Chapter 4-5's illustration are from KKH post card collection

~Nora Jemison

VOLUME THREE

Special chapter

In a flashback chapter, we get to see how Masami and Masayoshi arrived in Japan, brought to live there by their father, who's been absent for much of their life since the death of their mother.  Masami has accepted Yoshiyuki's presence in their life, but Masayoshi can only remember the fact that their mother (Leaf) died alone when both boys were small children.  Leaf's mother, grief-stricken, blamed then-child Masayoshi, along with Yoshiyuki, for weakening Leaf and thus hastening her death, and Masayoshi has blamed both himself and Yoshiyuki since then.  So they arrive in Japan as something less than a family.

Meanwhile, we meet a young Hagiwara Tooru being a lazy manga-reading bum at home, a far cry from the responsible and upstanding teacher he'll one day be.  But fortunately, his mother shoos him outside to walk the dog, and while he's in the park, whom should he meet but first Masayoshi (who torments him even at this first meeting by pretending to speak no Japanese), and then---fate---Masami.  It's love at first sight---only Tooru, who's used to the short-haired women in his family, doesn't realize at first that Masami is male.  It's not entirely his fault; Masami looks exactly like his mother Leaf.

This is the same school, naturally, that Masami and Masayoshi begin to
attend.  (And yes, Yoshiyuki actually proposes that Masami wear a serafuku to school.)  The girls love Masayoshi; the boys love Masami.  Not surprisingly, the boys aren't too thrilled by the girls' reactions to
Masayoshi.  He gets into a fight.  Meanwhile Tooru raves to a friend about his "goddess" until the friend tells him to just go see "her" already.  So he does.  But when he reaches the classroom and asks for Shibata, Masayoshi comes out.  Tooru worries that he'll never see his goddess again.

Special chapter pt. 2

Masayoshi and Tooru get into a fight, which lands both in the office--- Masayoshi for the second time that day.  Afterward, Tooru laments the loss of his goddess, which catches Masayoshi's attention.  He figures out that Tooru's raving about Masami, but deliberately decides not to tell Tooru that Masami is his brother.  Tooru waits for him after school, however, and Masayoshi finally makes it clear.  Tooru makes a dent in the concrete.

Back home to the Shibata household.  Masayoshi divides his time between flirting with his brother and reminiscing painfully about his mother. Yoshiyuki makes the mistake of commenting on the fact that Masayoshi's probably getting shit from the other kids because he's blond like his mother:  it's beautiful, but marks him as an outsider.  Masayoshi freaks: he hates his hair, and he's sick of hearing how much his father loved his mother when his father left them.  He gets so stressed by this that he gets sick.  Masami orders him to stay home, but he has no intention of being nursed by "that guy" (Yoshiyuki), so he gets out of bed and leaves.  And once again he attracts the wrong sort of attention---this time from a gang of delinquents who notice how pretty he is.

Back at the school... Tooru is still upset that his goddess turned out to be a god.  But when Masami comes looking for him to ask his help in finding Masayoshi, he's again overcome with love.

Meanwhile... Masayoshi's in a Really Bad Situation.  But who should come along to rescue him but... ::drumroll::  Yoshiyuki, who turns out to be an even bigger badass than his younger son.  He takes the boy home, explaining along the way that he had been on his way back to Norway (from a trip to Japan) when Leaf died; he stayed away out of grief, which he admits was a mistake.  Masayoshi then remembers that Leaf once told the boys about Yoshiyuki, and that she loved him deeply.  Father and son come to an understanding at last; the gang lives happily ever after.

Coda:  on their way to school the next day, the boys run into little Arisawa-chan, who remarks that "gaijin-san" (Masayoshi) is pretty.  Love at first sight.


