July 7, 2019

"... It was not a heart condition or anything," a doctor explained to Tsuki at the hospital in her room. "You just overexerted yourself, and I can see how and why. Watanabe Tsuki, you'll be able to return to firefighting starting tomorrow. Once you're ready to discharge, just see me."

"Thank you," Tsuki replied, grateful to him. As he left the room, she immediately grabbed her phone and began texting You to tell her the news. "Good news its not a heart condition"

Almost immediately, You shot her back a text, excitedly reading, "THANK GOD! i was so worried"

"same here," Tsuki texted back. "starting tomorrow ill be back to the old grind" She then sighed and said to herself, "Looks like I'll need to do even more workouts now."

"thats always good," You texted back to her.

...

Around 7:30 that evening, Pumper 151 pulled up to a fully-involved vehicle fire along the main avenue in Uchiura. On the first truck out were the two paid firefighters, You, and two other volunteers, with Kanan just barely missing the truck. Except for the volunteer driver, everyone jumped off the truck with their masks and air packs on, ready to go to work immediately. A paid firefighter and You grabbed two rolls of hose each and rolled them out, with the paid firefighter then grabbing a nozzle and then running to one end of a rose he rolled out to hook it up. He yelled to You, "I'll hook the lengths up! You go hook it up to the truck!"

"Yeah," You replied as she hooked a length of hose to the pump and then clipped her mask into air. It did not take long for the paid firefighter to clip into air and connect the other lengths together to create one much longer length of hose to work with. "I'll get behind you!" You then backed him up as she turned around and yelled to the driver, "GET ME WATER!"

The two then advanced onto the burning car as the line charged with water. Soon after, the paid firefighter bled some air out of the line and then began knocking the fire down. In half a minute, the fire was fully knocked down, and the other hose line assembled began to spray down the smoke as the driver began drafting water from a hydrant nearby with hard suction hose. You asked the paid firefighter, "Do you need more line?!"

"I should be good," he replied as he stood back and let the other line take over, shutting it down. "We can go grab some hand tools and start getting access to the engine compartment!" The two then dropped their line on the ground and walked over to Pumper 151 to grab a rotary saw and an axe. As the paid firefighter grabbed the axe, You grabbed a large portable rotary saw and revved it up, testing it before walking towards the car's burned-up engine compartment.

"Time to rip this fucker apart!" You then revved the saw up and sunk it into the metal engine hood, sending sparks flying all over as the blade sunk deeper and made a straight cut in a corner of the hood. Once she was done, she walked around the car to do the same to the other side. The loud saw pierced the noises otherwise generated by firefighting efforts. Once she was done, the paid firefighter used his axe to prop open the hood and then tossed it to the side. The other crew then sprayed down the engine, which was still on fire.

It had been only about five minutes since they had arrived, and yet the fire was now essentially out. The paid firefighter pointed to You and said, "You-kun, you can take your mask off. We'll be all set. No need for air here."

"Yeah," You replied as she unclipped her mask's regulator and took her helmet and mask off. After doing so, she took her gloves off and wiped her forehead of sweat, her ash gray hair being freed from her helmet and mask. "How hot is it out?"

The paid lieutenant, who was on the other line and still on air, told her, "It's like 35 Celsius!"

"Shit," You replied as she put her gloves and helmet back on, but without her mask. The heat was intense from both the fire and from the hot summer day, and it made firefighting moreso difficult than it already was for the crew.

...

At her home around the same time, Hanamaru had an interesting idea as she checked herself out in her bathroom wearing her school uniform. Yousuke was coming over, and she wanted to send him something over her phone to him. As she smiled, she tested her phone by taking a picture of herself with the mirror. "Alrighty, zura. That looks about right." She then deleted the picture. "He'll enjoy this little present."

As she pulled up her uniform shirt to reveal her bra, she smiled as she used her other hand to take a photo with the mirror. The incredibly racy picture was clearly intended for her boyfriend. As she pulled her shirt back down, she typed up as a caption, 'It really is the future! I will see you soon, love!' She then hit send and put her phone away, not thinking twice of what she had sent to Yousuke.

