Svalvoliamo!
Salerno. One of the largest villages on the Amalfi coast, it is considered the cultural and economic center of Campania, Italy. Just barely thirty minutes away are the iconic remains of Pompeii, Il Centro Storico di Salerno attracts tourists to its famous Via dei Mercanti for unique shopping experiences. Yet, despite not being as popular or known as Sorrento or Positano, it was charming enough for those who prefer a more relaxed way of exploring Italy’s past. It is also a perfect place to hide the Don of Passione’s daughter.
The villa the team was currently using was the second one they moved into while waiting for Father Diavolo’s orders for the past couple of days. Team #47, now also known as the Guard Team thanks to their promotion, was currently residing in a large estate villa surrounded by various vineyards on the mountainside. It still gave a slight view of the sea but was so tucked away that no one would notice or question what a group of twenty-somethings was doing; if anything, unknowing vineyard workers and passing tourists assumed the group of men and women were just some friends having a holiday and nothing more. Father Diavolo prepared the false documents necessary to play this lie, from forged plane tickets to fake ID cards for each member, and the whole team had their carry-ons full of what items remained after Gregaste Hostel was revealed to be destroyed and trashed by The Rising 88 upon Team #47’s return. The Don of Passione promised to make the failed usurpers repay and have what was stolen or broken be replaced— once the mission was complete.
Missing a few things here and there was the least of the mafiosos’ problems at the moment. Gigi’s demands for the most obscure and oftentimes expensive things and tantrums that came with any refusal to give her what she wanted didn’t make things any easier for the mafiosos. Sometimes, she would deliberately break the item well sought for and demand it replaced; Team #47 would end up having to request the items again and find ways to explain to Father Diavolo their reasoning for new replacements. While the Don of Passione almost always approved and sent their needed things, it was clear that his patience towards his daughter was starting to thin and the effects of that were beginning to be felt. Yet, the team as a whole persevered to endure for as long as they could. It helped that the bratty behavior shown eventually died down thanks to Zafferana; for some reason, it seemed like Gigi not only listened to her but seemed to respect the mafioso and only her. Rovescio speculated that the two shared similar interests in terms of fashion and mannerisms, which allowed the young girl to see Zafferana more as a friend than an adversary. Giorno wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but the few interactions between the two ladies could be summarized as Gigi appearing to worship the ground the older woman stepped on. And, it seemed like Zafferana saw Gigi as more than just someone to babysit as a job.
Throughout the entire time, he stayed with Team #47, he spent it trying to learn more about his team. Aglio had yet to do an actual initiation; the demand from the Don of Passione burdened not only the newly-made Caporegime but his next-in-commands trying to help ease the workload. A big part of why it was difficult to look after Gigi was the fact that, out of all eight members, only two people end up being the ones who can look after her. Gigi only liked to be in the company of Tae when Zafferana wasn’t available; the only reason was that the young girl found it entertaining to bully the youngest mafioso in the group despite the latter being a couple years older, and picking on the weakest-appearing mafioso would rile up the others who cared for him more than they like to admit. Giorno used to be able to look after her, but Gigi then complained about how his presence made her wary via some half-assed excuse about his unusual youthfulness and constant observing he had a habit of doing.
So, Giorno now spends his time simply standing guard in front of the door that was Gigi’s current bedroom and eavesdropping on every conversation he could to learn about his team until he switches shifts with either Andreas or Stella for the day. His habit of observation remained with him years after he grew up, and he quickly learned all the traits of each mafioso he could. He felt like he learned more about his new team than the years he spent with his original one.
Andreas dreamed of opening his own sports bar in Naples. He used to play soccer as a kid and considered working hard enough to play for the FIFA world cup had he not become a mafioso of Passione. Aglio, in addition to collecting vintage coins and praticing coin tricks, seems to have a side job at some doctor’s office in Rome that he is rather secretive about. The Former Don wasn’t sure about the details but didn’t want to pry or be caught listening to the phone conversations that seemed to stress Aglio with each call. Meanwhile, Giorno learned Stella raised her sister Scilla ever since their parents died unexpectedly; Scilla knew nothing of the mafioso world or her sister’s involvement within Passione. Stella herself was a self-taught cook who made things ranging from Italian classics to Diné comfort foods she grew up eating. Rovescio was fond of animals and occasionally help rehabilitate kittens when he has the time. He and Zafferana also enjoy smoking together over wine; Rovescio was partial to anything Marlboro-made. Zafferana apparently was known in the upper echelons of society as a widowed socialite-turned-criminal who seemed to only enjoy smoking and drinking when she wasn’t complaining about things like customer service. He quickly learned that she exclusively preferred Sobranie Pinks when he tried to appease her with a pack of cheap cigarettes he thought was expensive but was yelled at instead.
