Chapter 10: Diagnosis

Sachi pushed Kazuto's wheelchair into Asuna's private hospital room.

She saw that Asuna looked as if she was peacefully asleep, the same as she looked the previous day. Unlike Kazuto's gaunt visage there was no sign of cellular decay or consumption on her sleeping face. Her cheeks had a healthy faint rose tint, and her red chestnut hair flowed out from under the helmet and across her pillow.

Sachi wheeled Kazuto to her bedside. He remained quiet.

Then he turned.

"Sachi, can you please wait outside?"

Sachi made a quick bow. "Certainly." She walked back out to the hallway and silently closed the door behind her.

After a moment she heard a sob.

He needs his privacy.

Sachi discreetly walked down the hallway and out of earshot. She waited by the elevator.

Five minutes passed.

As she waited she imagined what must be going through his mind. He failed her. He didn't keep his promise to protect her. He's probably beating himself up right now. It's happening all over again, just like it did with me.

She sighed to herself.

That poor girl. His team partner is laying right there in front of him, and yet she is literally a universe away.

Ugh, this will hurt him so badly. This will hurt him much worse than when I sent had him that dumb Christmas letter. There's no closure for his grieving this time. As long as she is breathing his failure will hang over him like a sword...

Then what? The doctors say that the remaining sleepers have maybe 6-18 months before the cellular breakdown causes their bodies to decay and quit working. What will happen to Kirito now if, week after week, month after month, he watches her body slowly desiccate and waste away, until at the end it is only a husk...?

No. I won't let that happen. I won't let him destroy himself.

How can I help heal him?

What should I do?

Ten minutes passed.

She had already resolved not to say anything to him for now. She knew that any soothing words that she might utter now would only sound patronizing; it might even make him angry.

Five more minutes passed.

Kazuto quietly exited the suite. He saw Sachi down the hall standing by the elevator, looking down and muttering to herself with her eyes closed. She did not notice him approaching.

He stopped and waited a moment, then he decided to get her attention.

"Let's go." She nearly jumped out of her shoes when he spoke.

One look at Kazuto's defeated face was enough to confirm her worries. She pressed the Down button and walked behind the wheelchair. When the door opened she rolled him inside without saying a word. She knew there would be no conversation on the way home.

As the elevator went down the muzak played overhead.

To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal

The doors opened on the main level.

Sachi was startled again. She was startled for precisely the same reason as before:

A wheelchair appeared in front of her that she did not expect to see.

It was Nurse Kurosawa, and she was frowning.

Oh no. I'm caught.

Kurosawa's arms were crossed as she sat in her motorized wheelchair facing the elevator.

"Ms. Watanabe, can you please come to my office for a moment?"

Sachi was frozen in abject fear. She knew she could not remain on staff after something like this.

But first she had to find someone to take care of Kirito. He was looking down at the floor, lost in his own world.

She stuttered, "Y-yes ma'am. If I can please first..."

Nurse Kurosawa interrupted her. "You can bring Mr. Kirigaya with you and leave him outside. As I said, this will only take a moment."

It was hopeless. Kurosawa already knew who Kirito was.

Sachi felt miserable. Here she was, caught red-handed violating hospital policy, and it was only her second day. What made it worse was that she was caught by the infamous Nurse Kurosawa.

Kurosawa was the second highest ranking RN in the hospital, having newly arrived from Tokyo General Hospital where she was the senior RN in charge of the long term care needs of over 1000 SAO victims in one of Japan's largest medical facilities. She was now in charge of all of Japan's remaining sleepers who were being gathered here at Tokorozawa. The previous day she had briefed her fifty new medical staff. Like herself, they were guest workers who had volunteered from several hospitals in the Tokyo-Yokohama region and who were hastily gathered together to help take care of the remaining sleepers.

Yesterday Kurosawa had arranged a brief impromptu meeting in the main training room with the new guest workers, including Sachi. She had thanked them for volunteering on such short notice. She told her new staff to treat each sleeper like they would their own family. She then read aloud from a list of instructions on a clipboard that was previously given to her: Tokorozawa Private Hospital is a for-profit research hospital, so the guest staff must stay out of the secure research areas of the building that are marked with either a red nameplate or red doorframe. Access to those secure areas would be permitted only for the permanent authorized staff who possess a red keycard. She then read from the clipboard that only immediate family members are to be allowed visitation, and that the news media are to be excluded from entering the hospital.

She looked up from the clipboard. "Remember, these patients are mostly children. None of them deserved this fate. I want you to take care of them as if they were your own children. Please, treat them with all of the compassion and mercy that you can give. These patients are here now because Tokorozawa is the most advanced hospital in Japan for conducting leading-edge memory care research, so please pray that a cure will be found to allow them to awaken and rejoin their families. Your job is simple: Take care of them until that time. You are dismissed."

