Jellyfish

Upstairs in the brigade’s meeting room, Principal Keiichi Furutani and Assistant Principal Noriko Matsumoto, the former in his late forties and the latter a year older than Masako and Kana, sat across from the Harukawa Girls’ Academy Student Council, Chiefs Taichi Mikazuki and Fumio Ueda, and several firefighters who had come to support the student firefighter program and oppose the efforts to shut it down, among them Masako and Kana in fact, both of whom seemed to eye out Noriko in particular. Both were dressed in formal business attire, and were confident in what they were about to do and say. The tension in the air was palpable as both sides conversed with each other briefly before the meeting began. Tomoko told Naoko and Yui, “This is the big one, guys. It’s now or never.”

Then, two more people walked up the stairs, and as everyone turned around to see who it was, several of those who knew who they were gasped. “We’re here,” said Tenko’s father as he and her mother looked around. “Did the meeting already begin?”

“No,” Daisuke told them. “You’re right on time, Inami-san.”

Yui whispered to Naoko, “There’s our secret weapon.”

As the two older adults sat down, Keiichi turned to them and asked them, “And who might you two be?”

“We’re the parents of Inami Tenko,” Tenko’s mother explained. “We’re here to give our opinion on the proposal to abolish the Student Firefighter Program of Harukawa Girls’ Academy. We heard you mentioned our daughter as a reason why. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “I remember reading what happened to her and being appalled that she was placed in such a situation to begin with.”

Noriko then told the group, “We can begin now if you want, Chief Miyagi.”

“Go ahead,” Taichi said to start the meeting. “Assistant Chief Ueda is recording the proceedings now.” Fumio then turned on a digital voice recorder next to him and pulled out a notebook and a pen to start taking notes.

“Very well,” Keiichi said before bowing. “For those who may not know, my name is Furutani Keiichi. I became principal of Harukawa Girls’ Academy in March of 2022 after our previous principal retired following thirty-two dedicated years of service to our school. When I became principal, I was informed of the Student Firefighter Program, and I was rather curious as to how it worked. After a year of being principal of this school, I have come to the conclusion it must come to an end due to safety concerns I have. I will also push for the law that grants the exemption necessary for the program to continue to be repealed if the program is indeed abolished. It is dangerous to put high schoolers who do not have the proper training or life experience at all anywhere near fires or other emergencies, and the fact that a student died while fighting a fire in 1993 should have been enough to end it in my opinion. I know that this would be a major change if it’s implemented, and it would cause some heartbreak, but I believe it is for the best.”

“With all that said,” Noriko then added. “We would not kick out any current students in the program. All students currently enrolled in the program will be allowed to stay with no restrictions. However, after this year, no more will be allowed to join.”

Keiichi then set down a folder of documents on the table, telling the people he was speaking to, “Read the following documents. This is a compilation of research I have done into the volunteer fire brigades of Japan. I have found that most of them do not even equip their firefighters with any form of self-contained breathing apparatus, as they believe that only firefighters who are paid should be able to use them. Consequently, many do not respond automatically to most calls, and instead wait to be requested to the scene of calls by paid firefighters. The Yoshimatsu area is relatively unique in that every volunteer fire brigade in the city of Yoshimatsu and its immediate suburbs is equipped with breathing apparatus and are dual-dispatched with the paid Yoshimatsu Area Fire Department to at least some calls. Already, this system has problems and redundancies that should be addressed, but the fact that Harukawa uses underage high school girls as volunteer firefighters in any capacity, whether they be outside or inside a burning building, adds onto them.”

Tomoko thought to herself as she clenched one of her fists under the table in anger, “So now this asshole wants to criticize how the entire firefighting system in the area works?! He was only supposed to talk about the Student Firefighter program! God, I want to kill him right here and now!”

“We believe that there are other ways for the Harukawa Volunteer Fire Brigade to do outreach to teenagers for recruitment without putting them in harm’s way,” Noriko explained. “As someone who has past experience in the fire service, I believe the brigade can still recruit among young people who are in their third year of high school while waiting until after graduation to let them in.”

