Diego put all the demonic flames into the bottle and stored it away with space storage magic. He thought to himself.
No distortion of time and space appeared. It seems the collision of magical power cannot compare to the Demon King's self-explosion, but this is currently the little sprite's strongest attack..
"Maid miss, I want to be alone for a while. Can you not tell the others where I am?" Diego said to Hayasaka Ai beside him.
"Of course."
Diego did not realize how lost and dejected his tone and expression were when he said this.
"Silver Bullet…"
With that, he mounted his beloved horse, pressed down the brim of his hat with one hand, and rode away from the city like he was fleeing.
Clip-clop clip-clop…
The scenery in front of him kept changing, and the altitude kept rising. Silver Bullet brought him to a mountaintop with a wide view, far from the city and noise. It was very quiet all around.
Just as quiet as when Diego first met Silver Bullet.
Diego jumped off the horse and patted Silver Bullet's head. Silver Bullet seemed to understand its master's emotions. It lowered its head and affectionately licked Diego's cheek.
"I'm fine."
Diego found it very unbelievable.
It was as if Silver Bullet had a premonition. Three days before the Demon King died, while Diego was fetching his weapon, it secretly ate Ugly Treasure.
At that time, it made Diego so anxious that he kept going "WRYYYYY" and kept prying open its mouth, trying to reach in and pull Ugly Treasure out.
After all, what if it got a stomachache?
Fortunately, Ugly Treasure and Silver Bullet instead coexisted in a strangely primitive cooperative state and crossed over together with Diego.
Diego sat down like this, leaning against Silver Bullet. He took off the silver cross necklace from his neck, pinched the chain and hung it in front of his eyes, and spaced out.
Two hours and fifteen minutes.
It wasn't until dusk, when the sun was about to set, that Diego suddenly put the necklace away and gripped it. His body fully transformed into a dinosaur, and The World appeared at the same time.
Diego did a backflip. Using the time he was in the air, he fiercely threatened the uninvited guest in front of him:
"5m…"
"Listen carefully! This is a warning. I don't care what you're here for or how you knew I was here. Once your distance from me shortens to within 5m…"
"I'll bite to death all those starfish and dolphins you've been researching, Jotaro!!!"
After threatening like this, Diego happened to land and sat back down in that spot again.
!!!
Dio's speed got faster again!?
This is enough. The World being a growth-type Stand is not funny at all..
Jotaro secretly lamented how troublesome this errand was.
"The Speedwagon Foundation commissioned me to come investigate the incident of the 'flame-bathed giant dragon' that appeared inexplicably in the sky above the Shinomiya residence. Currently, it's being publicized externally as the latest CG technology to calm the public's panic."
Jotaro's uniquely steady voice came through.
"The Foundation needs an explanation."
"So that's what it was for…" Diego's expression darkened. He turned his head and said unhappily, "No problem! Then I'll give you an explanation, Dio!"
"Gugagagaga…"
A large number of small dinosaurs leaped out and surrounded the two of them.
"Is this explanation enough?!"
Jotaro was not flustered. He didn't even summon Star Platinum. He quickly digested and understood part of the phenomenon: "…I see. This is your Stand. You're Dio from another world. No wonder I always felt that your coordination with The World was very dissonant. I suppose that dragon was also the work of another world."
Diego instantly pounced over. His dinosaur tail wrapped around Jotaro's body in passing. His tone was agitated: "Stop analyzing me so seriously over there. Aren't you afraid of dying?! Jotaro!!!"
"ORA!!!"
Star Platinum punched Diego squarely in the face!
A sharp glint flashed in Jotaro's eyes: "It seems I still need to calm you down first before we can communicate normally."
"Uwooooooo!"
Diego was sent flying backward, spinning several times in the air.
Silver Bullet ran a few steps in the direction Diego flew. In midair, Diego stretched out his hand, hugged Silver Bullet's back, and like an acrobat, rotated 180 degrees from under the horse's belly to sit on its back.
"Huff… huff… huff… You actually dared…"
Diego panted heavily, sitting on the horse's back as if nothing happened. His furious eyes were locked tightly on Jotaro.
"I'm going to kill you!"
He truly felt killing intent, but at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind again.
[Dio-oniichan!]
Let Jolyne lose her father?
The dinosaur transformation on Diego's body quickly faded. The hand that was about to attack dropped. He turned his head away and left behind one sentence: "...I have nothing to say to you. What's more, the two of us have no foundation of trust. You should be clear that for me, lying is easier than eating or drinking."
Jotaro nodded and asked in return: "So?"
"Get lost. Don't bother me."
Diego turned and left.
Seeing this, Jotaro called out to stop Diego: "Then we really do have a foundation of trust, don't we?"
"What?"
Diego stopped in his tracks.
Jotaro continued with his hands in his pockets: "Jolyne's teacher called me to the school not long ago."
?
What the hell is this guy talking about?
Kids only have a few things going on, like bullying classmates, breaking things, not doing homework.
What does it have to do with me, Dio?
"Boring as hell, wasting time. Silver Bullet, The World, let's go!"
"The reason is that Jolyne's essay was very well written. The assignment was to write about her family. What she wrote about was…" Jotaro paused. He deliberated for a long time before barely opening his mouth. "My… brother, Dio…"
Diego's steps halted. He used his time-related ability — time rewind — and, without changing his posture, retreated back to his previous position.
His entire face read: I'm interested. Go on.
Of course, whether it was an essay or not didn't matter. He mainly just wanted to communicate with Jotaro.
Diego also absolutely would not be happy for the childish reason that Jolyne chose to write about him instead of Jotaro when writing about family.
