2026-09-20: Miho's Precarious Hours
- Log: Miho's Precarious Hours
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba General Hospital
- OOC Date: sep 20 2026
- IC Date: Sat Jan 12 2013
- Summary: Miho rushes to Yua's side, at the birth of her son, and finds herself in the position of sheltering him while Yua hangs in the balance. By the end, though, she has both of them in hand... though Yua's still falling apart.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Kimitake was the person they called, despite Yua insisting on Mimi, Mimi, Mimi. It would shock her -- though, pointedly, it wouldn't be shocking to Miho -- to hear that he was actually helpful, indicating both her wish to survive and carry more children and the fact that her nominated next of kin was really her cousin, and he'd be leaving Yua's care to her. It meant that when Miho arrived at the hospital, there were no thorny questions about whether she was the one to ask, as they took Yua into emergency surgery.
With her unique health complications, things were even more fraught than Hiroki's placenta partially covering her cervix -- though luckily, the bleeding triggered from that didn't herald a complete separation. She was in surgery a long time, even after they successfully delivered him by caesarean...
... and as Hiroki was sent to the neonatal intensive care unit with Miho, someone else is holding her hand, as Yua rouses from surgery. (Really, she's roused several times, but anaesthesia is like that.)
"Nn... where's... Mimi? Mimi?! Hiroki!" Yua barks, as she looks around, wildly, clawing consciousness from the world. She feels someone squeezing her hand, and looks to find -- "... Sachie-san?"
"Hey," that broad, tattooed woman rumbles, as she clasps her hand firmly -- and carefully, mindful of the needle in the back of it. (On her right side, her scars denied them access; they've place that needle at her wrist, instead.) "You're okay. He's okay. Your Ijuuin-san's takin' care of him now. Take a breath for me, OK?"
"I want to see him!" Yua insists, still agitated. She calls, as if surely she can hear her: "Mimi?! Mimi!!"
"Hey, hey," Sachie squeezes her hand, as she starts wriggling, with a yelp of pain as she tugs on more than one needle feeding things into her. It's only when she looks to them, realises one is dark --
"What are you doing to me?!" Yua cries, and it's just a hand at her arm, too, that calls her attention back to Sachie and her calm voice.
"That's blood, Ijuuin-san. You lost a lot of blood, and they're still puttin' more back into you. Hey, you're OK... Ijuuin-san sent me to look out for you, so they wouldn't do anything bad. You know me, right?"
"Uh-huh," Yua says, with a bit of a sniffle.
"Am I good?" Sachie asks, patiently.
"... uh-huh," Yua nods, and Sachie puts a tissue into her hand, so she can dab at her eye.
"Okay. What I need from you right now is to lie still and not tug," Sachie asks, and the fight goes out of Yua, as she does. "I promise you'll see them soon... it's just that you're in a serious condition, Ijuuin-san. We can't take you to the ward they're in until we finish stabilisin' you."
"How long?" Yua asks, feeling miserable.
"I can't say for sure, but I'll be here with you," Sachie promises. "Okay?"
"Okay," Yua sniffles.
(Before Yua had a chance to wake, as it happens, Sachie had a version of this calming conversation with Miho to explain it all.)
Between another bag of blood, an alarming scare, and a panic attack, hours pass before they're comfortable moving Yua to the NICU; she catches snippets of conversation, between nurses caught between her constant requests to leave and the other ward's unwillingness to accept an unstable patient. As promised, at least, Sachie attends her throughout, translating her wishes to the people trying to keep her alive.
When they wheel her into the private room Miho's in -- because of course their wealth has assured that -- the bed space is clear for her; Miho's been provided with a lounging chair beside it, and enough agonising hours have passed, between her surgery and stabilisation, that they've asked something of her. "Mimi!" Yua cries, looking up from the flat bed, only to see what's stopping her wife from getting up -- "Hiroki...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho got a call, all right. it wouldn't shock Miho that the actual hospital would call Kimitake first, no. But she set aside her armor, set aside everything else, and went as soon as she had the opportunity--arriving at the hospital. No thorny questions...
It's for the best. But Miho worried. And waited. And worried. That initial spike of fear was gone, but only in intensity--it still gnawed at her stomach like an angry worm. So Miho waited...
Eventually, Hiroki was given to her, and Miho marvelled. He is so, so very small...
