DUO – Episode 1: “The Fall of Yuji”

Theme: Silence before the storm

Tone: Emotional, poetic, slow-burning

Visual Style: Bleak beauty, strong contrasts, focused on subtle human gestures

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[OPENING SCENE — CREDITS]

Music: Somber piano, interwoven with faint rainfall and distant train horns.

Montage:

• Rain falls softly on a luxury car.

• A white-gloved chauffeur opens a door.

• A boy in a school uniform stares through a foggy window.

• Flames reflected in shattered glass.

• A hand reaches for another—but misses.

Title fades in:

DUO — Episode 1: “The Fall of Yuji”

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Scene 1: Golden Silence

Location: Hatayo Estate – Sunset

Music: Warm piano, laced with sadness

Interior, dining room bathed in golden light. Polished marble. Ornate paintings. The clink of silverware.

Hatayo Yuji (13) sits across from his parents. His eyes are distant.

Yuji’s Father (softly):

“One day, this will all be yours.”

Yuji (quietly):

“…Why does that feel like a warning?”

His mother laughs gently.

Yuji’s Mother:

“You’re just like your father. Always thinking two steps ahead.”

She tousles his hair. Yuji forces a smile.

Cut to: The family walking to the car. His parents leave for a trip. Yuji stands at the front gate, shadows long behind him.

Yuji (V.O.):

“I didn’t know it was the last time.”

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Scene 2: A Sky with No Sound

Location: Mountain highway – Night

Music: Silence, then high-tension string pulse

A black car glides through moonlight. A red dot flickers in the dark.

Sniper’s POV:

Scope. Breath held. A finger twitches.

BLAM.

Tire bursts. Screeching. Metal tears. The car flips. Silence. Then—

Flames.

Ash falls like snow.

Narrator (V.O.):

“Empires don’t always fall with noise. Sometimes… they just stop existing.”

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Scene 3: Ashes

Location: Tokyo Alleyways – Weeks Later

Music: Hollow ambiance, broken music box tones

Yuji (15) in rags, curled in the corner of a backstreet. His fingers tremble as he reaches for a coin in a vending machine slot.

Flashbacks intercut:

• Men in suits signing away his family’s company.

• Security throwing him into the street.

• His house, emptied room by room.

Yuji (V.O.):

“I was taught to lead. But no one taught me how to disappear.”

A cat passes. Rain begins again.

He does not move.

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Scene 4: Another Kind of Fall

Location: Kusabimaru’s Home – Flashback

Music: Chaotic percussion

Slamming doors. Shouting. A boy with spiky black hair lights a cigarette in his room while police argue with his parents downstairs.

Kusabimaru’s Father (yelling):

“We gave you everything!”

Kusabimaru (14, defiant):

“Then maybe you gave me too much.”

Cut to: Kusabimaru being dropped off at Tokyo Station with a duffel bag.

His parents don’t look back.

He doesn’t either.

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Scene 5: Collision Course

Location: Tokyo Station – Present

Music: Lo-fi beats with ambient city noise

Yuji begs by a vending machine, hollow-eyed. Kusabimaru walks past, hoodie up, smoke in his mouth.

They lock eyes. Neither speaks at first.

Kusabimaru (grinning faintly):

“You look like a ghost someone forgot to bury.”

Yuji (softly):

“You look like someone who’s next.”

A long pause. Kusabimaru smirks. Sits nearby.

Kusabimaru:

“This city’s full of nobodies. But I’m gonna become someone.”

Yuji:

“Me too.”

They sit in silence, trains rumbling overhead.

Narrator (V.O.):

“They were strangers. But not alone.”

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Scene 6: Cold Pact

Location: Underpass near station – Midnight

Music: Quiet wind, dripping water

Yuji shares a stale bread roll with Kusabimaru. No words. Just nods.

Cut to montage:

• Yuji sketching a broken building in his notebook.

• Kusabimaru pickpocketing a man’s wallet and tossing Yuji a coin.

• The two laughing—genuinely—over a spilled cup of noodles.

They’re still dirty. Still hungry. But something new is growing.

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Scene 7: Promise in the Dark

Location: Rooftop Overlook – Dawn

Music: Swelling strings

The Tokyo skyline glows as the sun rises. Yuji and Kusabimaru look out, wind in their hair.

Kusabimaru (quiet):

“What do we do now?”

Yuji:

“…We rebuild. From zero.”

Kusabimaru (smirks):

“From less than zero.”

They bump fists. A small gesture—but it echoes loudly.

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[ENDING SEQUENCE]

Visual:

• The train station fills with people.

• Yuji and Kusabimaru walk forward, their shadows stretching toward the city.

• The sun behind them.

Narrator (V.O.):

“Two broken boys. One city. One promise.

This is the beginning… of DUO.”

[End credits — haunting acoustic theme, watercolor art of Tokyo drifting by.]