Chapter Text
It was a baby. An actual baby. The infant may have been small, but they seemed smaller than they likely should have been. They were still attached to their umbilical cord, which still led up into Kokoro’s body. To make matters worse, the blood and mucus-covered child was lying upright in the toilet, indicating they had been born breech.
“Kokoro!” Yamamoto called through the door. “Open the door for me!”
The school nurse’s words were ignored, as the shaken teenager very slowly and quietly removed the screaming baby—a girl—out of the bowl. With the blood-soaked girl cradled in her arms, tears formed in her eyes again as she seated herself on the toilet again. She looked at the child, her own lip trembling as tears fell from her eyes. She could not comprehend the situation.
“I didn’t know,” she murmured to herself quietly, her focus slowly shifting away from her child as her mind drifted. As she spoke, her whole body was shivering. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
“You have to open the door for me!” Yamamoto repeated herself, but she knew why Kokoro had not responded. Knowing that yelling at her was not going to help in the slightest, she removed her purse from her pocket and fumbled for a coin. The tall woman used it to open the lock via its safety measure, the door sharply opening afterwards. She gazed upon the crying adolescent and the screaming child in her arms. There was blood on the floor as well from when Kokoro had stood up, with some of it making its way onto her thighs. Yamamoto knew of what had happened as soon as the baby cried, but the reality was kicking in for her as well.
“Kokoro, listen to me.” She knelt in front of her, her hands on the sides of her head so she could make the traumatised girl look at her. “Focus on my voice. Stay with me. I am here to help you.”
Yamamoto kept repeating herself so the student would not slip into shock. After almost a minute, Kokoro calmed down, but her shakiness—both mentally and physically—were still present. She was still crying, but her near-hysterical state had subsided. The baby had also stopped crying, but occasionally made sounds.
“Let me just check on it.” Yamamoto looked over at the small person in Kokoro’s arms. She too noticed its small size and gender, but she also checked its mouth and nostrils. Both were perfectly clear. “Okay. She seems to be breathing fine. I’m just going to get a towel to clean her and keep her warm. Then I’ll ring Principal Frank to contact an ambulance.”
The school nurse removed a large white towel from a cupboard and returned to the cubicle. As she promised, she cleaned the baby and wrapped it up, with Kokoro still holding her tightly when she was handed back to her. Yamamoto remained by their side, kneeling in front of them like before. Instead of using the phone on her desk, she used her mobile which was in her pocket. She dialled a number and held it up to the side of her head.
“Principal Frank, it’s Ms. Yamamoto. You’ll need to contact an ambulance and request for the car park’s gates to be opened.”
“What’s happened?”
“This student I’m with… she’s just delivered a baby on the toilet.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Frank’s response was flat. “Did you just say—”
“Yes, they had a baby.”
“Did they know?”
Yamamoto looked up at Kokoro and asked, “did you know?”
Kokoro shook her head. She was almost in a trance, as indicated by her wide eyes.
“No, she didn’t.”
“Okay. Who is the student?”
“Kokoro Ichido.”
“Kokoro?” Again, Frank was surprised.
“Yes, Kokoro.”
“Right. I’ll come by to check on you both after I contact the site manager to open the gates. He’ll redirect the paramedics to where you are. I’m assuming you’re in your office?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay, I’ll see you shortly.”
After this, he hung up. Yamamoto slid her phone back into her pocket and continued consoling Kokoro.
“It’s going to be alright,” she calmly told her. “Principal Frank is phoning the ambulance as we speak.”
Kokoro nodded, tears appearing in her eyes and shortly rolling down her face.
“I’m sorry,” she quietly whimpered, the first words she had spoken in a long period of time.
“You don’t have to apologise,” Yamamoto smiled, a small chuckle emerging to try lightening the situation. “I’m just doing my job and you’re lucky to be in the care of someone who has medical expertise.”
The baby gave a small, brief coo.
“I think she agrees with me.” She looked down at the small girl before facing her birth mother again. “How do you feel now? Are you still bleeding?”
“M-My stomach still hurts a little,” Kokoro was able to stutter out. “I still feel something.”
“Well, your placenta might show up soon. Could you stand up for a second?”
Kokoro tried to do it by herself, but Yamamoto held her by her arms to assist her. She glanced over the teenager’s shoulders and investigated the toilet bowl. The water was now red, and next to mucus being on the sides, she thought she saw more waste matter inside it as well. She gently lowered Kokoro back onto the seat.
“You are still bleeding,” Yamamoto gently informed her, almost in a whisper. “The worst thing you could do is panic. This could just be part of the afterbirth. Also, I need to mention that it appears you did have a bowel movement during delivery.”
Kokoro’s face turned a bright pink and her tears reappeared. She had never felt so embarrassed before.
“But that is okay,” she was reassured, the nurse resting her hands on the student’s shoulders. “This sort of thing happens to a lot of women in childbirth. I never saw any of it on your baby, so chances are she’ll be fine.”
“Yamamoto!” a voice exclaimed. Frank entered the office, noticing how the school nurse was tending to the student. He walked over to where they were and observed the situation. “How is she at the moment?”
“Shaken,” Yamamoto replied. “She was almost slipping into shock before I rung you, so I calmed her first. She’s still bleeding.”
“Has the placenta emerged yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Okay. What about the baby? Are they of good health?”
“No breathing problems seemingly. Since she was delivered in the toilet, there is a risk she could be ill, but as she appears small, she might be premature.”
“She looks like she is premature,” the bearded man noted.
“She also came out breech.” Kokoro’s response was quiet, but still fully audible.
