"Everybody is granted their own world. The difference is whether you turn your back on it, or whether you nurture it into something rich with life, as if it were your own ocean. You said earlier that this was like drawing your fortune at a shrine, but gemstones act as a mirror of their owner's soul. It is not something that exists to lead you to an answer you do not wish for."
— Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian
One night, while returning home from his job, university student Seigi Nakata rescues a beautiful British man named Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian from a group of drunks. Richard is a jeweler who travels the world selling jewels to clients and hires Seigi to work in his Japanese shop part-time, beginning their partnership uncovering mysteries behind the jewels and customers they encounter.
The Case Files of Jeweler Richard (Hōsekisho Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei, or "The Mystery Appraisals of Mr. Richard the Jeweler") is an ongoing novel series written by Nanako Tsujimura with cover illustrations by Yukihiro Utako, which began publication in 2015. It received an anime adaptation in January 2020 by Shuka. A manga adaptation illustrated by Mika Akatsuki started serialization in the Josei magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum in November 2019.
In 2021, Seven Seas Entertainment announced they licensed the manga for English distribution, with volume one scheduled to release in March 2022. In 2022, they also licensed the novels for English distribution.
The Case Files Of Jeweler Richard shows examples of:
- Aborted Declaration of Love: In episode 8, Seigi almost confesses to Tanimoto, but doesn't.
- Act of True Love: Seigi is willing to spend the rest of his life in prison to destroy the diamond inheritance causing strife in Richard's life. Slightly averted when it comes out later that Seigi believes he deserves to go to jail before he hurts someone like his biological father would and was using Richard's situation as a way to go out helping someone.
- Adaptation Distillation: Due to the time and episode constraints of the anime, some cases from the novels are entirely left out of the anime adaptation, and the cases that are adapted are shortened, with many scenes and much of Seigi's internal narration cut out for brevity.
- Adaptational Explanation: The anime introduces lapis lazuli and ultramarine a couple of episodes before it’s actually needed; in the novels, the reader is just meant to assume Richard explaining the properties of this gem happened off screen at some point.
- All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu: The one recurring Chinese character/Hong Konger practices Jeet Kune Do.
- All That Glitters: The diamond left to Richard's spouse in his great-grandfather's will turns out to be a white sapphire valued for far less money.
- Almost Kiss: In volume ten, Richard seems to be preparing to kiss Seigi before Seigi asks him to explain his feelings in words instead.
- Anger Born of Worry:
- Seigi in volume four/episodes 9 and 10 of the anime is livid with Richard for abandoning him without a word to deal with his family.
- During Tanzanite in volume 6 and episode 12 of the anime, Richard is so angry with Seigi for hiding his issues with his bio dad that he repeats a lot of the same lines Seigi used on him in volume four.
- Anywhere but Their Lips: Richard and Seigi have a number of mouth-adjacent kisses, and yet never quite seem to make it to the mouth.:
- In volume four, Richard kisses Seigi's cheek after things are resolved with the White Sapphire. Seigi initially denies it was a kiss, but admits it was later.
- In volume nine, Richard kisses Seigi's forehead to comfort him, after talking about the potential for their romantic relationship.
- In volume ten, Seigi kisses Richard's finger to show his devotion to him.
- Also in volume ten, Richard returns Seigi's kiss to his finger...to Seigi's finger—or perhaps it was his mouth after all, but Seigi has no interest in admitting to that and insists it was only a hand kiss.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Saul to Seigi at the beginning of volume 4 asks, "Are you aware that you’re in love with Richard?" It's a topic that not only sees much thought from Seigi throughout the volume, but also one that comes up again at other points later.
- Arranged Marriage: Averted, but Tanimoto almost agrees to one with Homura.
- Ascended Extra: The author of the series decided to write a short story years after their sole appearance, giving Yamada a given name for the first time and fleshing out where the "Edward" alias came from, potentially because the fans were so interested in them.
- Auction: Episode 7's Mystery of the Week is an auction for ancient piece of jade and a family will.
- Because You Can Cope: In backstory, Jeffrey abandoned Richard to the family's pressure because of the well, believing that Henry needed his help more than Richard, who was brilliant and gorgeous and multi-talented.
