So, ladies and gentlemen, we finally have chapter 7 here. So sorry I didn't upload earlier but I just couldn't. I'll try to update as frequently as possible from now on, I'm not sure if it will be a chapter every two days like I said it would be before or one every three or four, we'll have to see (very sorry for that).
Disclaimer: I don't think I have to remind you but sadly I don't own Code Blue.
As always: Fav, Follow and/or Review if you like the story
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The following morning Keisuke knocked on the door of the Chief of the Heart Surgery Department at Shohoku after having changed his street attire for the Department's violet uniform and a white coat. After hearing the "Go ahead" coming from the other side of the room, he entered the office. Inside, a man sat behind his desk, he was probably in his late forties, he was thin, wore glasses and had a serious yet kind expression on his face.
"Doctor Inoue?" Keisuke asked as he entered the office. The Chief of the Heart Surgery Department nodded as he rose from his chair.
"That's me. You must be Doctor Aragaki. It's very nice to meet you in person at last" he greeted the newcomer, offering him a handshake which Keisuke took.
"Thank you sir" Keisuke said "It's good to be here."
"I gotta say your curriculum is impressive. I was a bit worried when two of my best doctors left at the same time. I'm glad I could manage to hire someone like you to fill one of the positions."
"Thank you" Keisuke said again.
"Please, have a seat" Doctor Inoue said as he returned to his chair. "Did it take you too long to get to the hospital?"
"Not at all sir. I took a Taxi." Keisuke replied. "I took longer to leave my children in daycare."
"I think you talked about your children during the interviews." Doctor Inoue said "If I recall correctly, you said you had 2 children, right?"
"Yes sir. A boy and a girl. Satoshi and Sakura are their names and they are 3 and 1 years old respectively." Keisuke replied, smiling warmly as he thought of his children.
"I remember when my own children were that age." Doctor Inoue said in a melancholic voice. "Those were the good times, I recommend your wife and you make the most of every moment you spend with them now. When they grow up, you won't be able to spend much time with them."
"I'll take your advice" Keisuke said, forcing himself to continue smiling. "But my wife and I are divorced."
"Sorry to hear that." Doctor Inoue said.
"Don't worry about it" Keisuke said, thankful that he didn't want to know why they separated, he didn't want to spend his first day at work angry. His mind returned to the present when someone knocked on the office's door.
"Chief, it's Kashibawara" came the voice of a woman from the other side of the door.
"Ah, come in" Doctor Inoue said and a female doctor entered the office. She was around Keisuke's age, wore glasses and had her black hair made up in a ponytail. "Doctor Aragaki, let me introduce you." He told Keisuke. "This is Doctor Aya Kashibawara. Kashibawara, this is one of our new doctors, Doctor Keisuke Aragaki."
"Nice to meet you" Doctor Kashibawara said, smiling softly at him. Keisuke nodded in response.
"You too" he replied.
"Kashibawara, I'd like for him to accompany you on your rounds this morning." Doctor Inoue told the female Doctor. "Show him around a little and show him the patients he is going to be in charge of."
"Alright" She nodded. "I was about to begin."
"Good, then all that's left for me to do is welcome you again to the department and wish you a good first day" The Chief of the Department said.
"Thank you sir" Keisuke said before following the woman out of the room.
Their round took a little over an hour to complete. Doctor Kashibawara took the time to wait until Keisuke read the medical info on his future patients and was willing to answer any of the questions he had after. Also, he spent some time talking and becoming familiar with the patients that were conscious as well as talking with every family member of the patients assigned to him. The trust between a Doctor and his patients, as well as the trust between the doctor and the family members of said patients, was something very important after all.
When the rounds were done and Keisuke had been shown all the patients whose care would be on his hands now, Doctor Kashibawara and Keisuke parted ways when she was called by one of the nurses due to one of her own patients showing symptoms of his recently transplanted heart being rejected by his body. Looking at the clock, he decided to go to the desk that had been assigned to him and memorize the medical reports on the patients that were now his.
About half an hour later, he was interrupted when Doctor Inoue rushed into the room "They need us in Lifesaving! Let's go!" The man said, motioning for Keisuke to follow him as he rushed out again. Throwing the report on the desk, Keisuke ran after him. "What do they need us there for?" He asked when they reached the elevator.
