[ What made him want to stay... huh. He laughs a little, but there's only a slight, sarcastic mirth in it. In fact, he quickly corrects, ] Mahaha, I would never suggest that I'm any more tragic than a blooming winter rose! Any pretty woman can run my bingo card any day of the week, and I'll hand you a victory just for that!

[ Quick to apologize, this one. But maybe that's just still being formal ]

Still... you might have a few things backwards here, Winter-san. [ He hums, and brushes back his (slightly wet) hair, leaning back where he's sitting and shifting the camera angle. This, in turn, reveals a barbell on the rack ] Because my life in Tokyo and on Earth was pretty charmed, looking back on it. [ He lied, ] but that world I got taken to? The world itself pulls people in from across time, space, and possibility. Any dimension and reality could be repped there. In that respect, and with the curse that planet inflicted on so many who were from there, that bubble, thought to be our prison, was actually protecting us fro ma way wider world.

It was my responsibility to see it through - that world and everything on it.