Onodera rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he reached for one of the many energy drinks that he had stored in his fridge before quickly making his way out of his new home. His pace increased as he made his way to the train station. Thankfully, the male just managed to just make it on the train. He let out a sigh of relief before taking a seat on one of the few empty seats in the carriage. The male pulled out his phone before sending a quick message to one of his friends before turning to watch the view for the train window as it whizzed past him.

It didn't take long before Onodera reached the Marukawa Publishing building and quickly made his way over to the receptionist. He took a deep breath before approaching one of the ladies who wasn't preoccupied with something.

"Good afternoon! How can I help?" The lady asked the male with an enthusiastic smile. Onodera couldn't help but back up slightly before letting out a sheepish smile. Everything about the lady seemed to radiate purity. Her short black hair brushed against her shoulders and her big doll like eyes almost seemed to glimmer with wonder.

"G-good afternoon." Onodera replied nervously. "I'm Onodera Ritsu and I'm here because I received a call yesterday about being a manga author for Emerald."

"Ah, you must be here to introduce yourself to your editor. I'll just need to print off a few documents for you to check beforehand if that's alright."

"That's completely fine." Onodera mumbled before observing the other as she printed out said documents. A few minutes passed before the lady got up and led the way to a seating area. Onodera nervously followed her until they both took a seat at one of the many tables in the room. The lady handed over the documents for the male to look through with a bright smile. It didn't take long for the brunette to realise that something wasn't right.

"I thought that I was supposed to be in the drama genre. This section says Shoujo manga." Onodera frowned. The male took note to how the lady didn't do anything besides smile at him again.

"But in the meeting, we all concluded that you would be having an editor from one of the members in the emerald editing department. Don't worry as all the members in the department are amazing." Onodera opened his mouth to say something couldn't bring himself to say anything.

He was speechless.

How did this happen to him?! He was certain that he had made sure to submit for the right department?! What was he supposed to do now?! Onodera resisted the urge to let out a deep sigh before handing the documents back to the lady who gave him a grateful smile. They then made their way to the lift to make their way over to the emerald editing department section.

"Isn't it a bit embarrassing for a male to be in the shoujo manga section?"

"I wouldn't say so. All the members in this department are males and are wonderful. I'm sure that no matter which editor you get, they'll be a great help."

"A-alright but…" Onodera trailed off as she followed the receptionist past other departments in the building.

"I believe that they've just finished a cycle so I'm sure that they'll be very helpful." The lady beamed.

Onodera tilted his head slightly as he attempted to figure out a solution to the issue he had been thrown into. Shoujo manga?! He didn't know the first thing on how to do lovey dovey stuff! The best thing he had for this kind of genre was his art style and that probably wouldn't hide the fact that he had only been doing dark and grim manga. The complete opposite to the light and fluffy feel that shoujo manga had! The male's eyes widened. Maybe he could attempt to do two weeks and then quit to go to another company? It wasn't like he could just quit on the spot… This was the worst!

The duo eventually reached the emerald editing department. Onodera bowed as he introduced himself in a formal manor before glancing up at what he had expected to be a professional environment. He was far from the truth. The brunette glanced at the lady in horror and noticed that she had paled slightly in complexion.

"I apologise! I must have gotten the cycle wrong!" She apologised before bolting away; leaving Onodera confused and unsure of what to do next. He glanced at the group of people who seemed to be drained from all of their energy and were attempting to get the last bits of work done. They looked like they were on the verge of collapsing. The male scratched the back of his neck as he remembered his previous job. The atmosphere felt so familiar to when he had a deadline coming and was trying his best to finish the chapter on time.

He made his way down and reached one of the members who was slouched over his desk. He couldn't help but notice that the male seemed familiar. "Kisa?" He asked with a hint of curiosity. The other male slowly turned to face him before letting out a groan, rubbing his eyes and gazing at Onodera.

"W-what are you doing here, Ricchan?"

"I was supposed to be meeting someone from here."

"Oh, alright." Kisa mumbled before begrudgingly calling over another male by the name of Takano.

"Shut up! I heard you the first time." The male in question groaned before removing the manga that had been covering his head. Onodera's eyes widened. This was the editor in chief?! He made his way over to the male before glancing at Kisa with a look of concern.

"I'm Onodera Ritsu and I'm here to meet my editor." The brunette attempted to explain as he held back his annoyance for the situation he had ended up in.

"Ah, so you were coming today." Takano spoke with disinterest before turning his attention to the other. "Sorry that I couldn't make it to the meeting." Onodera watched as the raised from his seat before realising that they were going to another area of the building. The brunette quickly picked up his pace before following the other to one of the meeting rooms.

Takano opened the door for the other who let out a sheepish "thank you" before sitting down on one of the many seats in the room. Takano followed suit. Onodera swallowed as his gaze flickered around the room until Takano cleared his throat; Causing the brunette to jump slightly.

"I saw your portfolio and noticed that you go by a different name. Not that I care but why is that?"

"It's embarrassing to have my own name on my manga." Onodera responded without much thought as he felt his cheeks warm up. Being a family member of the Onodera publishing company meant that he was supposed to follow the path that his family had set up, but he didn't want to do that. No matter how much he enjoyed reading and loved the idea of becoming part of the making of a book, he had allowed himself to listen to his friend and decided to become a manga author instead. Due to this, he couldn't help but feel ashamed if he had his name on his works so he came up with a fake name.

The brunette felt the eyes of the other linger on him before glancing at the documents that he had brought with him. "Oda Ritsu." The male mumbled. Onodera glanced at the other with a slight frown before feeling himself grow nervous. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to pick a name that held so many dark memories to it but he couldn't think of anything else. All those years of writing that name on the bits of paper in the library—

Onodera's thoughts were cut off as Takano began to speak again. Most of it was on the schedule on how things were done and when the deadlines were for the male. Thankfully, the characters from his portfolio seemed to be perfect and the plot that had been introduced in the chapter he had sent needed a little bit of work but was good enough.

When the meeting had ended, Onodera found himself letting out a small sigh of relief. It was stressful enough having to sit down in such a tense environment but as soon as the Takano said his author name, all the other could think about was his childhood days of being blissfully naive.

"Onodera." A voice called. The male turned around to see the owner of the voice was Takano.

"Yeah?"

"Have we met before?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Maybe we walked past each other in the store or something like that." The brunette responded.

"Maybe." The other muttered before pondering something. "You've got my contacts so if you need anything just give me a call and make sure to not leave the storyboard to the last minute." Onodera nodded his head before they both said goodbye and parted ways.

As soon as the brunette left the building, he felt himself almost instantly grow tired. Maybe all his nerves had made it so that he remained on edge but now that all worry had gone, the male just wanted to get a quick meal and get some sleep. He had a storyboard to finish but had no idea what he should do.