“Cheer up everyone," he said, a new brightness to his voice. "Since we’re all going to die horribly anyway, what’s there to be worried about?”

“a cheerful voice said in his mind.”

“It's a little bit like what Akari said to his grandmother in Shikoku, during her final illness: 'Please cheer up and die!”

“I love you," he said, his voice catching. "When I thought you were going to die, I wanted to die.”

“What's a philosopher?' said Brutha.
Someone who's bright enough to find a job with no heavy lifting,' said a voice in his head.”

“Start here & go until you die, he said. What's so complicated about that?”

“Everyone feels that void. Everyone who has the balls to look inside themselves, anyway. It's what life's all about.. A search.”

“Emotions come and go and can't be controlled so there's no reason to worry about them. That in the end, people should be judged by their actions since in the end it was actions that defined everyone.”

“So everything lets us down, including curiosity and honesty and what we love best. Yes, said the voice, but cheer up, it's fun in the end.”

“What worries me, Billy," she said — I could hear the change in her voice — "is how your mother is going to take this.”