How Far Chapter 4: "You caught me"

	“Hisaoooo!!!”

	The high pitched voice can only belong to one person.

	I stop and turn to greet Emi, but as I turn I see she’s sprinting at me at full tilt with no sign of slowing and a look that sends a jolt of energy down my spine. She’s close, within 5 feet of me, when she launches herself bodily into the air and I only have a moment to react. Throwing my arms out in a spread she makes contact with my right arm first, pulling my body into a spin as my left arm wraps around her. Her momentum transfers to my legs as I continue the spin, rotating fully twice before I manage to stop twirling.

	She’s giggling like she hadn’t nearly flattened me, and in spite of how tired I was just a moment ago I have a grin plastered on my face.

	My arms are wrapped around her waist and I can feel her prosthetics against my legs. Her face is inches from my own.

	“Hehehe you know, I didn’t think you would actually catch me” she says with a wink.

	Me neither

	“Well I had to do something, I couldn’t just let you fall and make a fool of yourself.” I decide on instead, laughing. “Thank god you weigh as much as a piece of paper.” I say jokingly.

	She pouts for a moment, but then smiles from ear to ear again.

	I begin lowering her towards the ground when she says, “Actually, you were just the person I was looking for!”

	“Huh??” I ask giving her a bewildered look. “What for?”

	“Wellll… I miiight have missed my meet.” I laugh, but am quickly silenced as she boops my head with her finger “Don’t laugh!!!” She wears her puppy dog pout, but I still smile at her. “Well yea, I missed the bus, and I can’t really go home… So I was wondering if you’d like to get lunch with me and Rin!” “Don’t you mean Rin and I?” I interrupt teasingly.

	She pauses and looks at me with a sharp glance “I don’t know anyone named I, Hisao. And maybe I should just eat both of my lunches by myself then!” and she blows a raspberry at me, but then laughs. “Come on!!” She grabs my wrist and pulls me along towards the girl’s dormitory, my stomach apparently accepting of this boon even as my mind groans a bit as my bed grows further and further away.

	Emi leads me through the girls’ dorm at a rabbits pace, going up the second floor two steps at a time. I stagger along behind her barely able to keep my footing, and before I know it she stops and fishes a key out of her running shorts. “You’re gonna have to wait out here, ok? I gotta get changed real quick and grab the food and I’ll be right out!” I’m starting to suspect that this girl doesn’t do a single thing slowly when she turns and stares at me with a hard look. “And don’t go walking off like Rin does every time I tell her to wait!!”

	“Haha,” I laugh. “Alright Emi, I’ll be right here.”

	“Good!” She smiles cheerily, and then ducks into her room, closing the door behind her.

	“And no peaking!!” I hear her yell through her door, making me laugh slightly. I lean back against the wall next to the door across the hall, which must be Rin’s room now that I think about it.

	Realization hits me as I begin scanning the hallway that I’ve been in this same hallway many times before.

	Just 3 doors down is a room that I spent a good amount of my time here at Yamaku in. I walk over to it, room 225 written in large numbers to the right of the door with what I’m sure is the braille written underneath the numbers. I trace the familiar numbers with my fingers.

	There’s no way you can get in there, I think to myself as my hand slowly moves to the doorknob.

	It’s locked, there’s no point.

	My hand grips the doorknob.

	You’re supposed to be waiting for Emi.

	The knob twists freely.

	The door slowly opens into an almost bare and unfamiliar room.

	Go back, you’re being weird. Emi will be mad you left.

	Slowly, I enter the room.

	A faint scent of Vanilla permeates the air, and I feel myself go weak at the knees as I’m overwhelmed of the memories I spent with Lilly here. Of the times I spent with the one person I gave myself to entirely.

	I collapse to my knees in front of one of the only remaining object in the room, her table where she had thrown her tea parties. I must have been too big for her to bring home with her.

	In the back of my head, I hear the tune of the music box that I had given her after spending that first night here with her, and I can almost see how her eyes went wide with surprise at the present, and feel the brush of her lips on my cheek as she kissed me in thanks.

	I feel like I should be crying, but I must be out of tears from earlier today. Slowly, I feel myself get back to my feet.

	I have to keep moving forward, I think to myself.

	No matter what happens though, no matter where I go, I will never forget these memories.

	I silently get up and walk over to the door, before turning and taking one last look into the room. Even with a renewed sense of sadness,

	I smile slightly. At least I got to see it one more time.

