"But the chances are 1 in 100. What if it doesn't work? So far it hasn't worked with the volunteers, you said it was the most complicated." Melia gets nervous saying that, which causes an unexpected confusion for the other three, but Seiya clenches his fists with determination.
"It will work! If this is what the doctor has to do to save our friend, he should do it, if this worked on us, it will work on Nobita, I'm sure of it!"
Dekisugi stands up "Hirano. Could you tell me what you're talking about? Are you talking about some artificial support to save Nobi? A moment ago you yelled at Baron Kurai that him hurt you two."
"It's much more than that Dekisugi. And yes, he hurt us, but for now we must act quickly. If this works out and Nobita is safe, I promise I'll explain EVERYTHING to you" The blue-haired boy looks at Shizuka "Just, trust us please, we want to save him as much as you do and that is why we are willing to risk something big, I know that the probabilities are very low, but inside I feel that it's the only option to save him, Nobita gave us his hand, we will give him ours."
Shizuka looks at Seiya and then at Nobita, she could also see the half-heart necklace protruding from the boy's shirt, remembering both the theater and when he saved her from the baron's attack, she takes her half-heart necklace and squeezes it with hope "I believe in you Seiya, please help Nobita"
"I don't know what you guys are planning to do with Nobita, but if Seiya trusts it will work, I believe it too" Doraemon says as he nods determinedly.
Melia exhales tiredly but she smiles determinedly "Well, we have to trust, brother. I think it's our only option now."
"It's ready!" A life support machine had appeared out of nowhere, it had handles, Dr. Keta connected the machine directly to the boy's wound, while the arrows and indicators began to work and a clock of numbers began to tick with all. Immediately and using the bandages and patches, the wound was covered and the excess blood was covered, removing the vast majority. "The heart is stabilizing, this will help us"
"So Nobita is going to live?" The girl with the pigtails asks with a hopeful smile.
Dekisugi exhales "Shizuka, I'm afraid it's only a temporary solution, that is a life support machine that helps the body resist, but seeing that it may be able to help with the lifespan of a human heart is something I have never seen. I had read about those artifacts and knew that Suchimu Corp's are more complete, but seeing that they can even do things like this seems incredible to me."
"It's not new, Suchimu Corp is one of the most powerful companies in the city of the future, it has protected it from the shadows years ago with its facade of an invention and ship company, although I'm surprised at how fast that boy was to assemble that machine, not even the most precise inventor is capable of doing something like that without making a mistake." Doraemon thinks as he watches Hikaru wipe the sweat from his forehead and then use what looked like a communicator that he took out of his robe pocket. "Besides, Seiya and Melia are confident in Dr. Keta's idea. There's something they know that the rest of us don't."
The blue cat looks at his unconscious friend and can't help but pat his head "I should have protected Nobita in this situation, he is more important to me than another human. But I got distracted thinking that this situation wouldn't be so bad, but now, I must trust them, hold on, buddy, I'm here with you." Doraemon thinks and looks at the doctor "We must take him to the hospital." The doctor exhales tiredly.
"Hikaru already called an ambulance, but we're not going to take him to the local hospital. If we want this to work, we have to take him to Situs Hospital. You're the closest to this boy, right? Go get his parents, they'll take him there, life support will keep him alive for only 24 hours, the first thing we will do is see if there is an option for him, if not, we will proceed with the plan we have, that they go directly to talk to the president of Suchimu, he will give them the details"
"Situs Hospital? That's a private hospital that is associated with Suchimu Corp. What are they planning to do? Anyway, I have to go get mom and dad." Doraemon looks at Nobita with concern but at the same time with hope. "You're going to get out of this problem, just resist"
When the firefighters were able to open the entrance by removing the debris, the cleaning and rescue work began, the ambulance ships were picking up the injured, while the police and the Sutirushiti special forces were collecting the testimonies of the witnesses. Nobisuke in his victorian mechanic's suit who was just arriving at the scene because he was late in business with the owner of the engine, is startled when he sees all the commotion "What happened here?!" He manages to see his wife who was talking to Doraemon and notices that she was starting to cry, then not seeing Nobita, he feared the worst, so he approached them "Mom, Doraemon! What happened?! Where is Nobita?!"
Tamako couldn't stop crying when she saw her husband "Dad...Nobita...He..."
While the boy's father finds out about the situation turning pale, Dekisugi and Shizuka were with their wounds from the explosion healed and bandaged, luckily, they were only light bruises, the girl with the pigtails had Nobita's cap in her arms. Shizuka's parents come to see her daughter and are scared when they see the blood on her dress "Shizuka, daughter! What happened to you?! Are you hurt?! And this blood on your clothes?!" her father asks distraught.
"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Minamoto, don't worry, Shizuka is fine, we only have bruises from the explosions and the fire" Dekisugi says with a long face, he was still affected by what happened to his friend as much as Shizuka.
