"You...know me?" y/n asked cautiously, narrowing her eyes at the old lady.
"My my yes, yes you've grown so much..you look so much like your parents, " y/n flinched at the mention of her parents as the lady reached out to her. Y/n backed away. "Oh, do you not remember me?"
Y/n glanced to the nurse before her eyes flickered back to the old lady. "What..relation do we have?" she lowered her voice.
"You used to come over often with your parents for dinner? Do you not remember?" A part of y/n's heart tugged painfully.
Parents.
Family.
She didn't have them anymore and couldn't remember for shit.
"No i don't remember," she replied, clenching her fists and digging her fingernails into her palm.
"Oh my...it's alright." the lady smiled at her and reached out once again but this time, y/n didn't bother to move away. The lady held her hand and patted it affectionately.
The warmth of the old lady's hand felt familiar and comforting, she could feel her eyes start to get glassy much to her distaste.
This action reminded her so much of her mother, her warm and loving touch, it was so similar.
Her mind was hazy trying to remember the scene of her mother patting her hand to sleep.
She couldn't fucking remember.
Her fingernails dugs deeper into her palm.
"Do you..have any pictures of my parents?" y/n spoke her inner thoughts without thinking, curse her emotions.
""Why yes I do," y/n blinked her tears away. "I can pass it to you, actually now would be great-" she attempted to stand up but the nurse stepped toward to hold a hand up.
"She needs to go to the hospital to check up first," y/n helped the old lady sit back down, shaking her head slightly.
"I can always come over another time," y/n forced a smile. "I'll see you another day then Mrs...?"
"Mrs Suzuki sweetie, you're welcomed to come anytime."
Y/n stepped out of the ambulance and headed towards Josuke who was standing nearby, waiting.
They walked back in silence, y/n quietly staring at the floor as they turned down their street.
Mrs Suzuki?
Her family came by often?
The cogs in y/n's heads were turning as she considered the possibility of her old house being nearby.
However , the farmhouse was so secluded that she had to assume that they took a bus of some sort there or even had to drive there.
Josuke seemed to notice her thinking and didn't say anything, just walking close and gently bumping shoulders every now and then.
Y/n continued to come up with theories and even started to think about how her father looked like.
If her scum of a father was still alive, how exactly did he look like?
They reached at y/n's house first and she gave Josuke a small wave before turning to head in.
He however, grabbed her wrist which made her stop and turn around, confused.
"You've been clenching your fists since just now," he pried her fingers open to reveal deep crescent cuts in her palm, blood oozing out from the fresh wounds. "What did the old lady say that made you so angry?"
Anger laced Josuke's voice, which really surprised y/n because she's never actually expected to hear him speak to her in such a tone.
"Don't worry she didn't say anything bad-"
"Then why?" Josuke's eyes was trained on her palm, not meeting hers at all.
"Because, she mentioned she knew my parents and that she had photos." y/n sighed and gently pulled her hand away from Josuke's grasp. "Photos of them. My parents."
"I don't know whether i want to see them again and be reminded that I used to have a functioning family, or hell, a family in general." she held her injured hand to her chest, cradling it. "It's been 5 months since my mother died and I'm....just so unsure."
"Unsure about what?" Josuke looked up at her and stepped forward. "Y/n, you have Aunt Matsumoto, Okuyasu, Koichi..Jotaro even? You have people who care for you and-"
"It isn't about me feeling alone but i just..." y/n stepped back and away from him. "I need time to accept the fact that I won't ever have my mom back again, I don't even want to remember the things I forgot, maybe they were better left forgotten anyways."
"So you need time," Josuke concluded just as y/n realised what she might have implied. "So you need time from everything?"
"Yes but no, Josuke I didn't mean I want to put our relationship on hold i'm just saying i think i'm gonna be a bit unstable for now and i-" y/n bit her lip, stopping herself.
Josuke raised a brow as if to ask her to continue.
"-I just need time alone by myself for awhile." she shrugged. "You know, to think about this whole family thing."
Josuke nodded and sighed. "Aah geez I thought you were going to break up with me, but—" a soft smile slid up his face. "—i understand. Take as long as you like y/n."
he stepped forward and leant down a little to kiss y/n's forehead.
"Good night y/n, see you tomorrow." as he turned to go, y/n instinctively grabbed his arm and Josuke turned around curious.
Y/n could feel her words clogging up her throat as she tried to think of what to say.
Why exactly did she grab his arm?
"S-see you tomorrow..uh.." she avoided his eyes and quickly hugged him. He laughed, y/n blushing as his chest vibrated with his laughter. Josuke buried his nose into her hair and hugged her back, his strong arms wrapping around her frame.
"See you sunshine," he mumbled into her hair.
•••
Y/n woke up groggy and annoyed at the sun shining into the room ever so brightly.
