"Oi, Misaki." Usagi dragged Suzuki-san down the stairs, dark circles clearly visible under his eyes. Not a good sign at all so early in a project. Misaki wondered if his surprise was a sign that he really didn't know all that much about this business yet. Usagi was still speaking, but Misaki had no idea what the hell he was saying because it was all quick, natural English.
"Usagi-san! Speak Japanese so I can understand you." Misaki called.
"Ah, sorry. Got stuck for a moment. It's not important. I was ranting about my damned editor. How the hell is she supposed to help me with an English translation when her English is absolute shit." Usagi gently set the bear on the couch and then lounged dramatically.
"Ah, don't be so hard on Aikawa-san, can't she find someone to help?" Misaki asked.
"It's not Aikawa. If it was, you're right, she'd have already found a good consultant. Aikawa does romance. Literary fiction isn't really her area."
"Well, big shot, can't you ask for a different editor?"
"Onadera-san keeps telling me this woman is the best they've got. Honestly, he was a damned fool to let his own son go to Murakawa. That kid is one of the best literary editors in the business. What does it matter that a bunch of plebes were whining about nepotism?"
"You'd better watch your mouth around the plebes, great lord Usami. If the editor you like is at Murakawa, why don't you move your literary work there?"
"Such a good little Murakawa employee." Usagi laughed.
Misaki was mortified. "That's not why I said that."
"I know, but if I do it I'll tell Isaka-san it was your suggestion and let him draw his own conclusions."
"Usagi, I don't want to rely on you for my career." God, this dead horse kept coming back for more. It was the equine zombie of arguments.
"Misaki, I know. I respect that. However, you made a good suggestion based on solid reasoning. I'm not giving you some kind of boost you don't deserve. I'm going to go review my contract with Onadera Publishing. If I end up moving this project, you'll have been the one who influenced me to do it. There's no harm in letting Isaka-san know that. I'd have done the same for Aikawa if she had thought to give me that advice this morning."
Misaki felt his cheeks heat. Had he really done something right? However unintentional it may have been, he felt just a little proud.
"Besides" Usagi continued "While he'll be surprised that it happened so soon, I'm sure this is more or less part of Isaka's long game."
Misaki was pissed. "So, Isaka only hired me to get more hooks into you? Even without you saying anything?"
"You really don't understand anything yet, Misaki."
"Sorry I'm so fucking dumb, then!" Misaki chopped the potato on his cutting board with a little more force than necessary and barely missed slicing his finger in half.
"Misaki." Akihiko slid behind him and took the knife from his hand. "Misaki, that's not it."
Misaki did not try to escape Usagi's embrace. He knew that was useless, but he didn't relax into it either. This was too important. "So what, then?"
"Misaki," Akihiko said more softly, "If you want to be successful in business, you can't just look at what's right in front of you."
"Isaka-san is a brilliant editor, but he's in his current position because he's an even better businessman. The main reason he hired you is because he thinks you'll be worth something as an employee. Hasn't he told you he's impressed that you can handle me? That guy doesn't give idle compliments."
"However," Usagi continued, "Isaka also knows that you are close to me and that as your professional life takes off within Murikawa, your connections there will tie me more closely to his company. He probably had something similar, among other possibilities, in the back of his mind when he took on Onadera; I certainly haven't ever hidden my opinion of his skills."
Jealousy gripped Misaki. The way Usagi said that was just a little suggestive. 'I've really got to stop reading BL' he thought. 'I'm thinking everyone's a homo again.'
"-so what I'm really saying is that when Isaka decides something, he's not just solving an immediate problem. He's planting seeds that might benefit him in the future. He plants as many as he can with every single act because he can't know which ones will bear fruit. A lot of people think he knows more than he does because they don't notice the vast majority of his little schemes don't amount to anything at all."
As usual, the way Usagi explained things made it seem perfectly obvious.
Three days later, Usagi descended the stairs in much better spirits. "Misaki, we're wanted in the office in an hour for a meeting."
"We?"
"Yes. I'm thinking I will move the translation project to Murakawa. You're involved in this now."
"Seriously? I haven't even started there yet." Misaki felt panic rising. "Shit! What the hell am I going to wear?"
