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I could feel the gaze. A stern gaze, surveying everything from above.
I'd heard that three people had suddenly quit the Second Department of Surgery, and I'd also heard that a freelance doctor had been assigned when I assisted Dr. Kaji's surgery.
Dr. Kaji's complaints were so annoying that I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying.
I just thought I'd do my job properly, no matter what kind of doctor came.
My days passed uneventfully, unchanging but fulfilling. However, there were times when the constraints of the organization felt suffocating.
The patient remained in shock, and most of the staff had left the operating room with the collapsed hospital director.
"Someone stay!"
At Hiromi's desperate cry, only assistant Hikaru Morimoto and nurse Rie Koike remained. And even they didn't seem to have stayed of their own accord.
The room was filled with warning sounds, awkward silence, and a sense of suffocation.
"I'll take over..." Morimoto declared, his voice strained. He took the lead surgeon's position.
"Huh? You?" Hiromi's voice, sharp with irritation, cut through Morimoto's strained words.
Morimoto ignored Hiromi's biting remark.
In truth, there was no other option but for Morimoto to operate. Hiromi bit her lip under her mask.
Morimoto, looking down at the surgical field, was trembling with tension.
He took a deep breath. Then, he called out to Koike, who was frozen in place, "scalpel."
"Y-yes," Koike replied, handing over the scalpel.
Morimoto's hand, gripping the scalpel he'd been given, was trembling violently.
You could see he was at his absolute limit of tension.
Unable to stop the shaking, he inhaled and exhaled, and just as he leaned forward to continue the operation, Hiromi's sharp voice cut in, "Wait! It's dangerous to keep going like this!"
Morimoto looked at Hiromi, bewildered.
He wanted instructions on what to do.
Only time was ticking by, inch by inch. Impatience. No one there knew the cause of what was happening.
Just then, the sound of the door opening unexpectedly echoed through the room.
All eyes remaining in the room focused on it.
─Who is it?
As Hiromi furrowed her brow in suspicion, Morimoto provided the answer.
"Dr. Daimon?"
As soon as she entered, she was called out to, "You, the anesthesiologist over there." Before any thoughts or feelings could form.
Her way of speaking was bold and fearless. Her attitude was arrogant.
Hiromi admitted to herself the sense of relief she felt at the dignified doctor appearance, which was like a ray of hope that could overturn the situation.
After kicking out the assistant who insisted on being the surgeon, the female doctor who had appeared so suddenly, perhaps having an idea of the cause of the patient's shock, instructed everyone to change their gloves.
While Morimoto, who had been kicked, was unfortunate, it could be said that her instructions were appropriate for breaking through the situation.
As everyone changed their gloves, the warning sound stopped.
"Blood pressure is 120 over 65, heart rate 90."
When the vitals were announced, the female doctor, who had taken over as the surgeon, nodded and "good," she said. "Resume surgery."
Although the instrument nurse wasn't perfectly in sync at first, they quickly shifted into high gear.
She watched the assistant's ligation, gave instructions, and then proceeded with the cholecystectomy.
"Removing the gallbladder. Mosquito forceps, tweezers."
Morimoto also voiced his admiration for her speed.
After that, the surgery proceeded without any hitches.
While managing the patient during the operation, Hiromi kept an eye on the surgeon whenever she had a moment.
The sound of the skin stapler for closing the abdomen stopped, and the female doctor opened her mouth.
"Blood loss?"
"200cc."
"Before the patient wakes up..." "I'll give he 100ml of steroids."
Guessing what she wanted to say, Hiromi deliberately spoke ahead of time. It was something she did consciously, hoping to leave even a slight impression.
Hiromi stopped the female doctor who was about to leave after saying, "Alright, we're done."
After a slight pause, Hiromi said, "Thank you for your hard work, Sensei."
She deliberately put extra emphasis on the end of her sentences.
She saw her nod from beyond the door as she was leaving.
Immediately after, Hiromi returned to her own work.
In Professor Torii's office, Hiromi did her best to defend Michiko.
If she said anything more, she'd get burned too.
She didn't think for a second that her statement, which left room to avoid that, would protect the surgeon.
After all, she had only stated the facts.
However, she had a hopeful expectation that Michiko would pick up on her tone and expression.
Hiromi's position, feelings, thoughts, and intentions.
Even with that understanding, she accepted that Michiko wouldn't settle.
"Professor, you, and you, and you, you all have medical licenses, right? Why don't you diagnose it yourselves?"
Hiromi already had a guess about what had happened, but here, she kept her mouth shut and watched how things unfolded.
Information brought in later by Kaji confirmed that her assessment was close to the truth.
She didn't watch Michiko leave, saying it was time, but instead massaged her own body, which she hadn't realized was tense.
While thinking, "I wish these gossiping outsiders would finish quickly," she thought about herself, unable to leave, and that arrogant female doctor.
What was the difference, she wondered.
The next day, Hiromi headed to the administrative office to check the order form for surgical gloves. On her way back, she spotted Michiko Daimon walking with purpose towards the exit and watched her go.
A faint, wry smile played on her lips. Even though they hadn't known each other long, that retreating figure already felt so distinctly her.
Once Daimon was out of sight, Hiromi sighed, brushed her bangs aside, and hurried towards the Second Surgery Department.
As she neared the door, the low murmur of voices inside momentarily ceased.
She opened the door with a soft click and spoke as she entered.
"Nobody gets what the gloves are about."
Kaji reacted to Hiromi's exasperated tone.
"What about the gloves?"
She figured it was understandable since he wasn't there, but she remained silent, assuming Morimoto would fill him in.
Just as she anticipated, the conversation quickly moved on.
The man still known as the Magician of Laparoscopy, even in his decline, immediately grasped the cause of the patient's shock based solely on the surrounding circumstances.
"Most likely, it was anaphylactic shock," Hiromi blurted out, sighing as she preempted the conclusion.
Even so, Kaji seemed reluctant to give Michiko Daimon any credit and resisted until the very end.
"Well, even so, she was the only one who kept her cool. If it weren't for her, no one could have saved that patient."
When the hesitant explanation finished, everyone wore a pensive expression.
"Hey, where did Daimon-sensei go?" Hiromi asked, not directing the question at anyone in particular, and Torii, who had just entered the office, replied.
"She just got fired."
"Huh?" she couldn't bring herself to ask why, but she quickly spoke up, her voice slightly rough with protest.
"That's enough about that. Everyone get back to your posts," the professor said.
Still feeling unsettled, Hiromi nonetheless followed Torii's words and left the Second Surgery Department office.
Daimon Michiko, her way of life seemed free, but Hiromi thought it looked restrictive.