Literally: to not say the/a last word
Meaning: to not be done with something just yet

Saturday, January 14th, Evening

"Are you decent?" Akira asked, walking up the Leblanc staircase.

Goro was lying in a heap on the couch. His hair was a mess, he was still in his PJs, and there was a small stain on the chest. He raised his head a tiny bit and gave Akira an empty stare. "Define 'decent'."

"Decent enough for a chat with Sumire."

Goro let his head flop back down. "Repeat that it's not her fault until it gets through her skull."

"It's not that," Akira explained. "And that won't be a problem in the future, I think."

He raised his head again. "What did I miss?"

"Well," Akira inhaled, "we walked into Maruki's Palace and it turned out that Sumire lost her Persona, so we headed to Mementos to deal with her, and Sumire insisted on tagging along and watching us work, and the Shadow ended up separating us from her, and they had a one-on-one fight and Sumire beat her and reawakened to an upgraded Persona and now she hits as hard as every other Phantom Thief."

Goro stared at him in response, just a touch shocked by the developments.

"So, do you want to talk with her?" Akira repeated.

"...give me twenty seconds."

Akira nodded and marched back down. Everyone present was consuming curry and coffee, but Sumire had a smaller portion than most and had just finished it.

"So?" she asked, hopeful.

"He said it's fine, in a-"

Sumire didn't wait for him to finish that sentence. She jumped off of her stool and skipped up to the attic, and Akira followed behind her. Goro was now in his suit, applying some spray to his hair with one hand and adjusting his necktie with the other.

"I said twenty seconds, didn't I?" he said, putting the can away and reaching for the hairbrush.

"How the hell…" Akira blurted out.

"I was a celebrity," he said, brushing his hair. "I have experience with getting presentable at short notice."

Sumire recognized the smell. "Dry shampoo, isn't it?" Goro nodded in response. "That thing was a godsend when I was too grief-stricken to take a proper shower."

"Alright then," Akira turned around and walked to the staircase, "there's a big bowl of curry with my name on it down there, so you can have your privacy."

And so he left.

"Okay," went Sumire, "I had things to say to you, but first of all: I am sorry for attacking you last night."

"And I am sorry for using excessive force," Goro replied.

"Good, that's out of the way," she smiled awkwardly. "Can we sit down?"

The two placed themselves on the couch. "So," went Goro, "I was told a lot of things happened while I wasn't present."

"Yup!" she beamed. "I fought my Shadow and my Persona got-"

"Hold on a second," Goro interrupted her. "You, singular, fought your Shadow? I thought you can't have a Shadow and a Persona at the same time."

"And I didn't have my Persona," she explained. "She separated me from the rest of the group and tried to sword-duel me. She was kind of bad at it though; all wild slashes that I dodged or parried and she had to go for low blows to even the playing field."

Goro just stared at her, unsure how to process both what she had just described, and her being so… nonchalant about it. Did Kasumi dyed her hair and pretended to be Sumire to fuck with him?

"But I beat her anyway, and got an even better Persona than the one I had!" she continued, excited. "Now I hit as hard as everyone else! And it has more attacks than Cendrillon did! Magic attacks too!" She put up her hand for a high-five. "We're now Bless buddies and Curse chums!"

After a moment, Goro slapped it half-heartedly. "Congratulations," he said, mustering up enough enthusiasm to be happy with her. "Good thing someone can fill up the hole I left."

"Yeah, about that – I came here to ask you to come back to the team."

Goro's expression conveyed a sense of disbelief, tampered mostly by his exhausted supply of fucks. "I blew your brains out less than a day ago," he said.

"And I slit your throat two weeks ago," she shrugged, nonchalant. "We're even Stevens now."

She got a weary sigh in response.

"I get it, Go-"

"You get fuck all," he snarled at her.

Sumire wasn't bothered. "Okay, I admit, I don't get everything," she continued, trying to sound reassuring. "But I get the part where everything is overwhelming and you want to curl up in a ball and stop existing. I've been there, Goro-san. And I would let you process it on your own terms, but… well, there are three reasons why I'm here, asking you, and I am going to outline them now." She grinned mischievously. "I would've asked for permission, but you scolded me for doing that yesterday."

Goro stared daggers at her. She noticed it, and didn't care; defeating her Shadow must've given her a massive boost to self-confidence. For a brief moment, a part of him wanted to lash out at her, snarl something edgy about her sister, get her to fuck off and leave him alone even at the price of their friendship.

The rest of him dragged that part behind the shed and bludgeoned it into submission.