Miho's private room also prevents strange questions about the Mark on her left wrist and hand, which if anything is slightly more elaborate than it was before.
Miho is staring down at Hiroki when Yua arrives; she has been here for some time. The only coverage her upper body has is Hiroki himself and her hand about him. He has tubes, drains, various medical interventions about him, but still, he is tiny and wonderful, and Miho cannot say how long it has been since she has been entraned.
But then...
"Yua," Miho says quietly when she arrives. She does not get up.
"Yes," Miho says softly. "...I can't hand him to you," she says. "He's not to move for some time--required to stay in contact with someone for one, and we shouldn't move him with all the... tubes, and so forth."
"But he is here. You can see him. You're alive, and so is he."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I want," Yua reaches for Hiroki, and that's a complete sentence for her, sometimes, but she manages to elaborate: "I want my baby..."
But when Miho says she can't, her hands drops. "Oh... um... is he okay...?"
"He's fine," the nurse -- the male nurse, between Miho and Sachie they've already been cautioned that Yua's likely to be terrified if a female nurse looks at her breasts -- informs her kindly, as he helps her inside. "Hiroki-kun just has a pattern. If we interrupt him in the middle, he'll get confused and upset. He'll be ready to move soon, okay?" Miho, at least, doesn't have to bear the burden of keeping Hiroki positioned properly alone; a wrap has been pulled across her chest, to secure him to her and offer her a little privacy.
Indeed, that positioning may have been of grave concern when they discussed kangaroo care, given the exposure in Japanese media of some cases of preterm death involving it; luckily, the medical team has already reassured Miho of the benefits and the safety planning to put her at ease.
"Oh... just like me, right...?" Yua sighs, reaching a hand over to Miho's lounge again. "Mounnnh... it's okay... my seishitsu's got him... like... when I got her to hold him before!" When she'd get Miho to cradle her belly, she means.
Now, that belly is much closer to flat again... though Miho will see the way pain lances through her face, every time she moves, every time she jostles that wound. She has the button beside her which delivers pain medication, but... she's not pressing it, even though they said Yua's the only one who can.
"He's so little," she says, sounding close to tears. "Itty-bitty... mou... can he breathe okay? Is he okay?" Some of those tubes, as it happens, are for his nose and mouth, and one of them is all about that question.
"We need to help him," the nurse says, "but his lungs are big enough to breathe with help. Tell us if his lips go a strange colour, okay?"
"Okay," Yua sniffles, as she nods.
Rather than for the button, Yua reaches for Miho's hand, needle in her wrist, as she asks: "Mimi, you okay...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It is a complete sentence, but... Miho knew she would. The nurse explains, and that gives Miho relief; her mind is fractured from everything that's happened today, and she does not feel entirely confident in making that explanation herself. So she waits. "Yes," Miho says. "Soon." She appreciates the wrap more for the security than anything else. ...It's good.
Miho was greatly concerned, but she's done research on this and is inclined to trust her doctors, their doctors; it is a thing that is long inculcated with her.
"That's right," Miho says softly. "I do. And it is like that."
Miho notices the pain; she notices the wound. ...The button...
She does not insist, at this moment. It is Yua's choice. Besides; perhaps she just wants to be lucid, for her first times with Hiroki like this, out here.
"We'll tell you," Miho agres. And then Miho accepts Yua's hand, curls her fingers around hers.
"..."
Is she okay?
"...I don't know," she admits. "But I know that he's so small. I wonder at him. ...He is here, with us now. And that is good."
"...that's all I can think of, right now."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I'll be nearby," that nurse advises them, as he sees Yua and Miho settling in. "Just press the button if you need me." The call button, that is -- it's on the arm of Miho's chair, right now. There's a little clip to secure it so it doesn't fall out of reach! For the moment, though, he and Sachie step outside, to give them a little more privacy... well, relatively. Miho, at least, will still notice someone glancing in regularly.
(Yua... does not trust doctors, as a rule, but she trusts Miho.)
Her grip is weak, her hand still a little clammy; still, she holds to Miho's hand for dear life, as she looks to Hiroki from her headrest. (They put the head of the bed up, before they left, so she'd be able to see. ... that hurt, too, but Yua's not complaining.) "I was... so scared," Yua admits, slowly. "I just wanted to go on a walk... you know, a walk... like we do all the time?" Yua likes going on walks, and indeed, sometimes they're even gentle woodland walks... though they're usually with Miho, or Tyrrha, or Remi, or even Sachie, when they have their appointments.
