Chapter 10: Heart-to-Hearts
“So a bacteria walked into a bar and the bartender said: 'We don't serve bacteria in this place.' The bacteria said, 'But I work here- I'm staph.'” Eri laughed, looking around the operating table. “Get it? I’m ‘
staph’,” she repeated with a giggle.
Perhaps it was because Eri couldn’t quite gauge if everyone were as amused as she was due to the surgical masks covering their pained expressions, but just as she was about to launch into her next atrocious gag, Ai stepped on her foot, making her recoil in pain.
The automatic door slid open with a soft swoosh and a freshly-scrubbed Miki stepped into the operating theatre. She gave the surgical team a friendly nod and some of them swore she was smirking under her mask. Somehow, they suspected Fujimoto had found another way to torment them all even in her absence via her sweet, but clueless intern.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Miki said brightly, confirming everyone’s suspicion with her overly cheerful mood. “Kamei, make the incision.”
“Hai!” Eri’s eyes shone with delight at the opportunity. A nurse handed her the steel #10 blade and she held it with a steady hand. The weight of the scalpel in her grasp sharpened every sense in her body and she took a deep breath, her entire concentration on the tip of the blade pressed into the patient’s abdomen.
‘When did she get so good without me realising?’ Ai thought with no small wonder, regarding the usually carefree Eri now fully absorbed in her task with an intense look on her face.
“
Fistula.” Eri muttered by way of a warning and suddenly an almost overwhelming foul smell from the diseased portions of the patient’s bowels permeated the air, causing one or two nurses to gag. Now Ai was thankful to Miki for force-feeding her that disgusting hangover cure earlier. It made this experience slightly more bearable, but no less nauseating.
“Takahashi,” Miki addressed her quietly. “Have you encountered a patient with
Crohn’s before?”
Ai was as surprised with the sudden question as she was with the gentle and professional tone Miki was querying her with. “Yes, intestinal blockage due to severe inflammation- a portion of the small bowel was surgically removed.”
“What we have here now are multiple blockages or strictures, in both the small and large bowels, the diseased portions almost 4 feet in total. What would you recommend?”
“
Strictureplasty- widening the blocked intestines instead of cutting it out. Reduces the risk of short bowel syndrome.”
“Good- I assume you’ve performed the procedure with Dr. Yoshizawa. We’ll do it in tandem at all the affected areas and close this guy up quickly- I don’t want to spend any more time than I have to breathing in this shit.”
Eri chortled, regretting it almost immediately when she forgot to continue breathing through her mouth.
-----
The cafeteria was relatively quiet, but far from peaceful.
In a quiet corner, Yossi was sitting stoically at the table between Maki and Reina who were looking everywhere except at each other.
“Are you sleeping together?” Yossi asked suddenly, breaking the silence.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“But not in a sex way!” Reina clarified quickly.
“Not in a- sex way,” Maki repeated in a small voice and blushed slightly, turning away from her intern.
Reina had never wanted to squeal ‘kawaii!’ as much as she did right now, and resisted the urge to reach across the table to pat Maki’s tousled head. She made do with shovelling in her
donburi as fast as she could without choking.
Yossi met Maki’s gaze and shot her a ‘Really? Your intern? You’re disregarding work protocol for this?’ look. Maki responded with a blank ‘I don’t read minds’ shrug.
“So, that’s great.” Yossi stood up abruptly. “Now that’s settled, I’ll need to report in to work-“ She glanced at her watch with a grimace, “-an hour late.”
“Sorry we kept you, Yossi.” Maki looked genuinely contrite and Reina dipped her head in a quick apologetic bow. They turned back to their brunch in awkward silence as Yossi left the table.
Yossi spotted Rika and Aya tucked in the far corner of the hall. The neuro residents were in the middle of a hushed and angry exchange of words, their coffees cold and untouched in front of them. Rika staring down Aya with a determined expression which was returned with a stubborn glower.
Contemplating the palpable tension between the two with mild trepidation, Yossi had an internal debate on whether to interject. Rika had this look on her face that Yossi knew well- someone, namely Aya, was about to either get smacked or throttled.
