Sekaiichi Hatsukoi VOL.2 [Yokozawa Takafumi No Baai]

CHAPTER 1

After wrapping up a particularly troublesome matter, Yokozawa decided to head over to the smoke lounge for a breather-when he caught the sound of a conversation. Initially intending to just pass by, he froze up at a name which casually popped up in the chatter, and he found his feet drawing up short to a stop.

"That reminds me-I heard the other day that Kirishima-san's birthday is next Friday!"

"Where'd you hear that?"

When he surreptitiously attempted to check out the speakers, he found they were two female members of the editing team for a listings magazine. One of them he recognized as a face he'd seen hanging around Kirishima quite a bit recently; despite the fact that her department was on a completely different floor, she often used the excuse of sharing any goodies she received to make her way to the shounen manga floor. It was with enough frequency that even Yokozawa, himself a member of the sales department, had taken notice, so she probably was visiting rather often.

The women around the office had been riled up ever since Kirishima had taken off his wedding ring. Rumors had flown, but one had finally gotten up the courage to be the sacrificial lamb and learned that while he had been married with a child, his spouse had passed away quite some time before. With that out in the open, the invitations from women had flooded in unceasingly. Some had even had the gall to try and use Yokozawa himself, known throughout Marukawa as a wild bear and usually avoided, as an excuse to get closer-women with ambition were amazing, that much was obvious.

While Kirishima had gone along with some of the invitations easily enough initially, these days he'd taken to turning down almost every one. But when some refused to back down even at the excuse that his daughter would get lonely, it wasn't uncommon to find him sulking in irritation behind the scenes.

And that was when some of the sharper ones had latched on to a new theory as to why he'd suddenly changed his tune: he'd found someone new, and that was why he'd removed his ring and held off from going out drinking so much.

The first time Yokozawa had heard that theory in the break room-he'd nearly spit out his coffee. Women could be crazily sharp sometimes.

"Our editor-in-chief mentioned it. When it came up that among those his age, Kirishima-san's birthday was the earliest in the year, I did a little snooping and..."

"What?! You're seriously going to try and nab him?"

"Hey, I've liked him for a long time! I gave up because I assumed he had a wife, but if he's single, then there's no harm in making a move, right?"

"So you really are serious, huh? But-didn't you hear he has a kid in elementary school? Even if he is single, that throws a wrench in the works a bit."

"It's a little girl, right? I'm sure we'd get along great-it'd work out fine! Maybe I could get close to the daughter...and then get in good with her father, you think?"

Yokozawa could feel himself getting irritated with their fervent chatter; it was one thing to have honest feelings for Kirishima himself, but another entirely to use his daughter to get to him, and the very idea didn't sit well with him at all.

"Hmm, you really think it'd be that easy?"

"And-hey! His birthday happens to fall on the last day of the cycle, right? I could invite him out under the pretense of having a little post-submission celebration, then on our way home, I could pass him a little present all casual-like! Might give me some points in his eyes, don't you think? Hey-what do you think he'd like?"

Eavesdropping like this was hardly appropriate, and he wasn't exactly enjoying the conversation anyways-so Yokozawa quietly slipped away.

"Still, his birthday, huh..."