Disclaimer: Imadoki's not mine – it's all Yu Watase's. So if you're looking for someone to sue, it's definitely not me. Only the fic is mine – so you better not steal that!
Author's Note: Another plot bunny . . when will they ever stop attacking? This is from Koki/Kouki's POV. A little mushy – no, make that way too mushy.
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Maybe I'm the stupidest person in the world. Or maybe I just did not see what – or who – was front in me all along. The most obvious person, yet the least obvious, person I would fall in love with.
A paradox, that's what you are. Or maybe I was just too stubborn to face it, to admit that you were the dose of reality I needed.
I was a snob, like everyone else at Meio Academy. At least, I pretended to be a snob. A fake, plastic version of myself. A mask that I wouldn't let anyone get under, to figure out who I truly was, who was the real Koki.
You unmasked that, and revealed who I truly was. Even though at first I hated to have this façade, which I so carefully made, fall apart after you got through my shield.
How did you do it, I wonder. I can't help but marvel at it, at you. Maybe you had a gift for getting people's barriers with that bright, sunny, optimistic personality you had. It could make anyone and everyone around you be happy and have their spirits be, somehow, lifted.
And it was all because of you. Everyone at Meio Academy, including the stuffy and snobby, nose perked students and teachers were seen with smiles on their faces whenever you had been, or were, near them. That was the way you were, Tanpopo. And how you still are now.
Everywhere you were, you spread joy to others, and they couldn't help but catch it, some clutching it gratefully in their hands, glad that they had some in this dark, dreary world of ours. They would call you the light in the darkness, forever shining, burning on for everyone. For the helpless, the hopeless, the senseless. That was you, their ray of hope.
And I realize, mine too. You're my ray of hope, happiness in my life. The only brightness I had. And still have. Too bad my stupidity and cold, flimsy façade nearly denied me of that light, of that happiness that I craved and you provided, gave me freely with no doubts or regrets whatsoever.
You gave your happiness away so others could be – as long as everyone was happy, you were happy. That was how you lived – and still live – your life, Tanpopo. You opened my eyes, and I couldn't be more grateful for it. You opened my eyes to what I refused to see, to which I looked at or turned away with a haughty look and a blind eye. And once you took the rose-tinted glasses off my face, I finally saw what I didn't want to see – but now wanted to see.
I was deprived of life; only a cold, bitter, selfish rich boy who felt truly alive in a long lifetime. You made me live, Tanpopo – I owe you for that. You made me realize how wonderful living is. Actually living; not feeling as if you were just there, floating around somewhere uselessly. You experienced everything life offered. And you were happy.
All this, I've learned from you. You've been my teacher, revealer of truth – and the one who resurrected me. The one who brought me back to life. That was you – that still is you.
Maybe I was the stupidest person in the world, or maybe I just refused to see what – or who – was in front of me all the time. Maybe I was just too stubborn to see, I realize now. Maybe I was too stubborn to see.
But not stubborn enough for you.
I grin at that thought. Maybe I had been too stubborn to see, but when I finally saw, I never regretted one moment of it. It hadn't been too late, thankfully . . and it was all thanks to you.
It was all thanks to you, Tanpopo, that I saw.