What time was it? She reached over to grab her flip phone on the bedside and frowned when her eyes couldn't focus properly.
8.15a.m
She stumbled out of her room and into the bathroom to wash up.
As she brushed her teeth, she suddenly remembered an essay that was due today.
And because of the stupid rat hunting yesterday, she didn't do it.
Y/n hurriedly ran to her room to find the essay but it was with no avail.
Her room was too messy.
"AUNTIE KUMI," she thundered through the hallway, tripping over her own leg and bowling into the kitchen. "Have you seen my essay I left on the desk, I can't find it anywhere and it's due today!"
"Aw good morning, how was your sleep last night?"
"I asked where was my essay-"
"GOOD MORNING Y/N L/N." aunt kumi boomed, rolling her eyes before continuing to make breakfast.
"Why can't you be as tame as when I was at the hospital?"
"GOOD MORNING?"
"Good morning aunt matsumoto," y/n collapsed defeated into a chair. "May I know where is thee scroll that I need to surrender to thy governer?"
"You can't just randomly add thee and thy everywhere," her aunt jabbed her head with the back of her spatula before flipping the bacon. "And I don't remember seeing it anywhere so maybe you didn't bring it home."
Y/n sighed and played with her fingers.
Now that she thought about it, the mid terms were coming up and due to her being passed out at the hospital for quite awhile, she actually had a lot to catch up.
"That means I can't chase after Stand users all day long..." she mumbled to herself as Aunt Kumi served up a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, adding on a sausage with her special mayo at the side.
"Chase after what? Josuke? How's it going on with that lad?" y/n buried her face into her hands , muttering a response before Kumi nudged her lightly. "Yalls getting it on or-"
"He's alright!" she interrupted her aunt before she could go on. "He's really sweet and kind, we're getting along just fine."
"Yalls aren't dating or anything?"
"Well-" y/n stopped, looking away embarrassed before sighing. "I'll talk about it later, i'm gonna be late for school." She gobbled down her breakfast and hurried to go change, Kumi shouting 'So yalls dating or what!?' before she grabbed her bag and dashed out of the house.
In fact, she wasn't going to be late, y/n just needed to finish her essay quick before lessons started.
She reached school early and took out her books.
Spreading them out across the table, y/n tried her best to find a clean scrap of paper to start her essay on, majority of her papers were filled with scribbles, in which she didn't remember when she did it.
At the corner of her eye, someone was shuffling towards her slowly, almost hesitant.
Y/n slid her eyes to the side and raised her brow when she saw it was Nemi.
She said nothing and watched the girl slowly make her way to the front of y/n's desk, she seemed to be mustering so much courage that y/n felt sorry for her.
"Uh...hey orphan..!" y/n furrowed her brows and Nemi flinched.
"Say it again," y/n smiled at her. "And say it louder."
"I mean y/n-"
"That's l/n to you," y/n continued writing her essay. "Away with the aggression ,what did you want to tell me?" Nemi started to play with her fingers and y/n's ears perked up when she heard her friends hissing to her.
"A-are you and Josuke HIgashikata dating!?" the sudden blurt made the pen in y/n's hand snap into half as she stopped writing. "I-if so you better watch out...!"
Y/n squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath, she would not palm slam Nemi again because this time if she did so, it'll be totally suspicious.
And plus her parents would start pressing charges.
"Okay," she dug through her bag to find another pen and continued with her work, not sparing another glance at Nemi.
"Wait so are you dating him or not?"
"I don't think it concerns you but out of the goodwill of my heart, I shall piss you off by not answering your question." y/n glanced up at the girl before looking back down and lowkey praying that she would just walk away because y/n's brain couldn't think of anything for the essay.
Why would there be a fucking essay about snails? Y/n thought to herself, letting out a small tut before swatting her hand. "And is it okay if you go away now? I kinda have work to do."
Gentle suddenly summoned and grabbed something causing y/n to raise her head to see Nemi trying to bring a huge book upon her head.
The girl was extremely confused with her hands suddenly stopping, panicking when she met y/n's eyes.
"It's sad that you're trying to hurt me." Y/n withdrew to her full height and snatched the book out of Nemi's hand. She could feel her anger starting to bubble even more now.
Oh God help me if im gonna cave her head in with this encyclopedia.
Y/n glared at Nemi's friends at the side.
"Oi, get her before I accidentally drop his heeaaavvy book on her new twinkly shoes and maybe accidentally slap her with this book." her friends instantly rushed over to pull Nemi away, the girl was glaring daggers at y/n much to her surprise.
"Alright class sit down and hand up your essays!" y/n cussed under her breath and sat back down quickly and scribbled some useless information about snails on her essay before the classleader took her essay from her.
Josuke had slid into his seat the last minute before the class started and grinned at y/n.
"Okuyasu had some issues and spent forever in the bathroom," he whispered to her as he took out some books.