"Calm down Misaki, you do have a lot to learn, but I doubt it will be as intimidating as you think." Usagi ruffled his hair. "And weren't you the one who was just all fussy because I bought you a work wardrobe? Wear the dove Brioni, second to the darkest violet dress shirt, that olive tie with the brighter cross weave, and the Twin Turbines."
Showered and dressed, Misaki took stock of himself in the mirror. "Isn't this a little too much?" Beside Usagi's rather plain, impeccably tailored look, Misaki felt like he looked too much like a peacock for his first big business meeting.
"Nope." Usagi was, as usual, beyond confident. "Misaki you look so young. In something more classic you'd come off like a fifteen year old who went digging in his dad's closet. This is better, pretty and precocious in the best way. Trust me. I wouldn't let you alone anywhere near that office, work or no. That damned Mangaka is always lurking around you these days."
"Usagi," Misaki was tired of this conversation, too. "I've rejected him already. There's nothing to worry about."
"I'm still not so sure about that. I trust you. I don't trust him." Usagi gave a wicked smirk. "I hope he's there. One look at you today and he'll fucking come in his pants, but you had better stick close to me. I want it to be perfectly obvious that you are mine." He embraced Misaki from behind, his half-hard cock rubbing intriguingly against his lover's backside before he sighed and retreated. "I'm almost glad we don't have time now. If we did you'd be out of that again in a minute and I just want to look at you."
Misaki shut his eyes and squirmed out of Usagi's hold. His cheeks were on fire. "Got that out of your system for now? You'd better not be all pervy during my first hour at my real job! If you do anything weird, I will seriously sleep in my own bed with the door locked for a whole week, I swear."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I'm done for now. Just be prepared because I'm going to fuck you so hard when we get home." Usagi leaned over and growled in Misaki's ear. "I don't think you really understand. Misaki has always been cute, but grown-up Misaki is damned hot. I have it on good authority that every single person who will be in our meeting likes men at least occasionally. Pay attention to their reactions and maybe you'll understand why I need to be so careful with you."
Misaki suddenly felt like he might be walking into a nightmare. "Usagi-san. Seriously, why are you still thinking that everyone in the world is a homo?"
"You know how I was saying Isaka plants seeds everywhere? It's not all business. Professional factors being equal, if he has a choice between working with an attractive man who might bed him and somebody else, well, who can blame him really? I get quite a few ideas for my BL novels from that place. Aikawa's usually in the know about what's going with the Murakawa guys. Take her out for a drink sometime. You should get the lay of theYou should get the lay of the land. Work relationships are tricky in any company. The fact that more than half the Murikawa employees are screwing each other or the authors can occasionally complicate things a bit."
"No way." Misaki said. "Aikawa is at least as bad as you are about making up weird homo fantasies about people."
Usagi shrugged. "Publishing can be a tense industry. I like to think it's a form of stress relief. Anyway, you are definitely not one to talk 'Mr. already screwing the talent before you even joined up'." Misaki rolled his eyes. More like 'the talent' was screwing him regardless of what he thought about it. "Come on. We shouldn't be late for this." And with that, Usagi exited the flat leaving Misaki to catch up.
"You know, you're not really my type, chibitan, but damn." Isaka kicked back, balancing dangerously on the back legs of his chair, one foot casually propped on the conference table. Asahina stood behind his boss with a patient expression.
Akihiko scowled. Cute as Misaki's blush was, this really wasn't quite the time to be tormenting him.
"Asahina, where the hell is Takano? It's not like him to be late."
"Cycle just ended. He looked like he was finally heading home when I went out to pick up your coffee this morning. Emerald will likely be dragging today."
Scant moments later, a tall, surprisingly young man who could only be the Emerald editor-in-chief strode into the room, followed by Onodera. "Speak of the devil." Isaka grinned.
"Morning, Takano." Isaka nodded. "Akihiko, I don't think you've yet had the pleasure of meeting Masamune Takanao, editor-in-chief of Emerald."
"Usami-sensei," Takano bowed. "It's an honor."
"Likewise." Akhiko smiled, but watched Takano's eyes carefully. "And this is my good friend and roommate Misaki Takahashi
"So you're the newbie. Huh?" Takano asked fixing on Misaki over the rims of his glasses.
