Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 9

It was… A sight, to say the least. Anja was known to be a clumsy one but being this clumsy… That was something even beyond Goro’s own imagination. In the end he was just watching her trying to not trip over her own two feet or drop the dart in her hand. After all this time wasted aiming for the center of the target, something she seemed to be trying to perfect no matter what. And yet, before she could even stretch out her arm to throw it leave it to herself somehow to just fall over. That or she threw the dart while falling over, head plastered all over the ground. And when asking if she needed help… Well…

She would just hop into a sitting position with a thumbs up. “I’m fine!” Even though she had some type of bruise on her face. Talk about someone hopeless. No matter which side she was showing, the clumsiness would stay. It would always result in headshaking. Goro was wondering why he was even bothering to begin wi— 

Right, she would pester him otherwise if he didn’t come along. Something she was known to do every single time. That or she just drags him along by grabbing one of his wrists and making sure that he cannot escape. Come to think of it, despite her build she has a pretty tight grip… Perhaps she could just throw him onto the ground with no issue if she really wanted to. But that was a thought for another time if he decided to waste his energy on it… But he didn’t so what did it matter in the first place!?

Anyways, he was witnessing Anja getting up slowly and dusting herself off. Despite the scratches she had received she was still trying to come off as all fine and dandy, as if she had not just hit her head against the cold, hard ground. Either she was immune to this type of damage or she just was a really good actress. Both were possible. In fact she had been more concerned about the following… 

“Where did it land? C’mo– Ah! Another bull’s eye!” That… Was an impressive feat actually. She even turned to Goro for that all of a sudden, grinning with that scratch on her— Wait… Is that… Blood dripping down her nose? “Did you see!? Beat that!”

Well, he could not beat the performance, that’s for sure. And yet he couldn’t help but feel bothered by the sight he was getting. Did she not notice how her nose had red drops falling onto the ground!? “Yes, yes. I saw that.” He sighed. He had no choice, did he? Especially if she was not going to do anything about it. So he stood up while making use of one of the tissues he had been carrying around, just in case. He didn’t think that he would use any of those for that however… 

“Hehe, pretty good ri–” Yet when Anja was about to talk she stopped halfway through, just shortly after he would clean her nose with said tissue. “Wha— Hey! What are you doing?”

He didn’t respond, at least not exactly. Mainly because he found it rather obvious what he was doing. Instead he just decided to give her a reminder. “You should watch your step, you know.” This had not been the first time after all and he feared that it would not be the last. And it would be up to him to take care of this idiot if she didn’t start watching herself. “This is the third time today.”

“Eh? But I’m fine.” She protested, seeming to almost pout even. “As long as I don’t die it should be fine, shouldn’t it?”

Oh how he wanted to say it right to her face. ‘ No you idiot. Did your parents drop you when you were a baby or something? ’ But of course he wasn’t going to say it like that. “You’re going to break something sooner or later.”

“Yeesh. You’re worrying too much. It’s all good. I didn’t die from any scratches as a child either.”

“Talk about being carefree.” He was almost envious.

“No need to worry about the small stuff, is there?” She said all of that with a wide grin on her face. At least she wasn’t crying but not even an ounce of pain in her expression… Was she that good at masking it or— “What did Father say? Ah, right! It doesn’t matter how many times you fall! What matters is that you get back up! Yeah, that!”

His hand stopped moving for a moment. Then again, not like it mattered. The tissue was rather bloody and the blood from her nose was almost gone anyways. Yet he still came to a standstill. Was… That really what she had been taught? Somehow this stinged to hear, as if he was suffering yet another mosquito bite of hers. It was annoying him a little but– No, it’s nothing. 

“I don’t think he meant that literally.” Goro added after a short moment of silence. He couldn’t really hide it, how he looked at her when seeing her without a care in the world. She must have had a good life… It made him slightly envious. No worries at all… None. Was that why she was like this? Or… Was it also just an act? Something was putting him off. It was no worry of course. He had no time to consider that, let alone her. But what would it look like if someone spotted him just watching someone lie there in his view? All sorts of rumors would spread so he wouldn’t leave her all on the floor. But it was nothing more than that to him.

“Well, maybe but… Same thing, right? Anyways, your turn now~ I’ll stand back and watch!”

“Don’t you want to get that nose of yours treated first?”

“Nah, it’s fine. As long as it still works it’s whatever! I’ve had worse pain than this~” Anja said, as if to reassure him before suddenly stepping a little backwards, grin never fading. “Anyways, go on! I’ll be watching this time!”

He will never understand her, will he?