“Initially,” Keiichi explained. “I wanted the age to be raised to twenty-one, but Matsumoto-san was able to convince me to lower it to eighteen and make it after high school graduation. We made it after graduation so that students could focus on their school work, which is another criticism of mine. I believe the Student Firefighter program causes my students to get distracted and not focus enough on academics and preparations to either go to college or enter the workforce. The other concern is that the program could be seen as sexist because it only lets in girls, although this is the least of my concerns because the program is only offered at an all-girls school, hence why. I’m sure that if Harukawa Girls’ Academy was a coeducational institution, you would have no issues letting high school boys in, correct, Chief Mikazuki?”

“Correct,” he nodded, remaining civil despite his growing frustration and disagreements with the principal. “If the school was coed, we would absolutely let boys in. In fact, our brigade’s bylaws do not even mention female firefighters specifically when it comes to the program, only referring to them as students of the academy. It’s purely because of the academy’s status as an female-only institution that only girls are part of the program.”

“Have you considered admitting other schools into the program?”

“There has been talk of it in the past, but nothing has happened. The biggest impediment to it is the fact that Harukawa, throughout all of its history, has only ever had a single high school, that of course being Harukawa Girls’ Academy. The boys of the village either attend one of several high schools in the city of Yoshimatsu or maybe Inoue High School in the town of Inoue to the south. It is because of this that we do not intend to expand the program to other schools.”

“Thank you for your explanations, Mikazuki-san,” Keiichi then replied as he bowed. “Now, with all of this said, does anyone have anything they would like to say in response? The floor is open.”

Several of the firefighters looked around, wondering who would be first to speak up. However, to their surprise, it was a non-firefighter who did so first. “I would like to speak,” Keiko said as she raised her hand.

“Go ahead, Yukimura,” Noriko said to her.

Keiko stood up and bowed, telling the group, “Good evening. My name is Yukimura Keiko. I’m the Vice President of the Student Council of the Harukawa Girls’ Academy. Due to our president’s involvement in the program, she has chosen to recuse herself from the following statement we as the body would like to make.” She then pulled out a written speech from a Manila envelope and placed it before her on the table. “To the Principal and Vice Principal of our school, we, the Student Council, voted unanimously to oppose any moves to abolish the Student Firefighter Program by the administration of our school. This has not changed since we conducted our vote in late July. We remain steadfast and united in our opposition to your plan, and I can tell you from personal experience talking to other students who attend our school that many of them are on our side. Just last week, a student of our school who was staying in the dorms throughout summer break had a medical emergency that I cannot disclose due to privacy laws, and both Morishima Tomoko and Kitagawa Yui, members of the program, were the first people to respond. I spoke to the student after the emergency took place and they were discharged from the hospital, and she informed me that seeing two of her peers helping her was a massive relief to her and reduced the stress she was in. She told me, verbatim, that she sleeps easier at night knowing that there are at least a few students at our school who are ready to respond in the event of an emergency on campus. In addition, Kitagawa-san in particular gave her advice on how to avoid a similar situation in the future, which the student said she greatly appreciated and will put to good use in the future.”

Yui thought to herself, “I’m glad to hear Maeda-san is doing better. Her words were very kind.”

“Of course,” Keiko continued. “That is not the only way the program contributes to our school. It has generated good publicity for our school throughout Japan, and may even play a factor in enrollment figures. At any major event the school hosts, the fire brigade will be there, whether it’s a school festival, a major sporting event, an open house for visitors, and so on. Whether they are there for fire protection, an ambulance standby, or just for community outreach, they are woven into the fabric of the school, whether you like it or not. Furthermore, I would like to remind the principal and vice principal that there have been fires on our campus in the past, and had it not been for the efforts of student firefighters, they may have ended far worse than they did. In 1992, Firefighter Inami Tenko, the one whose name you mentioned as a reason to abolish the program, discovered a fire inside a storage closet inside the old main building of the school, and was able to put it out with a fire extinguisher. Had she not discovered the fire or got training on how to properly extinguish a fire, the fire could have easily spread beyond the closet and threatened the rooms on either side of it. Additionally, during the air raid of 1945 in the Second World War, four of our student firefighters, as well as seven other volunteers in our village, gave their lives defending the campus and its students, faculty, and staff from the firestorm started by the American bombs that fell on Yoshimatsu and Harukawa, resulting in the old main campus building and the oldest part of our dorms being among the few buildings in our village built before the Second World War that have remained standing. The brigade even lost its own firehouse and most of its equipment, but they were determined to stop the firestorm before it reached the campus and the neighborhood behind it, and they succeeded.”

