Volume 2.
A bunch of girls follow Rei around and ask him about being Kira's model. He jokingly says that yes, he poses nude for Kira. Before he can turn to say "Just kidding!" though, the girls've all run off and started pushing Kira around, begging to see the pictures of Rei she's drawn. She shows them (all "sleeping Rei" because Rei keeps falling asleep while sitting for her), and they think she's hiding the nude pictures since she doesn't have any. Rumors are flying all around school that Rei, who's the school's famous player type, and Kira, the school's most unnoticeable girl, are an item. Lots of people speculate as to whether they've gone all the way yet, since Rei is known for moving fast. ^_^;;;
Rei and Kira have a suggestive sounding conversation in class ^_-;; (it's like...Rei is trying to do something, and Kira's saying like, no don't do that here! etc etc..)...turns out Rei's trying to copy the answers off Kira's test since he sits across the aisle, and Kira doesn't want to let him. They're fighting over Kira's test when suddenly it rips in half and they both get into trouble ;).
The advisor doesn't know what to do with Rei, since he doesn't seem to have any long-term goals. The teachers talk about him, saying that he had the best entrance exam scores, but ever since high school began (they're second-years...which is our junior year, here in the US) Rei has been this problem student. The only thing is, Rei is really popular and charismatic, and whatever class he's in will have really good student relations.
Rei and Kira are sitting together at lunch, talking about having to make up their tests. Kira suggests that Rei isn't stupid, he just doesn't *want* to study. Rei tells her he just doesn't care. He didn't want to come to high school in first place, but his father said that if he made it in, he would be allowed to move out on his own. Rei says he hates his father, who always treats him like an invalid.
Rei's ex comes along and tries to make Kira jealous by hanging all over Rei. She makes a snide comment about Kira being the type of girl who..er..changes a lot after the first time sleeping with a guy...Rei then tells Kira they should try it! His ex is totally shocked that they haven't slept together already, knowing Rei, and Rei says that they've just been talking (rough translation), and that with his ex, they could only sleep together because they were both such idiots that there really wasn't anything else they could do together. ^_-;;;
Tatsuya and Kira have a talk. Tatsuya tells her that Rei might actually be experiencing love for the first time with her, so he doesn't know how to act really. He tells her that all the relationships before were just girls who came chasing after Rei, and Rei was pretty much just an unfeeling, unthinking animal. ;)
Kira draws Rei while he plays with her gameboy. He asks her when the painting will be done (mother-child), and she lies and says that it might take a while. Actually, she hasn't even started--but she's afraid that once she finishes and gives it to him, they won't have any reason to hang out together anymore. Rei wishes he could go outside, and Kira feels horrible for keeping him chained to a chair, so to speak. As Rei moves around, another guy in the art room asks him to please stay still so he can draw him. Rei gets really angry that this guy is drawing him without permission, and rips the drawing the guy had started into pieces. Kira tells him that was unnecessary, and Rei grudgingly apologizes before leaving. The guy, Kurasawa, asks Kira to ask Rei if he'll pose for him.
Rei refuses to sit for Kurasawa, though when Kira mentions that Kurasawa will pay, Rei seems to be interested. Kira tells him more about Kurasawa (so Rei doesn't think he has any ulterior, scary motives...heh), like the fact that he got into some exhibition ranking thing and also that one of his works is used for..uh..something or other, whatever, I'm not too certain. It's this girl playing a flute, though. Rei looks at it, and says that he thinks it's kind of "bad." Kurasawa overhears this, and asks him why he thinks it's bad. Rei says that it's got good technical elements (drawn very well), but there's no feeling or substance behind it. Kurasawa gets really pissed off hearing this, and tells Rei that he's so ignorant and barbaric [sort of] that he wouldn't understand art. Rei agrees with him, and says that since he's so ignorant and barbaric, nobody would really like a drawing with him as the subject anyway, and turns down Kurasawa's offer to be a model.
Angry, Kurasawa knocks over Kira's easel. The folder with the sketch of mother and child falls onto the ground, and Kurasawa eyes it.
After that, Kira doesn't want to keep asking Rei to model for her, since the last time he came to the art room was such a bad experience. People around school wonder what's happened to Rei, as he's never out playing ball anymore. Turns out he's started going to the library to study. Kira tries to convince him that he isn't stupid; that he just lets himself slack off. She says he's really good at manipulating (that's not a very good word, but it's the best I could think of) people's emotions, and is very perceptive. Like the time in the art room when he scared the English teacher away. Rei tells her that he actually was serious, when he threatened the teacher. Kira suddenly recalls Harumi's warning (I guess it really was a warning, since in this flashback it has her saying that 'if she has a serious relationship with Rei, she'll eventually get killed'), and wonders why she feels so frightened.
