Secretive

Chapter 9

"Please wait here for a while." Ito said to her as he brought the woman to the reception room.

"Thank you."

"I haven't asked for advice yet, which teacher is it?"

"Igarashi Yuichi." She announced her name.

"...Is Igarashi-sensei... the one I remember?" Ito seemed shocked by the facts in front of him, so he had to ask back.

""The Defeated General" is my work."

"This is really..."

Igarashi seemed to be accustomed to Ito's attitude, shrugged: "I'm surprised, I'm a woman, so I'm sorry."

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just that I didn't expect such wanton and precise brushwork to appear in your hands. Coupled with the relationship between this pseudonym, I thought the teacher was a man."

"Forget it, I didn't care about this at all." Igarashi said while drinking tea.

"Then I excuse myself first."

"what's your name?"

Only then did Yidong realize that he forgot to introduce himself, and took out his business card from his wallet: "I am the director of the editorial team of the magazine, and my surname is Yidong."

Igarashi took the business card and smiled: "I see. Thank you, see you."

"Excuse me." Ito bowed and left.

"Are you Igarashi-sensei?" Miyamoto even stood up due to being too surprised.

"Yes." Igarashi replied helplessly.

"No, I didn't expect—"

"Don't repeat the same scene twice..." Igarashi couldn't help feeling a headache.

"I didn't expect to see you in person. I like your "The Defeated General" very much. Please sign me."

"Ha..." Igarashi suddenly felt a sense of frustration, she pulled out the pen she carried with her, and drew a simple drawing on the notebook Miyamoto handed over.

"thank you very much."

"Then, it's almost time to get to the point."

Miyamoto quickly put away his cheerful face, and responded seriously: "Yes.

"Can you arrange for me to meet Kitano-sensei today?"

"Excuse me, Miss Mishima has already told me. We will probably arrange a meeting next week..."

Igarashi sighed: "Mr. Miyamoto, although I have thoroughly read "Rock Street", there are still many things that need to be confirmed. I hope to confirm it with Kitano-sensei. Something went wrong. This kind of thing should be decided as soon as possible."

"That's true...then, please allow me to leave the table to make a phone call."

"Please."

According to Kitano Ryu's usual personality, Miyamoto was already prepared to be rejected.As a result, the other party agreed very readily.

"Is it really possible?" Miyamoto reconfirmed.

"I don't need to say this kind of thing three times." Kitano's tone was a little impatient.

"Feel sorry."

After the call with Kitano ended, Igarashi also got a satisfactory answer.She thanked Miyamoto, and explained the time and place of the meeting before leaving.

Since Mishima, the editor of Igarashi, made it clear that he has no time in the afternoon, only Miyamoto was present.

He stood at the door and urged the slow-moving Kitano. Kitano didn't show any nervousness about being late, which made Miyamoto quite troubled.

While chatting on the road, Miyamoto chatted with Kitano about Takahashi and Ito.

"The two of them? I remember, before they were promoted to director, they were right partners."

"Eh? Are those two directors who are always at odds?"

"Murasaki used to complain to me all the time, so I remembered it too."

"In this case, why did it become like this?"

"You asked me too..." Kitano showed a look of difficulty remembering, "It seems that they fell out suddenly one day. Well, Murasaki himself also felt baffled. After that, because their director retired, Takahashi was promoted to be the director. .”

"Eh..." It sounded like something deep was hidden inside—Miyamoto showed such an expression.

"Forgive me, I've heard Hikari Murasaki's complaints before and I don't want to hear any more." Kitano obviously didn't want the second Murasaki to appear.

"Sorry, because I'm a little concerned... Director Takahashi seems to be in a bad mood today..."

"Ah, yes, it's normal for people to be in a bad mood, don't worry about everything like an idiot."

"Idiot?" Miyamoto showed a shocked look, "Is the impression I left on Kitano-sensei..."

"arrive."

"Please explain, teacher—"

Arriving at the agreed coffee shop, Miyamoto searched around for a while but couldn't find Igarashi.

"It's strange, isn't it here yet?"

"That..." A voice came from below.The two lowered their heads, and saw a pair of round eyes staring straight at them. "Who is Brother Kitano?"

"It's me." Kitano squatted down and looked at the little boy who appeared out of nowhere.

"Big sister—" he called to the backstage of the coffee shop.

