1 – Shion's 1st Case – Welcome to Emerald!

"Onodera! Have you already called the mangaka?! We need the manuscript in two hours, god damn it!" the guy with the glasses yelled through the entire department as if they were the only people working there.

"As I already said, Takano-san, I am trying to get through to her right now, but she won't answer the phone!" the one being yelled at yelled back.

"Then make sure she answers your calls, you're her editor, aren't you? Get your job done!" he continued screaming.

"I will!" the second guy added.

"Takano-san, here's the schedule for tomorrow's meeting about the serialization of Nakamura-sensei's new manga." a third guy said.

"Alright Hatori, leave it on my desk." the first one said, he looked like the Editor-in-chief of this department.

"Weeeell, anyways, I'll leave you in the care of the people here, although it seems you came at their last phase of the cycle. Good luck, and welcome to Marukawa Publishing!" the front desk lady who showed me the way to my new working place said finally and quickly left me alone, standing in front of all those yelling people, who would be my new working comrades from now on. I asked myself what she meant with last phase of the cycle, but I would find out soon. I didn't know what I should do to catch someone's attention, so I decided to just stand there and wait for someone to notice me. I put on a smile and started looking around the room.

The air was rather… heavy, if you could call it that. It felt like when you haven't opened your windows for a very long time, and the oxygen seemed to be almost completely replaced by carbon dioxide, making it hard to breathe. As if I needed more reasons to think like that, I saw how one of the people was sitting on his chair. To be exact, he was barely sitting, it was more of a lying and he looked like he would fall off the chair any moment now. In any case, I was hoping he was still alive. Just as I was about to look around more, the maybe-chief editor finally saw me standing there helplessly and started talking to me.

"You, who are you, what do you want?!" he asked me.

"Good day sir! Nice to meet you, my name's Shion Misaki and as of today I am starting my job as an editor of the Emerald Department. I wasn't told much, I was only led here and then abandoned by the front desk lady." I said while I bowed down.

"Misaki? Oh, yeah. I remember being told that someone new would start working here today." he said.

"That's me!" I smiled.

"Alright. Well then, I'm Masamune Takano, Editor-in-chief of the Emerald Department. Nice to meet you." he answered.

"It's a pleasure to be working with you from now on!" I said and bowed down again.

"So, uhm, you came at a rather complicated time, Misaki. Uhh… how much do you know of editing manga?" Takano-san asked.

"Uhm, let's say I know the entire theory, but never actually used it."

"I see, well that's more than Onodera there knew when he started, so I guess you'll be alright." he said and started laughing.

"Takano-san, I can hear you." Onodera-san said while still trying to get through to his mangaka.

"And I can hear you, which means you still haven't talked to your mangaka, now have you?"

"…no sir." he said and continued his work.

"Uhm, for starters… oh, I know. Hatori!" Takano-san turned around. A big guy started walking towards us.

"Yes?"

"Hatori, if you have time right now, would you mind showing Misaki around here a bit so he knows where everything is?"

"Alright, Takano-san."

"I'll leave him in your care then. Onodera! Are you done yet?!" Takano-san turned back to Onodera-san again.

"Could you please be silent, I am talking to her right now!" Onodera-san answered.

"Good day, I am Yoshiyuki Hatori, Assistant Editor-in-chief of Emerald, it's a pleasure to meet you." Hatori-san bowed down.

"Likewise, I'm Shion Misaki, thank you for taking care of me today." I bowed down as well.

"Well then, shall we go?"

"Yes please." I said with a smile.

Hatori-san firstly showed me around the department, it wasn't that big, but at least he showed me where I would be working; next to the still not moving, hopefully not dead person lying on his chair. Next he showed me where to find the bathrooms, the break room, the room where meetings were held, the magazine's archive and he also explained a bit about the rest of the building. He told me where to find the Sales Department, if I ever needed to ask them something. He also told me, that if I should have any questions about anything at all, I could always ask him, he'd try his best to answer me. Hatori-san seemed like a kind person, and he didn't seem to be like the others of the department, he had a different air hanging around him.

"Hatori-san, if I may ask this, what exactly is the last phase of the cycle?" I asked him when we were walking back to the others.

"Oh, that? You're here for less than an hour and you already heard of the cycle? Impressive." he smiled.

"Yes, the front desk lady told me about it when she showed me the way, but she also quickly left after she told me, as if she was running away from something."

"Have you heard of the 20 day garden radish?" he suddenly asked me.

"Excuse me?" I was confused.

"Don't worry, you'll understand sooner or later." he said and started laughing, leaving me with more questions than answers. Just as we came back, Onodera-san rushed by and quickly entered the elevator.

"I'll go get the manuscript!" he screamed as the elevator door closed.

"Damn that Onodera, always cutting it close with the deadlines." Takano-san said angrily.

"Takano-san, we are back, I have shown him everything important." Hatori-san said.

"Alright, thanks Hatori, go back to work now."

"Understood. Well then…" Hatori-san sat down on his desk and continued his work.

