Jorge Joestar

Chapter 7: Airplanes

The English were unpleasant in their own very English way.It was as if they lived at the top of the world, and naturally looked down oneveryone else; ‘looked down’ in the sense that everyone else was clearlybeneath them so what else could they do? No spite or guilt, just…’Why doesn’teveryone else try harder?’ There was a hint of warmth to their contempt that Ifound especially deplorable. How could such scumbags sit pretending to begentlemen, acting as if they made the world spin while sipping tea anddiscussing the state of the world? If this was the English, the Spaniards backon the Canary Islands were far better. They were cocky and violent but nevertried to pretend they were in the right. They never explained to you how theirtyranny was based on logical superiority, and besides, if they left the trashto themselves they’d never amount to anything, yes? I’d never realized thattrue arrogance presented itself as elegance. True class, to my mind, wasevident without resorting to pretense. In that sense, I found no true gentlemenor ladies in the Joestar family’s ancestral home, Wastewood. Every single oneof them treated our apparent differences as a means by which they could onceagain justify their own superiority. The Joestar family’s recent contributionsto Wastewood history had been the slaughter of the head of the family and agreat number of policeman by an adopted son, followed by a fire that burned themanor to the ground, and then the surviving heir had married only to die in ashipwreck on his honeymoon. Even once my mother returned, all we got was: Eh?The Joestar girl survived? My, you had a child and lived on your own in the CanaryIslands…how sturdy of you. So you’ve come ‘home’? Although you never reallylived here, did you? Hmm.

Well, that hospital your father ran was handed over to newmanagement quiet some time ago, so you really have no family here at all. It’sbeen a burned heap of rubble for twenty years, I never imagined seeing theJoestar manor rebuilt. Oh, you know the president of the Speedwagon company?He’s helping you rebuild, is he? He’s a bachelor, and you have twochildren…it must be tough.

Oh? Really? The girl isn’t yours? Not even of noble birth? Isee.

Well, you’re still Pendleton’s daughter, and a finewoman…although it’s been much too long since your wedding to really reentersociety. And your son doesn’t seem to fit in at the club. But enough about practicalmatters, tell us more about life on the island. You must have had so manyadventures! My mother just smiled, and nodded, and said that it had all beenquite a bizarre adventure, and since staying at home led to nothing but thissort of neighborly assault, she quickly began commuting to London. In the citywas the hospital my mother’s father had founded, now even larger. GrahamPendleton had retired, and the hospital was now run by someone else, but thecontrolling interest in the stock was owned by mother and my grandfather, andshe had stayed in contact with him the entire time we were on the CanaryIslands. My mother started her own company not far from the hospital,effectively transferring the headquarters of the Star Mark Tradings Company she’dfounded from the Canary Islands to London. The office back on the islandsremained, and additional ships from England increased the volume they couldtrade; England and Spain being presently engaged in a struggle for control ofthe seas this arrangement allowed her to play both sides, purchasing goods inSpain to sell in England, leading to a steady increase in profits. Both motherand Penelope, who was working with her, seemed full of life and fun, while Ihad transferred to my father’s old school, Hugh Hudson High, and was beingbullied again. Judging by the number of people who called me Jorge, the factthat I was a fallen aristocrat amused my classmates endlessly, but at the sametime the economic success my mother had was impossible not to notice locally,and made them all frantically jealous. On top of that it was very easy to makefun of anyone with a single-mother household, and well, quite a number ofthings were said to me. I never really minded what they said about me; whenthey couldn’t get a reaction out of me they got mad, and one idiot fumbled hisway into insulting my mother, which I could not abide.

On the Canary Islands I’d been too afraid to ever get in afist fight; suddenly I found myself taking three or four at a time, swingingwildly. I lost, of course. Fights are always won by whoever has more people ontheir side. This was high school; we were all grown up, and our punches andkicks hurt quite a lot. But I was ecstatic. I could finally take a swing atsomebody! At the same time, I felt hollow. However slimy my opponents were,they were just high school boys, normal humans; not evil vampires or zombies.My fights were sleepy scraps in a world of peace. It all seemed so stupid Ibegan refusing to engage with them no matter what they said. Mother told me toignore them and worried about my injuries, and Penelope was furious and startedslurp slurp summoning locked room clowns, so anyone who fought me was in gravedanger, but mostly, I just got bored by it all. Fed up. By melancholy, violent,endlessly peaceful days. I remembered the time I’d spent with Tsukumojuku. Allthat time spend hunting serial killers, solving locked room murders, gettingtrapped in mansions on deserted islands…! I missed the adrenaline rush, ofcourse, but what I really wanted was my friendship with him. The ability totalk about anything, to say what I liked, real laughs, real anger…I wassixteen now, and the thought was embarrassing, but I wanted a friend. And itdidn’t seem likely that I’d ever make one. I’d thought I couldn’t make friendson the Canary Islands because everyone was Spanish; but I couldn’t make friendswith the English either. Because of this I started spending more and more timeon my own, and since it was the country, the only place in Wastewood where Iwouldn’t run into someone I knew was the sea. Since there were steep cliffsalong the coast the only person who ever wandered around them was me, and Iwent almost every day, and that was where I met the Motorize siblings.

At first I thought they were getting in the way of my gloomycliff stalking. I was staring at the sea and remembering how much I

didn’t want to go back to the Canary Islands, when I sawthem carrying something with a pair of huge wings, like a giant bird, up to thecliff’s edge.

Were they going to push it over and make it fly? It seemed awaste to make something like that and then throw it into the sea. Then, to mysurprise, the girl wiggled in underneath it, inside of it. Eh? What is she…isshe trying to fly that thing? Really? The wind on these cliffs wasn’t strongenough to lift more than a leaf, there was no way it would work ah ha ha ha. Iwas so shocked I started laughing. Before I could call out to her to stop theboy shoved the big construct towards the edge of the cliff…with the girlstill inside. He didn’t even hesitate.