Surprisingly, the only people he barely knew in comparison to the other team members were Tae and Azzura. Giorno remembered Andreas’ warning about Tae’s mysterious past and how the team aside from Rovescio knew little of it. Interestingly enough, the Former Don had minimal detail about Pesci compared to the rest of the team and therefore could not guess the life Tae had before joining Passione; Prosciutto was also just as secretive about Pesci’s background but it was clear that both Prosciutto and Rovescio were unrelated to Pesci and Tae respectively. There were rumors, like how Pesci ran away from home for unknown reasons, but nothing seemed convincing or stuck to be a possible theory. Meanwhile, Ghiaccio seemed to have the most information second to Risotto; Giorno once read that the late mafioso a former up-and-coming skater who was caught sabotaging his rival and ultimately joined Passione. Yet, he didn’t recognize Azzura beyond appearing eerily similar to Ghiaccio had the late mafioso been a woman. The Former Don assumed there was no way that Azzura was simply a new version of Ghiaccio that was born female but couldn’t figure out how she could be connected to him.
Even with the inability to know more about his remaining members, it was enough to keep himself occupied while he spent his banal hours standing by the door. That, and reminiscing his past when he met his original team kept him from becoming bored. His daydreams were filled with remembering Fugo’s iconic temper, Mista’s intolerance to the number four, and many more events; Giorno would admit the prank Abbacchio did on him regarding the tea was humorous years after it happened. He missed the life he had, the life he could have had. He wondered if he could get some of it back with his new team. He missed the ability to have loyal men do his bidding, seeing the people smile as a reward for his efforts, his requiem powers— everything that made him who he was before he went back in time and lost the people he loved. Sure, there were some challenges and tribulations, and not everything was sunshine and rainbows whenever he tried to help those in need, but the days when it made him feel fulfilled were different. Giorno couldn’t wait to regain his old life again.
Muffled laughter came from Gigi’s room, breaking the Former Don from his thoughts. He smiled a bit, recalling how Gigi’s giggles sounded like Trish’s the last time he heard of her laughing. Giorno felt relieved that the young girl at least sounded comfortable enough to laugh out loud with a couple of people from the team in the same room. Had her hair been styled like Trish’s and wore the same outfit as Trish did years ago, she would have looked like an almost carbon copy. Yet she wasn’t Trish Una– she only shared the same last name and potential lineage as her— she was Gigi Una and nothing more. He wondered if she will show the same Stand as Trish and whether he should let her know about having such an ability earlier; he also wondered if Father Diavolo will actually kill her this time instead or the possibility that Gigi might turn against them if she found herself more closer to her father than ever.
If Trish was alive as Gigi, there was a chance that Mista and Fugo are alive but slightly different too. Giorno initially thought he could try to find and convince them to help regain Passione. However, seeing how Gigi didn’t recognize him or was aware of her possible fate, the Former Don hesitated to try finding his original allies on his own; they may not even agree to help him despite being in Passione. There was also the rare chance that they never became mafiosos in the first place but instead were living peaceful, civilian lives. Fugo would probably still be in school, albeit safe and away from unwanted hands, and Mista would continue his simple routine of beating street punks whenever they make bad comments about his favorite actresses. If their lives changed as such, the Former Don would only hope their lives remained undisturbed and free of crime.
Giorno remembered where he was standing again. From where he spent the past couple of hours so far, he looked down the hallway and towards the bottom of the stairs that led to the front foyer. He recognized the whole villa as the same house his old team stayed in when Narancia was sent to gather items in the shopping areas nearby. He remembered every detail of the whole place upon entering it: the rows of grapes being grown for a vineyard next door, the dirt road that made the villa hidden from the rest of the city down below, the peeling exterior paint on the walls that could only be noticed by a careful eye. He had a feeling that whoever will be sent out to get what Narancia had gotten before will have to face whoever Formaggio might be and hoped it wouldn’t happen this time around.
