Chapter 8

Another tankobon for Ijuuin's work was coming out that month, and a few days after that month's issue of Japun had gone to print, the initial sales figures came in.

"Wow," Misaki said, hanging over Shizuko's shoulder as he looked at the figures that the sales department had just mailed them. "We even beat out Emerald this time!"

"Probably because of Ijuuin-sensei's color pages. He did really well with them." When Shizuko looked over his shoulder, he realized that Misaki was staring at him. "What?"

"Well, it's just…" Misaki paused at that, as if he was afraid that he'd say something wrong and get Shizuko mad. "I've never really seen you compliment anyone, especially Ijuuin-sensei. You do pretty good at keeping calm, but I know you get annoyed with him a lot…"

Shizuko sighed and closed down the email client before turning to Misaki. "You have a lot to learn about this industry, don't you?"

Misaki bowed his head. "I guess I do. But I'd really like to be as good as you some day. Kirishima-san is always telling me how hard you work, and how he hasn't had to yell at Ijuuin-sensei in a long time because you always manage to get him to turn his pages in on time. You even got him to get them in early this month."

It wasn't that Shizuko particularly enjoyed chasing after Ijuuin as persistently as he did, but to tell the truth, he really wanted to prove himself. He probably would've done the same for any of the authors, really, he just happened to have been assigned to their highest-paying author. Which was a pretty good way to start with the company, if he had to be absolutely honest.

Before he could say any of that to Misaki, though, Kirishima came around.

"Hey, Ishi, we've got an autograph tour planned for Ijuuin-sensei. He wants you to come along."

There was a very long pause as Shizuko just stared at the man. It seemed Misaki wanted to say something, but he didn't dare. So instead, the younger man simply slunk off and went to the corner that had been assigned as his, picking up some pieces of paperwork and getting to work filling them out, or at least, looking like he was busy filling them out. He was really just tapping them with a pen and looking busy, but that's what a lot of people in the office were doing at that point.

Shizuko sighed. "Is there any reason why I have to be the one to go with him, and not you or… anyone else? At all?"

Kirishima just laughed, patting Shizuko's back. "You're probably the best person to go with him, anyway. You do pretty well keeping him roped-in with that crazy behavior of his."

"Only because he decides to just focus it on me rather than anyone or anything else." Shizuko sighed.

"Anyway, the autograph tour is to a few cities starting next week, so I already put you in for vacation expenses. Have fun!" And it seemed that that was that.

Shizuko just sighed, reaching around his desk and trying to find his cell phone. When he finally located it under the pile of things that hadn't been reorganized after Hell Week, he saw that he had missed a few texts. They were from Ijuuin, telling him basically the same thing that Kirishima had just informed him of. Although, true to his 'charming' nature, Ijuuin had added that it would be like a romantic getaway.

"…I'm gonna throttle him," Shizuko muttered, locking his phone again and refusing to do anything but sit there with his arms folded.

"No throttling the authors! We need them!"

Shizuko had no idea who it was that said that, but he was pretty sure he was going to find out and put them on his list of people to throttle, too. Whoever said that you completely enjoyed your dream job?

xxx

By the time the work day was over, Shizuko was exhausted. Kirishima had taken over what few duties Shizuko would've had with his authors so that he could work out everything with the autograph signing, including going down to the HR department to talk about the allowance for hotels. They'd already been booked, so that was good, but the fact that he knew Ijuuin would want to order a ton of room service made him want to make sure he had proof that they wouldn't be able to charge it to the company when he ordered enough food to feed a small army.

Of course, it was just an extra thing, and he was the one who insisted he needed to do it, so he really only had himself to blame when he ended up dead-tired as he made the final trip of the day down the elevator.

"Kiwi!"

And of course, Ijuuin would decide to show up right then. In the past, Shizuko had to threaten him with bodily harm to get him out of bed sometimes. He didn't even want to tell anyone what he had to do to get him to go somewhere outside the boundaries of his apartment.

He ended up just sighing and ignoring his charge, heading for another set of doors out of the building so he could escape before anything bad happened.

"Aw come on, Kiwi, I was going to get you dinner!"

"I already ate." It was true. Kirishima had been in such a good mood earlier that he'd ordered pizza for the entire office. Shizuko may have eaten just a little bit too much, and now he had a stomach ache. Not that he wasn't used to such things, considering how often Ijuuin caused them in him.

Shizuko was fairly certain he had an ulcer at that point.

