Volume Ten: Crow Written by Kashiwae Masato Illustrated by Chayamachi Suguro Summary by Amparo Bertram April, 1998

In 1991, Sidney is in the Middle East as an army officer. He pulls out the picture his father took that long-ago summer vacation, kept carefully wrapped in plastic in his front pocket, and stares at the image of Nobuyuki, burning it indelibly into his memory. He wonders what Nobuyuki looks like now that he's nineteen. Thinking of Nobuyuki off in distant Japan, he turns and gazes eastward across the desert.

Nobuyuki's heart nearly stops when he receives a phone call from Henry that Sidney has been injured. They had gotten into a shootout, and one of the bullets shattered an old window, cutting Sidney with the glass. Henry assures him that the injury isn't serious, and that he'll be coming home soon, but even after hanging up Nobuyuki can't shake the image of Sidney being hurt. Just the idea that Sidney had bullets flying toward him makes Nobuyuki's mind go blank. When Sidney gets home, Nobuyuki rushes to see him, holding him and feeling his heart beating. Sidney shrugs off the few stitches in his leg as nothing, and he even lifts up his shirt to demonstrate that he isn't hurt anywhere else.

Nobuyuki tries to accept it calmly, but he wakes up the next morning from a nightmare trying to call out Sidney's name. At work, the other employees are discussing a newspaper article about a Japanese company, Hiiragi, that's gotten in trouble for sexual harrassment. He tries to involve himself in conversation as he goes about his job, but his thoughts keep turning back to Sidney. Finally he calls Rod and arranges to meet him so he can ask for advice. He knows Rod must have had to deal with the same issue during the years he was living with Sidney. They meet at a Starbucks, where the resulting conversation about nightmares holds surprises for them both.

Even after Nobuyuki gets home, and Sidney relates that Kate just told Henry she's pregnant, he can't stop thinking about what he learned. His train of thought leads him from Kate and Henry to Sidney's own parents, and how his mother still can't accept that he's gay. Nobuyuki is positive that pain must be part of what is making Sidney hold back. He puts his arms around Sidney and says "I love you." Sidney appreciates the gesture, though he warns that if Nobuyuki gets any more seductive, he'll be in big trouble. He sends Nobuyuki off to bed in his own apartment and turns on the news, which is yet again about problems in the Middle East. Nobuyuki muses sadly that Sidney is likely to have more nightmares that night.

The next day, Nobuyuki calls up Sidney's father, Ted, and makes an appointment to meet him for lunch. Ted is directing construction at a building that has a Japanese company on the upper floors. The two have lunch at the Japanese restaurant on the second floor run by the same company. Nobuyuki starts off by complimenting Ted on his ability to use chopsticks. [Cultural note: If you are a foreigner who can use chopsticks, any Japanese person who sees you will instinctively compliment you on this ability. It doesn't matter how many millions of non-Japanese people enjoy Asian food and know perfectly well how to use chopsticks, it always takes the Japanese by surprise.] Ted explains that, when Japanese businesses first started becoming prevalent a couple decades before, he had been forced to learn. That was also when he learned the term yamato nadeshiko, which he taught to Sidney as a description for a beautiful Japanese woman like Nobuyuki's mother.

Ted guesses right away that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss Sidney--in particular, his feelings for Nobuyuki. Ted knows about his son's relationship with Rod, and he deduced the reason for their breakup. He reveals that he had started to figure out Sidney felt something special for Nobuyuki on the day Nobuyuki left to return to Japan. Ted had found his son, crying in agony, ripping up a huge swath of the lawn. Since that was extremely unusual behavior for Sidney, Ted had tried to figure it out, but the pain of losing a good friend and being helpless to do anything about it really didn't quite seem to cover it. Nobuyuki listens intently, unable to imagine Sidney crying that way.

Suddenly, their conversation is interrupted by a scream and cry of "murder" in Japanese. Nobuyuki quickly takes charge of the situation, calling 911 and making sure that none of the customers leave the scene of the crime. When Sidney and Henry arrive to investigate, he helps by acting as a translator for the Japanese patrons. The murdered man, presumably poisoned, was named Shimosaka. He was found in one of the two Japanese-style rooms in the back of the restaurant reserved for use by the parent company, Hiiragi.

