I don't own Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Nakamura Shungiku does. For those who follow my stories, this isn't technically a new story per se. It's been on the internet for over a year, but this is the first time I've posted it at this website. Another thing you'll notice is that this is a condensed version of the story from what is available at Archive of Our Own. As in there's no lemon scenes. I know I didn't exactly censor myself in the past with these type of scenes, but due to the crackdown that's been going on here over these type of stories, I'd rather not press my luck. So if you would like to read the uncensored version of this fanfic, it's available on the aforementioned website.

As usual, it's all the same warnings: possible OOCness, and dirty humor.

Are You Kidding Me?

Kirishima Zen drank a cup of tea as he read the book he held in his other hand. He chuckled to himself. "Well, this is…interesting."

"What are you reading?" Yokozawa Takafumi deposited his briefcase in a chair beside the table.

"One of my employees was reading this on his break." Kirishima waved World's Greatest First Love Volume 5 by Akikawa Yayoi in his hand. "I confiscated it, and it actually looks like a good book. Why don't you read a little bit?"

Yokozawa took the book from him. He immediately recognized the two teenage boys cuddling on the cover and made a face. "I'd rather not—"

"But it's cute," Kirishima insisted. "The love story between Masamune and Ritsu is so believable! Why don't you try reading just one page?"

Yokozawa rubbed at his forehead irritably. "Do you realize that this book is based off of real-life people?!"

Kirishima blinked slowly before a smile broke out across his face. "Then that's even better! Read it!" he shoved the book into Yokozawa's hands.

Yokozawa felt a dull pain erupting behind his eyes, indicating that he had a migraine. But he decided, for whatever reason, to oblige Kirishima and flipped open the book to as close to the beginning as possible.

"'The tongue gliding over his skin left a burning trail up the side of his neck. Ritsu moaned quietly, digging his fingers into Masamune's back. "S—Senpai," he panted, arching his head against the wall. "Sen—ah!"'"

Yokozawa abruptly snapped the book shut and tossed it onto the table. "I'm not reading anymore."

Kirishima pouted for a moment, but then smiled at Yokozawa as he leaned his chin into his palm. "Are these two anyone we know?"

Yokozawa stiffened, but quickly shook his head. "Don't worry about it. What do you want for dinner?"

"You just got home," Kirishima pointed out playfully. "It's not fair of you to cook dinner."

"I'll manage." Yokozawa looked through the refrigerator. He was certainly tired, but cooking dinner would give him a much needed distraction from the loathsome book.

And the unwilling mental images that came with it.

"Papa! Onii-chan!" Kirishima Hiyori suddenly hurried into the dining room, cuddling Sorata to her chest. "I'm watching my Naruto Shippuden DVD! Would you like to watch it with me?"

"I have to make din—" Yokozawa began.

"Nonsense, I'll order takeout!" Kirishima stood up from the table and grabbed Yokozawa by his sleeve. Then he dragged the other man behind Hiyo and into the living room. The Naruto ShippudenDVD seemed to already be in, and an episode was playing. "Ah, what story arc is this, Hiyo?"

"When Pein invades Konoha." Hiyo shivered a little. "Pein's voice is so scary, though! And he's such a scary villain!"

"At least he only exists in anime and can't hurt anyone for real," Yokozawa said idly, pulling Sorata into his lap as he sat down. He was glad for the distraction from that horrifying book Kirishima forced him to read.

Well, it appears Masamune and Onodera lack ANY discretion whatsoever. He sighed heavily. It's only what they deserve, after all.

"A-CHOO!"

"—CHOO!"

Onodera Ritsu stiffened as he held his handkerchief over his nose. He looked over his shoulder at the person sitting on the couch. "Wha—did you just sneeze too?!"

Takano Masamune calmly wiped at his nose with his own handkerchief, not looking up from his storyboard edits. "Our bodies must be in-synch."

"Dream on!" Ritsu snapped, bundling up his now used handkerchief. "We probably caught the same cold—or somebody's talking about the both of us!"

"Hmm." Takano casually tossed aside his handkerchief and picked up his red pen. "I guess we're pretty popular." He circled a frame on the storyboard.

Or maybe somebody's talking about that damned series! Ritsu fumed to himself. He knew better than to say this out loud in front of Takano, of course.

"Onodera." Ritsu stiffened as Takano suddenly slid up behind him. His breath tickled Ritsu's ear. "You look tired. Why don't I put you to bed?"

Ritsu let out an involuntary shiver before pulling away. "I-I still have my edits to work on, you know!"

"Hmm." Takano moved away and picked up his own storyboard. "There's a department meeting tomorrow. I want you to come with me."

"Eh?" Ritsu looked up. "How come? I don't really need to observe department meetings anymore. I've seen enough of them and participated in them."

Takano looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Are you refusing an order from your boss?"

"Of course not!" Ritsu snapped. "I just don't see the point in me being there!"

Takano turned back to his storyboard. "It's because I told you to."

Ritsu grumbled to himself and glaring at his own edits. It was infuriating that such a pompous asshole was his boss! He wanted to knock him off his high-horse for once!

"By the way," Takano added. "I just got in a report from Sapphire." Ritsu stiffened violently, but Takano continued. "The latest volumeof World's Greatest First Love is number one on their charts."

"Is that supposed to make me happy?!" Ritsu snapped.

"The series is about us," Takano reminded him. "So I thought it would."

"I'm NOT happy!" Ritsu just wanted that blasted book to disappear from existence. Sometimes he worried that somebody from his past would happen upon the book, recognize the Ritsu in the book as himself, and tell on Ritsu's parents. It wasn't a pleasant thing to be constantly living in fear.

I wish Usami-sensei would focus on something else than this accursed book! Ritsu glared at Takano over his shoulder. It's bad enough he's fabricated my personal life for all of Japan to see! I don't want Takano-san to get any ideas from the book that we'll get back together!

That singular thought caused a spasm of pain to form in his chest. He pressed a hand over his heart and looked away from Takano. It made him uncomfortable to think in such a way about Takano; that much was certain. But no matter how much his body yielded to the man—and how much his heart ached for him—Ritsu had to be logical. He had to have a clear head on his shoulders. And the logical side of him told him that rekindling his relationship with Takano would be the biggest mistake of his life.

Even though he loves you and you share your bodies together.

Ritsu snapped his teeth to cut off that unpleasant thought and focused on his edits. I can't help how my body reacts, but I can help my mind and heart. And I will stay in control of both no matter what.

Ritsu couldn't stop the feeling of overwhelming dread from spreading as he spied the usual book on his desk the following morning. He rubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. "For the love of—how many damned books does Sapphire have? And WHY do they keep sending them to me?!"

"I don't see what the problem is," Kisa said idly, taking a sip of coffee. "I'm saving so much money because of them, Ricchan!"

"That's because I'm giving you the books!" Ritsu fumed. He snatched the book up, glaring at the cover. It was an unusual cover in that instead of two pretty-boys cuddling, the bigger boy was the only one who looked happy, while the smaller one looked angry and was shoving at the other boy.

Ritsu flipped the book over to read the spine. "'Pure Love Egoist: Volume 7' by Akikawa Yayoi." He shuddered involuntarily.

"Volume seven?!" Kisa shouted, jumping to his feet. "They released volume seven?!"

"It's all yours," Ritsu said blandly, tossing it to him.

Kisa cheered and flipped it open. "Sensei's been so caught up in Romantica and World's Greatest First Love, that I'd given up hope he would update Egoist! Hiroki and Nowaki are so CUTE in it!"

You say that about ALL the couples in these crappy books, Ritsu thought, shaking his head as he took his seat. I have to wonder though…since Romantica and—that other abomination—are based on real-life characters, are these Egoist people real too?!

"Kisa!" Mino called out to him from across the desk. "Did you see last night's episode?"

Ritsu stiffened, and felt heat on his face as Kisa answered back. "Hai! But I'm starting to pity Akihito more than Misaki—"

…Ah. He slumped in his seat in relief. They're talking about Romantica. GOOD.

He'd yet to get any angry phone calls from his parents over the publication or animation of World's Greatest First Love, so Ritsu assumed they were still in the dark over it. He intended things to stay that way for all eternity.

As long as Takano-san actually starts acting DISCREET. Because he honestly doesn't give a damn about who finds out about our relationship!

…not that we HAVE one, or anything. Ritsu ducked his head again and rubbed his sore stomach. He'd only been there for ten minutes and already he was ready to go back to bed.

"Yoshikawa!" Hatori suddenly shouted into his desk phone. "I did not stay up until three o'clock THIS MORNING, helping you with your storyboards, for you to call me and tell me YOUR HAND IS CRAMPING AND YOU CAN'T DRAW!"

"And again, Yoshikawa Chiharu is late," Kisa sighed, shaking his head as he flipped open Pure Love Egoist. "Takano-san's going to be pissed…"

"Onodera-kun!" Mino called out across the desk. "I heard a rumor that Ichinose Erika wants to do a manga-version of Scarecrow! Is it true?"

"H-How should I know?!" Ritsu sputtered. He shot to his feet and waved his hands furiously. "And don't speak so loud! Somebody might overhear you and get that same idea!"

"ONODERA!" Takano smacked him on the top of his head with a manila folder. "Why are you standing there wasting time?! We have a meeting in five minutes!"

"OW!" Ritsu rubbed at his head and glared over his shoulder. "I'm not wasting time! I'm coming!" it irritated Ritsu that though Kisa and Mino were truly wasting company time at the moment, he was the one singled out for a lecture!

"Takano-san!" Mino raised his head, still hanging onto his smile. "Is it true that Ichinose Erika is try—"

"I said don't give him any ideas!" Ritsu hollered, hiding his face in his hands.

"Aa, it's true," Takano said, straightening his glasses. "But Onodera Publishing decided not to pass out the rights so freely again after 25th Century Nostalgia's manga adaptation sold as well as it did."

"…Oh." Mino looked only mildly disappointed. The smile remained on his face though as he turned back to his storyboards.

"We're almost late," Takano said harshly, glaring at Ritsu. "Move your ass, Onodera!"

"How can we be late when the meetings on the floor right below us?!" Ritsu demanded, but he grabbed as much paperwork as he could as he hurried after Takano.

"Yoshikawa-sensei!" Hatori yelled uncharacteristically into his phone as Ritsu left the Emerald department. "When I call, I'm looking to speak to YOU! Not one of your pea-brained assistants! I—I will most CERTAINLY call Yanase that!"

Poor Hatori-san, Ritsu thought, shaking his head. Shuffling his papers—most of which he didn't even know why he grabbed—he glared at Takano's back in front of him. "Can I ask WHY I need to attend this meeting with you, Takano-san?! Last I checked, this was a department head meeting! I'm not even going to be saying a word!"

Takano glanced over his shoulder briefly. "It's really simple."

"Hai?!"

"Because I told you to."

"You—" Ritsu bit down on his lower lip to prevent the number of curse words from erupting from his throat as they reached the elevator. Bastard, bastard, BASTARD!

The ride down to the third floor was in silence, which Ritsu relished. That is, until after they got out the elevator and he ran headlong into someone. "A-Ack! Gomen nasai!" he bowed deeply.

