Chapter Text
Yokozawa pressed his alarm button as the ringing stopped. Groaning as he slowly sat up while a small ball of black fur stretched beside him. A soft meow escaping its mouth as it goes towards the male and pressing its head against his forearm. "Morning Sorata." Yokozawa smiled towards the small feline while petting its head and back. "Another day once again." He commented while standing up to take a quick stretch. Heading into the connecting bathroom to get ready for the day. Shredding his clothes and stepping into the shower thinking about what was planned for the day. Might stop by the manga department to see how far they are on editing and getting at least one book ready to publish. He prayed that at least one of the authors is ready for their deadline. Although they still have at least three days until their deadline. Luckily Takano has been keeping a steady pace of having it ready earlier than the deadline with one of his authors.
'Reliable as always.' Yokozawa thought as he scrubbed his hair, spacing out slightly as memories of Takano drunk out of his mind popped up. 'Well, at least he's better and nothing has made him relapsed. Or else I will kill him.' Sighing slightly, the male rinsed out the soap and turned the water off having already washed his body. Wrapping a towel around his waist and grabbing the smaller towel to dry his hair, his mind drifted to another male. One that irked him but was surprisingly cooperative when it came to business. The male you ask? None other than Kirishima Zen, an older colleague who is flirty, open-minded, and also serious at times. Yokozawa commended him for his work ethic and how he was able to handle situations with ease. They had just started working together recently as Yokozawa was tasked with the Shounen department's sales. He doesn't mind as it's similar to the Shoujo department's. Although today they have a meeting about how many copies to create and sell for one of the author's books. He hopes he has a good number that goes well for both his department and Kirishima's. He thought Takano was bad but the older male is worse.
Sighing as he dresses slowly but swiftly with Sorata watching from the bed in his room. Brushing his teeth and grabbing his watch, jacket, and suitcase. He nuzzles the small creature's head and tells it that he's leaving the house. Rolling his shoulders slightly, Yokozawa exits his apartment and starts his walk to work. He considers himself lucky to have found a nice apartment near the building so he doesn't have to drive everyday. As much as he doesn't mind doing so, it's too much to try and beat the rush of traffic. With walking, he can take his time on getting ready and stopping by the convenience store to grab something quick to eat.
Entering the building, he sees different colleagues conversing and making their way to the cubicles. Making his way to the elevator, he pauses as he sees a familiar face standing near the wall. Walking over he stands in front of the other who glares at whoever is intruding. Only for the eyes to soften as he sees it's his college friend. "Masamune." Yokozawa greets as he stands next to his friend who looks like he wants to kill everyone who might even dare to smile at him. The only thing that the slightly older male got as a response was a hum and grumbled greeting.
"I'm guessing that either today is packed and might be shitty. Or that one of your authors are giving you a hard time." Yokozawa stated while grabbing out the tuna onigiri out his suitcase and proceeding to take a bite. "Both" was the only quick response that he got. Humming as he turned towards his friend and offering the onigiri to try and get him into a better mood. Takano perked up slightly and quickly took a bite from the onigiri as it stayed within Yokozawa's hand. Flushing slightly at the act committed, Yokozawa shook his head in fondness and he squeezed the other's shoulders in camaraderie. "Well I hope the day goes by quickly and well. I'll send a photo of Sorata playing with her toy later to give you a boost." He promised as he continued to the elevator.
Stepping into the small room and waiting for the doors to close, a hand quickly grabbed them before it could stop. In came the male he was supposed to see later, Kirishima Ken. "Good morning Mr. Kirishima." Yokozawa greeted while making room. "Ahhhh Yokozawa-san, you don't have to be so formal. But good morning to you as well. Hope you have good numbers for our meeting today." Kirishima commented with a sly smile. "I hope so too. Floor 8 correct?" the younger male asked as he already pressed the button. "Don't know why you ask when you already press the number." "I only ask to be polite but I do hope you didn't need to go to another." Yokozawa asked with a slight nervousness. "Nope. Let's just be glad that I didn't."
