To paste into TVR later

The Greater Ryukyu General Hospital seems an awful lot more inviting on the way back in. Rikiya strains a bit to get out of the velotaxi, but thanks the driver profusely for his service. He holds a hand to his brick of a heart again. "This is it," he says to it, "time to see how you're doing."

He is barely into the lobby when a familiar-looking nurse in pastel teal scrubs waves to him from next to a rather nice-looking indoor plant. Kei Hayasaka certainly looks well today; maybe she just couldn't wait for him to show up. Then again, that nonsense downtown sure took a while. "Hey, welcome in," she greets. "Here for the check-up?"

"I'm a man of my word, aren't I?" he grins.

"This way, then." Kei leads him through a couple of corridors and up an elevator. They skip past most of the little triage rooms and the gift shop, and she seats him on a bed in an exam room that nobody seems to need just yet. "Want to open up your shirt for me, real quick?" she asks, rummaging in a drawer for a stethoscope. He does so, being careful not to rip the fabric any more than it already is. The stethoscope is shockingly cold to the touch.

"Huh, does that thing still work when it's not a real heart in there?"

"Gotta listen to your breathing and your guts, too," she says, and listens as intently as she can. Her face doesn't make it look like she's happy with what she hears. "So, you're sure you haven't been doing anything too strenuous?"

"Well..." Rikiya bashfully lowers his head. "To tell you the truth, I did kind of get into a fight before we met up yesterday, and then someone tried to shoot at me, and then..."

"Oh boy." She picks up a little hand-scanner device from the bedside table and waves it over his chest. With a little beep, it starts displaying all kinds of diagnostic data. "The pacemaker says it's had to defibrillate you...four times, in the last day. That's not normal," she understates, squinting at the scanner to make sure she's read it correctly. It isn't lying - there are timestamps, even.

"...and then I had a nightmare. About what happened ten years ago."

"That's *definitely* not normal," Kei says, with a hand up to her head. "No, this thing's having to work unusually hard. I need to go get Dr. Hanzawa. Do you think you'll be okay for a few minutes? I'll be right back." She drops the scanner on the bed, by Rikiya's leg, and speedwalks out of the exam room before Rikiya can answer her.

Not normal? Ten years ago, Rikiya would have taken it as a compliment. Maybe I am some kind of genetic freak. How else could a guy survive being shot almost directly through the heart, and survive? Even if it did take ten years for him to recover from it? Rikiya reaches for the scanner, still displaying the diagnostic data from his metal heart. The entire past day, starting from around noon, is perfectly timelined down to the second, in the most clincal detail possible, organized by time of occurrence. 4 Alerts, 17 Cautions. Caution: Strenuous activity. Caution: Heart rate exceeded recommended level. Alert: Stoppage detected, attempted restart. Alert: Stoppage detected, attempted restart. Alert. Alert.

He has to cry a bit. Brushes with death used to be exciting. Not that Rikiya was any daredevil to begin with, but he certainly never backed down from a fight. Even the ones that ended with him with his face in the pavement. He thinks hard about it and realizes that he's never really lived a peaceful and relaxing life. He isn't sure he even knows how.

The nurse and her doctor burst into the room together. "Ah, it's you!" exclaims Dr. Hanzawa. "Er... Rikiya, was it?"

"Yeah." Rikiya realizes he's still holding the hand-scanner, and hands it to the doctor.

"Mm-hmm..." Hanzawa doesn't have to glance at it for very long. "I guess I should have figured, for a former yakuza. Iwata certainly made the right call."

"Which call was that?"

"He made the decision to implant a miniature defibrillator in your heart, alongside the pacemaker. The very latest medical technology, at the time. All this time later, it seems like it's still doing its job. Though we might need to change the battery soon." He looks more relieved than he should.

Kei draws the doctor's attention back to the screen. "Sensei, look at the timestamps."

"Oh. ...Oh, my." The look of concern finally takes him over. "Four times in a day? I'm surprised this thing hasn't killed you by now."

"Killed?!" Rikiya exclaims, louder than he intends.

"No, no, maybe that's the wrong word. Um..." Hanzawa scratches at one of his temples, searching for the right phrase. "The human heart is a remarkably fragile thing, for how important it is. I'm...primarily surprised that, for as long as it has been since the last time it's had to do any real work, the device hasn't failed to do its job, even with mere hours between discharges. I'd say you're lucky, but at the same time, this little gadget refuses to let it happen."

