[ 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?

[ It's windy, and it's cold, but Joshua has an anniversary to celebrate in his own quiet way and he's not going to let the weather stop him. His first stop is to swing by his old room, room 7 at Community Housing 5. It's still empty, but he's not surprised to find that both Hanekoma's graffiti and his own long-disabled traps have disappeared from the walls.

After that, he'll spend some time trying to spray paint one of the not-yet-painted walls of House 38. Of course, given that spray paint doesn't like cold temperatures and really doesn't like wind, that's going to produce a result that's about as neat and tidy as you'd expect. So after a little while wrestling with that, he'll head inside to make himself a cup of nostalgia coffee (not as good as Hanekoma's...) and sit down with his journal to warm up. ]

What was your first experiment here, and what did you think about it? [ He giggles. ] For me, I suppose an amusement park made for a rather gentle introduction. Does anyone else remember the Great Mysterio?

[ The picture in the feed is a rather disgruntled Joshua, sopping wet and with a towel draped haphazardly on his head. ]

Let it never be said that the Malnosso are inhospitable. Of all the places to be left out in the rain, they deposited me on my very own roof. [ Dramatic sigh. ] The least they could have done was given me a ladder to get down.

Well then, who wants to let me know what I've missed?

[ 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. ]

[ If you happen to be celebrating the new year with some coffee or pastries or... whatever else Hanekoma feeds people at Kat's Kradle, then you might hear the sound of someone tuning a violin coming from the second story.

It starts off quite out of tune, but within a minute or two, it sounds fine. Then, Joshua starts up a piece of music: fast-paced, somewhat frantic, somewhat chaotic, without chorus or verse, but it has an overall feel to it of life, of progress, of change.

Or maybe you just missed the whole performance.

Either way, a little later, the following goes out over the journal. ]

Why do you want to go home? [ And then, after a short pause, ]

Why do you want to stay?