Once again as the doors were about to close, another hand had stopped it. This time it was a younger light-brown-headed male who looked lost and a little confused, but very intimidated. Kirishima's face brightened as he asked, "Hello. Who are you?" The younger male quickly bowed and introduced himself as Onodera Ritsu while holding out two contact information cards to the other males. "I'm new and a bit lost." Kirishima hummed as he grabbed the card and presented his own to the other. While Yokozawa paused slightly at the name and tried to think of why the first name seemed familiar. Shaking it off, he kindly presented his own card. "Where are you headed?" He asked somewhat politely while also really wishing he could just get to his desk already.
"I'm looking for the Sh-Shoujo department. I will be working with them from today." The younger male, Onodera, explained while also looking like he wanted to dig himself into the ground. 'Probably embarrassed I bet. Wonder how surprised he'll be when he sees the whole department is males.' Yokozawa bemused while he offered to walk the younger to the department. Getting a quick head nod from the other with some eagerness and relief. Smiling as he pressed the button that would close the elevator doors.
Sadly, the universe doesn't want him to get to his own desk as another hand stopped the doors. Groaning and quickly getting annoyed, he opened his mouth to yell at the one preventing him once again but quickly shut his mouth as Takano walked in. Sighing as he pressed the button to floors number six and seven. "Tanako great timing." He commented as he once again pressed the close button and thanked whoever for the doors being able to close. Not noticing the somewhat tension that had filled the elevator just from the other male. Two people tensing for different reasons of fear and jealousy.
The tired male looked at the other in question as he straightened up his back and stood next to his friend, blocking him from the other two. "Me and Kirishima just met your new subordinate and editor. He's right behind you if you don't mind showing him where your department is. As I would like to get to my own desk this morning." Yokozawa explained as he turned Takano towards the shortest male. The younger male fumbled with his card and bowed once again, this time to his superior. Takano took in the younger male and had thought it was Oda-kun from high school but looking at the card, he was wrong. Oh well, it's not like he needs his heart broken again since he noticed a ring on the other's ring finger. Not giving a response, he turns towards his friend and nods in a silent agreement.
He knows not to give his friend a hard time in the morning as it will ruin his day as well. Plus he still needs photos of Sorata to bring up his own mood. Rubbing his pale hand against his temple he noticed the other male in the elevator. "Kirishima-san." He greets with a slight bow while leaning towards Yokozawa. "Takano." The eldest male replied with some courtesy while he himself turns his attention to Yokozawa. Said male didn't mind the two or even feel the slight tension between them as he happily hummed at getting to their first destination. "I will see you at lunch?" He asks his friend who nods in agreement and waves his phone to say that he'll text later while exiting the elevator. The youngest male also exiting behind him while smiling as a farewell to Yokozawa, although he had looked curiously at him. Brushing it off, Yokozawa pressed the button that would close the elevator once again as his lips twitched into a small smile at getting to his floor. 'Finally.'
"I will see you at our meeting then Kirishima-san. Have a good morning." Yokozawa bowed his head slightly as he exited the elevator with relief. He still has paperwork that needs to be done after all. The eldest male called out a farewell from the elevator before the doors closed as well.
Getting to his desk, he immediately noted the large pile of different documents on his desk. Sighing slightly as he put down his suitcase and sat down to organize between what was statistics, offers, questions, upcoming meetings, and what was considered urgent. Separating the piles was always a nice past time before the rush of the day came, also helped him stay organized even if he felt like he could drown in the amount of paperwork every day. Humming slightly as he looked between the printed papers and making sure to check his email as well. He found a good rhythm and only had to call on two of his subordinates to his desk to ask simple questions. The statistics gave him a bit of a headache as people still loved regular senka or magazine paper for their mangas but some people like glossed paper like for comics used in America. Pricing for both papers are different and the amount of pages or ads even added onto the manga's cover or inside costs so much as well.
