4:00 pm
After what had just transpired on the school roof, it was unusually quiet on the train ride home for a little while. "Oh come on! What the hell? Someone has to have something to talk about!", Yuuko complained, "It's too freaking quiet in here!". She said this just a little too loudly though, as the other people in the train all turned to her and gave her a disapproving look. "Please keep your voice down! We're on a subway, not the playground!", Mio scolded her.
"Anyway, Nano-chan, are we still allowed to come over tonight?", Yuuko asked. "Of course, Aioi-san", Nano confirmed, "You're still allowed to come over, as long as you don't get too loud". "Why? It's a Friday night and we're on break for 2 weeks", Yuuko wondered. "Geez! Are you that dense? She said this morning that Hakase was sick", Mio reminded her. "Ah damn it! I'm sorry, Nano-chan", Yuuko apologized. "It's all right. You just forgot that's all", Nano assured her.
"What exactly is wrong with Hakase?", Mai asked, seeming genuinely concerned, at least for her standards. "Well, she barely ate any of her breakfast this morning", Nano told her, "Any other day she would have licked the plate clean". "Why would that be?", Mai wondered. "Apparently, she had a bad stomachache", Nano continued, "She called right after we left the school, and told me she hadn't eaten all day because her stomachache was getting worse". "If she doesn't get better by tomorrow, you should take her to the doctor", Mio explained. "Yeah, or get the doctor to come to the laboratory", Yuuko added. "Good idea", Nano answered back, "It might be something serious".
Just before the train stopped at Kadokawa Station, Nano explained to her friends, "I have to do some grocery shopping before I head home". "Why don't we help you out?", Yuuko suggested. "Yeah, four heads are better than one", Mio added. "I'll help too", Mai chimed in. "That's a wonderful idea!", Nano exclaimed, "Then we can go right to your house from there", Yuuko added in. "That way we don't have to separate", Mio chimed. "So its agreed", Nano stated, "We'll head to the market first, then to the laboratory". "Ready to go!", Yuuko and Mio cheered. Mai just nodded "yes" in reply.
5:00 pm
The girls finished up at the supermarket and began walking the roughly 750 meters (2,461 feet or almost half a mile) to the Shinonome Laboratory. Being so late in the year now, the sun sets at roughly 4:30 pm this time of year. So as you can imagine, it was dark by the time they got out of the supermarket. Anyway, getting back to the story. All of the girls were carrying one of the bags in their hands.
"That's the one thing I hate about this time of year" Yuuko complained, "It gets dark way too early". "I know what you mean, Yuuko", Mio agreed, "It's a shame it gets dark early now that it's getting close to winter". As they got closer to the suburbs though, something strange happened. The houses on the streets were lit up with Christmas lights of different colors. "Even though I said I hate how it gets dark earlier, I gotta admit the neighborhood looks Super Ultra Great Delicious Wonderful", Yuuko stated. "I agree with you on that one", Mio chimed in, "I think it looks beautiful". "This is one of the benefits of walking home during this time of year", Nano agreed.
The girls reached the Shinonome Laboratory at about 5:15 pm. "I'm home!", Nano called out as she opened the front door and the girls set the bag down on the floor. "Yo", Sakamoto answered as he stepped into the hallway. "We'll put the stuff away for you, Nano-chan", Yuuko told her. "Yeah, we're your guests so we should help out", Mio agreed. "Thank you so much", Nano answered, then turning to Sakamoto asked, "By the way, Sakamoto-san, where is Hakase?". "In bed trying to sleep. The girl didn't eat a thing today. She said her stomach kept hurting her and she even threw up twice", Sakamoto explained.
"You mean she didn't eat anything?", Nano wondered. "I watched her all day", Sakamoto continued, "Check the snack cupboard if you don't believe it". Nano looked in the cupboard where she kept all of Hakase's snacks and sure enough, it had not changed at all from when she had left for school that morning. "You're right, Sakamoto-san", Nano told him, "All of the snacks are still here". "Strange, isn't it?", Sakamoto contemplated, "Usually she'd have eaten at least one or two of those things".
Meanwhile, Mai had been listening to them the whole time. She walked up to Nano and tapped her on the shoulder. "Do you think it could be something serious?", she wondered, seeming really concerned. "I'm not sure", Nano told her, "But something is not right here". Yuuko and Mio had taken notice of this as well, and as soon as they finished putting the groceries away, they told Nano that they were going to check on Hakase to see how she was doing. "I'm sure it's nothing too serious. Maybe she just has a really bad stomach bug", Mai assured. "It probably is but I just can't shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong", Nano explained to her, "It's either a Caregiver's Intuition or a Big Sister Instinct". Unfortunately for her, her instincts proved right.
Content Warning: Here is where the story starts to go into another fairly tense moment.
