Or so they thought.

Later in the afternoon they were given the program for the next days.

In the morning there would be medical examination, to ensure all were fit to take part in the weightlessness training program in the afternoon; and on the third day they had to write the motivational letter thing, and to experience 0G while being spun in a pressurized metal tube to simulate the journey into space.

After having an early dinner (they had to fast for 8 hours to ensure all the biochemical parameters in their body would be normalized), they all went to their respective rooms to rest.

It was around 11p.m. that they heard a loud scream coming out of Maki's and Akagi's shared room.

Rukawa was too deep asleep to notice.

In less than 10 seconds Jin, Kiyota, Mitsui, Sakuragi and Sendoh were in front of their captains' room. Fujima and Hanagata were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Maki, everything alright?" yelled Jin while banging on the door.

"Gori, what's going on?" shouted Sakuragi as well.

"Guys, we need help! Come in already!" Akagi's shaken voice came through the door.

The door was unlocked, so Sakuragi opened the door and all of them beheld the sight in front of them.

Both captains were standing on their bed, Maki with his bare chest and a boxer; and Akagi in his pyjamas. Their faces in an expression of panic like they had seen a ghost.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Mitsui and Sakuragi couldn't help themselves, "You wear Pyjamas to bed? Hahahahaha!"

"I have never seen a gorilla in Pyjamas!"

"Stop laughing!" growled Akagi; "Help us!"

"With what?"

"That!" yelled Maki while pointing at the floor.

Then they saw it. Their captains' object of anguish.

It was a cockroach, a large one indeed. Three inches, or 7,62 centimeters long, to be exact. It was dark brown in color, and as with any cockroaches, had an air of evil to it.

"What? A cockroach?" Jin asked, looking at the men on their beds.

"Yes! A cockroach!" Akagi was getting impatient, "kill it!"

"But it is a living creature!" retorted Sendoh.

"Don't pull that crap on me!" fumed Maki, "You fish, don't you? They are living creatures too hypocrite!"

Sendoh thought Maki had a point.

"Shall we just catch it and put it outside?" Kiyota was asking now.

"I said kill it!" yelled Akagi, "Which part of 'Kill It' do you not understand? You dim-wit!"

Kiyota gulped. It was the first time he experienced Akagi's anger targeted at himself.

The cockroach seemed to realize the sudden attention it was getting, and perhaps some murderous intention from one or two individuals in the room. There was obviously someone who wanted it dead.

It then decided to do something unexpected.

Cockroaches, for all we know, are resilient beings. They would gladly survive a nuclear warhead collision than you and I, or the heroes in our story, for that matter. However, they were not bestowed with the best judgement of all beings.

The hexapod decided to turn and rush towards its spectators at the door.

Seeing that, everyone was beginning to move a step backward to leave enough room for the six-legged creature to pass. Well, almost everyone anyway.

There was one person in the group whose reflexes were faster than his thought process.

He lifted up his right leg, and slammed it down on the creature that was coming towards him. The cockrocach's exoskeleton cracked under the pressure of Sakuragi's foot, and gave with a faint crack and a squish.

Its internal organs spilled left and right from its previously intact container.

Jin, with his quiet resolution, raised his eye brows slightly at the scene of carnage.

Mitsui and Sendoh made funny faces as they winced.

Kiyota grossed out, "Eeeuuuuuwwwwww!"

Maki and Akagi sighed, relieved to be rid of their object of anguish and torment.

Sakuragi was now looking at the bottom of his right slipper. It was a sight of horrid mutilation.

"Oh, this is bad." He said as the matter-of-factly. It was really bad.

Then Mitsui realized something, "You are not coming into the room until you clean your damn disgusting slipper!" He roared.

Kiyota was laughing so hard tears ran down his eyes.

Everyone now went back to their rooms, Sakuragi went to the communal bathroom, and the rest of the night passed uneventfully.