★Read you like a book★ JJBA

★Sandy Shores★

After waking up and getting rescued just in the nick of time, we dropped off the baby and rented a boat to take us to Egypt, but not before the old man mentioned that we had to take a detour.

"You're just telling this to us now?" I questioned Joseph who only shrugged off my concerns about limited time. 

"Don't worry everyone," He quelled our nervousness, "We're just stopping by to meet a very important man, trust me, you'll like him."

"Important man...?" Polnareff muttered under his breath as we reached a tiny piece of land. Some uninhabited island I suppose.

Getting out of the boat, the warm sunlight on my face was pleasant, but the continuous squawking of the seagulls ruined the moment a little. There's no way somebody lives here, looking around there's not a single soul in sight! Wait a minute...

I heard the bushes rustle and a face appear in the midst of the shadows, almost startling me. I mentioned to everyone what I saw, saying, "Hey guys, there's somebody in the bushes."

"What?" Jojo turned in the direction I pointed in, and the second I did, the mysterious figure ran off, away from our sight.

"Who was that?" Noriaki pondered, trying to look closer towards the direction the person ran off to while Polnareff stood still, but then as if he snapped out of a trance, he immediately gasped in realization, "No! That figure, we have to go after it!" He ran off into the bushes and everyone followed suit.

Before I followed Polnareff in pursuit, however, I wonder...That hairstyle...those clothes, that's undoubtedly Avdol! His appearance is slightly changed a little for some reason, but there's no denying that it's him. Why is he on an island though? I thought we left him at the hospital back in India?

I chased after the figure and we all ended up at a small house hidden by the trees. The look-alike Avdol was now holding a bowl filled with grain and was feeding it to a couple of chickens who were surrounding his feet.

"Wait, everyone." Joseph raised a hand in the air to stop us from approaching him. "I'll talk to him."

Walking up to the man, he took off his hat as a sign of courtesy but the man shunned him away. "Go away!" He yelled and glared at all of us, "I don't want to talk to anyone! Nobody ever talks to me if it's good news anyway!" He added and slammed the door behind us, leaving us all in shock.

"But...I'm sure of it, that was undoubtedly Mr. Avdol!" Noriaki muttered under his breath but Joseph shook his head in disagreement, "No, that's actually his father. I'm afraid that he already knows about the news..."

"Father?!" Polnareff gasped for the second time and I could see that it really got to him. He must still feel that he's responsible for Avdol's death. Which is partially true, although he didn't die of course.

"Psst." I hit Joseph in the shoulder, "You sure that's not Avdol? I thought we left him at-"

"AHEM!" Joseph cleared his throat to cover up what I said and put his arms in an X sign. "NO! I'll explain everything later but for now, don't say a peep!" He whisper-yelled

"I'm sorry," Polnareff turned away from us and looked at the sky, "Avdol's death was entirely my fault, I will bear the burden for as long as I can remember." He clenched his fist, he was furious. Furious at himself for what he believed he caused.

"Hey, it's okay," I tried to comfort him and put a hand on his shoulder but he brushed it aside, apologizing again in response. "Sorry Y/N, but I need some time alone." He said before walking away. 

Me and everyone else looked at each other with concern but let him go. We all knew the truth but we had to refrain from telling it to Polnareff, we had to give Avdol a chance to recover before he joins us again to fight.