i almost killed a nurse

Toshi isn’t the least bit surprised when Dr. Shimazu’s first order upon entering Otohama Medical Center is to remove the egregious safety violations that Fujinomiya and Eguchi left in the bathing room. They’re roughly the size of a cookie, colored like candy, and very smooth to the touch. If he wasn’t such a patient, kind soul, he’d make her sit on them.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, the cover-up is that Eguchi slipped on the floor. The stupid stones will forever stay a secret. Such is the power of money and the lack of desire to fill even more papers.

He finds Dr. Shimazu having her fourth breakdown of the week (today is a Tuesday) while Fujinomiya rubs her back. “I’m very sorry,” is her greeting and, shockingly, she looks the part.

***

“Hiii everyooone!”

Given it’s 8:30 AM on a weekday, there’s less activity than usual. Good. This stream is more for herself than them.

“I just wanted to give a quick update! Yesterday wasn’t great, and today hasn’t been much better. I almost killed a nurse.” Koharu makes a crying motion with her fist, pouting. The few hundred watchers respond mostly appropriately.

what happened?

oh my God??? Is she okay???

lol

“She’s doing fine! She just twisted her ankle.”

did you run her over with ur bicycle

“I wanted to hop in to remind everyone about accountability. Sometimes it’s hard to accept when something is your fault, but that’s how you grow as a person! Always remember to say please when addressing staff! Also, no, Kerochanfanalt, I did not bring my bike.” (Die.)

Speaking of–Kerochan, that stupid idol joined the chat. This really was one of THOSE days. Hiii! I’m soo sorry to hear that. (＞﹏＜) I hope she’s fine.

OMG IT’S KEROCHAN

kerochaaan (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

“Hello! Me too!” (Die.) “I’ll send her a gift basket with chocolates for her troubles. Hmm… or I might just send one to everyone here. Everyone has been so nice and patient!”

Good call, Koharu ♡( ◡‿◡ ). The audacity of this wench to call her by her name. That hospital looks soo picturesque!

“Right? I’m obsessed with the view, and I can always hear the sea! Can you guys listen?” She stretches just enough to point the phone out the window. As she shares the view, she fixes her fringe, which was uneven and driving her insane. Koharu waits until her hand trembles to pull it back. “So?”

WHERE’S THAT

What just happened?

I couldn’t see anything…

Again: Koharu’s fringe was uneven. One of the strands had been pulled up when she raised her eyebrows. That’s why she’d had to act. She’d also been shaken about almost committing homicide. That’s why she just made such a huge, huge mistake.

Kerochanfan appears, now on his main account. He says: Thanks! :)

Koharu swallows. “Aw, that’s too bad. I’m in a veeery remote location anyway. It could be out of Japan! It could be in Papua New Guinea!”

Just then, Nagumo opens the door. He asks, “Are you done? I know you’re working, but we really have to… what?”

Koharu can’t hide the leer in time.

doesnt sound like Papua New Guinean to me

I d-don’t think that’s what their language is called…

That’s Hakata-ben Σ(°ロ°) Why go all the way to Kyushu?

Nagumo glances at her phone, then at her. “I have four patients after you, Ms. Fujinomiya. Would it be possible to coopera–” He stops when she holds out a hand below the phone, beyond their line of sight.

WHO’S THAT?

holy deep voice (Tobacco does that, yeah.)

that’s saga-ben lol, my mom is from Saga and she sounds just like that

…great. They have the general region and her shot of the sea now, and all because she had a lapse of weakness. Knowing internet detectives, they’ll check the exact time where the sun was at that exact location, or cloud formation, or…

“He’s one of the nurses,” Koharu says. “I’ll have to end the stream early today! Sorry!”

mr nurse sounds hot

SHOW HIM

However, surely, that shouldn’t be enough to pinpoint her location, right? “Nope! Mr. Nurse is camera shy. He’s also forty and has a wife, so please stop making those comments.”

Kerochanfan says: See you soon.

Her heart is pounding in her ears when she ends the stream. She doesn’t give any parting words. Nothing. This day has been one disaster after the other, and it’s not even noon yet. “Glad to know I sound forty,” Nagumo says. “Thanks.”

Nagumo is mad, and not only because she aged him up by over a decade. He’s been mad ever since he first walked into her room to passively-aggressively return her stones. After tucking Koharu onto the bed, he goes to ‘check on the old timers’ (his words) while Dr. Shimazu writes something on a clipboard, then returns to ask if she’d be so kind as to bring coffee since she’s the one with “the” car. Her response is that she has something to do at the other clinic, that she’ll see what she can do, and that he should “finish with” Koharu. Dr. Shimazu flees after that. Needless to say, this doesn’t happen in Tokyo.

