A/N: I recommend listening to some of the OST's from dive to the future at the end of this chapter, I feel like a few of them just make it a little bit more sad :)))))))

A couple of weeks passed and Ikuya had been attending regular sessions with the psychologist. He had been doing slightly better mentally and his knees were feeling better. His back had almost fully healed, leaving behind large obvious scars across his back. He had been to the hospital the previous day and they had checked how his knees and back were doing and he had been told that whilst his back had healed enough for him to swim again, his knees may need a couple more weeks to heal which he was content with. It had been hard not being able to swim or do anything really and he was thankful that it seemed as if this whole thing would be over soon. Well, almost over.

Hiyori's funeral was supposed to be held in a weeks time. Ikuya had been invited by Hiyori's mother who he had met a couple of times however, he hadn't replied yet to say whether he would be attending or not. He wasn't sure how much Hiyori's parents had been told by police and if he was being one hundred per cent honest, he was scared. Scared that they would blame him for their son's death, scared that they would be angry, furious even that he got to live whilst they had to bury their only son.

His mind was a whirlwind of different thoughts and feeling which he had been trying to sort through this past week with the help of the psychologist he had been seeing.

Ikuya's parents had heard about Hiyori a couple of days after he had died and had immediately contacted the teal haired boy, immediately deducing that there was more to the story than what they had heard. They both stayed on the phone with him as he started explaining what had happened, Natsuya joining him for moral support after he emerged from the shower. By the end of the explanation, both their parents and Ikuya were in tears and even Natsuya's eyes weren't dry.

After regaining their composure, their parents had promised to come to Tokyo to visit as soon as they could get time off work.

They had ended the phone call, promising to stay in contact more and Ikuya had let out a small sigh of relief, Natsuya gently ruffling his hair, pride filling him as he saw how far Ikuya had come in such a short time.

Within a week of Hiyori's death, Ikuya had returned to his dorm, accompanied by his brother and friends, prepared to pack everything to move into his new apartment.

A strange atmosphere filled the entire building that housed the dorms which was understandable given what had happened. Everybody knew what had happened. After all, anyone in the building had been evacuated that day and word spread like wildfire.

A couple of students greeted him with sympathy, clearly being unaware of the entire story and presuming that Ikuya would be distraught over his best friend's death, however, Ikuya couldn't blame them. To anyone else, it must have seemed like they were best friends but behind closed doors, it was quite a different story.

It didn't take long for them to pack everything seeing as there were six of them and it wasn't long before Ikuya was settled in his new apartment, his brother staying with him.

It was now two weeks after Hiyori's death, his funeral was in a weeks time and Ikuya had been accepted into Hidaka university. It was strange but not unwelcome to not see sympathetic faces surrounding him like he surely would have if he hadn't transferred. He had spoken to the coach of the swim team who had been ecstatic at having him on the team once he could swim again. Overall, things looked like they were getting better.

Another two days passed and he received another message from Hiyori's mother regarding the funeral.

The message itself was simple enough, stating that she knew what had happened and that she would understand if he didn't want to go to the funeral but that she'd like to see him again and see that he was alright after everything that had happened, even if they simply met up later on rather than at the funeral.

His heart warmed upon reading the message, remembering how kind Hiyori's mother had been previously when he had met her. It was after reading this that he decided that he would go to the funeral. Although Hiyori himself didn't exactly deserve it, his parents deserved the peace of mind that they would gain from him going to the funeral. And so, he replied, saying that he would be attending. He decided against asking whether Natsuya could go with him, feeling that this was something that he had to do alone.

And so, Thursday rolled around fairly quickly and Ikuya began getting ready, taking a long hot shower in the morning before dressing himself in formal black clothing.

He ate slowly, trying to stop the churning in his stomach as he thought about the day ahead and he flinched upon feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, glancing up to see his brother smiling down at him.

"It's going to be okay," The brunette reassured "I'll come and pick you up whenever you're ready to leave, just text me. If anything goes wrong, again text me but I'm sure it will be fine. They'll understand how hard this is for you,"

Ikuya gave a small smile, thanking his brother who offered to drop him off, to which he agreed.

He no longer needed crutches but he still limped slightly as he walked on the way to the car. He fiddled nervously with his fingers throughout the car ride, his heart pounding in his chest the closer they got to the church.