“Right.” Frank nodded back to her statement. He then faced Yamamoto again. “Stay with her. See if you can get the placenta out, but don’t force it. Can I use your computer to locate her emergency contact?”
“That’s perfectly fine, sir.”
Nari had barely started her shift as a nurse at Cerasus North Hospital when she received the phone call from Frank. After quickly dressing back into her casual clothing, she drove all the way back to Franxx knowing she should have never taken her daughter to school that morning. Several minutes later, she arrived at the academy, immediately noticing that an ambulance had left the staff car park. The woman with long curly brown hair raced into the reception area and asked what had happened. The receptionist stated that Kokoro was going to be taken to Cerasus South, which was the closest hospital. They never even explained to the student’s mother what had happened, as Nari left the academy building as soon as she entered it.
Once she arrived at Cerasus South, she was several minutes behind and asked the receptionist present if she knew of Kokoro’s whereabouts. They were fully aware of where she was, with a single word throwing Nari off completely.
“Congratulations.”
Congratulations? What on earth for? She enquired, only to learn the truth of what had happened at Franxx. She was astounded; how could her daughter have been pregnant? There were no visible signs that she, a nurse, would have noticed. Other than the unexpected arrival, she also learned of Kokoro’s condition and decided to contact her husband.
Nari anxiously waited in the visitor’s room. She had to tell her husband of what had happened, but the biggest relief she needed was that their daughter and her child were both healthy. Fifteen minutes passed before she was greeted by the sight of her husband Jona, who was led straight to the visitor’s room. He was a tall fierce-looking man with the same hair colour as his daughter, which was short but unkempt. Unlike his wife, he did not change out of his work clothing, wearing his blue police officer uniform and its hat. Nari stood up from where she sat and approached him.
“What’s happened?” he asked his wife. “Is Kokoro okay?”
“That pain she was having… it wasn’t her period.”
“Well, what were they then?”
“They were labour pains.”
Jona’s eyes widened. Did his wife just say what he thought she said?
“Labour?” He repeated the word. “She was pregnant?” Just like Nari, he was still struggling to process the truth. “How… since when was she sexually active?” He was almost out of breath, even though he had not run anywhere and was not suffering a panic attack. Nari wished she could answer the question, but they both knew who the only person to answer it was. “Was it a miscarriage?”
“From what I gather, it isn’t.”
“Do we know how far along it was?”
“Not at the moment,” she told him. “All I know is the medical staff are treating Kokoro for a postpartum haemorrhage. The placenta supposedly came out fine, but she is bleeding a lot.”
“Mr and Mrs Ichido?” A male doctor entered the room. They both sharply faced him.
“How is she?” Nari was almost frantic. “Look, I’m a nurse. Tell me as much as you can.”
“Your daughter has been stabilised,” he calmly reassured the duo. “She didn’t need a transfusion. All she needs is a rest. She is very shaken by all of this.”
“I would imagine so,” Jona noted. “Can we see her?”
“Of course,” the doctor nodded. “Follow me.”
The parents followed the doctor as requested and were led to a small pale pink room that had been set for Kokoro. She was lying in her bed, sitting up against the pillow with her eyes shut. As soon as the door to her room opened, she opened her eyes to see who was visiting her.
“Mum!” she quietly spoke, crying again. “Dad!”
As the doctor left them, Nari sat beside her daughter and hugged her, Kokoro’s head buried in her chest as she cried again. There was an additional chair so Jona could seat himself as well.
“It’s alright,” her mother reassured her. “We’re here. You’re going to be fine.”
“I’m sorry,” Kokoro wept. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologise.” Jona held her hand firmly, showing his support. “You didn’t know, and we didn’t know. We’re all in the same situation.”
For a few minutes more she cried into her mother’s chest, briefly stopping when the doctor returned to the room with a nurse. Nari and Kokoro ended their embrace so they could face both the medical practitioners along with Jona.
“The little girl,” Kokoro whispered, trying not to cry again. “Is she okay? Is she healthy?”
“She was premature,” the nurse softly noted. “We estimate her to be at seven months. Due to the location of where she was born, she has contracted an infection which we believe to be caused by exposure to urine.”
“Urine?” Jona was shocked. “But, how did—”
“I thought I needed the toilet,” Kokoro whimpered, shrinking in on herself through shame and humiliation. Nari held her hand.
“She will need antibiotic treatment and will be in the NICU for a month, possibly a month and a half depending on how she recovers.” The nurse’s words made Kokoro feel even worse. “Fortunately, she is in very good hands, and due to how far along we believe her to be, she has an extremely high survival chance.”
“Also, you will need to rest for the next few days,” the doctor told Kokoro. “If you wish to use the toilet, a member of staff can provide a bedpan, and if you wish to see your daughter, you can use a wheelchair.”
“I would like to see her,” Kokoro spoke softly. She seemed fixated and once again trance-like.
“Okay. I’ll bring one up shortly.”
The doctor and the nurse left the room, leaving the family by themselves to continue comprehending the events of that morning so far.
“Kokoro.” She looked up at her father shortly after he spoke her name. His tone was gentle. “We’re not mad. We’re not mad at all. We’re just piecing this all together. But…” He seemed hesitant. “We do need to know something that only you would possibly know.”
Kokoro was horrified. Even if she would not be the person in trouble, she knew the person Jona wished for her to identify would be.
“Who is the father?” It was Nari who provided the question instead. The teenager looked back and forth at her parents using only her eyes. After several seconds, she decided to name them.
“Mitsuru.”