Aftermath
12:58pm
Ami sat on the benches just outside of the emergency section of the hospital rigidly; her nails in her mouth as she bit them nervously. She felt a warm hand pulling her hands away from her mouth, “your bleeding fingertips are not going to help him.”
She looked up at Rei and tried to smile weakly, “I know that heart attacks happen to anyone, to any age group, but… you don’t expect it to happen to anyone around you.”
“Are you sure it’s a heart attack?”
“It seems like it, I mean, all the symptoms…”
“Hmm… if you think so,” Rei replied non-committedly as though neither concurring or conflicting the diagnosis of Ami.
Mewagi Mizuno came out from the large doors and walked towards her daughter and the girls accompanying them, “Ami?”
“Oka-san, is he alright?”
“You did a very good job on your CPR, there’s no brain damage. I think he should recover quite well but I’m not treating him, I think they are treating it as a heart attack, I asked Doctor Mori to take a look at him.”
“So it’s really a heart attack?”
“It would seem so, although, something doesn’t sit right with me. I went and spoke to Doctor Mori about it earlier; he is one of our most experienced cardiologists. He mentioned that there were abnormal palpitations, but it shouldn’t have cause that much trouble. I think that troubles him but there’s nothing that he can do until Kunki wakes. Kunki is in a coma at the moment, but I have heard that his vitals are stable and he is quite safe – there will no long term effects at all if there are no further complications. I wonder if this what Urawa-san was talking about.”
“Umm… Ami-chan, Doctor Mizuno, it’s…” Rei had never been quite so hesitant as she was now, having to put up a suggestion that might overturn the Someieichi-kou’s opinion, “it’s… when I got to the rink I felt something, something… something sinister, it was just a trace of it, but when I walked past Saito-Sato-san, it hit me hard. It was concentrated over him, I don’t know why, I might be wrong, but it might be the Kuriverse again.”
“I see,” Mewagi nodded slowly, “you are thinking maybe they want him back, they’ve already lost one, they can’t afford to lose another one, the Kuriverse might as well take him back rather than retrain another one. That is certainly an avenue that we ought to explore, is there some way for you to positively conclude on that?”
“Only if I can do a reading on him as soon as possible.”
“I’m sure I can…”
She was interrupted by a nurse standing at her elbow, “Doctor Mizuno, OR1 needs you on a paediatric ER case that just came in on a car crash victim, and Doctor Mori wanted me to inform you that Saito-Sato-san has been moved up to ward 12. At the moment, he is still unconscious and has asked your permission and support on his decision to veto any transferrals without either of his parents physically here discharging him so that he can discuss the patient’s medical history.”
“Hmm… I don’t think I will be very popular with his mother, but I will second Doctor Mori’s opinion, in addition of the condition of only after he regains consciousness for a full twelve hours, thank you…” She was cut off when a clattering of heels, a thousand apologies and equipment falling caught her attention. Lifting her head to look at the two blond whirlwinds that were heading their direction, she sighed and rubbed her fingertips to her forehead.
“Minna!” they yelled simultaneously.
Huffing at they arrived Usagi caught hold of Makoto’s arm, “Makoto-chan, they have the best ramen here, I have never… you have to try it, the soup base… umm! I’m sure that if you try it, you’ll be able to figure out how to make it. Doctor Mizuno, you have no idea how lucky you are to be able to get that here, and the price…”
“And that hunk of a guy at the cashier, he is so good looking. He makes Andrew look like Umino, he is so much cuter than Andrew, and he is way cooler,” Minako gushed, “I’m so going to go back and ask for him number.”
“Nurse,
if you don’t mind, could you please bring my daughter, and these two young
ladies,” Mewagi pointed at Rei and Makoto “to ward 12 for me, and then
please escort these two,” she gestured to Usagi and Minako, “to my office,
and make sure they don’t eat it before I come back from surgery.” Turning
on her heel sharply, she only glanced back reproachfully at the two blonds as
she hurried back through the large doors.
12:58pm
“I am very sorry ma’am but I’m afraid that Mrs Saito-Sato is having guests at the house at this very moment, she has dispense specific instructions not to be disturbed for any reason, may I take a message please?” repeated an extremely annoyed but professional sounding secretary.
The nurse sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, how many people did she have to go through to speak to Mrs Saito-Sato? First there was the secretary of Mr Saito-Sato who said that he was currently unreachable whilst on a game of business golf – oh the life of the rich, and then she was referred to the main house butler, to the household administrator, to her secretary and finally now the personal assistant, “like I said ma’am, this is a personal call from the Juuban District Hospital Emergency…”
“I am extremely sorry ma’am, but I’m afraid that Mrs Saito-Sato already has a lot of charitable responsibilities and obligations, however, we are unable to donate and fund every hospital in Japan. We apologise for being unable to help you and wish you good luck on your endeavour, of which we are quite sure must be a very worthy cause.”
“Excuse me,” the nurse finally blew up, “this is about one of her family members.”
“Then you must have the wrong household, Mrs Saito-Sato does not use the public health system; her attending physician is Dr…”
“Please fetch Mrs Saito-Sato to the phone immediately, I can assure you that this private conversation will concern her personally.”
“Listen, MA’AM, I don’t know who you are, but I told you, no you may not talk to her. I have instructions here, and I intend to follow them to the dot, you either tell me what this is about and I will pass the message on, or you can call her in about three hours’ time if she is available – Mrs Saito-Sato is a very busy woman.”
