May 10, 2019

A call came in at around 5 P.M. for Station 151, Station 156, and Station 152 for a possible boat capsizing with two aboard. You and Kanan had just came home from college, and both ran to the fire station. When they arrived, it had been 3 minutes. For water rescue calls, all firefighters who were trained in water and dive rescue would board Dive Rescue Unit 151, and all non-dive rescue-trained firefighters would board either an ambulance or Rescue 151. Station 152 would send a unit called Van 152 over to Uchiura's marine and drop off any dive rescue-trained volunteers, while Station 156 would send its pumper over and do the same. At the marina, they would board two boats and drive off to the scene of the emergency, with the fire apparatus standing by in the marina parking lot.

You put her bunker gear on and managed to get a seat on Rescue 151, while Kanan instead grabbed her bunker gear, mask, and helmet, threw it in a compartment on DRU 151, and hopped aboard the truck in a black dry suit she had put on that she grabbed from another compartment on the truck. She then grabbed a SCUBA pack and put it on outside before stepping back into the truck. As the truck pulled out of the station alongside Rescue 151, she said to another firefighter who had also boarded DRU 151, "Any word on the two guys in the water?"

"Last I heard," replied the firefighter as he put his seat belt on. "One guy was still afloat and was doing fine. No word on the other guy."

About 7 minutes after the call came in, Rescue 151 and DRU 151 pulled up to the marina. Immediately, Kanan and the other 4 firefighters aboard DRU 151 jumped out and ran down a dock at the marina to Boat 151A. Once they jumped aboard the boat, an older firefighter from Rescue 151 hopped in the driver's seat of the boat, wearing his bunker pants and an orange flotation vest. Leading the dive team was the paid lieutenant on duty at the time, with the other 4 members of the team being volunteers. At the 11 minute mark, Boat 151A sped away from the dock and to the capsized boat just as Boat 151B was getting ready.

When Boat 151A arrived at the 15 minute mark, a police boat was on scene. One of the men from the capsized boat was aboard the police boat, while the other floated in the water, unconscious. A police officer shouted to them, "The guy we got is banged up and has cuts on his legs, but other than that, he's good."

The paid lieutenant then said to Kanan, "Matsuura-san, you're diving with me first." He then pointed at the other three divers. "You three will go in after us if shit hits the fan, got it?"

Kanan nodded and replied, "Yes, sir." They both then put on their masks and turned their SCUBA sets on. Once they were all set, they dived into the waters of Suruga Bay, which were relatively frigid in May. Once they splashed down, they quickly swam over to the second boater. As they got there, Kanan said to the paid lieutenant, "I think he's still alive!"

The paid lieutenant then flipped the man over so his face wasn't in the water. "I'll grab the upper body. Kanan, get the lower body." The two of them then grabbed a hold of the man and swam towards the other three divers, who stayed on the boat and stood by just in case anything went wrong. "I feel a faint pulse!"

Once they got near the boat, the other three divers pulled the man out of the water and onto the boat before Kanan and the paid lieutenant took their masks off. "Ah, fuck," Kanan said as she turned to the paid lieutenant. "That guy was fucking heavy! I'm surprised he didn't sink!"

As they climbed aboard, the other three divers began to check for vital signs. One of them said, "He's not breathing! We're starting CPR and rescue breaths!"

The paid lieutenant immediately went over to a medical bag aboard the boat and grabbed an O2 tank and mask as one firefighter began to do chest compressions while Kanan did rescue breaths. He then said to the driver, "Get to the shore immediately!" He then radioed the District Fire Chief for District 15, "Boat 151A to Command, we got a patient who is not breathing. We have CPR started. Do you want to start Shizuoka Air Commuter for an air ambulance?"

"Affirmative," the chief replied. "Expedite your response back to shore."


An hour later, Kanan and Toshiki talked to each other about the dive rescue call. "Yeah," Toshiki said to her. "I don't think the guy's gonna make it."

"I know he won't," Kanan replied before she sighed. "His condition barely changed when we loaded him into the ambulance before it went to the landing zone. You can't save them all, especially when they weigh 300-something pounds. That shit was not fun."

