Thankfully fresh air under the mellow light-colored skies of a Purgatory Morning was enough to ease Mary’s threatening aura lowest where Kokoro felt comfortable enough to talk. 

Not that there was much to speak about, the walk was uneventful. He couldn’t even shake the feeling of being watched. It consisted only of him following Mary around as she walked around town and greeted people. Despite the very different kinds of people they met who seemed to come from different eras of the earth, they all seemed quite joyed to see Mary, though I guess it’s expected that the angel is widely liked.

The only significant interaction Kokoro himself had was when he saw a little girl drop a toy she was playing with. When he had picked it up and tried to return it to her, at first the girl seemed ever thankful for the complete stranger but then a single look at his face and the child went from cheerful to bawling in fear.

Suffice to say, Mary was the one who worked everything out with the girl while Kokoro faced away, silently sulking against a wall.

At least he got to see all the different ways people were living. It gave him a sense of what Seodra was talking about with Anima.

“I think I figured it,” he states while the pair were making their way back to the Limbo Room.

Intrigued with a flash of excitement in her eyes, Mary asked him, “What have you discovered?”

“The trick Seodra did. She used Anima to do it.”

“That is on the path to being correct.”

“It’s not just her using Anima, she’s using her Anima to perform a specific action, like the function of a machine; or in our case, a soul. Because souls are all unique, everyone can use their Anima to express distinctive abilities because they are created from what makes someone an individual. Thus it requires some understanding or connection of one’s self,” he explains.

Applauding him, Mary confirmed, “Congrats, you’ve grasped a understanding of Anima. That’s a great hurdle to cross so early after arriving in the afterlife.”

Despite being told he did a great job, Kokoro seemed unmoved as he lifted his chained arm, saying, “And I’m guessing the same logic goes into how these Soul Chains form on our bodies and how they affect us?”

“You catch on quickly. What finally made it all click.”

“The Anima part was easy to get when you think about all the wacky stuff I’ve seen people here do. At first I thought it was all a trick but then thinking back to the market I visited with Seodra, though all of it happening at once was a bit bizarre to take in at once, I noticed there were a few attention-drawing acts that were different from the others. They involved the performer doing a lot more personal actions through themselves than any item or gimmick. But I never felt that sense of anima expressed being used like you showed me. You said before that few people can generate enough Anima to effectively use or express, but they still have it in them. It’s like a person’s athletic ability, everyone has it but few can bring it out to the same degree as a pro-athlete can.”

“These little miracle events can be performed as they come from within the soul. It’s not rare to see someone be able to do one even though their Anima usage is weak, it’s just more fruitful.”

“From there I figured if our personality is what gives us certain abilities, why won’t our sins that are also attached to our souls affect the way we are as well. That’s my assumption on why my heart stopped.”

“It could have an effect but you can never be too sure. You’ve obviously noticed many differences you have no compared to your body when you were alive. Hopefully you don’t assume all of those changes are because of your Soul Chains as well.”

“No, if I did enough bad things to look like this then I would probably be in Hell. Not to mention I can’t imagine what wrong a elder guy could do to curse them with pink hair they have to walk around with. A force is certainly messing with our bodies.”

“It’s not a force but your soul itself. The body you have right now is just your soul constructing itself into a form you’re familiar with, it’s reflective of you and the condition of your soul.”

“Which brings me to my next question. Why did you choose me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Of all the souls you, an angel following some grand authority, could’ve chosen you decided on me?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Mary calmly asked him, unmoved by his questioning.

“Not sure if you noticed the screaming child or anything but I don’t exactly look like someone who could do a lot for people.”

“It’s not all about what’s on the outside.”

“Well inside I seem to be a bit of a mess as well. Who knows if it’s just my heart that’s not ticking,” the silver-haired man said, tapping at his heart to check that indeed, his heart still wasn’t beating.

“Kokoro, there are many challenges in life that leave humans in less than favorable positions. What makes a person is how they persevere through them and I know through your life you’ve persevered through a lot; it’s how you gained the skills you used to help people when you were alive.”

“Is that why you chose me? Because of my work being a social worker? What could an angel do with a social worker?”

“It should be evident by now, we talked about this before,” Mary tells him, pointing to his chained arm, “Wouldn’t it be more convenient if humans weren’t bound by those Soul Chains. I want to free more people from the chains that weigh down on their souls.”

“And you need my help to do it?”

Mary nods, “To break from one's Soul Chain, one must be willing to do a lot of self-reflecting and work to be virtuous. It’s one step of many depending on the person. The issue comes that many don’t get past the front door, or should I say, they don’t want to.”

