"O-Onii-chan, Umaru can only accompany you this far. Y-you have to carry Umaru's share and l-live on, cough cough..." Lady Umaru said weakly. Before she could finish, she collapsed in a coughing fit.
"Ha..." Sogo Doma stared straight ahead as well. "Umaru, go in peace. Onii-chan swears he'll make it to the end alive..."
"O-Onii..." The fallen Lady Umaru reached out her hand.
"Umaru, close your eyes peacefully..." Sogo Doma turned his face away.
"..." Lady Umaru slowly turned her head back at those words. First, she stared blankly at Sogo Doma, then followed his gaze toward the screen ahead, and then...
"Onii-chan, Umaru wanted to ask this earlier. Not only did you have just this one life left after the first stage, you were at critical health too. Why are you still like this when we're about to face the final boss?!" Lady Umaru could not help saying as she looked at his health bar, which would get him killed in one hit.
"Umaru, don't you know? The truth that you can't play unless you're at critical health is engraved in human DNA..." Sogo Doma explained as he worked the controls.
"Then why was Umaru always the one charging in front after the first stage?" Lady Umaru questioned him from the depths of her soul.
"My foolish imouto, you had the innate advantage of more lives and thicker health bars back then. If the tank doesn't stand in front, are you expecting an assassin like me, who shatters at the slightest touch, to lead the charge?" Sogo Doma calmly explained.
"What assassin and tank are there in a level-clearing game where the character stats are basically the same? This isn't an online game, it's an arcade game..." Inside the arcade on the top floor of the shopping center, Lady