Prologue - Departure

A black ribbon was moving along with the gentle breeze, swaying peacefully before slowly dropping to the ground. Silence filled the air. What was there to say? Everyone stood in shock for what seemed like an eternity. Aichi was brave enough to make the first movement. He reluctantly turned his back to the scene and left with his head down whilst trying to shield the glistening tears slowly falling down his cheek. The other card fighters remained motionless, unable to comprehend what had happened. Aichi's departure had triggered the others to leave as well. There were no whispers of condolences or support as the group scattered in opposite directions. The gentle breeze abruptly turned into something more fierce and targeted the lone black ribbon, disrupting its past rhythm. The wind was trying to seduce the fabric into an unknown destination, perhaps trying to follow its owner. A slender arm shot out and grabbed the ribbon just in time. The lavender haired girl stared at the material entangled in her fingers which was desperately trying to escape. Her expressionless face remained intact as she brought the ribbon close to her chest and embraced it. A violent storm had erupted in her oceanic blue eyes and her facade began to crack. Emotion after emotion started to pour out. Despair. Despair. Despair. This flimsy ribbon was the only memento of her great love.

Kourin.

Chapter 1 - Challenge (Memory)

"For the last time no." Misaki said abruptly whilst walking away.

Aichi was not taking no for an answer and quickly ran to catch up to the girl. How could she walk so fast?

"Please Misaki!" Aichi begged, "the Cardfight Club only needs one more member to become official and we used to be team mates so I thou-"

"Just leave her Aichi."

Aichi stood dumbfounded and turned around to face the blonde girl, "Kourin?! Where did you come from?"

"With the commotion you two were making it was hard not to notice." Kourin replied simply whilst coming to a halt next to the blue-haired boy.

Misaki glared at the blonde idol. She wanted no part of this club if Kourin was there.

"If you two are done here then I'm leaving." Misaki said breaking her gaze with Kourin and began to walk past them.

"I guess you just don't take Cardfighting seriously enough." Kourin said while examining her nails, "That's why you don't want to join."

Misaki came to an abrupt halt and clenched her fists. After everything she'd been through regarding Vanguard, how dare this girl she barely knew make assumptions about her life. She turned around and slowly walked towards Kourin. Misaki stood right up against the blonde girl and slammed her hand into the wall behind them. Their faces were mere centimetres apart. Misaki parted her soft lips and aggressively uttered, "Fight me."

Chapter 2 - Simplicity (Memory)

"You did well, Misaki." Kourin said while looking at the floor.

"I told you I was serious." Misaki replied bringing her eyes up to face the blonde girl.

Kourin lifted her head up and the two held each other's gaze for a while.

"Bye Kourin." Misaki said simply.

"Bye Misaki." Kourin said turning away beginning to walk home.

Misaki started walking in the opposite direction but quickly stopped to turn back around.

Kourin had done the same.

Both of the girls looked at each other shocked and proceeded to quickly turn around and increase their walking pace.

'Well that was..odd', Misaki thought. She kept up her pace dismissing what just happened and resumed walking home.

What Misaki and Kourin had would soon blossom into friendship but tolerance was enough, for now.

Chapter 3 - Foundation (Memory)

"Misaki, there's something I have to tell you." Kourin whispered whilst avoiding eye contact with the lavender haired girl, "Can we please skip club practice for today?" Kourin made sure that the three boys walking ahead of them could not hear what she was saying.

"Um, okay?" Misaki confusingly replied.

Kourin quickly grabbed the girls wrist and pulled her into a run which took Misaki by surprise. Even though her hair was short, it was long enough to cover her slight blush.

"And then I did a Break Time!", Naoki's voice boomed across the hallway.

"The correct term is Break Ride", Shingo interjected, adjusting his glasses.

"Hey! No one asked you Granny Glasses." Naoki retorted.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Shingo raised his voice causing it to go up a pitch.

"Ahaha..", Aichi laughed nervously.

