Jou Meets the Parents
The tension around room 301 grew tighter every day. People who passed its door reacted to it with intense curiosity or a sense of respect, either pausing for a moment to glance inside, or else unconsciously edging a few centimeters farther away as they passed it. All the same there was a regular stream of visitors and well-wishers for the patient. However, of all the visitors it was the youngest who had the patient’s life in his hands.
Jou walked into Rie’s room with a dessert tray he’d snuck from pediatrics.
“I snuck a fruit cup for you since you didn’t like the dessert last time,” he said, not giving any mind to the two adults sitting beside the bed who bore a large degree of similarity to Rie. Jou cleared a small table and set the tray down. I hope you weren’t waiting too…” he saw the adults and gulped. “…long. Um, hello!”
The adults stood and stared at Jou. They were a man and a woman, considerably older than Rie and bearing some of her features.
“Isn’t it customary for the doctor to bow first?” asked the man.
“Oh! Sorry about that!” Jou bowed quickly and the adults mimicked him. Rie stifled a chuckle behind their backs. “Dr. Kido, Jou. Nice to meet you, Mister…”
“Takanuma,” he answered. “I’m Rie’s father.”
“And mother,” the woman said.
“Nice to meet you,” said Jou. Meanwhile his stomach decided the best thing to do at the moment were cartwheels.
“Rie has been telling us all about you. I’m sorry we never got the chance to meet until now.”
Jou laughed. “Has she now? Good things, I hope?”
Her father’s face was hard. “She says she’s been living in constant fear under you. What have you been doing to my daughter?”
Jou stared at Rie’s father aghast. He tried to look to Rie, but her mother was standing in the way, looking equally serious.
“Th-that’s not…I mean, I’ve given her the best care I could possibly give, considering I’m only in my first year! If she had a problem she never told me!”
“Why should she?” asked the mother. “And make her awful doctor angry and treat her worse? She may be young but she is not stupid.”
“But! But!”
“What have you been doing to our daughter?” asked Mr. Takanuma.
Jou’s mouth hung slack as his eyes flitted between Rie’s parents. His jaw muscles then tensed and tightened, closing his mouth and drawing his face straight and his eyebrows close together.
“Now listen here! I know I’m still new but I have done the best job with your daughter I possibly can given the severity of her condition and my training. She has given no indication whatsoever during the course of my treatment that my care has been either lacking or malignant. I’m not sure what kind of standards you may have in your family, but I will stake whatever reputation I have that I have done the absolute best with your daughter that I or anyone could have possibly done!”
Jou crossed his arms and stood straight up, looking Rie’s father in the eye, which meant he had to incline his head a little since he was a little shorter than Jou.
Rie’s father raised an eyebrow. “Is that so, Doctor?”
Jou puffed up a little more. “That is so.”
“Then Kido-sensei, I have one thing to say to you.” He looked Jou straight in the eye, mustering all the cold rage and strength of a father. He leaned in one extra centimeter and said, “I’m kidding.”
Jou deflated like a blowfish. “You what?”
“I’m kidding, Kido-sensei! Rie has not stopped singing praises about you since the moment she came under your care, isn’t that right, Rie?”
They stepped out of the way, and Jou saw that Rie’s face was bright red and she was trying to hide her head between her shoulders.
“It was their idea,” she meekly muttered.
Mr. Takanuma took Jou’s hands and shook them western style, further disorienting the youngest of the Kido brothers. “It’s good to finally meet her doctor. I’m sorry we couldn’t have met earlier, but I’m afraid that our schedules prevented that.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Jou replied. “I’m glad we could meet, too.”
With the terror of first contact gone, Jou could finally get a good look at Rie’s parents. Both were dressed professionally. Her father wore a dark pinstriped suit with a silver and blue tie over a white shirt. He was a little heavy, but it seemed attributed more to his build than body fat. His hair was short and dark, and a mole sat in the crevice where his large nose met his face.
