Dio: Clark, I'm Exiling You to Antarctica to Raise Penguins

The owl's hoot outside the window startled the sparrows dozing on the fence.

Awkwardly, Dio grabbed a pillow and threw it at Clark, but Clark caught it steadily halfway through.

"I don't want you to die, so even if I'm terrified of drowning, I'll still go down there and pull you back up."

"..."

Unable to stand the look on Clark's face.

"Go to sleep!"

Dio ordered gruffly, climbing back into his bed and rolling himself into the blanket like a cocoon.

"I won't die now or ever again!"

"Clark, that's only one possible future!"

"If you keep this up, I'm going to jump into an ice hole right now!"

"...Oh."

Moonlight streamed in, shining on the two small beds.

"Dio."

"So will I really become an emperor in the future?"

Clearly, Clark was still thinking about Giorno's words.

Dio, sulking beneath his blanket, couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Clark, do you even know what an emperor is?"

"Of course I do!" Clark propped himself up indignantly, his eyes gleaming earnestly in the darkness. "He's the villain in historical dramas who wears gold clothes! Every time an emperor appears on TV, Dad points at him and says—"

He lowered his voice and imitated Jonathan's rough tone:

"Look at this tyrant, Clark! This is why America had to declare independence!"

Dio rolled his red eyes in the darkness. "Idiot, that's just television."

He pulled the pillow over his face, his voice muffled. "A real emperor has to..."

"Grade homework every day?" Clark suddenly cut in. "Like Uncle Locke checking our math problems?"

"Pfft—"

Dio yanked the pillow off his face, laughing so hard his shoulders shook. "Moron! Emperors don't care about that! They, they..."

He suddenly got stuck.

Under the moonlight, the two boys stared at each other, both realizing an awkward fact at the same time—

Neither of them knew what a real emperor was supposed to do.

"Anyway!"

Dio, embarrassed into anger, grabbed another pillow. "An emperor has to wear especially stupid golden clothes and put weird doughnut-shaped ornaments on his head! He has to shout about this world and that world all day, just like..."

"Just like what?"

"Smack—!"

The bedroom door was gently pushed open, and the hallway light cast Locke's tall silhouette across the floor.

Rubbing his temples, he had clearly rushed over after being woken up.

"Kids."

Locke sighed helplessly. "You've woken me up three times already."

"Dio, even the mice in the barn can hear you kicking the bed."

"Uncle Locke, there might not be any mice in our barn anymore." Clark scratched his head sheepishly.

"Hey!"

"You brat."

Clark successfully made Locke laugh.

Seeing Locke laugh, Clark couldn't help asking quietly:

"Uncle Locke... will I really become what Giorno said I would in the future?"

Looking down at the unease in the boy's eyes beneath the moonlight, Locke sat between the two beds, making the mattresses creak under the strain.

He reached out and ruffled Clark's curls, then glanced at Dio, who had pretended to be asleep the moment he saw him.

"Listen, Clark."

Locke's voice was soft. "No one can decide your future for you. You have no obligation to live up to the future someone else has decided for you. You are not the emperor from Giorno's story, just as..."

He deliberately paused. "Dio is not the father who dies in Giorno's story either."

Dio's blanket suddenly moved.

Clark blinked. "So... I don't have to become that? And Dio won't die either?"

"That's because responsibility isn't like that, idiot!"

Dio suddenly threw off his blanket and sat up, his blond hair sticking up like an angry cat's. "Responsibility is—"

"Remembering to milk the cows every morning?"

Locke interrupted him, mischief gleaming in his eyes.

Dio choked. "O-of course not! Responsibility is obviously..."

"Paying agricultural taxes on time?"

"Dad!"

"Remembering to fuel the tractor?"

"..."

Dio summoned The World, his expression grave as he prepared to attack his father.

"Enough." Locke pressed a hand onto each boy's head, extinguishing his son's unfilial thoughts, then smiled. "Responsibility isn't a burden forced upon you by others. It's when you see something that needs to be done, and you happen to be capable of doing it."

"A choice that comes naturally."

"Like Martha getting up early every day to make breakfast—not because someone asks her to, but because she knows we love to eat it."

