Volume Nine: Billow Written by Kashiwae Masato Illustrated by Chayamachi Suguro Summary by Amparo Bertram Late December, 1997

The day before Christmas, the Sky Travel office is continuing to be deluged with calls from tourists wanting to know where they can go to watch Titanic. Nobuyuki has no particular interest in seeing the movie himself. He goes home after work and immediately checks to see if Sidney is there; due to their differing schedules, they haven't gotten to see each other in two days. To Nobuyuki, reveling in the chance to snuggle in Sidney's arms for some smooching, those two days had felt more like a week.

As much as he is enjoying his recently discovered romantic love for Sidney, there is one major drawback: Sidney still won't go any further than kissing. Although Nobuyuki makes a reasoned argument why it would be more convenient for him to move into Sidney's side of the apartment, now that they're an established couple, Sidney turns him down. His main reservation is that Nobuyuki isn't gay. Nobuyuki doesn't think that matters as long as they love each other, but it's a big hurdle for Sidney. Another cause for concern, as he is reminded when he sees the newspapers littering Sidney's floor, is that tensions in the Middle East continue to worsen. Sidney has never talked to him about his experiences in the Gulf War, but Nobuyuki can only imagine that the memories are still painful.

Several days later, Nobuyuki is surprised to receive a phone call from his childhood housekeeper, Youko, completely out of the blue. She invites him to come over and visit, whereupon she introduces him to her second husband Richard and his son Garth. They have just moved from Long Island to Manhattan, so Garth is still settling in to his new school. The reason they called Nobuyuki was that they wanted to consult Sidney about a police investigation, but they were afraid it would put him in a bad position because of his professional confidentiality.

One of Garth's friends from school died late Christmas Eve when a gun he received from his grandfather exploded. His girlfriend, Jessie, had previously seen him twirling the gun, so she thinks he was probably doing the same thing and accidentally dropped it. She was the one who found his body on Christmas morning. No one believes he was the kind of boy who would intentionally kill himself. Yet Garth remains unconvinced that it was a simple accident--twirling a gun to impress your girlfriend is one thing, but why do it alone in your room in the middle of the night?

Nobuyuki calls Sidney to consult him, and since he was in the neighborhood investigating that very case, he comes right over. The police were about to wrap the unfortunate case up as an accident when they discovered that the boy, Dick, had hacked into the school's host computer about the same time he died. Garth can't believe Dick would do such a thing, because his grades are already so good he doesn't need to change them, but his father suggests that perhaps it was the thrill of breaking in that prompted him to do it. Garth admits that he did get into an argument with Dick because Dick was obtaining serial numbers for shareware from a website so that he wouldn't have to pay to register them. Garth refused to use any of the serial numbers; his father is a software engineer, so Garth is sensitive about the losses such activity causes hardworking programmers.

[Note: The grandfather who gave Dick the gun is from Cleveland--as Sidney puts it, "The one near Chicago." Now, for the record, Cleveland, Ohio, is two states away from Chicago, Illinois, and it would probably take about eight hours to drive between them. Not my idea of "near." Whether this is a Japanese misconception that any Midwest city must be "near Chicago" or an attempt to depict a New Yorker's attitude, I couldn't tell you.]

On the way home, Sidney and Nobuyuki talk about teenagers breaking the law, particularly underage drinking and smoking; they themselves started before they were legal adults. They also compare Dick's illegal computer usage to their own adventures breaking into their neighbor's garage. They agree that, although they knew they were doing something wrong, they didn't really feel guilty about it. Rather, the fear of being scolded if they got caught was what made it exciting.

When Nobuyuki mentions how his heart had raced from the fear of being caught, Sidney adds that his heart had raced because he had wanted to kiss Nobuyuki. Nobuyuki apologizes for not having noticed at the time and consoles him with some kissing that makes both their hearts pound.

As New Year draws closer, Sky Travel is in a bind. Due to the popularity of Titanic, their dinner cruise optional tour is already booked full, leaving the tourists yet to arrive with nothing to distract them from going to the potentially hazardous countdown in Times Square. Takada asks Nobuyuki to come up with an alternative, and he suggests splitting them up into small groups and letting them experience the countdown with the locals in cozy diners. Yamashina loves the idea and chimes in that casing out the diners around the city has been a hobby of his, so he can write up a recommendation list. Takada orders Nobuyuki to write a report about the event, all part of his secret plan to convince his superiors that Nobuyuki is worth hiring full-time.

Later, Nobuyuki cuddles with Sidney on the couch and discusses his job. Sidney thinks it would be great for him to become a full-time employee. His duties wouldn't change, he'd just get a higher salary plus health insurance and benefits. Nobuyuki keeps balking because it just sounds too formal and restrictive. He wants to stay a "kid" a while longer. Sidney admits that, sometimes, Nobuyuki being a dense kid really makes things easier for him, though he doesn't explain further.

Nobuyuki is assigned to go on the dinner cruise. He doesn't own any formal clothes, so he's not allowed inside the ship's restaurant. Instead, his job is to sit out in the cold on the observation deck and shoo away the Japanese couples who keep trying to climb out on the railing to imitate the dramatic scene from Titanic. He thinks about Sidney and Henry, who have been drafted to help security in Times Square. When the countdown strikes midnight and fireworks begin, he quietly whispers, "Happy New Year, Sidney."

Nobuyuki is so busy with the holiday rush that he doesn't see Sidney again for four days. Finally he comes home one night and knocks on the bathroom door, and Sidney crawls out of bed to answer. Once he's warm and comfortable in Sidney's arms, Nobuyuki doesn't want to leave again, so he demands to spend the night with Sidney. He's so relaxed, he starts falling asleep on the spot. With no other choice, Sidney half-carries him back to bed, figuring they're both too tired to do anything. Nobuyuki sleeps quite soundly, comforted by feeling Sidney's body heat against him.

