[The hostess takes a compact out of her purse, and presses a button at the back.
The bottom falls out of Touko's chair, and she's falling through a trap door in the floor, falling until, abruptly, the door snaps shut and she has vanished. The room is silent for a full minute, leading to the obvious conclusion that this was her ignominious end.
And then the projector flickers on. A short film is playing. The picture quality is shaky, and the film skips, and there is no sound but an accompanying music. However, the film is in color, and its star is none other than Touko Aozaki.
Touko Aozaki stands in a snow and ice-covered wasteland, at the basic of an ancient tree. The roots of the tree alone stand nearly as tall as Touko herself. Mist surrounds her, blanketing everything in white. It is impossible to see anything besides the white of the snow and ice, Touko herself, and the tree.
Suddenly, the ground alights beneath Touko, long patterns of runic characters glowing brilliant fire colors and moving in the ground itself. The ground begins to fall away, leaving in its place only nothingness, simply fire and empty air, and, above the howling of the wind, a wolf's howl and the heavy sound of breathing and paw falls. In the nothingness, two massive wolves approach, far larger than any true wolf and even larger than Touko herself, but thin and starved and eyeing her with ravenous eyes.
Touko begins to climb the tree, as the icy ground around her begins to fall away. She climbs quickly, and although the tree is old, it bears her weight. But the fiery runes also begin to climb after her, bearing deep into the ancient wood, and burning the wood beneath her. She climbs higher and higher, as the light around her changes colors, dancing from misty grey and crisp blue to deep orange and red and pure white. But even as she climbs, the tree beneath her turns to ash, and the prowling wolves at the base are never any further away.
She seems to have been climbing for hours, clearly physically growing weary, as the sky around her becomes pure black and clear. Whole worlds whip past her in snowflakes and puffs of grey smoke, and the bark of the tree has turned white and ashen. The wolves begin to nip at her heels and her expression is nearly resigned, when she looks up, there is a girl there, with brilliant red hair. She has a hateful, angry expression, but she still reaches down to extend Touko a hand, and as she does, the world changes around her. The runes scatter away from her, the air grows less frigid and glows with power.
Touko looks up at the girl and her face shifts into anger. She lets go of her grip on the trunk of the tree, and falls backward, down into the fire below. The wolves snarl and close in on her, devouring her alive.
[Light from the projector dances against the wall before. The video ends. But the screen does not scroll up, nor do the doors open.]
EXECUTION
[The hostess takes a compact out of her purse, and presses a button at the back.
The bottom falls out of Touko's chair, and she's falling through a trap door in the floor, falling until, abruptly, the door snaps shut and she has vanished. The room is silent for a full minute, leading to the obvious conclusion that this was her ignominious end.
And then the projector flickers on. A short film is playing. The picture quality is shaky, and the film skips, and there is no sound but an accompanying music. However, the film is in color, and its star is none other than Touko Aozaki.
[Light from the projector dances against the wall before. The video ends. But the screen does not scroll up, nor do the doors open.]