“All right, Emi, you’re free to go,” I say with my usual smile.
         
“Thanks, Nurse!” As Emi hops off the examination table, she yawns and stretches. The morning routine must have put her and Hisao in a bit of a tiring mood, given their slumped composure.
         
“Hey, you two, if I get any complaints about either of you sleeping in classes, I’ll be waiting here with a vengeance tomorrow,” I say, grinning.
         
Hisao and Emi perk up at this, and they quickly fix their stance so that they’re standing up straight. “S-Sorry, Nurse, the routine was a bit harsh on us this morning. We both ran an extra lap and that’s probably why we’re a bit more tired than usual,” Hisao says, trying to hide the fact that they were probably sleeping together all night, there’s no way an extra lap would wear down Emi this much.
         
“All right, Hisao. If that’s what happened…” I say with a wink. Emi jumps and quickly pushes Hisao towards the door, thanking me for the examinations and scolding under her breath to Hisao that he was way too obvious.
         
As I chuckle to myself, I look at my clipboard. Yup, no one else is coming in today. I guess it’s that time of the week…
         
As I flip out my cell phone, I begin dialing a number that I’ve been used to dialing for a while now. The phone is just an ordinary flip phone, I think I bought it 9~ years ago? That was the year Emi had…her accident. I look down at the white tiled floor, reminiscing about visiting Emi in the hospital. I’ve known the Ibarazaki family for a long time, Emi’s father was my brother in law, my sister's husband's brother, but I knew he was a good man. Sad to see such people go, but it happens.
         
As I finish dialing the number, I press the green talk button. Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring. A little beep follows the last ring, along with some static. “Hello? Nurse?” A calm, soothing voice answers the telephone.
         
“Hey Meiko, how’s it going?” I ask with my usual happy tone.
 
“Everything is fine, are we still on for breakfast in 20 minutes?” Meiko asks.
 
“We sure are, I’m pretty hungry this morning. I had to skip on my usual bagel before I came in this morning, my stomach is practically roaring in anguish,” I state, laughing a little. I hear Meiko let out a little giggle on the other side of the line.
 
“All right, Nurse, just make sure that stomach of yours doesn’t get out of hand, I don’t want my food all over the house,” We both laugh at this, “ I’ll see you in a bit~,” Meiko says in her usual lovely voice as she ends the call. I close my phone and put it in my pocket, and lie down against the back of my chair. I met Meiko during the funeral, sadly. After they buried the casket, I found Meiko sitting in her car weeping. I understood why, of course, having lost her husband and her daughter’s legs; it must have been extremely difficult for her.
 
As I stood there, watching her cry, I knew I could only do one thing to help her through this. I took out two cigarettes from my pocket, gave one to her and put one in my own mouth, lit both up and we sat there for around 2 hours. She coughed at first, of course, but then got the hang of it after a couple of drags. After knowing her these past years, now I know she smoked when she was a teenager, so it makes sense she was able to adapt to smoking so quickly.
 
There was complete and total silence, with Meiko’s occasional sobs. I didn’t say anything; I just looked into the distance, thinking about how hard it must feel for her. Once she got a hold of herself, she thanked me and asked if I would personally check on Emi while she was recovering, and I accepted. I didn’t really know Emi all that much, but she seemed like a good girl coming from my sister’s husband.
 
As I drive up to the Ibarazaki home, I hope that the substitute nurse handles himself as he usually does. I’ve got my cell phone on me just in case of an emergency at Yamaku, but I’m sure things will be fine.
 
I park a block away from the house, and begin my walk towards the home. It’s a bit surprising how Meiko can afford to support such a house; I probably wouldn’t be able to have enough money to keep a place like this in shape.
 
I head up the few stairs before the door and ring the doorbell. I can smell the food from here, and my stomach begins to growl. Not now, stomach, you’ll have your fill in a bit, I think to myself.
 
As the door unlocks, I’m greeted by a grinning Meiko wearing an apron. Her brunette hair glows behind her ears and wrapped in a ponytail, probably so she won’t get any hair into the food. God, she’s gorgeous.
 
“Hi, Nurse. Will you come in?” Meiko asks with a warm and inviting, yet playful voice.
 
“Thank you, Meiko,” I state as I walk inside the house. I usually come to eat breakfast with Meiko every Wednesday, I don’t really know why we made it that day but we did.