VII. I Can Hear You, Masaru

INT. AUDITORIUM - EVENING

2 MONTHS LATER

A close up of the audience chairs can be seen, STAYING FOR A COUPLE OF PANELS.

Eventually, the stadium lights flash on, and a blinding light takes over the scene.

A crowd of people, who were just discussing until a moment ago, pause... and then settle back into their seats. They then turn their attention to the front of the auditorium, onto the stage, where the curtains start to pull back.

From behind it, a group of six people are revealed, standing in front of their seats. As the curtains are about to reach their resting position, a man walks out from behind them. He heads toward the group of people, slightly angled to place himself in front of them.

As he gets closer, the group of people look toward one man in their group. This man, Souta nods his head in affirmation, prompting the others to sit down. But another man, Daiki, stands for a moment longer with hesitation.

With his lips hovering on the edge of speech, he looks toward Souta, mustering up his breath to say something. Turning his attention from Souta’s mouth to his eyes, though, the shape of movement his lips created falters, and he gives a quiet smile. Finally, he nods his head back at Souta, and takes his seat.

The footsteps reach closer now. Without waning, they stop in front of the group of orchestra players. Stepping up onto a podium, the man adjusts the music sheet on the stand in front of him. He takes a deep breath... closing his eyes as he does so. Opening them slowly, he grabs the baton stationed on the music stand. Patiently, he releases the breath, and looks toward the orchestra members.

Masaru’s performance is about to begin.

Raising his baton, everyone raises their instruments, following his direction.

Masaru starts his first direction, and everyone follows suit. The air shifts against his skin as a result of the instruments, and everyone moves in unison.

Looking toward their breaths, Masaru continues to wave his arms, watching their shoulders rise and fall in rhythm. The familiar humming resonates through the floor, flowing its way beneath his shoes.

His arm flinches, creating a bad direction. A brief flicker of doubt crosses Masaru’s face as he brings his attention to their eyes. Everyone is too involved with their playing, mostly relying on Masaru as peripheral cues, and paying attention to their sheet music.

Continuing his movements, he looks around hesitantly for a moment. Finally, he brings his attention to the one person who continues to stare at him. A girl with black hair, who you’d easily mistake for having dyed her hair dark blue, stares deeply at Masaru. She focuses her attention on him, clearly not paying attention to her sheet music.

Dropping his mouth, he stares back for a brief second. His eyes widen, meeting her eyes with shaky determination.

Still, her gaze stays on him, steady and sure. Her eyes continue with a quiet certainty.

Without any exchange more than that, he brings his attention back, and his teeth press together as he steadies himself. The girl turns her attention back to her sheet of music. Firmly, Masaru stresses his movements even more.

The orchestra members look at him for a moment, adjusting their breaths to match a better pace. The tightness in the air thins, and Masaru is no longer darting his eyes around.

The delay between movement and response continues to shorten as the rhythm settles past the hairs on his body, and seeps into his skin.

Masaru isn’t just watching anymore.

A shine of light continues to grow brighter in Masaru’s eyes, making itself known only to those who pay close attention. His attention turns towards an invisible thread that continues to connect every member playing. Slowly, it connects itself to Masaru, presenting its gentle nature. It continues to wrap, tightening itself around him, until its soft introduction is realized.

There’s a shift. Everything synchronizes, and suddenly, the thread weaves into coherency.

The vibrations haven’t changed... Everything remains the same... yet everything is different.

As they reach the end of the performance, Masaru now has his eyes closed. Without hesitation, everyone has Masaru in the corner of their eyes, anticipating his next direction.

The final note arrives. Easing into it, the symphony orchestra’s movement slowly settles until it becomes silent.

Masaru’s performance is now over.

With his hand still hovering, Masaru snaps his eyes open. Looking toward his hand, he brings it down, and then takes a sharp breath. Without exhaling, his eyes dart to his fellow members, flickering between hope and worry.

Without paying close enough attention to what their reaction actually was, he then turns around to face the audience. A noticeable tremble can be seen in Masaru’s lip as he continues to hold the breath he’s too hesitant to let go of.

As he turns, his gaze catches the full picture of the audience. No one is moving.

The hope starts to leave Masaru’s face... and the worry that had been fighting for dominance is starting to break through. He lets go of his breath, finally exhaling.

Suddenly, a single pair of hands comes together.

Masaru looks over at them, but he’s not able to make out their face because of the blinding light. Again, another pair of hands comes together, this time from the opposite side.

As Masaru looks closer, he notices mouths wide open. Not just on the two people putting their hands together, but on... everyone.

Finally, everyone raises their hands, and the vibrations are now too large to go unnoticed. Some mouths turn back into a smile... Some turn even wider with cheering Masaru can’t hear... and others simply stand there talking to the people next to them while clapping. Everyone expresses different reactions, but the one thing that is shared between everyone... is that there is not one person left sitting. The ground, now shaking with vibrations, looks towards Masaru for an answer.

A SHOT THAT CONTINUES TO ZOOM IN ON MASARU FROM A DISTANCE becomes apparent.

Masaru turns his mouth agape for a moment, and he then snaps his head back toward his other members. About to urge them to stand up and bow, he starts to form the expression with his mouth... but it’s different. All of the members are standing up.

With a soft smile on their faces, their applause also becomes apparent. Looking confused for a moment, Masaru stares at them, but he then raises his shoulders in realization.

A different light now surfaces in Masaru’s eyes. He tries to smile, turning back toward the audience. His shoulders shake with what gives off an expression of laughing at first, but quickly spills out with more emotion. A moisture begins to develop... and it trickles down to his lashes. His vision blurs as he blinks hard, not able to catch the faces in the audience, and this is it. Rather than breaking apart, the fragile smile cracks open, soft and unguarded.

...

CUTS TO BLACK

...

YUUKO (VOICEOVER)

I... understand now.

I can hear you, Masaru.

END