Everyday Life With a Monstrous Girl Housemate

Minato’s eyes began to wince tight as he felt a searing pain descend upon his eyes. He tried to turn away from whatever was causing him this discomfort, but something was holding him tight in place. Struggling to open his eyes, he finally brought the world around him into focus.

His surroundings were bathed in a warm orange-y light that caused him to blink and recoil as his eyes slowly adjusted. Pouring forth from the window across the room from him was the morning sunlight. And the clinging ensnarement on his body was the blankets he had tossed and turned into knots at some point in the night.

His groggy brain tried to reconnect the dots on how he got there, but the synapses failed. And as such, he shrugged off his worries and turned over to sleep a bit more.

But as soon as he felt his body and mind drifting back to sleep, a loud bang emanated from the far side of the room. Scrunching up his face in frustration, he turned over with a huff, burrowing himself deeper into the blankets than he had cocooned around himself already.

“Good Morning, Minato~!” a voice resounded throughout the room, causing him to bury his head under his pillow to find some relief from it, “The sun is shining, saying that it's time to get up!”

The voice belonged to Mariko Takeda, unfortunately, his new housemate. A series of unfortunate events transpired, causing him to be living in her spare room. And even though he wanted to be far away from her more than ever, especially since he was still so very tired, she came in close to his huddled mass.

“Come on, now, Minato,” she cooed in a bit of a sing-song voice, as she stood over him with her hands moving across the sheets covering him, “You can’t sleep the day away. What do they say, the early bird gets the worms, right? So come on!”

As she finished those words, Minato felt his blankets come rushing off from around him. Even though he had been holding on tight to them, they were gone, evaporated from his grip. Bewildered by this, he looked around for an explanation. Tossed to the ground beside his bed where his blankets from the night before and Mari walked away from them to open the already brightly lit window.

“Ah, such a wonderful spring morning, don’t you think, Minato?” Mari asked with her head out the window, taking in the warmth of the morning sun on her skin. Minato on the other hand, grumbled, still half asleep and turned away from her glaring personality and did the best he could to cover himself with his remaining pillows.

“Oh, don’t be playing around like that,” she answered his grunts moving over to the bed, “It's time to wake up, so rise and shine~!”

WHAAAHP!

And with those words and subsequent loud flapping sound, Minato felt the entire bed fall away from him. In utter confusion, his eyes sprung open to find out what had happened to the bed he was just sleeping on.

Beneath him was nothing but air. More accurately, there were several feet of air between him and the bare bed frame below, sans the mattress that was on seconds earlier.

Suddenly finding himself airborne, Minato did his best to keep himself from falling by flailing as hard as he could, and failing spectacularly as he came crashing to the ground below.

“What the hell was that!?”

Prying his face from the wooden floor, Minato struggled to rationalize what had just happened. Mari, who was still mostly dressed for bed herself, only standing there with her smiling cheeks poking up and covering her eyes. In one hand, she held up the mattress into the air like it weighed nothing.

“Your breakfast is getting cold downstairs. Get dressed and come down to eat your fill.” With a small bow she placed the mattress back into its place, “And don’t worry about sheets, I promise to take care of them later.”

And with that, she made her way out of the room, giving a grandiose wave as she shut the door behind her.

Minato’s cloudy mind left him baffled as he tried processing what he had just witnessed. “What even was any of that?” he asked no one in particular.

After rubbing his brain into place again through his eyes and temples, he started making his way to the door to make his way towards some food. But as his fingers tightened around the knob, a thought crossed his mind.

Oh right, get dressed. Let’s do that first.

No sooner had that finished itself in his mind that he realized.

Wait. I still haven’t received any of my stuff back yet.

Glancing around the barren spare room, he noticed how little was prepared from him. There was nothing there in that room besides basic furnishing. The bed was plain as could be, with simple white sheets. The desk in the corner was empty. Even the walls were bare, not even a painting or photo to liven the place up a bit.

This all seriously feels like an afterthought.

