At the bookstore, Lars had set up a display in the window of the most recent books. He looked absolutely exhausted.

He heard the ring of the bell and jumped up. "Hey! It's… oh, it's just you, Connie." She'd been appearing around the bookstore every shift Lars had now. The books must've been the only thing keeping her mind off the stuff she'd seen in space.

"Only me? I'm your best customer!" Connie beamed, looking proud of herself.

"Connie, you're my only customer." Lars smiled tiredly. "If I had more than maybe…!"

Connie tilted her head when he laughed.

"Almost let that one slip, I'm tired…" Lars forced his head and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, Miss Universe, what subject do you want to learn about today?"

Connie thought this was rather strange but decided it must not be something Lars wanted her to know. She'd respect that. "I need video game strategy guides, any you got!"

Lars lurched out from the display and led Connie over to the hobby section. "I don't think we have anything on strategies for video games… But here's some music from your favorites for violin!"

Connie accepted it, scanning through the book.

"So, you getting even deeper down the Zelda rabbit hole?"

"Nope, I'm in a gaming team!" Connie smiled.

The boy looked at her with surprise as they reached the counter. "Gaming team?! Those exists?! Like friends… you game with?!"

"Uh-huh." Connie said, looking surprised. "It's just Sour Cream, Jenny, Buck, and I playing this game everyone's obsessed with."

"Oh man, that's awesome! That must be so fun…!" Lars sighed longingly.

"It really is. It's nice to have something to play to distract yourself from the real world, especially if you have friends who like it just as much! Just having a Player 2 is nice."

Lars' face crumbled at her saying that. He nicknamed Sadie his Player 2 when they were kids.

"You okay…?" Connie asked, snapping him out of the memories of his childhood.

"Yeah… I'm just thinking about Sadie…" Lars sighed. "Working both at the Big Doughnut and at this place was always too much but Sadie always made it bearable just by being there. Even if it was mostly her complaining. Now, I hate both these jobs…" Lars sighed sadly. "Not only that, but this place might…"

Connie noticed his eyes dart to a letter on the table. For a split second, she saw red letters that said 'Notice to-' Lars snatched it up before she could see it.

"Well… if you have time later, we'd love for you to play with us!"

"Flaming Gust! Flaming Gust, girl!"

Connie nodded and pressed A on her controller after counting down from 3 as Jenny pressed Y on her own, making their characters come together and perform their combo: Flaming Gust.

"We've got 'em… I think…" Sour Cream mumbled in concentration. "Just need to-!"

"Guys!"

The three yelled in shock, letting them easily be eliminated by the enemy team.

"Sooour Creaam!" Jenny whined, turning to him. "What's so important you had to interrupt the game?!"

"Well I just wanted to let you know a certain gamer group is gonna sign up for the esports Elemental Onslaught tournament in Babeberg! Guess who?"

"The Five-Force?" Connie asked, immediately starting to think of the pros in the esports competitions.

Buck snapped his fingers in thought. "The 5 Guardians of Light?"

"The Super Mario Quintuplets?"

"Us!" Sour Cream cried.

"What?!" The three chorused.

"Sour Cream, playing Elemental Onslaught is fun but playing competitively…? I don't know…" Connie muttered. "We aren't always in sync!"

"Plus we're kinda underleveled." Jenny muttered.

Buck nodded to the girl. "Jenny rage quits sometimes."

"Hey, it ain't my fault the controller's janky!" Jenny cried. Truth be told, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her controller.

"We just need to practice!" Sour Cream insisted, taking up his controller after setting down the poster beside them.

Try as they might, the team just couldn't work together for over five rounds of play. At that point, someone was fighting someone else about what they did and the other two would have to pull them apart.

"Maybe we're not cut out for the competition." Jenny sighed.

"Like this, I don't think we would've gotten in anyway." Buck muttered, picking up the poster and showing it to them. "Check it: all teams must have a minimum of five members…"

Sour Cream nodded. "I saw that too. We've been meaning to add the Darkness element for a while anyway."

"It needs to be someone smart, good at multiplayer games, who gets along with all of us, and can diffuse tempers between two people easily so we can stay focused on task… Someone like…"

"Guys! I'm here!" Lars cried, opening the door to Buck's basement and running down. "Wait, is that Elemental Onslaught?!"

"Yeah, you play, doughnut boy?" Jenny asked in surprise.

