Thanks for the comment! I have good plans for Joel :D
And no worries; it is in the past. I don't have a full answer to your question, but it's something that happened and it gives me a purpose to work on (and complete) this project. Making a VN is a big effort, so we need a purpose for creating it. Nobody needs to experience trauma to write a good story, but for many people, writing is used as a healing mechanism. And healing emotional wounds is important to leading a beautiful life :)