“What’s stopping them?” Kokoro asked, curious as to what could be causing such an issue that an angel needs to get a social worker for.

“Have you noticed that people act weird when you point out their Soul Chains?”

Immediately the first person that came to mind was Seodra and how her frantic reactions whenever he even asked about her wrist chain and how she got them. It wasn’t just her, among the other civilians he had seen, he noticed how a lot of them would try to use their clothing, hair, or even body posture to draw attention away from their Soul Chains.

Kokoro answered with a nod.

Mary continued, “Unfortunately, the people stuck here in Purgatory are often unwilling to even acknowledge the literal chain weighing on them. Some would even go to extreme lengths to hide that they have one even though every single person who's here has one. Despite escaping a terrible fate, they end up keeping themself bound here instead of moving on to a greater place.”

“Isn’t that a song or dance I’ve heard over a thousand times,” Kokoro internally groaned to himself.

“I wished I could do more myself, but there’s a limit to what I can do as an angel. Which is why I’m turning to a human to help other humans? You’ve dedicated your life with many sacrifices to help others you saw in need. You can connect with other humans in a way and hopefully get them to open up so they can start on their path to becoming unbound.”

“Helping others…” the thought rang through Kokoro’s mind. An opportunity was presented to him that many won’t so easily come across for someone who took the path he did.

Yet, all that was playing over and over through his mind was his career and the many people he tried to help but it felt like all his efforts fell on death’s ears. Then there were all the people he wanted to help but couldn’t due to obligations or the people just being too distant for him to do anything to them. 

Even worst, he remembered a time someone specifically came to him to comment on their life and then when he did the job that this person came to him to do, because he said some very mild criticism, extremely mild considering Kokoro can be quite coarse with his wording, about their life decisions the reaction was quite hyper.

“Man, fuck you!” Kokoro’s client shouted at him, dumping the entire contents of their water bottle on him before throwing the bottle as well and walking out, “I’m out!”

Surprisingly, that was one of the more lenient times a client of Kokoro tried assaulting him.

After it happened, Kokoro's first thoughts were, “At least the bottle was plastic this time…. And it was water thrown at me.”

Now he might need to help people trapped in Purgatory for possibly eternity.

As Mary led into the dome leading to the Limbo Room, she continued to explain, “Course I don’t expect you to be hitting the ground running, helping every single soul in sight. I want you to be comfortable with being here and knowing a lot of what you can do before sending you off to do a bunch of things. I want you to properly learn about this place and the people who are here so you get a better understanding of how it all works. I’m quite excited to be working with you and I hope our acquaintance will be- OH NOT AGAIN!”

As the Angel looked behind her, she found no one there.

Once again, she has been ditched.

Hanging her head low, she had to concede that she may not be the best at convincing people. She needed more than herself to reach out to a person like Kokoro.

Tapping the golden halo around her neck, when it began to glow Mary began to speak, “Dear Ike, sorry to message you right now when you’re still resting but I need your help. I’m having trouble bringing over that person I’ve told you about, I may be missing something as to why he’s so disinterested. Can you please assist me?”

Once she was done speaking, she released her halo and popping out of it was a pixie-size version of Mary that looked more like a doll toy compared to the original. 

This toy-like version was holding a letter, looking at Mary with glee. Waving it goodbye, Mary told it, “Safe travels.”

The mini-Mary zoomed away out of the doom only to return a few minutes later with a response.

“Oh Mary, you’re an ever graceful being. But you angels can only understand so much about humans. You can’t be lackluster with human beings, our souls were meant to be revved up. It’s always an honor helping you out so leave it to me, I’ll get his heart pumping in excitement in no time.”

“I hope this works,” prayed Mary.

Not far outside the Dome of Limbo, a figure dressed in red and black were discretely surveying the area from a distance. The Wanderer was watching the angel and her companion. When she spotted them going inside the Dome of Limbo, she drew closer to the building. But The Wanderer didn’t head for the front door, instead, she circled around, aiming for the side of the building.

Upon arriving, she scaled up the building to look through the window and was surprised to spot the angel standing there alone and seemingly gloomy.

Tilting her head in confusion, wonder spread throughout her expression about where the people the angel was with had gone.

That was when suddenly she felt someone grab her from her red cape and yank her away from the window. In a moment, she found herself facing the stern face of Kokoro.

Both pairs of eyes instantly recognize the other from their prior meeting.

Not wasting time Kokoro immediately began interrogating The Wanderer.

“Why have you been stalking me?”