Her mother was similarly dressed in a dark suit with a conservative knee-length skirt. Her hair was tied back in a neat bun, and a gold thread supported a red jewel around her neck. Her eyes looked very kind in her simple face as she smiled at Jou. Jou also noticed a pair of briefcases in one corner of the room.
Mrs. Takanuma spoke next. “We can’t thank you enough for helping our daughter through such a difficult time in her life. You have no idea how hard this has been on her. She used to be on the gymnastics team before all this, but now, well…”
“I understand,” Jou interrupted. “But she never told me she was into gymnastics.”
“You never asked!” Rie piped.
“That’s because you never give me a chance to ask questions that don’t end up with me getting embarrassed!” Jou returned.
“Because you’re still a loser. Shin-sensei said so.”
“I thought I told you never to listen to him.” Jou sighed and turned back to her parents. “I always figured the hard part will be raising the baby.”
Rie’s mother shook her head. “That’s what we’re here for.”
Her father looked back to her. “Just because she’s made some mistakes doesn’t mean she’s not deserving of love. It will be difficult, but she won’t be going through it alone.”
Rie blushed and looked away. “Daddy, not in front of Kido-sensei!”
Jou laughed and turned to her parents. “So what is it you do?”
Her father raised his eyebrows. “You mean she didn’t even tell you that? Just what has she told you about herself?”
Jou opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it and put his finger to his lips while he looked at an imaginary fly on his nose while he thought. “You know, to be honest I don’t really know.”
Her mother sighed and put her face in her hand. “Rie, must you be such a brat?”
“Sorry, mother,” she chimed mechanically.
“Well, between what she has told me and what I’m looking at here, I can say that she will be in good hands,” said her father.
“Thank you,” said Jou. It was probably time to get serious outside. “Rie, would you mind if we step outside for a minute? Us adults need to have an adult conversation.”
“I think my parents are a little late for the talk, Jou.”
Again Jou blushed. “It’s not that kind of conversation!”
Her mother gasped. “Rie! Don’t speak so familiarly to your doctor!”
“It’s alright, Miss Takanuma,” said Jou from behind his glasses. “We’re on pretty good terms these days. Now if you don’t mind?” He opened the door for them and motioned out.
Just as Jou was about to leave, Rie piped up. “Jou-sensei?”
Jou paused. “Yes?”
“Remember the tortoise and the hare.”
Jou winced. “I’m trying not to let that bit of trivia smudge another part of my childhood.”
He shut the door and stood with the Takanumas. Their looks were already serious, and Jou’s mood was trying to match their facial expressions. Moreover, they looked stressed.
“So how is she?” Mr. Takanuma sighed.
Jou crossed his arms and tried to avoid direct eye contact. “We’ve done everything we can up to this point. Even so, there is a significant risk factor for both the mother and the baby. Moreso for the baby at this point.” Jou paused and ran his fingers through his hair to brush it out of his face. “What’s most important right now will be making sure she has the will to get through this.”
Mrs. Takanuma kept her eyes focused on something else. She appeared to get a little weaker with each sentence. Mr. Takanuma kept his eyes on the door.
“If she makes it through labor okay, will she be in the clear?”
Jou nodded. “She should be. During labor she and the baby will be most at risk for complications. Post-natal risks should be pretty low.”
“Should? Pretty low?”
Jou shook his head. “I’m sorry, I try not to use such language but I have to be honest with you. Once she goes into labor we don’t know for sure what will happen. We’ve prepared as best we can. I’m tempted to say it’s more in her hands now than ours.”
“I understand,” said Mr. Takanuma. “Is there anything else we can do? Is there anything we can do to make her happy?”
“You’re her parents. I think just being there will be more than enough for her. If you could find some Digimon for her to meet, that would also be great.”
“Digimon?” they both replied.
“Yeah, she’s really interested in them. She met two of my friends and their Digimon, so I say the more the merrier. Oh, and my friends are also sending her gifts for the baby.”
Her father’s eyes were fixed on Jou in wonder. “You did all that for Rie?”
Jou nodded. “Yeah. Why? Is that unusual?”
“It’s just so unusual for a doctor to get so invested in a patient like that. To think you even found Digimon for her to meet!”
