キラキラ

Seigi begins his internship in Sri Lanka after failing the second part of the entrance test to be a civil servant. His parents gave him their blessing since they're already familiar with Richard, the guy who offered him the position. Richard supposedly is currently working in Ginza as usual. Shaul visits Seigi from time to time.

One day Seigi receives an email titled "Help Richard" in english, containing a ticket to a 6-day cruise ship trip that starts in Florida. The event is held by Gargantua group, a high-end jewellery company. The sender's name is "Jeffrey", but Seigi has doubts if this is the real Jeffrey. He tries to contact (the real) Jeffrey, but receives no reply. He also contacts Shaul who basically just tells him to do whatever he wants, so Seigi decides to go on the trip.

When he first gets on the cruise, he meets a guy who glares at him really badly. It leaves an impression, and Seigi wonders why this guy even recognizes Seigi, but he shrugs it off. Seigi then receives a call by Richard, he freaks out because he's both happy but also unable to tell Richard that he's also on board the same ship as Richard. Seigi doesn't want to disappoint Richard, so during his internship he's never called Richard... at all. During the call, Seigi walks around the ship, finds Richard on the deck, and surprises him from behind. Richard is extremely shocked and then his expression goes dark. He won't tell Seigi why though.

The two chat together, Richard absolutely refuses to tell Seigi about anything that's happening. The main event for them is a jewellery show event, where the group showcases all their new releases and more in this 100 year anniversary cruise. Richard initially asks Seigi to just not come at all and stay locked in in his room, but eventually gives in and lets Seigi go to the show under one condition: if anything happens to Richard, don't save him.

The next day, the jewellery show happens, and after viewing all the high-end showcases, Seigi goes to the buffet area. While eating, he's greeted by the director of Gargantua group, Amen Carlsbrook (アメン・カールスブルック). He asks Seigi to "share a bit of what's on Seigi's plate, because he wants to know Seigi's taste". Seigi confusedly gives him some of his sandwich, Amen happily takes a bite, laughs and walks away.

After a while, Seigi sees Amen.... holding Richard by his waist and touches him inappropriately. Seigi gets extremely angry, notices that everyone else in the room pretends to not see what happens, and gets angrier. He knows he can't create a mess here and risks Richard getting hurt, so he slowly walks closer until his eyes meet Richard's. They communicate through eye contact for awhile until Seigi yells "there's a dolphin!" that creates a minor ruckus among people in the room trying to look through the window. Seigi then dashes out with Richard who manages to get free from Amen's hands, and they run to an outdoor area.

(This whole scene is actually pretty amazing, with all the little eye contact exchanges and stuff, i hope someone can translate it later) 

Richard explains that Amen is a very very very distant relative of his, and he's always had an eye on "pretty things" including Richard. Amen initially sent the cruise invitation to both Richard and Seigi, two people in a room. Richard can't reject the invitation, but he also don't think he should bring Seigi, so he decided to go alone. Jeffrey calls Richard, explains that the email Seigi received wasn't from him, and tells Richard of how Amen and his second-in-command Malnuit Patel (マルヌイ・パテール) are on bad terms. Oh by the way, Richard arranged so that both boys have separate rooms (unlike what the invitation stated), he says he prefers to have his own room. lol.

Suddenly some guards appear, starts body searching Seigi, and finds out that he has a miniature of a jewellery show item in his pocket. They accuse him of stealing and brings him to the security room. There, a security staff basically talks him down and expects him to confess. He resists and Richard defends him, and then Amen walks into the room.

Amen says that errors like that happen, and he's willing to forgive it and accepts that it's his company's fault so long as he gets to spend the night drinking champagne with Richard. Seigi figures that he's being framed just to give Amen the opportunity to do this to Richard, and instead demands the security staff to check the security camera and prove his innocence properly. The group decide to just do that, so Amen, security staffs, and Richard stay to check the cameras, while Seigi is asked to leave the room.

Another security guard is assigned to Seigi. A chinese guy with brown two-block hairstyle, looks youthful like a k-pop idol (or so Seigi said), slightly shorter than Seigi, and speaks Japanese. His name is Vincent Rai, but he asks to be called Vince-san. Vince lets Seigi wander around so long as he doesn't try to contact people from outside the ship, so Seigi decides to check around the show again.

