The eyes of Tamura Akiko are blessed.
Some lovingly reference ginko leaves, chrysanthemums; others bitterly reference topaz.
She thinks of lemon macrons and the glow of a lamp, as childish as she is.
Her fiance references the rising sun, amber, a...
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Akiko always remembers her patients.
Undoubtedly, her first patients are Kanon and Haruki as well as Giyuu back in March.
Then Nakaha at the Butterfly estate, then Umiko the next day.
Her most difficult patient during the spring is a soldier with two broken ribs and their right ulna sticking out.
Summer, Akiko remembers sweating as she patches up another soldier with head trauma.
Fall's most difficult case is a punctured lung. Akiko actually receives her first piece of advice from the doctor, and they have to work together for the case in order to save the soldier's life.
Winter is hard because Akiko loses her first life.
The soldier has a burst aorta, and Akiko can't save them in time even with three other doctors in the operating room with her.
She has to work again the next day, fixing broken bones and creating antidotes for a few dying soldiers. Aoi tries to reassure her that she did her best, and that she's still become a better doctor than eight months ago.
"But I'm not a doctor," Akiko states later on that day, staring at a pair of scissors in her hand. Aoi looks at her with furrowed brows, a bit mad at Akiko's attitude.
"Well you've seen enough to be one."
Akiko cuts an inch of her hair off that day.
On the anniversary of the Kamado deaths, Akiko wears black again.
She also visits Haruki, who still hasn't woken up from his coma.
"Anything today?" Akiko asks as she walks into another room of the Butterfly Estate. Kanon is sitting by Haruki's side, unmoving and staring at his body without a will to live in her eyes.
Kanon's hands aren't rough like they used to be, and it's Akiko's hands that are rough now.
Kanon's been left back in time, and Akiko's time has sped up.
On New Years, Akiko doesn't have a single patient. She's glad but she's restless, waiting for Aoi to burst into her room to tell her that another soldier is bleeding out onto the operating table.
Kanon leaves Haruki's room for what feels like the first time, closing the kitchen off from everyone else to use. Aoi is beyond mad, but when Akiko rests a hand on her shoulder and shakes her head, Aoi decides to stay put in the living room.
Everyone is sitting under the kotatsu, Shinobu asking Akiko about her studies while Sumi, Naho and Kiyo giggle and eat tangerines. Aoi listens to Shinobu and Akiko talk about patients, and Kanao doesn't say a word as per usual (Shinobu told her to take a break from blowing into the gourd).
"Dinner," a stoic voice shakes the girls, and they see Kanon with bowls of toshi-koshi soba for the New Year.
Shinobu smiles, standing up to help Kanon with the tray. When the bowls are passed around, Shinobu take Kanon's hands into her own, moving delicately to make sure Kanon doesn't crack.
