My Strict Boss Is the Secret Artist Drawing Spicy Comics of Us novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Sota
Reiji Takamine held form 14 over the gas ring at ten o'clock on Sunday night, and his hand was not steady.
The paper was soft from fourteen months in a drawer.
It said OSAKA BRANCH, CLAIMS SECTION, in Ichinose's old rounded handwriting, and under it a signature he had learned by heart.
He had not stamped it, and he had not thrown it away.
"Are you sure?" Ichinose said, from the doorway of the kitchenette.
"I am a section chief."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the only answer I have."
He lowered the corner to the flame.
The paper caught with a small yellow tongue, and curled, and the word OSAKA went brown and then black.
It burned quickly. It was only paper.
He dropped it in the sink and watched it go to ash.
Behind him the smoke alarm on the ceiling began to scream.
"Oh, no," Ichinose said.
"Do not look at me."
"It's a very sensitive alarm."
"The landlord installed it. He is afraid of toast."
Ichinose climbed on the kitchen chair, in his socks, and waved a dish towel at it.
In the middle of the shrieking, he began to laugh.
Reiji held on to the edge of the sink and laughed too.
He was still not used to what it did to his face.
The alarm cut off.
In the silence, from the apartment below, a woman's voice shouted, "Takamine-san! Is everything all right?"
"Everything is in order!" Reiji shouted back.
"I smelled smoke!"
"It was a document!"
Ichinose slid off the chair onto the floor and lay there with his arm over his eyes.
After a while Reiji sat down beside him on the tiles.
"There is something else," he said.
"There always is."
"It is on the laptop."
He had not planned to show it tonight.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Strict Boss Is the Secret Artist Drawing Spicy Comics of Us are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend