"Welcome, students!"

The veritable army of medical personnel chorused their annual greeting as the students filed into the hall. By name, they gradually got called away to have their heights measured, weights taken… all of the doctors were always very encouraging.

There was a chorus of squeals to his left, and looking, he could see the Hitachiin twins removing the tops of their uniforms, much to the excitement of the ladies crowded around him. Ryoji internally rolled his eyes in exasperation. The Host Club really did tiptoe along the line of decency, and it was the encouragement of the girls at Ouran that kept them from getting in trouble. Even the teachers that were present voiced no opposition to this display.

Tamaki stepped out from behind a curtain, shirtless and sporting a brunet wig that much resembled Haruhi Fujioka's hair. With a loud voice, he proclaimed himself to be the honors student.

Ryoji hid a scoff of laughter behind a well-timed cough. Did he honestly think anyone would take him seriously or be fooled by that?

It was not until his own name had been called that he began to wonder why exactly Tamaki had attempted such a stunt. Was Haruhi really that shy of a man that being topless in front of other students was too uncomfortable?

He shrugged mentally. Who was he to say anything? He was feeling increasingly bashful about his own need to disrobe to be examined.

His nurse gestured to a curtain.

"You can disrobe behind here, Mr. Kushida. I will also need you to change into these," she ordered, handing him a pair of sports shorts. "The doctor would like to examine your leg as well."

With that, she left him in the relative privacy of the curtain.

Why did he need to change? None of the other students had to change into gym clothes. He grumbled, taking a seat on the chair provided and slipping his pants with some effort over his bulky socket. The loose shorts were far easier to draw over the rigid material.

Adjusting himself, he shrugged off his blazer and undid the buttons of his shirt, shrugging that off too.

"Are you finished, Mr. Kushida?" he heard his nurse ask from just beyond the curtain. There was an excited twittering from further away.

He groaned audibly. Of course there were people wanting to sneak a peek. He had opted out of gym class for the time being, citing medical reasons, and as such no one had seen much beyond the outline of his leg.

He looked down at his body. It was not a slim, dainty body like the Hitachiins, nor a particularly strong one like an athlete's would be. His arms and core were strong from years of abuse on crutches, but his right leg and his chest lacked muscular definition.

A few scars criss-crossed his arms and back, courtesy of glass shards from shattered windows. These, however, were far fainter than the scar at the end of his residual limb.

He took a deep breath, steeling his nerve and stepping out from behind the curtain.

The excited whispers began as soon as the curtain moved. He tried his best to keep his eyes off the girls as the nurse measured his chest, biceps, and hips. The harder challenge was to keep all of his blood from rising to his cheeks.

"Could you remove your leg, Mr. Kushida? I need to get an accurate weight."

Ryoji hesitated. He really did not enjoy the attention, and at this request from his nurse, he could feel a few more eyes drawn to him.

"Don't you all have your own physical exams?" a familiar voice growled.

Ryoji's eyes snapped to the small gaggle of girls. Ritsu was standing, shirtless, behind them. He looked huge, compared to the slim girls around him, his own scars looking particularly menacing on his tight muscles. His own nurse looked terrified behind him. He had one hand on the shoulder of one of the girls who looked like she was about to faint. Her face was as white as a corpse.

In a flurry of movement, the crowd disappeared.

"Kasanoda touched me!"

"Oh my God, you're lucky you're still alive!"

Ryoji looked at Ritsu, gratitude plastered all over his face.

Ritsu scowled in such a way that the black-haired boy recognized as a smile. "Women," he said gruffly.

"Women," Ryoji returned weakly.

The doctor sat in front of Ryoji, probing the stump with her fingertips.

"Well it healed well, I can tell you that. But you've been having phantom pains, you said?"

Ryoji nodded. They had, after a blunt hint from Ritsu, moved from the main hall to a specially prepared room. Apparently, they had set it up for Fujioka, but his exam had been completed.

"Are there any times in particular that they seem to be worse?" she continued, not looking up at him. She appeared to be on the younger side of middle-aged, with gray-brown hair pulled up into a ponytail and large, black framed glasses. His prosthetist, a man by the last name of Ohno, leaned off to the side. Apparently, they had called him in for the consultation.

"They seem to be more prominent in the morning," he said.

"Perhaps it's due to swelling overnight," suggested Ohno. "Fluid often builds up in residual limbs, and if his nerve endings are deeper in the tissue, it stands to reason that this could increase pressure on them, triggering the phantom pains." He chewed thoughtfully on the end of an indelible pencil.

The doctor nodded in agreement. "If that's the case, you should try wearing a shrinker on it at night, to reduce the swelling." Ryoji inwardly groaned, for he found the compression bandages to be extremely uncomfortable. "Are you on any medications to help with the pain?"

"Neurontin and some antidepressant," he recited. "And whenever I have the pain I try to take another painkiller. Over the counter."

The doctor nodded again, standing. "As long as it does not get any worse, I think we are okay for the time being."

Ohno handed him a pull sock to allow him to slide on his leg. "If anything changes or starts to hurt, you know to give me a call." The prosthetist winked, tucking the indelible pencil he had been playing with behind his ear.

Ryoji noted with some amusement that Ohno's mouth had been dyed blue by the pencil. He nodded in assent.