|| Summary of Vol. 3 & 4 ||

Vol. 3: This section is titled "Till the End of the Water Season." It's summer vacation, and Tetsuo's parents have gone to Canada. He goes to visit Ryouta, but the store is closed and no one is home. Tetsuo searches his pockets for change, and comes up with Kizu's keys. He lets himself into Kizu's apartment, running to get some water. Kizu returns to find him fast asleep on his couch. When he wakes they talk for a bit, and Tetsuo explains that Ryouta is gone for a couple of days. He also says: "You and I aren't friends like that." This sets Kizu off, and he starts kissing Tetsuo. "Aren't you going to run away?" No reply. So he completely changes the topic and says they should go shopping for dinner.

Meanwhile we get flashes of Ryouta and Hikone riding their motorcycles across the country on a trip. They manage to get lost at least once.

After shopping, Tetsuo goes into the bathroom to change into more comfortable clothes for the night. The smell of Kizu's shampoo brings back memories of their one night together, and he knows he's in trouble. They sit down with beer in front of the TV. Eventually Kizu leans in teasingly, just to see what effect he has on Tetsuo. He draws back with a slight smirk. "I'll take the sofa; you can sleep in the bed." Tetsuo stares after him.

The next day they're out washing their shoes off by the spigot. Tetsuo sprawls out on the grass and falls asleep in the sun. When he wakes up, a stranger is leaning over him, smiling. "You must be with Kizu." "That's right. Hello." The guy leans closer. "Heeh... You have a pretty face." It turns out that Kizaki lives in the same building.

Later when Tetsuo asks Kizu to pass him his bag, a book falls out. Kizu recognizes the author and is surprised. "You read erotic novels?" "AH! THAT'S-!" "Let's read it." "NO! GIVE IT BACK!" "Now, now." "WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?" It turns out that Tetsuo's father is the author. Kizu settles down behind Tetsuo, and puts his arms around him so that they can both see the book. He begins to read it in his ear. Eventually Tetsuo gets enough control to ask him to stop. Kizu asks if he's ashamed of his father's book. He replies "That's not it-..."

Kizu says he has to go to work, and tells Tetsuo to go shopping for dinner later. On his way out, Tetsuo runs into Kizaki. Kizaki helps him out, and they decide to have a barbeque. They spend the day talking. At the barbeque that night, Kizu isn't very happy over how friendly they've gotten. Or the fact that he's all Tetsuo can talk about when they get back to Kizu's apartment.

Without much warning, Kizu gives him a rather brutal kiss. Tetsuo throws a nice uppercut and gives him a bloody lip. "I'm not a cat!" Predictably, Kizu is confused. "What's that supposed to mean?" "I'm saying you can't stroke me whenever you feel like it." Kizu continues his seduction. "Iriya, Iriya..." Tetsuo goes weak at the knees. "I can't pet you? You're not a cat? But you are. Shall we test it? If you don't want to, run away. Run away." All the fight goes out of Tetsuo. He falls to the floor, with Kizu on top. At this particularly delicate moment, Lisa walks in. Tetsuo takes the opportunity to run.

He talks to Lisa, and she convinces him to do some test shots. Afterwards he reflects on everything that has happened between himself and Kizu: the first time they met, learning each others names, the confession, the key, the almost sex... and how he had been starting to accept it. He doesn't want to go back, but he has no where else to go. And besides, he reasons, my luggage is there.

Kizaki finds him sitting on the front step. He lets him into his apartment. It turns out that Kizaki is a painter. He sketches Tetsuo's face as they talk. Tetsuo takes exception to being called beautiful. Kizaki explains that to him, all men are beautiful. Later he says he is also like Kizu and Tetsuo. "What's that supposed to mean?" Tetsuo asks. "You're in denial," Kizaki says. "The easiest way to judge would be with your body. Shall we test it?" Tetsuo gives him a dark look. "It's no good." "I wonder." Kizaki kisses him, then pushes him down onto the couch. "You lose." "You're wrong. My body was thinking of Kizu." Kizaki sends him on his way, having made his point.

