Episode 3: A break with the future
Before long, cholera starts to spread like wild fire across Edo. Seeing the suffering of Kiichi and Yamada, who have been infected with cholera, Jin decides to fight the disease. He gives a detailed explanation of the treatment method for cholera to Ogata, Saburi and the other doctors of the Western Medicine Institute. To treat cholera more effectively, Jin feels the need for the technology of intravenous drips and intravenous injection needles which are not available in Edo at the time, and asks Ogata to have such specialised devices manufactured. With the intravenous drips, the doctors will be able to directly administer saline solution into patients’ bodies.
Sets of intravenous drips and intravenous injection needles are made in a short time. Jin teaches Ogata, Saburi and Saki how to use the intravenous drips and all the members begin the collective fight against cholera. Ryoma is impressed by Jin’s fearlessness and passion for his profession, confessing that he still has not found his calling.
With Jin’s effective intravenous treatment as well as the cooperation of Ryoma and the rest, Kiichi, Yamada and the other cholera patients recover steadily. Meanwhile, Katsu Kaishu’s lobbying results in the Shongunate’s decision to put all effort into launching measures to counter the disease and Kyotaro comes to share the news with Jin.
However, just when the treatment of cholera is making remarkable progress, Jin vomits … Jin has been so focused on treating patients that he has also contracted cholera. Everyone is worried about him but he insists that they continue to do what must be done to keep the disease under control. And so, they reluctantly follow his instructions. Jin’s condition rapidly deteriorates as cholera ravages his body. He vomits repeatedly and the large amount of body fluids lost causes him to go into shock. Then, he starts to hallucinate that he has returned to modern times.
Tae goes to summon Ogata’s help but Ogata’s prognosis for Jin is not good. He is on the verge of death. Saki refuses to give up. Remembering what she had learnt from Jin, she searches for thick veins in his legs to administer the intravenous drip …
Jin soon makes a full recovery from cholera. Ogata invites him to beat some character into the doctors practising western medicine in Edo and Jin is momentarily lost for words. When Jin asks why Ogata had decided to trust him in the treatment of cholera, Ogata replies that Jin had reminded him of his younger self. Back then, he had found a cure for smallpox but no one would believe in him at first.
The following day, Jin and Saki receive shocking news of Tae’s death. She had been randomly killed by a samurai the night before. They rush over to Nagaya and find Kiichi weeping inconsolably beside his mother. “It’s all right, doctor. Every person has to die … I’m sorry but I wish you didn’t save us,” Kiichi tells Jin. Jin hugs the boy tightly as tears fill his eyes.
Later, on the way back to the Tachibana residence, Jin confesses to Saki that he is a person who has come from the future. He had feigned ignorance about cholera because he feared that he might do something that would change history and the future too. But now, he thinks that that was an outrageous misconception on his part. Maybe the people he had saved from cholera would have been saved even if he had not done anything. Maybe Tae, who should have died when she was kicked by the horse, would only have been killed by the samurai. And maybe history will make all that he has done come to naught … Jin is plagued with self-doubt which prompts Saki to tell him that her encounter with him and his skills have changed her destiny.
That night, as Jin lies on his back, staring at the night sky, he makes a resolution and decides to accept Ogata’s offer to teach.
“Miki,
I’ve made up my mind.
History is more powerful than I think.
And so I’ve nothing to hesitate about.
After all, the only thing that humans can do is to live to their fullest.
I will help people with these hands as much as I can.
And if by doing so, I can push medicine forward by just a little,
I may be able to change your destiny.
The possibility is close to zero.
But it surely isn’t zero.
Because the faint flutter of the butterfly’s wings can also cause a storm.
… …
I will live to my fullest in Edo.
Until I meet you again some day.
On the other hand, Ryoma asks Kaishu to take him as his disciple even if it means betraying his comrades. He wants to walk the path he believes in though it may be an untrodden path. Because his comrades will follow as long as it is the right path … This is what someone has taught him.
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This is quite the beautiful drama… I cried many times upon finding it. Thank you for the synopsis; it was very useful.