"And with this, we have discovered the secret to closing the gap," Doctor Mayake says. "Using fertilized chicken eggs has enabled you to cast heal twenty times without depleting more than half of your mana bar. That means that for every casting, you need to have something like these eggs… that could be tricky."
Naomi sighs as she stares down at the body she just finished healing. "Where'd you even get a corpse like this? I didn't think they just let anyone use medical cadavers."
"Oh, they don't," he replies. "But there are a lot of people interested in this research, what with your Quirk being so unique."
"They aren't banking on me being a medical hero or a doctor, are they?" she asks with some distaste. "I know I've been studying medical stuff, but I only planned to use this on myself."
"They might be hoping for it, but they cannot make you," he replies. "So don't worry yourself over it. The research itself is worth quite a bit, which is why we pay you so much for exercises and blood."
"Alright," she says. "What about the other stuff I used? We tried using animal sacrifice, eggs, drawing blood. Which one worked best?"
"Drawing blood was the same amount of drain as simply using your spells without a medium," he replies. "So don't use that. The animals had the best possible amount of mana conservation, but the eggs are portable, easy to get… there was one more thing I wanted to try."
He walks over to the little cart where he pulled the eggs and animal cages from, and lifts out a tank. It's filled with water. He hefts it easily and sets it down on the table we were using for animal sacrifice. Then he pulls out what looks like a goldfish bowl and also puts that on the table.
"In the biggest tank, there is coral. It holds many microorganisms," he says. "And in the goldfish bowl, we have fish eggs. Freshly laid. Let us see which of these has the biggest mana conservation score for you."
"Wouldn't it be kinda unwieldy to use either of those?" she asks as she walks over.
"Oh certainly," he grins. "But if we can find something similar that is less unwieldy, we would also test that. Let's see which of these is the ticket for you, hm?"
"Doctor Mayake," another doctor enters the room. Her eyes a dark red with black slit pupils. Her skin deep blue. She looks kind of like a salamander woman?
Naomi cannot get used to people walking around, looking like that. Honestly it's very cool, but it's so different from her usual social paradigm that it jars her. Like being slapped.
"Doctor Suzuki," he greets her, going stiff. "What do you need?"
"I have brought you more of the requests," she replies, but her smile feels poisonous. "They requested that I hand them directly to her, because they know you've been intercepting. They threatened legal action, doctor."
"Requests?" Naomi asks. "People who want me to train to be a medical hero or something?"
"It isn't important," Doctor Mayake says. "You've said you do not want it, so I have run interference to keep them from pressuring you. You're not even three weeks out of recovery yet."
"While that's nice of you, Doctor," Naomi says. "I would still like to know the requests are being sent and what for. Resting and being ignorant are different. Still, I appreciate it."
"In the spirit of that," Doctor Suzuki says and steps toward Naomi. Holding out a bunch of files. "Here are the requests. Medical Heroes are slammed with these on a regular basis. Which is good for you."
Naomi lifts an eyebrow. "They want me to freelance?"
"Ah, you're very quick," she compliments as she hands them over. "Yes… anyone with a healing quirk who can accept these requests, will be paid handsomely. This is how we keep the balance, you see. All the government-funded healing goes toward heroes, those with insurance and even the poor. But there are quite a few Quirks that don't qualify for the exams. Healing powers can be quite difficult to quantify, so every once in a while, someone slips through the cracks."
"Or they choose not to be verified," Doctor Mayake says. "Meaning, they want to be freelance from the beginning or they don't want anything to do with it."
"Hiding this avenue from her when she's so hard up for money and a job," Doctor Suzuki says, turning to him. "So selfish, don't you think? Expecting her to adhere to your moral code like that…"
"Freelance medical work is risky," he protests. "If you agree to the job but you can't do it, you will be angering very powerful, rich people. They may hold a grudge, even if you give the money back."
"Which is why she should be told which jobs will be easy for her to complete," Doctor Suzuki says. "Having a doctor as an advisor until she can judge for herself. I wanted to volunteer, but you kept blocking me. So now I finally get to offer."
Something about that doesn't seem right. If it's as dangerous as Mayake says, obviously this is a criminal kind of thing. There might be mob-bosses and people who can't go to a hospital for other reasons… or it might just be celebrities who will require her to have her memory erased with one of their own quirk-holders' abilities, or something.
'So why would Suzuki push that?' she wonders, glancing at the woman. 'It's possible she's connected to a gang or just really likes money.'
"Is there a fee for you helping me to do that?" Naomi asks.
Doctor Suzuki smiles, widely. No teeth, but a pair of fangs in her mouth. "You are very quick. It is in my best interests to help you and in yours to take a few of these jobs so that you can afford to live."
"But it won't end there, right?" Naomi says. "When people are aware of my existence, more than they are now, and have seen what I can do… they won't stop requesting. Some people might even be desperate or arrogant enough to try and take me for themselves against my will."
"Doctor Suzuki is right that you are very quick," Doctor Mayake says. "I thought I might have to try and explain the dangers myself. Now you see why you cannot do it?"
"On the contrary, I kind of have to, now," Naomi says. "If I don't, someone will just take me anyway, because my information has been leaked. It's either take these requests, or align myself with someone specific who needs a healer…"
"Someone who can protect you!" Suzuki says with some glee. "There are many who can do the job in Japan, especially if you consent to living in their compounds. This is merely a reality of living as a healer. We've all had to deal with it. We're protected by heroes and our own training. But you…"
"You have time to think about it," Mayake says. "We are currently watching your apartment, to make certain nothing happens. We can simply assign you another guard. A hero-"
"No," Naomi sighs. "I was naive to think I could just live quietly as a healer. I hadn't thought about the Doctor Conundrum."
"Doctor conundrum?" he repeats, blinking. "What… is that?"
"If you gain a skill, you become valuable. Depending upon how valuable that skill is," Naomi says. "The person will be sought after. They will be offered money, goods, other things of value. But… if their skill is so important and vital to multiple groups of people that they'd be willing to pay a lot of money and grant all their wishes… they'd also be willing to cut costs by taking them prisoner. Essentially, the Doctor Conundrum is 'I want to be so highly valued that people will pay me a lot for my work, but if I am that valued, people won't look at me as a person anymore'."
'It's mostly a concept in post-apocalyptic settings, but still. It applies here.'
"Ah…" Doctor Mayake sighs. "I suppose you are regretting choosing the Healer skillset, then?"
"Maybe," she says. "But also… maybe not. I mean, if I had great firepower skills, they'd probably still try and recruit me. Might frame me for crimes and shit. It's just that a Doctor has no protections aside from those they cultivate outside their healing skills. Like martial ability… or learning to use the skills for something other than healing. So the only option now is to find a friend."
"A powerful friend," Suzuki agrees. "There are many rich men who would pay for your room and board, a protection detail and even buy you an entirely new wardrobe as a sign-on bonus."
"Sure," Naomi says. "I'll just have to find someone to sign on with… in the meantime… are we done here?"
"For today," Doctor Mayake says. "Please don't feel pressured to join up with anyone unsavory. There are plenty of rich men that are not criminals."
'Some people can be so naive,' Naomi thinks while smiling and agreeing. 'All rich people are criminals. That's how they got rich.'