"So it's you."

Ritsu stiffened, and inwardly shrank into himself as he met Yokozawa's glare. "O…hayo gozaimasu," he said numbly. He felt incredibly awkward and glanced at Takano for assistance.

"Eh?" Takano looked at Yokozawa in shock. "You're attending the meeting? What about your boss?"

Yokozawa shrugged stiffly. "He's under a pile of paperwork at the moment, so he's sending me in his place. Is Onodera attending the meeting?"

"I-I am!" Ritsu confirmed, straightening his shoulders slightly. He mentally prepared himself for a smart remark from Yokozawa.

Instead, the older man simply shrugged. "All right." He turned and walked towards the board room.

Ritsu blinked for a moment. He'd been expecting Yokozawa to give some sort of crude, sarcastic remark, but the older man hadn't.

"OI!" Takano hit him on the head again. "Hurry up and move! You're blocking traffic in this hallway!"

"Stop hitting me!" Ritsu shouted, rubbing at his head once more. "And what traffic?! There's nobody else around!"

"And we're now late, because of you!" Takano snapped over his shoulder.

Ritsu snapped his teeth together and slowly counted to ten. Takano may have been leaping through hoops to try and be his lover, but he wasn't helping his cause by treating Ritsu like shit at work. How about I shut off my phone and not contact you outside work for a few days?! How'd you like that, bastard?!

If they were late, it was hard to tell. The other departments in the room were still settling in and nobody scolded them for their apparent lateness. And to the surprise of no one, their boss Isaka Ryuichiro had yet to grace them with his presence.

As they rounded the table to find empty seats though, something across from them caught his eye. He recognized Kirishima Zen, the lead editor of Marukawa's Shounen division Japun, and he was nonchalantly reading a book in his lap. Ritsu idly glanced at the book's cover and blanched.

He was reading World's Greatest First Love. And didn't seem to care if anyone else saw him reading a BL book

Ritsu quickly turned away, willing himself not to blush as he sat down beside Takano. Just how many damned people were going to read that book?! Most of all, WHY was Usami-sensei continuing to write for it?! Where was he getting the inspiration or information?! Because Ritsu sure as hell wasn't in contact with him about it!

Ritsu looked at Takano briefly. His boss was rechecking his paperwork. Ritsu leaned close to him. "Takano-san," he hissed.

"What is it, Onodera?" Takano asked in his usual tone of voice.

"Shhh!" Ritsu hissed at him. He leaned in closer. "Have you been in contact with Usami-sensei?"

Takano gave him a long moment. Ritsu suddenly felt embarrassed and shrank away. "W-What?"

"Why would I be in contact with Usami-sensei?" Takano asked, still using his same tone of voice. "We work for different mediums."

"Well, where is he getting the ideas to keep writing those damned stories?!" Ritsu jerked his head in Kirishima's direction. "And what if he puts two and two together and figures out WE'RE the inspiration for that idiotic book?!"

Takano looked over at Kirishima. After another long moment he shrugged. "Should I care?"

"You—"

"Sorry I'm late!" everyone in the room jumped as Isaka Ryuichiro breezed into the room, incredibly nonchalant for being ten minutes late. A gentleman Ritsu recognized as his secretary—Asahina Kaworu—followed with a strained look on his face. "But let's not waste any more time and get this department meeting started!"

"You're the one who called it," Ritsu heard somebody mutter.

Isaka was grinning from ear to ear as he surveyed the room. His whole face lit up when he saw Ritsu, and the latter quickly shrank into his seat. "Ohayo, Nanahikari!"

Ritsu slapped a hand over his eyes as several people in the room discreetly laughed at Isaka's outburst. He felt like crawling into a hole. Does Isaka-san do this on purpose or does he not realize how much he embarrasses me?! He KNOWS Otou-san so he should at least know my last name!

"Onodera," Takano corrected politely. "It's one syllable less."

Ritsu peeked at Takano through his fingers. Did Takano actually stand up for him instead of throwing him under the bus?!

"Ah, I see!" Isaka tapped his fist into his palm. "Ohayo, Onodera-kun!" Isaka waved to him childishly.

Takano elbowed Ritsu hard in the ribs. "Don't ignore the Senior Manager." It was a proper correction, but he have to say it in a BOOMING VOICE?!

"OHAYO GOZAIMASU!" Ritsu snapped, standing up and bowing stiffly.

"Then let's begin the department meeting," Asahina announced. He flipped through some paperwork. "According to—"

"Question!" Isaka asked, raising his hand as though he were in an elementary classroom.

Asahina sighed, and a muscle in his cheek twitched. "Aa, Isaka-san?"

"I'm going to need this sit this meeting out! I only got three hours of sleep last night, so my head's quite foggy and I can't concentrate on anything!"

That's not a question, Ritsu thought, shaking his head.

Asahina looked like he was in a great deal of pain, but he kept his voice calm. "Then I will oversee this meeting, Isaka-san." Ritsu could've sworn he heard him mutter, "Which is what I was doing, anyways."

Even though it was a meeting of all the departments, Ritsu was unsurprised to find it descend quickly into chaos. He ducked his head and a pressed his hand to his forehead to will his headache away. It didn't work.

"—Utter crap!" Yokozawa was screaming. He punched the table for emphasis. "You can't blame the sales department for YOUR lack of hindsight!"

"MY lack of hindsight?!" Takano snapped. He waved his folder furiously. "I have the original sales report RIGHT HERE! It clearly says I demanded half a million copies! YOUR department only ordered a quarter of a million! Because of YOUR lack of hindsight, the profits of MY department sank by eight percent!"

"Well MY department wasn't the one who got out the last chapter of that story arc THREE MONTHS LATE!" Yokozawa shouted back. "If you'd taken the time and consideration to think of your readers and actually MEET YOUR DEADLINES, then we wouldn't have been put in this position!"

"It's BECAUSE we were late that the demand increased!" Takano argued. "And I'm not about to put out a chapter when I feel the material is sub-par!"

Yokozawa laughed mockingly, folding his arms over his chest. "An editor who speaks so negatively about his own author has no argument to stand on!"

"Honesty is the best policy!"

"Well, these mistakes are happening FAR too often! It's detrimental to the reputation of Marukawa Publishing!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from YOU! You, the department who leaked The Kan's latest movie to the press before a marketing strategy had even been planned for it! So don't act so self-righteous with me!"

Ritsu was shocked to see Yokozawa actually go red in the face over this. It was confusing. He'd yelled some pretty insensitive stuff to Takano, so why was the subject of The Kan suddenly taboo?

"Now, now," Kirishima interjected suddenly, though he was smiling serenely. Up to that point he'd been observing the screaming match between Takano and Yokozawa as though he were watching something amusing on television, so his interruption was surprising. "I think that's a bit unfair to say, Takano-san. Considering that it'd been planned in advance for such a leak to happen."

Ritsu glanced at Takano, but the other man shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine. But this isn't my fault, and I refuse to take responsibility for it!"

"It's not my fault either!" Yokozawa snapped. Some of the redness in Yokozawa's face faded slightly, but he still looked stressed.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Isaka said, acting like a referee. "Why don't we simply agree to disagree?"

"NO!" Takano and Yokozawa shouted.

Isaka laughed loudly. "Okay!"

The next half-hour was very much the same for other departments. Lots of screaming, finger-pointing and hardly any sort of progress one might expect from a department meeting. When Sapphire's chief editor stood up, Ritsu suddenly had a feeling of dread.

"We've been trying to work with Akikawa-sensei for a manga adaptation of his most recent work. So far we haven't been successful."

Ritsu felt the blood drain from his face. He quickly looked at Takano, who was sitting in silence. But it was easy to see from the expression on his face that he didn't care. Kami-sama, PLEASE NO!

"I thought Pure Love Romantica was already a manga!" Isaka said.

"Hai, but Pure Love Egoist has gained some steam, and—"

Oh. Ritsu almost had a heart attack from sheer relief. Good, good! Make THAT abomination into a manga! And let the whole world ignore World's Greatest First Love!

But other than this, the meeting felt like a giant waste of time. No progress had been made, all the departments took a loss from last month, and nobody was taking responsibility for it.

Why am I here? Ritsu wondered, willing himself to not plug his ears. Was this what he would've had to look forward to if he became head of Onodera Publishing? Suddenly, the prospect of career advancement didn't seem so appealing. Not when all it amounted to was a shitload of stress and screaming to the equivalent of arguing with a wall.

"Onodera-kun!" for someone's whose head was so "foggy" that he couldn't lead a department meeting, Isaka sure liked to intervene unnecessarily. "What do you think of it?"

Ritsu quickly looked up, realizing with dread that he hadn't been paying attention to the current proceedings. He didn't even recognize one of the people standing up. He looked at Takano helplessly, but his boss had occupied himself with his paperwork and didn't look up. Oh, thanks a LOT asshole!

"I'm sure you have a lot of input!" Isaka encouraged. He leaned his chin into his palm and smiled devilishly. "After all, you once proclaimed you would take over Takano-san's job!"

Was Isaka trying to start trouble for Ritsu, or was he really too stupid to have tact? Ritsu didn't know, and his body went rigid as murmurs broke out across the tables. He glanced up again to see the two departments who'd been arguing looking at him expectantly.

Ritsu sighed shortly, feeling sick to his stomach but knowing he HAD to give an answer. Well, if I'm going to make an ass of myself I might as well get it over with.

"Uhhh…" he rubbed at the nape of his neck awkwardly. "D-Did you consider having a reader poll…?" he winced.

"You SEE?!" one man shouted, jabbing his finger. "I TOLD you to listen to the damn readers! But noooooo, I'M the ahou right?!"

Ritsu gaped in shock. Holy shit that WORKED?! He sank into his chair, unable to hide his relief.

"Good call," Takano said to him quietly, still not looking up from his paperwork.

"Thanks for leaving me hanging!" Ritsu hissed back, glaring at him.

Takano finally looked at him, albeit briefly. "You're welcome."

Finally, the end of the accursed meeting came. Ritsu's ears were still ringing and he rubbed at his face. I need some coffee…

"Wait a moment, please!" Isaka announced, standing up and waving his hand at the departments gathering their paperwork. "Before I forget, each department needs to select two individuals for next week's summit!"

Ritsu blinked. "…Summit?" but to his shock, confusion broke out across the group of people in the room as well. Even Takano looked surprised by this announcement.

"We need to host a wide scale meeting, after all!" Isaka continued, seemingly oblivious to the confusion around himself. "It's a highly important meeting to discuss the standings in this company!"

…Didn't we just have one? Ritsu wondered.

"So I need ALL the departments to pick two people to come to this three-day summit!" Isaka announced. "The summit will be held in Hakone!"

"I-I-Isaka-san—" Asahina tried to speak with him discreetly.

"I want the names of everyone attending to be on my desk by the end of the day!" Isaka pressed on. His voice became noticeably louder. "You department heads are required to come, so make sure to make the proper arrangements for your departments in your absence!"

