Hello once again from Motofan713.
This chapter took me quite a bit longer than the last one, as it should have, it's five times larger...
Anyways, we all know the drill... I don't own Angel Beats! or any implied properties. However, any original characters I do lay claim to. That's about it...
It was 3 a.m. Yui was tossing and turning in her bed, her 'dreamless' sleep quickly evolving into a nightmare. All she knew was that she had to keep running, because if she didn't, her dark pursuer would catch her, and it would be all over. As she gauged her surroundings, she realized that she was on the grounds of some school-like building complex that, although she couldn't recall it for the life of her, seemed familiar at the same time. This was later proven by the fact that as she rounded the corner of the gym, she know there would be an unlocked door that she could swing in and out of before her pursuer would see her. She opened the door, threw herself inside, and quietly, but quickly shut the door off from her attacker, hoping to all things higher than herself that she wouldn't be found. As she prayed, she wormed her way through the surrounding piping and ductwork, attempting to put as much distance between her and the door as possible before her attacker got smart and realized that she had had gone through the door. As she finally finished flitting back and forth, the door at the other end burst open forcefully, revealing her attacker. She was being chased down by some sort of shadow, and try as she might, running away simply wasn't working. It was slowly gaining on her, regardless of how fast she was running. She watched as the shadow simply passed through all the obstacles it had taken Yui minutes to get through pass by in mere seconds. "No fair!" She screamed, and she burst through another side door heading towards the track field. And then the worst possible thing happened. Her legs started slowing down of their own accord. She tried to keep them going, but it was as if they were turning to bags of sand, and each step was costing her more and more effort just to stay upright. But just as before, through all this, the shadow steadily gained on her until it was right on top of her, and started to engulf her body. Yui screamed out for help, but realized that no one was going to come to her rescue. As her final moments dwindled down, she watched the world dim away from her sight. As she was fully consumed, the last words to escape her lips were "Hinata, please…" And then, just as she was about to be consumed…
Yui's eyes shot open of their own accord. She sat there, stunned, for minutes on end, staring at the ceiling, wondering just what had happened. She had dreamt that, hadn't she? But then why did that fear feel so real? And who's Hinata? I don't think I've ever met anyone by that name yet… Yui thought to herself, still processing the darkness around her. As the room's outlines began to take shape, she contemplated what would happen in the upcoming hours, as she mentally ran over what her doctor had told her about what she'd gone through.
According to Dr. Komagashi, she had originally lost enough blood to black out while still trapped on the wall. Once medical personnel had arrived, she had been taken to the ICU where her wounds were then sewn together. However, as she had lost over 2 pints of blood, she was transfused for over 2 hours before her blood pressure had returned to an acceptable pressure. Her heart had steadily failed until it stopped in the ICU, where she underwent an emergency cardiopulmonary bypass in order to keep her blood flowing and minimize the amount of brain damage, if there was any. It had been a tense five hours, where her body had underwent over 300 stitches, as well as multiple stimulant drugs in an attempt to get her heart pumping once more. However, the drugs had taken their toll on her, if her skin tone was anything to go by. The drugs administered to her were of the variety which tampered with the pigment in her skin, causing it to turn a pale gray, making it look more like dull marble than human tissue. They had also left her with a lethargic disposition; turning her head seemed to require so much energy it was hard not to faint from the effort, much less keep conscious for any extended period amount of time. But that was the sum of her problems according to Dr. Komagashi. She had nothing else to worry about. She let her head sink into the softness of the pillow, content with the fact that everything was alright and conceded to herself that she had nothing to worry about.
The truth, however, was no laughing matter. As it turned out, that wasn't all that had happened.
After taking a closer look at her injuries, Dr. Komagashi had come across an unexpected complication in Yui's condition. In her crash, the discs in her back had slipped and realigned themselves in the few microseconds upon impact with the wall. However, this wasn't the major concern. When probed further, Komagashi quickly realized just how serious of an incident this was, and had all his best medical staff meet in a nearby staffroom in order to come to a decision about Yui.
