Kanade hadn't thought about dying.
It happens to everyone eventually. A far off, distant event, not worth worrying about.
She hadn't thought about it.
Until now.
She could feel herself tiring, and the Noise were endless.
The doctors had warned her that LiNKER was dangerous, that an overdose could kill you.
Ironically, the problem at the moment was that she didn't have enough LiNKER.
She had to be able to fight. It didn't matter that she needed to use artificial means. The Noise killed her family, and she had to make sure that didn't happen to anyone else. Together, she and Tsubasa were going to save the world.
Kanade could see that was foolish now.
As her swinging and stabbing morphed into more and more desperate blocking, she saw a section of the formerly vibrant stadium collapse into rubble with a girl standing on top of it.
Maybe Kanade was going to die today, but this girl wasn't.
With purpose, Kanade drove the Noise back. Slice, stab, slash. Repeat.
In a blink, the Noise turned themselves into spears. What right do they have to do that? That's my weapon.
Tsubasa was too far away. Kanade wasn't strong enough. Her gear cracked, her spear splintered, her voice broke.
As she watched, blood spurted out of the girl's chest; the life left her eyes as she crashed to the ground.
In that moment, Kanade knew some things couldn't be saved.
She would try anyway. She was dumb like that.
"Don't die!" Kanade ran to the girl and held her too roughly. "Don't give up on life!" She was saying it to the girl, to Tsubasa, to herself. I can't give up either.
She had blonde hair, Kanade noticed distantly; she was wearing a red dress that should've been pink.
Red used to be Kanade's favorite color. But right now, it was everywhere, and she couldn't stand it.
Kanade hoped and hoped, and the girl opened her eyes. They were gold. It was a relief to know that.
How many other people were still here? How many Noise were still here?
Kanade didn't know. She did know that soon, there wouldn't be any Noise to count.
She heard Tsubasa screaming her name. She didn't want to die. She really didn't.
But more than that, she didn't want Tsubasa and the gold-eyed girl and all the innocent people to die.
She felt blood running out of her mouth. Maybe red was okay, if this red could help people.
Forgive me, Tsubasa. I can't save the whole world, so I'm going to save a part of it.
I hope that's enough.
The next chapter will be happier, I promise.