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The Case Files of Jeweler Richard - Book 6 chapter 4 summary

I know other people are doing summaries but there are scenes I want to write down so that I can remember them fondly, so here goes! Please notify me if I get things wrong and such, since I mostly write this from memory (I read this yesterday) while glancing at the book sometimes. Also I sure hope this sounds coherent, the original text is very graceful...

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.

Seigi asks Richard to let him go back working in Etranger, and of course Richard says yes. They then turn to go eat sweets somewhere.

#jeweler richard #the case files of jeweler richard #nakata seigi #richard ranashinha dvorpian #spoilers #translation

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