"He'll enjoy this present," she happily told herself. "In more ways than one, of course, zura."

...

Around 10 PM, as Yousuke and Hanamaru relaxed in her bed together, their post-sex conversation was interrupted by a phone call on Yousuke's phone. Hanamaru turned to it on her desk nearby and grabbed it. "Huh... It's your sister?"

"Hold on," he replied as he answered it. "Hello, onee-chan?"

"You need to come home immediately," Yoshiko rather angrily told him. "And put Hanamaru on the phone, now." Her tone was completely unlike her before, and Yousuke was worried.

"It's for you," Yousuke reluctantly told his girlfriend as he handed the phone to her. "She knows I'm here."

Hanamaru sighed and took it, wondering what was going on. "Yoshiko-chan, how's it going, zur-?"

"Don't fucking give me that 'how's it going, zura' shit," Yoshiko very angrily told her as Hanamaru stood from bed, not caring she was nude. "You sent that picture to me and my brother, and I put everything together, bitch."

Hanamaru paused in shock as the full force of what Yoshiko had just dropped on her hit her. "Picture?! What?!"

"Stop playing dumb," Yoshiko replied with a rage-filled yell. "You fucking succubus! You whore! My younger brother, of all people! God fucking damn it, Hanamaru! How could you?! Now, give the phone to my brother."

Hanamaru was left in shock, quietly handing the phone back to her equally-shocked boyfriend, who was worried based on her reaction, but could not hear the conversation. "Onee-chan?"

"You fucking pervert," Yoshiko chastised him harshly. "Fucking my best friend of all people! Damn it, how could you two?! How?!" She then abruptly hung up the phone, leaving a shocked Yousuke to drop it on the bed as Hanamaru began to cry.

He immediately stood up and tried to approach her, telling her, "Hanamaru, dear, are yo-?"

"Don't fucking touch me," Hanamaru pushed him away rather violently as tears flowed down her face. "Damn it, I need to be alone for a second, Yousuke! Can't you see that, zura?! My best friend just fucking called me a whore for being with who I love! How the hell do you process that, huh?!" Her rage was mixed with her incredible sadness. "I lost my best friend..." Yousuke could not even begin to process her words, not even attempting to offer a rebuttal as he just paused, tears welling up in his own eyes as well. Hanamaru immediately began to feel regret about what she had told him. "I... I'm sorry..." The two lovers then embraced, joining together in their sadness and rejection as they cried to each other.

Yousuke said to her through his tears, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry..." The two were clearly devastated by the rather harsh attack by Yoshiko.

...

Several minutes later, as Yoshiko finished ranting to Ruby over the phone about what had transpired, Ruby sighed at her home downstairs, ensuring her parents would not hear her. "Yoshiko-chan, now that I've taken all that in, can I offer you some advice that I think you need to hear?" She was clearly annoyed by how Yoshiko had reacted to the news, based on her tired eyes and facial expression.

"Sure," Yoshiko replied, unaware of Ruby's mood. "I need it."

"You sure do," Ruby replied. "Because it's clear to me that you need to chill out. Sure, I get it, there's somewhat of an age difference there, but look, they're not harming anyone. You need to accept that your brother isn't a little kid anymore, and that he is going to have feelings for girls. You should be really damn glad it's a girl like Hanamaru-chan."

Yoshiko was stunned that Ruby had taken their side. "What?! What are you saying?! Are you not backing me up on this?!"

"No, I'm not," Ruby bluntly told her, refusing to beat around the bush any more. "You're on your fucking own. Your brother can make his own decisions, and to be rather honest, I did have some concerns when Hanamaru-chan told me, but their relationship is awesome, and I'm glad they chose each other." Ruby was adamant in her support for the young couple. "Yeah, that's another thing. I've known about this before you did."

Yoshiko paused for a good 15 seconds as she processed Ruby's rebuttal. Then, she sighed. "I'm going to fucking bed. Yousuke's probably not coming home tonight, and our parents know, too. I don't know for sure, but I assume they're not happy either. Good night." She then abruptly hung up.

Ruby closed up her phone and sighed. "For fuck's sake, Yoshiko-chan."