"Everyone was busy, but I really felt fine... I thought..." She sniffles, biting at her lip. "I thought it'd be okay," she says, and sounds so hopeless. "But then, like I got stabbed, it really hurt... those poor girls... Mimi, they helped me, but... but I had to... Gretchen had to help me, even though she was really mad."
It's a little confused, as a story, but... it seems like Yua chose to summon her Persona and transport them here by magical means, rather than wait for help.
"Then... then they brought a wheelchair out, and... and everyone was yelling, and... and I realised they were preparing me for sacrifice, and...! T-they said, 'sign this', and I didn't want to, but they said I'd die... so I let them, and... and they made me sleep and... that's what they took, right? They took out Hiroki? I-I can still see, it wasn't my eye, it wasn't my tongue, it wasn't my ears..."
(They did, in fact, have to cut Hiroki from her belly; in different circumstances, they might have attempted a vaginal birth, but it wasn't just Yua's pregnancy complications making things so complicated. The good news, at least, is that they were able to avoid a post-partum hysterectomy... though it was a difficult maneuver to stop the bleeding while preserving it.)
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Thank you."
Miho does notice. She is not alarmed, but she does notice.
"...Yua..." A walk. A walk, of all things. She listens to the whole story. She was scared; but it hurt. And those girls--
"...i am glad she was able to help," Miho murmurs. That might have made the difference. But 'those girls'... "One of thsoe who called me, then?" she confirms.
'Sacrifice'. "Yes. They got Hiroki--they didn't take anything else. ...You lost a lot of blood, but that's not the same."
Pause. "They didn't take your uterus, either." Not, Miho imagines, that Yua will wish to use it again... but even so.
"All that matters is that you and he are healthy, all right? ...You can..."
She considers. "You can tell me about what happened there, if you want. Or we can just sit with Hiroki."
"...I love you, Yua. And him. I thought I knew how much, but... It is more than I thought, even."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm," Yua hums, with a little nod. "I asked one of them to run down the trail with my phone to call you, but... but then it got worse, and I screamed, and... and I realised that even if you got help, it was... I wouldn't get there in time. So... so I called Gretchen, and... and her, and my screaming... it scared poor Fushihara-kun so badly she even dropped my phone as she ran away." She takes a breath, and then another, and another; it's a little laborous, to talk, still. "... but one of our opponents was nearby. You remember the masked girl, Magus...? She even found my phone as she hurried in... she wanted to protect Hoshizora-kun -- from me, I suppose -- so I brought her along, too. I didn't... have enough time to explain..."
She is quiet, a moment, but for her breath, as she takes a moment's rest, squeezing Miho's hand to reassure her. Gazing to Hiroki, at least, is healing. "... I'm so glad you were here with him," she says, interrupting her thoughts, in the way one does when one's just come out from surgery.
"Mm... but... they told me about my blood... there was a big dark bag when I woke up, it scared me... I guess it was blood? Mm... I hope I don't get sick..." It was only eleven years ago, now, after all, that the 'Blood Law' which sought to reduce bloodborne transmissions from transfusions was established; while it was only hemophiliacs who were affected by the 'HIV-Tainted Blood Scandal', the lawsuit settlements in the mid-nineties left far more people afraid.
"But they didn't take bits out of me... that's good... what a relief..."
Yua's weariness carries forward, in that weary sentence, before she orients herself to Hiroki again. "Hiroki, baby... oh, look at him... it was so hard, mama didn't mean to make you fight this early, but look at you, you're right here..." Snif, snif. "Oh... I love you too, Mimi... look at our baby...!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I see..." Miho frowns in thought. So these girls are aware of their identities, she concludes. "...It's all right," Miho says to Yua. "You're more important. And if you scared her, then I'm sure she'll be all right." It is difficult to talk... An opponent. "I remember." She considers that. "So, those three..."
She smiles faintly. She accepts a squeezeof Yua's hand; she still isn't sure she, herself, is all right. But that doesn't matter to her right now. "I am, too. It's thanks to that girl's presence of mind that I came so quickly. I wouldn't have known, otherwise."
Blood. "I don't think you will," Miho says. "They seem to operate a very clean hospital."