The teal haired boy took in a deep breath as they pulled up outside the church, feeling a hand rest on his leg. He looked towards his brother who gave an encouraging smile as Ikuya took another breath and opened the door, stepping out of the car.

After saying a quick goodbye to his brother, he spotted Hiyori's mother in the crowd, beginning to walk in the direction of the group. The older woman spotted him as he walked closer, heading over to him and gently asking.

"Are you sure you're alright?" To which Ikuya nodded, his eyes showing both apprehension and determination. "If anything goes wrong, feel free to leave or go outside for a while... I understand that this must be hard..." She continued and Ikuya nodded once more.

He followed her over to the group of people, feeling extremely out of place around Hiyori's family members, all of whom had different levels of understanding of what happened.

Hiyori's father approached him with a welcoming smile that seemed forced, not that Ikuya could blame him.

"Ikuya! How are you doing?" He asked

"I'm not too bad...maybe a bit overwhelmed but it's alright," Ikuya replied, avoiding eye contact with the older male, almost afraid to see the non-existent anger in his eyes.

"That's understandable, there's a lot of people here and with everything that happened...Well, I hope you're doing a bit better," Hiyori's father replied gently, placing a hand on Ikuya's shoulder in an attempt to comfort the younger.

They began heading into the church, Ikuya following Hiyori's parents' instructions of staying with them.

Ikuya realised halfway through the service that he may have underestimated how emotional this would make him. He had guessed that he would be able to keep it together until he got home at least, however, as various stories of Hiyori's life were told, Ikuya couldn't keep himself together any longer, tears slowly falling from his eyes.

He ended up having to leave the room for a moment when they brought the coffin in.

It was all too much and he needed some fresh air.

And so, he sat outside on the steps leading to the door for a while, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm his tears.

Hiyori's life had been so normal, he had seemed happy when Ikuya had met him, what had happened though? Why had this happened? He couldn't work it out for the life of him, and no one else ever would now because he was gone.

If he could turn back time, he would've answered the text messages the brunette had sent, would have called the police to go and check on him before he killed himself. Maybe then he would still be here, maybe then he could explain why he acted how he did...

Ikuya barely noticed the door opening and closing again behind him as he stared over the graveyard until someone sat down next to him.

"It's not your fault..." The mystery person said. Upon glancing at the stranger, Ikuya didn't recognise him, his confusion showing on his face as the person began explaining. "I'm Hiyori's cousin. I know you've heard it before but it's not your fault. You ran because you had to to survive, it's instinct, and Hiyori...well...I'm not sure he ever was completely stable...He...He used to spend so much time alone...then he met you and I thought he would change...Shit, I'm sorry..." he cut himself off as his voice choked up, tears falling from his eyes.

"It's okay...You have the right to be upset, he was your cousin," Ikuya tried to comfort.

"You seem like a good person, you didn't deserve any of that...most people would refuse to come...but you did, why?" Hiyori's cousin seemed intrigued.

"I...I wasn't going to...but then his mother messaged me...and said she wanted to see me...to check I'm okay...I figured she at least deserved that after losing her son...even though it's scary for me, she deserves peace of mind," Ikuya explained before adding "Sorry that probably didn't make much sense..."

"No, no...It made sense...You know that's really admirable of you...I...don't think I could have ever done that...It must be really hard for you..."

The two sat outside for a short while after that, both of them beginning to calm down as they talked before returning to the service, each of their minds slightly clearer.

It was early evening when Ikuya returned home, Natsuya right by his side as they stepped inside the lift to take them to their apartment.

"I'm really proud of you Ikuya, You've truly surpassed me, both in swimming and in mental strength, I can't even imagine how hard today must have been for you, but you did it..." Natsuya choked up towards the end of his sentence, wrapping an arm around his younger brother and gently ruffling his hair. Ikuya smiled silently, thoughts rushing through his head rapidly as they reached their apartment. He immediately got changed into more comfortable clothing, heading back out to the living room and feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders. Everything was behind him now, it was all in the past. And he was prepared to try his best to bury that past.

Early morning sunlight flooded into the room through the glass panelled roof, the sparkling light refracting off the waters surface, creating a beautiful reflection of waves on the walls of the building. Upon one of the starting blocks, Ikuya stood, pulling his goggles down over his eyes, crouching down and preparing to dive, taking a deep breath just as encouraging shouts echoed throughout the room.

