Chapter Ninety – One: The Risks We're Willing to Take
Kimi's POV
After we finished the puzzle, Hikaru took a picture of it on his phone and we put back the pieces. From the looks of the picture on the puzzle, it was merely a picture of an island beach. Unless Yuki expected us to spend a few days on a beach in the Caribbean drinking rum, it really wasn't any help. The pictures that Kaoru and Carmen went through were all of us on the beach or of an island.
"Something tells me she wants us on an island." Tamaki spoke up.
"What was your first clue?" I asked him.
"She wants us on a specific island." Kyoya spoke up as he was writing down some of the letters for the clue he was given, "The club owns an island villa. If we go there, I believe we will find our next clue."
Sumi's POV
"Allan's spilled his guts to Kyoya." I told Takashi, Reiko, and Hunny after I got off the phone with Allan.
"We knew he would." Takashi replied.
"We were counting on it." Reiko pointed out. Hunny nodded in agreement.
"Then I guess everything is going according to plan then." I replied, "Do we all stay here until they get here?"
"Instructions were that depending on how you feel, you and Takashi stay the weekend here and Mitsu and I look after Hana for the weekend." Reiko told us. Takashi and I looked at each other, we hadn't had a night to ourselves probably in almost a year, let alone a weekend. We barely had a few hours to ourselves between work, classes, and taking care of Hana, and even those few hours to ourselves will be going to go away soon when the baby arrives. I looked back to Reiko, who was smirking, "I'm glad you both like that idea. Don't worry about Hana, enjoy the weekend. I'll bring her back on Monday afternoon after club."
Takashi and I helped Hana pack and then Hunny and Reiko took her home with them.
"They're going to let her eat sugar and candy all weekend." Takashi commented.
"That's their problem if they do." I laughed.
"Think they'll be okay?" He asked, "They've never really taken care of a kid before."
"I think they'll be alright."
"So, what do you-" Before he could finish his question, I pulled him into a kiss, and started to make my way into our bedroom. He responded to the kiss fervently, closing the door behind us.
Kimi's POV
"So, we really own an island?" I asked still in awe of the possibility.
"Sumi gave it to us." Kyoya answered simply and stoically, "She said she had no need for it and thought we might make better use of it than she would."
"So, when are we going?" Hikaru asked him.
"I think it will be fine if we meet there tomorrow morning." Kyoya replied, "I'll send everyone the directions tonight."
Shortly after, we all ended up going home. When Haruhi and I got back to her house, I went back to the room we shared and took out the letter Yuki had left for me.
Kimi,
You are probably asking yourself why I did not include you in planning this and why a letter is my goodbye to you. You were probably one of the hardest to say goodbye to in the club, I've never met anyone who reminded me so much of myself. We're kindred spirits you and I, this was the best way for me to say goodbye and say everything I needed to say.
I'm gonna say this in the most straightforward and honest way I can. You are one of the most forgiving and persevering people I've ever met. You don't just endure the things that challenge you, when you have the confidence that you need to, you stand up against your challenges and you thrive in those obstacles. It saddens me that I won't get to see for myself in person how far you will go. Cause I know if you have the courage to chase after what and who you want, there is going to be nothing that's going to stop you. Yes, I said who.
I think even someone who is blind to the ways of the heart could see that there is something different about the way you look at Hikaru when he isn't paying attention. I don't think you realize the way you look at him either. I can see the way you look at him and I know he makes you happy. There is something there between you and if there is anything I can stress more than anything I have learned from my past few years living, don't wait around if you feel something for someone. If you wait too long or are too afraid to go after them when you feel something for them, it's hard to say if they'll still be there when you do or how long you'll get to be with them when you do.
There is no such thing as coincidence, Kimi. Things happen for a reason and it is up to you to choose what you're going to do with the choices placed in front of you and which path you are going to take. Don't make my mistakes. Don't let the fear of getting hurt or ruining a friendship, prevent you from making what could be one of the best and life changing decisions you'll ever make.
I don't want you to have the same regrets that I do, especially when it comes to love. I don't know how your story is going to end, but I know if you question your life and love with 'what if's, they will haunt you for the rest of your life. I hope one day you have the courage to follow what you feel in your heart and what is visible in your eyes and to seize it.
All my love,
Yuki
I leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about what she had written.
"Kimi, we're going to go pick up some food." Ranka told me, poking his head into the room, "Do you want to come?"
I shook my head, "Nah, I'm not very hungry."
"Are you okay?" He asked, coming in, "You never turn down food."
"Yeah." I replied, "Just got a lot on my mind."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's just this letter." I told him, "I don't know what I'm gonna do."
"Yuki's goodbye letter." He nodded in recognition, "Haruhi told me she had you guys going on a scavenger hunt for these." He looked down at the letter in my hands, "May I?"
"Uh, sure." I replied, handing it to him.
