A Torn Journal - Noriaki Kakyoin - Status: Alive

     We had started on the way to my house, a drive that would only take about three or four minutes. With a renewed sense of courage, I focused solely on the task ahead. Now's not the time to give up, I told myself as the car rolled along the morning's empty road. Throughout the short ride, Joseph was asking me seemingly indefinite amounts of questions about what had happened since I died. Jotaro and Caesar sat in silence, both looking annoyed at the endless chatter.
"The other two men you were with," Joseph started another query, "I take it they stayed behind?"
I didn't mind answering all the questions- the more he understood my situation, the easier it'd be for him to help. "Yeah. They're looking for other survivors through the universe. I don't think they'll be joining us, but they might."
"Are they both Stand users, or just the one that sent you back here?"
I had forgotten to explain the concept of Stands and death to him and Jotaro earlier that morning.
"All spirits are Stand users," I replied, remembering what Speedwagon had told me. "Everyone has a potential Stand in life, but most don't have a bond strong enough to see it. When you die, your spiritual bond to your Stand is strengthened. People who didn't have one in life will have one in death, and those who did have a Stand have new abilities."
     "Really? Like what?"
     "I don't-" I began, but Caesar cut me off.
     "There are four," he answered. I let him continue. He clearly knew more about the subject than I did. "One ability is usually completely pointless. Two of them are generally helpful, while the last one is often something extremely powerful. Sometimes, one of the 'useful powers' is replaced with an ability that's always active. Something that constantly affects them or their users."
     "So, that explains Iggy," I noted. It made a little more sense now. Speedwagon had only told us that our Stands had new abilities, not that they'd affect us. I wondered, when I'd first heard Iggy talk, how his Stand's abilities could do that.
     Joseph's voice broke me away from my thoughts. "Explains what about Iggy?" I'd forgotten that part too. Or maybe I skimmed over it. It was a very bewildering, unbelievable thing, and I'd wanted Jotaro to take me seriously at the time I explained myself. Well they have no choice but to believe it now, I decided silently.
     "He can talk," I told him blatantly. Joseph, who was driving with Jotaro in the passenger seat and Caesar and I in the back, glanced at me surprisedly through the mirror. I turned my head to look out the window. "Oh, and the next left is my driveway."
     "Talk? To humans?" He questioned. I nodded, looking out the window as we approached my house. I was lost in other thoughts. I was thinking about my childhood, about the many memories I had with my family. Those stories were all I had to cherish. I wished I had spent more time with them during my childhood, but at the moment, just thinking about them gave me peace, somehow.
     Memories of parties and gatherings with friends and family. The quiet times when Kanna, typically having insomnia, woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me that she beat a high score on one of my games or something dorky like that. Family vacations around the world. My train of thought led me to my family's trip to Egypt. I shuddered when I thought about it. I had fun on that trip, I really did. Up until the moment I met Dio. From there on, my thoughts weren't my own. Under Dio's influence, I didn't spend time with my family anymore. I'd claimed that I felt sick. My parents must've thought I was crazy, and my sister was probably catching on at about that time.
     My thoughts under Dio's influence weren't my own, my mind echoed. Like The Void.
     "I don't think he's listening," Caesar's voice came. I jumped a little.
     "Oh, sorry," I said, embarrassed. "What were you saying?"
     "Eh, it doesn't matter," Joseph laughed, parking the car. "Come on. Let's go see if we can't find this Stand user."
     I nodded briefly, drawing my focus back to what's ahead of me.
I'm realizing that my story can sound unrealistic sometimes. I can't help that. I'm stating the solid facts of my interactions, thoughts, and feelings. I guess you could say that life can be unrealistic. My life is like one big, epic comic- a movie or something. Twists and turns, adventure after adventure. I used to wonder, sometimes, if our fates are driven and woven by something else. Like there's something determining all of our destinies, or making the script. Writing our stories, I guess. It was long after the events that I'm describing in this chapter that I figured something out pertaining to this thought, but I'll elaborate on that another time.
I ordered Jotaro and Caesar to wait outside- I didn't want Kanna to have to deal with three people she didn't know in the house. I received a 'sure, whatever' from Jotaro, and an annoyed grunt from Caesar. Until I met Void-Caesar, I didn't think anyone could have a more quiet, intimidating personality than Jotaro. My mind wondered for a moment what Void-Jotaro would act like.
Knocking on the door to my house, I received a sharp voice in response. "Who's there?" I heard Kanna bark aggressively. My sister could be pretty scary if she tried to be. I chuckled.
"It's me." I didn't need to tell her anything else, she'd recognize my voice. The door opened swiftly.
"Noriaki!" She exclaimed with a smile, happy and surprised to see me. I was glad to see her too, knowing that this may be the last time for many, many years. "What do you need?"
"Are Mom and Dad still here?"
"No, they left about twenty minutes ago."
     I stepped inside. "Well, I told you that I don't know where to find the Void user, right?" She nodded. "Mr Joestar can find him. But we have to have something to use. A television will suffice, but theirs isn't working, so we're going to use the one here."
"With a Stand?" Her eyes brightened. "Can I watch?" I nodded, smiling. She wouldn't be able to see Hermit Purple, but she should be able to see the TV feedback. This might give her a better understanding of the powers my friends and I possess.
"Sure," I told her plainly, as if the supernatural abilities were no big deal. A satisfied look flashed on her face. "You should be able to see what shows up."
