A/N: Happy holidays, everyone! Saying that ahead of time because I don't know when I'll get out the next chapter yet, but thank you to everyone who has read, and is still reading this! Please bear with me, as since there is going to be some overlap between the SIH anime and the AU, I did essentially have to rewrite what would've been the first episode of Sekai ichi Hatsukoi, but of course while writing differences to keep a balance between canon and not canon. This is hopefully the only chapter where I needed to do this kind of thing!

Hard to Get

These Circumstances are Hard to Get

"But it says right here: Mid-Career Recruitment of Ritsu Onodera into the Shoujo Manga Department."

Those words echoed throughout Ritsu's mind for what felt like an eternity. Maybe he was finally going insane. Ritsu was trying to keep his breathing and angered expression under control as the recruiter guided him past the other offices down the hallway—even passing by the goddamn department that he was supposed to be working for—not for shoujo manga, of all things.

Granted, the department had reportedly become more renown due to this chief editor who joined last year, but that was only slightly keeping Ritsu from completely up and leaving.

'There has to be some reasonable explanation for this,' Ritsu thought as he mentally blocked out what the recruiter explaining something about a "cycle" to him, 'They could've mixed up my resume with someone else's. Maybe they had no openings in literature, but needed the help? If that's the case, can I move up someday?'

Ritsu didn't notice the recruiter suddenly stop in her tracks in front of a set of cubicles and gasp as he took a moment to bow and introduce himself as professionally as possible.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Ritsu Onodera. I'll be working with you starting today."

No response. Maybe they could sense that he didn't want to be here that badly? Ritsu lifted his head to observe the response his to be co-workers were giving him—

Only to be met with what appeared to be the set of a low-budget zombie apocalypse movie.

"I-I'm sorry!" the recruiter apologized, "It looks like there was a mistake with the cycle! Good luck!"

"Huh? Wait!" Before Ritsu could even respond and ask again about what the cycles were, let alone ask about what in the fresh hell was going on, the recruiter had already abandoned him. Ritsu desperately made eye contact with several passerbys fleeing by him. "Excuse me, the Emerald editors"—

"It's not us!" one of them cried as he hurried away.

The reality of the situation was quickly becoming apparent, and the looming stench wasn't helping. So much for this not being a dead end job-despite supposedly having a brilliant chief editor.

"Um, excuse me," Ritsu called to one of his co-workers, face head down on the desk. Hesitantly, Ritsu tried to move the other man, who dropped like a corpse to the floor. Ritsu flailed his arms in shock.

The corpse turned out to be half-dead, as it suddenly sat up. "…What?" it croaked, looking back at Ritsu tiredly.

"Sorry, I'm the new guy who's starting today."

"Oh, was that today?" He shifted and called to the back of the room, "Takano-san, the new guy's here." He waited several seconds before trying again. "Takano-san"—

"Shut up!" Takano yelled back, leaning against his chair in agony, "I heard you the first time." Nonetheless, he discarded the book that was previously planted upon his face, and put on his glasses as Ritsu approached his desk.

Ritsu squinted, trying to make out the man's face as he moved closer until it suddenly dawned upon him. 'Wait a minute… Don't tell me this guy of all people is the editor in chief!'

"Oh, it's you," Takano said with little droll in his voice, "I think we met once before… Didn't I meet you looking at apartments in my building recently?"

Ritsu could die right about now. How does such a coincidence even occur where the guy whom he was embarrassed in front of is not only his neighbor, but his boss, of all people, as if some god out there was playing a cruel joke. "Y-yes, that was me!" 'Please don't ask me where in the building I am, please don't ask me where'—

"So what are you, a part timer?" Takano asked instead.

Ritsu sighed in relief. Takano didn't seem to be interested in having that conversation, as he typed away on his laptop. "I'm an employee; contract based, though."

"I didn't get your name the other day we met. What was it?"

"My name is Onodera Ritsu."

"Oh, yeah, they said that someone like you had come.

'Hey, what's that supposed to mean?' Naturally, Ritsu was already sensing the slight turn around in his day already going south. "N-nice to meet you."

"I couldn't be there for the interview, but you have worked as an editor, right?"

"Yes, I worked at Onodera Publishing for three years," Ritsu answered.

"Teen magazine? Adolescent magazine?" Takano inquired.

'Magazines?' Ritsu thought, 'Maybe he means for manga publications?' "Oh no, I've always worked on literature."

"Literature?" Takano replied with disbelief.

"Yes."

"So this is your first time with manga?"

