The Protagonist's Sister Loves Me, But She's Definitely a Yandere. - Chapter 39: Confession

Chapter 39: Confession

Mimi laughed so hard she clutched her stomach. Even when she finally stopped, she wiped away the tears from her eyes, her smile still there.

Her expression looked innocent.

Her laughter and those unreadable emotions made me take a step back.

She acted as if the evidence I showed her meant nothing.

“You really think I’m the stalker, Usui-senpai? Are you serious, or is this a joke?”

“…I’m serious. Look at this picture —it’s you, isn’t it?”

I held up the photo I took and shoved it in her face. Mimi glanced at it quickly, but that was all.

“…Is that really me?”

She tilted her head and murmured the question.

Her voice didn’t sound like she was lying. But she was someone I had to catch by taking a photo in secret. It was safer to doubt everything she said.

“Even in this school, there aren’t many people with blonde hair.”

The school might allow a lot of freedom, but there weren’t many students who dyed their hair blonde. At least among the people I knew, Mimi Ogawa was the only one.

“Lately… I’ve been scared of the night.”

Suddenly, Mimi’s smile vanished. Her face darkened with a shadow of fear.

Her eyes dimmed, and her eyelashes trembled like she was frightened.

The way her expression changed in an instant was terrifying.

“When I sleep, morning comes. And then I get harassed again by some unknown person. I can’t rely on anyone. I just keep holding it all in. It feels like I’m going to lose my mind.”

Her words sounded almost poetic.

They flowed smoothly, like a river, giving me no chance to interrupt.

“…Do you really think someone like me would walk around alone in the middle of the night?”

Her words kept flowing, but her expression stayed dark.

Mimi was pulling off quite a performance. But her argument wasn’t strong enough to deny the proof in the photo.

I forced myself into the conversation.

“You have a point, Ogawa. If you really are the victim, that makes sense… But the person in the photo is definitely you.”

That part was undeniable.

I had solid evidence.

I had thought about sneaking into the school at night. But I didn’t do it because I didn’t know when the stalker would put bugs or creepy photos in Mimi’s shoe locker.

If I snuck in too often, the stalker might figure out I was investigating. That would ruin everything. I needed to catch them on my first try.

That’s also why I didn’t use a hidden camera. If the stalker found it before I did, it would be pointless. Worse, they’d just become more careful and harder to catch.

There was just one key point.

I had to figure out the exact day the stalker would attack Mimi. So I made a prediction —the stalker was Mimi herself.

If that was true, the stalker, or rather Mimi, would act when she played the role of the tragic heroine. A day that would make everyone feel maximum sympathy for her.

The week after she got rejected by Hinata.

It was the perfect time for her plan.

If she got attacked again by the stalker right then, it would be easier to make everyone pity her. That was my theory.

“Usui-senpai, you took this photo at night, right? There’s obviously not much light.”

I had no choice but to nod.

“You can barely see my blonde hair. Everything else is blurry. The shot is taken from far away too, like you were worried about being caught.”

Mimi’s guess was spot on.

Just like I mentioned earlier, I took the photo while hiding. The only light I had was the moonlight coming through the window. And yeah, the distance was a bit far.

“—What if we think of it like this?”

Mimi raised a finger.

“The stalker was dressed up like me, just in case someone tried to take a picture of them.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

I shot down her bizarre idea immediately.

But Mimi kept talking.

“It wasn’t me. Why would I stalk you, Usui-senpai? There’s no way, no way.”

She waved her hand dismissively, like she was completely fed up.

“What do you think is the scariest thing for a stalker?”

“…Well, getting their identity revealed.”

“Exactly. Don’t you think a stalker would do whatever it takes to pin the blame on someone else?”

Listening to her, I could tell it was a weak excuse.

I closed my eyes for a moment. Then I opened them and shook my head.

“Maybe. But that’s just a possibility. There’s physical evidence here. Isn’t that a little hard to deny?”

“…Even if I say I’ve been at home every night?”

“There’s no one to back you up. Sorry, but I can’t just take your word for it.”

Even if her family vouched for her, it wouldn’t count.

I was talking to Mimi with the belief that she was the stalker.

Because of that, my tone kept shifting. It was hard to stay cold when the stalker might be someone I knew —someone younger than me. I smiled bitterly at how soft I was being.

“Well, yeah… But Usui-senpai, you told me the stalker came to your house, right? And that they ran away really fast. I hate to admit it, but I’m terrible at sports.”

“I know you have someone helping you. I’ve already looked into it.”

Then, I mentioned Kusunoki’s older sister. That unsettling conversation. Looking back now, it seemed like Mimi was giving Hinata’s information to Kusunoki’s sister in exchange for her help.

Kusunoki’s sister was on the track team. She was perfect for acting as a decoy.

I figured the mix-up with the love letter was what brought the two of them together.

“I heard you and Kusunoki-senpai’s talking secretly here.”

“Ah… So you heard us back then. I told her to be careful…”

“Ogawa, isn’t it time to just admit it? And let’s see…”

Mimi closed her eyes quietly and let out a small noise from her throat.

For example, the day we put up the posters before the sports festival. I had assumed the stalker was hiding in a classroom, but if Mimi was the culprit, it would have been easy for her to send me a message.

