Tokyo, 1994, starting with medical training

Chapter 75 Inferior Technology

It started to snow lightly outside.

Kiryu Kazusuke turned and walked in the opposite direction, but he hadn't gone far.

Under a street lamp, he saw a familiar face.

Her tall, slender profile, head slightly bowed, short hair slightly disheveled by the wind, revealed her long, fair neck.

Unlike the other doctors, Imagawa Ori did not attend a "second meeting" or even symbolically say goodbye. She stood there alone, shivering slightly in the cold wind.

At that moment, she was looking at the end of the road.

That's the direction the car sent by "Kagura Club" should be heading.

But ten minutes passed, and the view was still empty.

"Damn it."

Imagawa Ori cursed under her breath, stomped her foot, and her high heels made a crisp sound on the asphalt.

Her nose was red from the cold, and her breath was particularly noticeable under the streetlights.

Kazusuke Kiryu slowed his pace.

Before my eyes, the familiar light red screen reappeared.

[Imagawa Ori: Nakamori-san will probably spend a lot of money on me tonight, right? It's a shame the nightclubs are closed for the New Year. At least I can work a shift at Nishi-Azuma Welfare Hospital; hopefully all the rich people there will suddenly suffer fractures.]

[Can converge world lines]

[Branch 1: Go with her to the "Kagura Club" year-end champagne appreciation event and encourage Sachiko Nakamori to spend money. (Reward: 10% cashback on sales)]

[Branch Two: The snow has started to fall heavily, leaving you no choice but to spend the night at a nearby hotel. (Reward: Advanced External Fixation Technique)]

The cold wind swirled snowflakes and crept into my collar.

Kiryu Kazusuke glanced at Imagawa Ori's inner thoughts and understood immediately.

In university hospitals, specialists earn around 700 million yen a year. To supplement their income, people usually work part-time at other hospitals.

Normally, working part-time at the foreign language institute only earns tens of thousands of yen a night.

But things are different at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year. Regular doctors also have to take a holiday for the New Year. In order to keep operating, remote hospitals can only ask for help by offering cash checks that are several times higher than usual.

In particular, the Nishi-Azuma Welfare Hospital is located near a famous ski resort.

At times like these, the "thank you gift" for a single night's shift starts at least at 200,000 yen, with surgery fees to be calculated separately.

She agreed to work shifts because "Kagura Club" is closed during the Lunar New Year period.

Then.

Kazusuke Kiryu's gaze swept back and forth across the fork in the two world lines.

The night of December 28th is the annual showdown night for adult entertainment venues like "Kagura Club".

Year-end champagne treat.

This is a crucial moment that determines the annual ranking and is also the peak of store revenue.

It's not even 10 o'clock yet, and the atmosphere in the store is probably just starting to get lively.

If Imagawa Ori can arrive before 10 o'clock, she will be able to catch the most intense second half of the battle.

Sachiko Nakamori, feeling empty and lonely, was definitely there.

Speaking of which, I wonder if Imagawa Ori ever fulfilled Nakamori Sachiko's wish?

It shouldn't have been picked at yet, right?

Otherwise, Sachiko Nakamori would have already lost interest in her.

If that's the case, tonight, on this special day, that lonely woman will probably really want to get Imagawa Ori, and she'll definitely go crazy spending money on her.

If I were to provoke her even slightly with my words...

2000 yen?

3000 yen?

Even a 10% cashback on turnover is quite substantial.

This sum of money is equivalent to his entire year's salary as a junior medical trainee, and it might even be more.

Kiryu Kazusuke took a deep breath and commanded himself to shift his gaze to the second fork.

"Application of External Fixation Frames - Advanced".

Compared to his other skills, this reward seems somewhat outdated.

In the orthopedic field dominated by the AO school of thought, which champions "strong internal fixation," external fixation is considered an "undignified" technique.

Many professors of plastic surgery have publicly criticized it.

They called it a "makeshift method used in field hospitals," a "low-grade technique" that did not meet the aesthetic and biomechanical requirements of modern medicine.

That is absolutely true.

In university hospitals equipped with sterile operating rooms, C-arm fluoroscopy machines, and various imported titanium alloy steel plates, external fixation braces are basically useless.

Bulky and unattractive.

Several thick steel needles pierced through the skin and muscles, nailed to the bone, and then locked in place with external connecting rods, resembling an ugly scaffold.

It causes inconvenience to the patient, the needle tract is prone to infection, and the repositioning accuracy is not as good as that of a steel plate.

Kiryu Kazusuke looked up at the snowflakes dancing in the air.

After thinking for a few seconds, he finally gritted his teeth and decided to bring the second branch of the world line together.

Anyway, Sachiko Nakamori isn't going anywhere, so there will always be opportunities to fleece her in the future.

External fixators have many drawbacks, but in the days before locking plates and minimally invasive internal fixation systems, they were almost the only option for cases of high-energy trauma, battlefield conditions, or extremely poor soft tissue conditions.

In a few days it will be 1995.

This is very important.

Therefore, for Kiryu Kazusuke, this is a skill that he absolutely cannot miss.

After making up my mind.

"Dr. Imagawa."

Kiryu Kazusuke exhaled a puff of white breath, stepped through the snow, and walked towards the figure under the streetlight.

At that moment, Imagawa Ori was staring blankly at a private car driving by in the distance.

Startled by the sound, I turned around abruptly.

Upon seeing that it was Kazusuke Kiryu, her tense shoulders relaxed slightly, but the irritation on her face did not lessen.

"Oh, it's you. You didn't go to the second meeting?"

She asked casually, then immediately turned to look at the road, afraid of missing the bus she was waiting for.

"Dr. Imagawa didn't go either."

Kiryu Kazusuke stood beside her and glanced at the empty street.

"I have important business to attend to."

Imagawa Ori replied irritably, turning up her collar in an attempt to block the cold wind that kept blowing into her neck.

"Are you waiting for the car from Kagura Club to pick you up?"

Kiryu Kazusuke asked the question knowingly; this woman probably only has money on her mind right now.

If you stand here in the cold wind for even a minute longer, Kagura Club might order one less bottle of Dom Pérignon.

Imagawa Ori paused for a moment, then looked completely bewildered: "I don't know what you're talking about."

"There's no one else here." Kiryu Kazusuke smiled.

Imagawa Ori glanced around and, seeing no one else, stopped denying it: "So what if I am?"

"Not really, just asking."

"boring."

Imagawa rolled her eyes at him and then focused her attention on the road.

Half an hour has passed since the agreed time, why hasn't the car to pick her up arrived yet?

This is not normal.

As is customary, the "Kagura Club" treats its top companions with extremely high standards.

Especially at a crucial moment like tonight.

The store usually sends its best car, a black Nissan President, to wait here half an hour in advance.

The driver must be that taciturn, but incredibly skilled, Uncle Yamamoto, who always wears white gloves.

The car's heater will be turned on full blast, and warm, damp towels and bottled water will be prepared in the back seat. To accommodate her sensitivity to cold, the seat heaters will even be turned on ten minutes in advance.

But now, there is only cold wind and snowflakes.

Oh, and Kiryu Kazusuke too.

(End of this chapter)