Chapter 1: Operation
Haruka laid on the ground stunned for a moment, not realizing what just happened. There was a strange, numb feeling in her hands, and she heard heavy footsteps thundering towards her, but she didn't know what all of this meant. Then, the thought suddenly hit her. Something is wrong with my hands. "Nonsense." Haruka mumbled to herself while the mailman's face appeared over hers, staring down at her with – for some reason – horror in his eyes. "D-don't move." The young man now stuttered, his voice shaking with fear. "I'll call the ambulance, and…and it will be okay…" But I am okay. Haruka wanted to protest, but before she even had the chance to open her mouth, the strange thought of before came back. Something is wrong with my hands. Wrong. Slowly, the blonde rose her head – for one moment wondering why she was lying on the ground in the first place – until her eyes fell on her right hand, which laid at her side. For a few moments, she couldn't figure out what was wrong with the sight, then she realized – there was blood. A lot of it. "What…" Haruka croaked out, her eyes staring at the mess that covered her pants, her forearm, and some of the floor. It'll take me forever to get that out of the carpet. She dully thought to herself, before another, shocked voice screamed at her: Don't worry about the fucking carpet! Worry about your hands! Faintly, the blonde could hear how the mailman spoke into the phone frantically, but she couldn't quite understand what he was saying. Something about blood, and her name…but that was all she could make out. Slowly, her gaze fell back to her right hand, and that was when she realized that indeed something was wrong with it. Although it was covered in blood, she could see what wasn't alright. At first, Haruka tried to convince herself that what she saw wasn't real, even blinked several times. This can't be. It can't be real. I don't see what I think I see…something happened, and now I'm in shock, and my mind is playing tricks on me, I don't see this, no, it's not real, it's just a mean trick of my own mind, it's…it's real. The though hit the blonde with the force of a sledgehammer, and finally, while she kept staring at her hand, where suddenly the last two fingers were not there anymore, she started to scream. She didn't stop screaming until the ambulance arrived, and when they finally had loaded her on the stretcher and rushed her out to the car, she had fallen unconscious.
"Dr. Kaioh! Into the ER 2!" The voice that sounded through the emergency ward of Tokyo Hospital sounded more than hectic, causing Michiru Kaioh, the wanted doctor, to look up from her paperwork in both surprise and curiosity. For one brief second, she wondered why they asked for her and not for the other doctor in charge today, an elder and more experienced man, then she jumped up from the desk she had been sitting on and hurried out of the room, over to the emergency room where the call had come from. Three people were already in it; two of them being paramedics, the third one – obviously the patient – a young blonde woman who laid on the operation desk, covered by a thin white blanket. It was bloodstained at a few spots, but at first look, it didn't seem too bad to the young doctor. "What happened to her?" Michiru asked while pulling the mint green mouth coverage over her head before tying her hair up in a loose bun, covering it with a paper cap afterwards. Last but not least, the aqua haired woman put on a pair of transparent latex gloves while she waited for the paramedics to explain the situation. When the taller one of them started to speak, she could feel how her blood froze. "Apparently someone sent her a letter bomb, and when she opened it…well…it exploded. I guess you can imagine what her hands look like now." Michiru nodded before taking in a deep breath and grabbing the white blanket that covered the blonde. With one fast motion, she pulled it off, revealing the blondes body along with what was left of her hands. Gently, the young doctor took the right hand, turning it so she could see the damage that had been done. "Last two fingers of the right hand missing." She mumbled to herself, before looking up at the paramedics again. "You didn't happen to find them, right?" she asked, although she already knew what the answer would be. "Oh, we did find them. The ones of her other hand too." The smaller one replied, folding his arms over his chest. "In about one million pieces." Michiru gave him a sharp glare before she hurried around the operation desk and examined the other hand. "Thumb and middle finger of the left hand missing too, index finger halfway torn off." She added, then looked at the paramedics again. "Could you please get out? You're not needed anymore." The two men shrugged and nodded, saying their goodbyes to the aqua haired woman before rushing out of the room. Michiru pushed the button of the speaker that was mounted to the wall and barked into it: "Two assistant doctors into ER 2!" Only moments later, the doors flew open, and the two assistants came hurrying in, though stopping dead in their tracks when their eyes fell on the blonde who laid on the desk. "Stop staring and help me!" Michiru snapped at them, tearing them out of their trance. "We need to stop the flow of blood and stitch her up before she bleeds herself to death!" "Yes doctor!" the two young men cried out, rushing over to stand by her side. Michiru gave them first rough orders, and the operation began.
"Finally." Michiru sighed, cutting off the last thread she had used to stitch Harukas hands up with before she looked at the assistant doctors. "Bandage her hands now and get her into a free room. And tell the nurses to call for me as soon as she wakes up." "Yes doctor." The two young men agreed, one of them already reaching for the bandages. "Thanks." Michiru mumbled, already halfway out the door. As soon as it had closed behind her, she leaned against the wall and let out a deep breath. She had recognized the young woman who had lost almost half of her fingers; it was Haruka Tenoh, the pianist. "Somebody will have to tell her that she probably won't play the piano anymore." The aqua haired woman thought to herself, looking up at the ceiling. "And I hate to know that it has to be me." With that, she moved away from the wall and walked off, towards the doctors lounge, with the intent to get a hot cup of coffee before she looked after her other patients. The thought of Haruka never left her mind though.
