The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2

“The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2” (小野寺律の場合 No.2, Onodera Ritsu no Baai No.2) is the second full chapter of The Case of Ritsu Onodera and the second overall chapter of the Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi manga series.
== Release Information ==
“The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2” was first released in The Ruby magazine in its second issue on June 13th, 2007.https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/product/200705000094/ Alongside “The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2”, “The Case of Chiaki Yoshino No.2” was released in the same issue in the form of a light novel chapter. Both would later be compiled in volumes, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi: The Case of Ritsu Onodera Volume 1 and The Case of Chiaki Yoshino Volume 1 respectively.
== Short Summary ==
In "The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2," Ritsu Onodera begins managing his own author, Yukina Mutou. The chapter begins with Takafumi Yokozawa yelling at Masamune Takano for under-printing a book that's sold-out, but Ritsu later sees them chatting and laughing together and becomes jealous. That night, Ritsu goes over Mutou's storyboard but he isn't sure about his edits, so Takano insists he come over and they go over the storyboard together. Afterward, Takano comes onto him, but Ritsu grabs the storyboard and flees, only to run into Yokozawa at the door. Later, Mutou's assistants all fall ill and Ritsu flies to Hokkaido to help finish the manuscript, and he manages to get the manuscript back in time for printing. Ritsu is so exhausted that he falls asleep next to Takano on the train home. He wakes up next to Takano in bed, asks if anything weird happened, and runs out.
== Long Summary ==
“The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2” opens with the introduction of Takafumi Yokozawa, a man who works in Marukawa Publishing’s sales department. He slams on Takano’s desk, demanding to know why the first printing of one of the manga Takano manages ran out in a single day Takano replies just as harshly that it was because Yokozawa’s superiors shot down the higher amount that Takano had originally wanted. Their arguing carries over to the rest of the Emerald department, leaving Ritsu confused.
Kanade Mino explains to Ritsu why the books running out so quickly was a bad thing, as the lost time waiting to print out more copies until a second run can be considered leads to lesser sales. Yokozawa overhears this, and Ritsu ends up introducing himself to him. Yokozawa hears the name ‘Onodera’ and instantly knows that Ritsu is the only son and heir to Onodera Publishing, bringing it up in front of many of Ritsu’s co-workers much to his shock.
Later on, Ritsu leaves the department with a stack of envelopes that needed to be mailed. When he boards the elevator however, Takano attempts to join him, much to Ritsu’s displeasure. In a panic, Ritsu rushes out of the elevator before the doors can close, lying that he had forgotten something back in the department to avoid being alone with Takano.
When he gets back to Emerald, he takes a look at a calendar, noting that it has been five days since Yukina Mutou’s storyboard deadline has come and gone. As he was the previous editor to manage her works, Ritsu consults Yoshiyuki Hatori about this, asking if this is abnormal in any way. Hatori ends up suggesting that Ritsu gives her a call and to keep a good eye on her to make sure things haven’t taken a bad turn. Ater calling Mutou, it is confirmed that she still has about ten pages left to go before it can be handed over for the first corrections.
Despite already have three years worth of editing experience in literature, because this is Ritsu’s first time being left in charge of a manga author, it is quite unfamiliar to him. It took lots of research and reading to get to  a point where Takano was comfortable allowing him to begin editing shoujo manga. There is a short flashback in which it is explained that Takano required him to read both the storyboards and final drafts of every manga published under the Emerald label in the past five years, and made sure that he understood each and every change that was made. Ritsu was reluctant at first, but upon being provoked by Takano, he became adamant that he could absolutely do it. It was only after he was able to do that as well as writing an entire report on it that Takano allowed him to begin editorial work with an author of his own.
Takano re-enters the office, and Hatori calls over to him saying that Yokozawa is on the phone with him asking about Takano going out to get drinks with him tonight. Ritsu is confused about this, as Yokozawa had only been in the office not too long ago screaming at Takano. Takano is uninterested and tells Hatori to tell him no. Ritsu finds himself getting a bit too invested in this for his own liking, shaking it off by telling himself that it has nothing to do with him.
