Becoming Her Lover

Chapter 21

Her True Lover

Note: Well, here it is. The finale to, maybe, one of my most favorite pieces. Be sure to leave a comment about how I did because I always love to hear what you guys think. As for the announcement, it'll be at the end of the story. I hope you enjoy the finale and thank you so much, once again, for all of the support.

At the end of the week, Umi was finally able to hear some good news. After what seemed to be an eternity in the hospital, the doctors told her the situation. Unfortunately, none of it made any sense. They said that this was mysteriously random and that nothing inside of her actually caused this. They told her that she was very healthy and that she wouldn't have to worry about anything like this in the near future. With this being such a weird thing, Umi tried to ask some questions, but their answers were so broad and unsure that it didn't give her any resolve. Once everything was sort of cleared up, they told her that she was free to go.

As she was preparing to leave, a nurse entered the room to clean up the things that were used for her. Of course, Umi thanked her for taking such good care of her and that's when something else was sparked within that conversation.

"That girl who came to visit you a while ago… Was she your girlfriend?" At that moment, Umi's body froze at the sound of those words. "Sorry. I bet that seemed really inappropriate of me, but…"

"No, it's alright. She… She was…"

"Was? What does that mean?" Umi knew that it was best to talk about troublesome things instead of bottling it up inside. She bowed her head and looked at the nurse who had turned in her direction.

"I don't know what it means. Everything was going just fine, but when she came in, something changed and she said that it was best that we stopped being with each other." Saying those words made her heart break. On the other hand, the nurse was in complete shock.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."

"It's… It's okay. I just…"

"You know, that girl was waiting for you the entire time you were being operated on." Umi suddenly raised her head in curiosity."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were brought in, everyone left except for her. She waited for news regarding you. When it became night, she ended up sleeping on the couch, softly whispering your name. It sounded to me like she really cared about you." As the nurse was telling her this, Umi was busy in her thoughts. She couldn't believe that Kotori would do something like this. It didn't even seem like something she could actually do. As she continued to think, the nurse noticed her busy thinking and interjected once more. "I'm not trying to sound like a love expert or anything, but I'm pretty sure she still loves you." Umi's eyes shot wide open.

"Huh?"

"Working here, I get to see a lot of things and the one thing that always remains the same is love. This place strengthens the bonds between people, especially when that someone manages to fight off whatever has happened to them. I guess seeing you like this really fortified her love for you."

"But if that's true, why would she break up with me? It just doesn't make any sense."

"I'm sorry, sweety. I don't have an answer to that question. I'm sure you'll be able to figure that out. If she does truly love you, she'll find her back to you through the love that you've given to her." After that, she finished up her cleaning duties and headed towards the door. "Congratulations on your recovery and I wish you the best of luck."

The nurse smiled once more and left the room. Meanwhile, Umi was still frozen solid. If what the nurse had told her was true, she had to go to Kotori. That was the only right thing to do. She quickly snapped out of her trance and ran out of the hospital at full speed with one destination in mind: Kotori's house.

Completely disregarding the fact that she should take things easy after staying in the hospital, she ran as fast as she could to Kotori's house. Unfortunately, that time in bed made her a little out of shape. She had to take a couple breaks as to not pass out. If she did that, it would only take longer to see Kotori and fix this whole thing. Once she made it to her house, she was completely out of breath with the door handle within her grasp. She took a few moments to regain her breath before approaching her in this serious situation. She knocked on the door and waited for a response. Unfortunately, her mother was the one who answered.

"Hi Minami-sensei."

"Umi-chan, you're all better. It's so great to see you up and well."

"Thank you. That whole thing was kind of a blur, but I'm glad that I'm alright as well."

"So what brings you here?"

"I actually wanted to talk to Kotori. We had some discussion a little while back, but we were unable to finish it. Is she here?"

"Kotori… I'm sorry, but she's not here."

"Really? Do you know where she might be? I tried calling her, but she won't answer." She didn't respond. She just closed her eyes and dropped her head. "I see… Well, if you see or hear from her. Could you give her a message for me?"

"Of course."

"The message is this: I want to see you. I miss you, and if it seems like this message is lackluster, come and find me. Thank you." She bowed to Kotori's mother and walked off in silence. Meanwhile, she closed the door and walked back towards the living room when she felt a presence at the top of the stairs which caused her to stop.

"Why did you make me do that?" There was no response. "It's obvious that she cares about you. Maybe you should go see her." There was still no response. There was only the sound of a door closing shortly after.

…

The next week of school started and Umi was eager to get to school. She knew that this would be her chance to see Kotori and ease things over. The night before was a struggle since the only thing she could think of was Kotori. She wanted to know what was going on in her head as well as tell her the true feelings that's been developing inside of her.

On her way to school, she was unable to see Kotori. Normally, the two of them walked the same path, but Kotori was nowhere to be found. When she got on campus, it was the same thing. Every place that Kotori would normally be at, she wasn't there. This really started to make Umi worried. Was she really being serious about not seeing each other anymore? There's no way that could have been true. That seemed way too far, even for Kotori, and she's gone pretty far with many things. Once she got into class, she looked around, but Kotori wasn't there either. However, there were a lot of girls that swarmed her and asked her what was going on.

"Umi-chan, what happened?"

"Kotori, told us that you guys broke up. You guys looked so perfect together though."

"Yeah, the school made a poll for the cutest couple and you two won. The only bad thing is that if Kotori is telling the truth, there is no winner." It was nice to know that none of them realized that she had been in the hospital for the past week.

