Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 354

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Okuyasu finds something for Josie to do.
Word Count: 1035
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

         Josuke’s talking to his grandson one-on-one for the first time. They both need it, like Josuke needed to talk to his old man. Even if he wouldn’t admit it. And maybe it’ll help Johan. The kid had definitely been losing his mind, quietly. He’s been trying not to let anyone notice. Which is why everyone noticed, probably. Sometimes the more you want to hide something, the more obvious you get. And he gets why, too. If he lost his sight, he’d be freaked out too. It was bad enough when he got his scars.
         The way Okuyasu figures it, they need this time alone. He doesn’t get all the fancy psy—mind-science words about what it means. Why it’s important. He’s seen enough to know that sometimes, you gotta speak with somebody by yourself.
         Josie’s not thinking about that, though. She’s too busy thinking about everything else. She thinks too much, just like her dad. It doesn’t happen to Okuyasu much. Mostly about his dad. Sometimes you gotta do something else. Can’t just sit still. She just about followed them right out. But lurking in the background isn’t any way to live. If anyone could say that, it’s his dad. You know, if his dad could talk. He’s at least progressed to charades. Lurking isn’t her style either.
         But she’s a little out of reach. He uses The Hand, a half-hearted swipe. He’s got no clue if that erases less space, or something, but it should, right? That’d make sense. It’s only later he thinks maybe that wasn’t a good idea. In the moment, though, she’s in reach and he grabs not-so-little Jojo’s arm. “Uncle Okuyasu, you need something?”
         “Yeah,” he answers simply. And she stops fidgeting and glancing after them. Looking back at him and actually listening.
         “I don’t like doing nothing neither.” She gets that. Looking after her, like, babysitting, that was the hardest. Usually he bribed her. Just stay put until her dad comes back and then she can do whatever the hell she wants. She’s always been like this. More than him, but. Maybe that means he should be thinking of this the other way round? She’s the expert on not liking to sit around, and he just gets how it is, just...less so? Whatever, this is making his head hurt. “So I asked if I could help. They just shoved this bunch of papers at me.” And he barely figured out how to do the ones at his own job. Never mind a pile of papers he’s never seen before that look higher every time he glances at them.
         He’s, uh, probably not going to get very far on his own. So they’ll be eating two birds later, or whatever. He’s definitely not getting very far on his own, and it keeps her busy. Too busy to think.
         She smiles and shakes her head. She follows him easily enough. He’d set up not far away. Mostly he’d been keeping an eye on things. His buddy deserved that. Plus, he was maybe feeling a little guilty. Johan treated him once like he was Josuke. It has something to do with his Stand. It’s easy to know that, though. Okuyasu had tried to prepare himself. Still caught him off guard, though. He’d basically run. Johan probably gets that a lot. So maybe he’s used to it. That doesn’t make him feel any better. He’ll apologize later. “Yeah, okay, have you had a chance to even look what’s in them?”
         At this point, Josuke and his hot mom wouldn’t care, probably. Still, it’s second nature to censor himself around her now. “Yeah. It’s from that awful lawyer company, I forget the name. A list of all their guys who died, or whatever. I guess we’re supposed to look for patterns but you know I suck at that.” Even if he notices something, he’s probably just going to have a feeling he can’t put into words. “Too bad Rohan-sensei isn’t here. He’s good at this.”
         That actually makes her laugh, score. “Eh, yeah, except he’d only help out if he found it interesting, and given that both Papa and I are involved, he’d probably refuse just based on that alone. Unless he thought he could tick us off from getting involved, in which case he’d shove his way in and try to take over everything.”
         Like she can talk. She likes messing with him back. Not like he’s going to say that, though. Mostly because he already has. It never makes a difference. He’s done wasting his breath. Instead, he asks for advice. Because that’s why he’d asked her in the first place. Part of why, anyway. “What do you think we should be looking for?”
         “Well, I’d be interested in their job titles, if they’re even honestly listing them instead of just calling them all lawyers or ‘employees of the firm’. Even if there’s no pattern it might give us some idea why they were all targeted.” She isn’t intimidated by the high stack of papers. Okuyasu could swear it’s gotten taller since he was last here. Like somebody came by with more while he was gone and stacked them on top. As if this isn’t enough work already. Maybe they were expecting him to go get help?
         “But didn’t he just go after them because they knew who he was? Like Kira?” That’s the impression Okuyasu had gotten, anyway.
         “Yeah, but why did they know who he was? Given that he used being undercover to try to set up that trap and stuff, he was probably using connections like that for his own ends, so if we figure that out, even if it doesn’t lead us to him directly, it might tell us more about what he’s planning or what he’s already done. Motives. Stuff like that.” She’s a lot more energetic than he’d been, sprinting to a nearby desk to grab a pen and paper and then starting to scribble notes down. That’s right, notes might be a good idea.
         “It sounds to me like you’ve been listening to Kakyoin-san.” He’d say Jotaro-san, but Jotaro-san doesn’t tend to talk.
         She flashes him a distracted smile and gets right back into it.