Vincent is cooperative with Seigi, even supplying Seigi with new information. What Seigi gathers so far is that Gargantua group is in the middle of M&A deal. Initially the plan was to work with a Chinese company, but suddenly Amen changed his mind and picked an American company. This angered his second-in-command, Patel, and there are rumors that Patel is trying to steal Gargantua group's designs by 3D scanning items displayed in the show. To nobody's surprise, Amen is known as a moody, sexual harasser, power harasser, etc etc.

It gets late and the two goes back to the security room. Seigi sees Amen trying to offer Richard cakes, a lot of items and untouched sweets scattered around in the room (I assume it's Amen trying to woo Richard), and a chessboard. Richard is simultaneously playing chess with Amen, rejecting his advances, and checking the security cameras. Amen is stuck in his turn in chess so Richard tells him to think about his move overnight. Seigi thinks what he does is like a modern day Scheherazade.

The security camera checking isn't done, but they put it on hold for the day and will continue tomorrow. Everyone goes back to their rooms except Seigi, who's staying there overnight.

The next day, Richard, security staffs, and Amen come back. Amen brings in the chessboard and flowers. ew. Anyway Seigi decides he wants to catch Patel 3D scanning the jewelleries in action, so he visits the showing area again. He really catches him, but Patel runs away to the ship's casino area. (Excuse me I have no knowledge of casino so if I get anything wrong pls do tell) He sits in a poker table where he can just never get up until he runs out of chips. Seigi decides to join the same table.

Slowly Seigi thinks he screws up, but suddenly Richard appears and asks the dealer to join Seigi as a team of two. Dealer says yes, and Richard leans close to Seigi's right, right hand on the table and left hand gripping the stool Seigi sits on. Seigi can't bring himself to look at Richard in that really close distance so he talks to Richard while still looking forward.

Every other player gives up until there's only Patel and Seigi-Richard left. Our boys win, and Patel reveals that the rumor about him stealing jewellery designs is started by Amen. He says that he's tired of Amen's actions so he decides to do just that. Amen appears and let his guards apprehend Patel, and they walk away. 

Later that day, Amen tells Seigi that the item he was accused of stealing is a fake, the real item just fell into some corner during the show, and that Seigi's completely innocent. Seigi knows that's an absolute bullshit and he really really want to punch the guy but decides to just smile and thank Amen.

Richard and Seigi eats in the restaurant buffet, then Vincent comes to greet them. It's revealed that Vincent is Richard's ex-assistant back in Hong Kong. Apparently they don't have a very good relationship, though Richard thinks highly of Vincent. Vincent brings Seigi to an outdoor area, leaving Richard behind, and starts to tell Seigi... a lot of interesting things.

First of all, Vincent tells Seigi that he should stop liking Richard, because that's probably better for Seigi's sake. He also warns him to stop the internship and go back to Japan since he suspects that Shaul uses him as a "dog collar" to Richard's "dog", meaning that Shaul really only wants something to prevent Richard from quitting his company since his family feud is over and he can safely go home. Not to mention, as the son of a noble, he doesn't need to work a day in his life if he wants to.

Vincent also says some very vague things about how Richard's sheer genius and kindness isn't something everyone can ever achieve, and it's pointless to hope to be like that, so it's not worth trying. Seigi replies that while half the reason he's in Sri Lanka is because he admires Richard, the other half is because he wants to get away from Tokyo for a bit after the deadbeat dad stalking incident. He thinks that's why his parents are so supportive of him. Seigi also doesn't intend to drop his dream of being a civil servant.

Vincent gives Seigi a contact number, under the condition that he shouldn't let Richard know. As Seigi is confused, Vincent walks away, passes by Richard who's walking towards Seigi. Richard then tells Seigi how much he values Vincent back in Hong Kong.

Finally it's the end of the cruise trip, and as our two boys are leaving, Amen greets Richard and tries to hug him. Seigi forcefully pushes himself in between the two, so Amen awkwardly ends up hugging Seigi.

Back in Sri Lanka, Seigi hears news about Amen being accused of sexual harassment, and the victims are bringing a lawyer from England. Because of this, M&A deal is temporarily stopped. He wishes the victims well.

