Chapter Text
April 1, 2026, Wednesday
Mai Taniyama had seen this in her two years of rotating in different clinical departments that residency would be hard. Seeing was apparently different from being. She was first on call on her first day as a PGY-1 in pediatrics in Todai. She was first assigned in Pedia-Surg rotation.
She has had three children vomit on her in her first on call schedule. Most of them because she was too slow to avoid. She had resorted to her story telling voice because one child refused an antibiotic. She had recalculated acetaminophen— twice, more times than necessary. She was afraid of overdose in tiny bodies.
She was exhausted.
She drank the almost forgotten hojicha beside her it was cold. She charted on the nurse's station computer, putting in so much determination to stay awake.
A senior appeared in front of her, he had dark hair and blue eyes that held the warmth of hot chocolate on a warm winter's day. He looked at the vomit stain on her scrub top.
"You might want to change." He told her.
"I don't have a spare set." She admitted.
"Rule number 1 as a pediatric resident. Spare scrubs." He said. "You will get vomited, peed on, pooped on and there are many other body fluids. I would not like to name them in front of your Hojicha."
"You are Davis-san?" She asked him. "My immediate senior for this rotation."
"Yes. Gene is alright." He smiled. "Mai Taniyama, correct?"
"Yes, sir!" She did a small salute while typing her charts.
"Okay, Taniyama-san. I'll leave you to charting but I'll let you in on a little tip." He leaned down and talked to her in a quiet voice. "You can use scrubs we use in the NICU. Just get a scrub top, put it in the bin in the dressing room before you leave."
Mai nodded, mentally taking note of this information. "NICU scrubs. Got you."
"Todai has a lot of them. They won't notice one missing scrub top." He took a sip of the coffee he was holding. "You'll also look less of a contact precaution without the…" He gestured to the vomit stain on her scrubs.
"You are a life saver. Thank you!" She smiled gratefully.
"I will be going on rounds. I'll page you if I need anything." He said.
"Will do, Gene-senpai." She nodded and went back to her charting.
April 3, 2026, Friday
Mai was still struggling to find her rhythm by her next on call schedule. She knew the flow, now. Rounds, Referrals, Charting. Repeat.
The multi-tasking of assessing a tiny patient without them noticing and simultaneously keeping them entertained was a skill she was surprisingly good at. She also could now dodge bodily fluids.
She knew better now and kept a pair of scrubs in her locker, just in case.
An attending had chastised her because she forgot to order urine culture for a patient's incidental preop urinalysis finding.
"Shouldn't it be automatic for all UTIs?" The attending told her sternly.
"Yes, sensei. I apologize. I will take note of this moving forward." She bowed. The consultant left and Mai felt like crying.
She typed charts while the tears escaped her eyes.
It was midnight, She and Gene had just finished inserting an IV line in a child who looked like an angel but the moment they brought out the IV cannula, she acted possessed. She paged Gene to hold the child steady. Thankfully they got it in one shot with the parents in the room holding their breaths until the cannula was safely in.
"I was about to call an exorcist." Gene said taking a bite of the convenience store Yakisoba noodles sandwiched between a hotdog bun.
"I don't think Aya's parents would appreciate that, senpai." She laughed into her convenience store onigiri.
He had noticed the red underneath her eyes and the resigned exhaustion. "You okay, rookie?"
"I forgot to order a urine culture. It was on my mind." Mai looked at him. "I just forgot to write it down because of everything that was going on."
Gene nodded. "It's alright. You won't forget next time."
"I cried while charting." She said embarassed.
"Don't worry. We all have." He patted Mai's back.
By Day 3, Gene had already showed her the best konbini to buy the snacks from, which vending machine had the best hojicha and which vending machine she should get his coffee, and the difference between metabolic and respiratory acidosis.
He was a very generous senior, she was lucky. She had heard John was partnered with Fukube-san. He made John do all his charting work.
"I've been meaning to ask you something. I saw on the board at the nurses station there was an attending's name." She started. "Oliver Davis-sensei. Are you guys related?"
Gene almost choked on his drink. "You could say that."
"He's on a conference in Boston Children's for about a week now. He's coming back some time next week." He shrugged.
Mai imagined an old english gentleman. The pamphlet she had when she entered Todai had the name on it under the Department of Pediatric Surgery. The name was very decorated.
Oliver E.C. Davis, M.D., PhD.
Fellow of Japan Society of Surgery
Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (Eng)
Pediatric Surgical Specialist
She's heard whispers from the nurses station. He apparently made a surgery fellow cry by not saying anything. He was also insanely good in the OR.