Later on when leaving the office for the day, just as Ritsu gets to the exit, he finds Takano and Yokozawa each smoking cigarettes, having a friendly conversation. At first, he doesn’t want to approach the two of them because he doesn’t want to be around Takano because of their history together, but he’s still curious about what the two of them are talking about. Despite being at each other’s throats that morning, now they were laughing together, looking very friendly. Ritsu is shocked to see this, as he has hardly ever seen Takano smile before.
Ritsu attempts to exit the building, having to pass the two of them if he wants to be able to leave. Takano instantly calls him out on it, saying that he should say something to him as he is leaving as he is his superior. Ritsu says goodbye and rushes out, and Takano quickly makes an excuse to leave as well. Yokozawa is annoyed, having wanted to hang out him. He says that he’ll be by later tonight, and Takano insists that he shouldn’t. But Yokozawa again insists that he will, referring to Takano by his first name, Masamune. Upon hearing this, Ritsu is surprised, as in Japan, using somebody’s first name can be a sign of closeness. Just like earlier, Ritsu stamps out any sort of jealous feelings that have begun to bubble from this.
When they board the train, Ritsu is annoyed that Takano has to be with him, having briefly forgotten that they’re neighbors now and that they happen to be going the same way. This particular day, the train is running late and is overcrowded due to an accident that happened earlier that day. The two of them are forced to be very close to each other, much to Ritsu’s displeasure. Takano points out that Ritsu is obviously trying to avoid him, and Ritsu insists that that isn’t the case. The entire situation leaves him feeling excessively self-conscious about the whole situation between the two of them.
When Ritsu gets home, he finds that Muto has faxed him the storyboards that they had discussed earlier that day. Right away, he sits down and marks it up with all the edits that he has. When he finished up, he goes to text Hatori about it for help, but then he thinks back to how it’s a rule in the Emerald department that all storyboards are required to go through Takano before getting to the next stage of the editing process. Ritsu does just about anything to avoid going next door to Takano’s apartment, such as faxing it to him and forcing the whole stack through his mailbox. Takano calls him out on it, and Ritsu ends up entering the apartment.
After Takano reads over the storyboards, they go over the edits that Ritsu has made together. Overall, most of Ritsu’s edits were perfectly fine, but there was one particular page where Takano marked up a few panels that needed re-arranging for better flow.
Ritsu wants to leave right after they’ve finished up, but Takano presses the same topic as on the train again. He asks why Ritsu is avoiding him, and jumps to the conclusion that Ritsu must be in love with him if he’s acting like this. Ritsu immediately shoots his down, lying that he has a girlfriend in the hopes that Takano will back up upon hearing this. Takano calls him out on the lie, and forces him to repeat that while looking him in the eye. Ritsu repeats himself, and again Takano calls him out on his lie and forces a kiss on him.
In a struggle, the storyboards are dropped onto the floor. Takano pushes Ritsu onto the apartment floor, kissing him and forcing a hand into his pants. After he’s done, Ritsu slaps Takano away, collects the storyboards, and runs off to return to his own apartment. Before he can leave though, he runs into Yokozawa waiting outside of Takano’s front door. Upon seeing tears in Rtisu’s eyes, Yokozawa assumes that his crying is work-related, despite it having nothing to do with that. He calls Ritsu out on it, calling him pathetic for it.
Ritsu is finally able to get back to his own apartment, left wondering just what Yokozawa was doing showing up at Takano’s place so late to begin with. He’s yet again left wondering just what their relationship is, but forces himself to focus on work. He reminds himself yet again that he decided a long time ago that he would never fall in love again, especially with Takano.
Days later, the day before the final deadline to get manuscripts into the printers, Mutou calls Ritsu saying that her as well as all of her assistants have caught the flu. Instantly, Kisa and Takano are at Ritsu’s side, yelling that they need the manuscript now, and asking why it wasn’t already here. Yokozawa shows up as well, and right away is suggesting alternate options, and saying that the sales department and all other involved parties needs to know things like this as soon as possible.
Ritsu says that he’ll take a plane to Hokkaido to help Muto with her manuscript, and Yokozawa immediately tries to shoot the idea down. Takano agrees with this at first, but Ritsu is insistent that he will make this work, that he’ll just need twelve hours for this and he’d be back with the manuscript. Takano repeats the same sentiment, that this is a decision that needs to be made, that they need to face the reality that they won’t be making it in time. Yokozawa adds that this is a waste of time, and this sets Ritsu off. He yells at the two of them, saying that he will absolutely get the manuscript and that he’d never make a promise that he can’t keep. Takano relents, telling him to get moving, and that he will take responsibility if something goes wrong. After Ritsu has left, Yokozawa goes on about how Marukawa is a company, not some sort of manga club or playground.
