The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The next morning came softly, almost apologetically the kind of pale gray dawn that filtered through the blinds like a secret afraid to wake me.

For a long while, I thought I was still dreaming. The world felt muffled, distant, like sound underwater. Then I heard it: the low murmur of men’s voices outside my door.

“Watanabe is protecting Reiko,” one of them said quietly. “She’s there.”

My breath caught.

That name.

That woman.

Reiko.

The sound of it jolted through me like cold water. My body tensed beneath the sheets before I even understood why.

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So she was still alive.

–

My fingers curled instinctively against the blanket, the memory of that day flashing across my mind her voice, the chaos, the smell of smoke and iron. For a long time, that memory had haunted my sleep, the kind that left me waking in silence, throat raw, heart racing.

Lately, though, the nightmares had quieted. The doctor had given me something to help me rest, to silence the ghosts when I closed my eyes. It worked mostly.

Until now.

Click.

—

The soft sound of the door closing pulled me back to the present.

Whoever had come was gone.

When I opened my eyes fully, Tadashi was sitting on the sofa, a newspaper folded neatly in his hands. Morning light cut across the room, spilling over his face, painting his sharp profile in shades of gold and steel. His expression was calm, unreadable – but there was a kind of alertness in his stillness, like he was already thinking three steps ahead.

When he noticed me stirring, he immediately set the paper aside. The corner of his mouth lifted just slightly.

“You’re awake,” he said simply, standing.

He reached for something on the table beside him and approached my bedside. The faint scent of his cologne – sandalwood and smoke – drifted closer with each step.

He handed me a small box. “Why don’t you open it?” he said, one eyebrow raised in mock curiosity.

–

I blinked at it. The sleek packaging, the logo an iPhone. The latest one.

“Tadashi…” I mouthed, the word catching in my throat.

He gave no explanation, just a quiet half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Go on.”

I opened the box slowly, revealing the familiar silver edges, the gleam of untouched glass.

10:46 Tue, Jan 6

Chapter 36

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Then he took the phone from my hands, turned it on, and opened an unfamiliar app. “You know,” he began, tapping the screen with deliberate precision, “I had this one made for you.”

The blue interface lit up. A white cursor blinked like a heartbeat.

“This app lets you write,” he continued, “and it will speak for you.”

1 froze, staring at him, unable to hide my surprise.

He glanced up at me, smiling faintly at my expression. “So,” he said, his voice soft but teasing, “you don’t have to keep using that outdated little notepad anymore.”

I blinked back sudden tears I didn’t expect. My lips formed silent words: ‘Thank you.’

His smile widened – barely – but enough to change his entire face. The sharp edges of him softened for a moment.

“There’s also something else,” he said after a pause. “A message.”

–

He hesitated a rare thing for him. His tone dropped lower, quieter.

“One I sent… on your birthday.”

My eyes widened.

A flicker of memory hit me

–

– Yukito’s words: ‘So that someone can contact you?

Before I could ask, Tadashi stepped back. “I’ll get some coffee,” he said, too casually this time.

—

He turned toward the door, but before leaving, he looked at me once more that same unreadable calm, but something shy lingering behind it.

It made my chest tighten.

The door closed softly behind him.

I looked down at the phone in my lap. My fingers trembled slightly as I unlocked it and opened the app he’d mentioned.

Click.

And then I heard his voice.

“Good morning, Naomi-san. How are you?”

My heart stopped.

He sounded… nervous. The Tadashi Masayoshi I knew never sounded uncertain. His voice was always controlled — smooth, deliberate, the kind of calm that made other people uneasy.

But in that recording, he hesitated.

“It’s been two years since I last heard from you,” he continued, the faintest waver in his tone. “Ai, Yuka, and Yukito told me about your progress – and I’m proud of you. Architect, huh?”

He laughed softly, almost self-conscious.

“I knew you loved drawing, but becoming an architect… it suits you. I’m glad I could help you find that path. Ojisan – Shun-

would have done the same.”

sama

—

At the mention of Shun-sama’s name, my throat tightened.

Chapter 36

My vision blurred.

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Shun-sama. Everything began with him.

After Matthew and Katrina’s betrayal, I had nothing left. No direction, no hope, no purpose. Then came Shun-sama- the man who offered me a lifeline disguised as work.

Cross-border job, went to Hokkaido, late nights in a quiet place where I could forget that I’d been left behind.

And through that path… I met Tadashi.

“The problem here is almost solved,” his voice said next, quieter now. “I’ve dealt with those who dared to hurt Ojisan.”

There was steel in his tone again

–

that dark edge beneath the surface.

“And…” he hesitated for a long time, as if unsure whether to go on. “Are you still waiting for me? Or is it too late for me to come see you after two years?”

Click.

The message ended.

The silence that followed was deafening.

For a moment, I just sat there staring at the phone in my hand, the faint warmth of his voice still echoing through the air.

So he had meant to come.

Even then.

–

Even when I thought I’d been forgotten.

The door opened again, quietly.

Tadashi stepped back into the room, a cup of coffee in his hand. The rich aroma filled the air, mingling with the soft hum of the morning.

He walked over slowly, his expression unreadable but his eyes… they searched mine carefully, as if afraid of what I might

say.

He placed the cup gently on the table beside me, then sat back down on the sofa.

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

We didn’t need to.

The morning sunlight caught on the steam rising from the cup. I stared at it, feeling a strange calm settle over me.

‘What is love?’

The question came unbidden, silent in my mind.

I used to think it was infinite something only a family could give.

But my family betrayed me.

—

And Matthew – the man I once believed loved me

When I fled to Japan, I wasn’t chasing love.

–

broke what little was left.

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Chapter 36

I was running from it.

And yet, somehow, I had found him.

17.55 voucher

This man- quiet, terrifying, endlessly complicated – who carried shadows like armor but treated me as if I were something fragile and precious.

With Tadashi, I felt… different.

He listened.

He saw me.

He reminded me that I could still matter, even when I thought I’d disappeared.

I looked at him now, sitting in the sunlight, the faint exhaustion beneath his eyes, the guarded tenderness he tried so hard to hide.

He wasn’t perfect.

He was dangerous, unpredictable, a man who could crush someone’s entire world with a single command.

And yet

–

here he was, worrying over whether I’d listened to a voice message.

He glanced up, catching me staring, and gave a half-smile. “What?”

I shook my head, smiling faintly.

N

–

as if

He raised an eyebrow, pretending not to notice the way his ears reddened slightly when I didn’t look away. “I thought you want to write something after that,” he muttered silently, leaning back against the sofa, opening his newspaper again the air between us wasn’t humming.

But I could feel it – that quiet, invisible pull.

And I realized then – love wasn’t always loud.

$$

Sometimes it was the sound of someone remembering your voice, the silence/after a promise kept, or a new phone that spoke for you when you couldn’t.

–

Sometimes love was just someone staying when everyone else had already left.

“Thank you, Tadashi” I whisper softly and make him turn his gaze back at me.

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