At that moment, Yuuko and Mio came rushing back into the kitchen, and both had clear looks of distress on their faces. "Nano-chan! Come quick!", Yuuko called out. "Something's wrong with Hakase!", Mio added. The four girls, along with Sakamoto, sprinted into the bedroom. Hakase was laying on the floor in a crumpled heap, crying and clutching her stomach with both hands. "Oh my god! Hakase! What's wrong!", Nano gasped. "It hurts, Nano! It hurts really bad now!", Hakase whimpered with tears streaming down her face and sweat dripping from her forehead.
Nano put her hand on Hakase's forehead and pulled it away after a second. "You're burning up, Hakase!", Nano told her then turning to the three other girls called out, "Quick! Call Dr. Hanada! The number is on the fridge!". With that, Yuuko and Mio rushed out to the phone. "Ow! It really hurts!", Hakase moaned, "Make it stop!". Sakamoto walked up to her and told her, "Just stay calm, kid. Everything will be just fine." To that, Hakase replied with the most desperate look on her face, "Hakase can't help it! Hakase is really scared!". Mai grabbed Hakase's right hand and told her, "Calm down, Hakase. Worrying will only make it worse. I'm sure everything will be fine", even though in her own mind, she was quite worried.
A few minutes later, Dr. Hanada and his partner, Dr. Nishiya, pulled up in front of the house. Yuuko and Mio directed them inside and into the bedroom. After taking a close inspection of her condition, Dr. Hanada turned to the four girls and explained, "Well, quite frankly, it looks like young Hakase might have appendicitis". "Appendicitis?", Nano sputtered, clearly shocked, "You mean she might need surgery?". "Well, we'll need to bring her to the hospital to make sure", Dr. Hanada explained.
"I'll summon the ambulance", Dr. Nishiya added as he pulled out his cellphone and dialed 119. "Yes, we are at the Shinonome Laboratory. We have an eight year old girl complaining of severe stomach cramps and she is currently running a fever of 39.5 degrees Celsius (103.1 degrees Fahrenheit).", he told the operator, "We think it may be appendicitis. Yes, please send an ambulance to the Shinonome Laboratory immediately. Thank you".
"I don't want to have surgery!", Hakase whined. "I'm afraid you might not have a choice this time", Nano told her. "If left untreated, appendicitis may cause a serious infection that could very well kill you", Dr. Hanada explained, "But you don't need to worry, little Hakase. If you do have it, the operation is very simple". "I underwent the procedure myself back in '08", Dr. Nishiya added, "And I was in and out of the hospital within 2 or 3 days". "See Hakase, nothing to worry about", Yuuko told her. "Yeah, the people at the hospital are going to take really good care of you", Mio added.
At about 5:45 pm, the ambulance pulled up to the front door. Two attendants, one male and one female, came in carrying a stretcher. "Hello there, my name is Mr. Muramoto", the man explained. "And my name is Ms. Nishioka. What's your name?", the woman asked. "M-My n-name is H-H-Hakase", Hakase sniffled still a little scared. "It's all right, you don't need to be scared", Mr. Muramoto told her. "He's right. The nice people at the hospital aren't gonna let anything bad happen to you", Ms. Nishioka added.
With that, they loaded her onto the stretcher and wheeled her into the ambulance. The other 4 girls followed suit. Nano, with Sakamoto on her back, asked the two doctors, "How much do I owe you?". "Usually we charge 2,500 yen ($30.02 USD) for house calls", Dr. Hanada answered. "But for you, this time, it's on the house", Dr. Nishiya added. "Thank you very much", Nano sputtered greatfully. "You're welcome", Dr. Hanada and Dr. Nishiya called out to her as the doors closed and the ambulance sped off into the night.
Author's Notes:
Chapter completed on December 1, 2011
Super Ultra Great Delicious Wonderful - a quote that results from the show's many uses of Gratuitous English. Yuuko has said this line at least twice, but that was when she was either upset or confused.
119 - the emergency number in Japan.
Dr. Hanada is named after script supervisor Jukki Hanada (花田 十輝). Hanada wrote the scripts for Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 16, 20, 24 and 25, a total of 11 episodes. He also wrote several episodes for K-ON over its 2 season run.
Dr. Nishiya is named after character designer Futoshi Nishiya (西屋 太志). Nishiya was the animation director on Episodes 1 and 26, as well as on the 2 opening and ending sequences the show had. He is also a animation director and key animator on many of KyoAni's programs.
Mr. Muramoto is named after Katsuhiko Muramoto (村元 克彦). Muramoto wrote the scripts for Episodes 7, 9, 18, 21 and 23, a total of 5 episodes. He also wrote scripts for several episodes of Haruhi, Lucky Star and K-ON.
Ms. Nishioka is named after Maiko Nishioka (西岡 麻衣子). Nishioka wrote the scripts for Episodes 6, 8, 17 and 22, a total of 4 episodes. She was also an in between animator on Clannad, K-ON, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya and the K-ON movie.
1 United States dollar was worth 83.2909 Japanese yen in December of 2010.