~Somewhere around town~
Kuro: "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" the young black-haired girl almost screamed the contents of her whole chest out. The volume of her voice was enough to make even the nearby windows vibrate which not only disturbed the local people living there but also earned her a few glares from citizens passing by.
Rin: "Shhh. Stop shouting!" she tried to calm her friend down and also not give away her plan. "And yes, I am serious…"
Kuro: "But…I don't mind doing that to the virgin but…seriously…isn't that going a bit too far?" at those words the blond couldn't help but smile widely and cheerfully even though both of her friends could feel the evil behind her girlish face.
Mimi: "Rin-chan I really don't know if that is such a good idea. I mean, sensei and Reiji-san will get very mad at you once they'll find out that it was just a prank!" her friend sounded very concerned (just like always) unsure if she should support her dear friend after hearing of her plan.
Rin: "Kini shinai, kini shinai! Everything's going to be fine!" that evil smirk plastered on her face just wouldn't leave her. Kuro, after thinking it over for a second began to grow her own sinister leer as the plan began to sink in.
Kuro: "Well…I kinda like the idea of it. And as long as it's only for a couple of days then I don't think it will be that bad. Besides, it won't harm anyone, will it?" she had to agree that she liked the idea. Not only will it force that damn virgin on his knees in tears but it will also be just fun to do something new for a change. Besides, if they will do it right they may be able to get to skip school without consequences for a couple of days. That's obviously a huge bonus! "I'm in!" and with that she moved her arm over Rin's as a symbol that she will help her after all with this idea. Afterwards, both girls turned their heads towards the last remaining female in that group.
Rin: "Mimi-chan, are you in as well?" this didn't seem like a good idea at all. Mimi just stared at them not really sure if she was supposed to accept or not. She was really scared and she knew that if this plan will go well then they would hurt their teacher's feelings (not to mention probably scar Reiji as well).
Mimi: "Well…I…" she was trembling.
Rin: "Don't worry about it! I'll obviously take all the blame afterwards and I won't mention any of your names. It's gonna be OK!" she tried to reassure her although that wasn't the reason the glass wearer was so hesitant about it.
Mimi: "That's…not the reason why I don't like the idea!" she stammered not really sure how to phrase her concerns. "It's just that…" she stopped feeling her legs beginning to wobble. However, as she was about to have a panic attack she felt an arm over her shoulder and when she looked up she saw her friend flashing that brilliant smile at her once again.
Rin: "You shouldn't be afraid! Whatever will come up I'll deal with it! I just need to do this to see if sensei still likes me or not!" that statement was enough to crumble through her friend's doubts a little.
Mimi: "But-…" she tried a last attempt at resistance but was interrupted.
Rin: "Please!" she said cutting off Mimi and giving her a serious face, almost like this was a life threatening problem. "Onegai…I need to do this…I really do!" at those words Mimi realized that this was one of those moments when she was needed by her friends. Indeed the idea seemed awful and everything but she had to admit that she couldn't just ignore Rin's request after she pleaded to her like that.
With a reluctant face she approached the rest of the group and slowly and cautiously she hovered her hand over theirs as well.
Rin: "Arigato mina. I really appreciate your support!" now that her friends were on her side she could begin her plan. Indeed this was risky and she knew very well that this will most likely get her grounded for half a year once everything will be done but if it was for her to get even a single kiss from that man…then it will be worth it.
~Classroom~
Rin: "Ok, so both of you know what to do, right?" she asked her friends as they both nodded their heads with varying levels of enthusiasm. "Perfect! Now, this is the package!" she said while handing Kuro the envelope. "Remember: be quick about it! If you'll get caught you'll get in trouble as well!" at that both girls in front of her nodded once again before heading to their desks. "Good, everything is set in place!"
And just in time at that as Aoki suddenly entered the classroom with not such a happy face on him.
Rin: "Now all that's left is to implement my idea…" she said as she kept looking at her teacher who was walking towards her.
Aoki: "Ohaio…mina. Let's work hard today!" he said encouragingly not aware of the reason why Kokonoe was looking so seriously at him. "Kokonoe, you should go back to your seat! Class is about to start!" he tried to get her out of the way though the girl did not obey and only stared at him contemplating a little as she realized that moment the many flaws and risks in her scheme.
