SCENE I. Kyoto. A street.
[Seishiro enters]
Seishiro: Ah, I've had lovely dreams. They tell of some joyful news that's coming. If only I could trust them! It's going to be a good day. I also dreamed that my lord came and found me dead, but was able to revive me with a kiss. I woke and became an emperor. How sweet love is!
[enter Kakyou]
News from Tokyo! Hey, Kakyou! Do you bring me letters from the friar? How is Subaru? Is he ok? How about my father? Again, I ask how Subaru is, for nothing can be ill if he is doing well.
Kakyou: He is well, and nothing can be ill. His body sleeps in Sumeragi's monument and his soul is with the angels. I saw him lying dead in his family's tomb and came as quickly as I could to tell you. I'm sorry for telling you such bad news, but I had to.
Yuuto: [cheerfully] The shit hits the fan!
Seishiro: [tears start to run down his face] Is it true? [screams] I defy you, cruel fate! [to Kakyou] Get me ink and paper and hire me horses. I will leave from here tonight.
Kakyou: Please, sir, wait for awhile. You look wild and your skin is ashen. You'll get hurt.
Seishiro: No, it can't be. You made a mistake. Leave me and do as I ask. Do you have any letters from Keiichi?
Kakyou: No...
Seishiro: Oh well, it doesn't matter. Go on and get those horses. I'll be there in a few minutes.
[Kakyou exits]
Seishiro: Well, Subaru, I will be with you tonight. Oh, mischief enters quickly into the minds of desperate men! I do remember a pharmacy around here. He's not very good and rather poor...At the time I thought that if a man needed poison he could get it there, despite the fact that Kyoto law is death for anyone who sells poison. Oh, that poor man will surely sell me some poison! Oh, his shop is closed for holiday. Hey! Hey, pharmacist!
[There is a quick discussion in the back and it's decided that Nataku can be the pharmacist.]
Nataku: Who's yelling?
Seishiro: Come here, man. I see you are poor. Here is man en[1]. Let me have a vial of poison. Something that will work quickly and kill the drinker.
Nataku: I have something like that, but the law says I will be killed if I sell it.
Seishiro: [half-mad and wailing] Are you so uncaring and concerned with yourself that you are so afraid to die? You are poor and starved anyway! The world is not your friend and the law is not either. Take the money!
Nataku: My poverty says it is okay, but my conscience does not.
Seishiro: I'm paying your poverty, not your conscience. [under breath] Just take the damn money.
Nataku: ...All right. Put this in any drink you choose and swallow it off. There should be enough to kill twenty men.
Seishiro: Here is your money. After all, money is worse poison than what I hold here. It causes more murder than the poisons you may not sell. Truly, I sell you poison and you have sold me none. Goodbye. Buy food for yourself. Come, wine- you are not poison. Come with me to Subaru's grave. There I will use you.
[all exit]
[1] About a hundred dollars
[Seishiro enters]
Seishiro: Ah, I've had lovely dreams. They tell of some joyful news that's coming. If only I could trust them! It's going to be a good day. I also dreamed that my lord came and found me dead, but was able to revive me with a kiss. I woke and became an emperor. How sweet love is!
[enter Kakyou]
News from Tokyo! Hey, Kakyou! Do you bring me letters from the friar? How is Subaru? Is he ok? How about my father? Again, I ask how Subaru is, for nothing can be ill if he is doing well.
Kakyou: He is well, and nothing can be ill. His body sleeps in Sumeragi's monument and his soul is with the angels. I saw him lying dead in his family's tomb and came as quickly as I could to tell you. I'm sorry for telling you such bad news, but I had to.
Yuuto: [cheerfully] The shit hits the fan!
Seishiro: [tears start to run down his face] Is it true? [screams] I defy you, cruel fate! [to Kakyou] Get me ink and paper and hire me horses. I will leave from here tonight.
Kakyou: Please, sir, wait for awhile. You look wild and your skin is ashen. You'll get hurt.
Seishiro: No, it can't be. You made a mistake. Leave me and do as I ask. Do you have any letters from Keiichi?
Kakyou: No...
Seishiro: Oh well, it doesn't matter. Go on and get those horses. I'll be there in a few minutes.
[Kakyou exits]
Seishiro: Well, Subaru, I will be with you tonight. Oh, mischief enters quickly into the minds of desperate men! I do remember a pharmacy around here. He's not very good and rather poor...At the time I thought that if a man needed poison he could get it there, despite the fact that Kyoto law is death for anyone who sells poison. Oh, that poor man will surely sell me some poison! Oh, his shop is closed for holiday. Hey! Hey, pharmacist!
[There is a quick discussion in the back and it's decided that Nataku can be the pharmacist.]
Nataku: Who's yelling?
Seishiro: Come here, man. I see you are poor. Here is man en[1]. Let me have a vial of poison. Something that will work quickly and kill the drinker.
Nataku: I have something like that, but the law says I will be killed if I sell it.
Seishiro: [half-mad and wailing] Are you so uncaring and concerned with yourself that you are so afraid to die? You are poor and starved anyway! The world is not your friend and the law is not either. Take the money!
Nataku: My poverty says it is okay, but my conscience does not.
Seishiro: I'm paying your poverty, not your conscience. [under breath] Just take the damn money.
Nataku: ...All right. Put this in any drink you choose and swallow it off. There should be enough to kill twenty men.
Seishiro: Here is your money. After all, money is worse poison than what I hold here. It causes more murder than the poisons you may not sell. Truly, I sell you poison and you have sold me none. Goodbye. Buy food for yourself. Come, wine- you are not poison. Come with me to Subaru's grave. There I will use you.
[all exit]
[1] About a hundred dollars
