UPDATE: I've made few changes to this part of the script, mostly to the first dialogue between Ami and Tomoe. The flow of the dialogue wasn't quite right, and the ideas I was trying to develop didn't connect to each other, or to what happened in previous parts of the script, in the way that I had hoped they would. I guess that shows me for trying to get a new piece of the screenplay posted on the same day I start writing it. Which is not to say I'll stop doing that.
All revisions will be marked in bold.
Last Time. . .
We now continue. . .
AMI (V.O.)
I'm gonna lose.
CUT TO:
INT, Tomoe's Office.
TOMOE and AMI are playing a game of chess. It's Ami's move.
AMI
If I move the knight, you have me in three moves. I move the rook, you have me in four.
TOMOE
That sounds about right.
AMI moves to tip her king, but TOMOE stops her.
TOMOE
You're not giving up that easily are you?
(beat)
You could still beat me, you know.
Pause.
TOMOE
. . .but you won't.
AMI tips over the king.
TOMOE
(sighs)
I guess that's one way to guarantee the outcome of things.
AMI
I suppose.
TOMOE
You suppose?
(beat)
Ami, I wasn't asking for you to agree with me.
Pause.
TOMOE
Do you like chess?
(barely a beat)
Of course you don't. You're not very good at it.
AMI looks up.
TOMOE
That's what you'd say, isn't it? If you were asked why you don't like it? Why someone as intelligent-no, as obviously and stereotypically intellectual as you, doesn't enjoy playing the definitive game of the intellectual class?
(beat, then shrugs)
"I'm not very good."
(Pause)
Now, this might be a calculated display of humility, in which case you're a liar.
AMI looks down, shamed by Tomoe's insult, and how casually he delivers it.
TOMOE
But somehow, I don't think that's it. I think you really do believe it. Not because you are bad at the game- you're not- but because you know you're playing at a level far below what you know you're capable of. . . even in no-one else does.
(beat, with slight contempt)
And you're alright with that.
Pause, to let it sink in.
TOMOE
In either event, you are . . . thoroughly Japanese.
AMI keeps her head down. TOMOE stands her king back up.
TOMOE
I wasn't playing with you to see if you could win. I playing to see if you wanted to win. I was playing to see more of the little girl I saw a moment ago, defending her mother when she knew she was being insulted.
(beat)
Look at me, Ami.
AMI doesn't move.
TOMOE
I know you're angry with me, Ami.
Tense pause.
TOMOE
(sighs)
Ami. . . you're a child, so you may not understand this. When you grow old, the world. . . grows old with you. Colors and sounds fade, the edges of things start to blur and blend into each other. Memories are . . . washed away, leaving only this shade of familiarity cast over everything. When you get to be that old, the idea dying, of losing of that world. . . doesn't seem as tragic as it once was.
AMI looks up, unsure of where Tomoe is going with this.
TOMOE
You're right. This isn't my office. My name is on the building, but beyond a few board meetings, I really have nothing to do with this place anymore. And that's how it should be. It's my time to let go.
AMI
(understanding)
The world feels old to me too, sometimes.
TOMOE
She speaks!
(beat)
And unfortunately, that's what she has to say.
Pause.
TOMOE
Ami, it's not the world that feels old. It's your world, the little subterranean bomb shelter you built up around youself. . . that's what feels old. I'm allowed to cast this world aside if I feel like, Ami. You're not. For you. . . for every student here. . . the world is young.
Pause. Those last words seem to resonate for Tomoe, for reasons we aren't quite aware of yet.
TOMOE
You know. . . I've given the odd lecture here and there, but it's ages since anyone has seen me actually walk the halls of my own school.
(beat)
Let's surprise them.
CUT TO:
INT, Reception- Continuous.
AMI and TOMOE leave the office. SAEKO is dozing off in her chair. AMI is about to wake her, but TOMOE stops her, and the two head to the elevator.
TOMOE (V.O.)
You remember the admission requirements for Mugen Gakuen, right?
AMI(V.O.)
140 IQ or higher on the Stanford Binet, or demonstrated prodigious ability in art, music, lierature-
CUT TO:
INT, Elevator.
TOMOE and AMI, on the way down.
TOMOE
Right, right. And?
AMI
(thinks for a second)
Japanese citizenship?
TOMOE
Bingo.
CUT TO:
INT, Lobby, Continuous.
TOMOE and AMI exit the elevator.
TOMOE
We could have admitted students from the U.S., China, Europe. . . but that wouldn't solve anything. Japan is an elite society where no-one is allowed to be elite. This school aims to change that.