As luck would have it, however, Gigi had just demanded another list of items to be picked up for her after a few of the items she was offered by the team yesterday “conveniently” broke after one use and needed to be replaced immediately again. Father Diavolo had called the nearby stores to prepare the orders that consisted of the things Gigi demanded and Aglio had a list of items he needed for the team like groceries and medical supplies. All that was left to do was to personally pick them up; it was now up to Team #47 to go back to the urban areas of Salerno once again and pick up these new orders. The Former Don wondered what his next plan should be now; he knew there was a chance for the inevitable faceoff with whoever would be the enemy this time and it was still not a good time to tell everyone his true identity and mission.
From the top of the stairs, Giorno watched as Stella was handing off a folded piece of paper that contained a list of items Andreas had to pick up for Father Diavolo's daughter; despite only recently recovering from the events in Capri, it was decided that he was the one to run the banal errand of collecting the items Gigi was asking for and him alone. Stella was also listing down orders for Andreas to follow during his journey. It was her habit for acting in such a way, despite being younger than him, and she wanted to make sure the mafioso didn’t screw up such a task. Ever since Scilla came home from her trip, the mafioso had been anxious about making sure the mission to protect Gigi and make Father Diavolo’s father feel content had added more to her worries. She felt bad for leaving her sister at home, even though it was a common thing for her to do since she joined the team, but she felt something bad was going to happen today; Stella simply couldn’t put a finger on what that was and Zafferana was feeling something similar too. All the younger mafioso could do was try to minimize it by making sure the person for the mission doesn’t screw up.
Despite the annoyance on Andreas' face, she didn't stop her lecture. Andreas decided to do it for her. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” The mafioso scratched his head as he looked at the list and tried to tune out Stella’s words and interrupted her as a result. She seemed unbothered by his response but continued to talk about the assignment while the other mafioso tried to end the conversation quickly
“I got it already, Chia,” he tried to reassure her. “Collect all this useless shit on this list and don’t act suspicious doing so. Drive around in circles and switch the cars Olio rented out for me while carrying all these stupid bags I’m gonna be carrying. What’s not obvious?” 「Monkey Business」looked at the piece of paper with confusion; Giorno wondered why that Stand acted in such a way and then remembered that monkeys can’t read. The only other person that was witnessing this conversation in the same area was Rovescio, who was sitting on the last step on the staircase and leaning back on the steps to use them as a backrest. Based on his facial expression, the Former Don assumed this interaction between the two mafiosos was nothing new.
“Be serious,” Stella jabbed Andreas in the torso with the car keys before dropping them into his hand. “No one wanted to do this job and you're the one that lost carta, forbice, sasso out of the three of us. Besides, we need to make sure Gigi is content and satisfied throughout her stay with us— because who knows if she talks badly about us and makes Aglio’s transition to official Caporegime more complicated than it already is! Why can’t you make things easier for once!”
“Cass,” Andreas whined in response to the keys digging into his skin but not making a major effort to block her attacks. “Make her stop! She’s bothering me!”
“This is why I always choose paper,” Rovescio lit a cigarette and inhaled a puff as he spoke. “Meno male, Andreas. Just take the job and get it done with.” Seeing the whole thing unfold in front of the third-in-command was his favorite source of entertainment these past few days and he was slightly glad he didn’t have to worry about doing the mission; he had more pressing matters to deal with but couldn’t help but sprinkle a bit of teasing to muse himself. Stella couldn’t help but stab Andreas a few more times with the keys before she muttered a “che culo” to Rovescio; she knew exactly how the mafioso cheated on the game instead. Andreas whined along with「Monkey Business」, pouting at his situation and rubbing the areas he was hit to ease the pain when Aglio walked into the foyer alongside Azzura.
The leader was carrying a new computer given to him by Father Diavolo when they received their vans in Capri; Giorno forgot how bulky those things were back then. However, his mind immediately noticed Azzura was looking rather tired and anxious. Rovescio had noted it as well, knowing it must be related to whatever the two of them were privately discussing in the kitchen while the whole discussion about getting Gigi’s items was being talked about in the foyer, and gave her a concerned look that she didn’t catch. None of the mafiosos mentioned Azzura’s exhausted appearance at the moment in the end; Aglio had something else to discuss.
“Where are Tae and Zafferana,” Aglio asked everyone.
“They’re still with Gigi,” Rovescio nudged his head to where Giorno was standing. The latter nodded to confirm; he was motioned by Aglio to have the two mafiosos be brought down right away. “The girl can handle being away from either one of them for a few minutes,” Rovescio shrugged as he added. “Why do you ask?”
