[Open] Despair

After his so-called "lecture" with the first-year class, Takeshi immediately takes a cab from the school and rushes over to the hospital. Last night, he was notified that his daughter had collapsed on the street and was hospitalized in intensive care. The man was sure something like this would happen - he warned her not to try and walk home by herself, he told her to give him a call when she was done in the library, he-- Well, it's too late for hindsight now. The last time Nayumi was admitted in the hospital, the doctors were able to just barely bring her back, but they made it no secret that if this ever happens again, her frail body wouldn't survive the stress. That's all he's able to think about on his way to the front desk. After being told that his daughter's being taken care of and he's not allowed to see her yet, Takeshi is instructed to have a seat in the waiting room and expect the doctor to contact him when he has news - a procedure that the teacher is all too familiar with. Very reluctantly, he makes his way to the nearest chair and sits down before clutching his head in his hands.

Ichiko had heard rumours circulating Yamaku that Nayumi had gotten into some sort of trouble and was in hospital. Being Nayumi's best friend, she saw no other option than to go to the hospital once school was over and visit her, to make sure she was okay. Like Takeshi, she is promptly told Nayumi is being seen to and isn't allowed visitors yet.

"Oh, okay," says Ichiko, not too disappointed. "I'll just wait over here, then." She heads over to the waiting area, sitting next to Takeshi. "Hi, Tachibana-san! I thought you might be here." Of course, Ichiko knows Takeshi as he was responsible for the construction of her robotic arm.

Takeshi raises his head when he hears a familiar voice talking to him. 'Hey, Ichiko' he tries to force a smile, but it's just not working. 'What... What are you doing here?' he asks, hoping that the news about his daughter's conditions haven't spread around the school already.

"I heard from one of Nayumi's classmates that she'd gotten into some sort of predicament and was in the hospital, so I rushed over as soon as school ended to go see her. I don't really know the details, but I hope she's alright."

'I... I see...' Takeshi says and looks down, wondering exactly what to tell Ichiko. He knows she and Nayumi are as close as sisters, so ultimately, he decides to simply be honest. "I hope she's okay too, but it doesn't seem like it. The doctors won't tell me anything, but... She's been in intensive care since last night, with no improvement. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but..." he says and looks back down.

Ichiko, finally realizing the full severity of the situation, covers her mouth with her right hand. "Oh gosh...I...I'm sorry..."

'Don't be' he looks back up and tries to smile, but finds himself unable to. 'She's still fighting as we speak. As I said, I'm trying to remain hopeful, at least until I get some news. I'm just really scared of what those news might be...'

Ichiko nods sadly. "Well, let's try and keep our spirits up and hope the news is good! After all, she made it this far..."

'Yeah...' he nods back. 'I wish they would tell me at least something... Every time I tried asking, they just tell me to have a seat and wait for the doctor to contact me. They don't even let me see her... I don't know what's going on, that has never happened when she was hospitalized before...'

"Strange...do you think they're still...y'know...operating on her or something? Maybe that's why we can't see her?"

'I don't know... It's possible, but I'm afraid to consider what kind of operation would require twelve hours to complete... The only explanation that comes to mind is that one or more of her organs have failed. That's more or less the worst case scenario for her'

"Oh, I hope that's not the case..."

'If it is, then... It would just be a matter of time' Takeshi adjusts his glasses and exhales deeply. 'I try not to think about that possibility. The only way to save her then would be with transplants... be they organic or cybernetic. And I'm not sure she would want want'

As the heart monitor stabilises, Hideyo breathes a sigh of relief. He stands at the foot of the frail girl's bed, shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow. With a weary sigh, he removes his glasses and cleans the lenses with a scrap of cloth from his pocket.

After the escapade on the streets, Hideyo had ridden in the ambulance on the way to the hospital as the girl still burned up. Her temperature was way higher than he expected, creeping into a danger zone. On the way over he had had a chance to read over the girl's file, which was certainly worrying.

The past 3 or 4 hours had certainly been interesting, it was nice for Hideyo to put his skills in the medical field; he was put onto the case after bringing her in.

Throughout the night they'd been monitoring the girl, waiting for her to return to conciousness. They'd obtained a list of all of her medication from the school and administered it, which had improved her condition slightly. She was, however, still in critical condition. Even if she merely had a fever her poor immune system was struggling to stabilise, and she had even gone into cardiac arrest. She'd survived though, and now they were just waiting with baited breath to see if her condition improved.

Several hours later, Hideyo is awoken from his nap by the side of the girl's bed by a nurse.

"Dr Masuda? The girl's father is here."

He nods, "Give me a few moments just to check on her."

He checks her vitals, and she seems stable enough to allow a brief visit. He makes his way to the door, and steps into the waiting room to discover a rather defeated-looking man and a girl with a cybernetic arm.

"Mr Tachibana?" He asks.

Ichiko looks up although she is not the one being addressed. Finally, we can see her! Right?

Takeshi stands up as soon as he hears his name. The doctor in front of him looks kind of familiar, but the father is too preoccupied with his daughter's condition to make any kind of connection. 'How is she, doctor?' he jumps straight to the point. 'Please, be honest with me!'

Hideyo gives a comforting smile.