He glanced to the poolside where his brother and friends all stood, cheering him on as he pushed himself off the starting block, cutting into the water and pushing himself through for the first time in what felt like forever. He built up some speed before turning and kicking off the wall a the opposite end of the pool.

Here in the water, he was no longer held back by his own fear, he swam effortlessly as if he had never even stopped. Once he reached the other end of the pool, he surfaced from the water, his chest heaving slightly as he heard the cheering of his friends coming closer.

"Ikuya that was amazing!" Makoto called as he made his way over to the teal haired boy.

"It's as if you've still been practising every day! I swear, your times haven't even gotten worse," Asahi grinned as Natsuya reached his hand down, pulling his brother out of the water and pulling him into a hug, not minding his clothes getting wet.

"Things are only going to get better from here," Natsuya murmured into Ikuya's ear, a wide smile gracing Ikuya's face, illuminated by the early morning sun making it glow with happiness.

"Crap, you need to get changed or you're gonna be late!" Asahi muttered upon checking his watch.

"Late on the first day, that's terrible," Natsuya teased, receiving a playful punch to the arm from Ikuya who rushed off to get changed, calling back

"I wouldn't be late if you'd have set the alarm at the right time!"

Natsuya pouted before breaking out into a wide grin, chasing after his brother shouting

"I'm gonna get you for that one!"

Things may not have been perfect over the past few months for Ikuya but he could tell that things would get better, with his friends and his brother by his side, anything seemed possible.

2020 Olympics

"And here we have everyone lining up for the individual medley, There are plenty of strong contenders for this year's Olympic gold, many of these competitors we've seen grow from national level swimmers to Olympic level. They're getting ready to start now, and who do you think will win?" One commentator asked, turning to the person next to him

"As you said, there are many strong contenders this year, it's hard to say who will win, we'll just have to wait and see."

Beep

The race started, all competitors diving into the pool and going into their first stroke. There was a couple who pulled ahead, however, as the race went on, it was clear that they began slowing down, allowing other competitors to surpass them.

Ikuya took in a gulp of oxygen as he reached the final turn, pushing off the wall and pushing himself further, using every last ounce of strength to pull ahead of the race.

It was all a blur as his hand slammed against the wall, he desperately tried to catch his breath as he pulled off his goggles, glancing up at the scoreboard.

He could've sworn he felt his heart stop for a moment as he saw his name, a large number appearing next to it causing the crowd to erupt in loud cheers.

Ikuya Kirishima 1

He felt his heart racing in his chest as his chest heaved trying to pull in more oxygen.

"He's done it! Ikuya Kirishima has won the Individual Medley! After a rough season last year, he's pulled through where it really counts!" The commentators could barely be heard over the noise in the stadium, drowning Ikuya's thoughts in the noise.

"Wow, to experience something as traumatic as he did and then managed to win the Olympics not even two years later is incredible! Truly an inspiration!"

He's done it.

He had won the Olympics.

At one point it had seemed as if he wouldn't even live long enough to see the Olympics and now here he was.

It was overwhelming as he thought back to that first time he swam after Hiyori. He had fallen in love with the sport even more if possible and had sworn to himself that he would try his hardest and try for the Olympics.

And here he was. His mind focussed in on where his parents and Natsuya were sat in the crowd, feeling a wave of emotions wash over him as he saw the pride upon their faces. As he was looking into the crowd, he spotted a somewhat familiar face sat next to his parents, her face tear-stained as she spoke to his parents.

Hiyori's mother...

Although it had been a while, he still thought of Hiyori at times, wondering what could have happened, wondering what it would be like if things had been different. Would Hiyori be her cheering him on? Would he be competing?

He managed to cut off his train of thought before it spiralled too far out of control as the realisation dawned upon him once more.

He had done it.

Despite everything, he had won the Olympics.

And he had never felt more proud of himself than he did at that moment.

A/N: I'm not crying you are!
It's finished finally! I didn't plan for this story to be this long but things happen I guess. I feel like this is a nice way to end though.
Thank you so much to everyone who has read this and has enjoyed it and I'm so grateful for everyone's comments and kudos and support, thank youuuuuuu!
I thought of leaving this sort of on a cliffhanger but I couldn't, I needed a happy ending as much as everyone else.
I hope everyone has enjoyed this story and goodbye for now :)))))))