Éclair woke up the next morning in Kyoya's arms. She hadn't the heart to leave her fiancé's bed last night; he had looked so peaceful and content sleeping beside her. She would be lying if she said that she hadn't enjoyed sleeping by Kyoya as well. He woke up a short time later, and it appeared that last night's activities hadn't negatively impacted his health, which was a relief to her. The couple ordered breakfast and were just finishing when the doctor in charge of Kyoya's case knocked on their door.
"May I come in?" he asked with the same politely sanitized tone that all the hospital staff possessed.
"Please," Éclair invited him in, sitting up a little taller beside Kyoya. Hopefully the doctor had come to give them a positive verdict on Kyoya's condition that would enable them to travel. He was holding X-rays and papers in his hand, and Éclair could only hope that was a good sign. "How do Kyoya's tests look, doctor?" she inquired hopefully, squeezing her fiancé's hand for good luck.
The doctor cleared his throat, looking rather sheepish all of a sudden. "Well, I actually have an apology to make. It seems my staff has made a colossal blunder."
Éclair's heart sank. She couldn't imagine what the doctor was talking about, but it didn't sound promising. "What do you mean?"
"It seems that the day of your accident, Ootori-san, another patient was brought into the emergency room around the same time as you. This patient had been diagnosed with a terminal heart defect since birth." The doctor shifted uncomfortably, embarrassment overtaking his features. "Through some sort of terrible mix-up, his X-rays got switched with yours."
Éclair blinked, stunned as the implications of this confession began to register. "You mean that..."
"Ootori-san, you have a thousand apologies from all of us. You haven't got a heart defect. You aren't dying. Your episodes were due to stress, a lack of sleep, and high blood pressure, all of which seem to have been corrected over the past few weeks."
Kyoya blinked. He waited. He blinked again. Had he heard correctly? Was he still dreaming? This couldn't possibly be real. He had a heart defect, and he was given only two weeks to live, a time frame that was almost used up. He had said goodbye to his best friend, to his family, to his fiancée. He'd left the club entrusted in Tamaki's hands. Everything was set up for him to be dead tomorrow and suddenly that was all gone? His heart had stopped three times on the day of his accident for God's sake! He'd lashed out at his family, slapped his brother, said such harsh things...and for what? Now, after weeks of worrying and tears and anxiety and finally coming to terms he...
"I'm not...dying," Kyoya finally whispered, the words not sitting correctly in his mouth. It all seemed like a lie. Some terrible, awful prank that the doctor was playing on him, only to laugh and retract his claim to let him know that he couldn't go to America. He wanted to believe that this was true with all of his heart, but it seemed too superficial to possibly be correct.
Éclair buried her face in her hands and began to sob; she was so overwhelmed with joy. Kyoya was all right! The man she loved more than life was not going to leave her! It wasn't quite the miracle she had prayed for, since there had been nothing to correct in the first place, but this was still a miracle. After going through hell their hope had been restored, their futures returned to them. Éclair pinched herself hard to make sure that this wasn't an insanely hopeful dream, and cried even harder when she didn't wake up. Stress: that had been Kyoya's enemy. It was something so simple, so easily treatable, something that could easily be avoided in the future. Stress was a foe that Éclair understood perfectly, something that she could actively lessen, unlike a hole in someone's heart.
She threw her arms around Kyoya and embraced him passionately. "Thank god...thank god..."
The doctor cleared his throat, interrupting the tender moment. "We'll give you some medicine to help lower your blood pressure, Ootori-san. I recommend that you take it easy for a while and not partake in any activities that will cause you undue stress. However, in another day or so, you should be able to go home."
Kyoya nodded, still feeling numb from the whole situation. He felt as though he were going to wake up all at once and see Éclair sitting beside him again, tears in her eyes and trying not to cry at the prospect of his death. This was everything that he had been wishing for and now that he actually had it, it didn't seem real.
But...but it was.
