Jotaro pretended to ignore everything around him, focusing only on his food. Inwardly, he smiled when he saw Giorno move away from Jolyne and Anasui. The latter had bothered Giorno with sudden movements, causing him to drop his food on his own clothes, and made another gesture that had almost hit him "unintentionally". After finishing the small sandwich that his ex-wife had prepared, Jotaro noticed the basket that Anasui had brought. Curious, he opened it and saw that it had several cans of soda and many poorly prepared sandwiches inside. The ham and lettuces, all piled between the bread in no particular order, were almost falling out.

'This fool came prepared,' he thought.

Giorno, with traces of mustard on his clothes that he had tried to remove with a napkin, took a small sandwich perfectly cut into a triangle out of the Kujo family's basket. He didn't have to move much to reach it, as moments before, he had shifted away a few centimeters. He felt somewhat uncomfortable next to Anasui, who had almost hit him in the face. For that same reason, Giorno didn't take any food from the basket Anasui had brought, despite having it nearby.

"Excuse me, George," Anasui said to him, softening his voice, approaching him again.

Giorno looked at him impassively, making him understand that he wasn't amused by his act.

"It's Giorno..."

"It doesn't matter." Not taking into account what the blonde had said, Anasui suddenly changed his voice and expression to a more pitiful one, putting a hand on his chest. "I'm very sorry for my behavior this morning. I wasn't very polite, even if you provoked me."

Giorno raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think we can start over?" Anasui fake smiled at him, extending his hand in greeting. Giorno hesitantly squeezed his hand, immediately feeling the strong grip. "Narciso Anasui."

"Giorno Giovanna," he said in a calm and polite voice. He felt the other's sudden shake.

"So, you're an employee of Mr. Kujo." He feigned interest while taking a bottle of ketchup and a sandwich from the family basket. "Are you French?"

"I work with Mr. Kujo. And no, I have Japanese heritage, but I've lived almost all my life as an Italian citizen..."

Giorno didn't see it coming. He fell silent, closing his eyes for a moment when he felt a red splotch hit his face. This had followed a sound that seemed to come out of the ketchup bottle.

He looked at Anasui, who made a shocked expression, his fingers covering his mouth at the "accident". Giorno noticed that the damn bottle was pointing in his direction.

"Giorno?" Jolyne said, hearing the fart sound the bottle had made. Looking their way, she noticed the small accident.

"I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. I just wanted to put a little ketchup on the sandwich that Mrs. Kujo so kindly prepared." Anasui feigned pity in his voice.

Giorno realized that the others were watching; some with concern and others with grace. But what stood out to him the most were the eyes of the girl who was already approaching with a napkin in her hand.

"Anasui, you're such a doofus. Who in their right mind holds the bottle like that? Oh my God!" Jolyne sat next to Giorno, visibly annoyed. She wiped his face as if he was a little boy.

Giorno didn't know for sure, but he sensed that even she knew that this "accident" hadn't really been so accidental. Although, he had to thank the fool, because now his "fiancée" was closer to Giorno. Both Jotaro and Anasui felt defeated at that. The older man mentally scolded the young man for such a stupid tactic.

A couple of hours passed and the Anasui didn't try another move that ridiculed Giorno. He would make sure to be less obvious next time.

The coexistence brought calm, especially for Giorno and Jolyne. However, they could not talk as they would have liked, since Anasui intervened at each contact. He would join the conversation and "accidentally" push Giorno with his towering body, almost making him spill the soda that he had taken out of Anasui's basket.

Jotaro enjoyed himself, watching the scene play out. If there was one thing he couldn't do, it was to intervene as his accomplice did but in a tricky and fast way. He watched them calmly as he ate the sandwiches Anasui had brought, sighing in relief. Maybe it was selfish of him, since it was a picnic for his daughter, but he couldn't help but relax. Yeah, what a great picnic nonetheless.

Rejoicing in that sight, he was about to take the last bite of his snack when an unpleasant gurgling sound came from his stomach, causing him to stop for a second. He shrugged and ignored it, paying more attention to the boys as they ate.

The atmosphere began to cool down and the sky started to darken, so the lanterns that adorned the garden were lit. How long had they been outside? Time had flown by fast for the older ones, but it had dragged for Jolyne and Giorno, but Giorno especially. He slowly came to feel down, though he did not in what way.

As for Jolyne, every now and then, Anasui tried to get her to talk. However, she would only give clipped answers, not exactly wanting to talk about their stupid school and about the teachers he hated.

"And what does that stupid Pucci think? The dumb exam was impossible, and to top it off, he failed me! And do you know what he told me?" Anasui ranted. Jolyne held her face up with a fist on her cheek, watching her father calmly eat a poorly prepared sandwich. Now that she thought about it, how many had he eaten? That was about the eighth one.

"I don't know, what did he say?" she asked listlessly. Anasui didn't notice due to the euphoria of remembering his despised teacher.