"Yes," Ritsu replied, then wishfully thought, 'Maybe he'll understand I'm not supposed to be here and help me transfer.'

Takano glanced to the side, and the bags under his eyes seemed to darken even more. "Useless."

Ritsu was closer and closer to reaching his boiling point. 'So that's the glorious editor in chief, huh?'

"Takano-san, the sub mat is done," one of the coworkers informed Takano.

Takano suddenly got up. "Okay. New guy, follow me." Ritsu followed reluctantly behind Takano, exiting the office together. "You'll have to learn to work."

Ritsu had anything but a good feeling about where this was going—even for something so innocuous as reviewing substitute material. Nonetheless, he was still giving chances to this less than impressive job opportunity.

. . .

At the lounge, Ritsu observed Takano as he collected the artist's work. "Good work. I'm sorry for telling you to finish it in three days," Takano apologized.

'At least he's kind enough to show his appreciation,' Ritsu thought, still trying to cool down from the heated encounter from what seemed like moments ago.

"It's not a problem, I've got the time," the mangaka replied.

"Did you bring your tools?" asked Takano.

"Oh, yes," she answered, digging through her bag.

"Can you make this kissing scene more dramatic?" Takano requested, handing one of the pages to the mangaka.

The mangaka began to make adjustments. "Something like this?"

Takano pointed to a spot on the page. "No, more like from this angle."

Ritsu continued to watch the mangaka work, mulling to himself internally. What even is a dramatic kissing scene? Isn't it about the context of the situation? Heck, the first time Akihiko first kissed Ritsu nearly two years ago, that was probably the most dramatic kiss he had experienced—

'No!' Ritsu shook his head, already slightly red in the face, 'Even though I already hate this job, I shouldn't be thinking about this kind of thing right now.'

"You have kissed someone before, right?" he asked the mangaka, completely dragging Ritsu's thoughts to the present moment as Ritsu was trying his best not to flash an angry face at his editor for clear sexual harassment.

The mangaka blushed even more so than Ritsu had initially, which allowed Ritsu enough of an opportunity to recover as he was able to successfully push away his more intimate memories with Akihiko temporarily.

"Uh, isn't it fine the way it is now?" Ritsu chimed in, "It's drawn well enough as it is, and we don't have enough time"—

"I'm just saying it because I know it can be better," Takano asserted, "Stay out of it, noob."

Ritsu once again forced himself to suck in his pride for what could be considered a world record count in a span of 2 hours.

"Ah, but it even if you do it, you can't see yourself," the mangaka laughed nervously.

"That is true," Takano agreed, suddenly standing up, "All right, I'll show you an example, so please draw it real quick."

"Oh, references, right? I'll go get some," Ritsu offered, standing as well.

"From this angle so you can see the chin, slightly tilted," Takano began to explain, removing his glasses as he suddenly turned towards Ritsu and grabbed him by the wrists before the younger editor could ask questions.

And suddenly, as if everything moved in slow motion, Ritsu was briefly met with a glimpse into a strange familiarity as Takano's lips drew closer to Ritsu's suddenly, but the blaring voice of Akihiko in his mind gave Ritsu the strength to suddenly pull away. "What are you doing?!"

Takano furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm trying to show the mangaka what to do here, don't hold us up"—

"I've been here for less than three hours, and you tried to kiss me! Is this how you treat your subordinates!?" Ritsu finally yelled.

Admittedly while expressing his anger was cathartic, Ritsu was ready to transform into one of the half-living beings he saw upon first arriving to Emerald. The mangaka and Takano remained silent for a moment, until Takano resumed wearing his glasses again and spoke nonchalantly. "Oh, that's right—I forgot you have a partner of your own. I suppose it would be troublesome if your partner knew—even if it were for work purposes only."

Ritsu was clearly vibrating with anger. 'That's the only thing that was stopping you?!'

Takano tossed a key to Ritsu. "I guess it can't be helped. The cabinet is on the right side back in the office. Do you know how to get back?"

"Y-yes!" Ritsu said, then bowed to the mangaka, "I'm sorry for slowing down everything!"

"Don't worry about it! It's okay!" the mangaka assured him.

As Ritsu bolted back towards the elevator, he decided to take the opportunity to catch his breath. How much longer could this day possibly be? Ritsu checked his phone for the time, only to remember that there was unread message from Akihiko:

'Do your best today. I'm proud of you.'

Ritsu held back a choked sob, trying even more to regain his composure as the elevator doors closed. 'I'm trying, Akihiko, but I don't know if it's enough.'

