Nice? Me?

Goro had to admit that this day of going through Mementos was pretty tiring. Even if he had been a little rusty from not going into the Metaverse as often since he left the Phantom Thieves, he doubted that would be enough to make him that tired if it had been a normal day.

And he could tell that the Phantom Thieves were tired as well. Futaba was already asleep, leaning her head on Yusuke's shoulder, who was almost falling asleep himself. Ryuji was also asleep, but being a lot less subtle about it, given his snoring. Ann was just sprawled as much as she could on the benches, sometimes hitting on Ryuji when his snoring was bothering her too much.

Makoto and Ren were the ones who seemed the most awake, but both remained quiet. Sumire was in pretty much the same state as Yusuke, leaning on the window and almost falling asleep.

Haru seemed to be pretty awake as well, despite looking like she would like to sleep as well. He noticed how her feet seemed weirdly fidgety as well, specially her left foot. Goro knew she wasn't one to move around without reason so often. Specially not when she looked so uncomfortable while doing it.

He did wonder what had happened to her. She had tripped a little the last time she had walked into Morgana. Had she gotten hurt?

But he didn't say anything. It wasn't like he would be able to be of much help inside the moving vehicle, and it could result into something awkward…

They had arrived at the exit soon enough, and everyone hoped out as fast as possible. But Goro saw how Haru stepped out much more carefully than usual.

He had intended to leave once they had all said their goodbyes, but stopped once he had seen Haru walking. She was limping. Now it was very clear that her foot must have been in pain.

He didn't know what had come over him. But he had headed towards her either way. Maybe the others had been too tired to notice. He couldn't bring himself to just walk away.

"Are you okay, Okumura?" He asked her from behind, surprising her enough to make her jump back slightly. "I didn't mean to scare you, sorry."

"Oh, no, you just… Surprised me." She forced a smile on her face. "I-I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

He didn't buy it. He knew what fake smiles looked like. He had forced them for so long, after all. She wouldn't fool him so easily. "Are you sure? It looks like something's wrong with your foot."

Haru looked down at her foot for a moment, then sighed. “I think I twisted my ankle…” She didn't even look at him as she spoke. "I think it might have happened when I tripped, but it only started hurting a little later. And everyone was already so tired…"

Goro sighed. Of course she would do that. This was Haru, after all. Always thinking about others… "You should take a seat. C'mon."

He pulled her by the arm, careful not to hold too hard, and guided her to a seat at an emptier area of the station. Once she had sat down, he gestured for her to wait there.

He quickly bought a can of cold juice from a vending machine, then crouched in front of her. He pressed it against her ankle, hoping it would be a good enough ice substitute for the time being. He tried massaging it as well.

She giggled, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just… It looks like you're much nicer than you let on, Akechi."

"I'm not nice ."

"Then why are you doing this for me? You could have easily just walked away and ignored me."

"Well… You're useful in the Metaverse."

"Ren could replace any of us very easily. You know that."

He couldn't exactly refute that, so he just brought his attention back to her ankle, feeling just a slight rise in temperature on his face.

She giggled again. "Thank you, though. It feels a little better already. It wasn't all that bad."

He figured that meant he had already done enough for her. So they both stood up, and she did seem to be hurting a little less.

"Don't overwork that ankle, if you can avoid it."

"I know, I know. Thanks for worrying."

Goro was taken back for a second and froze. Worrying? Him? "I'm not worried."

"Sure, you aren't." She spoke sarcastically. "I owe you one."

"Don't bother with that."

Haru just smiled at him as she said goodbye. Once she was out of sight, he sighed and sat on the bench himself. He started drinking the juice, since he had gone through the trouble of buying it.

He knew he shouldn't be getting any closer to her. Or to any of them, for that matter. It would only make it harder for not only them, but also for him to deal with the way things would end. He'd rather disappear without any unnecessary sobbing goodbyes.

But then why had he just decided to do something nice? And to Haru, of all people. It couldn't have been because he actually cared. No, he refused to believe it could have been that.

And she had just accepted it so easily. She didn't seem to show any anger towards him at all. He couldn't help but think she was too nice for her own good. All of the Phantom Thieves were too nice for his taste, but she was specially hard for him to comprehend.

He sighed again. Maybe he had spent way too much time with Ren. His dumb kindness must have rubbed off on him.