It’s after school, and Emi runs through the empty hallways. She hears a familiar electronic beep and stops, turning to find Suzu sitting against the wall playing on a blue DS. She stares at the girl for a moment, who is lost in a competitive game of some sort.
 
Suzu suddenly smiles, pumps her fist in the air, and shouts. "Haha, yes! Blue shell, in your FACE!"
 
Emi tilts her head, and speaks. "Mario Kart, huh?"
 
Suzu lifts her head to the voice that has pervaded into her world, and stares for a moment, taking in the green-eyed pigtailed girl looking at her. She then smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, it's a favorite of mine."
 
"Really?” Emi starts bobbing on her prostheses in excitement. “It's one of my favorites too! Hold on a second..."
 
Emi dips into her schoolbag, and starts fishing around. Suzu leans forward to look too, curious. Emi eventually pulls out a pink DS. "Wanna play together?"
 
Suzu hesitates for a moment, then smiles. "Yeah, sure!"
 
Emi sits down next to Suzu, and they play a few races, only talking about the game. After a while, Emi speaks up.
 
"Y'know... I realize I've never really taken the time to get to know you, probably because you're friends with Miki."
 
Suzu closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them and nods. "The two of you have that big-time rivalry going though, so it's only natural that you and I don't talk much. It kinda makes it difficult for us to interact."
 
Emi frowns, disappointed. "I suppose, but that doesn't mean we can't be nice to each other, right?"
 
Suzu gives Emi a small smile. "It doesn't mean that at all. I could use a video game pal; Stump-fist usually doesn't do that well with a controller."
 
The pigtailed girl giggles. "Stump-fist?"
 
Suzu starts laughing too, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "Yeah, y’know, if she was, like, a super hero, or... something. Don't tell her I said that."
 
"I won't." Emi and Suzu beam at each other, and play another race. Suzu breaks the silence next.
 
"I wouldn't have thought you were good at video games, Emi."
 
Emi sighs, and pauses before speaking. "When I was in the hospital, there was an N64 in the room I was sharing with another kid. He wasn’t there for long, and he was never awake much, but he let me play with him when he was up. He was a narcoleptic.”
 
Suzu looks at Emi, her sleepy green eyes swimming with interest. "Really?"
 
Emi looks at the wall across the room, remembering. "Yeah. After my… accident, I was pretty despondent for a little while. He helped me break out of that funk, if only for a moment, and be a kid again. There were moments where we were just seated on the hospital bed, just playing, and it was so… normal. Like nothing was wrong, nothing was different. Just me and Seiji, playing games at weird hours of the night. When I told him I liked running, he was the first to call me the Legless Wonder!"
 
Emi laughs, but notices that there's no response. She looks over, and sees that Suzu is asleep. Smiling, Emi takes the blue DS and turns it off, placing it in Suzu's bag, before putting her own away. As Emi sprints off, Suzu mutters, shifts against the wall, and smiles.
 
 
 
Props/artistic credit/whatever I should be saying here/etc. to Scissorlips for bits and elements from his Suzu route. Check it out if you haven't; it's very well written!