Becoming agitated once again, Minato huffed his face into a deep frown and made his way out of the room, with the only clothes he had available to him.

Minato unleashed a mighty yawn as he made his way down the stairs. From the foot of the stairs, he glanced around the entirety of the bottom floor of the house. The house was fairly small, and the first floor being mostly open concept allowed him to look around and see almost everything.

It looked exactly the same as the night before, unsurprisingly, other than being brighter from the sunlight pouring in through the open blinds. Another difference was the smell, as a heavenly fragrance wafted in from the kitchen and filling the entire downstairs. He was about to follow the smell to its source, but stopped momentarily, noticing that the bottom floor seemed vacant other than himself.

Cautiously taking another step, Minato suddenly froze when he heard a voice rise up from across the room.

“Ah you made it down here,” Mari’s cheerful voice sprung out from the wash closet on the other side of Minato, as she poked her head out just far enough for him to see her face she continued, “Go on, breakfast is on the table. I need to get ready for work, but I will join you in just a minute.”

As she shut the door close again, Minato felt his breathing catch back up with him. With a long sigh, he prepared to make his way to the table again, but stopped and stared hard at the door to the toilet.

“Wait! You are going to work?”

No response came from the door. Minato was left alone once again with his questions unanswered.

“Hey, Mari?” he asked again, a little louder. But with his efforts so far, they yielded no new results.

Minato did not expect for her to be leaving at all. In fact, he expected her to be watching him like a hawk the entire time. Reporting his every movement to Saki-chan as she found new and interesting ways to torment him further.

Minato needed answers, and he needed them now. Marching hard, he was about to bang on the door of the restroom but stopped mere centimeters from the wooden surface.

Is… Is this sexual harassment? He thought to himself in utter horror of the prospect. After the events of last night, the last thing his now functioning brain wanted was any more confusion on what was safe and what wasn’t.

Seconds passed in slow motion as he contemplated end results near endlessly. All roads seemed to end poorly if he knocked even the slightest tap on the door. So to save face, he backed away slowly and about faced towards the kitchen.

Shaking his head to regain composure, his nostrils reminded him of the smell coming from the kitchen table. Eyebrows cocked in confusion, he made his way over to the table to inspect it.

Sitting on top of the table was a wonderful display of food, from fresh veggies piled in a bowl to make a salad, to a heaping helping of rice set beside the main dish. And as for the main dish, itself was a succulent slab of fresh fish, steam still rising up from it.

A little confused as to what was going on, it took several moments for Minato to realize.

“Oh, right, this is breakfast.”

Not only had his sense of what breakfast had been distorted from years of eating cup noodles for most meals, or something quick and fresh from the nearest convenience store, but his sense of breakfast time was off.

Normally, breakfast was whenever he woke up, which this was, but since his sleep schedule was so discombobulated at this moment, he had forgotten that breakfast happens for most people in the morning.

Is this for me? He asked himself as he slowly lowered himself into the chair before it. There was a matching set of dishes on the other side, with pink plastic chopsticks at the ready. At his seat, there were blue chopsticks.

Mianto’s still tired logic told him that chances were high that the food was for him. But still being cautious he kept inspecting the food, for a little while longer from different angles at his seat.

“Looks delicious, doesn't it?”

Minato nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard someone speak from the once empty seat across from him. Smiling away in her usual bright way was Mari leaning over the table, while he inspected his meal.

Choking on air, he tried his best to regain composure, but his eyes were drawn to a dangerous spot.

Mari had since become dressed in what Minato guessed were her work clothes. There was nothing too spectacularly amazing about what she was wearing. A simple office outfit consisting of a pink work jacket with a white blouse beneath it, and a black pencil skirt covering her pantyhose clad legs. On their own, nothing impressive, simple fashion really, but it was how she was wearing it that caused his blood to pump fast and hard.

As she was leaning over the table slightly to get a better view of the spread she had placed before him, Minato noticed she seemed to have forgotten to button the top button or two of her blouse and left the jacket open. From this angle, an alluring chasm, one which most men only dreamed of entering, was displayed before him.

