That resolve shattered on a rainy Tuesday when a manuscript landed on his desk.
Ritsu Onodera prided himself on one thing above all else: his professionalism. After transferring to the shoujo manga editorial department of Marukawa Publishing, he had sworn off personal feelings. No more nepotism allegations, no more emotional attachments. Just work. Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi
Panic prickled his skin. He had thrown that story away—literally tossed it into a trash bin outside the school library after his then-boyfriend, Masamune Takano, had broken his heart. How did it end up here? And why was it submitted to his department? That resolve shattered on a rainy Tuesday when
“N-nothing! Just a rejection pile.”
The art was exquisite—delicate linework, expressive eyes, a story about two childhood friends reuniting as rivals in a flower arrangement competition. It was poetic, dramatic, and agonizingly familiar. Because the author’s name wasn’t listed, but Ritsu recognized the brushwork immediately. It was the same style he’d doodled in the margins of his high school notebooks. The same style that had once signed a love letter with a single, messy "S." No more nepotism allegations, no more emotional attachments
Ritsu felt the floor drop. His teenage angst, his first love’s betrayal, his secret dreams of becoming a mangaka—all of it, now with a stranger’s ending.