Unfortunately, Kizu comes by just as he closes Kizaki's door. Without a word, Kizu throws him his wallet and his own house key. He gives him all his luggage. "I was wrong. I won't do that anymore, so give me back my key." "What are you talking about?" Tetsuo asks, in shock. Kizu tells him he was wrong, and that Tetsuo should go to Ryouta. "I don't ever want to see you again." And he shuts the door in a stunned Tetsuo's face. Tetsuo spends several minutes shouting at and kicking the door, but Kizu doesn't reply. Finally, swearing and sniffling, Tetsuo starts to walk away. Kizu sits down in front of the TV, but it's obvious from his expression that he's not paying any attention to it.

Tetsuo doesn't make it very far before he crouches down and starts crying in the middle of the sidewalk. Around him a festival is going on, and people are walking by, staring at him. Later, Kizu is curled up in bed reading Tetsuo's father's book. Tetsuo starts banging on the door once more, screaming at him to open up, because he's going to kill him. When he does open the door, Tetsuo grabs him and says "It's all your fault! What do you mean you never want to see me again?" And then he's kissing a startled Kizu. Wow, never seen Kizu shocked before. What follows is the long-awaited sex scene, done in hysterical style. For most of it, all we see are horizontal panels showing Tetsuo's feet, and all we hear are Tetsuo's curses and moans. Afterwards, Tetsuo holds on to the sleeping Kizu. "Finally, he's mine."

The next section is titled "A Drowned Fish." A typhoon is rattling across Japan, and Tetsuo is helping Kizu to fasten up his house. They both get a kick out of fighting the elements. The next morning we see Kizu at his second job: life-guarding at the Bayside Hotel. Hanada also works there, and it's through his conversation with Tetsuo that we learn Tetsuo has taken the modeling job. Lunchtime finds Kizu working his third job with Hikone: a restaurant. Hikone warns him that telling Tetsuo "I'm serious" will cause the sex-bunny to run away.

After the photo shoot, Tetsuo asks Lisa how she can smile on command like that. She says he'll get used to it from now on. He reminds her that there is no from now on. She doesn't seem to believe that he'll be satisfied with one job. Tetsuo meets Ryouta for dinner, and the two laugh over the whole experience. Unfortunately, Kizu drives by on his motorcycle, and sees them laughing in the restaurant. He's waiting for them when they come out.

Back at Kizu's apartment, Tetsuo asks him what he intends to do. He muses that he's never seen that look in Kizu's eyes before. "Don't run away, Tetsuo." Afterwards, Tetsuo is completely rung dry, and covered in bruises. Limply, with sweat and tears mingled he says "I'm going home." "It's 3 am," Kizu replies. "I'll take a taxi." "Iriya-" "I'm going." Throughout this whole scene he can't even manage to lift his head. Kizu wraps him in a sheet. "Stay here. Stay here until dawn." "That was the first time I experienced a pleasure so profound that it was fear, like being pushed into the bottom of a ravine."

The last section of vol. 3 is the first part of a side story Iro Aku "Sensual Evil." The story follows Ryouta's cousin Ryuu and his friend/lover (?) Yuuichi. They seem to be mixed up in the yakuza underworld somehow. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, and don't plan to include it here. One interesting thing to note: Yuuichi also has a beauty-mark (though on his neck instead of his cheek like Tetsuo's). Ishihara-sensei seems to have a pattern going for the ukes in this comic.

Vol. 4: Volume 4 opens with the second part of Iro Aku. After that is more of "A Drowned Fish." Kizu walks right into the doorway at school, causing his cronies to stammer in shock. It seems he is a bit distracted by thoughts of Tetsuo. "He's like a fever in my body."

Tetsuo runs into Ryouta on the train at crush time, and they end up being smushed together by the crowd. Ryouta's bag ends up digging into Tetsuo, and when he complains, he ends up inside the circle of Ryouta's arms. "Sorry, but isn't this more comfortable?" Ryouta asks. Definitely not the Ryouta we all knew and loved in the first volume.

In school, the girls are whispering behind their books over the results of Iriya's modeling. Very nice, if I do say so myself. Hanada introduces Mita, a student with a plan to film a movie.

Kizu is still distracted by thoughts of Iriya. During lunch, he manages to accidentally pour out his whole carton of milk in despair. His friends watch impassively. "He really is weird, that Kizu." "Yeah, probably." Hikone adds: "He's pleasure-addled." Suddenly Ryouta walks into the door exactly as Kizu had earlier. "Here comes another one..." Ryouta also has Tetsuo on the brain, as he remembers the train ride.

