#continuous calamity

luck running thin

Former Super High School Level Luckster Chiaki Nanami’s Execution: Executed

Dropping through an empty, mauve sky was Chiaki Nanami, unwilling killer and soon-to-be dead girl.

Luckily (or unluckily), the violently shaking Chiaki landed firmly in a hard, rosewood chair without injury, though her behind started to feel a little numb from the really, really uncomfortable seating.

(That was going to be the least of her worries, soon enough.)

In front of the heavily sweating girl was a small stage, pastel pink curtains pulled apart to reveal an uneasy Buskin and a giddy Sock, both standing front and center. Behind him was not a wall of any sort, but in fact there was no wall for the stage at all. It was then the girl took a moment to take in her surroundings.

It appeared the wooden chair Chiaki landed in and the stage she first saw were all on a cutesy rail in the middle of an unending sea of cotton candy clouds. Why a rail, she did not know.

(She would find out soon enough, however.)

“S-Sock and I are currently thinking of a number…” Buskin mumbled somberly, “P-Pick a number from one through nine within f-five seconds, a-and if it is not the number we are thinking of…”

...At what was probably the equivalent to the top speed of a race car, a very large, very long and very deadly-looking magenta stake came rolling down the rail, pointing at Chiaki from the handful of yards it was behind the stage.

“YOUR DEMISE WILL COME EVER CLOSER! IF YOU MANAGE TO MAKE THE RIGHT GUESS, HOWEVER...”

The stake sluggishly rolled the opposite way it came.

“...You will surely b-benefit… After you guess, the cycle will begin anew… Y-Your guessing begins… now.”

With that, Sock and Buskin each held up a hand as they simultaneously counted down the time Chiaki had to guess with their fingers, though their counting down from five seemed a bit… rushed.

This seemed to be very, what’s the word… rigged. Going off of the tragedy that was the last execution and their eagerness for death, it seemed Chiaki didn’t have much choice in how this was going to turn out for her. No matter what numbers she ‘guessed,’ these two were sure to guarantee her death.

...Still, she supposed she had to play along for the moment. She sighed, her first guess being...

“Nine.”

...The two puppets ducked in time as the bright spike surely almost broke the sound barrier before it stopped, just centimeters away from Chiaki’s face. She felt her heart beating against her ribcage, and her chest began to ache. Her mind was so frazzled from the sudden movement, she almost forgot she had to give the puppets her next guess within the next five seconds.

“F-- Five.”

    The stake moved back an inch. Just an inch.

“...Six?”

                               A foot.

“...Seven.”

                                                               A yard.

“Three.”

It was at this point, Chiaki noticed the puppets getting quite visibly nervous at her streak of lucky guesses, sweating (where is that sweat even coming from?) and shaking. As she kept up her guessing, the spike was rolling so far back, Sock took out a comically-oversized telescope to show her how far  it was going.

...Why were they emphasizing this to her?

…

Chiaki braced herself as she continued to guess, until she said…

“Four.”

…

Buskin’s shaking was at its worst, and Sock began to snicker before it turned into full-on cackling.

Looking into the gigantic telescope, Chiaki could see the spike rolling down the rail towards her at the actual speed of sound, going by the sonic boom it left in its wake.

‘I knew it.’

Without thought, she quickly leaned off the chair and fell through the clouds just in time, the spike smashing the chair above her as she began to fall.

She fell

Down

         Down

                   Down

                             Down

                                      Down

                                                Down

                                                           Down,

Until she managed to land on the strangely soft ground (along with the bits and chips of the obliterated chair she was sitting on just a minute ago. Good thing her eyes were closed.) without breaking a single limb, somehow.

It took Chiaki a moment to come to her senses before she shook the wood chips off her face, cracked open an eye, and sat up.

...It seemed the puppets had a plan B for her if she somehow survived their first attempt at killing her.

All she saw was a seemingly never ending field of clovers, waving in the wind. They all seem to bear four leaves like the hair clip her sister gave her before she left for Hope’s Peak.

...Chiaki missed her sister. She hoped she was doing alright.

…

…

Out of the blue, as she sat still for what felt like quite a while, a soft mrroww! reached Chiaki’s ears. Turning around and standing up, she saw a calico with a short, bunny-esque tail staring back at her.

“...”

The cat let out another mrowww! before sitting on its back legs, holding its paw up in a beckoning manner, like those little sculptures in shop entrances.

...

Out of impulse and self(and cat)-preservation, Chiaki swept the calico up into her arms and began to run as fast and as long as her legs could carry her through the field. She had no idea where her legs were taking her, she just did not want to go down without resistance.

So, she ran. She ran, and ran, and ran, until a blur of black speeding in front of her had her skidding on her heels to a stop.

As she paused to catch her breath (she still isn’t the most athletic person amongst her peers), Chiaki turned to see what it was that crossed her path.

Staring back at her was a black cat with the biggest, brightest yellow eyes.

...Funny.

Following the feline’s loud mrrrooow as it stretched, Chiaki saw the sky and clouds being taken over by a dark, dark grey as the clovers at her feet all started rapidly dying, disintegrating to nothing, and leaving the ground at her feet lifeless and dark.

‘…It’s going to be here soon, probably,’ Chiaki’s heart was about to beat itself out of her chest again.