Rin: "Huh…maybe Mimi-chan was right. Maybe I should think about this before doing it. After all I don't want to get into trouble for no reason! Ne, sensei, are you free after school?" she asked all of a sudden as Aoki stopped dead in his tracks taken aback by that question.
Aoki: "Huh? No, why?" he asked a little confused.
Rin: "Do you want to take me out somewhere? It's been a while since we've gone on a date together!" at that his eyebrows furrowed.
Aoki: "Kokonoe…I already told you that what happened last time wasn't a date…and no, I don't want to take you out. If you want to I can walk you home or keep you company but don't expect me to do something as reckless as that. I already told you that I won't be dating any of my students any time soon!" he concluded boldly with an adamant look on his face.
Rin: "But…but…" she tried to think of something to say but he immediately cut her off.
Aoki: "And that is final! My decision is made. No more buts! Now go back to your seat already! I need to start class!" it really hurt Aoki to be this strict with her but he really wanted not to attract unwanted attention anymore from her stunts with him. He was already fed up with them. He needed to finally act like a teacher and take action and authority over his students. That's what Sae had said would be good and he agreed with it.
Rin: "Fine. I tried to give you a chance to redeem yourself but you didn't take it. I'm sorry, sensei…you leave me no other choice!" and with that the girl obeyed his order and headed towards her seat pretending that she would listen this time.
Aoki: "Huh. She's finally listening to me! Shirai-sensei was right! Enforcing your way is always the best solution. Sometimes the simplest ways are also the most effective!" but as he thought that the girl in front of him began coughing violently, almost like she was drowning. "Eh? Oi, Kokonoe!" he said running towards her and putting his hand on her shoulder in a supportive way while trying to look at her face. "Oi, daijoubu?" but as soon as the girl felt his hand on her she immediately repressed some coughs and walked away quickly out of his grasp.
Rin: "I'm fine!" she said quickly in a rushed way not even bothering to look at him. That worried the teacher even more.
Little did he know though what was awaiting him.
~Later that day, classroom~
It had been 2 hours since Aoki had entered the classroom and he didn't seem to be suspecting anything, nor was anyone else apparently.
She had been waiting up until now so that it wouldn't be too suspicious her breaking at the very start of the school day. However, now seemed to have been enough time. It was also the middle of the class so no one should suspect anything at all.
Rin: "I'm sorry for doing this to you, sensei. I wish there was another way…" and with just that she began to cough again violently. She had been coughing from time to time during the classes that day intentionally to make it seem natural but this time she went all out and began to shake as well, almost like she was struggling. Her teacher tried his best to ignore her but when he saw her holding her chest like that he could not help but worry at her condition.
Aoki: "Kokonoe, you should seriously go to the nurse's office! You look horrible!" but the girl didn't stop the coughs. She kept on shaking in motions which attracted everyone's attention. Aoki felt necessary to move to her and grab her to stop her from shaking. "Kokonoe! Kokonoe! What's wrong?" he really started to get worried. This didn't seem like a common cold or anything of the sorts. But as soon as he thought that the girl calmed down in his hands.
Rin: "I can't…breathe…(cough cough)" she said so lowly it felt almost like a whisper. Her seemingly pained voice was disturbing. However, that didn't last too long as her shaking intensified and her coughs increased even further until, after another couple of seconds, she became motionless completely. When the teacher witnessed her going numb all of a sudden and closing her eyes like that the whole class went silent.
Aoki: "Kokonoe? KOKONOE? KOKONOE!" he began to scream in her ear. This felt bad. This felt seriously bad. "Quick, someone! Call the ambulance!" he yelled as a random student in the room pulled out his cellphone and dialed the emergency number. Everyone adopted a scared face as all kids tried their best not to lose it right then and there. Everyone except Rin's 2 friends, of course.
Kuro: "Wow…she really is a good actress…" the girl thought as she sweat dropped at that impeccable performance. She never knew her best friend was so good at playing dead.
Mimi: "Rin-chan. I hope you know what you're doing!"
~Hospital room~
The girl was lying in bed coughing violently as her guardian continued to stare at her with worried eyes almost like she was ready to die any second.
