I spent a little extra time on this one trying to get the nurses dialogue right. Sorry for the delay, here it is!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Ah, Nakai! What can I do for you today?”
The nurse is sitting behind his desk sipping coffee from an “I hate Mondays” mug. It isn't even Monday, but I imagine this is he drinks from this everyday.
“Uh, actually, I am waiting for somebody before we start. Is that fine?”
He looks at me over his computer with raised eyebrows. “Oh? Is something wrong?” His serious tone surprises me, until he says “I hope you didn’t get somebody pregnant Hisao, I don’t know how I would deal with that.”
“Oh shut up, I am not pregnant!” Miki has appeared, and just in time too. I was about to have a really awkward conversation with a medical professional, and I don’t want to deal with that now. “Actually, we are here with separate problems and a joint request.”
“Alright Miki, I’ll deal with Hisao first. Open your shirt up, I assume you want me to perform the usual checkup?” I nod at him, and he looks at Miki for a moment.
“Oh, uh, I don’t mind if she stays or not. I need to stop being so secretive about my heart anyway, so she might as well see I guess. You don’t mind, do you Miki?”
The nurse raises an eyebrow. What? I didn’t think this was that big of a deal. Until now. Don’t say anything Hisao, don’t give Miki something to tease you over. Do. Not Crack.
“Alright, open up Nakai, I can’t get to the chest through your shirt, can I?” Oh right. This damn button, why won’t it come out? Oh great, my hands are sweating. Come on Hisao, you can do this. There! Now, time for the rest-
“You know what, just lift it. I don’t have time to watch you struggle with buttons if Miki needs something too.”
Damn, they noticed it. Well, I might notice Miki struggle with something later. I lift the offending garment over my head and toss it over the back of a chair. Miki’s eyes widen when she sees my scar. I expected as much…
“Hisao, what is-“
“From the surgeries. They needed to get to my heart after my attack, so they cut me open and went in after it. Can we not talk about it though? Still not something I am comfortable with…”
An awkward silence fills the room. Miki and I look away from each other, and the nurse clears his throat as he presses the stethoscope to my chest. A few different expressions flash across his face, some good, some bad, but he has told me not to talk during these checkups. I will need to wait to ask him.
He finishes his inspection and stands back up, grinning at me. That’s a good sign, I think.
“Well Hisao, the good news is your heart is still there. The bad news is, it tells me you have been forgetting your medication. When was the last time you took them?”
“Well-“ That’s a good question actually. When was the last time I took my pills? I had missed the night before my first run with Emi, and I can’t remember taking them that morning either. Then there was last night, I couldn’t get them because I got trapped in Miki’s room, and they weren’t there for me to take this morning.
“I think it was three days ago…”
“Look, you need to be taking your medication more seriously Hisao. I don’t know what your reasons are, and frankly, I don’t care. What I care about is my job, and your health. If you don’t stick to your medication, then I can’t help you.” He has that strict tone, and a deeply furrowed brow. He means it, and I know he means it.
“I know, I will, I’ve just been busy settling in. Actually, we came here to talk about my exercise routine today. I’ll let you see-“
“What’s wrong with the routine? Is Emi pushing you too hard? I swear, that girl can be a real pain in the-“
“No! Nothing like that. It’s just that I would rather run with Miki at a later time, since I already know her. Mornings suck, I would rather run after class or something.”
Miki perks up now. She had been staring at my scar for a while, probably deep in thought wondering about my heart. Oddly, I don’t really mind that thought, I think I trust Miki enough to tell her about the hospital. I can’t tell her about Iwanako though…
“Ah, I see. Miki, you convinced Emi to let Hisao go? I’m impressed! Either way, I can’t really think of a good time slot for your runs… Unless Kenta wouldn’t mind letting him join you for practise?”
Kenta? Who is Kenta?
“Who is Kenta?”
“He’s on the track team Hisao. You’ll meet him tomorrow if I can convince him to let you run. Shouldn’t be too hard, he’s a pretty chill dude.”
“Great! So that’s that settled. Now Miki, you said you had something to see me about too?” I grab my shirt and pull it back over my head. That one button is still open, but I like it. My neck has some freedom to move now, so I leave it undone.
“Yeah, uh, Hisao. I kind of need some privacy for this… I know you just showed me your scar, but I can’t do this right now… sorry, but I just can’t. It still hurts…”
It still hurts? How can it still… It isn’t there to be hurt any more! I can’t help but feel cheated, I just bared a relic of my past, yet Miki can’t talk about something with the nurse while I am in the room?
“Oh… Uh, sure. Will you be long? I could go get our lunch or something…”
I fail to keep the disappointment out of my voice, and instantly feel like an ass. Why do I need to see her hand? It won’t make us any closer, and there isn’t some balance in our friendship that needs fixing. I flash her a grin, one I hope looks sincere.