While cooking wattalapan, Seigi receives a call from Richard. After small talks, Seigi tells Richard in english how much he wants Richard to be here with him and eat his home cooked food. Richard only replies with silence, and the chat continues. Suddenly, surprise, Richard... really is here, in Sri Lanka. Seigi is extremely happy and they both sit and eat wattalapan and royal milk tea.

Richard then informs that the reason why Seigi's personal information, email, and passport are leaked is because of Jeffrey's ex-secretary. Richard thinks Jeffrey messed up real bad. Richard also shows Seigi a video mail containing a little white girl talking in Japanese. Her name is Octavia, and she was a student of Richard and his ex-fiancee, Deborah Sahin. She says that Richard has made people (she treasures) suffer, so him and his two brother-cousins are going to pay for that. Then she pulls out a video call screen with Vincent in it.

Vincent starts with the same advice to Seigi, telling him it's better to go back to Japan. He then confesses that he was the one who put the stolen item into Seigi's pocket during the show, because his superior (one of the security staff) made him do it. Richard should've known this while checking the cameras, but Vincent says that he's not gonna ask why he protected him then, saying that Richard "never changes, such a good, lonely man".

Jeffrey apparently gets a similar mail, but in his version, the mail said thanks to his ex-secretary (presumably for leaking Seigi's information). Richard and Seigi goes back to small talks, and as Seigi refills the tea, he's thinking about how the kitchen in this house has enough cutleries and stuff for a house party. He dreams that one day he can hold a party with Richard's family, his own family and friends in Japan, and probably new people he meets in Sri Lanka.

Random trivia:

-Richard says that years ago, women in some high end parties were smitten by his looks enough that they held champagne drinking competition over it.

-Richard refers to Jeffrey as "Good-for-nothing talking wallet" again when he talks to Seigi.

-It's absolutely disgusting but Amen calls Richard with his childhood nickname, Ricky. To hear it from anyone but his close cousins and co send chills to my spine.

-Vincent got married while still in college. He's currently 26 years old, studying in America. He practices jeet kune do. Seigi suspects he likes anime and manga and that's why he can speak Japanese, but Vincent doesn't answer this question.

-Seigi goes to a net cafe during his "arrest" to look for more info regarding the group. During that, Vincent plays real time battle games until his eyes turn red....

The events in this chapter actually starts at the end of the same day chapter 3 took place. Seigi's biological dad finds him as Seigi is walking home from Etranger. (Unfortunately I don't remember his name, Seigi doesn't refer to him by name, and I also refuse to check his name, so we'll stick with "dad" here) He starts trying to talk sweetly to Seigi, telling him how he managed to know Seigi's whereabouts.

During the conversation, Seigi has flashbacks on dad being abusive in the past and how he barely paid for damages to Hiromi after they divorced. Dad later explained that his mom (Seigi's grandma) died, and thus he lost his financial support and eventually lost his home. He implies strongly that he wants Seigi's help for food and shelter, while also badmouthing Hiromi. The exchange is honestly so raw and frustrating and I hope someone translates this in all it's.... glory. Seigi is extremely upset and is contemplating to just hit him, but anyway dad decides to leave after the conversation goes nowhere.

Also scattered in the chapter is that Hiromi divorced dad during Seigi's elementary school time, then she married Tanaka-san (the current husband) during the same period of time. Thanks to this and the ex being abusive, Seigi had to move schools multiple times.

Seigi gets stressed about the ordeal, thinking that he probably needs to skip work tomorrow since he thinks dad will come back. After he informs Richard through email, Richard asks if everything is alright and Seigi lies, saying that he just has events related to job-seeking and school works.

The next day, after spending his time outside, Seigi goes home only to be welcomed by dad in front of his apartment. Seigi walks away while dad still keeps following him and talking to him, then Seigi decides to walk in a hardware store. He buys something, walks out, and comes this scene (rough translation):

(Seigi) "Have you ever thought of dying?"

(Dad) "Dying? Why are you saying such a scary thing?"

"I have"

"Uh, let's stop talking about this. It's weird. Unpleasant."