"What should I do, Takano-san?" I asked

"Why don't you get yourself used with your new working place first? Observe your surroundings, organize your desk to your liking. I'll give you something to work with as soon as I find some time, is that okay?" he seemed to be very stressed.

"Alright then!" I said and walked to my desk, sat down and took out some things of my bag. The person next to me was still not moving at all.

"Uhm, excuse me, Hatori-san? Is he… okay?" I pointed at the black haired person next to me.

"Probably, yes. That's Kisa-san, he's always like that during this time, don't worry." he answered.

"I… see." I said, but in fact, I did not. I didn't understand it, I still didn't know what that cycle was all about.

"Kisa! Kisa, wake up already!" Takano-san yelled at the not moving person. But suddenly he started moving; thank goodness, he was still alive.

"Y-yes?" he answered Takano-san's call with a slightly sleepy voice.

"Kisa, you're gonna look after the newbie until he's fully used to working here, so get your ass off that chair and show him our work."

"H-huh?! Why me?" suddenly he was wide awake.

"Because everyone else is already working."

"Oh come on Takano-sannnn…"

"Uhm, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Shion Misaki and starting today I'll work as an editor for the Emerald Department. I hope we'll be working well together from now on, Kisa-senpai!" I said to him. His eyes seemed to widen when he heard the word senpai.

"S-senpai?" he asked surprised.

"Don't you like me calling you like that?"

"N-no! It's… it's totally fine by me. It's not like I like being called senpai or anything, haha… ha…" he said while faking a laugh and trying to hide his blushing face. I got the feeling I could become good friends with him.

"Then Kisa-senpai it is!" I smiled.

"S-sure. I'm Shouta Kisa, nice to meet you too, Shii-tan." he said.

"Shii-tan?"

"I give everyone nicknames, I hope you don't mind."

"I don't."

"Oh and sorry for being dead until now, these times of the working process are always so tiring, I haven't slept last night either, haha." Kisa-senpai said and when he did I noticed his eye-bags. I had known from before that this kind of job wouldn't be easy at all, but I was ready for it, I wanted to do it. And I was happy I got the job at Marukawa Publishing.

"Don't worry about it, it's okay. Hatori-san showed me around a bit, now I know where the important things are."

"Oh, he did? That's good."

"I am so sorry, I forgot my bag, I will leave right now again, don't mind me!" Onodera-san suddenly rushed out from the elevator, took his bag and ran back again.

"Typical Ricchan." Kisa-senpai said.

"You're not helping me, Kisa-san." he answered.

"You better be on time, do you hear me, Onodera?!" Takano-san yelled.

"I will, Takano-sa-" but before he could end his sentence, the elevator doors had closed again.

"Uhm, is there anything I could do?" I asked Kisa-senpai.

"Uh, well… I can show you some of the basics of how to create a manuscript, sometimes you'll have to help out the mangaka or their assistants, if the deadline is coming close. Frankly, the deadline will come close anyways. Always. So better prepare yourself for it. Only a few rare mangaka are able to be in time, like Torin's mangaka." he said and looked at Hatori-san.

"Yoshikawa-sensei is by no means punctual. I just force her and make sure she is." Hatori-san answered with a slightly creepy smile.

"Yeah, they say he has some tough meetings with Yoshikawa-sensei." Kisa-senpai whispered.

"Yoshikawa-sensei? She's drawing the long running series in the magazine at the moment, right?" I asked.

"Exactly? You read our magazine?" Kisa-senpai asked.

"I do, I like it a lot. I'm a big manga fan."

"I see. What's your favourite manga in the magazine?"

"Hmm… I think that would be Yamada-sensei's work, I really like the story."

"That's the manga I'm editing!" Kisa-senpai said proudly.

"Really? Amazing! I expected nothing less from Kisa-senpai!"

"W-well, as your senpai I have to show you how things are done, right?" he seemed to be very happy about the fact that someone was calling him senpai.

"I'm curious how it'll continue." I added.

"Well, I know, but I can't tell you. By the way, I really like that funky red strand of hair on your left side, fits the colour of your glasses. And looks good with your black hair and stuff." he smiled. I liked Kisa-senpai, he seemed to be a very nice and fun person to be around with. I hoped to get to know him more as time passed.

"Thank you!" I said.

"Kisa, Misaki, less hair talk, more work talk!" Takano-san said while holding a cup of supposedly coffee in his hand.

"Yes sir." we both said simultaneously and looked down. And then Kisa-senpai started showing me what he was talking about before. I knew all the details from the theory, but seeing it for real would help me improve and get the feeling of my future work, I couldn't wait any longer. I was really looking forward to it, I had been waiting so long and now the time had finally come.

But before he started actually showing me how it's done, he put down some sheets of paper on his desk and faced me once again.

"Before I forget it: Welcome to Emerald, Shii-tan!" Kisa-senpai said with a smile.

"Welcome, Misaki-san." I heard from Hatori-san.

"Do your best, Misaki." Takano-san said. I stood up and bowed down to thank them.

"I am happy to be here, thank you!" I looked up again and smiled. My new life was about to start.