	I exit the room, closing the door behind me, and begin walking back towards Emi’s room. I can’t let her see me upset like that, I promise to myself. I don’t want anyone to ever see me like that, I decide. I’ve spent too much time being weak.

	As I take up position at the side of Rin’s door once more, Emi launches open her door with the subtlety of a rampaging elephant inside an aquarium. “Let’s goooo!!” She storms out into the hall wearing her school uniform as well as her colorful knee-high socks. She points a lunch bag towards their path as if it was a sword yelling “Forward!!” The image of Emi wielding a cutlass flashes in my mind, which is amusing if nothing else. She skips over to me on what I notice is a pair of legs that look fairly normal, and I have to remind myself that she has more than her running blades.

	“Shall we?” I ask, offering her my arm.

	She giggles. “Oh wow, such a gentleman.” she says before taking my arm and leading us from the dorm. On the way out we pass by a group of students, including a familiar one that I just met today with a cane, but she doesn’t seem to notice us as she converses with her white haired friend. “Where are we going anyways?” I ask, just now realizing that I have no idea where she is leading us. Part of me thought Rin would have been in her room, but apparently she’s meeting us somewhere.

	“You, Mr. Nakai, get to enjoy a once in a lifetime chance to enjoy lunch with two bombshell beauties on the roof of the school!!” She says as we walk along towards the main building. A good number of students are outside today milling about, some moving their stuff to the main gate to go home.

	“Once in a lifetime? Emi, we’ve all had lunch on the roof before. Twice actually!”

	“Yea, but this is a once in a lifetime make up chance” she says in a bubbly mood, tightening her grip on me as she starts walking at a faster pace.

	“Make up chance?”

	“Yea! Don’t tell me you forgot!!” she says, turning to me with a pout.

	The clueless look on my face must say it all as she further pushes out her lower lip. “You said you would come have lunch with us again and you never did.”

	It takes me a moment to remember, but the memories surface, as does a bad feeling at never having thought of it. “I did say that, didn’t I…?”

	“Yea, you did!” she says, and we step inside the main building

	“I just never showed up cause you never offered to give me free lunch again” I say jokingly, but she punches my arm anyways in mock offense.

	“Ye dare take advantage of the goodness of me heart?” she replies with a fake accent. “For that, when we reach the deck I’ll make ye walk tha plank!!”

	The image of her wielding a cutlass seems much more fitting now as I start laughing at the image of Emi with an eye patch.

	“I’ll send ye plummeting into Tha Sea ya scallywag.” She declares, detaching her arm to throw her fists up as if to fight.

	“I bet you would, but you’ll have to catch me before I reach the crow’s nest first!” I say with a wink and I take off leaving her standing at the bottom of the staircase as I launch myself up the first three steps in one motion. I’m halfway up the first flight when I hear her shout “HEY! NO FAIR!!” and start after me.

	“Life ain’t fair!” I shout back, reaching the second floor and spinning up the rail towards the next.

	“Hisao!!! I’m not supposed to run in these!” I hear her whine over my shoulder.

	“I’m not falling for it, pirate!” I can hear her clattering quickly up the stairs behind me, and I can feel my breath starting to burn as it goes down my throat.

	I hit the third floor and spin towards the fourth, and my chest is starting to strain. I’m already more than halfway there though, and as long as I stay on the inside and go two steps at a time I might actually win!

	My feet heavily pound against the stairs as I race up towards the fourth, and for a moment I feel a hand reaching for the back of my shirt. She’s right on top of you, go!!

	The fourth floor comes fast and as I try to use my momentum to spin to launch myself up the final flight, I feel her grab my left arm and pry it from the rail. We slam against the opposite wall and she pins me there, panting, and whips my arm around so my front faces her and she pins my arms to the wall with surprising strength for her small frame. She looks at me with a ferocity to her eyes as she seems hardly affected by the upward sprint whereas I pant like a dog on a hot day. I laugh, she looks about as ferocious as a kitten. She makes even this cute. She smiles slightly, but her eyes look down to my heaving chest. She places her head against it, and I can feel my heart beat pushing against my ribcage rhythmically. Her head rises and falls with my chest. It doesn’t hurt, but I don’t say anything. Her hands are warm wrapped around my wrists, and her hair smells faintly of strawberries. I let my head rest against the wall behind me, not resisting her hold on me, and allowing my breathing to return to normal. I can feel my heart slowly returning to its slow beat.