“Eh? Auuuughhh!” I ran towards them, yelling, but toolate. The tail of the ‘bird’ the girl was riding had tipped up, and it slippedover the edge of the cliff. She was falling! Shit! These cliffs were at leastthirty meters tall; the water was deep, but from that height, she’d be lucky tosurvive the impact. I had to save her! Hoping to pull her out of the ocean, Iran to the cliff edge nearest to me. I could see the nose of the bird on thesurface below. I couldn’t see the girl anywhere in the pounding surf. I ranquickly along the cliff edge until I was right above the sunken bird, shouted,“I’ll be back for you!” at her killer, who seemed startled by mysudden approach, and with that, I flung myself off the cliff…and as I did,the bird shot past me with the girl still inside. Both the girl and I said,“Eh?” at the same time. I turned in the air, staring after the girland the bird, and thought, shit, I did it again. I was always throwing myselfheadlong into danger without a second’s thought. Tsukumojuku used to lecture meabout it all the time…but judging by the speed the cliffs were moving awayfrom me I was about to hit the water, and should probably brace myself. Thirtymeters. Doable? I thought it was. I stretched my arms up, and did my best tohit the water straight on. I took a quick breath…but just before I hit, theboy from the cliff caught up with me, wrapped his arms around my body, andsuddenly we were

speeding along in a totally different direction, along thesurface of the ocean. My entire body was still braced for impact, and I hadtrouble adjusting to this turn of events.

“…………?”

“What the hell were you thinking?” he said.

“If you’d looked up for one second you’d have seen theglider! Tell me you aren’t hurt.” I still couldn’t bring myself to speak,so I just shook my head. There were these things on his shoulders dripping withsome dark red goo, and they were folding up and stretching out, and werecovered in long flat hair, and then they turned and we left the sea and flew upinto the air. He had wings…and they were covered in blood. ? Um…? Was henot human? “You OK?” I heard someone shout. Over the bird boy’sshoulders I could see the girl I’d tried to save in her bird shaped machine,flying alongside us.

“Maaan, you nearly gave me a heart attack ah ha ha ha ha haha ha ha!” she said, laughing hysterically. I stared at her in horror.

“We’d better land,” the bird boy said.

“Right, I’ll loop around and come in for a landing. You OK,Steven?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, and thank you!” she said, catching my eye. Eh?What for? “You were worried about me, right? Heh heh heh, you went runningstraight off that cliff! Dash and bound! I saw the whole thing!” ……….

“See you on the cliff!” she said, threw me a kiss, andturned the wings of her machine away from us. I had assumed bird boy was herboyfriend, so this set my heart racing for two reasons. But the real reason myheart was racing was seeing that girl flying around in her bird machine, andhow it had no obvious form of propulsion but there it was flying up down leftright never falling totally free. Even after the bird boy had deposited mesafely on the

top of the cliff I stood riveted, watching her fly, obsessedwith this new power.

“I’m jealous…I want one…!”

“Heh, everyone’ll be riding them soon enough.”

“Eh? Really? How? Doesn’t seem like something anyone coulddo.”

“You can, if you practice a bit. Just like driving a car.Maybe you won’t be able to fly like her, but it won’t be long before they makeones anyone can handle.”

“Like a car…? Then she isn’t using some sort of specialpower to make that thing fly?”

“? What do you mean?”

“I mean, like…like those wings of yours.”

“Mm? Ha ha ha ha, no, no. That’s just science. No specialpowers.”

“But that thing looks too heavy to fly.” It was hardlya leaf.

“It is if you don’t handle it right. You’ve never seen anairplane before?” Airplane? Was that thing an airplane? “If air flowsunder the wings, it pushes them up. Normally they have an engine making apropeller spin and build speed, but we don’t have the money or the engineeringskills, so the best we can do is make a one-man glider out of wood andcloth.” I got even more excited. If normal people could make somethinglike that then there was every chance I could fly one. If these things weregoing to be as common as cars, then I would absolutely be flying one someday!Amazing! I would be able to fly! I had been sure I’d just met two more peoplewith mysterious powers, but I guess that wasn’t true for the girl! I lookedover at the bird boy and he’d folded his wings up and was sitting down. Thebleeding had stopped, but the flesh on the wings looked really soft, and what Icould see of his back through the holes in his shirt made it clear there waslots of bruising around the base of the wings, and some yellow bubbles oozingout. Guess this was why the girl had been concerned. He was

clearly not OK.

“Sorry, this was all my mistake…”

“Mm? Forget about it.”

“Looks painful. Very painful.”

“Yeah…but I’m used to it, and it’ll be fine in a bit. Andyou…heh heh, you’re more surprised by the plane than my wings.”

“Eh? Mm. It just so happens I’m used to strange things.”

“Yeah?”

“So how’d you end up like this?”

“Um, well…”

“Wait,” I said, remembering how Penelope got hers.

“If it hurts to talk about, forget I asked.”

“Heh heh heh…can’t say there wasn’t pain involved, butthat makes it sound like a much more interesting story than it is. I’ve nevertold anyone the story…hardly anyone else has ever seen my wings.” Hefell silent, so I didn’t pry further. I looked back at the glider. Justwatching it brought me joy, and given what Steven had said about the future, Ifound myself looking forward to what was to come for the first time in my life.I suddenly felt like all sorts of extraordinary things were going to happen.

“Ha ha ha! I’m definitely flying one of those! Absolutely!Positively!” I heard Steven laughing behind me.

“Heh heh heh, well, given how quick you jumped off thatcliff…that kinda guts is just what you need to be a pilot.” Guts? Nobodyelse had ever accused me of having those before.

Steven’s sister Kenton came sliding in for a gentle landingon top of the cliffs.

We looked the glider over, and except for a few grassstains, it was completely unharmed.

