Chapter 2.2

Yasumori Nao was ultimately, on the morning of the 26th, brought into the hospital all but carried in her husbands Mikiyasu's arms. Toshio couldn't help but be astonished with terror. Nao seemed half dazed, looking as if she wouldn't even have been able to walk sufficiently without support.

"Nao-san, how are you feeling?" he asked, but Nao did not answer. Taking great pains she moved her mouth but no reply came forth. First he gave direction to lie her out on the examining table. As Nao was assisted onto the table by the nurses, Mikiyasu who was attending to her looked incredibly worried as he watched over her.

"Toshio-san, what's the matter with Nao?"

"It's because I don't know that I'm doing a re-examination. The day before yesterday when she came, I told her if she was feeling even a little worse the next day to come in but she didn't come yesterday."

Mikiyasu shook his head. "She didn't say anything about that. When Mom asked the results, she said she was told it was probably anemia."

"Yesterday, how was Nao-san?"

"She slept throughout the day I think. I was at work, so I wasn't with her all day, but. It seemed she had a fever, and she was incredibly tired."

Toshio nodded. Nao's complexion was as poor as ever. The neckline of her sleeveless one piece and her arms looked almost pale blue. On those arms granulated purple spots could be seen. What looked like insect bites were here and there on the nape of her neck and arms, though they may have also been scratches. But, those insect bites looked to be forming pus.

Her breath was shallow, seeming out of breath even lying on the examining table. Checking her pulse, it was incredibly fast. She seemed to have a fever but her limbs were cold, breaking out into a thin, cold sweat.

"Yasuyo-san," Toshio wrote out directions on a memo and called to Yasuyo. "A blood test. She has tachycardia, so just in case take an EKG for me too. Afterwards, tell Shimoyama-san to prepare for a US and a CT."

"Ah--yes sir."

Toshio took Mikiyasu, fretting with a look of suspense, into the waiting room.

"Toshio-san, uhm... What's wrong with Nao?"

"Well, have a seat," Toshio motioned to the sofa.

"Does she have some bad disease?"

"Nah. At least right now, we don't have any proof that she has a particularly serious disease."

A reliant look rose up on Mikiyasu's thin face. Living in Monzen like him, with their houses nearby and their age close, separated by four years, he was in the category of childhood friend. Toshio, brimming with a competitive spirit, was the boss of the group of kids, so when they were young he was what you could have called one of his henchmen. This is how it had been they were kids. If there was something troubling, he'd look at Toshio as if relying on him.

"But...."

"At the current stage I can't say anything," Toshio said, motioning again for Mikiyasu to sit on the sofa. "How long has Nao-san been unwell?"

"Uhm.... since two or three days ago, I'd say."

"The day before yesterday? Before that?"

"The day before that she was tired. Mom asked plenty of times if she was all right. She said go, go to the hospital."

"And the day before that?"

"How was she.... I don't remember. I don't think it seemed like she felt especially bad or anything then."

"What about you?" Toshio asked, making Mikiyasu blink.

"Me?"

"You, Tokujiro-san, or Atsuko-san, anyone. Or any of the younger guys at the contracting firm. Is there anybody who seemed to be sick the same way? If there were, we might think she caught a summer cold or something from them, but."

Mikiyasu tilted his head and thought, then after some time, answered that he didn't think so.

I see, Toshio sighed. "The day before yesterday when she came in, I did a few different tests but the results said that she had anemia, and that was all that came from it. Since we're still sorting through it, I want to say she has nothing but anemia. ---But even anemia alone has various types."

Mikiyasu's expression changed.

"That's.... I don't know about it in-depth but, there's pernicious anemia or, like, really bad anemia, isn't there?"

"At least just based on the test results, I don't think it's pernicious anemia or aplastic anema. It's probably not a problem at the blood formation level. I suspect it's a type of anemia from hemolysis but that's not something I can say for certain."

"Is that especially bad?"

"Oi, oi," Toshio forced himself to show a smile. "It's not like that. To tell the truth, I don't really know. It looks like anemia from hemolysis but I get the feeling it's different from that. It'll be all right to keep an eye on her for a while but, think of the season. She has all the duties of being the young wife of a contractor. There's all the anxieties, having to look after of all the young guys coming and going. She has a child on hand to tend to too, and since she's had a sudden drop in energy, let's take care with this, is all I'm saying."

"That's all..." Mikiyasu breathed. "Don't scare me like that, man. Going through the trouble of having a nurse call me, telling me to bring her in, suddenly talking to me about grave sounding test results, I was sure it was...."

"Well, still, until we can put a name to her condition it'd be better not to drop our guard. It's true that she seems really sick and all. Just in case we'll do another blood test and run a CT, and if that doesn't clear anything up, we'll send her to the National Hospital. If I have to I'll write a referral to the University hospital, even."

"Ah..... Mm. Yes."

Toshio was, he dared say, unable to make any difference in Megumi's case. Mikiyasu was relieved but Toshio who had comforted him was not. Nao was getting exceptionally worse. He was throwing vigorous efforts into it, but he was indeed uneasy.