Tomoko nodded, staying silent and letting her vice president speak on behalf of the council. She thought to herself, “She’s really driving the point home. I had no idea her speech would be this detailed, especially for someone who isn’t a firefighter.”

“Of course,” Keiko then began the final part of her speech with. “We can’t forget what happened in 2021, back when myself and President Morishima were just first-years, when a maintenance worker employed by the school suddenly collapsed while working on a light fixture. He had a massive heart attack and went into cardiac arrest. Thankfully, President Morishima and a then-third-year student firefighter who has since become a full-fledged member of the brigade and is currently in nursing school, Nakano Yukiko, witnessed his collapse and immediately began life-saving procedures, including CPR and the use of an AED. Because of their quick thinking and the training they had from this fire brigade, that maintenance worker survived and is in fact still alive to this day. The reason I bring the previous examples up is because the student firefighter program is a valuable asset, not a liability as the principal claims it is. Its members have saved countless lives, both on-campus and off-campus. To conclude, the student council urges Principal Furutani to reconsider his proposal and keep the program going, and we will be greatly disappointed if he chooses to abolish it.”

As Keiko sat down upon the conclusion of her speech, Noriko took notes on her own notepad while Keiichi sighed and opened the floor to anyone else who wanted to speak. “So, anyone else? The floor is open.”

“I would like to go,” then said Tenko’s father as he stood up. “I did not prepare a speech for this, I’m afraid, but I do have some words I would like to say in regards to the use of my daughter’s name in this proposal.”

“Very well. Go ahead.”

“In 1993, thirty years ago, our daughter was killed in a fire while serving with the Harukawa Volunteer Fire Brigade. She died while trying to save the life of a ramen shop owner, and it breaks our hearts every day to know that she is no longer with us, even after so long. I can see why you would use such an event to argue for the program’s abolition, but I urge you to stop.”

Keiichi, surprised by her father’s words, asked him, “You want me to… Stop?”

“Yes,” he replied to him with a firm but calm tone of voice. “We do not give you permission to use Inami Tenko’s name in this way, and if you make any public statements while using her name, we will seek legal action against you. The reason we don’t want you to use our daughter as an excuse is because we know for a fact that she would oppose this proposal, and we do, too. I can tell you now as the parent of someone who was in this program that the Harukawa Volunteer Fire Brigade does not skimp out on training. The student firefighters go through the exact same training as their older counterparts, and our daughter was no exception. They train once a week at a minimum, and often twice per week, and their volunteers are required to attend at least twenty-six drills per year to remain active firefighters. Most attend more than that, including our daughter when she was alive. The point I’m getting at is that you’re wrong for saying that she and the others in the program were undertrained, at least when compared to their older counterparts.”

Tenko’s mother then spoke up beside her husband. “We… We also do not like the fact that you proposed this around the thirtieth anniversary of Tenko’s death. We miss her every day, and for you to come here and use her name like this when this time of year comes around…” She stopped talking as she tried to collect herself emotionally, her husband hugging her as she shed tears.

“Please, for our sake,” said Tenko’s father. “Don’t abolish the program, and if you’re still gonna do it despite our pleas, leave our daughter’s name out of your mouth when you give others the reasons why. That’s the least you can do for us and for Tenko. She died a hero, and I do not care what you have to say to the contrary, because me and everyone else behind me knows it’s true. I am proud to have been the father of a firefighter, and I can at least take comfort in knowing that she died doing what she loved right until the end. Thank you.”

