Benefits of a Penname
"You work with Yoshikawa Chiharu too, don't you?"
Yuu was working with another of his regular authors, an artist under Marukawa's shonen label, Slate. The artist, a man in his thirties who always looked tired even when he wasn't on a deadline, had wandered out under the excuse that a walk might help clear his head, so Yuu was left with two other assistants. One was a woman who worked diligently and whom Yuu had hardly heard talk in the several times they worked together. The other, however, was a man Yuu's age who often asked him out for drinks.
He glanced at the man before going back to the panel he'd been inking. "Yes," he said, his eyes following his hand. "I work with a lot of authors, though. Why's she important?"
"Well no one's seen her outside of her production team!" the man, Ishida, said. He threw down his pencil and looked Yuu straight in the eye. "Her assistants, her editor, and the head editor of Emerald. A guy can't help but be curious, y'know?"
"Yoshikawa-sensei is shy. Why do you think she never does signings?" Yuu said in a voice that made it obvious he'd said the very same thing plenty of times before. It was his standard response, one he'd been instructed by Hatori to give whenever someone asked about Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa Chiharu was just a penname, one used to hide the fact that the author was actually male. Yoshino Chiaki had started his career that way, and now it was just easier for his readers to think he was a woman.
"I've heard other assistants say she's probably ugly," Ishida said. "Some of the things they think about, I'd want to hide, too."
"She is not!" Yuu's cat-like eyes blazed, and Ishida jumped in surprise. He hadn't expected such a passionate response. Seeing this, though, Yuu shook his head and got a hold of himself again. Even the woman looked up at him with interest. Yuu glanced at his watch, then at the page he had just finished inking. It looked like the shonen artist had escaped again; he'd been gone for nearly three hours. "I'm done for the day. Tell Yamato-sensei I'll be back on Friday if he still needs help."
Chiaki's other assistants were already there when Yuu simply opened the door to his apartment and let himself in. "Yuu!" Chiaki said, sounding absolutely thrilled. He didn't look so great, though; he had a medical mask covering his mouth, and he kept looking back at the assistant table nervously. "Um, Sakura says she's catching a cold, but she won't go home so…"
"Because Hatori would be thrilled if you got sick when you still have pages to do," Yuu said, rolling his eyes. Chiaki wilted a little, so Yuu smiled and put a hand on his head. "Send her home. I'll call Marukawa and see if we can get someone else to cover for her today."
Sakura didn't look thrilled, but she still left, apologizing to Chiaki as she coughed into her hand. As she stepped out the door, Chiaki sighed in relief and took off his medical mask. "Thanks, Yuu," he said, a bright smile covering his face. Yuu let his hand linger on Chiaki's shoulder a bit longer than necessary before turning and taking out his phone. Chiaki, of course, didn't notice and went back to his light table.
Yuu wasn't told who they were sending over to replace Sakura, just that he or she would be over within half an hour. He'd completely forgotten by the time there were three sharp knocks on the door. Chiaki and the other assistants were wrapped-up in talking about the future plot of the manga, so Yuu got up, stretched his arms, cracked his back and went to answer it himself.
There stood Ishida, grinning like an idiot. His grin only widened when he saw it was Yuu who answered. "Marukawa sent me over."
"…you don't work on shojo manga," Yuu said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"I was dropping by the office when you called, asking for a replacement. I was the first one she saw. Besides, who wouldn't jump at the chance of working with the mystery artist?"
Yuu didn't look happy about this at all. It wasn't like he thought he could keep Chiaki to himself or anything, but the lecherous look in Ishida's eyes disconcerted him. He didn't really have a choice, though, because he had been standing out there long enough to get Chiaki's attention.
"Oh, hello!" Chiaki said, and he bowed to Ishida. "You must be the assistant Yuu called for. Thanks for coming over!" Chiaki nodded over to the table his assistants always sat at before saying something about making tea and wandering off on his own. Yuu didn't know Chiaki could even make tea, with how incapable he was in the kitchen. Then again, even he could probably boil water.
Ishida looked confused, and Yuu had a devious smile on his face. "I told you, Yoshikawa isn't ugly."