Kira can't find her mother-child sketch anywhere. She searches all over at home, but has no luck.
Next morning, Kira goes to the breakfast table to find a drawing of a mother and child that looks suspiciously like hers in the newspaper!!! It's by Kurasawa, and it's won a prize!!! She finds Kurasawa at school, but he just gives her a cold glare and says that she shouldn't assume so much, and that it's just coincidence that her drawing and his painting should have the same theme.
Someone shows Rei the picture in the newspaper. He asks someone what class Kurasawa is in, and finds that he's in the same class as Rei's ex-gf. He goes there, and his ex thinks he's there to start up again with her. But no, Rei goes directly to Kurasawa and hits him, calling him a thief. He starts a fight in the classroom, and threatens to break Kurasawa's fingers. (GRRRRR!!! DO IT DO IT!!! I HATE KURASAWA!!! ::jen shakes in fury::) He sees Kira in the doorway, though, crying, and stops. The teachers try to find out what exactly happened, but Kurasawa says he "doesn't know," and Rei refuses to say either--just says he didn't like the way Kurasawa looked. Rei gets suspended from school. Kira and Tatsuya talk about this, and Kira cries. Tatsuya doesn't understand why Rei didn't just tell the truth, but Kira tells him it's because nobody would believe Rei over Kurasawa, especially since they have no proof (her original sketch is still missing. Gee...I wonder where it went!!). She doesn't care about winning a prize; she just keeps thinking that it was the picture she wanted to give to Rei.
The teachers talk to Rei about the suspension, feeling a little bad for such a harsh punishment. Rei doesn't care. They say he should go home to his father, who is really worried about him. Rei considers this, but makes no promises. The teachers talk about him after he leaves, saying that they can't really blame him for certain things, since he probably hasn't forgotten "what happened two years ago" and that even an adult wouldn't necessarily have borne it well.
A third-year comes to ask Rei to meet Kurasawa to talk. Rei goes with him. Turns out it's not Kurasawa, but some of the third-years who want to beat on Rei for thinking he can just run into a third-year classroom and beat people up. They manage to beat him pretty well (well, it's three on one and they take him by surprise) until they try to cut his face with a knife and he bites the guy's hand till it bleeds, and then the fight changes and Rei ends up beating the three guys up ^_^. He's busy dunking one of the guys' heads into the swimming pool when Tatsuya stops him (he almost drowned the guy), and he sees Kira crying and leaves the guys alone.
Kira begs Kurasawa to give her back her sketch, if he has it. She tells him about wanting to give the painting to Rei when she was done with it. Kurasawa doesn't answer her and runs off.
Some third year girls corner Kira and bully her, because she caused all the commotion that happened in their class. Kira gets angry, and talks back. Harumi comes to Kira's rescue, and tells the girls off. Kira asks Harumi about her previous threat to her (about risk of death if continued relationship etc etc). Harumi tells her about this time when Rei told her he almost killed a neighborhood bully when he was small (in LA). He had put a gun into the bully's mouth, but the gun hadn't been loaded so he hadn't ended up doing anything. Harumi said that incident stayed in her mind and frightened her.
Kira finds her sketch in its folder, sitting on her easel in the art room. Seems Kurasawa has given it back.
Kira asks Tatsuya for Rei's address so she can go find him; his suspension has already ended but he hasn't come back to school. She goes to find Rei despite Tatsuya's warnings, feeling that she's not afraid of anything this time.
Kira finds the door unlocked and enters, and gets pelted with a shoe. She finds Rei lying facedown on the ground, dirty and covered in bruises, and unresponsive to any of her attempts to wake him up. Alarmed, she cries for help. A neighbor (this burly looking man) comes along and shakes Rei around like a rag doll, and he wakes up ^_^.
Rei and Kira talk for a while about various things--Rei has had to work during his suspension because his father has refused to pay for his living expenses. He says his father is afraid of him, and thinks he's mentally unstable and has had him sent to the mental ward of a hospital to have treatment. Kira is shocked, and Rei tells her he's just joking. Kira tells him she thinks the truly scary people are people like Kurasawa or the English teacher. She gives him the sketch of the mother and child. Rei talks about his mother--how she was always in the hospital, and how he was afraid to be touched by her hand because it looked like a ghost's. Kira says he can do whatever he wants with the sketch, because it's his now, and Rei burns it.
Kira is about to leave when Rei stops her and asks her if she wants to go out and do something. Neither of them knows what to do, so they wander around town for a while. Some modeling scouts stop Rei, and he tells them he's already hired to another agency to get them off his back. Kira suggests they go to an art museum, but when they get there she realizes that Rei probably won't enjoy it. He says, however, that he thinks it's good to get some dose of culture, and points to little works of art around them--the security guard sleeping, some old ladies gossipping, and some other scenes that he gives funny names to, which cracks Kira up.