"Mega explosion shit-"
"MISS Y/N WHY ARE YOU TALKING IN MY CLASS?"
"Oh fuck.. SORRY SIR."
----------------
After school, y/n wanted to head home herself and maybe consider seeing Mrs Suzuki but when Koichi said he had something inportant to say, she ended up walking back with the gang.
"I really met a ghost!" Koichi exclaimed for the fourth time as the four of them sat outside of SunMart, y/n and Okuyasu were looking at a picture of a girl with short pink hair. "The girl in that picture is Reimi!"
"Okay we get it," Josuke held a hand up as Koichi failed his arms around. "I said I believe you didn't I?" Josuke looked to y/n for help.
"We believe you Koichi now stop repeating that you saw a ghost-"
"And I researched her and she was also a student at Budogaoka High school." Koichi interrupted y/n. She sighed and looked back at the photo but was surprised when she saw Okuyasu looking at the photo with keen interest.
Who knows what the hell he was thinking?
"We should eventually go meet this ghost too," Josuke said. "But Koichi, if we tell Jotaro or my old man about this,they're probably gonna ask one thing." he pointed at Koichi. "Is the murderer a Stand user?"
"uh..well..I don't know," Koichi rubbed a hand on his cheek.
"Then we'll just have to let the police and the courts deal with it-"
"But what if the murderer of Reimi Sugimoto is the murderer of my mother?" y/n interjected quietly. Both boys looked at her before Josuke sighed.
"That could be a possibility too," he stood up and patted Koichi's shoulder. "If he's managed to escape from the almighty police for the past fifteen years and even possibly commit another murder months ago, it's not like we'd run into him right away, like we'd hail a taxi."
"Let's stay calm and look into this carefully," Josuke's eyes slid to y/n as he said the world 'carefully', it was as if he was telling her to stay put and be careful. She sighed and stood up too, dusting dirt off her skirt and picking up her bag.
"So, what did Rohan say?" Josuke asked, y/n walking over to his side as Koichi moved forward downcast.
"The same thing as you Josuke," Koichi squeezed his eyes shut.
Y/n was suddenly aware of a car approaching and grabbed Koichi without hesitation, yanking the smaller boy towards them. "Yo Koichi be careful!" y/n said. "Don't cross the road when you're all spaced out."
She looked at the driver as Koichi apologised, a sudden chill running down her spine as the blonde's eyes met hers.
Something was off.
Very off.
Y/n felt her knees go weak as the blonde man stared at her emotionless, his dark eyes showing a slight hint of something before he rolled the windows back up and drove off.
Y/n's legs gave way when the car turned out of sight, she slumped onto the ground breathing hard.
What was that emotionless intensity in his glare? And that look of..what was that look? It was a mix of anger and annoyance but yet this..this..what the hell was that last emotion in his face?
"y/n!" she felt Josuke hold her shoulders and she grabbed onto his arm, looking right up at him.
"Tell me you saw the look he had as he rolled the windows back up! Please tell me you saw it too!" y/n didn't even sound like herself anymore, did the fear completely take over her? Why was she even feeling fear? She felt herself start to choke up as she gripped onto Josuke's arm tighter.
Josuke hesitated in his response, his eyes briefly moving away before he squeezed her shoulders. Y/n started to panic even more, she looked at Koichi and Okuyasu, pleading them to say something.
It wasn't just her was it?
This was the same uneasiness she felt at the train station after they had Hazamada taken care of, was a Stand user nearby or something?
----------------
"Y/n what's happening? Why are you so frantic?" Koichi asked worriedly as he looked between Josuke and Y/n.
"I..I'll take care of this, can you all step aside I'll talk to her," okuyasu and Koichi stepped away to the side as Josuke held his trembling girlfriend in his arms.
"Y/n, are you okay? What happened?" his heart tugged painfully as she buried her face into his shirt, shaking just like she had the last time at the train station. Josuke could see that she was disturbed, but the question was by what?
"I..don't know..the man..the look he had..I don't know why but its so...I can't find the word for it." she rambled on, trembling even more. "Something's wrong , is this the work of Stand user?" she pulled away from him, looking around frantically.
Josuke sighed and hugged her, patting her back and giving his friends a look.
"See you tomorrow,' Okuyasu mouthed to him before himand Koichi tiptoed away. He nodded back to them before returning his attention back to y/n.
"let's get you home, I think you need some rest."
With the way she was acting, something indeed seemed to be wrong.
Something seemed to be triggering her sudden load of sheer panic.
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hey it maru's here! here's the update i promised! it's been waitng in the drafts for a long time so yayit's out HAHA
I swear I meant to write lesser but my dumbass said no
anyways hoped you enjoyed this chapter! it's 3.50am rn as i write this lmao
stay safe and stay tuned for the next chapter!
-Maru