"I already made my decision," Takano said matter-of-factly. He slapped a hand on Ritsu's shoulder. "I select Onodera to come representing Emerald."

"T-Takano-san!" Ritsu shouted, while the people from Sapphire squealed.

"Of course!" Isaka agreed. "Now I need the rest of you departments to show the same determination and decisiveness!"

"Isaka-san." Asahina was trying to be discreet, but failed miserably. "We don't have the budget for—"

"Isaka-san!" Kirishima asked, raising his hand. "Can I bring my daughter on this summit?"

Yokozawa choked, but Isaka's laugh overshadowed the sound. "Of course! Now, meeting adjourned!"

Asahina took the opportunity to drag Isaka out into the hallway. Ritsu stood there dumbfounded. …Huh? What just happened?

"Onodera-kun!" one Sapphire representative squealed, hurrying over to him. "If you're going with Takano-san, does this mean you two will share the same bed again?"

Ritsu hated the small reminders of why he hated this job, especially when Takano ditched him to fend for himself against the women clamoring for details about his supposed relationship with Takano.

"Does Takano-san cuddle?"

"How does he kiss?"

"He looks so skinny, but I bet he's a beast in bed!"

Who the hell ASKS these sort of questions?! Ritsu wondered, flabbergasted. "I—uh—um—"

"—you SERIOUSLY out of your mind?!"

Five minutes later, Ritsu managed to disentangle himself from the women and made it into the hallway. He heard shouting and couldn't help but be curious as to where it came from. When he saw who was doing the screaming, his first instinct was to immediately walk in the opposite direction.

He didn't, though.

"We don't have the money to sponsor a useless summit like this, Ryuichiro-sama!" Asahina snapped, shaking his hands for emphasis. "And I know for a fact that the President is unaware of such plans! Why would you book something like this?!"

"Asahina, you're overreacting," Isaka said confidently, waving a dismissive hand. "You're looking at the next President of Marukawa, after all. When have I ever made a bad decision, hmm? After all, who was it that encouraged Akihito to become an author in the first place?"

"But why Hakone?!" Asahina demanded. "We could easily hold a summit here in Tokyo, and it would be many times less expensive! Why Hakone?!"

"Why not Hakone?" Isaka asked, looking at Asahina as though he were stupid. "I've already stayed in every major hotel in Tokyo. Besides, the crisp air this time of year is perfect for hot springs!"

"Ryuichiro-sama, do you honestly think the company's budget can be used to fill your whimsical desires?!"

Isaka seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Yes!"

"You can't use the company's budget any which way you want! That's not what the next President of this company SHOULD do!"

"That's right, I'm the next President of Marukawa," Isaka agreed harshly. "And I need to build a proper image and status for my employees, and for everyone who interacts with Marukawa!"

Asahina looked absolutely haggard. "And what sort of image and status will you show by sending everyone to Hakone for a "summit" that's truly a disguise for a personal vacation you want?!"

Isaka struck an arrogant pose. "That I'm awesome, of course!"

Ritsu pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling his headache returning swiftly. This company is doomed.

He didn't bother to hear whatever Asahina's answer was. Ritsu turned on his heel and hurried for the elevator.

"—know it's exciting!" Kirishima chatted enthusiastically into his cell phone as he boarded the elevator behind Ritsu. "Hai, he gave me permission! Now, I know you'll be upset to miss two days of sch—oh, you aren't upset? Well, that's even better!"

It's probably his daughter, Ritsu thought, feeling awkward to hear a one-sided personal conversation.

"Well, I can't guarantee that because of how hard I'll be working," Kirishima continued. "But we'll see. I—what's that?" his grinned suddenly widened. "I'm quite certain that Mama will be there, too!"

Ritsu looked at him. Mama?

The elevator 'dinged' and opened on the fourth floor. Ritsu brushed the personal conversation from his mind. He rubbed at his temples as he dragged his feet back to his department. He sort of figured that Isaka called this "summit" just to use company funds for a vacation, but he wasn't looking forward to it at all. The last thing he needed was to be in some hot spring and to suddenly have Takano all over him.

Maybe I can talk him out of not taking me? Ritsu thought to himself. He nodded with determination. Sure, why not? After all, Kisa-san, Mino-san, and Hatori-san all have seniority over me. They deserve to go on this vaca—summit, more than I do!

Sure enough, Kisa was sighing sadly at his desk, even while his finger held a page in Pure Love Egoist. "A three-day summit in Hakone? Ricchan sure is lucky!"

"I-If that's the case," Ritsu said, leaping upon an opportunity. "You can—"

"Bring me home a souvenir in any case!" Kisa perked up suddenly. He bookmarked his page and flipped open his laptop. "Here, let me show you what I have in mind!"

"Maybe you ought to—" Ritsu tried to offer.

"Mt. Fuji mochi!" Kisa cheered, turning the laptop in Ritsu's direction. "Can you pick me up a box of it?"

"What a fun idea!" Mino chimed in. "Can you buy me some Mt. Fuji shot glasses?"

Ritsu gaped at him. "A-Ah, are they different than standard shot glasses?"

"Of course not," Mino said, hanging onto his usual smile. "They just have Mt. Fuji printed on them!"

"You know, if you're so passionate about seeing Mt. Fuji, maybe—"

"Onodera-kun," Hatori suddenly interrupted. His face still looked neutral, and not nearly as angry as it had been before the meeting. "If you're picking up souvenirs, can you buy me some sort of Yosegi-Zaiku style art piece?"

"Wait a minute!" Ritsu tried to reason, raising his hands. "H-How about one of you just simply take my place? You all seem much more enthusiastic about this summit than I am! Take my place and have a good time!"

"Mmm…nah," Kisa said, closing his laptop.

"WHY?!" Ritsu demanded. "You were just talking about how jealous you were that you're not going! I'm giving you the opportunity to go!"

"Well, Takano-san just ran up to Isaka-san's office with the list," Kisa said idly. "It wouldn't be wise to change these plans after Takano-san already set them in stone."

"B-But Isaka-san isn't even in his office! He's still on the third floor getting yelled at by his secretary!" Ritsu turned to Hatori. "Hatori-san, why don't you go?! You're constantly under a lot of pressure here! I think you deserve to go on this summit more than me!"

Hatori stacked his papers up. "Arigato for the offer, but I'm going to have to decline."

"But why?!"

"Because Yoshikawa Chiharu is being a pain in the ass and if I leave for three days she will cause nothing but trouble," Hatori said matter-of-factly.

Ritsu turned to Mino. "…Mino-san?"

"As much as I would like to go, my schedule is full week," Mino said blithely. "So go and enjoy yourself on our behalf."

Ritsu's shoulders drooped in disappointment. He felt like this was some sort of crazy conspiracy against him. Why can't things EVER be normal for me?!

"We're all set," Takano announced as he entered the department. "Isaka-san accepted my proposal."

"B-But how could he when he's still downstairs?!" Ritsu demanded.

"The summit will be next weekend in Hakone," Takano continued as though Ritsu hadn't even spoken. "And I expect the rest of you to still your work in on time while I'm gone."

"Hai!" the department answered him.

"Why do I have to go with you?!" Ritsu demanded for the umpteenth time. "I'm the newest employee! Why couldn't anyone else go?!"

"Wow, Ricchan is rejecting a mini-vacation?" Kisa observed thoughtfully, smiling. "He's really dedicated to his work to want to stay in Tokyo!"

"Stop bitching," Takano said sharply, sliding into his own seat. "You're coming with me because I told you too! And if anyone has a problem with it, deal with it because I don't want to hear it!"

"But—"

"Oh, there's no problem with it," Mino said cheerfully. "Onodera-kun already agreed to pick up some nice souvenirs for us."

"I did?!" Ritsu exclaimed.

"You did?" Takano's brow rose. "That was nice of you, Onodera."

"B-B-B-B-But—"

"I can't wait to try Mt. Fuji mochi!" Kisa said, flipping open Pure Love Egoist once more. "They're a little pricy, but I'm happy Ricchan is spoiling us!"

Ritsu shook his head. "I don't—" then the last part of Kisa's statement registered with him. "…Wait. What?"

"Wow, you're being very generous Onodera," Takano said thoughtfully. "To treat your fellow coworkers to souvenirs."

"W-Wait a minute!" Ritsu shouted. "I have to pay for YOUR souvenirs?!"

"I look forward to seeing what kind of shot glasses you pick out for me," Mino laughed.

"Why do I have to pay, though?!"

"Well, you're the one getting a free paid vacation," Takano said dully, shuffling his paperwork. "So it's only fair that you do something nice while your coworkers are stuck slaving here in Tokyo."

"But I don't even WANT TO GO!" Ritsu wanted to wring somebody's neck, but he wasn't sure who more. "And I offered to switch with them—ANY OF THEM—and they all said NO! So don't feed me a sob-story when they don't care!"

Hatori's desk phone rang and he briskly answered it. "Are you ready to talk to me like an adult, Yoshikawa-sensei?"

"Hurry up and get to work," Takano said sternly, glaring at Ritsu over the rim of his glasses. "You're not being paid to stand around doing nothing."

Ritsu let out a long stream of swear words under his breath and forced himself to sit back down. His headache returned in full-swing and his stomach began hurting terribly all over again. He pressed a hand to his face and sighed painfully.

Why am I surrounded by completely, utterly selfish people?! I didn't ask to go on this fucking trip! I even offered up my spot but NOOOOOO! I'M getting preferential treatment! Damn it all!

Ritsu forced his mind to clear and pulled out some storyboards. He willed himself to not think about the horror trip that was the following weekend. As much as he wanted to enjoy a short stay at an onsen, he knew exactly why Takano chose him. It was humiliating and frustrating all at the same time.

You think you're so smart, you bastard! Ritsu glared at Takano out of the corner of his eye. You think you've got everything under control and in your hands. Well, I'm not going to make this easy for you. Let's see how much you like being ignored for two weeks!

It was childish, but it was the only form of rebellion that Ritsu could think of. Takano's natural determination would make this very difficult, but he was sick of the older man constantly getting his way. Giving him cold shoulders and the silent treatment was minor, but Ritsu knew it would drive the other man crazy.

But it's what he deserves. Ritsu smirked with determination and focused on his work.

"AH!" Kisa said straight up in his seat, still reading Pure Love Egoist. "T-That's terrible! How can Hiroki be so awful to Nowaki?!"

"Hiroki being his usual tsundere-self?" Mino asked from across the desks.

Kisa nodded in frustration. "Hai, but he went too far this time! He's older than Nowaki, so he needs to be more mature than him! But he's definitely not acting like it!"

Against his will, Ritsu was mildly curious. "Uh—what did you call Hiroki?" he asked painfully.

"Tsundere," Kisa supplied. "It's an individual who's very emotional internally, but externally they're cold and hostile. Hiroki is a textbook tsundere." Kisa laughed. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find his picture in the dictionary next to the word!"

"Hiroki's usually your favorite character from Egoist, so I'm surprised you're so critical of him now," Mino said.

Kisa shrugged. "Well, like I said he's the older one in the relationship. He has to naturally take care of Nowaki, but his hostility towards the one person he loves can be unbearable at times. I don't know how Nowaki puts up with it."