TOMOE spots a plant by a wall that looks almost like a mandrake.
TOMOE
Take this, for instance.
(points to the plant)
Recognize it?
AMI
It's a mandrake, isn't-
TOMOE
Mandragora Telunorum. One of our star pupils developed the genome for this plant while she was studying here. She patented it, bred it, sold it to florists the world over, and got rich. She still donates a percentage of the profits to the academy.
AMI and TOMOE walk past the plants.
CUT TO:
INT, Hallway, Continuous.
AMI and TOMOE walk down a hallway. The highly decorated walls serve as sort a museum of Tomoe, with a timeline of Tomoe's life (beginning circa 1920), photos, and videos narrating the life story of Tomoe. Despite his age, TOMOE walks down the at a fairly brisk pace.
TOMOE
It's just down the hall.
AMI looks at some of the pictures. She sees a photograph of TOMOE, his wife, and his four-year old daughter HOTARU, dating from the fourties.
TOMOE
There's someone I want you to see.
AMI walks past a TV screen, playing a biographical documentary of Tomoe on a loop. As she passes, the TV displays a picture of Tomoe in a WWII era field medic uniform. Something about the picture seems. . . off.
CUT TO:
INT, Reception in front of TOMOE's Office
SAEKO wakes up to the sound of her pager. Groggily, she reads the pager. . . and her eyes widen.
CUT TO:
INT, Performance Hall
A full orchestra is in the midst of a rehearsal for The Lark Ascending. TOMOE and AMI sit at the back of the hall as the orchestra blares away. A violinist, MICHIRU, takes to the front of the stage.
TOMOE
That's Michiru Kaiou.
MICHIRU begins to play an incredible rendition of the composition's violin piece, with the orchestra accompanying her. AMI'S impressed.
TOMOE
We were only just able to snatch her away from Julliard.
A young woman, YUI, approaches the two.
AMI
It's beautiful.
YUI
Sensei.
AMI and TOMOE turn to YUI, and we see her for the first time. . . and boy, does she not look familiar?
TOMOE
Ah! Yui! I was going to come looking for you!
YUI
I've been trying to reach you for the last ten minutes.
(glances at AMI, trying to hide a sense of urgency)
There's something that we need to dis-
TOMOE
Yui! Let me introduce you to Ami Mizuno.
YUI looks AMI over. She really wants to talk about something else, but she'll oblige the good doctor.
YUI
Nice to meet you Ami.
TOMOE
Ami, this is Yui Bidou, the best and birghtest in an academy of the best and brightest.
AMI
Nice to meet you.
(beat)
Are you. . . the one who pantented Mandragora Telunorum?
YUI
(pause- almost insulted)
No. . . I'm not.
(to TOMOE)
Sensei, we really need-
TOMOE
(to AMI)
Yui is the head instructor of the academy's science department. She's done groundbreaking work in nanotech, ultracold physics-
(absent-mindedly)
Say, maybe you should show Ami the collider while we're here!
YUI'S normally cold, calm eyes widen at the word "collider".
YUI
(unsure how to respond)
Uh, Sensei. . .
TOMOE
(catching himself)
Ah! Of course, of course. . . but sometime Yui really should show you some of the facilities we have at this academy. I think you'll be amaz-
At that moment, SAEKO walks in.
SAEKO
Ami!
TOMOE
Saeko!
(shh-es, and points to orchestra)
Rehearsal!
SAEKO gives a quick bow of apology.
TOMOE
I'm sorry, Saeko. I wanted to give Ami a tour. I was hoping we'd be back before-
SAEKO
That's alright, Sensei.
(to AMI)
Ami, we have to go.
(urgently)
Now.
TOMOE looks between SAEKO and YUI. YUI gestures impatiently at TOMOE.
TOMOE
Saeko, you're timing couldn't be better!
AMI gets up to leave, but TOMOE stops her.
TOMOE
Before you go, Ami, I want you to think about something.
(draws her closer)
I'm sure that ever since you've been first identified as a prodigy, you've had people telling you that you that you must put your intellect to use for the better of society, or the nation, or whatever.
AMI unconsciously glances at SAEKO.
TOMOE
I believe that. You do have an obligation to society.
(beat)
I also believe that no-one could better know how to best put your gifts to use. . . than you.
AMI walks toward SAEKO.
TOMOE
Ami?
AMI turns around.
TOMOE
We can't register you until the fall, Ami. But you can visit anytime you like. I'm sure Yui would be happy to show you around.
YUI forces a smile.
YUI
Of course.
AMI and SAEKO walk off.
To be continued soon.
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