"Well then, I'll drive you home." Ijuuin grinned and tossed his keys up in the air, giving Shizuko a look like he was supposed to be impressed by the fact that he still had a car. And admittedly he kind of was. The day Shizuko saw that he'd bought a car, he'd been tempted to take out a betting pool at the Japun office for how soon he crashed it and ruined the entire thing.

Before Shizuko could protest, Ijuuin actually took his arm. "Come on, Kiwi. We're going to spend a week together on the tour. We might as well get used to it."

Shizuko just stared at the hand on his upper arm, and then he sighed. "Yeah, I guess," he muttered. As Ijuuin was tugging him towards the main entrance, though, he folded his arms, making it a little harder to lead him along. "But you aren't going to spend the night."

"Aw, why not?" Ijuuin gave the man a teasing grin before ducking just in time so that Shizuko couldn't hit him. "To be honest? I would like to have a serious conversation with you, Shizuko."

Shizuko stopped protesting at that, letting Ijuuin just lead him along the entire way to his car, parked in a no-parking zone across the street from the Marukawa building. He didn't say anything else, but he did have to resist the urge to tell Ijuuin that he wasn't going to pay for any parking tickets he got if he pulled a stunt like that again.

Mostly what was keeping him quiet was what Ijuuin had said, though. In all the time they had been working together, Shizuko had started thinking that the man was incapable of having a serious conversation at all, let along he'd consciously planned to have.

By the time Shizuko had gotten into the car and they were off, Ijuuin had glanced at him out of the corner of his eye quite a few times. He was pretty sure Ijuuin was actually thinking about what he was going to say. And he was amazed by that fact.

"So." That was the first word either of them had uttered since Ijuuin said they needed to talk, and at first, Shizuko thought he wasn't going to keep going. "Obviously you aren't the only one who's coming with me on the autograph tour. But… I was wondering if you wanted to just. Share a room with me, instead of bunking with one of the other staff."

Had he heard him right? Ijuuin was asking Shizuko if he wanted to share a room, rather than just setting it up that way and not giving him a choice?

"…sensei, are you alright? If you're sick, we need to take care of you so that you'll be healthy for the tour."

"I'm fine, Shizuko." And there was his real name again, rather than using that nickname that Shizuko had always protested. Maybe he really was serious about all of this, considering Shizuko couldn't remember the last time Ijuuin had actually used any of his real name. "I was going to have my own room in the hotels we stay in, and they were going to throw you in with one of the other staff. But…" He rubbed the back of his neck, keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel with his other and. "I'd like it if you shared a room with me. If that's okay."

Another long pause, and Shizuko actually sat up. "I can share a room with you, if you want. But I'm not sharing a bed."

"Aw, why not?" And it seemed that Ijuuin was back to his old self, because he had a shit-eating grin on his lips as he asked it. "Well, they booked me suites in all the hotels we're staying in. I guess it's good to be the highest-grossing author in the entire department."

"It also helps to be humble, sensei," Shizuko muttered, glancing around. They were still several streets away from his apartment, so it seemed he was in for a long ride. Maybe he should've just escaped and rode the subway. When he looked over and saw the look on Ijuuin's face, he added, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong with knowing how good I am? Everyone always tells me how great I am, anyway. Might was well embrace it."

Shizuko just sighed and leaned against the door a little more, like he thought he would need to make an escape. Never mind the fact that Ijuuin was going too fast for an escape attempt like that to be anywhere safe. "…I guess you wouldn't really be you if you weren't like that, huh?"

"Exactly! And you love me."

"…yeah." He didn't even think when he said that, just saying it and turning back to watch the buildings and people rush past the car. When Ijuiin didn't say anything else, he thought that was that.

Oh how wrong he was.

"Sensei, you don't need to follow me to my apartment," Shizuko muttered as they made their way inside and towards the elevator. Ijuuin didn't say anything, and Shizuko honestly wasn't sure how he was supposed to proceed. Usually Ijuuin had a clever quip whenever Shizuko protested his presence, but all he did was follow after him into the elevator.

When they finally got to his floor and were standing outside his apartment, though, Ijuuin smiled. "Goodnight, Kiwi," he said, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. He made his getaway before Shizuko could actually do anything, though, leaving the man just standing there, staring at his retreating back. Ijuuin even used the stairs instead of the elevator so he wouldn't have to wait for it to get to their floor.

"…what the hell?"