Chapter 6

Ken and Miyuki were both gone by the time Kisa got back to the Emerald office, for which he was infinitely grateful. He had work to do, after all, and he couldn't exactly do that after his realization in the lounge if Ken were standing there, watching him. Just as he was about to pick up his landline, though, his cell phone buzzed and scooted across the empty space on his desk. Kisa knew before he even opened it who was texting him.

Kisa-san, what time are you getting out of work today?

Kisa sighed and shook his head. He had plenty of things he could be doing even if he didn't have any of his authors' storyboards. Hatori was the deputy editor-in-chief, but Takano had a habit of dumping paperwork on him when he had to be out of the office. Kisa took one look at the pile of manila envelopes in front of him and felt his will to live dying. He picked up his cell phone and settled on a sarcastic reply.

Sometime this year, if I'm lucky.

It was barely a minute later when the reply came.

My mother and father want to go out to dinner with me and Onii-chan. They already said it's okay for you to come, since Onii-chan would be bringing Kobayashi-san.

Kisa's fingers itched to type out a reply to the effect of 'So I'm on the same level as Kobayashi-san?' when the implications of his boyfriend's last text hit him. He'd been drinking some of his coffee, and he did a spit-take.

"Nice one, Kisa." Mino was beside Kisa, smiling like he usually did when he wasn't under the weight of their deadline. Kisa jumped in terror. He'd never get used to that. Mino just shrugged and wandered off. He had a stack of papers in his arms that looked suspiciously like storyboards. Kisa knew that the authors Mino was in charge of tended to get their things in sooner than the rest, and Kisa had a few ideas why. None he'd share in decent company, of course.

Your parents know about us?

No, I thought tonight would be a good time for them to find out.

In all of his thirty years, Kisa could not remember a single time when he'd been in a relationship long enough for the other guy to want to introduce him to his parents. It was a brand new experience for him and, if he could help it, one he wouldn't be experiencing any time soon.

It broke his heart just thinking of saying no to Yukina, though. He took another look at the paperwork Takano had dumped on his desk that morning and, once again, sighed.

If I get enough work done I can tell my authors to fax me their storyboards to my apartment. I guess six o'clock.

Of course, Kisa doubted he'd get home to his apartment and find any storyboards in his personal fax machine, but a guy could dream, right?

Kisa didn't even bother to look at his phone after that, even though it went off. He knew Yukina would come and pick him up at six o'clock. If everything went right, he'd be standing outside the building, maybe drawing a crowd as people leaving Marukawa stop or slow down so they can stare at him.

He was about to pick up a pack of paperwork and actually get something done when he realized there were some people in there that didn't belong. They were hiding, of course, though it was just behind the doorjamb of the office, as if that would prevent the Emerald men from seeing them. They were editors from Sapphire, the BL division of Marukawa. Kisa had spent many a night out drinking with those women.

They didn't seem to be there for him, though. Ritsu had gotten up while Kisa was gone, and they watched him with interest as he came back into the office, a stack of papers in his arms.

"Where's Takano-san?" one of them asked him. The others nodded, as if this was the entire point of their day: to ask Ritsu where Takano was.

Ritsu looked kind of uncomfortable as he dropped the stack of papers onto Hatori's desk and the older man started going through them. "He has a meeting right now. He'll be back later if you had something you needed to talk to him about." Ritsu looked between the women, who visibly wilted at the news. "It's not the end of the world…"

They all turned and stormed away as if it was exactly the opposite of what Ritsu was telling them. Kisa was tempted to go after them, but then he'd fall victim to the BL fangirls. They'd probably ask him to go out drinking, since he hadn't been out with them in a while (mostly because when he wasn't spending night and day at work, he spent all his free time with Yukina).

Speaking of fangirls, however, Kisa looked up from his paperwork again only to see Miyuki trying to wiggle under his desk.

"Uh, Kobayashi-san, what exactly are you trying to do?" he said as she succeeded in getting in and proceeded to curl in on herself.

"Takano-san is scary. Can I switch editors?" She looked up at him, looking almost ready to cry. Kisa could tell the difference between real crying and crocodile tears, though.

"You get used to it," he said. He tried to push in his chair, but Miyuki wasn't moving, so he was stuck with his chair awkwardly halfway under his desk as he went back to work.

Miyuki was silent, though, as Kisa went about his business. Takano went through, but he didn't even ask if anyone had seen Miyuki. Kisa briefly wondered where Ken was, if he was supposed to be her escort, but he had better things to do so it didn't last long.

"Hey, Kisa-san," Miyuki finally said, staring up at him even as she still had her legs pulled up to her chest. Kisa didn't react, but Miyuki had a feeling he was listening. "Did you and Yukina-san have sex when you were younger?"

"W-what?" Kisa asked, rolling his chair completely out of the desk and staring down at her. She was grinning and, unlike with working with Takano, it didn't seem like she was giving up. Kisa averted his eyes. "I did a lot of things in college, Kobayashi-san. I don't think it's really your business to ask."

"So that means yes." Miyuki grinned and put her glasses on, producing sketch paper from her messenger bag. "Last night, I asked Yukina-san if he thought I could make a BL manga someday. Would you mind?"

"Mind what?"

Before she could answer, Ken was beside Kisa, staring down at Miyuki. He sighed and shook his head. "Takano-san finished editing your storyboards, so can we please go home for now?"

"I don't want to!" Miyuki said, and she tugged on Kisa's legs until his chair wheeled into place and he was, in a way, protecting her.

Kisa just shrugged. "She can stay here if she wants. There's equipment to work, so Takano-san can set her up somewhere out of the way."

Miyuki heartily approved of this plan, and she burst out from under the desk, sending Kisa's chair flying. Ken grabbed the back of it, preventing him from completely tipping over. Kisa, for his part though, couldn't even look at him as Miyuki went up to Takano to ask for supplies.