Epilogue

Mizushima Kasumi’s Point of View

            I twiddled with my dark brown hair nervously as Asami zipped the back of my immaculate-white dress.

            “I can’t believe my younger sister’s getting married,” my brother Masaru-nii shook his head, wiping his ‘tears’ away. “To a professional swimmer. Like. How . . .”

            “Your makeup’s not smeared or anything, right?” Asami sighed as she made some last minute touches to my eyelashes.

            “Asami, it’s fine,” I chuckled as I gently waved her hand away. “I’m just getting married. It’s not that of a big deal.”

            Asami’s eyes turned ghostly as her body quivered like such, “Just your wedding? Masaru, what have you been teaching this girl? You said the same thing too about our wedding!”

            She glared daggers at him as my brother’s body shivered down his spine.

            “E-eto . . .” my brother sweat-dropped before glancing at his watch, quickly changing the subject. “Oh, look the time! Man, we should totally get moving now and onto the chapel.”

            “Yeah, totally,” I saw Asami deadpan. I chuckled at her response.

            Before long, I took a step into the church’s main atrium, entering the double doors. It was a small wedding. Only Masaru-nii, Asami, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, Rin, Gou, Sousuke, Ama-sensei, and a few of Nanase’s coaches and colleagues were present. In all, there were only about fifteen people in the audience.

            Since there were no groomsmen or bridesmaids present like Masaru-nii’s wedding, it was only the priest, Nanase, and I standing by the altar. Once I reached the altar, I took Nanase’s hand and gazed into his deep cerulean eyes, which always drowned me into the abyss of vibrant blue and oceans of azure, before turning my attention back to the priest.

            “Yeah, Haru-chan!” I heard Nagisa shout. “Finally getting married!”

            “Oh, shut up, baka,” I heard Rei slap the poor blonde, who then conceded his excitement.

            “Dear children of God, you have come to this church so that the Lord may seal your love in the presence of the priest and this community. Christian marriage is a sacred union, which enriches natural love. It binds those who enter it to be faithful to each other forever; it creates between them a bond that endures for life and cannot be broken; it demands that they love and honor each other, (that they accept from God the children he may give them, and bring them up in his love). To help them in their marriage, the husband and wife receive the life-long grace of the sacrament. Is this your understanding of marriage?” the priest declared, once everyone in the audience settled down into their seats (a.k.a. Nagisa) and Nanase and I were standing alongside each other.

            “It is,” both Nanase and I stated simultaneously as we gazed into each other’s eyes.

            After a small speech made by the priest, the ceremony then came down to the vows—the oath of commitment, respect, love, and admiration.

            “Nanase Haruka,” the priest announced my fiancé’s name into the resounding echo to the room and its few audience members. “Do you take Mizushima Kasumi as your wife, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?”

            Nanase looked directly into my eyes, again, drowning me into his seas of cerulean eyes, before he replied, “I do.”

            The priest then turned his attention to me, his gentle gaze staring at me, “Mizushima Kasumi, do you take Nanase Haruka as your husband, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?”

            I gave a warm smile to Nanase before vowing, “I do.”

            The priest beamed at both of our responses before continuing, “What God joins together man must not separate. May the Lord confirm the consent that you have given and enrich you with his blessings.”

            The priest then turned behind him and took two rings into his hands before handing them to Nanase and me—the bride’s to Nanase, and the groom’s to me.

            The rings—traditional symbols and reminders of love—were exchanged between Nanase and I as the priest stated, “May the Lord bless these rings, which will the sign of your love and fidelity.”

            At that, everyone in the chapel responded with, “Amen.”

            “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest closed his pamphlet with a smile before continuing his words to Nanase. “You many now kiss the bride.”

            Nanase, afraid of showing public affection, hesitated before giving me a small, quick kiss as the crows erupted in cheers and elation.

            “There’s going to be a reception, right, Rei?” I heard Nagisa ask enthusiastically.

            “They didn’t want one, so they’ll be going directly to their honeymoon,” Rei said as he adjusted his glasses.

            “Aw,” Nagisa pouted, ‘tears’ falling down. “Well, we can celebrate their wedding by ourselves!”

            Rei shouted as he kicked his friend, “Hell no! Who does that?!”

            “Me!” Nagisa yelled happily as Rei deadpanned, smacking his forehead with his hand.

            “Off to London, now?” I heard Nanase whisper to me.

            “Yeah,” I smiled at him. “To the place where this all started . . .”

            “Je t’aime,” he breathed against my ear.

            I chuckled before replying, “I love you too.”

            At that, the both of us bolted outside, where Rin was waiting to drive us to his house, and then to the airport.

            “You two are so not romantic,” Rin dually noted, deadpanning. “You just have to go to my house and change into normal clothes, and then go to the airport, and not directly. You didn’t even hire a limo!”

            “No need,” Nanase replied simply, as he and I entered Rin’s sedan. “Besides, I have you at my whim.”

            Rin shouted in reply at his friend’s tease, “Hey! And, Kasumi, what did you do to get him to tease around and joke like this? Makoto and I never were able to do that. Kasumi, like how . . .”

            I laughed, “Truth be told, I don’t know.”

            Rin then started the car and began driving to his house, “Still, though. You two are so hopeless.”

            Nanase then turned his attention to me, telling me, “Kasumi, I lost my drive.”

            The both of us always did this—our inside joke . . . Our tease.

            “Seriously?” I raised an eyebrow in compliance to our joke. “Your drive? How?”

            “My USB drive,” he told me as I laughed. “It was supposed to be here somewhere.”

            “You humor me, Nanase,” I laughed.

            “Tch,” was his immediate reply.

            At that moment, that immediate moment, the mahogany, double doors to the next chapter of our life opened. The chasm was free in our grasp. The hazy and translucent waters around us cleared, instead revealing the crystalline clear, cerulean waters before us. Everything was clear now. No more tensioned atmospheres, no more hazy perceptions, and no more translucent walls, trapping us within its walls and boundaries. We were finally free. Free from the translucent waters, and now full of crystal-clear oceans that had no limits or borders . . .

            This is our translucent love story . . . and how we swam openly from the peripheries and margins . . . to be free.

~*~*~*~

Author's Note:

I just want to thank all of you for supporting me in writing this story (comments, votes, etc.)

I had so much fun writing it, and I hope you had fun reading it yourself! :)

I started a few other fanfictions: Nishinoya Yuu, Matsuoka Rin, etc.

(To those who asked for a Makoto story, I'll post the first chapter when I think of an interesting plot, because I don't have a good one as of now T.T)

Check them out! (if you'd like xD) :)

With love,

~FujiwaraYuko~