Reiji: "Rin, hang in there! The doctor will help you get back on your feet! Don't worry!" the young man was tightly holding her hand in such a way it almost felt like he was trying to break the bones. The girl did not resist though as she continued her violent reactions which only scared the man even more.
Rin: "Don't worry…Reiji. I'm fine…(cough cough)" she tried to be brave as the man refused to let go of her.
There were only 3 people in that room: her, Reiji and the doctor who was waiting for the nurse to come and bring him the pills he had asked for. Aoki, who had brought the girl there, obviously had to leave since he couldn't skip work just because of one sick student or he would get fired. And that was fortunate since the man had no desire to meet with the girl's guardian any time soon (or vice versa).
Luckily for them the door soon flung open as a rushed nurse came into the room and handed the doctor the medicine he had been waiting for this whole time. Wasting no more time the man took the box and opened it to extract a small round white pill. He handed the pill to the young girl before giving her a glass of water as well.
Doctor: "Take these! They should solve the problem with the coughs temporarily!" he said in a professional way. Rin listened to him and took the pill without thinking twice. After gulping that object and calming down for a second the medicine seemed to have taken effect almost immediately.
Rin: "Arigato!" she thanked him warmly as the man then grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it right next to the girl's bed while also pulling out a pencil from his coat preparing to write something down.
Doctor: "Now, miss Kokonoe. After going through your PHR I see that you have mostly had a healthy history since birth. There seem to be no noticeable cases where your condition had been life threatening or even bad. Nothing seems out of the ordinary here!" the old man explained as Reiji decided to intervene.
Reiji: "Yes, that is mostly because she had only minor illnesses up until now and most of the times I had kept her home and allowed her to recover by herself. However, this is the first time she has ever been in such a bad state!" it was very clear only from the look on his face that Reiji was extremely worried for this girl. His expression was giving away his nervousness and anxiety.
Doctor: "I see. Well, leaving that aside, we should move on to the problem at hand in that case" he said realizing that this young man next to the girl may even break in tears soon if they would linger around the subject too much. "Now, miss Rin. Can you describe what exactly the problem is? What do you feel right now?"
Rin: "My chest hurts!" she said in a low voice once again trying to make herself sound in pain.
Doctor: "Your chest? May I ask where, exactly?" he tried to get as much information as he could about the subject which made the young girl uncomfortable.
Rin: "My lungs...they're burning!" she tried to reduce almost all of her phrases to simple 2 or 3 word sentences so that it would make the adults think that she was having difficulty talking. Her low and intentionally forced voice coupled with the occasional coughs seemed to be making a pretty credible performance, her managing to fool even this doctor.
Doctor: "(rising an eyebrow) Your lungs? You mean you can't breathe or are you saying that you can actually feel your lungs burning?" he asked while his voice began to pick up volume in a sign of concern. "There is a difference! If you cannot breathe then it might as well be from your respiratory airways becoming inflamed or blocked by mucus whereas the feeling of burning lungs can me-…"
Rin: "No! My lungs are burning!" she repeated her previous sentence trying to cut this conversation short since she did not know how long she can fool this man. However, the man's concerned look assured her that everything was going well.
Doctor: "I…see. Ahem, well then. Let's move on! How are the coughs? Are they dry coughs meaning that you just cough because you feel you need to but nothing comes out or are they wet coughs that you execute in order to spit fluid out of your body?" that was a tough question. She had no idea what to answer to that one so that it would make it look serious.
Rin looked ahead a little averting her eyes from the doctor's so that she could think for a second on what to answer. While pretending like she was trying to assess her own coughs she thought about a response which would make her condition seem very dire and serious.
Since she didn't have an eventful medical history and her knowledge in biology was as big as a farmer's knowledge regarding space shuttle design she decided to use the most gruesome response she could come up with at the moment and simply go with that in the hopes that everything would work itself out.
Rin: "Well, yesterday I coughed up blood. Is that bad?" at those words both the doctor's and Reiji's faces went completely white almost like she had revealed to them that she had AIDS. "Looks like I nailed it!" suddenly Reiji felt like he was at the verge of crying that exact moment. He was too scared now to care about the doctor or anything else by this point.
Reiji: "You did what?! Why didn't you tell me last night about it!? I wouldn't have sent you to school today in the first place!" the young man looked pained by that confession. He was doing his best to maintain his calm right then but was failing miserably.
