Naoya lost his entire family in a horrific car accident on his birthday, and in the aftermath he was forced to grow up very quickly in horrific poverty as society abandoned him.
Reiji and Kiichi’s childhoods with AoeShougo as a father.
Tomoki was abandoned by his mother for her acting career, and after his grandmother died he had to come to terms with the fact that he was going to die with almost no support. And when he finally finds Seiichi, someone who will love him and stay by his side, he dies before he can fully enjoy his newfound happiness.
Haruomi, aka Tien Shue, grew up in poverty with his identical twin brother Tien Lee after they were abandoned by their mother. They were forced to commit crimes (primarily theft) as teenagers just to survive. When Tien Lee runs afoul of a gangster and gets shot, Haruomi essentially sells himself into servitude to Aoe Shougo to pay for his medical care. The pair would not be reunited for years, by which point Tien Lee is nursing one hell of a grudge against Haruomi under the mistaken belief that Haruomi abandoned him for greener pastures.
The day that Reiji and Naoya first meet is anything but a good day for either gentlemen. While Reiji has the displeasure of walking in on his girlfriend cheating on him, Naoya’s luck is far worse; being abandoned by his guardians, physically assaulted by Reiji’s now-ex girlfriend by mistake, losing his job, and then his dilapidated apartment building burns down and he loses everything. Though the crowd sympathizes with Naoya after his landlord tries to blame him, they still walk away and do nothing to help him. Then it starts to rain. Fate had already dealt Naoya a terrible hand, and this day is the breaking point of his awful existence. Had Reiji not stayed by his side and had walked away like everyone else, who knows what would have happened to Naoya.
The morning after Arashi discovers Yanase Izumi being raped by a stalker, he takes Izumi to his home and cares for him. After Izumi awakens Arashi continues to treat him gently and with reassurance, but ultimately Izumi politely rebuffs his efforts and tells him, ”I’m used to it.” The proclamation leaves Arashi stunned. What’s worse, as told above it really wasn’t the first time.
At one point Naoya falls sick with a high fever and collapses. In his delirium he recalls a memory of the last time he was so sick, which was when he was still living in poverty. In the memory he cries to a framed picture of his family over the fact that he was still alive, wondering why he lived and if it was really okay he was still alive. Then it is revealed that Reiji and Kiichi are watching over him and they are reassuring him that it’s okay that he’s still alive, showing that he was reliving the memory out loud.
Takamiya briefly falls into a depression, and Shakashita Izumi doesn’t know how to help him. Izumi goes as far as to ask Reiji for help, but the latter is not helpful. While ultimately it turns out to mostly be a misunderstanding, it was sad to see the mostly jovial Takamiya be sad for a period of time, and Izumi be helpless to help him.
When Katsuki gets drunk and cries to Seiichi about how stupid he feels for falling for Jin, Seiichi gives him gentle encouragement and reassurance. While he’s talking, an image of a smiling Tomoki is shown in a single panel, indicating that Seiichi is still thinking of him and is still deeply mourning him.
As Jin preps Katsuki to “become a host”, Katsuki reaches his breaking point and gives a painful Anguished Declaration of Love to Jin. Jin’s response is calm but serious and cold; that he is a host and he cannot fall in love with anyone. Then Jin leaves Katsuki crying into one of Jin’s discarded shirts.
”Aoe…Shiki’s dead.”
To preface this, Shiki flew out to see Reiji after Reiji was forced to move back to Japan, but then Shiki suffered a traumatic head injury after he’s knocked down a flight of stairs. Shiki refused medical attention and instead spent a night of passion with Reiji before flying back home to England. The morning after he got home, Takamiya went to wake him up, and…
After the funeral Reiji begs Takamiya to scream at him and attack him because he blamed himself for Shiki’s death. Takamiya instead gives him comfort via Shiki’s rabbit puppet, and they cry together in their grief.