The perfect timing of those emails? She could have scheduled them in advance.

Or maybe Kusunoki-senpai has sent them for her.

—The day with the straw doll, Mimi was right next to me.

But thinking back to what happened before that, it all lined up. That stormy day. The rain had stopped by the time we got to the meeting point, but I still remembered the heavy, humid air.

Following Runa’s instructions, Mimi and I had split up to do separate tasks.

Even if that timing wasn’t perfect, the heavy rain had canceled most club activities. Because of the time, only the event committee members and a few teachers were still at school. Hiding a straw doll would’ve been easy.

Even if I didn’t find the straw doll, the plan would still move forward as long as Runa —or in the worst case, Mimi— found it.

And then there was the escape that happened that night. I even mentioned how Runa had returned home by that point.

—I laid out my entire theory to Mimi.

Instead of revealing bits and pieces of information, I thought it was best to take control of the conversation.

But even after hearing everything, Mimi’s expression didn’t change. She stayed calm and collected.

“This is the theory I’ve come up with… but.”

I paused for a moment and asked the questions that still didn’t make sense.

“Why didn’t you attack Runa? And why did you join Hinata’s harem? Using Hinata to protect yourself from the stalker makes sense on the surface, but if you’re the stalker, that idea falls apart.”

She had kept her eyes closed, but now she slowly opened them.

“Hmm… Fifty points. Usui-senpai, that’s a fifty out of a hundred.”

Mimi let out a small laugh and gave me my score.

“You just barely avoided failing. But you’re still far from a perfect score.”

Mimi laughed cheekily, and I felt a hint of irritation.

Even when confronted with being the stalker, how could she stay this calm?

“I didn’t think you’d figure out this much, Usui-senpai. But still, fifty points. Instead of trying to hide it, why don’t we just go with this? Like a Plan B?”

Her nonchalance was throwing me off.

“Hey, quit messing around. I’m trying to have a serious—”

She cut me off.

“I like you, Usui-senpai. So much it feels like I’m losing my mind.”

Suddenly, our shadows overlapped. She poked my chest with her finger. The sudden shift in the conversation left me stunned, more than embarrassed.

“…What are you saying all of a sudden? Quit joking.”

“Joking? Haha, Usui-senpai, you say the funniest things.”

Mimi kept pressing her finger into my chest. It actually hurt a little.

“There’s no way I’m joking. I seriously like you.”

“…You expect me to believe that? Do you even know what you’re saying right now?”

“I know exactly what I’m saying. But you won’t believe me, right? Pupupu.”

Mimi smiled mischievously, a teasing glint in her eyes. The conversation had spiraled so out of control that my brain couldn’t keep up. All I could do was struggle to hold on.

“I’ll admit it. I’m your stalker, Usui-senpai. Clap, clap, clap~”

“…Wait, you’re just admitting it like that?”

Her confession was so sudden and casual.

I had imagined her getting furious when she was exposed, maybe even attacking me. This was anticlimactic, but somehow, that made it even scarier.

I was losing my grip on my own composure.

“But still, fifty points.”

Mimi looked up at me with those big eyes. A faint floral scent tickled my nose.

I knew that scent. I’d smelled it somewhere before, that light fragrance.

And then she said something completely insane.

“To be honest, I didn’t really care if my stalking got found out or not. It didn’t matter to me. Because, you see, my goal has already been accomplished.”

Mimi stepped closer. She reached out and took my hand.

I wanted to pull away, but it was like my feet were glued to the ground.

“You’re not very good at this kind of thing, Usui-senpai. And there were obstacles between us.”

Her words filled my mind.

“To get rid of those obstacles, I needed a way to get closer to you without making it weird.”

She squeezed my hand once and then let go.

Whether it was fear or tension, my heart pounded like it had just remembered how to beat. I clenched the hand she had held.

Mimi watched me, a sly smile spreading across her face.

She didn’t seem like someone younger than me. Is this really Mimi?

For a moment, I felt like I was looking at a completely different person.

“My goal has been accomplished. Something like that. If you want a perfect score, you need to figure out my feelings and my motive. Oh, but I did already tell you how I feel.”

Mimi covered her face with her hands, looking slightly embarrassed. But it was only for a moment. She spun around gracefully and started walking away.

—She looked back at me over her shoulder.

I had tried to take control, but she ended up taking it instead. She stared at me, unwavering.

“Starting tomorrow, take care of me, Senpai.”

She gave me a bright, carefree smile that perfectly matched her words.

“You trust people too easily, Senpai. That’s not good, you know~”

―――――

Thank you so much for your support.

I sincerely apologize for the delay in updates…

Things have been so busy in real life lately… (Busy season is terrifying.)

In the next chapter, Act 2 will finally come to an end (hopefully).

We’ve made it all the way to revealing the stalker. For Act 3, I’d like to lean more into the rom-com side, but at this rate, it might turn into another mystery-solving arc (help!).

I know I still haven’t explained things like the handwriting clue or why Mimi joined Hinata’s harem… I’m so sorryyyyy!

I still have a lot to improve on, but I hope you’ll stick with me.

Also, thank you so much for helping me reach over 100 followers as an author and breaking my dream goal of 5,000 followers for the story! I truly appreciate it and hope you’ll continue to support me for a long time.