Volume Eight: Afterglow Written by Kashiwae Masato Illustrated by Chayamachi Suguro Summary by Amparo Bertram September, 1997

Nobuyuki wakes up early to the sound of a church bell ringing. It turns out to be coming from Sidney's television, where the news is broadcasting Princess Diana's funeral. Hearing that Nobuyuki is up, Sidney invites him over through the bathroom. He doesn't especially have anything to say, but he asks if he can just hold Nobuyuki for a minute. Nobuyuki, noticing how tired Sidney appears, readily agrees. He's glad that he can help, knowing how rarely Sidney ever admits to needing anything. He's quite comfortable in Sidney's arms, and he's just beginning to listen to Sidney's heartbeat when the minute ends.

When Nobuyuki stops in at the Sky Travel office, he is surprised to see that his boss is already there watching the news. Takada admits that he came to the office early because he wanted to watch without worrying that his kids would see. As Nobuyuki and Kiyomi are about to leave to pick up the tourists for the Statue of Liberty daytrip, a newsflash is broadcast about the murder of a man named Takei who worked for a Japanese bank. That seems to be the news Takada was waiting for, though he is shocked to hear it is a murder.

After dropping off the tourists, Nobuyuki happens to run into Rod at Battery Park, which is near where Rod lives. Perhaps it is merely his imagination, yet even though it has been two years since Rod and Sidney broke up, he thinks Rod still looks lonely. He never expected that being in a love triangle could be so emotionally complicated. He knows Sidney wants more than a platonic relationship with him, but he can't wrap his mind around the idea, and he can't help feeling guilty that he's making Sidney wait so long.

Upon arriving back at the office, Nobuyuki is startled to find Takada being asked to accompany a pair of FBI agents for questioning concerning the Takei murder investigation. One of the agents is rather muscle-bound, while the other gives the impression of being sleepy although he is probably keenly observant. Takada turns the office over to Nobuyuki temporarily, telling him in code to take something from his desk and ask Sidney about it. After the FBI agents are gone, Nobuyuki pulls out an envelope with Takei's name on it.

Nobuyuki calls Sidney to come take a look at the envelope. Inside is a letter to Takada saying that Takei had been involved in fraud perpetrated by his bank, and he felt his life was in danger from those whose careers could be damaged by his testimony. Along with the letter is another sealed envelope labeled "truth." As it turns out, Sidney had been up all night investigating Takei's murder until the FBI came in and took over, which was why he had been so tired. He agrees to consult his superior about the letter, though Nobuyuki worries that he might get in trouble for concealing evidence from the FBI.

Nobuyuki is distracted by the fact that he finds himself mesmerized by Sidney's good looks and has to avert his eyes so his heart will stop racing.

Nobuyuki doesn't believe he, as a part-time employee, is suitable for being in charge of the office in Takada's absence. However, he gets a phone call from the head of the company, who cheerfully leaves everything in his hands. Later, when he explains the situation to Kiyomi, she chimes in that she thinks he's perfect for the job since he's been working for the office longer than anyone except Takada himself. Nobuyuki then feels concerned about how deeply Takada might be involved in the case; after all, he had been close enough friends with Takei to be entrusted with that letter, and he had known to watch the news for information.

A couple days later, Henry and Sidney pick up Nobuyuki after he gets off work and drive him to the scene of the crime. Takei had been about to be arrested by the FBI the day of the murder. The FBI had gone to his home to get him, but he had gone straight to a hotel after work, presumably so that he wouldn't be arrested in front of his family. He was found shot in the hotel room at around three in the morning. The room was soundproofed so well that no one heard the shot; people were alerted by his fire alarm, which was set off by someone who set a lit cigarette in an ashtray on top of a chair lifted onto the room's desk to get it close to the ceiling.

The elements of the case make very little sense. Sidney comments that it was set up elaborately like a mystery novel. Neither the gun nor the cigarette lighter were found in the room. The envelope that Takei had left marked "truth" only contained a message to his wife and two children telling them to go back to Japan if anything happened to him. Without any names of suspects within his bank to investigate, the police are at a standstill. Thus, Sidney is humoring Nobuyuki's desire to look around the crime scene, since his instincts have proven helpful on perplexing cases before. They really aren't supposed to enter the room now that the case is under the jurisdiction of the FBI, but Sidney is pretending that he left something there from his investigation.

About the only thing Nobuyuki is able to figure out from seeing the room is that the chair is light enough to be lifted by practically anyone. He does, however, speculate that a gun is not the first choice weapon for the average Japanese person. Since guns are outlawed in Japan, the average Japanese person may know that they exist from having seen them in movies, yet when it comes right down to it they aren't realistic to own, much less to use as a murder weapon.

