Whew...the moment has finally come. It took me forever to decide what I wanted to happen in this chapter — I've been working on it since I first started the fanfic!

Once again, they were uncerimonously ushered outside by the over-eager Ranka. "Its scary how much he likes you," Haruhi remarked.

Kyoya did not reply as he was lost in thought. "It'll be fine eventually, you know. Just tell him the truth," Haruhi reminded him, reaching up and patting his shoulder.

"I know. I really do believe that it will. I'm just a bit nervous." She nodded in reply, and Kyoya sighed before getting into the waiting Mercedes. Haruhi, meanwhile, had already started walking to Ouran. They had decided that they should go to Ouran separately that morning, and then travel together after Tamaki was informed — they thought it was best for Tamaki to hear the truth from Kyoya instead of figuring it out by seeing them together. During the ride, Kyoya hurriedly went over what he planned to say.

The blond was waiting at the entrance, and practically bounced over to Kyoya when he stepped out of the car. "KYOYA!" Sigh. "I was looking for you yesterday, but Fuyumi told me that you weren't home!"

"I wasn't home," Kyoya informed him. "Is there something you wanted to ask me? That's why you were looking for me, right?" He sounded calm enough, but his heart was beating rather loudly and erratically.

"Well, I was just wondering...Is there something going on between you and Haruhi?" Kyoya swallowed rather painfully, but made sure not to make his discomfort obvious.

"Why do you say that?" he replied cautiously.

"You're acting very differently around her. So, is there something going on there?" Kyoya bowed his head.

"Actually, there is. Umm...I have feelings for her." The blond looked at him curiously, most likely due to his hesitancy.

"You do?" Kyoya steeled himself and looked back up into Tamaki's slightly wet violet eyes.

"Yes, I do. I've felt something towards her for a long time now. She's smart, understanding, goal-oriented, blunt, unusually perceptive, a bit naive, and...and I love her, Tamaki. I love her so, so much." He was glad that Tamaki did not interrupt him, as he would probably lose his nerve once he stopped. Instead, the blond merely listened, apparently stunned into silence. Kyoya had an iota as to why: he had not been so open with Tamaki since that certain day back when they were in their third year of middle school. "She's someone who I can have a nice, intelligent conversation with, and she isn't clingy or overly-affectionate, so she would be fine with giving me space when I need it. More importantly, with the exception of you and Fuyumi, she's the only one who can see through me, the only one who bothered to try to know me." Kyoya was practically rambling at this point, and was glad when he finally shut his mouth.

Seeing that he was done talking, Tamaki finally spoke. "Wow...I…"

Kyoya realized that he had forgotten to add one crucial bit of information. "Wait, there's more." Well, that came out awkwardly.

"Oh?"

"During the thunderstorm the other day, I went to comfort her. Afterwards, she told me...she told me that she liked me as well."

"Are you guys together?" Tamaki's voice broke at the last word, and Kyoya's stomach turned to lead.

Kyoya nodded. "I'm so sorry, Tamaki. I know you were probably hoping that you and Haruhi would have worked something out and that you guys would have a future…"

Tamaki shook his head. "No, no...You shouldn't feel sorry for following your heart and finding happiness. You know, I think I'm happy for you and Haruhi. She's moved on to someone who's a much better fit for her, and you are finally doing something for yourself. I promise that I'll get over the initial upset."

It reminded Kyoya of his own sentiment when Tamaki and Haruhi dated. I was willing to let her go because I knew that she would have been much happier with him at the time. He realized that he, in fact, had always been focused on others: he often worried about how his classmates viewed him, how to satisfy his father, how to keep Tamaki happy...Maybe this was the first time he was doing something for himself. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll also help you break the news to the rest of the Host Club when the time comes."

"Thanks." Tamaki flashed him an assuring smile, and Kyoya smiled in reply. The first bell rang, signaling the start of the school day.

It seemed that Tamaki was true to his word and quickly returned to his perky self. It's not even faked, either, as one would usually expect. He really is okay with all of this. Watching the blond interact with the rest of the class, Kyoya had to admire the blond's tenacity and ability to overcome adversity through incredible optimism.

Kyoya wanted to meet up with Haruhi and tell her how it went, but he did not see her in the hallway between classes (though he knew where her classes were, he also knew that she probably would not like it if he waited outside her classroom during a transition period) or even during lunch (she often brought food from home and ate in an empty classroom). He mulled over his remaining options when school was over. The Host Club was not meeting that afternoon, so that was out; she was not outside the entrance after school, so he could not offer her a ride and talk to her during the drive; and he did not want to invite himself to her apartment after school again. Oh well...I'll call her when I get home.