"Anyway, have you guys seen Kotori? I really need to talk to her." They all gasped.

"Are you going to talk to her about this break-up?" Her patience was growing thin with these girls, but she did know that they could help her find her if she was on campus."

"Umi-chan, you can use the announcement office. We can open it up for you. Hopefully, Kotori-chan will hear it and run for you."

"That would be perfect."

"Alright, let's go." She followed the two girls to the announcement office where she settled in and prepared the best thing she could in order for it to capture Kotori's attention.

"Kotori, Kotori, are you there? If you are, please come and find me. I really need to talk to you. You left on such odd terms that I wanted to clear up the area. You've been telling everyone that we've broken up, but is that really what you want? To be honest, I don't want that to happen. You always make me happy and I want to make you happy as well. Whenever we are together, things just always feel right. You have to have felt the same. Now, I don't know why you broke up with me, but I'm pretty sure that you have a good reason for doing it. However, I want you to give me a second chance. Please let me make things right. Whatever I did to you, I'm sorry. I want to be with you again. I… I want to be your Umi-chan." Umi stopped there in hopes that a knock would come from the door, but there was no knock. At this point in time, it was becoming more obvious that Kotori was not at school. She quickly grew sad and headed out of the announcement office. Right as she got outside, something immediately caught her attention.

"Umi-chan! She's here! She's making her way to the exit!" Without a moment to waste, she ran down the stairs and through the exit where she saw Kotori about to reach the gate of the school.

"Kotori, please wait!" She reached out her hand and with some stroke of luck, Kotori stopped just before leaving her sight. "Please don't go. I want to talk to you." Kotori suddenly turned around with the fakest smile Umi's ever seen.

"Umi-chan, I already told you that it's better for us not to be with each other. Don't you think we should just end it here?"

"But I don't get it. You seemed so happy and you managed to bring out a side of me that I didn't even know I had. Can't you at least tell me why you're doing this? If you can do that, I'll understand your rationale." Kotori's been avoiding this answer all of this time, but now, there was no way she could avoid it.

"I can't be with you because it was all fake!" Kotori closed her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs so that everyone could hear her. When she reopened them, she saw Umi with such a shocked look on her face.

"Fake? What are you talking about? What was fake about it?"

"Everything. Nothing we did was real. All it did was make me happy."

"But isn't that what you…"

"You didn't care about yourself at all. Anything I wanted to do, you did without question. Whenever I asked if you wanted to do something, you smartly directed it back at me and I went with whatever I wanted. How is that real?

"What do you mean? Of course it was real. All of it was real."

"It can't be real. No one is that selfless. Umi-chan, all you do is care for other people and I am one of those people. I know now that that is unfair. You deserve to be taken care of someone who can love you and do things that you want to do." Kotori suddenly dropped her head. "I can't be that person for you. I've used up enough of your kindness and I think it's time that we… Mmff." Out of nowhere, Umi stole a kiss from Kotori's lips without caring about what she was going to say. Kotori struggled to break free of her grip, but it was no use. She kept fighting back until the she fell onto the ground with Umi right on top of her. "Please, don't do this." Kotori stuck up her arm to try and push her off, but Umi grabbed it before she could and kissed it softly.

"You say I'm being selfless and that it's unfair, but it's quite the opposite." Kotori's eyes widened at the sound of those words. "I'm the one who's been using you. You're beautiful, kind, and that smile is something I cherish. Doing the things that you like to do keep those things alive. Seeing you happy was the thing that made me happy. I couldn't have been happier to see that smile on your face. I love you, Kotori… More than anything else in this entire world." At that moment, tears started to escape from her eyes as Umi pulled her off of the ground. "I'm sorry for not being honest with you, but…"

"Umi-chaaan!" Kotori threw her arms around her shoulders and squeezed her as tight as she could as the tears continued to roll down her face. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just thought that this was the best thing to do. I'm sorry." Kotori started to repeat her words, but all Umi could do was sigh in relief.

"Jeez, you're such a handful."

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Umi wrapped her arms around her body and smiled.

"Kotori?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

…

A year went by and things were as smooth as could. Umi and Kotori decided to have a lazy together. Kotori spent the day at Umi's house, but Umi was a little busy with another book her father was making her read. However, this didn't bother her at all. She brought her sewing kit and decided to work on a few things. Umi had her back leaned against her bed. Kotori saw the opening in between her legs and took the spot immediately. She nestled in comfortably and got to work. She didn't want to bother Umi and her reading, but after a few minutes, she had to speak up and say something to her.

"Umi-chan, guess what?" There was no response. "Umi-chan?" At that moment, Umi's head dropped onto her shoulder as she was fast asleep. "Umi-chan? You're sleeping now. Jeez, look who's the handful now." Kotori kissed her on her forehead and continued to knit away. Her project was nothing special, but in her head, it symbolized the strong connection she had with this girl. The girl she loved with all of her heart.

The End

Ending Note: Thank you so much for reading this story. I hope you all had a great time. As for the news, here's what I got. I want to write a story alongside you guys so this is what's going to happen.

This next Love Live story will be a harem, based on the character that you guys pick. From now until Friday, post your comments on this chapter indicating who you want the harem character to be. It can be anyone you want to be. Whoever claims the majority will be the main character. Also, you will also be able to create character profiles for the other 8 girls. Be creative and I'll do my best to come up with collection of everything you guys say.

I hope you all decide to take part in this community project. I guarantee it'll be really fun and I'm super interested to see the demographic of best girls.

To conclude, I hope this story lived up to be what you wanted. Thank you once again and I hope to hear from you all soon.