"In fact, I came because of Jolyne's request. After all, the SPW Foundation also knows that if you don't want to talk, there's nothing they can do." Jotaro took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to punch this punchable face. "That little boy named Hori Sota seems to have told Jolyne something. She's been very worried about you at home."
Jotaro tried to recall.
[Dad, please, help me ask~]
To be honest, Jotaro didn't fall for this at all. Even if Jolyne had secretly kissed his cheek without him noticing, he still didn't want to go find the annoying Diego.
It's just that the SPW Foundation happened to need to inquire about the 'flame-bathed giant dragon' incident, and since the SPW Foundation had done him a favor, he reluctantly came here.
Yeah, that's right!
But why would Jolyne act spoiled for something like this...
On the other side, after thinking for a while, Diego came to the conclusion:
"...I still don't trust you."
"I don't trust you either."
"Then what do we do? We can't just stand here wasting time."
Diego stared at Jotaro with dead fish eyes.
"..."
Jotaro couldn't make up his mind for a moment either.
The two of them stared at each other for a while. Diego was the first to back down and proposed an idea.
"I say, how about this? Let's share some secrets with each other that we absolutely want to hide from others and don't want anyone to know."
"What bad idea are you thinking of now?"
Hearing Diego's words, Jotaro showed the same disgusted expression he had the first time he saw Kakyoin's reoreo cherry.
"This Dio is very sincere. I'll go first then. This secret is enough to make you take several steps back in shock."
Diego pouted and snapped his fingers: "Ahem, you know the word 'fetish', right? Don't look at how improper I seem."
"Actually, if the girl I like takes off her clothes in front of me without any defense, whether there's innerwear or not, including changing clothes, I'll feel shy about it, because it really feels super erotic…"
Halfway through, Diego glanced at Jotaro's reaction out of the corner of his eye and immediately cursed loudly.
"Hey, what's with that expression? Do you believe I'll kill you!!"
"No..." Jotaro put away that disgusted and surprised expression and explained, "I just didn't expect Dio to have such a pure secret. The DIO I know only treats women as goods, uses them and throws them away, or eats them."
Diego raised an eyebrow: "Oh? So you're very devoted?"
"Joestar family men love only one person in their lifetime." Jotaro answered like this.
As for the old man... I don't know him.
Diego rolled his eyes at Jotaro: "Tch, what kind of answer is that. Whatever. Your turn!!"
Jotaro reached out and pressed down the brim of his hat. His outwardly cold but inwardly warm personality made him unable to handle this kind of question. He organized his words for a long time.
"Say it already. Don't force this Dio to search your memories!!"
It wasn't until Diego's unhappy face was almost pressed against him that he spoke.
"The secret buried deep in my heart that I don't want anyone to know... I suppose I have one. I once... spoke very badly to my mom. I said a lot of excessive things, like: 'Stinky old hag', 'Shut up', 'Don't stick so close to me', and so on. I even yelled at her when she was sick."
"?" Diego narrowed his eyes slightly. "No wonder from the first moment I saw you, I felt an inexplicable disgust. Saying that kind of thing to your mom means you won't go to heaven."
"Don't misunderstand. My mom is a very good person. She's friendly and warm to everyone. It's just that her love for me is too mushy." Jotaro's gaze lingered on Diego for two seconds before he continued. "Like giving me a goodbye kiss before school, always asking if I'm cold or hungry... This was really embarrassing for me back when I was a delinquent."
"I actually... love her very much and often feel sorry about it, but I just can't express it properly."
"Only now am I gradually understanding that communication between people is a very wonderful thing, but if you rush it, it will leave aftereffects."
Perhaps because he didn't have to hold everything in and face it alone, after speaking, Jotaro actually felt a lot lighter in his heart.
Immediately after, he slowly closed his eyes. He was already prepared for Diego to mock him.
However, Jotaro heard nothing except the occasional bird calls from the forest.
Diego suddenly said: "Sly..."
Jotaro opened his eyes and saw Diego's face full of disbelief.
"What do you have to feel guilty about? What kind of secret is this?! Any mother who loves her child knows that you're actually very filial!!" Diego's tone gradually became agitated. "Bastard, this is empty-handed robbery. What kind of handle is this? If it got out, it would only make people feel sorry for you!!"
"...Don't tell anyone, especially don't tell my mom."
"Hmph, same goes for you."
The two of them chatted like this for a long time.
Although they still found each other unpleasant, it was undeniable that at this moment, there was a kind of friendship in their hearts that was different from the traditional sense.
It was a wonderful feeling.
It was also the best annotation for their wonderful adventure.
...
"...So, I can't go back."
Diego finished recounting his experiences and irritably messed up his own hairstyle.
"I'll try to return to normal. Tell Jolyne not to worry about me. Also, that white-haired one in your Stardust Crusaders..."
"Dio-san!" ×4
"Eh?"
Wow, so many people!
Josuke Higashikata appeared out of nowhere from some damn place, leading Okuyasu Nijimura, Koichi Hirose, Rohan Kishibe, and others.
Josuke Higashikata: "D…Dio-san! I didn't realize you had such a difficult past. Why didn't you ask us for help? Dio-san has helped us so much! If there's anything I can do to help, I'll definitely do my best!"
Koichi Hirose: "That's right. Previously, Dio-san accidentally saved me. I've always wanted to find a chance to thank you!"
Okuyasu Nijimura: "M…me too!"
Rohan Kishibe: "Don't look at me like that. Mr. Brando and I are good friends."
The group surrounded Diego, chattering so much that Diego couldn't hear anything clearly.
"Shut up!"
However, Diego inexplicably felt a bit at ease.
To be continued...