But he had no such opportunity. As soon as he entered the Ootori mansion, his sister glomped him.

"KYOYA!" she cried enthusiastically.

"Sis...What are you doing here? You know Father doesn't like it when you visit. You should be home with your husband."

She finally pulled away from him. "Kyoya! Can you not be so cold for once. You know Father is going to be away until late into the evening. Besides, I simply had to come! Tamaki told me that you have a girlfriend! It's Haruhi Fujioka, right? The scholarship student that used to date him, right? The one you told me was impressive? Tamaki told me she was impressive, too, and that he was a bit hurt, but happy for you guys." She said this in one drawn-out breath, in the same fashion as Tamaki when he was excited. That's a neat summary of everything.

Leave it to the blond to call Fuyumi and tell her about Haruhi. "Yes, I was at her house the past two nights. Tell Father and I'll murder you, understood?"

She blinked once, twice, before returning to normal. "Oooh, you stayed at her house the past two nights? How scandalous!" He deadpanned. "But you have to tell me more! You don't understand how worried I was about you!"

This surprised him. "You were worried about me?"

She nodded. "Akito, big brother, and you were bred to become profit-driven and ice-cold businessmen. They became detached and devoid of emotion. But you...you were always different, in a way. So when you began to also shut your emotions off in your determination to please Father, I was scared. I was scared that you would forsake your happiness for success and that your smiles would slowly become fake and emotionless, just like theirs. And for a while, you were like that. You pushed everyone and everything away, resolving to only do things that would bring you closer to success. But now you found friends, love, and joy."

Kyoya nodded. He understood what she meant about him becoming ice-cold and emotionless. From a young age, he had learned from observation that people lived in glass boxes, trapped inside lives of masks and facades. He, too, had lived inside a glass box from where he could watch others while hiding any vulnerability. It was just better to seem detached, especially when his life centered around building networks and proving himself as the third Ootori son using finely-honed psychological talent and business acumen. But then he found an anomaly: two people who confidently lived without walls of glass and were almost impossible for him to figure out. Tamaki and Haruhi, the human tsunami and the ordinary commoner, entered his life and steamrolled through his facade, tearing it apart as easily as if it were a piece of paper. His glass box shattered, and he began to see the world in color. He could be himself around them, and for that he was thankful.

But he did not say all of this out loud. "Yes, I am happy with her. She is intelligent and perceptive enough to see through me. That's all I need, really: for someone to care for the real me."

"I know about Tamaki, but is Haruhi really that incredible? To be able to see through you like that and make you feel comfortable enough to be yourself…For someone who knows so much about human psychology, you sure like to shut off your emotions." She shook her head for emphasis.

Kyoya's eye twitched. "Fuyumi, are you here to diss me or learn more about Haruhi?"

Fuyumi looked scandalized. "Learn more about Haruhi, of course! But you have to admit that you usually have a hard time expressing yourself emotionally."

He sighed in surrender. If Fuyumi wanted to hear about Haruhi, so be it. "All right, all right. I get it. I'll tell you more about her once I give her a call, okay? I need to talk to her about something important."

She nodded furiously. "Okay, later."

After assuring her that he will not go back on his promise to tell her more, he went into his room and sat down on one of the couches. Tachibana had already placed Kyoya's usual after-school tea and snacks on the coffee table in front of the couch. He took a sip of the tea. It was the perfect temperature and had only a little bit of sugar, as was his wont. Relaxed, he took out his phone and called her.

"Kyoya? What's up? Did you and Tamaki work things out?"

"Yes. He said that he's a bit upset, but is glad that we are together."

"Wow, that's great. Tamaki's nice, so I knew he would eventually be happy for us."

"Yeah, I was just worried that he would be really hurt."

"I know. You don't have to repeat yourself." This made him chuckle, and he heard her laugh, too.

"Fuyumi's waiting for me to spill everything about you and me, so I better get going." Haruhi laughed harder.

"Okay, see you later, then."

"Wait. Would you like to go out for dinner sometime?" Now that Kyoya was sure that their relationship would not hurt Tamaki too much, he was determined to go on a proper date with her.

"Dinner? Are you...are you asking me out?" He could practically feel her face grow warm through the phone.

"If you don't want to, you don't have to. I hope I'm not making you too uncomfortable. I'm not very good at this."

She laughed again, and relief washed over him. "Oh no. I'm the one that is not so good at this, even after I've dated Tamaki. I just can't seem to get the hang of it. The slightest display of affection can throw me off." Kyoya chortled, and was about to assure her that he was much worse when it came to romance, but she continued talking. "Anyway. I'd actually love to go have dinner with you sometime."

