The Thin Line Between Life and Death
<<SUMIRE SUMIDA HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY>>
<<COMMENCING EXECUTION…>>
Sumire was dragged at blinding speeds from the trial room, rightfully declared guilty for the crime she had committed. She was being dragged her throat no less, so her pain was an unbearable one, but she’d been through worse… she was surrounded by pitch black, and it soon enough consumed her senses to the point that her mind couldn’t control her senses anymore. She blacked out soon enough.
When Sumire came to, she was being held up by her hair. She didn’t exactly react at first, but that’s because she was more aware of the fact that her feet were not on or anywhere near solid ground. She let her eyes open and found that she was several yards off of the ground, being carried by someone who was climbing a ladder. She slowly reached up and grabbed their hand to ease her pain a little, trying to look up and see who it was. The hand was cold. And whoever it was, was in a black and white body suit. She couldn’t see their face, but she could see that her hair was now in a ponytail, and she was wearing a silky red leotard, encrusted with beautiful red crystals. Her sleeves were sheer, and clung to her skin as her senses heightened and allowed her to become uncomfortably aware of her surroundings. Before she knew it, the performer was dragging her over the edge of a platform, releasing her and backing away into the shadows. She picked herself up and winced, patting her head and looking around. The room was almost entirely dark, except for two overhead lights illuminating a long, thin rope. The platform she stood on resembled one she would normally start her performances on, allowing her to deduce that this was a circus rope. Music played faintly, and a light shove from a figure that she couldn’t see allowed her to believe that she was to walk across this thing. Easy enough. She took a step out and instantly began sliding. And with that, she groaned and slipped to her hands. She dangled from the rope’s mid-point, and looked down to her feet. They had been left bare, and were bleeding from the abrasiveness of the rope. Her hands burned, and she looked up to see that they, too, had begun to bleed. The rope was very old, splintering and creaking. She winced, but began to pull herself together, as well as closer to the rope. She might as well try to stand on it. Just holding on would kill her arms, and she couldn’t exactly see a net below. As she began to regain her balance, she took a deep breath. Only to have it shook out of her by a sudden jostling of the rope. She quickly regained her balance, but didn’t dare move. She looked from side to side, seeing two shadowy figures emerge on either end. Both wore black and white suits and masks, moving like willows closer and closer down the rope. Sumire could hear the straining of the rope beneath her, and only bit her lip as it dug deeper and deeper into her wounds. Were these two… human, she wondered briefly? In this place, it wouldn’t surprise her…
With time they only encroached closer and closer, so dangerously close. Sumire crouched down and held on to the rope as tightly as she could in hopes that this was just some mind trick of the young host’s doing. However… all movement stopped. She slowly looked up to see that both figures had stopped on either side of her. They only stared down at her with empty gazes for a silent moment. A gruelling, intensely silent moment. Before Sumire could say a word, they both leapt up in the air. Sumire’s eyes widened and she watched helplessly as they both landed at the exact same time on the rope, snapping the thin string in two. Sumire felt the only grounding she had disappear entirely from under her. Her breathing hitched in her throat as she watched the ceiling slowly grow increasingly distant. It was strange, but… Sumire felt calm. She even closed her eyes, waiting for her body to make impact with the ground and steal her life away for having done the same. She could see the smiling face of Kin’ya, almost as if it were imprinted on her eyelids. She could see Haruhisa… his life as she raised him, their precious son… she could feel tears welling in her eyes, but this was halted by the sickening sound of slicing flesh. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked over her shoulder to see the two beings who had sealed her fate on the rope. Or rather, what remained of them. Straining her eyes, she could see the faint glimmer of a wire net only a few yards below, thin and taut enough to have sliced her assailants to ribbons. Sumire only watched the net grow closer, almost as if everything were in slow motion, before she closed her eyes for one last glimpse of her beautiful, happy family. The one she was leaving behind in order to keep them safe…
This would be the last thing Sumire would ever see, before her body would be sliced into unidentifiable chunks of what was once, Sumire Akamine.
Sumire Sumida, the Super High School Level Funambulist, has been executed.