Kurosawa then motioned to Sachi to stay behind. Sachi became nervous as she watched the others leave. She was certain that Kurosawa had pulled her aside because she was the only SAO volunteer who was also a VRDP. She thought that Kurosawa was going to give her the usual depressing secretive we-do-not-trust-you talk that she had endured so many times before (sometimes behind her back). She was afraid that Kurosawa might even dismiss her and send her packing right then.

As Kurosawa approached, Sachi tried to muster a speech. She started to explain how she had no record of anti-social or improper behavior and no record of any disciplinary actions. As she did so, Kurosawa raised her hand to silence her and simply smiled.

Kurosawa then told Sachi that she trusted her despite her VRDP status. Furthermore, she said that if any of the other staff ever cause her problems or trouble with her being a VRDP to tell her and she would deal with it personally. As she said it, Sachi caught a glimpse of her scowling visage. Sachi felt sorry for anyone who fell under her disciplinary wrath.

Then Kurosawa's face had brightened again, and Sachi thanked her profusely for her support. Sachi quickly warmed up to the senior RN despite her formidable personality, which was otherwise belied by her rather advanced age and her wheelchair condition.

Two years ago, Kurosawa had come out of disability retirement to help deal with the SAO emergency. Her years of experience in dealing with the aftermath of major natural disasters had made her the go-to leader in managing large scale emergency medical situations like this one, with both doctors and administrators wisely deferring to her judgement on how to quickly do triage and handle the setup for accepting a large number of patients in a short amount of time. Thanks in part to her efforts not one SAO victim was lost that first day, nor indeed were any lost since.

Kurosawa, who on S-F Day had felt that her two-year mission was finally accomplished, was getting ready to re-retire when she received a phone call from the Ministry of Health asking her to please lead a new medical team at Tokorozawa to take care of the remaining SAO victims until a way could be found to safely awaken them.

Nobody had died under her watch so far, and she was determined to keep that perfect record, so she had wearily agreed while promising to herself that she would never give up on any of the children that remained under the SAO curse.

And now she sighed again, because one of the new guest staff had already violated a hospital rule that she had announced herself less than 24 hours ago.

Sachi followed the senior RN in shameful silence to Kurosawa's temporary office. She had never guessed that the first person to face Kurosawa's wrath at Tokorozawa would be herself. It was a small windowless room in a hallway off the main lobby that was originally a storage room. As instructed, Sachi parked Kazuto outside the room and closed the door behind her. Sachi saw some unopened cardboard boxes and a few folding chairs, no decorations. Kurosawa motored herself behind a folding table that doubled as an impromptu desk. A laptop was open on the desk/table.

Sachi tried to explain "Ma'am, I am so sorry. You see.."

Kurosawa raised her hand. "Please stop." She took off her eyeglasses and rubbed her tired eyes. "I realize that you still don't know me yet, and this is only your second day working here, but still, you should have come to me first."

Kurosawa clasped her hands on her desk. "Ms. Watanabe, I know all about Kirigaya. In fact he's rather famous in certain circles. He was spotted the moment you wheeled him into the main lobby. I was informed about him before you had reached the top floor."

Sachi looked down with shame at her foolishness.

Kurosawa continued, "Although my clearance level for access to MINFO files is somewhat limited, I do know Kirigaya if only by reputation if nothing else. Most people here do." Kurosawa left out the fact that she also had other unofficial ways to get information out of MINFO if she felt she needed it.

Twenty minutes ago Kazuto could be seen sobbing at Asuna's bedside in a video window on Kurosawa's laptop. Meanwhile she had pulled up another window next to it that contained Asuna Yuuki's redacted file.

Twenty minutes later she leaned forward to address Sachi. "I did some checking, and I now realize that you had the best of motives for what you did." She was not more specific. "And I know you are new here so I suppose I can give you some leniency. But even so, you should have still come to me first instead of sneaking Kirigaya up to her hospital room like that."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I take it her parents don't know?" Kurosawa was thinking back to what she had seen on the room camera.

"No, I am sorry that I did not ask for her parent's permission first before bringing a visitor."

Apparently the VRDP girl had misunderstood. From watching Kirigaya's pitiful breakdown on camera Kurosawa felt that she had a pretty good idea about his feelings for the sleeping girl.

Well, now was not the time, and Kurosawa was not 100% sure anyway. Besides, she was already busy up to her eyeballs in getting all the new patients moved in and situated in their wards.

"I see. Just, please, do not let this happen again. Dismissed."

Sachi jumped up and bowed deeply. "Yes, ma'am! Thank you, ma'am!" She left and closed the door behind her.

Kurosawa remained at her desk looking at the closed door, then she looked at the three computer windows that were still open on her laptop screen: Asuna's sleeping form, Asuna's file, and Kirigaya's file. Kurosawa was getting ready to close the three windows but something in the back of her mind nagged her. She continued to look at the computer screen.

She was thinking. She started to tap her finger on the table.

Sachi Watanabe must have known that she was risking her job. So how did Kirigaya manage to convince the VRDP girl to sneak him in like that? Did Kirigaya give her a sob story? Or did she simply take pity on him? And how did they meet?