	Lub-dub

	Lub-dub

	Hesitantly, Emi raises her head from my chest. I open my eyes to stare in her green. She lets go of my left arm and her arm come up behind my neck, pulling my face down towards hers.

	“What the heck were you thinking!?” She shouts right into my face.

	Not what I was expecting

	“Running upstairs is a lot harder than running on a track, and you went up here faster than you were even able to run earlier! You gotta manage yourself, dummy!” I’m about to retort when she places her head against mine and her lets breath comes out raggedly for a moment as she raises her right leg.

	“Hey, are you alright?” I ask, worriedly.

	She raises her head from mine and looks at me, “I’m fine, no thanks to you.” She says, almost aggressively. I recoil, and the look dies on her face. She sighs. “I told you I wasn’t supposed to run in these.” She says, gingerly putting her leg back down.

	“Oh… I thought…” I trail off, embarrassed.

	“No, although I probably would do something like running in these haha…” her laugh isn’t her normal cherry laugh, it is… bitter, almost. “Come on,” she says, releasing me from the wall, but taking my arm. “Rin’s waiting for us.”

	I hesitate, but I can’t think of anything to say to apologize, so I start walking up the final flight with Emi in tow. Her steps seem… off, almost, like she’s putting more weight on me than she was on the way here. We reach the rooftop landing and I push the door open, and the bright light hits us both in the face in full force. I have to squint to see anything, expecting Rin to suddenly appear as she has before.

	It seems the roof is empty though, and a quick scan of the area confirms this.

	“Oh god damn it…” Emi trails off. “She must have wandered off again.” Emi sighs exasperated, and I look towards the bench and see it’s vacant.

	“Maybe she went to go and grab her lunch?”

	Emi looks up at me with a smirk, “I dunno, grabbing things is pretty hard for her.”

	“Oh you know what I mean,” I say rolling my eyes, which elects a giggle from Emi. She sounds a bit more cherry, which makes me smile. I like her better happy than… whatever that was in the stairwell. “I saw her eating alone in the art room the first time I met her, so maybe she has a way to carry her stuff and she went to go get it.”

	“Hmmm,” she puckers her lips. “Mayyybe… Sometimes, I feel that if I don’t bring her a lunch then she’ll fade away. I guess that’s transferred to you now.” she says, poking at my side with a laugh as we walk towards the bench.

	“Hey, I was gonna eat once I got back to my room!” I say.

	“In your room??? That sounds soooo bland! Look around, it’s a beautiful day!!!” She says so loud they can probably hear her at the front gate. “There’s nowhere better to spend it than up here with us… or rather, I guess just with me haha.” She says. She sits down on the bench and I look out over the school grounds, and I am able to really enjoy the view. It is pretty wonderful out. “Here!” I turn and she is pulling two sandwiches out of her lunch bag, along with two juice boxes.

	“Why did you have two lunches anyways?” I ask.

	“I always pack two when I have a meet, you’ve seen how quick I can go through them hahaha. But since I’m not running today, I decided I’d share!” she says with a cheery grin.

	“You were still in your running outfit when I saw you though, and that was hours after we ran this morning though??”

	“Welll…” she dots her fingers together like a child. “I had to make up for missing it, so I did a couple extra laps.”

	“How far did you go?”

	She says more of a sound than a word, and I sit down next to her and place my arm around her. She tenses up for a moment, but then relaxes and leans into my arm. “Emiiii,” I say. “How far did you run?”

	“About 2 miles…. But that’s including the run in the morning!!”

	“2 Miles!?” I exclaim

	“Including this morning!!!” She exclaims, louder this time.

	“But you also ran all the way to the gate, didn’t you?”

	That catches her off-guard, “Yea, but that wasn’t on the track so that doesn’t count… right?”

	“You know that counts hahaha.” I say, as she pouts a bit at realizing. “And you told me to watch myself.” I say, patting her shoulder. She looks up at me, “You do! I’ve been running for like forever, but you just started today, so you gotta take it easier.” I laugh in response, but she gets up and stands in front of me. “You gotta promise me that you’ll take it easier… at least until we find your limits, alright?”

	“Psh, my limits? I’ll have you know that I only get moderately tired walking up from town.” I glibly reply, but she takes my shoulders and makes me look in her eyes.

	“Promise me.”

	“Why do you need me to promise?”

