The sun shone brightly on the morning of the second day. It was a warm, humid day. The kind of smoldering heat that would make you sweat profusely even if you did no more than climb a flight of stairs or walk 20 meter.
Most of them were now gathered in the hall outside the clinic, which was at the other end of the building. As the examination was going to be carried out in alphabetical order, the sequence would be: Akagi, Fujima, Hanagata, Jin, Kiyota, Maki, Mitsui, Sakuragi, Sendoh and Rukawa.
The medical examination was the ordinary kind, height and weight measurement, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood test. Then the subjects have to pedal on stationary bikes so the rate of their respiratory exchange could be measured. Journey into space was harder than basketball, so they were told, though none of them believed it.
Since the planet only had 500 inhabitants, the 3 bikes the clinic possessed was sheer luxury. The group had to be done in two groups of three, and then two groups of two. It was always helpful to have competition in exercise like this, they said.
In the clinic there was a nurse in white uniform was waiting. She was considered pretty by any standard, with her slanted eyes, sweet, roundish face, tiny little pointy nose and mouth. Her plain-Jane'ish sweetness was more exaggerated by raging hormones in the confined of teenaged boys' body.
Sakuragi, the one with the least experience with women, blushed.
In fact, in terms of experience with women, Rukawa had even less of it. He did have his Groupie and Fan Club, but he hardly considered them human, let alone female, so it didn't count.
However, little to our boys' knowledge, behind that sweetness and the angelic white costume was a wretched soul. A soul that, perhaps due to being rejected or dumped far too often, had turned dark and twisted; and harbored hatred and malice towards good looking boys.
First group was Akagi, Fujima and Hanagata. They entered the room together.
When Akagi stepped into the room the nurse was startled by his large statue. She never saw anyone this big before. He was up first, so she gingerly measured his weight and height (197cm, 90kg), standing on her tip toe just to see the measurement on top of his head. For the blood pressure she had to stretch the armband of the blood pressure monitor in order to wrap it once around his huge arm, and his tough skin almost bent the needle.
After he was finished, he sat on one of the three chairs to the side of the room waiting to get on the bike.
Oblivious to Akagi, however, the nurse secretly mused at the idea of being carried by those gorilla's arms of his. Images of the movie King Kong appeared in her head, where she was the object of the usually large ape's obsession, and Akagi thumping his chest and wreaking havoc in downtown Kanagawa. She sensed an inexplicable desire in her heart, and smiled inwardly.
It was now Fujima's turn, the nurse looked at him as he approached. She never saw a man like this before. With his feminine features, large hazelnut-colored eyes with long lashes; soft smooth cheek like he had never heard of pimples before, let alone seen one; his straight nose without even a hint of blackheads; and his neat, brown hair. He was a sight to behold. He was so pretty, probably the prettiest person on the planet if there was such a contest. The nurse felt a sense of jealousy welling inside her, and darkness swamped her heart. The creepy and wicked side of her personality wanted to do something bad to him. After the height and weight and blood pressure and heart rate measurement, she jabbed him a little harder with the needle in spite, causing him to let out a faint "Ouch!"
He frowned at her, his pretty eyes a flicker of anger. She ignored him and turned around.
'He even looked pretty when he is angry…' she thought to herself, and the wicked side of her was starting to peer its ugly head.
She yanked the needle out at an angle and this time Fujima yelled out loud, "Ouch!"
Hanagata, who was sitting there, observing the whole thing, immediately stood up. He noticed that his captain was sitting there holding his left elbow, biting his lower lip in pain.
"What's the hell did you do that for?" His voice coarse and rose slightly as he addressed the nurse.
She pretended that she didn't hear him.
"That bitch jabbed me hard." Cursed Fujima in a low voice as he walked towards his friend, so that said person in the room would not hear him.
Hanagata frowned. No, he would never let anyone treat his captain badly, not when he was still alive.
"Hey, you…" Hanagata started with an agitated tone as he approached. His tall frame towered over her.
She looked at him this time, tall and slender with an elegant face. The eyes behind those black-rimmed glasses were sharp. He had this Clark-Kent good look and a bit of a book-worm'ish flair.
But the nurse was not to be intimidated. She noticed the anger in Hanagata's voice, and knew he could knock her unconsciously if he wanted to, with one blow.
However, the nurse was not to back. Though lacking in physical strength, she was definitely superior in criminal intent. She took out an extra-large syringe from the drawer and raised it to his face, and smirked triumphantly. The syringe was so large it looked more suitable for a colon injection than for a normal blood test. Hanagata swallowed hard as she gave him an evil grin that sent a sudden chill down the tall man's spine.
He knew he had lost, and started disliking her with grave intensity.
Same thing, weight, height, blood pressure, heart rate. Then she jabbed the huge syringe into the poor dude's vein sadistically. Hanagata flinched as he bit his lips, but could do little about it. And it seemed to him that she had taken out an extra-large volume of blood just as revenge. He wondered how someone so cruel could be a nurse, and admitted defeat to himself. He looked over to Fujima apologetically.
Fujima only smiled, the twinkle in his eyes made his futile attempt at righting his captain somehow seemed worthwhile.
When all was done, they were then instructed to put a silicon face mask on as they mounted the stationary bike, each linked to a gas monitoring device. The nurse helped Akagi, and left the two Shoyo's member to fumble on their own.
They were certainly not the nurse's best friend.
As they were beginning to pedal, the nurse hit the play button on the CD player.
It was Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz® and it went:
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I'm useless but not for long
The future is coming on
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I'm useless but not for long
The future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
Akagi's eyes narrowed and glinted of suspicion, and wondered if it was a coincidence or the nurse was playing with him.