"Damn…!" Honoka forced out a curse. A curse to herself for being so careless. So dumb as too not even know that tiny bit of information.
"Rush it!"
"Don't let her die!"
"I need some help here!"
"Her heartbeat! It's dying out!"
"Come on, do something! We can't let a single one of us die!"
"It's hopeless…"
Honoka heard a volley of these statements as AKB0048 themselves were trying to keep Kira Tsubasa away from death. But it was, indeed, hopeless. She had hit too many vital parts in the Gusion II, after all.
But wait. AKB has the highest technology, right? They can save Tsubasa-san, right? They can prevent her death, right?
Honoka forced an assured smile as she watched the others in their attempt to save a life. A loved one's life.
But then the most horrible thing happened. Tsubasa's heart rate fell from a hundred to zero in a matter of seconds. The long beeping sounded seemed to have echoed across the emergency room.
The beep was loud, but it seemed distant to Honoka. She became deaf to what was happening. She barely even knew what that sound meant. And then she saw the rest of the members in the emergency room as they became more desperate and despair became present in their faces. Could it be…?
"No…!" Honoka muttered as she slowly walked towards Tsubasa's deathbed. "No! This can't be!" She started to shout as she swatted the others away. "Tsubasa-san! You're not dead, right?! You can't die now, right?!" She shouted as she shook Tsubasa awake, but to no avail.
"You said you're gonna pursue being idols, right?! You still want to enjoy the moment of being idols, right?! Tsubasa-san, you can't give up now! You still have Anju-san and Erena-san to lead! They're hoping and praying you're gonna survive this, and things will be normal again! Hey, Tsubasa-san! Please! Wake up already!"
"… I hate to do this, but Sayaka. Restrain Honoka," Takamina silently gave out orders. "She's about to hit the highest emotional levels." Sayaka followed and held Honoka by her wrists, then her arm. But then, Honoka expected it, and hit Sayaka-s hand away.
"Stay away from me!" Honoka yelled. "Tsubasa-san is still fighting! I know that, because she's the strongest person I know!"
"But, Honoka—" Sayaka tried to protest, but Honoka was not going to stop.
"She's not dead, alright?! She's just unconscious, and she'll have to wake up pretty soon! She's just resting! I know that!"
Yuuko moved from her position. "Honoka-san, it's unfortunate, but…" She rolled her sleeves and muttered "I have to do this." And then she socked Honoka in the face. The ginger-haired girl fell unconscious, and Sayaka caught her before Honoka hit the floor. Sayaka then carried Honoka bridal style while the others were preparing to spread out the bad news.
AKB0048 BATTLESHIP KATYUSHA, SICK BAY
Muse, A-RISE, and the understudies alike were waiting just outside the emergency room. Their faces were expectant and anxious. It should be natural. It was taking long, and they were hoping to find out that Kira Tsubasa was still alive.
They heard the click from the room's door. They moved away as the successors came out of the room. Their faces were solemn, and among them was Sayaka. She carried Honoka while wearing a face that seemed to be on the borderline of crying. They then looked at the unconscious Honoka, who had bloodshot eyes and dried lips, as well as a fresh bruise. She seemed to have been crying badly inside the emergency room.
It was through the successors' faces that they realized.
Kira Tsubasa was declared dead.
"You… You've got to be kidding, right…?" Erena whispered. Anju started sobbing as her knees fell into the tiled floor. The other members of Muse were on the verge of tears as well. The understudies kept sad faces, from having known the patient for such a short time.
"… Damn…" Nico, who has been keeping a tough expression since the rescue, finally broke down and cried. She embraced the nearest person to her, which was Nozomi. Nico buried her face onto Nozomi's chest as the latter tried to calm her down. Nozomi's tears, in the meanwhile, weren't so different. Eli stayed tough and comforted the two, patting their shoulders, though tears slowly formed in her eyes as well.
"Tsubasa-san…!" Hanayo also broke into tears when she found out that the person she looked up to has passed away. She and Rin embraced each other. While Hanayo was crying, Rin tried to hold her own tears, but her state was no different than the others.
Maki also tried acting tough, telling herself that she'd still go on without Tsubasa, but she was soon caught into the atmosphere. She covered her face as she fell on her knees.
Kotori already started crying the moment she knew. Umi sobbed and then forced herself outside the vicinity. Outside the sick bay did she start crying. Hers was the loudest among those who cried. She has seen Tsubasa's death before her eyes, after all.
FLASHBACK: DES BATTLESHIP GUSION, MECHANICAL LABORATORY
"Come on…!" Sayaka tried everything she could. She tried cutting the wires connected to Tsubasa's body. She also tried kicking the helmet off of Tsubasa's head. She also suggested turning off the Gusion's power, but that would give away their position before they turned it off.
"I'll find my way here!" Umi shouted before heading over to the computers. "Akimoto-san, please back me up!" she told Sayaka before heading towards the keys.
"Boy, do they have such convenient language function…" Umi muttered in amazement as she started typing out commands into the computer. She finally came through the last line, where they mentioned the Gusion II's connection with Tsubasa. Umi realized that Tsubasa was powering up the mech, so she erased the data and input a command to cut the connection instead. The helmet then came off of Tsubasa's head, and the wires fell soon after.
"Oh!" Sayaka sounded in disbelief. "Didn't know you have such amazing hacking skills.
