"....What."

Jotaro's voice was flat, but Josuke had been around him long enough to read it for the surprised tone it was intended as. On the other end of the phone, Josuke pouted, his brow furrowed into a displeased look. "You heard me," he insisted.

"I heard you," Jotaro confirms. "I just didn't believe it. Are you sure? I know how you feel about the old man."

With a pout that Jotaro didn't see, but a slight whine that he definitely heard, Josuke grumbled, "C'mon, man... don't make me say it again."

Jotaro paused again... and then, unseen, smirked. "Yare yare da ze..." he sighed. Then he agreed, "Fine. I'll let him know, and set up the meeting."

At this, Josuke relaxed. "Thanks. Take care, man." There was an affirmative grunt from the other end of the phone, and then it went dead. Josuke put the phone back on the receiver... and sighed deeply. "Ugh, this is such a mess..."

Roberta, who had been sitting on the phone table through all this, looked up at the teen and tilted her head, confused. "I don't understand..." she began. "Why don't you like Mr. Joestar? Didn't you say he was your father?"

Josuke seemed to deflate more at this question. "...Yeah. But... well, it's kinda complicated..." He hesitated, then reached to pick Roberta up gently and place her on his shoulder. Honestly, that was more for his benefit than hers; his mother had stopped reacting to the robot girl's presence as though she were a possessed fashion doll of some kind, so it wasn't for her safety. Josuke just liked having her around. That and, "I don't want to talk about it out here. There's certain... things about it Mom doesn't know."

So he headed for his room with the tiny robot on his shoulder! Once he was settled on the edge of his bed with the door to his room closed, he sighed a bit, wondering where to start. After a moment, he decided to just start with the root of the problem. So he began, "Well, it's like this... My mom still loves him very much, but he's married to someone else. He was married to someone else when he... was with my mom."

Roberta clapped her hands to her mouth, with the tiny 'clink' of plastic materials. "And she doesn't know?"

Josuke shook his head. "I don't think so," he confirmed. "I don't want her to feel bad, though. She can't help that she fell in love with him. But he could help getting into... things with her. He knew better. That's why I've been trying to keep him from meeting my mother again -- I don't want her to think he came back for her and is gonna stay forever or something. That and I don't want his wife to feel bad if her husband goes and meets a younger woman."

"But you need his help now?" Roberta inquired.

"Yeah," Josuke confirmed. "Usagi-chan's world has these monsters that drain... well, I think it's life energy. See, I've heard Jotaro talk about this 'hamon' stuff that Mr. Joestar used to do. I think he's gone back to doing it so he can stay healthy for Shizuka-chan -- that's the invisible baby I told you we found. So I'm hoping that asking about this 'hamon' stuff can at least give me a plan of attack against these things in Usagi's world."

Roberta nodded. It all made sense to her. But she did have a question. "What if he wants to meet your mom again and won't teach you unless you agree?"

Josuke went a little pale at that. "I hope he's not that kind of person, to hold knowledge that could save people hostage so he can meet an old fling." He frowned here, darkly. That was not his usual pout -- that was the expression he used when he was seriously angry or upset about something. And his voice is dangerous quiet. "...'Cause if he is... I'd have to hurt him."