Minato had only one thought go through his mind at that moment. This is clearly a trap. She is doing this purely to get him tempted by her feminine wiles. If he falls for it, it's straight to the big house for him.

She has probably used this trick on several men to get to where she is now in her company. Then paying her off to keep quiet, so they won't get in trouble with the law, or worse their spouses.

Such an evil trick.

But then other thoughts started to float in his mind. One’s of an impure nature that Minato struggled to keep in control.

“Hmm? Is something wrong?” Mari asked, causing Minato to move his gaze from the abyss of wonders to her silvery eyes, which were turned up in a way of concern towards him.

Using all the strength in his tired body, Minato turned his eyes away as far as he could as quickly as possible, nearly snapping his neck in the process.

“Food looks fine. Nothing is looking down! I promise!” He tried his best to tell that to himself, more so than to Mari, who in response to his reaction began to laugh as she sat in her seat.

“Down? Oh you, such a kidder. But go on take a bite,” she leaned back into her seat holding a hand to her mouth as she tried to suppress her laughter, waving the other at him to coax him to try the food.

Breathing a sigh of relief, knowing she hadn’t noticed his eye line, he turned to the plate before him. Glancing between the food and the cook before, he questioned her, “You made this… for me?”

His eyes were narrowed in an insinuating angle, but unbeknownst to him, his tone did not match his concerns. Instead, to Mari’s ears they rang like, “You would be so kind as to cook a meal for me?”

“Of course,” She beamed back at him with a wide smile that pushed her eyes almost closed, with a joy that echoed throughout the room, “What kind of host would I be if I didn’t at least make you breakfast, right?”

Host, right, Minato followed her rationale. She would get in trouble if she did not be a warm and inviting host like Saki-chan wanted. So she is just doing the minimum of her job, right.

But that left Minato with one choice, follow along and eat her cooking. But there was a small problem.

Do you have to watch? Minato asked in his head as he looked up at Mari, who was propping her head up with her hands, doing her best to hide her excitement by biting her lower lip in anticipation. Her bow, on the other hand, danced excitedly above, waiting for his review of her work.

Cautiously, Minato took up the chopsticks into his hands and prepared to cut a piece of fish off. The chopsticks cut through the fish like butter, and unleashed an overpowering aroma that caused his stomach to growl with anticipation.

Nervously, he raised the piece up to his lips, which were trembling with trepidation, as the meat moved past and onto his tongue.

A jolt of lightning ripped through his body. Every muscle was on edge. He had never tasted food like this before. Never in his wildest dreams could food taste like this.

But how to put it…

It’s… rancid…?

Somehow, Mari had made the most delectable looking filet out of something that had clearly gone completely bad. And what was with these flavors? She had seasoned it, he saw by the little flecks she had sprinkled on it. But what flavor were they? They swirled and meshed in a chaotic cacophony of flavors that assaulted his taste buds.

And worst of all, he couldn’t remove it from his mouth.

Mari was sitting there before him, anxiously waiting for his review. Minato knew that the truth would not be good. If he told her that she was a terrible cook, would she use that as an excuse to send him off elsewhere? What would be gained from this?

Is there a clause in her contract that she still gets paid even if Minato fails?

Are the other foods just as awful…?

Minato felt his entire body convulse, trying its best to reject the vile substance harboring in his mouth, but he fought it off with feverish sweats. Not sure how much longer he could keep up the charade, he began to attempt a swallow but was cut off, before he could.

“Oh no! I’m going to be late, I’ve got to run!” Mari rose from her seat with a frantic look in her eyes as she checked the time on her wristwatch, “I’m sorry, Minato, but you will have to tell me about how good it tastes when I get back later.”

Tearing around the corner to the front foyer, and hurriedly tapped her heels on, almost falling with each step as she failed to get them on right the first time. She grabbed the door handle with such fury as to rip it off its hinges, but stopped momentarily and hurried into the kitchen, where Minato still sat, gagging on his breakfast motionlessly. With hands of lightning speed, she took a quick bite of the dish and chewed them gleefully. Before she started to return to the foyer, she took a piece of bread from the plate on the table and put it in her mouth to hold as she grabbed her purse from the counter behind.

