Hey there, I'm not dead!
I know I've been very inactive for a long time, and I'm truly sorry for that, but I needed a break. I hope you can understand this (if there was someone waiting impatiently for the next update to begin with xD).
And this chapter is shorter than the other ones, but bear in mind that the three previous chapters were just the prologue and the story begins here, so the future chapters won't be as long as the ones from the prologue – unless I feel very motivated or I'm not able to shorten the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, except for the plot and my OC's.
A familiar voice calling his name was what woke Yokozawa up from his slumber. "Come on, sleepyhead, we have to go to work."
He was lying on his right side, with a blanket covering him up to the chin. He opened his eyes slowly – as he was still drowsy – and saw Takano facing him with his arms crossed. He couldn't see much because the curtains were drawn – otherwise the dawn light would have woken him up earlier than necessary –, but he could notice that Takano was only wearing a pair of sweatpants and had a towel around his neck.
"I've already taken a shower, so you can go to the bathroom while I make breakfast." Takano didn't wait for an answer and turned around, walking towards one of the living room windows and opening its curtains abruptly.
Yokozawa squinted at the sudden light that came from the window. "Ugh..." His voice was hoarse. "You could be more careful, you know."
Takano did the same with the rest of the windows as if he hadn't heard him. Yokozawa sighted before getting up from the fold-out couch where he had slept and headed towards Takano's bedroom. Once he entered, he saw that the bed was made – his work bag was on top of it – and the cat bowl was full with food. 'He must have got up earlier than usual.', he thought.
He walked towards Sorata – who was sleeping peacefully in a corner of the room –, crouched in front of him and caressed his fur gently in order not to wake him up. He had brought the cat two days ago to Takano's apartment because his friend wanted to spend a few days with him. Sorata usually lived with him, but he was accustomed to be in other places apart from his apartment, such as Yokozawa's room on the headquarters and Inoue's mysterious apartment – of which no one but her knew the location.
After petting his cat for a few seconds, he stood up quickly when he suddenly heard a few loud noises from the apartment next door. Fortunately, Sorata was fast asleep. 'Hell, these walls are paper thin...'
He approached the closet and took out from the top of it – where he kept his clothes – a suit and a shirt. Takano also had some clothes in his apartment, in case they had to stay together during a mission. The same went for their weapons – but obviously, they were well hidden. They couldn't risk the chance of being discovered by a neighbour or the landlord.
After that, he went to the bathroom. The mirror, which was hanging above the sink, was still tarnished from the shower Takano had taken not long ago. He grabbed a fresh towel from a drawer and started undressing. He was thankful that he couldn't see his reflection clearly – as yesterday's conversation reminded him of how he got the scars on his back, and it wasn't a pleasant memory. It brought back pain, regret and guilt.
He shook his head. 'It's no use to think about that. Nothing can be done now.'
When he made sure no one was looking at him – the rest of his coworkers had plenty of work to do today, as well as himself, due to the end of the 'hell week' – Takano inserted a USB drive on his computer. While the files from it were transferring to the computer, he reclined in his chair and sighted.
He had got to Marukawa a couple of hours before along with Yokozawa. He now felt better than last night, but he still had the Insurgents issue on his mind. It had caught him off guard since he hadn't faced them for a long time. And things got really ugly when they were involved, so he wasn't very eager to fight against them again.
But for now, he would stick to his current job: investigate Marukawa.
The FF had some information related to the former managing director of the company that didn't make a good impression of himself, so he and Yokozawa had to look into the data of Marukawa without being caught. But they wouldn't be able to do that unless they snuck into the new managing director's office, where the main computer – in which all the important data were located – was situated. But they still didn't know his schedule, so for now it was impossible.
That's why they needed to make use of alternative methods in the meantime. And today it was Takano's turn to try cracking the server from his computer.
Yesterday his friend had tried to do the same thing, but he had to stop abruptly because he had to go to a few bookshops, asking for information about the sales they'd had that month.
But he wouldn't have to move from his seat throughout the day, so he was hoping he would be capable of at least obtain some passwords.
When all the files were on his computer, he opened one of them – which was a program that would help him try to get into the server – and started working.
'This is going to be a piece of cake.', he thought, with a smirk on his face.
Until, as always, things turned out differently.
