Sakari had gotten maybe an hour of very broken and inconsistent sleep throughout the day just because of sheer boredom. He had woken up to the younger brother strolling into the room, asking who he was, and leaving with not a worry in the world. That one seemed strange… and careless.

He had managed to go back to sleep for maybe a minute before waking up once again to the sound of heeled shoes stepping down the stairs. He wasn’t given much time to get to his senses before one of the guards poked his side with their foot.

“Wake up. He’s here.”

Sakari looked up to Eji, who had a completely different aura to him. He was clean, much more elegant than before, freshly shaven, and smelled like flowers.

“I have a job for you. And conditions.”

Sakari nodded. He said nothing, but mostly because he was still preoccupied with looking over Eji’s body.

“I’ve decided you’ll be the cook for this house. You’ll cook for me, my brother, our bodyguards, and if we have guests, them too. Do you understand?”

Sakari snapped out of his staring and looked up at Eji’s face. “I understand.”

Eji looked away from him. “Good. Get up. I’ll show you to your room, then you can start by cooking dinner.”

Sakari obeyed and stood immediately. Eji wasted no time, he started walking towards the stairs that led to the second floor of the house. He watched as the taller man reached into his pocket, pulling out and expertly flipping a butterfly knife. There was no doubt that this was a threat aimed at Sakari, as if to say, ‘you’ll be stabbed if you make a move in the wrong direction’.

When they got to the end of the hallway, past two more doorways, Eji opened the door to a pristinely clean room. It was barren, no one had used it, but it had a double bed with clean sheets, an empty closet, and a barred off window. Admittedly it was a very nice room… Sakari almost felt bad that he was going to be the one to put the man in jail.

Ironic that they would have to rely on the kindness of these criminals to imprison them…

Eji stood next to him. His presence was daunting, mostly because of his dark and calm attitude, and his pure height, made more extreme by the high-heeled shoes on his feet. Sakari looked up at him. Unlike yesterday, the man was wearing a braid in his hair, the rest simply tied up into a ponytail. There was a strand of hair that wasn’t in the braid or the ponytail that was sitting against his cheek.

“The room is lovely… thank you- What is your name?”

Eji side-eyed him. Of course, he already knew his name, but Eji couldn’t know that.

“Come with me. We’ll go to the kitchen now.”

He had completely ignored Sakari’s question… but he had to follow him anyway. Eji had already turned away and began walking back down the hallway, so Sakari trailed behind. He noticed how quick, direct, and zero-bullshit this man was. He admired it. Surely this kind of life would be extremely stressful.

Eji only stopped moving when they finally reached the kitchen. It too was pristine, freshly cleaned, and seemingly hardly used or cleaned so well that it appeared to be as good as new. Sakari stepped past Eji and further into the kitchen, exploring it.

“So… What do you want me to cook?”  

He looked back at Eji, who was making his way to the fridge. “Anything simple and edible. I’ll tell you if it’s wrong.”

Strange… Sakari expected that someone with his power would want rich and fancy foods, but he wasn’t particularly complaining. Simple food is what he always cooked for himself, so he was used to cooking simple foods.

“So, if I just cooked a simple spaghetti?”

“We should have the ingredients for that.” Eji shrugged and opened the fridge, looked in it, then closed it again. “We have it. Go ahead.”

Sakari gave him an obedient nod and made his way to the fridge as well. Eji stepped aside to let him pass. He grabbed the ingredients out of the fridge and the nearby cupboard, then set them all down on the counter so he could prepare the meal.

If he had to be completely honest, he did not think that this would be what he did as labour for Eji. In his mind he had imagined that Eji would make him be his guard or sell weapons or something of the sort. However, when he thought about it logically, of course Eji would make him do something mundane like this. It would put Eji in the least danger.  

Sakari had the food prepared and ready for him to cook. He had hand made a tomato sauce to go with the pasta. As he turned around to grab some pans to cook the meal in, he saw Eji watching over him like a hawk and jumped slightly. He was still there?? He was so quiet… Sakari had thought he had left a long time ago.

“What, you think I’ll just leave you alone in my kitchen?”

Sakari didn’t respond, so Eji approached him, towering over the shorter man with a terrifyingly threatening presence.

“Do you think I’m stupid? One poisoned meal could kill my entire family.”

“W-What? Why would I do that to someone who gave me a job?”

Sakari saw an ever so brief look of doubt cross Eji’s eyes.

“Because- we’re famous criminals- wait, did you not know that??”

“Why would I know that?” Sakari pretended to be nervous and backed off slightly. “Should I be scared…?”

Eji let go of his leaning down posture and stood up straight again. “I suppose not. If you gain my trust, there will be no reason to be scared. But that will not stop me from supervising you whenever you are in my kitchen.”

“Understood, sir.” Sakari turned back to his station, starting to cook the quick meal. Now that he had realised that Eji was there and watching him constantly, he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that he was being watched. He could almost feel Eji’s eyes boring into him, inspecting every second of his cooking. Maybe Eji’s trust issues were much more insane than Sakari suspected…