The manager of the restaurant, Soeda, explains that Shimosaka had made a reservation for two, but the person he was meeting arrived 20 minutes late. This person, described by Soeda as a Japanese-American woman in her late twenties, was no longer in the restaurant when the body was discovered. The restaurant employee who brought Shimosaka his meal guesses that the lunch meeting was in regard to the sexual harrassment suit being brought against Hiiragi, based on gossip among Hiiragi employees heard in the restaurant. At that point, Sidney looks at his watch and tells Nobuyuki to go to work. Nobuyuki tries to protest that he has plenty of time, but Sidney grabs his arm and drags him all the way downstairs to the building lobby, forcing him to leave.

Nobuyuki tries not to take it personally, but without an explanation, it's hard not to feel hurt. Since he doesn't have a chance to see Sidney that night, he's still depressed when he goes to work the next day. His boss takes him out for lunch and tells him that the Sky Travel higher-ups have finally given the okay for him to be made a full-time employee with all the benefits. The decision is now up to him. Nobuyuki just isn't in the mood to deal with it yet. He keeps telling himself that he should be able to go longer than one day without seeing Sidney, but his uncertainty just continues to grow.

From the newspaper and second-hand information from Kiyomi, Nobuyuki gets the details of the sexual harrassment suit. Apparently, a men's magazine with explicit pictures was left in the company's break room. When several women protested, the women started receiving threatening behavior, such as obscene phone calls. One woman continued receiving the calls even after she changed her phone number four times, and since it always happened after she reported the new number to her superiors as required for emergencies, she's positive it's someone higher up in the company who's responsible. Unfortunately, the calls all come from different people, so the police can't do anything about it. She suspects someone keeps posting her phone number to a website, but she has no way to prove it.

When Nobuyuki gets off work, he wanders over to the crime scene. Henry spots him and invites him up, explaining that Sidney had been so abrupt the day before because the night shift detectives coming to take over the investigation were prejudiced against gays, and Sidney didn't want Nobuyuki to be involved in any unpleasantness. Responding to questioning, Soeda tells them that Shimosaka had been an undesirable customer. He relates one story about how Shimosaka had angered a dinner guest by ordering the man's girlfriend to pour his drink. In short, he was a real male chauvanist.

Nobuyuki ponders that, ever since he and Sidney became a couple, he has felt that Sidney is more distant from him than when they were just friends. There are moments when they kiss that he feels closer to Sidney than ever before, yet the rest of the time, they may be separated by only one step physically, but it seems more distant than when Nobuyuki had been on the other side of the world. It makes him feel lonely, though he doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to bring up any issues that would be painful for Sidney, such as the war memories that he's certain Sidney is keeping locked inside.

His concerns make him unfocused at work, and Yamashina has a talk with him about it. Yamashina has figured out that he's having love life problems, though he's mainly afraid that Nobuyuki is in love with Kiyomi, when Yamashina himself is interested in her. Nobuyuki wonders what they would all think if they knew about him and Sidney. He goes to talk with Serizawa, intending to ask for advice on whether he should become a full-time employee, but he winds up concluding he should make his own decision. Serizawa surprises him by announcing that he has noticed Nobuyuki and Sidney's relationship, and he's behind them all the way.

When Nobuyuki relates this to Henry, Henry informs him that the only one dense enough *not* to be able to figure it out is Nobuyuki himself. Though Sidney tries to shush him, he says that every time Nobuyuki and Sidney look at each other, their gazes are so hot they could melt ice instantly. Sidney then receives a double dose of embarrassment when Nobuyuki begins to talk about what a good singer he is. He claps a hand over Nobuyuki's mouth before he can launch into a story about Sidney singing when they were kids.

The detectives take Nobuyuki to look at Shimosaka's apartment, in case it might provide him with any insights. Sidney takes great pleasure in teasing Nobuyuki for blushing at seeing Shimosaka's adult magazine collection. However, nothing there proves inspiring. Later, Nobuyuki goes to visit Youko's family to tell her about Henry and Kate having a baby--with the ulterior motive of asking for advice on what kind of gift to get them. As he leaves for work, Garth accompanies him to have a "brotherly" chat. Garth is starting to think about what he wants to study in college, so they talk about making major life decisions.