"Ah. Yes, sir." Misaki bowed.
"Isaka, is this a joke?" Takano looked at his boss with narrowed eyes..
"I don't follow."
"Listen, I thought this one was a little green when you sent him to me." He nodded towards Onodera. "But is this kid even out of school yet?"
"Chibitan, you done school by now?"
"Ah, n-not quite." Misaki stuttered. He jumped when Takano's fist hit the table.
"I suppose that's why you're still part-time." Isaka muttered mostly to himself.
"Don't tell me you're trying to pull Onodera and give me a completely untrained part-timer as a replacement? I can't pull off a lot, Isaka-san, but I'm not a miracle worker, you know."
Akihiko gave Misaki's shoulder a quick squeeze. His confidence hadn't been all that great coming in to this meeting.
"Calm down, Takano." Isaka laughed and resumed rocking his chair like a bored teenager. "That's not what I'm suggesting at all. I'm not moving Onodera out of Emerald. However, Usami-sensei will be significantly expanding the scope of his contract with Marukawa on the condition that Onodera edits his translation projects.
"I propose splitting Onodera's time 60/40 between Emerald and literature. In oder to make up for his limited availability, I will be assigning Takahashi to Emerald where he will help with Onodera's tasks and serve as a kind of apprentice. And really, Takano, do you think I'd give you someone who couldn't handle the work? While its true that Takahashi-kun doesn't have editing experience, he has a natural talent for managing Marukawa's most difficult authors."
Takano tugged Onodera roughly to the side. Akhiko watched a brief, tense discussion between the two. When they separated, Takano looked to Isaka and said. "80/20."
"We'll do 70/30. Final." Isaka shrugged.
The scowl hadn't left Takano's face since they'd begun. Akihiko felt the man's glare trying to burn through him. The guy was probably intimidating if you gave a shit what other people thought. Akihiko assessed the man and then ignored him completely. If the death glare was anything to go by, Aikawa's suspicion that there was something going on between him and Onadera seemed quite likely.
Akihiko wouldn't give Takano the satisfaction of a response, but the feeling was certainly mutual. Misaki did seem to have a type, after all. Takano was obviously clever and less obviously kind, with a cool, prickly façade. Emerald's editor in chief was drop dead gorgeous too. The man turned to Misaki. "You'd better learn quick, kid. No one in emerald has time to baby you."
Misaki practically vibrated with trembling optimism. "I'll do my best, sir!"
The hard set of Takano's mouth didn't change, but Akihiko was not fond in the slight softening around the man's eyes. Clearing his throat, he caught Takano's attention and returned a scowl of his own. The ghost of a question flitted over Takano's face. Akihiko straightened his spine and nodded. "Takano-san, I do appreciate your flexibility in letting me borrow Onodera-san. I understand that a man of his caliber is quite difficult to come by, and I assure you, I'll do my best toreturn him to you as soon as practicable."
Takano smiled slightly. "It's for the good of the company, of course, Usami-sensei. I only hope that I can give Takahashi-kun here a good start in his career. I understand you've rather taken him under your wing."
And it was done. An exchange of hostages, so to speak.
"Onodera, you're responsible for the kid's training, so you'd better get to it." Onodera looked like he was going to protest, but Takano cut him off. "You know enough to train him because I say you do. Don't fuck it up."
"Perfect." Isaka said. "Guess we're done here. Onodera, you've got one week with Takahashi before you start on Usami-sensei's project."
Misaki watched Takano stride out of the room. Why on earth did his new boss have to be so scary?
"Don't look so alarmed." Onodera-san said "He's a hard-ass, but if you're willing to work hard and you aren't an idiot, he'll have your back."
"I promise I'll do my best." Misaki added, feeling like he was in over his head already.
"Well, let's go down to Emerald." Onodera nodded towards the door. "Even though you might not get to meet anyone. The other guys probably aren't in yet. We ended really late yesterday. This morning, actually."
Misaki stopped in door to Emerald. He had never been in here before, and he was quite surprised to be assaulted by the pink glow. The collection of teddy bears and dolls rivaled Usagi's.
"Good morning!" Misaki saw a brightly smiling young man clearing off his desk. "Onodera, you're here early. Weren't you last to leave this morning."