“Father Diavolo has sent in another order,” the leader announced just as Zafferana poked her head out of the room. The sound of Gigi whining about her having to leave her was faintly heard. “I need a few people to go to Pompeii to collect some other stuff and will need everyone to discuss this,” Aglio continued. “I—”
“And I’m off,” Andreas excused himself from the house out loud and jingled the keys. “Ciao! Don’t need more crap to deal with. Perfectly fine with this errand right here.” He flicked the paper before dashing out to the rental car that was already parked outside for him to use. He heard Azzura and Olio bid him farewell but the mafioso didn’t stay any longer to hear the details about the Pompeii excursion they were going to discuss with the rest of the team. Azzura rolled her eyes as he left before Cassio told her that she shouldn’t be bothered too much about Andreas’ behavior.
At least Andreas could be left alone for the first time since Aglio’s promotion; he felt like he wasn’t allowed a lot of time for himself ever since Gigi was put under the team’s protection.
One of the things he enjoyed doing while driving by himself was playing his choice of music as loud as he pleased while also driving as recklessly as he desired; he wouldn’t call it reckless but a few team members would say otherwise about his ability to drive. Within several minutes, due to switching cars and driving around in circles to avoid possible stalkers, he made it to Centro Storico di Salerno and into its famous Via dei Mercanti. Andreas used up as much of his time picking up Gigi’s items as well as a few necessities for his team. He mostly spent the errand zoning out and even detouring from his expected path to grab a few things for himself as a means of enjoying some pampering and easing his boredom; the money came from his twenty million Lire cut and he talked himself into splurging his share over saving it while he drove.
Andreas made his way through the stores listed on his to-do list as well as the merchants he had to meet up with that were going to give the mafiosos the product directly instead. He had never heard of a few of the boutiques that were listed and wondered how a girl from Thailand who seemed to have lived much of her life in that country knew about these niche brands. The mafioso decided to not dwell on it further and get his work over with. The more concerning matter to deal with was to stop「Monkey Business」from bothering the patrons and workers more than necessary. The Stand was one of the rare kinds that could be seen by non-Stand users but chooses when it wants to appear; when it did appear to non-Stand users, it looked like a regular capuchin monkey without its bizarre details. Too many times Andreas was told off for not watching his “pet monkey” carefully and he nearly had it taken away by animal control more than once. Luckily,「Monkey Business」seems to be well-behaved after Andreas gave it some bananas to eat during the whole errand and no one seemed to notice the bizarre creature riding on its Stand user’s shoulders as the latter walked around.
The cars that were given to the team by Father Diavolo, rented under Aglio’s name, were variations of used cars that also varied in quality. All of them still ran well enough that they could be mistaken for a civilian's vehicle that still functioned properly. Andreas is known in the Hitman teams of Passione for constantly having a broken-down car that required month-long fixes; driving rental cars at a time was nothing unusual for people to notice from him if they cared to see who was in it. As he expected, the overall task was merely a vacation away from his team with minimal issues that could easily be solved by him raising his voice if necessary. All he had to do the entire time was relax while picking up the necessary items and now he only needed to make sure he wasn’t going to be followed when he was finally going to drive back. As the mafioso picked up the tights that Gigi wanted— the last item on the list— he moved all the bags of items into the last car that he had to switch into.
With a lazy slam, he closed the back seat and made his way to the driver’s door. Andreas took the time to stretch himself before climbing back in. While he put the key into the ignition, he didn’t turn the car on just yet. Instead, he leaned back onto the driver’s seat and sighed with his eyes closed. A nap felt very tempting at the moment.
The streets were getting more crowded and full of both locals and tourists mingling around and trying to get some shopping done. He wondered aloud how women can shop for hours without feeling as tired as he was now; Andreas also mused that he didn’t mind having to do this errand forever if that was all he needed to do now that Aglio was Caporegime— maybe even for the rest of his time in Passione. Rarely did he know what life as a member of a Guard Team mafioso was like, but assumed it was some variation of this. He grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket that Stella gave to him earlier and looked at it to double check everything was collected. While it seemed like having everything written out was a terrible security approach, Andreas didn’t have to worry about who would try to grab the paper and read it; the small letters at the top indicating the address of the villa were written in a Caesar cipher that encoded the Italian telephonic alphabet and the items listed in smaller letters were simply plaintext. The mafioso himself didn’t know how to read the address but he simply memorized the plaintext before it was destroyed and replaced by the cipher. He proceeded to crumble the paper into a ball and throw it behind him, not aware of where it landed.