Koharu’s throat and stomach are tight, and her heart is beating everywhere now, not just her leg. She avoids eye contact at all costs. She raises her arm when he asks, winces when he takes her blood pressure.

“Holy–Ms. Fujinomiya?”

Koharu keeps her eyes on the wall. “Yes?”

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing’s wrong, obviously. Nothing.”

“You have the highest blood pressure in this building,” Nagumo states, “And that’s saying a lot. Let’s skip the part where you say nothing’s wrong even though we both know that’s a lie, yes?”

Maybe… “I’ve only been eating miso soup?”

“Dr. Shimazu told me, yeah. You can’t get better if you don’t eat. I know it looks… not good, but it’s edible. The days when Eguchi cooks are the best.”

“The–a nurse cooks?”

“Who else is gonna?” He asks. “Anyway, we’re digressing. What’s stressing you, Ms. Fujinomiya? If it’s job-related, remember you’re on medical leave. Put the phone down or do something else with it. Give me your wrist.”

She does, huffing. She’d forgotten how gentle his touch is despite his… personality. Dr. Shimazu treated Koharu as though her leg was a bottlecap and she a bottle earlier. Nagumo’s thumb on her wrist feels featherlike.

“...yeah, should be fine. Now, forget about work. If you can’t, put down your phone. The TV here might not suit your tastes, but we have a pretty sizable library.” He smiles. “That expression screams ‘I haven’t read since I graduated high school’.”

The audacity. “I’ll just knit and listen to something in the background. Get me the magenta suitcase. No, the other one. The magenta one. That’s fuchsia!”

Nagumo pushes all the suitcases next to her bed with his foot. It’s injurious. “You know what to do, Ms. Fujinomiya. If anything happens, push the button. I’ll see what I can find in the kitchen for you.”

“Wait–you’re leaving? So quickly?”

“Well, yes?”

Why she asks that is beyond her. She knows that he has patients queued up, especially given the… rock… incident. And yet. “But. But I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. Except for miso soup.”

With his hands on his pockets and his back turned to her, he replies, “You already told me.”

“I-I know, but–that’s bad, right?”

“Nah. You’ll get so hungry that you’ll eat eventually.”

Koharu’s blood pressure skyrockets again.

“Kidding. I haven’t had a bite since yesterday morning, either, so I was thinking of ordering takeout. Pizza’s fine? It’s from the other town, though, so it’ll be cold.”

“...is that also a joke?”

He turns around just enough to give her that look--the exact same as the one when he hung up on her at the entrance. “Yes or no?”

“...yes...”

“Great! I’ll let you know once it’s here.”

She waits a minute or two after he leaves to take out her burner phone. Is it more impressive that a nurse would offer her junk food, or that there’s even junk food available in the first place?

No matter–there are more important things to attend to right now. Besides, this’ll help her distract herself from her innards consuming themselves.

Koharu’s finger hovers above a certain app.

She has to see.

She has to.

Knowing the darker side of the internet, they could’ve easily found her location by now, and if so, it might not be long before the first weirdo shows up.

After counting to ten, Koharu opens it. She logs in on an alt. She finds someone reposting her stream against her consent, then fast forwards until she gets to the part where she showed the view through the window…

…and it’s shaky…

…because she was using her other hand to fix her hair. And they say vanity has no meaningful upsides!

Since, thankfully, this means that the recording is too blurry to pinpoint the exact location of the beach, the only big clues Kerochanfan has are the sun’s general position and Nagumo’s dialect. Which means…

Koharu clicked on a thread related to the subject.

NotKoharu20: Guys, that’s Hiroshima-ben.

Kerochanfan: stfu shitharu alt

Harusan: That’s not her lol. Do you really think she has the time to be doing these things? 

Kerochanfan: she has the face of someone who reads comments

Muiiiira (This is her ‘stealth’ alt.): it looks more like Karatsu

NotKoharu21: I think so too Σ(°ロ°)

She just has to muddy the waters lest they find out where she’s staying. She just has to be more careful when streaming. Easy. They. Will. Not. Find. This. Place.

Kerochanfan: nah, I know it’s you

Kerochanfan: you could at least try to make it less obvious

Harusan: You’re delusional

Kerochanfan: :)