He wasn't dying. It was just a mixture of high blood pressure and stress. The whole thing seemed so laughable. He suddenly returned Éclair's hug and laughed as tears sprung into his eyes; joyous tears thanking whatever force in this world had fixed this grave situation. He wasn't dying after all and he and Éclair could still have their happily-ever-after. Things no longer had to be rushed. They could still have their dates and official engagement and marriage and every other thing that he wanted to be able to have with the love of his life. It was an unbelievably lucky situation and Kyoya couldn't be happier.
Éclair placed her hands on either side of Kyoya's face and drew him into a deep kiss, drinking up the taste of her beloved. She couldn't be happier and more relieved if Kyoya had actually come back from the dead. The realization that she wouldn't have to go through a funeral, suppression of suicidal urges, and a life of solitude, waiting to die so that she could be reunited with her husband was an unbelievable gift. However, in the midst of her joy, an insidious voice began to whisper in the back of her mind. Éclair shut it out; she wouldn't allow this moment of happiness to be tainted by her doubts and her self-hatred. She was with Kyoya at this moment, and she wanted to always be there. That was the only thing that mattered.
The doctor cleared his throat yet again, clearly not accustomed to telling 'terminal' patients that they were going to 'miraculously' live. "Should I call the president, or would you like to do that yourself, Ootori-san?"
"You," Kyoya replied hastily, becoming irritated that the doctor still insisted on interrupting their moment. All he wanted to do was be with Éclair and kiss her and thank her and cry tears of relief with her. He didn't want to have to deal with an awkward doctor who didn't know how to make himself scarce.
When the doctor was finally out of the room, Kyoya drew back to Éclair and kissed her again, treating it as though it was the last one they were to ever share together and yet it was going to be the first of many down the line. He kissed as though he were breathing life into her, or maybe the other way around. All he knew was that he was alive and that he was going to be for a long time to come, and there was nothing standing in the way of him and Éclair being together.
Éclair continued to reciprocate Kyoya's kisses, melting into the passionate displays of affection and letting herself be swept away by the relief that they both felt. No wonder Kyoya had seemed to be recovering; he had been! Being able to relax in the hospital, away from the pressures of school and work and family duty, had been the cure for everything that had been ailing her fiancé for the past several weeks, even before the accident. Kyoya's improving health and spirits hadn't just been a cruel dose of false hope.
Éclair held both of Kyoya's hands and interlinked their fingers together, connecting herself as closely to her fiancé as she possibly could. Now that she knew she wasn't going to lose Kyoya, she didn't intend to let him go.
"I love you," Kyoya whispered in between kisses. "I love you so much Éclair...I couldn't say it enough when I thought I was dying, but now I have years, decades to tell you. I love you so much..." His heart was absolutely soaring, and he was ecstatic that this was a reality at all. Just yesterday he had been convinced that he was going to die within the next couple of days, and now he was looking at decades more of life to live. He felt as though he could climb a mountain, now that his heart wasn't a dangerous ticking time bomb.
"I love you too, Kyoya. I'll spend the rest of my life loving you." Suddenly, the twinge of doubt crept back into Éclair's heart, and a sad-sounding whisper slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. "Will...will you still love me in a decade from now? Or even a year?" The one upside—as terrible as that sounded—to Kyoya's imminent death was the knowledge that his heart would always belong to her. But now, that assurance was gone. Éclair had only proposed so suddenly because she thought Kyoya was going to die. What if he had only accepted her proposal on the same premise? Now that her fiancé's choices weren't so tragically limited, would he be satisfied with her? By the time he was ready to settle down and get married, would he still love her? Would he even remember her that far into the future? It wasn't Kyoya's commitment that she doubted, but rather her ability to keep her lover interested in her.
