August 2009

Ryosuke

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to do this?”

I pushed my wheelchair cautiously as I follow Hikaru from behind. It was quiet difficult to follow up to him who was clearly riding on a skateboard freely along the hospital corridor as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. Magically, no one really cared as we passed by some people along the way. It’s like they’re used to having a kid with a skateboard along the hallway.

“Relax cancer-boy. We’re not gonna be in trouble for just this,” Hikaru chuckled in response.

Oh great. So now I’m cancer-boy. I’ve given him my name before but he chose to call me cancer boy instead.

“Hey, you haven’t told me about why you’re here,” I asked, huffily struggling to catch up with him.

He turned his body towards me, without even stopping his board. He circles his skateboard around me and my wheelchair.

“Cystic fibrosis,” he said, pointing at the transparent tube that was attached to his nose. If he didn’t leaned forward closer to me and pointed it, I wouldn’t have noticed it.

Seeing my look, he gave me a further information. “A genetic disorder that affects my lungs.”

“Most people say I would live up to 20 years old.”

I felt an unwanted pain in my heart when I heard this. My face immediately stiffened in sympathy.

“Geez what’s up with that look! Chill man!” he laughed, before I could even respond with words. “You know what a teenage kid in the hospital needs?” he casually turns his body back and made another circle around me. “A hot chick.”

I raised a brow questioningly at him. He only gave me a secretive smile in return, before he raced back forward and signaled me to follow him behind.

The thing about a pediatric ward is a place where the hospital focuses in curing children. Therefore they have this educational programming, both in the form of activity and physical design of the building. Unlike those depressing white colorless corridors that you normally think a hospital is, the corridor that I’m passing through is a lot more cheerful. Colored wallpapers decorated with children paintings, friendly floors, and an enough amount of lighting.

We stopped in front of a room near the main lobby of the pediatric ward. Hikaru stepped off from his skateboard and went to stand in front of the office door. I rushed to his side and examined the new room in front of him. It was a small room decorated with beautiful children paintings. There were also some children toys, books, and drawings all over the place. It felt like the interior of a kindergarten classroom.

Inside the room, I saw a beautiful woman dressed in white. She was talking to a girl right across her.

“Fukada Kyoko,” Hikaru grinned playfully at me, as his head motions at the two figures I saw in the room. “Normally you don’t find a hot patient in bed, but she sure is one hot psychiatrist.”

He was probably talking about the woman. So I assumed this room is some sort of a psychiatrist room.

The psychiatrist talked more to the girl in front of her. The girl’s back was the only thing I see of her, but I noticed her head was looking down the entire time. I noticed Fukada was holding a hairpin, and she gently brushed the girl’s hair before she tried putting the pin to her hair.  

A few moments later, the woman noticed our existence and stood up from her seat. So did the girl.

“Good morning Yaotome-kun,” the beautiful woman greeted, as she stood up from her seat.

“Ahhh… good morning sensei,” Hikaru said, grinning sheepishly.

She saw me and gave me a smile. She was indeed very beautiful. She’s even more beautiful up close.

Before she could ask, I responded first. “I’m Yamada Ryosuke. I just got admitted a few days ago. Nice to meet you sensei.”

“Nice to meet you too,” she returned my bow gracefully. “I’ve seen you around for a while.”

But I was more curious to the girl whom she had talked to. The moment she noticed our existence, she immediately took off the hairpin that the psychiatrist had given to her and looked away to another direction.

 “It’s good you finally have a friend your age,” Fukada-sensei said. Then she turned at Hikaru, giving him a meaningful look. “What are you up to this time?”

“I think… I need to clear out my mucus,” Hikaru said. He changed his tone drastically, and somehow he increase the intensity of his breathing as if he was having difficulty with it. Clearly he was making it up, because just a second ago he was completely fine.

“And I think I need a gentle body rub too…”

Fukuda-sensei laughed and rolled her eyes. Seems like she’s used to this kind of antics. “Yaotome-kun… you know that’s the nurse’s job. Please don’t give me more jobs. I’m sorry I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

Fukuda motions at the girl inside her room. Hikaru was pouting, but then Fukuda sensei tapped his shoulder gently.

