Chapter 1: Nostalgia 1

A young boy reaches up his hand to grab a book when another hand reached for the same book. The boy looks to his left to see a tall figure with raven hair staring at him.

"Saga-sempai," the boy said with a slight blush gracing his cheeks. "Oh, uh, excuse me…please, take the book." The young boy says retracting his hand and slightly backed away.

"How do you know my name?" the raven-haired teen, Saga, asked. The boy blushes more thinking about the reason.

He had been watching Saga for three years, this was the fourth. He had decided to keep everything inside. However with Saga-sempai right in front of him, his emotions started overflowing.

"I love you! I love you! I love you!" he thought over and over until he finally bursts. "I'm in love with you Sempai!" He blurts out. When he realizes what his own words he blushes even more. "Ah! I mean! Uh…" he mumbles, when a hand reaches up and ruffles his hair and the boy blushes even more.

-7 years later-

"Huh?" said 22 year old Ritsuka Onodera. Her spring green eyes widen through the bangs of her wavy chestnut brunette hair that went just below her shoulder blades. She was wearing a white button blouse with a khaki skirt, a brown belt, with ankle-high white socks and brown dress shoes.

She had interviewed for a position at Marukawa Publisher as a literature editor, however according to the assistant in front of her she was placed somewhere else.

"There must be some mistake. I applied for a job as a literature editor." She said.

"But it says right here, *Ritsuka Onodera, editor in Emerald Shoujo Manga department* see?" the assistant replied showing Ritsuka the file. The brunette woman sighs in response. "Follow me." She said and started leading Ritsuka to the department.

-In the elevator-

"Don't worry. The editors are all really nice, and handsome. The boss is especially proper." The assistant said.

"Wait, they're all guys?" Ritsuka asks nervous.

"Yep, and with the cycle, today's a perfect time to see them." The assistant said cheerfully.

"Cycle…?" Ritsuka asked confused.

"You'll learn soon." The assistant replied.

"Ugh, I just hope this doesn't take too much time out of my day. I don't like leaving my kids alone." She said and the assistant is stunned.

"You…have, kids…at your age?" she asks.

"Yeah, I got a son and two twin daughters. They are the loves of my life." Ritsuka replied. The assistant just stays quiet for the rest of the ride up.

Ding

The elevator doors open and the two walk out onto the 4th floor. The assistant leads Ritsuka to the department down the hall.

"Although I don't want to do this, it could help with my next job." Ritsuka thought as the two make it to the department. The assistant freezes while Ritsuka bows her head. "Hello, my name is Ritsuka Onodera and I'll be working here starting today. Please take care of me." She introduced and raised her head.

However when she does, she finds a total junk yard with books, papers and office supplies scattered everywhere, and four men that look like the walking dead.

"I-I'm sorry. There seems to be a break in the cycle. Good luck!" the assistant says and runs off.

"Hey wait…!" Ritsuka calls but the assistant is gone before she can catch her. She then turns to a man passing by. "Excuse me, the Emerald…" she is cut off by the walking away saying.

"I'm not a part of it!"

Ritsuka then turns to another and asks again with the same reaction.

"Why are you avoiding me?" she thought and cautiously stepped into the dirty place. She immediately covered her nose at the stench. "Ugh, it smells like a bunch of bikers in here." She thought in disgust. She then gently touches a guy's shoulder and he falls to the floor. "Wah!" she screams startled as the guy gets up.

"What…is…it…?" he asks looking up at Ritsuka, looking all dead and worn out.

"That's what I want to know." The woman thought. "I'm the new employee." She said nervous.

"Oh, that was today?" he said and turned his attention to the front of the desk. "Takano-san, the newbie is here." He called but nothing. "Takano-san?!" he called again, this time a leg slammed down onto to table followed by a loud voice.

"Shut up! I heard you the first time!" Ritsuka turned her attention to a raven-haired man with amber-gold eyes looking through a pair of rectangle black-rimmed glasses.

"Wait, this guy, proper?" Ritsuka thought and walked over to the man.

"What do you want?" he asked as he shuffled through the paperwork on his desk.

"Um, I'm the new employee." Ritsuka replied.

"Oh, so you're the newbie. Sorry I wasn't there for the interview." He said as he continued shuffling through papers. "Any experience with editing manga?" he asked.

"Uh, no," Ritsuka replied.

"Magazine…? Light novel?" he asked.

"Uh no, literature actually," The woman replied.

"Literature?" the man said.

"Hey, don't judge people like that." Ritsuka thought annoyed.

"Useless." Takano said bluntly, annoying the brunette woman further. Suddenly the phone began ringing and the man picks it up. "Hello, I see. I'll be right down." He said and stood up. "Follow me." He said and led Ritsuka down to the lobby, where they met up with a female author. The two sat and the author showed them the draft. "It's good, but the kissing scene could be better." The man said. "Work on it here."

"Ah, okay." The author said and got straight to drawing.

"Hey you don't want to keep the publishers waiting, do you?" Ritsuka thought. "Hey it looks fine to me." She spoke up.

