「CHAPTER 6」
"It"s boring."
"Wha-!!!"
Yos.h.i.+no and Hatori were discussing the upcoming ma.n.u.script at the usual cafe.
Hatori had skimmed through the storyboard Yos.h.i.+no had brought, as Yos.h.i.+no somehow
controlled his anger against these harsh words.
All right then, I’ll listen to what he has to say!
Then Hatori began a string of lectures aimed at Yos.h.i.+no, who had rested his back
against the seat.
"Lately the quality of your storyboard dropped, am I right? How can I say this, it"s
lifeless. The readers want excitement, you know. And yet, what"s with this dull plot?
Perhaps age is getting to you?"
"......!"
This......f.u.c.king editor......saying such hurtful things......
Yos.h.i.+no did not know that he was sugarcoating his words as Hatori endlessly
began listing the things Yos.h.i.+no was worried about himself.
"Or do you not have enough motivation? The readers are very sensitive to pop
culture. Did you carefully look over all of the material I sent you?"
"I DID look over it! But isn"t it uninteresting because it"s the editor"s fault? The
guy who pretends to be the best is really a pushy guy, so I might have gotten
discouraged!"
".........."
Hatori frowned and fell silent at Yos.h.i.+no"s comeback and then fixed his gaze
down upon the storyboard.
Oh, this probably did the trick. I"m the one who keeps getting told off.
Yos.h.i.+no was pleased, thinking Hatori received some damage, as he was about to
reach across the table for a melon soda, but right then his hand was caught and plastered
to the table.
"Huh?"
Then the moment Yos.h.i.+no happened to look up at Hatori, who had stood up for
some reason, Hatori seized him by the collar of his s.h.i.+rt with his other hand and locked
their lips.
"Mmph, mmph---! Mmmphhh------!?"
After Hatori ran his tongue all over the inside of Yos.h.i.+no"s mouth to fit his
satisfaction, he pushed him away as if nothing had happened. When Yos.h.i.+no was left
stunned, Hatori sat back down in the chair, crossed his long legs, looking like he was
embarra.s.sed, and began speaking with a serious expression.
"This is your only punishment if you"re going to show me boring things. As your
punishment, I"ll do things I want to do. If you don"t like that, then draw interesting things
as if your life depended on it. It"s like killing two birds with one stone, isn"t it?"
"Wha-....................?"
He did not understand what had been told to him at that moment, but as he
thought over Hatori"s words, Yos.h.i.+no came to his senses and hastily retorted back.
“Hey! What IS this?!!"
"You"re the one who said you couldn"t do it because it wasn"t exciting. I
recommend you toughen up. You should even thank me for this."
"What are you saying?! I was tough from the very beginning!"
Yos.h.i.+no was in a fury as he glared at Hatori. He was red in the face, losing his
temper and everything, but he wanted Hatori to think it was because he was angry. He
definitely did not want Hatori to know the fact that the thumping of his heart was due to
the sudden kiss.
I knew it, should I have changed editors?
He could not reward Hatori with the lover"s relations.h.i.+p that Hatori wished for,
and not understanding the reason for being kissed like this, Yos.h.i.+no wanted him to stop.
Talk of changing editors had finally ended from Hatori; because of Yos.h.i.+no"s opposition,
he had dropped this matter. Nonetheless, from an author"s point of view, he thought
keeping the capable Hatori as his editor by his side was the right decision; but when he
considered his personal problems, he honestly had doubts. In the corner of his mind he
was regretting this just a little bit; and yet, Yos.h.i.+no had a feeling that he would never 
separate from Hatori for as long as he lives. He realized that someday, the day when he
would no longer rely on Hatori had to come, but right now he still needed Hatori.
I didn"t want to be separated from him and went as far as to do such a thing and
prevented him from leaving, so I guess I have somewhat of a desire to keep him all to
myself......
With everything that had happened, Yos.h.i.+no realized that he himself wanted
Hatori to stay beside him, even if he had no reason for it and it was not work related. But
in the end, even though he tried to see what a physical relations.h.i.+p would be like, nothing
had changed on the surface, and he was not able to make his own feelings clear either.
".........."
"Hey, what"s wrong?"
"Huh? Ah, no- nothing!"
Hatori found the silence strange as he peered into his face, and Yos.h.i.+no, in a
fl.u.s.ter, turned away from him.
He did not know what would be said to him if he remembered the events from
that day and if it became known that he remembered. Now he started to remember this
matter from a few days ago and immediately expelled the memory from his head. If he
remembered the whole thing in detail, he would not be able to concentrate on work. But
without a doubt he felt like Hatori was making his heart throb more than before..........
No, why did he even think he experienced this heart throbbing before?
Is this "love"...?
He kept asking himself that, but of course the answer was not evident. The
problem was WHAT was causing his heart to thump faster. When it comes to imagining
things, an author is far more imaginative than anyone, so Yos.h.i.+no decided not to be
embarra.s.sed anymore if Hatori made any sort of move on him, since he had already
foreseen it.
Then Hatori interrogated him once again, "......What are you making these foolish
faces for?"
"Huh? Ah! No, nothing..."
"If you don"t have enough motivation, should I do it again? Or, something even
better?"
"Don"t be stupid!"
His heart leapt up again as he realized what he had meant. In order to hide it, he
grabbed the gla.s.s covered with water droplets on the outside and took the straw in his
mouth.
The sweet juice and refres.h.i.+ng fizziness made him calm down a little bit.
"......Well, at least you"ve become aware..."
"..? Did you say something?"
When Yos.h.i.+no looked up, not being able to hear the small whisper, Hatori
smirked at him.
"Never mind. Try to make the storyboard interesting already!"
"I get it! Shut up!"
......Still, how come I never live up to his expectations......?
Unlike Yos.h.i.+no"s heavy sigh, the sound of the ice in the empty gla.s.s was light and
cool.