. . .

What seemed like an eternity later, Ritsu was resting downstairs, quietly drinking his coffee as he tried not to ruminate over the catastrophic events of today—including being sexually harassed by his boss, who got dangerously close to kissing him. Granted, it was supposedly, "for work purposes," but he knew that telling Akihiko would garner immediate conflict. He could already hear Akihiko telling Ritsu to quit his job and move out of the apartment the next day (and also be invited, once again, to live with Akihiko). Ritsu couldn't help but briefly acknowledge the part of himself that would be content with that idea.

Then, of course, Takano approached his table, completely throwing off any sense of peace that Ritsu had left. Ritsu sighed, bracing himself for impact. 'These circumstances are really becoming hard to get. This guy is honestly the worst. How did I even up here?' "Did you finish submitting the manuscript?" Ritsu asked as cordially as possible, betraying his inner monologue.

"Yeah, thanks," Takano said, taking a drag of his cigarette. "I just confirmed this with my boss, but you're the son of the Onodera Publishing house, right?"

Ritsu's ears perked. 'Of course he'd ask about this.' "There's no connection between the company and me," he affirmed.

"Are you dissatisfied being here, since you wanted to do literature?" Takano asked.

"No, how should I put this?" Ritsu asked rhetorically, trying to buy himself enough time to properly form an explanation, "Shoujo mangas are…just very different from the material I've previously worked with." Clearly it was the most half-assed expression that he could provide, but it was better than the other angry thoughts Ritsu brewed in his mind.

"If you're not motivated, quit, because you'll just get in the way," Takano stated, "How many people do you think get to do the thing they love for work? Everybody starts as a noob."

'Is he actually trying to cheer me up?' Ritsu asked himself, 'Not that it doesn't excuse what happened before, but still'—

"Well, useless people are useless no matter what they do," Takano muttered.

Ritsu never felt closer to killing anyone in his life.

Takano used the ash tray on Ritsu's table to put out his cigarette. "Newbie, the others have gone home, so you can go home, too. I'm sure your lover is also waiting."

"My name is Onodera!" Ritsu snapped.

"Listen," Takano began to ask, completely ignoring Ritsu's outburst, "Have we met before?"

Ritsu briefly thought back to the encounter back in the apartment building when he had asked the same thing. 'Hey…have I seen you somewhere before?' Ritsu sighed. "Didn't we already confirm that we did, earlier?"

"We did," said Takano, "But I still could've sworn we've met elsewhere."

Ritsu shrugged. "I'm not really sure, then."

. . .

Ritsu used the duration of the train ride to clear his head. Today was indeed overwhelming to say the least, but at least if there was one positive outcome to today, even though Ritsu wouldn't admit it, he was excited at the thought of Akihiko embracing him after a long string of crises in one day. Even the thought of him stroking his hair gently was enough to remove some of the bitter edge.

Ritsu knocked on his lover's door. There was no answer at first, but as usual, the door appeared to be unlocked.

And, of course, like an increasingly large snow ball tumbling down a slope, Ritsu was not prepared for yet another surprise, upon opening the door.

There was another man sitting on the couch across from Akihiko gesturing to the bottom of several papers. "Just sign here, here, and then we're done!"

Akihiko signed the papers and handed them to the man across from him, who placed them in his folder.

"Honestly, it's about time you joined Marukawa already! What made you decide to leave Onodera Publishing anyway?" asked the man.

'Marukawa?' Ritsu thought as he witnessed the scene from afar, 'That's right; Akihiko did say he was going to start working for them, and that a friend of his works there. I wonder if he's going to be his new editor?'

"I decided it was about time I take you up on your offer," Akihiko answered simply.

"That doesn't really answer my question, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth," the man replied. Just as he stood up to take his leave, he made eye contact with Ritsu. "Oh, now who's this?"

Ritsu instinctively bowed. "Onodera Ritsu. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"Wow, so formal!" the man beamed, then took a moment to study Ritsu's face as he asked innocently, "Wait, where have I heard your name before?"

"Don't ask him so many questions, Isaka-san. You'll make him uncomfortable," said Akihiko, standing up as well.

Isaka patted Akihiko's back. "My bad! I'm not trying to pressure him! I might as well get to know someone that I'll probably be seeing a lot more."

"Well, we haven't met before, but I did just start at Emerald today," Ritsu answered helpfully.

Isaka snapped his fingers. "That's right! I remember you were supposed to start. Ouch, though. I heard the end of their cycle was rough. Something about needing substitute material. It was probably a bad time to try to get to know the whole gang, but I bet that was a quite a scare for you."