Once again she ran, in a hurry and only turned around long enough to say, “If you want to watch something on TV, the remote is on the coffee table. Have fun, I’ll be back. I promise,” with the bread still in her mouth.

Minato’s eyes were unable to move and began to water in so much pain from his current situation. But as the loud BANG of the front door shutting and locking as Mari sped her way down the sidewalk was enough to let him know it was safe to vomit.

With not enough time to safely dispose of his so-called breakfast, he spat the vile substance out onto the floor with such force, he thought it might break through the wood to the center of the Earth.

Gagging and convulsing, he hurried to the sink to wash out his tongue as best he could. Gargling and spitting for what felt like many short forevers before slowly sinking to the floor, barely holding onto the counter with the last of his strength.

“Good! She is gon-” He sputtered with water still dribbling from his lips before being

“Minato?”

No sooner had he finally relaxed from his nightmare experience with spoiled food sitting in his mouth for several moments, than a terrible noise rose from behind him. At that moment, instincts took over. Without a single thought connecting in his head, he moved with lightning speed and incredible accuracy to first move himself from the sink, then grab a napkin and clean the mess he had spat out, and end by peacefully taking his seat at the table, chopsticks in hand and ready to take another bite.

All of this was accomplished in less than a second, and impressively enough ended with a faintly believable smile on his face, and only the slightest bit of sweat trailing down the back of his neck.

“Y-Yes!? Mari?” His chattering teeth answered the woman who had returned without making a single sound before calling his name again. She was standing in the doorway, face downtrodden with her bow laying flat on her head. She slowly pushed one of the heels of her shoe around on the floor, like she was trying to kick something small away, or maybe play with it.

It looked like something a child would do when they were unsure of what to do with themselves at that moment.

Occasionally she would look up and meet Minato’s currently bloodshot eyes, but would dart them down to her toes once more.

“You… you aren’t mad, are you?” she finally spoke up, still not looking up as she asked.

“M-mad about wh-what?” Minato was unsure how much longer he could keep up the charade, feeling like his face would crack from the strain.

“Mad that I am going to work,” she squeezed her eyes shut and asked with more emphasis in her voice, “Mad that I am leaving you alone, are you?”

Seconds ticked by in slow motion as both stayed where they were in utter silence.

Is-is that all she wanted? Minato thought to himself, feeling his strength start to fail. Letting out a long sigh and setting his happy face aside with the clack of his chopsticks being placed on the table.

He turned his eyes sideways to Mari, sizing her up. She stood in the doorway with fist clenched at her side and eyes still shut, bracing for impact. He could give her exactly what she wanted, to tell her she was awful for whatever sin she thought she was committing.

Wouldn’t be the first time…

But Minato was used to it. He had been abandoned several times before. It was something he was expecting to happen again in this situation, sooner or later.

Not sure of what else to say, he waved the back of his hand at her to shoo her off while turning his head away from her. “It’s whatever. I am used to it,” was his non-committal answer.

Mari slowly opened one eye to make sure she was sure. From the angle she was at, she couldn’t make out exactly what he was thinking from his listless eyes. She wanted to say something more comforting, but as she opened her mouth repeatedly, the right words failed to come.

Biting her lips, she made a promise to herself.

“I’m sorry. I promise I will fix that. I will be home soon. I promise.”

“Huh?” Minato turned around, brows cocked in confusion. But as he finally caught sight of Mari, she was once again almost out the door, waving energetically and beaming a bright smile at him.

“Buh-bye, for now~!”

Minato wasn’t sure what was happening at that moment, but a warm feeling began to spread over his nose and onto his cheeks. Suddenly he found himself waving back at her, with a face like a deer caught in headlights.

“Uh… bye?”