"Their guys went to the scene of an accident. One of the drivers involved has had his aorta ruptured." Inoue replied. "The flight doctors will be arriving shortly."
"God" Keisuke whispered as the elevator reached its destination and both doctors continued their sprint towards one of the operating rooms. As fast as they could, they prepared for the operation along with the team that would be assisting them.
"Here they come" Doctor Inoue said and Keisuke looked at a group of Doctors and nurses, amongst whom he recognized Fujikawa, running towards them at full speed pushing a stretcher towards the OR. As soon as the patient arrived, their team quickly began to work, in these kinds of situations speed was crucial since it was already a miracle that the patient made it as far as to the hospital without dying.
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The operation took more time than expected, but Keisuke and his new boss managed to save the patient. After reassuring the family of the patient and a tall and thin bespectacled doctor, who looked even more nervous than them, that, if there were no complications, the man would live, both men got changed and cleaned up to head to the cafeteria for a well-deserved meal.
"You did well today, Dr. Aragaki." Doctor Inoue said as they both sat down at a table with their food.
"Thank you sir, you too." Keisuke replied. "The Lifesaving team played a more important part in saving that patient than either of us did though."
"They normally do." Doctor Inoue said. "The EMS people this hospital has are top notch professionals."
"Thank you for that" Another Doctor said with a smile on his face. He was a man in his late forties, or probably early fifties, and was dressed in the same uniform as the EMS people he'd seen earlier, but, unlike them, he was wearing a doctor's coat over it.
"Well, their boss is only so-so" Doctor Inoue said as the other doctor sat on the chair next to him. "Doctor Keisuke Aragaki, this is Doctor Keisuke Tachibana, Chief of the Emergency Unit." He introduced them to each other.
"So you are Aizawa's friend from Toronto?" Doctor Tachibana said, offering him a handshake, which Keisuke accepted while nodding. "It's very nice to meet you."
"Likewise sir. I've heard a lot about you." Keisuke replied with a smile.
"Is that so?" Doctor Tachibana smiled. "Only good things, I hope."
"Mostly good things" Keisuke replied.
"Oh?" Doctor Tachibana raised an eyebrow. "What did Aizawa say about me?"
"That you were a good Doctor but you weren't the easiest person to get along with, at least in the beginning." Keisuke replied and Tachibana chuckled.
"He is one to talk" the head of the Emergency Unit said with a chuckle, which Keisuke shared as he nodded in agreement, letting out a chuckle of his own.
"You are eating late today" Doctor Inoue interrupted and his friend let out a tired sigh.
"Well, the accident the patient you operated on came from had multiple patients that needed treatment. We were a bit overwhelmed, so we kind of have been taking turns to come and eat." Doctor Tachibana explained.
"How much personnel do you have working in Lifesaving?" Keisuke asked, surprised when Doctor Tachibana said they were overwhelmed.
"Not nearly enough" Doctor Tachibana replied, sighing again. "We are always helped by the doctors of other departments but still our patient to doctor ratio is sometimes scary."
"You got some reinforcements today, right? I saw Hiyama when I came to work this morning." Doctor Inoue said.
"Yeah. She quit her job at the Perinatal Care Center and told Shiraishi she wanted to come back. We still have to sign the contract and finalize the paperwork but from what she told me, she wants to stay for good this time." Doctor Tachibana replied.
"Well, if you ever feel overwhelmed again please call me. I'll be glad to lend you a hand whenever I can, not just as a heart surgeon but as a doctor as well." Keisuke said and Tachibana smiled gratefully.
"Thank you" he said. "I will certainly accept your offer to help."
Keisuke nodded and returned to his food while the other two doctors changed the subject and began talking about Doctor Tachibana's son, who'd undergone a heart transplant a little over two years ago. When he was finished with the food, Keisuke's phone began to ring. Checking the caller ID, he realized it was the Heart Surgery department's nurse station. "Aragaki here" he said after accepting the call.
"Doctor, Nurse Makimura here. Mr. Sugiwara is showing signs of pericarditis, can you come as soon as possible please?" Sounded the voice of one of the nurses.
"On my way" he replied standing up. Both Doctor Inoue and Doctor Tachibana looked at him. "One of my patients is showing signs of pericarditis, I'm needed back at the Heart Surgery Department." Both men nodded in understanding.