The two boys continued to argue while Aichi was trying to calm the situation down. They were all too occupied to notice Kourin and Misaki had ran off together. They were already out of the hallway and were now running across the courtyard holding hands which turned Misaki's blush a furious red.

"Kourin, where are we going?", Misaki said breathlessly.

Kourin turned around and flashed a big grin, "You'll see soon enough..hey why is your face so red?"

Misaki's eyes went wide. She looked down at her hand being held by Kourin.

"Just concentrate on what's in front of you before you run into something." Misaki said nonchalantly.

"But we're already here!" Kourin excitedly said while coming to a sudden halt. Misaki wasn't expecting this which caused her to crash into Kourin making them both fall down.

"Seriously Kourin? You don't just stop running that sudden-" Misaki just realised the position they were in.

Kourin was underneath her.

The blonde idol was looking up at Misaki, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. She lifted one of her hands and placed it on Misaki's cheek.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, we should get up now before someone sees us", Kourin said whilst averting eye contact with Misaki.

'She's..enjoying this?'

Misaki pulled herself off Kourin and then held out her hands to help the blonde girl off the floor. Kourin grabbed them and lifted herself up letting go of Misaki's hands afterwards. Misaki looked up at the building they were standing in front of.

"The auditorium?", she said slightly confused.

"Well I thought this would be the perfect place to tell you." Kourin smiled.

"Tell me what?" Misaki replied still confused.

"Let's go inside first." Kourin said while entering the building.

The Cardfight Club had performed a play here not too long ago for the school festival. It was packed with an audience before but now it was only Kourin and Misaki here. Kourin walked towards the stage, Misaki following behind her. They both climbed the stairs leading up to the stage and that is when Kourin decided to speak.

"I know I already said it before but thank you for believing in me on that day", she said while looking out to the empty chairs.

"I knew you would come..Alfred." Misaki said grinning which caused Kourin to start laughing.

"Amaterasu, I will save you!" Kourin tried to say seriously but failed due to laughing too much.

"Leave it to Shingo to write Vanguard plays." Misaki said shaking her head. "So, what did you want to tell me?"

Kourin stopped laughing and walked over towards Misaki pushing her body up against the lavender haired girl, lips only inches apart. Misaki was frozen in shock, those emerald green eyes were so captivating.

"I always wondered why you did this to me when you challenged me to a fight." Kourin said keeping her gaze on Misaki.

"I watched Dia do it to Mari in Love Live Sunshine and thought it looked cool", Misaki answered truthfully keeping her gaze on Kourin. (A/N: Originally Misaki never slammed her hand onto the wall but I changed it just because of the DiaMari scene lol)

Kourin stepped back and walked to the other side of the stage. "I always had a thing for Aichi, I really don't know why though." She looked up at Misaki and continued, "But lately there's been someone else that I've had feelings for and whatever I felt for Aichi doesn't compare to what I'm feeling now." Kourin brought her hand up to her chest and took a deep breath.

"Misaki I lo-" Kourin hesitated and took another breath "Misaki Tokura I lo-" She stopped again shaking her head. Kourin got her two hands and slapped both of her cheeks and then ran over to Misaki crashing her lips into the lavender haired girls lips. Misaki's eyes shot wide open and her face developed a furious blush. Kourin pulled back from the kiss and smiled.

"I love you Misaki Tokura."

Epilogue - Strength

It had been two years since that day. Two years of conflicted feelings. Feelings of hope. Feelings of despair. Feelings of nothing at all. Stripped of emotion, stripped of memories. Black ribbons fading. Black ribbons locked away.

Challenges and triumph.

Whether it was meant to be or not, Misaki didn't care anymore. What she had experienced with Kourin was enough. Even if love was never found again, the love she experienced would always remain etched in her soul. She was stronger now and found other means of happiness.

At times Misaki would go back to where Kourin disappeared and sit there whilst reflecting on important decisions. She felt an essence of Kourin in the wind and that comforted her during more stressful times.

The black ribbon of fate tied these two women together no matter how far apart they were.

It seems as if it wasn't so flimsy after all.