They didn't. Miho squeezes Yua's hand, back.
"Yes," Miho says, with a wider smile. "Look at our baby. Hiroki..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua is quite sure she isn't all right, and she's pretty sure Miho isn't, either, but... it's enough work just existing, right now. She is, at least, reassured, when Miho reassures her.
"Hi, baby..." Yua murmurs, and Miho, surely, can feel the exhaustion in her hand; no wonder, perhaps, she falls into cooing silence for a while, admiring him. The nurse comes in, after a while, to brief Yua on pumping, and to help her do so; Hiroki, he says, hasn't quite figured out how to coordinate suckling and breathing properly yet, so he won't be able to feed 'properly' for a few weeks, but Yua's milk can still be fed to him through his nutrition tubing.
And, as it happens, once she's expressed that milk, there's something she can do when Hiroki rouses from his feeding-nap cycle -- something they describe to them as dry breastfeeding, letting him nurse now her milk's been exhausted so he won't drown.
(That, as it happens, is something Miho was naturally equipped to help him with from the start, since her body wasn't readying in the same way.)
It takes some coordination to transition him to Yua's chest -- and again she resists hitting the pain button as they're helping her get into a better gown arrangement for it -- but at length she finally gets to hold him, and just as Sachie advised her, she presses against him with her wired-up left hand with constant pressure rather than stroking.
Yua understands being overstimulated from being pet wrong; doesn't that just mean he's like her?
"Look, look," Yua urges Miho, as she looks to her, one hand left free for her wife thanks to that clever wrap. "He has your eyes, Mimi..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Hi," Miho agrees. She smiles at Yua and at Hiroki both; eventually the nurse comes back in, and miho quietly watches Hiroki while Yua is being helped. That's all she needs for the moment, absent listening--and she does listen. But once Hiroki rouses...
It's interesting, what they're helping with, how they're doing this. Miho did not imagine she would be involved in this part at all, and yet here she is.
Constant pressure...
"I see," Miho sees, and smiles. "...So I see. That is well."
"...Yua," Miho says quietly then.
"...Is there a reason you will not allow them to ease the pain?"
Pause. "It is fine, if you simply do not want it. But I have noticed; you hurt, and yet you stand through it."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua bites her lip, as she looks to Miho, beside her in her chair. "... I'm scared," she admits, her voice trembling a little. "What if they put something bad in there... and because I pushed the button, that's why they could do it to me...?" One may recall, the way she says it... how they manufactured her consent to appear before Gozen.
"What if it's bad? What if they're trying to hurt me? What if I got this far, and -- and then I disappeared again -- right when he needs me?" Her gaze returns to Hiroki, nuzzling at her breast, brow knit with her concern. "Or, or what if I drug him? Even if he's not drinking now, they put it through his tube, right? What if I hurt him? Sachie-san said that even when he's born, he can still get drunk if I have wine because it gets in my milk... what if I drug my baby?!"
(The doctors have already taken this into account; the medications they've given her don't cross into breastmilk as readily as the substances she's describing. But of course, Yua doesn't think of that...)
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho is sitting, now; she doesn't feel up to standing, after everything. ...She had been in combat just prior to all this, after all, her supercharged final round aside. "I see..." She's afraid. Miho squeezes her hand.
"I'm here this time," Miho says softly. "They're not trying to hurt you; it's not bad. They've taken the difficulties with Hiroki into account; these doctors... they want to help all three of us."
A pause. "...But if the medicine would distress you more than not having it does... I understand."
"Perhaps just take a little, and see. And if I see anything strange, I will take care of it."
"Does that sound good?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miho's been through a lot, too...
Yua squeezes back, when Miho assures her she's here. "Stay?" She asks, her voice small. "I'm scared, Mimi..."
(In fact, there's already a spare mattress on the floor with hospital bedding atop, tucked against the wall to facilitate Miho staying over the night... and that's the reason she has one of the comfy chairs that recline properly, too.)
"Mm..." She hums, squeezing Miho's hand again, as she takes a deep breath. "'Kay... I... I'll try." She pulls her hand away, but just briefly, so she can carefully navigate to that button and press it; and it's a testament to the power of the medication inside that she sighs a moment later.
"Still hurts, but... it's better... better now... 'kay? I'm okay?" Yua asks, reaching for her hand again.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I'll stay," Miho says. "I already had a word with the staff... It won't be an issue."
