ah, everybody loves the GoRokkies, huh? Lots of them coming up, I hope. Thanks all, for reading and commenting, familiar names and lurkers alike. They really help to structure the story and give me that little push to keep writing.
Essy: Konno? Probably-
Ropy, "That reminded me... Doritos. Totally different situation and different person, but reminded me anyway" Shh- inside joke, yeah?
your predictions are pretty good, but at the end of the day, its not so much as who is better suited to whom- it's who will irritate and scare the shit out of whom best. that, is crack. Besides, with the intern-sitting/swapping, we will definitely see everyone interact with each other one way or another.-----
Chapter 5: Everybody's got somebody, except Yossi“Which one of you is Kamei?”
Eri faced Fujimoto apprehensively, “Hajimemashite, yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Dr. Fujimoto-san.” she bowed stiffly.
“Un.” Miki studied her intern, like she would a bug on a specimen dish. Eri gripped her glass with both hands and sipped at it, squirming under Miki’s gaze.
Rika, who was standing next to them with Niigaki, grinned in amusement, “I can see that your reputation may have preceded you, Dr. Fujimoto. Don’t worry,” she addressed the nervous Kamei, “Any allegations against Dr. Fujimoto are only rumors, as far as we know.”
At the next table, Aya looked pained as Sayu was excitedly asking questions in a very high pitch about the program and the hospital.
Maki smirked at her behind Sayu’s back and turned to face her own intern, who seemed like a nice kid, if not slightly drunk. The resident was uncomfortable in social situations like these, therefore often projecting an aloof air, but Reina hardly noticed as she was so taken by the resident she admired.
They smiled tentatively at each other, “Um, senpai- do you want a drink?”
“God, yes.”
Yossi sauntered over to the punch bowl, “Oh jeez- has everyone been taking turns to spike the punch again?”
Yuko examined the punch which had lightened in opacity considerably during the course of the evening and casually tossed the empty vodka bottle into the box under the table meant for recycling.
“It needed some watering down, I thought.” Nakazawa explained.
“You realize watering down the fruit punch doesn’t mean adding more vodka?”
Popping a can of peaches open, the Chief poured its entire contents into the bowl. “There. I fixed it.”
She handed over a cup to Yossi and they made their way to where the seniors were sitting. Yaguchi turned to the resident and asked, “Yossi, where’s your new kouhai?”
“Takahashi Ai. Her doukies told me she was running late,” she explained.
“That’s not good.” Kaori frowned disapprovingly.
“I’m sure she has a good reason why. It’s okay- the longer I can put off the agony of that,” she jerked her thumb to indicate the awkward atmosphere over where the interns and their respective seniors were socializing.
“You kids are so boring- our meet and greets were never like this back in the day.” The seniors smiled fondly at the nostalgic memories.
“You guys were crazy back in your day,” Yossi intoned flatly.
Tsuji cackled, “Remember when Yossi got drunk during our orientation party?”
“Yeah. You were throwing your phone against the wall repeatedly, yelling ‘this is durable as shit’.” Aibon teased with a snicker.
“Oh my gah, please don’t remind me.”
“That’s how I knew you were going to be the best intern I ever had.” Yaguchi beamed proudly, patting Yossi’s shoulder.
“Remember how she got hold of some KY jelly and-“
Yossi jumped up, “That’s it, I’m going to go out and look for my intern.” Everyone laughed as she beat a hasty retreat.
----
As it turned out, Yossi’s decision to go look for Ai wasn’t the best plan in the world since she had no clue what the girl looked like. Sitting on the steps leading up to the Residence, she glanced around the almost empty quad, some day-shift nurses were making their way back to their quarters in pairs.
She had walked all the way up to the main hospital building and back across the quad aimlessly, hoping to bump into a harried stranger who might’ve turned out to be her intern, but with no luck.
‘Shouganai,’ she shrugged with a sigh. There was only one thing to do in moments like these.
Pulling out her phone, she dialled Rika and the neurosurgeon picked up almost immediately, “Moshi mosh.”
“Hai, Yossi?”
“Sorry, am I interrupting?”
“Hang on.” She heard Rika excusing herself and the background noise was muffled slightly, “No, go ahead. I think my intern just sighed in relief. We ran out of things to talk about 15 minutes into the conversation.”
Yossi frowned in concentration, trying to recall who Rika’s intern was. “Ah. Eyebrows. Is she a good girl?”
“She’s nice. Very eager to please, polite and extremely competent but wears her emotions and reactions all over her face. She’s looking at me nervously because I just glanced at her whilst talking to you.” Rika laughed a little.
“How’re things in there?”
“Crazy, the usual. Where are you?”
“Basically, I’m looking for a missing person whom I’ve never met.”
“Takahashi Ai, was it? Hang on.”
No tsukkomi today, Yossi noted, a little wistfully. She heard a flurry of movement, and heard the unmistakable sound of Yaguchi laughing heartily at something in the background. The usual.
“Yossi, where are you?”
“Just outside.”
