This is going to be a multi-chapter story that is an "Emilogue" if you will, that shows the lives of Hisao and Emi being together after high school and into the beginnings of their adulthoods that they plan to share together. This is a sort of slice of life thing that I'm going to be aiming for here.
The fact that his body felt warm even as his breath created little clouds of vapor when it came into contact with the cold Japanese air that night was a bit peculiar to Hisao, but he thought that perhaps even stranger was the fact that this enchanting warmth in the middle of the bitter night was no longer an oddity to him. It wasn't as if he had magically become a track star or anything like that ever since he had graduated high school, though his mother in particular did like to joke about it whenever he and Emi went to visit his parents, but over the years Hisao had indeed become more and more of a runner, even if he doubted that he could ever come close to catching up to the fastest thing with no legs. Hell, it wasn't even Emi's raw speed that she had over him, but also just her plain endurance and control she had over her own body, something which came in handy in probably the only thing that the two of them enjoyed more and left them more out of breath than running.
He enjoyed the warmth that his body felt whenever he and Emi decided to run in the middle of the night, the morning usually being more their style, but there always came a point where he knew that it was perhaps best with his heart condition in mind to take a bit of a breather, even if he sometimes forgot about it. Slowing down, Hisao evened his breath and waved over at Emi, who had turned around to begin jogging backwards when she noticed that he was no longer trailing just behind her. He could only awkwardly rub the back of his neck when thanks to a nearby streetlamp he was able to see one of Emi's world famous pouts.
"Are you kidding?" Emi laughed in a way that he couldn't tell was either annoyed or simply amused. "Two nights ago you were able to go half a mile longer!"
Hisao just laughed along with her and replied with a shrug. "Don't blame me. I think I feel another heart attack coming on."
Emi just shook her head and turned around so that she could face forwards again, but she slowed down so that she could even herself with her boyfriend's brisk pace. It was one thing for her to poke fun at the fact that she was the fastest thing with no legs, what happened with her father being something that had devastated her much more than the loss of her limbs, but it was another for them to joke about Hisao's heart, especially considering that his heart was something that could still eventually kill him one day. She didn't like to think about it, it was a fact that she had actually spent a lot of time ignoring, and Emi could only be grateful about the fact that with each day and each run together that took place, that Hisao seemed to get slightly healthier with every instance.
Regardless of anything else though, Hiaso's heart was no laughing matter, and the moment that she and her boyfriend were finally speed walking in unison was the same moment that she roundly gave him a quick punch in the arm. "Don't joke about your heart. If you do I'll murder you while you sleep."
Hisao rubbed his arm from the punch, all the while pretending he was rubbing his arm in faux pain, and he never could understand how someone as adorably petite as Emi could be as physically tough as she was. On top of being faster and sexier than he was, the macho side of Hisao's brain was slightly scared that his tiny girlfriend could add being stronger than him onto her resume as well.
"If you murder me," Hisao began, logic being the pal that rescued time and again in his life both personal and professional, "doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of you being mad?"
The young woman bit her lip before she sighed and shook her head, never in the mood for too much playful banter whenever it concerned Hisao's health. "Can you just not make jokes about your heart like that? When I'm an old lady I don't want to be the granny who decides to let her husband die from a heart attack because she thinks that he's making another one of his dumb jokes."
It was with that that Hisao figured that maybe he had taken his heart joke just a little too far, and he frowned for a moment before he smiled when he realized something else about Emi's comment that he knew he wouldn't be able to take out of his mind for at least the next two weeks. "So you think we're going to be old and married, huh?"
Emi said nothing in response, and only pouted again before giving her boyfriend another well-deserved punch in the arm, something that only made him become even more enamored with her. He slowed down into a normal walk, Emi following his lead, and Hisao sighed and felt that perhaps the current moment would be a good one to turn around and make their way back to their apartment. He was actually ready for a night of great sleep, which was something that Hisao could now easily invite since he finally felt the cold night air finally starting to hit him.
"Can we walk the rest of the way home?" Hisao yawned for effect, "I'm feeling kind of beat."
Instead of the playful pout that he expected and always looked forward too, Emi only smiled, feeling just as content with the world as he did. "Yeah, we can walk the rest of the way home."
Without any kind of notice, Emi began to lean into him, and that was all that it took for Hisao to feel that familiar enchanting warmth come back to him. He decided not to tell Emi about it, but at that moment his heart was beating even faster than when they had actually been running.
Yeah, I'm one of those guys who actually (real talk) kind of fell in love with Emi. I'm glad I started writing this. I've wanted to do this for a very long time.