While I was busy being surprised and impressed they swiftlybroke the glider down, and loaded into the back of their wagon. They gave me alift, and I

ended up back at their house. At this point it finallyoccurred to me to introduce myself, and they were both taken aback.

“Ehh!? You’re the Joestar boy? Our grandfather was friendswith your grandfather! Your grandfather’s name was George too, right?”Kenton asked. I nodded.

“But my name is spelled Jorge.”

“Oh…but spelled that way, wouldn’t you pronounce it Horhe?Don’t people call you that?”

“…they do,” both on the Canary Island, and here inEngland.

“So?” We’d been getting along rather well…were theygoing to start mocking me now? “Do you know a girl named Darlington?”

“Nope.”

“Eh? You don’t? She’s in your class.”

“I don’t know anybody’s name at school.”

“I guess you did say you transferred…” I hadn’t saidthat yet? “Something Darlington?”

“Hunh?”

“What’s her first name?”

“Oh, Darlington is her first name. My kid sister. I know, itsounds like a last name. It is a last name, too. Same goes for my name. Dadnamed us both after old friends of his. Since he can’t very well give girlsboy’s names he gave us their last names. Awful, isn’t it?”

“……..? So…Darlington Motorize?”

“Yes, our little princess. I’m sure you’ve noticed her,she’s the cutest girl in your class. The one with the curly hair.”

“…..I don’t remember a girl like that.”

“Wha…ah ha ha ha ha ha! No wonder she’s so mad about it!Thank you so much! Jorge Joestar! Our little princess is getting a bit toovain, and you’ve been good medicine.” Eh? Eh? So this girl was waiting forus at the Motorize residence? No matter where you went, someone was there, andthey

were connected to someone else; it was just like La Palma. Isighed.

“Give her a chance,” Steven said. He was sitting on theright side of the wagon, holding the reins.

“I agree she’s a bit vain, but she’s not a bad kid, andshe’s more than just a pretty face.” I remained unenthused. The Motorizeestate was still properly aristocratic, with a huge garden, a large mansion,and a butler.

We rode the wagon straight into the shed; while were wereunloading the glider the butler and Darlington Motorize came in.

“I’ve brought you both some tea,” she said.

“Oh? Aren’t you in my class?” I took a good look ather, but couldn’t say for sure if I’d ever seen her in class.

“What?” she said, somehow looking both anxious andvictorious at the same time.

“Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t remember you. I’m JorgeJoestar,” I said, holding out my hand. Darlington sulked for a second, butthen took my hand.

“Darlington Motorize,” she said.

“This is our butler, Faraday. Give Jorge some tea, too.Oh…Steven, your wings…did Kenton have another accident?”

“Uh, no, that’s my fault,” I said. Darlington glared atme.

“What did you do? Every time Steven opens his wings it takeshim three weeks to heal, you know. He can’t go to school that whole time, soyou owe him!” I had not expected it to take that much time. I had imaginedit was a momentary thing, like Penelope’s Wound. I looked at Steven, and hesaid, “Knock it off, Dar. Jorge tried to save Ken; he could well have hurthimself worse than me trying. I’m used to it by now, it’s fine. Not like weneed to call a doctor for it; there’s nothing anybody can do to help.”

“But it takes three weeks? What about school?” I asked.Steven laughed.

“I don’t exactly take school seriously to begin with. I canlearn what I need on my own, and it means more

time I can spend on gliders.”

“Besides, Dar,” Kenton said.

“You brought tea out here because you want to know Jorgebetter. Making Faraday join in your weird little pantomime.”

“What nonsense!”

“But you’ve never once brought us tea before, ever! Ah ha haha ha!”

“Hey!”

“Then you pretended not to know his name! ‘Aren’t you in myclass?’ Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

“Stop it! It’s all nonsense, I swear!” Darlingtonshrieked, then she left in a huff, angrily stamping her way through the mud.Kenton watched her go, laughing hysterically.

“Ken, knock it off! I’m starting to feel sorry forher,” Steven said.

“You know she’s just going to take it out on Faraday andDad.”

“But she’s so cute!”

“It’s always like this…” he sighed. I’d have stayedas far from any of this as possible, but they were his sisters, and Stevenseemed hopelessly nice. Faraday served us all tea, and we drank it. It wasdelicious. I wandered around their work shed, tea cup in hand. There were plansall over the walls, shelves filled with models, and a pile of glider parts inthe back. It was clear he had tried out a number of different body types, andthe sheer variety displayed in the plans, models, and parts lit fire to myimagination.

“Jorge,” Steven said, “Want to help make planesafter school? And on holidays. If you’re really interested…” I gaped athim. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that he might offer. And there I was going,“Eh…but…” instead of yes yes yes please please please becausenobody had ever asked me to join a group before, and I’d wanted a friend like Tsukumojukubut didn’t ever imagine myself joining a group and…I was scared. This was sobeyond my wildest dreams that it left me petrified. I couldn’t believe it washappening. Mouth flapping I eventually managed to

say, “Then once I’ve proven I deserve to be here!”They both laughed.

“No need!” But I needed it. I thought frantically.

“Um, there was a sunken glider at the bottom of thecliff,” I said.

“If you’ve given up on it, can I have it?”

“Sure,” Steven said, “But that’s been underwater awhile now.”

“Yeah. I”ll pull it out, dry it off, and look it over. Youknow why it crashed?”

“No. Kenton said it felt like a bird or something hit it,and then it just fell apart in the air.”

“Then I guess my goal should be figuring out why it crashed,correcting that, and making it fly again.” Kenton broke up laughing.

“That’s a pretty lofty first goal! What, you want to startout by surpassing us? Ah ha ha ha! Sounds good! You don’t think small!”

“Oh? Should I go for something a little easier…?”

“Don’t even think about it! No taking it back now! Man, Idunno if you’re bold or wimpy, but don’t worry! We’ll help.” So we alltook the wagon back to the cliff and pulled the shattered glider out of thewater.