Locke's voice was gentle. "Like Jonathan insisting on fixing the fence even when his back hurts terribly, because he doesn't want the lambs to run away."

"Clark, when you were five, your senses became increasingly sharp, and you didn't like going outside."

"Jonathan and I gave up planting crops that season."

"That was because we loved you, so we made a choice and took responsibility for what came with it—we stayed home with you until you adapted to your senses."

"And the price was eating potatoes for two months."

"But we gained something too. You were able to go outside like everyone else."

"A choice..."

Clark's eyes gradually lit up.

But Dio frowned. "Then what if... what if you make the wrong choice?"

He thought of tonight.

The choice between running away and fighting alongside his father.

If he had chosen to fight alongside his father then...

"Then you'll experience the price of growing up."

"But what matters is that you always remember why you made that choice."

Locke stood and walked toward the door, but suddenly turned back to add, "And you can make a choice right now too. If I hear any more noise..."

"Will we have to clean up chicken droppings across the entire farm tomorrow?" Clark asked innocently.

"No!"

Locke smiled like a demon. "You'll have to eat Dio's blueberry pie."

"Hey!"

The instant the door closed, a pillow slammed into it.

Moonlight streamed into the room again, shining upon the two small beds side by side.

Clark whispered again:

"Dio, if I choose to become emperor, what will you choose to do?"

"You're so annoying, Clark!"

"Listen!" Dio turned over, his red eyes meeting Clark's blue ones. He spoke word by word. "If an idiot like you becomes emperor, that means this world is beyond saving. So if you really become that in the future..."

"I'll kick you off the throne."

Clark froze for two seconds, as though he had finally received an answer that satisfied him.

He smiled, revealing his two little canine teeth.

"Then it's settled! Dio, you can't die. You have to kick me off the throne."

"Idiot."

Dio wrapped himself into a cocoon again. "Who said anything about settling it with you?"

The room returned to silence. This time, neither of them spoke again. Only their steady breathing gradually fell into sync.

But Dio, lying with his back to Clark, seemed distracted, his red eyes unusually bright in the darkness.

Choices...

If that bastard Clark becomes emperor... this world will definitely go to ruin.

I might as well be the one to do it.

Then I could turn the whole world into our Kent family's farm. How much wheat would Dad be able to harvest? He'd be so happy, wouldn't he?

Dio thought to himself.

But...

A new problem arose. If Clark didn't become emperor, what was I supposed to do?

Dio did not even dare think about inheriting his father's farm.

He could neither hope for nor imagine the day Locke passed away and he took over Locke Farm.

Besides, compared to being a farmer with Clark, Dio preferred studying physics.

Gravity and things like that were far more interesting than farming.

As he kept thinking...

"Clark!" Dio called out.

He was actually planning to ask for his opinion?!

However...

"Snore... snore... snore..."

Clearly, the exhausted boy had already fallen deeply asleep.

"Heartless idiot..."

Dio gritted his teeth and tugged at the corner of his blanket.

Was I having insomnia?

He tried counting sheep, only for all the sheep to turn into Clark wearing golden armor. He tried reciting the periodic table, only for every chemical symbol to twist into the shape of a crown.

"Damn it."

Barefoot, Dio jumped out of bed and quietly crept over to the desk.

Moonlight illuminated the notebook he had secretly hidden away. Written inside in large letters was—

Dio's Perfect Life

[Option A: Physicist]

Dio nodded.

Maybe he could study spacetime, travel to the future, and beat up that unfilial brat.

[Option B: Farm Owner]

Dio shook his head.

The grown-up Clark could probably do the work of two farms all by himself.

Even if Dad really passed away, someone would do everything for him even if he did nothing. He could lie around and still get a share of Clark's money.

And then there was the third option.

The fountain pen hovered over the paper, ink spreading into tiny black spots.

[Option C: Emperor]

Looking at the option he had just added, Dio's lips curled upward.

Honestly, it held quite an attraction for him.

He remembered that emperors could exile people.

Glancing at the sleeping Clark beside him, Dio gave a quiet chuckle.

If that day ever comes, I'll definitely exile Clark to Antarctica to raise penguins.

That's what you get for liking ice holes!