Case number 731

"I’m so tired... I hope Mr. Todo invites us for coffee when we arrive," Shinpei yawned.

After Katy's sudden suggestion, the morning passed peacefully. I even felt I could talk to her more freely.

"Look, Isayama! Did you see that dog?" Lucy, seated in the back, pointed at the street with her new hand.

"Wow, that's so cool!" I replied enthusiastically. We had just passed a gray Great Dane with its owner. "Lucy, it's so big you could ride it!"

"Really?!" Her smile was almost blinding.

I meant it metaphorically...

"Well, maybe someday you'll get the chance."

That afternoon, we visited a hospital in District 6 to pick up one of our newest clients: Lucy Todo.

A little girl from the Outskirt Districts whose hand had been infected with S-Flu.

Today was a big day for her. After being hospitalized for days, she was finally going home with her new implant.

"Mr. Isayama, what do you think of my new hand?" She proudly showed the results of her operation.

"It's amazing, Lucy! It looks real!"

"Really?!"

"Look, we match." I showed her my right hand as well. "We're implant buddies now."

"Wow!"

"Isayama always gets along with the little ones..." Katy commented from the passenger seat.

"Yeah, must be because he has a little brother or something," Shinpei responded from the driver's seat.

Hey, I can hear you two...

"No, I don't have any younger siblings," I said as Lucy leaned out the window again.

"Then you must be a great dad!" Shinpei chuckled.

"A great dad..." murmured my future partner, gazing out her window.

"Look, Isayama. Look how big those houses are and how clean everything is." Lucy pointed out the window again.

It made me so happy to see her like that. I knew firsthand the pain and sacrifice behind that radiant smile.

At least Mr. Todo's sacrifices hadn't been in vain...

…

We'd have to go back a couple of days, to Friday afternoon.

After angering Katy, as usual, I went with Shinpei and Carlos to investigate a new case of infection in one of the outer districts.

The infected: Lucy Todo. An elementary school girl who had been infected after, naively, bringing a sick stray cat home.

We understood the ignorance of a child, but infections in animals were quite common. Due to their mammalian and vertebrate biology, domestic dogs and cats were also vulnerable to rot, especially if injured while living on the streets.

It was tragic, but despite vaccinations, once an animal was infected, the quarantine team had no choice but to euthanize it.

"That's not the problem, Mr. Yamamoto," Mr. Todo said, emotionally shattered. "I wish I could give my daughter the implants, but the problem is..."

Silently, Carlos and Shinpei wrote down every detail of the case in their notebooks.

"The problem is I'm a terrible father. No matter how many hours I work, I doubt I can save her in time..."

I glanced at Shinpei, silently asking for permission to join the conversation. I wanted to prove what I had learned during my training. Seeing Mr. Todo breaking down, Shinpei subtly gave me a thumbs-up.

"Neither Lucy nor my wife deserve a failure like me... If I could, I'd sell my organs just to save my daughter!" His hands, raw and calloused from constant labor, trembled as he fought back tears.

"Mr. Todo, if I may, there might be a solution you can afford," I said, trying to reassure him under the watchful eyes of my mentors.

Show your potential, Isayama...

"Really? I'll do anything to save her..."

"We still have time to apply for financial aid from the metropolitan government. Additionally, there's an outer-district assistance fund for cases like yours, with an income below the population average."

"Is... is that true?" He wiped his tears and looked to Shinpei, who nodded impassively.

"At Cellos, we also offer special discounts on hand and arm implants, since they're the most common..." I discreetly clenched my right hand.

"Then let's do it!"

"Mr. Todo, as my colleague Tore explained, we'll still need your effort to make this happen," Carlos added, his tone both kind and professional. He also gestured with his pen like a teacher.

"What do I have to do?!"

"These aids can cover up to two-thirds of the cost of our most affordable implant... The rest will depend on you," I continued. "You'll need to sell your car and perhaps a few other things. It all depends on how much you've managed to save."

"Alright, I'll do it! I'll take out a loan for the rest and sell my car to pay it back. My priority now is to save Lucy..."

…

"Don't get too attached to Isayama, Lucy; we're almost at your house," Shinpei said, looking at us through the rearview mirror.

"Who would get attached to Isayama?" Katy murmured again.

"Oh, look, Isayama, my hand is as big as yours." We compared our implants. Unsurprisingly, Lucy's new hand was larger than a typical child's.

