A/N: I got this done despite being really busy with finishing up my college work (in hindsight I probably should only be focusing on that at the moment but I really wanted to finish this chapter). Again, like Chapter 1, this one does reference the manga heavily, as will some of the future chapters because again, the story won't deviate from the path until Takano finds out Sakura is Ritsu's daughter. (I know I sound like a broken record, forgive me).
Get ready, this is a longer chapter!
To anyone of you who may have watched Clannad and After Story, I added a reference to Clannad: After Story, so hopefully you can spot it! Please enjoy~
(Side Note: It was really weird to keep writing Usami instead of Usagi, because that's what I'm used to saying)
Word Count: 3,575
– Remember This: I Still Love You –
Chapter 2: Takano Is...My Old Senpai?!
"This month's sale ranking in the literature department…" Ritsu began to skim read the page, mumbling what it said. "The Box that Houses the Moon by Usami Akihiko!" Ritsu continued to look down the rankings and all of them were the ones he had worked on. "Yes! All the books I worked on are best sellers!"
He picked up the books that he worked on and started grinning triumphantly. "All my hard work paid off!" Suddenly, the books he was holding turned into shoujo manga. "Huh?" He looked intently on the books, "wait these are shoujo manga…"
"Hey" Ritsu heard a gruff voice behind him. He turned to see the editor-and-chief of the Emerald Department standing behind him, looking intensely at Ritsu. "Takano-san?" Takano, without saying a word, grabbed Ritsu's arm, pulling him closer. "Huh? What are you doing?" Takano pulled him into a kiss. Again, Ritsu didn't have time to act or think for that matter. His eyes widened, "HUH?!" he screamed in his mind.
Ritsu immediately bolted up out of bed, shouting. He looks around frantically, "…it was only a dream?" He brought his hand to his head. "This sucks."
"Papa?" Ritsu looked over at his door to see a slightly frightened Sakura. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Ritsu got out of bed and patted his daughter's wavy hair. "Papa just had a nightmare, that's all sweetie, sorry if I scared you." Sakura gave him a hug. He always gave Sakura hugs whenever she had nightmares, it was sweet of her to try and comfort him.
"Do you feel better?" Sakura looked up; her eyes gleaming.
"Yes," Ritsu hugged her back, "I feel much better."
"Good!" She smiled delightedly.
"At least it wasn't a dream about Senpai, but why Takano-san of all people?" Ritsu thought to himself. "No matter," he picked Sakura up, "time to start the day."
It was time to start the same old routine as usual. Roll out of bed and start on breakfast. Even though Ritsu may not be able to cook most things, he can at least cook an egg. Although, half the time he burns it. Sakura helps by getting ingredients and such out of the fridge but also making sure he doesn't burn the eggs. "See? It went a lot smoother this time." Ritsu said, placing a plate in front of Sakura. "Not burnt, just a little overcooked this time."
"It tastes just fine Papa!" Sakura exclaimed after taking a bite.
"You say that every time I cook something, wouldn't you rather have Nao's cooking for breakfast?" Sakura vehemently shook her head.
"No! I like it when you make breakfast Papa, 'cause I get to spend the morning with you," Sakura put her head down shyly. Ritsu stifled a laugh. He patted her head again; she was too good for him. "Papa, why do you like to pat my head so much?"
"That's a good question," Ritsu pondered on why he did that so much. He knew someone used to pat his head a lot when he was younger, he liked having his head patted. He thought maybe Sakura would like it too since they were alike. "Just feel like it sometimes." Sakura giggled.
"You're silly" She stuck her tongue out.
"No, you are" Ritsu mimicked. After breakfast is scarfed down, Ritsu helps Sakura get dressed for the day then gets ready himself. Once that's done, Ritsu sets to putting up Sakura's long, wavy hair in a ponytail. Though Sakura always wants her hair down but the cowlicks in her hair love to stand firm in the air, no matter how much they are brushed down. "My next day off is in three days, so if you'd like to go somewhere, we can have a daddy-daughter day." Sakura winced at Ritsu pulling her hair into a ponytail.
"I'd like to go to the bookstore!" Sakura said with glee.
"Out of all the places we can go to, you want to go to the bookstore?" Sakura nodded her head, a determined look in her eye. Ritsu sighed in amusement. "Alright, we'll go to the bookstore, I did want to get the new novel that was just released by Usami Akihiko."
"The bear man?" Ritsu snorted.
"Yes, 'the bear man.'" When Ritsu still worked for Onodera Publishing, one of his authors was the well-established Usami Akihiko. On the outside to the public, he was a genuinely nice, handsome man. But behind closed doors, he was a completely different person. He was difficult, stubborn and certainly…eccentric.
