Chapter 16: Roll With The Changes Part 3

The Tomoko in front of me was very different from the one I read about in the manga. 

She was pleasant, gentle, and relaxed. The impression she gave me was that of a mature, gentle older sister. Rather than the strong, prickly, mama bear I read about in the manga. 

 

'Does this have anything to do with this 'husband' of hers?' I wondered, as I watched her get to work in the kitchen. 

 

Afterwards, a dandy older gentleman in a police uniform walked in. "Oh, who's this? A friend of Josuke's?" He asked Tomoko, while giving me a friendly smile. 

 

I quickly stood up and respectfully greeted the man, with a slight bow and a nervous smile. "Hello. Nice to meet you um…" I realized I had no idea who this man was. 

 

I hastily turned to the woman and asked her "Is this your husband, Tomoko-nee?" 

 

"No, little cutie, this is my dad, Ryohei Higashikata" she replied, with a playful smile. 

 

After I processed those words, I instantly froze. 'Shouldn't this guy be dead right now? Didn't he die in the first arc of the original manga?'

 

The dandy gentleman greeted me, with a smile. "Hello, little missy. What's your name?"

 

'Okuyasu, as in the previous me, didn't I not appear in the story until the second arc? That should have been well after this man died!!!' My smile stiffened and my face paled as I stared at the man in shock.

 

When he noticed my stiffness, he raised an eyebrow."What's wrong kid? you look like you've seen a ghost."

 

'Well, aren't you?'

 

I hastily shook off these thoughts and tried to greet the man with a polite smile. "I-I'm fine, sorry, you look like someone I've met before. My name's Yasuko Nijimura, nice to meet you" I said.

 

Suddenly, a precocious little girl of about 10 years, walked in wearing an orange polka dot dress, and a big red school bag on her back. 

 

She frantically yelled at the older woman. "Kaasan! Where's my running shoes! I have PE today!" 

 

"Didn't you say you were gonna wash them? Did you forget?" Tomoko gently replied. "Oh right! I remember!" She cutely exclaimed with wide eyes.

 

She was about to run off, but quickly stopped in her tracks, when she noticed my presence. She gave me a curious look and turned back to face her mom "Who's this?" .

 

"A friend of Josuke's, come say hello." Tomoko answered with a smirk. 

 

"Ah, hello I'm Yasuko Nijimura" I smiled amiably at her. 

 

'Did she just say 'mom'?' 

(kasan=japanese work for mom)

 

She turned back and greeted me with an adorable smile. "Hello I'm Tsurumi Higashikata, nice to meet you." 

 

When I heard her name, my eyes went wide in shock. "Um, are you really a girl?" I asked her, reflexively. 

 

The girl gave me a weirded out look. "Of course I am! why wouldn't I be?" She glared. 

 

"S-Sorry, you reminded me of someone" I apologized. 

 

I tried to smile and gloss this over while internally screaming in panic. 'OK WHAT THE FUCK!!?? these two didn't appear here in the original manga!!!!'

 

Then, a tall, musclebound, middle aged man in a police uniform walked downstairs, greeted Tomoko-nee with a light kiss, and quietly sat down at the dinner table. The little girl greeted the man with a smile, and ran out. 

 

Once again Miss Tomoko introduced me to him with a proud smile, "This my husband, His name's Norisuke Higashikata. He’s a little quiet, but don’t let that bother you, that's just how he is." As she served him breakfast. 

 

When I raised an eyebrow at the name, I learned that he married into the family. Apparently, he readily took her last name, since he was originally an orphan with no family name to speak of.

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The more I saw, the more sure I was, that this wasn't the same world that I knew of. According to the original timeline, the only people that should be here around this time, are Tomoko and Josuke. 

 

'Ah fuck, doesn't this mean I'm not in the original universe? In that case, where am I? Wait a minute DOESN'T THIS MEAN THAT EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT THE FUTURE IS USELESS?'

 

The knowledge of the future that I had, it brought me comfort, gave me a sense of security. I knew for certain that I would be able to live a life of peace after the end of the story. That at any point, I could just look back, and follow the path that the previous me did, and at least I would be fine. Now, I knew that the Idea was merely a fantasy, and it terrified me. 

