Daylight
 
 
“Sorry, she's... what is she again?” The sleepy girl on the other side of the door turns.
 
“Tell her I'm dead.” A voice from within the room groans. She looks back, smiling apologetically.
 
“Miki says she's dead.”
 
Emi huffs, planting her hands on her hips.“But she's skipped track practice every day this week! And everyone else is sick!”
 
The girl smiles weakly, trying to suppress a yawn but failing at it. “Well... well sick is better than dead. I guess.” She replies upon recovering.
 
Emi moves to protest, but the door is already closing. “Sorry...” the figure in the door mumbles, and then she's gone.
 
The fastest thing on no legs frowns. That's it, then. Every single member of the track team is either sick, or... or dead, apparently. The track is never a lonely place for her, but she hasn't had a real, full meeting with the rest of the team all week and by now, she could really use a running partner.
 
As she bounces through the halls of the girls' dorm on her running blades, Emi goes through the list of possible candidates. Rin has been too busy catching up on schoolwork after she spent four whole days working on one of her paintings. Misha is... occupied. With student council things. Yeah. Who else, who else could she—oh.
 
There's a girl sitting in the common room, Emi zips behind the nearest chair, poking her face out carefully. She studies the prey—that is, the potential running partner, it's a girl from one of the third year classes. She's sitting in one of the chairs, face buried in a book, but she glances up every now and then. Whenever she does, Emi disappears back behind cover, but the girl isn't looking in her direction, she's glancing out the window longingly. She looks like she wants to go outside instead of sitting here. Well, what's stopping her?
 
She goes back to her book, Emi creeps closer, trying to keep a chair or a table between them at all times. The girl looks up, bam, Emi's gone. A ninja, or whatever's even faster than that, this girl has no clue. Hopefully she's not the jumpy type.
 
Oh well.
 
 
It really is a nice day out. Sitting in her favorite chair, Hanako debates whether she should try to go for a walk. But... by herself? And who knows how many people are out in the courtyard? She sighs, deciding that the next best thing would be to simply get lost in the pages in front of her, it's quite interesting, now where was--
 
A pair of bright green eyes appears, hovering just above the book. “Whatchadoin'?” An unfamiliar voice asks.
 
Hanako lets out something halfway between a shriek and a frightened squeal, flinching so hard that the chair topples backwards. One flash of motion and a few seconds later, she stares up at the ceiling in shock, trying to calm her pounding heart. An unknown face appears above her.
 
“You okay?” The girl asks, peering down at her with genuine concern. Hanako wants to panic, ohgodohgodohgodohgod, but... manners are... manners.
 
“I'm o-k-k-kay.” She stutters, trying to either turn the chair back on its right side or crawl out of it, one of the two. The girl grabs her hand oh gooooood, but she pulls her up and to her feet. Standing next to eachother, Hanako can clearly see the difference in height between the two of them, she can... she can almost see the back of her head.
 
“Sorry if I scared you.” The girl says brightly, giving her a cheery grin. “I'm Emi Ibarazaki. It's nice to meet you.”
 
“H-H-Hanako.” The little bundle of energy in front of her seems nice enough, but her instincts are still screaming at her to bolt. “I-I-Ikezawa. And I've g-got... I've got t-t-to...”
 
Emi cocks her head to one side. “Got to what?”
 
Hanako looks from the girl in front of... below... she looks from the girl in front of and below her to the bright, warm rays of sunlight threat stream from the open window.
 
It really would have been nice to go for a walk. But she can just as easily read her book in her room. She looks back to Emi, frowning with quivering lips.
 
“I've gotta go d-d-do something.” She says quietly, impressing even herself. She gives her new acquaintance a polite nod, takes one step towards the hallway. Then two. Then she's out of there like a bat out of hell or a scared rabbit and that's exactly what she is she's gone.
 
Emi watches her go, the confused expression on her face turning to something akin to awe after only a moment.
 
That girl is fast.
 
 
 
The next day. Emi's knocking on the door echoes through the empty hallway. “Still dead!” Comes a voice from within.
 
“That doesn't even make sense!” She replies, crossing her arms.
 
“She's... she's even deader now. Double dead.” Another voice mumbles from the other side of the door.
 
“Shh, she'll go away eventually.”
 