“Good thing my wings are out!” Steven said. He didalmost all the work of getting the glider up; all I could really do was takethe pieces from him and load them into the wagon.

We took it back to the Joestar manor, and unloaded thepieces in a corner of the garden. There were any number of missing parts; Steveoffered to share from his stash, but I refused, hell bent on repairing theglider on my own. I did borrow some documents from him, and began studying themintently, learning as much as I could about airplanes while repairing theglider. The American Wright Brothers were one step ahead of everyone else inaeronautics, and had successfully built a manned propeller plane the yearbefore. Steven and Kenton had been studying wingwarping controls, and theglider I’d seen them fly, Motorizing 7, was the result. The one we’d pulled outof the water was Motorizing

5; Motorizing 6 had been smashed against the cliff face by asudden gust of wind, destroying it; Steven had been forced to open his wingsand grab his sister out of the air.

“Since Steven has his own wings,” Kenton said, “Hecan’t really truly get serious about making airplanes. I, however, want to belike Steven, so it’s really driving me forward, but I’m always in danger ofcrashing. So Steven has to stick by me, and seeing him fires me up, and I windup taking even more risks, ah ha ha ha ha!” Some sister. The other sisternever came near the work shed again, but she was in class, and we talkedoccasionally. Even if Darlington brought up airplanes I wouldn’t talk aboutthem. I had no idea what pranks the other kids might pull, and if their effortsto torment me caused trouble for Steven and Kenton that would be just awful.

We had nothing much to talk about besides airplanes, so weended up talking about novels. Darlington did not seem like a heavy reader tome, but she had almost all the books I’d acquired on the Canary Islands, andoffered to loan me books I hadn’t read yet. I assumed I’d pick them up whilevisiting Steven, but she went to far as to set a date and time, and the day inquestion was when our class ended early but Steven and Kenton were still atschool, so I was pretty sure I was going to end up waiting in the parlor forthem to get home for ages. I’d yet to set foot inside the Motorize manor, butcould easily imagine it not being anything like as fun and carefree as theirshed, and I was only really reading novels when I was taking breaks fromstudying airplanes, and would gladly have given them up if it meant I didn’thave to keep talking to Darlington, but she was so insistent is seemed mucheasier to just go instead of trying to worm my way out of it, so I went.

When I mentioned this the day before, Kenton laughed.

“Ahhh, that explains why she keeps borrowing novels fromDad’s library and scowling at them! She was making excuses to talk toyou!” Hunh? Steven winced.

“Ken! Don’t tell him!”

“Nah, it’s cute! I’m sure she’s got a crush on you,Jorge!”

“No way! No way, no way, that can’t be right!” Ispluttered.

“Why not?”

“Well, she…I mean, I think she’s pretty popular with theboys in class, and because I’m the only one not very interested she…winds uptrying to get my attention. I’m like the prize of a hunt, and she’ll keep it uptill she’s satisfied, but it’s not really me she wants. I can sense it; there’slike, a stubbornness there, like Darlington’s trying to find the right strategyto get to me.” Both Kenton and Steven looked rather surprised.

“Hunh…aren’t you perceptive,” Kenton said.

“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, but…consider meimpressed. Boys your age generally get pretty carried away the second a girllike Darlington shows the slightest interest.”

“I dunno…I don’t have any other friends, so I’m sort ofhappy she comes and talks to me at all. And since Darlington talks to me, theothers are leaving me alone more. I’m sure they’ll be back once Darlingtontires of her toy.”

“Hunh…Jorge, are you already in love with someoneelse?” Kenton grinned. My thoughts instantly went to Lisa Lisa, to myhorror.

Why Lisa Lisa!? Why now!? “No! I’m not!”

“Ah! You’re flustered! That means you are! I know it!”

“I’m not! I’m not!”

“You absolutely are! That’s nice. I don’t know why you thinkyou need to hide it, you don’t.”

“Because I’m not!”

“You so are! Ah ha ha ha ha!” At last Steven saved me.

“Cut it out! You toy with Jorge as much as Dar does.”She did! Point well made! “Ah ha ha, well, Jorge is just that type, youcan’t help messing with him! Listen, Jorge, I know you’ve had all kinds of badstuff happen to you, but that was because you were surrounded by

children! Children are all idiots who don’t know how theyshould behave. They want to tease you a bit but wind up being really mean.Because they suck at it. Lots of boys end up being really mean to the girlthey’ve got a crush on, you know. But you’re in high school now, so you’reabout to become really popular. Look forward to it! You’re plenty good looking!If bizarrely gloomy.” This caught me so off-guard I didn’t know how toanswer. I could hear a denial echoing through my mind, but no thoughts formed.Then Kenton added, “But I guess you won’t care! You’re already inlove!” I love you, Lisa Lisa. AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh! Why did Ijust think that! I was dying of embarrassment.

“I’m not in love! I’m not! Not at all!” I shrieked.

“I’ve been debating whether to mention this or not,”Steven said.

“But you live with your mother, and another reeeeeallypretty woman, don’t you?” Eh? Penelope? “Eeeeeeeeeeeek! Really!? Eh?Her? Jorge! You’re already living together!?Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!” Kenton had clearly lost it completely,and Steven wouldn’t stop grinning.

“You’re a lucky boy ♡,” he said. I didn’t knowhe had it in him. This was such a weird thing to say it calmed me down.

“Nothing like that.” Kenton and Steven both wentwide-eyed.

“Oh!”

“Hunh?”

“He’s telling the truth.”

“Hunh…” Kenton said.

“Then it’s someone else he loves! Somewhere else…did youleave her behind on the Canary Islands!?” Elizabeth Straits was in Romenow, right? Me too, Jorge. I love you, too. Ugghhhh, why was she saying that!?Why was I thinking about her again! Enough! “I’m not!”

“Liar! You just went bright red!”

“I’m not! I swear, I’m not!”

“Ah Ha Ha Ha Ha! The way you can’t lie at all is so fun andadorable, Jorge!” And I got teased mercilessly for it.