“I should be out in a minute or two Hisao, wait by the door, alright? Besides, Misha is bringing the food.” She smiles back at me in a way that suggests my own grin worked. I nod, then leave her and the nurse to their business. After closing the door behind me, I notice Misha leaving the nearby dressing rooms with wet hair. She uses the pool?
“Hi hi~ Hicchan! I didn’t think I would see you~ here today! Is Miki in there right now?” She bounces over, sending water droplets crashing to the floor around her. Surely that is a safety hazard, somebody could slip and hurt themselves. When did I start caring so much about this kind of thing anyway?
“Oh, yeah, don’t know why though. Is this something that happens a lot, whatever it is?” I ask, hopefully Misha will be able to shed some light on this. I don’t know what kind of treatment there is for amputees at this stage other than checking for irritation, and I don’t imagine Miki gets a lot of that.
“Nope~! I can’t tell you that Hicchan~, Miki made me swear to secrecy~!” She places her hands firmly on her hips and gives a “Wahahaha~!”
Miki emerges from the nurses office. Has it been a few minutes already?
“Oh, hi Misha. Take Hisao to the usual spot, I gotta go put… You know, away? Anyway, I’ll be with you in about ten minutes, see you then!”
She runs off before I can even try to ask what she is talking about, and Misha is left waiting for me. I nod, and she leads us out of the nurses building and around the corner. There is a hill backing up to the brick walls of the building we were just in. The view here is pretty good, it looks over the quad. There are people playing with frisbees, a small group gathering around a guy with a guitar and a few different picnics.
I notice Miki on the other side, and she seems to be hiding something from people. Did she have anything when she left the nurses office? She ran off before I even got a good look at her.
“Hicchan?”
Oh right, I have company. “Yeah? Sorry, I was spacing out.”
“Wahahaha~! You do that a lot~! So what food do you want? I got veal cutlet~, chicken cutlet~ and curry bread!”
She managed to get the veal cutlet? That stuff is hard to grab, I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. “The veal I guess, haven’t had that yet. There’s never any left when I get to the cafeteria, so it must be good.”
She reaches into her bag and produces my food. It’s a little flattened, but it looks great. She tosses it over to me, and I stumble a bit trying to catch it.
“Wahahaha~! That was funny Hicchan! Should we wait for Miki~ before we start eating? Look, she is leaving the dorms now!” She waves, despite being too far away to notice, even with her amazingly distinct hair.
“Sure I guess. Oh, Misha, mind if I ask why you were at the pool? I didn’t know you even liked swimming, so I am kind of curious.” I scratch the back of my head, trying to itch that endless tickling in the back of my brain. Curiosity always gets the better of me.
“I used to swim before I came here Hicchan~, so I asked the nurse if I could practise there sometimes. Student Council work gets in the way sometimes~, but it’s good to relax. Why, did you want to join me~?” She winks at me and giggles. I think this is the first time I have seen her laugh quietly.
“No reason, and I can’t join you, sorry. Got a running routine already, I was just changing it actually, that’s why I was at the nurses office. I am running with Miki now.”
I don’t tell Misha my actual reason for visiting the nurse, or the reason I have to run in the first place. I don’t think I am comfortable with her knowing, one of the biggest gossips in school already knows.
“Hicchan~, I know about your heart already. I helped file the papers~! You don’t need to hide it from me~!”
Wait, she knew this whole time? She must be more trustworthy than I first thought, nobody else in the school seems to know. I think that makes her, Miki and the artist girl whos name I always forget. I wonder if Shizune knows too?
“Wait, you do? Have you told anyone? I don’t want people to know about it yet.”
“Don’t worry, nobody knows~! Hi Miki!”
Miki sits down beside me and Misha tosses her some curry bread. “Sup? Sorry about that, had to put some stuff away. So, we talking about how good we are at keeping secrets?”
“Yup! Hicchan didn’t even know I knew~! Wahahaha~!”
The girls spin off into their own conversation, so I take a bite of my cutlet. It’s pretty good, but it doesn’t live up to my expectations. The way people scramble to get it made me think it was of gourmet standard.
Something hits me on the back of the head, and I turn to see Miki looking away nonchalantly and Misha trying not to laugh. I check the grass behind me and see a small piece of folded paper. I pick it up and throw a weird look at the girls before opening it.
[Hey gaylord, we’re going to the city. You coming with or you just going to sit here dreaming all day? =3]
I sigh. I can tell it was Miki who wrote this, from both her handwriting and the ‘gaylord’ remark. That, and she is still trying to look innocent. Misha has broken at this point, and is struggling to breath through her laughter.
“Sure, why not? Skipping class to do something fun sounds good, but we should probably change or something.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next
Feedback. Noticed mistakes. You know the drill
