Fujii Itsuki went into the kitchen and showed her Mum the thermometer. "It's spoilt."

Mrs. Fujii took it and gasped. It showed 41.8 degrees centigrade. Aki felt her head grew heavy, and she collapsed onto the floor.

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Something's happened to Aki. Call 119, quick!" Mum shouted as she grabbed a thick coat and covered Aki up. Grandpa dialed the emergency number, but was informed that the ambulance would only arrive in an hour's time. "Why?" he shouted into the handset, then nodded and put down the phone. Pulling the curtains, his fears were confirmed. There was a storm and it was snowing heavily, and the roads were all closed. The situation became desperate.

Grandpa declared, "I'm going to carry Aki to the hospital."

"You can't do that! We'll wait for the ambulance. It shall come!"

"We can't wait, it would be too late."

Mum became angry. "Do you still remember how my husband died? He had pneumonia, it was winter, and you carried him to the hospital. And it was too late. You took 45 minutes the last time. He died because the treatment was delayed...We'll wait for the ambulance."

"I took 40 minutes, " Grandpa was insistent, "actually 38 if you counted the time I took to reach the entrance. And I'm going to do it again tonight."

Mum tried to block the door as Grandpa took Aki on his back. "Look, if I carried Aki to the hospital, we're still arrive at the hospital before the ambulance arrives. Aki's your daughter, so it's your choice tonight...what do you choose?"

She could see that nothing's going to stop him, so she decided to let Grandpa have his way.

The storm got heavier. Grandpa piggybacked Aki, and trod through the thick snow. He was already seventy five, but was quite fit for his age. Halfway through the journey, he tripped, and fell flat on his face into the snow.

"You really should take a rest," said Mum.

"No! We'll continue!"

They finally took forty minutes to reach the hospital and it was obvious that Grandpa needed some medical attention as well. The doctors had to put an oxygen mask on him. Aki was out of danger for now.

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