Hot and Cold

Ichiro felt a surge of happiness, a rare emotion in the past few days.

“That’s right,” the nurse offered with gentle words, assisting him in moving the hand weights as directed. “Just like that. You are making excellent progress.”

It wasn't just excellent; he was reaching the final stages of his physical therapy and recovering even better than anticipated. His arm felt stronger than when he first injured his shoulder. He had already been given permission to go without a sling, and his remarkable progress impressed the doctors, hinting at an earlier return to the field than expected.

As he completed the last set of strength training, he placed the weights back on the stand where he had found them earlier. Turning to the nurses who had been working with him for the past week and a half, he expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you all so much,” he said, offering a slight bow, his face radiant with excitement as he straightened up, “It's because of your guidance that I'm healing so well.”

The nurses smiled and dismissed his compliments. “It's all you, young man,” one of the nurses chimed in. “Your determination has allowed you to overcome this setback as quickly as you have. You should be proud of yourself.” Ichiro straightened himself up and gave a firm nod in agreement.

“But before you are done for the day, we need to do one last round of limit testing.” his personal nurse stated, finishing up her notes on the clipboard. “Take a seat here, and we will begin.”

Eagerly, Ichiro moved to the spot that she had patted out for him to sit on. The second he relaxed into the spot, an unfortunate event crushed his joy.

“Finishing up already?”

A familiar and annoying voice chirped up as Ichiro sat down, causing his happy demeanor to crack. An irritated vein popped up on his forehead as he realized just how that voice belonged to.

Taking a deep breath, he pretended not to hear the voice and waited for the nurse to pick up his arm and start the final test. But the nurse didn’t take his arm, instead…

“Ms. Nakagawa, how are you today?,” The nurse's words revealed that Ichiro's wish for him to be imagining things and for Izumi to blip out of existence hadn't come true, “I didn’t know you had an appointment today?”

“No appointment,” Izumi answered, maneuvering her wheelchair closely beside Ichiro, “I’m just here to bother my favorite person in the whole world, Baseball Boy.” She patted his shoulder on each syllable towards the end of her answer. He was slowly getting fed up with her only calling him that name too.

“What!?” Ichiro almost screeched upon hearing those words. But he was the only one with that reaction, so he turned back to his prepared position and calmed his reaction down, with an embarrassed hue taking over his cheeks.

The nurses simply laughed and encouraged her. “Well, since you are here, would you like to help us evaluate Mr. Ishii?” the nurse suggested.

“Huh? Wait a minute… What do you mean?”

“Really, you would let me?” Izumi asked, surprised.

“I see no problem with this.” The nurses seemed to ignore Ichiro's objections as they showed Izumi where she could sit to assist with the evaluation.

Please look harder then, nurse! Ichiro silently pleaded with the nurse to reconsider as he glanced over his shoulder at Izumi moving towards the indicated spot to sit directly behind him.

Turning her wheelchair to the side, Izumi used her arms to push herself up and lifted her weight out of the chair, pivoting it onto the table where Ichiro was sitting.

Once positioned securely behind Ichiro, the nurses held both of them and pushed them closely together, snickering as they worked. In one swift motion, they raised his arm into the air while Izumi held onto his elbow with one hand and wrapped her other arm around his chest, squeezing him tightly.

It was clear to him that all of this came to just as much of a surprise to Izumi as it did to him. Her arm hugging his back to her chest trembled as it gripped at his shirt at first, slowly letting go after a couple of seconds. The second their bodies touched, she let out a soft squeak like a scared mouse right into his ear. It was enough to make Ichiro’s body stiffen completely like a rock.

“Just make sure he keeps his arm straight while he moves it to the side.” Ichiro's personal nurse instructed, using Izumi's hand to guide his arm back and forth. “Yes, just like that.”

As Ichiro's arm swished back and forth, he couldn't help but feel his breath catch in his chest. He did his best to not move in the slightest, giving only a minor resistance to his arm being guided in its movement. The world around him seemed to fade away, leaving only the sensation of Izumi's delicate hands on his body. Her slender frame pressed squarely against his.

His heart pounded uncontrollably, racing at a dangerous speed. A speed which threatened to kill him on the spot.

“Yes, that’s right,” Izumi's voice softly cooed into his ear, her breath gently grazing his skin. “I will hold you carefully and make sure you move the way I want you to.” Apparently, she had since found amusement in the situation and was openly teasing him, like she always found the perfect way of doing.

In an instant, Ichiro's body eased into a state of relaxation. The mere utterance of those words brought him back to reality, grounding him in the present. He let out a deep sigh, relinquishing control as he allowed Izumi to continue guiding his arm.

“Dear God,” he began by bowing his head in reverence, casting his plea, “I offer a heartfelt prayer for either immediate healing or, should it align with Your divine plan, a peaceful and immediate passing.”

“What?” Izumi's voice held a hint of confusion initially, but she smoothly transitioned it into a playful question. “You don’t like a beautiful young girl pressing up against you like this, Baseball Boy?” As she asked this, she teasingly moved her body side to side against his, trying to get a rise out of him from her stimulation.

“No,” Ichiro responded with a flat tone, closing off any possibility of further arguments.

“And here I thought this was every guy's fantasy,” Izumi pouted, playfully scolding him, continuing to push the boundaries of his arm's capabilities as she teased, “Having a beautiful young lady, such as myself, hold him so closely like this.”

It was exactly as she described. If Ichiro could set aside the fact that it was Izumi, the sensation of her warm and gentle skin against his own was threatening to send him over the edge.

Yet, because he knew exactly who was behind that thin medical gown, with their hearts beating so closely together, Ichiro felt a surge of assurance that emboldened him to speak his mind.

“Guys like girls with bigger boobs.”

Out of nowhere, Ichiro's arm came to an abrupt stop, casting a profound silence over the room. Without even turning to look at Izumi's response, he kept his eyes resolutely fixed ahead, unyielding. He truly believed every word he said in the bottom of his heart.

“Oh, really?” Izumi’s words were nearly silent behind him.

“Yes, defin-” Ichiro responded promptly, without a moment's hesitation, but his words were abruptly halted, “ow ow ow! I give! I give!!”

The intense force with which Izumi wrenched his arm backward made Ichiro feel like it was on the brink of dislocation. The excruciating pain caused his face to contort. After enduring several agonizing seconds, she suddenly let go and quickly slipped back into her wheelchair.

“I think his healing is going quite well.” she remarked with a sense of assurance. Unlocking her wheelchair, she started pushing herself toward the exit. “Hopefully he will not require more treatment soon. For now, I am going back to my room,” she added, her voice fading as she disappeared around the corner out of sight.

“What’s her problem,” Ichiro gritted his teeth and tried to massage his shoulder back into place, “she could have broken my arm more than it already was like that.” Meanwhile, the nurses could only smile and delight in the captivating display the two teenagers had unintentionally put on for them.

“You two are such a cute couple.”

As those words reached his ears, Ichiro's heart skipped a beat, causing his pulse to race as an intense heat seeped into his cheeks. He turned slowly to face the nurses, his eyes filled with disbelief. However, the genuine expressions they wore conveyed that they truly meant what they had said.

Releasing a sigh of complete defeat, Ichiro slumped back down in his seat on the massage table. After a brief moment, he mustered the determination to raise his arm once more, stretching it out to the side.

“Can we just get back to my appointment?”