Yes! "We'll work out the details later. Fuyumi's still waiting. Bye!"

"Bye!"

He spent the better part of the next two hours telling his sister more about Haruhi, which was exactly how he imagined spending his afternoon. Sigh. He ended (or hoped to end, at least) the conversation by telling her that they were going on a date soon. But then Fuyumi insisted that Kyoya had to be the one to plan their first date, much to his chagrin. "You're the boyfriend, you know."

"What? Haruhi isn't like those silly fangirls who can't decide things for themselves."

"I know," she replied assuringly. "You guys can plan stuff together later on...that's how dating works...but it's proper for you to plan the first date, not to mention that you are the one who asked her out for dinner. I thought you like planning things?"

"But I'm the opposite of romantic and sentimental." Fuyumi shook her head.

"Kyoya, you should have seen your face when you talked about her. You definitely seemed romantic and sentimental. Or at least more romantic and sentimental than you are willing to admit."

"But..."

"No buts. Ah, I remember the first time my husband took me out on a date." She went on to ramble about how her arranged marriage worked out so well. Kyoya, unnoticed, quickly made his escape.

He mourned the two hours that he had lost and focused on getting everything he wanted done. It took time and effort to keep his place at the top of the class, maintain his social circles and networks, help with Ootori Group finances, and run the Host Club behind the scenes. Tachibana (who knew his moods fairly well) dutifully brought dinner, as he often did when Kyoya did not have to eat dinner with his father. After a few hours of staring at his computer screen, Kyoya sighed and decided to take a quick break. Lying down on his bed, he thought of possible ideas for their date. With a smile, he remembered how Tamaki had come over to the Ootori mansion with the rest of the Host Club for several days in a row just to get help with his first date with Haruhi. While Kyoya had been annoyed back then, now he only sympathized. It was, he found, quite difficult to come up with the perfect first date.

What he did know was that he was not going to take her to an amusement park. No offense to Tamaki, but they were not Kyoya's thing (or Haruhi's for that matter — he bet that she only enjoyed it because Tamaki was with her). Maybe I'm overthinking this. Should I just take her to a sushi restaurant? All the restaurants he went to were really expensive and had a rather serious and formal atmosphere, which Haruhi would normally find uncomfortable, but he knew that she did not mind such inconveniences when it came to anything dealing with food. She could be quite the glutton, despite her insistences to the contrary.

This reminded him of some memories, and suddenly a clichéd lightbulb turned on in his head. He sat up and grabbed his phone. Two anxiety-filled minutes passed before she finally picked up. "Hey."

"Hey." She yawned sleepily. It sounded like she had been deep asleep when he had called, though he could not imagine why. "Why are you calling me so late? I was expecting to be woken by the alarm clock, but here you are." He checked the time on his laptop and internally facepalmed. How on Earth had he not realized that it was past two in the morning? Nice work, Ootori.

"I just had a question. I've already decided where we can go for dinner, but...Would you like to do something before then? We could meet at six o'clock and then go to dinner later."

"Sure, but only if we decide to do it on a weekend. I need to study on the weekdays, and you guys usually disturb me on the weekends anyway." Kyoya laughed. Tamaki and the twins were rather fond of visiting Haruhi, as he knew so well because they often wound up dragging him with them to the hapless commoner's apartment.

"Okay. Would Sunday work for you?" It was Friday night — Saturday morning, technically speaking — so he would have the rest of the day after he woke up at noon to work out further details. Which was good, considering how much he had left to do before going to bed.

"Sounds perfect. Now go to sleep."

He cringed. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize it was so late."

"I was talking about you. Go to sleep. If you don't, I'm going to have Tamaki barge into your room early in the morning."

His eyes narrowed into slits. "You wouldn't. I have things to do, and I prefer working at night." If she did send Tamaki, he hoped that he had an oven large enough to stuff the blond into. And a grave.

Or maybe not, as he really owed Tamaki. "And I prefer that you get some rest. Staying up late and then sleeping until noon on the weekends is not healthy for you."

He huffed. "Fine. I'll leave my work for the morning." Whether he would be in the mood to do work early in the morning or not was an entirely different question, one that he did not want to think about right then.

"Good." Her tone became warmer. "See you at six on Sunday. Unless Tamaki decides to drag you guys to my house before then."

"Yes, see you then."

"Bye."

"Bye." He hung up and lay back down on his bed again. Memories and thoughts floated in his mind until, finally, he fell fast asleep.

Tachibana was pleasantly surprised when a well-rested-and-normal-acting Kyoya was ready to start his day at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning.