Chapter 31:
When Dreams Become Reality
The Moment I fell for You.
#
---
**One Year Later**
Spring arrived in Osaka with cherry blossoms and the promise of new beginnings.
Airi stood in front of her office building, looking up at the new sign being installed: **Sato-Kurosawa Psychology Center - Specializing in Adolescent Mental Health**. After a year of running a small practice, she'd expanded. Three more therapists had joined her team, and they were moving into a larger space—an entire floor with six therapy rooms, a group therapy space, and even a small art therapy studio.
Her dream was becoming real. Not just a practice, but a center. A place where invisible teenagers could find their voices.
"It looks good," a voice said behind her.
She turned to find Professor Nakamura, her mentor from university, smiling with pride.
"Professor! You came!"
"Of course I came. This is a huge achievement, Airi. Your own center at twenty-six? Unheard of." Professor Nakamura gestured to the sign. "You're doing exactly what you said you'd do—making invisible people visible."
"I'm just getting started. I want to expand to schools eventually, offer workshops on mental health, train other therapists in my approach—"
"And you will. Because you're brilliant and determined and you actually care." The professor squeezed her shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Your patients are lucky to have you."
"I'm lucky to have them. They teach me as much as I teach them."
After Professor Nakamura left, Airi stood alone for a moment, taking it in. Her center. Her team. Her dream, manifesting before her eyes.
She pulled out her phone.
**Airi**: *The sign is up. It's real.*
**Ren**: *THATS MY WIFE! So proud of you!*
**Airi**: *We're not married yet.*
**Ren**: *Three weeks. Close enough. How do you feel?*
**Airi**: *Scared. Excited. Grateful. All of it.*
**Ren**: *Good. That means you're alive. See you tonight?*
**Airi**: *Always. Love you.*
**Ren**: ❤️
---
## 🏥 Ren's Expansion
That afternoon, Airi took the train to Ren's clinic for their weekly lunch date. But when she arrived, she found chaos—construction crews, new equipment being delivered, Ren directing traffic while also examining a cat.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Expansion!" He handed the cat to his assistant and pulled Airi aside. "Remember how I said I wanted to add a rehabilitation wing for rescue animals? It's happening. Starting construction today."
"Ren, that's amazing! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Wanted to surprise you. Plus, you've been so busy with your center expansion, I didn't want to steal your thunder." He grinned. "But the shelter partnership came through. They're helping fund it. We'll have space for twenty rescue animals at a time—medical treatment, behavioral training, full rehabilitation before adoption."
"That's incredible. That's your dream."
"Our dreams are coming true at the same time." He pulled her close despite the chaos around them. "Feels like the universe is saying we made the right choices."
"We did. All those years of distance, of sacrifice—"
"Worth it. All of it. For this."
They stood in the middle of construction chaos, holding each other, both overwhelmed by how far they'd come. From terrified teenagers to successful professionals. From four hours apart to side by side. From dreams to reality.
---
## 👰 Wedding Planning
That evening, they met with Saki and Ren's mom at a small restaurant to finalize wedding plans. Three weeks until their wedding—a small ceremony on their high school rooftop, followed by a reception at a local venue.
"Did you get the flowers ordered?" Ren's mom asked, checking her seemingly endless list.
"Yes," Airi confirmed. "Cherry blossoms for the bouquet, simple white arrangements for the rooftop."
"And the photographer knows it's on a school rooftop?" Saki added. "We need to make sure they can access it."
"The principal gave permission. She said it's romantic that we're getting married where we fell in love." Ren squeezed Airi's hand under the table. "Everything's coming together."
"Guest list finalized?" his mom pressed.
"Fifty people. Immediate family, close friends, mentors." Airi pulled out her phone to show the list. "Small and intimate, like we wanted."
"Perfect. And your dress?"
"Alterations done. Picking it up Monday."
They went through the checklist—catering, music, vows (writing their own), rings (ordered), honeymoon (a week at the lake where they'd had their first date). Everything was falling into place with surprising ease.
"You two seem calm," Saki observed. "Most couples are stressed about weddings."
"We survived four years of distance," Ren said simply. "Wedding planning is easy by comparison."
"Plus, the wedding isn't the important part," Airi added. "The marriage is. We're just formalizing what we've already built."