‘And once more into the fray,’ she thought as she greeted them, flinching as two sets of angry eyes glared at her intrusion. “Whoa- what’s wrong now?”
Rika and Aya turned back to glare at each other, communicating wordlessly through a complex series of facial twitches, flaring nostrils and narrowing eyes- the very representation of immovable object, irresistable force
“Fine!” Aya gritted out suddenly, slapping the table’s surface in sheer irritation. “Later.”
Rika looked mildly triumphant, as she leaned back with her arms crossed. “Now.” The sooner Rika got Aya’s condition diagnosed, the better.
“No way.” Last thing Aya needed was to have her work performance questioned when news got out, and knowing Asa UH, the news would spread faster than crabs in a single bathroom brothel.
Yossi looked from one neurosurgeon to the other. “Are you sleeping together?” she asked wryly.
“What? No!”
“N- no! Yossi!”
Successfully replacing the previous tension with a new tension, it was Aya’s turn to study the other two as they stared at each other with bemused expressions- looking for all the world like deers caught in the proverbial headlight. Rika had overreacted and Yossi did not expect the response she got from her offhand joke.
With the attention off her due to the awkward deadlock between the two indefinitely erstwhile lovers, Aya took the opportunity to extricate herself, silently promising never to complain about her lack of a love life again.
-----
Yasuda nodded slowly, paying close attention to Risa as she was giving her report on the psych case she was supposed to evaluate for neurosurgical candidacy. A few psych residents shifted restlessly behind her, throwing curious glances at the surgical intern amongst them.
“…there was loss of bowel control. Following which, Hiro-san graffitied his room. Again.” Risa grimaced, remembering the stench as she helped restrain and sedate the hysterical patient. Thank god she didn’t have to clean him up or sterilize the room- she gained a whole new respect for the nurses since that incident.
“What did he draw?” Kei asked off-handedly, making additional annotations in her notebook before looking up at Risa expectantly.
Risa’s eyes went wide at that, scrambling through her notes, trying to remember as much as she could from the frenetic episode. “Uh, heeh? He- uh, wrote something. Ehh~ nandake?”
A giggle from the residents behind her made her look up to see a teasing gleam in Dr. Yasuda’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Gaki-san. We’re not ALL crazy up here in the Psych ward.” Kei gave Risa a peculiar wink that suggested otherwise.
Kei directed her gaggle of residents to continue on their rounds without her and led the surgical intern into her office. It was tastefully decorated, to Risa’s surprise. The mahogany desk was clearly the centerpiece of the room with neat clutter and some personal effects scattered on the surface. Risa peered at a photo frame and looked away quickly when she saw a
selca of Kei winking at her.
“So, what do you think?” Kei asked, settling behind her desk and gesturing for Risa to sit.
“It’s um… very cute.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh! The patient-“ Risa backpedalled quickly. “Yes. I meant it’s quite acute. His condition.”
Kei gave the intern an amused look. “Good catch, bad pun. And thanks for the compliment. But yes, the patient’s condition seems to be worsening. Will you recommend him for full labwork?”
“I’m- not sure- his condition seems entirely psychological. We haven’t come across anything to indicate that it is caused by neurological reasons. Maybe if I could speak to his family to see if there’s anything they noticed?”
“Unfortunately the state is his family- he’s in a home for problematic youth. And therein lies our problem- permission and insurance,” Kei sighed as she tapped on the patient’s folder with her pen.
Risa contemplated that for a while before answering as politely as she could, hoping she wouldn’t come off too haughtily. “Well, we’re doctors, not administrators. We have to put the patient first before paperwork.”
Kei looked startled, before breaking into a wry smile. “Thanks for the reminder. I never thought that I’d hear my own words told back to me 4 years later from my intern’s intern.” Her smile dropped slightly as she considered her words. “I feel old. Oh god, I’ve become an administrator.”
“That’s not the case at all, Yasuda-san. I’ve seen your notes on Hiro-san, and you’ve really exhausted yourself finding the right treatment for him,” Risa declared fervently. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get him fully diagnosed. Leave him to me!”
Risa bounded out of Yasuda’s office with all the hopeful energy and innocent motivation only a new doctor could muster, leaving Kei feeling even more ancient than ever.
