Whee In Hellooooo, everybody. This is Song Whee In reporting live on the newest, juiciest, and wildest happenings from DTV Headquarters and it looks like we’re getting heavy rain? Rain for two weeks, really—it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. I kinda can’t believe it? Like, eighty inches, and we’re thinking—

Whee In’s eyes cheekily dart to the side.

            —or, Saraboum is thinking, because I’ve got nothing else going on in here [she taps her temple with her index finger] but we’re thinking this might be the biggest rainstorm we’ve seen here in a steady two centuries. Gausseloff can attest to that.

Whee In devilishly smiles at a disapproving Gausseloff.

Soreine This seems like something serious.

Metraisse (sighing) Yes.

Soreine It’s not about the rainstorm, is it? They’re all—

Metraisse It’s not about the rainstorm.

Pause.

You are not who you say you are, Soreine.

Soreine Huh?

Metraisse This is something you did five years ago.

Soreine Five years ago!

Metraisse You’ve been hiding something from me all this time.

Soreine From five years ago?

Metraisse Look at me.

Soreine complies, looking directly into Metraisse’s eyes.

            Geltis.

Soreine Geltis.

Metraisse Does that name ring a bell?

Soreine Oh, boy.

Metraisse She told me everything.

Soreine You’re just gonna listen to Geltis like that?

Metraisse I can’t believe you.

Soreine I didn’t do it! You really think Geltis knew what was going on? She’d have said anything to point fingers at somebody. No one ever listened to my side of the story—no one ever listened!

Metraisse How do I believe that? The generator. The wires. The will. Why do you refuse to take responsibility? It wasn’t her. She was in the hospital. Dying.

Soreine No! There has to be something wrong there—there has to be! There’s no way it just happened like that. They knew I didn’t do it. Someone knew—

Metraisse Someone knew?? They only knew it wasn’t enough to tell anything. They’re so skiddy around real crimes nowadays—it’s ridiculous.

Soreine It’s just how it is now. I didn’t do anyth—

Metraisse If you weren’t guilty, why didn’t you tell me before?

Soreine Because I knew you would get just like this, and none of it would’ve mattered. I know there was something terrible at work that day and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought maybe if we were close enou—

Metraisse Close enough? Close enough? To ease me up to your dreadful testimony? I won’t have it—no—I absolutely won’t have it. I’ve been harboring a criminal. I’ve been harboring a criminal in my own house.

Soreine Metrai—

Metraisse Ugh! Get out of my sight! Why didn’t I know sooner? [she gets up to leave] I should have known. I should have known all this time.

A helpless Soreine is left sobbing alone in the restaurant: confused, heartbroken, and at a loss for words. A criminal? His to-be-fianceé had just learned something that shattered their relationship in a single, climactic moment. But what had she learned? Why was she so convinced? Was Soreine guilty? Stay tuned as I hand it over to our very special Song Whee In.

Whee In Geez, Gausseloff. I didn’t see that one coming—but let’s show our viewers what’s coming up next! A third-class launderette caught in a distribution scandal? Six people infected by the flu in the Eastern region? Three crimes being reopened for investigation? How incidentuous! We’ll be right back after a really quick word from our sponsors.

Man on stool #1 The gal is really something, huh?

Man on stool #2 No kidding. She’s insane.

Barista (from aside) Is this your order?

Man on stool #1 (aside) For Soreine? Yes, that should be me.

Man on stool #2 It all feels too genuine, you know?

Soreine Genuine, huh?

Man on stool Yeah. Like something inside is begging its way out.

Soreine Hm. I see that.

Man on stool You ever get the feeling something incredibly wrong is about to happen?

Soreine Something wrong… I can’t shake that off either.

He gets up and walks toward the door.

Man on stool Leaving already?

Soreine I remembered something. Later.

Man on stool You don’t wanna talk about it?

Soreine exits.

Man on stool Ah. Poor soul.

***

Girl #1 But aren’t you confused?

Girl #2 I’ll find the answers.

Girl #1 We’ve tried. Have we ever gotten anywhere?

Girl #2 We? No. But you’ve tried, and you’ve definitely gotten somewhere.

Pause.

Girl #1 What do I know?

