Melody of Despair

Melody of Despair (絶望の旋律, Zetsubou no Senritsu) is the second episode of Charlotte, first broadcast on July 11, 2015.

Synopsis
Yuu unwillingly acts together with the student council and runs amok to secure individuals with special abilities. This brings to light why Tomori is determined to fulfill student council duties in face of danger - a past involving a cruel destiny that awaited an ability wielder.

Summary
Yuu Otosaka begins his first day in Hoshinoumi Academy with a healthy dose of Ayumi's omelette rice and a welcome from the school's student council president, Nao Tomori. Nao explains about the nature of the student body, which consists of people with even the smallest possibility of developing a special ability, and tells Yuu that the school acts a haven to them, preventing anyone from being turned into guinea pigs by groups of interest outside the school's influence. Nao then points out that the duties of the school's student council involves securing those who manifest special abilities and either to protect them or coerce them into not using their powers—such duties are given monetary compensation in return. Yuu is later admitted into Class 1-B, joining Nao and Jojiro's class, much to his chagrin. At lunchtime, as Yuu realizes that he is going to eat the same thing as the night before, Jōjirō takes him to the school cafeteria. The cafeteria is packed with students when they arrived, so Jōjirō decides to use his ability to get a quick purchase of sandwiches for the two of them, at the expense of getting himself injured again, although he assures Yuu that the armor he wears has protected him from most of the damage.

After returning to their classroom, Yuu notices that Nao seems isolated from the rest of the class. Jōjirō explains to Yuu that Nao has developed a negative image among her fellow female students due to her using her ability to enact violence, although he also clarifies that Nao was different during middle school. Suddenly, Nao summons Yu and Jōjirō to the student council room, where a comrade of theirs, a student that is constantly dripping wet, momentarily shows the location of their next target: a thoughtography user from Nanba High School. Nao, Yu and Jōjirō spend much of the day in Nanba High School after receiving the report, asking about someone who is involved in photographs. Nao eventually gets a lead and asks Jōjirō to subdue a student who has photos of a schoolmate whose clothes are made transparent through some unusual means. The lead takes them to Udō from Class 2-E, who Nao later discovers is the captain of the school's archery team. After taking additional evidence from his locker, Nao confronts Udō with some intervention from Yu and Jōjirō in the sidelines. Udō initially acts innocent, but later admits that he uses the money he earns from creating indecent photos of his schoolmates to help his sick parents. Nao soon warns Udō that his activities will bring danger to him and she urges him to stop using his abilities, and Udō hesitantly complies.

Although their job for the day is done, Yuu is still puzzled about the fate of Nao's older brother, which she said was her motivation for doing her duties as student council president. Seeing that there is no point in hiding the truth, Nao takes Yuu to where the hospital where her older brother currently resides. After a hearty beef tongue bento for herself, and afterwards also accruing Yuu's sandwiches, Nao begins to tell the story of her past.

Nao's brother was the first person to gain a special ability, and it happened around the time that she passed in a admission test to a middle school that would make it easy for her to gains access to a top national university. Her older brother, an aspiring musician, on the other hand, was pushing to get a debut on a major record label through his music. However just as he was about to get his debut, their mother forced the two to abandon their current plans in favor of studying in a boarding school, claiming that it would be advantageous financially. Nao's brother strongly opposed her mother's advice, but they eventually followed her wishes after seeing her bow on her knees and plead for the first time.

Nao was able to live a smooth school life in the boarding school, aside from the occasional "physical exam" imposed to her. Meanwhile, she was unable to see her brother again. She later learns that her brother had the ability to vibrate the air at will, and his power was discovered, and later experimented upon by scientists, hoping to use the ability to develop communication-jamming technology. A year after, Nao was able to see her brother again, but he was longer the brother she knew. Nao eventually learned that her "friends" at school were all fake and thus she escaped from her school. Yuu and Nao eventually arrived at the sanatorium where her older brother is being taken care of. In his current state, Nao's older brother tries to "play the guitar" and "make music", although no longer in the same way as in the past. Nao then tells Yuu that a certain person has transferred his brother to a free of charge sanatorium and also admitted her to Hoshinoumi Academy. She remains indebted to that person, especially after scientists refuse to look for ways to improve the condition of her brother and other people who suffered the similar fate.

Learning of the story of Nao and her brother has brought fear in Yuu's heart. He is worried that Ayumi would develop an ability as heredity dictates and she would share the same fate as Nao when she was in middle school. Meanwhile, after serving Yuu with a dish that has a generous helping of the family's secret pizza sauce, Ayumi goes to check the stars that night, hoping that she would see a long-orbit comet soon.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Yū Otosaka
 * Ayumi Otosaka
 * Nao Tomori
 * Jōjirō Takajō
 * Takehito Kumagami
 * Udō
 * Kazuki Tomori

Locations
By order of appearance:
 * Hoshinoumi Academy

Cultural References

 * Nao's older brother has a poster from the anime Angel Beats in his bedroom.
 * Note that this doesn't mean they both necessarily inherit the same universe, but that it's just a cameo.



Quotes



 * すごくないでっすか！？ - Nao has she happily shows off just how amazing this Beef Tongue bento is
 * This has become a phrase that many of the Japanese have come to love.

Episodio 2 Mélodie du désespoir