In the middle of her darkening thoughts, the calico in Chiaki’s arms hopped out of her hold to greet the other cat. Looking down at the movement and following the cat with her eyes, she saw the two as they rubbed their sides together happily, and softly smiled, despite it all.

...Her frown and the reality of the situation were quick to catch up to her, however. A deep sigh escaped her as she stood there, watching the two cats showing their affection to each other before approaching and meowing at the only human for what seemed like miles.

“...Wh… What is it…?”

They got behind Chiaki, attempting to nudge her forward with their heads before running in front of her for second, looking back at her after they stopped. Did they want her to follow them…?

...Eventually, after a few breaks in walking after them and realizing that yes, they did want her to follow them, Chiaki was running behind the calico and black cats through the wasteland as the clouds were thundering above them.

So, she ran. She ran, and ran, and

                                                                      t                                                                              ri                                                                                     ppe                                                                                               d.

‘...Huh?’

...Before she even processed it, Chiaki’s foot caught on… something. Something, when for miles, it looks like there’s nothing, and now her damn ankle was fucking crooked.

Tears of pure frustration were beading up in her eyes as she whimpered, sobbed, and slammed her fist weakly on the pitch-black ground.

"It… I-It's no fucking use!!" Chiaki cried in time with lightning striking behind her, "F-Fuck, fuck…!"

The cats were in the middle of approaching their friend before they began to back up, hair raised and yowling at the sight of something surely horrifying above her.

Somewhat confused at what could possibly be causing that behavior after all the changes to the landscape, Chiaki wiped at her wet face before looking up to see…

...a large, golden coin.

Spinning, showing heads and tails as it fell.

And it was about to… fall right on her.

Time had seemed to have slowed as memories, thoughts and faces flashed across her mind.

Her sister (She isn't of blood, but Chiaki always loved her like so.) smiling at her as she served her what was surely the best omurice ever, and she had even made it without an adult's help!

She and her sister absolutely beaming as they took their first steps into their new home together with their new mom, their new family!

Her sister getting enrolled into and graduating from Hope's Peak Academy (the Hope's Peak Academy!!) for her amazing cooking skills!

Eventually getting enrolled into Hope’s Peak herself, this time as the Lucky Student! What are the odds?!

Finally making more friends in her new class as her sister wanted, and hanging out with them almost everyday as she could in her dating/friendship simulators! A dream come true!

Graduating from Hope’s Peak Academy alongside her fellow Ultimates! She almost wanted to cry!

...Waking up in a strange, strange place, supposedly in the middle of Italy.

...Puppets telling her and her fellow graduates to kill each other in order to escape.

...Five people actually dying because of some evil, evil person(s) pushing them to their limit, and outright killing one of them because he just wanted to fucking leave.

...Chiaki was going to be the sixth because of a step she never could have fathomed would have led her to this, and she had one question she wouldn’t live to hear the answer to.

“ ...Why? ”

...And just like that, the colossal coin crushed the unlucky girl beneath it, landing on tails as her insides became outsides, her blood seeping deep into the dead ground under the large slab of gold that killed her.

SPOTLIGHT ON ME!

So this is it, then?

You wish you could look away, tear your eyes from the dreadful scene laid out before you, to escape this cruel reality for just a second. But… your eyes are weary, tired, and, all the same unblinking. Sometimes, you wonder if you could have stopped any of this from happening…

Sometimes… you realize you have to accept the inevitable.

ULTIMATE IDOL CHIHIRO FUJISAKI’S EXECUTION: EXECUTED

Your former schoolmate, now strung up like a marionette pulled in two different directions. One side erratically bouncing at the hands of a crimson puppet master’s and the other trying to calmly sway in rhythm under the control of uncertain cerulean gestures; all across a stage not too dissimilar to the one you’d witnessed an unfortunate death on mere hours ago.

Sock is cheery, jumping up and down on an all to familiar light fixture as he makes his half of the “puppet” dance across the stage, his brother trying to stay mellow even with the unpleasant creak of metal and the sound of flying bolts.

Around Chihiro’s joints you can see thin twine, clear but glinting against the harsh beams of color from above, as a darker thread makes it’s clear imprint around their throat, tightening ever so slowly and causing their face to slowly purple.

Chihiro is gasping for air, even from where you stand that much is obvious, that and the steady tears rolling down their cheeks in a waterfall-like stature.

The squeak of metal gets more frantic, Chihiro’s movements unbalanced and hurried before suddenly…

.

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C R A S H

Just like before, the light fixture falls, bringing down Sock and Buskin in its wake. And, just like before, a massive stagelight falls upon its performer with a heady thud.

It’s bloody-

It’s awful-

It’s a scene you didn’t even want to see one, don’t mention twice!

But…

It’s over.

That’s at least what you’d like to believe before a gnarled hand grasps at what’s left of the stage, and your heart sinks because they’re still alive, still moving, which means there’s more to this wicked and cruel show.

The true puppets look towards the ceiling, where cement chips begin to fly down one by one and then all at once and part of you wishes that for your own health Chihiro Fujisaki is finally dead.

And…

They are.

It’s not until you see Sock and Buskin emerge from the rubble to bow that you’re truly sure, but… it’s over…

Sock looks into the crowd with his sick grin, a trophy of this kill clipped safely onto the edge of his mask, and the only memory that Chihiro Fujisaki ever existed…