Andreas finally turned the key but continued to talk to himself; he wondered out loud whether Gigi was going to like the items he brought or throw another fit like yesterday and demand he does the whole shopping trip once more. The mafioso hoped she wouldn’t and maybe warmed up to the rest of the team for once to make the whole mission more tolerable and wondered what sort of extra reward he was going to receive after finishing the errand.
“Who’s Gigi?”
Andreas didn’t expect a voice to come out from the back of his car and snapped his head once he recognized the woman now speaking to him. He wished he had locked his car earlier.
Mela had just snuck into the vehicle just as Andreas sat down in the driver’s seat without him noticing; she was dangerously quiet like that. The woman sat in the back, not caring about the items that were resting on the seats and either scooting some away or sitting directly on them; she managed to take the crumpled paper earlier and place it in her pocket without the other mafioso noticing.
Had she stayed quiet and remained hidden long enough for Andreas to start driving away instead, he probably wouldn’t have noticed her at all; one could even argue that she could have made it as far as being driven to the actual villa had she stayed silent. Yet, as Mela often was in these situations, she was looking for fun more than the job to be done. The car engine was still running and Andreas wondered whether he should turn the car off or keep it on so he could drive off. Mela continued to make herself comfortable in the backseat and pulled out a cigarette from underneath her jacket. Without a care, she began to light it with a lighter she also pulled out as she continued to ask questions. “Is that the name of your new girlfriend or something?”
“What happened to ‘hello’,” Andreas was now on high alert but he was just as annoyed as he was threatened by her sudden presence. “Or ‘How are you, Andreas? It’s been so long since we last talked.’ Get out of my fucking car, Mela. Smoke somewhere else.”
“Is this how you greet an old friend,” Mela feigned disgust. She picked up a pack of Nylon stockings and a small Cartier bag from under her while muttering about how the younger generation nowadays had no manners. Andreas yelled at her for rummaging through the items and damaging them in the process but she brushed off his complaints. “I just wanted to know what all this stuff is for,” she pulled out the earrings from the bag. “I don’t see you as cross-dressing marianismo or a stupid porco who would get with a woman with this much class and taste.” She unceremoniously dropped the earrings back into its compartment and lifted a packet of blush next to her. “Givenchy blush number 2? Whoever’s sucking you off must have expensive taste.”
Andreas looked visibly disgusted at such an assumption. But before he could say anything else, Mela continued. “Unless… this isn’t for your girlfriend. Maybe this is for… what was her name again? I swear I have it on the tip of my tongue… Who is she— oh! Lalisa Xuna? Her name is Lalisa, yes?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Andreas realized Mela wasn’t here to just bother him once she mentioned Gigi’s other name. “Besides, you’re not my friend, Mela. Never was, never will.”
“Amico,” she placed the cigarette in her mouth before pulling out a pocket knife and flicking it out, “we are still friends. And friends tell their friends all their concerns, don’t they? What’s there to hide from, buddy? Are you being followed by someone? You know it’s rude to not answer people who are older than you. I thought Signore Giuseppe raised you to have good manners. Or, did you learn this behavior from Massimo?”
“Keep my father’s name out of your mouth,” the mafioso tried to keep his cool but his anger nearly got the best of him. “And that Massimo guy’s name too!”「Monkey Business」appeared on Andreas’ shoulder and was angrily screeching to reflect its Stand user’s anger; the chatter didn’t faze her one bit. “You have no right to talk to me like that!”
“I have no right,” the woman snorted as if she was trying to contain her laughter before she finally broke and began laughing maniacally at his response. The laughter prolonged more than the other mafioso anticipated, causing him to get agitated and ask what was so funny about his last statement, and increasing his anxiety levels due to the awkwardness. It didn’t help that the female mafioso continued to laugh for a good minute nonstop and didn’t answer his similar questions about why she was laughing. While Andreas was better at hiding his worries,「Monkey Business」was showing signs of fear and anger. Its little body, like any normal primate, was cowering and its little hands were clenched up as it started to cry in distress. Andreas tried to calm his Stand down to no avail; it was making his anxiety worse.