Sometimes when Nao wasn't able to babysit Sakura, during that time she was too young for Kindergarten, he'd have to bring her when he'd pick up Usami's manuscript. In typical Usami fashion, it normally wasn't complete yet and Ritsu would have to spend the next few hours attempting to get him to finish it before he left. Sakura would normally curl up on Usami's couch and sleep on the huge bear that Usami owned that he dubbed "Suzuki-san." Ritsu was glad Sakura was such an easy child. "I feel sorry for whoever is his current editor." "All done, ready to hit the road?"
"Yeah!" Sakura giggled, raising her arm in the air.
"Sakura, say goodbye to Mama before we leave," Ritsu pointed at the photo of An, sitting in their shrine.
"I'll see you when I get back" Sakura bowed her head.
"Bye An" Ritsu whispered while looking at the photo. With that, Ritsu and Sakura were on their way.
Ritsu dropped Sakura off at school and headed his way to work. Ritsu let out a long yawn as he entered the building of his current job, Marukawa Shoten. "I'm so sleepy, I guess reading some of those shoujo manga's in one night is way too much." He thought as he entered an elevator. "And also, the fact getting home late and that weird dream…" He exited the elevator and made his way to his department known as the Emerald Department. "And when I think of how I have to spend the entire day inside that garbage dump," he clenched his fists, "my stomach is getting churned up." Ritsu turned the corner and greeted the Emerald editors in a lackluster tone, "good morning."
"Morning Onodera-kun!" Ritsu looked puzzled, the men that looked like they were on death row yesterday, were smiling at him? Well except for one of them. Ritsu stared for a moment, "Oh I'm sorry, I've come to the wrong place." Ritsu started turning around, "The Emerald Department is – "
"Ha-ha! What're you talking about? It's right here isn't it?" the young-looking man grabbed Ritsu's arm before he could leave. Ritsu peered at the young-looking man, then at the department. There was a plethora of toys, knickknacks, it was pink everywhere, there was frills, roses, and bookshelf filled with shoujo manga. Ritsu rubbed his eyes, he must still be in that weird dream from earlier, was this really the Emerald Department? "We're so sorry for neglecting you yesterday." The young-looking man sat in a chair, "we're finished with the dead manuscripts, so everything's fine now!" he explained.
"I heard this is your first-time editing manga." The man, who had the creepy smile yesterday chimed in. "But don't worry, we'll teach you everything! My name is Mino Kanade."
"I'm Kisa Shouta, and behind me is Hatori Yoshiyuki! And you already know Takano-san." The young-looking man, known as Kisa, explained. "Welcome to the Emerald Department!"
"Ah, please excuse me, I need to use the restroom," Ritsu backed up and ran out of the department. He grabbed a random by-passer, who yelled to let him go since he wasn't a part of their department. He brought the random by-passer into the restroom. "I'm sorry, but my eyesight should be good, but what the hell was that?"
"Huh?" the confused by-passer asked.
"If I remember correctly, that place was a dump yesterday. But today it's spotless. That part is great, but what I don't understand is how all the zombies turned into a bunch of energetic men? Exactly what is that freakishly pink editing office?!" Ritsu frantically questioned.
"Oh, that's because they've reached the end of the period."
"Period, what's that?" Ritsu vaguely remembered someone mentioning the same thing yesterday, along with pheromones? He couldn't exactly pinpoint who though.
"You know about the twenty-day Japanese radish, right? The ones you can harvest twenty-days after planting the seed. They're just like that." Ritsu looked puzzled, how the heck is that like a twenty-day radish? "They can usually create a book within a twenty-day cycle. It goes like this: they check the plot, check the outline, check the rough sketch, get the manuscript, which I heard can take a while, then blueprint and finish proofreading. Once it's sent off to the printers, they emerge refreshed." That explanation didn't really help that much, Ritsu guessed apart of getting the manuscript wasn't showering or getting enough sleep?
"And the editing department is pink because?"
"It's like the saying 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do.' Takano-san's policy is to have editors start by familiarizing themselves with the environment so they can understand young woman's feelings. It's proven to be successful; they've created a few legends."
"Legends? Such as?"
"D-Don't make me say it" the by-passer started to fidget. "Good luck in the department." The by-passer fled from the restroom just to come back and say, "just so you know everyone calls those guys the 'Maiden Department.'"
"M-Maiden?!" Ritsu dejectedly walked back to the Emerald Department.
"Hi~" "Hiya~" Ritsu heard both Kisa and Mino say. He took a seat and sighed. "It's going to be a long day; I might want to just quit now while I still have my dignity," he thought.
Mino and Kisa went to showing Ritsu how photo-typesetting worked for manga. They also showed how to stay in-between the lines, so the page doesn't get messed up. Ritsu stared at the example he was shown. "Is something wrong?" he heard Mino say.
"Ah no, I'm just wondering if this author was running out of time or something."
