BLOOM [OHSHC]

Author's Note

🏵

We've made it here yet again, my besties. BLOOM is complete! 

I've been working on BLOOM for... *checks notes* FOUR YEARS and I can't believe it's over. 

As usual, I'll divulge some secrets from while I was working on the story, and there will be some cuts down below! I hope you enjoy the bonus materials. 

Notes: 

🏵 I love a good opposites attract (which you know if you've read any of my other stories lol) and I created Michiyo to be Kyoya's opposite; she's anxious while he's calm, she's emotional while he's stoic, she's creative while he's analytical. The one thing I wish I'd managed to work into their relationship/story more was their shared love of painting, inspired by episode 24 of the anime, where we see Kyoya painting outside of the frame. 

🏵 I also wanted there to be a genuine reason for Michiyo to join the host club (some of the other OHSHC fics have such silly reasons for their OCs to join up), and I wanted it to be a reason that even Kyoya could get behind. Michiyo had the dual reasons of knowing Haruhi's secret and appealing to a new demographic, which Kyoya would've seen the merit in the decision to add her to the hosts.

🏵 Kyoya, Mori, and the twins were always my favorite characters in the anime, hence why they're the love interests for Michiyo. I briefly considered having Michiyo share a kiss with Haruhi, but I ship Haruhi and Tamaki too hard lol 

🏵 I'm hoping to write a sequel/partner to this about Mori finding love after high school; I've also toyed with the idea of writing a similar story for the twins. 

🏵 Michiyo's theme song was: peace or mirrorball by Taylor Swift 
(Honorable mention: Watch Me While I Bloom by Hayley Williams)

🏵 Kyoya's theme song was: Hidden in the Sand by Tally Hall
(Honorable mention: Girls/Girls/Boys by Panic! at the Disco)

🏵 Ellis's theme song was: Holda You (I'm Psycho) by White Denim

🏵 I still haven't read the OHSHC manga, but my spouse did buy me the books for my birthday a few years ago, and I vowed to myself that I would get to read the books once Bloom was finished. I put off reading the books until now because I knew I would get new inspiration and ideas for Bloom, and I didn't want to get distracted from my plot plan. Now I get to start reading!

🏵 Part of the reason I decided to write Bloom was to practice writing in first person perspective, as silly as it sounds! I'm not sure if I pulled it off, but I wanted Michiyo to have a distinct voice and a bright personality so it would be easier to write in first person.

🏵 I did not have Renge planned to be a secret villain until I was in the middle of writing the climax! She was such a huge character in the story for some reason, and I wanted her to have a tidy ending, but I realized that she would make the perfect mole/sleeper agent for Ellis and Alan. Sometimes it happens, like in this book, where I've been secretly laying the groundwork for a plot twist the whole story and even I don't see it until the very end of the book lol

🏵 My biggest regret was that I didn't plan the ending when I first started working on Bloom. About halfway through, I got the inspiration for the ending, but I didn't know how to make it work properly, so I half-assedly cobbled things together, which really shot me in the foot. If I knew how I wanted the ending to go, I would've made it Alice In Wonderland themed, rather than The Nutcracker, due to the themes and nature of the story. But I think it still worked out alright, despite my plotting problem.