After dark

Midnight approaches in an almost empty diner. Mari sips her coffee and glances up from a book as a young man - a musician - intrudes on her solitude. Both have missed the last train home. The musician has plans to rehearse with his jazz band all night. Mari is equally unconcerned and content to read, smoke and drink coffee until dawn. They realise they've been acquainted through Eri, Mari's beautiful sister. Meanwhile Eri is at home and sleeps a deep, heavy sleep, pulse and respiration at the lowest level. She has been in this soporfic state for two months. But tonight as the digital clock displays 00:00, a faint electrical crackle is perceptible and a hint of life flickers across the TV screen.