As they're riding on the metro, Kira tells Rei about her father, who she used to draw with, but was killed in a car accident when she was in elementary school. As they're talking, they notice a guy smoking in the crowded car. They get annoyed, and when the guy gets out another cigarette to light up again, Rei holds out his lighter. The guy thanks him, and Rei flicks the lighter so that the flame rises so high it singes the man's face and hair. Rei and Kira take off running with the man in hot pursuit, and manage to escape on another metro train (though when Kira says the man's eyebrows were singed off, Rei starts shouting for the man to keep chasing their train so he can get a good look at them ;D).
They stop at a mall, and Kira goes to buy art supplies while Rei goes off to the bookstore. They agree to meet up, but lose each other. They finally meet up again on the escalator, and to avoid getting separated again, Rei takes Kira's hand. ;)
They meet this old lady who seems to recognize Rei, but calls him Sei. It seems Rei has a twin brother named Sei who used to volunteer at a nursing home, which is how this old lady knew him. Rei tells her Sei is fine, and they part. Kira asks about Sei, and Rei shows her a picture. They look exactly the same...but Kira recognizes which is Rei, since she says he has this quirk where he always raises one of his eyebrows when he smiles. Rei tells her Sei had a personality exactly opposite his--he'd often been bullied, and Rei always had to be the one who defended/avenged him. Rei tells her Sei has actually died--but he didn't want to worry the nice old woman who he'd probably never see again, which is why he lied. At that moment, there's a commotion nearby where someone has committed suicide by jumping off a building. Rei takes Kira away, but as the ambulance sirens sound, he starts to hold his head and complain about the noise. He runs to an alley, his mind full of memories of someone turning their back and a scarf falling through the air.
Kira runs after Rei and finds him collapsed in the alley. She remembers scenes from her father's deathbed, where her mother is crying for him to open his eyes. She feels like the scene is repeating itself here with Rei, and desperately tries to wake him, starting with CPR. Rei comes to, and tells her that he has this problem with his nerves...
They part at Kira's house, and Rei promises to go to the hospital to get checked up on, and tells Kira to wear jeans the next day so they can go somewhere on his motorcycle after school. They kiss.
Next day Rei shows up at school, and admits laughingly to Tatsuya that it's Kira's influence. Harumi and Kira talk on the roof, and Harumi finds out Rei and Kira have "only kissed." (haha..she's really shocked. Rei's too famous for his fast-paced life, I suppose. ^_-) It seems Harumi and Kira have become quite good friends. ^_^ Tatsuya and Rei are talking about the same thing, and Rei says just kissing Kira makes his heart beat fast ^_- (kyaaaaa!!!) Tatsuya says Rei's becoming more civilized. ^_^;
The third-years that Rei beat up last time see him and ask him to join them to beat up some delinquents from another school :). Rei refuses. Rei meets up with Kurasawa in the hall, and they talk. Kurasawa tells Rei that he's sorry about what happened, but Rei says he really doesn't care about Kurasawa's life. Kurasawa gets very defensive, and starts talking about how Rei can't understand the pressures he has to undergo because everybody has so many expectations of him. Rei agrees that he can't understand, and also says that it's okay, the next time he's under pressure all he has to do is go steal somebody else's work and pass it off as his own, and he'll do fine.
Rei and Kira are in the basketball courts talking about going to college. Rei finds it ironic that someone with Kira's talent can't go to art college because she has no money and no father, while someone like him who doesn't want to go to college (only wants to race motorcycles for a living) has a father with plenty of money who's dying for him to go. Just then there's a commotion as it turns out Kurasawa has flung himself from the school roof. Kira's afraid this will make Rei's nerve problem act up again, but he assures her he's fine. (I think this is the sweetest picture in this tank ^_^)
Kira and Tatsuya have a talk; Kira asks Tatsuya whether he knows about Rei's nerve problem. Tatsuya doesn't know anything about it, and wonders how Rei would have this problem. Kira thinks about it and wonders whether it has anything to do with Rei's brother Sei's death. Turns out Tatsuya doesn't know about Sei, either. Kira tells him about it, but asks him not to talk about Sei in front of Rei.
Rei goes to the hospital and watches the kids in the mental ward drawing. He talks to the doctor there, telling him that he lied to him, and that he really hasn't recovered completely. The doctor tells him that they were certain he had already reached the safe stage and had pretty much returned to normal before they released him; that mental health and physical health are completely different--there is no "healing" of mental wounds as there is of physical wounds--that healing all depends on the individual's ability to conquer and deal with the wound.
The tank ends with the doctor asking Rei whether he still thinks he killed his brother. There's a picture of a boy calling "Sei!" and of another identical boy turning and jumping from a roof.
End Volume 2.