Konichiwa mina-san(hello everyone)! It's your friendly neighbor Hikari-chan coming at you with another story. This time I'll be moving away from Junjou Romantica and challenging Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. This tail is a little awkward in that I've never written anything like this before. Please be kind...nantta ne(just kidding)! However, I do hope that you guys will enjoy this story. Let the tail begin!
Since when have I forgotten who I am...what I am? Onodera thought to himself as he shuffled into Marukawa's main entrance. Walking over to the elevator in an exhausted state, he pressed the up arrow and walked onto the elevator to start another day in the Emerald Editing Department. The memory of his weekend at home continued to play through his head as the elevator came to his floor and he forced himself into the office. It was the beginning of the cycle, so everything was nauseatingly pink and fluffy. Onodera sat down with a heavy sigh, and turned on his laptop to see what needed done for today.
An email blinking in the corner caught his eye. It was from Yoshikawa Chiharu a.k.a. Yoshino Chiaki. Why would he mail me? He's Hatori-san's author right? Onodera thought as he opened the email. What he read caused his eyes to widen to such an extent, that he had to blink after a while due to his eyes drying out. The email read:
Onodera-san,
How are you? I wanted to ask if you remember me at all
from the last meeting? There will be another meeting this
Sunday. Please come as it affects our entire race. I look
forward to seeing you again.
Signed,
Yoshino Chiaki
"What the hell is he playing at? Meeting...could he mean? But how?" Onodera muttered to himself. Takano had been keeping an eye on him since he'd arrived, and noticed the immediate change in Onodera's manner after the brunette had read the email. Takano became concerned, and kind of annoyed, and walked over to where Onodera sat staring at his screen while muttering to himself.
"Onodera, what are you doing?" Takano said in his usual haughty way.
"Huh?" Onodera answered as he snapped back to reality, and looked up at Takano in confusion.
"What the hell are you doing Onodera? Have you finished your latest proposal? Will you be ready for the meeting this Friday? You only have three days to get it done. Get your head out of the clouds and get back t-...What is this about a meeting with Hatori's author?"
"N-none of your business!" Onodera said in exasperation as he clicked out of the email, and brought up his finished proposal.
"You finished it already? Let me take a look," Takano said as he began to read Onodera's proposal. After about five minutes, Takano walked back to his desk and called from across the room, "You can just go home today Onodera. Your proposal is fine and you don't have anything else to do right?"
"Um, actually I have a meeting today with Mutou-sensei to discuss the next chapter for this month," Ondodera said. He then gathered up some papers, and dashed off to the copier. That was close! If Takano-san found out what I...? Onodera gulped in some air to still his nerves as he waited for his copies to print out. Just as the copier spit out his last paper, in walked Yokozawa with a sour expression on his face. He took one look at Onodera and grunted, before turning away. Onodera took that opportunity to run out the door, copies in hand, and dashed back to his desk as fast as he could. There he spent the three hours before his meeting, planning how he'd present his idea to the board for Mutou's latest work.
1 pm rolled around, and it was finally time for him to dash off to a nearby cafe for his meeting. "Otsukade(good work today), Onodera," Hatori called as Onodera was walking out.
"Hatori-san, otsukade," Onodera said back as he dashed towards the elevator. As soon as the elevator hit the bottom floor, Onodera was running out of the doors to the office in record time.
"Konichiwa(hello) Mutou-Sensei," Onodera called out as he caught sight of his author, walking in the door.
"Ohayo(formal hello) Onodera-kun. How are you?" Mutou called back cheerfully.
"Good. How are you Sensei?" Onodera replied in kind as he sat down.
"I'm just fine," she replied back with a smile.
"No colds this time I hope?" Onodera said a bit mischievously.
"No not this time!" laughed Mutou. Since that incident at the airport, it had become their own private joke.
"So, what are you thinking for the chapter for this month?"
"I was thinking of several angles that would..." Their meeting lasted about an hour and a half, before they finally agreed on what plot angle Mutou should go with next.
"Thank you for your cooperation for today Mutou-Sensei. It was of great help," Onodera said pleasantly as he stood up to leave.
"Iie(no), thank you for meeting me today. I was so stuck and you've helped me out so much today Onodera-kun. Honotoni arigatou gozaimasu(really, thank you so much)," Mutou said with a bright smile. Onodera smiled back in response, and left the cafe to go home. But, not before waving to Mutou one last time.
That went well, thought Onodera as he walked home. Now I have to take care of the other issue at hand. How am I supposed to get the day off this close to the beginning of the cycle? I mean really Chiaki?! You could've sent me that email weeks ago! Damn air-headed author can barely take care of himself without Hatori-san's help...Oh well. What will be will be. I need to come up with a good excuse to get this Saturday off to travel to Okinawa. But knowing Takano-san he'll think I'm going on vacation instead of going to a meeting for a different race.
Onodera sighed as he entered the elevator to go up to his apartment. Once on the top floor he stepped out of the elevator only to find Takano waiting in front of his door. Onodera began to feel immediately suspicious as Takano looked his way. Walking over to his door he said the only thing he could in that situation.
"Please move aside Takano-san," Onodera said, his annoyance at the situation coloring his voice.
"I need to talk to you. Come with me," Takano replied as he grabbed Onodera's arm and dragged him into his apartment.
"W-wai...Oi! Takano-san, what are you trying to pull?" Onodera complained as he was attempting to escape Takano's grasp.
"Shut up. I want to know what the email was all about," Takano said as he closed the door behind them and pinned Onodera to the wall in the genkan(place to keep shoes).
"It's really none of your business. So please let m-" Onodera was stopped by the intense gaze of dark grey eyes. What the hell is going through his head? Does he think I'm cheating on him or something? Wait a minute! How can he think that when we're not even dating?!
