Running Laps

[SirMax]

Well, my first foray into fanfiction (let's not even count the melodramatic Emi Bad End I wrote ages ago) and it's in response to kosherbacon, sort of. Mostly just the fact that he loves Emi so much that he puts her in every fic made me think about writing her. I tried to make the tense as close to the VN while still being prose rather than a script.

edited to not have half the sentences ending in ", right?"

Chapter 1: Motivation
The buzz of my alarm clock pulls me from my slumber. I groan and cover my eyes with the back of my hand. Suddenly, staying late at last night's party seems less intelligent, and Emi's decision to leave early less funny. Pressing the snooze button, I roll over and stare at the ceiling. Momentarily, I consider not going to the track. Emi would understand, right? It's a Sunday, I can run later in the day. Sleeping in is what Sundays are for, right? Right.

Content with my iron reasoning, I turn my alarm off all together and close my eyes.

What seems like only a few minutes later, a knock at my door wakes me up. I'm momentarily perplexed as to who it could be, but I figure it's probably just Kenji. And I do not have the energy to deal with Kenji. Closing my eyes again, I ignore the knocking and try to get back to sleep.

"Hisao? Hisao, I know you're in there."

My blood runs cold and my eyes shoot open. As the knocking resumes, more insistently, I climb out of bed and open the door, grinning sheepishly.

"Er... hello, Emi."

Not the best defence I've ever come up with, but I did just wake up a few minutes ago.

"You were supposed to be at the track an hour ago."

To my surprise, her voice lacks any trace of fury. It isn't even a particularly scolding tone. She just sounds upset.

"Do you remember what I said when we started this plan?" Emi asks suddenly, before I can explain myself. I expected a lecture- maybe even a beating, if it was really was an hour past when I was supposed to meet her- but not a question like that. Still, keeping on my guard was probably wise. Maybe this was a lead-in to a lecture.

"Well... yeah. Which part of it specifically?" I ask warily.

" 'It's easier to keep up a workout if you're not the only one doing it', remember?" Emi clarifies, frowning. Maybe this is a lecture after all. If so, it's a good one. I'm already starting to feel a little guilty.

"I don't like leaving parties earlier either, you know. But I thought that if I skipped a day, you'd start slacking again."

Oops. That's right, I'm supposed to be helping her keep the routine too. She always seems so self-motivated, though. Surely me flaking didn't really affect her that much.

"I-I'm sorry Emi." I manage, but it sounds weak even to me. Emi's frown deepens and without warning she suddenly asks "Have you even taken your medication today?"

"What?" I suppose it's not that odd that the nurse would tell her about that too, but it's still a little surprising to find out she knows about it. "Well, no, I mean-"

"Aren't you supposed to take them every morning? Or were you planning on sleeping through that, too?" Her words carry an unexpected sting. Running is supposed to be helping my heart, right? And here I am, blowing it off again. I guess it is a little like if I skipped my pills. But I've been going every day for weeks! So I missed one day, it's not that bad. It wasn't like I was planning on staying in my room the entire day. I was going to run in the afternoon, and I tell Emi as much.

"Well thank you for telling me an hour ago." Emi says icily. "Fine then. You run in the afternoon." With that, she turns on her heel- well, a motion similar to that, anyway- and walks briskly off down the hall, leaving me in my pyjamas staring after her. Damnit. I quickly take my pills and throw on my soccer outfit before heading out to the track, but I'm still too late. There's no sign of Emi anywhere. I guess she must have done her routine before waking me up.

Well, I guess as long as I'm here I really should do some laps. I did say I'd run later today, even if Emi isn't here. And hey, this is to strengthen my heart. Why should it even matter if Emi's here? I have my workout sheet, so I know how many laps to do today. This is to keep me healthy, isn't it? Shouldn't it be something I can do myself?

I hate to admit it, especially after this morning, but there's something to Emi's idea of having a partner. It's a lot harder to convince yourself to do something you don't want to for a vague concept like "health" than doing it because someone else is counting on you to. I guess I was using Emi's bossiness as a crutch to avoid having to use willpower.

Even in my own head that sounds pathetic. I'm a strong willed guy. I can motivate myself to do a couple of laps. I glance at the workout plan. Okay, maybe more than a couple. Still, it's just for today. Tomorrow, Emi will no doubt be here again to remind me to stretch and make sure I don't skip a couple laps. I sigh and start today's lengthy jog.

[Xuan]

Pretty good, but left me thinking where did the other half of the story went missing to.

[Leotrak]

Probably still under construction.

[SirMax]

Pretty good, but left me thinking where did the other half of the story went missing to.

Well it is chapter 1. I intend to continue it.