That night, in the simple tent I’d set up in the garden inplace of a proper work set, I finished putting together the parts of the gliderwe’d saved (about 70% of it) and it finally looked like an airplane. Looking itover, I noticed two sets of four parallel grooves on top of the right top wing.I couldn’t see them as anything but the claw marks left by some four fingeredthing that had grabbed the wing, and the location of the marks was clearlywhere the glider had started to fall apart in the air; one of the wires thatwarped the wings was severed in just that spot. It spooked me. Kenton had saidshe hit a sea bird, but she’d been the pilot and couldn’t see the back of thewings. Had something been hiding back there, trying to crash the plane? Ididn’t want to deal with this alone, so I made up my mind to bring it up when Iwas visiting the Motorize manor the next day.

A bright morning gave way to heavy clouds and cold rain andI was dreading the whole thing but school ended and I entered the Motorizemanor, was led to the parlor, and sipped the tea Faraday brought untilDarlington came in with Heart of Darkness in her hand and asked, “Jorge,are you in love with anyone?” I made a strange, shrill sound and nearlyspit my tea but stopped myself, swallowed, and gasped, “No.”

“I am.”

“Oh.”

“……….”

“What?”

“Nothing? You…aren’t going to ask who?”

“Eh? I’m not asking.”

“William Cardinal.”

“Don’t know him.”

“…he’s two grades above us. He and Steven know each other.He’s quite the athlete, and he’s smart, and he’ll be a doctor someday, butreally, he wants to write novels.”

“Hunh.”

“So he says your opinion of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heightsis odd. The way you support Heathcliff’s revenge; the book itself describesthat as a curse, or the work of spirits. He says if you really read that bookcackling with glee like you said, then he says you must be very oddyourself.” I had, indeed, totally laughed my ass off reading WutheringHeights.

“Go get ’em, Heathcliff! Good work!” But sadly, hewasn’t that effective, didn’t accomplish all that much, and at the end the authortried to force a happy ending which I’d found highly disappointing. I kindaremembered mentioning this while chatting with Darlington, but…

“Whatever the author intended, it’s up to the reader howthey respond to it. And…not that I’ve ever tried to write one, but charactersin a novel don’t always do what the author intends. I’ve got no problemsdebating my take on the book with this William Cardinal. But I do question youbringing up his criticism of my take with me, here. I don’t mind if you criticizeme, but using someone else’s words to do it isn’t right, Darlington. If youwant to criticize me, or talk shit about me, or be mean to me, at least useyour own words. I’m sure William Cardinal didn’t expect those words to reach melike this, so you’re being rude to him, too. Anyway…I’m not going to borrowthat book from you. I don’t want to deal with you being weird about my take onit again, and if I can’t be honest about my opinion, why should I borrow a bookfrom you?” I pushed the book back across the table to her.

“Why are you mad?” Darlington said.

“I’m not mad. Just surprised. I thought we were getting

along, but then you suddenly attack me. If you secretlydidn’t like me, or weren’t happy with what I think, then don’t pretend thatwe’re friends. I don’t have that many friends, so the last thing I want is tobe disappointed by the ones I think I have.”

“Hunh.

Well, sorry. You can go now.”

“Mm. I will.” I stood up, and left the parlor. I raninto Faraday, thanked him for the tea, and was about to leave when he said,“Oh, Master Joestar, a friend of yours was just here, searching for you.”

“Eh….? A friend of mine?” I’d just lost one of thefew I could call friend, and the other two were Steven and Kenton.

“Here? Can you describe them?”

“He looked like a young boy, primary or middle school…hespoke Spanish at first. I led him over here, to the other parlor.” Rainpounding down outside, he led me down a gloomy hallway, across the centralhall, and into a room in the other wing. He knocked on the door, and it echoeddully.

“I’ll take my leave here,” Faraday said, and left.Leaving me alone with my anxiety. I peered into the room, and saw nobodyinside…? A friend? A Spanish one? Had someone from the Canary Islands come,pretending to be my friend? Steeling my nerves, I stepped through the door.

When I saw who was standing in the back, my vision blurred,my legs shook, and my head spun so fast I could barely stand.

“Wha…?” I whispered, feeling myself about to topple.

“You’ve grown awfully tall since I last saw you!” helaughed a laugh I had not heard since he vanished last summer in the AtlanticOcean, since the day I thought he’d died – Tsukumojuku. Asian faces did lookyoung to Western eyes, but…ha ha ha, this wasn’t really…

“How are you…?” How could he have known I’d be here?Tears welled up in my eyes.

“I exist now in eternity, in the final frontier,”Tsukumojuku said.

“But I expect I won’t be there forever. There must be some

meaning for me to have come here. Like I always said.Everything has meaning. You wanted me here, or something needed me for yourbenefit.

We have no time, my friend. By the way, where is this? Therewere no buildings this splendid on the Canary Islands.” The familiar soundof Tsukumojuku’s voice calmed me from my simple-minded emotional reaction, andI felt my mind waking up the way it had during out adventures together. Lookcarefully, and think. Tsukumojuku had said these words to me countless times.Look carefully…so I did. Tsukumojuku was floating about five centimetersabove the surface of the floor. I looked up and met his eye.

“Yes,” he said.

“It seems I can’t really say that I am actually here. I’mnot sure if I should tell you…but I’m currently in Japan, in the year 2012.I’m there with a different you – a Japanese boy completely unlike you, but alsonamed Jorge Joestar. I’ve been transported to a place called the Arrow CrossHouse, and I’ve gotten caught up in another case.”

2012? That was 107 years from now. Another me? A JapaneseJorge Joestar? Arrow Cross House? I had no idea what he was talking about but,“You’re caught up in a case? Need help?”

“Nah, the other Jorge Joestar’s here, I’m sure it’ll befine. Probably. And like I said, I’m not here to get your help. I’m here tohelp you. Are you in some sort of danger right now?” ? Danger?“No…I mean, I don’t have many friends but…” But I had madefriends since moving to England.

