With her hands tucked into the pockets of her dark jeans, her shoulders hunched over and her eyes glued to the ground, Akira kicked a pebble, to further draw attention to the fact that she wasn't in a good mood. First she had some pregnant lady telling her what to do and because that woman was higher in the pecking order of the Rune Knights, Akira had to listen. Then, it was what she was ordered to do. Akira had to go make her way back to that doctor she'd helped earlier today, it was doubtful he'd even let her help him, she wondered what that would mean, would that mean she has failed? Does that mean she is going to have to Last and certainly not the least, it was who she had to do it with... Mr. Orange-poofy-hair.

Her luck to be stuck with him, he'd been passively ruining her morning all day, right from the time that doctor grabbed her and he had to try saving the day with his oh-it's-all-going-to-be-fine speech. He was all doe-eyed, with that I-want-to-save-the-world-spirit, but he was just another loser, who was good enough only for Rune Knights, the haven for the underachievers. She found the pebble she'd kicked before and kicked it again, now determined to roll it with her all the way to her destination, she was in no rush to get there...

Upon exiting the barracks, she had pointedly stared down the gatekeeper. Then, she walked, she took the lead, she wasn't going to wait around for him, nor did she have the spirit to make small talk. Things had to be done, and there was no way she was taking the short-cut through the busier streets and the town square, the last thing she needed was to bump into more people... Akira stuck to her quiet alleyways again, he could either follow her, or he could just go about his own way, they both knew where the clinic was already. Between kicking the stone, she did walk in a hurry though, mostly just to avoid him, in case he did take the darker route, with her.

387/1000

Haru wasn’t one to question the command of his superiors, so he obliged. However, he wasn’t exactly comfortable teaming up with the black-haired. He hoped even if they were Rune Knights, they would only bump into each other once in a while. But, it looked like they were going to be a team. I guess I should make the best of it. Once the two were on their way, Haru thought maybe it was time to introduce himself properly now that they are a team. However, the girl showed more interest on the pebble she was kicking and barely acknowledged his presence.

The duo were almost back at the main gate and neither of them spoke a word. The gatekeeper was on edge when the girl stared at him, but seemed to ease up a bit when he saw Haru. “Farewell, Sir,” he said, bowing slightly before exiting the campus.

The walk towards the clinic was awkward, to say the least. Haru was at least five feet away from Akira, which she ensured by constantly chasing the pebble she was kicking. Furthermore, the route they were taking seemed rather odd to him. Haru was new to the town; so, at first, he thought the girl knew some shortcut through the alleyways. But eventually, it was evident that she was avoiding the main street. Not to mention, Haru was not fond of the darkness of the alleys. “Umm… Are you sure we are going the right way? We must hurry. I would hate for us to be too late. There is a life at stake here,” he said, with all seriousness. As he spoke, Haru jogged to catch up with Akira, held her by the hand, and began dragging her towards the main street so that they can reach the clinic faster. “Come on, we can’t afford to waste time,” he yelled, as they swam through the crowded market street.

319/1000

Things were fine, mostly, after the first few times she made the stone roll away from her, in addition to the soft scraping of rock against rock, she could hear the steps behind her. So it appeared that he decided to follow her, either that or someone else was, she glanced backwards quickly, just to make sure, it really was him and not some creep, she preferred this Harusturu freak over a creep, just barely though, so long as he maintained silence and distance. Which from what she had gleaned of him, wasn't going to happen... So she wondered how long it would take...

One kick... two kicks... They were nearing the part where she was going to have to make her way across the busy street and there was no other alternative, this already made her anxious, her third kick was harder than the rest, almost reaching the end of the dark alley, towards the light... and towards the people. As she began briskly racing towards the pebble again, He spoke, not only did he speak, but he questioned her, why did he follow her if he didn't believe she knew where they were going, nonetheless, she sighed and responded 'Yes... I am...' hoping that would keep him off her back, but before her drawl was over, he continued yammering on, and she heard the footfall behind her get faster and get closer. The unspoken, second requirement of this being peaceful, was now destroyed... Now he was as bad as a creep.

Then he did something which got her really annoyed. He grabbed her, at this point, she wished he was just about anyone else, because she wanted to cause much harm to him... and she couldn't because he was her wretched teammate. He dragged her along, racing towards the street...This took away her chance to prepare for the people she'd have to encounter... Almost as she was about to instinctively react... Bam, suddenly they were between people again, and she froze up. At least their crazy pace meant people gave them a wide berth.