The doctor on the other hand was managing to pretend that he was calm simply because he did not want to make the other people in that room panic or anything. Still, judging from his medical knowledge, he knew very well that these symptoms should never be treated lightly and that this was serious business.
Doctor: "I understand. And, I know that this may sound like a silly question and everything but please answer honestly anyway. Are you a smoker?" at those words, after all that tension they were going through and after learning of such a disturbing thing from the child in his care, Reiji broke. That question was so absurd and so ridiculous considering the fact that it was directed at a 10 year old girl that the young man thought that the doctor was just making fun of them.
Reiji: "DON'T SCREW WITH US!" being in his anxious and almost panicked state the man lost control of his words and had a moment where he seemed ready to punch the doctor in the face for having the courage to even make such a proposal.
Doctor: "I know this might seem like a very improbable thing but as a doctor I need to know everything I can about this patient! So please, just, answer quietly!" that did not make Reiji feel any better. Actually, only judging from his face you could have sworn that the man was ready to attack the doctor and beat him to a pulp. That is, until Rei put her other hand on his gaining his attention.
Rin: "(with a concerned look) Reiji, please calm down!" she asked sweetly forcing her guardian to regain some of his sanity back and retain some composure once again.
Reiji: "Uh, sorry about that. I didn't want to lose it like that. It's just that I am really troubled because of your health, Rin…" he staggered in an attempt to collect his words and form proper sentences. "(looking back at the doctor) No, I'm pretty sure Rin doesn't smoke. And since I'm the only other person in her household and I never smoked my entire life either I feel like it's safe to say that she never came in contact with cigarette smoke at all!" he concluded already feeling the need to get out of that room and take in some fresh air. Reiji was already feeling nauseous just from being in that conversation.
Doctor: "I see. Well then I think we should conclude our questions for today since I'm seeing that both of you seem…ahem…tired" he said although the word "tired" wasn't used that accurately with respect to Reiji. "In any case, nurse!" he called out to the young woman who had been standing near the wall this whole time only listening in on their conversation.
Nurse: "Hai?"
Doctor: "Please schedule Miss Kokonoe here for a CXR examination and make it as early as possible!" he ordered as the young woman bowed her head quickly before leaving the room. "Do not worry! These symptoms are pretty common! Until the examination says otherwise there is no need to be concerned!" he tried to be as calm as possible and keep both the patient and her guardian in the levels of their sanity and not provoke a panic attack from either of them.
True, the symptoms seemed pretty dire and extremely worrying but as long as no concrete evidence is brought up to show a real reason to panic, then he would do his best not to alarm anyone. As a doctor such an attitude was vital for everyday confrontations with patients.
Rin: "Doctor?"
Doctor: "Yes, Rin-chan?"
Rin: "Can I ask what a CXR means?" she asked with a worried look on her face, pretending like she was scared.
Doctor: "Ah that. No need to worry about it! It stands for 'chest X-ray'. That means that while you will be lying on a table relaxing this machine will just take a quick peek inside you and tell me if there is anything wrong going on inside your body! And in this time you won't feel a thing so there's nothing to be scared of!" that extremely unprofessional and almost ridiculous explanation was not needed but it did confirm Kokonoe's suspicions. So, it was exactly like the way the doctors had treated her mother before. This was good. This meant that her plan was going perfectly well now and she, a 10 year old girl, had managed to fool a grown up doctor.
Rin: "Reiji, I'm sorry for having to drag you into this as well. I really don't want to hurt you like this but there was no way around it!" she felt really guilty for seeing Reiji this worried about her but she didn't have that much of a choice. Still, she was pretty sure that the man will pay her back tenfold once he'll find out that all of this was a play. And the thought of that made her skin shiver.
~X-ray room~
She couldn't feel a single thing. While waiting on that table and pretending that everything was fine she couldn't really sense anything going on. Still, she knew that while she was thinking that the machine right next to her was collecting information about her lungs and body in general.
Up until now she expected x-rays to be a lot cooler and flashier than this but then again she must have been watching too many animes.
Rin: "Weird how they can probably see everything inside me with just this but I can't even tell if this machine is on or not…" medicine was truly a complicated subject.
