Burning Bright

Doctor

"Sterilized them?" Mutou asked.

"We left them in the boiled water for longer than fifteen minutes," Torako said.

"G-Good!" Mutou said, nodding in approval. He, Yarai, and Torako tied neckerchiefs around their necks that could be pulled up to cover their mouths. "Let's begin... Y-Yarai, Fukui, are you ready?"

"Yeah. How's she doing?" Yarai asked, ducking low to enter the hut with the tools.

"Can we really do it...?" Segawa asked.

"Well..." Yarai said. He went into the hut, followed by Torako.

"..." Mutou's expression was grim as he hung outside. 'The current me hasn't held a scalpel for five years...' His hand was already shaking. "... Kuh..." He looked down at his hand, afraid. 'I can't stop my hand from shaking...' Someone gabbed his hand with theirs. "Eh?" He looked up and saw that it was Kirino. She had a determined expression on her face. "K-Kirino-san...?"

"Calm down, Mutou-san... Please take a deep breath..." Kirino said calmly but firmly. "If you stay calm and focused, I'm sure you can do it. I... believe you can!"

"O-Okay..." Mutou said, giving her a small smile, but he didn't really believe it.

"..." Rion, Oomori, and Miyauchi watched.

"You have my blessings, too!" Rion said, moving forward to grab his hand with hers. "Don't suffer alone. We're with you! We can't come inside, but we'll be fighting wit you from the outside!" she said earnestly.

"... That's right!" Oomori said, also stepping forward to hold his hand. "This hand saved a lot of lives, right? Please be confident."

"I don't get all the difficult stuff, but it's all about the spirit!!" Miyauchi said, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Please! Please save our teacher!" the vice president, Airi, Takahashi and Kashiwagi said, all holding his hand at the same time.

"Umm... Umm... Give it your best...!" Mami said with a red face, holding his hand. Yuki grabbed his hand, too.

"Please save Kurusu-sensei," she said anxiously.

"I'll do it, too," a boy said.

"Me, too..." another girl said.

"Mutou-san, you have out blessing, too!" a boy said.

"..." Mutou was astonished. One after another, all of the students came forward to hold his hand and ask him to save their teacher or wish him luck. 'Everyone...'

"Mutou-san...!" Akira said, holding his had.

"Sengoku-kun..." Mutou said.

"Please save out teacher..." Akira said seriously.

"Y-Yeah..." Mutou said. Akira let go of him, and Mutou looked at his hand. 'What...? My hand's so warm...' He suddenly remembered his son doing the same thing for him before. It was as if his son was right there, holding his hand again and telling him to do his best, that he would be fine because he was the best doctor in the world. 'Hiroki...' he stared at his hand for a moment longer, then went into the hut.

"M-Mutou-san," Segawa said when she saw him.

"What are you doing. We're already ready here," Yarai said. They had moved Kurusu-sensei onto a clean sheet on top of the bed they had made for her. They had also removed all of her clothing except for her panties and washed her off.

"The patient?" Mutou asked, pulling his neckerchief up to cover his mouth.

"Right here," Yarai said.