Ch. 10

Yoshiyuki sends Masayoshi and Masami some tickets to come to Norway for a visit, and invites him to bring Inagaki and Arisawa as well.  Tooru, Masayoshi gleefully points out, was not offered a ticket (Yoshiyuki's never met him).  Tooru tells Masami he'll make the trip on his own, intending to get a ticket on the same flight.  Unfortunately, he's only able to get a ticket on a different flight---but he's already told Masami that he'll be staying at the Grand Hotel, so Masami only worries a little.

Masami-tachi go on to settle in at the house where Yoshiyuki is staying.
Meanwhile, Tooru has made it to Norway and the Grand Hotel, but the hotel is overbooked.  Another Japanese guest agrees to share a room with him, and thus we meet Takami Kenya, a 21 year old college student living in Norway for a while.  Kenya is immediately very friendly; he's a very forward kind of guy.  They begin settling into the room and Masami finally reaches Tooru by phone (after Masayoshi suggests it to stop him from worrying).  Kenya overhears the conversation, and suddenly starts asking him whether Masami is his lover, whether Tooru is gay, etc.  Tooru is understandably unnerved.  More so when Kenya sidles over and lets Tooru know on no uncertain terms that he's gay, too---and interested.


Ch.11

Tooru's shocked at Kenya's blatant hint, and Kenya realizes---and points
out---that Tooru's not at all experienced.  So, friendly fellow that he is,
he decides to educate Tooru in the intricacies of gay sex.  When his
detailed explanation leaves Tooru less than thrilled (kinda makes you
wonder what the heck he thought  would happen whenever he got Masami into bed...), he decides that a demonstration is more in order.  Tooru nobly resists temptation, saying that sex isn't the same as love, and he wants his first time (a 26 year-old male virgin!) to be with someone he loves.  This upsets Kenya for unknown reasons.  Later that night, of course, he pays for being virtuous when he dreams of doing with Masami what he turned down with Kenya.

Meanwhile, back at the Shibata-tachi ranch...  Inagaki's drunk, so Arisawa decides to use the opportunity to steal a kiss from Masayoshi.  Masayoshi, thinking Arisawa is Masami, returns the kiss rather enthusiastically, until he wakes up fully and realizes his mistake.  Inagaki (still drunk) hops on.

The next day, Masami-tachi go sightseeing, coincidentally at the same time and in the same place as Tooru and Kenya (the two groups don't see each other at first).  In the same moment that Tooru finally spots Masami, Kenya runs into Karl, his Norweigan ex-lover.  Karl's a temperamental artist and Kenya was his model; they became lovers and lived together for a while, but broke up (not sure why... I think it's because Karl believed that Kenya was distracting him from his art) when Karl threw him out.  Karl's been searching for him to apologize, but Kenya ain't hearin' it.  Just to make Karl jealous, Kenya grabs Tooru and plants a big wet one on him just as he's calling out to Masami.

After some heated exchanges and explanations, Masami realizes what's
happened, and the gang actually manages to help Kenya and Karl get back together.  Masami also resolves to finally tell his father about his
relationship with Tooru.

Ch.12

Two days after the shenanigans of the last chapter, Masami makes good on his decision and comes out to his father over breakfast.  Yoshiyuki's reaction is... interesting.  At first.  Then he gets angry and declares that this is unacceptable, and that he won't have a "homo" in his house. So Masami decides to leave.  Wandering the streets of Oslo in a depression, he meets Kenya and Karl, who go with him to find Tooru at the Grand Hotel. Tooru decides to go with Masami back to the house, where he finally formally introduces himself to Yoshiyuki.  He tries to be polite, but Yoshiyuki's not in the mood.  They talk outside while Yoshiyuki wrestles with acceptance.

It takes Masami suddenly coming down with a fever to get through
Yoshiyuki's self-absorption, and he finally sees how much Tooru and Masami love each other.  At last, he shows his approval by inviting Tooru to come and stay at the house.  Tooru nurses Masami back to health, while Arisawa comes to understand Masayoshi's feelings about Masami a little better.


Go to Chapter 4