For the KSG Writing Week - Day 1, Emi
        Morning Run
 
        Inspired by this image: http://i.imgur.com/7zzyK3b.jpg
 
 
        It was strange, but for some reason it felt really good to be up this early. I’ve never been much of a morning person, but the early mornings for school had never really bothered me. This, however, was different. It had been something of a struggle just getting myself out of bed, but a promise was a promise. I’d told Nurse I’d be a little more pro-active regarding my health, and I figured a little running couldn’t hurt.
 
        After changing into my old school’s soccer clothes (since I was exempt from PE Yamaku hadn’t seen fit to issue me a running uniform), I walked out of the dorm and out to the courtyard. After a while, the track came into view. Much to my surprise, I won’t be running along; the prosthetic-legged track runner I’d met the other day is bounding along on her own. Despite my best efforts, I can’t quite recall her name, so I simply shrug to myself and walk down towards the track.
 
        I call out to her as she jogs past my corner. Unfortunately, this causes her to shriek suddenly and nearly topple over; thankfully she manages to right herself mid-fall. I can only stand there surprised as she turns to look at me. “Hisao!?” She shrieks. Her eyes first cross over me, then down to her exposed short-covered legs, then back to me. “I..I.. what are you doing here?!” I try not to look at either her legs or her face, which is growing redder by the instant. I settle on a particularly interesting rock on the ground.
“Well, I went to the Nurse after…” I struggled for a way to say this without making the situation worse. “…after you knocked into me in the hall, and he said I should focus a little more on exercise.”  I look back at her. Face still red, she’s covered her mouth in a silent gasp.
“Ohmygod ohmygod, I am so sorry about that!” I chuckle and wave a hand dismissively.
        “Really, it’s no big deal, as long as it doesn’t become a habit.” Oh boy, she’s still staring at me with that look. “Uh… I take it you’re the ‘spy’ he mentioned?” She finally lowers her hands, though only to fidget nervously with the end of one of her twintails.
“W-well, he just said that… he said I should keep an eye on you, so I mentioned… I’m sorry!” Her hands drop to her sides and she looks at me with a hurt puppy expression. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to handle this every morning.
“Like I said, it’s fine! I need to do this for my health, after all. Can we start?” I move over to the starting line of the track, but Emi trots up next to me.
“W-wait…” she squeaks out as I turn to look back at her.
“What is it?” I ask
“You…you should warm up first!” Her hands squeeze together as her voice raises even higher.
“Oh, of course. Sorry, I forgot.” We move off the track to the side, where I begin doing thesimple stretches I remembered from PE. “So what brings you down here every morning, Emi?” Her eyes meet the ground.
“W-well, I’m on the track team, so I need to practice.” I grunt as stretch my legs to their limit
“Ah, makes sense. Never been much for organized teams myself. You never have any other track members to run with you?”
“I…” she rubs her hands together. “I’ve asked.” The rest of the stretches pass quietly. After what seems like 30 minutes of awkward silence, we move together to the track.
“Aright, you d-don’t need to keep up with me or anything, just do your best!” For the first time this morning, I see Emi smile, and it’s enough to make me want to run a marathon. I keep to my limits though, and jog at a slow relaxed pace, even though Emi laps me a few times. I notice with no small degree of satisfaction that the smile never leaves her face while she runs. After a while, I can feel the pressure in my chest beginning to build, and I slow to a walk. Bounding on her springy legs, Emi jumps up next to me.
“F-finished already?” She slows her pace to stay alongside me.
“Yeah…” I struggle to catch my breath. “I’m just not in the best shape these days, you know?” Emi nods.
“The important p-part is that you tried.” She gives her biggest smile yet. It’s utterly intoxicating and I can’t help but beam back at her. I wipe some sweat off my brow and take a deep breath.
“I should probably get ready for class anyways. See you tomorrow?” Emi opens her mouth in shock once more; what did I say now?”
“T-tomorrow?” comes out in a high-pitched squeak. I can’t resist chuckling a bit at the cute sight.
“Yeah, tomorrow. This is supposed to be a daily thing, right?” Her hands move back to cover her mouth as she slowly nods.
“Well, alright then.”
“Y-you don’t have to run with me if you don’t want to…” Emi’s now looking at the ground again.
I take a breath of cool, refreshing air and look at the girl standing next to me.
 
“No, really, I do. This…this has helped. I think I can get used to this.”