Ring Page #4

YOSHINO:

The bodies of those found were

Tsuji Youko, age 17, a student of

the Seikei School for Women, and

Nomi Takehiko, age 19, preparatory

school student. Both their doors

were securely locked.

Onscreen, the policeman has finally picked the lock. The door opens,

and a girl�s BODY half�falls out, head facing upwards. Yoshino flicks

a BUTTON on the control panel, scans the footage frame by frame. He

stops when he gets a good close-up of the victim.

Her face is twisted into an insane rictus of fear, mouth open, eyes

wide and glassy. Yoshino and Asakawa lean back in their seats.

YOSHINO:

This is the first time I�ve -ever-

seen something like this.

ASAKAWA:

Cause of death?

YOSHINO:

Couldn�t say, aside from sudden

heart failure.

ASAKAWA:

Drugs?

YOSHINO:

The autopsy came up negative.

Yoshino takes the video off pause. Onscreen, a policeman has caught

the young girl�s body from completely falling out, and is pushing it

back into the car. As the body moves into an upright position, we

can see that the girl�s PANTIES are mid-way around her left thigh.

YOSHINO:

These two, about to go at it,

suddenly up and die for no

apparent reason.

He sighs.

YOSHINO (cont�d)

Do -you- get it?

EXT. OUISHI HOUSEHOLD - DAY

Asakawa�s CAR is already halted before a modest-sized, two-story HOUSE

with a small covered parkway for a garage. She gets out of her car,

closes the door. She stares at the house, unmoving.

INT. OUISHI HOUSEHOLD � KITCHEN - DAY

Asakawa stands before her SISTER RYOMI, who is seated at the kitchen

TABLE. Ryomi is staring blankly away, making no sign of acknowledging

her sister. The silence continues unabated, and Asakawa, pensive,

wanders idly into the adjoining dining room. She takes a long look at

the television, the same television that had puzzled Tomoko by suddenly

switching itself on, sitting darkly in one corner. Her reflection in

the screen looks stretched, distorted.

RYOMI(O.S.)

They tell me that Yoichi came to

the funeral, too.

Asakawa steps back into the kitchen. She addresses her sister, who

continues to stare out at nothing.

ASAKAWA:

Mmm-hmm.

RYOMI:

They used to play a lot together, didn�t they? Upstairs.

ASAKAWA:

Yeah...

Ryomi lapses back into a silence. Asakawa waits for her to say more,

but when it is clear that nothing else is forthcoming, she quietly gives

up and exits the kitchen.

INT. OUISHI HOUSEHOLD � STAIRCASE - DAY

Asakawa climbs the steps to the second floor. She makes her way down

the hall.

INT. OUISHI HOUSEHOLD - TOMOKO�S ROOM - DAY

As if intruding, Asakawa walks slowly, cautiously into Tomoko�s room.

The window to the room is open, and a single piece of folded white PAPER

on Tomoko�s desk flutters in the breeze. Asakawa walks towards it, picks

it up. It is a RECEIPT from a photo shop. The developed photos have yet

to be claimed.

Asakawa senses something, spins to look over her shoulder. Her sister

has crept quietly up the stairs and down the hall, and stands now in the

doorway to Tomoko�s room. She appears not to notice what Asakawa has in

her hands, as her gaze has already shifted to the sliding closet door.

She regards it almost druggedly.

RYOMI:

(haltingly)

This... this is where Tomoko died.

FLASHBACK:

RYOMI (O.S.)

Tomoko!

Ryomi�s hands fling aside the CLOSET DOOR. Within, she finds the pale

blue CARCASS of her daughter, curled up into an unnatural fetal position.

Tomoko�s mouth yawns gaping, her eyes glassy and rolled up into the back

of her head. Her hands are caught in her hair, as if trying to pull it

out by the roots. It is a horrific scene, one that says Tomoko died as

if from some unspeakable fear.

PRESENT:

Ryomi sinks to her knees, hitting the wooden floor hard. She puts her

face into her hands and begins sobbing loudly. Asakawa says nothing.

EXT. CAMERA SHOP � DAY

Asakawa leaves the camera shop clutching Tomoko�s unclaimed PHOTOS. She

walks out onto the sidewalk and begins flipping through them. We see

Tomoko standing arm-in-arm with Iwata, her secret boyfriend. Tomoko and

her friends eating lunch. The camera had its date-and-time function

enabled, and the photos are marked

97 8 29.

The next shot is of Tomoko, Iwata, and another young couple posing in

front of a SIGN for a bed and breakfast. The sign reads:

IZU PACIFIC LAND

ASAKAWA:

Izu...

Asakawa continues looking through the photos, various shots of the

four friends clowning around in their room. Suddenly she comes to a

shot taken the next day, at check out. The friends are lined up, arms

linked-- and all four of their faces are blurred, distorted as if

someone had taken an eraser to them and tried to rub them out of

existence.

INT. ASAKAWA�S APARTMENT � KITCHEN - DAY

Asakawa wears an APRON, and is frying something up on the STOVE. Yoichi

stands watching.

ASAKAWA:

Look, I�m probably going to be late

coming home tonight, so just stick

your dinner in the microwave when

you�re ready to eat, OK?

YOICHI:

�K... Mom?

ASAKAWA:

Hmm?

YOICHI:

Tomo-chan watched some cursed video!

Asakawa leaves the food on the stove, runs over to Yoichi and grabs him

by the shoulders. She shakes him roughly.

ASAKAWA:

What did you say? You are not to

speak of this at school, do you

hear me?

YOICHI:

(utterly unfazed)

I won�t. I�m going to school now.

Yoichi walks off. Asakawa goes back to the stove, but stops after only

a few stirs, staring off and thinking.

Caption-- �September 13th. Monday.�

EXT. ROAD � DAY

Asakawa drives her car speedily along a narrow country road, LEAVES

blowing up in her wake.

INT. ASAKAWA�S CAR - DAY

Asakawa mutters to herself, deep in thought.

ASAKAWA:

There�s no way...

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD � DAY

Asakawa�s car drives past a sign reading:

IZU PACIFIC LAND

EXT. IZU PACIFIC LAND - DRIVEWAY � DAY

Asakawa has left her car and is walking around the driveway of what is

less a bed and breakfast and more like a series of cabin-style rental

COTTAGES.

She wanders about for a while, trying to get her bearings. She pauses

now in front of a particular cottage and reaches into her PURSE. She

withdraws the PICTURE from the photomat, the one that showed Tomoko and

her friends with their faces all blurred. The four are posing in front

of their cottage, marked in the photograph as �B4.� Asakawa lowers the

photo to regard the cottage before her.

B4

She walks to the door, turns the handle experimentally. It�s open.

Asakawa walks in.

INT. PACIFIC LAND - COTTAGE B4 � DAY

Asakawa lets her eyes wander around the cottage. It looks very modern,

all wood paneling and spacious comfort.

Her eyes rest on the TV/VCR setup at the front of the room. Crouching

before the VCR now, she presses the eject button. Nothing happens.

She fingers the inside of the deck, finds it empty, then reaches behind

to the rear of the VCR, searching. Again, there is nothing. Asakawa

presses the power button on the television, picks up the REMOTE, and

takes a seat on the SOFA. She runs through a few channels but they�re

all talk shows, no clues whatsoever. She flicks the TV off and leans

back in the sofa, sighing.

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