"And this blood isn't mine" The girl starts to tear up as she sees the cap "It's Nobita's, Baron Kurai was there and tried to attack me and he saved me by trying to stun him using the project we did for school, but for risking his life to protect me, he was seriously wounded by the baron."
Shizuka sees how a ship-vehicle where Seiya and Melia were now, parks near the Nobi, the girl opens the door to the parents of the boy with the glasses and they, along with Doraemon, get in to go to the Situs Hospital. "Now we are going to go to the Situs Hospital to accompany him"
Her father is surprised because while they were outside, they had no idea what happened in the great hall. "We are very grateful to Nobita for taking the risk to protect you, it means a lot to us. Are you sure you want to go? You should have seen a lot in there."
Shizuka can only remember the moment when Nobita used the ship to ram the baron, and then remember how her friend was hurt in front of her eyes, she shakes her head and nods "I'm, I want to be there, after all, he was there for me at that moment, I must and want to do the same for him."
The girl's parents go straight to their car to go to the hospital along with Shizuka and Dekisugi. Suneo and Gian approach to look "Hey! Where are you going? It's all over..."
"Honekawa, Goda, please, not now, a friend of ours is fighting to survive, anything, tell us tomorrow. We're not in the mood right now." The smart boy interrupts Suneo, they just watch as they all leave in the car together. Gian can't help but exhale.
"But if they say that Nobita has already been stabilized, why does he always have to attract attention? If they are even going to take him to the Situs Hospital where they will treat him well, I know that we have to worry about his situation, but..."
Suneo hasn't finished speaking when he notices how Hanz, the theater man, was looking at him from afar, smiling, as if he had known him before, which makes him a little uncomfortable.
"And now what do we do? Should we go there too?" Gian question "Our parents are being questioned by the police as witnesses"
"I don't think so, at least not for now. We don't know what they are going to do with Nobita, and I wouldn't want to see bad faces. Let's better stay until our parents finish talking to the police."
Hanz sees how the pair stay there waiting, which makes him tilt his head. "It seems like he doesn't know that I saw what he wanted to do before, I like that, because I can use him to have fun." At that, he walks away and remembers how he saw Nobita being carried on a stretcher with everything and life support to the ambulance at the other hospital. "Poor, poor heartbroken, but that's part of the script. The show must go on."
Mr. and Mrs. Nobi and Doraemon finally arrive at the Situs Hospital, as it was a private one, it was large and had more comforts and attention. Once they enter, they go to reception, who take them along with Seiya and Melia to the fifth floor where the serious and isolated cases were. Seiya and Doraemon run towards the doors of the operating room where a team of doctors were just about to enter with Nobita, who was on the stretcher, only in a hospital gown, life support and a respirator.
"Nobita!" Doraemon runs towards the boy and clings to him, looking at his state. Tamako and Nobisuke also manage to arrive and get closer, they both cry when they see his son in that state.
"Nobita, son, it's me, mom!" Mrs. Nobi shouts. The nurses and orderlies move the stretcher to enter the operating room.
"The operating room" Melia rubs her arms "Just remembering what happened a while ago in that place gives me goosebumps"
Nobisuke kneels in the hallway still unable to assimilate what was happening "But this morning he was late as always and he said goodbye smiling. Why...?" His wife also kneels crying and covering her hands. Doraemon comforts them both.
"Excuse me. Mr. and Mrs. Nobi?" The president of Suchimu Corp himself had arrived, Seiya and Melia approach him. "I'm Hirano Olivier, the president of Suchimu Corp., I would like to say that it's a pleasure but under these circumstances I don't think it's appropriate to say that for now"
Nobisuke gets up and approaches him "T-thank you for helping us, good afternoon... My son... Can you save my son?"
Olivier exhales as he sees Seiya and Melia "That's what I plan to do, but first we must talk, I have an office as a partner in this hospital, it's close to here. It's about your son's matter."
At one point, there was a Victorian office similar to that of the factory, there was the president sitting at the desk with the Nobis and Doraemon sitting in chairs in front, Seiya was also next to his father sitting in a chair. Melia didn't come in because she said that she would wait for Shizuka and Dekisugi to come to the hallway. "It's a shame that we meet under these circumstances, you have been very kind to my children and I even wanted to thank you for dinner a while ago. But now let's get to the point"
Olivier takes out a folder of medical examinations "Nobita's condition is serious, the cut that Baron Kurai made was so precise that it damaged his heart, under normal circumstances the heart would have already died along with him, but fortunately the Dr. Keta was with them, so he was able to connect him to one of our life supports and remove the excess bleeding. Unlike ordinary life supports, ours are even capable of giving someone a (lifesaver) from any fatal injury, but only for 24 hours, when that time passes... His heart will stop working"
It was to be expected that the three members of the Nobi family were shocked to hear the diagnosis "Dr. Keta has made some calls, and the normal option, which is to get a heart donor, is impossible for the time we have, there are no donors of that type available, and we have to replace the damaged heart with a new one in order to save your child."
