July 9, 2019

At 6 P.M., You, Tsuki, and the paid firefighter they were with, a man named Akimitsu Tatsumi in his late 20s with 7 years as a volunteer and 4 years as a paid firefighter under his belt, walked into a board room at the NCFD headquarters downtown, all dressed in their formal uniforms. All three were in serious trouble for having violated their medical protocols and administering medications without on-line medical direction. However, Tsuki fully expected to get in trouble, and had prepared for this day. She had pages upon pages upon pages of materials, ready to defend herself and criticize the Japanese field of emergency medical services for its backwards thinking and lack of autonomy for paramedics.

As the three sat down, they were met by the chief of the fire department, the medical director of the fire department, the union local president for the paid firefighters union (Numazu City Professional Firefighter's Association), and the head of the Numazu City Volunteer Firemen's Association. All four had many years of experience, and all four generally came together for such disciplinary meetings. However, one extra face among them frightened You and Tsuki: You's father, Yasuhiro Watanabe. He looked concerned with the two of them.

As they sat down, You spoke first, asking, "Before we begin, I must ask, why is my father and Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe Tsuki's uncle here?"

Yasuhiro immediately replied to his daughter, "Because when I heard my daughter and my niece were being brought up on rather serious charges regarding medical malpractice, I had to get involved."

"Indeed," the chief of the fire department, a man named Yakumo Tomoe replied to them. He had been a volunteer for 10 years and then a paid firefighter for 25 years, and was 55 years old. He had been chief for 5 years. "Now, we have determined that the day prior, you three began performing Advanced Life Support functions without online medical control. Permanent Firefighter-Paramedic Yuuki Sora, is that correct?"

"Yes," Sora answered truthfully, fearing he was about to lose his job. "We did."

"We also received word that Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe Tsuki," he continued. "Who is a student in paramedic school, verbally told off Doctor Naegi Hifumi over the radio when he refused to give you permission to administer dextrose to a hypoglycemic patient through an IV before disconnecting the radio. Is this true?"

"Yes," Tsuki affirmed to them. "I did, and I don't regret it whatsoever."

Her response made the medical director of the fire department look up at her in shock. She, a nurse and a volunteer firefighter-paramedic named Taeko Honda, told Tsuki rather forcefully, "Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe, you understand that these protocols exist for a reason, right?! Paramedics cannot give medications marked for advanced life support out in the field unless a doctor approves them, and that is how it will always be."

"I know that we can't do it now," Tsuki replied to her. "However, you are wrong when you say that's how it will always be. In fact, Japan is overdue for some major overhauls to how EMS works here. We cannot rely on a doctor's orders to give most of our ALS medications when our counterparts elsewhere don't have to wait a second. We have a similar level of training to our American counterparts, yet we don't have the same scope as them because almost all the stuff they get to do on their own, we have to get permission from a doctor who is not on scene who may not see the exact same thing as us. The truth of the matter is is that patient would have died if we did not administer dextrose to him, and we are needlessly letting patient's die when we wait and are refused by doctors who think we shouldn't exist at all and we should return to the age of undertrained attendants who barely know how to give oxygen, let alone give someone drugs that can and do save lives. European paramedics, who are largely though not entirely separate from the fire service, are even further ahead of us. The Paris Fire Brigade and French SAMU are performing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the field as we speak, not to mention Harris County ESD 48 Fire and EMS performing field whole blood transfusions, and we are literally stuck here arguing over whether or not a paramedic should be able to administer what is basically sugar water without needing to ask a doctor first. We are decades behind the curve in the great ball game of EMS." As the medical director rose to speak, Tsuki interrupted her with, "And yes, I know what ECMO is. We aren't as uneducated as you may think. ECMO is the process in which one provides proper perfusion of oxygen into the blood outside of the body when the heart and lungs are unable to due to a medical or trauma-related reason."

The entire board in front of them sat in silence for a good half a minute, stunned by Tsuki's passionate defense. You turned to her and said, "Tsuki-chan..."

"Listen," Tsuki continued. "I know what I did was wrong in accordance with the protocols. However, I will gladly forfeit my college degree, my dreams, and my medical licensure if it means just one life is saved because I could act on my own. I can find another career or degree to go into. If you're going to punish anyone here, punish me. Permanent Firefighter-Paramedic Yuuki doesn't deserve this. He only did this because of me. He has a family and young children. Kick me out of the fire department, not him. My cousin certainly doesn't deserve it, either. She was practically an observer, and only did as she was told by me and Yuuki-san. If you want, if I somehow keep my licensure after today, I will not pull this stunt again. However, I will let you all know that I will be making myself active in the fight to modernize EMS in Japan, and I have the backing of both of my partners here in that endeavour. You will see more of me, whether it's me testifying to the government or advocating for it elsewhere. I will not claim to speak on the behalf of my fire department, only on the behalf of myself, and I will not claim to represent the fire department. Regardless, somebody has to give the push. I know I don't have as many years on as others, but that does not disprove the fact that we are behind. If you are going to go after me, go after me for what I say or do, not for my age or years of experience."