"Yes, are they here Yuuto?" Igarashi came out from behind, wearing slippers on his feet, looking like he was at home.She walked up to the two of them, touched Yuuto's head, and praised him with a generous smile.

"sit down."

She casually pointed to a vacant seat in the store, and took out the documents from the drawer under the cash register.

"Well, Ms. Igarashi, this is..."

"Oh, I rent the second floor here. These are the setting drawings of several characters. Anyway, let's take a look at it first. If you need to modify it, please come up with your opinions as much as possible."

Kitano obviously admired this bright style of handling affairs, and with a rare smile on his face, he took the document.

During their discussion, Miyamoto basically had no room to intervene, Yuuto sat next to Igarashi, drinking his milk drink through a straw.

This impromptu seminar lasted about three hours, the sun has turned to an ambiguous yellow, and evening is approaching.

"Accidentally ordered this, stay for dinner?"

"I want tamagoyaki. I want sweet!" Yuuto signed up first.

"Of course, Yuuto, I'll give you a huge portion." Igarashi had a doting smile on his face.

"It's already this time, so it's inconvenient to disturb." Miyamoto maintained his courtesy.

Kitano pondered for a moment, but still refused.

For dinner, Miyamoto was of course invited to a convenience store bento.

And that night, Takahashi's dinner was naturally a convenience store lunch.

Ito came back from outside when he was poking at the rice depressingly.

"Where have you been?" He lowered his head and asked aloud.

"Dinner." Ito pulled his tie and walked into the room, and the voice that responded was also cold.

Although this is Ito's usual attitude at work, it is obvious that he has lost his usual warmth.Takahashi threw down the chopsticks, packed up the almost untouched bento, and threw it into the trash can.

"Don't you eat yet?" Judging the weight from the sound of falling into the trash can, Ito turned around and asked.

"I'm full." Takahashi didn't know where the gas was pressing against his chest, and he sank himself onto the sofa expressionlessly.

He heard Ito sigh: "What do you want to eat?"

"I am full."

"What are you doing awkwardly? It's me who should be really angry."

"I'm so sorry for always making you angry."

"That's right, how do you plan to make amends?"

Takahashi looked back at Ito in disbelief, who was standing in front of the open kitchen with his arms crossed, looking at him seriously.

He adjusted his sitting posture on the sofa, and hooked his fingers at Ito.

Ito walked over unexpectedly obediently, until he came in front of him, Takahashi reached out and grabbed Ito's tie and pulled him to the front, and exchanged a rough kiss with him with his head up.

"Sorry." He tried to make his eyes look sincere.

"It's just that I can't forgive you." Ito said without pulling back his tie in a hurry, maintaining such a posture that he could hardly see the other person's face.

"Huh? Then, I'll buy you an apology gift tomorrow."

"Need not."

"What conditions do you have?" Takahashi faintly had an ominous premonition, he loosened his tie, and moved away from Ito.

"You said a month of abstinence?" Ito stretched out his hand to hold Takahashi, with a smile on his face.

"Only this is the only thing I will never give in to." Takahashi struggled a bit, and replied seriously.

"Really." Ito let go of his hand, stood up straight, straightened his crooked tie, "I'm going to take a shower first."

"Hey..." Takahashi couldn't help being speechless when he saw his lover's attitude of turning faces faster than turning pages. "Could it be that you only have H in your head? The perverted old man!"

"Director Takahashi is here again—" Murasaki wailed.

"Zhou Ping is so noisy!" Heichuan, who was also overwhelmed by heavy work, roared angrily.

"Report, senior." Miyamoto slid in front of Kurokawa with a chair and a report with temperature just taken out of the printer in his hand.

Kurokawa didn't even look at Miyamoto and reached out to take it, thanking him, "Thank you Miyamoto."

Fujiki covered his eyes and sighed: "A-Ling, is that all right?"

"Ah, let's do it right now." Miyamoto returned to his seat quickly, and then made the materials needed by Fujiki.

Ono floats in like a ghost from outside, and the files on his desk reach new heights.

"Hurry up and deal with it, Xinghui, I have accumulated a lot here." Mizuide complained, keeping his eyes on the computer.

The phone on the director's desk rang unwittingly at such a busy time.

"Hello, here is the second team of the Miscellaneous Department."

"Ah, it's Bell."

