Flashback time! This chapter references the last episode of the anime.


It is the night of the Ouran fair, and she is no longer disguised as a boy. She looks unusually happy to be in a dress for once, minus the wig, and watching her make her way comfortably through the crowd of Ouran students makes my heart happy.

Today, she went after me. She took a huge risk. She saved me from an arranged marriage and a road full of regrets; from a road without her.

That has to mean something, doesn't it? She hijacked a carriage and got thrown off of a bridge just to stop me from leaving, for crying out loud.

Please tell me that she wouldn't just do that for anyone. If she would, then she's going to die young acting so rashly and throwing caution to the wind like that.

I have to mean something to her, right? Extreme actions should have extreme reasons behind them, shouldn't they?

It has to mean she loves me... doesn't it?

What else could it possibly mean?

Thinking about it so much is making my stomach hurt and my legs unstable.

I'm happy, so happy, that I'm here at Ouran still with Haruhi and Kyoya and everyone in the host club. I'm happy that the club will stay together and that everyone really enjoys what we have together. Deep in my soul, there's a resounding happiness greater than I've felt in a long time. I have so many reasons to be happy tonight, and there's a smile on my face, but why is there still a weight pressing down on me?

When Haruhi made me realize on that bridge that none of the hosts actually felt put out by the host club, I felt incredibly stupid. I can read people so well sometimes, but at other times, I can't read them at all.

It's uncertainty. That's what's pressing on me. I can infer that she feels the same for me as I do for her by her actions, but my inferences aren't enough, and since I'm now aware that my skills at reading people are a lot less accurate than I thought, I'm as lost on what she's thinking as ever.

I watch her as she dances with the other hosts. As she dances with Honey-senpai, she somehow manages to look pretty while also looking like she's going to barf from spinning so much. When Mori-senpai takes her hand, she looks relieved. He is much calmer, and she cranes her neck up to see the serene face of our tallest host. When she is traded off to Kaoru, they stay in place and just sway lightly back and forth until he spins her to his awaiting brother. Haruhi accidentally grabs hold of his injured arm, and after a pained yell, Haruhi guiltily takes extra care not to hurt him again.

I patiently wait while they dance, and I can actually see the folds of material covering my chest moving as my heart beats rapidly underneath them. I really can't help myself. I love my daughter so much.

She finally is before me, and I extend my hand to her.

And then a hand reaches out from nowhere and makes a sudden interception.

Kyoya!

This must be payback for the trouble he had to go through for me today. Well, if he had to go through that much trouble to keep me here, then he must want things to stay the way they are.

So, I of course start on a jealous rampage, ranting and raving and flailing and telling Mommy to give our daughter back.

Haruhi is smiling up at him as they try to dance away, and I see a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, though he otherwise seems to remain unresponsive to my hollering.

He's so mean!

He's so cruel!

He's so-

He's the best friend ever, because he pushes Haruhi over to me so that we can have the final dance.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Kyoya?

After a grateful nod to him, I invite Haruhi to dance with me, and she graciously accepts.

I pretend to straighten my suit jacket with both hands, but I'm really wiping off my sweaty palms. The effort doesn't go wasted, though, as she takes my hand and we begin to dance. As I feel her small hand perfectly fitted in mine, I have to swallow hard and try not to look like I'm about to lose the battle to my shaky knees and faint. That would not be very princely of me.

She smiles at me, a smile different from the ones she offered to the others, and my heart squeezes as I think about the fact that I'm here because of her. This is where she wants me to be.

We move around quite easily; she follows my lead pretty well for a clumsy vase-breaker. My daughter has grown up so much. I almost want to put her back in her uniform because she's looking a bit too pretty, and I don't really want to share my Haruhi, the one who went the extra mile to save me.

Why did she do what she did? The thought still won't leave me now, even as she's so close and so gorgeous and so comfortable in my arms.

If you're not the one, then why does my soul feel glad today?
If you're not the one, then why does my hand fit yours this way?
If you are not mine, then why does your heart return my call?
If you are not mine, would I have the strength to stand at all?

A crazy idea hits me, and I have the sudden desire to ask her about her feelings for me. I don't think I can wait; I don't think I can deal with the uncertainty. She's here in front of me right now.What better time could there be?

Suddenly, fireworks start going off high above the school, and with her hands in mine, she looks up at the spectacle, mesmerized.

I can't ask her now.

I watch the fireworks dancing in her eyes, and I think it's a sign that it's not the right time.

Perhaps I should get a better handle on my feelings for her before I ask her about hers. Yes, that's what I'll do. I think I know better now than to make hasty assumptions or to jump too quickly into a questionable or unwanted situation.

But for now, I'll just enjoy the feeling of her touch and the warmth that she's bringing me. What we have right now is something to be more than content with.

Our time will come; I know it. I don't know what's in store for Haruhi and me, but I know that it has to be something magnificent, something huge, something lasting...

Yes, something lasting. That is what I think I want for the two of us.

I never know what the future brings
But I know you're here with me now
We'll make it through
And I hope you are the one I share my life with

"Tamaki-senpai?" she says lightly.

I look down at her face, lit up by the distant explosions of color, and I try to hold in tears.

I'm just so happy.

Not trusting myself to speak, I bend down and pull her into the calmest hug I've ever given her, and she, to my surprise, hugs me back. She hugs me back hard.

Is there any way that I can stay in your arms?

This surely has to mean something, doesn't it?