Original manga volume 3
"Boku-tachi no rizumu"
Chapter Five: Magical Summer Days
I'm still recovering from the weirdness of this chapter. :S It's still the summer holidays (or at least, towards the end of). Nakamoto has gone home. Mikimaro is nowhere in evidence. Arai is persuaded by one of his dad's workers to come and bring a file to the studio in order to help her out. He reluctantly agrees, and just as he's about to leave Yuusuke turns up. Turns out he's back from his holiday in Kanazawa and he's come back with a driving licence and a car. Oh dear. :P He's very proud of this fact and he wants to drive Arai out to cruise for girls. But Arai has to do his favour, so instead they head off towards the studio in Yuusuke's car. They get there safely enough and Arai delivers the file to his father's colleague. They also find Takagi there, and Yuusuke decides to drive him home too - much to Arai's displeasure. Arai decides to leg it - but then realises his phone is still in Yuusuke's car, so he has to go with them.
This is where the problems and the weirdness begin. Noone should ever let Yuusuke drive a car in the first place, so it's hardly any surprise when they become lost. Arai asks for a map and Yuusuke cheerfully gives him one...except it's of Kanazawa and so it's not a lot of use! They wind up in an unfamiliar area, and Yuusuke's car suddenly stops working. They can't get it started, and Takagi suggests they use Arai's phone to call the Japanese breakdown service J.A.F. Arai tries, but his phone battery seems to have also died.
It's getting dark by this time so they're a bit unsure of what to do. Then, through the trees they see a strange, big house. Takagi says they probably have a phone, so they go to the door to ask for help and are greeted by a young woman called Yuria. She invites them in, and introduces them to her brother Reiya. (Both names are written in katakana, so it's possible that they're intended to be foreigners settled in the area.). They are extremely formal and polite, and invite the boys to have dinner with them. Yuusuke can always find room for food, so they stop for the meal. By this time it's ten o' clock and they wind up staying the night.
In the night, Arai is woken by the sound of someone in his room. He pounces on them and pins them down, discovering that it's the younger brother Reiya. Reiya seems to be suddenly interested in Arai - in a romantic sense - which freaks Arai out completely. Reiya demands to know if Arai hates him, and Arai is totally befuddled. Once Reiya falls asleep, Arai takes his chance to escape from the room. He discovers Takagi is also up, and they discuss the problem for a while, before Arai swipes Takagi's bed and goes to sleep in it.
The next morning, the boys make to leave - except Takagi (maybe he's getting his revenge for the night before) asks if Arai can stop with them a little longer. Arai is furious, but Takagi and Yuusuke leave him behind, heading back towards Yuusuke's car. Yuusuke has no idea what's going on at this point. (And the reader has probably about as much idea as he does, to be honest). They find themselves in an upmarket neighbourhood which Takagi identifies as being near Nakamoto's home. They go to Nakamoto and discover that Mikimaro is there - he's spent the night after falling asleep doing homework under Nakamoto's tuition. Takagi tells them what happened (brief interlude here where Yuusuke meets Kyouko for the first time and thinks she's Nakamoto's sister, not his mother - again, Nakamoto's father is nowhere in evidence). Yuusuke is sort of confused and sort of horrified that they've abandoned Arai in all of this.
They all have a long discussion about deja-vu and past lives and past subconscious memories that may have been lurking deep within Reiya. The four of them head back to the house to find that Arai is being monopolised by Reiya who now thinks he's some girl called Katherine and that Arai is some guy called Julian. Nakamoto hypnotises Reiya and asks him who he thinks he is. Reiya then tells some long story about being a girl from 1416 whose beau disappeared during a war and didn't come back to marry her. It transpires that she thinks Arai is this guy, so then Nakamoto hypnotises Arai for his side of the story, and finds out that the guy Julian (Wtf, is Julian a mediaeval name now?!) fell in love with another and didn't come back. In order to rid Reiya of Katherine's 'spirit', the boys decide to act out a wedding for Katherine and Julian, with Takagi as the priest. Arai is not happy about the idea, especially when he's expected to kiss Reiya (he objects to kissing a boy!) and Mikimaro is a bit jealous of the whole thing (just how much does he like Arai anyway...?)
It seems to have the desired effect, however. And then they discover Yuusuke's car broke down because it had run out of petrol...was it just a coincidence that they ended up at the strange estate, or was it something more...?
Chapter Six: Sure Chigai RABURINSU ("Labyrinth")
This chapter belongs almost entirely to Takagi, although it begins with Mikimaro walking back to the dorms after curfew and worrying about how he's going to get in. He encounters Takagi on the same errand back (although he's scared at first that Takagi is some stranger who wants to attack him) and Takagi (ever the pragmatist) tells him that he left his window open and that you can get to his room by climbing the tree (Arai's done it several times already). Mikimaro is scared of climbing, so Takagi reluctantly helps him up (some disturbing comments from Mikimaro here about Takagi's scent. Erm. Yes.)