"Yeah! I do! Or I did a lot before I picked up the job at Big Doughnut. With that and the bookstore now, I don't really have much time to play… Plus, Sadie always played with me so…"

"What's your element?" Connie asked at once, making him jump a bit.

"Oh, er, Darkness?"

"Lars, you gotta play with us! We got one more spot available on the team!" Sour Cream announced, handing him a controller.

The team were now at thier fifth round and Connie was worried, this was where it usually went wrong.

"Buck! You can't keep throwing yourself at the enemy like that! I gotta heal the whole team, not just you!"

"I'm only throwing myself there cause Connie won't attack!"

"I'm building up my mp!"

"It's my turn, what do I do?!"

Lars suddenly came in. "You can't do it alone, you have to be a team! Support each other! Jenny, give Connie an mp gem, Connie, you and Sour Cream can combo attack with healing rain, healing the whole party at the same time! Buck-!"

"I should… charge up before the next turn so I can hit them all instead of just the one, that would be better for the team, right?"

"Right! You got it!" Lars smiled.

"Lars, before Buck starts his charge, you you cast Dark Shade, the enemy team won't be able to see him and therefore won't know what move he's making!" Connie announced.

"Great idea!" Lars nodded and did just that.

The teens all cheered when they finally beat the enemy they'd been stuck on for the past week, high-fiving and hugging.

"Lars, dude, we need you on our team! We could play whenever but also, there's an esports competition going on a few weeks from now!" Sour Cream begged.

"You want me on your team…?" Lars asked, looking shocked and then joyful. "I really want to, I just don't know if it'd be okay with-"

They were interrupted suddenly by his phone ringing. He picked it up.

"Hey boss, what's…?" His face fell. "What?! The deal's not already made, right?! Please, I just need to get a few more customers and then….!"

The team exchanged looks of worry and confusion before looking back to him.

"… Alright… I'll be there tomorrow…" He hung up.

"What was that about?" Connie asked.

Lars shook his head, not answering. "I… I gotta go, guys, my boss needs me bright and early tomorrow."

"What about the team?"

"… I can't. I've got two jobs to manage a-and soon… I gotta go."

The next morning, Connie was walking up to her favorite place in town when her stomach dropped at seeing a sign in the door.

"CLOSING?!"

Lars gave a scream in shock and dropped a box full of books, spilling them all over. He looked over to Connie and sighed. "…Yeah… The store's closing because there isn't enough customers…"

"Oh…" Connie sniffled, trying to hold back tears. This place had been around since she was little. Why did it have to change? "B-But… But I need to…"

"Connie, I know you love this place and it always provided a safe space to get over stuff…" Lars whispered, gently walking up to her. "I wanted to keep it for you, I really did so we could keep hanging out like always, and so it would be here when Sadie got back, but the manager sold it last night to someone…"

"I need to be here-!"

"Connie, you can learn a new fact every day just by looking online, I think there's probably even a site-"

"Its not for me! I need to be here so I can be with you!" Connie cried.

Lars stared in shock. "W-What?"

"You needed someone to hang out with you on shifts, right?" Connie sniffled as he opened his arms for a hug and she accepted. "Besides, I needed someone too… Someone to talk about Sadie with me…. Everyone knows it's a big deal but they don't know how much of a big deal it is, how much she meant to me, and to you! I'm scared that you'd get lonely and sad…!"

"Connie." Lars bent down to the girl. She looked at him tearfully. "It's okay that I am lonely and sad… Sometimes you have to be. That's just life. And if you think losing the bookstore is going to result in us not talking anymore? You're wrong. I… was kinda worried it would too though for a second, I thought you just liked reading in here, not hanging out with me."

"Lars… Did you not like working here?" Connie suddenly realized. "… And the Big Doughnut, you've been stressed out with that too… it's not making you happy."

"…"

"It's okay to be lonely and sad, but you have to eventually open yourself back up to being happy." Connie muttered. "You know that, don't you?"

"… Sadie-"

"Sadie's gone, yeah, and we've been grieving about it together for a while now, and it's okay to stop, even for a few seconds just to breathe…Sadie wants you to be happy, Lars. Everyone who knows you does too."

"… Okay…."

In Buck's basement, the team minus Lars we're all playing.

"Hey guys, you mind if I join?" Lars asked, startling them.

"Of course not, get in here!" Jenny beamed. She then frowned. "What about balancing two jobs?"

"… I quit 'em both… I realized they weren't making me happy." Lars mumbled with a smile to Connie.

"Well then, are you ready to play?"

"Uh-huh! Game on!"