“Go on now, have fun with your new friend,” she gave me another smile. Then she leaned closer to me and added a whisper. “And Yamada-kun, be careful, he could get you into all sorts of trouble.”

“Hey! I can hear that!” Hikaru protested. He had forgotten about his act that second.

“See, you’re completely fine,” Fukuda-sensei pointed out. “I’ll see you boys around. And stay out of trouble!”

She sent the two of us her final smile before she went back in with the girl.

“Do you know her?” I asked.

“You mean the girl with Fukuda-sensei earlier?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh she’s a patient here. She lives on the upper level. Her name’s Kawashima Umika.”

“She’s a patient?”

“Yeah,” he nodded again. “If I’m not mistaken she’s anorexic.”

Hearing that, I noticed the variety range of illnesses in this ward. There are dozens of kids my age, or even younger, who’s struggling to fight their own illnesses here.

“She doesn’t really talk much though in class,” Hikaru added. “It’s too bad cause I think she’s kinda cute.”

“Class?”

“Yeah. We have regular classes in here, don’t you know?”

“Ah, the class,” I nodded to myself. “Nurse Aragaki told me about having a class here soon.“

Then, I suddenly remembered. I glanced at my watch.

“Wait, isn’t it supposed to be now?”

Hikaru moaned. “Urgh, I hate school. Lets skip class today.”

“Eh? What do you mean skip class?!” the randomness level of this kid is just too much. I can’t really keep up. But that was the only thing that came out of my mouth by then.

“Come on! I still have some other things to show you!”

Before I could question him further, he had pushed my wheelchair forward and began charging away with quiet a speed. He had forced me to hold his skateboard for him on my seat.

 “EH?! Where are we going now?”

“Let’s pay a visit to the adult wing,” he chuckled playfully.

“Adult wing?” I questioned him again.

“There’s this guy called Yamazaki Tsutomu,” Hikaru said. “He lives here 'cause he's gonna leave all his money to the hospital when he dies. And I’ll remind you, he's a rich hippie, not a stoner.”

********

Hikaru

My name is Hikaru Yaotome.

This year I’m turning 18 years old, and it will mark six years of me living in this pediatric ward. Six years ago I was still this normal kid next door, playful and naughty. Until I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis by the end of my elementary school year. What happens is that I get lung infections, and when they don’t get treated regularly, I could drown with my own mucus. Which is why I had to live here in the hospital.

Before I proceed, I’d like to remind you that I’m a good person, but a really crappy writer. I don’t really do well in school, since I barely even go to any school in my life, and I’m not much of a thinker, but I am a pretty smart dude. Street smart. Ryosuke forced me to write, so yeah, here I am actually doing what he wants. He wants me to picture the first time meeting him, so that’s what I’m gonna do.

When you're a kid in the hospital, you have the place wired. Back hallways, service elevators... They can't watch you 24 hours a day. So you have kind of a freedom you could never have at home or at school. And having to live here for years, I learned to use this freedom.

“Whoa—hey. Where are we going?!”

That was the nth time Ryosuke asked me the question. Seriously though. This kid needs to chill.

In order to get to the adult wing, we need to pass through the main lobby and literally glide through the other ‘wing’ of the hospital. Going through the lobby means we have to get through the Nurse Aragaki. The hot nurse with a heart as stiff as a steel. Believe me, she would’ve been really popular if she got rid of that horrific mask of hers.

So, I immediately stopped right before we reach the lobby. Ryosuke wasn’t prepared with it, so his body somehow went overboard his wheelchair.

“Dude!” he protested.

I hadn’t expect the impact to be that extreme towards him. But I cackled in return. Did I mention I also have a good sense of humor?

After Ryosuke propped himself back to his seat, I hid myself, Ryosuke and his wheelchair behind the wall that ended the pediatric ward corridor and separated that segment to the main lobby.

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