A/n: Sorry, this is a longer one!
Junko had been quiet for the rest of the night, and no matter how you tried to get her to talk, she wouldn't say anything besides "I guess it was nothing". The next morning wasn't much better, either. She sounded a curt knock on your door and a, "are you ready to go?"
The morning was a bit chilly, not anywhere near freezing, but cool enough to nip at your nose and send goosebumps down your arms and legs. Junko kept her eyes forward, coming to the entrance to the plaza. The silence was pressing into your skull. "Junko please talk to me."
Her footsteps slowed a little, but she kept walking. You were going to ask her again when she opened her mouth. "It's nothing. I just feel like an idiot dragging my mom to the hospital just to figure out I'm an uncoordinated mess." She had an almost dejected look on her face, her hot breath puffed out in a little misty cloud. "I guess I really do have a few screws loose."
The quiet bloomed forth again as you passed the turtle pond. "What was it like? How did it feel when you kept falling."
"Uh, I don't know, pretty bad? Embarrassing? I don't know what you want me to say." Her lip crested into a faint frown. "It was like... one moment I was standing and the next my feet were going without me telling them to. I didn't even feel like I was falling, I just was." She snorted. "Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep."
"Hm, maybe..."
The rest of the walk continued without ceremony. In the distance the building that marked your destination loomed ominously. Well, the threatening part came more in the idea of those two kids who had been watching the house from yesterday were creeping down the hallways. Obviously you didn't want to tell Junko that.
As the gates came into view, the flood of students converged into a single stream, pouring into the school grounds. Junko split off, but that wasn't the focus of your attention anyways. Standing off to the side, right in front of the gates, was a strange man.
He was definitely a little too old to be a high schooler, and he certainly didn't look like any teacher you'd seen around before. He was preoccupied, holding a conversation with a couple of the students. Yep, that's a little creepy.
That was, until you registered the fact that he was talking to none other than Josuke Higashikata. Koichi was huddled up with the two of them, and they all seemed to be looking at something, completely oblivious to the crowds of kids around them. You cut across the current of your peers, but the man had already started to walk away, Koichi and Josuke merging into the crowd for the school building.
You took a glance around you. Stupid idea time. When you noticed that no one was looking at you, you reached out and tapped Josuke on the shoulder. "Hey, I need to talk to you," You sent the words out low, but powerful enough for him to hear without looking suspicious, "I think... I think I've seen something that you might be interested in."
He stopped and turned to you, but you just shuffled past him to keep up the guise of "I have nothing to do with this guy".
"Hey wait up a sec (y/n), what do you mean?" His voice had merged with the chorus around him, but it still felt like you were being stabbed with barbs as it seemed to call loudly over the crowd.
That idiot! if someone sees me talking to him, they're going to start more rumors and Okimi and her friends might crucify me!
Josuke had started to keep pace behind you, but you kept your eyes glued on the backs of those in front of you. "Talk. Later." You force the words through your teeth. Oh god, you were hoping no one saw you.
But Josuke wasn't taking no as an answer, instead opting to grab your arm. You looked up at him in horror, but his face betrayed nothing but innocence. Koichi studied the two of you, and worriedly pulled on his sleeve. "Hey, don't just grab people like that!"
You wrenched your arm out of his grasp. Damn it. You grabbed his wrist, jarringly yanking him across the lawn and ducking behind the corner of the school. You dropped his hand like it was poisonous. "Are you stupid?! I told you I can't just go up and talk to you! You made a scene!"
Josuke's brows knit together, his sharp features bewildered. "What are you talking about? YOU were the one who tapped ME on the shoulder, not the other way around."
From around the corner came the clatter of footsteps, koichi appearing from the other side. "What is going on?" He was looking up at Josuke for an answer, but you were too. Josuke glanced down at you.
"Does this 'something' have to do with stands?" You eyed Koichi, but Josuke had already nodded in his direction. "It's fine, he knows."
You looked at your smaller classmate, who just stood there looking between you and Josuke like he was watching a game of tennis. You crossed your arms. "I don't know, but I figured you might be able to tell me." You relayed the events of the evening prior to the two boys, going over everything from Junko's lack of control to the two people who had been watching your house.
They didn't say anything at first, just exchanging glances amongst themselves, but Koichi then turned to you. "Did one of those guys outside your house look like this?" He rummaged in his pocket and produced a Polaroid photo of the boy with the greasy hair and sunken cheeks.
"That's him!" You took the photo out of his hand, scouring the image as if it might reveal some sort of information.
"Hey, don't go near him, got it? He could be dangerous." Josuke had leaned over and plucked the photo from your hands. "We think he might be an enemy stand user." He ran his eyes over you, one of his eyebrows raised slightly.
It made you uncomfortable. You coughed to break the silence. "So, what are we going to do?"
"We? No, Koichi and I will handle this. You've already done plenty in telling us about this, there's nothing else for you to do." Josuke nodded at Koichi who had taken the picture and stuffed it back in his pocket, the shorter boy disappearing around the corner, presumably off to get to class.
"Thanks for letting me know, (y/n), this really helps to take the guesswork out of the situation." He gave a little smile.