	“Cause you can’t break a promise!” I know she’s right, that I do need to be softer on myself, but I still hesitate to reply. “You said you didn’t want to feel like you’re about to fall apart, but you won’t even get the chance if you push yourself too much. It takes time, but if you’re willing to try then we can do this together.”

	Together. An image flashes in my head of Lilly and I walking back up the hill towards the school, arm in arm. I would be fine like this, I remember thinking to myself. As long as we were together, I could enjoy this.

	“I’ll take it easier. For now.” I reply, feeling a bit of determination. I wasn’t going to let my life end simply because we weren’t together anymore.

	“GOOD!” she shouts, pleased with my response. “Just keep going each time a little bit harder for a little bit longer, and you might not even feel a change in your heartbeat. Here, feel.” She says, taking my hand and placing it on her modest chest. A blush creeps onto my face as I feel her chest. “Oh, stop it.” She says, noticing my blush. “This is just to feel my heartbeat, you aren’t getting to second base yet.” She says with a wink

	That made my blush ten times worse.

	“Hehehehe, here, just feel this.” She places the palm of my hand firmly against her breast and breaths in deeply. I feel her heart beat, moderately faster than mine, but also so much stronger.

	Dub-dub

	Dub-dub

	Dub-dub

	I take my hand off, kind of amazed how at the difference in our heartbeats. A thought strikes me, and I’m glad Rin didn’t walk up with my hand on Emi’s chest. “Where is Rin, anyway?” I mutter, more to myself than Emi.

	“Huh?” she replies. “Oh yea, where is she!? I’m getting kinda worried… and we’re waiting for her!! I’m gonna staaaarve if she doesn’t get here soon.” She says, patting her non-existent stomach. She walks over to the ledge and links her fingers through the chain-link fence and stands against the short concreate barrier. “HEY!!” she shouts, startling me.

	“What is-”

	“Is that Rin!!?” Sure enough I walk over to the ledge and I see a red messy hairdo in a boy’s uniform walking in an arithmetic pace away from the school.

	“It certainly looks like it, but I can’t reall-”

	“RIN!!!” Emi shouts. “HEY!!” She shakes the fence and starts shouting down to the armless painter. “RIN I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT’S YOU THEN I’M NOT BRINGING YOU FOOD NO MORE!!!” A couple of students can apparently hear her, looking up towards us at the top of the school, but the messy haircut continues walking away. “HEY, YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!” she screams, and swings her right leg on top of the barrier.

	“Emi I don-”

	“STOP WALKING AWAY FROM US!” More people begin taking notice, and she pulls on the fence to hoist her other leg up on the barrier. Then she resumes shaking the fence. “YOU GET UP HERE OR I’M GONNA-”

	*CLINK*

	The sound is almost deafening, and my arms react before I even realize what’s happening. Emi’s body twists as the fence comes away from the post, and her body is sent plummeting over the edge head first before she can scream.

	I launch myself into the barrier and grab at her leg as she starts screaming, feeling my hands sliding on the slickness of her knee-high socks and they slip all the way down to her foot where my hand finally catch and her head and back slam against the wall, silencing her scream with an grunt of pain.

	I’m barely hanging on to her false leg, which I can see is extremely loose. Blood is pooling around the prosthetic, and I can see she’s a moment from sliding out. She looks towards the ground and I can hear the people beneath us screaming, but I focus all my efforts on Emi.

	“Hey!! Emi, look at me!”

	She looks up, panic clearly written on her face. “Your other leg!” I shout. “I need your other leg!!” She looks at me dumbstruck until a drop of blood falls from her leg and strikes her cheek.

	Quickly she kicks her other leg towards me and I grab onto it with my right arm just as her left leg comes loose. Her body nearly drops as I release her useless right leg and grab onto the left with both arms, and her body shakes once more.

	Her right leg plummets to the ground five stories down where it shatters into broken pieces.

	She looks up at me once again, with tears forming in her eyes.

	My hands are getting sweaty.

	I need to act fast. I can feel my arms begin burning and-

	LUB-DUB

	LUB-DUB

	LUB-DUB

	Shit.

	Pulling with every fiber of strength I have, she moves upwards slightly, until she screams in pain and shutters again. Her prosthetic must be cutting into her skin. I realize that I’ve been holding my breath and I exhale shakily. “You’re gonna be fine Emi,” I say. She looks at me with terror, but nods her head. I’m about halfway up her prosthetic, but she’s going to fall unless I pull her up faster.

