That day, starting from dawn, thick layers of clouds hid the sun.
It was high noon, but the sky was dark and hazy, and the delivery room was surrounded by a heavy atmosphere. Rina was even more nervous than the pregnant woman on the hospital bed, because there was only her and Doctor Kino in the delivery room.
Today was the first time Rina was doing a delivery on her own. To her it was a heavy burden, but there was no one else. Today wasn’t the pregnant woman’s expected delivery date, and the experienced senior nurse-----Matsumono had taken an early vacation for the Bon Festival she started her vacation yesterday. If it had been a public hospital there wouldn’t have been much harm, but they were a private hospital, so they were understaffed.
Also, this pregnant woman’s due date was supposed to be two weeks later, but because this morning her water suddenly broke, so she was immediately sent to the hospital.
Kino gazed sharply at the anxious Rina, as if telling her Don’t let the patient see your frantic expression. He didn’t know how many times he had said to her: If a nurse is restless it will spread to the patient. Even though the naturally nervous Rina knew this well, she still couldn’t help but show her emotions.
She nervously wiped away the pregnant woman’s sweat.
“It’s ok, just a little more, do your best.” Rina said while trying to smile, but she knew very well that she couldn’t possibly smile.
The pregnant woman painfully wrinkled her eyebrows and clutched the armrest so tight that she was convulsing.
“AAAAAAAH HAAAAAH!” The pregnant woman let out an animal-like howl.
A nameless chill crept up Rina’s spine. She didn’t understand what she was so afraid of.
“The head is already out, push a little more.” Kino said.
But the pregnant woman didn’t seem to hear Kino’s words.
“The baby’s head is already out, just push a little more.”
Rina whispered into the pregnant woman’s ear. She felt the pregnant woman’s expression relax a bit. A little more! Just a little more, and she could be free from this suffocating room. Rina started to relax too.
“In, out, in out, in out, in----“
Rina put her hand on the pregnant woman’s shoulder, she made her repeat the breathing exercise over and over: she wasn’t just trying to calm the woman down; she was also trying to calm herself down.
In, out, in, out, in out, in---- the pregnant lady matched her breathing with Rina’s.
A little more! A little more and it’ll be all over!
“Push a little more!” Yoko encouraged in a more commanding tone.
Doing what Rina said, the pregnant woman used all her strength, her body distorted with exhaustion.
AAAAAAHHHHHH------
To Rina’s ears that yell sounded more painful than dying.
Waaaa----
The baby’s cries permeated the delivery room.
“Wonderful.” Kino said.
Rina let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank god, you successfully had your child.”
Rina said while wiping away the woman’s sweat. Maybe it was because of exhaustion but she didn’t answer Rina she just stared at the ceiling with empty eyes. Somehow she processed the thought just gave birth to a new life, and tears streamed out.
She released all of her tears. Rina had just realized she had burst into tears too.
“How can this be, this child……” Kino inadvertently blurted out.
What happened? What is the meaning of this?
“Rina, give me a light……” Rina didn’t have time to process Kino’s words; he had already given her a command. Hurriedly she wiped away her tears with her sleeve, while taking a flashlight to Kino.
The usually calm and collected Kinoshita was now panicking. He roughly grabbed the flashlight out of Rina’s hand he shined the light onto the baby’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
Kino didn’t answer Rina. It was a successful birth, so what was wrong? Yoko peered at the baby.
“Ah---“
She shrieked, when she stumbled back she accidentally hit the cart, causing the tray on the cart to fall to the ground with the sharp sound of collision.
Rina couldn’t believe her eyes. Was it a trick of the light? She studied the baby’s face again, but no matter how many times she looked it was still the same. It wasn’t a trick of the light; she didn’t see wrong, the baby’s eye was really…
“Doctor, this is…”
“Quiet. We can’t let the patient panic.” Kino scolded Rina in a stern voice.
“But, Doctor…”
“Rina.”
Kino’s rough tone stopped her, Rina quickly stopped talking, but it was too late.
“My baby, my baby.” The woman on the delivery platform struggled to wave her arms.
“There is nothing wrong with your baby. Please calm down.”
Rina hurried back to the woman’s side and grabbed her hand, trying to calm her down. Rina tried to comfort the woman in a gentle voice, but she couldn’t hide her uneasiness. The woman saw the uneasiness expression on Rina’s face.
“My baby, my baby.”
The woman repeated it over and over like she was reciting a curse. As if the baby was resonating with his mother’s voice, he cried even harder. There was a disturbing atmosphere in the air.
“There is nothing wrong with your baby, please calm down.”
“Is my baby really safe?”
The woman’s question made Rina’s body rigid with uneasiness, she didn’t know how to answer the question. The baby was safe and healthy, but…
“Everything’s fine, your baby’s perfectly healthy.” Kino answered the woman’s question, Rina wondered if she was hearing right.
There was no way they could let the mother see her child, But Kino, holding the baby, slowly walked towards the woman’s side.
All traces of struggling left the woman’s face. In their place, there was a warm smile of seeing her child for the first time.
Rina pulled Kino away and whispered to him,
“Is this really ok?"
“We have no choice, we can’t possibly hide it forever.”
Kino was right, the child’s mother would know sooner or later; even if they could hide it for now, they couldn’t hide it forever. Rina couldn’t say anything to object.
Kino handed the baby over to the mother, and she hugged him tightly. Her face was one of extreme happiness, tears of happiness streamed down her cheeks.
“Ah, my baby.”
The mother studied her child’s face for the first time.
This…… Her expression stiffened, and her face was as pale as ash, as if all the blood had been drained from it.
“No---“
The mother’s sad cries pierced through the delivery room.
The moment the baby was born he opened his left eye. The iris shone with the brilliance of raging flames: it was shining red.
Shinigami Eyes
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