Work Text:
FILE #1
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VIDEO STARTS
CLOSE ON — YOKOMIZO
BRIGHT LIGHTNING makes it difficult to make out his features. Only his mouth is visible. He’s leaning over A TABLE, a MANUSCRIPT laying over it, a PEN in his right hand.
MUSHITAROU OGURI (thin, in his teenage years, dressed in a school uniform, black hair neatly combed) ENTERS the ROOM. Yokomizo doesn’t look up.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
Are you still working on that?
Yokomizo smiles.
YOKOMIZO
Yes. I think I figured out what I want to do next.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
And I think you should give up on that. I bet you haven’t done your homework yet. That is something you should be figuring out.
Yokomizo laughs softly. The SOUND is wrong, distorted, like a FORGOTTEN MEMORY.
YOKOMIZO
You can help me with that.
Mushitarou puts his hands on his hips, sighing. He looks resigned, like he already made his choice. He pretends to be annoyed, but there’s something like fondness in his expression.
VIDEO ENDS
FILE #2
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VIDEO STARTS
INT. A HOUSE — ???’s P.O.V.
CLOSE ON — BLOOD ON THE FLOOR
There are SOMEONE’S SHOES standing on the blood. A PAIR OF HANDS enters the picture. There’s a DISTORTED SOUND, like a QUIET SOB. The hands are shaking.
???
It’s okay. It’s okay. I can—
Unintelligible sounds. Something shifting.
???
I can fix this.
ON ??? — OMNISCIENT'S P.O.V.
CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL a young boy’s back.
A group of small GHOSTS enter the picture. The BLOOD starts being cleaned.
CAMERA MOVES TO SHOW —-
MUSHITAROU OGURI’S face bathed in blood. The LIGHTNING makes his eyes look DARKER, almost RED.
VIDEO ENDS.
FILE #3
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CORRUPTED FILE
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CORRUPTED FILE
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WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING THIS
INTERFERENCE
STATIC NOISE
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FILE #4
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VIDEO STARTS
INT. A CELL
MUSHITAROU OGURI is kneeling on the floor in front of a table. Over it, there are DISORGANIZED PAGES and a singular PEN.
He sighs loudly. Performative, even though he’s alone, like some INVISIBLE EYES are glancing at him.
CAMERA CLOSES IN one of the pages. It reads:
Dear Yokomizo,
Life is going greatly.
The rest of the words are SCRATCHED OVER ROUGHLY. Looking attentively, one could make out the words MISS, MURDER, BREATHE, PULSE, FINGERS.
SORRY.
Mushitarou takes the page and makes a ball with it, throwing it to the other side of the room.
VIDEO ENDS
FILE #3
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CORRUPTED FILE
INTERFERENCE
STATIC NOISE
FILE INFO:
NAME: YOKOMIZO'S LAUGH
DATE: ????
DURATION: ????
NOTE: YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS OUT. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY. GO BACK.
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IMAGE #1
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CORRUPTED FILE
FILE INFO:
NAME: YOKOMIZO'S EYES
DATE: ????
NOTE: YOU CAN’T MAKE OUT THE EXACT TONE. HOWEVER —- YOU KNOW HE STARED AT YOU UNTIL HE DIED.
FILE #5
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VIDEO STARTS
EXT. A BACKYARD
The SOUND of a SHISHI-ODOSHI can be heard in the distance. Laying with their back on the grass are YOKOMIZO and MUSHITAROU OGURI.
CAMERA MOVES TO SHOW the night sky. STARS twinkle. It’s a moonless night.
YOKOMIZO
(offscreen)
Have you ever thought about the intimacy that can only be found between a murdered person and their killer?
CAMERA GOES BACK to Mushitarou, showing his side profile. He’s frowning when he turns to look at Yokomizo.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
I think you might be the only one who thinks about that.
Yokomizo giggles. The SOUND is DISTORTED.
YOKOMIZO
Not the only one.
(then)
I think there might be some closeness there you wouldn’t be able to find somewhere else.
Mushitarou scoffs.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
You need to go out more. Maybe.
YOKOMIZO
(smiling)
It’s impossible to hold a conversation with you.
CAMERA ON their hands. They are a few millimeters apart. Mushitarou’s fingers twitch and he closes his hand, moving it away slightly, as if holding back from doing something.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
What do you want me to say?
Yokomizo keeps quiet.
The SOUND of the SHISHI-ODOSHI continues. Alongside it, a RAPID HEARTBEAT. Mushitarou stares at the sky.
YOKOMIZO
I should write a story about love and murder.
(pause)
Then again, that wouldn’t be a mystery. Most of passion crimes are predictable.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
I wouldn’t want to have a look into your brain.
Yokomizo (DISTORTED SOUND). Mushitarou looks at him like he wants to keep the moment in his memory.
FADE TO BLACK
VIDEO ENDS
IMAGE #2
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It depicts A PAIR OF HANDS closed around someone’s throat. The image is cut out, but the person is SMILING.
CLOSE IMG
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FILE #6
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VIDEO STARTS
INT. AN INN
LIGHTS ARE bright enough to hurt one’s eyes. CAMERA FOCUS ON two male figures standing in the room.
One of the figures is holding ROPE, tying the other person’s immobile body. GRUNTS of effort are heard, along with CHOKED SOBS.
CAMERA FOCUS ON Mushitarou’s crying expression. Then, it shows HIS SHAKING HANDS as he tries to work a knot on YOKOMIZO'S WRIST.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
(with broken voice)
It really is like you.
