Every Day Is a Summer Vacation (story arc)

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Every Day Is a Summer Vacation (毎日が夏休み, Mainichi ga Natsuyasumi) is the eighth story arc of JoJolion.

It narrates Josuke and Jobin's beetle fight match, which quickly transforms into a Stand battle beneath the cover of a harmless game.

Summary

Josuke enters the underground storeroom to bring a box of sesame dango to Yasuho, only to learn that Norisuke has sent her home, insisting that she need not know about Yagiyama or the circumstances of his family.

Half of the spiky healing fruit is seen left on Yasuho's bed. The dog which Tsurugi saw eat such a fruit appears, emerging from the wall, appearing to Josuke to eat the fruit. To Tsurugi and Norisuke it appears that it is eating the dango and Josuke retrieves the fruit.

When Josuke identifies it, Tsurugi is desperate to eat it, but Norisuke stops him, explaining a plan to locate the tree from which it came with his Stand King Nothing; which must either be in Japan or the fruit recently imported. He says it smells like a fig, and King Nothing gives its branch and leaves a shape also similar to that of the fig tree. Tsurugi names the dog "Iwasuke" ("iwa" for "rock").

Taking Josuke to research his complete catalog of fruit, Norisuke provides him a tour of the Higashikata Fruit Company on a high street in Morioh, explaining the nature of the business, the quality of his fruit, and their special melon parfait. As with his business, Norisuke emphasizes to Josuke the importance of "flow."

Jobin Higashikata appears, having returned from Vietnam and the Philippines; unbeknownst to Norisuke, King Nothing indicates the smell of the spiky fruit on his handkerchief.[1]

At the Higashikata House, the family members are having fun showing each other the strange gifts Jobin got for them. Josuke asks if he can go to Jobin's room, saying he needs advice for raising his stag beetle. Accompanied by Joshu, Josuke is accepted into Jobin's room, where he sees a wall full of a multitude of exposed beetles, entomology books, and a rearing room for Jobin's collection of live beetles.

A flashback narrates Josuke going to Tsurugi and asking him what Jobin's Stand ability is. Tsurugi was reluctant at the idea of acting against a family member, especially his own father, but Josuke pressures him, telling Tsurugi that his father was keeping the source of the cure for his disease a secret to his family, and that Norisuke would rather preserve his eldest son than his grandchild. Tsurugi finally reveals that Jobin could be manipulated using his obsession with beetles and beetle fights.

Josuke inspects the live beetles, and pointing at one Palawanicus, nonchalantly mentions that his Palawanicus could beat it in a straight fight. Interested, Jobin then challenges Josuke to a beetle fight, just as Tsurugi predicted. Josuke uses the opportunity to raise the stacks with a bet. Setting a fighting arena made of cork circled with soft rush plant, Jobin explains the rules of a beetle fight:

  • According to the apparent 45-second memory of the beetles, during which they are eager to fight, a determining factor in a fight can be raised by brushing them with female beetle pheromones.
  • The contestants make the beetles fight for a period of 45 seconds. The beetle that is killed, is lifted up for 10 seconds, or leaves the ring loses.

Jobin then demonstrates the fighting proficiency of his own Palawanicus by making it kill a Japanese hornet and proposes that the loser shaves his eyebrow, to which Josuke accepts.

The first round begins between the two Palawanicus. At first, Jobin's beetle gets the upper hand due to its sharpened mandibles and planted female pheromones from a brush, making it push Josuke's beetle to the border of the arena. The tables are turned when Josuke releases the pheromones he planted in the soft rush plants with his bubbles. Josuke's beetle then makes Jobin's beetle flee out of the arena. A frustrated Jobin shaves off his left eyebrow.

Meanwhile, Yasuho begins to master her Stand, Paisley Park, when Tsurugi rings the bell and asks her to follow him. Despite his loss, Jobin is enjoying himself and challenges Josuke to another beetle fight, and again Josuke accepts. Josuke then proposes his true goal; the Lamborghini Jobin owns. If Josuke wins, he can check the event data recorder in secret, and Jobin unknowingly accepts. In the Higashikata house, Tsurugi tells Yasuho that Paisley Park's power will be crucial in the investigation. The second opponent is a golden stag beetle, also known as a Rosenbergi. As the match begins, Jobin tells Josuke that if he wins, he is allowed to lick Josuke's eyeball.