“Basically I’m fine?”

“Oh.

Well, that’s good. So there must be some other reason. Oh,look,” he jerked his chin at his left hand; from the wrist out it

was fading, see-through.

“I see. I am Tsukumojuku. I may be in one other place aswell,” he said, cryptically. Tsukumojuku smiled at me.

“I see, I’ll need to cross the bridge. Somebody somewhereelse has taken hold of my left hand. The palm is small, the fingers thin, so itmust be a girl. And she needs you. Take my other hand,” he said, holdingout his right hand. I reached out to take it, then stopped.

“Why is it you’re doing this?” Tsukumojuku laughed.

“Your Beyond is making it happen. I’m sure this isn’t a taskjust anyone could accomplish. For a Miracle like this to occur, you need theName of God. ‘God’ is words.

Words are names.” This was even more cryptic, but if hewas rabbiting on about Beyond again then this was definitely Tsukumojuku, so Irelaxed. I’d missed that, too.

“Is your weird ass name the name of God?”

“Yes. Tsukumojuku is 9, 10, 9, 10, 9. If you flip the kanjifor 9, 九,you get the astrological symbol for Jupiter, , Jupiter being ♃the Roman name for the Greek god Zeus. The God of Gods. The kanji for ten, 十, is across; so my name has three all-powerful gods linked together by two crosses.If God is the Trinity, then God can be split into three. I am in the ArrowCross House, I am here, and I am trying to connect to a third me. You have goto where he is. Take my hand.” I laughed at the note of authority heplaced on that command, felt a wave of exhilaration wash over me the like I’dnot felt since our adventures together, and took his hand.

“The nature of my name suggests that we’ll meet again, onemore time,” Tsukumojuku said, and everything faded to black.

In the darkness, the hand I was holding no longer belongedto Tsukumojuku. A small palm, and thin fingers. A girl’s hand. She seemed to beas surprised as me, and in darkness so thik I couldn’t see my own nose I heardher ask, “Eh? Who?” and shock and fear

struck us both upside the head, like our brains had beenreplaced with gas.

“It’s me, Lisa Lisa,” I said. That was all she needed.

“Jorge!? Why are you here!?” I couldn’t begin toexplain the why or how of it, but the Lisa Lisa holding my hand in the darknesswas definitely real. More so than Tsukumojuku had been.

“Calm down, Lisa Lisa.

Where are we?”

“Rome. In an underground temple nobody has set foot in forover a thousand years. How can you possibly be here? I can’t believe it…”

“I couldn’t begin to explain. More importantly, what’s goingon? An underground temple?” The air was damp and cold, and smelt of moldand dust. It felt like the ground under my feet was paved with stones, anddespite the total lack of light, it decidedly felt like a place that actuallyexisted.

“And why is it so dark here?”

“My light was stolen. I had a lamp a moment ago…”

“Stolen? Is there someone else here?”

“I came with my dad and everyone…but we got separated agesago. There’s a…I can’t call it an enemy, but there’s something protectingsomething.”

“Something protecting what?”

“The Aja Red Stone.”

“What’s that?”

“I dunno. Nobody alive has ever seen it. It’s a jewel ofsome kind; a Roman Emperor hid it, supposedly.”

“Eh? Are you actually here to plunder it, Lisa Lisa!? Areyou treasure hunting!?”

“No, dummy. The Hamon Warriors are…until I joined Straitsproperly, I assumed we were hunting vampires and zombies, but that’s not trueat all.

We’re actually protecting mankind, and the secrets ofmankind.”

“Oh? Thanks!” Lisa Lisa did a spit take, and startedgiggling. I couldn’t see

her face in the darkness, but that just made me extrasensitive to her voice, and I had to admit she had a really cute voice.

“Heh heh heh, World’s fastest gratitude, Jorge. Don’t be soquick to swallow a line about mankind’s secrets.”

“I’ve seen enough to know what you’re fighting is real.”

“…right. You enjoying high school? I heard you’ve moved toEngland, and you’re going to school there.” Mm? Was it fun? Notschool…Steven and Kenton were good people, but I’d just had that fight withDarlington…no, no.

“This is hardly the time to talk about that, is it, LisaLisa?”

“But Jorge…I keep imaging how much fun you’re having inschool, and that’s what keeps me going. You get to have friends, and live anormal life, and I picture you laughing with everyone, and that gives mestrength.” Gulp. If she put it that way I had to say I was having fun, Ithought.

“You aren’t being bullied again, are you?” Lisa Lisasaid, a hint of the fierceness she’d had when we were kids in her voice.

“No, I have friends,” I said, panicking.

“They’re amazing.

We’re studying how to make airplanes. You know aboutairplanes, Lisa Lisa? They let humans fly! The ones we’re making are all woodand cloth, but there are people out there making them out of metal with heavyengines on board. They can make metal fly! Can you imagine it? Heh heh heh. AndI’ve figured out how it works! The speed provides vertical lift!” Mm? Wasthat simplification completely true? I stopped to think, and Lisa Lisa said,“Oh…airplanes. You’ve finally discovered airplanes, Jorge…”

“? Yes.

Why? You jealous? Heh heh. The English are always on thecutting edge.”

“…………..” Talking about how much fun I was havingmade Lisa Lisa get weirdly quiet, and I didn’t know what to do. I thought she’djust said she wanted me to be happy? As my mind raced, I heard a

sound behind me, like something moving, scraping against theground. It was…maybe three, five meters? But…it was still pitch black so Icouldn’t tell you how I knew, but somehow I was sure this thing was humongous.

“Pffffffffffffff…………” I could hear itbreathing. It let out a long, wet sigh, like a fat man who’d just reached thetop of the stairs.

“My…” Lisa Lisa whispered, hoarsely.