Kyoya frowned and restrained himself from kissing her again in order to address her discomfort. "Of course I will," he said, running his fingers through her hair gently. It was true that he had said yes to the proposal because he was dying, but that didn't mean that he suddenly no longer loved her. They had time to date now. To wait until they were older and ready for marriage. They could live out their lives and tell the story of their rocky start to becoming high school sweethearts. In his eyes, Kyoya couldn't imagine ever falling out of love with Éclair. "I would love you until the end of time and beyond."
Éclair had little doubt that she was the only girl Kyoya had ever pursued. She hated the suspicion that his willingness to look past her flaws was the result of swimming in the very shallow pond of Ouran Academy. But certainly when Kyoya left high school and went on to college and work, he would be exposed to a wider range and higher class of female. And when that happened, wasn't he bound to notice that she was, well, average?
"There are so many girls in this world," she admitted. "Smarter, kinder, prettier, richer than I am. My only claim is that I love you more than anyone else could ever hope to." Was that enough for the man who could very well be the next patriarch of the Ootori Group?
Kyoya smiled gently at Éclair and cupped her face in his hands. "You are one of the smartest people I know. You have a purer heart than you give yourself credit for. You are beautiful. And money is utterly useless when you're rich with love." He kissed her again, this one slower, meaningful. When he drew back, he added, "What if I were telling you that there were plenty of men out there that would be better suited for you? Stronger, more handsome, more charitable? What would you think of that?"
A smile spread slowly across Éclair's entire face, lighting up her eyes for the first time since Kyoya had accepted her proposal. His kiss was just so sweet and genuine and his words put her heart at ease. Kyoya was so gentle that his affirmation was enough to convince Éclair that she deserved the Shadow King. "I would say that in the million-to-one chance that there is a stronger and more self-sacrificing man in the world, he still couldn't be more right for me than you. But I do know that you are the most handsome man in the world." She kissed his cheek softly. "You are perfect for me, Kyoya Ootori. I don't want anyone else."
"And I don't want anyone else but you, Éclair Tonnerre," he agreed with a gentle smile as he rested a hand on her shoulder. She was beautiful, both inside and out. Once upon a time he thought of her as just a wicked demon in the disguise of an angel, but it has become clear that she was an angel through and through, having simply been put in a demonic situation. It was unfair that many of the hosts still despised her. She didn't deserve that. Maybe he and Tamaki would be able to convince the rest of the club as otherwise. The only ones that would probably have trouble seeing it their way were the twins. "I love you."
"And I love you," Éclair said softly as she took Kyoya's hand from her shoulder and kissed it, running her thumb over his knuckles in a soothing motion. Even though the atmosphere of the hospital room was calm, the young Frenchwoman's heart was racing in excitement. Not only did her one and only love return her feelings, but the two of them were once again free to have a life together. Éclair wanted to know what Kyoya wanted to do during the summer, what classes he planned to take in the fall, what college he would go to when he graduated from Ouran Academy. The two of them had a lifetime to spend together, and it was so exhilarating, especially after Kyoya's brush with death. "Are you excited to go home? I'm sure you are sick and tired of this hospital."
Kyoya smiled. "Yes, I am. I didn't want to say so, but this hospital is dreadful. I'll have to talk to my father about making it smell less sterile all the time. It gave me a headache." He held her hand and sat back on the bed, relaxing a bit and enjoying Éclair's company now that their celebration had died down.
Éclair laughed. The only reason she hadn't mentioned how suffocating the hospital seemed to her was that her fiancé's family owned it. But since Kyoya seemed to share her opinion, the Frenchwoman felt justified in her thoughts. The hospital was so disconcertingly white and the sterile smell, far from being comforting and cleanly, only reminded her of death.
"I'd like to go back to the host club with the good news and school—" He paused and let out a slow sigh. "School. I've missed two weeks of classes and finals are soon." He was going to have to cram the lessons he missed as well as review material if he ever wanted to be able to finish the semester with good marks.