Where was this plan hatched? Where did it happen? He woke up a few days ago so assume it happened at his bedside and that she was taking care of him.

She pulled up Watanabe's file in a fourth computer window and started to scan it: Photo, personal info, CV. The CV confirmed that she had worked at the same facility that Kazuto was in. Kurosawa nodded to herself as she continued to read Watanabe's file: Her home address in Saitama, the names of her legal guardians (Minetaka Kirigaya and Midori Kirigaya), her school record...

Wait.

Kirigaya?

She quickly went back to the window with Kazuto's file and compared it. His home address and other contact info were redacted for security reasons, but the blacked out street address had the same length as Watanabe's street address. So did the blacked out names of his parents.

What in the world..?

Kurosawa pulled off her eyeglasses again and pinched her nose.

She really didn't have time for this, not with a myriad of far more important issues that she needed to deal with. She still had to get all the new patients settled into their wards, and she still needed to investigate some early reports of unexpected friction between the permanent staff and the guest staff.

She felt the beginning of a migraine headache starting as she put her eyeglasses back on. She then closed the four windows on her laptop and headed with determination to the main wards.

Next morning.

Sachi brought Kazuto's breakfast tray up to his bedroom door. She knocked on his door and waited a few moments. She did not hear anything so she let herself in. The door was not locked so she didn't need her key.

Sachi saw that Kazuto was still wrapped up in his blanket facing away from her. The blinds were closed and the room was dim. The dinner tray that she had left him the previous evening was still untouched.

Sachi removed the old tray and put the breakfast tray on the stand next to his bed. She then opened the blinds and let sunlight stream in. "My, it is such a beautiful day don't you think?"

She then turned to face him. His eyes were still closed.

"Kirito, it is after 9 a.m. It's time for you to wake up and have your breakfast."

No response.

"Kirito, I know you are awake. You aren't fooling me. You need to eat something. Your body needs the nourishment."

Finally his eyes opened and he spoke.

"Go away."

Sachi stood her ground. "I am not going away." She walked back around the bed to the tray and picked up the chopsticks to hand to him. "Please, you need to eat."

"I don't want any."

"Please.."

"I said go away."

She sighed and turned to leave. "I'll be back in a bit."

Kazuto finally sat up in bed. "Sachi, wait."

She turned and walked back to his bedside, "Yes?"

"Please, take me back to see Asuna again."

Sachi made a mental sigh. Not good. Not good at all. This will only make things worse.

She said calmly, "Kirito, I don't think that's a good idea right now. Maybe later..."

He grabbed Sachi's wrist tightly. "Take me! Take me now!"

She saw the blazing determination in his eyes. It was an expression that she had not seen on his face since their shared battles in SAO.

She realized that he wasn't going to take no for an answer, so she relented to his demand.

"Fine. But eat your breakfast first."

Sachi wheeled Kazuto up to the front desk in the main lobby. One of Kurosawa's assistants greeted her and told her that Kurosawa was busy in the wards upstairs, but she explained to Sachi that Kurosawa had already approved Kazuto Kirigaya's visit to see Asuna Yuuki that day. Sachi wondered how Kurosawa already knew they were coming.

The ritual repeated itself: Sachi swiped her green keycard at the green door and Kazuto went in alone. Sachi waited by the elevator. This time it took 30 minutes before he returned.

She saw his face. He looked even more defeated than he did the last time, if that was possible.

He was taken home. Again he had refused to eat and stayed in bed the rest of the day.

Next day. 5:15 p.m.

Suguha had just returned from school. She crossed paths with Sachi, who was preparing to leave for her evening shift at the hospital.

She sat and began to unpack her knapsack at the kitchen nook. As she did so, she asked Sachi the same question that she had asked her yesterday.

"How is he doing?"

Sachi looked dejected. "Not good. He's getting worse in fact."

Suguha stopped unpacking and sighed, "Ugh, it has to be that Asuna girl."

"Partly, but I think it is more than that.."

Before Suguha could ask what Sachi meant by that remark, she spotted a large welt on Sachi's right cheek.

"Sachi? Your face! What happened?"

Sachi shrugged, "He wanted to see Asuna for a third time."

"And?"

"I said no."

"No?"

"I told him I would take him to see Asuna again only if he started eating his meals and doing his PT."

"Good idea. So how did he react?"

"He threw his bedpan at me."

"What!?"

"It hit me in the face."

Suguha was shocked. The bruise was large. "Really? I don't believe it! He would never hit a girl like that!"

Sachi touched her sore cheek.

"No, he wouldn't. You are right."

"What in the world is wrong with that guy?"

Sachi hesitated, unsure if she should tell her or not.

Suguha pleaded, "Sachi, please, tell me..? What's wrong?"

Ducker, sullen and listless. Tetsuo, outbursts of aggression. Sachi, refusing to eat.

Kirito had all three.

Sachi said quietly, "You are right. Kirito would never do that..."

Sachi then took a deep breath.

"... but a VRDP would."