An Impossibility

KOTORI: Would I have gone to war, if I had been given a chance? DeeDee, do you think I would have? Or, do you think that I could have?

DEEDEE: (Says nothing.)

KOTORI: Oh yes, absolutely.

DEEDEE: (Suddenly rising to her feet) To prove yourself to those who said you were too weak. To prove yourself to yourself.

(They walk toward a small stream and gaze at the water.)

DEEDEE: Then, would you have killed? That's what they do in wars, apparently.

KOTORI: Yes, but no, I wouldn't have killed. I would have killed myself or been killed by my fellow men and women before I could kill anyone else. That much, I know.

DEEDEE: And killing is only a small part of wars, supposedly.

KOTORI: But I would still go to war. That's how much I need to see it, with my own eyes. I cannot trust what I see and hear in books, through books. I need to taste the dirt in my own mouth.

DEEDEE: You will, you certainly will, if you go to war. Would you really go to war?

KOTORI: Yes, I would.

DEEDEE: But then, you couldn't. How could you, when you would kill yourself first, before killing anyone else? You would be long gone then, before you had spent any significant amount of time in the war.

KOTORI: Yes, that's fine. That's how I envision it.

DEEDEE: No, no, but it's impossible. It's a logical impossibility. It doesn't hold.

KOTORI: Right, that's perfectly right. But I'm still going to make it hold together.

DEEDEE: Okay, but no one will know. No one will understand.

KOTORI: Sure, that would be an understatement, but sure, that's how I envision it.

DEEDEE: (To the audience) Kotori will fly away.

(Kotori flies away, leaving DeeDee by the stream.)