[What could he accomplish?]

[It's a rhetorical question, obviously. One that won't benefit from Joshua's mental gymnastics as he considers the many layers of subterfuge he'd need to employ to reach any level of success or the undeniable mental and emotional toll such an unfathomable amount of time and opposition would take on him.]

[No, Kazuya is barely an adult, and not one who's been trained in the art of governance, let alone over as fantastical a domain as demons and spirits, at that. What a terrible choice to make and what unfair consequences he must prevail against.]

[Joshua is very careful about what emotions he allows to drive him--although he has plenty of his own disastrous slip-ups, nonetheless--and this time is no different. He reaches over with an awkward hand and tentatively rests it on Kazuya's shoulder furthest from him in what he hopes comes across as a brotherly one-armed hug in solidarity.]

I don't know.

But whatever it was, even if only a single goal, I would be sure it mattered more than anything in the world.