Kiryuu Kazusuke was not demanding to be first assistant for every surgery. Rather, whenever he felt he was capable, he wanted to step up to the operating table.
Imagawa Ori’s condition was reasonable enough: as long as he made no mistakes.
That was simple for him, so he nodded and agreed.
But when Imagawa Ori saw that he was still holding up two fingers, her expression, which had just softened slightly, immediately darkened again.
She had given him second-author credit, and she had given him surgical opportunities.
That should be about enough, shouldn’t it?
After clicking her tongue, she said, “If you still want money, isn’t that a little excessive?”
Even if she ended up not writing the paper and got scolded by the professor, she would never take even a single yen out of her own pocket.
“Don’t be impatient. Hear me out.”
Seeing her looking as if she were facing a great enemy, Kiryuu Kazusuke placed the three-page document in his hand on the desk, pressed his fingers against it, and tapped lightly twice.
The first two conditions counted as an equivalent exchange with Imagawa Ori.
Even without the reward from Branch Three, he would not be losing out.
Imagawa Ori swallowed back the words on the tip of her tongue, deciding to see what other condition he wanted to raise.
“The last condition.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke raised a third finger, his gaze resting on Imagawa Ori’s face for several seconds.
The light screen that only he could see still hovered between the two of them.
[Branch Three: Exploit her predicament, squeeze the greatest benefit from her, and enjoy her smile. (Reward: Fracture Anatomical Reduction Technique · Perfect)]
The text did not impose any strict requirement on Imagawa Ori’s smile.
That meant there was room to maneuver.
“Smile.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke was the first to reveal an innocent smile, pointing at his own face as he spoke.
Imagawa Ori’s expression turned somewhat strange.
Huh?
Smile?
What kind of condition was that?
Humiliation?
Or did he have some perverted thoughts about her?
“Kiryuu-kun, are you flirting with your superior?”
Imagawa Ori’s face was cold. Making such a frivolous request in the medical office—if she reported it to the medical affairs department, he would not escape disciplinary action.
“If you don’t want to, then forget it.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke made as if to take back the materials on the desk.
If Imagawa Ori really fell out with him, then she could just go hungry at noon. It still wouldn’t be too late for him to turn around and converge Worldline Branch One.
As for the deluxe sashimi platter set meal he had just ordered?
It wasn’t as if he had no mouth of his own. He could eat it himself.
“This is the last condition.”
Imagawa Ori moved quickly as well, pressing her hand down on the materials and emphasizing in a low voice.
She had already agreed to the first two conditions. There was no reason to give up halfway at a time like this.
At worst, she would just treat Kiryuu Kazusuke as a customer. It was only smiling—wasn’t that what she was best at?
Though she had never received a male customer before.
“The last one.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke did not use any force, but he also did not pull his hand back, maintaining his original posture.
Imagawa Ori looked at him for several seconds.
Then she took a deep breath.
After that, she adjusted her sitting posture and tidied the loose strands of hair at her temples.
Finally, the corners of her mouth rose, and her brows and eyes curved.
A smile that did not reach her eyes.
A professional, customer-service smile bloomed on her face.
“Is this… acceptable?”
There was a forced, gritted-teeth quality in her voice.
“Pretty good.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke looked at her smile, not caring whether it was sincere or fake, or whether she had been forced into it.
As long as it was a smile.
He only felt his vision blur. Then the light screen before his eyes flickered.
[Imagawa Ori’s worldline has been converged]
[Reward: Fracture Anatomical Reduction Technique · Perfect]
A vast amount of knowledge and muscle memory surged into his mind like a tide.
The three-dimensional forms of all 206 bones in the human body, the anatomical landmarks of every bone, the mechanisms of displacement after fractures, the pulling effects of soft tissues…
All the knowledge merged seamlessly at that moment.
His hands grew faintly warm.
An indescribable sense of control welled up within him.
It was as though, as long as his hands touched bone, he could use the feedback from skin and muscle to accurately perceive the position of the broken ends, then reduce them with the most appropriate amount of force.
Not merely simple alignment.
Rather, restoring shattered bone to the perfect form it had possessed when first created by God.
Kiryuu Kazusuke gently exhaled, suppressing the joy in his heart.
“A pleasure doing business with you, Dr. Imagawa.”
After handing over the documents, he turned and left.
Imagawa Ori watched him depart, then immediately withdrew the fake smile from her face.
“Lunatic.”
She cursed under her breath before opening the materials.
Very quickly, her brows relaxed.
So that was how it worked…
The mechanical conduction here could be described with this formula…
The layout of the Kirschner wires was not merely fixation, but a reshaping of tension…
A genius.
An absolutely genius concept.
…
At twelve noon, the door of the medical office was knocked on.
“Excuse me, this is the delivery ordered by Kiryuu-san.”
The deliveryman walked in carrying several large bags, and the aroma of food instantly filled the entire room.
“Over here!”
Kiryuu Kazusuke raised his hand.
The deliveryman placed one exquisite bento box after another on the table.
Tonkatsu, ginger pork, eel rice… and finally, an enormous black lacquered box: a deluxe sashimi platter set meal.
Kiryuu Kazusuke took the bags and began distributing them.
“Dr. Imagawa, this is yours.”
Lastly, he carried the sashimi platter over to Imagawa Ori.
Imagawa Ori looked up.
It was not an ordinary plastic bento box, but a lacquered box used only by high-end Japanese restaurants. The logo of the famous sushi shop “Tsukiji Tamasushi” was printed on it.
This set meal had to cost at least ten thousand yen.
“I didn’t order this.” Imagawa Ori pushed it back. “It’s too expensive.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke smiled. “Consider it my treat. For the next three months, please take good care of me, Dr. Imagawa.”
Being unyielding at the negotiating table was for establishing his position.
But once they were off the table, she was still his supervising doctor, after all. There was no need to make their relationship too stiff.
Imagawa Ori’s throat bobbed.
Usually, she even hesitated over a five-hundred-yen convenience store bento.
A luxurious lunch of this level would definitely contain Hokkaido bafun sea urchin, as well as the fatty belly of bluefin tuna. There might even be botan shrimp.
“If you don’t want it, forget it.”
Seeing that she made no move, Kiryuu Kazusuke intended to take it back and enjoy it himself.
If she didn’t want to eat it, then forget it.
He had wanted to soothe her emotions a little.
But she shouldn’t treat herself like an emperor either. Did she still expect him to insist three times?
“Who said I didn’t want it!”
Imagawa Ori hurriedly gathered the meal box toward herself, very much like a little kitten guarding its food.
After being busy all morning, she truly did need to replenish some high-quality protein to deal with the mental labor that came next.
She opened the lid.
Golden sea urchin was piled up like a small mountain. The pink fatty tuna belly had evenly distributed fat, like marbled beef, and there were also crystal-clear salmon roe.
She picked up her chopsticks, lifted a piece of fatty tuna belly, and placed it in her mouth.
The fat and the aroma of fish melted across the tip of her tongue.
Imagawa Ori’s cheeks moved slightly, and her eyes narrowed into slits, looking exactly like a greedy little cat that had just eaten the finest dried fish.
As expected of high-end cuisine.
Delicious.
Ten thousand times better than convenience store rice balls.
But this state only lasted half a second.
Because from the corner of her eye, she noticed that Kiryuu Kazusuke was still watching from the side, so she immediately put on a poker face again.
“Is there anything else?”
Imagawa Ori’s tone was flat, without much fluctuation.
“Not really.”
Kiryuu Kazusuke smiled, pretending he had not seen anything just now, and returned to his own seat.