Ren's mom got misty-eyed. "Look at you two. All grown up and wise."
"We had good teachers," Ren said, looking at his mother with clear affection. "You taught me that love is choosing to stay, even when it's hard."
"And my parents taught me that love requires both independence and partnership," Airi added, thinking of her father's test and her mother's eventual support.
"Well, you've both learned the lessons well." Ren's mom raised her glass. "To Airi and Ren. May your marriage be filled with the same determination that got you through university."
"To choosing each other," Saki added. "Every day."
"To choosing each other," they echoed.
---
## 💼 Career Milestones
The week before the wedding brought unexpected news.
Airi was in her office, reviewing case notes, when Professor Nakamura called.
"I have news. Are you sitting down?"
"Should I be worried?"
"No. Excited. I submitted our research paper—the one on your therapeutic approach with anxious teens—to the Journal of Clinical Psychology. They not only accepted it, they want you to present at their conference in September. In Tokyo."
Airi's hands shook. "They want me to present? But I'm just—"
"Just nothing. You're Dr. Sato-Kurosawa, clinical psychologist with proven results. Your approach is innovative. They want to hear from you directly."
"I don't know what to say."
"Say yes. This is huge for your career. For your center. For the field."
"Yes. Of course yes." Airi felt tears building. "Thank you. For believing in me all these years."
"You did the work. I just pointed you in the right direction." Professor Nakamura paused. "How's the wedding prep?"
"Good. Next Saturday. Small ceremony, just family and friends."
"I'm honored to be included. See you then, Dr. Sato-Kurosawa."
After hanging up, Airi sat in stunned silence. A presentation at a major conference. Her research recognized. Her career taking off exactly as she'd dreamed.
She called Ren immediately.
"I'm presenting at a conference! In Tokyo! My research on adolescent anxiety!"
"That's incredible! When?"
"September. They want me to—" She stopped, realization hitting. "September. That's when you're supposed to present at the veterinary symposium in Kyoto."
"Wait, really?"
"September 15-17. When's yours?"
"September 14-16." He laughed. "We're both presenting at conferences on the same weekend in different cities."
"Is that going to be okay?"
"Are you kidding? That's perfect. We're both at the top of our fields. Both sharing our work. Both making a difference." His voice was full of pride. "We'll make it work. We always do."
"We always do," she agreed.
---
## 🐕 The Rescue
Two days before the wedding, Ren called Airi in the middle of her therapy session. She ignored it—patient time was sacred. But he called again immediately. And again.
She excused herself. "Emergency. I'll be right back."
In the hallway, she answered. "Ren, what's wrong?"
"Can you come to the clinic? Now? I need you."
His voice was shaking. Her heart jumped. "Are you hurt?"
"No, no. Just—I need you here. Please."
She rescheduled her next patient and rushed to his clinic. She found him in the surgical room, standing over a small dog—barely more than a puppy—covered in scars and barely breathing.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Fighting ring. Police raid. They brought me twelve dogs. This one—" His voice cracked. "She's the worst. I don't know if I can save her."
Airi had never seen Ren like this—hands shaking, tears in his eyes, the confident surgeon replaced by a scared man who cared too much.
"What do you need from me?"
"Just be here. Hold my hand. Help me believe I can do this."
So she scrubbed in and stood beside him while he operated. Three hours of meticulous surgery—repairing damage, fighting for life, refusing to give up. Airi held retractors, handed him tools, whispered encouragement when his hands shook.
"You're doing it," she said as the puppy's heartbeat steadied. "She's fighting. Because of you."
"Because of us," he corrected. "I couldn't have done this alone."
When it was finally over, when the puppy was stable and breathing on her own, Ren collapsed into Airi's arms.
"She's going to make it," Airi said, holding him.
"Because you were here. Because I wasn't alone."
"You're never alone. Not anymore."
They stood like that for a long time, surrounded by medical equipment and the soft beeping of monitors, both crying with relief and exhaustion.
"This is what we do," Ren said finally. "Save the ones everyone else gives up on."
"Both of us. In different ways."
"In perfect complementary ways."
"Partners," Airi said.
"In everything."
---
## 🌙 The Night Before
The night before their wedding, they broke tradition and stayed together. Spent the evening on their couch with Hachi and Miso, eating takeout and going through old photos.