"Hmm." Mino leaned his chin into his palm. "You sound like you're speaking from experience, Kisa."

Kisa flushed and ducked his head. "D-Don't get me wrong! I do like Egoist more than Romantica because Romantica's angst can be a bit over the top! But Hiroki's behavior can be frustrating at times!"

"And then there's World's Greatest First Love," Mino mused.

Ritsu stiffened, and squeezed his eyes shut. Oh no…

"That one's growing to be my favorite," Kisa said, smiling. "There's times when I read the story that I just want to reach through the pages and give Ritsu a big hug!"

"Why not give Masamune a big hug?" Takano asked off-handedly from his desk. Ritsu glanced at him to see his boss looking directly at him.

Kisa shrugged. "Masamune seems a bit pushy at times that I feel sorry for Ritsu. But everyone can see that the two love each other, so Ritsu's inability to openly admit his feelings for Masamune can be quite frustrating."

"Indeed they can," Takano agreed, still looking at Ritsu.

Ritsu gritted his teeth and looked away, his embarrassment mounting as his coworkers dissected the BL novel based around his relationship with Takano. He became more determined than ever to give Masamune the silent treatment.

He just hoped it would last the duration of their summit.

One week later…

"Here we are!" Isaka announced, spreading his arms wide as he spun around slightly in the main lobby of their hotel. "As usual, I have the best taste!"

Once again, Asahina looked like he was in a great deal of pain. "Perhaps we should go ahead with the sum—"

"Gosh, what a long train ride!" Isaka interrupted loudly, rubbing at one shoulder. "Who wants to hit the onsen?!"

Ritsu felt haggard on the inside, and was mildly surprised to see the other members of Marukawa enthusiastic with Isaka's proclamation. But why should it be surprising that so many took advantage of this "summit", which was actually a free paid vacation?!

I hope this isn't a habit of Isaka-san's, or Marukawa Publishing will be BANKRUPT before he becomes President! Ritsu sighed, rubbing at his stomach.

"We have the same room," Takano said, holding up two card-keys. "Let's go on up and freshen up."

Ritsu had a pretty good idea of what Takano meant by "freshen up". "No, thank you," he said curtly, deliberately turning his back on Takano. "I have other matters to take care of."

Takano narrowed his eyes at Ritsu. "We have a lot of paperwork to go over, Onodera—"

"Which nobody else is doing, so excuse me if I don't believe you." Ritsu propped his overnight bag on the luggage trolley. "I'm heading into town, but I'll be back soon." He didn't bother waiting for Takano's reply as he walked out of the lobby.

He'd actually been surprised at how successful his "silent treatment" had been towards Takano. Though he had no choice but to talk to the man at work, he'd ignored Takano's phone calls and offers for "visits". Considering how pushy Takano was, Ritsu was incredibly proud of himself for it.

Though…he doubted he'd be able to keep it up for the duration of the summit.

Luck was on his side though as he reached the street. Across from the hotel was a pastry shop. Looking for an easy opportunity to buy Kisa some mochi, he crossed the street for the shop. He just hoped it wasn't too pricy, though he was still quite bitter he was forced to personal pay for the souvenirs for his coworkers.

The next time THEY have to take a trip, I'll demand a souvenir that's over 10,000 yen! he decided.

A quick browse of the pastry shop and Ritsu found the Mt. Fuji mochi that Kisa had requested. Grumbling to himself, he tucked the box under his arm and got into line. There were four people ahead of him and he checked his watch. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long.

"—I got them. No, it—just shut up for a minute!"

Ritsu jumped as the man in front of him shouted into his cell phone. His jaw dropped as he quickly recognized Yokozawa. In Yokozawa's free hand was a large bag of cream-filled pastries. Ritsu shrank a little into himself and glanced behind himself. He was at the back of the line, so unfortunately he was stuck behind Yokozawa. Just please don't see me!

He was surprised, though. Yokozawa didn't seem like the type who ate sweets. But maybe the person he was yelling at on his cell phone was the recipient of the pastries?

"It'll only take a couple—WHY would you say that out loud?!" Yokozawa snapped harshly. "Don't tell me to calm down! You—this conversation is over!" he snapped his phone shut and sighed heavily. He rubbed a hand at his face, and Ritsu felt a measure of sympathy for him. The line shifted forward, and Ritsu moved as meekly as possible, hoping not to get Yokozawa's attention.

But fate was hardly ever kind to Ritsu. The line stopped so abruptly that Ritsu almost walked into Yokozawa. He yelped and jumped back to avoid him, and that's what got Yokozawa's attention. He glanced over his shoulder with annoyance. "Huh? It's you?"

"A-Ah…" Ritsu stammered for a moment before he bowed. "Hello, Yokozawa-san!"

Yokozawa scoffed. "You sure have a lot of free time to come to a store and buy something. Or are you saddling Masamune with all the work?"

Ritsu bit down hard on his lower lip. Way to call the kettle black, you jerk! "And what are you doing here?" he bit out sharply.

"That's none of your business." Yokozawa turned back around. "But you should know that this trip isn't a vacation."

"I'm not buying this for myself, you know," Ritsu retorted. "This is a souvenir for one of my coworkers! And I'm the one fitting the bill!"

Yokozawa arched an eyebrow at him. "You're personally paying for the souvenirs of your coworkers? You're either a nice guy or an idiot, and I'm more inclined to believe the latter."

Ritsu felt his anger flare, and for once didn't feel inclined to be polite. "So says the man who's buying pastries for somebody else."

A muscle jumped under Yokozawa's eye, which made Ritsu feel very satisfied. But only briefly. "There's no need for you to be disrespectful to a sempai, Onodera. But I'm not really surprised."

So it's perfectly okay for YOU to be disrespectful to ME?! but Ritsu didn't feel like arguing anymore. So he simply rolled his eyes without saying another word.

Before Yokozawa could speak again, his cell phone went off. Sighing irritably, he answered it. "Aa, Yokozawa. I—no, don't come down here!"

Ritsu had to admit it felt a little good to see Yokozawa be given a hard time…even if he didn't know who Yokozawa was talking to.

A few minutes later he paid for the damned mochi and sent Kisa a quick text message to let him know the mochi was picked up. Shaking his head, Ritsu shuffled back across the street and through the front doors of the hotel.

"Oi, Nanahikari!"

Ritsu tensed, and twitched violently as Isaka ran over to him cheerfully. "My name is Onodera," he said painfully through clenched teeth. Why did Isaka call him such an offensive nickname?! He'd called Ritsu by his surname in the past!

"Ah, Onodera-kun," Isaka laughed. "How do you like the hotel? Wow, you got mochi?" without waiting for a reply, Isaka quickly reached out for the shopping bag.

"H-Hai, it's mochi," Ritsu said tensely, hiding the bag behind his back. "But this is a souvenir for my coworker!"

"Ah, I see!" Isaka straightened slightly. "That's very nice of you to buys souvenirs for your coworkers, Onodera-kun!"

"A-Arigato, Isaka-san." Ritsu bowed stiffly.

"Ah, that reminds me!" Isaka suddenly shoved a manila folder into Ritsu's arms. "I forgot to give this to Takano earlier. Since you two are sharing a room, can you give this to him? It's for tomorrow's meeting!"

"Of course I will," Ritsu said, hugging the folder to his chest.

"Well, I think I'll get some mochi or some sort of pastry before I hit the onsen!" Isaka announced. "You got those from that shop across the street, correct?"

"H-Hai."

Isaka laughed haughtily, his hands planted on his hips. "Then I know a certain someone who will appreciate being force-fed some wagashi!" he skipped out the main doors, laughing loudly.

Ritsu shook his head, feeling immense pity from whomever it was that would be on the receiving end of that.

His room with Takano was on the fifth floor. The elevator door opened and Ritsu side-stepped to give the guests departing the elevator room to move. He shuffled the folder and the bag of mochi in his arms as the elevator emptied. He turned towards the door and moved to step inside.

As he started to cross the threshold though, the doors chose that moment to try and close. One door smacked his shoulder sharply before springing back open, and the sudden blow caused Ritsu to drop the manila folder, its contents spilling all over the floor of the elevator.

"Dammit!" Ritsu cursed under his breath. He dropped down to his knees as the elevator doors closed behind him. He frantically grabbed the papers and shoved them into the manila folder, knowing he was probably putting them in out of order but not caring. Just so long as I don't lose any pieces of paper!

He was thankful at least that the elevator was empty besides him, because the last thing he needed was for somebody else to witness this humiliation. One last paper lay face down on the floor and Ritsu picked it up. He flipped it over so he could shove it into the manila folder face up—

And froze. Ritsu blinked once and then twice as his jaw hung open. "W-W-What the—are you kidding me?!"

It wasn't a work-related document. It was a movie flyer. Printed in bold kanji above the two actors on the page read: "World's Greatest First Love; Adapted for film! Shooting on-location in Hakone, Kanagawa between the following dates—"

Ritsu crumbled the flyer up into a tiny ball in his fist and quickly stood up. He didn't think—he couldn't think. When the elevator opened on his floor, Ritsu took off running as fast as he could.

Takano took a long drag off his cigarette as he read the flyer carefully. Ritsu fidgeted where he stood, waiting for his reaction. Though he had a pretty good idea of what Takano's reaction would be.

Takano finally glanced at him. "Do you make it a habit of going through your boss's paperwork, Onodera?"

"I told you that's not the case!" Ritsu snapped, almost kicking his bed in frustration. "The elevator door bumped me and the papers spilled out!"

Takano snorted, and looked at the flyer again. "What a klutz."

"You—"

"But I'm surprised." Takano chuckled as he stamped out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray. "The book must be really popular if they're doing a live-action BL movie about it."

"But why in the hell would they make a live-action BL movie?!" Ritsu shouted.

Takano shrugged. "They did it with Gakuen Heaven."

"What's that?!"

"It's—never mind." Takano waved a dismissive hand. "You should be proud, Onodera. Not only is the book based off us a bestseller, it's also a popular anime series and they're making a live-action movie. Real people are playing us. That doesn't happen too often."

"Why are you HAPPY?!" Ritsu shouted, wringing his hair. "It's bad enough Usami-sensei wrote that garbage and then for it to be on television as an anime! But now REAL KIDS are playing us! Real kids with our names, telling a fictionalized account of our lives! Doesn't this disturb you at all?!"

Takano snorted and lounged on his bed. "If you're freaking out this bad over our movie, I can't imagine what you'd say about Pure Love Romantica's live action movie."

"Oh jeez, they did THAT too?!" Ritsu spared a giant measure of sympathy for Misaki before shaking his head again. "But don't change the subject! That flyer was in a folder Isaka-san meant for youfor the meeting! Why the hell is a flyer for that movie in there?!"

"I'm sure you'll tell me," Takano said dryly.

"It's because he KNOWS, ahou!" Ritsu snapped, waving his hands angrily. "He must know that Masamune and Ritsu in that damned book are really us! Why else would he give us the flyer?!"

Takano shrugged. "Maybe the flyer's in everybody's folder as a way of celebrating an item published by Marukawa as having such mainstream success!"

