Battle Phase 2-04: A New Dawn

The ambulance sped on, sirens at full blast, alerting all that someone was being rushed to the hospital. Upon arrival, Miharu was rushed to the E.R. with the two companions stopping before reaching the second main doors. Inside, doctors were struggling to put her vital signs in stability, with a bit of hope. After a few minutes of struggle, they have managed to stabilize her, for now- though she is still unconscious. The E.R. doctor on duty came out and approached the grief-stricken mother.

"Dr. Karasu..." Yayoi managed to speak. Dr. Sekiji Karasu was one of her younger sister's students in med school- and Hinata's favorite one at that.

"Mrs. Hoshikawa, she's stable..." the doctor began "For now. Unless she get operated on, she would have no chance of survival- I'm afraid to say this but... the massive trauma that Miharu has sustained, stacked by her tetralogy (she has Tetralogy of Fallot- a congenital heart disorder, wherein the heart's chambers were never fully completed at birth) is causing her heart attacks every so often... only the medicine that Dr. Sasaki had prescribed is keeping her alive for now. I'm afraid that we must operate on her as soon as possible..."

Yayoi could not speak and began to shed tears.

"Why did this happen to her! Why!" she began to sob.

"Mam... I think we now have to do what Dr. Kojima's will have stated- with your permission, I would like to secure the release of HEART-1, her final and greatest creation..."

Meanwhile, Hinata was in Misaki's custody, via a hospital capsule- another one of Dr. Kojima's inventions. The supercomputer in the pod was even puzzled at where to begin- but by nature of its program, it began to determine the status of the primary part of the angel- the heart crystal. Bad news- the crystal was damaged, but still recoverable and repairable at a 1 percent chance.

"HEART-1... the most perfect artificial heart known to man... and only one currently exists- and that unique heart was already slated for Miharu..." Yayoi weakly spoke.

"To tell you the truth... that heart was..." Dr. Karasu replied "Your sister's- parts of it..."

"What do you mean?"

"After she died, under her orders, I opened the research log about the device... and it confirmed my suspicion- such a lifelike machine was not that easily possible... Dr. Kojima used her own heart cells in creation of the unit... and this was left for you..." the doc continued, giving Yayoi a sealed stationery envelope.

She opened it, and read the letter, which went like this...

"Dearest Sister; if you are reading this; that means that I'm no longer on this dimension and I'm probably fighting against tons of minions from another world... Sorry to joke around but, I have something to tell you... I was totally selfish in creating this heart... because I made for my cute niece- Miharu... for I don't want to happen to her what happened to me- you should know, for I also carried her in my womb while you were in a coma..."

"Sister Yayoi dear, I'm sorry if this is the last time that I could talk to you- a bit awkward but still okay. Even though I only lived for a short while, I hope that my work will continue to serve its purpose... And another thing, I would never let my sister cry in any circumstance- I would never let any sadness overtake you- for I would rather cry for you than to see you shed tears- which hurts me more. So don't cry, be strong and pray... I love you sis... Hinata."

"Hinata you fool... you are sooo selfish and selfless at the same time..." Yayoi further cried, then gathered up all her courage and spoke "Okay... save her, not just for me, but for Hinata as well..."

"Okay, you can count on me- because no one dies on my operating watch!"

Back at Misaki's side, she was thinking of what had just happened.

"It should have been me, but why her!" she asked herself.

"Even I find it strange and disturbing..." Hikaru spoke suit.

"Why! Why!"

"Miharu is a really selfless person..." Yayoi sat and spoke beside her. "Within that tough, get going image, is a person that will risk for someone near- just like her aunt.

A few minutes later, Kajiro and a few others arrived at the waiting room.

"I came as soon as I heard... what's happening?"

"They are operating on her right now- a total heart replacement, just like Hinata ordered in the will..."

"Where's Misaki? We are worried about her too..." Tamayo asked. "Since we've heard that she just fought someone who seems to be totally crazy..."

"I'm here in the chapel..." Misaki's voice suddenly coursed through not just Tamayo, but also Kotaro as well.

"We'll just find her..." Kotaro just excused themselves.

"I should say that this is the hardest time that they have on their timelines, sir..." the yellow-haired agent reported back to Andrei, who was near the chapel.

"Being the protector of the family is a huge responsibility... Sera." Andrei commented. "I'm going to find this psycho and deal with him or her promptly- even if it means stressing all of my resources.

"But..."

"Go home and take care of your son..." he again reasoned to her protest "I'm conferring this matter to others- it should have not been your case in the first place..."

"Misaki..." Tamayo weakly called upon seeing her in the chapel.

Misaki was sitting on a pew and was looking after a hospital capsule with Hinata inside it.

"How is she?" Kotaro asked, letting Misaki rest her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know..."

"What happened?" this time Tamayo.

