The scene unfolds very much like one of those cheesy romance movies his mother had forced him to watch as a child. He, once a ruffian punk, was somehow transformed into this sharply dressed person in a tailored suit. When he looks in the mirror he can see how his features have become more kind over the years, but he doesn't have the time to study it further. He is ushered into a room of friends and family and friends of the family and strangers, but they're all saying the same thing: Congratulations.
He doesn't know why, but his feet guide him to a room in the chapel where he knows he should not be. He gently knocks on the door and it slides open a slit to reveal Komaki. She gasps and tells him, assisted by Anko, that it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. He smiles and insists politely and quietly, using manners and a word he never could have attempted in his youth: Please.
Komaki looks at Anko who looks back, but soon they sigh together in defeat and open the door wider. Aoi, who is gazing at the reflection of herself in her gown, blushes when she notices him staring at her, almost entranced by how beautiful she has become. She teases him mercilessly about having to break tradition and see her, but he tells her couldn't help it. "In sickness and in health?" he prompts her hopefully. Aoi's eyes are sparkling as she says those words she's been practicing since highschool: I do.
Once the touching moment is over, he is promptly kicked out. He wanders more rooms and more hallways and thanks the people he knows and the people he's never seen. And then he finally spots the one person he's been searching for among the guests and sighs with relief. He makes his way over to the corner table and takes a seat next to him, laughing at himself for doubting his friend. He tells Tatsuma he's glad to see him, that if he didn't show up for this day he didn't know what he'd do. Tatsuma just smiles weakly, and it breaks his heart. He finds that he is unable to say anything else. "You deserve to know," Tatsuma tells him after an immeasurable moment of silence, "why I didn't agree to be your Best Man." And out comes the truth: I love you.
Kyouichi wakes up with a cold sweat.