As he concludes his analysis, they are interrupted by the two FBI agents he had met before. The well-muscled one, Jason, smirks at hearing Sidney's excuse of having forgotten something and makes snide comments that Sidney probably brought Nobuyuki along because there's such a convenient bed in the hotel room. His attitude is so insulting that even Henry, normally polite, grows angry at him. The sleepy-eyed agent, Allen, introduces himself to Nobuyuki as the three are forced to leave the room.

Back in the car, Sidney sulks. Nobuyuki doesn't quite understand why the encounter affected Sidney so strongly, though he does figure out from the words used that Jason must have known Sidney from his time in the army. Eventually, Henry lets the two out of the car so they can walk back to their apartment, trusting that Nobuyuki will instinctively do what it takes to cheer up Sidney. While they walk, Sidney admits that Jason had been an upperclassman during his time at the officer training school, although Jason had left the army as soon as the Gulf War started so that he wouldn't have to fight in Iraq.

Sidney had at first been afraid of coming out, knowing what was likely to happen. However, there happened to be a part-Asian student in a class beneath him who reminded him of Nobuyuki, and he couldn't help following the young man with his eyes. The young man responded positively to his attention, and they struck up a relationship. Unfortunately, one day when they were kissing in the locker room, Jason came back to retrieve a forgotten item and discovered them there. By the next day, rumors about them being gay had spread through the whole campus. The rumors led to the underclassman dropping out. Sidney apologizes for likewise exposing Nobuyuki to Jason's foulness, but Nobuyuki doesn't think it is such a big deal. He claims he has faced clients with much worse manners. He continues on to offer Sidney an even more intimate form of comfort.

When talking about the young man to whom he was attracted, Sidney assures Nobuyuki that there's no comparison between the two of them, they're as different as "a cloud and mud" (a Japanese idiom). Nobuyuki seriously wonders whether he would be considered the cloud or the mud.

At work the next day, Nobuyuki takes his boss aside and asks him for more details about how he got that letter from Takei. The story comes out that Takada had been with Takei the night he died. Takei had not only gotten a hotel room for himself, he had asked Takada to get a room at a different hotel--one with a lot of Japanese tourists--for his wife and children. That way, even when his arrest became news, they wouldn't be subject to a media frenzy. Takada notes that Takei resembled Nobuyuki in that he, too, had been born in America and chose U.S. citizenship over Japanese citizenship.

Nobuyuki meets Sidney and Henry in the park in front of Police Headquarters to tell them everything he found out. He sneezes, causing Sidney to give him his leather jacket to keep him warm. While Sidney runs off to fetch coffee, Henry, amused, tells Nobuyuki that Sidney is in a great mood, he's just pretending to be gruff so that no one will know. He wonders what happened the night before to put Sidney in such a good mood, but Nobuyuki shrugs it off as not much--it was, in his mind, a rather embarrassingly chaste kiss. He says that, if he were Sidney, he would probably have gotten sick and tired of being forced to wait for so long.

Once Sidney returns with the coffee, Nobuyuki tells them about Takei's employment situation. At Ayase Bank, the high-level executives hired in Japan show up for one or two years, mainly acting as tourists, whereas the employees hired in America are viewed as nothing more than tour guides and have no possibility for promotion. On the one hand, this means that even someone like Takei who looks Japanese and speaks Japanese and has been working for the bank for over a decade can never be promoted. On the other hand, it also means that his superiors feel like they're on vacation and willingly sign anything without even reading it. In effect, although those who run the bank in Japan consider the American employees to be of no consequence, the bank has lost enormous sums of money due to Takei's actions, which is why he was being investigated by the FBI.

Eventually Sidney has to take his jacket back to hide his gun. The three of them head off toward the hotel where Takei's wife is staying to give her a copy of the letter Takei left for her. Along the way, Nobuyuki is noticeably distracted. Sidney calls him on it, but he just turns away. Finally, Sidney can't take it anymore and drags him off into an alley to get to the bottom of the situation. After a private conversation, they both feel much better.

Takei's wife, Risa, reads the letter, in which he takes full responsibility for the bank fraud. He also tells her to take the children to live in Japan for a while so they can experience what it's like before deciding which citizenship to choose. Takada had told Risa about Nobuyuki, saying how similar he was to her husband, particularly in respect to his employment. Takada has been trying to talk his superiors to agree to hire Nobuyuki full-time. The head of Sky Travel thinks it's a good idea, but most of the other higher-ups do not. During the exchange, Nobuyuki is then surprised to find out that Takei's youngest child, Kazue, hasn't yet been told that her father died--she thinks they're staying in a hotel because her parents are getting a divorce--though her older brother Manabu knows the truth.

