[ needless to say, getting buffeted by the hissing cat attitude and the multitude of questions isn't exactly... how he'd imagined their reunion to turn out.

so, the fact that he's kind of... taken aback?

not really that much of a surprise. ]

Whoa, you're going to have to start breathing, Neku. One question at a time, hm?

[ he doesn't approach even as Neku steadily backs up. this isn't the trust he was promised, even if he knew from the very beginning that he'd never be forgiven.

it's not like he wanted anything like absolution, anyway. but if he let the boy and Shibuya live and really start living... then it'd be a lot better on them both if Neku didn't look like he did a major backtrack in the small amount of time since Joshua's last seen him. ]

You look like you've just seen a ghost.