1. Blood rushing through my veins and nearly choking on my own phlegm, shunning the
perpetual pain was proving to be more difficult than I thought. Still trudging on, I just
couldn’t let Mizuki down. Not again. If I win the race, I would finally be able to save
enough money to buy a bargain flight to Tokyo to see her for the first time in over one
and a half years. Flashing back through memories, I reminisce to the time when I was a
high school sophomore and how I spent most of my free time at home alone learning
Japanese, instead of spending it with my best friend Mizuki. I could recall of the proverb
“You don’t know what you have until it’s gone,” but before she left, I didn’t truly under-
stand it. Sprinting to my highest possible speed, I mutter to myself “Dekiru!” with what
energy my lungs managed to strip away. Then my mind jolted as I realized what was
happening. All of the while that I was in deep thought, a slew of runners shot past me.
Tearing up, I look away as the first competitors cross the finish line just a third of a mile
away. “MAKENAI YO!” I shriek to the bitter sky, not caring what the other runners
around me thought. Still with hope, I keep running. I needed to do it for Mizuki. At long
last, my red stained eyes spot the finish line, anguish filling my shoes with exhaustion
as I stretched across the white line. Noting my parents, my body gives way into their
arms. Out of the blue, my mother starts shouting with excitement, despite the fact that I
was bawling in her embrace. “Over there! It’s, it’s....!” Peeking over my shoulder, the
world could have ended right then and there and I wouldn’t have cared. Mizuki stood
just a hundred feet away. Omitting everything about my current strength, I fly towards
her vigorously, until everything became black. Slowly tears drowned my face as reality
set in. It was just a dream. Feebly I murmur “Mizuki wo wasurerarenai yo,” and fall back
to sleep after I add yet another tally to my ‘Reasons to go to Japan’ list.