"Look at us," Airi said, pointing at a photo from their high school festival. "So young. So naive."
"So in love," Ren added. "Even then."
"Even then," she agreed. "Did you ever think we'd make it here?"
"Honestly? There were moments I doubted. That crisis in our third year of university. When you went silent for five days and I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm sorry about that. I was—"
"You were overwhelmed. It's okay. We worked through it." He pulled her closer. "But yeah, there were moments I was terrified we wouldn't make it."
"Me too. The distance felt impossible sometimes."
"But we did it. We actually did it."
"We did." She looked at him. "Tomorrow, we get married. Officially, legally, forever married."
"Scared?"
"Not even a little. You?"
"Not even a little." He kissed her. "I've been yours for nine years. Tomorrow just makes it official."
"Official sounds good."
"Official sounds perfect."
They went to bed early, knowing tomorrow would be long and emotional and perfect. As Airi drifted off to sleep, she thought about the journey—from lonely high school student to successful psychologist, from afraid to feel to overflowing with love.
Tomorrow, she'd marry her best friend.
Tomorrow, nine years of choosing each other would become forever.
Tomorrow, their dreams would become reality in every possible way.
And she couldn't wait.
---
## 📔 Journal Entry
*Dear Past Me,*
*Tomorrow I marry Ren Kurosawa.*
*I'm twenty-six years old. I run my own psychology center. I have a team of therapists working with me. I'm presenting at a major conference. I'm living my dream professionally.*
*And personally? I'm about to marry the boy who refused to let me hide. The man who survived four years of distance with me. My partner in everything.*
*Our careers are flourishing. We're both doing exactly what we said we'd do—saving the invisible ones, the forgotten ones, the ones everyone else gave up on.*
*And we're doing it side by side.*
*The distance is behind us. The struggle is over. Tomorrow begins forever.*
*I wish seventeen-year-old me could see this. Could see how everything she feared turned into everything she needed. How the boy who scared her became the man she couldn't live without.*
*We made it, Past Me. Against all odds, we made it.*
*And tomorrow, we make it official.*
*Love,**Airi (bride-to-be, successful, finally home)*
---
## 🌸 End of Chapter 32
---
---
**One Year Later**
Spring arrived in Osaka with cherry blossoms and the promise of new beginnings.
Airi stood in front of her office building, looking up at the new sign being installed: **Sato-Kurosawa Psychology Center - Specializing in Adolescent Mental Health**. After a year of running a small practice, she'd expanded. Three more therapists had joined her team, and they were moving into a larger space—an entire floor with six therapy rooms, a group therapy space, and even a small art therapy studio.
Her dream was becoming real. Not just a practice, but a center. A place where invisible teenagers could find their voices.
"It looks good," a voice said behind her.
She turned to find Professor Nakamura, her mentor from university, smiling with pride.
"Professor! You came!"
"Of course I came. This is a huge achievement, Airi. Your own center at twenty-six? Unheard of." Professor Nakamura gestured to the sign. "You're doing exactly what you said you'd do—making invisible people visible."
"I'm just getting started. I want to expand to schools eventually, offer workshops on mental health, train other therapists in my approach—"
"And you will. Because you're brilliant and determined and you actually care." The professor squeezed her shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Your patients are lucky to have you."
"I'm lucky to have them. They teach me as much as I teach them."
After Professor Nakamura left, Airi stood alone for a moment, taking it in. Her center. Her team. Her dream, manifesting before her eyes.
She pulled out her phone.
**Airi**: *The sign is up. It's real.*
**Ren**: *THATS MY WIFE! So proud of you!*
**Airi**: *We're not married yet.*
**Ren**: *Three weeks. Close enough. How do you feel?*
**Airi**: *Scared. Excited. Grateful. All of it.*
**Ren**: *Good. That means you're alive. See you tonight?*
**Airi**: *Always. Love you.*
**Ren**: ❤️
---
## 🏥 Ren's Expansion
That afternoon, Airi took the train to Ren's clinic for their weekly lunch date. But when she arrived, she found chaos—construction crews, new equipment being delivered, Ren directing traffic while also examining a cat.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Expansion!" He handed the cat to his assistant and pulled Airi aside. "Remember how I said I wanted to add a rehabilitation wing for rescue animals? It's happening. Starting construction today."