"I can only imagine," Toshiki replied. He was not interested in diving, but still assisted with shore operations at water rescues. "You dive guys got balls."

Kanan smirked and replied, "Why, thank you. It's part of our job description that we gotta have metaphorical balls of steel to do this, especially for free." They both then laughed. "I'm actually kinda hoping the next serious call we get is an actual fire. That incident with the boat kinda turned me off from diving for the day." She then shrugged. "Eh, it's Uchiura. We barely get fires here, and when we do, they're small and we knock them down in less than 10 minutes. Everything else is all medicals, car accidents because people who shouldn't be anywhere near the driver's seat in the mountains drive in the mountains, and either pulling dead bodies from the water or stranded boats that lost power or got into a fender-bender."

Toshiki nodded and replied, "Ain't that the damn truth."


Later, at 8:30, as Kanan and You were still at the fire station, they got an unexpected visitor. As Kanan put up a flier for a half-off sale at her family's dive shop, both her and You heard a high-pitched female voice call out from the front of the building, "Kanan-chan? You-chan?"

Both immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Ruby. "Ruby, is that you?" Kanan went over as You continued to do some paperwork on a desk in the station's office.

As Ruby and Kanan met up, the timid redhead said to her, "Hey, uh, Kanan-chan, I have something for you." She then showed her a 4-page application to join the fire department. "I don't know if you already knew this, but..." She then sighed. "I want to become a firefighter like you and You-chan."

Kanan nodded and replied, "I knew already. Hanamaru-chan and your sister told me. Wanna visit?"

Ruby, initially surprised, then excitedly said, "Sure!" Kanan then took her into the firehouse, a somewhat cramped 3-story building that served as the headquarters for District 15 of the NCFD. "Woah... You have all these fire engines..."

"Yep," Kanan replied as she pointed to some of them. "We have two ambulances, a fire pumper, an aerial ladder truck, a heavy rescue, and a dive rescue unit here. It's kinda cramped, since this place was only built for 4 fire engines as opposed to 6." They then went through a double doorway that led to the gear locker room behind the trucks. "This room contains the gear for all of the volunteers. As you can see, we have 45 locker spaces, but only 32 are filled. Each volunteer gets a set of bunker gear, which is what you wear at fires, and a set of medical gear, which is what you wear on an ambulance." She then pointed to her locker and You's locker. "Those are mine and You-chan's lockers."

You then walked in, saying, "Ruby-chan! Hey!"

Ruby turned around and waved hi to her as she said, "I turned my application in to Kanan-chan." She then turned to Kanan and asked her, "Say, what made you want to do this?"

"Well," Kanan began. "Before my dad got hurt, he was a volunteer here for years. Aside from fighting fires, he also was an EMT and a dive rescue technician. Many people he knew are still here. I thought about doing what You-chan did and what you want to do, Ruby-chan, and join as a third-year at Uranohoshi, but with Aqours and the shop, I didn't have much time, and I didn't want to get hurt at a fire and jeopardize Aqours. I joined after I graduated high school, got fire training, went to America to get diving instructor training in my 2nd semester at college, and came back here."

Ruby said to her, "Oh yeah! I forgot your dad was a fireman." The redhead then turned to You. "What made you join, You-chan?"

"My dad is a volunteer at the station I used to be at when I was a third-year, aside from working as a boating captain," You replied. "I split my time at that station and this one until I graduated and moved into an apartment with Chika-chan here. His station didn't do dive rescue, but Kanan got me into diving when I was a first-year. I just gotta complete some more classes over the summer break from college, and I should be all set to join the dive team. Now, what made you so interested in this?"

"Well," Ruby began as she thought to herself. "I saw you guys do it, and it looked so cool. Also, I want to give something back to Uchiura after we all did so much for it. Another thing is is that our great-grandfather was a volunteer in Uchiura before it got annexed, and his brother was a paid firefighter in Numazu that died when the city got bombed. Our grandfather was also a volunteer here before he got hired as a police officer and left."