Miho smiles at the squeeze to her hand, and then--the try. Yua does press it, and Miho watches the entire time; she observes Yua's eyes, her motions, her temperature through her hand...
While Miho is confident things will be fine, she promised she'd look out. Therefore she will be sure.
"You're okay," Miho says, and her smile is small, but earnest.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Thanks... thanks, Mimi..." Seeing that smile, too, helps Yua to smile. "Haa... it is better..."
She quiets, for a few moments more -- even lifts her hand to press the button again, while she's recovering -- and at length lifts her gaze from Hiroki, who is learning that one of his perches has much different heartbeat to the other, back to Miho.
"Um... when I took those girls, Hoshizora-kun and Magus-kun... when I took them into Mementos, I dropped them? Um, I mean... Gretchen was getting really cross as my belly hurt more and more, and... and we ended up in the middle of Mementos. They protected me from the Shadows, Mimi... while I... I realised something was wrong, s-so I was able to get my suppressants before she started hitting me. Once I managed that, I could get us to the hospital exit... Hoshizora-kun ran ahead to call you, and Magus-kun helped me out, but she didn't come with me. Mou... I can't blame her... she's one of my students, I suppose, but even I never detected a hint of her."
She takes another breath, or three, as she recovers from that explanation. "I told her and Hoshizora-kun to come by during the Dark Hour, and I'd explain... it was the only way I could think of to let her visit like 'that' without using our powers."
Yua hums, as she rubs her thumb against the side of Miho's hand, looking up her arm. "Mou... you used yours, right...? Earlier...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Good." That it's better. But when Yua eventually continues her story, Miho listens. She watches her with large eyes, though her gaze is relaxed.
...She made sure to bring her things, the locked medicine boxes included.
"Hmm..." Dropped them. "I see... So they were instrumental in your safety," she says. "And your suppressants were necessary..." She nods. "I suppose that makes sense."
She looks to Yua. "Very well. I will talk to them, as well. They deserve to have our thanks, and..."
"Whatever else happens is what happens."
She pauses, and nods. "Yes... more fiercely than usual. The fear I felt for you... It resounded, somehow. It made me very strong, but I do not wish to repeat the experience."
She looks thoughtful. "The things they said..."
"...Mm, we can discuss that later. But I have much to think on. I'll share with you, when we feel better."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"If I'd been alone... the Shadows would have eaten me before I could take my medicine," Yua says, fearful to admit it. "Even though I could call Gretchen..."
It wasn't the kind of problem she could face alone.
"Mou... did I do the right thing?" She wonders, and she is vulnerable, in the wondering. "Those powers aren't for me... but I was reckless, so I had to expose us... Mimi, are we gonna be okay...?"
Her frown deepens, as she goes on: "And... are you gonna be okay...? It must have been so scary, Mimi... I'm sorry I was stubborn!" Tears well in her eye, as it spills out, "I'm sorry I didn't just wait! Just because I felt cooped up, I made Mimi go through such an awful thing when you were already fighting everyone for me...!"
It's no surprise, perhaps, that when Yua cries, Hiroki cries. Hearing that, she gasps, looking down to him, struggling to get that breathing under control again. "No no no, you're okay, you're okay, baby, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sweetie... mama's fine, mama's fine..."
Mama was not, in fact, fine.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Then I'm glad you weren't alone."
It wasn't a problem she could face alone; thus...
"You did," Miho says confidently. "You did what you had to do. That's all it was. We'll be fine. ...One way or another, we'll be fine. I will see to it."
Then she shakes her head. "I will also be fine. You had a good reason. ...It would be wrong, to force you to stay cooped up, unable to go out. It would be wrong to take away your freedom. Yes, I worried... But I have thought a lot about it, in the hours since I heard what happened, and that is how I feel. It was... 'unavoidable'."
It's easier for Miho to keep her cool.
"...We'll discuss it more later," Miho suggests. "For now..."
"It's all right. We have him."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm... Mimi'll take care of me..." Yua is reassured, at least, to anchor to that. "Mimi's always taken care of me..."
And... mentally, too, not just physically. "I should have been more responsible," Yua sighs, though she's at least able to say it quieter, now she's busy cradling Hiroki to try to calm him. The nurses, of course, hurry in to check on him; Yua lays still, to let them work, though Miho can surely tell what an effort it is. "Even if I was all cooped... I'm sorry, Mimi..."
