Hikari had been sent back home on a flight after spending some quality time with Kei. He finally convinced her to use his first name, no matter how hard it was for her to say. They had gotten to walk around the city for a bit and talk and enjoy each other's company. As much as he would have loved for her to stay and return home with him, he knew she couldn't miss that much school. Her parents and brother would worry sick about her, the school would say she skipped and she'd be in a mess of trouble, and Akira would kill him the moment he stepped off the plane. So as their night was coming to an end, Kei rode with Hikari to the airport and kissed her goodbye and watched her plane take off before heading back to his hotel.
Then when Hikari's plane landed, Akira and the rest of the S.A. were waiting eagerly for her. She was wrapped in a bear hug by her best friend, who proceeded to question her endlessly about her "trip." The others took their turns hugging her and welcoming her home and they let Akira ask all the questions, which she fearfully answered on their drive home. She knew how much Akira loathed Kei, so she knew she would be furious to find out that they were an official couple now. The others would surely support her, but they wouldn't be able to save her or Kei from her wrath.
However, the remainder of his trip was enough time for Hikari to brace the others for what was to become of the rest of their year. In fact, when he returned, the others quickly became distracted by Megumi when they found out about her and Yahiro. Hikari accidentally let it slip out that she had seen the two of them together when she was out on her date with Kei, thus forcing Megumi to confess her secret relationship with him. She knew she would have to apologize to Megumi later, but it gave her and Kei the perfect opportunity to slip away and have the day to themselves.
Ryuu, Jun, and Tadashi all congratulated Kei on finally winning over the dense girl. They had to ask him how it all happened, because during the whole thing, no one else would give up any details. Only Akira seemed to know what was going on and she wasn't going to tell anyone that he was succeeding at stealing her "angel." So he told the story from beginning to end, even mentioning that he knew it was them sending kids Hikari's way the day of their challenge, and by the end, they were all speechless. Not only were they shocked that he knew what they had done, but they were even more impressed at the fact he actually came out and told Hikari how he felt. They never thought he'd actually have the courage to do it.
Meanwhile, Akira was busy fussing over both Hikari and Megumi, whining that she had lost both of her sweethearts to "evil, menacing snakes." Both girls just tried to remain calm, while their best friend had a massive panic attack and was wearing down the floor with her constant pacing. They patiently and fearfully waited for her to calm herself and stop venting before they tried to comfort her with words. They reassured her somewhat by telling her that she'd never lose them and that they'd be alright with the boys. In the end, though, they had to call in Tadashi to suffer at her hands and then completely calm her in a way that only he could.
So now that everything had been established, life seemed to get back to normal. Everyone still gathered in the greenhouse for tea and sweets, Akira still beat the snot out of Tadashi for being so impatient and greedy, Megumi and Jun still clung to Ryuu and threw hissy fits when he went to tend his animals, and Hikari and Kei still had their morning rivalry. Yes, despite being a couple, Kei was still Hikari's number one rival and she was determined as ever, even more so now that they were dating, to take him down and beat him. He still graciously accepted her challenges and beat her every time.
He had been thinking lately, though, that she had actually managed to beat him at something. Something he wanted desperately to win, but could never succeed at. After he first realized he had feelings for her, he wanted so badly for her to be his, but because of her oblivious and dense nature, he knew it was never going to happen. He wanted desperately to win his heart back from the girl who stole it without permission and unknowingly toyed with his emotions day in and day out, but he could never do it. In the end, however, he was glad to have lost to her, because if he hadn't, he wouldn't currently be walking hand-in-hand with her in the very park where he confessed.
There was a part of him that wanted to tell her of her one victory over him, but there was another part of him that told him that was something to be shared at another time down the road. Besides, he still loved seeing her get all angry with him for calling her 'Miss Rank Two.' He couldn't help it; she was so cute when she was angry and even cuter when she was determined to beat him. But he toned things down and tried to make their relationship seem more romantic rather than friendship based. It took some time, but he eventually warmed Hikari up to holding hands, hugging, and even kissing in public. Nothing too intimate, just enough to let everyone know she was taken.
It wasn't just their relationship that blossomed, though. Akira and Tadashi's relationship got more serious as both of them tried to take deeper interest into each other's hobbies. Tadashi spent some time in the kitchen helping Akira make her tea and sweets, while Akira went out with him exploring and although she was more uncooperative than he was, they were both actually working at it. Megumi and Yahiro were spending more time together, especially around other S.A. members to make up for all their secrecy and Yahiro became determined to help Megumi protect her voice. It was sweet in only a way that Yahiro could be sweet and only Megumi could take his actions as a sign of him caring rather than being a jerk. Jun was spending more time with Sakura, actually finding that he liked the crazy pink-haired lady, but he still had some issues with his "other half" to work out. Even Ryuu was starting to see someone, though the rest of the S.A. knew little about his "mystery woman."
So all was going well for everyone, but that didn't mean their wasn't the occasional difficulty that came with being in a relationship. Kei found that while a great deal of the school population was crazy about him and Hikari being a couple, saying how it was so cute and fitting, there were also a handful of students who were filled to the brim with jealousy. Unfortunately, most of that jealousy was targeted at Hikari. Jealous girls would often go up to her and try to intimidate her in groups, while men were constantly trying to flirt with her and pull moves on her, thus angering Kei. He often had to come to her rescue, not because she couldn't handle things herself, but because she was still oblivious as to what was going on. She never understood why the girls were so angry or that guys were flirting with her rather than just talking.
Aside from the jealousy and occasional small fight, all was well for the two teens and the rest of their group. They spent as much time as possible together, whether it be to challenge one another or go on a date, and they always enjoyed each other's company.
"Oi, Kei."
"Hm?"
"Just think: if I hadn't lost that challenge to you, we wouldn't be together today."
"What brought this on all of a sudden?"
"Hm, I don't know. I suppose you just recently beating me made me think that if I wasn't always out of luck, I wouldn't be so lucky today."
"A/N: It's finally done! It took roughly eight months for me to complete this story. That's sad, I know, but it's done now. Thank you so much to everyone who stuck with this story from beginning to end. You guys rock and I'm so sorry that you had to wait so long for updates and whatnot. To any future readers, be thankful you didn't have to suffer like these guys did and you just got read the whole thing from start to finish. I personally avoid stories that are still in-progress out of fear that they will never be complete, so I don't blame anyone that only reads complete stories. But the whole concept of writing multi-chapter stories is to get reviews and criticism from people that read them before they're actually finished and this site wouldn't thrive without you guys. I hope to write more for this fandom, but don't worry - I've taken a new approach to multi-chapter stories. They will only be published when they are completed. So until next time, I hope you enjoyed this story and reviews will always be appreciated."
