Congrats to Jin Kobayashi for such a great and inspiring series! [He owns it]

Harima went to where he was supposed to start the event from and looked back to where Eri was. He was thinking about her, recalling the first time he'd helped her in the rain. He wondered why he had gone and helped her, maybe it had to do with the fact fact his parents were not among the living. He frowned at himself for not taking the opportunity to say anything, but supposed that was water long under the bridge.

He heard the starting gun go off and mentally started his own countdown as he began stretching a bit. He didn't bother watching as Imadori screwed up their lead, he had better things to do like think of a certain blonde.

He had to focus however, "I must win, for 2-C, for myself, and for Ojou-chan." He looked back at the rapidly approaching Hanai and got ready to recieve the baton.

"Harima, take the baton! The men of 2-C are counting on you!"

Hanai handed off the baton to Harima who took off as though shot from a gun, the spectators really were awed the amount of speed Harima put on. With no distraction of his hat, Kenji caught up to 2-Ds blonde guy 50 meters from the finish.

He finished 3 meters ahead of 2-D and found himself mobbed by classmates in congratulations. Amidst all the people, he spotted Eri coming towards him with his jacket and hat. Slowly, he made his way toward her. Realizing that something was possibly going to happen, the crowd parted for them to meet.

"Hey Ojou, thank you for taking care of my hat, but the jacket's yours now." He smiled as he took that hat from her head and replaced onto his hairless dome.

Eri was speechless. She had heard of places where the guy giving a girl his named jacket was akin to going steady, and Harima had just given her his jacket to keep. She blushed and swallowed, "T-thank you Harima-kun."

Next thing she knew, Tenma was dragging her over to a secluded area with Mikoto tagging along. "Time for the Inquisition Eri!" Sawachika groaned.

Later on, in a darkened area, Harima sat gazing at the people dancing around the fire. His thoughts had returned to that weird dream from the night before. "Do I love her? She is beautiful, both in and out. I may not know her that well, but I do believe that I have fallen for her..." Kenji continued thinking unaware the subject of his thoughts loomed over him.

Eri gazed upon the guy whom she'd come to trust in a sort of crazy way. With him, there wasn't any notions or real expections in how they communicated. At least up until he had allowed her to keep his jacket anyway. "Does he love me like I have come to love him?" She watched his eyes as they swam back into focus.

Harima gazed up into what a part of him refered to as heavenly amber eyes. "Ojou-chan, you look beautiful."

Eri couldn't stop herself from becoming the shade of an apple at his quiet words. "Thank you K-Kenji-kun. You're certainly handsome yourself." She held out her hand to him again, "Dance with me."

Harima gazed into the amber pools before him, "With my bald head, and your leg?"

"Appearances are just that Harima-kun. No one came over to laugh or make fun of you did they?" Sawachika smiled as Kenji reached up to take her hand.

"No." Kenji admitted as he straightened up to look into her eyes yet again after glancing at the distant dance going on.

"That's because it is not what one may wear or seem like in public Kenji, but it is the inside that people really look at and appreciate." Eri winced from an ankle twinge as she stepped closer and spoke quietly, shifting her gaze to his eyes. "Somewhere along the course of this semester, you showed me that the people around Japan aren't all sex crazed perverts. Maybe it was that first time sharing an umbrella with you, but I started to realize that there was more to you then what you showed." She paused to regain her breath, then looked again up into his eyes. "Not too long ago, I realized that I was interested in you, romantically interested. And you know what Harima? I actually never planned to tell you this here, but its coming out into the open Harima-kun. I love you Kenji Harima."

Time seemed to stop for Harima as he digested and processed her words, then he spoke quietly, ignoring those afar who were begining to look their way. "Eri-chan, That's a hellava thing to say you know, but that rings true for me as well. I love you too. Now let us dance."

Eri smiled and giggled as Harima pulled her into a dance routine, the two of them not noticing Akira and her seemingly ever present camera.

A little later, Harima gazed down to Eri again and gently kissed her lips. He smiled at her suprised face, "Thanks to you Ojou-chan, I had the best day today."

Eri blushed and moved to repay him in kind, standing up on her tip toes to kiss back. Unaware that Takano had again taken their picture.

The next day Eri walked into class with caution due to her ankle. She first set her stuff on her desk and then noticed the group of boys around Harima's desk. She paused and listened to get a small clue as to why they were gathered around Harima's desk like that.

"..Yeah, they looked great dancing together..."

"Harima and Sawachika certainly caught people's attention...."