"No, no, NO! I don't want to think about it!" Ritsu whimpered as he fell facedown upon his own bed. "I think I'll commit seppuku. Nobody would blame me…"

"At least you've dropped this stupid silent treatment," Takano said.

Ritsu turned to glare at him. "My silent treatment is completely justified!"

Takano abruptly stood up from his bed and sat down beside Ritsu on his bed. "The cold shoulders you've been giving me are bothersome too."

"Just deal with it!" Ritsu snapped. He started to sit up. "I—"

Takano grabbed his chin and turned his head. Before Ritsu could snap at him, Takano crushed his mouth over his in a deep, sensual kiss. To his aggravation Ritsu felt his body melt under the kiss and he moaned softly.

Takano broke the kiss abruptly and smirked. "Why fight? It's always nicer to give in."

"Just shut up you asshole!" Ritsu snapped, trying to pull away. "You—"

Takano pulled him back in for another deep kiss. Unable to help himself, Ritsu relaxed in his arms and turned his head to the right angle.

There was a sudden knock at the door. "Takano! The department heads need to meet down in the lobby!"

Takano broke the kiss and sighed irritably. Ritsu however was more than happy for the interruption and stumbled off the bed. "I-Is the meeting now?!"

"Who knows?" Takano grumbled. He slipped his glasses back on and folder the movie flyer. As he turned towards the room's door, he slipped the flyer into his front pocket.

"Why are you taking that with you?!" Ritsu shouted. "You'd better not show it to anyone!"

Takano shrugged. "I'm not going to show it to anyone."

"Good—"

"But I'm definitely going to check this out tomorrow."

Ritsu's jaw dropped. "EH?!"

Takano shrugged. "I want to see the actors who are playing us. It should be enjoyable."

"I—" Ritsu sputtered as Takano left the room. Finally he screamed in frustration and shook his fists. "HOW IS ANY OF THIS ENJOYABLE?!"

A shriek of laughter from next-door made Ritsu stiffen and he flushed. He rubbed at his stomach painfully. "…I guess the walls here are thin…"

The next morning…

"—and that about does it!" Isaka announced. "Thank you all for coming to this meeting in this awesome hotel!"

Ritsu's head was still aching, but he noticed that the other departments didn't seem so bothered about this useless trip. It helped that the hotel was really nice and they hadn't been made to pay for anything. A quick look at Asahina though showed the secretary to be looking a bit stressed. Ritsu couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Maybe…I ought to try and enjoy this experience? I mean, everyone else is treating it like a vacation, so why don't I do so too?

"Onodera." Takano grabbed him by his arm and tugged. "Let's go. We need to go over some paperwork."

Ritsu sighed heavily but didn't argue. Well, so much for that.

He followed Takano out of the hotel's meeting hall and into the lobby. Instead of heading for the elevators though, Takano steered towards the main door leading outside. "W-Wait a minute!" Ritsu called out, running to keep up with him. "Where are you going, Takano-san?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Takano asked over his shoulder. He tucked his folder into a bag slung over his shoulder. "I want to go on-location to see the filming of that movie."

"W-WHAT?!" Ritsu screamed, stopping dead in his tracks. "Why would you want to see THAT?!"

"Oh come on. I know you're curious as well." Takano turned around and came back over to him. Before Ritsu could jump out of the way, Takano grabbed his wrist. "We have free time for the rest of the day, so we might as well go check it out."

"But why would I want to see that?!" Ritsu demanded.

"Because it's about u—" Takano began.

"SHHHHHH!" Ritsu waved his hands furiously. "Fine, fine! I'll go with you if you'll keep your mouth shut!"

Takano smirked. "Then let's not waste any more time, Onodera."

"I still have to find shot glasses for Mino-san and a Yosegi-Zaiku artwork for Hatori-san," Ritsu mumbled. He started following Takano out the main doors. "So I—"

"Oh, Masamune?"

Ritsu stiffened violently as he heard Yokozawa's surprised voice. He turned around reluctantly to face the other man, but froze in surprise at what he saw.

Yokozawa was standing there, but a young girl was at his side, holding his hand.

Takano looked surprised as well. "What's this? Are you babysitting, Yokozawa?"

Yokozawa's brow twitched violently, and he frowned. "Hardly, Masamune. This is Kirishima Hiyori. I've been asked to show her around."

"It's very nice to meet you!" Hiyori greeted pleasantly. She let go of Yokozawa's hand to bow to the other two men.

"Nice to meet you," Ritsu greeted stiffly, bowing. This was probably the oddest thing he'd ever seen. Yokozawa was voluntarily babysitting some other person's child? That was awfully generous of him!

Wait. Didn't he say her last name was Kirishima? Where else have I heard that name?

"Well, I hope you two have fun," Takano said nonchalantly. He linked his arm in Ritsu's. "If you'll excuse us, we have something important to take care of."

"Of course," Yokozawa said sourly. Ritsu didn't miss the glare he shot them as Takano pulled him out the main doors. It was what he'd come to expect of Yokozawa, though Yokozawa didn't have his usual scorn behind his eyes. Just annoyance.

"Who was that little girl?" Ritsu asked Takano as Takano hailed a cab.

"Don't you pay attention to office gossip?" Takano sighed, shoving Ritsu head-first into the cab.

"Do I look like I listen to gossip?!" Ritsu snapped at him as Takano followed him into the cab. "I'M usually at the center of it!"

"That little girl is Kirishima Zen's daughter," Takano said bluntly. He paused to give direction to the driver before continuing. "I'm sure you know who Kirishima-san is, correct?"

"A-Aa," Ritsu said. "He's the chief editor of Japun, Marukawa's Shounen Department."

"He has the same job as me but for the Shounen audience," Takano clarified.

Ritsu glared at him in annoyance. "I already knew that!"

"Well, Yokozawa is good friends with him." Takano idly lit a cigarette. "And he's close to Kirishima's daughter. I guess he's even allowed Sorata to live with the Kirishimas because the little girl promised to take care of him."

"T-That's good," Ritsu said, but it sounded a little odd to him. Yokozawa always came off as an extremely guarded person, but he allows Sorata—the cat he took from Takano—to live with the family of a friend? It seemed a little too…personal to Ritsu.

Oh well. It's none of my business.

"We should be there shortly," Takano added lightly.

Ritsu groaned, and rubbed a hand over his face. "Why are we going to see the filming of this accursed movie?!" He deliberately refrained from mentioning World's Greatest First Love by name, mindful of the fact that the driver was a man and would probably be put-off by them talking about a crappy BL story.

Takano blew a line of cigarette smoke out the cab window. "Because we have to see World's Great—"

"Shhhhhh!" Ritsu warned him.

"World's Greatest First Love?!" the driver looked over his shoulder. "You like that series?!"

Ritsu turned bright red and raised his hands. "UH—"

"Wow, what a relief!" the driver laughed. "I've been in the closet—excuse the pun—about reading BL books and haven't been able to talk to any other guys about it! But you two gentlemen read those kinds of books?! That's awesome!"

Ritsu's jaw hung open. "Y-Y-Y-You read it?!"

"Read it? World's Greatest First Love is what got me into reading BL books!" Ritsu choked as the man continued. "And you guys are going to see the movie shoot? Lucky!"

Takano smiled smugly around his cigarette. "It's…always good to find kindred spirits."

Ritsu slapped a hand over his eyes. Someone please kill me…

The area where the scene for the movie was being shot was in a large park. Ritsu counted over thirty females—ranging from middle-school age to housewives—all gathered around chatting excitedly. It was impossible to even see the divider which kept the spectators back.

"Well, so much for that!" Ritsu announced, feeling beyond relieved. "Let's go back, and—"

Takano grabbed his hand. "Come on."

"W-Where?" Ritsu demanded. He couldn't fight off Takano as the older man dragged him away from the crowds of women. There was a nearby utility van that was unattended. Takano cupped his hands together and leaned down. "Climb."

"Are you crazy?!" Ritsu hissed. "This isn't our van! We'll get arrested if we climb on top!"

Takano glared at him over his glasses. "Climb, Onodera."

Ritsu grumbled angrily, but shoved his foot into Takano's hands. "If we get into trouble, I'm so pinning this on you!"

Takano easily shoved him onto the top of the van. Despite being a white van it was hot up there! Ritsu was careful not to touch the surface with his bare skin as he reluctantly pulled Takano up on top. Surprisingly, none of their weird actions attracted any attention.

"Now then," Takano said. He reached into the bag where he'd put their paperwork and pulled out a pair of binoculars. "Let's see the actors who are playing us."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ritsu complained loudly, rubbing a hand over his face as Takano nonchalantly scaled the park with his binoculars. "We're grown adults, Takano-san! Why are we doing something as idiotic as this?! How will it took to Isaka-san and the rest of them if we have to tell them we're in jail?!"

"You're overreacting, Onodera," Takano said simply. "Don't you want to see the actors playing our teenaged selves?"

"No!" Ritsu insisted. He pressed both hands over his eyes. "Do the actors even realize that there's sex in the novels? And in the anime?! Who would be comfortable doing pretend sex with another guy?!"

"You seem pretty comfortable with nonpretend sex, Onodera."

"Shut up!" Ritsu snapped.

"I—aha!" Takano sat up a little straighter. "There they are!"

"What, WHERE?!" Ritsu shouted. Despite his denials just a moment ago, he ripped the binoculars out of Takano's hands. "Let me see them!"

"They're over there," Takano said, pointing. He didn't seem to mind that Ritsu cut his viewing short.

It took a few moments, but Ritsu spotted the actors in question. The two apparently teenaged actors—he had no idea their actual ages—were speaking with somebody who looked like they were the director. A male director, no less! Ritsu was unsettled to see the school uniforms the two actors were wearing, because they looked exactly like the uniforms Takano and he had worn. The actor playing Masamune was drop-dead gorgeous; he looked a little too carefree to be playing Takano's sullen teenaged self, but he certainly had the looks to pull it off.

Then Ritsu focused on the actor playing Ritsu—playing him. The actor had boyishly good looks, but he was short. So incredibly short. The director spoke to him briefly, and the actor shrank a little into himself. The director gave him a thumbs up and the actor returned to normal, indicating to Ritsu that he was getting a pointer about Ritsu's character.

"So how is it?" Takano asked blandly. "They're good-looking right?"

"Sure," Ritsu said sourly. "But the actor playing me is too short!"

"Really? Let me see." Takano took the binoculars back and looked through them. After a few minutes he commented. "He's not too short."

"A-Are you serious?! He's probably shorter than Takahashi-san, Takano-san!"

"Actually," Takano said, still looking through the binoculars. "I think the actor's taller than you."

"EH?!"

"Hmm—aa, I'm sure of it now. In fact, I think he would still be taller than you even if you stood on a pile of phonebooks."

Ritsu scoffed. "You're an asshole, did you know that?!"

"I've been told so before. Ah!" Takano frowned deeply.

"W-What is it?!" Ritsu demanded in alarm.

"Masamune has the wrong eye color."

Ritsu face-faulted across the top of the van. "T-T-That's all that matters to you?!"