"Miss Fujiwara."

"Excuse me, please come here and get the manuscript sent by the printing factory for proofreading. It has to be sent to the proofreading department on the fourth floor."

"Yes, but it may take another half an hour."

"It's okay, anyway, just come and get it within today."

"alright, thank you very much."

Miyamoto continued to deal with the work at hand, and when it came to an end, it was time for the noon break.

He was thinking of rushing to the distribution department to get the manuscript, just as Fujiwara Mitsu had just cleaned up his desk.

"What a coincidence, Miyamoto, do you want to have lunch together?"

"I'm here to pick up the manuscript..."

"Hey, come back and get it after eating." Fujiwara shook the bento in his hand.

"...Then I'll go back and get my wallet."

Many of the rest places in the company have already been occupied by people having lunch. They are sitting in the small garden under the building.

Fujiwara's bento is richly made, while Miyamoto just buys bread and milk casually.

"When I asked Director Takahashi to come and get it, he always had to wait until after get off work."

"Eh?"

"Because we're downstairs, we're just passing by before getting off work, and it's also a way to go to the proofreading department."

"No way……"

"But Director Ito will ask others to come and get it. So relatively speaking, Director Ito is more like a director."

"I think Director Takahashi is better."

"This evaluation is reversed by Director Ito." Fujiwara showed a funny expression.

"That is, Director Ito thinks Director Ito is better?"

"Yes." Fujiwara nodded.

Miyamoto shook his head incomprehensibly as he recalled Ito's indifferent expression of always keeping away from strangers.

"In the end, it's Director Takahashi's fiery temper that has made everyone frightened."

"That's not the case." Miyamoto argued earnestly.

Fujiwara just ate the bento, and said after a while: "Of course I know, after all, I have been dealing with Director Takahashi for three years. He and Director Ito were still partners at that time, and the relationship is pretty good. But After that, the relationship suddenly deteriorated, and then Director Takahashi was promoted, and many people rumored that the relationship broke down because of this."

"Didn't Director Ito also get promoted in the end?"

"Because Minister Kamiya likes Director Ito very much. Although Director Ito was temporarily transferred, he is very capable, and a group also needed a director at the time."

"I see."

"However, I don't think it's because of this." Fujiwara was extremely serious in both his attitude and tone.

"what?"

"It didn't become like this because of the promotion."

"Why do you say that?" Miyamoto didn't have to know, but the topic continued like this, and he didn't particularly intend to stop it.

A mysterious smile appeared on Fujiwara's face: "This is something like a girl's intuition."

"Isn't this kind of answer the same as no?" Miyamoto also laughed dumbfounded.

"Okay, let's eat." Fujiwara interrupted the topic, half of her bento had disappeared before she knew it, and Miyamoto's bread had only taken two bites.

Until the end of lunch, Miyamoto's thoughts were still spinning between the relationship between their two directors.

Takahashi had already returned from work, and was still working on the work at hand even during the break. Miyamoto tried not to disturb other people who were already resting and returned to his seat alone, and put the manuscript that Hikaru Fujiwara handed over to him on the table.

In the afternoon, the unfinished work in the morning was also completed one after another. In order to comfort them, Takahashi specially ordered afternoon tea and snacks. Everyone knew the meaning of this.

Until around seven o'clock in the evening, when the others returned after working overtime, Takahashi had no intention of going back at all.

After saying goodbye to the others, leaving only enough lights to illuminate his position, the office fell into an extremely quiet, only the sound of typing on the keyboard echoed.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Ito's voice came from the door of the office, the voice that was usually inaudible, but now every word was very clear.Takahashi followed the movement of his hand and responded bluntly: "Haven't you gone back yet?"

"We're going back now."

"I'll be there for a while."

"Really." Ito replied, followed by the sound of his leaving footsteps.

The space was filled with silence again, and the sound of typing on the keyboard became louder and faster, and finally stopped abruptly.

Takahashi stood up abruptly and ran outside.

Standing in front of the elevator, Ito turned his head when he heard footsteps approaching.

He didn't stop until he got in front of Ito, Takahashi's face was full of remorse.

"I promise you that's it, anyway accept my apology."

"Promise what?" Ito showed a confused expression.

"Yesterday... the one-month abstinence was cancelled."

Takahashi gritted his teeth and said.