41

The medical clinic was an old, small, single-story building. The wood walls had turned black, and the black-tiled roof was so worn out with age that the corners had turned white. Like the shack where Kaori Minami had died, it was located in front of the northern mountain at the end of a narrow unpaved road. They'd made their way through the mountain, but they could tell the narrow entrance road led down to the paved road along the island's eastern shore. There was a white minivan parked in front of the facility. Maybe the doctor had used it. Beyond the minivan they could see the ocean. The afternoon sun was shining on the sea. The color of the ocean was completely different from the murky water that lapped against the concrete sea walls in Shiroiwa harbor. It was a wonderfully brilliant blue tinged with green. There were hardly any waves, and the sparkling dots of light on its surface became increasingly dense in the distance. Other islands floating in the Seto Inland Sea looked remarkably close, but this was probably due, as he was once told, to the optical illusion of reduced distance when objects were absent. So they must have been at least four or five kilometers away. In any case…they were here. It was a miracle they got here without getting hurt. They'd immediately left the area where Kaori died. No machine gun shots came after them. According to the map they'd traveled a distance of less than two kilometers, but Shuya, who'd been carrying Noriko, accompanied by the pressure of a possible attack, was incredibly tired. He wanted to check to make sure no one was in the area of the clinic as soon as possible, so that not only Noriko but he too could get some rest. But something caught Shuya's attention.

A ship was floating on the peaceful sea. It was probably the guard ship Sakamochi had mentioned. But…for some reason there were three ships in a row. Sakamochi said there would be one ship on all sides—north, south, east, and west—and on the west side they had only seen one. So what was this?

Still carrying Noriko, Shuya poked his face out from the leaves and asked Shogo, "There're three ships."

"Yeah," Shogo replied. "The small one is a guard ship. The huge one is the ship that will transport the soldiers who were in the school building back to their base. The one in the middle is for the winner of the game. The winner rides that boat. It's the same model as the one from last year."

"So…the Program in Hyogo Prefecture was also held on an island like this one?"

"Yep," Shogo nodded. "Hyogo Prefecture also shares the Seto Inland Sea. It seems like Programs held in prefectures along the Seto Inland Sea coast are always held on islands. I mean, there are at least a thousand islands in this small ocean."

Shogo then told him to wait and descended the slope toward the clinic with his shotgun cocked. He crouched down and first examined the minivan. Then he snuck up to the building and circled it. When he returned he examined the sliding door entrance. It seemed to be locked, so Shogo flipped his shotgun and shattered the frosted glass window with the sawed off gun stock. Then he stuck his hand into the V-shaped opening, unlocked the door, and entered the building.

After watching him do this, Shuya tilted his head back to Noriko, whose head was resting against his back.

"Noriko, we're here." Shuya said, but Noriko could only moan, "Huh…" Her heavy breathing continued. After five full minutes, Shogo poked his head out of the entrance and signaled Shuya to join him. Shuya cautiously descended the two meter drop so he wouldn't lose his balance and approached the clinic. A thick, grimy wooden sign with the traces of weatherworn letters that read, "Okishima Island Medical Clinic" hung right beside the entrance. Shuya slipped by Shogo, who kept watch, holding his shotgun. He entered, followed by Shogo, who shut the door tightly.

Right near the entrance, there was a small waiting room. On the left there was a long green couch with a white cover on the worn out cream-colored carpet. The wall clock made a ticking sound as it approached three o'clock. The right side appeared to be the examination room. Shogo jammed the door shut with a broom and then signaled Shuya, "Over here." Although they were supposed to take their shoes off, Shuya stepped up with his sneakers on and entered the room on the right. There was a wooden desk in front of the window, and what appeared to be a doctor's black leather chair. There was a green vinyl stool in front of it. Even though the clinic was small, it still had the sterile odor of disinfectant.

There were two beds beyond a thin green curtain hanging from metal pipes. Shuya carried Noriko to the bed in front and gently put her down there. He thought of having her take off his school coat, but then decided against it.

After Shogo quickly pulled the curtains shut, he said, "blankets," and gave him two thin brown blankets folded in small squares. Shuya took them and after some thought spread one of them on the other bed. Then he moved Noriko there and spread the other blanket over her. He made sure the blanket went up to her shoulders. Shogo was rummaging through a gray office cabinet that was probably the medicine cabinet.

Shuya crouched down by Noriko's head and combed the sweaty hair against her cheeks back to her ears. She seemed dazed. Her eyes were closed, and she continued to breathe heavily.