"Ren, that's amazing! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Wanted to surprise you. Plus, you've been so busy with your center expansion, I didn't want to steal your thunder." He grinned. "But the shelter partnership came through. They're helping fund it. We'll have space for twenty rescue animals at a time—medical treatment, behavioral training, full rehabilitation before adoption."
"That's incredible. That's your dream."
"Our dreams are coming true at the same time." He pulled her close despite the chaos around them. "Feels like the universe is saying we made the right choices."
"We did. All those years of distance, of sacrifice—"
"Worth it. All of it. For this."
They stood in the middle of construction chaos, holding each other, both overwhelmed by how far they'd come. From terrified teenagers to successful professionals. From four hours apart to side by side. From dreams to reality.
---
## 👰 Wedding Planning
That evening, they met with Saki and Ren's mom at a small restaurant to finalize wedding plans. Three weeks until their wedding—a small ceremony on their high school rooftop, followed by a reception at a local venue.
"Did you get the flowers ordered?" Ren's mom asked, checking her seemingly endless list.
"Yes," Airi confirmed. "Cherry blossoms for the bouquet, simple white arrangements for the rooftop."
"And the photographer knows it's on a school rooftop?" Saki added. "We need to make sure they can access it."
"The principal gave permission. She said it's romantic that we're getting married where we fell in love." Ren squeezed Airi's hand under the table. "Everything's coming together."
"Guest list finalized?" his mom pressed.
"Fifty people. Immediate family, close friends, mentors." Airi pulled out her phone to show the list. "Small and intimate, like we wanted."
"Perfect. And your dress?"
"Alterations done. Picking it up Monday."
They went through the checklist—catering, music, vows (writing their own), rings (ordered), honeymoon (a week at the lake where they'd had their first date). Everything was falling into place with surprising ease.
"You two seem calm," Saki observed. "Most couples are stressed about weddings."
"We survived four years of distance," Ren said simply. "Wedding planning is easy by comparison."
"Plus, the wedding isn't the important part," Airi added. "The marriage is. We're just formalizing what we've already built."
Ren's mom got misty-eyed. "Look at you two. All grown up and wise."
"We had good teachers," Ren said, looking at his mother with clear affection. "You taught me that love is choosing to stay, even when it's hard."
"And my parents taught me that love requires both independence and partnership," Airi added, thinking of her father's test and her mother's eventual support.
"Well, you've both learned the lessons well." Ren's mom raised her glass. "To Airi and Ren. May your marriage be filled with the same determination that got you through university."
"To choosing each other," Saki added. "Every day."
"To choosing each other," they echoed.
---
## 💼 Career Milestones
The week before the wedding brought unexpected news.
Airi was in her office, reviewing case notes, when Professor Nakamura called.
"I have news. Are you sitting down?"
"Should I be worried?"
"No. Excited. I submitted our research paper—the one on your therapeutic approach with anxious teens—to the Journal of Clinical Psychology. They not only accepted it, they want you to present at their conference in September. In Tokyo."
Airi's hands shook. "They want me to present? But I'm just—"
"Just nothing. You're Dr. Sato-Kurosawa, clinical psychologist with proven results. Your approach is innovative. They want to hear from you directly."
"I don't know what to say."
"Say yes. This is huge for your career. For your center. For the field."
"Yes. Of course yes." Airi felt tears building. "Thank you. For believing in me all these years."
"You did the work. I just pointed you in the right direction." Professor Nakamura paused. "How's the wedding prep?"
"Good. Next Saturday. Small ceremony, just family and friends."
"I'm honored to be included. See you then, Dr. Sato-Kurosawa."
After hanging up, Airi sat in stunned silence. A presentation at a major conference. Her research recognized. Her career taking off exactly as she'd dreamed.
She called Ren immediately.
"I'm presenting at a conference! In Tokyo! My research on adolescent anxiety!"
"That's incredible! When?"
"September. They want me to—" She stopped, realization hitting. "September. That's when you're supposed to present at the veterinary symposium in Kyoto."
"Wait, really?"
"September 15-17. When's yours?"
"September 14-16." He laughed. "We're both presenting at conferences on the same weekend in different cities."
"Is that going to be okay?"
