My Girlfriend Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Broke Up with Her and Found a Sweet Yandere - Chapter 25

[Letter Twenty-One]

Shiori-San

I’m writing this now because if I stop, I don’t think I’ll start again.

I don’t know how to explain what’s happening without sounding confused, but I need you to understand that I’m not leaving things out on purpose. My head feels full all the time, like there’s no space left to think properly.

It’s about my sister. Her name is Yuuri.

Two weeks ago, when I came home from school, the house was quiet in a way that scared me. I called her name once, then again, and when she didn’t answer I went to her room.

She was on the floor.

At first I thought she’d collapsed. She wasn’t moving much, just shaking. When I touched her shoulder, she flinched like she was in pain. Her clothes were messy. Her arms were bruised. She wouldn’t look at me.

I asked her what happened, but she couldn’t speak at first. When she finally did, her voice was so small I almost didn’t hear it.

She said someone forced themselves on her.

I didn’t ask who did it. I didn’t ask when. I just sat down with her and held her because she was crying so hard she couldn’t breathe properly. I kept telling her she was safe, that I was there, even though I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.

Then she grabbed my shirt and begged me not to tell our parents.

She was hysterical. She kept saying they’d never forgive her, that they’d blame her, that they’d look at her differently forever. She said if they found out, she would kill herself. She kept saying it over and over until I couldn’t tell if it was a threat or just fear talking.

I believed her.

I told her I wouldn’t say anything. I told myself I was protecting her.

Our mother is already sick. Her kidneys are failing, and she’s been going back and forth to the hospital for tests. The doctors keep talking about transplant lists and timeframes we don’t have. She’s exhausted all the time. I was scared that telling the truth would push her over the edge.

But Yuuri has been getting worse.

She barely eats. She doesn’t talk unless she has to. She avoids everyone. Even our mother has noticed something is wrong, and every time she asks… Yuuri has stopped answering.

Watching my mother worry while I stand there knowing the reason makes me feel sick.

It was then… something clicked.

We don’t have cameras at our house. But across the street lives my childhood friend Haruka, her family does.

I went there today after planning it. I lied and said someone had kicked over a flower pot in front of our house and I wanted to check who it was. Haruka let me in without asking questions.

I watched the footage.

… Yuuri was smiling.

She walked home like it was a normal day. Then a man followed her inside. He was taller than me. Older. Wearing a maroon shirt. His face didn’t show clearly, but he didn’t hesitate. Neither did she.

She didn’t look afraid.

That was also the day my mother was at the hospital for her check-up.

I copied the footage onto a pendrive. I don’t remember deciding to do it. My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped it.

I thought maybe if I showed Yuuri, she would explain. That we could tell our parents together. That they would help her properly.

When I showed her the pendrive, she went very quiet.

She didn’t cry. She didn’t shout.

She just stared at it.

I told her everything would be fine.

Later, our parents came back and I went to get pendrive again after sitting them down, it was gone.

I asked her where it was. She looked at me like she didn’t recognize me.

I exploded…she cowered.

Then she said it.

She said I assaulted her.

Everything happened too fast after that.

My mother collapsed. She couldn’t breathe. They had to call an ambulance. She’s in the hospital now, and they won’t let me see her. She refuses to see me. She keeps saying she doesn’t want me anywhere near her.

My father didn’t ask me anything.

He hit me.

He’s been hitting me since.

Not shouting. Not arguing. Just hitting me like it’s something that has to be done.

They’re sending Yuuri to live with our aunt. I don’t know when. I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to see her again.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

I didn’t touch her, Shiori. I swear to you. I would never do something like that. Not to her. Not to anyone. But no one listens when you say that. Once people decide who you are, words don’t mean anything.

Please tell me what to do. I don’t need you to fix it. I just need someone to believe me. Someone to tell me I’m not imagining this. That I’m not the monster they’re treating me like.

I don’t know how much longer I can stay like this.

—

Akari folded the letter carefully, aligning the edges as if precision could keep the contents from spilling into her chest. She slipped it into a thin file, placing it beside the others—each envelope yellowed slightly with age, each carrying a piece of a voice that had once reached for her and never quite let go.

Her expression didn’t change.

But something inside her did.

The feeling wasn’t sharp enough to be pain, nor distant enough to be numbness. It sat heavy, familiar—an ache she’d learned to live with. Longing, perhaps. Or guilt. Or both, tangled together until they were indistinguishable.

This had been the last letter.

The one she never answered.

Not because she didn’t want to—but because she couldn’t.

Slowly, she reached into the file again.

Her fingers hesitated before pulling out the oldest envelope in the stack—the paper thinner, the ink lighter. The first one he’d ever sent.

Back when everything was still untouched.

Back when neither of them knew what those letters would come to mean.

She held it for a moment longer than necessary.

Then, carefully, Akari opened it.

—

[Letter One]

Hello.

I’m not sure who will receive this, so I’ll start simply.

My name is Takahashi Yuuta. I’m a high school student. This is my first time writing a letter like this, so I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say when there isn’t a reason. I guess that’s why I decided to just write honestly.

My days aren’t very interesting—school, commuting, coming home tired and wondering where the time went. Still, I like small things. The way the classroom gets quiet near sunset. How a normal day can feel different for no clear reason.

I don’t know if this will reach anyone, but if it does, thank you for reading it.

If you feel like writing back, I think I’d like that.

— Takahashi Yuuta

—

It was the letter that started everything…

“He suffered right before my eyes.”

Akari muttered as she picked up her bag and left the mansion behind, getting into a run-down car. It was time for her date with Yuuta.