As they both sat down, everyone fell silent for several seconds as they took in the emotional weight and the gravity of what Tenko’s parents had said. Their pleas for Keiichi and Noriko to not abolish the program and to stop using Tenko’s name as a reason to abolish the program were powerful, and even the older Taichi had to turn away briefly to wipe his eyes of some tears that had welled up. Noriko herself even turned away briefly and took a deep breath as Keiichi finally spoke up, saying to the group, “Well, um, that… That was certainly powerful… Does anyone else wish to speak?”

…

One hour and several other speeches later, Noriko was downstairs, eyeing out the gear lockers of the firefighters in the brigade as she held a folder of documents from the school. She looked at an empty one in particular and sighed, saying to herself as she recalled her past, “To think… This was mine twenty-one years ago.”

Then, she heard Kana call out from behind her, “Hey, you!”

Noriko turned around and saw Kana staring at her with contempt while crossing her arms. “Kana… What is it?”

“It’s been how long since you hung up your gear and stopped being a firefighter?”

“Thirteen years since I graduated from my university,” Noriko said to her. “I appreciate the time I had in both this fire brigade and the one that was at my university.”

“Well, well, look at you now. You’ve certainly moved up the food chain, haven’t you? You’re working under a man who wants to shut the door behind you, and you got nothing to say to oppose him?” Kana clearly had nothing but pure contempt for Noriko at this point.

Noriko knew this would come up, and sighed as she told Kana, “I’m just going as I’m told by the principal.”

Kana sarcastically replied to her, “Yeah, and I bet there’s a lot of honor in that, isn’t there?” Then, she shoved the folder Noriko was holding up against her chest and got in her face, sternly telling her, “I want you to go back to Principal Furutani and tell him to shove this little proposal of his up his ass. The seven girls we have in this program now are great when it comes to saving people’s lives and protecting their property. I would trust every single one of them with my life, and they trust me as well. It’s a God damn honor to be a member of this brigade, especially to be a student firefighter, and for you to turn your back on your own brothers and sisters in the fire service by helping Furutani kill the program is fucking disgusting!”

“I left the fire service long ago,” Noriko reiterated. “I’m just looking out for my students.”

“I am, too,” Kana retorted. “And as long as those girls keep running over here when the siren goes off, get geared up, and hop on those fire trucks, we’ll back them up!”

“You do realize who you’re talking to, right?”

“I don’t give a shit. I’m not a student at the school we went to anymore, and you’re definitely not my upperclassman or my boss, Matsumoto.”

“Very well.”

As Noriko stepped back from Kana, the latter told the former, “Now get out of my God damn firehouse, and don’t come back unless you’re here to tell us the program’s gonna stay.” While Noriko left the building, Kana sighed and remarked to herself, “How could she? Does she really have no God damn backbone?”

She then turned to the stairs behind her and saw Masako running down them at a fast pace while saying to herself, “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…”

Kana, worried about her, asked Masako, “Hey, uh, Masako, what’s wrong?”

“I gotta go home!” She then quickly ran to her locker and grabbed her car keys, clearly in distress. “My son called me and said Yasuhiro came home but there’s some other woman there with him.”

“Wait, what the Hell?” Kana then raced to her own locker and grabbed her keys. “Masako, I’ll follow you.”

“I can take care of this on my own,” she told her.

“Let me follow you,” Kana insisted. “Please.”

“But it’s between me and Hifu-“

“Please!”

Masako finally relented and said to her, “Okay, fine. You can follow me, but don’t get out of your car.”

…

While Kana and Masako were busy dealing with the latter’s home life, the fire brigade had gotten a call for a jellyfish sting at a house near the village beach since the paid ambulance was out on another call. Ambulance 33 responded with Tanker 4 since Engine-Aerial 4 was on the same medical call as Ambulance 4. Since there were already firefighters at the station, Ambulance 33 arrived first. While the driver of the ambulance, a middle-aged man, got the stretcher ready outside, Yui walked in alongside Yukiko Nakano, the aforementioned former student firefighter from before. As they walked up to the house, Yukiko asked Yui, “So they name-dropped me, huh?