She
headdesked as soon as Risa skipped out of the room and reached for her phone to dial a number from memory without looking. “Rika-chaan~” she wailed as soon as the line connected. “Your intern made me feel old.”
“What happened?” Rika sounded amused.
“She told me that I should be a doctor, not an administrator and that I have to put the patient before paperwork.” Kei mock-whined as Rika laughed delightedly. “You’ve got one heck of a great doctor going on there.”
“Ah, sasuga
oresama.”
Kei sat straight up in her chair, all playfulness gone out of her stance. “Ishikawa, are you drunk?” She glanced at her clock- it was barely past lunch. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m an asshole. That’s what’s wrong. Yossi found out I cheated on her.”
Kei paused, focusing on the background noises over on Rika’s end. “Are you at the Pulse?” she asked, upon hearing thumping music and high-pitched giggling.
“Yeap.”
“Hang on, I’ll come get you.”
“Don’t bother. Mikitty is on her way already. I’ll be fine, Kei-chan. Talk to you later, these nice oneechans are making me something to eat.”
Kei stared at the phone bemusedly, the last thing she heard before hanging up was Rika saying ‘come sit on my lap, I have a
stick to keep you in place’.
-----
Miki glanced over at their usual corner in the strip club, catching a glimpse of Rika futilely trying to drink herself into a stupor. It was still too early for a show, so the club was empty save for Rika and some dancers who were pouring drinks for her.
“Irrashai, Miki-chan!” the buxomly mama-san greeted her warmly with a hug.
“Hi, mama. Long time no see.” The senior residents had made Pulse, the seedy strip joint a few blocks from the hospital, their favored watering hole since their student days.
“What’s wrong with Rika-chama?”
Miki shrugged as she made her way over to Rika. “I’unno. I guess I’ll find out.
She was immediately swamped by the cooing working girls who were sitting with Rika and she returned their affection with some well-placed groping, causing them to squeal and protest playfully. They fluttered off, leaving the two surgeons alone after extracting some promises to ‘play some more’ later.
Rika pushed the half-empty bottle of tequila over to Miki. “You better catch up quick.”
“Is this all you’ve had so far?” Miki asked. Rika nodded in affirmation. “You’re not even drunk yet, are you?”
“No. I have something to do during the graveyard shift later.”
Miki tossed back a shot with a grimace. “Ugh. Yeah- I’m on call for the emergency graveyard shift too.”
They drank in companionable silence, watching as the club workers prepared for the nights’ entertainment and debauchery.
“So… what’s up?”
“I think I need to tell Yossi about us.”
“Hah? Whut?”
“I think I kinda told Yossi I cheated on her today. Well, I didn’t really say it, but I think she knew. But she didn’t know with whom.” Rika dropped her head onto the table with a groan.
“What the hell are you talking about, Ishikawa?”
“We were having problems even before, you know, you and I… slept together. I guess that was the tipping point for me.”
Miki scrunched her forehead in confusion. “What’s the problem with that? And we haven’t really slept together much- I don’t remember waking up with you unless you mean in the on call room when we’re snoozing during breaks.”
“Sleeping together, as in we had sex, Mikitty.”
“What? We didn’t sex together.”
“Yes, we did. You told me so, and there… there was a video.”
“I told you so? I tell people all sorts of lies that aren’t true- there was a what?!” Miki exclaimed loudly, her face a mixture between shock and glee.
“Remember the video where I was giving you that lapdance?”
“With the feathered boa?”
“No, the other one with the handcuffs. During Kei-chan’s birthday party.”
“Ah, yes- handcuffs. That was hot.” Miki reminisced fondly with a faraway look.
“That video.”
“That’s it? That stupid video? That was so PG-rated, compared to the other stuff you usually do. The way you’re going on about it, I expected a sex tape or something.”
Rika smacked Miki over the head, “Stop looking so elated about the idea of a nonexistent sex tape!” She sighed, “We woke up naked and I don’t really remember what happened the night before except for us making out.”
Miki frowned. “You don’t remember? But you remember everything.”
“Precisely.”
“I’m pretty sure we didn’t have sex. I can’t believe you used this shoddy reason to break up with Yocchan. Shit, she’s going to kill me if she finds out.”
