Co-Op

Masayuki! Masayuki! Can you hear me? It’s me! Hello? Hello?

The boy glanced behind him. Huh? Baby Doll? Is that you? A pressure grabbed onto his right hand.

Can you hear me?

Yeah... barely.

Oh, good! I’m here to help you.

The boy looked confused. Wait… How are you here? And are you really here?

Well, I am here but I am not here.

Huh?

I don’t have time to explain! Just listen to me! I was drawn here for some reason. Anyway, I’m here to help.

Masayuki tightened his grip around the pressure on his hand. Tell me what I need to do.

Stay by me. I don’t know how long I’m going to be staying here. Things are not stable here.

Okay.

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“She won’t wake up,” Izumi said. “What’s going on? What happened to her?” Still, she couldn’t break the circle.

“Leave her,” Natalia said. Izumi looked up at her.

“You can’t be serious,” she said.

“I think I know what she is doing,” the lead angel said. She didn’t sound too confident in that. Yoshiko looked confused.

“Is that even possible?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Natalia said.

“What should we do?” Himeko asked.

“We’ve got no choice,” Natalia said. “We have to keep up the circle to get them back.”

“But we don’t know if they can,” Liz said.

“Don’t say that!” Izumi snapped. “They have to get back! She has to get back!” Tears started to build up in her eyes. Yoshiko squeezed her hand. Izumi turned her head.

“Come on, get it together,” the other angel whispered. Liz shrugged.

“I’m just saying,” she said.

“Don’t!” the angels shouted.

“Okay, okay,” Liz said. Natalia cleared her throat.

“In any case, we need to keep up the circle for support, got it?” she said.

“Right!” the angels shouted. More energy was forced into the circle. This time, there was more force and energy behind it. Izumi put her all into this shield as a tear ran down her cheek.

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Meanwhile, he could sense the new guest with them as Baby Doll settled onto Masayuki’s back.

I will tell you everything that you need to say. Just stay by me, okay?

Masayuki clenched his fists at his sides.

“Are we ready to talk?” he asked.