My Girlfriend Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Broke Up with Her and Found a Sweet Yandere - Chapter 44

[Third Person View.]

The warmth from the bath didn’t stay with him for long.

By the time Yuuta stepped back into the living area, his hair still damp against his neck, the apartment had already settled into quiet. The kitchen light was off. The hallway sat in shadow, both bedroom doors closed like they hadn’t been touched since she moved in.

A futon lay in the middle of the room.

Not pushed aside. Not temporary-looking. Just placed there, clean and ready, like it had been meant to be used.

He stood there a second longer than necessary, taking in the boxes along the walls—some taped shut, some left open with things half-pulled out and abandoned mid-way. The place didn’t feel empty, but it didn’t feel lived in either. More like something paused between states.

He walked over and sat down.

The futon dipped under him.

It was quiet.

Too quiet, almost.

Then he noticed it.

No dripping.

That sound had followed him out of his apartment, into the stairwell, all the way into the back of his head. It had been there even when he wasn’t thinking about it.

Now it was gone.

He let out a slow breath and lay back.

The ceiling above him was plain. Nothing to focus on. Nothing out of place.

He reached out and switched off the light with the extension board near his head side.

Darkness filled the room without resistance.

For a few seconds, he let himself stay there, doing nothing.

Then—

Click.

Light’s turned on.

A soft rustling sound followed.

Yuuta opened his eyes and turned his head.

Hayami-sensei stepped into the room in light-colored pajamas, another futon folded in her hands. She didn’t hesitate or explain. She just set it down beside his and began unfolding it, smoothing it out like she had done it a hundred times before.

Close enough to notice.

Close enough to matter.

Yuuta pushed himself up slightly.

“…I thought there were two bedrooms in here.”

“There’s a lot of stuff I still have to unpack so no much space there and don’t tell I am making you uncomfortable,” she jested.

He didn’t respond to that.

He didn’t ask anything else either.

Instead, he lay back down and turned onto his side, facing away from her. The blanket shifted with him as he pulled it up slightly.

It felt like hiding.

He wasn’t sure from what.

Maybe from her.

Maybe from the way she seemed to look straight through whatever he tried to keep to himself. It wasn’t just what she did—it was how easily she did it. The food, the ride, this place… none of it came with hesitation.

He was always the one on the receiving end of it.

Her help.

Her attention.

The way she seemed to understand things he hadn’t said.

It left him feeling… exposed.

Like there wasn’t much of him left to hide.

The light went off again.

Yuuta closed his eyes.

Sleep didn’t come.

He stayed like that longer than he expected, awake in the dark, thoughts moving but not settling anywhere.

The question came out before he could stop it.

“…Why were you at my place so late?”

Hayami-sensei didn’t stop adjusting the edge of her blanket.

“I came to return your jacket.”

Right.

The jacket.

He remembered handing it to her the night before, without thinking too much about it at the time.

The room went quiet again.

His mind didn’t.

The scholarship had been doing most of the work before. Without it, the numbers didn’t hold anymore. Picking up more shifts wasn’t going to fix that. Not fast enough. Not properly.

He had been avoiding that thought all evening.

Now there wasn’t much left to hide it behind.

Hayami-sensei spoke again.

“What do you think about this?”

Yuuta shifted slightly on the futon.

For a second, he thought she meant everything else.

This situation.

Her.

Him.

“…I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

A quiet chuckle.

“I meant the apartment.”

He bit the inside of his cheek.

“…It’s good. Real nice.”

There was a small pause.

Then she said, “Still I agree, it’s complicated. Staying at your teachers house for a night… It would be hard to explain to a stranger.”

Yuuta turned onto his back and then toward her.

The room was dark, but he could make out where she was.

“Good thing you are not going to be my teacher for much longer.”

“I won’t,” she replied briefly.

She didn’t add anything after that.

Like she was waiting.

Yuuta let out a small breath.

“If I were to be here, only concern would be to not get caught till you resign….considering you are going to.”

The sentence sounded strange even to him.

Like he had skipped a few steps getting there.

“I am going to resign,” Hayami-sensei said, her voice calm. “I need to focus on higher studies.”

He had heard that before.

It didn’t feel new.

But it changed something anyway.

He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then spoke again without thinking it through.

“You said you have a spare bedroom.”

“You saw it.”

That answer came easily.

Yuuta swallowed.

The words came out before he could stop them.

“If I were to stay there, how much rent would you charge me?”

It sounded off the moment it left his mouth.

He knew it.

But he didn’t take it back.

He couldn’t.

“Nothing, I won’t-”

“That’s ridiculous! You have to!”

The interruption came sharper than he intended.

He sat up slightly now, the tension in his shoulders showing before he could hide it.

“I’ll repay you, once I am capable of it. I’ll do it.”

The words felt heavy.

Too heavy for how simply they were said.

“I’ll dabble in between studies and pick up a part-time job so I atleast can pay for my own expenses,” he continued.

It sounded like a plan.

It wasn’t.

It was something to hold onto so he didn’t feel like he was just… taking.

“I’ll make sure I don’t burden you in any way!”

The last part came out faster.

Like he needed it to be understood.

“Just—”

He stopped.

The word didn’t come out.

Something caught in his throat before it could.

He knew what he was trying to say.

He just couldn’t say it.

Not like that.

Not out loud.

His chest felt tight. His breathing uneven.

The room stayed quiet.

Hayami-sensei didn’t interrupt.

She didn’t rush him.

She just waited.

“Yuuta.”

He looked up.

He could not see her clearly in the dark, but he could feel her there, steady and patient, the way she always seemed to be when he was close to losing his footing.

“Would you like to live here with me?” she asked.

It was the question he had been circling without admitting it.

The one he had no clean way of asking himself.

He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then let out a breath that sounded more exhausted than he expected.

“If you’ll have me,” he said, voice low, “then yes.”

[A/N: Yeah!]