"'Anasui, you must realize that studying for ten minutes and resting for five days is not working'," he said with a mocking voice, raising his hands in a silly gesture. "That imbecile, he'll pay!" He crossed his arms in annoyance, oblivious to the fact that Jolyne had tuned him out.

She kept looking at her dad. From one moment to the next, she saw him hunch over as if he had been punched in the stomach. That alerted her, along with her mom.

"Jotaro? Are you okay?" Mrs. Kujo approached him. However, he immediately pushed her away, getting up and almost running into the house.

Everyone looked at him strangely, although Giorno not so much, as he wasn't feeling quite right himself. Why did he feel like this? He was very tired and his joints ached. He hadn't noticed it until Jotaro had paled, running straight to the bathroom. Or at least what he presumed was the bathroom after hearing the door slam and the man's strong gags.

"Giorno." Unexpectedly, he heard Mrs. Kujo's voice, who approached with a worried face. Putting a hand on his forehead, she immediately knew that he was starting to sweat. "Are you feeling all right? I think you have a fever."

"Ma'am, you're very beautiful," he said suddenly like a drunken man. Why had he said that? Who knew? Mrs. Kujo seemed tender and attentive, like the mother he never had. He felt weird. He saw Jolyne approach him, looking surprised and maybe worried. 'What a beautiful girl,' he thought. "Jojo..."

"What...?" Jolyne was surprised by his behavior and what he had called her.

"This guy is crazy. The only ones who call her Jojo are her mom and me," Anasui said in a contemptuous tone, only to be ignored by everyone.

Giorno was delirious; you could tell that already. He tried to get up, but the second he lost his balance, he was helped by the two women. Without warning, Giorno released a bit of vomit onto the grass, alerting the others and making Anasui back away.

"What a mess! Ugh! Have more decency, boy. You almost puked on me."

They immediately led Giorno inside, leaving Anasui alone.

It was clear that Giorno and Jotaro had fallen ill. But how and when? They were perfectly fine only a few hours ago.

Giorno brushed aside the women's help and ran on his own, with his hand covering his mouth. He had a horrible desire to return everything in his gut. He didn't stop to knock on the bathroom door or wait for Jotaro to open it. With a kick, he made his way in. Luckily for him, Jotaro was no longer on the toilet. Giorno knelt down, purging his insides.

The man next to him was already rinsing his face in the sink. What had all that been? He seldom got sick like that. To tell the truth, he felt like a fool.

"Giorno, Dad?" Jolyne entered the bathroom, finding an unpleasant scenario. Her father responded to the call, his face wet and skin pale.

Meanwhile, in the garden.

"Dumbass Jotaro! I should have warned him not to eat the damn sandwiches," Anasui said to himself, picking up his basket. It was almost empty because Jotaro had eaten from it as if there was no tomorrow. "At least Giorgia fell into my trap. He even threw up in front of Jolyne! It was beautiful!" he said between laughs.

From the grass, he picked up a can of soda that Giorno had drank. Anasui had watched him take about three of these. He looked at the expiration date with a smirk. Ha! Almost two years expired. What an idiot. He would also like to say the same for Jotaro but more as a reproach. Hadn't the man noticed the ham's peculiar smell? He called that a starving man.

Several hours passed. They didn't know when Anasui had left, not that anyone cared much. They focused on the men who suddenly showed symptoms of an upset stomach.

A few sounds woke him up. What could they be? Giorno opened his eyes, not knowing if he was dreaming. He saw that on one side of the nightstand there was a box of pills and a glass of water. Still drowsy, he felt a damp cloth on his forehead. He removed it and sat up again with a pain in his abdomen and a horrible taste in his mouth. While his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he tried to feel for the blanket to remove it. Instead, he felt a soft hand. His heightened senses made him turn to the silhouette of a young girl resting on the edge of the bed with her arms crossed, head lowered. He knew instantly that it was Jolyne who was sleeping near the nightstand.

He watched her for a couple of minutes. Had she been taking care of him? He gently stroked her braid. Why did she instill such a pleasant feeling in him? Jolyne was truly a beautiful person.

Hearing the pounding on the window, he realized that what had woken him up were the drops of a rainstorm. Curious to see what was outside the window, he carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake Jolyne. Although his body ached, he did not stop. He pulled back the white curtain.

Aside from his sickness, Giorno felt strange. The neighborhood outside was overshadowed by the rain. He somehow felt as if he was returning to a dream that he once had, as if he had experienced the scenario before. It felt nice.

The young man glanced at the clock next to his bed. It was already six in the morning, but apparently, no soul was awake in the house. Other than him, of course. He looked back at Jolyne, who was breathing easy in her awkward position. He felt guilty when he remembered the picnic from the previous afternoon. Such an unpleasant experience. And to think he had told her at the mall that they would make it special.

"I'm so sorry..." he said, climbing back onto the bed. He wanted to wake her up and take her to her room, but he stopped when he heard a slight whimper. Moving closer to her face, he saw tears running down her cheeks. It was then that he knew that moments before he had woken up, Jolyne was crying in her sleep.

She had just wanted a family reunion, one that he couldn't make special.