"I've had programming down pat, so simple C-commands like these can be reformatted easily," Umi informed after sighing. "Now, let's work on getting Tsubasa-san out of here!"
"Yeah!" Sayaka agreed, and the two started rushing over to Tsubasa, but they saw horror.
Tsubasa's shoulders suddenly started receiving blows. After that, Tsubasa received mysteriously random slashes. From the hands up until Tsubasa's shoulders, slashes were everywhere. Next was her torso. And legs, although they were slightly wounded.
"Fo-For beginners, let's carry her into the ship!" Sayaka commanded, but she was getting scared. Umi, however, was in a state no better than Sayaka. Nevertheless, they proceeded to carrying the wounded Tsubasa as they thought that her wounds were only a major feedback from being freed.
The next thing that happened was the finisher. Tsubasa's right arm suddenly flew from where it was supposed to be. It landed in front of the rescuers. They both had horrified faces, only to worsen once the left arm was cut off soon after. Blood ran from her arms down her body. As the two stood there, Tsubasa has already made a pool of blood.
"H-Hurry!" Umi rushed and then they decided to fully carry Tsubasa's body towards the ship.
When they got there, the two met up with Mayuyu and Nico, as Erena and Anju were already inside.
"Wh-What happened…?!" Nico said the moment she saw the bloody figure of Tsubasa leaving a river of blood behind the team.
"For now, we should not let the others know…!" Sakaya muttered. "Cover her wounds as tightly as you can! Then cover her with some big cloth!"
"Y-Yeah…" Nico followed as she stumbled back to the ship. She brought back what the team needed, and they started patching Tsubasa up as they went inside the ship.
Erena and Anju immediately approached their friend the moment they saw her unconscious. They saw everything, despite the rescue team covering it. They wore the same expression as those who'd seen it first. Sayaka, however, managed to calm down as she helped Mayuyu pilot the ship back to Katyusha.
AKB0048 BATTLESHIP KATYUSHA, HALLS OUTSIDE THE SICK BAY
Umi continued crying and hugging herself as she reminisced that horrifying moment. I've seen Tsubasa-san die! In from of my very eyes! She could not even turn her eyes away from that moment. Tsubasa's death replayed itself within Umi's memories, as if to tell her that she was Kira Tsubasa's killer.
"Umi-chan…" Kotori muttered from the doors of the sick bay.
"S-Stay away!" Umi panicked as she stood up and stepped away from Kotori. "I'm a murderer, Kotori! Don't you realize that it was me who killed Tsubasa-san?!"
"Umi-chan, now's not the time to say that!" Kotori shouted. "We're all sad about Tsubasa-san passing away! We're not pointing fingers at each other, so please do not take the blame for youself! Please, Umi-chan…"
"Kotori…" Umi called out in a soft-spoken voice. Finally letting her feelings flow out, she seeked Kotori's embrace as she started sobbing again. The rest of the members hugged her as they told themselves the same sentence.
Tsubasa-san passed away.
DES BATTLESHIP GUSION, HANGAR
Nakajima stood before the destroyed Gusion II. He was angry. No, "angry" was not going to cut it. He stared at the mehca's remains as he clenched his fists and grinded his teeth against each other. He was mad at that damned idol group for damaging his prized possession.
"Na-Nakajima-sama…" And then there was Ryuko, who sang on her own accord, to ruin Nakajima's plan.
The captain, however, remained calm and sighed. "Ryuko, I keep telling you. It's alright. It's just a surge of emotions that took over you. And besides, this is the second time the Gusion II lost control in battle, so something like its destruction cannot be helped."
"… I'm sorry, Nakajima-sama…" Ryuko muttered.
"For now, all of us must rest," Nakajima announced, his voice loud and powerful. "We still have the Gusion II right here. We can still revive it. All we need to do is look for the right materials. And some modifications, which we will be discussing about in the later days. We'll make it the perfect battle LAS, and take out AKB0048 completely this time. But for now, we must be tired already. We've had out power source stolen from us, and I understand your pain, but we still have Ryuko Kanzaki right here! We'll train her to be the perfect pilot for the Gusion II, as well as our figure head as we step out into the final battle! Dismissed!" He then left the hangar with his staff applauding his speech.
Even Ryuko was inspired by Nakajima's speech. Nakajima-sama has finally acknowledged my skills as an LAS pilot! I better do my best and train every day! She then followed her captain inside the ship.
DES BATTLESHIP GUSION, DR. SHIMADA'S OFFICE
All the while, Shimada was watching all the surveillance cameras as they showed him a replay of the infiltration earlier. While he tried to keep a serious expression, he could not stop himself from smiling. With that, he suddenly laughed.
Those fools! The operating system was designed to be simple for this very purpose! And these reactors within Tsubasa-chan are perfect! They followed through the entire process of Gusion II's damage! This is most probably the best experiment I've ever had!
He could not stop from laughing. So much that he did not hear the knock coming from outside his office. He stopped laughing, cleared his throat and calmed himself down as he answered the door. "Come in," he called out. A DES scientist came in to give him a report on Gusion II's current status.
Ahhh, boring. Another report… Shimada thought as he dismissed the scientist. He reviewed everything and saw the request to have the mech repaired and improved to be fit for Kanzaki Ryuko's perfect control, and this time Ryuko would be the pilot and the power source at the same time. He smiled again as he realized that his experiments have not yet ended.
So Ryuko-chan's my next subject, huh…