Work Text:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Ryuunosuke Naruhodou
The Ghost of Kazuma Asougi
Night. The offices of the Naruhodou Legal Consultancy, currently in use as a bedroom. A gas lamp illuminates a small portion of the room, revealing RYUUNOSUKE NARUHODOU sitting in his pajamas on the twin-sized bed, reading by lamplight. Beside him is a small writing desk, bare except for the lamp and an English language dictionary atop it. In his hand he holds a copy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, mouthing the words as he reads.
RYUUNOSUKE (to himself) :
“How should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff,
And his sandal shoon…” ‘Sandal shoon’? What does that even…
He underlines the offending words with a pencil, and turns to look up their definition.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Hm. (He goes back to reading.) “... He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.”
As he reads, footsteps are heard. Enter THE GHOST OF KAZUMA ASOUGI, stage left, wearing the clothes he died in. He is visibly bleeding from a head wound, but does not appear to be in any sort of pain, or indeed notice the injury at all. He approaches RYUUNOSUKE, stopping at the edge of the lamplight’s reach. RYUUNOSUKE does not look up.
KAZUMA:
Evening. What are you reading?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Hamlet . It’s Shakespeare. Have you read it?
KAZUMA:
No. Is it any good?
RYUUNOSUKE:
I don’t know yet. It’s a tragedy.
KAZUMA:
You don’t like those?
RYUUNOSUKE:
I prefer comedies. I like a happy ending. (RYUUNOSUKE finally looks up at his friend. If he takes notice of KAZUMA’s wound, it does not appear to perturb him; it is an expected part of his costume.) Hi, Kazuma.
KAZUMA (smiling) :
Hi. How are you?
RYUUNOSUKE:
I miss you.
KAZUMA:
I know. Can I sit?
RYUUNOSUKE gestures to the chair at the desk, which KAZUMA’S GHOST then pulls out and sits in, facing the bed. He and RYUUNOSUKE share the same circle of light.
KAZUMA:
Why am I here, Ryuunosuke?
RYUUNOSUKE:
I miss you.
KAZUMA:
I don’t know anything about Shakespeare. At least, I don’t think I do.
RYUUNOSUKE:
You could have read Julius Caesar, or Romeo and Juliet. I think you’d like those. Lots of politics, people stabbing each other.
KAZUMA:
Does that sound like me?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Even if you hadn’t, I’d talk to you about it anyway. If you were here, I’d talk to you about anything. We’d sit right here… No, you’re too far away.
KAZUMA:
Where do you want me?
RYUUNOSUKE:
(He slides over on the mattress and pats the now-empty space beside him). Here.
KAZUMA’S GHOST sits beside RYUUNOSUKE on the bed. Almost touching, but not quite.
RYUUNOSUKE:
We’d sit together like this in the evenings, and you would ask me what the play is about…
KAZUMA (playing his part) :
What’s it about?
RYUUNOSUKE:
…and I would tell you. And if I was lucky, I might convince you to let me read you a few lines, and you could hear how beautiful it was.
KAZUMA:
Read to me, then.
RYUUNOSUKE:
“White his shroud as the mountain snow,
Larded with sweet flowers
Which bewept to the grave did go
With true-love showers.”
KAZUMA:
I like the sound of your voice. Do you think I’d like the story?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Maybe. The premise, at least.
KAZUMA (as if part of the conversation RYUU is describing) :
What an intriguing situation.
RYUUNOSUKE:
I think you’d get frustrated with how long Hamlet waits to take his revenge.
KAZUMA (still in character) :
Why doesn’t he just kill Claudius?
RYUUNOSUKE (sadly) :
…But I don’t know. I don’t know at all.
KAZUMA:
Let’s say I like it. This is just hypothetical, anyway.
RYUUNOSUKE:
I suppose.
KAZUMA (in character) :
I must say, this play sounds quite interesting. Could I borrow your copy when you finish?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Hm.
KAZUMA:
No good?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Too agreeable.
KAZUMA (teasing) :
You like it when I argue.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Yes. I like it when you’re passionate, even about unimportant things. It’s…fun.
KAZUMA:
Fun?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Yes, fun. (Suddenly unsure of his phrasing.) Or…entertaining, perhaps. Enjoyable?
RYUUNOSUKE picks up the dictionary from his bedside table and begins thumbing through it, searching for the right word.
KAZUMA:
Word choice is important, Ryuunosuke.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Give me a second, will you?
