"You're looking very healthy, Satoko." Chie smiled as she wrote something down on a clipboard.
"Can I get dressed already?" Satoko frowned as she sat on the exam table in her underwear.
"We're almost done, I promise." Chie sighed. "I just need to show this to Dr. Kyousuke and see if there's anything else we need to do."
"Okay." Satoko frowned as she looked at the ground. Chie frowned as she left the room.
"Oh, hi Chie-Senai." Shion waved. "Good to see you were here."
"Shion?" Satoko stood up and walked to the door.
"Oh, hi, Shion." Chie smiled. "Good to see you too, Ms. Rosa."
"Oh, please." Rosa giggled. "Just call me,"
"Rosa!" Satoko ran past Chie and hugged Rosa. "I'm happy to see you!"
"Satoko?" Rosa looked down and blushed. "Where are your clothes!?"
"Sorry," Chie nervously laughed as she scratched the back of her head. "Irie needed a female to do the girl's physicals, and I volunteered."
"Let's just get her out of the open." Rosa sighed as she pushed Satoko back into the room and shut the door with just the two of them.
"Awe, it's nice seeing Satoko's mom being so protective." Shion laughed.
"Satoko's mom?" Chie raised an eyebrow as she looked at Shion.
"I'll explain later." Shion giggled. "Let's go see Irie first."
"Why don't you kids be respectful and say, Dr. Kyosuke?" Chie sighed.
"To be fair, you called him Irie when you told us why you're here." Shion grinned. Chie blushed as she walked to Irie's office with Shion following her.
Back in the hospital room, Rosa was looking at Satoko.
"I still can't believe you ran out of this room like that." Rosa frowned as she picked up her clothes and went to hand them to her.
"Chie-Sensai said I'm not allowed to get dressed yet." Satoko sat on the table and frowned like earlier. "She's not sure if she's finished or not."
"You don't like these checkups, do you?" Rosa sat her clothes back down. She watched Satoko shake her head. "It's not just a regular check-up, is it?"
Satoko stayed quiet. To Rosa, that was enough of an answer. Rosa sighed as she sat next to Satoko.
"You want to talk about it?" Rosa smiled. Satoko continued to look down at the floor. "How about we talk about Maria instead? You seem to enjoy that."
Satoko looked back up at Rosa, making her giggle.
"Rena thinks you love having Maria around because you're not the baby of the group anymore."
"I wasn't a baby before that either." Satoko crossed her arms as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"I know that." Rosa patted Satoko's head. "But sometimes it's nice not being the youngest in the group."
"That's also nice." Satoko smiled.
"There's that adorable smile." Rosa giggled. "You know, you remind me so much of me at your age?"
"Really?" Satoko raised an eyebrow.
"Well, not entirely." Rosa sighed as she took her hand back."I wanted to prove I was tough, too, but I wasn't as strong as you. A lot of the time, my older brothers and sisters would pick on me and say I was worthless. The sad part was that I started to believe they were right after hearing them say it so many times."
"But you're not worthless!" Satoko frowned. "You' 're our friend, and we love having you around!"
"I love having all of you around too." Rosa smiled. "Especially you and Rena. Speaking of her, you'll want to come with us later to see her."
"Why?" Satoko asked.
As Rosa talked to Satoko, Rika was in Irie's office, waiting for Chie to finish with Satoko. Irie read over all the notes about Rika's check-up as they waited.
"Seems you're completely healthy." Irie smiled. "Same as last time."
"That's good." Rika smiled.
"Just have to finish a few things, and wait for Chie, and you'll both be done." Irie closed Rika's file and opened Satoko's.
"Is there anything you can say about her now?" Rika raised an eyebrow.
"Well," Irie looked inside. "Seems like the same as usual over the last month. She's definitely not getting worse."
"But not getting better." Rika frowned as she looked down.
"Rika, I told you not to think like that." Irie sighed. "Things take time, and Satoko has plenty of it. So don't start worrying about me running out of time to help her."
"I know, but it feels like you're hiding something." Rika looked back up at him. "You still haven't told me what you found out about Rosa related to that."
"That's because I don't know myself, Rika." Irie read Satoko's file. "As much as I do know, she doesn't have it. However, I can't explain why. It's a…"
Irie stopped as he noticed something in Satoko's file. His jaw dropped for a second before regaining his composure.
"What?" Rika stood up. "What is it?"
"It's," Irie paused as he looked at Satoko's file.
"Hey, Irie." Shion smiled as she barged in with Chie behind her.
"I told you we should have knocked." Chie sighed.
"Oh, it's just Rika in here." Shion giggled. "By the way, hi, Rika."
"Hi." Rika smiled.
"I take it Satoko's physical is done?" Irie put down Satoko's file and closed it.
"I just finished it, Dr. Kyosuke." Chie sat the file on his desk.
"Don't you mean, Irie?" Shion giggled.
"I liked it better when it was just one of you." Chie blushed and looked down. "Anyway, is Satoko done, or is there anything else she needs to do?"
"She should be finished now." Irie smiled. "Let her know she can get dressed, and I'll finish things up in her file."
"I will." Chie nodded before walking out.
"By the way, Rosa is here too." Shion turned to Rika. "She has a little surprise for both you and Satoko."
"Surprise?" Rika raised her eyebrows.
"She'll tell you when you see her." Shion giggled. "She's with Satoko right now."
"Oh, okay." Rika got up and walked out the door.
"That's good that Rosa's here." Irie smiled. "I'll have a talk with her about,"
Irie stopped as he heard the door shut. He looked up, thinking he was alone now, but he saw Shion standing at the door, glaring at him with her arms crossed.
"Did you need something, Shi…" Irie tried to ask.
"Drop the act." Shion continued to glare. "I want the truth. What is it about Rosa, and what does it have to do with my little sister?"
"Shion, I don't know." Irie sighed. "I can't say wha…"
"Don't give me that crap!" Shion ran over to his desk and slammed her hands on it. "I know damn well you wouldn't have let Rosa go up to Satoko yesterday! You saw how Satoko was acting, and you were just as scared as I was!"
"Shion, it's the truth." Irie stood up. "I can't explain why Satoko's symptoms go away around Rosa, but they do. And I'm terrified that I don't know why."
"Wait," Shion's eyes went wide. "Rosa makes them go away?"
"Based on what I've seen," Irie picked up Satoko's file. "Yes. I don't know why or how Rosa can do that, but she can."
"So Satoko gets better because she's around her?" Shion frowned. Her heart pounded fast when hearing Irie say all of this.
"I'm not sure." Irie sighed. "I tested Rosa's blood with Satoko's to see if that was the case. It showed that she's immune and can stall the virus, but it doesn't help get rid of it either."
"Then why aren't you sure?" Shion raised an eyebrow.
"Because when I checked Satoko's blood, it had gone down." Irie dropped her shoulder. "I can't explain why a blood test only halts it, but Satoko being there in person makes it disappear."
"So Rosa has been helping Satoko this whole time?" Shion frowned.
"I need to run more tests, but it does seem it's helping her." Irie sighed as he walked around his desk. "Regardless, Rosa is helping Satoko, that's the important thing."
"Do you think you could help Rosa start her business?" Shion looked up at Irie with her hands together. "Rosa said she'd think of moving here if it was a success, and I'm scared I can't talk her into it unless we can do that."
"I'll see what I can do." Irie sighed. "Until then, let your little sister know she's done with her check-up."
"I think she'll like that." Shion smiled as both of them left Irie's office.