"To the only person I ever loved,
I know I've failed you in every possible way. I see it in your eyes, hear it in the silence that fills our home. I'm ashamed of myself for not being the man you deserved. I wanted to be better for you, Hiyori. I really did. I worked harder, spent hours at the gym, tried to become someone you'd be proud to call your husband. But the harder I tried, the more I felt like I was failing.
I wanted to talk to you, to tell you everything. But I was a coward. I thought letting you go was the only way to give you a chance at happiness. I didn't know about your past, about the pain you've endured. If I had, I would have held on tighter, fought harder to be the man you needed.
I can never undo the damage I've caused. You suffered in ways I can't imagine, and I was too blind to see it. But if there's even the smallest chance to make things right, to show you that I can change, please… let me try. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'll spend the rest of my life earning it.
I'll always love you. Even if it's from a distance.
Ansh."
Hiyori's tears blurred the words as she clutched the letter to her chest. Her heart ached, torn between anger and an inexplicable sense of longing. The man described in the diary and the letter didn't seem like the same person.
Where are you, Hiyori, I want to meet you now?
A knock at the door broke her thoughts. She turned to see Yuto standing there, his expression calm but intense.
"Yuto?" she whispered, wiping her tears.
Before she could ask why he was there, Yuto stepped aside, revealing someone behind him—a boy about her age, looking confused and uneasy. Hiyori's heart stopped.
It was her.
The boy who stood there, staring back at her, was Hiyori in another form. He had her features, her essence, but his presence was different.
"This," Yuto said quietly, "is Ansh. The you that should have been."
The room spun as Hiyori's mind raced. She clutched the desk for support, her breaths coming in short, panicked gasps. Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the boy who held the key to the chaos of her life.
And just like that, her world collapsed once again.
The room was thick with tension. Hiyori stared at the boy—Ansh—standing beside Yuto, her mind racing. Every instinct told her that this was someone she needed, someone whose presence felt like a missing piece of her fragmented life.
But Yuto's calm expression faltered. His brows furrowed as he looked between Hiyori and Ansh. Then, with a sudden sharp inhale, his face darkened.
"This… this isn't right," Yuto muttered, his voice filled with unease. "You're not Ray and Darika."
"What?" Hiyori asked, her voice trembling.
Yuto turned to her, guilt flashing across his face. "I made a mistake. A terrible mistake. I thought you were Ray—and Darika, But you're not them. This isn't your fight."
Hiyori's heart sank. "What do you mean? You said Ansh and I—"
"I was wrong," Yuto interrupted, his voice strained. "This timeline is beyond saving now. I can't fix what I've done." He turned to Ansh, who looked utterly bewildered. "Come on. We're leaving."
"No!" Hiyori shouted, stepping forward. "You can't just leave! You said Ansh was connected to me! You said we were tied together!"
Yuto avoided her gaze. "I shouldn't have interfered. I've only made things worse."
Before Hiyori could stop him, Yuto placed a hand on Ansh's shoulder. In a flash of light, they disappeared, leaving her alone in the quiet, suffocating room.
In the days that followed, Hiyori's world descended into chaos. The knowledge she now carried was a burden too heavy to bear. She knew the truth about her past, about Ansh, and about the lives they had both lived in different timelines. Yet, the person she longed for—the boy who had once been her—was now gone, lost in the whirlwind of Yuto's departure.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw fragments of a life she couldn't reach: a marriage that had failed, a love that had been misunderstood, and a bond that still lingered, unbroken by time itself.
But the Ansh she sought didn't remember any of it. He didn't know her. He didn't know himself. And that made the ache in Hiyori's heart all the more unbearable.