"Takano-san, I almost forgot!" One of his coworkers – his name was Kisa, if he recalled correctly – exclaimed suddenly, a few minutes after he had opened the program. It turned out that Kisa was older than him, but when he first saw him he thought he was a part-time worker who was still a student. Maybe he had a baby face, but that didn't mean it couldn't be affected by the amount of work he had being doing during that week. He had circles under his eyes and it seemed like he hadn't slept eight hours straight for a long time – but everyone in the department was like that too. "Haru-chan is coming today."
"Haru-chan?" Takano frowned. He had no clue who he is talking about.
"He is our coworker, the one missing this past days." This time, it was Hatori – the one who was helping him the most getting used to his new position as the editor-in-chief – who talked.
"Do you know when is he going to come?" He asked, trying not to sound annoyed. That boy was giving him a lot of problems and they hadn't even met yet. First of all, he hadn't shown up in the worst week of the month – leaving the rest of the team with more work than usual –, and now he would have to talk with him about his mangakas, the work his coworkers had done in his place and all the work that had to be done yet.
And that meant he wouldn't be able to continue cracking.
"In fact, he was supposed to be here by now." Mino said after looking at his phone. Unlike the rest of his coworkers, he still managed to smile even during 'hell week'. Takano had once pointed that out to Kisa, but all he got as an answer was: "Don't be fooled by that smile. It's better if you don't get him mad. Ever." And all the curiosity he had until then about Mino disappeared.
"Of course he's late, we are talking about Haru-chan." Kisa said while rolling his eyes. "And he must be enjoying his free time with his fiancée, so-"
"I'm gone for a few days and you're already talking shit about me?"
That made Takano look up from his computer.
In front of them was standing a man, maybe a few years younger than him. He was carrying a bag, hanging on his right shoulder, and his black hair almost covered his wide eyes.
"Haru-chan!" It was clear that Kisa had tried to sound cheerful, but tiredness was still present in him. "You're already here!"
'Fuck.'
While the rest of the department greeted the newcomer, Takano rushed to stop the program that was working – without being able to save the sparse data he had collected – and unplugged the USB drive from the computer.
'All for nothing... The heads are going to kill me at this rate.'
After putting the device inside his work bag, he got up from his chair and cleared his throat, making everyone look at him and stop chit chatting instantly. "I think we haven't been introduced yet."
The black haired man left his bag on top of his desk – which was in front of Mino's and on the left side of Kisa's –, walked until he was in front of his boss and bowed. "I'm Maeda Haru, it's a pleasure to meet you." When he stood up and made eye contact with him, Takano swore he felt goosebumps all over his body. His tone of voice was polite, but his eyes – which reminded him of the color of the blood – were as cold as ice. "You must be Takano Masamune, the new editor-in-chief, right?"
After being dumbstruck for a second, he blinked and answered. "Yes, and that's why we need to discuss some things right now, if it's not inconvenient."
"Not at all. Besides, I think I've got some explaining to do." He smiled politely and then proceeded to follow Takano, getting out of the office together.
Before they were gone, Takano spoke to Hatori. "Please, take care of everything until I'm back."
Takano and Maeda went to one of the conference rooms that was unoccupied at the moment, and sat facing each other.
"I've already explained this to Isaka-san before I left, but you weren't here yet so I wasn't able to speak to you."
Takano was listening to him, but at the same time he couldn't get what happened before out of his head. 'His gaze isn't as cold as before. In fact, he seems to be a nice person, just like the rest of my coworkers. So why did he looked at me like that? We don't even know each other, so it's not like he would already dislike me, right?'
"As you already probably know, I was visiting an ill relative. My fiancée has a rare condition and she's being treated in one of the best hospitals in England. Perhaps you're asking yourself why she's so far away. Well, she moved to England when she was fifteen because of her health. I would love to have her nearer, but it can´t be possible yet." Maeda sighted, distress clearly visible on his face. "Last weekend she had a relapse, and that's why I had to go there as soon as possible."
'Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. Yeah, it has to be that.'
Maeda hung his head, breaking the eye contact they had been having. "I'm so sorry I left during this week. I know all of you have been overworking because of that."
