Clare felt hopeless.
She had never experienced writers block before. However it was painful. Mentally painful. Perhaps she had drunken too much, and the hangover erased the thoughts from her head, but as she sat, looking down at her blank drawing board, she had never felt blanker in her entire life.
Clare picked up her phone, and dialed up Takano. When he answered the phone, she was met by his deep voice.
"GET TO WORK" his voice rang into the receiver before he hung up.
Clare sighed, putting her phone back. So much for editor encouragement. Quite honestly she didn't know what she expected in her moody manager, who was always giving her a hard time. Onodera had said he could be nice if he wanted to, but she hadn't seen that yet. He was mostly just a cranky old man who yelled at her to do her work.
Clare heard a knock on her door, and opened it to find a young boy at the door. About 18 probably. That's funny, she was told that a famous mangaka was coming over to help her.
"Can I help you?" Clare asked rubbing her eyes.
"I was told to come over today. Right Tori?" The boy said, and suddenly a taller man appeared behind him.
"This is the address" he replied.
"Wait…Yoshino Chiaki?" Clare asked.
"That's my name!" he said with a smile.
He doesn't look old enough to live on his own yet! Clare said in her mind, plastering a regular smile onto her face.
"Well come on in!" she said, gesturing inside.
The two men walked into her apartment, and Chiaki eyed the drawing table with concern
"Where's the manuscript?" Chiaki asked.
"I… uh… don't have a plot line rolling yet" Clare admitted, waiting for the yelling to start.
It didn't however, and Chiaki simply giggled. He sounded so young.
"Just for curiosities sake, how old are you Yoshino?" Clare asked.
"I'm 28, why do you ask?" Chiaki answered, Clare jumping a little.
"I.. was just wondering that's all" Clare answered with a nervous laugh.
'Tori' gave Clare a look that seemed to say Believe me, I know how you feel and she nodded in response.
"So… is Tori short for something?" Clare asked, the man giving a nod.
"Yoshiyuki Hatori" he grunted, and Clare smiled.
"Well, I'm Mirian Clare, pleasure to meet you!" Clare introduced herself.
Clare's phone suddenly rang, and she ran over to answer it.
"Hi! This is Clare" Clare answered.
"Hi! This is one of the editors from Emerald, can you please tell Yoshiyuki Hatori that he needs to come over now?" a voice asked.
"Oh, sure!" Clare replied, turning towards Hatori. "Yoshiyuki, Emerald called, they need you. Now"
Hatori nodded, and turned towards Chiaki, explaining to him.
Chiaki nodded, and Hatori leaned in and kissed Chiaki full on the lips before he left.
"Boyfriend?" Clare asked the cherry red Chiaki.
"Y-yes" Chiaki stuttered.
"I don't mind" Clare smiled.
"R-right. So, do you have any plot ideas at least?" Chiaki started.
Clare began to list off the ideas she had scrapped off, and Chiaki told her to keep some and throw away others. Eventually she had a plot, even if she didn't feel too strongly about it, but Chiaki told her it was just writer's block, and it always made people feel unsatisfied with their work. Clare offered some bear puffs, which mysteriously began to show up at her door since last month.
By the end of the day, she had the first few pages set up, and she was feeling good, though still slightly uneasy.
"So, who's your editor?" Chiaki asked.
"I got Takano Masamune" Clary said, glumly.
"Takano? I've heard Tori talk about Takano. He uses some choice wording" Chiaki said with a giggle.
"Well I certainly don't blame him. Who's your editor?" Clare asked.
"You couldn't tell? Tori is my editor" Chiaki explained.
"And he is your boyfriend too? How do you deal with him when he yells at you to get your work done?" She asked.
"Tori has never really yelled at me to get my work done. He offers some criticism, but that's really the worst thing he does" Chiaki replied, Clare becoming furious
"That damn Takano, he is always pressuring me to do my work! And even when I do finish it, he's never satisfied!" Clare growled, slamming her fist onto the drawing table.
"Calm down there! I'm sure he's just doing what he thinks is best! Have you ever heard him yell at his other authors?" Chiaki asked.
"Yeah, loads of times" Clare answered.
"Well then he is just doing what he's always done. Think of it like… Instinct" Chiaki tried to explain.
"Instinct?" Clare echoed, before letting out a snort. "Some instinct"
"Maybe he doesn't know better?" Chiaki guessed with a shrug.
"Probably not" Clare huffed, eyeing her manuscript.
Chiaki sensed her uneasiness, and attempted to comfort her.
"Its fine, I promise!" he said, as a knock rang on the door.
"I'll get it!" Clare jumped, walking to her door. It was Hatori.
"I'm back" he grunted.
"Welcome back Yoshiyuki!" Clare cheered, letting him in.
Hatori walked over to the drawing table, inspecting her manuscript.
"So this is just an idea right?" Hatori asked.
"Well, yes" Clare answered.
"Try to add more emotion into it, your emotional moments only run for about 2 pages, try to extend them" Hatori suggested.
"Alright!" Clare cheered, heading back over to the drawing table.
"Yoshino, there had been a problem with printing, you're going to have to redraw some things, which means we have to go" Hatori said.
"Oh! I'd better go then!" Chiaki exclaimed, waving to Clare.
"Its fine! I've got some pages to work on" Clare chimed, and smiled to herself when the door shut.
"Right! Work doesn't do itself!" Clare reminded herself. She was about to start when someone entered her apartment. It was Usami.
"It wouldn't kill you to knock" Clare deadpanned and Usami walked up and looked at the page.
"This…" Usami started, suddenly stopping.
"What?" Clare asked.
"It's nothing. Do you have any bear puffs left?" Usami asked.
"There in the top cabinet, why?" Clare replied.
"Misaki failed a test, I'm trying to cheer him up" Usami replied.
"Oh! That's too bad! Should I go wi-" Clare started, before she interrupted.
"No. Misaki is mine to comfort" Usami said with an amusing amount of clinginess playing on his voice.
"Alright, alright! But remember: Ravishing does not always make him feel better" Clare said, before receiving a smirk from Usami as he left.
Poor Takahashi, I guess he didn't study hard enough. Clare thought.
Well you don't have the right, you BARELY passed college her mind reminded her.
Clare brushed off college memories before she continued working on her manuscript. College was not a good time, this one kid had a pet chicken, it was so weird.