Ritsu's eyes brightened. 'Finally, someone who understands!' "I've never seen anything like it!" Ritsu complained, "The place was such a dump, and everyone looked like zombies! I was so terrified!" There was also the numerous complaints that Ritsu already had regarding his new boss, but even just to air out this much filled Ritsu with relief.

Isaka laughed. "That's the end of the cycle, for ya. It's very different from literature in that way, isn't it?"

Ritsu froze. How did he know that Ritsu used to work in literature?

"Isaka-san," Akihiko spoke more firmly.

Isaka rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine." He walked over to Ritsu's hand to shake it, "Anyway, my name is Isaka Ryuichiro, and I'm the Senior Managing Director."

Ritsu felt his body run cold as Isaka firmly grasped his hand. 'Wait…so not only is this person my boss' boss…but I just bad-mouthed one of his departments in front of him.' "N-nice to meet you…"

Isaka laughed as he let go of Ritsu's hand, as he was still recoiling with cringe. "Sensei, I didn't expect you to be into the nervous pretty boy type! It's too bad I wasn't here for the interview—he's really something else!"

Ritsu nearly fell over, unsure of how many more surprises his heart could take.

"I said: don't make him uncomfortable," Akihiko reiterated, glowering at Isaka as he moved closer to Ritsu.

"Alright, I'm sorry! Man, I forgot how scary you can be," Isaka surrendered, then wiped the smile off of his face, "But in all seriousness, I'm still shocked that the heir to a rival publishing company would want to leave his cozy position to work for shoujo-manga, of all things!"

Ritsu flinched.

"Shoujo-manga?" Akihiko inquired, gesturing to Ritsu, "That makes no sense. He's supposed to be working for your literature department."

Ristu pressed his hands against his face, trying not to scream, and then took a deep breath as he carefully thought out an explanation. "Right! I know I'm supposed to be working for the literature department, but somehow, I ended up being referred to work on shoujo manga!"

Isaka put his hands on his hips. "Well, if you think it's a genuine mistake, I can look into it, if you want, and talk to our recruitment team."

As fast as Ritsu felt his soul being sucked out, it promptly returned. "Y-you will?" 'Finally! Something is going right today!'

"Although, I can't guarantee placement right away. At the moment, we don't have any empty desks at the literature department," Isaka admitted.

Ritsu slumped over again, failing to hide his disappointment. "R-right…"

"Don't look so glum, though! Once a space opens up, I can try to get you transferred," Isaka offered, "In the meantime, try your best to work with Emerald, okay? The new learning experience might be good for you, and the head editor knows what he's doing."

The near kiss that happened earlier flashed in Ritsu's mind. 'If you're not motivated, quit because you'll get in the way.'

Ritsu swallowed his pride. If there was anything he hated most, it was to be doubted without even having made any real attempts. Sure, the semantics of this job were…overwhelming to say the least, but what would it say about Ritsu if he were to quit now without having done anything? Wasn't the reason he left his former job because he wanted to prove himself? Of course, his boss already was be overbearing (Ritsu was doing his best to mentally block out the almost kiss that occurred beforehand), but if he was as remarkable as everyone said he was, maybe Ritsu could learn something with his guidance. "Okay, I'll do my best."

Isaka smiled again. "That's the spirit!" He then checked his watch. "Anyway, I better get going. Thank you again, Sensei! I'll let you know when you've been assigned a new editor." As he began to make his way towards the door, he subtly leaned towards Ritsu to whisper. "Take care of him, okay? He really seems to like you. He called me over today because he was that worried about your first day, after all."

"What are you telling him?" Akihiko interrupted them.

"Nothing important!" Isaka sprang up, before finally opening the door with a final wave, "Ciao!"

With the door promptly closed behind Isaka, Akihiko stared at Ritsu dumbfounded, who wouldn't even make eye contact with his confused lover as he assumed a spot on the couch. "It sounds like your first day of work was not at all what you expected."

Ritsu unconsciously straggled towards the couch. "No, not at all."

Without even realizing it, Ritsu was already enveloped in Akihiko's arms, once Akihiko sat next to him. "I'm sorry. You probably came here because you wanted to relax. I know Isaka-san wasn't helping with that."

For once, Ritsu's expectations became a reality, as he felt some of his worry slip away momentarily as he allowed himself to be held. "It's fine. I mean, he seems like a good person."

"Isaka-san was the first person who actually encouraged me to publish my first novel," said Akihiko.

