"Oi! Onodera!" A furious shout brought my attention to a black-haired man walking into Emerald, holding a manga in one of his hands. "How dare you produce something like this!" He said, waving the manga around.

Onodera tensed, his face contorted with confusion and worry. "E-eh? I-is something wrong with it?" He asked.

"The first printing sold out on the first day! Even if we reprint right away it'll take ten days! What are you gonna do about this?! This is happening because you didn't push for a higher print volume during the initial planning!"

Onodera shifted in his chair as he listened to the man rant, straining a smile as if wanting to appear respectful, but also wanting to let this man know he was irritated.

"Yokozawa, don't conveniently forget that I pushed for 30,000 extra copies to be printed, but then your boss forced me to change it because it was too much." Despite the forced smile on his face, there was a dead, I've-got-nothing-to-lose tone to his voice that was just daring this 'Yokozawa' to try anything.

"So this is because of your pathetic compromises and lack of any damn backbone and confidence!" Yokozawa concluded and at this point I had definitely had enough of this conversation. My coworkers didn't seem to pay any attention to it and that admittedly made me a bit worried that this was a regular thing I'd have to deal with on top of everything else.

"Oi," I cut in. "Some people are actually trying to get work done, so if you're going to throw a fit please feel free to do so elsewhere."

"Masa-chan, you shouldn't-" Kisa started, but Yokozawa didn't let him finish.

"Haa? Who do you think you are?" He questioned, eyebrows knitted together angrily.

"Takano Masamune." I answered boredly, which seemed to only infuriate him further.

"And where do you get off talking to your superiors like that?!"

"Just about anywhere, really."

"Onodera, is this how you run things here? Letting your subordinates just mouth off to anyone?!" Yokozawa said accusingly.

"Oi, I wasn't finished talking to you. You're making a scene and becoming a distraction. Shouldn't you be worrying about getting that reprint done? Chewing Onodera-san out for something that wasn't his fault isn't going to change the past and it isn't going to get anything done. Even an idiot could see that."

He glared at me momentarily, said something probably useless about not letting this happen again, and then left.

"Takano, you can't just say whatever you what, whenever you want!" Onodera scolded.

"But I wasn't wrong." I pointed out. "And you weren't about to tell him off anytime soon. So, you're welcome."

"I wasn't thanking you!"

I smirked a bit in amusement. Somehow he was cute when he was angry. Much, much different to the kind of cute he was back in high school, but still cute. But that's all there was to it. I was allowed to think he was cute, I told myself. It's not like that really meant anything.

I was already pulling out a cigarette when I stepped out of the elevator, ready to make my journey home when I noticed two figures by the exit.

What the hell? Onodera and that Yokozawa man from earlier were loitering around and-

Did Onodera just laugh?

What the hell happened to the high-strung man that was at my boss' throat not that long ago?

"Don't forget that you owe me dinner sometime this week." Yokozawa said and Onodera nodded.

"Hai, hai, hai," he replied as if he had heard this too many times already.

Tch, as if Onodera owed this asshole anything.

"I'm serious, Ritsu. Sometimes you are a bit of an airhead..."

"Oi!" The bickering between them started again, but it seemed more like a banter between friends.

Ritsu.

He had called him Ritsu.

Don't just let anyone address you so casually, you idiot! Especially someone like him!

I hated myself for thinking that way, but I couldn't ignore what I knew was a sense of jealousy starting to pool in my stomach and I started to make my way towards the two men.

"Onodera-san, do you want to walk to the train station together?" I asked, not caring that I was interrupting the two of them.

Yokozawa clearly recognized me from earlier, or at least that's what I assumed from his scowl. Onodera seemed surprised at the offer, but nodded. He spoke briefly with Yokozawa for a few more moments and I didn't care enough to listen in before they parted ways and I exited the building with Onodera. I couldn't help but to feel a tiny bit smug feeling Yokozawa burn holes in the back of my head.

"Don't get the wrong idea." I told Onodera. "It would just be a real inconvenience for Emerald if something happened to you while you were making your way home alone."

His pleasant mood turned sour quickly as he scowled. "I can take care of myself!" He insisted. "I don't need a bodyguard!"

"You could've fooled me with how you were letting Yokozawa walk all over you earlier. Besides, what's with you being all buddy-buddy with him all of a sudden?"

"Why do you care?"

"It's just annoying."

Onodera rolled his eyes at my admittedly immature answer. "Yokozawa is a friend of mine, a good one, and that's all there is to it." He said.

"He called you Ritsu."

"Yeah, so? What, are you jealous?" He had a teasing smirk that made my body stop in motion for a second before I quickly shook my head.

"Jealousy is for idiots."

And I'm probably an idiot.