"I'll be back when I'm done eating" Doctor Inoue said and Keisuke nodded before rushing out of the cafeteria.
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Megumi Shiraishi sat near the helipad with a can of ice coffee on one hand and her phone on the other as she waited for her boyfriend to call. Kōsaku had called her earlier to see how her she was doing and, when she'd told him that she had the night shift that day, along with Doctor Yokomine and Doctor Haitani, so she was grabbing a coffee, he had the idea to have a video-date by the helipad and talk while drinking iced coffee or tea like they used to do in person.
Seeing the photo of her boyfriend pop up on the screen of her phone again as he video-called her, Megumi smiled and accepted the call. When the present day Kōsaku appeared, she realized he was also near a helipad, one that was atop the hospital building in Toronto.
"Hey" he greeted her.
"Hey" she greeted him back with a smile. "Do you have time to do this? It's morning over there." She asked.
"Well, I didn't have a night shift yesterday but they called me in at 2:30 in the morning for an emergency surgery so I have some free time now." Kōsaku said, sipping his coffee. "How was your day?"
"Busier than usual." Megumi said, drinking her own ice coffee. "There was a large accident on one of the highways surrounding Chiba. There were too many injured, and ambulances had trouble reaching the site so we ended up taking care of most of the patients."
"I see" Kōsaku said. "And, let me guess, you switched the night shift with someone because they told you they were extremely tired."
"How did you know?" Megumi chuckled, that was exactly what had happened. Fujikawa was supposed to have the night shift that day but he had asked Megumi to cover for him in exchange for him covering her next night shift.
"Well, after all these years, I know you a little." Kōsaku said with a small smile on his face.
"Am I that predictable?" She asked, making Kōsaku laugh.
"Well you weren't only the most beautiful, you were the best person out of all of us too, so when it comes to these kinds of things, yeah you are" He replied as she blushed furiously at the compliments.
"So, what was the operation they called you about?" She changed the topic. "What happened?"
Kōsaku sighed "A woman was shot in the head during a robbery."
Megumi gasped. "My god! And did she…" she began to ask.
"We managed to save her life for now" the neurosurgeon replied. "She is in a coma though and we don't know when she'll wake up, if she does."
"Did they get the person responsible?" Megumi asked.
"Actually, as I was coming here I came across a tv where they were giving the news and talking about the case, so I watched the segment. The man was killed in a shootout with the police." Kōsaku said, sighing. The robber was not a good man but not a single doctor could be happy when hearing about a person's death. "So, when is Mihoko returning to Shohoku?" Kōsaku changed the topic.
"She came back today. They haven't even worked out the contract details yet, but once I told her that she could come back, she called Doctor Tachibana and asked if she could begin working again ASAP. I think she was beginning to worry about how much she was drinking lately. So was I to be honest, I arrived home to find her drunk too many times. Hopefully now she will take her mind off that damned cripple and move on with her life."
If Kōsaku was surprised by Megumi calling Ogata names, he didn't let it show on his face. The man had betrayed Megumi's best friend, it was understandable that the woman disliked him enough to insult him like that. "What about Keisuke? How was his first day at work?" He asked.
"I haven't seen him much, but I think it went well. He and Doctor Inoue operated and saved a patient we brought in and he met Doctor Tachibana during lunch. Doctor Tachibana told me that Doctor Inoue was pleased with the new addition to his department." Megumi said.
"I see" her boyfriend replied. "I'm glad, he called me yesterday. Even though he had met all of you and told me the lunch went well, he was still as nervous as a child on his first day of school. I was worried he would call me today, to cry about how bad it had gone and that he was never going back." he added with a smirk.
"Don't be mean" Megumi said,¡ despite not being able to suppress her own chuckle. Then Kōsaku looked away, at someone Megumi couldn't see, a nurse from what she could understand with her knowledge of the English language.
"They need me, I've gotta go" Kōsaku said, looking at the screen again. "Talk to you later. Have a good shift. Love you." Megumi smiled lovingly at him and nodded before he ended the call.
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Reply to Cupid17's comment: I'm glad you are liking the story and I hope you'll like where it's going. Sorry for not updating these past days.
Reply to xianiaHarMione's comment: Thank you for understanding. I'm sorry for making you wait.
Thank you for your comments!