Megumi dressed in record time, but afterwards recalled nothing of it. She had done everything on autopilot and only truly came to her senses when she was standing in front of the elevator leading to Lifesaving. Her blank, slightly confused reflection stared back.

The doors slid open and she was relieved to see Saejima Haruka the only occupant. The flight nurse smiled her good morning and Megumi replied, noting how normal her voice sounded. At least she wasn't going to stumble and stammer through her day.

"Didn't you sleep well, Doctor?"

… Or maybe not normal enough.

"…E-Excuse me?" Megumi stammered and Haruka laughed. "You guys really went all out last night, didn't you? Dr. Fujikawa said it was quite a party that I missed."

In more ways than one, Megumi thought as she visibly relaxed and joined Haruka's laughter. The flight nurse remained thankfully clueless as they discussed several patients and Megumi silently cursed the slow elevator. But she promptly cut her curse short when the elevator arrived at its destination and the doors slid open to reveal a sullen Kousaku. He caught sight of her in the same moment and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

A charged silence followed whereby neither of the two seemed to be able to move a muscle. Thankfully Haruka broke the spell by walking out past Megumi, startling the female doctor. Megumi hastily followed the nurse's lead, not daring to look back. She was afraid that Kousaku would be staring.

If she did, she would have seen that he was indeed staring, but there was a hint of pain in his eyes. Haruka saw it though. She knew that look well. It was the look Satoshi wore in the last days of his life, a look of utter helplessness. She looked first at the retreating figure of Megumi, and then back at the elevator doors.

"… Are they fighting?" She wondered softly.

Fortunately for Megumi, Mihoko did not press the matter at work. In fact by the last hour of her shift Megumi had relaxed considerably. She was just entertaining the idea of turning in early when the emergency phone rang. Dr. Mitsui picked it up and reached for the board.
"… High energy impact? Two men. Age? Uhuh… Bleeding? Skull?" Dr. Mitsui deftly wrote the particulars on the board and the staff mobilized without being asked to do so. Megumi was about to get ready when Dr. Mitsui called to her; "Shiraishi, get Neurosurgery to come down here please."

… And promptly crashed into an IV stand.

Mihoko yelped and quickly helped her friend up. "Are you alright!"

"I'll call!" Kazuo volunteered as he dialed Neurosurgery. Megumi unsteadily got to her feet, her heart pounding loudly. Dear god, what happened!

"Get yourself together!" Mihoko hissed under her breath. Out loud she said; "Why don't you take a rest? Things will be fine here."

"You're probably still out of it from last night eh?" Kazuo chuckled and Dr. Mitsui scowled. "Shiraishi, you should know your body's limits by now. If you're tired then go get some rest."

"… I'm sorry." Megumi bowed out and quickly shuffled to the changing room. She missed Kousaku by a hair's breadth as the male surgeon loped into the room. "What's the status?"

"High energy impact, fractured pelvis, 2nd and 3rd ribs broken and hemorrhaging." Kazuo relayed. "This one's bleeding from the head and unconscious. Oh, and one of them's got high alcohol levels in his blood."

Kousaku cast only the briefest glance around the room, but that alone told him Megumi was not going to be there. His eyes fell on Mihoko, who shook her head slightly and mouthed; Not coming.

He pushed the matter to the back of his mind and concentrated on the task at hand. His jaw worked in silence and Mihoko felt a stab of pity for him. But this was not the time or place for heart-to-heart discussions.

She hoped that wherever Megumi was, she wasn't tripping over anything else.