"Don't worry about it." Takano finally spoke. "You haven't been on holiday, and it's not like you wanted this to happen." He didn't have a fiancée, but he could imagine how painful it could be to be separated from the person you love.
In fact, he knew it too well, but he tried to block out that thought. It didn't do him any good.
"Thank you for understanding, Takano-san." He sounded relieved. After staying silent for a few seconds, he talked again. "And now that I'm here, I can return the favor. So, what is it left to do?"
After dividing up the work between the five of them, they managed to finish everything by eight o'clock.
"We made it!" Kisa exclaimed happily, throwing his arms up in the air.
"Just in time." Hatori sighted, massaging his left shoulder.
"Well, now we have two whole days in order to get some rest, so cheer up a bit."
"No, Mino, you're wrong." Kisa pointed out immediately. "Don't forget we have to celebrate Haru-chan's birthday this Saturday." He winked at Maeda playfully.
'What?' "Is tomorrow your birthday?" Takano asked intrigued.
"Nope." Kisa answered instead. "It was this Monday." He took his desk calendar and pointed his finger at it, this time looking at Maeda. "See? I marked it on my calendar so I wouldn't forget. I told you, Haru-chan!"
Maeda was visibly taken aback. "I... Thank you for remembering, Kisa-san, but we don't have to celebrate it this weekend. All of you must be very tired and-"
"Nonsense! By tomorrow we'll be as fresh as a daisy." Until then he had spoken in a cheerful way, but he suddenly became very serious, looking concerned at his friend. "Besides, I know you're feeling down right now due to the issue with Kohinata-san, so you're going out with us whether you like it or not."
Maeda chuckled after that a little bit, and a big smile appeared on his face. "Okay, okay, I get it. Then..."
But Takano couldn't hear the conversation anymore. He was gawking at his new coworker, or rather his smile.
He had seen that smile before. It usually appeared on him, when he thought no one was looking at him. Or when he was talking passionately about what he loved the most.
"Ritsu..." He whispered very quietly with nostalgia. He had already thought about him a couple of times that day. 'Who knows what would have become of us if only things had turned out differently... I wonder if you would still get so embarrassed every time I tried to flirt with you. I wouldn't mind it at all, as I founded it really cute coming from you. But I would have tried to make you speak you mind more often, because I knew back then you used to be so insecure. You wouldn't even be able to look at me directly in the eyes for more than three seconds without blushing a lot. I also wonder how many books you would have been able to read during this past ten years, since I remember clearly that you used to spend your time buried in books. Maybe you would have surpassed me? I will never know any of this, but one thing's for sure: I would still love as much as I do right now, or even more. I-'
His train of thoughts was interrupted when Hatori talked to him. "Takano-san, are you okay? You seemed to be lost in your thoughts."
"Ah, yes." He tried to appeared to be as nonchalant as he could. "I was thinking that we could celebrate it on a bar near my apartment. It's not very far from here."
"That's a good idea. You can send us the location and we can meet there by ten o'clock." Mino suggested while picking up his stuff from his desk.
"Well, then it's settled." Hatori got up from his chair and took out his phone. "And now if you excuse me, I have to go and scold someone for interfering in my job."
"Don't be too hard on Yoshikawa-sensei, Hatori." A knowing smile appeared on Kisa's face, but Hatori ignored it and, after bidding farewell to everyone, he left the office.
Takano did the same as Hatori and took out his phone in order to send the location to his coworkers, but an unread text message caught his attention. 'It's from Yokozawa...' He opened it immediately – since it could be something important related to the FF.
"When you're finished with your work, contact me or Nanami-san so we can meet at the café near Marukawa. Y. T."
To the naked eye, there was nothing wrong with the message, but the three of them reached an agreement long ago. Whenever they finished their texts with their initials, it was regarding to the FF. If not, it was just a common text.
And as there were Yokozawa's initials at the end of the text, he answered as fast as he could.
"I'm getting out of Marukawa right now. I'll be at the café in 5 minutes. See you there. T. M."
I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait. Again, I'm sorry for that.
If you liked this chapter, don't forget to leave a review! I swear they cheer me up a lot :3
When I started writing this fic I said that Trifecta was the main couple, but there will be a lot of Nostalgia moments since I love that couple too. So, whether you like one couple or the other – or both, as I do – stay tuned!
See you soon!