Scary english gentleman then. She thought and shrugged.
"Should I be scared?" She asked Gene.
Gene took a good look at her. "No, I think you'll be just fine."
April 5, 2026
Mai was pre-call. She was not in her scrubs but in work casual clothes— dress policy. She had a spring in her step as she passed by the nurses station. She had an iced coffee in her hand.
"You look happy, Mai-san." John said while almost nose diving into his chart tablet.
"For you, sustenance." She looked at John with a concerned smile on her face. "Rough call?"
"A child called me the devil for giving him Oseltamivir." He sighed.
"Trust me, John. You are the person the least I'll associate with evil doings." She smiled. "Children are just like that sometimes."
"Thank you for the coffee. You are an angel." John held it up and gave her a grateful nod.
"I'll be on rounds." She gestured to the hallway. "Let me know if you need help. Text me."
John waved her goodbye.
Gene found her in a patient's room. She was crouching down on the floor, meeting the child's height.
"Hey, buddy!" She beamed. " Can you tell me your bear's name?"
"Mochi." The boy rubbed his tear-stained eyes.
"Does Mochi feel bad too?" She asked the little boy with genuine concern in her tone.
"Yes, his tummy hurts too." The boy pointed to the bear's stomach.
"Okay. I'll check Mochi's stomach, if you let me check yours, okay Kou-kun?" She asked and the Boy nodded.
Mai directed the mom and her son towards the bed. The boy lay down with the bear next to him. Mai checked on Kou-kun first methodically while assuring the concerned mother at bed side. She then checked Mochi the same way.
"I think Mochi has a stomach bug like you too!" She said in her high pitch register. The one she uses for kids. "Mochi's stomach is magic and feels your tummy hurt too."
"If you drink the medicine the nurses give you. Mochi will be okay, too." She assured the child.
"Okay! I'll drink the yucky medicine. Thank you, Dr. Mai." Kou kun smiled softly.
Mai talked to the mother and assured her that the abdominal pain was nothing to be too worried about. She lists warning signs just in case and when to call the nurses. The mother sighed in relief a smile coming back to her face seemingly being infected by the sunshine in the room.
Mai left the room to find Gene in the door way. "Sunny" He wondered aloud in English.
"Huh?" Mai turned to him confused. "Sunny?" She repeated in Japanese-accented english.
"Sunny like Sun." He translated in Japanese. "You're Sunny-chan."
"Okay..??" She looked at him still confused. "Anyway, I think it's viral gastroenteritis. I'll put in an order for a stool exam and a urinalysis just in case it's UTI. I'll also put in some pain relievers."
"Good call." He commented.
April 6, 2026, Monday
They were on call again. It was particularly brutal. The admissions kept coming. The NICU needed help with delivering triplets. She and Gene had run almost another building to be in time for the delivery. There was a code they attended in the PICU, thankfully the child's heartbeat returned.
Mai and Gene had sunk into the couch.
"It's not even 3 am yet!" Gene exclaimed. "Residency is brutal, Sunny-chan."
Mai had just accepted Sunny-chan at this point. He has made it a point that that was her name now.
She grabbed the Hojicha on the table, already cold. She took a sip. "You're one year ahead of me Gene-san. Shouldn't you be used to this?"
"It never gets easier. The load lighter, the responsibilities heavier." He said and took a swig of his previously hot latte.
Mai swerved a bit dizzily on the couch. Gene took a look at her. She was a little pale.
"You okay? Did you eat dinner?" He asked.
Mai tried to recall. "I think I had a Hojicha."
"No, like your last full meal." His smile had turn into a concerned look.
"Probably the egg sandwhich on the way here on the train." Mai smiled sheepishly.
"That's breakfast, Sunny-chan." His eyes widened. "It's almost time for the next one."
"Ehe." She scratched her head.
"Rule number 2 in surviving Pediatrics is Eat when you can, while you can." Gene stood up. "I'm getting you something. You stay here."
Gene left for the good konbini. Mai sat on the couch looking down at her hojicha.
She was so exhausted but she hoped Kou-kun's and Mochi's tummy ache was gone. She hoped the children who vomited on her were tolerating their feeding well. She hoped the child she ordered the culture late for had working antibiotics.
Gene came back with two convenience store bentos. They ate talking about the triplet delivery.
"They were so small!" Mai exclaimed adorably.
"Most preterms are Sunny-chan." He told her.
"It was my first time to do an umbilical catheterization." She said. "Did I do okay?"
The catheter was in place in the Xray. There was good backflow.
"You did great. Don't overthink it." He patted her back.
Pediatric residency was really no joke but she had never been so alive.