The following weekend, while an evening Mass is being held at Central Park for Princess Diana, Risa is packing up to leave for Japan the next day. Henry and Sidney pick up Nobuyuki after work so they can visit her for some final questions. When Nobuyuki bends down to talk, Sidney leans out the passenger window and kisses him. Nobuyuki pretends it's no big deal--Henry pretends not to notice--though his heart pounds from even such a simple gesture. He still can't quite believe he and Sidney are a couple. He feels like they're just really good friends, the same as before, who happen to be exploring new ways to show affection. The fact that his body gets excited about it only adds to his confusion.

Risa responds to Sidney's questions by saying she can't think of anyone at the bank who would feel enough animosity toward her husband to want to kill him. His Japanese superiors are going on to bigger and better things back in Japan, so they would want there to be as little trouble as possible to avoid adversely affecting their careers. She does, however, think that his co-workers saw him as an outsider because he seemed so Japanese. Nobuyuki suspects that opinion might be overly self-conscious rather than reflective of the truth.

After they finish talking, they hear the kids setting off fireworks in the backyard. Risa explains that she noticed the fireworks leftover from summer while packing, and she realized that they couldn't be taken on the plane either, so they might as well be used up. Sidney immediately jumps in and joins the kids. He specifically asks for the incense-shaped ones, which they turn over to him gladly. Watching, Nobuyuki is suddenly struck by how much really has changed in the time that has passed since they were children themselves.

When they get home, Sidney is about to send Nobuyuki off to bed with a light goodnight kiss. Nobuyuki, however, announces that he's feeling "strange" again--his unique way of saying he's turned on. He clings to Sidney and kisses him passionately over and over. Sidney is tickled beyond measure that at last Nobuyuki truly returns his feelings, but he has to break it off or they will never get to sleep.

In the morning, Nobuyuki goes to work as usual. Suddenly, he is struck with a burst of intuition about Takei. He gets a coworker, recently hired full-time employee Yamashina, to cover for him and calls Sidney to rush him to the airport so they can catch Takei's family before they leave. They get to the airport to find the two FBI agents watching Risa and the children prepare to depart. When Nobuyuki begin explaining the details of the case that he has figured out, Jason tries to butt in and nearly starts a shouting match with Sidney, but Nobuyuki holds Sidney's hand and keeps him calm. He suggests that the hotel where Takei was staying was within walking distance of the hotel where his family was staying, mentioning the fireworks as what tipped him off. Rather than simply say they were for celebrating, Risa had mentioned them as being too dangerous to take on the plane...as a gun would be.

Every time Nobuyuki start's to bring Manabu into the conversation, Risa screams that she's the one responsible. She refuses to say any more until she can contact a lawyer. The FBI agents arrest her and take her away, leaving the children in the charge of Takada. Nobuyuki finishes the rest of his conjecture, Sidney putting an arm around him for support and filling in the last details when it gets to be too much. Nobuyuki suspects that Takei had *intentionally* caused the bank to lose large sums of money, as a form of revenge for the way he had been treated. He had given that odd letter to Takada to make the authorities think that his life was in danger in order to throw into confusion the fact that he intended to kill himself.

Manabu, not knowing about the plan, thought as his sister did that their parents were getting a divorce. He left his hotel room in the middle of the night while his mother was asleep and went to consult his father about the divorce issue. When he arrived, unfortunately, Takei had just shot himself. The young boy didn't know what to do, but he had probably read a lot of mystery stories, so he set up the crime scene in imitation of fiction and then walked out with the lighter and the gun. Nobuyuki trusts that the FBI will have enough evidence to figure out the truth of the matter.

About a month later, Sidney and Nobuyuki have the same evening off. Kate and Henry come over with the makings for a celebration. With the news on in the background, Kate orders Sidney to clean up his room, threating to withhold the cake if he refuses. She gets Nobuyuki to help her set the table with cake, flowers, and wine. When the whirlwind cleaning spree is done, Kate and Henry announce that it is a celebration in honor of Sidney's feelings finally being reciprocated after so many years. With a smile and a wink, the two leave the new couple alone with their romantic dinner.

Not even the slight embarrassed awkwardness can keep Sidney from appreciating cake. He shares his first bite with Nobuyuki by way of some extra-sweet kisses. They start pouring the wine, and Nobuyuki shocks Sidney by volunteering to stay the night. He claims that he may be a "kid," but he did have at least some experience with his girlfriends back in Japan, so he does know what he's talking about.

Sidney seems on the verge of taking him up on his offer when abruptly their attention is caught by the news on the television that Iraq has refused to admit American weapons inspectors into its facilities. Sidney, as a veteran, is infuriated by the people who are fanning the flames of war again. The romantic mood dissolves, and he asks Nobuyuki to let him be alone for a while.

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