“Yeah,” she replied. “It was for when you and Tomoko-chan saved that maintenance guy at school two years ago. Speaking of, is this your first call in two weeks?”

“Two and a half weeks,” Yukiko pointed out. “I got so busy with family shit I haven’t had time to come down, and of course, I come back to Principal Furutani trying to kill the program. What a damn mess.”

As they walked in together, Yui spoke up, “Hello? Fire brigade! Anyone here?”

“Up here,” then shouted a man from a bathroom on the second floor.

When Yui and Yukiko followed him up the stairs and reached the bathroom, they found a man wearing a t-shirt and underwear sitting on the edge of a bathtub with his legs in said bathtub and a third man standing nearby. Yukiko asked them, “Did somebody call for a jellyfish sting?”

“Yeah,” said the other man in the room. “We did. Our friend got stung pretty bad on the village beach.”

“When was he stung?”

“About forty minutes ago,” said the man in the tub. “It’s still pretty swollen. I wanna go get it checked out.” Sure enough, his right leg was indeed very swollen, a clear indication of an allergic reaction to the sting. “Agh, fuck, it hurts.”

“Alright,” replied Yukiko. “We can get you down to the hospital. Anything else going on?”

“No,” replied the patient. “Just this, thankfully.”

Yui then sniffed the air and realized as she and Yukiko opened up the medical bag they brought with them, “Hey, um, not to get too personal, but why does it smell like urine in here?”

“Oh, that,” replied the first man they had seen. “We all pissed on his leg.”

Yukiko and Yui both immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at each other before the former asked all three men in disbelief, “You did what now?”

“Yeah,” said the other man outside the tub very nonchalantly, who was named Masaya. “I pissed on it first, but that didn’t do too much, so Hiro-kun over there tried it, but most of his piss missed the leg, so then we had Shinji-kun himself try it, but of course that didn’t work, so then he drank a bunch of water and then pissed into a cup and poured it on the leg about ten minutes later. Again, it didn’t work too well, so now we’re stuck. Hiro-kun called you guys up, by the way.”

Shinji, the patient, then showed the cup he had urinated into and then poured onto his leg. “And I got the cup to prove it.” He then handed the yellow-stained cup to Masaya. “Here, throw this out, Masaya-kun.”

“So, uh,” Yukiko then asked him. “Anything else wrong besides the swelling and the, uh… Urine?”

“No,” Shinji affirmed. “Just the swelling. We read that urine helps with these. Are we not pissing enough on it?”

“I can drink more water,” Hiro said to Shinji.

“Yeah, sure, why not?”

In disbelief at what they had done, Yui exclaimed, “You just use water!” All three men immediately looked at each other in shock as they realized they were wrong about jellyfish stings. “Just… Just plain old hot water will get rid of the pain. You don’t have to piss on each other to do it.”

“Oh,” Shinji replied after a brief moment of silence. “Uh… Shit…”

“In fact,” Yui further explained. “It can make the pain worse. You guys might have actually prolonged it by doing that.”

“Oh my God,” replied Hiro as he took a deep breath. “I think I’m gonna be sick…”

“Masaya-kun,” then said Shinji. “Help Hiro-kun out. I think he’s gonna puke.”

“That, uh,” said Masaya as he walked over to Hiro. “That would have been nice to know about… Forty minutes ago.”

“Ugh,” said Shinji as he looked at the yellow stains on his leg and in the tub. “I smell fucking horrible.”

Then, a paid firefighter from Tanker 4 walked over carrying a small medical bag, asking the duo, “Hey guys, do you need any he-?” He immediately stopped himself when he realized the bathroom reeked of urine. “Why does it smell like urine?”

Yukiko turned to him with a look of disgust on her face and bluntly told him, “You don’t want to know…”