The camp's current volunteer doctor, Dr. Faust, was a very busy man. If students weren't coming in complaining of homesickness, then they wanted snake-bite medicine, or someone was half-drowned, or even, in one case, some stupid kid had gone off and been attacked by a bear. At night, nothing usually happened, so Dr. Faust was free to relax and sleep, dreaming happy thoughts of his beloved Eliza.
However, that night, things were different. Like normal, he drifted off to sleep in his own quarters in the medical office. Right when things in his dream about Eliza were getting juicy, he heard an urgent knocking on the door.
Cursing, grumbling, and muttering irritably, Faust hopped out of bed and trudged sleepily to the door, opening it. "Whaddya want?" he mumbled in slurred speech.
He found himself glaring at a blue-haired boy, who was holding another boy tightly in his arms. The boy blinked and said, "Uh. Have you been drinking, by any chance?"
Dr. Faust scowled at this. "No!" he said sharply. "I'm just really tired. Go back to your cabin and sleep, kid, it's too late at night to be parading around and accusing people of being alchoholic!" He tried to slam the door in the kid's face, but found he couldn't as the kid banged it right open again with his shoulder.
"What kind of a freaking doctor are you!?" the kid demanded, jabbing an accusing finger at him. "My friend here needs medical attention!" The anger dissolved, to be replaced by concern, as he said, in a calmer voice, "My name's Horohoro, doctor. And this kid, Ren, needs your help. He's badly hurt."
Faust raised an eyebrow. "Well...come on in, then, kid. Hurry up." Horohoro followed him through the office and into the patient area, where there were several beds lined up against the wall. There was only one other patient, whose head seemed to be missing.
Horohoro winced. "What happened to him?"
"Bear got him," Faust answered briskly as he patted an empty bed. "Plop your buddy down here."
Horohoro gently placed Ren down on the hospital bed as Faust carefully turned him over to examine the injuries. The doctor frowned.
"What's wrong?" Horohoro asked.
Faust shook his head, and began to explain quickly. "He's lost a lot of blood. Look, he's already starting to lose conciousness, and his complexion has become pale beyond the normal color of a helathy person...And he's in a lot of pain. To add to it, I need to treat him quickly and immediately. If the injuries are infected, or if they become infected, then that will be troublesome. He was already a weak kid to start with, and I don't know if we can do anything to help."
The Ainu's eyes widened. "You mean...there's a possibility that...?"
Faust nodded as he pulled on a pair of medical gloves. "There's a 1 in 4 chance that he'll die."
Horohoro cursed himself silently. "If I had got here faster...damn that perverted bastard, Hao..."
"What happened, anyways?" Faust asked as he opened some drawers and started taking out bottles, various injections, and other medical tools.
Horohoro quickly came up with something. "Uh...wolverine."
Faust raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? I don't think there are wolverines up here in these mountains."
"I...I meant..." Horohoro said quickly, thinking furiously. "I meant, erm...a bear."
"Ah." Faust said, as he carefully injected a dose of morphine into Ren's bloodstream, raising a soft whimper from the boy. "That ought to make him more comfortable...and while I try to disinfect the wounds, why don't you tell the truth?"
Horohoro sighed. "Fine." He rubbed the back of his head and muttered, "He got attacked by another kid in our cabin."
"Is that so? Faust asked.
"Yeah."
"Tell me about it."
Horohoro sighed again. "Well, doctor...um, I'm not really sure of all the details, 'cause I was asleep through most of it...but you see, this other psycho guy, his name's Asakura Hao, for no reason, in the middle of the night, started cutting up his back."
"I see. Tell the camp supervisor about the incident."
"Yeah, but Hao'll probably-"
Faust cut him off. "Are you scared of that guy?"
"No..." Horohoro replied, a little uncertainly.
"Do you care about your friend?"
"Yeah..."
"Then report him."
"Fine, fine, I gotcha." the Ainu grumbled.
Faust, who had just finished bandaging Ren's back, frowned. "Hmm. He's entirely unconcious now." He glanced back at Horohoro. "This is all I can do for nows. Kid, you'd better leave now."
Horohoro scowled. "No way," he said. "I'm staying with Ren."
"Go back to your cabin and go back to sleep."
"Doctor, please," Horohoro said defiantly. "You don't understand. It's my fault he got hurt 'cause I left him alone with that psycho, and I'm going to be so freaking guilty if you make me leave him again."
"Look, kid. I'm not joking around. Just go and mind your own business. Let your buddy rest."
"I'm not leaving."
Faust shook his head. "Fine, do whatever, I don't care." He walked away back to his sleeping area, muttering, "This is why I hate kids..."