Éclair laid her head gently on Kyoya's shoulder and contemplated her own future. She hadn't been to school since the accident, electing instead to spend every moment at the hospital with Kyoya, taking care of him and then preparing them both for the eventuality of his death. She never expected to return to Ouran Academy, and therefore hadn't made any arrangements as far as notes or exams were concerned. Not that anyone in her classes would have agreed to take notes for her anyway. But certainly someone would lend Kyoya their notes, and she had no doubt that her fiancé would generously share them with her. "We can cram together, if you wouldn't mind that terribly."
"I think that would be best," Kyoya agreed. The notes Éclair had lent him—in what seemed like ages ago—had been very useful, but the studying that awaited him would be far too much for him to handle alone. If his fiancée was going through the same situation, then it only made sense to assist one another. He could already imagine the two of them passing notes in his bedroom and discussing equations and answers to practice quizzes and the utter frustration of missing so much schooling. It sounded like a bizarrely entertaining time. "I am rather excited for it. Or maybe it's my eagerness to get out of this hospital talking."
"Perhaps both," Éclair agreed with a sweet smile. It wasn't like her to be excited about studying—for the most part she found such an activity tedious and a waste of time—but the idea of preparing for exams with Kyoya had the potential of being a genuinely good time. Her fiancé was brilliant; she could actually study with someone on the same intellectual level as herself, which would certainly be a breath of fresh air. And having the person she felt most comfortable with sitting next to her, working out chemistry equations and such, would give her the motivation and energy to study meaningfully. And maybe it wouldn't have to stop at exams. "Do you still wish for me to keep my distance from you at school?" she asked curiously. Éclair imagined how much more she could be engaged in class if she could sit next to Kyoya, talk about homework or random topics during free period and work time, and maybe even pass notes to each other like other friends and sweethearts did. However, she knew Kyoya had his reasons for pretending that she didn't exist outside of Music Room 3. It wouldn't do to distract her fiancé from his studies, to get him in trouble with his teachers, or to negatively impact his club's business.
Kyoya didn't answer immediately. If they'd had this conversation before the whole health scare, he probably would have said yes. But the whole reason he had wanted to not be associated with Éclair in public was because he was technically engaged with Keiko and his father heavily disapproved of the Tonnerres. Although he didn't think his father was exactly happy that he loved her, his father no longer actively disapproved of their relationship. And Kyoya was not tied to Keiko anymore. There was absolutely no reason for the two of them to continue to keep their distance. He would have some explaining to do for those in the Host Club that still didn't know any of the details, and the clients would most likely be jealous. He may even receive some sideways glances from his peers, but none of that seemed to really matter. He loved Éclair and he shouldn't be ashamed of being in love.
"No," he finally replied, kissing her forehead. "I want to be able to see you every day and spend all of my time in your presence, even at school."
Even though Éclair attempted to control her reaction, it was clear that she was pleased by Kyoya's answer. Having all the girls in school know that Kyoya's heart belonged to her was merely a bonus; the real prize was being able to spend as much time with her fiancé as possible. Kyoya would most likely go back to being the workaholic he had been before the accident, occupied with school, the Host Club, and the Ootori Group. Even with their difficulties, Éclair could tell that Kyoya enjoyed working on those things. It would be selfish of her to jeopardize the time her fiancé wished to devote to those endeavors, so spending time with him at school was a win-win situation. "I'll continue to work hard for the Host Club," she assured her fiancé, "in order to help alleviate any of the inconveniences associated with being openly in a relationship with me." None of the other hosts had girlfriends, so Éclair had no idea what kinds of repercussions could come from Kyoya and her being together in public.
He leaned on her shoulder and rubbed his thumb over her knuckle, their fingers entwined. "I hope they'll be happy for us." He meant the Host Club; Tamaki was sure to be ecstatic, both by his recovery and their official declaration of love, but he couldn't be so certain about the other hosts. He knew that they would be happy if he were dating anyone else, but many of them still held bitter feelings over past events because of Éclair, even though Kyoya knew now that they were not her fault. Perhaps he could speak with the hosts to provide them with the full story and they would grow to accept their relationship. And if not, well... "Even if they aren't, it won't change the way I feel about you."
