father, managing the house by herself. What spare time she had she spent wandering the countryside near the Joestar Estate, the doll her mother had left her close at hand.
But she knew that this wasn’t the life she wanted.
Even aged 12 she knew she was meant for more than the life of a poor unknown doctor’s daughter. So, when Jonathan Joestar threw himself into a fight for her sake, a plan appeared in her mind.
The Joestar’s were minor nobles, with a substantial fortune. Jonathan was Lord Joestar’s only child—that meant there were no other heirs to meddle with succession. So, instead of fleeing the fight with her doll, she stayed, playing the innocent victim. She listened to Jonathan’s prattle about becoming a squire and smiled sweetly the whole time. She held onto his handkerchief, scrubbed it clean of bloodstains, and hung it out to dry by the fire. Now, she carried a basket of grapes, humming as she walked down the road towards the Joestar Estate. She’d waited until the same time she’d run into Jonathan the previous day before heading out, and before long, she spotted him playing with his dog in the distance.
Not wanting to be spotted, Erina approached slowly, under the cover of the trees. Jonathan was leaning back against a tree, while his dog chased its tail just a few feet away. Softly, Erina placed the basket down beside him and quickly ran off, not making an effort to hide now. After all, she wanted him to know it was her. Sure enough, when she looked over her shoulder, Jonathan was holding the basket, staring at her retreating back, his handkerchief back in his breast pocket.
She smirked softly. All she had to do was play the shy girl in love and her plan would work out smoothly.
Then, she met Dio Brando.
✩- - - - - - ✩ - - - - - - ✩- - - - - - ✩ - - - - - - ✩- - - - - - ✩
Dio was confused.
He had come to the mansion with a plan to steal the Joestar fortune from right underneath Jonathan’s nose. It was simple in theory—slowly break Jonathan’s spirit by taking away his friends and replacing him as the favoured son.
However, Dio was stuck.
Every time he hurt Jonathan’s feelings—he felt bad. It was quite an unfamiliar feeling. Dio hadn’t felt bad about any of the wrong he’d done in his life—not the petty thefts, the rigged card games, the pain he’d inflicted on others on the streets of London, and he certainly not killing Dario. He firmly believed that each and everything he’d done had been justified, and the people who’d been affected had deserved every amount of pain they’d suffered. But, when he thought about slapping his bag out of Jonathan’s hand or kicking Danny, he felt regret in every bone in his body. For once in his life, he felt as though the people he was harming didn’t deserve it.
As he lay in his bed in his new room at Joestar Mansion, Dio began to doubt himself. George and Jonathan seemed like genuinely nice people, who would take in the son of a man such as Dario without a moment’s hesitation. He tossed and turned, his guilt refusing to let him get to sleep easily.
Eventually, his exhaustion got the better of his guilt and he passed into a fitful sleep.
In the morning, he had come to a decision. He would put his plan on hold and observe the Joestar’s for a few weeks. If they were truly as they seemed, he wouldn’t go through with the plan. If they weren’t—well, a few weeks wouldn’t make much difference. It was a long term plan after all. He had time.
✩- - - - - - ✩ - - - - - - ✩- - - - - - ✩ - - - - - - ✩- - - - - - ✩
It had been several days since Dio’s arrival at Joestar Mansion and so far, everything was just as it seemed. Lord Joestar took great care in accustoming Dio to life in the mansion. Dio had received several new set of clothes—all in the latest style—made from costly material. If he was ever confused about anything, George explained it in a kind, concise manner without making Dio feel as though he was ignorant. Dio found that he was beginning to view the kindly Lord as a father figure.
Dio was even beginning to warm up to Jonathan. The kind-hearted boy brought a smile to the face of everyone in the mansion with his genuine nature. The two of them were tutored together and whenever Dio was lost, Jonathan was there to explain the concept to him. Despite Dio’s initial frustration at his lack of education, Jonathan was patient and never let him fall behind.
One evening, the two of them were working through a particularly difficult set of geometry sums together in the study, as had become their habit.
“I don’t understand this Jonathan,” Dio sighed, heels of his palms pressing into his eyes. “How come you can do it so easily? I followed the steps exactly and yet my answer is always wrong!” He groaned, whacking his head against the desk.
“It’s okay Dio! It took me months to learn this concept and you’ve almost mastered it in just a few days!” Jonathan moved to pat his back encouragingly, but Dio jerked up straight and slapped the hand away. Jonathan quickly leaned back, hands spread palms up in front of him.
Dio curled back into a hunched posture, eyes downcast.
“Sorry.” He muttered, picking up his pencil and starting the problem again.
Jonathan frowned, but moved his chair next to Dio’s and looked over the problem.
“Hmm, you’re right, this one is tricky…” he trailed off as he ran his finger down the page of equations. His finger stopped on one line and he read it over, lips moving silently in calculations.
He tapped the line.
