Write Me a Love Story (OHSHC)

Epilogue I: Together

5 years post-graduation

The crowd erupted into cheers as I pinned my opponent to the mat. I got up, smiling like crazy, my mind exploding and going on a hundred different tangents. As the referee confirmed, and after helping my opponent to her feet, I couldn't help but hop up and down in excitement. The crowd's deafening cheers drowned out the noise in my head, and my face broke into a huge grin. In the midst of all that, my face turned toward the top of the bleachers, right under the announcing booth. There sat my family; my actual family, my mother and my sister sitting side by side, and my host club family sitting in the seven chairs right beside them. I caught Kyouya's eye immediately, and he smiled and mouthed 'I love you, my champion', making me grin wider. It was as if, even though the room was filled with noise, I could hear him saying it to me personally.

I just became an Olympic gold medalist.

*

The two women on my right and left were presented with their medals, and then it was my turn. It was completely surreal; I bowed when the woman giving out the medals got to me, and she hung it carefully around my neck. It was heavier than I'd expected, but the blue ribbon held it proudly against my white judogi. I bowed to the woman again after she stepped back, still slightly in shock but smiling widely when they announced my name. Cameras flashed about once every second as the Japanese national anthem played, and I stood proudly through it all.

The aftermath was a whirlwind, from getting back to the locker room to actually leaving the stadium to find my family. But everything cleared once I saw them. My mother was the first person I saw, and we made eye contact at the same time. She held her arms open to me, and I ran over to her and hugged her harder than I ever had. I laughed as I did, seeing the tears in her eyes when I pulled away.

"I'm so proud of you, Kaiyoka. You did spectacularly out there. I can't even put into words how proud I am!" I smiled as my sister came and hugged me as well.

"Yeah, me too! Who knew my older sister would be an Olympic champion and the youngest female to ever win a gold medal in judo?" I smiled down at Kasoiya, who was now a whopping nine years old.

"I'm just as surprised as you are, Kasoi-chan. I did work hard for it, though." A hand on my shoulder made me turn around, and my eyes were met with the entire host club standing there. Well, we were only the 'host' part of the club in spirit. None of us were in high school anymore.

"You really did work hard, Kaiyo-chan!" Honey-senpai said, smiling up at me while eating cake.

"Yeah. I'm proud of you." Mori-senpai smiled at me, ruffling my hair like he used to back in school. I smiled happily up at him, and Tamaki and the twins came and tackled me in a hug.

"You did it, Princess!" Tamaki yelled, drawing the attention of the people around us. I laughed as he joined in our hug, crushing the twins ever closer to me in an effort to hug all of us at once.

"Yeah, I'm really proud of you too!" Haruhi stepped out in front of the twins, waving them aside playfully to get her own hug in. I squeezed her extra tightly, as an unspoken thank-you for being my best friend through it all. Once we separated, Kyouya-senpai was the last person I saw. He had been hanging back with a smile on his face, watching us with sparkling eyes. When Haruhi finally let go of me, he walked over and put his arm around my shoulder, bringing me in for a peck on the cheek.

"I'm so lucky to have you, Kaiyoka. You did amazing out there," He congratulated in a soft voice, earning a smile from me. I was about to thank him, but then Hikaru yelled,

"Get a room!" And I had to stop and chase after him. He was surprisingly fast, dodging and weaving through the crowds, but I eventually caught him, forcing him to give me a piggy-back ride back to our group as a lenient punishment.

Once we all related, we all went to a celebratory dinner near our hotel. We continued to talk about everything through the evening, going through a play-by-play of my event and all of the other ones over our meal. I got to catch up with everyone, and talk about how higher education was for each of them. Just having Kyouya next to me was a feeling I relished in, having forgotten how nice it was to see him in the flesh. My sister and mother caught me up on what was happening at home, updating us on which of our neighbors were still there and all. It was, all in all, one of the most wholly enjoyable days of my entire life.

Even the walk back to the hotel room was enjoyable. It was quiet, as everyone was subdued from the eventful day. Riding the elevator up to the 12th floor, Kyouya and I dropped everyone else off on their respective floors. Tamaki, though he shared a room with Kyouya, got off on the eighth floor with the twins. They had 'business to attend to', but I caught the wink that Tamaki shot Kyouya just before the elevator doors closed behind him.

"What?" Kyouya asked when he noticed me shaking my head." I smiled, heaving a small sigh and resting my head against his shoulder.

"Nothing, love." Kyouya was content to leave it at that, and didn't break the settling silence until we sat down on the balcony of his hotel room.

"Who knew?" Kyouya asked, lacing his hand through mine.

"Who knew what, that I'd win? I kind of had a feeling," I joked, making Kyouya laugh.

"No, who knew that this is where we'd end up?" He asked, a small smile on his face as he looked over at me. I knew exactly what he meant; two years out of high school and into college, I was an Olympic champion at 18 years old, and Kyouya was well on his way to becoming the heir of the Ootori group at 19. Life was truly shaping up, and that was an understatement.

"Yeah, I know. It's bizarre to think that, even though we had no idea at the time, this is what our lives would lead to in high school. I mean, look at us now." I said, and he nodded with that same nostalgic smile on his features.

"We'll both be out of college soon, and then it'll be onto the rest of our lives together." I smiled, warmed thoroughly by how easily Kyouya spoke about our future together. It made me so unbelievably happy; having spent a lot of my high school career afraid that he'd change his mind about me, his assurance in our relationship gave me peace like no other.

"What will the rest of our lives hold?" I asked aloud, not to him in particular. He didn't answer for a minute, but then said,

"I don't know. I'll have my degree in business, and you'll have finished double-majoring in creative and professional writing; the most appropriate paths for both of us." He laughed softly at that, and I did as well, in agreement. "But no matter where we go, or how life takes hold of our journey and changes it, we'll be together."

"Together," I repeated, letting my voice carry out into the night." It has a nice ring to it." Kyouya nodded slowly. He squeezed my hand, tapping a finger lightly on my skin.

"It does, indeed." He traced his finger up and down my hand, looking at me with the brightest, most content eyes I'd ever seen. I gazed back, knowing my eyes were a reflection of his as I drank in the sight of him in person again. I sighed lightly again, leaning toward him and wrapping my arms around one of his. Finally, I had Kyouya back with me in-person, and I didn't intend on ever letting go.