KAZUMA’S GHOST is silent, watching RYUUNOSUKE as he speaks. His head is turned, and we can see how blood drips down his cheek, dark red.
RYUUNOSUKE (frustrated) :
I should know the right word by now. I’ve felt it a thousand times. It’s…a word for when we first met, after that speech competition. You approached me, practically spitting fire as you spoke—and I wasn’t scared, you know. I was interested. You’re interesting. But—no. That’s too small a word, ‘interesting’. It was bigger than that. I felt it just sitting across from you at a restaurant. You’d be smiling as you argued some point, who can even say what, and your eyes were bright… Impossible to look away from. I was rooted to the spot. I heard you laugh and it shook through me like thunder. It’s what I felt watching you in court, that tongue of yours as sharp as the sword at your hip, ready to take on the world just for my sake. Maybe it’s awe. Admiration. But…no, admiration is for things you put on pedestals. I wanted you closer than that. I would have followed you to the ends of the earth. I did. I’d do it again.
KAZUMA:
Is there a word for that?
RYUUNOSUKE continues to flip through the dictionary for a moment more, turning pages more slowly as he gets closer to his destination. When he finds the word, it is not with any sense of victory; there is only grief. He shuts the dictionary and sets it aside.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Yes. There is.
KAZUMA:
Speak; I am bound to hear.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Shouldn’t that be my line?
KAZUMA:
How would I know? I’ve never read Hamlet.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Maybe you have.
KAZUMA:
Maybe. Does it matter?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Of course it does. I’ll never know, now. You’re dead.
KAZUMA:
Yes. But we can play pretend. Why else am I here?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Because I miss you.
KAZUMA brings one hand up to gently touch RYUUNOSUKE’s jaw.
KAZUMA:
I know, partner. Where do you want me?
RYUUNOSUKE:
(He closes his eyes for one long moment. A sigh; he gives in.) Here. Closer. (KAZUMA’S GHOST follows his direction. They end up pressed up against each other, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip.) We’d be talking. We’d be talking, and I’d be telling you about Hamlet, or you’d be telling me about court… It wouldn’t really matter. But eventually we’d end up like this, leaning against each other. Not the first time we’ve been this close. But this time is different. This time you’d put your hand on my knee.
KAZUMA:
So I’d make the first move?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Shh. But yes. You were always braver than me. And then…I’d put my hand over yours, and we wouldn’t have to say anything at all. I’d know exactly how you wanted me, because it was the same way I wanted you. And then… (He turns towards KAZUMA and with his other hand cups his friend's bloody cheek.)
They kiss. When they break apart, one of RYUUNOSUKE’s hands is stained with the blood from KAZUMA’s wound. He regards it for a long moment, before slowly and deliberately bringing his palm to his chest, smearing wet blood across the front of his shirt. From a distance, it looks like his heart is bleeding. He lets go of KAZUMA’s hand.
RYUUNOSUKE:
And your lips wouldn’t be cold.
KAZUMA’S GHOST pulls away and stands up, stepping back so that he now stands at the edge of the illuminated space, opposite RYUUNOSUKE.
KAZUMA:
Ever heard of suspending your disbelief?
RYUUNOSUKE:
Maybe you’re just not a good actor.
KAZUMA:
Maybe. But who’s fault is that? You can’t imagine me as anything but dead.
RYUUNOSUKE:
No. No, I suppose I can’t. (He picks up his copy of Hamlet again and turns to where he left off. He stares at the page– trying to read, and failing. He doesn’t look at KAZUMA’S GHOST.) You should go. There’s no point in this.
KAZUMA:
Won’t you miss me?
RYUUNOSUKE:
I always miss you. But it’s like you said: we’re just playing pretend. It’s not real.
KAZUMA:
It’s the closest you’ll get.
RYUUNOSUKE (finally looking up from his book) :
Goodbye, Kazuma. I love you.
KAZUMA:
I know. I love you too.
RYUUNOSUKE:
Do you?
KAZUMA:
(He shrugs.) Maybe. Let’s say I do. It makes for a good ending.
THE GHOST OF KAZUMA ASOUGI turns and leaves the way he came. RYUUNOSUKE watches him go, until long after he’s disappeared into the dark, until his footsteps are no longer heard. After a moment, RYUUNOSUKE returns to his book and begins to read aloud once more. As he reads, the light slowly dims. In the end he is left in the dark, alone.
RYUUNOSUKE:
“There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray,
love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts…
There's fennel for you, and columbines: there's rue
for you; and here's some for me…”
Curtain.