"Of course, otherwise, when you grow up, you'd have a tiny hand."

"Aw!"

"And everyone would call you Baby Hand."

"I don't want that! You're mean, Isayama!"

"Why?" I laughed.

"Finally, she gets it..." Katy muttered to herself, still gazing out the window.

We drove deeper into the outskirt districts, passing the modest homes of Lucy's neighborhood—sad echoes of the economic recession sixty years ago, prioritizing function over beauty.

"We're almost there. When we arrive, don't forget to grab your things from the trunk."

"Got it!" Lucy replied as Shinpei parked.

"Wait, Shinpei, I think we can pull up closer to the door," I remarked.

For some reason, our boss had decided to stop at the beginning of the street, over a hundred meters from the Todo family's building.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. I know. I just want to check something first..."

What's going on?

I looked around through the car window.

Strangely, a quarantine team vehicle was parked outside Lucy's home.

What are they doing...? Wait!

"Guys, can you keep an eye on Lucy? I need to check..."

"Shinpei, let me come with you!" I unbuckled my seatbelt just as he did.

"Uh, well, as long as Katy doesn't mind..."

"I'll stay here with Lucy..." Katy replied, her face pale. She knew exactly what that vehicle meant.

Shinpei and I sprinted toward the building. The front door was open, so we rushed up the spiral staircase to the Todo family's apartment.

"Hey, you can't be here!"

One of the biohazard-suited quarantine agents tried to stop us.

"Cellos Robotics, make way!" Shinpei shouted as we entered Lucy's home.

Surrounded by white suits and ultraviolet lights, the only person we found was Lucy's mother, her eyes filled with despair.

"Mr. Yamamoto?"

"Damn it!" Still panting, I saw no sign of Mr. Todo, so I bolted back down the stairs like my life depended on it.

"Isayama!" Shinpei's distant voice called after me as I raced back to the street.

Desperate, I punched the rear door of the quarantine vehicle.

"Mr. Todo! Mr. Todo!"

"A-are you from Cellos?" I heard his tired voice from the other side of the metal.

"I'm Isayama Tore! My team and I brought your daughter!"

"So soon? That's great..."

"What are you doing, Todo?! Why aren't you with your wife, waiting for Lucy to come home?!"

"Because I messed up..."

"What?"

"I messed up, and now I'm paying the price for the sin of rot..."

"What are you talking about?!" I banged on the door again.

"Probably happened when Lucy got infected..."

"Isayama!" Shinpei grabbed me from behind, trying to pull me away from the vehicle.

Thankfully, while Lucy played with Katy, she didn't witness any of that.

"I don't want to infect anyone else... We can't afford more implants..."

"Mr. Todo!" I was restrained by some of the quarantine team members.

"I put everything I had into saving Lucy. I can't ruin it now..." The man sobbed weakly.

Ruin it...?

His words froze me. Still shaken, I met Shinpei's gaze. A single tear ran down his cheek as he struggled to maintain professionalism.

"Damn it..." I stopped resisting.

Soon, the quarantine vehicle drove away with Mr. Todo.

The rest of the day passed quietly. I refused to accept that I wasn't to blame.

When we brought Lucy home, we told her that her father had gone to work and would return in a few days. She smiled and asked no further questions.

Well, almost.

"Isayama? Why are you so sad?" she asked as we said goodbye. My eyes lingered on the direction the quarantine vehicle had gone.

I didn’t know how to answer that… Not even after the long and silent way back home.

…

That night, hours later, a hot shower finally brought back a sliver of my pride.

Maybe the problem was me, investing too much emotion in my clients.

Maybe Mr. Todo was truly grateful for our help.

Maybe he was happy knowing we could save Lucy...

I told myself under the water and steam, as I regained clarity.

"Alright, time to get ready. I don't want to be late." I smiled at my reflection in the mirror.

Don't torture yourself... Don't think you've failed again...

Without wasting another second, I changed clothes and stepped out of my room.

Still a little dazed, I snapped back to reality when I saw the one thing in the universe I thought could console me: those golden eyes.

I didn’t think she’d look so good in casual clothes...

Her dark hair with white highlights.

Those rosy cheeks framing her soft smile.

That beauty only Katy Shimizu possessed.

"S-sorry if I kept you waiting."

At my words, her smile grew even brighter. She seemed different, as if excited to see me outside of work.

"You shouldn't blame yourself. This time, you did everything right. Even brought Lucy’s smile back."