"I'm Dr Masuda, I'm currently in charge of your daughter's case." Hideyo brings up the clipboard containing Nayumi's information, "Nayumi has had a rough night, although I can see from our records that she's no stranger to them." He begins, in a neutral tone, "While your daughter currently seems to be stable, she still has a pretty high fever, albeit nowhere near as high as it was when she was admitted." He lowers the clipboard and looks into the other man's eyes, "I regret to inform you that your daughter suffered cardiac arrest during the night, but we got her heart started again and it's highly unlikely that any lasting brain damage was caused; although when she regains conciousness we'll have to run some tests."

Returning to the keyboard, he flips a few pages, "We do, however, have some questions for you." He looks back up at Takeshi, "I was present when your daughter suffered her episode, and I found her in the care of another young teenager. When I read her file, I was extremely surprised that somebody as frail as she is was catching the bus alone. Did you know of this?" Hideyo has a genuinely worried look on his face, searching for any signs in the other man's expression.

The man feels his knees going weak when Hideyo mentions cardiac arrest. 'Y-you mean... Her heart stopped?!?' he asks, unable to believe the doctor's words. 'That has never happened before... Is she okay now?' When Dr. Masuda gives his response, Takeshi sits back down on the chair, unable to find the strength to keep standing up. While there probably wasn't any lasting damage, the news is still really bad. The fact that his frail daughter managed to survive a cardiac arrest was nothing short of a miracle, and one he was sure wouldn't happen again.

When Hideyo asks his question, Takeshi looks back up at him. 'She was... Waiting for the bus?' he repeats. 'No, I had no idea... I thought she collapsed at school! She was... Because of her illness, she had to skip school a lot, so she was worried about the approaching exams. She insisted on staying in the library after class and catch up, but I made her promise to give me a call when she's done... Why would she be waiting for the bus? I don't get it...' he asks and takes his glasses off. 'Do you... Have any idea what triggered this? Was it exhaustion?'

A rebel, I see. I'll have to have a talk with her when she wakes.

"As far as I can tell.... she was mugged." Hideyo adopts a calm voice as he says this, carefully monitoring Tachibana's reaction. "They gave her no bodily harm whatsoever, and they only reasons I have to support this is one of her classmates telling me, and the fact she had next to no belongings with her."

This man is clearly not stupid, I'm sure he can handle this.

"We believe she had an acute stress reaction, which is perfectly normal given the situation, but was vastly exacerbated by her condition. The surge of adrenaline and hormones sent her body haywire and she basically shut down." Hideyo once again turns his gaze to the man before her, "Would you like to see her? She's resting right now."

When Ichiko is told her best friend was mugged she immediately jumps to her feet, outraged. "WHAT?!" In her anger, her speech speeds up to almost unintelligible levels, her arms waving up and down frantically. "WellarethepoliceinvolveddidtheycatchthescumbagsoraretheystillouttherelookingforthemoraretheynotevenbotheringIDEMANDTOSEESOMEJUSTICETHEYNEARLYKILLEDMYFRIENDAND-" Finally running out of air, Ichiko takes a deep breath in and out, seems to calm down somewhat, and sits back down. "I hope they rot..."

'Mugged? I... I see...' he says quietly and looks to the side. So it wasn't the stress of her studies that caused this reaction? Well, that's certainly a small relief - Takeshi was thinking about homeschooling Nayumi again, and he knew she wouldn't like that. As things were, the only thing she needed was a bodyguard of sorts. When Ichiko starts yelling, the man turns towards her and places his hand on her shoulder. 'That's enough, Ichiko' he says quietly, yet sternly. 'I'm sure the police are looking into it. Either way, it doesn't matter... I'm just glad she's alright now' he says and turns back towards Hideyo. 'Yes, I'd... like to see her, if you think that's alright' he says, barely containing his desire to just shove the doctor aside and run into his little girl's room.

Hideyo holds up a hand to ease Ichiko's verbal diarrhea, "Please, calm yourself. The authorities will be duly informed once we have confirmation that she was indeed mugged. The other girl was extremely panicked so I can't really trust her."

He turns back to Mr Tachibana, "You won't be able to stay long, we can't risk infecting her with anything. I'll have to ask you to wear a face mask, gloves and overalls." Hideyo takes a step back and gestures towards the door to Nayumi's private room, which is held open by a nurse in a blue gown, sporting latex gloves and a mask.

If her condition worsens we'll have to take her to a sterile room... Hang on... who is this other girl? No siblings were mentioned on the report...

Hideyo frowns and turns back to Ichiko, "Who exactly are you, anyway?" He asks, discarding tact.

Ichiko looks slightly embarrassed about her outburst but does not apologize. She meant every word.

"My name is Ichiko Asari," she says, "and I'm Nayumi's best friend! Am I allowed to see her as well?"

'Alright, I understand. We will take whatever precautions are necessary' Takeshi nods his head. At this point, he's willing to do whatever it takes to see his daughter, if only for a moment. When Hideyo questions Ichiko, the man looks at her, then back at the doctor. No matter how he looks at it, it would be cruel to leave her in the waiting room. 'Dr. Masuda, my daughter and Ichiko grew up together. She's practically part of our family now, so I would appreciate it if you let her visit alongside me' he explains, assuming that the doctor can make an exception for family members.

Hideyo listens to the pair practically beg for entrance into the girl's room. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't at least a little bit moved by the ferocious dedication that the girl with the cybernetic arm showed toward her friend.

"It's against hospital policy, but..." He looks around the corridor, then back to the pair "I'm sure nobody will notice." He says with a wink. He turns the the nurse and tells everyone to remain silent as they enter the room. He then leads the pair towards a metal table with soaps, a sink, masks gloves and overalls and proceeds to wash his hands and forearms.