 

In the original manga, this woman, Tomoko Higashikata, never married. She only ever had one son, Josuke. Her father Ryohei, was killed by a stand user, and Josuke himself was a bastard son born out of wedlock. 

 

(I should mention that many of the protagonists in the Jojo series came from broken, or single parent families. It wasn't really explicitly mentioned in the plot, but it was fairly important background information for these characters. I guess it showed that these people, despite their circumstances, were able to rise above and accomplish something greater than themselves.)

 

Additionally, the names ‘Norisuke’, and ‘Tsurumi’, are very similar to the names of some side characters from part 8 of the original series. This part also took place in Morio, but it was set in the year 2012, and in an alternate dimension. (there are 2 main continuities in JOJO’s. Parts 1-6 follow one continuous timeline, but parts 7-9 are set in an alternate universe with no connection to the first, aside from the occasional callbacks and references.) 

 

But I know for sure that we should still be in part 4. Josuke’s Stand is still Crazy Diamond. Koichi, Keicho, Okuyasu, and Chilli peppers all appeared here with almost no differences from their manga counterparts. (They did not appear in part 8). 

 

Still, I don't know if I should write the names off as coincidences. I guess I'll keep them in mind for now. 

 

'At least, I can take solace in the fact that the people here, at least the Higashikata family of this world, seem to be a lot happier than the original, especially Tomoko. But now, I fear this might only mean that the protagonist has a lot more to lose.' 

 

After putting aside these messy thoughts, I sat down, had a cup of tea, and chatted with Josuke's family. Hoping to dispel these worries with base trivialities and small talk. 

 

Finally, Josuke appeared, wearing his usual pompadour and modified dark purple gakuran combo. He walked over, and joined us for breakfast. He seemed a little surprised to see me here, but he politely welcomed me, sat down, and started eating breakfast with his family. 

 

He seemed perfectly at home here. I could tell he really cared for his family, and they cared for him. Although, It was a little strange, seeing how unguarded he was, for the first time. But it wasn't bad.

 

Suddenly the little girl spoke. "Onichan, Why do you always take forever styling your stupid hair, I had to use the other bathroom because of you."

 

My heart skipped a beat when I heard those words. 'Oh shit, here we fucking go!' 

 

Josuke clenched his fist and glared at the girl, causing her to glare back at him, then turned back and continued stuffing his face with rice, as if nothing happened.

 

'THAT'S IT!!???

Is he broken?'

 

The Josuke I know of, would act in a way that almost resembled like a large, but docile dog. He was tall, and somewhat physically imposing, but he was kind and outwardly friendly. 

 

That is, unless someone insulted his hair. In that case, he'd blow up like a bomb, sending a barrage of punches and pain to whoever dared insult his precious pompadour!

 

Seeing how little he reacted to this obvious provocation, surprised me. Sure, this time it was his sister, someone he obviously cared about, but wouldn't he at least argue with her? 

 

Instead he seemed to care more about eating his fill, than anything else at the moment. 

 

'Fuck it. This isn't the world I know of. This is somewhere else. No point in making any comparisons.' I thought. 'Besides, I can't keep freaking out over every little thing.'

 

At this point I can only look forward to more changes in the timeline. I can't approach everything as if I already know what's going to happen. As Aniki always says, there's no excuse for naivete in war. 

 

'But there's still something bugging me here. If Josuke's life is so different in this timeline, then why is my life the same as it was in the manga? Admittedly, I did magically become a girl in this reality, but even before that. When 'I', as in the reincarnated me, intervened, there weren't any differences between 'myself' and the original Okuyasu. At least none that I know of.'

 

'Is this fate?' One thing I haven't mentioned yet, is that fate is a real thing in the world of Jojo. It's a principle of reality, in the same way gravity is. Every person in this world is subtly affected by it, even if they don't or can't perceive it.

 

Hell, There are even a few characters capable of weaponizing the very concept of fate itself, though many of them do tend to be major villains in their stories.

 

Judging from my own case, I know that there are many similarities to the world I knew of. So, maybe my foreknowledge isn't all useless? I don't know. I can't know, not until I see the future for myself. 

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