Here's the next chapter of Romancing a Corpse!
Chapter 4
"Welcome to the Emerald Department!" Mino and Kisa chorused, while Hatori stood expressionless. Ritsu frowned. Was this some kind of joke? he thought, I mean if they're dead, they should be, well, dead.
Mino smiled, "You're thinking about why the dead are so alive, right?"
Ritsu started, "Y-yeah…"
At his desk, Takano snorted, "Tch, what an idiot." as he ruffled through huge stacks of paper on his desk.
"Excuse me?" Ritsu glared daggers in Takano's direction, to which Takano merely responded by tilting his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Was I wrong?"
"Totally!"
To his surprise, Kisa and Mino burst out in peals of laughter, while Hatori let the smallest of smiles graze his lips. "Aww, you guys act like a married couple!" Kisa gushed.
"W-W-WHAT?" Ritsu spluttered. He was getting embarrassed by a bunch of dead people that looked young but had probably been dead for a hundred years or so.
"Nah, not really, Takano san here has only been dead for two years," Kisa explained cheerfully. Oh shit, I said it out loud.
"Actually Kisa, this guy and I are already married," Takano held up his left hand, the gold wedding ring clearly visible on his ring finger.
"What! Takano san! You got married to a living guy and you never told me? WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THIS WORLD?!" Kisa rushed over to Takano and inspected the ring on his finger. "It's so pretty! Hey hey tell us, how exactly did you meet this guy?"
"Well Kisa…" As Takano began to narrate his experiences, he was interrupted by a loud shriek from Ritsu. "Firstly, we are not married! Secondly, I don't even know this guy! Thirdly, why is this whole office pink?!" Ritsu was in near hysterics.
The entire Emerald office was silent, when Hatori cleared his throat, "Perhaps we should start with self introductions."
"I'll go first!" Kisa yelled, excited, "My name is Shouta Kisa! I'm a fellow editor here in Emerald. I look really young but I'm actually," Kisa paused, "30 years old. Well, 30 when I died anyway. I've been here for quite a while, but I forgot how long exactly. Um, as you might've guessed, the arrow here," he raised a hand and tugged at the arrow embedded in his head, "was the cause of my death. See, I had this stalker ex who thought he was Cupid or something and shot an arrow at my head because he thought it would make me love him. Well unfortunately nooo it backfired and I died." Kisa huffed, and plopped onto his office chair. Ritsu sympathised with this boy- er, man, now that he knew he was 30, and turned to Mino.
"I'm Kanade Mino, I'm an editor here. I… don't really remember anything other than my name. Oh and the fact that I was shot," he gestured to the bullet wound at the left side of his chest. Ritsu shivered as he realised the man was still smiling even when he was talking about his death.
Hatori was next, "I'm Yoshiyuki Hatori. I'm the second Editor-in-Chief of Emerald. I've been dead for about… 10 years or so? Not too sure about that. My childhood friend and lover was trying to cook dinner for me when he waved his knife around and it accidentally got stuck in my back. He was a horrible cook so I completely understand," as he said that, he checked his phone and his eyes widened, "sorry I'll be back in a minute, Chiharu Yoshikawa is having trouble with her deadlines again," and with that, he stepped out while holding his phone to his ear.
Ritsu tried not to wince at the knife implanted in Hatori's retreating back and suddenly felt ashamed of himself for attempting to pull it out earlier. "So um, what happened to his… lover?" he asked.
"Suicided. At least they're together now," Takano replied, not looking up.
"Oh… I-I see…"
"Takano san, it's your turn now!" Kisa chirruped.
"Hm, is it now?" Takano murmured, glancing at the trio. He took off his glasses, "Masamune Takano. Editor-in-Chief of Emerald. 25 when I died and I've been dead for 2 years. Was about to get married to an ex colleague when all he wanted was my money. Being the idiot I was, I went and brought all my money, and then he strangled me," Takano paused, meeting Ritsu's stunned emerald eyes before continuing, "You can still see the dents from the asshole's handprints on my neck. He buried me under the cherry blossom tree where we agreed to meet, which was probably the nicest goddamned thing he ever did," he scoffed, "Dunno why I agreed to marry him in the first place."