“Okay, we’re coming out to help you look. Niigaki-san says that Takahashi is not picking up her calls.”
Yossi stood up and stretched, Rika and her intern came out of the main doors and down the steps towards her. A worried Risa was quickly introduced to Yossie, and they set out looking for Ai.
“I’ve searched the quad, up ‘til the hospital.” Yossi reported.
“Ai-chan said she was coming from the university campus. I think her advisor lives in the apartments just outside the grounds.”
A quick plan was formed and they decided to steal Aya’s bike so that Risa could ride quickly through the route Ai would’ve taken via the footpaths. Rika and Yossi would search the shortcuts through the brush she might have tried to cut through.
It was kind of awkward- they haven’t really been left alone together since the break-up… short break, Yossi corrected herself internally. Things had been incredibly amiable, they still had a great working relationship in and out of the hospital. Truth be told, they were doing the exact same things they were doing, months before the official ‘break’.
Lesbian Bed Death. Someone should find a cure for it. ‘Maybe I should ask to sub-specialize in finding a cure.’ Yossi mused, “Or prevention, at least.”
“Prevention of what?” Rika asked suddenly, startling her.
“Ah, well.” Yossi grinned sheepishly. “Of saying things you’re thinking out loud. There has to be a specialty for that.”
Rika chuckled, “Not a surgical one, there isn’t.”
“Hey, I heard the great news, Pediatric Neurosurgeon.” Yossi bumped shoulders with Rika. “I can’t believe they gave you exactly what you’re perfect for.”
The neurosurgeon didn’t respond immediately, but was smiling thoughtfully as she considered her words. “You know, if you didn’t push me to go ask Nakazawa-san, I wouldn’t even have thought about it. You always know what’s best for me than I do for myself.”
“Yeah, now you can go think up a specialty that’s perfect for me too.”
They walked in silence, turning their efforts to climb the grassy knoll which inclined steeply before them. A rustling of bushes to their left caught their attention, “Hello?” A small voice called out.
They rushed over, when Yossi spotted a girl sitting propped up against a tree. “Takahashi-san?”
Raising a bloodied hand weakly, her intern replied, “Hai, Takahashi Ai desu.”
-----
“Itai!”
“Gomen!”
Emergency services had dispatched a stretcher within five minutes of their call. Ai had taken a bad tumble down the hill and could not locate her phone to call for help. Her leg was sprained and swollen, and she had minor cuts and bruises all over.
“So, I heard you did really well in your exams, Takahashi-san.” Rika said gently, trying to distract Ai from the pain.
“Ah.” Takahasi shook her head, “Um, it was- ow!”
“Gomen!” Risa cringed again. Yossi decided to take over- the intern wasn’t inept, just extremely gentle to the point of prolonging the discomfort as she tried to gingerly spare her friend the pain.
Yossi deftly cleaned a particularly nasty gash on her shin, removing a thin twig that had embedded itself into the wound. “Maybe we should put a stitch in this,” she said. “Maybe Dr. Niigaki would want to do the honors?”
“No!” Ai said quickly, then looked guiltily at her friend at the outburst, “I mean, sorry Gaki-san, but I think maybe you’d be too-“
“That’s okay. I really am too jumpy now to even hold a needle.”
“Gaki-san sutures beautifully,” Ai rushed to endorse her friend in front of their seniors. “And handles pressure very well.”
Rika smiled and placed a comforting hand on Ai’s shoulder, “It’s okay- we understand. I know unless it were an emergency, I’d definitely be too nervous to treat my friends, too.”
“Well, there was that time you sewed me up last year.”
“That was because you were trying to sew yourself up and getting the stitches crooked.”
“The suture needle slipped, is all.”
“Slippery from the blood that was gushing from your wound.”
Risa’s stomach churned slightly at the banter, and she flinched as the needle pierced through Ai’s skin, turning away from the sight. This was probably why they tell you not to treat friends and family.
“All done.” Yossi murmured as she dressed the neatly closed wound. “It shouldn’t even scar.”
“Maybe you should take medical leave at least until you heal up,” Rika suggested.
Ai tested out her arms and legs, except for the sprained leg, everything else seemed okay. “No, I think I can make it with crutches or something.”
“Well, I can put you in a wheelchair to keep you off the foot- it’ll be a really light day tomorrow anyway,” her senior told her. "I guess you don't want to miss your first day, huh?"
"Thank you, Dr. Yoshizawa."
“Come on, Ai-chan. I’ll help you get back to your room.” The two interns made their way back to their dorm.
In the wake of all that excitement, Yossi debated against going back to the party, but Rika was quite adamant about joining their colleagues. ‘To get blackmail material, if nothing else’, she reasoned. All in all, they had a pretty nice stroll back to the banquet hall. That was the last thing Yossi could recall from that night.
----
Procrastination and ropy-chan, are my two best muses. That is, if she'll forgive me for breaking up her favorite couple. *hides*
Oh well. Did you know: suture needles don't look like sewing needles?