Of course it's wrong to take away her freedom, though.
"Is he okay?" She asks, nervously, to one of the nurses.
"He's all right," he assures her. "He's just depending on you for regulation, right now. You'll find you both become sensitive to each other's moods. Right now, he's likely just overwhelmed... can we rely on you to hold him again when he's calmed down?"
"Yeah," Yua nods, still feeling a touch choked. Has she already failed as a mother--? "But... it's Mimi who keeps me steady... uu..."
"We'll be relying on Ijuuin-san, too," and of course that's a touch confusing when there's two of them in the room, but with him talking to Yua, he can only mean Miho. "Don't worry. It's normal for babies to need to work up to a lot of contact. We'll do our best to take care of your treatment here with him, so you can hold him as much as he needs."
"My... treatment...?" Yua asks, feeling a pit in her stomach.
"There were some severe complications," the nurse says, trying to be soothing. "Do you remember seeing the doctor?"
"Mm... um, I think...?" Yua pauses, and shakes her head. "But I don't really remember..."
"... he said he's not comfortable seeing you discharged soon in your condition," the nurse reminds her.
"But..." Yua starts, as they lift Hiroki up.
"We can talk about it in a little while," the nurse assures her. "As soon as we've taken care of Hiroki-kun."
"... okay..." Yua, downcast, doesn't look at them as they leave.
Of course she wouldn't want to stay in hospital very long...
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
More responsible. "...It would be nice if someone had gone with you," she says. "...But given what happened, it may not have changed how desperate the situation became." It would've kept their identities secret, of course. But Miho is less concerned with that than with Yua's safety--with Hiroki's safety, too.
Miho smiles faintly. "See? He'll be all right."
And... well, yes, there are two of them, but, "I'll be here right now."
And Yua ofcourse...
"Yua," Miho says softly. "You're very injured. ...It will be all right. They only want to help you heal. ...You'll be with Hiroki."
A pause. "And..."
"They said to me that care like this--holding him--makes it more likely they can discharge him from the hospital sooner than they otherwise would. So at this rate.. You'll be able to come home together."
"...It's all right, Yua."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm... I'll try to be more careful..." Miho might not blame Yua for what happened... but Yua blames Yua, still.
Even after the suppressants pushed the issue aside.
(The pain of birth is only one type of pain; a Persona reacts to a different kind.)
But Miho is here to steady her, and Yua reaches for her, when the nurses leave. She squeezes her hand, as she listens to Miho urging her to put her trust in these doctors, and...
It's hard; there might not really be a harder thing on the planet. But Yua trusts Miho, and Miho says it's gonna be all right.
"And Mimi?" She asks, insistent in her fear, when Miho assures her she'll be with Hiroki.
But... Miho says he'll come home sooner, and... "... does that mean we can make him better?" Yua asks, still teary. "I want to make it better... I want to make up for messing it all up for him...! I tried so so hard, Mimi, even when they told us to stop with bedroom time, and, and giving up seafood, and everything else in the deli, and platypus light makeup," she means phthalate-containing makeup, "and no more wine, no more hot baths, and I didn't take my suppressants hardly ever those first three months, and no more dancing, and even being in the nursery while Mark-san was painting it... but because I was still so stressed, and I was stubborn, I still made him come out early! I'm a bad mamaaaaaa!"
... when you tally it all up, Yua's life has been nothing but restrictions, since she decided to have a baby. Society might judge her for having failed to bear her responsibilities calmly, but...
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"All right." Miho can't just wave her hand and have Yua not blame herself; it's not something she thinks is possible. But she does steady her as best she can...
Miho says it, though. "And me," Miho says. "I won't be able to spend all my time here... But I will be here as much of it as I'm able."
She then looks to Yua, and opens her mouth and closes it. "Yua..."
"Yua, yes, we can make him better. We can. I know you tried. You did your best--and it was enough. He's here--he's alive, and he's going to get better."
"...The stress wasn't your fault. It was theirs. And I will never forgive them for it."
"Yua... He's here, and he's beautiful. You did wonderfully."
"I promise that that's true."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Okay," Yua nods, when Miho assures her she'll be nearby. "So Mimi will notice if they make me disappear... Mimi won't let them hurt me... Mimi's here."
