There's No Love Like a Parent's
There's No Love Like a Parent's (親の心子知らずの巻, Oya no Kokoroko Shirazu no Maki) is a short story written by Ballad Kitaguni starring Ghiaccio and Melone.
It was announced in the November 2023 issue of Ultra Jump on October 19, 2023 and was published in the Winter 2023 issue of JOJO magazine on December 19, 2023.[1]
Summary
Chapter 1
Parmigiano-Reggiano vs. Parmesan Cheese
Ghiaccio is taking a walk in the afternoon, having just bought red wine, Parmesan cheese, and dried raisins from an imported goods store. He also bought canned mackerel since Formaggio claimed it tastes surprisingly good with cheap red wine. He heads to the fourth floor of an apartment and enters the room where Melone was staying for his job. The room actually belonged to an employee of a Passione-affiliated casino, but Melone needed to borrow it since it had a view of his target's villa. Ghiaccio invites him to drink wine, but Melone refuses. Disappointed, Ghiaccio points out that it's been two days since Melone started the job and that he's aware of Baby Face being high-maintenance, but feels that it's taking too long this time.
Ghiaccio searches the kitchen for a plate and knife, the latter of which he uses to cut the Parmesan cheese and pry the wine's cork open. He initially considers it fine that other countries don't refer to Parmesan cheese as "Parmigiano-Reggiano", since the cheese he bought is just an imitation which he can buy as a cheap snack, making the authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano from Italy feel more special to him. However, after taking a quick bite of the cheese, he immediately starts ranting about the redundancy of calling it "Parmesan cheese" in English. Melone suggests it could just be a French pronunciation, but this angers Ghiaccio more, who thinks they should call it "Parmesan fromage" if it's French. He believes it would at least make more sense to say "Parmigiano-style cheese", furious that everyone is mocking the Italian language.
Annoyed, Melone asks Ghiaccio why he came and to stop bothering him since he's busy. Ghiaccio claims that he didn't come to argue, but the job was originally supposed to be his task. He'd love to have Risotto praise him for finishing the job well. However, Risotto considered Melone to be the one suitable for this job. Melone doesn't want Ghiaccio to interfere, since he believes someone getting involved would complicate things, comparing an assassin and their target to a man and woman in bed. Although Ghiaccio accepts that since he thinks Melone is perfectly capable, he is concerned about why Melone is taking so long, which is unusual for him.
Assassination Target
Melone's target for the job is a movie director called Amaretti Lucano, who specialized in making extremely realistic, violent movies, which were often modeled after real gangs. Amaretti lost his parents when he was a child, as they were caught in between a gang war. He became obsessed with portraying violence after that, and would hire detectives and underground informants who spied on gangs so he could expose their inner workings in his films. His films weren't popular in the mainstream industry due to their nature, but he had a cult following. Ghiaccio also doesn't think his films are interesting, but what matters is that the Boss ordered them to assassinate Amaretti. Three days prior, a detective was caught when he attempted to find which prison Polpo was being held at in Naples. Passione interrogated him and discovered that Amaretti hired him. The Boss could no longer ignore Amaretti trying to research about Passione, as he could expose them in a movie, but it would arouse suspicion if a popular figure like him died in a way that was obviously homicide. Thus, Melone was assigned to handle it, as he could easily dispose of the corpse with his Stand.
Melone stays silent when Ghiaccio asks why the job hasn't been handled yet, but they are interrupted by a communication from Baby Face. Ghiaccio reads Baby Face's screen and is shocked upon seeing the junior's message: "Please refrain from foolish acts like murder". Melone reveals the junior was born two days ago from his mother, but is unfortunately going through a rebellious phase. Melone felt awkward and couldn't report this to Risotto because of it being a unique problem for his Stand which others wouldn't be able to empathize with. Hearing this baffles Ghiaccio, who keeps making Melone repeat himself.
Rebellious Child
Melone divulges that he chose a housekeeper at Amaretti's villa to be the mother. Since Amaretti is married, if both he and the woman disappear without leaving their bodies behind, it would be assumed Amaretti had an affair gone wrong. Ghiaccio wonders whether she ate something strange while she was pregnant with Baby Face, but Melone believes everything about her was perfect, with her horoscope even showing the worst compatibility with Amaretti. Melone hands Ghiaccio binoculars to take a look at the woman, who they both consider to be beautiful. Melone discusses how she's the type of person to not even hurt a fly. They notice a dirty, injured stray cat in the garden, with the woman picking it up to treat it. The consequence of the mother being a good person meant Baby Face had also become a good child.
Baby Face sends a message saying he loves his mother and doesn't want to kill anyone. He doesn't like Melone for ordering him to hurt his mom and her master, so he wants Melone to quit being a gangster and rehabilitate. Ghiaccio is shocked about Melone being a terrible father, but Melone blames Baby Face's defiance on the mother. Ghiaccio tells him to just cancel the Stand and create a new junior, but Melone refuses. Despite being a pacifist, this Baby Face has the most potential for growth in intelligence and stealth. Melone inherently desires to nurture this junior, so that he can see the unknown potential. He also doesn't want to believe that his intuition about the woman being perfect was wrong, since admitting his failure would be admitting his intuition as an assassin and Stand user is failing. Melone feels that there is still hope, as if he can educate Baby Face by the night, then he can finish the job by the next morning when Amaretti leaves the villa to go to his main house.
Melone tries communicating with Baby Face, stating that he was born to kill and his instinct should know that. However, Baby Face rebukes him by declaring that real growth is about developing a personality, where reason controls his instinct. Ghiaccio and Melone are both annoyed about Baby Face's sophisticated retorts, but Melone knows that raising a child requires patience. Melone tries to assert that he is Baby Face's true parent, as he talked with him and taught him everything, whereas his mother has never even met him. Baby Face affirms his stance, stating that although there's a saying about children not being able to choose their parents, Baby Face has gained the intelligence to choose which parent he wants. For him, being used as a murder tool by Melone is far more dreadful than ceasing to exist if Melone erases him, as his pride as his mother's son would still remain alive in that case. Seeing Melone get talked back to by his own Stand, Ghiaccio pities him.
Baby Face sends another message, clearly announcing that his mother is his only parent, and comparing himself and Melone to be as different as the moon and a soft-shelled turtle. This idiom infuriates Ghiaccio, who angrily shouts about the comparison being stupid and why the phrase specifically mentions a soft-shelled turtle when one could compare anything to the moon. Exasperated, Melone tells Ghiaccio to be quiet.
Chapter 2
This section requires expansion.
Chapter 3
This section requires expansion.
Appearances
Gallery
Ultra Jump November 2023 Advertisement
Ultra Jump December 2023 Advertisement
References
- ↑ Vish (October 18, 2023), "JOJO magazine 2023 WINTER Releases in December With New Novels and Manga", JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia.
