"If the snow sets… I'll make footprints with you." That is what he said to me several days ago. When I wondered if he had forgotten, he broke a piece of chalk, as if to say, "I won't forget." Yuki, the prince. Yuki, the student council president. Yuki, the person that wanted to make things imperfect with me. Me, Machi. Machi, the girl had never been good enough.

I stared at the television. "The chance of snow tomorrow is thirty percent," The weatherman was saying is his annoying I-get-paid-to-be-this-happy voice. "Then, the cold front will leave and spring will be on its way. We won't see snow again until next year!"

I felt my heart drop and I didn't know why. I normally cheered when spring was just around the corner. But, this year, it felt like his promise would melt away just like the snow. Tears silently flowed down my cheeks while disappointment filled me up like helium in a balloon. This was the one shot I had at making footprints with someone else, and I didn't want to lose it. For some reason, I didn't understand. Why was I crying? Why did I want to be near Yuki so much? If it had been Manabe that had told me that he would make footprints, I wouldn't have cared whether or not about if it was going to snow. In fact, I would have been glad if it didn't snow. But Yuki was different, and I couldn't figure out why. I hated perfection, and he seemed to be perfect in all was. The only short-coming about Yuki was that he seemed so lonely even surrounded by others. I should hate him, and not crying since it wasn't going to snow. Nothing made sense anymore.

I feel into a fitful slumber. My dream became a nightmare, one about the day I had been evicted from my parents' house.

"You tried to kill him," my mother sneered.

"You were always jealous of him. I'm ashamed of you. I hate that you are our daughter. Get out," my father screeched.

"No," I tried to whimper. "I didn't mean to…"

"Out! Before I make you!" My father hoisted me up by my arms. He opened the front door and threw me out.

The ground below me turned to sand, engulfing me slowly. "Help!" I cried. "Please, someone, anyone… Please?" I watched as dozens of people walked by me, not even looking at me while they passed by. They were oblivious to me. I continued to scream for help while I seeped deeper into the ground. "Why won't anyone rescue me?"

I woke with a start. My alarm clock was going off, and half-heartedly I hit "snooze." It had been a long time since I had that reoccurring nightmare, and this time something was different. Something different had happened, something that had changed the outcome of the entire dream. However, the more I tried to remember what that thing was, the more it flew away from the grasp of my memory, it was like a butterfly; the memory was just out of reach, and it would not let me hold it in my hands.

It bothered me all day during school, and it made me more absent-minded than usual. I ran into not one, not two, but three open lockers preceded by a door frame, which left bulging red marks on my forehead. It wasn't until the dismal bell that I realized it was snowing. I stared at the snow falling into perfect layers outside, and my heart soared. Yuki and I would get to make snow prints.

"Machi!" It was a voice of a classmate that called out to me, but they were too late. I managed to walk straight into yet another doorframe. "Are you okay?" I rubbed my head and looked up at her.

Better than ever. "Have you seen Yuki?" I asked, ignoring the question.

A strange look crossed my classmate's face. "No," she said, "Yuki-San was absent during homeroom. He hasn't shown up for any of his classes. Why?"

I walked away from her. Things were always too good to be true, and this was just another disappointment. My life was the definition of "imperfection," and if Yuki had been here to make footprints in the snow, my life would have been too flawless, too perfect. I hated perfection, so this shouldn't bother me, yet it did. Tears had returned to my eyes as I walked outside, shoving pass all of the smiling faces of people with perfect lives. I hated everyone, and I only wanted to get to my haven of imperfection, my house. I didn't bother to wipe my eyes as I stomped home. They only added to the flaws of my life, and that's what I liked, flaws. For some reason, no matter what I told myself, I knew deep that in my heart were newly formed cracks. I had been hanging onto this day with all my might, and now it proved unstable, the result being my world crumbling to more pieces around me. That is what I get for building the foundation of my heart on Yuki.

"You sure do wander around in an unpredictable pattern." I looked up. Yuki was there, smiling at me. He paraphrased something I had said to him long ago. "Why are you crying?" His smile was replaced with concern upon seeing my tears.

Instead of smiling, instead of saying something to him, I started to cry harder. "Ma... Machi!" Yuki looked worried. "What's wrong?"The one thing that had been different in my dream had been him. Instead of being engulfed completely by the ground, Yuki had showed up and grabbed my hand, saving me from my predictable fate. "Why?" I sniffled through the tears. "Why me? Why are you here with me when you were at home?" Yuki softly brushed my tears from my face.

"Because I promised you." Yuki patted my head. "I want you to be happy. If footprints make you happy, then I will be the one beside you making them." He smiled at me, his hand still on my cheek, and he didn't seem so lonely anymore. He leaned down, and suddenly the space between us was nonexistent. He missed and kissed my chin first, but I knew he did that on purpose. He didn't want this moment to be perfect, and neither did I. Imperfection was just fine, but it wasn't as good as Yuki's soft kiss.

After we pulled away, I whispered again, "Why me, why me above Honda-San and any other girl? Why any girl, when you are perfect and complete all by yourself?"

"Some couples say they make each other complete. I do not want that. I want someone who will make me imperfect, someone that doesn't make me full. Life isn't perfect, so why should I pretend it is? Life will be as sweet and as good as it can get to me with you. We share something, Machi. We share imperfection, and we always will, and that is just fine with me." Yuki didn't know it, or maybe he did, but he saved me from being engulfed like he had in my dream, only this time, it was from perfection. With him, the snow will melt and spring will come out with sunshine, but no flowers. There would always be something missing, but that was alright. Perfection was dull, and I never understood why anyone wanted it. Imperfection is inevitable, and Yuki and I would face it head on, together.