Ritsu’s plane arrives in Hokkaido, and he meets Mutou in person for the first time. There are fifteen pages remaining to add tone and do the typesetting on, so they get to work right away. The whole situation leaves Ritsu worrying about Mutou’s health and wondering if he had been too lax the entire time.
They get to talking about the edits that Ritsu made on her storyboard, and she points to the one that Takano had made as being especially helpful. Ritsu says that he was glad to help, but is self-conscious knowing that Takano had been the one to make the original correction.
Hours pass, and the story cuts to Sasaki, a representative from the printing office, in the Emerald department with Takano and Yokozawa. He insists that he can’t wait any longer just as Ritsu arrives with the completed manuscript in hand. Sasaki runs off, and the three of them are left alone. Ritsu apologizes to them, saying that something like this will never happen again. Yokozawa leaves the two of them alone, and Takano says that he was never worried about it, because once Ritsu said that he would definitely do it, he believed in him, and that he always loved that part of Ritsu.
Afterwards, Ritsu goes to the bathroom to wash his face off, trying to get a grip. He didn’t like how flustered he got when Takano had said what he did back in the office, so tried to will his feelings away, not wanting to be like a shoujo manga heroine. Yokozawa shows up in the same restroom, and Ritsu turns to address him.
Yokozawa accuses Ritsu of having entered Marukawa on purpose, having known that Takano was working there. Ritsu doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but Yokozawa continues to accuse him of malicious intent in entering Marukawa. He accuses Ritsu of being the sole reason that Takano “isn’t himself anymore.” Ritsu is only more confused to hear this, but before he can ask Yokozawa to elaborate, he leaves. When he goes to follow him, he sees Yokozawa talking to Takano, yet again referring to him as ‘Masamune’, leaving Ritsu suspicious of their relationship.
Later on, when Takano and Ritsu are riding the train home, Ritsu is still left thinking about the status of Takano and Yokozawa’s relationship. He’s so caught up in his thoughts and being tired from today’s events that he doesn’t catch Takano mentioning that he’ll be having Ritsu take over as the magazine coordinator the issue after the next. As Takano tells him this, he falls asleep on his shoulder.
The next morning, Ritsu wakes up in Takano’s apartment. Upon seeing that he’s next to Takano in bed, he screams, and Takano wakes up and yells at him to quiet down. It turns out that after Ritsu fell asleep on the train, Takano carried him back to their apartment building and just decided to bring him to his place. Ritsu asks if anything weird happened, and Takano asks what he means, going on to say that if Ritsu loves him that it wouldn’t make any difference. This causes Ritsu to storm off, leaving behind his bag which had the keys to his own apartment. Takano meets him at the door, having brought him his things.  Ritsu reiterates that he’s never going to fall in love or say that he loves Takano, and Takano just shrugs it off with a “yeah right.”
The chapter closes off with a countdown box that reads: 331 days left until Ritsu falls in love.
==Adaptations==
=== Drama CD ===
The Drama CD adaptation of “The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.2” is part of Drama CD 1. The CD set was released July 31st, 2008, within a month of the release of Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Volume 1. No.2’s adaptation is part of the first disc, on Tracks 7 through 13.
=== Anime ===
The anime adaptation of this chapter takes place over episodes three and four of Season 1 of the Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi anime, In Love There is Both Dotage and Discretion and Adversity Makes a Man Wise, having released on April 23rd, 2011 and April 30th, 2011 respectively.
The anime-original content only becomes apparent in the voice credits during the ending theme of Adversity Makes a Man Wise, during which the man from the printing office is named Sasaki. He was first name dropped in A Man Has Free Choice to Begin Love But Not to End It during Takano’s phone call to him. He was never named in the original manga contents of No.1 or No.2.
== Character Introductions ==
* Takafumi Yokozawa
* Yukina Mutou
* Sasaki
==Navigation==
== References ==
Category:The Case of Ritsu Onodera
Category:Manga Chapters
Category:Volume 1