"Hey Eri, glad to see you." Tenma smiled as her entire group of girlfriends was now complete. The boys respectfully moved away from Harima's desk as the girls approached.

Eri went full crimson as the inscription on the desk became recognizable and the memories of yesterday came flooding back.

Tenma glowed with hyperactive happiness, "I'm so happy for you Eri! You and Harima deserve to be together!"

The blonde sighed and closed her eyes, "We are together Tenma." Amidst turbocharged questions from her friends, she held up a hand for quiet. "Listen, what I just said is true. I confessed to him during the dance and he accepted and confessed in return."

"Wow Eri, that's so romantic." Tenma went into a daydream over Karasuma as Mikoto kept asking stuff.

"Did you like plan to confess."

Eri shook her head, "No, really the words just came out." She dipped her head a bit and glanced at the floor and continued in a quiet voice. "It just felt like the right time Mikoto, there was really no plan, the words slipped out of their own accord." She looked and smiled slightly, "It was far better the first time he confessed to me." Both long time friends chuckled at that.

"That must've been really awkward for you then, that first time."

"It was," Eri admitted, nervously playing with the end of her ponytail. "But now its been properly done and he is m-my boyfriend." She blushed on saying those words, but she was glad she could say them.

"Hey Harima! Come on and kiss your girlfriend goodmorning!"

Eri went crimson with embarrassment as she turned and found Harima at the door of the classroom, also sharing a similar shade of red. "TENMA! Shut up!"

Harima slowly walked over to his seat and looked at the couple inscription and then looked up at Eri. "Did you sleep well Eri-chan?" He fixed his eyes on Tenma, "I have to thank you Tenma-san. You've helped me out greatly and encouraged me to do things for myself. I was blind till I took the shades off for good." He let his eyes come to rest on Eri, "There was someone out there for me in Eri, and I'm happy today because of what happened last night."

Eri blushed and placed a quick kiss on Kenji's forehead, "Thank you Kenji-kun." As the class bell rang.

It was a good day for them both, and it led to a steady and solid relationship.

Epilogue

A couple weeks later Harima met Eri's parents. It did turn out well in the end.

Eri and Kenji remained a steady couple till after high school was out. Then a wedding took place afterwards with the two of them heading off to the same college.

After they were done with schooling, the Harimas moved back to Yagami to take up residence in Eri's old mansion. Soon after that, they had their first child, a daughter which they named Tenma.

Due to both Kenji's background as a deliquent and Eri's sporadic times with her father. The two both invested in the local community with their jobs. They did have a son whom for unknown reasons got the name Hanai. Both Eri and Kenji tried their best to bring up their children the way they envisioned in a world where parents seemed to be devalued and individual choice was promoted. Throughout the Harima household's life, as Eri and Kenji grew older. They never stopped communicating with eachother.

Yet, as the globe rotates on its axis, so too must life go on. When Hanai and Tenma Harima were in their early twenties, a phone call from the police irrevocably changed their lives.

"Hello, is Harima Tenma there?"

"This is her." The daughter of Kenji and Eri Harima replied, motioning for her brother to turn off the television.

"We are sorry to report this to you Ms Harima, but both of your parents were killed when their helicopter suffered a mechanical failure and crashed."

"W-what?! Hold on, I'll let you speak to my brother." Tenma handed the phone to her anxious brother while she went to find the box of tissues.

"Hello? This is Harima Hanai speaking."

"As I told your sister Mr Harima. Your parents died in the crash of their helicopter earlier today."

Hanai Harima sunk into the chair his sister had just vacated, his world had turned upside down. "You're n-not joking?"

"No sir, the police do not normally joke around."

"Thank you for the news." Hanai woodenly hung up the phone and turned to embrace his now wailing sister. Just thirty minutes into the future, their parents were supposed to take them to the movies that night on one of the family's bi-weekly outings.

A bit later, Hanai and Tenma sat with a friend of their parents, Akira Takano, going through photo albums. A page was turned and Akira pointed out and explained the picture to the two young adults.

"This was a picture that I myself took long ago, of your parent's first kiss...."

The two children gazed at the gravestone in the Harima back garden, having been expertly sculpted. It captured the likeness of Kenji Harima and Eri S. Harima as they had been as teenagers. One the badass deliquent, and the seemingly aloof rich girl. Together in death as they had been in life.

COMPLETED

I do apologize for the ending, but I felt it was only fitting for them to remain together throughout life. I hope you enjoyed this story, some of which even has made me sad writing this ending. In some parts of our minds, we want to believe that romantic love is truly forever, but only in our hearts and minds is it actually forever. Long live Eri Sawachika and Kenji Harima!