2 weeks prior, 32 hours into operation
This was not looking good. Not only did Yui have a failing heart, she was paralyzed to boot. But what he'd just discovered had him rethinking that last part of his previous thought. Komagashi paced the front of the staffroom, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rest of his colleagues. If I hadn't seen it for myself… Komagashi thought it had been too late for the poor girl. Her heart had given out, and didn't seem to want to start kicking anytime soon. She was also paralyzed from the neck down since early childhood to boot. He'd almost given up on her and given her the relief to the next existence she so rightfully deserved. If anyone, she deserves to be rid of this mess her life's become. I mean, how much more should she take before it's enough? Hasn't she already been through enough as it is? Komagashi thought, distressed over the fact that he couldn't decide if he should relieve the dear girl from her harsh life, or stick with her and run with what he saw as the first huge break in her life. But if I screw this up, it'll be all for nothing, and then what? Live her life in total disappointment? What kind of fulfilling life would that be? Wouldn't it be better just to end her suffering right now? Komagashi asked himself, still pacing. A few seconds later a sound registered in his mind that pulled him from his current string of thoughts.
"Hmmm?" He asked, looking out to the small group that had gathered with him in the staffroom. It seemed everyone he had asked to come was there, waiting for him to begin. Komagashi rubbed the back of his neck as said nervously: "Oh, sorry. I was lost in my own train of thought for a minute there." He looked down, ashamed at himself. I call all these people here and what do I do? I get lost in my mind. What a great doctor I am, he thought to himself.
His right-hand man and life-long best friend Mensaijo Kohryu stood next to him, speaking in a voice only Komagashi could hear: "Don't worry, we understand and forgive you; this isn't an easy case for any of us either, so it's understandable you'd be nervous at the onset." He told him, putting a comfortable arm around Komagashi's shoulders in a friendly gesture used since their primary school days. Komagashi visibly straightened, smoothed himself over, and addressed the small group in front of him.
"As many of you know, I've a house patient that I've been looking after for the past twelve years or so. She is the one who was involved in the Katsumei incident over a decade ago. She is also the one who was hit by the car just outside of our hospital the day before yesterday. Right now we have her in the ICU due to heart failure and multiple puncture wounds. As of this moment we have her in cardiopulmonary bypass, but I'm not sure just how much longer we can keep her in this state if her condition doesn't improve. However, that's not the most important issue at the moment. Right now, as we speak, her spinal discs are realigning themselves to their former position; the one which her body has adapted to due to her paralysis. However, as of right now, we have a two to three hour window of time in which to rectify that mistake. If you will please direct your attention to the MRI images on the backlight to my left" He pointed out the areas of interest as he continued, "You will see that instead of the restricted, twisted tunnel in the photo taken a year ago, a straight one in its place, which can allow us to take action right here and now and repair the nerve damage my patient has received due to her accident she endured twelve years ago. We have the personnel, the equipment necessary, and right now," he gestured the group in front of him, "the manpower necessary to make this possible. While she may never walk again, at least she will be able to move all of her upper body and portions of her legs as well. It is my wish for my patient to be given the gift she's been denied for far too long." Komagashi took a moment to regain his breath before charging right back into his explanation. "You all have been summoned here by me because you are the best in your respective fields. You all can help make this girl's dream a reality. What with the expertise in handling delicate organs, mastery of nerve reparation, and excellent recovery doctors on hand, we could quite possibly do something that's never been done before, because this has never happened before." Komagashi finished, trying to gauge the reaction of his associates, hoping beyond hope they might be swayed to help him in his endeavor.
Surprisingly, it was Dr. Kohryu who spoke first. "Everything aside, is this plausible? Granted, I'm not against this, but we do have to consider our own limitations. You say we only have a window of two to three hours tops to do a procedure that would normally last between ten and fourteen hours under the best conditions. Not only that, but this is in an area in which no medical documentation for this kind of operation is in existence, to the best of my knowledge. Also, you do realize the risk you're taking, right? If this doesn't go through and ends up falling apart, that will be quite a few hospital dollars spent, and although we aren't running out of funding anytime soon, it will put a rather large dent in our budget, regardless of how this turns out."
"That is the precise reason we cannot fail!" Dr. Komagashi replied, his voice straining. "If we do this, and it works, we will not only be the first documented case in the modern world, we will save the life of a girl who more than deserves to saved form the fate she will face if we don't do this."
Another doctor raised his voice towards the front. "Suppose we were to go through with this. What are the specifics of the case, and the possible complications? We can't just go into this with no idea of what we're facing. But besides that, I believe it's possible. Highly risky, high chance of failure, but still possible."
Dr. Komagashi needed answers, and soon. He knew his window of opportunity would soon open, and he needed to be as prepared as possible before that window opened. So he decided to do something rash. He spoke up. "Alright, I need to know right now. Who is willing to take this on and help me? If you wish to not take part in this I understand. This could very well be an exercise in futility, and not worth the risk. If that is the case, then I ask you excuse yourselves now. I don't want to drag you farther into something that you aren't comfortable taking part in."
He watched, expecting the worst. But he was pleasantly surprised. All but one doctor stood their ground. Only Dr. Roruko turned to leave. He walked to the door, but before leaving, he turned, addressing Komagashi:
"You know Komagashi, I would be more than happy to take this procedure on if I were a bit younger and still had claim to my old optimism and hopefulness. But I've seen too many situations like this turn out for the worse, and I don't want to go through another one of those anytime soon. I'm sorry, but in my old age, I get weary of hopelessness, I don't know if I could take another failure…"
Komagashi nodded in understanding. Being a doctor for so many years left a mark on you, a different way of looking at life than those of a different profession. He could sympathize with him, if only a little bit as he realized he had a ways to go before he would have the life experience to rival this man's; "It's alright Dr. Roruko, I understand, even if only a little. It doesn't make you any less of a man by declining this procedure. I'll see you afterwards." He told Roruko, as he watched him push through the glass doors in departure and give him a wave of recognition. We'll just have to manage without him somehow… Komagashi thought to himself.
Turning towards those who remained, he started explaining his proposed procedure to them. "Alright, so first off, we'll have to make incision on both sides of the spinal column, which will allow us to Insert the…"
Same day, 1 hour and 37 minutes later
He looked down upon the gently resting form of Yui. She seemed so at peace with herself that one would never know the personal hell she'd been through just by looking. Yes, he'd heard about her experiences with public school, and he'd been shocked to the core when they revealed themselves upon him. He had a nephew who just around the same age as Yui, who'd had bad experiences in the first few years of primary school, but had since then been slowly working his way into the general scheme of high school life. He was on his school's baseball team, where they'd almost won their prefectural tournament. But that was beside the point right now. He had a life to save and reconstruct on his hands at the moment, which was why he had both a scalpel and a petri dish labeled 'STEM' in his hands. He set his tools down and signaled for the rest of his associates into the operating room along with himself.
"Alright, we just have to wait for the last disc to- oh, there it goes. Time to get to work."
And work they did.
The operation went as smooth as possible (what with all the rushing and precision-timing of each step, each incision, each injection), and as far as Dr. Komagashi was concerned, it went off without a hitch. Not to say that there hadn't been roadblocks that they'd had to dodge along the way. It wasn't every day you reconstructed someone's spinal cord. They had started out with making a long incision down the length of her spine, then put diaphragm spacers between the bones and the discs, and another longitudinal diaphragm to keep the entire spinal column from snapping out of alignment during the procedure, thus allowing them the ability to open up her spinal cord and begin the technical portion of the procedure. This was where Dr. Kohryu took over. He took his syringe and micro-pliars, and deftly worked his magic upon the nervous overlay laid out in front of him. He squeezed the syringe slightly, extracting ten or so stem cells at a time from the syringe, and with the micro-pliars, precisely positioned them for maximum healing effect, allowing them to overlay the damaged nerve endings laid out in front of him. His portion took him a great deal of time, as this was a one-time deal. Either he got it right or he didn't. It was as simple as that. Komagashi looked on as his best friend placed droplet after droplet of potential repair into Yui's spinal cord, essentially giving her life back to her a drop at a time. It was the most painstaking 40 minutes of his life.