The Palawanicus' superior size and weight enables it to push the Rosenbergi to the border of the ring. However, the Rosenbergi suddenly moves in an unnaturally precise manner, knocking the Palawanicus over and biting off one leg. The Palawanicus is almost pushed over the border as Josuke reads from an encyclopedia that stag beetles instinctively play dead when feeling strong vibrations at their legs. Intrigued that the Rosenbergi could exploit this weakness, Josuke secretly deduces that Jobin could in fact remotely command it. As the Rosenbergi chomps off another leg, Josuke notices liquid oozing from its head. The Palawanicus falls from the ring, but since the clock went over 45 seconds, Josuke has not lost.

Before the second bout, Josuke secretly plunders the scent from Jobin's paintbrush and then inquires about the liquid. Jobin reveals that it's wax, that when melted will cause convulsions in the beetle and eventually kill it, but not before Jobin wins. As the second round begins, Josuke pops the bubbles that plundered the air around this paintbrush, and is baffled to discover that the paintbrush has exuded a temperature as high as 60 °C. As the Rosenbergi slowly overwhelms the Palawanicus with its precise movement, Josuke witnesses a faint apparition of Jobin's Stand. Josuke then realizes that the beetle fight has been a front for a Stand battle. Suddenly Joshu knocks his foot on the tank where the hornet was killed and asks where the lower half of it's body with the stinger went. The abdomen is shown to be near Josuke who is now showing confidence as the Rosenbergi goes mad and convulses. Josuke had planted some of the hornet's poison in Jobin's brush, which eventually killed his beetle, making Josuke the winner.

As Josuke takes the Lamborghini's keys with him and leaves the room, Jobin stops him, having realized that Josuke went there for an ulterior motive. The keys are transported anyway to Tsurugi with a bubble, and he goes to investigate the car in the garage.[2]

In the garage, Yasuho and Tsurugi approach the car, where Paisley Park reveals the car's travel log. Meanwhile, Jobin gives Josuke a box of tissues to wipe his sweat with. He continues his questions to Josuke and asks why he's come here. Josuke tries to play dumb by retorting that the beetle was offered by Jobin, however Jobin doesn't listen and focuses on why Josuke had to come to his room. When Jobin asks what is Josuke's past, Josuke's nose begins to heavily bleed. Jobin ominously offers him a tissue, but Josuke silently refuses, having understood that there's heat warming his nose and causing the nosebleed. Josuke is cornered by Jobin, but he uses a bubble to trigger the fire alarm in the stag beetle room. The fire sprinklers activate and soak the whole house. Josuke then uses that distraction to flee. Before Jobin and Joshu pursue Josuke, Jobin begins to suspect that Josuke is a Stand user and that someone in the family is helping him.

Tsurugi and Yasuho examine the drive recorder, but nothing indicates that the car has stopped anywhere but in the house. Since the recorder wasn't tampered with, and Jobin definitely touched the fruit, he must have come in contact with it; the two thus decide to check every time the car has stopped. Yasuho and Tsurugi suddenly see Jobin and Joshu come search the garage. While Tsurugi panics and asks himself why his dad would keep the cure a secret from him, Yasuho takes the initiative. When Jobin and Joshu check the Lamborghini, they see no one inside it and depart. Yasuho and Tsurugi have hidden in Norisuke's car, having found the car's keys thanks to the flashlight. Yasuho decides to use Paisley Park and hijacks the security camera system of the town to look at every time the car has stopped at traffic lights. They eventually find that at 16:38 yesterday, Jobin exchanged the fruit with a strange man.[3]

Appearances

Characters
Yotsuyu Yagiyama
(Mentioned only)
Stands
Speed King
(1st appearance)
King Nothing
(Mentioned only)

Chapters

Volumes

References

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Previous story arc:
""I Am a Rock""
JoJolion
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"Doobie Wah"