Yua's distrust is all the more notable, in a society which holds doctors in such esteem that most patients struggle even to ask questions of them. But then... what she experienced is far beyond the imagination of society, too.
(Though not beyond the capabilities of society. ... there is more here than is acknowledged in plain sight.)
But Miho assures her that it was enough, and she smiles, through her tears? "You -- you really think so? I did okay? Uu... Mimi... Mimi thinks I did a good job...!!"
Yua gulps, as her nose wrinkles, and she tugs at the prongs shoved into them to support her oxygen, because they're all tearlogged. ... the nurses already brought Miho a box of tissues, on the side table, there.
"Uu... you know what they say, Mimi? They say, uh, it doesn't even hurt if you did it right... if you were a good mama when you were growing him, it won't even hurt when you have him... but it hurts so much? It hurts so much, so I just thought, I must have done really really bad... it's silly, right...?"
... but that's another reason why Yua might be hesitant to take her pain medicine, even above and beyond her trauma.
To need analgesia is a mark of failure, on the mainland.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I will. I am."
It's notable... but understandable to Miho. Very understandable.
"I do think so," Miho says. "You did. He's here, isn't he? Yes, he's early, but not beyond what medicine can care for. ...You did well."
Miho has had need of the tissues herself, though perhaps not so dramatically as Yua right now--it was a moving experience, sitting with her sin...
But what they say?
"I do not think that is true," Miho says dubiously. "I do not see how it can be true, either by vaginal birth or caesarean section. In either case it would seem somewhat inherent to the process that it would hurt."
A shake of her head. "But we know someone who we can ask, don't we? Sister. ...We'll ask her if that myth is true. And I am confident that she will say 'no', if only in private to us."
"...Besides; you were prepared to go without pain medication; you only relented because I asked you to. ...So that, too, is a factor."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"They said he can breathe," Yua sniffles, as she tries to clean up her face with those prongs in the way, "even with these horrible tubes...! Dr. Matsuhashi said... he only just learned how to do that, right...?" During their 28th week checkup, in fact -- the one she rolled into Yua's last emergency checkup, just a few days ago. Technically, he's still 28 weeks... though it's 28 weeks and 5 days, which matters, at an age like this. "I at least got him far enough to breathe..."
... there was a time that Miho was alone, both her wife and son held in the balance, and no foe apparent which could possibly fall to her blade. Yua notes the manner in which the box of tissues is already open, as she takes more.
"Mm..." Yua sounds uncertain, though when Miho points out that her sister would know, she tilts her head. "She won't be disappointed...?" She wonders, nervously. "Okay... if you think so, Mimi."
She sighs, looking to that wretched pain button. "Mm... I guess I was worried about that, too... like I should be strong, too." She speaks as if Miho hasn't requested any pain medication of her own, despite such a tough fight...
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"They did, and I saw it myself." He can breathe! But the doctor... yes, she did say that. "You did," Miho says. "You got him far enough."
Miho does have feelings. ...As to her sister, "No. She will not."
But the button? "...Too?" Miho wonders. "I took something, myself, for the body ache, and that's to say nothing of the coffee I've had for the fatigue. ...You are not alone in this; it is efficient to take medication when it is required."
Miho nods firmly.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"They did, and I saw it myself." He can breathe! But the doctor... yes, she did say that. "You did," Miho says. "You got him far enough."
Miho does have feelings. ...As to her sister, "No. She will not."
But the button? "...Too?" Miho wonders. "I took something, myself, for the body ache, and that's to say nothing of the coffee I've had for the fatigue. ...You are not alone in this; it is efficient to take medication when it is required."
Miho nods firmly.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"He--he snuffles, Mimi, it's so cute..." Yua might be a mess of emotions, but some of them are much more positive and warm than overwhelming and horrible. If anything, the critical mix of them all, hodge-podge together, is even more destabilising than the sum of all their parts.
"Okay," she nods, a little more firmly, when Miho reassures her again. "Let's ask, Mimi." There'll be time for all her family to visit, later, of course...
Right now, though, it's just Miho and Yua. "Eh? Mimi too?" Yua asks, surprised to realise that the formidable Miho has already taken hers. On absorbing such a fact... Yua reaches over and hits the button again. "Okay," she says, as she does. "Then... I'll be efficient, Mimi...!"
Yua has never been efficient a day in her life where she could be extra instead, but hey, she can try.