"It is my business as your boss. You know you're not supposed to be emailing anyone personal outside of work," Takano said seriously as he pressed in closer to Onodera.
And now he's threatening me. Guess I'll ask for that day off now. "I have to go to Okinawa this Saturday to visit my grandmother in the hospital. My mom sent me a meeting place and time so we can go together. Anything else you need to know?" Onodera replied, looking straight into Takano's eyes, daring him to challenge his words. Takano knew that Onodera was a bad liar, but now he couldn't tell if the man was lying or not. That's when an idea came to Takano's mind, and he pressed further up against Onodera as he said, "Liar."
However, Onodera's countenance didn't change in the slightest, and Takano became shocked instead. Takano had no choice but to back off at Onodera's stubborn attitude, for it appeared that he was telling the truth.
"Fine. You can have the day off Saturday. Just be sure to bring something back for the office okay?" Takano said as he released Onodera, and walked into his living room. Onodera took that opportunity to leave, and went into his own apartment before he smiled at his victory over Takano. Yes! Way to go me! Lying to Takano and not budging. I guess I've grown a little as an adult. Take that Takano-san!
Onodera reveled in his success for a few more minutes as he put his stuff away, and sat down on his couch to relax before reality hit him. I may have gotten this Saturday off, but what problems could be great enough to call a council? That hasn't been done since the Meiji Era when our race was in danger of extinction from humans who thought we were demons. And what will I do? I can't just let my people suffer but how am I going to fix the problem? Argh! This is so confusing! Well I guess I'll just have to wait and see what pops up.
Onodera sighed in resignation as he looked up at the clock, and saw that nearly five hours had passed without him doing anything. Then he sighed and stood up to make a good dinner for once, instead of a convenience store bento(meal box). Once he had finished cooking, eating and doing the dishes, he focused his energy on tidying his apartment up. It was a disaster from the last three days of the cycle. At around 9 pm he finally finished cleaning his entire house, and was ready to hit the sack when he got a phone call.
Who could it be at this time of night? Onodera thought as he grudgingly picked up the phone and answered tiredly, "Hello, Onodera Ritsu speaking?"
"Onodera-sama, big trouble! We need you in Okinawa now!" said a familiar voice on the phone.
"Now?! But I have a meeting this Friday at work!" Onodera said in dismay.
"We need you now Onodera-sama! You may go back when it's time for your meeting, but we need you to come here as fast as possible!"
"Alright but it'll be the unconventional way of travel. It's the fastest way to get to you," Onodera sighed in resignation.
"That's fine. Just make sure no one sees you," the voice replied before hanging up. Quickly, Onodera packed a small waterproof bag with clothes and his cell phone before dashing out of his apartment and locking the door. Takano heard Onodera's door slam as he came out, and went to see what was going on. When he opened his door, Onodera had already gone into the stairwell and was dashing madly down the stairs to the bottom floor. Takano decided to follow him to see where on earth Onodera was going.
Onodera didn't slow down an iota when he hit the street. His mad dash left Takano confused to the nth degree, as Onodera continued to make his way through town and down to the subway. Onodera was fidgety as he waited for the right train, and got on as soon as the doors were open. Takano got on quickly and sat next to a man much larger than himself, and used the man to hide as Onodera looked around for anyone following him. Takano then noticed that the train was taking them near the ocean, and became even more confused when Onodera got off at a stop so close to the ocean that it was practically in the middle of nowhere.
Takano quickly followed the brunette out onto the beach, and hid behind a rock in the cove where Onodera stood still for a moment. Then Onodera did the totally unexpected, and took off all of his clothes and shoved them into the waterproof bag and slung the bag's strap over his shoulder. He then began to wade out into the ocean, which caused alarm in Takano as he thought Onodera was going to commit suicide.
"Onodera!" Takano cried out as he ran towards the brunette. Onodera heard the shout and looked back at a concerned Takano. Crap! He'll see it if I don't give him an explanation! Man this is going to cost me but... As his thoughts trailed off, Onodera dropped his bag down into the water and made sure it was safely on the bottom, before he slowly swam over to Takano who was wading into the water after him.
"What are you doing here Takano-san?" Onodera asked when he was 2 feet away from the man. Takano said nothing as he wrapped his arms around Onodera. "Takano-san?" Onodera asked in confusion.
"...I thought that you were going to kill yourself," Takano said as his whole body shivered from shock and relief.
"Why would I do that? I didn't leave my shoes on the beach did I? I was just going for a swim. I needed to clear my head, and I thought swimming was the best way to do it," Onodera said as he released his pent up breath from moving so fast.
"But why so late at night?" Takano asked as he loosened his grip on Onodera slightly and looked into his eyes.
"Do I have to explain every little thing I do to you? Do I ask you to explain yourself every time yo do something weird?" Onodera asked testily as he tried to pull away from Takano.
"I'm serious Onodera. Why were you in such a hurry to get here? What's go-"
Takano was silenced by a kiss from Onodera who was feeling a bit harried at the moment, and needed his boss to shut up for a minute or two.
"I will explain in due time. But you have to trust me. Can you do that for me Takano-san?" Onodera asked seriously as he looked deep into Takano's eyes. Takano said nothing as he nodded his head and released Onodera. Onodera smiled and pushed Takano towards the shore happy to dodge yet another bullet. Once he was sure Takano had left the beach, Onodera dived under the water and grabbed his bag before swimming away from the cove. His tail propelled him forward at an inhuman speed, as he moved his way through the water and off to Okinawa.
That was too close.
Well here's the new story. What do you think? Is my tail worth continuing or no? Please leave a review to let me know. Also I apologize for not writing in so long. School and work are worse than ever before so I hope you can forgive me. Thanks for reading and please let me know if I should continue. Suki yo(love ya)!