120 In response to Shin's long-since asked question

Shiho looked at Shin weirdly, as if she couldn't quite understand the question thrown at her. She opened her mouth to say something, but the girl didn't think of anything to say. She fiddled with her hands for a few moments, unsure, but then she suddenly spoke up.

"You helped me remember that I was my own person, that I didn't have to be just another one of..." she trailed off, an expression of discomfort written across her face, but then she changed her tone to a much brighter one, grabbing onto Shin's hands.

"I really... admire that you do all this, this helping people business... It's so much more than what I would've done in your situation."

Shin peered into her eyes, seeing her have the same clear look he'd occasionally seen on Ryuji when he found out the way to beat some boss in a game, or when Yusuke looked at a painting and felt satisfied with it. For Shiho though, it was the first time he saw her look like that.

Perhaps he shouldn't have helped Shiho like he did back then. Perhaps he should've simply taken out Kamoshida discreetly at the time and left her alone.

To his credit, though, Shin was somewhat... overzealous in the beginning. He had half the mind to slap the crap out of Akechi when he first walked by him and Ryuji.

In the end, Shin HAD helped Shiho directly, leading to her inadvertently and irrevocably becoming attached to him. The teen hadn't planned to date her or anything like that. He'd simply enjoyed the cute responses the teasing and flirting elicited from her.

'Who'd have thought that actions have consequences?' he thought.

"Alright." he said. "Lead the way, then."