"Ah yeah, but I had a meeting. Mino-san, this is Misaki Takahashi. He'll be working with me for a few months to support my Emerald duties while I handle a project for literature. Takahashi-kun this is Kanade Mino."
Misaki liked Mino immediately. It was nice to see that one could be an editor without a sour attitude. Onodera also began tidying up, and Misaki jumped right in. The room certainly needed it. That said, it wasn't near the level of disaster Usagi's office frequently reached. After several minutes, he noticed both editors looking at him, realized he was humming softly, and stopped, self-conscious.
Onodera-san was looking at him with irritated amazement. Mino-san grinned wide. "Are you even human?" Onodera asked, scanning the room. "You managed to put the whole place back together in no time without actually disturbing anyone's files."
Misaki felt his face growing hot as he straightened a blue ribbon holding blond curls off a porcelain doll's painted face. He shrugged. "Ah-sorry. I didn't mean to butt in or anything. It's just a habit. Usag- I mean, Usami-sensei's place gets much worse. I'm kind of like his live-in housekeeper or something."
Misaki was suddenly glad he blushed so easily, because to his great relief, he couldn't get any redder when someone he hadn't yet met quipped from the doorway "yeah, mostly his 'or something' I think."
"Don't mind him, he's just pissed because he still looks youngest" Onodera said to Misaki. "Kisa-san, Misaki Takahashi will be working with me here while I help out on a literature project."
"Shouta Kisa," the newcomer said, bowing slightly. "Welcome to our little pink castle, Mi-chan." Misaki couldn't help thinking that Onodera was right. Kisa looked like he might be in high school, but he must be at least in his mid-twenties.
A serious, handsome man in a suit came in a few moments later. Onodera introduced him as Yoshiyuki Hatori. Misaki thought, at first, that he seemed almost as intimidating as Takano-San, but he gave a polite bow and offered to help Misaki learn more about Emerald.
"Have you read Emerald before, Takahashi?" Onodera asked.
"Not really." Misaki replied.
"Well, I want you to come with me to meet with an author tomorrow. She's really been struggling with the next installation in her series, so why don't you get caught up on 'Candy Apple Kiss' and then tell me what you might suggest to her."
"O-oh okay." Misaki started pulling out old volumes of Emerald that included the series. It had only been going on for about two years, and there wasn't an update in every issue, so the stack was manageable. He was surprised when he closed the most recent installation and realized that most of the morning had passed.
"So, what do you think?" Onodera asked a few moments later.
"Well," Misaki answered, feeling incredibly nervous, "I'm not really an editor or anything like that yet, but as a reader, I feel like the character who is clearly supposed to be the love interest is not very likeable, which makes it hard for me to really excited about the main character ending up with him."
To his surprise Onodera gave him a quick nod. "That's what I thought, too. The problem is, Akari-San really doesn't want to make him less of a bad boy type, but she's having trouble going forward as things are."
Misaki couldn't help feeling a bit bad for the poor mangaka. He knew what those kind of blocks looked like. He'd seen Usagi stuck more than once. Usually he tried to use Misaki as a distraction when that happened, but he couldn't really settle down until he'd worked through whatever block he was having. Once he'd even been too agitated to follow through with the perv moves he was putting on Misaki. Ijuuin seemed to have similar moods at times. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to help an author through that kind of problem. Especially someone he didn'teven know.
"Are you alright?" Onodera asked.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry." Misaki replied quickly. "I just know how hard the authors struggle, and I don't really know how to help."
"Well," Onodera said, "being able to tell what isn't working is an important step. Every editor and author have a different kind of relationship, so how you actually communicate depends who you are working with and what their personality is like. Akari-san can be tricky. She's either overconfident or thinks she can't do anything right. You don't have to say anything much when we meet unless you want to."
The rest of the day passed in a whirlwind of seemingly minor tasks, but by the end of it, Misaki realized there was a lot more to working on manga than he'd experienced as a part-timer. He arrived home feeling dead tired, but when he opened the door and saw Usagi sitting on the sofa, obviously waiting for him with a tense expression, he forgot his exhaustion.
"Is everything alright?" Misaki asked.
"I missed you." Usagi pulled Misaki down onto his lap and hugged him close.