Takano lowered his binoculars and glared at Ritsu with golden eyes. "How can they claim to be us if they don't look like us?"

"Are you nuts? It's a blessing they don't look like us! It's bad enough their anime counterparts look like us! We don't need REAL LIFE GUYS that look like us!"

The crowd of women in front of the barricade shushed suddenly. Ritsu 'eeped' and shrank a little into himself, not unlike how his actor had done. "D-Did they hear me?"

"No," Takano said, raising the binoculars once more. "They're shooting the scene."

"Eh?! Give me those! I want to see!"

"Wait your turn," was all Takano said.

Ritsu grumbled, and glared in the direction of where the actors were standing. He couldn't see them from where they were at. He sat there in silence while Takano watched the scene through binoculars. What's happening? What are Ritsu and Masamune doing? UGH, I'm actually referring to those actors by OUR NAMES!

Ten minutes later, Takano handed Ritsu the binoculars. "Here, they're reshooting the scene. They're both excellent actors, take a look."

Ritsu quickly raised the binoculars. It looked like the two actors playing Masamune and Ritsu were joking amongst themselves. Then the director raised his hand and spoke. They immediately fell into character. The actor playing Ritsu suddenly looked sullen and embarrassed. He even blushed on cue! While the actor playing Masamune's whole face changed from pleasant relaxation to cold intensity.

It seemed like the director called 'Action!' because movie-Ritsu began babbling rapidly. He ducked his head and his mouth moved without pause, and the blush in his cheeks seemed to deepen even more. Movie-Masamune watched all of this in silence. It didn't seem like the same laid-back actor from before. His eyes were narrowed, cold…but Ritsu's stomach jumped as he saw hidden desire in his eyes while he watched movie-Ritsu make a fool out of himself.

Movie-Ritsu raised his eyes as he continued babbling, fidgeting violently where he stood. He even had embarrassed tears in his eyes! Ritsu's heart jumped unexpectedly and he swallowed thickly. He was embarrassed to think that this was how he acted when he was a teenager.

…No. There's no way I was EVER this spastic!

Suddenly, movie-Masamune reached out and grabbed movie-Ritsu's upper arms. He roughly pulled the smaller actor against him and kissed him deeply.

"WAUGH!" Ritsu fell backwards, almost losing his grip on the binoculars. "T-T-T-T-They're KISSING! In broad daylight!"

"So?" Takano asked.

"Why didn't you warn me that they kissed in this damn scene?!" Ritsu hollered.

Takano shrugged. "They kiss in the novels and have sex in the novels. Why does a chaste kiss bother you so much?"

"C-CHASTE?!" Ritsu briefly looked through the binoculars again. "Masamune clearly has his tongue in Ritsu's mouth! That's not chaste!"

"Really?" Takano grabbed the binoculars back and looked through them. "…Huh. If that's what we look like when we kiss, then—"

"Excuse me."

Ritsu stiffened, and slowly looked over the side. He saw a woman glaring angrily up at them. "H-Hai?"

"What are you doing on top of my van?!" she hollered. "I didn't give you permission to be up there!"

"I told you so!" Ritsu snapped at Takano over his shoulder.

Takano nonchalantly lowered his binoculars. "…Whoops."

They both climbed off the van, the woman still screaming at them. "—call the police on you! Here I am, trying to make an honest living, and you two climb up on my van just to watch some silly movie!"

"Sumimasen, sumimasen!" Ritsu exclaimed, bowing rapidly.

The woman continued as though she hadn't heard his apologies. "—can't believe the foolishness and selfishness of other adults! I ought to—"

Takano suddenly pulled Ritsu into his arms and kissed him full on the mouth. The woman's tirade died in her throat as Takano slammed Ritsu up against her van, still kissing him deeply.

"Hrrrgh! Mmmmmmmnh!" Ritsu struggled against Takano, but the older man overpowered him, pinning him effortlessly against the van and kissing him senseless.

After a few minutes of this, Takano broke the kiss. Ritsu heaved huge puffs of air as he turned towards the shocked woman. "Please forgive our indiscretion, Ojou-san."

The woman's whole red was bright red, and she stammered for a couple of seconds before speaking. "H-Hai."

Takano smiled sweetly at her. "Arigato, Ojou-san." Still hanging onto a dumbstruck Ritsu, Takano dragged him away, dozens of women gaping after them.

Once they were out of sight, Ritsu pulled away from him. "What the hell was THAT?!"

Takano pulled out a cigarette. To Ritsu's complete fury, he took his time lighting it up and taking a nice long drag off of it. He blew out a stream of smoke before he finally answered. "That…was pure genius."

Ritsu gaped at him. Takano continued. "But I'm impressed. Those two actors playing us are incredible. This movie is bound to do good."

"Y-You—" Ritsu sputtered.

"Ah, there's the shopping center," Takano said, pointing. "You wanted to buy souvenirs, right? Here's your chance."

"I…" Ritsu seethed where he stood, clenching his teeth and his fists. "I really hate you!"

Takano snorted. "If you have sex with me out of hate, then sex out of love will be even hotter."

"WHY DO YOU SAY THESE THINGS OUT LOUD?! IT—don't walk away from me!"

But Takano did, and crossed the intersection as the light turned green. Ritsu growled with rage. I'm TOTALLY not in love with you! I must have been the world's greatest BAKA for falling for you in high school!

The following evening…

Ritsu sighed pathetically and rubbed at his temples. Why am I here?

It was the last day of the Marukawa associates of being in Hakone for their incredibly useless summit. Ritsu had managed to pick up souvenirs for all his ungrateful coworkers, wondering how he'd been managed to be hoodwinked into something like this.

He'd promised himself that he wouldn't ever go searching out the movie set again, yet here he was, behind the barricade watching a shooting scene in front of the high school. The director had selected an abandoned school to shoot for the movie, but they'd managed to clean it up pretty good.

At least I'm alone today.

He'd avoided Takano for the whole day. After they'd retreated back to the hotel, Takano had predictably wanted to be close to Ritsu. As in sharing the same bed as Ritsu. To Ritsu's relief however, they'd been thwarted. As Takano had pinned him to the wall and kissed him senseless, they heard a rousing rumbled of laughter from the next room, along with distinctive conversations where they could hear words being spoken.

Takano had scowled at this, and had pulled away from Ritsu. "These are pretty thin walls."

Takano was usually nonchalant about flaunting their "relationship" so it'd shocked Ritsu that he'd stopped. It had been a relief…but also discouraging because Takano's ministrations had made Ritsu more or less ready to go.

Whatever. It just means I can avoid having sex with him for the duration of this trip.

Yet Ritsu couldn't understand what had brought him out here to see the filming of the movie. Seeing two young men acting out a fantasy of his own life was incredibly disturbing. But…he was also morbidly fascinated by it too. It was like he was watching a car accident in slow motion. No matter what—no matter how embarrassing it was—he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it and he hadn't been able to stop himself from showing up to see what scenes they were filming today. He could see movie-Ritsu and movie-Masamune talking amongst themselves and laughing. They seemed to have a pretty good relationship for portraying an actual couple fictionalized in an exploitative novel.

"Quiet on the set!" the director yelled. The crowd today wasn't so thick, and Ritsu was horrifyingly close to the filming around. All around everyone fell to hushed whispers. "All right—background, action!"

A handful of extras in the same school uniforms as the heroes went about their business walking across the school's front courtyard or talking and laughing in small clusters.

"And—ACTION!" the director motioned to the lead actors.

"S-S-Sempai." Movie-Ritsu shrank a little into himself, looking even tinier than movie-Masamune. "I-I didn't mean to o-offend you…" he blushed again.

Ritsu felt his brow twitch. I never spoke in such a squeaky voice! And I never blushed as much! Where do they get these ideas?! I bet this is because Kondo Takashi portrays me this way!

"You didn't offend me," movie-Masamune said bluntly. One hand was shoved into his pocket as he surveyed movie-Ritsu. "But why should I censor myself?"

"Eh?" Movie-Ritsu looked up at him in confusion. "C…Censor?"

"Why should I have to keep quiet about being in a relationship with you?" movie-Masamune spoke with bold, clear words and didn't seem mindful of the movie-students walking past them. "What do I care if people think we're gross?" he suddenly leaned in close to movie-Ritsu. "We don't think we're gross, so it shouldn't matter."

"And to be honest, the whole thing is gross!"

Ritsu blinked, and rubbed at his head. Eh? What was that?

It'd felt like a sudden flashback, and it'd sounded like Takano's voice. Yet Ritsu didn't ever remember Takano ever saying anything like that to him.

But you blocked out most of your memories of your prior relationship with Takano-san. Did…did he call me 'gross'?

He wasn't even paying attention to the filming anymore. The sudden memory had taken him off-guard. There was so little he remembered of their first relationship because their breakup had been so bitter. He remembered stalking Takano, blurting out an accidental love confession, their first time together, and their awful breakup. Takano usually portrayed their relationship from an idealistic viewpoint.

So when had he called Ritsu…gross?

He didn't know why it bothered him so much. But Takano's words echoed in his head once more. He'd sounded so angry and frustrated; the closest thing he'd heard to this was when Takano screamed at him over using a fake name. But this time, based on Takano's tone, Ritsu knew the other man had been deliberately trying to hurt him.

He watched the rest of the filming with indifference, because he was full of turmoil on the inside. Movie-Ritsu and movie-Masamune seemed so at ease with each other, even though movie-Ritsu physically struggled with being able to tell Masamune that he loved him. It was nothing like how his own school life had been.

Yet—

"Cut! That's a wrap!"

So it was the end of shooting for a day. But Ritsu didn't feel like leaving. He walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. He watched the crowd disperse and actors hurry to dressing room trailers to change. He saw the production crew pack up equipment, and the director telling certain individuals to leave props as they were for the following day. One by one, everyone took their leave until there was nobody left in the area but Ritsu.

Ritsu got up slowly, and approached the barricade. Even if the story was out of whack from his own life, the school looked shockingly similar to his own high school. He looked up to the poster windows on the top floor, and wondered if that was the library.

…I want to see. But I can't. I'd be trespassing, and there's bound to be security lurking around.

Even though he was thinking rationally, Ritsu's body moved on its own. He hopped the barricade and ventured onto the set. Being on a movie set felt surreal to him, even as he felt self-conscious. He kept expecting a security guard to jump out of the shadows and scream at him.

Strangely though, nobody did. Nobody was around to stop Ritsu from invading the set or hesitantly walking through the main doors. The inside of the school looked furbished enough for filming, and all the shoe lockers looked clean. Without realizing it he slid his own shoes off.

What am I, an idiot?! but he realized that if he tread on the ground with dirty shoes it could catch attention. So he cradled his sneakers under his arms and walked through the school hallways in socked feet. The floor was so clean he could see his reflection in it, but the floor was icy too. The combination of this, and painful awareness that he was trespassing, caused Ritsu to walk faster as he raced up the stairs to what he hoped was the library.

