[ Well, where do you expect him to tend to his journal from, the local coffee shop? OH WAIT...

Joshua lowers the violin to his lap and giggles. ]

Why Neku, you remembered!

It's not today, anyway.

[ He shrugs, but there's a small smile beneath the smirk. ]

It's easier to keep track of my age when I only need to think about the year.

Maybe I don't remember. It has been 275 years.

Fair enough. Maybe I'm lying.

No one really to celebrate with. No one who will say "happy birthday" or give you presents or throw a party. And one day you look up and realize it's been over a decade since the last time you even thought about your birthday, and what day was it even supposed to be again?

... Or I could be lying about that, too.

Well, I certainly hope we won't be stuck here that long.

[ His body probably won't hold out if they are. ]

Once we go back home, that's it, Neku. We'll go back to different worlds.

It's the way things need to be. I've been dealing with this quite long enough to know.

Yes, but you decided not to become a Reaper.

I don't interact with the living, Neku. [ Hell, he barely even interacts with the dead. But that's not the point. ]

I don't have the Game here. I don't have the same obligations I have back in Shibuya. But if you insist, I can kick you out, lock the doors, and rot away all by my lonesome...

Because it's more complicated than that. Besides, I'm not all alone back home.