Girl #2 It’s something to do with Faverne’s suicide. At some point, Pullopy definitely remembered three people. Faverne, herself, and someone else.

Girl #1 Pullopy clearly misremembered. She says there were two people.

Girl #2 Shireia, something shady is going on and you being caught right in the middle of it can’t be a coincidence. At some point in time, Pullopy definitely remembered three people in that room, even though that’s long gone. It doesn’t make sense that someone could imagine another completely different person in the room and then forget them immediately.

Shireia Then let’s assume there was a third person. Why are you so convinced it’s me?

Girl #2 I think the third person did exist, they would have to be the Note Taker.

Shireia Wow! Even after Nebirel presented all that about Laverne? Please go on… I wanna be in on this, too.

Girl #2 Shireia, don’t you think it’s weird that everything we know about the Note Taker has shown only where we’d be looking for Laverne?

Shireia Weird? I’d think that only shows Laverne and the Note Taker are more likely to be the same person.

Girl #2 But outside of where the Laverne investigation (quote-unquote motion) takes place? The Note Taker doesn’t exist.

Shireia So what?

Girl #2 It’s abnormal, that’s what. It’s not that they just happen to overlap, but that all evidence of a Note Taker’s existence follows Laverne’s suicide. It’s too perfect to not be a set-up… like somebody’s waiting for someone to make a connection between Laverne and the Note Taker.

Shireia That’s a big, big reach, Whee In. Because all the evidence points toward a certain conclusion, the conclusion must be fabricated?

Whee In But wait! There’s more. Let’s consider the circumstances next, shall we? It’s hard to believe things are straightforward like that when weird, weird things keep happening. Shireia—the Note Taker makes Laverne look uncomplicated. Someone who you would never imagine being able to conspire with someone else. What the Note Taker tells us about Laverne doesn’t actually tell us anything we couldn’t figure out already about the suicide. And our takeaway from the Note Taker pushes us to be more suspicious of Pullopy, who we can put the blame on all too conveniently.

Looking at it that way, the Note Taker is just trying to bring things off track, and if there were any one person who would be able to do this… it would have be you.

         Shireia sighs.

Shireia Whee In, I really admire that you can entertain possibilities like that, but what would be the motive in tangling up a situation that far? Imagine all the energy that would go into doing such a thing. It needs to be justified.

Whee In Exactly. We don’t have answers to things we definitely should have answers to. What I know tells me that something very uncomfortable is being covered up and I need to know what that is.

Shireia Why? What if it were worth protecting?

Whee In Because I know there’s nothing worth protecting from me.

There’s nothing worth protecting from me.

            It’s none of your business.

I need to know.

            You only need to know why this stays buried.

I have to tell everyone about it.

Stop taking matters into your own hands. Take a hint.

Why won’t you tell me? I’m this close.

Because you won’t be able to get closer.

I’ll do it.

Soreine You couldn’t, Whee In.

Whee In I’m too close for your comfort.

Soreine You’re right. You’ve come closer than I could ever imagine anyone coming.

Whee In Then why?

Soreine Because you’re a loudmouth.

Whee In What?

Soreine And I’m afraid.

Whee In You’re afraid?

Soreine I don’t know what will happen to you. Things keep getting worse, Whee In. I care too much about you to tell you anything.

Whee In How much worse? How much more covering can you endure? We’re all aware.

Soreine But it’s what you’re aware of that matters. It isn’t enough. You can keep fighting all you want, but the truth ran away from you long ago.

Whee In I’m willing to suffer the consequences.

Soreine And I’m not willing to let other people get hurt because of that.

Staring.

Whee In Just you watch, Soreine. I’m going to find out everything about Laverne and Limnia and everyone else.

Soreine Then what?

Whee In I’m going to show everybody who killed them.

Won’t you, Whee In?

         Won’t you?

         Are you listening?

         Whee In!

         Whee In!

Whee In Oh, oops. Of course. Where’s the report?

Whee In lazily grabs a hold of a pile of documents. She squints.

Whee In (in exasperation) Is this really true?

Gausseloff Does it matter? We’re going live in a couple. Get ready.

Whee In Hm.

Pause.

Gausseloff beckons her impatiently: You’re live!