She was already gone by the time he spoke those words, but he couldn’t help himself. What’s more, he couldn’t stop the thought raging through his head.

She’s beautiful…

As soon as he realized what he was thinking, he began to torment himself by rubbing the sides of his head vigorously with his palms, trying his best to squash the very idea from his mind.

“Quite a beautiful woman, don’t you think so?”

Once again, Minato felt like he was choking as he heard words once again rise up from an empty chair. Gasping hard, he caught sight of a woman again sitting in the chair, but this time not Mari.

“Gah! Saki-chan? What are you doing here?”

“Just doing a routine check up,” Saki answered after setting her cup of coffee down, “How are you doing this morning, Minato-chan?”

“I was doing fine, and then I woke up,” Minato sighed, sinking his head further into his hands, trying to block out all further stimulus on his consciousness, “It's all been downhill from there.”

Saki-chan's lips turned up in amusement by his answer and leaned in closer with her head propped up to the side with one arm on the table.

“Don’t be like that,” She mused with eyes half-lidded matching her smile, “I saw how you were looking at her. You think she is quite beautiful, don’t you?”

“I think no woman is beautiful.” Minato huffed while rolling his eyes. He picked up a glass of water that was provided for his breakfast and began to sip.

“Oh, is that the case?” Saki-chan’s smile grew wider and more devious, “Then why did I see you trying to get a look down her blouse.”

“GAACCKKTTT!!!”

Slamming down the glass, Minato began to choke on his water at that moment, performing a spit take for the ages, and sputtered to catch his breath again. As he finally was able to breathe properly, he glared up with disbelief at the cunning woman across from him.

“C’mon, Minato, tell me,” she laughed deviously, “What color was her bra?”

In that moment, he became so flustered at her insinuation that he failed to noticed she had since dropped the honorifics in their entirety.

“H-how long have you been here?” Asked Minato, trying to understand how she could know so much if she had just shown up.

“Long enough to make notes on your progress,” Saki answered matter-of-factly, while pulling out a manila folder onto the table. She continued to speak as she pulled her glasses from the breast pocket of her work jacket and steady them in front of her eyes, “Interesting results, yes, very interesting results so far.”

Minato watched her as she began to write down something on the paper in the folder, but unfortunately, at the angle he was at, he couldn’t make out what she was writing.

“Is that all you wanted? To make a clerical visit?” he asked, leaning back into his seat and folding his arms across his chest defensively, eyes narrowed tightly on her.

“More or less, yes.” Saki answered, not even looking up to see the threatening glare Minato was sending her way, while she continued to write in her folder.

Minato felt a vein in his forehead bulge to nearly the point of bursting.

“Then if you are quite finished, please make your swift exit. Thank you and good day.” he retorted her answer, with a shooing of his hand waving towards the entrance way.

To that, Saki finally looked up, her lips downturned in a pouty face, a look that begged him to let her stay for a while longer.

“But I am not done yet. I’ve got a series of questions for you.”

Inside, Minato felt something breaking. Whether it was his sanity or his concentration, his mind began to drift into dangerous waters.

How can she look so cute and devious at the same time…?

Shaking his head furiously, he got his thoughts back on the straight and narrow.

Watch it, Minato, it's just a ploy. She’s trying to play with you…

With his senses on track again, he tightened the grip his crossed arms had on his chest, as he adjusted his posture to a more defiant stance in the chair.

“I am sure my day won't be allowed to move on if I don’t cooperate” he sighed and let his head roll back, showing his great displeasure to his current predicament, “so let’s get this over with.”

At those words, Saki resumed her devious grin, but Minato could no longer read her eyes as the sheen from the light above on her glass marred his view into her eyes.

“Perceptive as always, Minato.”

A chill ran through Minato’s spin when she said that. He wasn’t sure what had transpired, but he knew he had just stepped into something he was going to have to fight to get his way forward from now.

Picking up her pen, Saki began her battery.

“First thing first, How are you today?”