Emi throws her hands in the air, then immediately feels silly because there's no one there to see it. She marches away, the rest of the track team is still playing hooky, it seems. But she stops when she reaches the common room, that girl is there again, what was her name? Ikezawa?
 
Again, she looks like she's lost in the pages of a book, but today is a beautiful day too, just another reason why Emi needs a running partner. Hmm.
 
Hanako, that was her first name, right? She really is fast when she wants to be, what if she could be spooked in the direction of the track? No, that's mean. And by now she remembers, she's noticed the girl around the school before, she's seen how skittish she can be, and she's seen the scars. Even if she could coax her outside, the track would be far too public a place. But then...
 
She glances up, Hanako has noticed her, she's peering at her cautiously over the top of her book. Emi frowns, even though she's learned that being sneaky is a bad idea.
 
“What... whatchadoin'?” She asks, feeling deflated from such a lame arrival. Hanako blinks.
 
“J-just... y-you know.” She shrugs, looking like she would disappear into the fabric of the chair if it were possible. “Reading th-things.”
 
“Right.” Emi nods. It's obvious that the girl in front of her likes to spend a lot of her time reading. But even now, she looks like she'd rather be outside, and the sun is shining, the thought of the warm breeze caressing her skin mid-run makes her nod again, in determination this time.
 
“Wanna go for a run?” She asks, raising her eyebrows and giving the girl an encouraging smile.
 
Hanako stares at her blankly for several long moments, too shocked to even begin to panic.
 
“W-w-want to what?”
 
“Go for a run!” Emi grins, bouncing from one leg to another excitedly. This is it, this will work, the sheepish girl in front of her just needs to trust her a bit. Maybe she just needs to trust anyone. And she certainly could use a good run, there aren't very many people at this school who couldn't. Even the ones in wheelchairs could probably benefit from a good roll, or something.
 
Hanako can't even believe she's considering the idea, but it isn't... it's actually not that... horrifying. Well, it still is, but not...
 
Lilly has been busy with Akira lately, so it's been too long since she's had a good breath of fresh air. Running... running isn't really her thing, but maybe she could just go outside and watch Emi? Maybe that would make this this girl happy?
 
“I... I g-g-guess I--”
 
“Great!” Emi beams, clenching her fists victoriously. “Do you have a gym uniform?”
 
“S-s-somewhere...”
 
“It's a plan then.” As excited as she is, Emi tries to not to go overboard, she tries not to spook her new acquaintance. Her new running partner? Time will tell.
 
“Meet me back here in 10 minutes?” She asks, smiling warmly. Hanako blinks at her several times, looking like she can't believe the words that stumble out of her own mouth.
 
“O-okay. S-s-see you then.”
 
 
Hanako is actually trembling as she steps down the stairs that lead away from the girls' dorm, her hands raised and clasped in front of her. Emi leads the charge, but the track isn't her destination, like she thought, it's too public, it's too open. But the terrified girl behind her is doing better than she expected, maybe even better than she hoped. And it's a beautiful day for a run, she has a good feeling about this.
 
Instead of the usual route to where the track team would be assembling around this time—if they weren't all being slackers—Emi heads towards a small dirt path, on the other side of the grounds. Better than concrete, second only to the supple material of the track, and it's straight, clear and best of all, usually deserted. Out of the corner of her eye, she watches Hanako begin to visibly relax as they get further away from the grounds, further away from prying eyes and curious stares.
 
“Here we are!” Emi exclaims, waving one arm towards the trail that leads into the woods. Hanako frowns, still looking tense. She's wearing the winter PE uniform, a thin, long-sleeved shirt and green sweatpants, but luckily for her the evening breeze has something of a bite to it. Dressed in her usual gym shirt and bloomers, Emi doesn't mind at all, the cold is just another challenge, and one that doesn't stand a chance once she gets going.
 
“E-E-Emi, are you sure?” Hanako mumbles, squinting at the trail ahead of them. The sun will be setting before long, should they really be headed away from the grounds? Being out here like this is kind of nice, but going too far away could be dangerous.
 
“I've ran this path loads of times!” Emi replies, grinning widely. But then her expression softens.
 
“Come on.” She says gently, motioning with her head. Anyone with eyes could tell that Hanako has been through a lot. But the same could be said for her, they both wear their troubles on their sleeves, among other things.
 