"Very well," he rolled his eyes. "Speak your piece if you must."

She showed her index finger, to count off starting from one. "First reason is a practical one: everyone besides me and you is running on fumes," Sumire said. "Y'see, my Shadow separated me from the rest of the group with some kinda bulkhead-"

Some images flashed in the back of Goro's mind, like repressed memories.

"-and they spent a lot of their health and SP… I never asked what that stands for, by the way."

"I'm… not sure," Goro admitted. "I just had the term in the back of my head after my awakening. Something Points?"

"Probably. But yeah, they spent it all trying to break that barrier down to save me. They came back here to fill their tanks a bit before going back to Maruki-san's Palace, but I don't think they'll be able to fight at full strength, and you'd really help us if you came back."

The coin dropped. "Wait a minute," Goro said, "you're saying you haven't reached the Treasure in Maruki's Palace yet?"

"Yes," she sighed. "I was in a bad enough state that I lost my Persona and we spent all this time tracking down and fighting my Shadow in Mementos."

Goro couldn't help but notice that even the way she was annoyed at herself felt different. She was frustrated, yes, but there didn't seem to be any crippling self-doubt he expected from her. All she wanted was to dust herself off and keep on trucking. "Well, in case it needs to be said: it wasn't your fault."

"I know. Good to hear that from someone else though," she said, then displayed her index and middle fingers. "Now, reason number two: you deserve proper closure." Before Goro could comment on that, Sumire put her fingers on his lips. "No buts, no don'ts, and no listening to the voice in the back of your head telling you you're the worst because that voice is a lying jerk. This mess started with you and Akira-senpai getting your Personas, and I think it should end with both of you on board."

Goro gently grabbed her wrist and pushed her hand away from him. "Fine. What's the reason number three?"

"Well…" She lost a chunk of her confidence, but still didn't revert to what Goro expected. "I just… I just want you to be back on the team because I like you." Her hand moved back to cover his mouth, preempting any self-deprecating quips. "A-and I'm going to say this out loud: even with all the point deductions, you're a decent guy."

"Mmph-"

"You're. A decent. Guy," she repeated. "And I'm glad to be your friend." The two just stared at one another for a brief moment before Sumire realized she might have crossed a line. "Oh, sorry," she removed her hand from his face. "I forgot you're not a fan of physical contact."

"It's fine, you can touch me there," he reassured her.

"So, that's my piece," Sumire smiled at him. "Will you do me that favor and go downstairs with me?"

Goro took a breath. Despite everything, he didn't consider himself to be in good enough psychological shape to go back into the Metaverse, and for a moment he considered politely turning her down. But… Sumire, the overeager newbie, grew enough of a spine to confront her own Shadow and enough of a brain to not perish in the process, and so she was contributing to the team more than he was, and that stung the vestigial remains of his ego.

…but there was more to it than that. His friends needed help. Sumire needed help. He wanted to help them to the best of his abilities.

Maybe he could push on for a moment longer.

"So?" Sumire repeated with a hopeful smile.

"Well, I don't know," he replied with a smirk. "Maybe if you do a backflip, I'll consider it."

Sumire gave her surroundings a quick glance, just to be sure she had enough space, and then did a backwards tucked double somersault on the spot.

Goro just stared at her. "...I keep forgetting you're a gymnast."

She giggled in response. "I'm just glad you didn't ask for cartwheels, I'd need to go outside for that. So, are you back, Crow-san?"

He got up and adjusted the gloves on his hands. "Lead the way, Green."

"Violet."

Goro opened his mouth.

"Yes, I know it's my name in English, it's deliberate."

"Ah. Well then, lead the way, Violet."

Sumire turned around and took a step towards the staircase, and then froze, as a lightbulb went over her head. "I have an idea."

"Hm?"

She turned back to Goro. "You know these special two-person attacks you've been doing?"

"Showtimes, yeah," he nodded.

"I think I have an idea for something we two could pull off."

Goro raised an eyebrow, curious. "Oh, really? Do tell."

"Okay, picture this…"

"...and then a 'technical difficulties' card goes up," Sumire finished. "So, what do you think?"

Goro took a moment to form a response. "Watching you overcome your own insecurity and work to be the best version of yourself is genuinely inspiring."

"I'm sure you'll get to that place in your own time, Goro-san," she smiled. "But I meant 'what do you think about the Showtime idea?'."

"Oh! Sorry," he said, flustered. "I dig it. The Shadow won't know what hit 'em."