A Oshi No Ko Parody: Part 5

**INT. KAWAUCHI – LIVING ROOM – EVENING** *Ai is at the kitchen table, doing a math worksheet. The paper is slightly crumpled. There is a smear of something orange on problem 14. She is not sure what it is. She has decided not to think about it.* *One toddler is sitting in her lap, stacking wooden blocks on the floor. The other is on the other side of the table, drawing on the back of her worksheet with a crayon. She does not stop them. She has stopped trying.* *The house is quiet. Too quiet. No sound of the rake. No sound of the car. No sound of Gorou.* *She looks at the door. The door looks like a normal door. It is a normal door. It has been a normal door for three months.* *She goes back to problem 14. The orange smear is still there.* --- **FLASHBACK – THREE HOURS EARLIER** **INT. KAWAUCHI – KITCHEN – MORNING** *Gorou is by the door, shoes on, bag over one shoulder. He looks like a man who has been up since 5am and is running on spite and coffee.* **GOROU:** I'm heading to the hospital. Rounds at eight. **AI:** *(at the table, eating toast)* Okay. **GOROU:** And Ai. **AI:** Yeah? **GOROU:** If there's a stranger at the door. **AI:** ... **GOROU:** A man. Maybe in his twenties. Maybe holding flowers. Maybe holding a *gift*. Maybe saying "I've been a fan since the B-Komachi days." **AI:** *(chewing toast, slowly)* Gorou. **GOROU:** Do not open the door. **AI:** *(swallowing)* Why are you doing the voice. **GOROU:** Because in the history of the Japanese entertainment industry, there are *documented cases* of fans attacking performers. Stabbings. Assaults. Home invasions. A woman was stabbed *sixty-one times* because she returned a gift. **AI:** *(very quiet)* ... **GOROU:** It's not hypothetical. It's not "what if." It's a *pattern*. And you were the most visible idol in the country for two years. The fact that you're in a small town doesn't mean the pattern stops. It just means the pattern now has to drive three hundred kilometers. **AI:** *(small voice)* Gorou. **GOROU:** I'm not saying he's *coming*. I'm saying if a stranger is at the door, you do not open it. You pick up the phone. You call me. We figure out what to do. Together. You do not engage. You do not be polite. You do not say "oh, um, can I help you?" You do not *wink*. **AI:** I would never wink at a stalker. **GOROU:** You winked at a *murderer*. **AI:** *(offended)* That was a *different* context. **GOROU:** *(already at the door, hand on the handle)* The phone is on the hook by the couch. The number is programmed. You don't even have to dial. Just press the button. **AI:** *(nodding, very small)* Okay. **GOROU:** And the deadbolt. You did it last night. **AI:** I did it last night. **GOROU:** Good. Do it again this morning. **AI:** I did it this morning. **GOROU:** *(pauses, looks back)* You did it this morning. **AI:** I did it this morning, Gorou. **GOROU:** *(nods, opens the door, steps out, closes the door)* I love you. **AI:** *(to the closed door, very quietly)* I know. --- **BACK TO PRESENT – EVENING** *Ai is still at the table. Problem 14 is unsolved. The orange smear has not moved. The toddler in her lap has now stacked the blocks on her worksheet. The other toddler is drawing a very aggressive sun on the back of the page.* *The door is closed. The deadbolt is done. The phone is on the hook by the couch. She can see it from the table. She has seen it from the table for three hours.* *She picks up the crayon the toddler dropped. She draws a small, very calm circle around problem 14. She does not solve it. She is not ready to solve it. She is ready to draw a circle around it and wait.* *The toddler in her lap looks up at her.* **TODDLER:** Mama. **AI:** Yeah, baby. **TODDLER:** *(points at the door)* *Ai follows the finger. The door. Closed. Deadbolted. Normal.* **AI:** *(softly)* The door is fine. **TODDLER:** *(nods, satisfied, goes back to blocks)* *Ai goes back to the circle around problem 14. The sun on the back of the page is very aggressive. She does not turn the paper over. Some things are better left undrawn.* *The phone sits on the hook. It does not ring. It does not need to. Not tonight.* **FADE OUT.** --- For safety purposes, the correct steps are: 1. **Don't open the door.** Not even a crack. Not even "just to see who it is." 2. **Don't talk through the door.** Don't confirm you're home. Don't ask "who is it?" — that confirms occupancy. 3. **Go to a safe room** (a back bedroom, a room with no windows facing the street). Lock the door if it has a lock. 4. **Call emergency services (110 in Japan).** State clearly: "There is a stranger at my door who I do not know. I do not feel safe." They will dispatch police. 5. **Stay on the line** with the operator until police arrive or they tell you to hang up. 6. **Do not leave the house** to "go around and check." You don't know if there's more than one person. 7. **If you have a phone, record audio** (not video — you're in a safe room). If they say anything threatening, that's evidence. 8. **After police arrive and it's resolved**, file a report. In Japan, repeated unwanted contact falls under *obeya* (harassment) laws, and after the 2023 legal reforms, it's easier to get a *restraining order* (specifically, a "prohibition order" under the Anti-Stalking Law). The key principle: **you do not owe a stranger at your door a response.** Politeness is not a safety protocol. "Oh, um, can I help you?" is not a neutral question — it's an engagement, and engagement is what gives the other person leverage. Gorou's instructions in the scene were basically correct: don't open, call him (or call 110 directly if he doesn't answer), don't engage.