Love Sickness (BoyxBoy) Sekaiichi Hatsukoi Fanfiction

Chapter 2 "Memories"

"I want to see , the face you only show to me."

Chapter 2

Takano scowled at the no man's land that was the editing office of Marukawa Emerald Division.

"All right you lot, start cleaning up."

There were mumbles and groans all round, as the editors shifted papers and the like into haphazard piles, filing away the old, and arranging the new.

"Who's turn is it to air out the teddies?"

"Oi, Onodera! It's your turn!" called out Kisa gleefully. He had teddy duty last month and was practically skipping that he didn't have to do it for a while yet.

Onodera gave mumbled curse under his breath as he heaved the large boxes of stuffed toys out into the car park to air out in the sun. It took a trolley with 3 boxes to move the sum total of stuffed toys from the office on the 4 floor, out into the car-park. It had stopped snowing shortly after one o'clock, and a thin layer of snow lay, dirtied and muddied by car tracks and footprints that spread over the ground.

The winter air swirled around him, and Onodera shivered as he realized that he had forgotten his coat in the warm office room. Giving a small sigh, he arranged the stuffed toys carefully on a pink cloth under a tree. It was a rarely frequented spot behind the building, and besides, everyone who worked in Marukawa knew not to touch the toys. The rumours that their...ambience was catching was a well-established belief in the company. It would take a very brave (and brainless) employee to steal one of them.

Onodera gave a huff as the last of the toys were arranged under the tree. Glancing up at the dried wintery tree, almost dead-like, with it's spidery branches almost clawing at the air, Onodera gave a small pause. There was no one around him. It was the middle of the working day. It would do no harm to relax a little. He wouldn't be missed for 3 minutes, surely.

Ritsu couldn't stop the small smile that found it's way onto his lips. Winter was a special time to him. The cold seemed to sooth the fear in his heart. The snowflakes seemed to muffle his ears and eyes to the world. And sometimes, just for a moment, Ritsu could pretend that nothing existed in the world.

He didn't often have moments like this. Between his exhaustive job, his nightmares and the self-study he did, his mind was always abuzz with activity and thoughts.

'But,' he thought. 'I need moments like this too.' as he slumped against the tree and gazed up at the gray sky. He was so tired. Not tired enough to not want to go on of course. But just...tired.

For 3 minutes, he wanted to forget about his past. For 3 minutes, he didn't want to think. Not about his job, his life, his family or Takano. For 3 minutes, he only wanted to exist in this world.

Just for 3 minutes.

And he closed his eyes.

When Takano Masamune introduced himself as the head of department for manga, he was usually greeted with mixed reactions of shock and acceptance. Afterall, he hardly fit the typical stereotype that most of the population had for people working in the manga industry. But for the people in the know, they would nod appreciatively at his stern frown and hard gaze.

However, eyebrows really rose when he told them that he was working in the shoujo manga department, and ran it damn well. Then they would stare at him blankly when they learnt that not only did he have other males in the department, his department consisted of only males.