“Tired.” Minato answered instantly, with eyes half-cut in her direction. He didn’t know if that was what she was asking for, but he was not going to give an inch further to her at this moment. It was both a defensive and offensive answer at the same time.

“I see.” To that answer, Saki did not change her expression in the slightest, only nodded, picked her pen back up and began to write once again. Without missing a beat, she continued, “Having any difficulties adjusting to your new environment?”

Is that even a question?

Minato almost fell out of his chair from how out of left field the question felt. He thought she had been watching him closely. How could she not tell, it was taking all of his mental fortitude to not claw at the walls in an attempt to escape his current prison.

But Minato could not fall for her trap. This was a fight still, he had to keep toe to toe with her. He had to answer in a way that would keep her on her guard.

“Sure let’s go with that,” he raised his arms into the air and leaned further into the seat, a sign of great frustration, “It's not that fact that I’ve been dumped into a completely stressful no-win situation, yes.”

“Noted,” Saki said in a most leveled voice, like one taking notes without thinking, “difficulties adjusting. Got it. Next question: Do you feel any more willing to re-enter society again as a productive citizen again?” She spoke as if she wasn’t truly listening and was jotting down what she wanted to hear.

“No.” Minato answered as flatly as possible, hoping she would at least understand him this time.

“I see, I see,” Saki nodded, her smile still unchanged as she continued her note-taking, “I’ll put that down as a ‘possibly’. Understood.”

The way she said that last bit was not a question, but her way of saying she was understanding what he was trying to get across without words.

“You are bad at reading between the lines, aren’t you?” Minato’s brow twitched in frustration, as he tried desperately to keep his mental footing, but was continuously pushed back by Saki’s lack of listening. He was losing the fight.

“Speaking of which,” she kept pushing on without remorse, “Final question: Do you feel the need to peep on Takeda-san in the bath, or possibly enter her room while she is sleeping and touch her? You may even be thinking of doing unspeakable acts to her while she is wearing her office clothes, yes?”

Minato was sure his heart stopped, and he had just died. There was no way she could know those exact details of what had accidentally transpired in the last 24 hours. Unless…

“D-do you have this house bugged?” Minato gulped hard, sweat pouring down his neck.

Am I in trouble already? It was quite possibly the final blow. Victory: Saki.

“Why would you think that? Is there something you want to confess at this moment?” Her smile was even more devious, but even with her eyes obscured by her glasses, Minato could tell she was seriously asking, not playing with him.

Even though that was still there in the way she asked too.

“Uh, no? I haven’t done anything wrong.” Minato did his best to keep a straight face while buckets of sweat cascaded down his neck. He averted his eyes in order to keep from cracking under the intense pressure of her gaze.

Saki continued to watch his every moment for what felt like forever to Minato, you nervously laughed trying to play it off as casually as he possibly could.

Finally, after several moments, she sat up and nodded contently in agreement as she began to shuffle her papers back into their folder, preparing to stand up.

“Good to hear it, Minato. Well today was only the first visit, I will be checking in on you two in the following days. Keep up the good effort.”

Rising to her feet and pushing back her seat, she stopped and looked down at Minato again, “Oh, and do try getting closer to Takeda-san. She won't bite.” Then she paused once more and put a finger to her lip while she pondered aloud, “Well, maybe she will. If you ask, that is. Hard to say.”

Minato didn’t look at her, instead he narrowed his gaze on nothing in particular and gritted his teeth while letting out a low growl unintentionally.

But with that, she softened her devious smile and bowed slightly, a sign she was finally taking her leave. Her tightly pulled ponytail swished behind her as she turned to leave, but stopped when Minato spoke up.

“Actually, I’ve got some questions for you, Saki.” He had since turned to face her, his eyes focused, unwavering. Saki paused as she looked down upon him.

As she took off her glasses and returned them to her pocket, her grin grew wide on her cheeks, almost oozing glee from every pore.

“Oh, do you?” She asked as she pulled her chair out to sit in it again, resting her chin on her fingers laced together, unable to hide the strange excitement she was experiencing from this change in attitude from him, “You have my undivided attention now.”

