"Look, I know this is probably really freaking weird," Josuke was showing his hands, his palms facing Towards you. "But I'm just a normal dude, let me explain-"
You couldn't help it, the fear that was building inside of your chest broke, croaking out as laughter. "This? this isn't normal! None of this is normal!" You were choking the words out, holding up your perfectly normal hand. "My hand was BURNT Josuke!" You twisted your hand around, showing all angles of it. You let your wrist fall, your shoulders suddenly going limp. You slid down the wall, coming to a stop on the floor. "What are you?" Was all you could whisper out.
Josuke was dragging his fingers through his hair wildly looking around as if someone was going to burst through the door and save him. When he turned his face back to yours, he looked scared. "(Y/n) please listen to me." He took a breath and slowly circumvented around the semicircle of furniture. You tensed up, but Josuke kept his hands facing you the whole time, pausing not six feet away and kneeling on the floor. He sat with his hands up across from you, who had crumpled in a heap against the wall.
Josuke slowly put his hands down. "(Y/n), I know that things look... really bad, and I can tell that you're scared-"
"HA!" Your voice trembled as the harsh tones of laughter tumbled out of your mouth. "What gave you that impression?"
"Just listen for a second!" Josuke snapped. You shut your mouth, and he looked mortified. "Sorry, I didn't mean to- Just-" his voice softened, "just... watch." His shoulders tensed. "Please?"
All you could do was watch as the raven haired boy grabbed the abandoned mug from the coffee table, it's contents long since gone. He turned back to you, and looked you in the eye as he pitched the ceramic cup across the room, shattering with a loud crash as it hit the wall, a piece of the handle bounced back and landed next to him with a clatter. He sat back in his spot calmly, hands lowered to his side.
Ok, so even if he isn't a demon, you now know that Josuke Higashikata was bat-shit crazy.
You almost laughed at how random it was. "Why did you do that?"
Josuke sighed. "Because words can be really damn difficult." He picked up the shard of the mug's handle and held it in front of him. "It's easier to just show you." He found your eyes, and offered a tiny smile. "Please, don't freak out..."
Slowly, as if they had come to life, pieces of the shattered mug started to shake and shudder, headed towards Josuke. Some flew through the air, others dragged across the floor, but they all advanced towards his extended arm, as if magnetized. The fragments drifted up, and one by one started to fit together like puzzle pieces, leaving Josuke holding a completely undamaged cup.
"Ha... haha..." (haha, I'm in danger!) You looked up at Josuke, who had set the mug down in front of him. "How did you do that?" The words came out as light as breaths.
"I have this... power, I guess." He started to explain. "I've had it for as long as I can remember. It lets me return things to their former state." He poked at the mug. "Formerly, this wasn't broken, so I... fixed it."
You were quiet for a moment. This is crazy. "Is that what you did to my hand?" Your eyes were locked onto the mug.
"Yeah. And when you put the towel on, I used [Crazy Diamond] to dry you off."
You knit your eyebrows in confusion. "[Crazy Diamond]? Is that what you call your power?"
"Well, kind of... it's hard to explain. [Crazy Diamond] is the name of my... spirit energy, if that makes any sense." Josuke rested a hand on the back of his neck. "He's invisible to most people, but it's kind of like an extension of my soul."
"'He...'" you looked around the room, half expecting to see a ghost shaped like Josuke floating around.
"Here, I can kind of show you." Josuke pointed over to where the discarded towel had fallen. You gasped as it suddenly lifted into the air, folded and set itself neatly on the coffee table. "And uh, like this."
You looked at him strangely when you suddenly felt a tap on your shoulder. You turned to look for the source, but nobody was there. You glanced back at Josuke, at a loss for words. You eventually pried your jaw open. "So you ARE haunted, then."
"What?" He looked... offended? "No, that's like saying the thoughts in your head haunt you. It's not a ghost, it's just... me."