Soon after the nurse came up to her and spoke.
Nurse: "Kokonoe-chan, you may get up now! The examination is over! You may go back to your room for the moment!" she exclaimed in an obviously fake cheering voice. The girl only stared at her for a couple of seconds thinking about something before responding.
Rin: "About that…when will the results be shown?" she intentionally inquired leaving the woman next to her speechless.
Nurse: "Uh, excuse me?" she asked a little uneasy.
Rin: "When will the x-ray image thingy be examined by the doctor?" that was unexpected. This was the first time in the nurse's career when she met a child being concerned about such a thing.
Nurse: "Well, the more experienced doctors are preparing to study it right now. However, it will take a couple of hours until it will get to the doctor who's supposed to take care of you" she tried to explain not really caring of the reason why this kid would even want to know about such a thing. "Don't worry, though! I'll be sure to deliver it to him safely!" this woman had no idea what she was currently doing by explaining to Rin all these things.
Rin: "Ah, so you will be the one who will give it to him?"
Nurse: "Hai. I organize all the documents regarding your doctor's patients while he is gone doing his work. So in a way I'll take care of everything!" so this meant that this nurse will deliver that sheet to the doctor. Perfect!
Rin: "Ah, arigato! That's all I wanted to know!" and with that she hopped off that table she was sitting on and exited the room.
Outside she met once again with that man.
Rei: "Reiji!" she yelled running forward to him and then hugging him tightly. However, as soon as Reiji squeezed her back she began to cough once again.
Reiji: "Oi, Rin, stop running like that! There's no need for you to push yourself this much!" but despite his protests the young lady in his hands decided to ignore them and change the topic.
Rin: "Haihai. Uh…Reiji…would you mind lending me your phone for a sec?" that took the young lad by surprise.
Reiji: "Huh? My phone? What for?" that was surely an unexpected request.
Rin: "I won't be going to school any time soon, will I? I should at least tell my friends where I am! They might get worried because of me!" he had to admit that he had not thought of that. It was true, especially considering the fact that she had fainted in the middle of class. In those circumstances her colleagues would most likely be worried sick about her. Not to mention her teacher.
Reiji immediately frowned when his mind went to look for that man who he hated the most. He really couldn't care less if that pedophile would be worried about Rin or not. Then again, that was irrelevant now.
Reiji: "Sure, here you go!" he handed her his phone as the girl eagerly picked it up. But immediately after getting her hands on that phone she began to run away with it. "Huh, Rin! Don't run like that! You're sick, remember?" he shouted after her although she didn't seem to pay him any attention. "Man, she's such a figure" he said out loud to himself while putting his hand over one eye in annoyance.
He could have run after her as well but then again he knew from experience that chasing after that girl always leads to disasters. He was wise enough not to do that and just leave her alone.
~Hallway~
She looked one last time around the corner to make sure Reiji wasn't after her. He didn't seem to have followed her at all (though she wasn't surprised at all). After confirming one last time that she hadn't been followed she opened up the phone and dialed the number of one of her friends.
Rin: "Hello? Mimi-chan?" she asked when she heard the other end of the line responding. "Hello, it's me, Rin. I'm calling from another phone! Anyway, everything is set in place! No one is suspecting anything! And I know where the envelope should be!"…
~3 hours later, random room~
Nurse: "Man, this sucks. I should really stop doing that doctor's organizing!" she moaned in annoyance as she sorted all the papers on the desk. Truthfully this wasn't her job but rather that doctor's and she should be in break right now. However, since the doctor always asks for her help regarding his organizing most of the times she ends up doing all this boring stuff even during her supposed-to-be free time.
Nurse: "(sigh) If that man won't take me out one of these days for this, I swear I'm gonna make him the patient!" she continued to go through all those boring documents. This was so tedious that she felt only the pleasure that a coffeemaker could offer would make her happy right now.
Sheet of paper after sheet of paper the woman continued to run through all those documents in pure unwillingness. That is, until she heard a scream.
Nurse: "Huh? Who's there?" she asked rising from her chair a little scared. Then, suddenly, right at the entrance of the room through the opened door a small child appeared out of nowhere.
Mimi: "Miss! Miss!" she came in screaming like she was about to have a heart attack.