Jou scratched his head. “Well, that was pretty easy. Most of my friends have them. Heck, I have one!”
“Has Rie met it?” asked Mrs. Takanuma.
“No, but I’m afraid to bring him here after what he did at the Christmas party they had here. I don’t know for sure but I think he might be banned from the hospital grounds.” Jou’s eyes wandered as his mind went back to that very strange Christmas Eve.
The Takanumas exchanged confused looks and then returned to the topic at hand. Mrs. Takanuma inclined her head toward Jou. “Kido-sensei. You may be new, but I know you will make a wonderful doctor. If your patients receive even a fraction of the love you’ve given our daughter, I know you will have a brilliant career in medicine.”
“Are you sure?” asked Jou, starting to blush.
“Of course! I am a doctor myself. Just a pediatrician, but a doctor nonetheless.”
Jou snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, that reminds me. Takanuma-san, what do you do?”
Mr. Takanuma suddenly became quiet and dark. A strange light shined in his eyes that Jou wasn’t entirely comfortable with. “Let’s just say that I’m into protecting…certain things. Important things.”
Jou imagined him wearing a fedora and thought it would have been perfect.
He snapped out of his daydream and forced a nervous laugh. “I guess we all have our secrets to keep!” An awkward pause filled the air between the adults. Luckily for Jou, Shin appeared with a confident grin on his face.
“Good afternoon Mr. Takanuma, Mrs. Takanuma. Jou, guess what? I have good news!”
Jou looked at him like a messenger carrying news of a long-lost brother. “What is it?”
“You owe me a thousand yen!”
Jou felt something intangible in the air snap like a rubber band. “Eeh?”
“You heard me. You owe me a thousand yen!”
“How is that good news?”
“It’s good news for me. I get a thousand yen. Plus they finally took the condom dispenser out of the men’s room like you said they wouldn’t, so pay up!”
Jou grumbled and fished a slightly abused one thousand yen note from his pocket and handed it to Shin.
“Thanks Jou! By the way, don’t forget our bet still stands on who can beat Yui’s Pac-Man score.”
“Yeah, I know. Later, Shin.”
Jou turned back to the Takanumas after Shin left. “Sorry about that. I’ll leave you with your daughter now, if you like. I have plenty to keep me busy anyway.”
“If you don’t mind,” said Mr. Takanumas, “I’d like to see how you handle her firsthand.”
“Yes, me too!” said Mrs. Takanuma.
Jou shrugged. “There isn’t much to it. I just do my usual checkup and we talk.” Not that he didn’t want to, but he still felt a little nervous in front of her parents. But why feel this way? It’s not like this was Mimi and these were her parents. “But yeah, I’ll go talk to her and then give you some privacy.”
Jou stepped back into the room. Rie was smiling, but the façade was wearing thin now. It was obvious that she was stressed out. There was a strong fear coming from behind her eyes that dampened Jou’s spirits and made him want to strangle the idiot who did this to her.
“Hey,” she said first.
“Hey,” he replied. “Your parents are nice people.”
She nodded. “I know. I was really lucky. But my dad’s useless with machines. He can’t fix a pipe to save his life.”
“Which reminds me, just what does he do?”
“He protects things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Lots of different things. I forget what exactly he does.”
“Ah, heheh, right.” Jou sweatdropped. At least now he knew where Rie got her eccentric behavior from. “So, how are you feeling about next week?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “Most girls my age are thinking about university, not becoming a mother.”
“Yeah. But I think you’re going to be okay. You’ve got good parents here for you, and I think you’ll be a fine mother.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m not really sure. Intuition?”
“Can I trust your intuition? I can’t even trust you to stand up straight when I say that I love you.”
“WHAT?!” Jou stepped back and into a shelf, dislodging the contents and draping himself over the flimsy particleboard shelves for support, only to tear them out of the wall and send him to the floor in spectacular fashion.
“See what I mean?” said Rie, leaning out of the bed to survey the damage. “I wonder how you’d react if a girl you actually liked ever told you that.”
