Epilogue: The Recluse is a Part-Timer

Groggily, Minato slowly opened his eyes. Above him, the fan still spun slowly. The days were slowly warming up, and a ceiling fan at night helped keep the room cool for as long as possible.

Glancing to the side, he watched as a couple of birds danced on his windowsill. They were seemingly checking on each other, attempting to clean each other maybe? If nothing else, they were very close and chirped happily to their partner next to them.

Groaning from the noise, Minato turned over onto his side away from the light and covered his ears with a pillow, “Come on… just give me more time to sleep, OK?”

But that request was quickly rejected.

BAMMMM!!!

His door was once again kicked open by Mari. This was her normal routine to wake him up now.

“Wakey, Minato! The sun is up and so should you! Listen to the birds singing, they are saying ‘come join us outside, sleepyhead’!”

Sighing in defeat, Minato slowly rose upright while wiping the sleep from his eyes. He knew that if he fought it and tried to sleep longer, it would only end with him on the floor from Mari using her stupid strength to fling hm in the air.

“I’m up, I’m up…” he yawned and flipped his wrist at her to shoo her away before things got worse.

“Alright, go ahead and get dressed and come down soon. Breakfast is already on the table.”

“Right, right…” he yawned again and waited for Mari to leave before flinging off his sheet and trudging to the dresser which held his clothes.

Yes. His clothes had been returned to him by Saki finally. Some other of his possessions had been returned as well, but some were still being held by her. Her reasoning for the whole situation was that it took longer than expected to sort through his belongings, and they only returned those which were deemed not a threat to his recovery.

In the end, all of his clothes, his dishes, and his furniture, including his futon, came back to him in one piece. Possibly cleaner as well, but he wasn’t sure. But all of his electronics and DVDs were still being held captive by Saki. Even his figures that he had been using as decoration were not returned either. But that wasn’t too much of a shock to Minato.

After throwing on a new set of sweatpants and clean hoodie, he slipped on his very own slippers and trudged his way to the kitchen.

Sitting at her chosen seat, Mari was already dressed in an office dress and top. Taking another bite of the fish she had made for both of them for breakfast, she raised a hand to her cheek and squealed with joy.

“It's so good!” She squirmed in her seat as if to do a happy dance, “I am so glad you showed me these new recipes, it makes my already good cooking better! Thanks so much, Minato!!”

“It's nothing.” he scoffed as he took his seat opposite her at the table and said a silent thank you before digging in himself.

And that sentiment was true. It was nothing. He had just shown her how to mix basic seasonings to actually flavor foods. That was it.

That and to actually cook food so as not to give someone food poisoning. And how to actually store food after purchase to keep it from spoiling. And to pick good food options and still stick to a budget.

OK, so maybe it was a lot, but at least her food is palatable…, he thought to himself as he took another bite of fish that was not rancid nor a five-star meal. If nothing else, it was an improvement, which was all he had hoped for when he had agreed to teach her how to cook.

“Ah, shoot, I am late again!”

Another part of Mari’s morning routine was to try and have breakfast with Minato, but then have to rush out the door in order to make it to work on time. After grabbing her purse, she rushed to the door and stopped to turn back to him, “I’ll be back tonight, I promise. I’ll be back in time for dinner!”

“You say that each day, you know.” Minato sighed as he listened to her promise for the nth time this week.

“I haven’t broken that promise yet, have I?” Mari replied with a wink and a smile.

“No,” he rolled his eyes. He knew what she was doing, and he was not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing it was working on him. Looking towards the sky, he did his best to hide his reddening cheeks. “But go already, you are going to be late at this rate.”

“Right! My bad!” She finished putting her heels on and stepped out the door. “See you later, Minato.”

“Yeah, sure…” he mumbled, not looking down until he heard the door shut tight and Mari’s heels clicking over the walkway to the sidewalk. Once it had grown silent in the house, he finished his statement, “See you later, Mari.”

“Aww so cute. You two make such a precious couple, if I do say so myself.”

Minato almost jumped out of his skin as he heard a woman speak across from him in a seat he was positive was empty just seconds earlier.

“Saki! What are you doing here?” Minato did his best to keep his heart from escaping his chest from how hard it was beating.

“I told you before I would be making routine check-ups on you, did I not? Well, this is one of those check-ups now.” She smiled in that devious smile that normally brought Minato such great discomfort. But he was growing more used to it.

Now all he saw was a slightly older woman in a business suit who randomly appeared in his life to make him struggle. Not that her company was unwanted, she wasn’t a bad person, Minato had just recently concluded. But he was willing to reconsider if she showed that to be the wrong choice.

“Not what I meant,” Minato sighed again and rested his throbbing head in one hand while glaring down the bubbly woman across from him, “What do you want specifically?”

“Ah, getting to business quickly. Don’t you want to chat?”

“No,” Minato answered quickly, a flash of her heel crashing into the wall beside him flittered behind his eyes. That was the last time he tried “chatting” with her. He didn’t want that again.

“Alright, as you wish.” She sighed and folded her hands together and straightened her posture. “I am sure you remember there were some requirements for you being here, correct? Conditions that need to be met in order for you to not be sent to jail, yes?”

“No, I don’t, you told me I didn’t have to worry about them.” he rested his chin in that same hand from before, as he slanted his gaze at Saki, remembering when she shut him down the first time he asked.

“Ah, yes, about that. It wasn’t a concern at the time. You have passed the first condition.” She smiled in her normal devious way and bounced a little in her seat, causing her ponytail hair to sway with her bangs in counter motion to each other.

“Which was?”

“So now we move on to your second condition.” She replied without answering and leaned back and pulled out a paper bag from behind her and set it on the table-top.

You are just going to ignore me, I see, but his anger was dispelled by catching sight of the bag and wondering what it had to do with his current internment. “Which is?”

“Well, tell me Minato, what do you think of when you hear the phrase ‘average member of society’?” She tilted her head to the side and waited for him to answer.

Crossing his arms in front of him, Minato scoffed as he thought up the most insulting answer he could.

“Some slob with a job and no life within them.”

“Precisely!” Saki applauded as she congratulated him on his correct answer. “As always, very smart of you Minato!

“Huh?” Minato felt his brain break as he watched her congratulate him before reaching into the bag and removing its contents. On the table before him was a pair of slacks, one blue and white checkered patterned polo shirt with a name tag pinned to it. The name tag read his name on it.

“Huh!?”