"Relax. Once we get where we're going, we'll let you out. They've got all the food you could want there—just bear with it for now. Good, good, good kids..." Despite calling them good kids, Joseph only dared use his prosthetic hand to feed the two small cats inside the iron cage.
Yimi: "Meow. (￣～￣)"
All the food she could want? Was there really such a good deal?
She munched on the cat food Joseph had tossed in and tucked her limbs under herself, settling into a perfect loaf. Zero tension whatsoever. The old man was big and strong-looking, but he gave off an overwhelming sense of weakness.
Mama and Grandma were number one. Eating and sleeping were number two.
"I don't get it. This damn stinking cat—a cage like this, you could kick it apart in one shot. And you just... surrendered for a handful of kibble? That simpering little meow! Do you even know what happens to strays like us when we get caught?"
Iggy yowled at Yimi several times, but since he still operated on canine instincts, all he managed to convey was the general signal of being very agitated.
With his Stand still in its fledgling stage, he couldn't break open the cage. And with his arch-nemesis cat within striking distance, he didn't dare attack—at this range, The Fool was at a severe disadvantage. He did not want to get punted across the cage and end up with waffle-iron grid marks stamped into his face.
"There's something for you too." Joseph offered Iggy a stick of chewing gum.
Iggy stopped yelling.
"Joestar-san." Avdol gripped Joseph's arm.
"Ah, I know. In that case—mind taking a little nap first, you two? It's perfectly safe, I promise." Joseph gently lowered a glass dome over the cage and stepped aside, letting the employee who'd been pressed into playing programmer inject a measured dose of anesthetic under the cover.
They were about to board a plane. If these two freakishly strong little cats started making a scene at altitude, Joseph would be reliving the harrowing moments of his youth.
Iggy went down without a fight. Once he lost consciousness, his body instinctively released the Cat-Cat Fruit's power, reverting him to the Boston Terrier form Joseph's team had been expecting.
Seeing this, Joseph even praised it: "Activating its Stand ability to assume dog form and intimidate enemies right before losing consciousness? Cat though it may be, this one's a born warrior."
Yimi, meanwhile, sat unperturbed in the opposite corner of the cage, gnawing on a meat strip Jonathan had put in.
"Huh? The better-behaved cat didn't pass out. It's even looking up at us with this expression that screams 'Did you do something?' ... I really can't let my guard down."
If she'd let herself get knocked out here, Yimi could actually have unlocked a "Yujiro Hanma" achievement.
"It seems as long as there's food, it won't cause trouble. It's already eaten two bowls of cat food—is its stomach a bottomless pit?"
Although nerves were unavoidable, they made it back without incident.
It had been roughly four years—around 1983—when a fishing vessel hauled a Western-style coffin from the sea. Inside it was the nemesis dating back to Jonathan's generation... really only going back as far as Joseph's grandfather. Dio Brando.
True to the manner of his emergence from that coffin, he was a Vampire—a human who'd been turned. Joseph had faced such creatures in his youth and had even defeated the most powerful among them.
Even so, Joseph didn't dare let his guard down. On one hand, he'd neglected the life-extending practice of Hamon in order to grow old alongside his perfectly ordinary wife. On the other hand, there was Hermit Purple.
He hadn't learned about DIO's recovery from his grandmother's old stories. He'd seen it through Spirit Photography. More precisely, it was because DIO had awakened a Stand that Joseph—carrying the Joestar bloodline—had awakened one in response.
The Joestar bloodline was a mystical connection. And DIO, the one who'd survived as nothing but a severed head, had killed Joseph's grandfather and claimed the man's body. In a way, sworn enemies though they were, they now shared the same blood.
"Meow."
"Joestar-san, we're out of cat food. Three full bags. Not even a pig eats this much." Avdol shook the nearly empty bag and held it out to Yimi so she could paw out the last scraps herself.
These devious humans. When the anesthetic didn't work on the cat, they'd resorted to having someone hand-feed her on the plane for three straight hours—one kibble at a time—hard-locking her in place through sheer feeding.
Yimi studied the iron cage. It was enormous—large enough to cram an adult into if they curled up. But any cage had a lock, and lock or no lock, even without brute force, it posed no real threat to her.
The little cat stared at the three characters reading "attain Heaven"—even more incomprehensible than "become the Hakurei Shrine Maiden" had been. She had absolutely no idea what it meant.
She'd just have to find someone to ask. But the kitty couldn't go around talking in cat form—it would scare people.
"Joseph, honestly. Where have you been?" The speaker was Joseph's wife—the one he'd given up Hamon training for so they could grow old together. Suzi Q. A dignified-looking elderly lady.
"What are you doing here? I'm working."
Afraid of worrying his family, Joseph hadn't told her about DIO.
"Working?" Suzi Q's voice suddenly took on a tremor that Joseph couldn't place.
He watched her raise a trembling finger, pointing behind him. "This is your work, Joseph? What exactly have you been doing behind my back?!"
She snatched the parasol from her attendant and began whacking Joseph with it.
"Ow, ow! What are you doing?!" Joseph raised his arms to shield himself, confused and aggrieved—then caught a peculiar look in the attendant's eyes.
He followed the attendant's gaze and turned around.
Inside the large iron cage he'd brought home, a dewy-eyed little girl gripped the bars and stared at them. In weather this cold, she was dressed in what looked like a cheap short-sleeved shirt and shorts—a starter battle outfit, basically. An unconscious dog lay in the corner of the cage beside her.
A little girl. Locked in a cage with a dog.
"Oh my god! Suzi, let me explain!" Joseph slammed both hands over his face, tears brimming. "Avdol—quick, back me up!"
Suzi Q clenched her fists. She managed to compose herself for a moment and turned to look at the innocent, pitiful little girl inside the cage.
"Mm."
Yimi took the cat food bag Avdol had left for her, pried it open with her now-human hands—much easier than with paws—and scooped out the remaining kibble to stuff in her mouth.
Suzi Q recognized the brand. Wealthy elderly folk tended to keep a pet or two around.
Joseph straightened his hat and pointed at Suzi Q. "Your next line is: 'I never imagined you were this kind of scum, Joseph. Drop dead!'"
"I never imagined you were this kind of scum, Joseph. Drop dead!"