Kisa sniffed, "Takano san's story is the saddest of all of ours. I mean look, he's gonna be wearing that tux forever, in memory of the love that never was."
"Shut up, Kisa."
"That's why around here, he's known as the Corpse Groom!" Mino piped, prompting Takano to roll his eyes and resume his paperwork.
But Ritsu was shocked. "Corpse? But aren't you guys ghosts?"
Takano raised his eyebrow, "Do we look like floating transparent shit to you?"
"I-I guess not… but in the woods! You were really pale!" protested Ritsu
Takano rubbed the bridge of his nose, "You dumbass, it was the lighting. Shit lighting made me look paler than I already am. But we're all corpses here. No ghosts."
Ritsu fumed, "Who are you calling a dumbass you –!" he was interrupted by Hatori, who had just finished his phone call. "You haven't introduced yourself yet."
"Oh yeah! Tell us about yourself! And how did you get married to Takano san?" Kisa was practically jumping up and down with anticipation.
Ritsu sighed, seeing no way out. "My name is Ritsu Onodera. I'm 25 years old, and I'm not dead, so I've been told," earning a light chuckle from all the occupants in the room, "I worked at my father's publishing company before it went bankrupt; I edited literature," his self introduction had Takano interested. "You've worked at a publishing company?"
"Er yes, that's what I just said."
"You edited literature?"
"Stop repeating what I said!"
"Alright continue, tell everyone how you met me," Ritsu huffed in exasperation at Takano's knowing quirk of his lips. "I was walking in the woods when this… this gho- I mean corpse," he shifted his eyes as Takano shot him a glare, "rose out of the ground wearing my wedding ring."
"That's not right," Takano admonished, "you were reciting wedding vows to me and you put the ring on my finger. Thus you freed me from a life of being underground, though I have no idea why you looked so scared for if you were planning on marrying me in the first place."
"I wasn't planning on marrying y-!" Ritsu was interrupted by Takano, "Anyway he was running away from me and he ran into a tree. That bit was fucking hilarious."
At this, the entire floor roared with laughter. Ritsu jumped – he didn't realise there were other people, er, dead people here apart from the department he had just gotten acquainted with.
"Of course there are!" laughed Kisa, "we're not the only department in Marukawa!" Ritsu mentally face-palmed. He had said his thoughts out loud again.
"You haven't answered my other question yet," Ritsu grit out. The whole department was silent (pretty silent considering everyone was dead). "What's with this crapload of pink?"
"Takano san believes that in order to understand our readers, we must attempt to duplicate the environment so that it is as similar as possible to the genre we edit," explained Mino (and smiling as always).
"…And pray tell, what exactly is this genre you guys edit?"
It was answered by all 4 members of the Emerald department simultaneously: "Shoujo manga, duh!"
OH…
"You'd better get used to the pink, newbie -"
MY…
"- Because from today, you'll be the 5th editor of Emerald," declared Takano with a smug smile.
GOD…
"Welcome to the Maiden Club!"
Ritsu wanted to die.
"And make yourself at home in the Land of the Dead!"
…on second thought, never mind.
When Ritsu next woke up, he opened his eyes to a ceiling.
Surprised, he jolted upright and looked around himself. He was in an unfamiliar apartment of sorts, and it looked quite clean and well-kept. He didn't recognise the apartment, but he thought it must've been a spare guest room in An chan's mansion that happened to be furnished like an apartment. Breathing a sigh of relief, he flopped back so that he was lying on the sofa once again…
…to gaze upside down, into a pair of very familiar honey gold eyes belonging to a very familiar corpse he'd had the misfortune of meeting.
Ritsu gave a loud yelp and rolled off the side of the sofa, landing on the floor. Rubbing his head, he sat up to see Takano pressing his hand against his ear.
"Have some consideration for my ears, dammit!" Takano growled, frustrated.
"I thought you were dead." stated Ritsu, to which Takano replied, "Doesn't mean I can't hear! Geez, I guess this is the thanks I get after carrying your sorry ass back to my apartment. Do you know how heavy you are?"
Ritsu stared. "Y-you… carried me?"