	I’m sorry Emi, I think to myself as I pull once again, straining my legs against the barrier, using my body weight. She yelps again, and I can see blood start tricking up her thigh. Oh no. I yank with all my might and my right hand paws at her knee just above her prosthetic, but I can’t get a good grip. I yank with my left again, finally finding purchase against her skin as I feel her leg coming a bit looser, but I pin her against the wall with all my strength and my other arm quickly catches onto her skin. She screams out, but goes quiet when she doesn’t fall. The more morbid part of my mind notices the red blood from her leg trickles onto her exposed blue panties, but I shut it out.

	I feel my arm muscles burning, and even my face feels strained as I pull her closer, just a bit more, just a little farther. “Breathe,” I mutter to myself.

	Pain starts to wrap around my chest as I recognize the familiar sensation, but I won’t let it stop me again.

	Not this time.

	I wrap both my hands around her thigh, getting her knees to the barrier, and I can feel she’s sweating as much as I am, her legs are clammy to the touch.

	Just a little more god damn it.

	I pull her bodily, grabbing onto the fabric of her skirt and her shirt underneath. With one hand on the back of her thigh and the other grabbing onto her shirt, I tug her over the wall, pivoting her over the barrier and falling onto my back as I follow through with the throw and she falls behind me.

	My arms have gone entirely numb and the pain in my chest is immense as my heart screams to burst and I cry out in pain. My heartbeat’s way too fast, and I place my arms on top of my chest as if holding it in place could restrain it.

	Calm breaths, Hisao. In… out… In… out. Calm.

	As I slowly start calming my body back down, I can hear sounds of cheering, as well of that of crying. Emi

	I twist my head upwards just in time to see Emi catapult herself on top of me, “thankyouthankyouthankyou Hisaoooo” she shouts, and places her head against my chest and cries. I can feel my breathing calm. She’s ok. I raise my hand and place it on her head, and run it through her hair. I keep breathing in a rhythmic fashion while rubbing her head as she cries against my chest. “Just promise to never do anything like that ever again.” I say, sighing.

	The door bangs open, and before I know it a man has moved across the rooftop to over us in a flash. A tall shadow stands over us. “Are you alright??” it asks with concern in it voice. I recognize Kane, the new security officer, and nod. He sees Emi’s bloody leg, and a grim expression is set on his face. “I’m gonna have to take you to the nurse. Both of you.”

	Emi looks up from my chest with a red face and tear streaks at him, but she doesn’t let go of me. “I… I can’t walk.” She says. Kane nods,

	“I can carry you.” He bends down, but Emi grabs on tightly to me, burying her head into my chest and shouts “NO!” He recoils, and looks at me for support.

	“Emi, it’s alright.” I say, placing my hand against her head. She looks up at me and looks more like a frightened rabbit than the strong and determined Emi I know. “Hey, come on, I’ll be right there with you.” Her eyes come into focus on me as I keep speaking, seeming less and less freaked out. Slowly, she nods, and releases the grip on my shirt.

	Kane bends down and scoops her up bodily in his arms, and she looks almost comically small compared to the muscular man. She grabs onto his shoulder. “Do you need help getting up?” Kane asks. I can feel my heartbeat slowed beating only slightly faster than normal.

	“No, I’ll be alright” I say, standing. My leg gives out for a moment and I steady myself on Kane, but then the weakness is passed and I begin walking to the door. Kane follows, quickly taking up on my side. Emi looks at me from where he carries me and she sticks out her hand, which I take as we walk into the stairwell.

	A rising cheer comes from the stairwell as a swarm of students begin applauding in the stairwell, and many jump to the side as Kane shouts for them to clear the way. They clap me on the back as we make our way down the stairs, and Emi shies away from them. Kane starts shouting words I can’t understand, presumably English, and the kids quickly clear out. “Come on,” Kane says once we get down to the second floor. “We can avoid your ‘admirers’ by taking the employee stairwell into the nurse’s station.” I hadn’t even been aware of an employee’s stairwell, but as we make our way towards the right there’s a door labeled ‘Staff only’. Kane fishes the keys from his pocket, carrying Emi with one arm as he unlocks the door to a stairwell I never knew about. We descend and come out in the hallway three doors down from the head nurses station and we walk over to it and I knock on the door. The nurse calls us in, and I open the door, only just realizing I still was holding onto Emi’s hand, which she squeezes tighter. The cool air from the room’s air conditioning washes over us as the nurse spins in his chair wearing his trademark grin… that quickly falls the moment that he sees us. “Oh no…” he get up and begins to rush over to us, but pauses and tells Kane to put her on the bed in the room. We walk over to the bed where he puts her down, and I slide a chair from the side over while still holding onto her hand. I turn to Kane and say “Thank you. Really.” He nods his head and says something in English that I don’t understand… I should have paid more attention in class. He turns to the nurse and begins explaining what happened, but I tune them out and sit next to Emi. She seems calmer now, less pancaked, but she’s still shaking.

