"Did you change your hair?" Emi Ibarazaki asks.
 
"Oh? Oh. Yeah," I admit. "I got it cut over summer break. At Shicchan's house!"
 
"It looks good," she says. "Really cute?"
 
Before I can respond to that, she looks up at the clock and goes into utter panic. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"
 
Zoom! Off she goes down the hallway, sprinting like the track star that she is. "NO RUNNING IN THE HAAAAALLS!" I call after her.
 
She doesn't hear me, of course.
 
-----
 
"Hello?" she says, peeking around the corner. "Is anyone here?"
 
"Yup!" I say. "Just me!"
 
I try to stay cheerful, but I'm actually feeling a bit lonely. I don't know where Shicchan and Hicchan are, but they've been spending more and more time together without me.
 
I try not to think about what they're doing together.
 
"Oh," Ibarazaki says. "I got the budget for next semester's track team here. The captain asked me to drop it off with you guys."
 
She passes me the paper, and our fingers touch, just for a moment.
 
Her hands feel soft and cool.
 
-----
 
Emi Ibarazaki takes off sprinting down the track, runs straight towards the end, and reaches it way before anyone else does. Then she throws her head back, jumps up and down, and tries to grab the piece of curry bread off the string.
 
Unfortunately, as fast as she is, height isn't her strong point, and it takes her a few tries to finally get ahold of the bread.
 
Every time she jumps up and down, her untucked gym shirt rides up a bit, showing off her taut stomach.
 
I find myself licking my lips.
 
-----
 
It's dawn, and I can't sleep. I've been having trouble sleeping recently.
 
I don't like to be at the student council. I don't like seeing Shizune and Hisao together. It hurts too much.
 
I take a walk, to take my mind off of what's going on. I find myself heading to the track.
 
Even now, at dawn, I can still hear the sound of carbon-fiber leaf springs.
 
Emi Ibarazaki is running around the track. Her hair streams behind her like a warrior's banner. A look of fierce glee shines on her face. Her eyes are laughing.
 
Her body glistens with sweat. It's beautiful.
 
She gives me a wave on her second to last lap, then breaks into a full sprint. She moves like the wind, like an arrow, speeding across an imaginary finish line before she gives another lap at a slow jog to cool down.
 
"Did you come here to run?" she asks.
 
. . . actually, maybe I did.
 
-----
 
It's two weeks into our morning runs that Emi pulls me behind the track shed. She pulls me down and plants a kiss on my lips. It tastes like strawberries.
 
I sigh and melt into her, enfolding her in my arms. She's small, but strong, and she's vibrant. Full of life.
 
Later that day, we sneak into my dorm room together and crawl into bed. We stay there until the sun sets and sleep overtakes us.
 
-----
 
"Comfort me again, Emi?"
 
"Okay, Misha."
 
-----
 
Hollow mercies. Pointless pleasures. Sex is meaningless if there's nothing behind it. Just a dance. Just going through the movements.
 
She's so far away from me. There's a part of her I can never reach. A part of her that doesn't want to be close to me.
 
There's a part of me that I keep far from her. A part of me that is only for Shizune.
 
We both know this. We both know this is meaningless.
 
But we keep dancing.
 
It's not that we like the dance. We're just afraid to stop.
 
-----
 
I'm not surprised when it ends. It was bound to do so.
 
We don't talk about it ever again. No reason to.
 
Sometimes, though, I see her in the hallway, and I remember the touch of her lips, the feel of her slender body, and the softness of her skin.
 
Sometimes our eyes meet. We see the shared longing in each other's eyes. We wish each other luck in our own happiness.
 
She keeps running. I'm staying still.
 
I think this time I'll stop dying my hair pink. There's not much left of it to cut now.