"Maybe a bit like the man wearing it," Kei adds with a sly smirk.

"So every time my chest hurts like that, it's that little robot inside my heart zapping me back to life?" asks Rikiya, tapping on the rectangle again. "Might explain why it went off when I was..."

"When you were fighting someone? When you were being shot at?" Kei finishes for him. "I mean, I suppose I can't tell you how to live your life, but you really need to avoid that kind of stuff in the future. I don't know how many more times this thing can save you."

Rikiya wants to tell her it's no big deal, that he's been through worse. Not a single thing he can think to say, would reassure her at all. "Alright," he finally tells her. "I'll do my best to keep it in check."

His trip back out of the hospital lobby is slower, more measured and careful than usual. Perhaps too careful, he suspects, but there is little reason not to be. Just in case, he does look both ways before exiting the main doors, in case a certain somebody is lying in wait for him. With the way clear, he leaves, to find the velotaxi from before still waiting for him. The driver waves to him and gestures to get in.

"Wanna go back downtown?" he asks with a grin.

"Yeah, sure," he says, feeling more tired than he'd like to be. He climbs into the back and swipes his transit card in the machine, then once he is properly strapped in, the driver begins pedaling.

"Y'know, I never thought I'd get used to driving something this big without an engine, but you'd be surprised how easy these things are to move," the driver begins, as he brings the vehicle on to the side road. Going by his voice, he's a local; it's hard to mistake the way an Okinawan talks.

Rikiya sighs, remembering what the nurse just told him. "I'd almost want one for myself, but my heart probably can't take it now."

"Shame to hear. Way better than the old compact van I used to drive, y'know." The driver's speech has a certain quality to it that Rikiya recognizes, a bit. "Plus, y'know, does help ya lose some weight!"

"I'm sorry if this is kinda personal to ask, but did you used to be in one of the yakuza families around here?"

The driver has to laugh for a second as he slows the velotaxi to stop at a red light. It's a mirthful, but conditioned laugh, like he's had to laugh on purpose for one reason or another. "Y'know, it's been a few years since somebody asked me that, I got to thinking nobody ever would again, since I quit bleachin' my hair and wearin' those flashy clothes."

Rikiya looked down at his ragged shirt, that seemed uncomfortably bright now, even compared to the bright orange vest that the driver wore. He would need to consider getting something less obvious, now, if he intended to not be in any more fights.

"Nah, to answer your question, yeah, used to be, but that was years ago. Family ain't around, now, so I went legit." He scratched at the back of his head, where his hair showed only the tiniest hint of having ever been anything but dark brown. "Didn't used to get a lot of customers, but I've known this place like the back of my hand for years, and I did always love showing tourists around."

Rikiya thinks about the Tall Dwarf again, and briefly wonders if he should have given him a referral to this driver in particular. "I was, too, is why I'm asking. Found out I'm not in nearly good enough shape to keep that life up anymore. Was almost going to ask for some pointers, but if it's going to involve a lot of pedaling, it might not be for me."

"Hah, nah, nah, don't worry about it. If you're looking for some odd jobs, I hear they just opened a Hello Work office, it'd be up the boulevard a bit. I, uh, can't take you there directly, these things aren't allowed on the faster roads."

"I appreciate it, either way," says Rikiya.

The taxi pulls up to a stop, next to the staircase leading to the monorail station. The driver turns as far as he can in his recumbant seat and looks at Rikiya out the side of his eye. "Thanks for riding with us, and if you're ever in need of a ride in a pinch, we've got an on-demand service, too. We got that fancy app for those newer phones, but just in case, I'll give you my card." He reaches into his vest and fishes out a little plastic badge with a name on it, which Rikiya accepts without looking at it. As soon as Rikiya's out of the vehicle, something beeps between the handle bars. "Oh, speakin' of which, got a request coming in. Gimme a call whenever, aniki!" With this, the velotaxi takes off again, coming up to speed somewhat faster without the extra weight of a passenger.

Aniki...? Rikiya doesn't recall hardly anybody calling him aniki. Except... he looks down at the plastic business card in his hand. On one side of it is the company logo, Ryukyu In Motion, Inc. He flips it over. Mikio Aragaki. He kicks at the sidewalk a bit. Did he recognize me? How'd I not notice it was him? Where'd the time go...? He slips the card into one of his pants pockets. Well...I guess it'll have to be some work, first of all, he thinks, and sets off towards the main boulevard.