"Nothing? No donors? No waiting list?" Tamako asks, wiping her tears with a tissue she took out of her purse.
"I'm afraid that for the child's remaining life span, no. And if we put him on a waiting list, it won't be enough even if they give him priority because there are no heart donors." That makes the couple worry "And here is the second option, MY option. I have helped people with prostheses for replaceable body parts until now, thanks to the inventions of new scientists, inventors and mechanics, with gears, metal and screws, we have been able to create perfect prostheses that can never be damaged over the years. We have made many mechanical prostheses, even those that can only be imagined in dreams."
Olivier shows them a sepia photo of a metallic heart with gears, it had an appearance very similar to a real heart that could be confused with one "I'm offering you: A mechanical heart"
Doraemon is surprised, he knows that at that time, an option like that wasn't possible. Along with the brain, the heart was one of the most complicated organs to be imitated by a mechanical prosthesis. This in the field of medical science and industrial mechanics was an enormous revolution that could set a precedent if they were able to improve its usefulness.
Nobisuke takes the photo and looks at it carefully, as a mechanic he was surprised at how well made it was, its pieces were perfect as well as its structure, surprised he looks at the president "Never in my years as a mechanic had I seen anything like this, I would be excited if it weren't for the fact that we were talking about my son. I thought it was impossible to replace the human heart with a mechanical one because of the risks it would entail, but this seems to have been done by a genius."
"My grandfather, the previous owner and founder of the factory, made that mechanical heart, thinking that if it worked he would be able to help many if his plans and basic ideas for those prostheses were created together with the most expert mechanics. He did it taking into account the human structure so that it can be compatible with the human system, it took years of research and creation" Seiya says, smiling nervously while Olivier nods.
"If you give me your consent, the mechanical heart will be the replacement for the damaged one. Since Nobita is a minor, I need you to sign the consent form to put him into a special prosthetic program that I'm working on, because for one thing, I want to continue my father's legacy."
"But... Didn't Melia say that the success rate was 1 in 100?" Doraemon's question makes Seiya sad and Olivier sigh.
"And it is, as you know, the human heart is one of the two most difficult organs to imitate by science and industrial technology, I must be honest, there were many volunteers but none were compatible, they couldn't stand the heart barely placed and others although they lasted longer, they couldn't be with it for a day or three at most, other prostheses were successful, but this is the MOST COMPLICATED. There is a small chance that Nobita's body will accept the heart, just as there is a big chance that it won't accept it, and if that happens, we would have to put his common heart back together and... Say goodbye to the boy when the time on life support ends."
"I just have to say that the probabilities are low but never 0. You must decide now, an open heart operation takes hours and more if a mechanical heart is going to be used" Olivier takes out a folder with the prosthesis program and a consent form and an old pen. The Nobis look at each other.
"What if it doesn't work out? I don't want to see my son die, I know he's a bit of a mess, but I love him very much and I don't want to hug him to say goodbye to him while he dies. It already happened to us with your mother, I don't want that to happen with our son" Tamako says crying.
"I know, but the result would be the same if we don't accept it as if it doesn't work" Nobisuke looks at Doraemon "Although... With this we would be giving our consent for you to use Nobita as a laboratory subject, even if it's to save him, I don't like that part."
"Now that you say this, it sounds like that" Doraemon looks at Seiya as he looks at him sadly "But I trust Seiya, his dad has helped us until now, if it weren't for Dr. Keta, Nobita would have already..." blue cat shakes his head "Please, trust them"
Both parents look at each other again, then Nobisuke takes the pen and was about to sign the consent form but he looks at Olivier in the eyes "As a father, I suppose you understand that I'm going to do this for my son, I don't like the idea of letting you use his life as an experimental subject for a mechanical prosthesis seems like something out of a fantasy. Plus, I'm going to do my best to work as hard as I can to pay you for the medical bills and the heart if this works. I don't care if I have to spend the rest of my life paying the debt, our son's life is more important than money, we will do it for Nobita" He says that last thing, looking at his wife as she smiles sadly at him.
"Of course I understand that, actually I had to do something like this a while ago. Seiya"
Olivier looks at his son, who nods and begins to take off his boots and roll up the sleeves of his pants. The three members of the Nobi family are surprised to see that the blue-haired man's legs that reached the knee were mechanical prostheses that exhale a little steam because he didn't have his boots on, a pair of gears could be seen anchored to his metal ankles.
Apparently Nobita wasn't the only one who had to take a toll from the steel samurai monster.