“We didn’t break up. We were already on a break then.”
“Actually, I meant to ask- what the hell is up with that shit? You guys behave the same as when you were together anyway. Minus the sex, that is.”
Rika sighed, slumping back in her seat. “That’s kind of the point. We were both so busy, we lost time for each other. Sometimes…”
“Sometimes?” Miki asked quietly.
“You know how Yossi is, with me. She’s so patient all the time and sometimes there’d be this- look. She just looks at me with this lost look in her eyes, but she was always patient, always waiting.”
“And how is now and everyday since you guys broke up any different?”
“Because I’ve betrayed her trust and today she knows I’ve betrayed her trust.” Rika wiped at the tears streaming down her face. “The look she gave me today- I never thought Yossi could look at me like that, ever.”
Miki hated when people cried. Grabbing Rika’s face, she started wiping away the tears with a bar napkin, forcing Rika to look at her.
“Look, you may have a memory gap, but I ALWAYS remember my sexual escapades.
One. Your only proof that we slept together was a fuzzy video of you giving me a lapdance and thrusting your hips distastefully close to my face.
Two. You have a godlike photographic memory despite your intoxication levels, yet you do not remember anything from that night.
Ergo – You got knocked out and we didn’t sleep together.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum.”
Clearly agitated, Rika waved Miki’s syllogism aside with some irritation, “I don’t speak French. And I don’t need you to make me feel better about myself.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel better about it,” Miki replied testily. She had the unenviable job of being everyone’s immoral compass since she had the least soul amongst them. “Yasuda-san’s birthday party, right? I’m 100% sure we didn’t have sex.”
“But why don’t I remember anything beyond us making out?”
Miki scrunched up her face, trying to remember. “We were making out, but your asthma attack kinda killed the mood.”
“I had an asthma attack?” Rika looked at her puzzledly.
“Yeah. You passed out after. I remember dragging you into the recovery position before passing out myself.” Miki flicked Rika on the forehead. “Dude, oxygen deprivation. That’s why you don’t fucking remember anything.”
”I love how this discussion has taken such an academic turn. The science does seem to point to yes.” Kaorin’s voice from the next booth startled them. “However, shouldn’t the two of you be at work?”
“I can’t believe you just reprimanded them with a
pun.” Kei shot her colleague a pained look.
“Omoshiroi, Iida-san.” Miki slow-clapped.
Shibata was laughing delightedly at the pun, earning odd glances from the people around her. Kaori basked in the appreciation for a second or two before turning her usual expressionless features to her tardy residents. “What do the two of you think you’re doing here in the middle of a work day?”
“Lunch break.”
“Off-shift,” Miki chirped, clinking glasses with Rika and they both tossed back their drinks.
“I can’t believe you guys are stalking us for gossip.” Rika glared at Kei, and then shifted her exasperated look to Ayumi.
“We’re just concerned about you, Rika-chan,” her friend answered guilelessly.
“I’m fine.” Rika frowned, trying to process all the new information that was countering all the guilt she’d been carrying for so long. “I’m an idiot, but I’m fine.”
“Problem with the lot of you is that you don’t communicate with each other,” Kei chided. She got up, grabbed Rika’s arm and dragged her towards the door. “Come on, you need to talk to someone now.” Shibata trotted along, helping to propel a reluctant and protesting Rika forward.
“I’m drunk enough to beat the crap out of the two of you and leave you bleeding in an alleyway!” was the last thing the two surgeons heard as Kei and Ayumi wrested Rika toward the hospital.
Iida poured herself a shot of vodka, making a face as the alcohol burned down her throat. “So, I need to talk to you.”
“Sorry, my alleged heart has reached its heart-to-heart chat quota. Please try again later.”
“Let’s just pretend this is a work assessment session, but with alcohol.” Kaori refilled their glasses.
“My last assessment was with Nakazawa-san. How is this any different from sessions with her?”
“Your smart-assedness is what’s landing you in trouble with people in the hospital.”
“Really? Here I thought it was because I was on Inaba-sama’s shitlist.”
“Yes, which reminds me. She tells me that the next time you ask one of her scrub nurses to ‘free your wedgie’ during a surgery, you’ll be cleaning bedpans in the pediatric ward during
rotavirus season.”