He didn't know what he was looking for, though. World's Greatest First Love already took "artistic" liberties with his failed high school romance. There was no way in hell this school was—

Ritsu stopped on the floor where he suspected the library of being and just stared up and down the silhouetted hallways. It was familiar. Maybe Usami-sensei did some research into which high school Ritsu had gone to? Because it felt like his high school. Even though the story was drastically different, this place felt so familiar to him.

Shaking his head violently, Ritsu picked up to the pace to where the library would be. He rationalized to himself that he was moving fast so that he wouldn't catch the attention of security, but there was a certain desperation in him. He needed to see the library. It was where he met Takano, and stalked him so often. It was also where Takano and him—

No, I'm not going to think about THAT!

Ritsu stopped in front of the door in question. A huge sign hung there; probably for the crew. In clear kanji it read 'LIBRARY'.

Ritsu's heart leapt into his throat and he slid the door open. "Oh…" he choked on his breath. "K-Kami-sama…"

It looked the same. It looked exactly like his high school library. He stumbled across the threshold, gaping in awe. The reference desk was in the right spot. The shelves were lined up in the correct places. And the tables, where he always saw Takano, were positioned right in front of the window.

Ritsu walked down one of the book aisles, idly running his hand across the rough spines of the book left up as obvious props. It was too dark to read their titles, but their presence was enough. He could almost see himself peeking across the shelves trying to find Takano. Trying to find books that Takano had signed out.

This can't be a coincidence. Usami-sensei HAD to have researched my high school to get it down to this exact detail. Ritsu only assumed this because he couldn't ever stomach reading the actual BL novels. A cold shiver ran down his spine. But if it looks this similar, then people I went to school with will recognize it. And since the characters are named Ritsu and Masamune…

…No. No, he wouldn't think about it.

He reached the end of the row and saw the tables. For a moment, he almost saw a teenaged Takano sitting there reading before he remembered he was alone on this set. He walked over to the tables, though he was careful to remain out of view from the windows in case somebody happened to see him. His hand shook as he pulled out the chair positioned in the spot Takano would sit in. Very carefully, he sat down at the table. As he settled in, he finally let out the breath he'd held in. It came out shaky.

It was a bit overwhelming. He cursed World's Greatest First Love for turning Takano and himself into BL characters. Ritsu didn't like to think of himself as a character from a BL or Yaoi series. Yet sitting there, in this model school that looked like his high school, he felt…at peace.

Because despite their bad breakup—and the possibility that Takano had called him gross—the intimate moments they'd together had been so bittersweet. It embarrassed Ritsu greatly to reflect on something that'd happened a decade ago, but it was hard not to since history was currently repeating itself.

I'd love him so much, and when I'd thought he didn't care about me it'd hurt me greatly. But…what we had back then had been so good. But now…he shivered again and huddled in the seat.

"Holy shit."

Ritsu screamed so loud from the voice that'd cut through the darkness that it reverberated off the walls. He fell straight out of the chair, though quickly caught the chair before it clattered to the floor and checked it to make sure he didn't damage it accidentally. He glared at the newcomer approaching the table. "W-W-What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing," Takano said dryly, taking in their surroundings as he came to the table. "You're trespassing, did you know that?"

"S-So are you!" Ritsu sputtered, scrambling to his feet.

Takano shrugged. "I was following you. So if we're caught, I'll just tell them that as a good boss I couldn't allow my employee to disrupt the movie."

"You bastard!" Ritsu snapped. He huddled close to himself, not caring he was standing in front of the window now. "What do you want?!"

"Well, I was following you," Takano repeated himself. "And I was curious to see what the school looked like. But man…" he looked around himself and sighed. "This place is incredible."

"I-It is," Ritsu admitted. "It looks exactly like our old high school."

"Hmm." Takano looked at Ritsu then, and leaned across the table. "That was my seat you were sitting in, right?"

Ritsu's face felt hot and he quickly looked away. "I-I don't know! I don't remember!"

"No, I'm pretty sure that was my seat." Takano sauntered over to him and stood very close to Ritsu's side. "I sat in this spot every day for three and a half years. During that time you watched me and followed me at every opportunity. Right here." He pressed his hand over Ritsu's on the table's surface. "So I know you couldn't have forgotten."

Ritsu pulled away from him, hugging the same hand to his chest. Takano watched him with narrowed. "After everything we've been through up to this point, you'll still pull away from me and deny me?"

Ritsu looked at him then. The short memory that had resurfaced returned to mind. He remembered Takano's harsh tone and angry voice and ugly words. But he didn't know if it was a real memory or something his subconscious came up with to try and stay away from Takano. "H…" Ritsu swallowed thickly before he spoke. "I-I really don't remember a whole lot about our relationship. But you do, right?"

Takano shrugged. "I remember enough, Ritsu."

"It…um…" Ritsu stammered a little as he tried to muster the courage to get the question out. Instead he deflected slightly. "I-It wasn't always good, right?"

"Eh?" Takano looked at him in confusion. "Well, we weren't perfect. But no relationship is ever perfect. I mean, we had sex with each other before we even knew each other personally."

His blunt answer was so incredibly embarrassing that it derailed Ritsu slightly. "I-I remembered something today!" he burst out.

"Really?" now Takano looked curious. "What did you remember?"

"Well—y-you're going to deny it, of course." Ritsu looked off to the side. He felt more embarrassed to be saying this, but now that it had been brought up he couldn't back down. "B-But I remember you telling me I was gross."

"…Huh." It was a flat answer. Out of the corner of his eye, Ritsu saw Takano fold his arms over his chest. "And when did it happen?"

"I don't know!" Ritsu snapped, looking at him fully again. "I-I was watching filming, and then suddenly I remembered you in high school! You were yelling at me, and you said, "And to be honest, the whole thing is gross!". Now I don't know if it's real or not, but if you said something like that to me then that changes a whole lot of things, right?! I-I mean, if you said that to me, then it can't be so far-fetched that I wouldn't believe in you being serious about me!"

Silence followed Ritsu's outburst, except for his heavy breathing. Ritsu watched him to gauge his reaction, but Takano didn't move a hair. He didn't look shocked or angry. Just…the same. It made Ritsu more uncertain of this "memory" he'd had.

Finally, Takano spoke, "And what triggered this…memory?"

"Eh?" Ritsu gaped at him for a moment before he quickly shook his head. "It—the fake Ritsu and Masamune were arguing about their relationship and M-Masamune was telling Ritsu that it didn't matter if people thought they were "gross" because they didn't feel that way about themselves."

"…I see," Takano said. He paused before he added, "That memory's true."

"W-What?!" Ritsu yelled.

"I told you that you were gross and annoying," Takano said matter-of-factly. "But I didn't mean any of it. As I've told you before, I was having a severely rough time at home. That same day I had to submit a document from my parents to my homeroom teacher explaining that neither of them would be present to decide my college choices, and that they could count on me to make my own decisions. Then I had to answer some embarrassing questions to my homeroom teacher as to why my parents couldn't possibly make time for something as important as this, and all I could think of telling him was that they just weren't interested."

Ritsu gaped at him, feeling some of the anger ebb away. He'd known that Takano had had a hard home life, but he hadn't realized it'd been so serious.

"My yelling at you was an accumulation of pent-up anger and frustration," Takano continued, shrugging. "I wasn't angry at you at all. You were just the unlucky person I lashed out at."

He made it sound so simple and unimportant. But Ritsu remembered the sting of those words very clearly. "…Well?"

"Well what?" Takano asked.

"Did you ever apologize for saying such things to me? Or explain to me why you said them?!"

Takano was silent for a long moment. "…No."

"Then how was I supposed to know you didn't mean any of—"

"I'm sorry," Takano said bluntly.

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry," he repeated himself. "I'm sorry I said those hurtful things to you because you were the only person who gave a damn about me and you didn't deserve any of it. Does that help?"

"W-What…" Ritsu wrung a hand through his hair. "Ugh…why are we even discussing something so old?!"

"You're the one who brought it up," Takano pointed out.

"I know! I just—"

Takano broached the distance between them and took Ritsu into his arms. Tilting his head back, Takano swept down and claimed Ritsu's mouth in a deep kiss.

"Mmm…" Ritsu's knees trembled from the intensity of the kiss. His fingers dug into Takano's sleeve as his mouth was ravaged by the other man's tongue. He lost sense of his surroundings, and that they were out in a very open place. All that mattered was this moment, and the kiss.

Takano broke the kiss, but swiftly pressed firm kissed to Ritsu's face. Ritsu couldn't fight him; couldn't shove him away. His skin tingled under this intimate touch and his body grew pleasantly warm.

"I'm sorry," Takano breathed across his skin. "I'm sorry I hurt you so much then."

Ritsu didn't even remember the hurt he had felt when Takano had said those ugly things to him, but he heard the sincerity in his voice. His grip on Takano tightened. "I-I know. I understand."

Takano suddenly stopped kissing him and pulled him into a tight hug, burying his face into Ritsu's neck. "T-Takano-san?"

"…I wonder," Takano mumbled into his neck.

"Wonder what?"

"How our history can inspire a BL series, an anime, and a live-action movie. That you can be so intimate with me—kiss me and make love to me—and yet you can't even tell me you love me."

Ritsu's breath caught in his throat, and he felt his chest burn. He closed his eyes because his vision became blurry. But he didn't want to think that he was about to cry.

I did love you, Takano-san. I DO love you. I just…

Takano suddenly kissed him again, silencing his thoughts. Ritsu kissed him back feverishly, losing sense of time and setting all over again. Did it really mean so much to Takano to hear the words? Didn't he understand how much pain Ritsu had gone through when they'd broke up? Being in this fake-school that resembled their old school was overwhelming, and it reminded him of so many different things. Bad things, but mostly good…

Ritsu was so overwhelmed that he didn't notice Takano lay him down on the floor, partially sitting against the wall. Or Takano removing his coat. When Takano's warm hand slid under his shirt and up his chest, Ritsu returned to his senses and bucked against him. "W-Wha—WAIT! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Takano sucked on Ritsu's bottom lip. "I've been without you for weeks, Ritsu, and the walls of our hotel room are too thick. I can't hold back now."

"Wait—NO!" Ritsu grabbed his wrists to still his. "Stop this now! We're out in public, you idiot! We can't have sex in public!"

Takano snorted. "We have sex in public all the time, Ritsu. No use in being shy now."

Several minutes later...

Ritsu hugged his coat self-consciously to himself and he hobbled over the barricade. Takano had already crossed the barricade and discreetly deposited his dirty shirt in a dumpster nearby. Ritsu prayed that nobody saw them, but not as much as he prayed that there hadn't been any security cameras in the school set. Kami-sama, what the hell were we thinking?

"Ah, you're here!"

Ritsu stiffened violently and tried not to blush as Isaka approached them. He had his hands on his hands and grinning devilishly. Behind him trailed a haggard Asahina. "Onodera-kun, Takano-san, konbanwa!"

"Konbanwa," Takano and Ritsu echoed, bowing to Isaka.

"So you two are here to see the movie, too?" Isaka asked. He surveyed the school smugly. "I just know it will be a success!"

Ritsu blinked slowly. "Ah…Isaka-san?"

