Applause Room Preview

 

 

(we see a busy Nagano street, cars, bicycles and trolley cars going this way and that. People in business suits are walking on the sidewalks, momentarily checking their watches…suddenly, we hear the distant roar of moped motors coming from down the street. People look up, and we see four mopeds racing through the street, dodging the vehicles already on the road)

 

Haneko: (On a single-moped) Get out of the way!! (barely misses hitting a girl walking her dog across the street) Ah! (yelling back) Gomen nasai!

 

Jiiro: (yelling from a double-moped) Be careful, Imouto-chan!!!!

 

Misa: (in a double-moped): How are we doing for time, Takuya-kun?

 

Takuya: (with a mini-laptop and weird looking watch, riding in the passenger seat): We have exactly…a minute and forty-eight seconds until the post office closes!!! (turning to her and panicking) We’re not going to make it!!

 

Sumire: (she’s riding in Jiiro’s passenger seat) Will you quit being so pessimistic? Like we could rely on you and your stupid watch!

 

Takuya: Eeeh?!

 

Sumire: (closing eyes and sticking nose in air) Everything will be fine. I can sense it…

 

Takuya: (mumbling): Hmph, just like you can sense a exam in Chemistry…

 

Sumire: (leaning toward his seat): Naniii?!!!!

 

Akio: (In a single-moped driving between the two) Calm down! We won’t get anywhere if you guys keep bickering…

 

Takuya: Well, technically, we’ve traveled 1.5637 miles since I started talking…

 

Akio: (sweatdrops)

 

(the four mopeds speed off, and we see a girl running after them)

 

Matsue: (slowing down) Akio-chan!! Minna!! Matte, yo!! I get tired…easily…(stops running to catch her breath, and looks after them. Frowns, the sweatdrops) It figures they’d leave me behind…

 

(switch back to the speeding mopeds)

 

Haneko: (squinting, she spots the post office, on the right at the next corner) Aah! There it is!

 

Takuya: (yelling from the moped) Fifty-three seconds!!

 

Misa: Let’s GO!!!!

 

(three of the mopeds speed even faster, Jiiro’s is last)

 

Jiiro: Aah! Oi! Slow down! Ooooh, we could get arrested for this…

 

Sumire: (getting up from passenger seat) Just be quiet and drive!! (reaches near his feet, and presses down the accelerator)

 

Jiiro: AAH!!! OI! YAMERO!!!! Quit it!!!!!!

 

(they reach the sidewalk in front of the post office. As they all dismount and turn off their mopeds, Haneko whips out a manuscript)

 

Haneko: Let’s go! (they all stop and stare at the post office. There’s a line that goes all the way out the door!)

 

Jiiro: (wringing his hands) Aaah…aah…

 

Misa: GRRRR….This can’t happen!!

 

Akio: Misa, do you have your make-up kit with you?

 

Misa: (slightly blushing) Eh?

 

(scene goes ahead about ten seconds. Inside the post office, the line doesn’t move, and there’s only one person available to give packages to)

 

Akio: (stumbling in the door past the line, he holds his face, which is covered in red splotches) OOOH…SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!

 

(people in line look back at him, and gasp)

 

Haneko: (enters the post office, walking up to him) Hey mister! Are you OK?

 

Akio: (whirls around) HELP ME!!!! (he grabs her arm, and she then starts, and faints promptly on the floor. Everyone in the post office stands still for a while, and then there’s a mad screaming rush for the door as everyone in the line tries to get away from Akio)

 

Akio: WAAAAIT!!!! I NEED ASSISTAAAAAANCE!!!!!

 

(as the rest of the crowd clears out, Jiiro, Misa, Takuya, and Sumire rush in, with Misa clutching the manuscript the clock on the wall reads five seconds till five o’clock)

 

Misa: (slamming the manuscript in front of the scared postal clerk) We need this sent to Tajiri Studios via Express Mail PRONTO!

 

Postal Clerk: Ha-hai!!

 

(the clock in the office dings five o’clock)

 

Sumire: Ah! We made it! (turning to Takuya) I told you…

 

Takuya (shrugs and blows a mushroom, but he’s smiling)

 

Jiiro: (big sigh) That was REALLY close.

 

Haneko: (pats his back, smiling big) But we made it, didn’t we, Onni-chan?

 

Akio: (wipping off the red splotches on his face) Wonderful, acting, Haneko. And the faint was marvelous.

 

Haneko: Arigatou, Akio-kun! You were great, too!

 

(the sliding door to the post office opens, and Matsue enters)

 

Matsue: Hey, Akio-chan! (runs up to him and puts her hands on her hips) What’s with leaving your girlfriend in mid-conversation and taking off on a moped?!

 

Akio: Matsue! Sumimasen, I didn’t mean to leave you hanging. We had to deliver Sumire’s manuscript before the post office closed.

 

Sumire: We made it, just like I knew we would.

 

Matsue: That’s good. (noticing a red splotch on Akio’s neck) Eh? What’s that, Akio-chan?

 

Akio: Hm? What’s what?

 

Matsue: AAAH!!!! YOU HAVE A HICKEY!!!!! (head gets really huge) WHO WAS IT?! TELL ME!!!

 

Akio: (sweatdrop) A hickey?! Wha…? (Haneko whips out a mirror, and he sees the red splotch on his neck) Oops…missed a spot…

 

Matsue: THERE ARE OTHERS?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

 

Akio: (leaning back farther and farther as Matsue threateningly advances) H-hey!! It’s not a hickey! We had to get the line out of the way…

 

Takuya: (leaving with the others, and smiling) Akio! Good luck!

 

Sumire: Don’t be too harsh on him, Matsue-san!

 

Akio: (reaching for them as they exit) HEY! GUYS!! HELP ME!!!

 

(Matsue looks murderous)

 

Matsue: YOU’RE NOT EVEN GONNA GET RID OF IT?!?!?!

 

Akio: Onegai shimasu…!! It’s not a hickey! (talking fast) I had to act like a leper to get the line of people out of the way so we could deliver the manuscript and I just missed a spot that’s all!!!!!

 

Matsue (instant-shrink head) OK! (smiles, and takes his arm) Let’s go catch up with the others.

 

Akio: (dazed, following her out the door) Onegai…shimasu…

 

(outside, Haneko and the others are getting on their mopeds)

 

Haneko: I’m glad that’s over with!

 

Sumire: Now it’s just a matter of time before my work becomes a reality. (clasps her hands together, eyes twinkling) I saw it all in a dream last night…I got an award for best screen-play…I was rich and famous…

 

(she looks around, and everyone else but Takuya has left, Haneko on her single moped, Jiiro and Misa on their moped, and Akio and Matsue on theirs)

 

Misa: (yelling back) Sorry, Sumire-san!

 

Jiiro: (looking back blushing like mad) Misa needed a ride…

 

(while we switch back to the abandoned Sumire and Jiiro, we hear Misa yell, “HEY! Jiiro-kun, drive straight!!!”)

 

Takuya: I guess we’ll have to take Akio’s moped…(they both look at it; it’s a single-person moped. The look at each other, and blow mushrooms)

 

(we then see Takuya driving the mopped, Sumire sitting behind him, arms around his waist)

 

Takuya and Sumire: I HATE THIS I HATE THIS I HATE THIS I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

(they drive away, leaving a cloud of dust behind)