Specks of Light

Part Three. Chapter 3: A Great Team

"What the hell was that?" Yuu whispered silently as he walked towards the living room. Everyone seemed to be relaxing and stretching their hands when he arrived. He wasn't feeling very hungry, so he just took one of the coffee cans and quickly took a seat on the couch. He shaked his hand trying to erase the lingering feeling of Fujino's fingers interlacing with his own. That gesture had been extremely weird, but Fujino- sensei seemed to had forgotten about it the minute it was over even though for Yuu it had been quite uncomfortable.

"How do you like working here, Yanase- kun?" Kirishima- san asked sitting next to him "It's very different from all the other places I work at" Yuu answered honestly. From the Mangaka himself to the whole atmosphere of the room, this was nothing similar to what he had known. "Different as in good or bad?" Kirishima said in a low voice, maybe he thought Yanase was gonna give a disapproving answer "Different good. It's very calm" Yuu told him drinking from the coffee can he had picked. "Are you available to work here for two more weeks?" the editor asked calmly "You're a very fast worker and we will be done sooner if you are here. Plus I can imagine your schedule is a little loose with Kyo- san being away, right?" he finished making Yuu almost choke with the coffee he was drinking. "W- well yes, but I work with other authors too" he answered tightening his grip around the coffee can. "I see, can you check real quick if you're available? I just want to confirm with everybody" Kirishima- san told him looking at the can he was holding apparently noting Yuu's last gesture. "Sure, I have to check it on my phone but I think I left it in the drawing room" Yuu replied quickly standing up to go pick his phone. "I'll wait then" Kirishima told him as he adopted a more relaxed position on the couch.

Yuu walked by the assistants clearly noting Nozomi's eyes fixated on him "It's very nice to have you here, Yanase- san" she spoke nervously with her usual tender tone. "Thank you, it's nice to work with you here too, Nozomi- chan" Yuu replied with a smile. He could hear the rest of the assistants kind of congratulating Nozomi as he walked away but he didn't really want to pay much attention to them.

He arrived to the drawing room where Fujino- sensei seemed to be working on a new page. "Did you eat something, Yuu- san?" He asked kindly without turning to look at Yuu. "No, just had some coffee. I am not really hungry" he answered as he approached his work space. There were too many papers around for him to find his phone in there. Carefully moving the implements he searched for his mobile but it was nowhere to be found. "Are you looking for your cellphone?" Fujino asked looking at Yuu searching around the mess "Here! I took it away because it would not stopped ringing" he continued handing Yuu the black phone. "Really? I'm sorry, thank you for putting it away" he said unlocking the device. "Not a problem! I didn't see it all, of course, but I think someone just wanted to tell you that they love you too" Fujino commented looking at Yuu from the corner of his eye.

Yuu completely froze at the comment and saw his notifications. He had three missed calls and a message from Ijuuin- sensei, the calls were no big matter but the text he had received must've been displayed on the lock screen [The interview went great. Please call me when you're free, I really love you too]. Had Fujino- sensei read only that part? Or had he seen the whole text including the sender? No, he couldn't have! If Fujino- sensei had read who had sent the message, he would have had a stronger reaction, he was fan of Ijuuin's manga and he worked for the same company, there was no way he wouldn't have recognized Ijuuin's name had him seen it on the notifications.

Feeling too flustered to speak, Yuu quickly sat next to Fujino and tried to get back to work. Not long had passed when Kirishima- san and the assistants returned to the drawing room. "So, are you available, Yanase- kun?" the editor politely asked approaching the main table. Yuu then remembered he had gone to the drawing room to check on his schedule. "Sorry, I forgot. I will check now" Yuu said unlocking his phone to check on the calendar. Kirishima- san had been quite right, due to him having already worked with Nakajima and Sotou- sensei this month and with Ijuuin's absence, his schedule was quite free except for two days he had agreed to go help Chiaki. "I am available" he answered still looking at his phone "Perfect, I will make the arrangements then" Kirishima- san answered and walked away. "I'm glad you'll be able to work with me during this time" Fujino said upon hearing the news "Thank you, I hope the other assistants are available too" Yuu told him grabbing his pen once again. "I hope so too, but if not, I kind of feel like it could be enough with both of us" Fujino commented with a wide smile "As I said, we really make a great team"