40 minutes later Dr. Kohryu slowly got up, walked over to the bench, and set down his tools. He signaled Dr. Komagashi back to him, showing him his handiwork; "What do you think?"
Komagashi took an good, long, in-depth look at Mensaijo's handiwork. It was a considerable amount of time before he answered. "Looks the same as it did before, why?" He asked, somewhat put-off by Kohryu's question.
However, Kohryu just smiled and replied: "That's exactly the answer I was looking for."
After Dr. Kohryu finished, Komagashi made a gesture for all the other doctors to fall in. "Alright, the hardest part's done. Now comes the most critical. Now all we have to do is release the diaphragms in the precise way as to make sure her back stays properly aligned. Otherwise all our efforts will be wasted, and she'll have to go back to her less-than-average lifestyle." It would later be noted that Komagashi in his entirety changed that moment. Some would say that he became set, others that he caught a mad, determined gleam in his eyes. But all of them remembered precisely what happened next. "We can't let that happen, understood?" Komagashi's inner struggle surged to the surface as he confronted his fear with the operation. "We have to get this right the first time. For her. For her future." With that said, he moved over to Yui and looked down at her still form once again. "She deserves better than this…" He said, mostly to himself, "And we're going to make it happen, I know it! We will! We have to!" By this time Kohryu had his arms on Komagashi's shoulders and was gently turning him around to embrace him. Kohryu only had to look in Komagashi's face for a moment to know exactly what was on the young doctor's mind. "Mensaijo, I know I can do this, we just need to make it right the first time. I know it's possible, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get this far. It's just… I… I just don't want her to end up like Kokuru… I can't go through that again…" Tears streaked down Komagashi's face as Kohryu's memory flashed once again to the time in his life that had encompassed Komagashi's late daughter.
Kokuru had been a bustling, rambunctious little bundle of energy that had become the absolute center of his friend's world. Komagashi had loved her with every fiber of his being, and when they had been ripped apart from her accident, Komagashi had sunk into what seemed to be a bottomless depression. Regardless of whatever counseling he had gone to, there seemed to be no way to get Jamek to come out of the funk he'd put himself in. It had hurt him so much that he completely distanced himself from his wife, and had inadvertently almost caused their marriage's demise. Thank goodness Kohryu had intervened in time.
It had been about 8 months after Kokuru's death, and Jamek's depression had spiraled out of control. Granted, he still performed top-notch at the hospital, but he was severely lacking the sincerity and warmth that he'd became famous for within the hospital. He no longer visited the children's section of the hospital, and they severely missed their time with him, as it made their time in the hospital that much easier to bear, especially with the seriousness of some of their illnesses. He stopped spending time in the break, preferring to spend as much time as possible engrossed in his work in order to forget the pain caused by the loss of his daughter. And it was taking its toll on him. Mensaijo had had enough. He took the initiative, and cornered Jamek, deciding to finally get to the root of the problem.
Jamek was appropriately surprised when his back suddenly pet the unforgiving concrete of the wall behind him. Even more so when his glance returned to eye level and Mensaijo's eyes were staring back at his with such a ferocity that it scared him.
"Mensaijo, what's going on?" Komagashi asked, perplexed as to why his best friend would be so angry.
