[ Another year has passed. Funny enough, doing requests for the elf kick-started Oosouji for Joshua, so for once he had it done on time. It's another empty new year in the house he once shared with the man he'd been closer to than anyone else. Another convenient excuse for a birthday. Nothing more.

He's almost convinced himself it doesn't hurt. ]

How has your time here changed you?

[ Day 6 ]

[ Early morning (locked to Tsuzuki) ]

[ The best part of waking up in a body that isn't yours is finding out the company said body keeps when it sleeps. Which is why the first thing that Joshua notices, upon waking up in a place which is distinctly not House 38, is the other person in bed with him. ]

... I think I missed something.


[ And after that fun little interaction resolves itself, Joshua picks up the journal and reaches out to the person it might be a bit important to contact about this. ]

[ 100% filtered to Joshua and Hisoka because he isn't quite sure which is the necessary one in this sort of situation ]

I do hope that my body is over there with you.


[ Morning onwards, open ]

[ Joshua and Hisoka are wandering around town together. But to anyone who knows them, something seems odd... ]


It's rather hard to believe that you wouldn't have any way to make mental defenses.


If you want to figure it out while you're in there, be my guest.

[ Feel free to run into the two of them. Clearly they want to be bothered. At least I'm sure Hisoka does, since he isn't the one with the headache for once. ]

[ Sometime in the early afternoon, the following question goes out over the journals. The camera is covered, and the handwriting is disguised. ]

Let's have a thought experiment. Say you were dying, and the only possible way to save yourself is to get help from someone very close to you. However, you don't know for sure that this help will indeed save you, and whether or not it does, there's a chance that it will damage the one helping you. Trying to help you might even kill them.

Do you ask for their help anyway? Would you accept their help if they offered it?

[ Later on in the evening, Joshua makes a separate post from the previous, this one voiced and not anonymous. ]

[ Filtered to Neku, 100% ]

Hey Neku, are you busy tomorrow?

[ /Filter ]

I've gathered that some of you out there are rather old. I'd think if you were immortal, individual years would start to lose their meaning with time. So, what do you think constitutes a memorable birthday? Every ten years? Every one hundred? How old do you get before you stop taking notice of single years?

[ Well. It wasn't enough that he had been forced to track down every mermaid he could find and berate them one by one, outside world this, Malnosso world that...

Of course not. Experiments always had to go the extra mile, didn't they?

So this fine day, Joshua could be found clad in all red with a crab hat on his head, in the fountain. Singing. With his journal open. ]

In Luceti...!

In Luceti...!

Darlings it's scarier outside the barrier, take it from me!

[ Of course, the Malnosso had to give him his own musical number. Of course. ]

[ The entry opens with audio. ]

Wha--

[ But the voice is cut off almost immediately by the sound of sudden coughing. Red splotches appear on the page, and after only a few seconds, the feed audibly cuts off as the journal is quickly shut. A few minutes later, a written entry starts up in its place with the splotches still visible. ]

What day is it?

And who decided to poke around my home while I was gone?

[ The following goes up on the journals later on in the morning. ]

A rather large collection of sheet music appeared in the shops some time rather recently. If you were looking for any that you'd hoped would follow you to Luceti, I might have picked it up.

[ Soon after that, the sound of a violin can be heard coming from in front of House 38. If you're quiet, it can even be heard all the way from the town center. What's he playing, you ask? Well, anything.

Maybe your favorite song. Maybe something hauntingly familiar. Maybe a rousing song. Maybe it's even battle music!

Seriously, he'll be playing anything if there's someone with that canon here. Who needs a fourth wall.

Joshua is sitting out in front of House 38 on one of the chairs from inside, sheet music on his lap has he sight reads it. Care to stop by and listen? ]

You know, I never did like the enforced dynamic of Valentine's Day and White Day. To save you all the trouble of worrying what would be proper, I've decided I will be the one to deliver chocolate on Valentine's Day to my male friends. I expect reciprocation on White Day from all of you, hee hee.

This means you, too, Neku.

[ With another giggle, the feed cuts.

Afterward, Joshua can be found out and about delivering chocolate. This is made a bit more difficult by the fact that he doesn't actually know where all of you live, but he's got chocolate for Hanekoma (dropped off before he left the house, of course), Neku, Hisoka, and Haruhi (yes, he is delivering that one mostly to be jerk). He also has a few more in case he bumps into anyone he's not particularly close to but he'd be amused to give anyway. Yes Hisoka he is trying to find your house, and if you don't show yourself soon enough he will start pinging you. Hard. With mind-beams. Ooooo mind-beams~ ]


(( First journal comment is reserved, but feel free to wait Go ahead and respond, or bump into him in person ))

[ Today, there's a Joshua wandering Luceti, seemingly preoccupied with his thoughts. Recent events have forced him to consider things that he very much had wanted to keep from the back of his mind, but now that they're there, he can't ignore them.

People change. He knew that better than anyone. Sometimes for the worse, and sometimes for the better. Yes, Sanae had been selfish, and admitted to having no regrets, but... even with Joshua's rejection, he still trusted him, on some level, somehow. Why. He shouldn't. Joshua shot him, almost shot him again, tried to kill him twice...

How many times had Sanae tried to kill him back?

He was searching for forgiveness, whether out of genuine feelings or not. And as much as Joshua didn't want to admit it, he was tired of being so paranoid. Of having his guard up every moment he was outside of his room. Did he really hate Sanae enough to continue this? Joshua thinks back, trying to remember what he'd felt the moment his aim adjusted slightly to completely miss shooting Sanae's body. On some level, he'd become the selfish one. And maybe there was still some good left in the man who'd helped him out more times than he could remember. Some good that he'd been rejecting even the possibility of. Did Sanae really deserve that?

... No, he answers himself. He doesn't.

He notices the giant burst of Soul rushing outwards before he realizes that his body is no longer a fifteen-year-old's. He freezes in place, and it takes a few seconds to register. His code slowly rewriting itself. His vibe is down where he normally keeps it, yet his body won't get any smaller. Powers he'd long since lost access to returning to him, powers he'd never had slowly growing inside him, and a prickle all over his body that was only getting more intense as moments passed. ]

... Not here. No. Stop... No...!

[ He wants to reverse it and he can't. It's too late. Of all the possible things to happen to him, it had to be this. The absolute worst of the best. Shit. ]


(( ... tl;dr: EVENT START! Details are here for those of you who missed it the first time. Have fun! ))