Nurse: "Huh? What is it child?!" she ran up to Mimi not really understanding what's going on. But as soon as she did that Mimi grabbed her hand all of a sudden and began to pull her away from the room.
Mimi: "Hurry please! My grandma wasn't feeling well and fainted. There was no doctor around so I didn't know what to do! You need to get to her room right now!" at those words the nurse immediately changed into a serious mood and began to run alongside Mimi.
Nurse: "Huh?! A patient is feeling bad?!"
She didn't care right now that she was on break at the moment or that she had left all those documents unlocked in that room. The life of a patient takes precedence over anything else! At least, that's what her training had always told her. Soon afterwards the hallway became quiet.
As the corridor went silent and there was no sign of anyone else being around a dark figure emerged from the shadows with a sinister grin on her face and holding an envelope under her arm. This was her chance! Mimi had opened up an opportunity and now she had to take it!
With a sneaking talent which could make even a cat envious the small figure walked carefully inside the room where the nurse had been working in. Once she saw all that pile of papers stacked on the desk she knew she must have been in the right place.
After getting a chair to stand on and reach the height of that desk Kuro looked around for an envelope. And soon enough she came across one.
She immediately grabbed it and without any second thought looked at the back of it to see what was written on it.
Writing on back of the envelope: "Rin Kokonoe – chest radiograph -02.04.2008". This was seemingly perfect! At that moment Kuro had no doubts anymore as she pushed her hand to extract the contents of the envelope from under her arm and then the contents of the envelope which had been lying on the desk there. She swapped the two very quickly and then closed the envelope which was supposed to be on the desk alongside the stacks of paper and placed it in such a way that it seemed that it hadn't been touched or moved at all.
Kuro: "Rin-chan, you owe me big time for this one!" she grinned almost like she had accomplished an infiltration military mission and made her own country proud. After standing in that room just another couple of seconds she made herself unnoticed and quickly ran away, so that she would not be detected by anyone.
~A couple of minutes later~
The nurse came back to the office once again with an annoyed face.
Nurse: "Man…young girls these days. Seriously, that was the worst prank ever! Leading me to a random room in the hospital and then running away when my back is turned…have little girls no more shame today?" she was seriously ready to punch someone just because of what she had to go through.
She couldn't believe that she had allowed herself to be fooled by such a kid. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to drill a hole through the wall with her own fist.
Nurse: "Uh, goddamn youngsters…" but as soon as she sat down on the chair she took a look around her desk only to find everything like she had left it. "(sigh) And I really don't want to finish all this…ah man, that damn doctor should give me half of his salary for this!"
~Doctor's office~
Nurse: "Doctor?" the woman asked as she slowly cracked open the door to his office.
Doctor: "You should learn how to knock on the door before opening it, Katsura-san. This isn't a romantic comedy which most kids watch on TV these days!" he said not lifting his eyes off his papers.
Nurse: "Ah, gomennasai. I was just in a hurry and-…" but she was quickly cut off.
Doctor: "No need to apologize. No damage was done although I would appreciate it if you would take that into account next time you want to enter. Oh, and by the way…thank you!" a smile appeared suddenly on his face as he announced that which took the young nurse by surprise.
Nurse: "Huh…fo-…for what?" she didn't know how to react to that.
Doctor: "For helping me out with the papers! You have always been of much help to me and I want to thank you!"
Nurse: "(glaring but trying to hide it) You're just thanking me? No reward? No nothing for all the hard work I've been doing for you all these years, you little...? Ah, with pleasure, sensei!" she tried to be as polite as possible.
Doctor: "How about we go out Saturday just to make up for it. My treat, of course!"
Nurse: "YES. FINALLY! Ah, arigato. I can't wait!" she said blushing quietly as the doctor sat up and began walking to her.
Doctor: "Now, what's left to do for today?" he asked her regaining his professional attitude.
Nurse: "Ah, right…" she snapped out of her distractions. "Well, apparently you have to check this patient's chest x-ray once again as protocol dictates!" at that the doctor's face darkened yet again.
Doctor: "Ah, that. Why do I have to do that a second time as well? I already looked over it the first time and it didn't show absolutely anything! Why do I have to do it again?" he always hated these meaningless protocols this hospital had installed. What was the point in double-checking x-ray visuals? He was a doctor after all! If there was something wrong shown in the visualization he should have noticed it the first time he looked over it! There was no need for a second check.
