Everyone Is Bad At Something
Cast:
Cure Dream, Yumehara Nozomi – age 15
Desperaia, Itoshiki Nozomi – age 29
Bloody, Furuzaki Nobuo – age 61
Furuzaki Basara – Bloody's son – age 39
January, 2008
Three-quarters of the top floor of the tower are dedicated to a single gigantic room. Unlike the offices below, there are no desks or computers. Instead, there are sofas and endtables, and occasional small lamps whose light does not reach the high ceiling or the gigantic windows that stretch from floor to ceiling. Outside, the lights of the city can be seen, but even they seem muted. The head of the company, known to most as Desperaia, reclines near the windows, her olive green hair reaching the floor. She sips from a large glass of wine as she looks out into the night.
At the wall of the room, the elevator opens, revealing a pink-haired girl wearing a school uniform. Desperaia glances at her for only a moment before returning her gaze to the outside.
"Oh, it's you. Would you like some wine?"
"I'm fifteen years old."
"What of it? The police won't know. When you reach this height, there is not a single thing in the world below that holds any meaning, nor is there any meaning to be found here. Do you not feel the same?"
Cure Dream shakes her head. "I'm sorry, but this isn't where I belong. The world where I live is filled with hope and miracles."
"Hope and miracles? I have no use for such things. I have everything I ever wanted. My every goal has been accomplished." Desperaia stands and puts her hand on the window glass. "It took me fifteen years coming up, but going down would only take fifteen seconds."
"If you've already reached your own goals, what if you help others reach theirs?"
"A charity? I must admit, I've never considered it. Leading an organization to prosperity without seeking profit... there might be meaning in such a challenge. I shall call it... The Despair Foundation!" She turns toward Cure Dream with an eerie smile, then explains: "It's a pun on my name."
The girl flinches. "Maybe just use your name without the pun?"
"The Nozomi Foundation?"
Cure Dream's eyes widen. "Your name is Nozomi? My name is Nozomi, too!"
This elicits an uncharacteristic giggle. "I believe this sort of thing is called serendipity. I'll accept your challenge, Nozomi Two."
"No!" A slender man with grotesquely large eyes walks in holding a gun. "I have not worked for all this time to have my profits squandered on philanthropy!"
Desperaia raises an eyebrow. "Your profits, Kawarino?"
"Yes, my profits! You are to jump from this window, and when your will is found later, all of your assets are to be left to me! It is for that purpose alone that I have worked under you all this time! But-" He pauses, then points the gun at Cure Dream. "...it seems that it will instead be a murder-suicide."
Her eyes widen. There is no time for her to say anything.
Kawarino pulls the trigger.
Nothing happens.
He pulls on the trigger again and again to no effect. Visible to his would-be victims, two men enter the room behind him. One is an old man wearing an old-fashioned suit and a top hat. The other is a police officer. Before he even understands what has happened, Kawarino is wrestled to the floor and handcuffed.
"Bloody? But I killed you!"
"I am sorry to say that inflating your accomplishments at this point is an exercise in futility. In fact, I have been alive this whole time and have even taken the opportunity to remove the firing pin from that pistol."
"I killed you! I left you bleeding on the floor!"
"The latter is correct, yes. As for the former... well, when you get to be my age, you will have seen that everyone is bad at something. It is neither a failing nor a sin, but simply a fact of life. I am bad at dying. Ms. Desperaia is bad at puns. I have heard it said that Cure Dream over there is disastrously bad at many, many things. As for you... You are bad at murder. You would be well-advised to give up on the practice."