Miki snickered. “Okay. But where will I get my cheap thrills now?”
“Try the psyche ward. That’s where I go to get mine.”
They shared a knowing chuckle and toasted each other. Miki entertained herself by tearing up little strips of paper napkins and constructed a small bonfire, wishing she had a lighter to set it alight.
“When are you reporting in to
OB/GYN?” Kaori asked abruptly.
“Like, never.”
“Boss-mode now.”
“Sorry. Not ever, Iida-san.”
The surgical chief sighed. “I’m sorry I left you alone to handle the quintuplet premie case the last time.”
“Why’d you do that? It was my first year,” Miki mumbled flatly, all the jest gone from her tone. “All of them died.”
“We were already prepared for that eventuality. They just came too early.”
“Yes, but why me?”
“Because I knew you could handle it. I thought you could handle it.” Kaori corrected herself. “Fujimoto, it happens. You know you have to care for your patients, but at the same time maintain enough distance so you don’t lose objectivity.”
Miki shook her head. “I should’ve-“
“Stop. No ‘should haves’ and ‘would haves’,” Kaori interrupted firmly.
“Maybe I’m just not cut out for it.”
“You started with obstetric surgery as your chosen field, knowing that it was one of the most challenging specialties in the program and at the first instance of mortality, you crumbled. We didn’t drop you out of the program as much as you decided to drop out of it yourself.”
There was a brief moment of silence as Miki considered that, unable to respond to the unexpectedly frank rebuke. Kaori continued, “You know why you inevitably end up getting the most difficult and unenviable tasks in this hospital? You lack tact and patience- but when it boils down to the line, you’ve proven to rise to the challenge and accomplish it brilliantly. That’s the Fujimoto Miki that needs to come back to OB/GYN now. ”
Kaori slid money onto the table to cover the bill and left Miki to ruminate over second chances.
-----
Yossi lay on the grass numbly staring up at the cloudless sky, trying not to think about the non-conversation she had with Rika earlier. They didn’t actually speak at all, just sat there exchanging a series of facial expressions and pained looks.
Miki once observed that the two of them didn’t actually need to speak to convey anything- a twitch of the eyebrow and it was all over, whatever that meant. That was what made them such a great team, the well-oiled Ishiyoshi combi- working the emergency rotation together and not losing a single patient like a boss.
That was also probably what started breaking them apart. They had stopped talking to each other- depending on whatever non-verbal communication from their bond to relay feelings and concerns that really should’ve been vocalized. Yossi wasn’t a talker to begin with anyway.
“No wonder she cheated,” she mumbled to herself, angrily swiping at the tears that seemed to have trickled down her face without her permission. “Goddammit.”
Her pager buzzed insistently and she glanced at the unfamiliar string of numbers, racking her brain to remember what the code stood for. She started making her way out of the small clearing of trees, hopping over some low shrubbery to take the shortcut there when she spotted her intern standing by the unfrequented service entrance with two rough-looking and burly men who seemed to be cornering her.
“Oi!” She called out, causing the two men to turn and glower menacingly at her. Ai looked startled and she started pushing them away towards the exit, in an urging, indistinct tone. “Everything okay, Aichan?”
Ai nodded, slightly disturbed. The two men had gotten into their black sedan parked just by the gate and drove away. “I’m alright, Yoshizawa-san.”
“Who were those men? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. Really,” her intern insisted, smiling up at Yossi to assure her. Yossi’s pager beeped and the unfamiliar code popped up again. “It’s Psych,” Ai informed her.
“How’d you know?”
“Gaki-san’s been working on a Psych case- that’s how I recognised that code.”
“You sure you’re okay? You know you can come talk to me if there’s anything wrong.”
Ai laughed as she pushed her senior through the doors into the hospital, “Yes, I’m really okay! Thanks, senpai. You really should get going now.”
Yossi ruffled Ai’s hair and started for the lifts up to the Psych wards, wondering what they needed her there for.
-----
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Up next, Chapter 11- Graveyard Shift: Night of the Living Dead.
Topic: On Call [Chapter 12- 7July] (Read 45935 times)