“My goodness,” she wiped a falling tear from her eyes after she finally stopped, “Hitman Team– I’m sorry, Guard Team #47 must be high and mighty now that Signore Alberto di Nero is Caporegime of Roma-Naples. You guys even think that even skipping out on Polpo’s funeral a few days ago is beneath you. Did you know they had to cremate his body because the poor funeral directors couldn’t get a custom-made coffin to fit him in time? And when they cremated his body, they cut him up into pieces! Could you imagine that? Everyone that was at the funeral had to see it in real-time. It’s a shame that you missed the fun!”
“Mela,” Andreas was telling her to stop. Although Team #99 and Team #47 were formerly friends, he didn’t interact a lot with them; the interaction was mostly between the other team and Azzura if anyone asked him. Despite being the mafioso that interacted with her the least after Zafferana and Tae, he knew enough to know what Mela was doing was typical behavior— whether or not what she said about Polpo’s funeral was true. The older woman had a knack for trying to get under anyone’s skin for her own delight and spite. Andreas tried to continue staring her down to show he wasn’t phased by her description. “Get out of my car right now,” he tried to warn her one last time, “I don’t want to cause any more issues with you or Team #99.”
“Bucciarati,” Mela corrected him. “We’re called Team Bucciarati now. We’re no longer a part of Passione anymore. I think you should be the first to know we’re officially defecting that awful syndicate of yours.”
Andreas was confused. He asked her what she meant by that but she suddenly shifted back to the conversation regarding what she initially came to talk about earlier.
“I wonder why you guys weren’t at the funeral or memorial service,” she thought out loud. “Could it be related to what you’re doing right now? In fact... where in the world are Nero and the rest of the team? Why aren’t they with you?”
The mentioning of Polpo’s funeral was still off, given that he remembered Team #47 was told to not attend the funeral despite the syndicate’s policies regarding deaths of former Caporegimes, but Father Diavolo didn’t bother to say anything to anyone else about the matter. He had to come up with a lie of sorts to explain why he or his team wasn’t at the event; he knew he wasn’t the best liar when under pressure to do so. Andreas had many thoughts going through his head, not hearing Mela go into more detail about how the funeral ended up being a shit show once more before he heard the other mafioso circle back to ask him again about where his team was. “Where’s Aglio,” she was getting impatient.
Andreas continued to play coy about it. “Who knows,” he tried to feign ignorance, “I’m just driving around to run some errands for myself. If Nero or the other 47 needed me, he’d call me or something. I’m not his damn keeper.”
“Then why is this car in Aglio’s name?” Mela pulled out a piece of paper listing the history of rentals and who they were made out to. The list was written down by the female mafioso but it had documents of the paperwork made by the rental companies that owned the car. Andreas couldn’t lie about that, seeing the paper state Aglio’s name instead of his, and how Mela went as far as to visit all the rental businesses to get this information so quickly. “I know you’re old enough to rent a car and I’ve seen you do it before many times. And yet, all the cars I’ve seen you drive today are all in Aglio’s name and not yours. The red Fiat you came into the town with, the blue one you switched off at the movie theater, even that Laforza you just got out of to enter this silver Isuzu Piazza. I don’t strike you as a guy that gets his license suspended or revoked where you can’t rent cars anymore…”
Andreas by now made his way out of the car he was initially in but was still standing near the now-opened door; Mela remained inside. He kept denying her words about knowing where his Team Leader was and told the mafioso that he was leaving if she didn’t get out of the vehicle. The people passing by didn’t care to notice the conversation between the two mafiosos going on or realize that two mafiosos from Team #47 and Team #99 interacting since 1999 was a bad thing, to say the least. Andreas knew he had to head back to the villa, or at least away from her, after realizing that Mela had been following him since he at least started to drive in the red Fiat; he was driving a black Isuzu Piazza first. As he struggled to maintain his composure to not react further, he heard the sound of airplane propellers sounding noticeably loud and then felt a small peck on his right leg. He was initially annoyed, as it felt similar to that of a pebble being lightly tossed at him, but then he remembered Mela’s Stand ability when the air began to smell like chlorine with no notable source of water or anything that would smell like such a chemical nearby. Andreas instinctively tried to hold his breath but it was too late. Another feeling of something pecking him followed by a tiny smoke trail occurred as well; the smell of chlorine was getting stronger.