"Yeah, you fell asleep in the office. Couldn't just leave you there."
"Oh… thanks." Ritsu suddenly felt shy for a moment, which disappeared as quickly as it had come when he heard Takano say, "Better be."
An awkward silence fell upon them soon after. Ritsu didn't know whether to keep silent or to start a conversation. And if he did talk, what would they talk about? He had never felt so stuck before.
"You haven't changed." Takano commented casually, as if they were merely discussing the weather.
"Sorry?" Ritsu was sorely confused. "I don't believe we've met before."
Takano rested his chin on the palm of his hand as he gazed at Ritsu. Ritsu was shocked at the amount of emotion swimming in those honey eyes, even though their owner was meant to be dead. He glimpsed pain, forlornness, gentleness, longing, nostalgia…
Nostalgia.
"I guess you really don't remember me." He sighed, almost as if he were tired, releasing Ritsu from his gaze. His eyes fell upon a blue medium sized box wrapped in a pink ribbon. He bent down, took hold of the box in his hands and handed it to Ritsu.
"For me?" Surprised, Ritsu gingerly took the box from Takano.
"Yeah, it's a wedding present." Ritsu inwardly slapped himself. Oh right… he was married to a corpse. Not legally, but married he was. This was the consequence of practising his wedding vows in a graveyard at night. Ugh, what have I gotten myself into?
Bringing the box up to his ears, Ritsu shook it. He was surprised to hear various odd sounds inside the box, as if a variety of small objects had been placed inside and were rolling around as he shook the box. Abruptly, the box began shaking by itself. Terrified, Ritsu dropped it onto the floor and its contents splayed out onto the ground.
It was a pile of bones.
Confused and scared, he turned to look at Takano sitting next to him when the bones began moving by themselves. They rearranged themselves in a particular formation, and Ritsu was startled to see the skeleton of a cat. A collar lay near his feet and he picked it up. The name 'Sorata' was clearly embellished into the collar. Astonished, Ritsu stared at the cat.
'Sorata,' he whispered. The cat meowed softly. 'Sorata,' he called, loudly this time. The cat purred and began rubbing its skeleton frame against Ritsu's legs. Ritsu could only gape in wonderment.
"Cute, isn't he?" chuckled Takano beside him.
"W-where did you… how… why do you have this cat? It belonged to my… my… first boyfriend…" Ritsu's thoughts were incredibly jumbled as he studied Takano's face. If Takano san had this cat, then where was its owner? Where was... he?
A gentle smile spread across Takano's face, lighting up his eyes and leaving Ritsu at a loss for words as he noticed how truly beautiful Takano's smile was (He was surprised that corpses could actually smile like this in the first place). It was different from his mischievous smirks and little quirks of his mouth. It was a smile. A small smile, but genuine nonetheless.
Takano enunciated the words carefully, "This was my cat."
What?
"My parents divorced in my third year of high school… this was back when I was alive, of course," Takano continued, "So my name was changed to Takano. Before that, my last name was Saga. Masamune Saga."
Masamune… Saga?
Masamune Saga.
"Saga… sempai?" Ritsu didn't want to believe. He couldn't believe. That his beloved Saga Sempai was… was…
Dead.
"Yes, Ritsu. My name was Masamune Saga, and now I am dead."
Why does Takano sound more alive than dead now :S
I kinda found it weird when Kisa introduced himself as 'Shouta Kisa' instead of the other way around, but I guess in English you never hear people put their last names in front of their first :L
IM SO SORRY SORATA IS A SKELETON CAT OMG D:
I hope my story isn't becoming too different from the Corpse Bride film, but I really didn't feel like including a bunch of dancing skeletons bursting into song when Ritsu wakes up and I seriously didn't want to make any of the characters headless so this is where I veered off course. On second thoughts, it would've been pretty fun to make Hatori dance Gangnam LOL.
And yes I'm keeping the hatsukoi aspect where Ritsu and Takano used to date in high school... man that was complicated to write HAHA. But I think it's safe to say that Ritsu likes Takano more than Victor likes Emily in the film yay (Y)
Goodnight readers, and don't forget to review!
