@samsa, text

[anthropophagite]

This might be a silly question. But how do you suppose we should be counting our birthdays here?

I technically should be 19 now, I think.
But if it's Halloween, I'm still a bit away from my birthday, too.

Should I be 18 or 19?

Comments

[anthropophagite]

Anthony grew up and became too cool for birthdays and wishes?

[miyagimagic]

He hardly grew up! He's still way younger than you.

I still loved birthday cakes and blowing out the candles even when I was seventeen, so I'm not sure what's wrong with him.

[anthropophagite]

Children go through phases, right? Perhaps it's just one of those.

[miyagimagic]

[ .. okay, reading that kind of amuses him.

(It also helps him think a little bit more in general and a little bit less of Anthony specifically, because thinking about his kids back home for too long still hurts - for an entire variety of reasons.) ]

Aren't you a little bit young to say that?

[anthropophagite]

I'm not that young. I'm 18.

[miyagimagic]

That's exactly the kind of thing I said when I was 18.

I was very young.

[ But Daniel knows that sort of thing takes perspective.. Really, you've got to be quite a bit older before you realise just how young you actually were at 18. ]

Besides, you don't want to sound like an old man to all your friends, right?

[anthropophagite]

I was already told I sound like an old man at times. I don't particularly mind.

[miyagimagic]

You've got to be the very first kid I've ever met who says they don't care about that sort of thing.

[ Most kids want to be hip to their peers, right.. They wish to be the cool type..

(It's been so long since Daniel was a kid, what does he even know.) ]

Just make sure you're still actually enjoying your youth, or you'll really turn into an old man.

[anthropophagite]

[ kaneki is totally not the cool type ]

I am. I do plenty of young things.
I go to the movies and university.

[miyagimagic]

[ Is-- Is university really a cool thing, though. Daniel probably can't judge, being middle-aged and also never having enjoyed higher education, but he feels like it's probably not the coolest thing among young people..

... ]

Well, I guess it's all fine as long as you're happy with who you are.

[ Nailed it. Great parental advice. ]

And as long as you're not getting bullied.

[anthropophagite]

[ there is a long pause ]

I'm no longer eight. Such a thing doesn't happen. [ not anymore. When he was younger, perhaps ]

[miyagimagic]

You think you have to be that young to get bullied?

[ Kaneki, are you shaming those among us who got bullied in high school. At seventeen.

Like Daniel. ]

[anthropophagite]

That's not what I meant.
I meant that I'm okay. I don't get bullied.