He scanned the letter, reading through it, a very soft and sad smile started to form on his features. When he finished the letter, he set it down on the bed, "It sounds like she has a pretty good idea of what she's talking about." He looked up at me, almost like he was my own dad trying to comfort me, "Do you have feelings for Hikaru?"
"Yes, no, maybe." I replied, conflicted, "I don't know. I don't know what I feel anymore, if it is even right if I do."
"Right and wrong, who's to say which we should refuse; all we know is that love survives either way we choose." He told me gently, "Here you are at the edge, go ahead and fall. Don't resist, I insist love still conquers all." He put his hand on mine, "Life is full of contradictions, every inch a mile. In every heaven, you'll find that there will be some hell and there's a welcome in each farewell. Life can be hard and the future can be strict, you'll never know or be able to predict it, but the boy you've picked, he's not bad."
"What do I do?" I asked him.
"That's up to you." He told me, "But tell me this, who is the first person you want to talk to when you wake up in the morning and the last person before you go to sleep?"
"What?" I asked, I looked up at him confused.
"When you can answer that question, you'll know what you should do." He told me, getting up, "Until then I'll be here if you want to talk."
"Thank you." I replied gratefully, "You've been more like a father to me than my own dad even though I'm not your-"
"You are." He replied seriously, "I care about you as if you were one of my daughters. You will always have a home here."
I looked at him stunned, I wasn't expecting him to feel that way towards me.
"We'll bring you back something to eat, Kimi." He told me, "Don't think too hard, sometimes the best decisions you make in life are the ones with the least amount of thinking involved."
With that said, he left me to my thoughts, and went to go get food with Haruhi.
Hikaru's POV
Tonight, it was just me at home. Kaoru went out with Tamaki and Carmen to do some type of tourist thing. I hadn't really been paying attention when Tamaki sprouted off his nonsense about it. I pulled out the letter Yuki had left for me and started to read it.
Hikaru
Like you, as much as you would hate people to believe you truly are, I'll keep this simple and sweet. I care about you and I wanted to impart some wisdom on you before I left. You only regret the chances and risks in life that you don't take, the one in a lifetime chances that you let pass you by. You'll only end up hurting yourself in the end. If there is something you want, seize it before it disappears. And if there is something that makes you happy above all else, do everything in your power to appreciate and care for it while it's still there because you never know when it'll be gone.
I'll miss you and I wish you the best of luck with everything you hope to do and the risks you choose to take.
Good Luck,
Yuki
I looked down at my phone to see what time it was, it was only nine. I still had time. I hopped off my bed, quickly put on a pair of shoes, and grabbed a jacket and my car keys on my way out the door. I had sat on this decision, this risk, for far too long. It was about time I had done something about it.
Kimi's POV
I heard a knock at the door a half an hour after Haruhi and Ranka left. Confused, since we weren't expecting anyone to come by tonight. "What did you guys do?" I asked as I answered the door, thinking it was Haruhi and Ranka, "Forget your-" I stopped when I saw who was at the door instead, now becoming even more confused, "Hikaru, what are you doing here?"
"I came to give you this." He said, pulling out a pen from his jacket pocket, I had let him borrow it in class a couple of days ago.
"So you came all the way here at nine o'clock at night to bring me back a pen?"
"Yeah," He looked down briefly, before looking back up at me, "Yeah, I thought I should just come up with some really great excuse to get over here, that's how it's done isn't it?"
"Sometimes." I nodded.
"Look, I can't stop thinking about you. It's a problem." He confessed, "I've started to call multiple times and hung up. I go places hoping to run into you. I'm turning into-"
"Me." I finished his sentence.
He laughed nervously, "Yeah."
"A wise person once told me that if a guy wants to be with a girl he will make it happen no matter what." I quoted something back to him he had said in our many conversations with one another.
"That's true." He agreed.
"But in the past several months we've been around each other," I looked down, "you haven't had any want to make anything happen between us."
"Okay, here's the thing about that" He stepped closer to me. I looked up at him, unsure of what he was going to say, "I had gotten so used to keeping myself at a safe distance from all these women having the power that I didn't know what it felt like when I actually fell for one of them." He stared at me for a moment, before adding, "I didn't know."
"I don't want drama, Hikaru." I told him, "I need someone who does what they say, who calls, who-"
"I can do that stuff too." He jumped in before I could finish.
"But you don't." I told him, "And that same wise person told me that I am the rule. That I have to stop thinking that every guy will change. That I have to stop thinking that-" Hikaru cut me off, pressing his lips to mine, placing his hand to the back of my neck, pulling me into a kiss. After a couple of moments, he pulled away.
"I'm the exception." I smiled.
His golden brown eyes bore into my green ones, "You are my exception." He replied before closing the gap between us, pulling me into another kiss, which this time, I responded to.