“My lamp…I think this is the thing that took it.” Hervoice was shaking. She was scared.

“Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffft……….ffffbbbbbbbbtttt”It sighed again, and this time I could hear it vibrating past the thing’s lips.I could sense imposing muscle mass. Like twenty gorillas fused into one andglaring at us. Had she been facing this thing alone? She needs you. Lisa Lisahad called me, and Tsukumojuku had let me come. Hate to treat you like a handytool, but I am grateful, Tsukumojuku. I let out a slow, long sigh. This giantmonster was hiding in the darkness, sighing to let us know it was there, to putpressure on us, but not me. I was letting it know I was calm. I felt there wasno point in resisting it. It had come after Lisa Lisa, but it hadn’t hurt her;just stolen her lamp.

Why would a monster steal a lamp? To scare Lisa Lisa. Thesame as this phony sigh. It was just trying to scare both of us. …at theleast, it hadn’t yet touched either of us. It wasn’t the right timing yet.

We weren’t completely scared.

We could still be more afraid. The monster was toying withus, but had not made a move to get rid of us completely. The monster hadn’tshown itself at all while Lisa Lisa and I were talking normally. Yeah. If weacted normal, it wouldn’t show up. So why had it come out now? What had broughtit out? Oh, because Lisa Lisa went quiet.

Why? Because I’d mentioned airplanes. I didn’t know why metalking about airplanes made Lisa Lisa depressed, but that had

clearly been the mood changer. …hmm. So…was I right inthinking the monster had been hiding somewhere, noticed the change in mood, andwas like, ‘oh yeah, my turn!’ and popped out? No monster that ridiculous couldactually exist. Monsters generally showed up to ruin peace and good times. Theydidn’t usually give a shit what the mood was. In other words…the monster withus here certainly existed, but Lisa Lisa had actually summoned it. Lisa Lisa’sfeelings brought it here. Right, when the monster showed up, Lisa Lisa had gonequiet, but I was still normal and happy, super excited about the potentialfuture of aeronautics. My emotions didn’t matter. This monster came from LisaLisa’s feelings. This conclusion still let me wondering what it all meant (Ihad no idea) but whatever. I wasn’t wrong. As long as I wasn’t wrong, that wasall I needed.

“It’s all right, Lisa Lisa,” I said. I didn’t tell herthe monster wasn’t attacking for fear that would just make her focus on themonster even more.

What now? “…what’s all right?”

“You and me. Even if we’re apart, we’ll be OK.”

“Eh? ………..what do you mean? You mean you’re OK withoutme?” Lisa Lisa said. I could feel the monster coming closer; it felt likea lot of gorillas combined to form a giant spider.

Woah, woah, woah. This definitely came from Lisa Lisa’semotions.

“No,” I said.

“Even when we’re far apart, mysterious powers can bring ustogether again. Like today.” Lisa Lisa seemed relieved, and the gorillathing moved away.

“Oh…but how did you get here? You were in England, right?Even if you came to Rome there’s no way you could ever get inside the secrettemple. Are you really Jorge? The real Jorge? I’m not just imagining you?”I was pretty sure it was the gorilla spider in the darkness that she wasimagining.

“I’m real. Hard to prove in the dark, but…” As Ispoke, she moved her face closer to mine, and even though it was dark, Lisa

Lisa kissed me right on the lips. Bzzzzzt! The kiss waselectrified. Not like, because it surprised me – no, something hot and cold andnumbing ran from my lips to the back of my brain and down my spine until mytoes were zzzzzzzzzzt! Our first kiss, at least my first kiss and probably LisaLisa’s first kiss, so she didn’t realize she’d accidentally let Hamon ripplethough me. I recognized it. It felt just like the time she’d hit me with herIndigo Blue Overdrive in the hall of our school when I was eleven. In thedarkness my eyes rolling back in my head, her soft lips on mine, I forcedmyself to withstand the electric shock. After a moment Lisa Lisa noticed, andsqueaked, “Eh? Ah! Sorry, Jorge!” I was glad she’d noticed. It wasbest if she forgot that the gorilla spider had gone away.

My legs were still not quite under my control, but I said,“Let’s walk a bit,” and Lisa Lisa helped me take a few steps farther.There was no point in just standing there, and if Lisa Lisa’s emotions shiftedagain and something else came out I was scared I’d wind up electrocuted again.

“Hee hee hee. Sorry, Jorge! It’s just…hilarious. Hee heehee hee hee. ……pft ha ha ha I can’t stop laughing about it.”

“Please can I have another.”

“Whaa…? Hee hee hee hee hee no, Jorge you’re too funny!”

“…………?”

“But laughing has calmed me down. I’m breathing properlyagain. Good. I can feel out the terrain with my Hamon as we walk.”

“Eh? You’re running Hamon through the ground?”

“Yes, but it’s not attack Hamon, I’m just sensing where thewalls and stuff are.”

“OK, just warn me when you do it.”

“Eh? OK, then, here we go. …now.” I jumped as high asmy quivering legs would let me.

“Pbbbt………! ♡♡♡  Oh god, stop! Don’t make me laugh any

more!”

“Eh? But, it’s scary!”

“It is not, I promise!” Lisa Lisa’s face came closer tomine again, and kissed me again (I went stiff) but there was no shock thistime. Just Lisa Lisa’s gentle, soft kiss.

“See?” Oh, yes. Right. I didn’t say that aloud so Isaid it again, “Ah, w-w-wight.”

“Heh heh heh. I know where to go,” she took my arm, andpulled me farther in. Like she could see everything around us. I staggeredalong after her. Every time she used Hamon to feel the road, I jumped in theair, and she broke up laughing, but I wasn’t joking! “I never imaginedsearching this temple for the Aja Red Stone would be so filled with wackyhijinks!” Lisa Lisa said, doubled over with laugher.

“Oh, I found a torch.” She picked something up out ofthe darkness, struck it against the stones, and the sparks lit the fire.