Minato’s eyes stared hard, boring holes into Saki while she eagerly waited to hear his questions.

Then he spoke.

“Why Mariko?”

Saki sat there, her smile unchanging and still for the longest time. It was as if she had not heard what he had said, or maybe was processing his words.

“What do you mean, Minato-chan?”

Minato slammed his hand on the table, causing all the dishes to jump and clatter in his wake.

“You know what I mean!” he roared, brows knitted together with fury, “Why her? If you want me reformed into your ideal view of a citizen, then why her? She seems to be incompetent at her position, she even left me alone in less than a day after I arrived at her house. I thought I would be watched like a hawk by someone who would scold me in all of my failings, as I am sure you would put them. No matter how I look at it, this experiment of yours seems like a failure upon launch.”

With each point he made, he flailed one of his arms around to the side with rage, like he was trying to throw the points physically at Saki, while keeping the other planted hard on the table, nails nearly digging into the wood. And in conclusion, he slammed his fist on the table once more, “So I ask again. Why Mariko?”

The plates and cups had since settled from their momentary flight, only making the slightest mess. Considering what they had just gone through, it was quite impressive that it was only the slightest mess.

Saki only sat there with her head lowered slightly. Her grin had faded, but only slightly. It was no longer one of devious excitement, but rather of pride and admiration. Laughing softly to herself for a moment, she shook her head before answering.

“I don’t know how many times I will say this to you, but you are always very perceptive,” she sighed softly while she answered and turned her face up once more. Her eyes were locked steady. She meant business as she spoke, “But to answer part of your question first, would someone sitting on your every movement make you want to do anything?”

This caught Minato off guard as his eyes moved to the side slightly, “I guess not,” he mumbled in response as he finished thinking it over.

“Exactly, it would change nothing about you, because restraints are not what you need, you already have plenty of those.”

Minato refocused his eyes. He hadn’t heard that wrong, had he?

“What are you trying to-” he began to accuse, but was swiftly cut off.

“What you need is freedom. Remember, you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Saki said that in a way that wasn’t her normal matter-of-fact way of cutting into him, but rather of a plea for reasoning.

For some reason, that cut him deeper. He bit his lip as he wondered why it hurt him so bad to hear that.

“...”

“And as for the actual question, why her?” Saki continued, causing Minato’s ears to perk up. He clenched his fist as he mentally prepared himself for the answer. “You probably already noticed with the reward being provided by the government that there must be several women in this country, let alone the world, who would be willing to nurture you back into opening yourself up again. But I promise you, there is no one on earth more perfect for you than Mariko Takeda.”

“What do you mean by that?” Minato could not help himself. Something was telling him that was all the answer he needed, but there was a nagging feeling in his mind he couldn’t shake. Without thinking further, he asked his question.

Saki sat up straight and pulled the manila folder back out. Flipping through several pages before sliding a few of them across the table towards him.

Minato did not reach out for the pages, but rather let them lay before him. On them were pictures, headshots precisely, of several people, male and female lined up in rows with details listed beside them.

“I’ve compiled a very deep trove of knowledge about you, and hundreds of other Withdrawals. When trying to match each of you Withdrawals with the perfect Housemate, I left no stone unturned to make sure the results would lead to success. And out of all possible pairings, both Withdrawal and Housemate.”

As Saki spoke, Minato finally lifted the pages. On the bottom of the pile of papers, were two larger headshots with much more information and even graphs listed on them. The pictures were one of him, the one taken at the precinct the day beforehand. And the other one was of Mari. It was while he was looking at these pages with utter confusion, she began to speak again.

“In all of my searches, I could not find a better match than you two. This is easily a one in 7.7 billion match. You two are perfect to help heal each other.”

“What was that?” Minato froze, crinkling the pages in his clenching hands, “What do you mean to heal each other?”

“That’s enough for today.” Saki finished her statement with that, not elaborating further. “I will be making more check up visits in the future. Be prepared and remember, be gentle with her.”