Everything you have you can easily lose, that is something that has been engraved on Canine's mind ever since he had a name. He doesn't quite remember how he learnt that, or who it was that taught it to him, as the memories from that time are blurry and distorted, infected with crippling pain and spasms.
And so he lived his life as a Glitch Killer, his brand new, carefully planned life, knowing that anything and anyone could easily be gone any second. But it wasn't scary. It didn't scare him the same way the birds flying from one building to the other didn't scare him, or the way the stream flowing down through the backyard didn't scare him. It was just the way things were.
As a young Glitch Killer, he was skilled, called a prodigy even, despite his barbaric methods of hunting. His supervisor, though, was concerned. "I'm going to be honest with you", she had started, "You're losing your mind."
Canine thought she was overreacting. Not because he didn't agree that he was kind of going crazy, but because he considered it as not a big deal to completely lose his sanity. "It'll be what it has to be", he had responded.
Much to his surprise, not long passed until he was assigned a partner. Canine didn't protest, but he did make it clear that he didn't get it.
The girl's code name was Orchestra. She was older than him, but had joined the organization way later. That wasn't odd, as Canine had been one of the youngest Killers to be recluted. And so they worked together, like most people did, in pairs.
He didn't understand her.
She smiled on her way to a hunting, and she seemed to have fun while moving her arms around, invoking all those claws.
He didn't get it, but he didn't ask either. She tried to approach him sometimes, and he didn't refuse, but he also would not put any effort to continue the conversation or start a new one. That didn't seem to annoy her, and he didn't get it. Everyone was annoyed by how he was.
On a hunting one day, Orchestra suggested a plan. When asking Canine what he thought of it, he responded the usual. "It'll be what it has to be".
Orchestra's response to this was unexpected. She smiled, said "yeah! Exactly, let's try!" and jumped to action. Canine understood then.
"Don't you think life is meaningless?" Canine had asked when going back to the base, and Orchestra had responded, "Well of course." Then, Canine thought that maybe he was seeing it wrong. Because you could lose it all, because everything is futile, then just live. All of a sudden, it felt like a weight was dropped out of his shoulders, chest and legs. Life is meaningless. Cool.
Canine handed Orchestra the single unique key to his mask, the only one that could lock him and prevent him from hurting who he didn't want to hurt in his lack of control moments. He then gave her the key that tied his belt to a leash. "I will give you my life, and you can use me for your melody."