Her parents stepped into the room. “Are you okay, Kido-sensei?” asked her mother.
Jou’s face was red as a cherry. “Yes. I’ll just have to get this cleaned up later.” He picked himself out of the rubble and moved to the other side of the bed, where there was more space.
Rie stared at her knees for a moment. Her eyes focused on something right in front of her that Jou couldn’t see before looking at him slowly. “Jou-sensei?”
“Yeah?”
“Why have you been so nice to me? Don’t you have other patients?”
Dammit, the one question I didn’t want her to ask. Jou had one of two routes. Either reveal something very personal or say something that might break her trust. Both were the truth, but one would only hurt himself and not the patient.
“The truth is, you remind me of someone very important to me.”
Rie’s eyes lit up and she covered her face. “Oh I’m so flattered! Is it someone you like?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not Sora-chan, is it?”
Jou shook his head. “No! She’s Taichi-kun’s girlfriend, remember?”
“Oh yeah. So I guess I haven’t met her yet?”
“No.”
“Does she know you like her?”
“I don’t think so.”
“So why don’t you tell her you wuss?”
“Hey come on! Insults aren’t necessary!” Besides, that was Shin and Pete’s territory.
“But you haven’t told her you like her. Why not?”
“First off, she’s dating one of my best friends. Second, she wouldn’t believe me.”
“Who not?” Rie clasped her hands behind her head and leaned back.
“I did something really bad to her a while ago, and now she won’t trust me. Not that much, anyway.”
Rie chewed on her thumbnail. “What would happen if you did tell her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmph. Sounds like you’re just scared. You should just tell her how you feel and accept whatever happens. If she says no, then maybe it was never meant to be. That’s what they always say in the shoujo manga I read, anyway.”
“Yeah, but we’ve been friends since elementary school. I don’t really want to ruin our friendship.”
Rie looked away. Her eyes softened and she placed her hand on her stomach. “I knew this child’s father since I was in elementary school, too. Look what happened to me. He moved to Chofu the day before I found out I was pregnant.”
Jou sat down on the bed. “You shouldn’t talk like that. Whatever happened back then doesn’t matter now. What’s important is next week.”
“I still screwed up, Jou. I can never have a normal life because I had a lapse in judgment. At least neither you nor your friend has made any mistakes like that.”
Jou looked to her parents. They were still standing in the doorway and watching. He looked back at Rie. “I’m not going anywhere, and your parents aren’t going anywhere.”
“Thank you Jou-sensei.” She slowly looked up at him. Her brown eyes painfully remind Jou of Mimi, but at least Rie was smiling at him. “I’m not sure what you can do for me after all this is over, but I’ll never be able to repay you for all you’ve done.”
“What have I done? All I’ve done is the same checkups I give nearly every patient, and I’ve probably drawn enough blood from you to keep Dracula fed for a year.”
“You’ve given me hope.”
“Hope?”
“You had faith in me. I thought for sure my life would be over because of this, but knowing there are people like you in the world makes me believe things will eventually be okay for me.”
“I think as long as you seek those people out, you’ll always be happy.”
Jou hadn’t noticed Rie’s parents move close to the bed. “And we’ll always be here for you,” said her father.
The look Rie exchanged with her father told Jou that it was time to leave them alone.
“Well, I shouldn’t shirk my other responsibilities, either. You guys can stay as long as you want.”
Jou got up and went to the door to leave.
“Jou?” said Rie’s father.
“Yes?” Jou turned around. Her father was standing and her mother was sitting on the bed.
“This girl you mentioned. You shouldn’t give up on her. I don’t know what you did to her in the past, but if you’re willing to do all this for my daughter, you should do whatever it takes to get her.”
Jou nodded and smiled weakly. Thinking of pursuing Mimi at this point tended to make him feel strangely exhausted. “Thank you. I haven’t given up, but, the timing isn’t right.”
“Let me tell you one thing about women: the timing is never right. It was nice meeting you, Kido-sensei.”
Jou bowed to them. “Please. Call me Jou.”