Soon, they were already across and in front of the clinic and she was quite herself again, her fingers closed around his palm and she twisted his arm allowing her's to slip out of his grip. 'You touch me again and you won't be touching anything again for a while... I'll forget you're my teammate.' she hissed and threatened, tall words for someone quite tiny. She pushed his arm back towards him and stared into the building, her eyes met the doctor's, his mouth hung agape. 'So, do you need help... again?' she said, her tone brisk. The man wiped his forehead with his fingers, and nodded furiously. 'I- I do...' he said, stuttering. '...Lucky for me and the patient...' he muttered, assuming only he could hear it, 'You two are only going to be handing me my instruments while I operate, I've got all my nurses taking care of the arriving patients... So... that ok?'

889/1000

Typically, Haru wasn’t someone who would impose on anyone. However, when his sense of duty and the desire to help takes over, he seldom cares about anything else. So, there he was, dragging Akira across the street towards the clinic, not caring the least bit about her uneasiness. In fact, he was so focused on getting to the destination, he didn’t even notice her being uncomfortable amidst the crowd.

Haru was about to let go of her arm now that they had reached the clinic. Just when he loosened his grip, he felt her hands wrap around his and twist. “OW! Ow ow ow…” he yelled, gritting his teeth and squirming like a toddler. “Got it! No touching,” he said, as she released his arm. Haru paused for a moment outside the clinic, rubbing his hands and wondering what he had gotten himself into. Realizing there were more pressing matters at hand, he entered the clinic and greeted the doctor again. “Good to see you again, doctor,” he said, smiling and bowing as usual.

The word ‘instrument’ got Haru a bit worried. He walked up to the doctor and whispered as softly as possible. “I really don’t think that girl should be handling sharp objects. If so, more than one life could be at stake here,” he said, not smiling for even a second to show how serious he was. “Oh… Uh! Right… Actually… I just remembered. I need one of you to monitor his vitals while the other can help me with the instruments. How about you keep an eye on the screen, young lady?” the doctor said, looking rather pale.

The three entered the operating room, where the patient was already prepped and anaesthetised. “Before we begin, I must ask you to wash your hands and change into these,” he said, handing them one scrub and a pair of gloves for each. Haru followed his instructions very carefully and went to stand beside the operating table once he was ready. “Alright… Let’s begin,” the doctor said, and started the procedure. For most part, Haru was asked to hand him the instruments he asked and sterilise used equipment, which he did as rigorously as he could. The last thing he wanted was for the poor patient to die of infection because he did not clean the equipment properly. Things were going well. However, suddenly, while Haru was busy cleaning something, he heard the doctor scream and plop down onto the floor. Haru rushed to the doctor and noticed that he had cut himself accidentally. He immediately knelt beside the doctor and began using his magic to heal him. The doctor stopped him and pointed towards the patient. “Don’t worry about me. The patient needs help. The heart must be removed immediately, or he will die,” he said, impatiently.

Haru nodded, but had no clue what to do. He stood beside the cut-open patient and attempted to follow the doctor’s instructions. But the responsibility weighed heavily on the poor man. He knew if he did something wrong, the patient will die and it will be his fault. The realization got him all paralyzed and he just stood there, with the doctor’s words fading out.

853/1000

She scoffed in response to his pathetic whimpering, all his twisting and turning had made the grip difficult to hold onto anyways and since she'd conveyed the point, she let him go... At no point did she think she looked crazed or anything, her demeanor was calm, she was simply setting some ground rules. As the doctor explained what he needed help with, she began analyzing what would constitute as successful completion of their mission, because if it was dependent on the life of the victim, no matter how well they assisted, it was too dependent on the doctor for it to  be fair...

As Tsuru, which is what she decided to call him walked towards the doctor, she just felt inclined to do the same, since time was apparently of the essence, that is when she heard what he had to say, rolling her eyes at his attempt at being soft, convinced that even the patient in the OR could probably hear him. Her brows furrowed in response to his assumption... his insult. She opened her mouth to say something, to retort, to tell him that she was perfectly capable of handling the instruments. But in response, what the doctor suggested actually seemed to serve her. If she just had to read of screens, it would save her effort, maybe even culpability, since the chance of the patient surviving if he needed a transplant and they were using rookies as nurses, seemed rather low.

So she closed her mouth, took a deep breath and responded in a dull tone. 'Had no intentions of playing nurse anyways, I can read the vitals.' she scowled at her partner, just to let him know that she was aware of what transpired between him and the doctor. She wondered if she actually needed the gloves since she wasn't going to be touching anything, but questions involved conversation, dialogues which she didn't want to have.