With a foom, the torch lit the room. At some point – I guessLisa Lisa had been able to see it, but it was a surprise to me – we had entereda giant treasure chamber, filled with massive vases and chests and jewels andprecious metals and statues made of metal and armor and weapons scatteredeverywhere in great heaps. The room was so big the light of the torch did notreach the ceiling or the far walls, and every inch of it was packed with thesecrets of ancient Rome. Thick pillars stretched up from the floor, forming acircle around where we were; the room itself was circular, and we foundourselves surrounded not just by pillars but by three meter tall stoneguardians placed here and there in the piles of treasure. The guardians wereall hideous, glaring at us with terrifying scowls.

Where we stood was the center of the sea of treasure.

“There,” Lisa Lisa said, picking up a large red jewelthe size of her palm. I could instantly see the gem was pure, without any flawsat all. It seemed as if the stone itself glowed, reflecting more light than thetorch provided.

“I found it…! Hey, Jorge, will you put this onme?” Lisa Lisa handed me the red stone. It was far lighter than I’dexpected, so much so I almost didn’t believe it existed it. There was so littleweight to it it was almost like I was seeing things, so I poked it with the tipof my finger. It was hard. Yet, there was something soft about it, like theskin on the tip of my finger was being absorbed into it.

“Come on,” Lisa Lisa said. I turned towards her. Shehad her back to me, and had gathered up her long brunette hair, revealing thewhite at the nape of her neck. The jewel was fitted to a pendant, so I passedthat around the other side of her thin neck, and closed the clasp on the chainbehind her head. Standing behind her like this I could see her neck andshoulders and the swell of her chest and had to fight off a sudden urge tothrow my arms around her.

What was I thinking? This was Lisa Lisa – part of me wasstill thinking like that, but we’d already kissed.

Wait, why had we kissed? I hadn’t. She’d kissed me. Eh? DidLisa Lisa like me? It seemed so…why? Did I have feelings for Lisa Lisa? Butonce I started asking myself questions like that I knew only too well I’d juststart going in circles, so I decided to put it off for later.

“Jorge,” Lisa Lisa said, “About this redstone…” Her voice had none of the giddiness threatening to overrun mymind.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Promise you won’t tell anyone I have it.”

“? Okay, but why?”

“Not because I want to keep it all to myself, understand? Ihave to protect this stone with my life. If you let anybody else know that Ihave it, I’ll have to hide it somewhere and then die.”

“Eh…..!?”

“And if that happens I’ll kill you too, Jorge, so that wecan be together in the next world.”

“………….” She was smiling, but I knew she wasn’tjoking.

Gulp.

“So I’m going to tell everybody that this is a presentfrom you, Jorge. As proof of our vows.”

“Eh!?”

“Pfft! ♡♡♡♡ Ha ha ha! But I really willsay that!”

“Eh? Eh? Ehhhh!”

“Heh heh heh. How does it look? As necklaces go…isn’t it abit too gaudy?”

“…………..!?” Smiling in the light of the torch LisaLisa had long eye lashes, strong features, big eyes, high cheeks, a turned upnose, a strong chin and beautiful hair. She was every bit a match for the sizeof the stone…but I could not put that into words.

Lisa Lisa hid the pendant inside her clothes, and we leftthe treasure room. A few minutes walk by torchlight and we were at theentrance, and Straits was waiting for her. Everyone was super surprised to seeme.

“…Jorge Joestar? Why are you…?”

“Sorry to drop in,” I said, and Lisa Lisa cracked upagain, and all the Hamon warriors looked astonished to see her smile. Lisa Lisadescribed the vault, and said there had been such a vast quantity of jewelsthere that she’d been unable to find the Red Stone. She bowed her head, andStraits said, “It’s amazing you were even able to reach the treasure room.Nobody has ever been able to get there before.

Weren’t you…scared?”

“Yes,” Lisa Lisa said.

“If Jorge hadn’t been with me, I don’t think I’d ever havemade it through.” Straits and the others all nodded gravely, but I couldhear them mumbling about how I’d come to be there.

“Lisa Lisa summoned me,” I said.

“Hey!” she said, slapping my arms, but…wasn’t thatwhat had happened?

After that we left the secret temple, moved stealthily tothe Hamon Warriors’ secret base, where I borrowed a phone and called home.Penelope answered, sounding beside herself, and when she heard I was in Italyshe was shocked and even more flustered so my mother took the phone from her.

“Hello, Jorge? You’re in Rome?”

“Yeah, sorry. I can’t really explain how I came to be here.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine, as long as you’re safe. Do youhave a chair?”

“Eh? Yeah.”

“Then sit down and listen.”

“? OK,” I moved to the chair and sat down.

“I’m sitting.”

“Listen closely. Did you go to the Motorize manor today?”

“Yes. I promised Darlington I would.”

“OK. Did you see either of the older children?”

“? No? Why?”

“They found the older girl, Kenton Motorize, on the cape.”

“Eh? What does that mean?”

“She’s dead, Jorge.”

“Ehhhhhhhhh!?” I shot up out of my seat, and all theHamon warriors turned to look at me. Including Lisa Lisa.

“What…but how? Was she alone? They’re always worried aboutaccidents, so Steven is always with her…”

“Kenton Motorize told her brother you’d invited her there,and went out alone. Your airplane was at the scene. The one you’d been workingon in the garden.” I could tell Mum was fighting back tears, but I wasjust confused.

“Eh? So…Kenton took my plane out, got on it, andcrashed?” That made no sense. Kenton knew full well I wasn’t donerepairing it.

Why would she do that? Mum interrupted my thoughts.

“It wasn’t an accident, Jorge. The airplane didn’t crash.Kenton Motorize was stabbed over and over on top of the cliff. Stabbed with aknife that bore our…the Joestar crest. And your airplane was there with her.Oh, Jorge. Can you explain what happened to the police and StevenMotorize?”

I could not.