A simple 'clinical trial' with Dr. Matsuda, where he meets Cube

Yuta found himself immediately dissatisfied with the things on offer during his first couple of days of searching. His time off wasn't all THAT long, and he was painfully aware that before too long he was going to have to start thinking about picking a major and otherwise look to his future. Now was the time to get the attention of the one he truly wanted! Which was...

...well, honestly, he'd been having a hard time getting his thoughts of Gum out of his mind. Even more than Piranha who'd first rocked his world, for the past few days, her goddess-like body often came crashing into his frame of mind and ran his jobhunting efforts off track just as carelessly as the woman herself would do to a random pedestrian. The day after he'd tried to apologize and told himself that if she wanted him to make it up to her by taking her on a date or something he'd be fine with it, and then offer to be exclusive... more than fine, actually. But when he'd tried to approach her on the streets she'd sped off at the sight of him, leaving him having wasted a big chunk of the day fruitlessly.

In any case, even if Gum was willing to give him a second chance after his mistake, or if he got lucky and met Mew, the truth of the matter was that Yuta Asahina didn't have enough pocket money to even treat them to a nice evening or anything, so he told himself that this was just another kind of race he had to run, and set down to giving it his best effort. That said, he avoided the truly bottom of the barrel stuff - if only because it'd be humiliating if Aoi found out.

At last came something that seemed to need some qualifications: needed "volunteers ages 18-24 in excellent physical health willing to pass a medical exam for clinical trial with control group. All day session, paying up to 60,000Y. Call ******** for Yasuke Matsuda."

After a long battery of questions over phone with a weird automated system, to his delight, he was qualified to participate. Yuta practically flew out the door the following morning - fortunately it was close enough he could reach it by bike. The excitable young man had to remember to pace himself so he didn't arrive all sweaty.

Even though there was quite a line when he got there, with a single receptionist at a desk amid a sea of dozens of youths, some kind of unseen screening process cut a swath through many of them. Others were called back to have results taken from them by lab technicians. The first part of the process, this screening, only paid a small amount and many were **** to leave with that. Others went back for in-person interviews one at a time. Yuta felt like he was about to explode with the nervous energy of waiting and made a conscious effort to keep his eyes off any of the young women who'd showed up too.

Many young men looking disappointed filed out one after another from the back laboratory. Oddly, a few of the young women coming out instead looked... irritated or insulted.

Two numbers were called, two in an endless stream... and after a momentary twitch Yuta Asahina realized one of them was his and leaped up so quickly that the guys next to him gave him a dirty look. On the way in, Yuta saw someone else coming down the hallway with him...

It was the kind of thing that was apt to make him lose his pace. She was quite tall, about an inch taller than him, and had very short black hair with a part to the left side. Her fit, perky figure was quite clearly on display: she was wearing tight black jeans that hugged her narrow hips and round posterior, and an extremely brief black sleeveless tank-top that was more like a band stretched over her protruding breasts. She wasn't endowed to a shocking degree like some of the girls Yuta had been meeting lately but he found himself musing matter-of-factly that they were the perfect shape for her athletic figure before he realized he was staring and **** himself to look forward. Out of her various tattoos, the most eye-catching was a fancy dragon that curled around her navel on her exposed midriff, combining with her glossy teal lipstick and black to produce an example of the punk fashion that was so popular (with genuine delinquents and preppy social climbers alike) these days.

"Hey man," she said casually to Yuta as the two of them waited to be called through the double doors. "Here's hoping at least some of us have some luck, huh? I swear, if they just kick ME out after making us wait all day I plan to swipe some office equipment on the way out." she said jokingly.

Yuta cracked a wide smile, not knowing and frankly not caring if she was being sincere or not. "I bet a lot of those other candidates just didn't show enough enthusiasm! I'm sure they're going to pick me, it's just a matter of willpower! And if I were them, I'd pick you too, um..." he grinned cherubically and inclined his head to the side, innocuously and subtly coaxing an introduction out of this attractive stranger.

"Cube." she held up a fist with knuckles facing outward. After momentary bewilderment, wondering if he'd said something wrong, Yuta gently rapped his fist against hers. "Don't think you're going to use, like, reverse pscyhology into making me let you have if if there's only one spot." she said, sticking the tip of her tongue out teasingly.