"You tell me, Jamek." Mensaijo's voice was laced with venom. As Mensaijo continued, Jamek found himself subconsciously shrinking against the wall behind him. "You've been so cold to everyone lately, and I'm getting sick and tired of your shit. This isn't you, this is just some idiotic, self-pitying, emotionally unstable brat walking around in a doctor's suit, pretending to help people when he can't even help himself to get over a death that happened eight months ago." By this point Mensaijo had gotten so far into the face of Jamek that Jamek could feel the heat and humidity of Mensaijo's breath, which was coming violently out of his now grimacing mouth.
Jamek immediately took offense to this. Mensaijo was talking as if the death in question was just the death of some pet fish or something, not his only daughter, who he was still supposed to be bringing up as they spoke. "And just what the hell would you know about that? Do you have a dead child Mensaijo? Do you?" He didn't give him a chance to answer. They both knew the answer to that. "No, of course not. So what gives you the right to talk down to me like you've already gone through all this? Huh? Wanna riddle me that one?" Komagashi lashed back, grief ripping his throat apart as he replied.
Mensaijo looked off to the side, then asked: "Do you remember Kaname from fifth grade?"
"…"
Jamek was so thrown off by Kohryu's comment that he was speechless for a moment, mouth bobbing back and forth like a fish. When he finally found his voice, he immediately retorted: "And what the hell does that have to do with Kokuru?"
"Answer the question."
"Why don't you answer me first? Tell me what she could possibly have to do with Kokuru."
Mensaijo's voice dropped and picked up a dangerous tone. "You'll just have to find out, now won't you? Now answer me. Do you remember?"
Jamek, finally conceding to the fact that sooner or later he'd have to answer to the question, he replied impatiently: "Yes."
Mensaijo's eyes locked with Jamek's as he asked him another question. "Do you remember what happened to her? Come on, think, you know this…"
Jamek racked his mind, trying to find the answer he was seeking. The name itself seemed familiar, and the face that went with it, but for some reason he couldn't figure out why they stood out so starkly in his memory, or what their importance was. "Yeah, I remember the face and the name, but even so, what's she got to do with my daughter?"
Mensaijo's eyes popped out of his head. You've got to be kidding me. He remembers nothing? "Do you remember nothing Jamek? She was the first girl that I ever went out with- at least, up to fifth grade. You really don't remember any of this do you?" He was answered by Jamek slowly shaking his head from side to side. "Well then, it seem you need a refresher. October 20th, 1993. A girl by the name of Kaname Tsukuba was involved in a building collapse, which caused 5 injuries, but no deaths other than hers. I loved her, and she was taken away from me right at the time I really needed her. And then you popped into the picture, and-"
It was all coming back to him now. Jamek remembered the reports from the following morning, and how everyone was subdued at school, but no one quite as much as Mensaijo. Mensaijo hadn't even wanted to speak with him, much less socialize or even hang out. It had been the loneliest three weeks of Jamek's life, being able to be with his best friend, but never really being with him, more like just co-existing in the same general area. Jamek, getting angry at Mensaijo's blatant refusal to acknowledge his best friend, Jamek had cornered his best friend after school and proceeded to 'knock some sense into him' – or at least that's what he'd believed it to be. But it had opened Mensaijo's eyes to make him realize what he had right in front of him.
And that's all that Mensaijo was trying to do. Return the favor, and pay back the debt he himself incurred.
With all this in mind, Jamek asked to no one in particular: "Have I really been such a bad person?"
"No, you've just become lost by trying to cope too hard. There are a lot of people who depend upon you, and look to you for guidance, a lot more than I think you're aware of." Mensaijo replied.
"But how do I get out of this? I still love and miss my Kokuru… I mean, how am I supposed to move on? It's not like I can just move on in a day…" Komagashi stated, his eyes glazing over.
"No one said you have to. It's a gradual process that will take however long you need. Trust me, it wasn't easy to let go of Kaname, and, to be honest, I still haven't forgotten about her… But life goes on, and so, in time, you will too." Mensaijo drew Jamek close to him. "Don't forget about her, but don't let her dominate your life, either. Ghosts have a way of becoming more incredible than the person they represent." Jamek understood that well, and now that he looked back on it, it was true.