The idea of a good, hard run is already making her blood begin to pump faster, but maybe it could be something similar for Hanako. She mightt even like it, maybe she'll discover something about herself. Emi hopes so, anyway.
 
Hanako fidgets a little. “I don't... I d-don't know how to r-r-run.” She mumbles.
 
“It's easy.” Emi smiles, moving to stand next to her. “You take a step, like this. See?”
 
She nods, so Emi continues. “And then you take another one.”
 
“Okay...”
 
Emi looks from the girl next to her to the trail ahead of them, slowly curving through the trees in the distance. She grins, that spark beginning to return to her eyes.
 
“And then you go fast.”
 
 
“Still with me?” Emi calls, glancing behind her. She isn't going anywhere close to full speed, but she can still feel it, she's still in the zone, in the mode. This is great. She's needed this.
 
Managing to keep pace only a few feet behind her, Hanako huffs and puffs, laboring to put one foot in front of the other. “I-I'm st-still h-h--”
 
She gives up, taking steady, full breaths according to Emi's coaching makes talking too difficult right now. But she doesn't give up, the girl who's body bounds and pulses in front of her is filled with such strength, such raw vigor and it's... it's amazing.
 
Hanako knows she isn't really out of shape, she's just not the most athletic, but... but the sunlight streaming through the trees, the wind that soars past them, filling her lungs. The layer of good, healthy sweat that makes her baggy clothes stick to her skin but it's just cold enough not to matter. This is--
 
“Almost there!” Emi chirps, giving her running partner a bright smile. Hanako manages to return it, although she doesn't know where 'there' is.
 
They continue to pound down the trail, having not encountered a single soul the entire time. The sun is hanging low in the sky by now, the rays of light that mingle with the shadows of the leaves are starting to be tinged with gold. Hanako's breaths are growing more ragged now, her heart is pounding in her chest and her legs are beginning to scream beneath her, but—
 
There. At the end of the trail, a break in the woods. That must be what a finishing line looks like. Emi slows down until they're side by side, she's grinning and wide awake and so alive, just one look at her and Hanako knows neither of them can stop for anything now.
 
The clearing grows closer, don't stop now, can't stop now, almost there, hold on Hanako, almost there and...
 
...and this must be what crossing a finish line feels like.
 
They reach the open air, breaking from the treeline and emerging into a wide, clear area. Emi slows to a walk and Hanako finally allows herself to come to a halt, bending over to rest her hands on her knees as she sucks in breath after sweet breath. But she... she did it. She made it, they're... where are they?
 
“Good job!” Emi cheers, looking like she's barely even winded. “I mean it, that really was great for a beginner!”
 
“Th-thanks...” Is she blushing, or is that the healthy rosy tint that new runners get? Emi isn't sure, and Hanako probably isn't going to tell. Deciding that either way is fine, Emi glances up at the sky, the sun is setting, they're just in time.
 
“Hey.” She says gently, prompting Hanako to look up from the ground. She's still breathing heavily, but she doesn't look bad, she doesn't look like she wants to throw up or anything.
 
“Come take a look at this, running partner.” Emi winks, striding over to a small grassy hill. With determined steps, she marches up the slope, stopping at the top to beckon the girl forward.
 
Hanako follows, carefully, slowly. When she stands next to Emi, her eyes open wide. Before them is a lake, large and sparkling, reflecting a perfect image of the brilliant orange sky. The entire scene is drenched in waning sunlight, it looks like something out of a painting, or... or a scene from a book. The sight takes her already labored breath away.
 
Emi grins again, enjoying both the view of the setting sun mirrored by the water and the girl's reaction. “It's really something, isn't it?”
 
Hanako nods, a big, wide smile forming on her face. She steals a peak at Emi before nervously returning her gaze to the scenery.
 
“Th-thank you, Emi. For t-t-taking me out here.”
 
“Hey, hey.” Emi grins from ear to ear. “All I did was snag a running partner, you got here yourself. And besides...”
 
She lets the warm sun wash over her, drinking in the feeling of the evening breeze caressing her skin. This is one of her favorite places, it really is beautiful. But sights like these are always better with someone to see them with. She should be thanking this girl too, she continues to smile.
 
“What are friends for?”
 
 
 
 
Happy birthday, >>16598297.