JORGE JOESTAR Chapter 1: Tsukumojuku

ONE Tsukumojuku (九十九十九) is the first chapter of the light novel JORGE JOESTAR that takes place somewhere after the events of Phantom Blood.

Summary
The chapter takes place by introducing an eleven-year-old boy named Jorge Joestar who lives in La Palma with his mother, Erina Pendleton and his friend, Elizabeth Straits (Lisa Lisa). Jorge explains that he's bullied constantly by a boy named Antonio Torres and his gang. One day Jorge gets home after being bullied and finds out that Lisa Lisa will be leaving with her adoptive father to Italy. After Erina talks to both of them, Lisa Lisa begins to cry after hearing her speech and Jorge gains confidence and is determined to stand up against his bullies. The next day, Jorge attempts to avoid Antonio's gang and tries to hide at school by leaving early. Once he arrives in class, he is interrogated by one of Antonio's gang members, Julio Gonzalez. He explains that Antonio had been murdered. The bully blamed it on Jorge and Lisa Lisa because they had left home early that morning. The interrogation is interrupted by their teacher. He reveals that Antonio had been crushed to death leaving only a sheet of skin, with no blood nor muscles. Shortly after, a boy enters the room and claims that he heard the whole conversation. The boy reveals himself to be Tsukumojuku Kato, the only Asian classmate in Jorge's class and a kid detective, and claims that he already solved the case. He brings out Antonio's so-called corpse and reveals that the skin had been created by Antonio's mother. It is horrifyingly revealed that his mother, Maria Torres, had been removing her son's skin piece by piece ever since he was a baby. This caused Antonio's body to adapt and produce more skin. After learning all of this horrifying information, Jorge wonders if Antonio is still alive. Suddenly, Tsukumojuku opens the door and asks someone to come in. An unknown figure enters the room who appears to be Antonio. Moments later, a person emerges from the skin and it is revealed to be Lisa Lisa. She claims that the true murderer of Antonio Torres is near their school and that she had worn the naked skin to lure the killer to the police. The students in the class begin to cry while Lisa Lisa explains what to do when they get home. She gives everyone 4 rules that they must follow to stay safe from the killer. Which warns them to be home before sunset and stay there with all the doors and windows locked until sunrise. They must not let even their family members inside if they are still outside. After stating all the rules, Tsukumojuku says that the killer has now entered the school.

Jorge suddenly noticed that the room had gotten all dark and gloomy, as they watched their teacher, Mr. Fernandez close the curtains. Lisa Lisa looks to Jorge and explains that she learned a special breathing ability, like her father Straizo. Once Mr. Fernandez grabs the last curtain, he is turned to dust and is revealed that he turned into a creature just like Antonio's murderer. Tsukumojuku, Lisa Lisa, and Jorge enter the hallway and are confronted by a man who is standing on the ceiling. The man appears to look just like Antonio and reveals that he is the father of Antonio, Alejandro Torres. The man asks the three if they've seen his son, and reveals that he had eaten Antonio but went to school anyway because he had heard that Antonio went to school. Alejandro decides to attack Lisa Lisa but is killed by her Indigo Blue Overdrive. Jorge runs in front of Lisa Lisa out of pure instinct to protect her and gets knocked out by her Ripple.

The next morning, Jorge wakes up to see Straizo and learns that all of the remains of the Torres family had been removed. Jorge then asks if he also has a similar breathing ability like Lisa Lisa. Straizo explains that he doesn't because he is too scared to battle. Later on, Tsukumojuku visits Jorge and they both become close friends. Tsukumojuku mutters something about his "Beyond" leaving him; confusing Jorge, he calls him crazy. Sometime later, the time for Lisa Lisa's departure arrives, and she jokes around Jorge by saying that she would marry him and then leaves for Italy. Four years passed by, Jorge and Tsukumojuku had been solving cases as detectives, and best friends. Once Tsukumojuku had turned fifteen, he told Jorge that he had to move back to Japan. This made Jorge cry because he would be lonely again. He then promises that he will come to Japan one day so they will be able to do more mysteries together. Tsukumojuku doubts that it will happen and hands him a Japanese dictionary. A little over three days later, Jorge learns that the boat that Tsukumojuku rode in had vanished. Jorge had gotten worried and prayed for roughly 2 months, later learning that the ship had been found at the bottom of the sea. Jorge then states that he had cursed God for taking the life of his best friend.