Inside the room was a threadbare beige-painted room with a large wooden desk facing a wide leather couch. Behind the desk, opposite the couch, set a strikingly handsome young man with glasses. Silky black hair hung down to his neck in a messy wave, and his thin fingers were closed in front of him. His shirt and tie were worn loose as if he'd just gotten off work. As Yuta and Cube approached he regarded them with an apathetic gaze and pushed a pair of folders forward. Honestly, he didn't look old enough to be a doctor in charge of a research project but Yuta figured that he was one of those super geniuses like you read about in the comics who skip a bunch of grades.

"Yasuke Matsuda. Ultimate neurologist. There is a lot to go through here, so if you'll please-"

Nothing made Yuta's brain shut down like legalese. Instead, he found himself entertaining a scenario where he asked Cube one of a variety of questions that might involve getting her number, then reminding himself he still wanted to get a hold of Mew, looping over and over like a defective computer program until a pair of fingers rapidly snapped right in front of his eyes.

Cube was watching and giggling as Yasuke was giving Yuta a hard look with furrowed eyebrows that could've eroded holes in a wall. Yuta swallowed and felt sweat beading on the back of his neck. "Yeah uh... part 2, family medical history..."

"We were on part 9. Dear lord." The handsome young researcher said, shaking his head and letting out a sharp exhalation. "We've never met before but I think the past few minutes of observation are more than sufficient to show that, scientifically speaking... you have a brain like a bottomless bucket."

To his shame, cheeks reddening, Yuta took a few seconds to parse that that wasn't a compliment before setting his jaw. "H-hey! Don't just insult me like that out of nowhere. You were speaking really fast and-"

"I didn't say it at the time but you also answered 'yes' two three different binary questions even when I rephrased them as a negative. Asahina Yuta... you are, to put it quite simply, a sheep. Don't take that assessment too hard... most people are. You simply haven't gotten enough experience to hide it yet."

Yuta leaned forward and started to cut him off but Yasuke put a finger in his face and silenced him. "Before you fly into the age-old indignant rage of the fool who hears the obvious mentioned don't worry- you being an complete attention-fucking-deficit disorder track team dumbshit is exactly what I need for this experiment. You're approved." He pressed a speaker on the intercom. "Hinata... you can tell the rest of the applicants to go home. I have what I need." He looked over to Cube. "You're approved too - which I hope you won't take offense too, since the requirement of being a dipshit is not the one you fulfill. At least, not for THIS round of testing... Anyway. Yuta, just sign the fucking paper, okay? If you do that, and you do everything I say, you'll get 60 thousand for a few short hours of work. Same for you, Miss, ahem, 'Cube', plus a further incentive as part of the experiment."

Swallowing his pride, Yuta gave a low grunt of frustration, but didn't hesitate long to sign. "Right then." Yasuke said. "Sit down on the couch. There are pills and a glass of water in front of each of you. It's either something that will help boost your concentration and willpower, or a placebo. Take it with water." He turned around and opened his desk, removing something as Yuta hopped down and gulped the strange medicine without hesitation.

"Hey," Cube said suspiciously, raising an eyebrow, "What is that, you're setting up a camera? What's that about?"

"You just signed for consent to be recorded. I notice you didn't read all the way through it either. From this point on, your choices are to either follow the procedures outlined in the agreements and waivers thoroughly, or leave empty-handed. Up to you." Yasuke said curtly. "Now then... the incentive will be awarded depending on the answers given when your fellow subject in the experiment reads from the script. Only the young woman needs one, for the moment. Yuta, your task is to ignore everything she says and just sit there, in that exact spot, for the next 3 hours. Make sure you use the restroom now if you need to because once we begin, there's no stretching, no getting up, nothing."

Cube skimmed through it quickly and snorted and blew air through her lips a few times as she did. "Whoah this is... Is this what it looks like? I think I see why a lot of those college girls bailed out on this one, now. THAT kind of thing, huh? Well..." she looked back at Yuta, then back at Yasuke, and flashed him a smile. "Sure, what the hell. I could really use the cash."

Yuta was slightly confused by the knowing smile she was presenting him with as the timer ticked down under Yasuke Matsuda's stiff, impassive gaze...