	I wrap my hands around her and whisper, “Hey, you’re alright now. Everything’s ok.” She pulls me closer and asks me “You’re not gonna leave me, right?”

	I smile at her. “Well I was thinking about going back and eating your lunch.” I say glibly while smirking, and she actually laughs at that, even if it’s just a little. She looks at me and a look of hesitation enters her eyes, but before I can ask what she’s thinking she pulls me close and kisses my cheek. “Thank you, Hisao.”

	I stand there, dumbfounded for a moment, before my mind catches up and I smile at her. “Well I couldn’t just let you fall. What’s a crew without a captain?”

	She laughs loudly. “Savin the captain from walkin’ the plank, eh? That’ll win you some bonus points” she says with a wink. The nurse walks over and I turn and stop Kane before he leaves.

	“Hey, our lunches are still up on the roof. Can you go get them for us?”

	“Of course, I’ll be right back.” He says with a wide smile and then leaves the room.

	The nurse steps over to Emi’s bed, and I see his eyes look to our hands for a moment before looking to Emi. His expression is grim, to say that least, but he doesn’t say anything. Simple stares. Emi looks like she wants to be anywhere but here right now, and has yet to meet his gaze.

	“Emiiii.” he says.

	She doesn’t look up.

	“You’re gonna have to look at me sometime.”

	Her eyes seem intent on proving him wrong as they seem to find her remaining foot extremely interesting. I wonder why she’s acting so embarrassed.

	He sighs, “Hisao?” I look over at him, and he looks a bit tired. “Her leg fell to the ground, right?” I nod my head in response. “Can you do us a favor and go and get it?”

	I’m about to respond in the affirmative when Emi squeezes my hand tightly and looks up panicked. “No!” she shouts. I look at her surprised and she glares at him, almost daring him to say something else.

	“Are you-“

	“Yes,” she interrupts. “I’m sure. I don’t care what he hears, he’s not leaving.” She squeezes my hand and looks at me and pouts her puppy dog eyes at me. “You’re gonna stay right here, right?” The heart wrenching look along with the fact that she nearly slipped to her death have me rooted to the chair.

	“Unless you can manage to pull off a cuter look than that,” I say to the nurse, “I think I’m stuck here.” I say with a lopsided grin. It elects a grin from the nurse, and I squeeze Emi’s hand reassuringly.

	“Alright.” He says, putting his hands up in mock defeat. But I want the full story from both of you this time. What happened?”

	He bends over and begins examining the end of Emi’s leg as she tells him everything, from how she and I went running this morning to how she missed her meet to remembering that she had a spare lunch. He applies some sort of substance to the stump that makes her wince for a moment and she tightens her grip, but it quickly fades as he starts wrapping it with gauze. She slows down a bit as she starts talking about how we ran up the stairs, looking at me a bit concernedly, and I pick up telling the nurse about how we raced up the stairs. He looks over at Emi as I talk and I notice a hardened look in his face that makes me pause. “You were running in these prosthetics?” he asks, motioning to her fake leg. She nods slowly. “So I’m guessing all the damage to this leg wasn’t simply from falling then.” She nods again, like a little girl being scolded. The nurse sighs. “I’d tell you that you can’t run in these, but I don’t even think they’ll be in walking condition when I send the security officer to go get the other one.”

	“The other what?” Kane asks as he steps in the room. I notice Emi’s grip on my hand has significantly increased. He places the lunch bag on the side of the table and clasps his hand on my back, and I nod my head in thanks. “Her other prosthetic fell from the roof, it must have fallen when you were sprinting into the building. Can you go and retrieve it and all the pieces you can find?”

	“Yea,” he replies. “I will be right back with the parts” He bows slightly as he leaves.

	He turns back to Emi, and places his hand against his head. “Well, at least I know you’ll listen to me next time when I say don’t run unless it’s with your running blades.” He laughs a bit coldly. “Why did you ignore me though?”