As much as Yokozawa doesn't mind do marketing or statistics for this stuff, he's also very tired of it. Especially when dealing with two of the most stubborn men he'll ever know. He's glad that he's the one who has to deal with them though. The guys in his groups get very intimidated by both males while the females fawn over the two. Only the older women tend to get after Takano and Kirishima about their deadlines and to get their own departments in order. However, most of the older women deal with other things that are a little more complicated than what he does when it comes to talking with businesses about coming out with ads or making deals with different stationary companies. He likes where he's at though, having to only get through meetings with editors, other marketing and sales directors, and some authors. It's quick and usually efficient unless some things go awry.
With how much Takano picks on him about being a softie and liking the thrill of life, he does have to admit that there is some truth behind his friend's words. There are times where he wishes he can get an author's work printed out more or even advertised more. While also liking when there is a problem that needs to be fixed with his help, but not all the damn time. There is a limit to how much he can handle and he's glad that there's a nice rhythm with everyone he works with.
Looking at his watch while stretching his back slightly, he saw it was already noon or close to it. Grabbing his phone he saw a message from Takano asking if the cafeteria was alright. Responding with a thumbs up to his friend, he grabbed his jacket and headed down to the cafeteria. Advising everyone else to go get lunch and to take a break. Luckily, one of the women had already offered that morning to stay in the office to take calls during her lunch since she brought it with her. He made sure to remind her to focus on her lunch and that the calls could wait if need be. Watching his subordinate's face relax and seeing her nod, he smiled slightly as he continued to the elevator. He disliked the rumor of him being a grumpy and intimidating bear that will tear off anyone's head, but he had to admit it was true to some extent.
Entering the elevator, he pressed the button to the first floor where the cafeteria was located. He went to grab his phone to ask if Takano was already downstairs but he got his answer when the door opened for the floor below. Seeing Takano along with his whole department. Bowing his head slightly in greeting, he moved towards the buttons on the elevator as the others piled. As usual, Kanade stood with a smile with Kisa looking nervous beside him, at seeing him, and Hatori just bowed his head back while texting on his phone. The last two however were glaring at each other with one looking like he will stand down soon. 'I fear I need to get after Takano for his superior complex but it's a surprise to see the other not backing down.' Yokozawa noted as he looked at the others.
Discreetly pinching behind his friend's upper arm while smiling towards the younger male and asking politely if his day was going well. Takano grimaced slightly and pouted towards his friend slightly with a sign of betrayal. Ignoring him, the other focused on the light-haired male who answered positively. Well, as positively as someone could when meeting a whole department who looked worse for wear. Smiling sympathetically at him slightly, he told him that it'll get better and that having been an editor before, he hoped he understood. Onodera looked up with determination more and nodded. Takano standing on the sidelines commented with, "Well you can't be lazy and expect everything to go well every time. No use in being optimistic and dragging us down."
Yokozawa paused and looked at his friend with raised eyebrows while Onodera looked at him with a glare. Sighing slightly, Yokozawa looked towards Onodera with a slight smile. He stood by to let everyone out first when they hit first floor. "Have a good lunch everyone." He commented then grabbed Takano's arm to drag him to the cafeteria. Steering him towards a back table and grabbing them both a coffee can from the vending machine. "What was that?" He asked while he sat in front of his friend who looked away with scrunched eyebrows. "Masamune-kun." Yokozawa urged. "Takafumi." Takano retorted. The other glared while also grabbing his friend's hand. "You're never this mean to newbies. What's different with this one?" He asked. Takano jumped but relaxed at the touch. Sighing as he slightly slouched in his seat and reluctantly told his friend what's been plaguing his mind. "I think the 'newbie' is Oda-kun." He confessed. Takafumi felt his body freeze from the name that haunted their past.