All scrubbed in, her eyes found the monitors and she began reading, just as the doctor made his incision 'BP is rising, steadily... Won't he bleed out if you cut him open... at that rate I think he'd kick the bucket...' She muttered, the doctor eyed her, almost plaintively, as he dropped his scalped and send Tsuru off to clean it or something. She cleared her throat. As he reached for the bone saw, once he set it onto the sternum and began cutting through the bone she brought his attention to another sign... 'Heart rate is high too, he must be nervous, probably knows you're understaffed, probably thinks he's going to die...' It wasn't like she was trying to be pessimistic, the vitals just didn't seem stable enough to her for a transplant. The doctor cleared his throat and turned to look at her, he lifted the saw away from the patient, but didn't turn it off... She wanted to draw attention to that, but that wasn't her job.

He clamped off the vessels and took another scalpel to make some incisions, along the vessels... 'Respiration seems compromised, oxygen saturation is falling... Do you really think he's going to make it. That's when it happened, the doctor was glaring at her, while reaching over to change scalpels... He cut himself on the whirring saw... 'What the hell?' she hissed as blood gushed from him and he collapsed to the floor... of course Tsuru came to his rescue, she bet they were having a real emotional connection as the doctor chose the patient over his own injury. A rather confused looking Tsuru made his way to the patient and stood over him, completely frazzled.

She rolled her eyes. 'Oh move over, Tsuru, go help the doctor, I'll do what I can.' she said, lifting her hands and pushing him away with her hips. 'I've seen this surgery done in medical shows I've watched, how different can it be in practice...' she muttered, talking to herself. She stared into the bloody mess carefully, it seemed the heart was already detached, so she moved it around a bit, before carefully plucking it out of the body, and replacing it with the donor heart. Following that it was like she had been possessed by some cardio-thoracic surgery god, or at least she felt that way. She let the vessels remain clamped as she reattached the new heart's vessels to the body... A fair bit of time passed... but somehow she retained focus... 'I- I don't know how well I'm doing.' she admitted as her frenzied state elicited a moment of weakness.

'Are you done with the doctor, Tsuru?' she asked wincing, right before she removed the clamps. 'Ok... no bleeding... but the heart isn't pumping on its own...' her eyes darted to the vitals, pressure was dropping, her fingers gently began massaging the donor heart as she began chanting. 'Come on damnit, just beat so I can get outta here...' she said it over and over till it became true. 'Ok... If the doctor is recovering, maybe you can do your fairy dust thing on him and then the doctor can close up? I think I've had enough of staring into a body cavity for one day...' her voice was soft, almost faint as she walked away, heading out into the scrub room. She snapped her hands out of the glove and then fervently tore the bloody scrub off.

1784/1000
~~Exit~~

The poor nineteen-year-old panicked and just stood there, until Akira shook him off the trance and asked him to help the doctor. He wasn’t sure what she called him, but this was no time to worry about that. He went back to the doctor, held his hand and used MEND to heal the doctor’s cut. The blood clotted rapidly, sealing the wound and then a layer of skin covered it up. It wasn’t flawless recovery; but it was definitely better than bleeding more.

Meanwhile, Akira was on top of the situation. Haru did not believe she could do it, but he was grateful for her at least trying unlike him. When he was finally done with the doctor, he saw her massaging the patient’s heart. Is she still struggling with removing the heart or is she trying to get the new one working? Haru helped the doctor up, and the two approached the operating table. By then, Akira was done and the heart was beating. She asked the two to close up and left the room, like she was the surgeon and we were her nurses. The doctor took one look at the beating heart and almost cried out of happiness. “Genius! Are you sure this was her first time doing this?” he asked, looked at Haru with genuine curiosity. “I… I wouldn’t know,” he replied, confused. “She did it! She saved the patient. Now, we must close him up quickly…” and with that, the doctor began the sutures while Haru assisted him.

Haru couldn’t believe what had happened. He aspired to be a healer, and yet he couldn’t move a muscle when he was needed. When the operation was done, he absentmindedly thanked the doctor, took his payment and walked out, his mind still stuck on how useless he had been in the task. He couldn’t imagine the consequences if Akira hadn’t come to the rescue. However, he wasn’t ready to give up. He promised himself that, from that day on, it would be him who rescues everyone and he would never let anyone come to his rescue; especially not Akira.

1205/1000
-Exit-