Tokyo, 1994, starting with medical training

Chapter 17 Mediocre people are everywhere.

A new day begins with the clamor of an alarm clock.

Kiryu Kazusuke sat up in bed, his headache from the hangover making him press his temples.

My memory of last night at "Kagura Club" is a bit hazy. I only remember that Sachiko Nakamori was in a great mood and dragged him and Imagawa Orihime into drinking quite a bit of alcohol.

As for how he finally got back, he couldn't remember at all.

Kiryu Kazusuke took out his wallet, opened it, and found a stack of brand-new 10,000 yen bills inside.

As agreed, Sachiko Nakamori put all the expenses for the night on his tab and paid the bill.

The name selection fee is 2 yen, the table setup fee is 1 yen, the service fee is 16 yen, a bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé Champagne is 400 yen, and an 8-tier champagne tower is 4 million yen.

Later, Kiryu Kazusuke wanted to order a few more bottles of fine champagne, but Nakamori Sachiko said the betting was over and she wouldn't pay for the bill.

He could only give up in frustration.

In other words, theoretically he could get a 20% cashback on his bill, which is 84.5 yen.

However, the Villainess Worldline Convergence Plan is unreasonable.

It only acknowledges the portion of consumption actively undertaken by Kiryu and Kai.

This means that the champagne tower worth 400 million yen only includes the portion he added, and the three bottles of Louis XIV worth 60 yen are his.

But it doesn't matter.

Anyway, that wasn't Kiryu Kazusuke's real intention; he just wanted to get the "surgical incision suturing technique."

There's no need to be anxious about it.

……

After arriving at Gunma University Hospital.

Kiryu Kazusuke first went to the nurses' station to get Suzuki Shinya's medical record and looked at the nursing records from last night.

everything is normal.

Shinya Suzuki's vital signs are stable, and the swelling in his affected limb has subsided considerably compared to yesterday, meeting the criteria for surgery.

When I returned to the First Surgical Department, there were already several doctors inside.

Good morning, Kiryu-kun.

Kenji Tanaka was sitting at his desk by the window, looking through a medical record. He greeted him when he came in.

"Good morning, Tanaka-senpai."

Kiryu Kazusuke nodded and put Suzuki Shinya's medical record back on his small table.

"Yes, I was working overtime writing medical records last night, so I just came straight here this morning."

Kenji Tanaka stretched and leaned back in his chair, making a cracking sound as he did so.

As she spoke, she glanced at Kiryu Kazusuke and asked somewhat curiously, "Kiryu-kun, you look a little tired. Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Kazusuke Kiryu shook his head: "It's just a small thing, a headache."

Of course, he wouldn't mention what happened at the nightclub last night. Although they were senior and junior colleagues, they weren't close enough to share their private lives.

Kenji Tanaka didn't ask any further questions, but instead started talking about gossip in the clinic.

"Is the selection of the next professor coming up soon?"

"If there are no unforeseen circumstances, Assistant Professor Mizutani should be elected."

"Does Professor Mizutani have a high chance of winning?"

"Professor Nishimura is getting old, and retirement is only a matter of time."

"Although Professor Mizutani's clinical skills are average, he is, after all, an academic doctor who has published a lot of papers and frequently attends international conferences."

"He's the most senior in the medical department, and he has the widest network of connections, so there shouldn't be any problems."

Kazusuke Kiryu nodded.

Here's a counterintuitive tidbit: not every professor is a highly skilled doctor.

If a professor is an academic who has left the front line of clinical practice, their surgical skills may not even be as good as those of the specialist doctors under them.

While the two were chatting idly.

The door to the clinic was pushed open, and a man of medium build, looking slightly tired, walked in.

This is Takikawa Takuhei, a specialist in the First Surgical Department.

Under the training system, the career path for medical students is relatively long and fixed.

For example, after graduating from medical school and passing the national medical licensing exam, Kiryu Kazusuke first becomes a trainee doctor.

He could only be promoted to a specialist physician after two to five years of doing odd jobs and clinical training.

Specialized medical training is a stage where one continues to accumulate experience in the same specialty after completing the training period.

It typically requires several years of clinical practice and case accumulation.

Although they still need to work under the guidance of senior physicians, they have already developed a certain degree of independent diagnostic and treatment capabilities.

Only by passing the rigorous certification exams for medical professionals or specialists can one be considered to have reached the level of a "professional." For example, Imagawa Ori possesses the authority to independently diagnose and perform complex surgeries.

It can be said that the specialized medical examination is the most important threshold in a doctor's career.

Takikawa Takuhei has failed the qualification exam for several years in a row. He is more senior than many young specialists, but his skills have stagnated.

"Good morning, Takikawa-senpai."

Kenji Tanaka greeted him warmly.

"Yes, good morning."

Takikawa Takuhei walked in with dark circles under his eyes and yawning, clearly having not rested well from his shift last night.

He waved weakly as a greeting, then slumped back into his seat, ready to catch up on some sleep.

Kenji Tanaka lowered his head quietly and said in a low voice, "Takikawa-senpai failed again this year, and it's probably going to be tough next year. He'll likely be assigned to a remote affiliated hospital by the medical bureau."

This is the cruel side of the medical system: survival of the fittest, with no middle ground.

There are many people like Takikawa Takuhei in the hospital.

It's not that they don't work hard, it's just that they're always just a little bit short of talent, luck, and opportunity.

Day after day, year after year, the initial ambitions were worn down by reality, and in the end, one could only helplessly accept one's mediocrity in a mediocre position.

So Kiryu Kazusuke didn't say anything.

Even though hospitals value seniority, they also value ability.

Not long after, the door to the clinic was pushed open again.

Imagawa Ori walked in.

She still looked as sharp as ever, with shoulder-length short hair, a light-colored shirt under her white coat, and appeared full of energy, not at all like someone who had drunk a lot at the nightclub the night before.

The relaxed atmosphere in the clinic immediately turned serious.

Good morning, Dr. Imagawa!

Kenji Tanaka immediately stood up to greet him.

Even Takikawa Takuhei, who was lying down to catch up on sleep, subconsciously sat up straight.

Kiryu Kazusuke and Imagawa Ori exchanged a brief glance, and then, in a tacit understanding, they looked away.

Imagawa Ori walked to her desk, put down her handbag, and glanced at the surgical schedule that had already been prepared on the desk.

"Takikawa, Kiryu, come here for a second."

"yes!"

Takikawa Takuhei immediately jumped up from his chair, and Kiryu Kazusuke followed suit.

"Take another look at Shinya Suzuki's film."

Imagawa Ori inserted an X-ray film and several CT reconstructed images onto the viewing lamp.

The lights came on.

At a glance, one can see the horrific comminuted fracture of the distal radius, with the articular surface resembling an eggshell smashed by a hammer, and more than a dozen bone fragments of varying sizes scattered apart.

The 3D reconstruction images from CT scans more clearly demonstrate the collapse of the lunate articular surface and the avulsion of the ulnar styloid process.

The difficulty of the surgery is obvious.

After a while, Imagawa Ori asked, "Takigawa, you're the first assistant, what are your thoughts?"

(End of this chapter)