The light in Éclair's eyes faded a little, though her smile remained. It was touching that her fiancé intended to stay with her through thick and thin, but she couldn't help feeling like a witch for alienating Kyoya's friends to a nearly irreversible degree. They all had perfectly valid reasons to hate her, and she couldn't deny that she had willingly made the decisions which had led to this consequence. Just as there were several Ootoris that would probably never approve of her presence in Kyoya's life, Éclair resigned herself that most of the Host Club would likely never accept her. This was her own fault and she hated her past self for it, mostly for the discomfort it would cause her fiancé.
"I will make myself as scarce as possible around the others," she promised. "They will barely know I'm there." She could just sit in the back and run numbers during club hours, as quiet and unobtrusive as could be.
"That won't be very fun for me," he whispered. "I just said I wanted to spend as much time as possible with you, didn't I? And it's not as though I court the guests like the others do. Your being there will have no effect on business, and even if it did, then I would still wish for you to be at my side." While she worked on the club's finances, he would work on the club's advertising, or merchandise, or whatever else he did with his free time at the club. It had been so long since he'd had 'free time' for anything that he could scarcely imagine what else there would be to do.
Éclair chuckled, the lightheartedness returning to her smile. Kyoya Ootori lamenting the loss of 'fun' was just too charming. And her fiancé had a point; as far as the Frenchwoman could tell, she was the Shadow King's only regular guest. Kyoya was the brains of the operation; the one working hard to keep everything going smoothly while the other hosts indulged in fantasy with easily-influenced high school girls. If Kyoya had actually gone away, the Host Club would have fallen apart in a matter of days. The idea of sharing a pot of tea together while running a business side-by-side was irresistibly attractive to Éclair. That was the kind of thing she wanted to be doing for the rest of her life.
"We'll work together, then. It sounds like 'fun'." There was just a small bit of teasing in her genuine tone, an indicator that Éclair's headstrong nature had not been completely tamed by her love for Kyoya. "Am I going to be expected to dress up as well? To match the atmosphere?" It was mostly a joke, but a partially serious question as well.
"I won't require you to but you can be sure that Tamaki will make you." Kyoya remembered that the last idea the blond had proposed to him was a 1920s American theme and he could easily picture the Frenchman attempting to get Éclair into a flapper dress or something of the like. After all, there would be no getting Haruhi into such a flashy and feminine thing, so the only other girl in the club was sure to be the person he went to. "You can say no to anything he says, though. I'll give you vice-president veto authority when I'm not there." He smiled amusingly. The idea of Éclair arguing with puppy-eyed Tamaki was a scene that he didn't want to be absent for.
Éclair rolled her eyes playfully, imagining the scene of Tamaki holding up some horrifying outfit and her refusing blatantly to wear it. Tamaki probably wasn't used to rejection (for all of Kyoya's hard, no-nonsense exterior, even he wasn't immune to the blonde's crazy whims), so the dynamic between the two of them had the potential to be very amusing; Éclair had no qualms about flatly shutting down any of her countryman's schemes. However, just as a broken clock is right twice a day, Tamaki was bound to have some suggestions that weren't absolutely out of the question. Éclair didn't terribly mind dressing up as long as she could preserve her dignity...and as long as Kyoya found her attire attractive. This working for the Host Club gig might not be so insane after all.
"I find it baffling that someone as sober-minded as you was dragged into something like a high school host club in the first place," she mused.
"It was an interesting idea and I thought it may impress my father that I was running my own 'business'. It became clear to me that it would not, but by that point, both of us were so invested that I did not wish to discontinue it." In all honesty, Kyoya had actually begun to have fun after just a couple months of running the club. Not once did he ever regret running it with Tamaki, not even when his father had first found out about the use of his time and scolded him for it. The single occasion that he had doubted whether it had ever been a good idea was at the Ouran Fair, when his father had made a fool out of him in front of so many people... But that was in the past now, and he knew—or at least hoped—that his father would not stoop to such actions ever again.
