Love Sickness (BoyxBoy) Sekaiichi Hatsukoi Fanfiction

Chapter 6 "It's a small world"

"You love manga."

"Doesn't mean I love to edit it."

"Yes you do. I know because I sit next to you everyday at work and I see how much you enjoy each new chapter that comes out."

Kisa gave a groan.

"Doesn't mean I like dealing with the authors. Or Takano. Or the marketing people. Or the printing people."

Ritsu couldn't help be chuckle at the long list of people that were on Kisa's proverbial shit list.

"At least you're in this because you like manga in the first place."

"I don't like manga right now." Replied Kisa rather petulantly.

"So you still like your job. Just not right now."

Kisa grimaced.

"Yeah. Alright. But I don't think I would've entered manga editing knowing what I do now. If I had known how difficult it would be, I don't know if I would've done it."

The train stopped at a station, and Kisa muffled a grunt as he stood, and hurried to the exit.

"Good night Onodera."

"Same here. Get some sleep Kisa-san."

The train doors closed, and Ritsu leaned against the cool windows, staring out into the inky blackness flashing before him, the flashes of bright neon light of the Tokyo sky line dotting his vision as the train passed by, too fast for his tired mind to make sense of them. Kisa's words whispering in his ear.

"If I had known how difficult it would be, I don't know if I would've done it."

Ritsu sighed softly as he got off at his stop, stumbling slightly off the platform before hurrying home. Stripping off his clothes, he mechanically stepped into his shower, pulled on a t-shirt and collapsed onto his bed, Kisa's words still on his thoughts.

"Ritsu are you sure about this?" Onodera Kai looked at his son seriously, gauging his son's determination. He expected to see uncertainty, nervousness, perhaps even a little bit of fear. What he didn't expect to see in those haunted dark green eyes, so similar yet so different to his wife's own, was a quiet resolve, and a strength that he had never realized that his son had possessed. Onodera Kai's heart clenched at the masked sadness on Ritsu's face.

His time overseas and later his time as an editor, had changed the boy into a man, and sometimes Kai cursed himself for allowing his son to grow up away from his careful gaze. But back then, the boy had been so desperate to leave, almost as if he was running away from something, that Kai hadn't the heart to say no. And now, he was paying the price. His son had become an adult without him noticing, and had made his choice without coming to him for advice or help. The thought of letting go of his son made him wince internally.

"Yes father. I want to do it this way. Please let me."

Pride swelled in Onodera Kai's heart. He may not fully understand Ritsu's choice, and neither would he fully agree with it, but Ritsu's firm stance on the matter soothed some of his worries. He had initially been shocked, then hurt by Ritsu's decision as he heard the news from one of his business rivals, but now that Ritsu had finally decided to tell him, there wasn't anything left for him as a father but to give his blessing to his only son.