The two pass each other in the hall, trading looks as only two tall, dark and evil seme can. Being the more evil of the two, Kizu can't help but mention: "Iriya tasted good." Ryouta's brain goes into overdrive, imagining his friend in the clutches of Kizu. He starts screaming curses.

Iriya finds himself dragged into Hanada and Mita's movie scheme: cast as the last surviving human after a holocaust. He tells Ryouta all about it over dinner. When his cell phone goes off, Ryouta seems to know that it's Kizu. He stands up and says he's leaving. Kizu can hear Iriya's cries to stop him from the other end of the phone-line, and he's not happy. Tetsuo chases him down, and they have a confrontation. Iriya says he's in love with Kizu (without mentioning his name), and says that Ryouta doesn't want to admit it. "That's the way it is. What will you do, Ryouta?" Ryouta leaves without looking back. Tetsuo hides his face behind his hand. "....... I'm an idiot. I had to tell him... But I... you..."

Ryouta is incensed. His friend has changed, and he knows who to blame. A shadow falls over Kizu as he reads a book. He snaps it shut and looks up. "Get away. Don't stand in front of me." "I won't be silent any longer, Kizu. I'm taking Tetsuo away from you!" "Taking Iriya away?" Kizu breaks out in gales of laughter. He continues to egg Ryouta on, making him angrier and angrier. Just as they move in for a fight, Hikone throws a bucket of water on top of them.

The next day finds both Ryouta and Kizu sneezing and with a temperature. Tetsuo goes to do karaoke with Ryouta and some girls, but when he gets sick, he takes him home. Kizu is home alone, flashing back to Ryouta's promise. He is more worried than he let on. Several times Ryouta attempts to say something to Tetsuo, but every time he hesitates. Finally fed-up, Tetsuo leaves. Kizu wakes from his fever to find Tetsuo taking care of him.

At school, Ryouta is beating the crap out of some guys, and takes their scooter. His shift into a bad-boy persona is complete, and his temper is high. Hikone intervenes and tries to show him that he's doing this to become like Kizu. Ryouta doesn't take kindly to the idea. In fact, he flat-out refuses to consider it. "You underestimated me. We'll see who laughs last, Kizu."

Meanwhile, Tetsuo is watching Mita add the special effects to the movie, and notices that Mita blushes as he leans over his shoulder. He takes an unholy delight in teasing the young man, until Hanada pulls him away. We learn that the name of the movie is "Life Line," and that the only two people surviving on the planet are Kagura and Tendou. He notices that the last scene of the screen play is blank.

Hanada offers to drive Tetsuo home. This is how we learn of his past. His father was a business tycoon, and he lived in his own little soap bubble until one day he overheard his father throwing a fit at a strong, impassive man. From then on, he tried to fit that mold, instead of the debauchery of his class. Tetsuo mentions the blank last scene, and as they part Hanada tells him to think about what he would do, if it were up to him.

"My last scene? Kagura and Tendou's. Mine and whose?" he wonders.

Tetsuo's eyes widen in shock as he suddenly remembers when he first saw Ryouta. The poor, hapless guy was getting beaten up during the entrance ceremony. Tetsuo stepped in and beat up the bullies, then called him an idiot. And he remembers when they first spoke, and Ryouta thanked him for saving him, and asked if they could be friends. Tetsuo wants to know why a 2nd year student would want to hang out with a 1st year. "Your technique looks strong, so they'll leave me alone," Ryouta replies. "I... hate violence." Tetsuo wonders what happened to his cheerful friend.

At that moment a voice calls out: "Tetsu-chan." Tetsuo spins around with a relieved smile, just in time to catch a helmet. Ryouta sits on his motorcycle, and he ominously has his own helmet shut tight so that we can't see his face. "Get on."

The last section of volume 5 is a completely unrelated story called Furenai Yubisaki "Untouching Fingertips". It has two very strong-willed characters (Nagase and Kouzuki), and is set in a high school. Again, the uke has a mole. Yes, a definite pattern.

::SUMMARY VOL. 5 & 6::