Éclair believed all of Kyoya's words to be true, but it was equally obvious that her fiancé enjoyed the Host Club, that he found his work there and the time spent with his friends fulfilling and pleasurable. And, if not for that crazy, wonderful Host Club, the two of them would never have met. These reasons were all incentives to continue working hard, keeping Tamaki's wacky dreamboat afloat. Kyoya deserved some fun in the strict, cold, high-pressure lifestyle that he had been born into. "I'm happy for you, Kyoya. I am glad that you found something that you enjoy doing." The Frenchwoman bit her lip softly, even as she spoke those encouraging words. Her only purpose in life, currently, was to make Kyoya happy. There was nothing wrong with such a goal, but she wished that she could also find an endeavor that would excite her, independent of Kyoya's ambitions. She hated feeling like dead weight.
Kyoya smiled and kissed her cheek. "And what about you? Surely the Host Club isn't exactly your cup of tea. You should find another club or something outside of school for yourself." It wasn't that Kyoya was trying to drive Éclair away from him, or was trying to keep his distance from her, but he wanted her to be able to enjoy something with her own time. The Host Club honestly wouldn't be the most welcoming place for her, at least not at first, and he didn't want her to feel obligated to spend so much of her time in what she probably perceived as a hostile environment. And even if the other hosts did welcome her, it was going to be boring for her, whether he was there or not. He'd rather she did something that she found fun and could do independently. Yes, they were a couple, but they weren't joined at the hip. They each deserved their slice of independence.
Once again, Kyoya was right. Éclair's involvement in the Host Club came purely from a desire to be close to her fiancé and support his endeavors. She had no personal stake or interest in the club, outside of its relationship to Kyoya. But as for finding something else to do with her time...
"There really aren't any clubs that I find interesting," she admitted. For so long, things like 'personal interests' had been made irrelevant in her life, so much so that even groups she might have enjoyed if given the chance lacked appeal to her now. "And I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to find something outside of school to keep me occupied." Even though she had spent several months in Japan, the country was still foreign and unfamiliar to her. Outside of Ouran Academy, the Ootori family, and her servants, Éclair knew no one in Tokyo. On foot, she would probably still become lost in the province. In short, finding a hobby here in Japan was much easier said than done. "But," she finished with strained optimism, "I will do my best to make myself useful."
"Surely there's something you enjoy doing." Kyoya thought for a moment before an idea sprung to mind. "What about your special place? Are you interested in gardening or flowers?" He could still remember their brief visit to Éclair's favorite place in Japan, the colors and sweet scents and beauty that had surrounded them. It was such a serene place and if that was interesting at all to Éclair, then she could join the gardening club or visit greenhouses around town. It would be a wonderful pastime for her, given that she enjoyed the leisurely activity.
Éclair couldn't help but laugh, even though she could see how sincere her fiancé was being in attempting to help her. "Surely you are jesting, Kyoya. Otherwise, it's sweetly and naively optimistic of you to think that I could ever grow something." Éclair liked flowers; she enjoyed being in nature generally. The slow, organic pace of the outdoors was a welcome interruption in her normally busy and stifling schedule. But gardening...the very idea was comical. Éclair was convinced that the moment she even touched a seed, it would be doomed to never grow. The second she laid hand on a plant, it would wither and die. Gardening required a creative and nurturing disposition, both of which Éclair desperately lacked. "Everything I touch gets ruined." She tried not to make that sentence sound as depressing as it felt to say.