“Where is she?” Andreas turned around and saw what looked like a child-like version of what seemed to be Mela standing right behind him with a wide grin on her face. The Stand effect hasn’t been in complete control yet, which allowed the mafioso to know that what he was seeing was a hallucination. The child-like Mela was simply a random child nearby but the Stand effect is causing him to mistake the little kid as his enemy— down the voice and speech— but occasionally blurred the face out to break the monotony. The mother of the child walked to the latter and Andreas could see her face appear to change itself to resemble Mela. To the mother and child, they don’t see anything; only those that have been hit and inhaled the chlorine chemtrails could see this all happen. While the faces occasionally became blurry, the longer effects will make it less frequent and more difficult to differentiate between faces. He swore he felt himself walk long distances, passing other areas like Duomo di Salerno despite never passing the area during his errand; the church was two minutes away from where his car was. Something was not right. The mafioso could feel his panic starting to get the best of him.
Andreas followed the buzzing noises, trying to avoid any further hits as more voices from the crowd chime in. A sea of blurry faces seem to surround him, threatening to attack even though it was more of his anxiety, assuming the worst more than anything. “Where is the Boss’s daughter,” their voices clashed as they continued to chant. The mafioso tried to cover his ears, but the voices were getting louder. He felt himself getting smaller for some reason too. “You surely know where she is, right?”
He turned to look at the backseat of the car, noticing how his eyes were now at the door handle level but still able to notice that the woman had disappeared from her previous seat. A lone voice echoed through the crowd, somehow standing out enough for Andreas to hear her. “I’m waiting for an answer, ‘seppino mi caro!” Mela’s laughter followed.
The enemy didn’t stray too far. She managed to leave the vehicle without notice, using Andreas’ hallucination as a distraction and managed to crawl down and hide underneath the same car. The crowd around Andreas seemed more dense and Andreas realized why his line of sight was getting lower: he was shrinking. Of all the things he would expect, he never thought he would be hallucinating this. The mafioso finally saw the Stand causing all this and called it out. “I knew you were doing this,” he said in vain as he continued to try dodging more bullets coming out of it. “Damn, you airplane Stand! Leave me alone!”
It was no use to reason with a Stand that wasn’t your own; Andreas should have remembered that given his own Stand barely listens to him. Another bullet hit his hand again and Andreas tried to make a run for it. Meanwhile, Mela watched from below seeing Andreas hop around and curse loudly. She knew that the people nearby would simply see him as a madman acting crazy in broad daylight. “「Twenty One Pilots」,” she was looking at a radar that appeared in front of her right eye to track her opponent. It was using heat to determine where Andreas’s location could be. “With every hit,” she explained her Stand’s ability to herself, “it causes the victim to hallucinate whatever I so desire. Let’s see how he feels about feeling very small today. I wonder how this will go.”
Her eyes shifted to her left hand, which was holding a piece of unraveled crumpled paper that Andreas, had he known she took it, shouldn’t have carelessly thrown back a while ago. She chuckled to herself as she grabbed a pen from her jacket and began scribbling on the sheet while talking to herself. “The letter e goes here… Then the p goes there… Ancona, Como, Milano…” If there was one person in Passione that knew ciphers, it was her; she was the last person Team #47 would want to have an enemy, in this case, to try finding the villa’s location. Mela began focusing her attention on decoding the words while her Stand went on autopilot in finding Andreas. “Who would have thought the Boss’s daughter would be so close…”
The people walking by gasped and shouted in confusion as they watched Andreas appear to be crawling around on all fours and frantically looking around. From Andreas’ perspective, they all either had Mela’s faces or their faces were blurred out to the point where it felt like an uncanny valley. All of them were demanding to know where Gigi was. Andreas looked dazed and panicked, trying to minimize the effects of the Stand and get away from Mela. However, the hallucinations were also making him think that he wouldn’t be able to leave the block without a fight- or at least until he could figure out how to stop shrinking. By now, he felt like he was only one foot. Some of the pecks he sustained were also drawing blood, and he found himself in a nearby alleyway leaning onto the closest brick wall. The mafioso realized that he wasn’t just in deep trouble now— this was supposed to be a simple shopping trip. If he couldn’t make it out alive and based on what Mela was suggesting, Team Bucciarati will now have information of sorts that confirmed Team #47 having Gigi in their possession; who knew what they planned on doing to her or his team members if any dared to be spared.