Ritsu looked up at Akihiko. "Really?"

"I was still in high school then. He's actually been friends with my brother longer, but sometimes he would look out for me, too," he explained.

Instinctively, Ritsu wanted to ask burning questions about Akihiko's brother (wait, since when did Akihiko even have a brother?), but decided to let those rest for another day.

"He was trying to bring over a book one day for me, but I wasn't home yet. So, while he waited for me to return, he ended up coming across a draft of a novel I was writing. I didn't want the notoriety associated with writing at the time, and I still don't, but I just enjoyed it as a way of expressing myself," Akihiko continued.

Ritsu smiled for the first time all day, imagining a younger Akihiko sitting at his desk for hours. "I can definitely see you being that way, Sensei."

"Anyway, I ended up submitting it to Onodera Publishing first because it was closer to me. Isaka wasn't really happy about that. But, I was a high school student studying for exams, after all, so I preferred the convenience."

'No wonder Isaka jumped on the opportunity to sign him on when he had the chance,' Ritsu thought.

"Ritsu," Akihiko spoke calmly, "Tell me the truth: do you want to really work for a shoujo manga department?"

Ritsu squirmed a bit in Akihiko's hold. "No, but I'll put up with it for now. I'll give it until Isaka-san can grant me the transfer to decide if I want to stay with the department or not."

Akihiko nuzzled against Ritsu. "You really are a persistent person. That's one of the things I admire most about you."

Ritsu blushed. "I just can't stand the idea of being looked down upon, you know? At least if I failed, then I know it's my own fault."

"I meant what I said before: anyone would be lucky to have you working for them."

Ritsu allowed himself to rest against Akihiko's arms. The events of today, between the initial let-down, stumbling upon what looked to be a zombie apocalypse, and his boss' harassment didn't seem to matter as much anymore as he allowed himself to be calm, for once.

Ritsu then gently nudged Akihiko, once he heard a faint snore. "Akihiko?" He tried again with no results. He gazed upon his sleeping lover's face somberly. 'Was he really so worried that he didn't sleep?'

As if Akihiko's exhaustion was contagious, Ritsu found himself slowly drifting to sleep with a rare sense of peace. Maybe if he ended each day like this, this new job wouldn't be so bad, after all.

. . .

Ritsu didn't realize that he had stayed later than he intended to at Akihiko's. Then again, the weight of today's insanity was inevitably going to cause them both to crash at some point. It ended with Ritsu having new-found energy, and Akihiko remained a black of hole of exhaustion that tried to trap Ritsu every time he tried to pry himself with his lover's strong hold. Eventually, Ritsu had become so fidgety that Akihiko was forced to wake up, and Ritsu managed to convince Akihiko to sleep the rest of the night in his room (but of course, not without Akihiko incessantly begging Ritsu to stay the night).

The slight wind outside only seem to fuel Ritsu's energy as a chill went down his spine. Now, he was faced with a dilemma: there was no feasible way for him to be able to get rest for the night. Ritsu was shocked that even after the first day of work, he was beginning to fall into old patterns of having disrupted sleep (sometimes intentional, sometimes caused by Akihiko).

'I wonder if the office is open for the night,' he thought to himself, 'If I'm going to give this job a serious shot, maybe I should read the shoujo manga they're working on?' Ritsu checked his phone. If he headed toward the station now, he'd surely make it before 9. Perhaps he could also buy himself some black coffee in the vending machine he had spotted on the way in and easily pull an all nighter—not that Ritsu wanted to get into the habit of doing so, of course, but then again, Ritsu was definitely not going to get any real sleep tonight.

Hesitantly, Ritsu pivoted and began walking towards the subway, further convincing himself with the positive visualization of an empty office that was all his to use (with no lingering zombie co-workers especially), while he had the privilege of concentrating.

. . .

Ritsu had pulled off the all-nighter effortlessly. He threw out a third can of black coffee as he closed the book to the 100th manga he had read sitting in the library of his new department. Ritsu checked the time. It was just about time to start what would be the work day. He barely had any time to truly reflect on his aversion towards shoujo manga as he dragged his feet down the hallway (although not that Ritsu would admit it, but there had to be some appeal to shoujo manga if he read that many books in one night).

Upon approaching the office, Ritsu took a deep breath, fully expecting another wave of fright (and stench) as he opened the door to a blinding light.

"Good morning, Onodera!"

Ritsu blinked forcefully, averting his gaze rapidly to each corner of the office as he was suddenly greeted by 3 normal (and fair looking) men.