"When I was in elementary school, I thought of killing you and then dying myself."

And now, just a little, I wish I really did just that.

In this peaceful Japan, even though there are a lot of violence happening every year, people can still buy a knife in hardware stores. Once this guy realizes that what I just bought was a sharp object, he takes a step back.

"Seigi, joking like that isn't good. You'll get involved with the cops."

"Do you want to see if this is a joke or not?"

"Why do you say things like that? I love you so much. That's why I went all the way to look for you, why don't you get it? I worked so hard to find you. Are you heartless now? Have you become a bad kid?"

"Let's decide here whether you'd leave or not. I'll give you 30 seconds."

Dad turns completely pale, and Seigi starts counting. Dad keeps trying to reach out to him but Seigi doesn't budge, so he eventually leaves.

The next day, Seigi is completely distraught. Tanimoto greets him, notices that Seigi isn't well and looks upset, then asks if it's better if she just leaves him alone, and does just that.

Seigi starts thinking of quitting Etranger, since he's afraid Richard will also get bothered by stalker dad, especially knowing that Richard is a british nobleman who treats Seigi to 3000yen+ dinners weekly. He makes up his mind and decides that the coming saturday will be the last time he works at Etranger, and starts making lots of pudding.

Shaul sends an email to Seigi, saying that Richard is worried of him so he's asking if everything is fine. Seigi's reply is a lie, once again. Seigi learned that dad apparently tried to ask for Seigi's key to the apartment's landlord, but since he couldn't prove himself he wasn't given anything.

Trivial stuff but Seigi starts thinking about how both Tanimoto and Richard are like angels to him. While Tanimoto is an angel that softly flies on the sky, Richard is an angel who despite having wings, he still walks firmly on the earth.

The next day Seigi is woken up by dad waiting in front of his apartment. He brings a piece of "gem" that looks like it's bought from a 100 yen shop. They talk for a bit, Seigi can't handle it anymore and throws a 1000 yen bill through the gap of his still-locked door. The dad grabs the money, complains that it's not enough, but eventually leaves. Seigi starts planning to move to weekly rental apartments, and throughout the week the dad has resorted to calling Seigi instead of physically visiting him. Then, Saturday comes.

The day in Etranger goes normally and smoothly, which is a nice surprise to Seigi. He's obviously emotionally very tired and worried, but he tries to appear cheerful because it's his last day. At the end of the day, he finally tells Richard that he wants to quit his job, effective tomorrow. Richard just says yes, and then invites him for a "goodbye dinner", though he hates saying that, so he just says that he wants to make good memories during the dinner.

Richard invites him to the high end hotel they went that other time in the case with Hase-senpai. They go to a restaurant high up (i think it's a rooftop restaurant but i'm not super sure) and apparently Richard has ordered set menu, so all they have to do is sit and wait for orders to come. After finishing, Richard brings him to the hotel's bar, both ends up ordering non-alcohol coctails, and Richard offers Seigi some high-end chocolate with liquor filling. Then comes this scene:

(Seigi) "This is so good, it feels like a waste to eat it..."

(Richard) "I think so too"

"Hn?"

"I don't want to.."

"Did you say something?"

"I don't want to send you home"

Seigi double takes and reconfirms that Richard did just say that to him, and no one else around. Richard confirms and pulls out a hotel card key, inviting him, light as if he's just asking Seigi to get into the car as usual. Seigi is determined to make today a good last part-time job day, so he will never say no regardless of what Richard says. All Seigi replies is "what floor?" but Richard doesn't answer.

Once they reach the right floor, Richard hands Seigi the card and Seigi proceeds to open the door. Inside, Jeffrey is waiting, yelling surprise, and Seigi is so surprised he's about to run away. Richard leads him back into the room and makes him sit on a chair. By the way the hotel room is the super high end one with multiple rooms and stuff, not the standard single room.

Jeffrey starts telling Seigi about how since he's been "legally" stalking Seigi for... a long time.... , he finds out about the stalker dad problem and informs Richard. Richard then asks Seigi why Seigi won't tell him anything. Seigi retaliates and says that it's not Richard's business, it's not like Richard wants to hear anything bad like that, etc. Then Richard says that he likes Seigi so, so much, that it makes him angry. At this point Jeffrey leaves the room for a bit so there's just the two of them.

