Chapter Text
An ran down Vivid Street, hand in hand with the girl she loved most. Kohane was dragging behind her slightly, seeming to not move with the pep that she usually did, but An brushed it off as her partner being tired. After all, she was so hardworking, driven, and passionate… all qualities that made her the best partner An could ask for. She would just have to lend her some of her own energy today. She tugged a little harder on Kohane’s hand and grinned. “Come on, Kohane! I don’t want to wait a minute longer to sing with you!”
“I’m right here, An! You don’t need to pull so hard!” Kohane laughed. After a slight hesitation, she added, “I’m excited to sing with you too.”
They were heading to one of An’s favorite singing spots: the place where their first practice together as partners had taken place.
By the time they had arrived and finished warming up, An could hardly contain the music bouncing around inside her. “What should we sing first?” she asked, pulling up their shared playlist on her phone.
Kohane leaned closer, peering over An’s shoulder and scrolling through the list. “Umm…” she paused on a song, considering carefully. She always looked so cute when she made that face. “How about this one?”
An closed her eyes for a moment, imagining the melody in her head and tapping her foot to the beat to remind herself how the song went. “Alright, sounds good! Now, let’s get singing!”
But just as she was about to start the music—
“Can we talk, An?” Kohane blurted out.
An froze for a second, taken aback by the sudden request. Nonetheless, she turned to face her partner, ready to cheerfully respond like she always did. But when she met Kohane’s eyes, there was something almost unsettling there that she couldn’t place. It made her nervous, but she tried to shake off the feeling for her friend’s sake. “Sure! What’s up?”
“Well,” Kohane began, “We’ve been singing partners for a while.”
An willed herself to stay calm. Kohane hadn’t even said anything out of the ordinary yet. For that matter, she had barely said anything at all.
“And I’ve really enjoyed being able to sing with you for all this time. But…”
But? But what? An waited with bated breath for Kohane to finish her sentence. She reminded herself that everything was going to be ok; after all, what could Kohane possibly say to justify all this nervousness?
“Don’t you think it’s time we moved on?”
That would do it.
An felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She gripped the collar of her shirt as her heart began to accelerate. Surely she had misheard. “What did you say?” she asked with the most normal grin she could muster.
But the same thing came again to slap her in the face. “I think it’s best if we split up. Again, I’ve enjoyed being your partner,” she added quickly, “but I think it’s time for me to find someone who’s more… at my skill level, you know? I’m sure it would be good for you to do the same.” Kohane said it all with her usual dazzling smile, like making An’s worst fears come true was the easiest thing in the world.
An’s reply came out weak and hoarse, a smile remaining on her face solely out of shock. “But you promised me that you would stay by my side forever.”
A mixture of realization, regret, and pity came over Kohane’s face. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh, averting her gaze from An’s face. “I did. And I’m sorry that I have to break that promise to you, An-chan. But I don’t think this partnership is working for me anymore. I have to keep growing as a singer if I’m going to surpass Rad Weekend, and it’s become clear that you’re not the person who’s going to help me do that.”
An could hardly begin to process that gut-wrenching sentence. “What?”
Kohane took a step forward and gingerly took An’s hands in her own. An grasped them tightly, terrified that she might never hold them again. Terrified that if she let go, she would lose Kohane forever.
“I know that you wanted to surpass Rad Weekend together, An. I did too.” Kohane gave An a wistful smile. “I really did. But I just don’t think it’s going to be possible.” Her soft voice was even gentler than normal, but to An, it felt like scathing knives penetrating her skin.
Kohane broke the small silence that had formed. “Anyways, I’ll be going now. Good luck, An-chan.” She let go of An’s hands, giving her one last smile before turning and walking away.
“No! Please, don’t go!” An shouted, tears beginning to tug at her eyes. “No… no, no, no…” She couldn’t let this happen. She had to do something, anything… in a fit of desperation, she called out to Kohane. “I can still be a worthy partner! I’ll prove it to you!” She suddenly found herself with a microphone in her hand. The music to a song she wasn’t sure she knew started playing, distant and impossibly loud all at once. At first, she wasn’t sure her voice would come out at all, but when it did, her singing was off-key and distorted, nothing like it usually was. She touched her throat in shock. Now, now of all times, when she needed it most, her voice chose to fail her?
She watched as the ground between her and Kohane began to stretch upwards, pulling An’s now-former partner higher and higher out of her reach.
“Kohane!” An screamed as the tears began to stream down her cheeks. She began to run up the hill separating them, but it was no use. It was a climb that got steeper each passing second, and An just wasn’t fast enough. She fell to her knees, grasping at the ground to keep herself from falling, but it was useless. She stumbled down the hill as Kohane turned back to watch, her face unreadable. “Kohane! Kohane, please! I still need you!”
Kohane said nothing as she watched the destruction from above.
“You were the best partner I could have asked for! Who am I supposed to sing with now? How am I supposed to move on?”
She reached deep inside herself and summoned every last drop of power that she had. She took a deep breath and screamed with all her might, trying to reach the girl who was now impossibly far away. “I need you, Kohane! I love you so much! I always have!” Her tears began to flow even harder. “Please, Kohane! Don’t leave me! KOHANE!”
And then, just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, the world began to shake.