Nurse: "Sensei, that's what the protocol dictates. I didn't write it!" and with that she placed the plastic sheet on a lighting panel on the wall and flipped on the switch so that the background light would make the details imprinted on that sheet a lot easier to see.
The old man sighed annoyed by her attitude but decided to look over it anyways. As he approached the panel to check for a second time the images on that sheet his eyes almost immediately focused on a single part of the picture. And then his mouth opened suddenly.
Doctor: "My Lord…" he couldn't believe his eyes. This…was disturbing.
This was the very first time in his whole life when he saw anything like that.
Nurse: "(surprised by his reaction) Huh, what is it, sensei?" she asked a little worried.
Doctor: "I can't believe this…how come I didn't see this the first time?" this didn't seem right. He should definitely have seen this when he had first checked that. It was just too big to miss. "Nurse…are you sure this is the right paper? You haven't mistaken it for someone else's, have you?"
Nurse: "Huh? What are you talking about? There was no other patient who was scheduled for a CXR today! I couldn't have mistaken it with anyone else's since there was no one else at all!" she explained as the doctor forced his eyes to read the text imprinted on the corner of that sheet which was supposed to say the name of the patient that x-ray was made to.
Doctor: "Kokonoe…" he strained his eyes to read the name written on the corner of that sheet but to no avail. "Why is this name so hard to read? It should be perfectly comprehensible!" but that was the least of his concerns.
The first name written there was legible and it clearly said 'Kokonoe'. This had to be that girl he had met that evening.
Doctor: "But…this is just…wrong…" when he looked at the image he could feel his heart leaving his body. That image…was like the grim reaper's personal signature.
Nurse: "What is it, sensei? Is something wrong?" oblivious to the man's concerns the nurse decided to butt in.
Doctor: "That's…a tumor…" he said while still staring at that image almost like he was just having a nightmare.
Nurse: "Huh? How is that possible?! Why didn't you notice that the first time?!" he had no idea. Nor did he care now. "(concerned) How bad is it?"
Doctor: "…it's…huge…probably in its final stage…" the medic felt sick, almost like he was seeing a gruesome scene of war. He should be used to this but this was the first time he had ever seen a tumor this big.
This was bad. How could a 10 year old girl develop such a serious condition? And what was even stranger was that the girl had looked perfectly normal when he had seen her that evening. Sure she had been coughing violently but that shouldn't have been enough for something as horrific as this. And, even more intriguing, such a condition could only develop after a couple of months of serious weakness which shouldn't have allowed the girl to even walk normally. And that girl didn't seem to have been that sick the last time he had seen her.
Moreover, with such a gigantic tumor in the chest, the girl couldn't have possibly lasted up until now without proper medication.
In the end, it all boiled down to two question: how the fuck was this discovered as late as now? And how in the bloody hell did the girl last up until now without any medical help?
Doctor: "Uh, why the hell am I even thinking this?! This should be the least of my concerns!" he decided to ignore all of the previous questions and just take in reality as it was. Whatever had happened until then did not matter anymore. What mattered was for him to save this girl now!
Doctor: "Then again…no matter how much I'll try…with such a big tumor…the cancer must have spread throughout the whole body…I don't think it's possible anymore…" no, if what the image in front of him was telling him was the truth then it was already too late.
That was crystal clear now. Actually…if he was right the girl would die very soon even.
Nurse: "Doctor…" his partner looked worried when she saw the depressed face he had on. Although she had known this man for a couple of years now this was the first time she had ever seen him like that. This was worrying. "Is it really that bad?" he nodded.
Doctor: "This will be the first time I'll lose a child. I hoped to get through this job without ever having to experience that. I can't believe it!" his attitude was just dark and it looked like all that immature joy he had always been holding inside him every day had disappeared all of a sudden.
Nurse: "…but…" she didn't know what the proper reaction to those words was. She was sad…especially after remembering the face of that little girl. She had looked so happy and childish and…innocent. For this child to die so young and for them to be incapable of doing anything to prevent it…where was the justice in this world? "How…long…will she live?" she asked barely able to pronounce each word.
Doctor: "2 weeks…max"