Since he's knowledgeable about computers, Nobuyuki tells him about the woman who believes her phone number has been posted to a website; Garth suggests running a Yahoo search to find the site. Nobuyuki has Garth explain all about it to Sidney and Henry. [Note: I have to say, this is the absolute lamest plot device in the entire series. Apparently, the *police computer expert* assigned to the case never thought of putting the phone number into an Internet search engine until he heard Garth's idea.]

They discuss the gap in familiarity with technology between themselves and current high school students only ten years younger. Sidney reminds Nobuyuki that his thirtieth birthday is coming up, to which Nobuyuki responds that he could never forget Sidney's birthday. It takes place on May 5th, which is a holiday called "Children's Day" in Japan, intended for celebrating boys--a coincidence he finds remarkably appropriate. [Cultural note: "Doll Festival" on March 3rd is for celebrating girls.]

They run into Sidney's father again as he's checking on how the case is going. Nobuyuki thinks he's a great guy, though Sidney can't seem to help acting like a sulky kid around him. He invites both of them to come visit sometime. Sidney is still sulking when they get home, which Nobuyuki thinks is unbearably cute. After a bit of flirting, Nobuyuki starts to say that he expects Sidney to be just like Ted in twenty-five years, but he trails off, assailed with uncertainty. If Sidney continues his career as a homicide detective, will he live that long? Will Nobuyuki still be with him that far in the future?

He breaks down and asks Sidney to show him his leg injury. He knows Sidney has been trying to pass it off as insignificant, so he's been pretending it doesn't bother him, but he can't suppress his concern any longer. He's tired of feeling like Sidney is keeping his pain behind a wall. In the hugging that ensues, Nobuyuki gets so turned on that he pulls out all the stops and finally seduces Sidney.

The two are so enthusiastic, they wind up falling off the couch. Since this causes Nobuyuki to get dust in his hair, Sidney sends him off to take a bath afterward--and then drops in to appreciate the view.

The construction of their connected bathrooms reminds Nobuyuki of the two Japanese-style rooms at the Hiiragi restaurant. In a flash, he figures out who the murderer must be. Traditional Japanese dining rooms have an alcove decorated with flowers and a picture or scroll of calligraphy. The position at the table directly in front of the alcove is the place of honor reserved for the most important person. Nobuyuki noticed that Shimosaka had given that place of honor to the person he was meeting.

Putting that together with the fact that Soeda was the only one who claimed to have seen the woman Shimosaka was supposed to have been meeting, and that Soeda himself has a higher rank in the company than Shimosaka, Nobuyuki deduces that Soeda was the person Shimosaka had been meeting. Upon being questioned, Soeda reveals that he had overheard Shimosaka and another man laughing about putting a female employee's phone number on a website to have her harrassed, yet he couldn't report it because it would destroy the restaurant's reputation for discreetness. That was why he took it into his own hands to punish Shimosaka.

Nobuyuki goes to see his boss about working full-time. He decides that the most important criterion for him to consider is whether he will be comfortable at his workplace. He sets one condition: He will agree to the offer if his boss can accept his relationship with Sidney. At first, Takada is shocked by the unexpected announcement. Then he yells at Nobuyuki that sexual preference is not included among the list of requirements for the position; he hires based on ability. Thus Nobuyuki at last becomes an official full-time employee of Sky Travel.

Nobuyuki wastes no time moving into Sidney's bedroom. They decide to keep renting Nobuyuki's old apartment, ostensibly so that Nobuyuki will have a refuge in the event that they ever get into a fight and need to sleep separately for a while. [Note: Rest assured, this never happens.] In effect they use it as a storage room.

Nobuyuki plans to tell Youko's family about their relationship right away, though he's not quite sure about his grandparents. Sidney is surprised to hear that his father has already figured it out.

They proceed to celebrate Nobuyuki's promotion with an activity rather more strenuous than talking.

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