"Huh? Why?"
"The two-page spread here is all white, and this frame here only uses tones with the words written directly on top." He looked at it more carefully, "it's almost as if…she omitted –"
"You fool!" Mino stepped out of the way as Takano through a metal ruler at Ritsu. Ritsu suddenly felt a sharp pain on the top of his head.
"W-What are you doing?!" Ritsu shouted.
"That's what we call the maiden's 'heart-grabbing frame!'" Takano yelled back. "This is the scene where the main character and her partner finally confess their feelings for each other after refusing to give in for so long. It's easier for the reader to sympathize with the heroine when it's told in first person. That's why it's important to let the reader know that 'it's coming, it's coming,' and let them anticipate the scene. For example, we can enlarge the text to ramp up the anticipation. And when our readers are at the edge of their seats, we strike, in one fell swoop."
"Do you understand the feeling?!" Both Kisa and Mino inquired.
"Not one bit" Ritsu disagreed. "No, I understand what they're trying to say. Besides, I know it's just manga, but how can the main character achieve happiness so easily?" Ritsu sighed, he looked at his phone to check the time. A photo of An holding Sakura as a baby lighted up on his phone. "Is the reason why I think reality's so harsh…is because I've never been in a real relationship?" Ritsu was pulled out of his thoughts when someone started ruffling his hair. He looked up to see it was Takano.
"You know," Takano started saying while still ruffling Ritsu's hair, "I really feel like we've met somewhere before, but I can't recall where." Ritsu swatted Takano's hand away.
"Don't touch me like that" Ritsu thought. "Well, we do live in the same town and have been working in the same industry, so I'm sure there were times we passed each other by chance."
"Yeah…" Ritsu noticed Takano didn't sound like he was satisfied with that answer. "You're right. Maybe that's it." Ritsu went back to looking at some of the manga he left on the desk from the night before along with the Marukawa Shoten's catalog. He started flipping through, skimming some of the titles.
"Huh? Ricchan, what are you planning to do with our company's manga catalog?"
"Ricchan?" "Oh, since this is my first time working with manga, I was thinking about memorizing all the manga our company published."
"For real?! You realize that our company has published thousands of books, right?" Kisa screeched.
"Well, I'm planning to read all of them, not just memorize their titles so I'm sure I'll be fine." "There might be some Sakura could possibly read too," Ritsu thought.
"Holy crap! There's no way I could do that."
"Oh, but I…" Ritsu looked fondly at the catalog list, "…used to read all the books at my school when I was a student. It was my hobby." Takano whipped his head around, his eyes widened. He stared at Ritsu for a moment, which made Ritsu a little uncomfortable. "What is it?"
"…Nothing…"
"What's with him?" Ritsu contemplated. "He must be thinking that it's normal to memorize the names of the products or something. I don't expect praise. It's a big handicap for me to be a manga editor when I don't read manga myself, and I'm fully aware that I must develop my skills. I think this is better than doing nothing. I don't want people to think I'm useless…"
"…Especially Takano-san."
Three days had passed and Ritsu was getting the hang of manga, only by a little bit though. "When can you get it done? You don't know? What the hell? Do you have any idea how much we have to fight with the printing agency to push back the deadline?!" Takano was already in full swing, arguing with one of the authors.
"I get it now." Ritsu had an epiphany, "this is the so-called 'period.'" The rest of the editors were slumped at their desks, already looking dead to the world. "At least I have tomorrow off, it'll be nice to spend time with Sakura after all that's happened this week."
"Onodera come with me. We're going to that idiotic author's place." Takano furiously said.
"Right now?"
"Grab the last 12 sheets of the manuscript, we'll do the photo-typesetting there. And bring a cutter too, we'll probably end up fixing the tones there."
"Huh? But I can't do that yet."
"You're the only one who's free right now." Takano snapped back, "take care of things here!" he yelled at the rest of the dying editors.
"Y-Y-Yes s-sir" a very shaky voice, probably Kisa, replied.
Takano and Onodera made their way to the author in questions home. When they entered, they were met with a depressing atmosphere, like the very one in the Emerald Department now. "Here as well. Why do all the people involved in the world of manga seem to have such short lifespans?"
"Ta-Takano-san" the author croaked out. She was crying and looked quite nervous when Takano busted the door open.
"If you can cry out of guilt, why don't you meet your freaking deadline?!" Takano started to shout.
"I can't do it and that's it, damn it!" The author argued back.
"How dare you talk back to me! I should strike you where you stand!" Takano picked up a part of the author's manuscript. "You should never draw something like the Nikko Toshogu Shrine for a whopping two page spread then submit it as the final blueprint!"
"It's better than the Sanjusangendo isn't it?!" She retorted.