"Are you kidding? That's perfect. We're both at the top of our fields. Both sharing our work. Both making a difference." His voice was full of pride. "We'll make it work. We always do."
"We always do," she agreed.
---
## 🐕 The Rescue
Two days before the wedding, Ren called Airi in the middle of her therapy session. She ignored it—patient time was sacred. But he called again immediately. And again.
She excused herself. "Emergency. I'll be right back."
In the hallway, she answered. "Ren, what's wrong?"
"Can you come to the clinic? Now? I need you."
His voice was shaking. Her heart jumped. "Are you hurt?"
"No, no. Just—I need you here. Please."
She rescheduled her next patient and rushed to his clinic. She found him in the surgical room, standing over a small dog—barely more than a puppy—covered in scars and barely breathing.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Fighting ring. Police raid. They brought me twelve dogs. This one—" His voice cracked. "She's the worst. I don't know if I can save her."
Airi had never seen Ren like this—hands shaking, tears in his eyes, the confident surgeon replaced by a scared man who cared too much.
"What do you need from me?"
"Just be here. Hold my hand. Help me believe I can do this."
So she scrubbed in and stood beside him while he operated. Three hours of meticulous surgery—repairing damage, fighting for life, refusing to give up. Airi held retractors, handed him tools, whispered encouragement when his hands shook.
"You're doing it," she said as the puppy's heartbeat steadied. "She's fighting. Because of you."
"Because of us," he corrected. "I couldn't have done this alone."
When it was finally over, when the puppy was stable and breathing on her own, Ren collapsed into Airi's arms.
"She's going to make it," Airi said, holding him.
"Because you were here. Because I wasn't alone."
"You're never alone. Not anymore."
They stood like that for a long time, surrounded by medical equipment and the soft beeping of monitors, both crying with relief and exhaustion.
"This is what we do," Ren said finally. "Save the ones everyone else gives up on."
"Both of us. In different ways."
"In perfect complementary ways."
"Partners," Airi said.
"In everything."
---
## 🌙 The Night Before
The night before their wedding, they broke tradition and stayed together. Spent the evening on their couch with Hachi and Miso, eating takeout and going through old photos.
"Look at us," Airi said, pointing at a photo from their high school festival. "So young. So naive."
"So in love," Ren added. "Even then."
"Even then," she agreed. "Did you ever think we'd make it here?"
"Honestly? There were moments I doubted. That crisis in our third year of university. When you went silent for five days and I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm sorry about that. I was—"
"You were overwhelmed. It's okay. We worked through it." He pulled her closer. "But yeah, there were moments I was terrified we wouldn't make it."
"Me too. The distance felt impossible sometimes."
"But we did it. We actually did it."
"We did." She looked at him. "Tomorrow, we get married. Officially, legally, forever married."
"Scared?"
"Not even a little. You?"
"Not even a little." He kissed her. "I've been yours for nine years. Tomorrow just makes it official."
"Official sounds good."
"Official sounds perfect."
They went to bed early, knowing tomorrow would be long and emotional and perfect. As Airi drifted off to sleep, she thought about the journey—from lonely high school student to successful psychologist, from afraid to feel to overflowing with love.
Tomorrow, she'd marry her best friend.
Tomorrow, nine years of choosing each other would become forever.
Tomorrow, their dreams would become reality in every possible way.
And she couldn't wait.
---
## 📔 Journal Entry
*Dear Past Me,*
*Tomorrow I marry Ren Kurosawa.*
*I'm twenty-six years old. I run my own psychology center. I have a team of therapists working with me. I'm presenting at a major conference. I'm living my dream professionally.*
*And personally? I'm about to marry the boy who refused to let me hide. The man who survived four years of distance with me. My partner in everything.*
*Our careers are flourishing. We're both doing exactly what we said we'd do—saving the invisible ones, the forgotten ones, the ones everyone else gave up on.*
*And we're doing it side by side.*
*The distance is behind us. The struggle is over. Tomorrow begins forever.*
*I wish seventeen-year-old me could see this. Could see how everything she feared turned into everything she needed. How the boy who scared her became the man she couldn't live without.*
*We made it, Past Me. Against all odds, we made it.*
*And tomorrow, we make it official.*
*Love,**Airi (bride-to-be, successful, finally home)*
---
## 🌸 End of Chapter 32
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