Waving Joseph inside, we proceeded into one of the house's main rooms. It was cozy in there, and I had many memories in that place. All the sadness I had felt recently about not seeing my family again had vanished. I was glad they were able to continue their lives, even if it was without me. That journey could've turned out much worse. Dio could've killed them all in Egypt. I was grateful, now, that I was the one to die in place of them. They didn't deserve that. All I regretted now is that I couldn't stay to comfort them. That haunted me constantly, but just being with Kanna for the moment was enough to ease that pain.
Joseph tapped the power button to wake the TV up. Nothing happened. He waited a moment, and proceeded to tap it again. Still nothing. Agitated, he tapped it four or five more times, but with no result whatsoever. Kanna and I chuckled.
"Mr Joestar- It's not plugged in," I told him after a minute or two. He looked at me with an annoyed expression.
"Come on," he whined, but I could tell he wasn't actually upset. "Why'd you have to let me look like an idiot for two minutes?" He looked back towards the television and grunted in an angry tone, but had a joking look on his face. The look subsided when he attempted to plug in the cord. "You've got to be kidding me."
Kanna nudged me. "Hey, Noriaki, that's the outlet with the extension cord." She didn't have to remind me. I hadn't thought about it when we were on our way over, but that television was plugged into an extension cord with a bunch of other outlets and cords. It was just a confusing mass, collecting dust back in a corner between a couple of couches. It'd been like that for as many years as I can remember. If the TV wasn't plugged in, finding the loose cord was going to be a nightmare. Joseph cracked his knuckles.
"I can figure this out," he assured in a overconfident tone. "It's nothing!"
I laughed quietly, knowing it'd be a while before he could get through that mess. I didn't doubt him though. Nobody in my household was ever able to untangle it, but then again, we'd never really tried that hard. There were at least twenty cords in there, half of them not even plugged into anything. It'd always been a hassle to deal with. But I assumed Joseph could get it if he really tried.
I left him to work on that, and sat down on a couch near the back wall. I was thankful for the rest- my feet hurt from having been standing and walking for so long that day. Other than the short car ride, I hadn't sat down since I was talking with Kanna hours before. I massaged my feet as I gratefully rested on the couch. My sister sat next to me a few moments later.
"So," she began, "I was going through your stuff again a few days ago- sorry for that by the way." It had always annoyed me when she went through my drawings and the like. I hardly ever let people see them. I still felt a twinge of agitation when she said this, but I'd didn't blame her. It's not like she'd expected me to come back.
"It's fine," I told her, dismissing the apology.
"Anyway, I had left a bunch of old papers and drawings laying out. So last night I went back to clean things up somewhat, because I didn't want to leave your room like that. It was only a few hours ago, actually. Somewhere late, maybe eleven or twelve at night. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to organize the mess I'd made, just, y'know, as something to distract me. You weren't here yet. When I went back to bed later on, about two o'clock, I had this strange feeling. Like the universe didn't want me to sleep- there was still something I had to do. So I laid there for a while, hoping to get some sleep, trying to decide if there was something I had forgotten. After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't help but get up. And that's when I saw you."
     I looked over at Kanna, mystified by the story. "What do you think that was?"
     "No clue," she replied shrugging, and continued with a chuckle. "Maybe I could smell you? I had kinda hoped you could tell me."
     I laughed a little. It was strange that she just 'knew' there was something else. Someone else, I suppose, is more accurate. But as it was noted before, I can't help but believe it, even if it seems impossible. I'll be completely honest. If I didn't have Hierophant, I would think the concept of Stands was ridiculous. If somebody would've told me they had a 'Stand' I would've laughed at them. But because of Hierophant Green, I know that there are some things in this world that we can't explain. Maybe there really was something telling Kanna that she couldn't sleep yet. Or maybe she just smelled me. I doubt that.
     I was jerked from my thoughts by the sound of Joseph's voice. "Kakyoin, er- Kakyoins," he corrected, "I think I got the television working!"
     Kanna followed me to where Joseph was standing, looking quite proud of himself.
     "You actually untangled those cords?" I asked him, a little surprised. He shook his head with a smirk.
     "Not at all," he responded. "But I found the right one for the TV and got it plugged in."
     I snickered. Not even the most experienced warriors can untangle a mess like that. Oh well. At least he got it working.
     As the screen buzzed awake, Joseph readied his Hermit Purple. When he connects it through to a television, it can show a variety of details, scenes, and places. If we're more specific on what we're looking for, it can show them to us directly. In other scenarios, it could piece words from different programs together to form a message. This time, however, it was a subtle scene.
     The picture seemed to show a wide overhead view of part of a city that I didn't recognize. "Not very convenient," I murmured, trying to figure out where it was. Joseph nodded, an uncertain look on his face. There were many streets and alleys running between an abundance of houses and hotels. From the distance Hermit Purple showed us, it was impossible to read the writing on any signs. I looked along the rows of buildings, trying to find any kind of resemblance to any place I'd seen before. The only distinct feature we could see was part of what seemed to be a lake, but only a little bit of it was in the screen.
     "Hold on," Kanna began, touching the screen. "Look at that shadow." My eyes followed to where she was pointing. The sun was casting the shadow of some offscreen building over the lake. The television buzzed off, a small stream of smoke puffing from it that told me it wouldn't be working again any time soon. But the silhouetted figure was still fresh in my mind. It was extremely familiar- something I'd never physically seen, but was so widely popularized that I couldn't miss it. The Eiffel Tower. My mind filled with thoughts of determination, excitement, and fear. I looked over to Joseph, who's face showed he had the same thoughts that I did.
     "What are the odds," he sighed with a small chuckle. "We're going to France."