You sat in silence for a moment, just looking between Josuke, the mug and the towel when an idea struck you. You fished into your pocket and pulled out your phone, testing the buttons to see if they worked, but the phone stayed cold like last time. He was watching you, and you looked him dead in the eyes, snapping your phone in two at the joint. You tossed it to him. "Fix it."
"What?"
"You heard me. Fix it."
He looked at you confused, but he obliged. Like with the mug, the pieces of your phone fit themselves back together, Josuke tossing the repaired device back over to you. You flipped it open, and the screen lit up with a text from Junko. Your mouth hung open. "That's... that's amazing..." you turned the phone over in your hand, it looked as if it were never broken in the first place. You looked back up at him.
"I understand this is probably super freaky, but I'm not a monster." He pushed himself into a standing position, offering his hand to you. You looked up at him, his eyes betrayed no devil. You let him pull you up, and though he was a good half a foot taller than you, you didn't feel intimidated.
"I don't think you're a monster, I just..." you took your hand back from him and looked down at the floor. "I was scared. When I saw you-" you started to tremble as the memory of blood and screaming came flooding back. You gulped. "I uh, I guess I thought that you were some kind of demon."
"I don't blame you for being scared..." Josuke trailed off, but his eyes snapped back to you. "Wait, you thought I was a demon and you STILL came to my house?"
You were suddenly very aware of how close you were to him, and how you were positioned, stuck between him and the wall. "I guess so, I don't know why I did it though. When I ran into you earlier, I just... I couldn't see any ill will." You dodged your eyes to the side, your face getting hot as you felt his eyes on you, but you were fully invested in memorizing the grain of wood in the floorboards. "You sounded so sincere about wanting to help me."
Josuke took a step back, turning around with a hand on his neck. He was mumbling something that sounded like, "it's no problem."
Your phone, still in your hand, buzzed. You looked down to see another message from Junko.
"Hey, where are you? Please message me back, I'm getting worried."
You flipped your phone shut and started for the door to the hallway. "Hey, I should go, my host family is starting to freak out." You stopped in the doorway and shyly turned around. "Would you... mind helping me? I still don't know where to go..."
Josuke jogged over to the door and slipped past you, into the hall. You peeked around the corner and saw him digging through a closet. "I'd be happy to. And," Josuke shut the closet door, holding an umbrella out to you. "So we don't get wet."
You awkwardly grabbed the umbrella, folding your hands over the handle. "Um, do you... have two of them?" You knew the implications that sharing an umbrella would have.
Josuke turned a light shade of pink, apparently he did too. "Oh! Yeah, of course." He fumbled through the closet and pulled out a second umbrella. "There, all better..." he nodded curtly at you and motioned to the entryway, where your shoes sat in a puddle of water. "Here," he handed them to you, being completely dry once you took hold of them.
"Thanks." You slid them on and looked up to see Josuke opening the door.
***
The rain was significantly lighter as he led you through the residential streets, walking in almost complete silence apart from the sound of the pitter patter of the rain on the canvas canopy. You walked as far apart from him as you could, focusing on the ground. Besides the occasional "this way", there was no conversation between you two. Eventually, you started to recognize where you were, and you started to speed up, leading the way more than following.
"(Y/n)! Oh my god, there you are!" The air got pushed out of your lungs with a hearty "oof". Junko, barefoot and shaking, was holding onto like her life depended on it. You looked up, seeing the door to the Inoue's house open, Mrs. Inoue standing on the front step, relief in her eyes. Junko's voice was warbling. "I'm so sorry I hadn't told you I wouldn't be there sooner!"
"Hey, it's ok!" You patted her head, adjusting the umbrella to cover both of you. "I ran into a classmate and he helped me out." You gestured to Josuke.
Junko lifted her eyes to him, a watery smile spreading on her lips. "Thank you for keeping her safe." Junko grappled your hand, pulling you across the street. You tossed one last look over your shoulder, Josuke offering a little wave before he disappeared on the other side of the door.