"Did you ruin me?" Kyoya asked quietly, turning his head to meet her eyes. "Because I feel more fixed than broken." At the beginning of the year he had been stressed, burdened with more responsibilities than he could bear, was being forced into an unwanted marriage, and his family had been one of the most dysfunctional that he knew. Now he felt relaxed and not as nervous about his responsibilities. His family was closer than they had ever been when he was alive, and he had a beautiful, kind girlfriend. If he were to choose a phrase, Kyoya would say that Éclair had given him his happy ending.
"Well, I didn't do you any favors by getting you hit with a bus," Éclair pointed out bluntly. She should have walked faster, or behind Kyoya instead of in front of him, or watched the oncoming traffic. When the Frenchwoman replayed the last few months, she saw her influence in far more of the negative moments of Kyoya's life than the positive ones. All the problems her fiancé thought that she had helped him to fix had been caused, or at least agitated, by her in the first place. "But no, I suppose I didn't ruin you." For all of her meddling, whether malicious or blundering, the Shadow King had remained the fundamentally intelligent, hardworking, and kind person that he was.
"You did better things than 'supposedly not ruining me'. If you hadn't been here this year then I would be married to Keiko by now, still resentful of my family, and probably already keeling over from a heart attack. You saved me from all of them, including saving my life." He wrapped an arm around her. "And for that, I love you with all of my heart." Somehow Kyoya doubted that Éclair would ever be able to look at it the way that he does, or at least, it would take a long time of persuading and convincing her of such. And he didn't mind. So long as he could get Éclair to stop beating herself up over everything that had happened and accept that she deserved more than dealing with what life threw at her, then he would be happy.
Éclair took a deep breath and made some concessions. She had influenced Kyoya, however covertly, in his decision to call off the engagement to Keiko. In a warped way, Kyoya had been able to reconcile with his family because of the accident, which was her fault, so she could take a small bit of credit for that too. She didn't want to even think about her fiancé having heart troubles, but his time in the hospital had lowered his blood pressure. What bothered her the most was that she hadn't meant to do any of those things. It was pure luck that good outcomes had resulted from her foolish actions. But Éclair could tell that her fiancé wasn't keen on her saying disparaging things about herself, so she didn't voice these concerns. "A life for a life, then." She kissed his cheek. "I would be dead, or worse, if it wasn't for you."
Though it pained Kyoya to hear such a statement, he knew it was true. If Éclair had actually gone back to France and had to continue her life slaving away for a company under the watch of her awful parents, then Kyoya could easily see her spiraling down to a painful existence. He didn't want that for her. Nobody would want that for her, no matter how terrible their grudge was. So even if he was too humble to agree outright, Kyoya was still very glad that he could 'save' Éclair from such a miserable life. "I'm glad we're on the same page, then," he said optimistically.
Éclair smiled and made a gentle sound of assent when she nodded her head in agreement. She and Kyoya considered his recovery to be miraculous, but the real miracle had taken place much earlier: when they had found each other. Éclair doubted that anyone other than Kyoya could have shown her real happiness, and maybe her fiancé felt the same way about her. Thanks to each other, the two of them were going to find their way. They were going to finish high school together, move out on their own, find work...
"I know this is a little out of the blue, and you might not want to think about school right now, but what colleges are you applying to?" This was yet another topic that had been obsolete for the last little while, but was suddenly kosher to talk about again. Éclair had been a little surprised to find out how many universities there were in the Tokyo province alone. If it was possible, she wanted to go to the same university as Kyoya, or at least one nearby so that they could have lunch together or something.
"I was always set on Tdkai," Kyoya began, meaning the University of Tokyo. Both of his brothers went there to receive their degrees in medicine and business before getting involved in the Ootori Group. His father had gone there, as did his grandfather. It was a tradition and everyone on campus knew of the Ootori family. It was like a silent golden rule that if an Ootori son was studying at the university, they were sure to be at the top of the graduating class by the time they finished. "...But now I'm not so sure."