(sniffling sound)
To make me do all the heavy work. You—you selfish bastard.
There is no answer. Mushitarou holds Yokomizo tightly, a dead weight against his body.
Yokomizo's head falls forward. Mushitarou brushes his hair off of his face. There is affection in the gesture.
HARD CUT TO BLACK
VIDEO ENDS
FILE #7
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VIDEO STARTS
INT. AN INN
YOKOMIZO is kneeling in front of a table, PEN secured in his hand.
(sometimes you think most of your memories of him are about him kneeling in front of a table with a pen in his hand
because yokomizo lived to write
and died to tell a story
and you need to hate him or this will all be worth nothing
but you think you might have—)
Sitting on a chair besides the table is MUSHITAROU OGURI, his expression a mixture of worry and anger.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
What do you—? What are you even talking about?
YOKOMIZO
(softly)
Mushi-kun, I think you heard me.
Mushitarou opens his mouth. Closes it. Rubs his face with a slightly shaking hand.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
You’re stupidly calm about all this.
Yokomizo shrugs, almost absentmindedly. His face is not visible except for his LIPS, which are pressed on a THIN LINE.
YOKOMIZO
I see no point in spending whatever time I have left curled up over myself and grieving the life I won’t have.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
You—
Mushitarou sighs, moving to kneel on the floor, and he crawls over to him.
MUSHITAROU OGURI (cont'd)
I don’t understand you at all.
YOKOMIZO
(smiling)
(why was he always smiling?
you can’t remember the sound of his laughter
or the color of his eyes
but you can remember his smile
the smile he wore even when you two argued
and while explaining things to you you didn’t even care about that much
and with your hands around his throat)
You don’t need to understand me. It’s enough with having you here.
Mushitarou looks at him, hesitating. He moves a hand, almost as if to pat his back or hold him, but he retracts it immediately.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
What are you even working on now?
YOKOMIZO
I’m making plans. I want my last work to be memorable.
Yokomizo turns his gaze towards Mushitarou. He tilts his head. Outside, the SUN is SHINING.
YOKOMIZO (cont'd)
Maybe you can help me.
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GO BACK?
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ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GO BACK?
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ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GO BACK?
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YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THIS
IMAGE #3
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It depicts A PAIR OF HANDS covered with BLOOD. The blood is BRIGHT RED. In a METAL TRAY there are TWO MUTILATED EARS.
(YOU CAN ERASE YOUR TRAIL
BUT WHO CAN TAKE YOUR MEMORIES AWAY FROM YOU?
THE GHOSTS TAKE AWAY ANY PROOF OF YOUR CRIMES
BUT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE
YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE
YOU KNOW—-)
You are inside of an inn.
You are inside of an inn and you have your best friend's hands around your neck.
You are inside of an inn and you have your hands around your best friend's neck.
You are inside of an inn.
You are inside of an inn and your best friend tells you, “would you kill me if I asked you to?”
And maybe in another life you would’ve told him “that’s unfair,” or “not because my ability erases the blood I can’t see its shadow over my fingers,” or “how could I ever do that to you?”, but in this life you kneel over him, you press your hands around your best friend's neck, and then
FILE #7
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VIDEO STARTS
INT. A ROOM IN E. A. POE'S HOUSE
There is a TABLE with MANUSCRIPTS. MUSHITAROU doesn’t look at it. There are white pages in every room.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
I’ll never understand you writers.
EDGAR ALLAN POE looks at him from behind his bangs. He tilts his head curiously.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
How so?
MUSHITAROU OGURI
I have never met a writer that is normal about it. You are all… obsessed.
Poe scoffs. He shakes his head slightly, but the bangs fall over his eyes again.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
I wouldn’t define this as an obsession.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
What name would you give it, then?
EDGAR ALLAN POE
(shrugging)
Passion.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
I don’t see the difference.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
Well, you aren’t a writer.
A second of silence passes. Mushitarou leans against a WALL. Poe sits on a COUCH close to the table.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
Are you and Ranpo good friends?
EDGAR ALLAN POE
No. He’s my rival. I'm trying to write a mystery he wouldn’t be able to solve.
A RACCOON jumps over the COUCH. Poe lets it rest in his lap.
EDGAR ALLAN POE (cont'd)
If he dies there, even better.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
See what I mean? What do you mean, “if he dies there”?
EDGAR ALLAN POE
I don’t expect you to understand.
MUSHITAROU OGURI
Would you die, too, for the ultimate mystery?
Poe seems to consider it.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
I wouldn’t be able to see Ranpo-kun's reaction if I died. It would be repetitive, too. Your friend already did that.
Mushitarou huffs out a laugh. It's a tired sound.
VIDEO ENDS
FILE #8
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VIDEO STARTS
INT. AN INN
YOKOMIZO is lying on the floor, MUSHITAROU’S HANDS around his THROAT, still not pressing hard enough. He’s SMILING.
YOKOMIZO
Thank you, Mushi-kun.
Mushitarou is crying. TEARS fall over the MANUSCRIPT. It blurs the DRYING INK.
YOKOMIZO (cont'd)
Thank you for taking the job. You truly are the only—
[SCREEN OFF]
You put your hands around your best friend's throat because you’re the only one who can do it, because you’re the only one who can make his dream come true.
You kill him because he’s already a dying man and you want to grant him his last wish.
You kill the man you love because there is no one in this world who can hate him right.