“Fine, ask her to call the Juuban District Hospital when she realises that one of her family members are missing at dinner tonight.” The nurse hung up, smashing the receiver into the phone and turned to a senior nurse next to her, “that woman, she’s too busy drinking cocktails to come to the phone to talk about her own son! Although, I did hear that she doesn’t like this hospital, or should I say, Doctor Mizuno very much.”
“What ever do you mean by that?”
“Well, when I was in university for my degree several years ago, I heard that she personally muscled her way in and blocked the vote when Doctor Mizuno was named a candidate for a research chair in the University, they wanted to put her on fast track to Vice-Chancellor and appoint her after a few years. You know, that’s practically Doctor Mizuno’s family chair. But Mrs S threatened to completely cut funding to the University if they offered it to her. I heard that Doctor Mizuno heard about that, and you know, that’s probably why she is making them come down to the hospital personally.”
“That’s nonsense,” interjected the older nurse, “Doctor Mori made the request, and don’t spread rumors like that around.”
“You know, I reckon that Doctor Mizuno knows some dark secret about their family, that’s why Mrs S doesn’t want her to be too credible. Every medical and nursing student has heard of that, I guess it was a bit before your time huh?”
“Shush, and if you don’t have enough work to keep your mouth shut, I will very happily give you more to make sure your mouth stays shut.”
12:59pm
“What did we do wrong?” Usagi and Minako wailed simultaneously, “why do we have to go and see her of all people?”
“She, of all people, is my oka-san, she is the only relative I know that I have,” Ami murmured softly to them before turning away, finding her own way to Ward 12.
“What do you two have in that head of yours? Air? Did you have to say that, or even do that?” Makoto whispered angrily as she yanked Rei by the wrist to walk away and follow the nurse, rather than to yell at the two of them and create a scene in the middle of the hospital and embarrass everyone.
“We didn’t mean to…” Usagi whimpered as she followed the rest of the group.
1:32pm
Rei kneeled at the foot of the bed dressed in her miko clothing, she sat on her feet crossed with the right over the left. In concentration, she muttered a few more words, her clasped hands at her forehead shaking uncontrollably, the tips of her two extended forefingers seemingly emitting a slightly red glow. There was silence, and then suddenly, a loud cry from both Rei and Kunki at the same time.
“Jupiter, help me!” Rei yelled as her body straightened, no longer sitting on her heels as she shot up, her knees still on the ground.
Makoto rushed forward and placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder, her eyes closed to lend Rei her energy. Kunki’s body jerked upwards as though there had a jolt of electricity through his body and his forehead glowed with a purplish green light. Rei shook her head and mumbled for Makoto to ‘back off’. As soon as Makoto’s hand left Rei’s shoulder, he immediately fell back onto the bed like a lifeless doll. After a pause, Rei began to chant softly once again.
1:33pm
“Endymion-sama?” was the first thing he heard as he opened the door of his apartment, despite the sun shining in his eyes, he could tell who it was almost immediately.
“I thought you said that you were going to try and act like a normal human being from now on, or was it just for our friend’s sake?” Mamoru grumbled.
“Well, I would, if I remember what your name was, it’s been so long since, well, I met you in that café. I forgot what your name was you see, there are so many names, I mean, it’s a lot easier for you to know my name. Well, for the sake of it, my name is Asano Tsuzuki, and of course you know, I’m the famous ice-skater, you see me on television all the time,” he held out his hand immediately.
“Oh,” taking his hand, Mamoru was embarrassed by his short temper and puzzled at the spiel about the list of achievements, “Chiba Mamoru,” he paused as impertinently mused whether he should mention his being a medical scholarship just to match the credentials, but decided against it, “sorry for snapping at you just then…”
“But you were tired of me harassing your friend like that, I know, I would too, I mean, the way that I’ve been acting, I wouldn’t be surprised if you thought that I was a complete psychotic. I assure you, I’m anything but. I was completely normal, well, other than the fact that I’m a skater, number one in Japan, I mean, that alone distinguishes me from every other teenager,” he grinned with pride, “but I was just a normal person, never sprouted romantic poetry in my life before this whole fiasco. It’s just this thing, about my past life, it’s overwhelming. I would have never done anything like that, but I feel so much for that girl its…”
“Sure,” Mamoru smiled polite, not sure where this was going, “it was overwhelming for me too, is there something I can help you with though?”
“Well, Chiba-sama, I figure that the best way to get her to like me, is to share some activities with her, but I don’t know her very well, so I thought maybe you could tell me something about her. Her likes and dislikes, things like that, what kind of flowers, it would make the whole courting process a lot easier and faster.”
“Asano-san, I’m sorry, I can’t help you with that, if you want to know her or as you put it, court her, you have to talk to her, she is not just a board of statistics where you read about her likes and dislikes, you have to spend time with her to get to know her as a person.” Mamoru said with a shake of the head.
“I would, if I could, but she’s still scared of me, but I’m sure that she will love me very soon, I’m planning on buying her some flowers, and a present maybe a gold bracelet, necklace, ring, or was it silver she likes more? Whatever it is,” he whipped out his notepad, “if you’d just tell me what she likes, I can just get it for her and…”
“You can’t buy her affections, you can’t buy her trust” his face immediately twisted into one of disgust, “her mother’s got enough money to provide for whatever it is that she wants; she doesn’t need some superficial gift from you.”
“Come on, we all know what your red roses are for.”
“They are weaponry!” Mamoru exploded – he had always been rather touchy about his lack of powers “not for courting. You… audacious egotistical tenacious…”
“Oh, did I say something wrong to offend you?”
The only thing that he got in reply was the slamming of the door.