Two years have passed. Kounotori Sakura is now a veteran obstetrician at Persona General Medical Centre. He goes to the hospital on a remote island where his former teacher Ogishima Katsuhide is. Seeing Ogishima face the islanders up close, reminds Sakura of something. Meanwhile, Shimoya Kae and Shirakawa Ryo, who were housemen, have become specialists and work energetically. Upon his return from the remote island, Sakura examines Hayami Mana, an expectant mother who is hearing impaired, with Komatsu Rumiko, the head obstetrics and gynaecology nurse. Mana’s husband Kenji has accompanied her to the centre but he is deaf too. Because it is difficult to convey medical terms through sign language and lip reading, they use a whiteboard to communicate the medical results in writing. Another obstetrician Shinomiya Haruki examines a pregnant career woman Sano Ayaka who wants to return to work quickly. She asks whether she will be able to give birth as planned but he tunes out her question and carefully does an ultrasound scan. Shinomiya learns from results of the medical examination that Ayaka’s baby has a small hole in the heart called ventricular septal defect. He and Imahashi Takayuki, the chief of the perinatal centre, delicately convey this news to a terribly upset Ayaka and her husband Yasutaka. Ayaka is overwhelmed with anxiety, worried both for her child and whether she can ever return to work. Similarly, Mana also discloses her worry to Sakura before delivering her baby... |