"So where do I go from here?" Jamek asked, perplexed as to what his next move ought to be.
"That, my friend," Mensaijo replied, "is up to you. You determine your own pace, but if you ever need a nudge in the right direction, I'll be here. All you have to do is ask." Mensaijo released his friend, nevertheless staying within arm's reach.
Jamek felt something begin to uncurl inside of him. Although he couldn't quite place the feeling inside of him, he felt the tension in his body slowly start to release, and it felt good. Then it clicked.
He finally felt comfortable. And that was all that mattered.
"Alright guys, you heard him, let's get this show on the road." Mensaijo barked. Everyone gathered themselves and stood over Yui's body, all hunched over, anxiously awaiting their turn in the final part of the procedure.
So it continued for the better portion of two hours, letting the discs and vertebrae lock together properly, and then sealing her back together, all the while still hooked up to the cardiopulmonary bypass machine. It had strained them all to their last nerve, but once they were done, a great sigh of relief passed through everyone's lips. Now all that was left was for Yui's heart to beat once again. Once that happened, everything would work itself out.
Then the miracle occurred a few days later. It happened just as Jamek was gearing up to head on home. He had just happened a glance in her direction when he sensed something was off about her. He walked towards her, not quite sure why he'd become so apprehensive all of a sudden. But soon enough he found his answer. Although there was no accompanying sound, all he had to do was look at the monitor and his answer was laid out right in front of him. Her heart was there, pounding away, just like he'd hoped every day since he'd finished the procedure on her spine.
At that moment, happy was nowhere near good enough an adjective to describe how he was feeling. He was above ecstatic, beyond elated. At that moment in time he was hovering on some plane far higher than anyone else around him. He had finally succeeded in the one area he thought he never could. He had triumphed over what had plagued him for so long. Although it'd taken the death of his daughter, and that same risk of Yui, he'd finally found a treatment for spinal damage.
Yui awoke once again, checking the clock. It was close to 9 a.m. now, time for her to call her nurse. So she slowly turned her head, using her nose to push the sensitive keypad. As she waited, she realized that something was wrong with her. She was itchy. Granted, her body itched all the time; she had become used to the sensation. But this was something completely different. It was like she could feel her arms' discomfort, but ten times more intense. She took the time to look down at her arms. They were in a different position than she'd left them earlier that morning. Dismissing it as a doctor's slight mistake, she turned her head back to face front and resigned herself to waiting.
Soon enough a nurse came waltzing into her room. As she checked Yui's vitals, Yui piped up.
"Umm, my arms itch and I don't see my mother around anywhere… Do you think you could help me, please?" She asked, a pleasant smile on her face.
The nurse turned to her and returned the smile, saying: "Why of course dear, just let me finish this little report first. Don't want to disappoint my boss, you know…" Yui knew what she was referring to; she'd been through this routine before.
The nurse finished her report, then proceeded to set down the clipboard, and walk over to Yui.
"Alright, so where's the itch?" the nurse asked, rolling up her sleeves.
Yui looked down for a second, then answered: "Both of my arms, right up to the elbows. They're itchin' like crazy here!" Her comment drew a smile from the otherwise serious nurse, and she got to work. However, as soon as she touched Yui's arm, it retracted forcefully to Yui's body, slamming into her.
The nurse was properly stunned. Yui, however, was getting excited.
"Wow! Look! It moved! Hey nurse, do it again, that was really cool!" Yui was practically beaming. Holy crap, that was the coolest thing I've seen in awhile. While Yui continued along this train of thought, the nurse, completely unnoticed by Yui, was staring at her without regard, mouth agape, expressionless.
Is this really happening? Did the procedure really work? At a complete loss for words, the nurse simply backed out of the room, a clear destination in mind as she began quickening her pace down the white halls.
I'll get right on the third chapter right away... as soon as anime club finishes tonight... Till then, enjoy these two chapters.
Motofan713