"Aa?"

"By 'too'…do you mean—"

"Of course! World's Greatest First Love is a bestselling series by Marukawa! I planned the summit in conjunction with the on-locations shoots in Hakone! It was absolutely essential that I be here to oversee the filming!"

"…except you've spent the past three days in the onsen," Asahina muttered.

"ABSOLUTELY essential!" Isaka said, overshadowing his secretary's voice.

"So…our summit was just a cover-up for you to supervise filming?" Takano deduced.

Isaka laughed loudly. "Of course! What do you take me for? I would never use company funds for foolish endeavors!"

Then why invite the entire company to something so simple? Ritsu wondered. He couldn't help but notice that Isaka's logic completely contradicted his argument with Asahina just last week.

"But I'm surprised to see you two here," Isaka said, looking between the two of them. "I didn't realize the exploits of Masamune and Ritsu excited you both so much!"

Ritsu sputtered embarrassedly, but Takano said, "We can't help but be interested, Isaka-san."

"In that case, why don't you both come to the in-studio filming back in Tokyo?" Isaka's laugh turned into a devious cackle. "We still have to shoot the H scenes in Masamune's apartment, after all!"

Ritsu screamed in shock, while Takano remained unmoved. "H-H-H-H-H-H SCENES?!"

Asahina looked as perturbed as Ritsu. "I-Isaka-san, a little discretion could—"

"I'll be there, of course," Isaka interrupted. "To make sure that production remains as close to the source material as possible. But you're welcome to come and watch! Our heroes have some a peculiar enthusiasm for filming, so it should make the scene look even better!"

Ritsu was certain he was dying a little on the inside. He tried to swallow, but his throat felt too tight. "I—"

"Give us the dates and times," Takano said. "And we'll see what we can do."

"N—" Ritsu tried to speak.

"That's the spirit!" Isaka slapped them both on the shoulder. "Now, please return to our hotel! We leave first thing tomorrow morning!"

Isaka walked away, still laughing. Asahina bowed stiffly to Takano and Ritsu. "Please excuse his…eccentricities."

Takano hummed as they walked away. "Asahina-san seems a little worn out…"

Ritsu pressed a hand to his face, feeling like crying. "If Isaka-san went to this much trouble for this garbage, then he must know we're the inspiration for it! I feel like crying…"

"Grow up," Takano said. He started walking away. "I swear you act like such a child."

"I'm the child?!" Ritsu took off after him, snarling, "You're the one who jumped ME out in public on a movie set!"

"…You weren't complaining when you were screaming in esc—"

"SHUT UP!" Ritsu covered his mouth. "Don't ever bring that up again!"

"But you brought it up in the first place."

"I—"

"Kyaaa!"

Ritsu stiffened in horror at this shout and slowly turned his head. His horror mounted as he recognized two women from Sapphire's department.

"Takano-san and Onodera-san!" one gushed. "A-Are you two on a date?!"

"Hell no!" Ritsu shouted.

Takano laughed and threw his arm around Ritsu's shoulders. "Are we that obvious then?"

"W-WHAT?!" Ritsu screamed.

It was too late. The two women converged upon them with a million questions. Ever the gentleman, Takano shoved Ritsu at the women and stepped out of sight to observe.

"Where did you eat?!"

"Have you two kissed yet?!"

"Wh—Onodera-san, you smell like Takano-san's cologne!"

I HATE THIS JOB! Ritsu thought. He glared at Takano, who was laughing. And I'll NEVER tell you I love you!

Omake

To the shock of no one, World's Greatest First Love the live-action movie was a hit. The actors were praised for their skills, but the intensity of their portrayal made many wonder if they were in fact an actual couple. Neither ever gave a clear answer about it.

As for Ritsu…he honestly stopped caring after a while.

Then it happened. Ritsu was checking books out at the library when a certain someone caught his eye. He thanked the receptionist after she handed the books to him, and quickly approached the person in question. The man he sought was calmly sitting at a library table reading. He'd garnered a lot of stares, but didn't seem to care.

Ritsu took a seat at the table without asking first. "…Sensei."

Usami Akihito looked up from the book he was reading. Other books were piled all around him on the table. "Ah, Onodera-san. It's been awhile. How have you been?"

"Fine," Ritsu lied stiffly. "How about you?"

"I can't complain." Usami picked up a pencil and wrote something down on a steno pad. "I'm doing research for my next novel. The librarian told me I can only take a certain amount of books out at a time, so I'm researching here instead. Misaki also told me it was good for me to get out of the apartment."

Ritsu stiffened at the prospect of Usami doing research for a book. "W-What's your next book?" he asked fearfully.

"An interspecies romance between a Danish princess and an elf," Usami said. "I want it to take place in the 17th century, so I've been researching Danish history, as well as elfin origins, so that it's canonical to history. Despite it being fantasy."

"…Ah." Ritsu was only slightly relieved to hear this. But he still braced himself for what he was about to ask. He'd been waiting for this moment for too long, so he was a bit nervous. "Usami-sensei," he said finally.

"Hmm?" Usami closed one textbook and opened another.

"I wanted to ask you about World's Greatest First Love."

Usami didn't visibly react at all. He looked at Ritsu peculiarly. "What about it?"

"The main characters names are Masamune and Ritsu," Ritsu said heatedly. "And one of the characters looks like me! Considering you wrote the first short-story after we met with you about 25thCentury Nostalgia's manga, I can't help but think that the main characters of this story were based off of my boss and me!"

Usami shrugged casually. "All right. Guilty."

Ritsu's jaw dropped. He knew that Usami had a carefree personality in regards to dealing with people, but for him to confirm all of it without batting an eyelash was shocking.

And infuriating.

"Do you have any idea how humiliating those books are to me?!" he hissed, trying to be as polite as he could be while admonishing his former writer. "My coworkers read those books! It has a drama CD, an anime, and now a live-action movie! My fantastical personal life is out there for EVERYBODY to see! How could you do this to both my boss and me?! Did you even consider how this might make us feel?!"

Usami remained expressionless as Ritsu let out the fury and frustration that had been building up inside him since he first read World's Greatest First Love. It was a long time before he spoke. "…Don't you think you're overreacting, Onodera-san?"

"W-What?!" Ritsu gasped, astounded.

"I spoke with Takano-san the other day," Usami added, turning back to his book. "And he praised my storytelling. It's not nice to lie about how other people feel, Onodera-san."

"T-T-Takano-san told—" Ritsu waved a hand furiously. There was no use arguing Takano's feelings about the books because he honestly didn't give a damn. "But I don't like it! Why would you write about me?! After everything we've been through together and how hard I worked to help you succeed?! Why do you continue to write about me like this?!"

Usami gave him a piercing gaze. "Why? It's very simple, Onodera-san."

"Why?" Ritsu repeated calmly.

"Because I want to." He turned back to his research.

Ritsu gaped at him in horror for another long moment. He felt like he was arguing with a child. "You—"

"Akihito?"

Both Ritsu and Usami looked up. A bespeckled brunette wearing a deep frown walked over to them. "Well, this is rare. What are you doing at the library, Akihito?"

Ritsu looked between the two men. Since this newcomer addressed Usami by his first name, he had to be somebody close to him.

"Research for my next novel," Usami said. He motioned to Ritsu. "Here, let me introduce you. This is Onodera Ritsu. He was my editor when I started out."

Ritsu stood up and bowed to the newcomer. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He fished into his pocket for a business card.

"Kamijou Hiroki," the sullen-faced man said, readying his own card. He glared at Usami. "If by research, you'd better not mean THAT!"

Ritsu stiffened as they exchanged business cards. Kamijou's words sounded like an echo to his own feelings!

"—elf falls in love with a Danish princess," Usami said.

Kamijou sighed heavily in relief. "Good. Now, about that—"

"Are you feeling okay?" Usami asked him. "You called me up raving drunk again whining about—"

"OI!" Kamijou grabbed him by his collar. "Don't be spilling such personal things in front of other people!" he forced a twitching smile at Ritsu. "Please excuse his behavior, Onodera-san."

"I'm used to it," Ritsu said sourly.

But Usami continued unabated. "What was so bad with Nowa—"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Kamijou screamed at the top of his lungs. Several people turned to stare at them.

Ritsu felt a cold chill. He looked down to read the name printed in kanji on the card. The spelling of Kamijou's first name looked familiar…

"'Quaking with fury, Hiroki raised a fist to punch him. But Nowaki caught his fist in his larger hand and crushed his mouth over Hiroki's. Hiroki groaned involuntarily as his body filled with warm desire—'"

Ritsu felt heat on his face, and he realized his was blushing. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "H-Hiroki and Nowaki?"

Kamijou stopped snapping at Usami and looked at Ritsu with horror. "H-How did you know—"

Ritsu clapped his hands over his mouth and bowed deeply. "S-S-S-Sumimasen!" he croaked.

"Kami-sama…" Kamijou looked between the two of them. "I-It's because of that book, isn't it?"

"I'm very skilled at telling a story," Usami said unapologetically. "But you certainly help me by giving—"

"You bastard!" Kamijou grabbed him by his collar again. "If you don't put a stop to that shit, I'll kill you!"

"But it's very popular," Usami countered politely.

"You—"

"Excuse me." One of the librarians approached them. "Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Your shouting is disturbing the other patrons."

"Why is it MY fault?!" Kamijou screamed.

Ritsu watched all of this in silence. So Pure Love Egoist WAS based on a real couple. And this was the real-life Hiroki! It was a little overwhelming.

Suddenly, this doesn't seem so bad. But…

He rounded on Usami. "Just please stop writing World's Greatest First Love! Who on Earth would hang onto a series where a main character cannot spit out their true feelings anyways?! Modern-day readers don't have that kind of patience!"

Usami looked at him again. "You obviously don't understand the fan base, Onodera-san."

Ritsu was surprised to see Takano waiting outside their apartments. "W-What is it?" he asked.

Without saying a word, Takano pulled him into his arms and gave him a deep kiss. Ritsu wasn't able to put up a fight and yielded rather easily. He didn't even care that they were standing out in the hallway where everyone could see them. He gave in to the temptation of savoring the moment.

Takano finally broke the kiss and smiled slightly. "Tadaima."

"A-Arigato." Red in the face, Ritsu pulled away.

"Oh, by the way, here." Takano shoved a folded piece of paper into Ritsu's hand.

"What's this?" Ritsu asked.

"Nothing special," Takano said. Without another word he went into his own apartment, closing the door behind himself.

Curious, Ritsu unfolded the paper and read what was on it. His first reaction was shock. Then horror. Then, it all quickly shifted to anger.

"TAKANO-SAN!" he shouted. Dropping the paper, he ran to Takano's door. But the door was locked and didn't budge. "You bastard! How long have you been keeping this from me?! Oi, Takano-san!" he punched the door uselessly.

On the floor, the paper printed a cheerful message and showed two familiar handsome boys. "World's Greatest First Love! From the big screen to the small screen! Live-action series coming soon!"

Yokozawa's Japanese seiyuu, Kenyu Horiuchi, plays Pein in Naruto Shippuden, lol.

Thanks for reading!