	“That was my fault actually.” I say. “I started running up the stairs and when she said she wasn’t supposed to run in those, I didn’t believe her. You can’t really blame her for wanting to make sure she didn’t get beat in a race by a guy with a broken heart heh…” I trail off, looking down towards my shoes as I admit it to being my fault.

	She looks at me a bit concernedly, but I smile at her. I know it’s the truth.

	“Did you know then that you had hurt yourself?” Emi looks over at him with a fake grin, “Ehhh, a little.” He rolls his eyes, but allows her to continue as he crouches down towards the other leg and unbuckles it. “Well, I could tell it was hurt a bit cause it was really sore. But I didn’t think it was too bad, and I was gonna come here right after I swear.” She squeaks slightly as he finishes removes the leg, and a stream of red trickles from the end. His gaze softens as she goes on, and when she looks at him he has a genuine smile on his face.

	“Liar,” he calls her, with a wink. He grabs the substance again and dabs a fresh cotton ball into it.

	“I was!!” she shouts back, and her grip on my hand tightens once more as he dabs the area.

	“Hahaha alright, alright. Well then what happened next?” he asks as he begins bandaging her other leg.

	Emi picks back up the story about how we waited on the rooftop for Rin, and how when we saw her walking around in the courtyard Emi started yelling and she shook the fence and fell. She said she heard the chain snap free from the post, and everything from there happened in slow motion. Grabbing onto the fence and twisting backwards, falling head first, seeing me lunging after her. She said she nearly passed out when she hit her head on the wall, thinking she had fallen the entire way, but then saw herself barely hanging onto me.

	She kept looking at me as she talked, and she wore the largest smile I think I’ve ever seen her have as she told him how I pulled her up. “He saved my life. When he let me go when we got to the top I started crying and I just couldn’t stop, I kept thinking that I was gonna die and the last thing you would see were my panties hahahahaha” she says laughing. I laugh as well as the memory is still fresh in my brain, and the nurse smiles as well. “Then, that security guard came and we came here. There were a bunch of people cheering in the stairwell.”

	“Well I’d be surprised if the whole school doesn’t cheer for him now, he’s a hero!” he says, clasping my shoulder.

	“A hero? No, I’m no hero, I just-”

	“Ok Mr. Humble, come here.” She pulls my hand and I lean closer. She reaches her arms around me and squeezes my shoulder tightly. “You’re my hero. And don’t you ever doubt that.” She says in my ear, and I return her hug. She lets go, and I sit back with a huge grin plastered on my face. The nurse looks at us slyly, and we both laugh. “Alright, Hisao. Since you stayed for her examination, would you like her to stay for yours?”

	Huh? My examination?

	“Yes, your examination.” He says, and I silently wonder if he’s developed telepathy. “You ran for breakfast, ran upstairs for lunch, and for dinner you had a hardy lifting of girl.”

	“I am not hardy!!” Emi retorts, making the nurse laugh.

	“Alright, you skimped on dinner by only lifting a meager little girl.”

	“I’m older than he is!”

	“And littler,” he says teasingly. She responds by blowing her tongue out at him, and he laughs and turns back towards me. “Now that would be a strenuous day even if you didn’t have your condition, so come on. Off with your shirt.”

	I turn to Emi and I see the spark of curiosity in her eyes. My eyes travel down her legs. I got to see her in a very private moment. I nod my head, it’s only fair. I let go of Emi’s hand and unbutton my shirt. I place it on the back of my seat as I take it off, and the nurse turns around towards his desk. “Now where did I put my stethoscope…” he says, shuffling the papers on his desk.

	I look back to Emi and I see her eyes directly on the scar on my chest. She doesn’t even seem to notice me looking as she take in what is probably one of my most private things. “Can I touch it?” she asks. She doesn’t sound concerned or worried, just absorbed in the moment. I take her hand and I guide it along the scar. It’s been months, but I can still see the marks of stitches in my skin and I’m sure she can feel them against her small fingers. She looks into my eyes and smiles, and I feel something I hadn’t felt since-

	A noise has me drop her hand and I turn to the nurse who’s just cleared his throat and like that, the moments over. He walks over and places his free hand against my back, telling me to sit up straight. With his other he places the cold metal of the stethoscope against my chest, and tells me to breathe in deeply.