"She saved me... even though she's the one who needed rescuing..." Misaki managed to puff sadly.

In the operating room...

"Body temperature is now in the range..." the med tech called, monitoring the cooling process. In the center, all open heart surgeries are conducted in low temperature- with ice packed around the patient.

"Okay... let's start this..." Dr. Karasu began, starting the operation.

And hence the operation began... and yes, with all the grueling and graphic scenes ("This section contains graphic images and parental guidance is advised..." and yes, I'm going to broadcast open heart surgery.). Setting that aside, the yellow-haired agent now went into the waiting room, where Yayoi was still weeping- being held in her husband's arms.

"What kind of a mother am I!" Yayoi cried further.

"There, there... you don't have anything to do with it... just a set of events that fell together badly..." Kajiro tried to comfort her still.

"It still has... I have not foreseen what has happened..."

The agent was now irritated that she stepped up to Yayoi, grabbed and pinned her against the wall.

"Now you listen here woman..."

"Sera... wha-wha-what are you doing here!"

"Sera, take it easy..." Kajiro advised.

"You stay out of this!" she hissed "Your daughter is fighting for her life on the table right now... the least you can do is pray for her safety... like what we always do when one member of the team goes sick... remember our pact- never show grief for your own, always hope them for the better..."

"Okay... here is the really scary and icky part... prepare to stop her heart and prep for heart-lung connections." The surgeon ordered. Then seeing that the conditions were right, he now gave out the order "Stop her heart... and connect her to the apparatus, quickly!"

And so her heart was stopped and the respiration and circulation were quickly transferred to the heart-lung machine.

"We must replace her heart within the hour... thank you nurse..." the doctor went to work, while the nurse wiped the sweat off his forehead.

And so it is at this point that in some plane of consciousness, Miharu had found herself standing- in a dark space.

"Misaki... save me..." Miharu's weak voice suddenly cuts across Misaki's chain of thoughts. "This darkness is... help me!"

"Miharu!" Misaki suddenly alarmed and looked at the hospital pod. Inside, the angel was shaking and rattling itself, almost in a seizure.

"What's happening! What is going on!" Tamayo asked, seeing it as well.

"Hold on Miharu... hold on..." Misaki again thought, as the angel again settled down.

"Heart connections complete... now let's see if this works..." the surgeon called, reconnecting the circulation back to the heart from the machine. As soon the circulation was reconnected, the heart began to beat, powered by the same nerves that powered the heart in the first place.

"That was close sir..." the nurse blew a sigh of relief.

"Now... let's reconnect everything else..."

Meanwhile, as the surgery team began to patch up, Miharu in the meantime was hearing a cry.

"Hinata? Where are you?"

The crying continued.

"Where are you?"

She then suddenly saw her angel- head bowed, tears flowing- walking away.

"Hinata, wait!" Miharu tried give chase.

She then suddenly found herself facing a cracked mirror, with her angel as her reflection, crying.

"Forgive me Miharu..." Hinata began to speak. "I'm sorry if I was not there in your time of need..."

"Hinata... it's not your fault... I was the one who..."

"I know... and look at you; you ended up that way..." the angel replied, starting to run. "I'm so weak hearted!"

"Hinata... wait..." Miharu called again then suddenly kneeled down in pain. "Even though you are weak... I don't care! I know that you are strong too... because it takes courage to cheer up someone who has been thru hard times..."

"But... I have failed you..."

"No you've not... it was my choice to leave you out of this... it was my choice to place myself between Misaki and harm- and I know what could happen to me... and you should know that... for you are me as well... you are my angel..."

The angel stopped and fell silent.

"I am... I am... I am..."

"Be my angel... once again..." Miharu called to the stammering angel.

At that point, Miharu began to open her eyes. She was blinded by the ward's lights but faded, revealing a somewhat blurry image of someone.

"She's awake..." a voice suddenly came in- full of echo.

She tried to lift her arm- but to no avail, for it was either too heavy or she was weak- more the latter.

"Where am I?" she weakly spoke.

"Miharu, you're okay..." the same voice came in more clearly.

"Mom?"

"Take your rest... dear..."

"Okay... mom..."

"Having that 1 percent works... with prayer." Andrei spoke as Yayoi went out of the room. "I'll stand watch..."

He then entered the room and looked at Hinata's capsule, where the state of repair had made her 80 percent complete- unlike when she was placed in when she had only 10 percent integrity left- one more hit could have destroyed her completely or beyond repair.

"Rest on little angels... recover and renew your strength... very soon your proper tools will be available to you- just wait, while I take the task of preparing your friends for any eventuality... in short, I'll train them, just like I trained you and your mother- to some extent. You four should be ready for any eventuality... this year will be hectic for all of us... the Lambda drive is one system of many to look out... and may be used for the wrong reasons, like what happened to you... Rest assured, all will be sorted out..."