'Am I dead? Did I read so much shoujo manga in one sitting that I ascended?' Ritsu asked himself, trying not to rub his eyes as the glitter and shine was overwhelming enough to permanently damage hieyes, 'Is Heaven…pink?' The knot in Ritsu's stomach almost thrust Ritsu back into this strange reality. 'Or maybe all the black coffee finally did me in?'

"Oh, I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Emerald,"—

"What are you talking about? We're here!" his co-worker gestured to the now spotless office, pulling Ritsu back into the pink Heaven like a siren dragging a sailor into the water as he was prepared to leave without hesitation, "Sorry about yesterday. We just barely got the manuscript in before the deadline, so it's all good again."

"So, this is your first time working on manga?" another co-worker chimed in, "Don't worry! We'll teach you the ropes!"

Ritsu was either unconsciously slumping into his office chair and accepting of his fate, or ready to faint.

. . .

Yet, by the time Ritsu regained consciousness once the gleam and glitter faded, and he began to truly understand the situation around him, there actually seemed to be…an existing work environment?

His one taller co-worker leaned over him, briefly going over the basics of photocomposition. Ritsu was beginning to have an idea of what this was, recalling similar patterns of panels that had caught his attention for various reasons—mainly the lovey-dovey scenes full of flowing hair, white space, toner and sparkles, if Ritsu had thought about it hard enough. There was almost a…nostalgic feel, when he glanced at the pages of the seemingly star-crossed lovers standing far apart, while one reaches out longingly to the other. In the end, Ritsu couldn't hate shoujou manga and its many clichés.

For example, sometimes while observing character A and B, there was also a rival: character C—and character C was there to shake up the budding relationship between character A and B. There were chapters where Ritsu had even found himself rooting for character C to win—but usually, this failed. No matter what the efforts were for character C, even if character C was arguably a better person, character A and B would always end up together somehow. Somehow, that saddened Ritsu.

Even then, to have love requited this fast between the characters was something that Ritsu still found himself questioning at times. If Ritsu was asked about this 6 months ago, he would've stated that the reality was often more cruel than the fantasy. To think that his hard work would pay off, or that his feelings would reach that person seemed unrealistic back then. And in reality, that happened during his first time in love, but the second time around, things took a very different turn.

Ritsu was reminded of this as he felt his phone vibrate and snuck a glance at the screen. It was a message from Akihiko. Ritsu smiled to himself, assuming that it was Akihiko sending him a text to check on his wellbeing. He'd have to read it when he'd get a chance to.

As he dug the phone back into his pocket, he felt the presence of his boss approach him. Ritsu sheepishly looked up at Takano's raised arm, which slowly retreated to its side, as if hesitantly reaching out to Ritsu.

"Takano-san?" Ritsu questioned.

"I can't shake the feeling that I've met you before, but I can't remember where," he said.

'This again,' Ritsu thought to himself, 'Why is he so insistent on this?' "Well, since we lived in the same area, we might have passed each other," Ritsu explained, then turning to resume focusing on his photocomposition lesson, "And as we're working in the same business, we might have been at the printers at the same time or something."

Takano's facial expression relaxed. "Ah, I guess that's true."

Once Takano walked away, one of Ritsu's coworkers (what was his name again? Kisa?) drew closer to him. "Ri-chan, what are you doing with that manga catalogue?" he inquired.

'Ri-chan?' Ritsu decided to put his pride aside, realizing that he had already crossed paths with weirder and significantly more awkward situations. It would obviously do him well to start to make allies in this strange place, if he was going to be staying here longer. "Since I just started with manga, I thought I'd memorize our catalogue of manga."

"Seriously!?" Kisa gasped, "Do you know how many thousands of books we have?"

That almost sounded like a challenge to Ritsu. "Well, I'm not just memorizing the titles. I'm reading them, too."

Kisa shook his head. "Impossible! I could never do that!"

Ritsu suppressed a giggle. "Oh, I used to do stuff like read all the library books at my school regularly, so…"

Kisa and Ritsu looked back up at Takano to see him staring coldly at them as they conversed.

"…Is something wrong?" asked Ritsu.

"Not really," Takano responded as he turned away.

Kisa also quietly exited the conversation, not wanting to anger their seemingly volatile boss.

Ritsu decided to take advantage of the moment to sneak a quick glance at his text from Akihiko:

'I hope you have a better day today.'

And just like that, Ritsu felt prepared and confident enough to take on the rest of what would be his second day at this god forsaken job.