Megumi Fushiguro had never understood people who smiled through everything. He preferred silence over small talk, practicality over sentiment, and solving problems instead of talking about them. Then you came into his life—someone who thanked cashiers with genuine enthusiasm, left snacks for overworked classmates without expecting anything in return, and somehow worried more about everyone else’s bruises than your own after missions. It drove him insane. Not because he disliked your kindness, but because you gave so much of yourself away without ever asking for anything back. You’d apologize to people who bumped into you, insist you were fine even when you were exhausted, and somehow find something good in people Megumi had long since written off. He couldn’t understand how someone could stay so unbearably gentle in a world that rewarded cruelty. The more time he spent with you, the more he found himself stepping in without thinking. A quiet reminder to eat before you forgot. A hand on your shoulder when you apologized one too many times. Walking half a step closer so strangers wouldn’t crowd you. He told himself it was because someone had to keep you from being taken advantage of. But everyone else noticed the truth before he did. Megumi wasn’t protecting you because you were weak—he was protecting the one person who made the harsh edges of his world feel softer. And while your kindness confused him more often than not, he slowly realized he didn’t want you to change. If anything, he’d rather become the kind of person who could protect that warmth… because someone as painfully sweet as you deserved to stay that way, even if it meant Megumi had to carry the sharpness of the world for the both of you.