"I'm saying that it could be better, so stay out of it noob." Takano says annoying the woman. "No, like this," Takano said as he instructed. "Haven't you ever been kissed before?" he asks, Ritsuka and the author both flinch.

"Oi, that's sexual harassment." Ritsuka thought.

"But, even you do kiss, you can't see yourself, heh, heh!" the author said obviously nervous.

"That's right. In that case I'll do a demonstration." The man said and stood up taking off his glasses.

"I'll get someone." Ritsuka said standing up and began walking, when Takano grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss, stunning both her and the female author. He then finally releases her lips and turns back to the author.

"You got it?" he asks, the woman nods. "Good, now ink it." He says sitting back down and the author begins drawing.

"W-what the heck was that?!" Ritsuka asked leaning against the wall. Takano turns to her with a blank expression on his face.

"What do you mean? Work of course." He replies as if nothing's wrong. Ritsuka just scowls.

"God he's so annoying." She thought.

-Later during break-

"In the end we got the manuscript turned in, but seriously what's with him?" Ritsuka thought. She was sitting alone at a table in a corner near a window, with a cup of coffee and staring out at the view.

"So far I learned that the Emerald department is full of weirdos that no one wants to be near, and their boss is especially weird. They seem to have a passion for Shoujo manga…Passion? Well they must if they go so far as to become models for it. I didn't think I would get harassed on my first day." She thought remembering the incident. She sighs and rubs her stomach. "My stomach hurts." She sighs again. "I really wanted to work on literature."

"My dad is the president of a publishing company, so ever since I was little I loved books. And when I was given the editing job at the company I was so happy. But then…"

-Flashback-

Ritsuka was at the vending machine grabbing a drink, when she heard a conversation brewing.

"You know what, I bet the reason that Onodera is so successful is because of her father." a man said grabbing Ritsuka's attention.

"Indeed, having the president as a father must have some good impact on your career." A woman scoffed. Ritsuka was hurt by this and ran into the bathroom.

She stared at her reflection and began crying. After a minute or two she stopped and decided to prove herself. She quit her family's company and went to pursue her own editing career.

-End of flashback-

"I thought it was a good idea at the time, but now I'm starting to regret it. Especially since I'm changing places with my kids." Ritsuka thought in silence. "*Sigh* I wish I could go back to those times when life was so pure and carefree. Like in highschool, with Saga-sempai…Wait, wait! Don't think about some guy whose face you can't remember!" The woman thought shaking her head. "*Sigh* Even if he is the father to my girls." She signed in thought.

*Ring**Ring*

She jumped a little when she heard a ringing from her pocket. She quickly gets over it and takes out her phone answering the call.

"Hello?" she said.

*Hey Mum.* A familiar voice said on the other side and Ritsuka smiles.

"Hi sweetie," she said to her son, and eldest child, Midori.

*When are you getting home? Anzu and Yume really want to see you.* the boy said. Ritsuka sighs; this was going to be a long day.

"It's my first day so I might be a little late. Can you just look after them a little longer? Please." The woman said to her son.

*Okay, I guess. Hey they're here right now if you want to talk to them.* the boy said and Ritsuka smiles.

"Or course, put them on right now." She replied and heard some rustling on the other line.

*Hi mommy!* Ritsuka smile when she heard two little voices.

"Hi Anzu, hi Yume," She said in a loving tone.

*Mommy, when are you coming home?* asked Anzu.

*Yeah, we miss you.* said Yume.

"I'll try to come back as fast as I can. In the meantime I trust you two to be good little sisters to your brother." She said.

*Okay!* the two reply in a cheery tone and Ritsuka hangs up. She puts her phone back in her pocket and drinks her coffee.

"Hey, Onodera," Ritsuka turned her attention to her new boss, who was walking to her.

"Oh hi Takano-san." she greeted. "Did you get the manuscript in?" she asked.

"Yes, they were a little annoyed for it being late, but they quickly got over it." He said and puffed out a small cloud of smoke.

"Oi, aren't you going to apologize for the kiss?" she thought.

"Onodera, huh…? You wouldn't happen to be the daughter of "Onodera Publishers", would you?" the man asks and Ritsuka flinches.

"I have nothing to do with that company." She replies gripping her cup tightly.

"I see." He said and took another breath of smoke. "What happen? Daddy didn't give you the position you wanted, so you went rouge?" he asked annoying the brunette woman.

"No, and don't act like you know everything." She snapped at him while turning away.

"Say, have we met somewhere before?" he asks all of sudden confusing the woman.

"No, I don't think so." She replied and got up from her seat. She walked away and threw her cup into the trash.

Later she is back in the office with about 100 volumes of some of shoujo that the department made. She then sat at her desk and began reading the books. Unknown to her, a certain raven-haired man walks by and sees her. He then feels a strange wave of nostalgia flow over him, but he shrugs it off and leaves to go home.

Okay, I know that you guys must be kind of confused. But all questions will be answered in the next chapter, and after. So see you soon. ;) P.S. don't forget to post your opinions on this story.