Your face felt like it spontaneously combusted. "Yeah, no problem! I figured If I needed to get help, I'd want it to be from you." Record screeching, glass shattering, freeze frame and zoom into my stupid face. "YOU KNOW, because if something weird happens I can count on you to help me out!"
Kill me.
Josuke looked at you strangely. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
Is this what it feels like to have a heart attack? I think I'm going into cardiac arrest.
"Yeah, shoot." Your fingernails were digging into your palms.
"What did you mean by 'I can't just come up to you'?"
You froze. "What?"
"You said it when you dragged me over here. Why not?"
Your heart panged. "D-did I say that? I didn't mean to." You looked up at him, those deep eyes of his seemed to bore holes into you. "It's nothing." You ducked your head.
"Well I told you all about stands, didn't I? You can trust me, you know."
Oh god, what do I SAY? You couldn't exactly tell him about what happened with Okimi and the other girls, you didn't want him to get the wrong idea. Not to mention the fact that dragging him over here in the first place might put you six feet under.
"Josuke?" You felt like your leg was twitching, desperately wanting to bounce.
"Yeah?" He really did an innocent face, despite how mature he looked. There wasn't a shred of malice behind those sapphire gems of eyes, and even with a face of well defined angles he looked almost childlike.
You couldn't look him in the eye. "Just don't talk to me in school, it would make everything a whole lot easier on my life." The guilt immediately started eating away at you, but it was easier, not to mention less embarrassing, to dodge it all completely. "I'll see you later, Josuke."
You rushed out from your secret hiding spot, catching just a glimpse of his face before turning the corner. He looked confused, confused and... hurt. The pang of guilt that was setting in your stomach worsened, but you tried not to think about it as you ran for your locker, mixing in with the dwindling school population to get ready for the day.
***
You couldn't help but avoid looking at Josuke as the day went on. It wasn't hard though, because he seemed to be avoiding you as well. By the end of the day, you felt so bad you wanted to curl up and die. The look on his face when you told him to stop talking to you felt like you had stepped on a puppy's tail. The bell chiming for the end of the day sounded dim and hollow as everyone around you started to pack up and leave, but you couldn't help but notice how he and Koichi just dwindled at the window as always.
Maybe they're making a plan for how to confront that guy in the picture. Your grip on your bag tightened, but you forced your head down and just walked out the classroom.
You didn't even manage to leave the school before all of the emotions caught up with you. It was a flurry of sensations, most prominent being nervousness and guilt that towed you to the gate, but not a step farther.
"(Y/n), what are you doing?" Junko had stopped and looked back at you, hesitating in the gate.
"I... there's something I wanted to do. I know how to get home, do you mind if I hang back?" She looked incredulous, but you just smiled sheepishly. "It's not raining today, I'll be fine."
Junko slowly turned back to face the street but kept her eyes on you. "I mean, if you want to... answer your phone if I message you, ok? I'll see you at home." She awkwardly waved before syncing up with the crowd, disappearing into the folds.
Enough time had passed for even her approximate position to disappear from sight, but even as the stream of students slowed to a trickle, there was still no sign of Josuke. The last few stragglers made their way past, leaving you completely alone. The metal sliders of the gates clinked like coins as the wind shuddered it, but other than that and birdsong there seemed to be no other signs of life.
"Maybe he slipped out and I didn't notice." The knot in your stomach tightened, you'd just have to wait to find him tomorrow. Your loafers clacked against the stone as you shamefully turned away from the school p, the sound of your footsteps seemingly reverberating and multiplying as it bounced off of the walls.
The clicks seemed to snap back at you in a delay, almost creating their own, more rapid rhythm. You stopped, but the sound of the footsteps continued to pound in your ear. You had turned a moment too soon, and none other than Josuke ran past.
"J-Josuke?!" You darted out of his way but he ignored you completely, headed to the town plaza with a shorter person in tow, that had to be Koichi. "What the hell was that about!?" You shouted after them, but could only watch as their forms got smaller the further away they got. You turned to look at the school, but there didn't appear to be anything wrong.
Josuke did say that stands were invisible, right? Even if there was a super dangerous enemy at the school, you might not know until it was too late.
Your head swiveled between the street and the distant doors of the school, a sigh escaping your lips. You couldn't shake the pain in your stomach, you couldn't just let him go.
You took a nervous step towards the street, and then another. Slow steps began to form into a jog, and then from a jog to a sprint. "Josuke! Wait up!"
Your lungs were burning for air as you pumped your arms, chasing after Josuke and Koichi, panting breaths tearing your throat with sharpened needles. "Slow down! I can't catch up!" Wasting your breath on shouting wasn't doing you any favors in terms of keeping up your stamina, but you prayed that one of them would turn around and see you.
Neither of them noticed your pleas, and they quickly outpaced your slowing form. Your throat cried out for water as you slowed to a stop, your stomach begging to spill its contents onto the sidewalk. "I... I need to... Tell you something..." you wheezed out.
Down the street, the mouth of the plaza was open and expectantly devoured the two boys. You fought to control your breathing, but noticed that the two had slowed to a walk down by the shops. "You two... are assholes..." you started jogging again.