7. Say what kind of amnesia?
Disclaimer: Skip Beat! and all of its characters belong to Yoshiki Nakamura.
A/N: (July 25, 2009) Sorry about the delay! Had writer's block for some time now. Well, enjoy!
Kanae turned to the sound of the door opening behind her. Tsuruga-san stepped inside the room with his manager Yashiro-san closing the door politely behind him. Ren's face looked like he had just experienced a thousand years worth of hell during the past couple of hours he had left.
"Eh? Where's Fuwa?" Kanae questioned. She had at least expected him to come and check on Kyoko's condition. Apparently she overestimated him.
Ren's face, if possible, turned darker then when he first came in the room. He didn't answer as he walked over to the window on the other side of the room, leaving a frantic Yashiro to explain.
"Well, you see, Kotonami-san," Yashiro tried to explain, "You know how Ren and Fuwa-kun are not exactly the best of pals right?" Kanae nodded. There was no need to finish. It was clear that the two celebrities were at each other's throats the entire, or if not, the majority of their time together. Oh, how she could just picture it now. Tsuruga-san standing with a dark demonic aura that rivaled Kyoko's and Fuwa standing before him with a hell of a downright pissed look on his face.
Kanae sighed as she glanced at the famous actor, who was now staring out at the vast, bustling city of Tokyo. Oh well, might as well ask. "Tsuruga-san," The brunette didn't reply, but she knew she had gotten his attention. "Did you get what you needed? I assumed that you had some miraculous plan that could get Kyoko's memory back."
Before Ren could answer the door opened and a doctor and two nurses entered the room and smiled, "Shitsurei shimasu," the nurses bowed and walked over to Kyoko's bed. The nurses began to flit around Kyoko; fixing anything that needed to be fixed. Checking the IV, fluffing up the pillows, taking notes on their clipboard charts.
"Ah, you must be friends of Kyoko-san," the doctor smiled. He had a friendly face with slick black hair. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties. He moved the grey clipboard chart he was holding to his side as he stepped forward and shook Yashiro's hand. "My name is Akihiko Shuuhei. I am in charge of taking care on Kyoko as long as she is in custody." He looked over at Ren's impassive face and smiled. Ren nodded in acknowledgement.
Yashiro spoke up. "Ah, yes. I'm Yukihito Yashiro, Tsuruga Ren's manager," he said as he gestured toward Ren, "And this is Kotonami Kanae," he said, moving his hand to gesture at Kanae who bowed slightly. "We are all co-workers and friends of Kyoko-chan's from the company LME." He finished. Akihiko nodded in understanding.
"Akihiko-sensei," Kanae inquired as she stood from her seat, "Two hours ago, Kyoko woke up not knowing who we are or who she is. Is the amnesia really serious or is it temporary?" Her eyes clearly said that she was begging for the latter.
Akihiko-sensei's face turned serious. "This cannot be clarified at the moment. We need to wait until Kyoko-san wakes up once again." He looked at his clipboard. "She was lucky to not have a concussion."
He pushed his glasses up as he continued. "My guess is that Kyoko-san has retrograde amnesia." The three people in front of them looked confused. All three of them knew what amnesia was, but they were not too clear about anything specific.
"Allow me to explain," the doctor insisted. "Retrograde amnesia can also be divided into two categories: temporally graded retrograde amnesia and stable, temporally ungraded retrograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia commonly results from damage to the brain regions most closely associated with episodic/declarative memory. It is usually caused by trauma that results in brain injury. Though retrograde amnesia is often temporally graded, which means that remote memories are more easily accessible than events occurring just prior to the trauma, events nearest in time to the event that caused memory loss may never be recovered. A person who has suffered this injury will often feel as if the time, from what I say about 1–4 hours, before the injury were a dream."
So that's why Kyoko's eyes seemed to haze over the first time I saw her, Ren realized. He distinctively remembered the distant look in her eyes and her unfocused golden gaze as she looked upon him. He quickly tried to catch the last part on what Akihiko-sensei was saying as he waved those memories aside.
"If someone informs the injured person of the events just before the trauma, they will most likely recollect some of the happenings."
There was a moment of silence as the heavy amount of information sunk in.
"In other words, Mogami-san would most likely not remember anything from the previous night, even if she does regain full memory," Ren stated, trying to sum it all up.
"That is correct," Akihiko praised.
"But there is a chance for Kyoko to regain her full memory back." Kanae asked more than saying.
"There is." Akihiko smiled. The tension in the room visibly relaxed. "Even if there is no cure for retrograde amnesia, 'jogging' the victim's memory by exposing them to significant articles from their past will speed the rate of recall."
Ugh, he really needs to dumb it down for me a little, Kanae innerly groaned as she raked a hand through her hair. But with her miraculous acting skills, she managed to look like an intelligent lady who understood everything perfectly and was just brushing her bangs from her face on the outside. "By 'jogging', do you mean showing Kyoko familiar things that often showed up in her daily life?" she asked.
"Precisely." Akihiko praised once again. "My, you people are a smart bunch. If it was any other patient, I would have to spell out each and every word I say," he laughed warmly.
Riiiight, Kanae, Ren, and Yashiro all thought in a mixture of shame and embarrassment all at the same time.
To be honest, Ren had some trouble catching up, too. But of course he wasn't going to admit it. During the entire time Akihiko-sensei was explaining Retrograde Amnesia, he just got the words he didn't understand in his mind, and searched through the mind-implanted dictionary in his brain. Only an actor as great as him can manage to pull this off without looking like an idiot staring off into space.
Yashiro, on the other hand, understood everything perfectly. He was a fairly intelligent man who used common sense to guide him. The doctor's speech was indeed confusing but he figured it out. Even his looks said that he was smart. Or maybe it was just the glasses.
"So if possible," the doctor was saying, "Try bringing in things that might have been implanted into Kyoko's mind for a long time. Something vivid and familiar. Something she either loved, liked, hated; anything at all." He looked from face to face to face, who were all picturing a different thing in their heads at the exact same time. They all smiled. "Think of anything yet?" The doctor asked, smiling.
"Oh, yeah." Kanae grinned as she looked at Ren and Yashiro who both smiled back at her.
This was going to be easier than I thought, all three people thought at the same time.
A/N: Kanae, Ren and Yashiro were a little too in synch in this chapter. Oh well, I liked it! The next chapter is when people from all over the manga come to meet Kyoko, each bringing along an unsual item for her to remember them by. I'm looking forward to see what I can do! I hope you are too! Please review. I want to hear the thoughts, views, and opinions from my readers as much as I can. Thank you!!