After another bout of silence, the chief of the fire department spoke up. "Those words... They are certainly very powerful, Tsuki. I appreciate the fact that you are willing to take the fall for your partners and protect them whenever you can. I like that in my firefighters." He then let out a sigh. "Therefore, for the next week, you three are to return to normal duties. After a week, we shall meet again to discuss what will happen going forward. Of course, as you said, if you pull any stunts like that in that week, we won't be as merciful."

Tsuki then bowed for the fire chief. "Thank you, Chief." You and Sora did the same.

"You three are all dismissed," the chief then finished with. As they all exited the room and closed the door, he began to discuss with the other members of the board. "Well, that was interesting."

"I can't believe you just let them get away with it," the medical director told him, absolutely floored and angry. "You... You just basically condoned prehospital medicine without a doctor's guidance!"

"There's that inner nurse in you speaking again," the head of the NCVFA, a volunteer with 27 years on, replied to her.

The medical director then sighed. "Whatever... I need a freaking drink." She then stood up and also walked out of the room in a huff.

As soon as she was gone, Yasuhiro told the chief, "You realize Tsuki-chan's right, right?"

The chief sighed, realizing he agreed with her. "Yeah, she is. It's just... You saw what happened with Taeko-kun. The unions of the doctors and nurses aren't willing to let us expand. If Tsuki-kun is really able to take this to the government and advocate for a modernization of the scope of practice for us, then by all means, I support her efforts in a personal level. Given the info of the medical call, I probably would have done the same damn thing she and Sora-kun did, and she was right that that patient would be dead right now if not for her telling Doctor Naegi off." He then sighed in annoyance. "That fucker has been a thorn in my God damn side ever since I was a volunteer."

...

At 9 P.M., Chika was washing the dishes in the apartment she shared with You while she was with Hachirou in the spare bedroom. The two were somewhat loudly having sex, but Chika could not hear them over the sound of the kitchen sink. As she finished the last of the dishes in the sink, she saw her phone begin to vibrate and light up with a call. She picked it up and answered, "Hello?"

"Chika-chan," Riko answered on the other end of the line. "It's Riko. Can you come over to my place? I need to speak to you. It's about Yoshiko-chan."

Chika immediately could tell something was off, based on Riko's tone of voice. "I'll be right over. Riko-chan, stay put and don't go anywhere."

"Thank you," Riko replied to her, with Chika hearing her voice slightly choke up. "Thank you so much. I'll be waiting." Riko then hung up, leaving Chika even more confused and worried.

As she looked to the spare bedroom's hallway, she could still hear the couple going at it. "Eh, they won't be done for a while." She then grabbed her cellphone, wallet, and her fire pager before taking a pen and paper to write a note for You and Hachirou. As she left, she quietly closed the door behind her before running down to the stairs to the outside. She was determined to help Riko, no matter what it was. As she ran outside, she was immediately hit by a moderate rain, but she did not care.

Thankfully, Riko's house was only a block away, so it did not take her long to reach it. As she reached for the front door, she stopped in her tracks as it opened from the inside, with Riko looking surprised. "Huh? Chika-chan?"

"Riko?" Chika then walked into the house, closing the door behind her. "Riko-chan, what's wro-?"

Riko immediately interrupted her with a kiss on the lips, surprising Chika. After a few seconds of accepting it, she realized what had happened and pushed herself off. "Chika..."

"Riko-chan," Chika asked her in shock. "What... Why did you kiss me?! You have Yoshiko-chan to do that with!" She was scared to think about what would happen if Yoshiko found out.

"Chika, I'm sorry." Riko then approached her again. "I... Yoshiko-chan is such a sweet girl, but... I can't keep living like this. I just... I don't love her anymore." She covered her eyes with her hands as she began to cry. "I've tried for the past month to keep it going, but I can't anymore. We haven't even had sex in a month, and the last few times just felt emotionless. It's getting to difficult to keep it up any longer. Chika, my heart has changed to you. I love you, Takami Chika."

Chika paused for a few seconds to take it all in, taking a deep breath. Then, she spoke. "Riko-chan, you need to tell her. Let her down gently, please, and tell her the truth." She then paused again. "As for how you feel about me... Ever since that night you showed me how to make love to another woman, I've tried to always just say it was a one-time thing... But this... This isn't a one-time thing." She then caressed the redhead's tear-stained cheeks. "Riko, I love you. I've been trying to hide it for so long from everyone else, but I can't anymore. Even so, I can't bring myself to participate in cheating. I need you to break it off with Yoshiko-chan. It won't be easy, but it's necessary." She then drew Riko in for a kiss, which soon turned into French kissing.

After a minute together, the two were on the couch in the living room, gradually feeling each other up and moaning as they did. "Chika-chan... I haven't felt this in a long time. Are you sure you want to go this far?"

"I haven't done this with anyone besides myself in two years," Chika told her. "Every time I touched myself afterwards, all I could see was you, on that beach, laying beside me." She then drew her in for another kiss. Eventually, this kiss would turn into sex between the two best friends and now lovers, and as they went at it, the two realized just how much they cared for and loved each other. Even so, both still knew what had to be done, and dreaded it.