"Funny you say that," Kanan replied, remembering something about her family's past. "My great-grandfather was also a Numazu City as a volunteer, and he got killed in the air raid, leaving my grandpa orphaned. Say, You-chan, wasn't your great-grandpa's cousin killed fighting the fires from the air raid, too?"

"Oh yeah," You replied. "Funny how the world is. Hell, his name's pretty similar to mine. It was Youichi. Can't tell if that's a cool fact or creepy as hell."

"Mine was Tadashi," Ruby replied, adding to the history lesson. "He was Kurosawa Tadashi."

"Mine was Matsuura Kamon, I think," Kanan replied. "Now that you mention it, it does sound creepy." All three then laughed. "That reminds me for some reason. You-chan, did you fill out the paperwork to take Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations?"

"I did," You replied as she held up the form she had to fill out. "I assume you did the same?"

"Yep," Kanan replied before turning back to Ruby. "Alright, I'll get the application in for you. Expect a call from City Hall in the next few weeks, okay?"

Ruby nodded. "Got it. I hope I get in."


KANAN MATSUURA'S TRAINING (As of May 2019):

Auxiliary+Interior Volunteer Firefighter Boot Camp: August 6, 2018-August 28, 2018 (Combines Auxiliary Volunteer Firefighter (36 Hours) and Interior Volunteer Firefighter (64 Hours) into a 100-hour course held for 6 hours each weekday from 8 AM to 2 PM, with the exception of the final day, which is only 4 hours from 8 AM to 12 PM. Mostly meant for university and high school students. Students under 18 when they complete this course, such as You Watanabe, will not be permitted to enter burning structures at emergencies until their 18th birthday (which now has passed for her), but are authorized to fight vehicle fires and participate in structure fire training with no restrictions.)

Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations: (Future) To begin on June 3, 2019 and end on July 17, 2019. (64 Hours of training. Classes held 2-3 times per week from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

Certified First Responder: January 7, 2019-February 5, 2019 (44 Hours of First Aid and limited EMS training held 2-3 times per week for 4 hours per class from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

DRI Dive Rescue 1: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018. 24 Hours of instruction.)

PADI Master SCUBA Diver, PADI Deep Diver: (Attained at the age of 15 while working at her family's dive shop.)

PADI Divemaster: (Attained at the age of 18 while working at her family's dive shop.)

PADI Instructor: (Contains PADI Open Water Surface Instructor and PADI Assistant Instructor. Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

PADI Ice Diver: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

PADI Dry Suit Diver: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

PADI Public Safety Diver: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

PADI Enriched Air Diver: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

PADI Boat Diver, PADI Night Diver, PADI Search and Recovery Diver, PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider: (Attained at the age of 13 while working at her family's dive shop.)

PADI Discover Tec: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

PADI Tec 40: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

DRI Boat Based Diving Operations: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

DRI Dry Suit Diving: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

DRI Public Safety Diver Survival: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

DRI Ice Diving Operations: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

DRI Swift Water Rescue Training: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

DRI Current/Swift Water Rescue Diving: (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)


YOU WATANABE'S TRAINING (As of May 2019):

Auxiliary+Interior Volunteer Firefighter Boot Camp: August 6, 2018-August 28, 2018 (Combines Auxiliary Volunteer Firefighter (36 Hours) and Interior Volunteer Firefighter (64 Hours) into a 100-hour course held for 6 hours each weekday from 8 AM to 2 PM, with the exception of the final day, which is only 4 hours from 8 AM to 12 PM. Mostly meant for university and high school students. Students under 18 when they complete this course, such as You Watanabe, will not be permitted to enter burning structures at emergencies until their 18th birthday (which now has passed for her), but are authorized to fight vehicle fires and participate in structure fire training with no restrictions.)

Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations: (Future) To begin on June 3, 2019 and end on July 17, 2019. (64 Hours of training. Classes held 2-3 times per week from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

Certified First Responder: January 7, 2019-February 5, 2019 (44 Hours of First Aid and limited EMS training held 2-3 times per week for 4 hours per class from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

PADI Rescue Diver: (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)

PADI Dry Suit Diver: (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)

PADI Boat Diver: (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)

PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider: (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)