"Damn it," Shuya muttered. "Noriko, are you all right?" Noriko squinted, her eyes glazed at him as she said, "Uh huh…" She might be faint from the high fever, but her mind was clear enough to respond.

"How about some water?"

Noriko barely nodded. Shuya took out a new bottle of water from the day pack Shogo had tossed onto the floor and tore off the seal. He held her up and helped her drink it. Shuya wiped off the water spilling from the side of her mouth with the back of his hand.

"Is that enough?" Shuya asked and Noriko nodded. Then he lay her down and waved to Shogo. "Any medicine?"

"Hold on," Shogo replied. He rummaged through another, lower cabinet and pulled out a cardboard box. He opened it and read the directions. It seemed to be what he was after. He extracted what looked like a small bottle and an ampoule. The bottle was filled with white powder.

"Do you swallow that?" Shuya asked.

Shogo answered, "No, it's for injections."

Shuya was a little shocked. "You know how to use that?"

Shogo turned on the faucet in the back of the room. No water came out, as expected, and Shogo clicked his tongue. He pulled out his water bottle from his day pack and washed his hands. Then he set a needle on a syringe and extracted the contents of the ampoule. "Don't worry, I've done this before."

"…really?" Shuya felt like he was constantly repeating this phrase to Shogo. Shogo broke the seal of the small bottle and injected it with the syringe, filling it up with the liquid from the ampoule. After removing the syringe, he held the bottle and shook it vigorously. Then he injected the syringe again to extract the liquid mixture.

After preparing another syringe like this, he finally approached them.

"Is she going to be all right?" Shuya asked again. "What about side effects or shock?"

"That's what I'm going to check for now. Just do as I say. Pull out Noriko's arm." Unsure of the situation, Shuya lifted the side of the blanket and rolled up both the sleeves of his school coat and her sailor suit. Her arm was very thin and her healthy looking dark skin had now become excruciatingly white.

"Noriko," Shogo asked her, "have you ever had any allergic reactions to any medicine?" Noriko opened her eyes again in a daze.

Shogo repeated, "Are you allergic to any medicine?"

Noriko shook her head slightly.

"Good. I'm going to test you first though."

Shogo held her arm out with her palm up, then took a cotton swab soaked with disinfectant and wiped the area between her wrist and elbow. He slowly inserted the needle, injecting only a small amount of the liquid. A slight bump formed on this area of her skin. Shogo took out another syringe and performed another injection.

"What are you doing?" Shuya asked.

"One of them is real medicine. If she's in the same condition fifteen minutes later, we won't have to worry about side effects. It means we can probably use the medicine. But…"

"But?"

Shogo quickly took out another larger bottle from the cardboard box. He placed it on the small desk nearby, prepared another syringe, and looked over at Shuya. "It's not easy to diagnose septicemia. To be honest I can't tell whether this is from septicemia or just a cold. Antibiotics are pretty potent, and that's why we're testing this on her, but the fact is my experience and knowledge is pretty limited, so injecting her with this syringe could be pretty dicey. On the other hand…"

Holding Noriko's hand, Shuya waited for him to continue.

Shogo took a breath and continued, "If she is suffering from septicemia, then we have to treat her as soon as possible. Otherwise, it'll be too late."

Fifteen minutes passed by quickly. In the meantime, Shogo checked her pulse again and took her temperature. The thermometer read 39 degrees Celsius. No wonder she could barely stand. Shuya couldn't tell the difference between the two adjacent marks from the syringes. Shogo also appeared to reach the same conclusion and took the larger syringe.

Crouching down slightly, Shogo asked, "Noriko. Are you awake?" Noriko answered with her eyes shut, "Uh huh…"

"I'll be honest. I don't know if you're suffering from septicemia or not. I think you probably are." Noriko nodded slightly. She must have been able to follow Shuya and Shogo's conversation moments ago.

"It's all right…go ahead."

Shogo nodded and inserted the syringe, this time deeply.

He injected the liquid and removed the needle. Then he wiped her arm with the cotton and told Shuya,

"Hold this."

Shogo took the empty syringe and walked over to the sink to toss it away. Then he came back.

"Now she's got to sleep. You look after her for a while. If she looks thirsty, you can use the whole bottle."

Shuya said, "But that's—"

Shuya shook his head.

"Don't worry. I found a well behind the building. As long as we boil the water we can drink it." Shogo left the room. Shuya turned towards the bed. With his right hand pressing the cotton swab and his left hand gently holding Noriko's hand, he watched over her.

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