"Give Little Ye back!"
"You Monster Fish, where did you hide Little Ye and her friends?"
Countless souls rushed toward Little Whale. Its first reaction was disbelief.
Where on earth had so many souls come from, all of them children?
"Stop!"
An invisible wall blocked the souls. On the other end of the call, the members of the Salvation Hall of Fame all looked over. What exactly had Wail seen?
Little Whale gaped, dumbfounded. "Holy crap, well-preserved souls. You're..."
It lowered its head to look inside the Flagship. A Small Device was running, giving it a familiar feeling, like... a Little River of Forgetfulness.
"Are you souls brought out by Hold Up the Heavens? From where?"
A young voice gave a soft huff. "I'm not telling you. Until Little Ye and the others are here, we won't say anything."
Little Ye? We?
Little Whale blinked, flicked up its tail, and spoke with a smile.
"Oh my, so we're all on the same side. The Little Ye you're talking about must be Ye Buyu, right? As it happens, I'm a good friend of hers. The very best kind.
"They just went somewhere else. I'm really worried too. Ah, Ye Buyu was badly injured not long ago. Her body exploded. When we met this time, she'd finally gotten a body, but now who knows what she's gone off to face.
"I'm worried too. What if they run into trouble? If only I could have gone with them. Now I don't even know how her body is doing..."
On the other end, a string of ellipses floated over the heads of the Salvation Hall of Fame members. This fish... why had it suddenly started putting on an act for thin air? It was so hard to keep a straight face.
But, in unspoken