“Here’s your problem. You’ve counted the area of the circle, but you don’t need to, see?” He pointed to the textbook. “Because the cylinder is on top of the cube, the second circle isn’t part of the total surface area, right?”
Dio looked over at the textbook and sighed. Jonathan was right. Muttering in frustration, he subtracted the circle’s area from the total sum. The new answer was correct.
He slammed his head against the desk again. He wanted to scream. Math was the worst. He settled for a loud sigh instead.
Jonathan chuckled at his exasperation.
“Don’t worry! That’s the first question you’ve been stumped on all day,” Dio could feel the blinding smile the boy was giving him even with his head squashed against the desk. He sighed again, turning his head to the side to look at Jonathan.
The other boy looked at him, expression thoughtful.
“Say, why don’t we take a break? Let’s go play in the fields for a bit.”
Dio nodded, pushing himself out of his chair, stretching his arms above his head.
“Why not?”
✩- - - - - - ✩ - - - - - - ✩- - - - - - ✩ - - - - - - ✩- - - - - - ✩
Jonathan was skipping stones across the river with a blond-haired boy when Erina shyly approached them.
Internally, she cursed her luck—getting Jonathan alone was the best way for her plan to succeed.
I can work with this, she thought, after all, this is a long term plan.
The blond boy was the first to notice her. He didn’t speak but nudged Jonathan, tilting his head towards her.
Jonathan turned and smiled at her.
“Erina! Its so good to see you again!”
She smiled bashfully, eyes downcast.
“But you just saw me yesterday, JoJo,” her voice soft and sweet.
“So that’s where you’ve been disappearing to the last few afternoons,” the blond boy said, hands in his pockets, posture relaxed despite the calculating look in his eyes. “I thought you just couldn’t stand my company.”
Jonathan looked mildly offended at that and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when the blond bowed and held out his hand.
“I’m Dio Brando, the Joestars have kindly taken me in after my family’s death,” She took his hand and he kissed it. “And what may your name be?”
“Erina Pendleton,” she answered in her most courteous voice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dio.”
“The pleasure is all mine I assure you, Erina.” He turned back to the river, picking up a smooth stone, rolling it over in his fingers. “How many skips this time Jonathan?”
Jonathan hummed in thought, rubbing his chin.
“You managed six last time, so try for eight.”
“Nine it is then.”
Dio nodded before flicking his wrist, sending the stone skipping across the river.
One skip, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. The stone skipped the exact distance Dio had specified before sinking into the water.
Erina had to admit she was impressed. Nine skips were no mean feat, especially given that the distance from one river bank to the other was only a few meters. The stone had to have enough force behind it to skip multiple times without the skips being too far apart.
Jonathan obviously found it quite impressive as well, if his reaction was anything to judge by.
“Incredible!” He went to clap Dio on the shoulder but stopped himself.
Interesting.
“How are you so good at this Dio? It’s insane!”
Dio smiled and shrugged off the praise.
“Practise, I suppose. How are you so good at geometry?”
Jonathan waved a hand dismissively.
“You only think I’m good at geometry because you didn’t see me last month,” the two boys laughed at that, and Erina felt rather ignored.
She was about to clear her throat to grab their attention when Dio spoke.
“Erina, do you want to play?” He held a smooth stone towards her, and Erina felt a plan hatch in her mind.
“I would love to, but,” she cast her eyes to the ground. “I don’t know how to skip stones.”
“That’s okay!” Jonathan smiled. “I can help you.”
Ha, the fool fell for it, Erina crowed internally. Of course I know how to skip stones!
“Thank you, JoJo!” Erina smiled her sweetest smile at him, taking the stone from Dio.
She stood at the riverbank, and Jonathan stood behind her, helping her hold the stone and get used to the arm movement. After a few purposefully bad throws, she ‘managed’ to get two skips.
“Well done Erina!” Jonathan cheered. “You’ll get the hang of it in no time!”
She smiled bashfully, thanking God for making Jonathan so gullible.
“Indeed,” Dio said, a small smile on his face. “But JoJo, what time is it?”
Frowning, Jonathan pulled out his pocket watch. He flipped open the case and his eyes widened and he hurriedly stuffed the watch back into his pocket.
“Sorry Erina, but we need to go,” He turned and picked his coat up from the ground, before turning to smile at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”
Pushing down her annoyance, Erina nodded.
“Okay! Same spot as usual?”
Jonathan nodded as he ran off, following Dio who was already waiting on a nearby hill, gesturing impatiently.
Erina waved until they were out of sight, before huffing and stomping over to the river bed. She sat down roughly, picking through the stones beside her. Finding a suitable one, she tossed it at the river and watched it skip seven times before sinking.
Annoyed, she tried again, but this one only skipped 6 times.
Frustrated, she stood up, dusted her dress off and headed back to town.
She never noticed Dio watching from behind a tree.