The option to simply scare someone into not telling or pushing them to yield was off the table. While he never got along with Team #99 after what happened two years ago, he never considered the idea of hurting them. Mela, however, thought otherwise. She could have easily escaped without lingering further and solved the cipher away from danger. “But,” she thought out loud to herself, “what fun would there be if she didn’t draw a little bit of blood— or even a whole lot instead?”
The mafioso knew he was going to have to fight her by all means and only one of them would make it out alive in that moment. While he knew Mela in the past and the basics of her Stand ability, neither he nor she knew either Stands’ abilities well enough to defeat the other. The most they’ve ever done were brief spars that occurred when they encountered each other on the streets and Mela tried to instigate a fight. Andreas in particular needed to figure out how to get back to normal, determine her Stand’s weaknesses, and use them to at least survive.
The sound of a rat squeaking caught his attention first. From the starving rodent’s perspective, they noticed a seemingly injured and unmoved animal that at most would struggle a little bit but be worth taking down to eat. From Andreas’ perspective, the rat still found him worth taking down to eat but was towering over his tiny body. The smell of blood seemed to attract not only it but another nearby one. And then another one came. Eventually, Andreas found himself being faced with a mischief of rats that were licking their lips and screeching in excitement while staring into the mafioso with beady eyes. Andreas tried to make loud noises and appear bigger to scare them away. From the rats’ perspective, their potential meal was acting similar to that of a drugged-up addict whose reaction is slower than his thoughts and ready to collapse in defeat. The mafioso found himself eventually backed into a corner and at least two rats on each side of him inching closer. In his hallucination, he was calling for his Stand but 「Monkey Business」 wouldn’t appear. Even in reality,「Monkey Business」was nowhere to be found.
Mela noticed the warm points on the radar as her Stand flew over the alleyway and figured that Andreas was probably there being cornered by whatever small animal those points could be representing; she was hoping they were rabid rodents of sorts. She debated on giving him another dose of「Twenty One Pilots」’s chemtrails but decided to not waste her energy on doing so; to her, seeing him struggling at this stage was amusing enough and needed no more doping than necessary. She wondered how to tell the rest of the team her potential victory when all is said and done. She decided to wait until Andreas was at least injured by the rats enough to not be able to call for help and she can dash to Gigi’s whereabouts right after while relaying the information she found back to her team. Mela thought it would be something worthwhile; she wanted to hear him scream and beg for mercy.「Twenty One Pilots」hovered from above.
Against his desires and rational thought, he began to wonder what his father would do in this situation, even though he quickly reminded himself that his father wasn’t a Stand user. Flashbacks of his beloved padre that one horrible night flooded his mind as he tried to calm himself down and figure out his next move. He felt small, powerless, similar to how he did when he first saw Signore Giuseppe die in front of his eyes years ago— and how Massimo smiled as it happened.
Translations:
- Svalvoliamo: Let's go crazy. The word comes from the congugate of the verb "svalvolare" and indicates madness or similar negative emotions. It is considered to be a slang term.
- Il Centro Storico di Salerno: Salerno City Center.
- Via dei Mercanti: Mercanti Street. It is the oldest street in Salerno and main shopping street of the city.
- Carta, forbice, sasso: paper, scissors, rock.
- Meno male: could have been worse. The phrase literally translates to "less bad". While it is more commonly used to express relief, Rovescio is using it to tell Andreas that him being chosen to do a simple mission wasn't so bad. He might have also used it to express relief for himself for not being chosen.
- Che culo: lucky bastard.
- Ciao!: Bye. It is a more informal, common way of saying goodbye towards friends, family, or similar peers.
- Marianismo: the opposite of a machismo. Mela is using this as an insult to Andreas by implying he uses the items he bought for Gigi.
- Porco: pig.
- Amico: friend. In the English dub of Vento Aureo, Formaggio calls Narancia the same term when they first meet in the car. However, it is obvious that Mela and Andreas already knew each other prior.
- Signore: a title or form of address used of or to an Italian-speaking man, corresponding to Mr. or sir.
- Duomo di Salerno: Salerno Cathedral.
- Mi caro: my dear. Mela has been referring to Andreas in endearing terms as an insult.
- Ancona, Como, Milano: This comes from L’alfabeto Telefonico, which is the Italian variation of the International Alphabet System. L’alfabeto Telefonico uses Italian town names.
- Padre: father.
Name Meanings:
- Signore Giuseppe
- Giuseppe: Italian for variation of Joseph, meaning "God will add".
- Massimo
- Italian name meaning "the greatest".