Kyoya didn't want to be forced to follow in his father's footsteps. There was little chance that he would inherit the Ootori Group, given his age and inexperience, no matter how hard he tried. But at the same time, he had spent so much of his life working toward this single goal that it seemed like too much of a waste to give up so suddenly. Then, also, even if he didn't want to try to become next in line for the company, he wanted to do something for the hospitals themselves. He didn't want every room to hold an air of death and despair like he'd had to endure for the past couple weeks. If he could figure out how to improve them to make them less...unbearable, then he would think of that as a victory in and of itself.
Kyoya's choice didn't come as any surprise to Éclair. The University of Tokyo was consistently ranked as the top university in Asia. The school included several research institutes as well as prestigious undergraduate and graduate programs. An education from Todai was precisely what one would expect for a member of the Ootori Group, as one could earn degrees in both medicine and business. Yet, Kyoya didn't seem completely sold on such a decision. Perhaps his struggle was wanting not to follow the path which was expected of him. He didn't want to go to Todai because it was a family tradition, and Éclair completely understood that. Her own father would be furious when he learned that she planned to study in Japan, instead of at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris, which was expected of an heir to Grand Tonnerre. "If you have a personal interest in going to Todai, then I don't think you should let any reservations about it being an 'Ootori legacy' stop you. And if you are more attracted to a different college then that is the one you should choose. It's your education, so you should study wherever you will be happy and learn the most, regardless of anyone else's positive or negative opinions of the school."
Kyoya looked over at Éclair and smiled. "The same goes for you. I'm sure your family wants you to study in Paris or something, but you can stay here if you want. And you don't have to go to whatever school I choose, if you don't want. Whatever you choose to do, it should be your own choice dictated on your interests. Not mine or anyone else's." He didn't doubt Éclair's devotion to him or her determination for her future, but she already admitted to staying with the Host Club for him, even though it did not seem like something that she would necessarily enjoy doing. He wanted her to enjoy her university years, and if that meant they would go to differing schools, then that would be fine. Their relationship could still blossom even without seeing each other on campus every single day.
Éclair nodded. "I will choose a university that interests me. My parents can disagree with my decision all they want, but soon I will be an adult and able to make my own future." That knowledge was such a relief. In less than two months, Éclair would turn eighteen, and she would not be beholden to anyone else's rules or dictates. "Still," she kissed her fiancé's cheek, "I would prefer to go to a school that is both fascinating and in close proximity to you." It occurred to Éclair that she might be acting a bit overbearing, so she made a mental note to back off a little. She just couldn't help it. Kyoya was the first real friend that she had ever made, not to mention the man that she loved. When she was around him, she felt happy and more confident. And Kyoya's smile was a drug that she could not get enough of. "Though I suppose we still have time to make our decision."
"That we do. And I still need to be admitted from this hospital so we can go back and see Tamaki and—" Kyoya stopped and let out a tiny sigh. "Of course...I have to tell Tamaki that I'm okay." It wouldn't do to keep the blond in the dark about his magical recovery until he came back to school the day after he is released. It would be unfair to a friend that had visited him and cried with despair over the situation. His best friend deserved quick news of his 'recovery' just as soon as his family did. "Do you think you can call and tell Tamaki to come visit? I would rather tell him in person."
"Of course I can." Éclair pet her fiancé's head gently. As much as she enjoyed having Kyoya's company all to herself, Tamaki was also an important person in Kyoya's life. The two boys had been closer than brothers for much longer than Éclair had even known Kyoya. The blonde Host Club president had been so deeply wounded by the news of his best friend's condition; it would be cruel, heartless even, to keep this news from him for much longer. "Shall I go call him now?"
Kyoya nodded. "Try not to scare him too much on the phone, but don't give it away." He put a finger to his lips and smiled. "It needs to stay a secret until he gets here." Kyoya didn't want Tamaki to think that he was dead, or was about to die, but he didn't want the cat to be let out of the bag too early either. If he was going to tell Tamaki, then he wanted to see him in person to see just how ecstatic it would make the idiot.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck around with this story for so long! There is still plenty more to come.