"And there we are." Irie pulled the syringe out of Maria's arm. "Would you mind putting a bandaid on there, Shion?"
"Sure." Shion leaned down and put one on the injection site. Maria was sitting on the exam table and smiling up at Shion. "Is a blood test really necessary, though? She's just a baby."
"It's part of the exam." Irie smiled as he labeled the vial and disposed of the needle. "Rosa agreed to have a full exam done, so I'm doing everything."
"It still seems so much." Shion frowned as she looked down at Maria. "You watched her doing stuff as she sat there. You even hid me from her sight so she couldn't see me."
"Shion," Irie dropped his smile. "I know it seems weird, but it's part of what Rosa wanted me to check."
"What does that even mean?" Shion frowned. "Check what? Is Maria sick? I'm looking at her right now, and she looks like any other baby."
Shion looked at Maria, who was still smiling. She smiled back as Maria held her teddy bear.
"Okay." Irie sighed. "I don't think Rosa would care if you knew, but Maria got a diagnosis that has her concerned."
"Does she have an illness?" Shion's eyes went wide.
"No." Irie handed over his clipboard. "See this part about repetitive movements that I wrote down?"
"Yeah." Shion looked at his writing. "But what's that got to do with,"
"See her rocking back and forth?" Irie cut her off as he pointed at Maria.
Shion looked over at Maria as she was doing that. She had never thought about it, but Maria did sometimes.
"Yeah, I saw Maria do that when I went to Rena's." Shion looked back at Irie. "Is that bad?"
"Real quick, you told me that Rena told you Maria was at first ignoring Nao but played with her later, right?"
"Yes?" Shion continued to look at him, clenching her fists. "Look, what does all this have to do with Maria?"
"Okay." Irie sighed as he set the clipboard down. "A doctor told Rosa that her daughter has infantile autism."
"What is that?" Shion looked at him.
"It's a disorder that affects things like learning or social behaviors." Irie pushed up his glasses. "Basically, Maria is disabled in the sense that she doesn't react the same socially as another baby her age."
"What!?" Shion's face got red. "Maria's not disabled! Look at her!"
She pointed at Maria, who looked up at Shion before she continued.
"You saw how fast she was learning words! That's not someone who's stupid!" Shion raised her voice more as she turned back to Irie. "I want to know who those doctors were that told Rosa her baby is!"
Shion stopped as Maria started to cry. She ran over to pick her up and hold her over her shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Shion patted Maria's back. "Did I scare you?"
"Shion, please calm down," Irie sighed. "It doesn't mean Maria is stupid. It means she has trouble with things like interacting with other babies or learning words. Usually, a baby says its first word after a year, but it took Maria longer."
"Well, can't we just cure it if she has it?" Shion frowned.
"It's not something you cure." Irie patted her back. "It's more about helping Maria adjust to her limitations."
"How do we do that?" Shion looked back at Maria, who had started to calm down.
"Honestly, it can be a lot simpler than you think." Irie smiled. "Sometimes, they just need help with assignments or completing a job. Other times, it's just understanding that they just act differently than everyone else."
"Would Chie-Sensei help with that?" Shion asked.
"I'm sure she'd be willing to help teach Maria if she had her as a student." Irie lightly laughed. "Honestly, with how great she is with all of you, she'd probably be amazing with a child with that condition."
"Wait, do any of us have that?" Shion raised an eyebrow.
"It's hard to say." Irie sighed. "I would need to examine all of you for that. I'll put it this way, though. If Maria was as bad as any of you, she'll be fine."
Irie smiled as he patted Maria's head. She looked up and smiled at him now.
"Well, that's good to hear." Shion smiled as she looked down at Maria.
"Anyways, I need to run some tests on this." Irie held up the vial. "Why don't you take Maria to our waiting room? There's some toys for kids to play with."
"Sure, Irie." Shion smiled as she walked out of the room.
Shion walked down the hall to the waiting room. It was a slow day at the clinic, so it was just the two of them. Shion sat her down on the playmat for the kids.
"I don't care what anyone says, you're a smart baby." Shion smiled as she booped Maria's nose.
"Shion!" Maria reached up for Shion.
"Now wait right here. I'll get some toys so you can play." Shion stood up and walked over to the shelf. Someone had put the box on a shelf that she couldn't reach, so she grabbed a chair and climbed up it to grab it. As she did, something fell off behind a couch.
"Dang it." Shion looked down and glared. She stepped off the chair, sat the box down, and got down on the ground.
She tried reaching for it, but it must have rolled closer to the wall. After a minute, and stopping herself from throwing the couch, she got it and pulled it out.
"Oh, it's the baseball Satoko hit." Shion smiled as she examined it. It had the date of the game with Satoko's name. She placed it back on the shelf and grabbed the box. "Okay, who's ready to have fun with…"
Shion turned around, and Maria was gone. Her teddy bear was sitting where she was.
"Maria." Shion sat down the box and started to look around. She figured she probably didn't get far and was probably just exploring. However, she looked down each hall and didn't see her. "Maria…."
She looked under all the chairs and checked the open hospital rooms; there was no sign of her anywhere. Now, Shion started to shake.
"Maria!" Shion screamed, with tears going down her eyes. "Maria! Where are you!?"
"Shion, what's going on!?" Irie ran down the hall.
"Irie, I lost Maria!" Shion cried as she covered her face. "I went to grab the toys for her, and when I turned around, she was gone!"
"Shion, calm down." Irie patted her back. "I'm sure she's close."
"I tried to look, and I couldn't find her!" Shion hugged Irie, sobbing into his shirt.
"It's okay." Irie hugged her. "I promise we'll find her."