At first Seigi denies Richard's concerns, saying that he might have been influenced by his dad more than Richard would ever know. As a kid Seigi looked in libraries about domestic abuse, and found a book that mentions that statistically, boys who witness domestic violence in their homes have a higher chance of growing up to be an abusive partner themselves. Seigi then recalls how sometimes as a kid he ended up punching and destroying things, how Hiromi enrolled him to learn karate to release the steam and learn how punches and kicks actually hurt. However he still thinks that he has the potential to be violent, and he doesn't want Richard to see that.

Richard gently tells Seigi that all Seigi does is being prejudiced towards himself, and that his prejudice means he's also prejudiced towards every other kid who are also victims of domestic violence. He adds that someone who isn't kind to themselves won't be able to be kind to others as well. Richard also thinks the reason Seigi never gets tired of Richard's looks is because he always sees Richard from afar, refusing to get closer. He encourages Seigi to seek help when he has problems, not just to Richard, but to anyone else.

At one point Richard kneels in front of Seigi who's sitting on a chair, Seigi thinks of how it's like if an adult is trying to comfort a child. Then he starts crying (again). Then Richard tells Seigi to answer the phone. He does, and the dad says he's waiting near Seigi's apartment. Seigi's supposed to go there alone, but apparently the game plan between the two brothers is that Richard is going to accompany Seigi. Jeffrey jokes that Richard might look slender when clothed, but if you see him naked he has pretty well built muscles, so everything should be fine if ever a brawl or anything happens. Richard shushes him.

Richard and Seigi ride on the usual Jaguar to the dad's location. Inside the car, Richard asks why Seigi was so gullible in accepting his invitation to a hotel room, he was sure that Seigi would say no to that. Seigi just says that it's because he trusts him. If Tanimoto ever tells Seigi she wants to punch him, Seigi will let that happen too.

They arrive, Richard stops the car, and encourages Seigi who has made up his determination, calling him a "good boy". Seigi notices that's usually a line used for dogs, but he shrugs it off. However, Richard ends up being the only one who walks out of the car and meets dad. Dad acts confrontational in front of Richard, until Nakata-san (Seigi's now-dad and Hiromi's current husband) appears and grabs shitty dad's shoulder.

Nakata-san confronts shitty dad, asking him why he's bothering his son, if he actually knows anything about Seigi, what he likes, what he's good at, etc. Shitty dad panics and runs away, leaving Nakata-san, Richard, and Seigi there. Seigi walks out of the car stunned, trying not to cry (for the nth time tonight), thinking about how happy it is that Nakata-san comes to help him. The dad and son hugs tightly.

Nakata-san explains that he comes because Hiromi and Richard contacted him about the incident. As it turns out, after the events in England, Richard contacted the couple to apologize about involving their son to all his mess. Nakata-san also apologizes that he couldn't come to Seigi's coming-of-age ceremony, and wants to make sure that he can be here today.... which is Seigi's birthday. He forgot about that because he was panicking.

The couple prepared a birthday present they ordered from Etranger. It's a pair of cufflinks made of tanzanite. Tanzanite is a pretty fragile stone, and by putting them as cufflinks, they want to make Seigi remember to take time to think before leaping into action and to stop him if ever he's about to get violent (though that isn't gonna happen, we all know he's a good boy!) so that the stone doesn't break. The designer of the cufflinks is Maya, the lady from Book 5 chapter 1 who told Seigi he had pretty hands (lol). If Seigi breaks the cufflinks, Maya will absolutely raise hell over it, or so Richard says.

Nakata-san says bye to our two boys because he has to go back to Hiromi's side as she's also pretty stressed from the whole ordeal, telling Richard to take care of Seigi. They both drive back to the hotel, Richard tells Seigi that Jeffrey will help sort things out as Seigi will need to temporarily move around to avoid stalker dad. Seigi asks why they're willing to go this far for him. Richard answers that the family owes Seigi a lot. Jeffrey also previously told Richard that if anything happens to Seigi, Henry will never forgive him, so Richard wants Seigi to just think of Jeffrey as a talking wallet.