They're awakened in the morning when Sidney gets a call that Dick's girlfriend Jessie was taken to the hospital for an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol. It turns out the sleeping pills had been dissolved in a bottle of wine. One glass would have been a normal dose, but Jessie polished off the whole bottle. Her parents admit that she started developing a dependence on alcohol after Dick's accident. At first they looked the other way, reasoning that it was better than doing drugs, but when she started going for hard liquor, they got rid of all the alcohol in the house. Then they found her passed out on the floor with the empty wine bottle. As Nobuyuki comforts Garth, everyone notices that the two seem just like brothers.

Sidney questions Jessie's parents. Her father considered Dick to be a decent boyfriend, except for the illegal shareware serial number issue. He describes how he lectured Jessie at length about how it was exactly like stealing, and Dick had replied "don't make such a big deal out of it." At that point, Jessie wakes up and lashes out at her father. She counters his arguments by saying it isn't the user side being unilaterally unscrupulous; there are software programmers out there who pass out shareware that doesn't do what it says, essentially cheating people out of their registration money--or worse, who program "time bombs" into the software.

Nearly a week later, Nobuyuki struggles to compose a report about the successful diner optional tour. Not only does he know nothing about computers, he never learned to type, so he's not even familiar with the keyboard. Takada, pleased with the success of the event, assigns Nobuyuki to design three more new optional tours. When Henry and Sidney pick him up after work, he explains that what he doesn't like most about the idea of becoming a full-time employee is that he'll have a lot of pressure on him to continue to be so successful.

Sidney encourages Nobuyuki to keep tossing out ideas, reassuring him that "if you fail, my bed is always available," which throws Henry into a coughing fit. Sidney tries to explain that, since Nobuyuki is a "kid," he means it in the platonic sense, but Nobuyuki protests that he's given the okay for more. At that point, Henry tells them the snowy roads are dangerous enough without throwing the driver into confusion. ...This doesn't stop them from seriously making out as soon as they park and Henry's back is turned.

Sidney has been trying to question Jessie ever since her incident, but she refuses to speak to him. He suspects she's covering for whoever gave her the bottle, because that person could be accused of attempted murder. Afterward, they stop and visit Youko. Garth shows them his photo album and tells them that when his birth mother died, she entrusted her family to Youko's care, like an athlete turning his position over to a replacement mid-game. That way there wouldn't be any hard feelings. Sidney later compares the analogy to his own relationship; he doesn't want Nobuyuki feeling bad for replacing Rod.

Back in their apartment, Nobuyuki and Sidney begin snuggling on the couch. Nobuyuki again makes a case for staying over in Sidney's room. If he really has taken over for Rod, he claims, he should fill the entire role, not just part of it. In addition, he honestly wants to be able to wake up in the morning and see Sidney there beside him. Sidney, self-control nearly obliterated by his offer, pushes him harshly away and refuses. He admits that he's afraid to drag Nobuyuki with him to a place that's not always pleasant. He challenges Nobuyuki whether he would be able to declare that he's gay in front of Youko and Garth. Nobuyuki has no answer; he had never thought about it before. Sidney understands that Nobuyuki loves him, he doesn't question that, but he wants Nobuyuki to give him more time to prepare himself for what is a very big and emotionally loaded step.

Just then, they are called back to the hospital. Jessie's mother jumped out of their fourth-floor window and is being taken into emergency surgery. They rush there and talk with Jessie and her father. Nobuyuki has finally figured out most of what probably happened, and he confirms it with Jessie. Dick had once been taken in by fraudulent shareware, paying to register a program that in reality did nothing. The experience made him vow never to become such a sucker again, which is what started him searching for illegal serial numbers.

Unfortunately, one program he downloaded onto the school's student-use computers turned out to have a "time bomb" in the code that would wipe the user's hard drive after being played a certain number of times. He had been hacking into the school's computer in an attempt to uninstall the program before it did any harm. He started playing with the gun in the middle of the night to celebrate successfully breaking into the school's host computer. Nobuyuki guesses that Jessie turned to drinking because the "time bomb" program was one that Dick had installed specifically for her to play, so she felt responsible. Jessie's mother had put the sleeping pills in the wine, hoping that they would make Jessie fall asleep before she drank too much as a way of cutting down on her habit.

Outside the hospital, Nobuyuki brings up the challenge Sidney had posed him earlier. He explains that he tried envisioning Youko's reaction if he were to reveal his relationship with Sidney, and just thinking about it frightened him. This caught him by surprise, since he doesn't feel guilty about or ashamed of his relationship. Sidney comforts him that it's a natural response to be anxious about what loved ones might think about a lifestyle that isn't exactly considered normal, even knowing that Youko is a very understanding person. He puts his arm around Nobuyuki, who kisses him lovingly in response.

Jessie's mother survives her surgery, and the school manages to uninstall the harmful software before it does any damage. Nobuyuki is glad of that, though he's sorry Jessie's family had to go through such an ordeal. Hearing news about the conflict brewing in the Middle East disturbs him as well, though it all seems very far away from his home in New York. Walking down Broadway and seeing the billboard for Miss Saigon reminds him that a number of wars have taken their toll on U.S. soldiers over the past several decades; just because the wars weren't on American soil and didn't leave visible devastation doesn't mean that people aren't still haunted by painful memories and emotional scars. On the spur of the moment, and with no explanation, he has Sidney bend down for a light kiss before he scampers on ahead to do some shopping.

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