On entering the room, Mikimaro discovers Takagi's guitar and starts peering through his photo albums. One is of a group of people and Takagi tells him its the band he used to be a part of - "Cassandra". Mikimaro asks about them and Takagi says that he left them two years ago and went on to other things.
The next day Mikimaro discovers an article in a magazine about a band called Cassandra and shows Takagi. It turns out to be the same band and it makes Takagi somewhat nostalgic for his music days. He heads down to the music room and plays the piano, where Nakamoto catches him and asks him about the song. Takagi explains that it's called 'Labyrinth'.
(Note, there is a song on one of the SotsugyouM music CDs by this name, sung by all five seiyuu. The first line of this song is "Sure Chigau Yume" Transl: "Conflicting Dreams" or "Dreams That Pass One Another By" - which is, we presume, the connection to the chapter title!)
Takagi also tells Nakamoto that he wrote it for his band Cassandra when he was still a member. It transpires that he left the band over an argument regarding that song and its arrangement. Nakamoto tells him it's a good song and asks if he wants to meet with his former bandmates. Takagi admits he does, and that night he heads off to crash their gig and reunite himself with his old friends.
Although it turns out they're not too happy to see him. They're stressed out and angry with him still for leaving the way he did. Hiroshi - the band leader who Takagi refers to as "the only person who really understood me" is particularly harsh, telling him not to come back again. Takagi is hurt, but leaves, and heads back to the dorm.
Meanwhile, Nakamoto is trying to study and Arai is watching TV, loudly (it's the chart show). Nakamoto complains about the volume, Arai complains that Nakamoto's studying when it's twelve o' clock at night...and tries to forcibly make him come watch the TV. As he does so, Cassandra's name is mentioned and Arai asks if that was the band Takagi was involved in. Nakamoto says it is. Then they announce the band's debut song as "Labyrinth" and Nakamoto is both startled and angry - that's Takagi's song!
In his own room, Takagi has come out of the shower to hear the same thing, and he too is upset about the use of the song he wrote when they treated him so harshly.
By the next day, Nakamoto and Arai - both indignant - have gathered Mikimaro and Yuusuke (oh, please, someone hit Yuusuke with a mallet!) and are trying to explain the situation (Yuusuke does a lot of yelling about it when he realises what's happened, although I will say his heart is in the right place). Takagi also has a visitor - Yuka, Hiroshi's wife, who has come to talk to him about Hiroshi, the Labyrinth situation and the stress her husband is under. It transpires that she's pregnant and she's worried about her husband and the band and everything there. She asks Takagi for help - saying that it needs him to clear up the confusion over the song. In the midst of this, Yuusuke and companions interrupt (mostly it's Yuusuke doing a lot more indignant shouting about the song and stuff, even as the others try to drag him away - there's a time and a place for everything, and Yuusuke never seems to realise it!). Once they're alone again, Yuka comments how Takagi's changed and Takagi is surprised. Yuka says that even when he was with the band, he was always very solitary and alone. But here he has friends who'll come stick up for him and it's made him different. Takagi disagrees with her, but when he reflects on it, he realises that maybe she has a point.
Takagi returns to his room, making the decision to go speak to the band one more time. This time though he takes his guitar with him, because he wants to settle things. Meanwhile the band are arguing - again - and the subject of who wrote Labyrinth comes up. In the midst of all this debating, Takagi appears. He gets a frosty reception, but one of the band members (I think his name was Kouji) says that he wants to hear from Takagi what the truth is about the Labyrinth song. Takagi answers the question by playing the song for them. It is the same song, but the chords are different. It becomes apparent that although Takagi wrote the melody and the original chords, Hiroshi amended the harmonies and so it was indeed a co-written song. (This is the point Takagi seems to have gone to make, although he doesn't really clarify that until he's there with his guitar). He also says that he's grateful to Hiroshi for their friendship in the past, and that he wants the band to go on and do great things. But he's no longer a part of it.
Takagi returns to the school and explains to the other boys what he's done and why. Yuusuke doesn't get it...but Yuusuke doesn't get anything except where the next meal is coming from. Unconsciously the five of them seem to have begun to hang out together and Takagi realises it properly for the first time. So, when a month later he gets mail (a cd single of Labyrinth, with his name alongside Hiroshi's as songwriter and tickets to Cassandra's live performance), he knows just who to share the tickets with. Conveniently, there are five of them. Aww. Takagi's finally learnt to appreciate his friends ;) And maybe - just maybe - he's not so alone any more!