"Would the two of you just shut up and get to work already?!" the author's assistants shouted at both of the arguing adults. Ritsu was just standing by watching this all unfold. Takano and the author continued to bicker.
"Say is this manga interesting?" Ritsu looked at the author. "Can I still fix it now? I don't even know anymore whether or not the things I draw are interesting."
"It's too late to worry about that, stupid."
"Hey! See she's getting really nervous, read the atmosphere for goodness sake Takano-san!" Ritsu argued in his head.
"Don't waste calories doing useless things."
"Excuse me," Ritsu butted in. "I bought your latest book." The author looked at him with confusion. Ritsu quickly collected his thoughts, he spoke out of turn again, sometimes he couldn't help himself and he would just blurt out what he felt. "I mean…Um, I just joined the manga editing department, so I'm currently reading the books my company has published one by one. But even as a guy, I think your works are interesting. I heard your latest book was published this month, so I bought it."
"You actually used your salary form Marukawa to give money back to them…what are you thinking?" Takano questioned. Ritsu stood still for a minute and turned at him. "You only realized that just now?"
"I'm such an idiot, I only wanted to cheer her up, and yet…" Ritsu's face turned red from embarrassment. "No, I mean, I really think your manga is interesting, so I think you should just work harder…or something like that…" Ritsu sighed, "the one who can't read the atmosphere is me" he dejectedly concluded.
"So even the new guy can say such things." Takano came over and patted Ritsu's shoulder. "Have I ever made a mistake when I say something is interesting?" The author shook her head. "Besides, I've already spoken with the printing agency, and they've pushed the deadline back to tomorrow morning."
"Ah, so Takano did have a plan, so I really did speak out of turn, he gave her time to let her finish her drawings flawlessly. I guess it's time to get to work."
Takano and Ritsu spend the whole night up until morning to get the manuscript finished. They arrived back at Marukawa at around 5:00 a.m. "I didn't know that the morning sun could be so harsh." Ritsu sat on the breakroom's couch and groaned.
"You worked hard; you really helped a lot." Ritsu looked at Takano in confusion. "She doesn't usually get that hysterical, but things were really rushed this time so maybe she got confused. She seemed to have recovered after you cheered her up." Takano took a seat next to him on the couch.
"Ah no…" Ritsu looked ahead, "I'm really sorry about that. I wish I could have said more encouraging things, but I always end up blurting out whatever is on my mind when the time calls for it."
"Blurting out, huh…" Ritsu again looked at Takano with confusion. Takano handed him some coffee to drink, "good work." Takano smiled, Ritsu felt his heartthrob.
"So even he can smile," Ritsu's face turned red, "why is my heart pounding?"
"It's good to be straightforward, I think saying things like 'I really think your manga is interesting,' is really encouraging."
"If that's true then I'm relieved…" "Maybe I should change my opinion of Takano-san. He has the ability to bring out an author's full potential, create something good with them, and sell the books." Ritsu stole a glance at Takano, "…that's something I've always dreamed of doing." Takano's eyes shifted towards Ritsu, his face heating up again in the process. Ritsu quickly looked away, his heart throbbing again. "Am I an idiot? Why is my heart pounding?!" He cursed himself for getting worked up, "he's a guy!" He clenched his fists, "be it a guy or girl, I've decided never to fall in love again…despite what An wished of me."
"You're still the same."
"Huh?" Ritsu cocked his head, "what do you mean?" Takano's eyes widened.
"You don't remember me?" Takano asked in a whisper.
"…" Ritsu looked around for a moment, "um…you said that before, but I think you've mistaken me for someone else. This is the first time meeting you." Suddenly, Takano pinned Ritsu down on the couch. "Wha…What are you doing?!"
"Maybe you'll remember if I do this?"
"What?" Do what exactly? Ritsu had no idea what Takano was planning. He didn't have a chance to get away before Takano placed his hands on Ritsu to pull them into a kiss. Ritsu shocked tried kicking Takano off him. He managed to for a moment, "Takano-san? What? Taka –" he was cut off at Takano grabbing his shoulders and kissing him again, a lot more forcefully than last time. Ritsu managed to kick him off. "Please stop joking around, I'm a man, you know?!"
"Joke?" Takano clicked his tongue, "the atmosphere surrounding you has changed quite a bit, but you're still as straight-forward as ever." Ritsu stared at Takano, a blank expression rested on his face. "You said that you loved me, right?" Takano got up from the couch, "it must be nice to be you. I can't believe you dumped me and then forgot all about it."
"What? Dumped?" What was Takano going on about, it didn't make any sense.
"I'm going to the printing agency try to remember it in the meantime." Takano rattled the door of the break room, turning around he said, "my parents got divorced when I was a senior in high school, so my family named changed." He started walking off, "my old name was Saga Masamune."
Saga…Masamune…
Saga…
"…Saga-senpai…"