Disclaimer: It all belongs to Kadokawa and Nakamura-sensei

Author's note: A shorter one again, but I think Henmi needs to be mentioned at least once. :D

Maybe unknown words:

conbini bentou = lunch from the convenience store

The sun and the sea

Henmi Masakazu really liked his job. Yes, it was mostly paperwork, and yes, he was used to be working overtime. It was exhausting and sometimes he forgot to have his lunch break. But at such times a deep voice would come from his left, reminding him to eat properly.

His superior, Yokozawa Takafumi, was a very serious person, and he couldn't say for sure if he had ever seen him smile. Everybody at Marukawa Publishing knew the dark-haired man who was always dressed properly, his suit flawless and the necktie usually of a matching colour. And almost everybody feared him as much as they respected him.

When Yokozawa raised his voice in front of people from other departments or his own subordinates, they all would look at him in horror while praying that they would survive the roasting. There were only a few people Henmi knew of who were mostly unfazed by his shouting and glares. One was Takano from the 'Emerald', but that was because he and Yokozawa had known each other since college. Isaka also knew how to handle 'the Wild Bear from Sales' easily, as well as one or two guys at the printing department. But given that they also had to make their point in meetings, this was a neccessity. In publishing losing in one field meant losing in others as well.

The last person who never seemed to be scared or nervous in Yokozawa's presence, was...

"Oi, Yokozawa! I am going out for lunch. Wanne join me?"

Henmi looked up from his screen to see Kirishima from 'Japun' making one of his numerous visits to the sales section. He was standing next to Yokozawa now who was not even looking at him while he rummaged through some documents and mumbled that he didn't have time for a break.

Which was true. Today was the last day before the promotion campaign for a new manga series started, so they were busy with checking that all information and material had been distributed to the bookstores and websites, and making a few last-minute calls to tie up the remaining loose ends.

"You should really take a break", Kirishima insisted and attempted to poke his shoulder, but his hand was slapped away before it could even touch the grey suit. "The wrinkles between your eyebrows and below your eyes are getting deeper again."

"I had coffee, that'll have to suffice."

Henmi rested his chin on his left palm and watched their small argument. Almost one year ago the editor had started dropping by the sales department frequently. Of course there had been occasions before, when he had come to give them some material or retrieve sales reports, but nowadays he came mostly to chat with Yokozawa or invite him for lunch. Around the same time when that had started, Henmi's mentor had begun to become a little softer.

Of course, he would still yell when somebody made a mistake or was late with handing in a report, but he would also greet them in the mornings and after work and praise them for good work. Things had changed a lot in Henmi's opinion, and he was grateful for it.

This was not only because he himself wasn't being yelled at as often anymore, but also for the changes he saw in Yokozawa. On Fridays he left at proper times, on Mondays he looked well-rested and throughout the week there was somebody who checked if he took his lunch breaks. Nobody else than Kirishima had ever dared to suggest breaks to him, for that was usually answered with a glare.

To be honest, Yokozawa would still react like that, but never when it was 'Japun's' editor who told him to.

"I thought you'd say that, so I brought you a conbini bentou." Kirishima put a white plastic bag on his desk.

"Thanks. I will have it later."

"No. I will make sure that you eat it now", he replied, smiling, and pulled up a chair to sit next to him. He then unwrapped the food, took the provided chopsticks and picked up a piece of fried chicken. "Say 'Aaaahhh'!"

Yokozawa glared at him in horror, his face turning from white to beet-red with the speed of light.

"Just how much of an idiot are y-"

His words were stopped by the chicken pushed into his mouth. "Now chew properly or you'll get an upset stomach."

The food obviously went down the wrong way, and Yokozawa started coughing furiously. Bending over his desk, he managed to loosen his tie a little and slap the other one's approaching hand once more.

Henmi was still watching as Kirishima rubbed his back to help him get rid of the cough. Seeing the two of them together was somewhat heart-warming. They were two completely different kinds of people, but when he saw them talking to each other or sitting in silence having their lunch together, he found that the overall picture was a matching one.

"What a nice display of friendship."

He turned around to see Mino Kanade from the 'Emerald' standing behind him with a file in his hands. His face was turned towards the two men and his everlasting smile was in place and shiny as ever.

"Usually I see Yokozawa-san shout at Takano-san or make people wet their pants in print-run meetings."

Henmi chuckled. "So he hasn't changed that much at all, huh?"

"Yokozawa-san always had a somewhat warm nature", Mino said and put the papers onto the desk in front of the young salesman. "Don't you think so?"

Sighing softly, Henmi leaned back a little and watched Yokozawa wipe a napkin across his mouth while gesturing Kirishima to leave already.

"I guess that's true. But you have to admit that they are not very alike. If Kirishima-san was the sun, then Yokozawa-san would most likely be the sea."

"And still the sun will sink into the sea every evening, and every morning they will rise together in rich light."

He looked up at Mino's content face and smiled. "You guys from 'Emerald' are real poets. No surprise that the female employees are lionizing you like bees the flowers."

"Yokozawa is the one you should look up to, rather than a bunch of guys who look terrible at the end of every cycle and smell like anything else than flowers." He tapped his finger on the file. "I came to bring you the new print run proposal. Please send me an e-mail when you had a look at it."

"Sure", he said and nodded, still in amazement over Mino's deep words.

"Thank you."

After the editor had left the room, Henmi looked around to notice that Kirishima was gone as well. Just one tiny bit too late, he took notice of the dark shadow approaching in his right field of vision. He almost jumped as Yokozawa leaned forward to pick up the file.

"It's the proposal from 'Emerald?"

"Y-yes", he stammered.

Yokozawa skimmed through the papers and returned the file to him with a serious face. "I guess that you'll be able to handle it by yourself. Last time you did well, so I have no reason to believe that there will be any problem."

Still unable to speak properly, Henmi only managed to nod.

His mentor cocked an eyebrow and turned around to go back to his place.

"It's rare to see you blush, Henmi."

Next time: Yokozawa just wasn't prepared for this situation...