Kara no Kyoukai:Chapter04 A

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"Hey, about that patient in the third floor private room, have you heard?"

"Of course. That story was all over the place by the middle of yesterday. Even that stony Dr. Ashika in neurology lost his cool, didn't he? There's no way a secret like that wouldn't leak out. I couldn't believe it but, they say the patient's recovered."

"No, no, it's not that. Well, it is definitely about that patient, but there's something besides that. That patient, you know what she did as soon as she woke up? Don't be shocked, but they say she tried to crush her own eyes."

"--- What are you talking about? Is that for real?"

"Yeah, I think it's being kept secret inside the facility. I heard it from a kid who always follows Dr Ashika around, so it's definitely true. Apparently, as soon as Dr Ashika took his eyes off her, she smashed her eyes through the bandages with the palms of her hands. She's a total terror."

"Wait a second. That patient, she's just been lying there for two years, hasn't she? Then there's no way she could move her body."

"Well, yeah, normally. That family is rich, aren't they? While she's been here, we've exercised her limbs everyday, so her joints and stuff haven't stiffened up. But I guess that since it wasn't the subject herself doing the exercise, the movement of the joints was unnatural to her and she couldn't move very well. Thanks to that, her attempt to savage her two eyes ended in failure."

"--- Even so, that's awesome. We learned that while a supine patient is more comfortable, it's much easier for their bodies to get weak. If she's been sleeping for two years, she should barely have been functioning as a human."

"That's why even the doctor was caught off guard. Hey, what do you call that? You know, when a patient's sclera is bleeding?"

"Subconjunctival hemorrhaging."

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. It's supposed to become alright by itself, but since the patient smashed her eyes right to the point of glaucoma she can't even see through her eyes right now. They say that they just bandaged her eyes according to the patient's wishes."

"Hmm. So even after waking up from the coma that patient hasn't seen the sunlight. ... darkness within darkness. It seems a bit wrong."

"A bit? And on top of that, there's another problem. Aphasia... loss of speech? It feels like that. She can't talk, so the doctor's bringing in a speech therapist. There's no one like that at our hospital."

"Yeah, since Dr. Araya quit last month.
But --- if she's like that, will they disallow visitors for that patient?"

"Probably. Until she's recovered her psychological balance, even her time with her parents will be limited."

"So that's how it is. In that case, I feel kinda sorry for that boy."

"Who? What boy?"

"Don't you know? After that patient was brought here, there's this kid who came to visit every Saturday. I guess he's too old to call a kid anymore, but, if possible, I want to let him meet her."

"Ah, you mean Polite-Puppy-kun. Lord, he's still coming.
I doubt there are many people as earnest as that in the world these days."

"Yeah, for the last two years that kid's been the only one who watched over the patient. So --- I'm thinking that maybe the major part in the patient's miraculous recovery is due to him. ... Wow, I'm saying this sort of thing after working here for how many years? I'm beginning to think that maybe something's happened to me."

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