Whee In Ladies and gentlemen, today marks a special day. I’m Song Whee In about to deliver a very special report. Sit tight, because I’m ready to unveil a story no news agency, investigative division, or law enforcer would ever want you to know. This is the truth behind the murders of Evo Geltis, Shireia Hakisiria, and Limnia Sheir.

Palpitations of a Bleeding Heart

starring…

FENNETT and HECKELBRICK

TANTEMUSEA Metraisse

MACKILLOSH Pullopy

SHEIR Limnia

KARPY Nebirel

Faverne

HAKISIRIA Shireia

GELBOUR Soreine

and…

SONG Whee In

Fennett Oh, lordy.

Heckelbrick Oh, bother.

Fennett That’s a tangled mess, isn’t it?

Heckelbrick It’s a mighty tingled mess, yup, yup.

Fennett You gonna just stick to it like that?

Heckelbrick Stick to it like pancake goo?

Fennett Pancake goo, sap in the loo, and marinated poo. Yup, yup.

Heckelbrick They gotta teach ‘em a lesson, y’know?

Fennett Oh, no, absolutely.

Heckelbrick It’s nasty. You give ‘em moth balls, and they eat it.

Fennett But how’s the girl doing?

Heckelbrick Fine? Fine, I guess.

Fennett Why do we gotta talk about SONG Whee In anyway?

Heckelbrick Man.

Pause.

Heckelbrick You see that soaring eagle?

Fennett That’s a fine catch.

Heckelbrick Let’s take that one back to the lodge, yeah?

Fennett We’ll be out here for hours tryin’ to catch that thing.

Heckelbrick Hey, we got time to kill. Get yourself one of them glass minnows and sit right over there.

Fennett Alright, alright. Lemme turn on the radio.

Breaking news. Tragedy in Hulmissary. Local edusecond teacher Evo Geltis dies in freak multi-lightning strike accident. Struck five times before collapsing. Witnesses recall strange weather patterns. One reports that the clouds “came circling in as if to target him.” An investigation has since been deployed to search for possible foul play.

Soreine Weird.

Nebirel Whatcha thinking?

Soreine Just weird.

Nebirel Yeah?

Soreine They’re stirring things up.

Nebirel Yeah.

Soreine It’s not true, but… it still hurts really bad.

Nebirel Poor Geltis.

Soreine Poor… Geltis.

Soreine begins to sob.

            Karps, I’m not sure if I can ever forgive myself for this.

Nebirel Huh?

Soreine [crying] It’s all my fault.

Nebirel Whoa. You okay? What do you mean?

Soreine I think it was me, Karps. I feel like I killed him.

Shireia We’ll have to say it someday, Soreine.

Soreine When the circumstances call for it?

Shireia Of course. But I get this feeling that it’ll happen soon.

Soreine Just a feeling? That’s not so much like you.

Shireia (laughing) It’s unlike me enough to mean something, don’t you think?

Soreine (also laughing) Probably.

Shireia I just wonder which of us will be the one who does it.

Soreine I’d like to think of myself as more of a truth teller.

The bell rings.

Whee In Ahh! I didn’t think there would be someone in here.

A blank-eyed boy looks up at Whee In.

Blank-eyed boy Oh. I’m sorry. I can leave if you want.

Whee In Oh, no, no. It’s not a problem. I’m just really surprised. I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Are you from the lower grade? I don’t know the new faces too well…

Blank-eyed boy Yeah.
            Yeah, the lower grade. I transferred in a few days ago.

Whee In Wow! Lower and a transfer student. No wonder I’ve never seen you before! I’m Whee In from Class 14.

Blank-eyed boy I’m Laverne.

Whee In Nice to meet you, Laverne.

Laverne Yeah.

Whee In What brings you here in the projector room?

Laverne Nothing.

Whee In Nothing at all?

Laverne I’m looking for something.

Whee In Something we can find in the media closet?

Laverne (looking down) Not really.

Laverne begins to play with his hands, tracing letters and numbers on the desk as Whee In watches beside him.

Whee In Am I bothering you?

Laverne Not really.

Whee In Have you made any friends yet?

Laverne Hm. Not really.

Whee In tries to engage with the silent Laverne, but he seems far too engrossed in his activities to even hear the questions coming out of her mouth. Whee In eventually lets him be, eating her lunch as Laverne occupies himself.