	As I breathe in, I am all the more aware of the beating of my heart. The faint slowness of it beating inside my chest is, thankfully, devoid of the pain I had felt on the rooftop. I let the breath out, slowly. He repositions his cool hand on my back, and I can see his focus is fixed upon listening intently. I breathe in once more, and he stands up as I let out my breath. He steps back with a slight smile. “Well,” he starts, “it’s about in as good a condition as I could expect it to be. Have you had any attacks since the one you told me you suffered over break?”

	Yea, I think to myself. Just today. I catch myself nearly shake my head no in response, but I know doing so would be lying. I’ve told enough lies lately, and all they’ve caused is more grief. I should speak up.

	The nurse gives me a perplexed look as I mule over how to speak, until I decide on being up front is for the best. “Just today, actually. On the rooftop, when I was pulling Emi I felt one start.” Emi looks at me concerned, but the nurse nods at me to go on. “I felt my arms go numb, and I felt the increased beating thump inside of my chest. It started to hurt, and I started losing control of my arms, but I couldn’t let her fall. I ignored it and was able to pull her backwards, but when I was getting her over the ledge I felt my body give out and I kinda almost threw her behind me onto the roof as I collapsed.” The nurse nods his head, as if he expects this to be the truth, and lets out a low breath. “You really are lucky, you know that? Both of you.”

	I look at him quizzically, and he laughs. “If you hadn’t made him go harder running earlier today, I’m sure you did,” he says with a wink to Emi, “and if you hadn’t sprinted up the stairs to race her,” he says to me, “your heart would have been ‘fresh’ and unaccustomed to any amount of stress, which would have made it start shutting down much quicker. Because you guys pushed each other today, you’re both alive.” We look at each other, and Emi reaches out and punches my arm, smiling widely. “However,” he says interrupting the levity “you’ve both exhausted yourselves far too much today. Hisao, any further activity over the next few days might send you into a much worse attack than the flutter you felt on the roof, and you Emi…”

	He pauses as the door opens as Kane enters the room holding an utterly destroyed leg, placing it on a cart on the side of the nurse’s desk. The nurse lets out a heavy sigh at the sight of it, and Kane asks “Is there anything else I can do to help?”

	“No,” the nurse replies. “Thank you for everything, but unless you want to join me in scolding them…” Kane laughs and puts his hands up, “No thanks, sir. I’m afraid I don’t know enough Japanese to even try that.” The nurse laughs and thanks Kane once again, and he turns to us. “You two be good, alright? I don’t want my first week here to have any more accidents, got it?” He says with a large joking smile. I stand up and extend my hand to him in what I learned was a Western tradition. “No promises,” I say with a smile as I shake his hand. He laughs again, patting my back and then leaves the room. “See you around.”

	The nurse turns back to Emi, who looks like she’s trying to make herself smaller than she already is. “Look at your legs.” He says to her. She looks at them downcast, and her fingers splay across the bandages that wrap around her legs. “You know what I’m going to tell you, don’t you?” She nods her head, looking gloomy. He sighs, and then sits at the foot of her bed. I begin wondering just how they know each other outside of the school, seeming to be quite close. He pats her leg, and she looks up to his grin. “And this time, you’re gonna listen to me, right?” She huffs, and blows her tongue out at him, but she nods her head after a moment. “Good, no less than two weeks. Your right leg is severely torn, and we’ll have to ease you back into it, you know how brittle it can get.” The look on her face says it all, abject horror at the idea of the next two weeks without being able to use her prosthetics. He stands up and walks over to the leg on the table.

	“It might be longer for your walking pair, but your running pair is fine, right?” “Mm-hmm” she hums. I can’t believe that even now she’s thinking about running. I sit in the chair alongside her and see the blood marks beneath her bandages are visible through the gauze.

	“Alright, well we’ll see what we can do about this. But I want you to look at me when I say it, I need to know you’re going to take this seriously.” She looks at him and he has a deadpan look to her. “Two weeks before you can run, maybe longer. And that is figuring in you Emi ‘talent’ for healing, alright?” She makes a noise like a dying animal, but he stays transfixed on her. “Fineeee, just shut up about it alreadyyyy.” She says, laying back and putting her hands over her eyes.

	“Alright, good. And you, Hisao, I want you to take it easy the next few days, alright? Walking should be fine, as long as you don’t go mountain hiking, but make sure you get a lot of rest.” His joke feels a bit out of place, but I just nod my head along. The idea of some rest right now seems fantastic to me. He nods his head, “Good. Now, I’ll be right back, I have to make a phone call.”

	And with that, he turns and leaves the office, leaving Emi and I to ourselves.