- Belated Love Epiphany: Seigi has two of these:
- One in volume four/episode 9, when Richard leaves for London and he says he feels "like there's a hole in his chest. Saul causes this one and Seigi settles on "ai" to describe how he feels about Richard. Before this he does note that he's fond of Richard, but he was unaware of the intensity.
- The second in volume nine, when Seigi considers what his life will be like if Richard gets married to his ex and had kids and starts crying at the thought and realizes there's no reason he would do that if he didn't love Richard.
- Berate and Switch: Richard does this to Seigi a number of times, telling him he finds his meddlesome nature irritating but also helplessly endearing. He seems to have landed somewhere around "You can do this with me and no one else."
- A Birthday, Not a Break:
- Seigi, in volume six, realizes it's his birthday when his stepdad gives him a present after dealing with Seigi's abusive biological father.
- Richard, discussing the events of the past in episode eleven, which mostly took place on his ninth birthday, which ended with his family fighting.
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: Richard's ninth birthday, which ends with the entire family searching and failing to find a missing piece of his mother's jewelry and her staying angry at his favored tutor over it.
- Blatant Lies: Seigi insists he doesn't know what kinds of things Richard likes as he Just Works There when a female client wants to thank him for helping her...approximately five minutes after he thanks Richard for helping him out the previous episode/chapter with pudding.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The official Seven Seas Entertainment license of the manga has numerous mistakes with mistaken subjects of sentences and even gives Seigi's mother a roommate that she never had in the original while trying to make sense of a translation error.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Hajime in the Cat's Eye case is an elementary schooler who is unfailingly rude to Seigi.
- Britain Is Only England: Richard is an Englishman from the suburbs of London, and actually refers to his nationality as English, not British. Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are never even mentioned as existing.
- British Humour: Lampshaded. After Seigi asks Richard out in volume nine, Richard responds with "Did you think we weren't already dating?" and after Seigi is shocked speechless, Richard says it's a "British joke."
- Britain Is Only London: Richard is from the "suburbs of London." They have owned land...in London, which isn't even a thing for nobility. Nonetheless, if any other part of the country exists, the series never mentions it.
- Brits Love Tea: Richard is exceptionally picky about his tea. Oddly enough, however, he didn't pick up his taste for Royal Milk Tea in Britain: He discovered it in Sri Lanka.
- Broken Pedestal: Seigi's friend Hase-senpai turns out to be this in episode 5. Seigi really looked up to him as his senior, but was distraught to learn that his senpai had tried to trick a disabled old woman to obtain money for the expenses like his father's medicines and his sister's school fees. What's worse is that after this ordeal, Hase tells him that he doesn't want to see him because it is too painful and then walks away, thus ending their friendship. However, thankfully, Richard is there to comfort him.
- Calming Tea: Seigi takes very quickly to Richard's royal milk tea and even makes it for himself in his own apartment when he needs calm and comfort.
- Cast Full of Rich People: Richard comes from a wealthy family and most of his customers make quite a bit of money to be able to afford absurdly expensive gemstones. Both groups dominate the recurring cast.
- Cheer Them Up with Laughter: Seigi does this for Richard toward the end of volume nine after coming home to discover Richard depressed, and Richard complains because his plan was to mope and now he's cheerful.
- Cliffhanger: Episode 8 ends with Étranger being temporarily closed down and Richard about to leave for England.
- Compliment Backfire: Seigi compliments Richard's appearance a lot. Problem is, Richard is very self-conscious of his appearance and doesn't particularly like this at least, not at first.
- Cool Car: Richard drives a Jaguar in Japan, which he says go for about five million yen secondhand, and Saul has an Aston Martin in Sri Lanka.
- Creepy Uncle: Richard's distant uncle who sexually harasses him for the majority of volume seven.
- Cry into Chest:
- Seigi, to Richard's chest in episode 10/volume 4 after Richard tells Seigi how important he is to him. In the novels, Richard pulls away almost immediately, but the anime shows him hugging back.
- Happens again in volume 9. Seigi begins to cry at the thought of Richard getting back together with his ex, and Richard pulls him in for a hug.
- Cue the Rain: The end of episode 5 and the Opal case in volume two, after Hase-senpai breaks Seigi's heart, it immediately starts raining on him. Fortunately for him, Richard picks him up in a car.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Both Seigi's mother and grandmother had troubled pasts. Seigi is also hinted at having a troubled past, most probably issues with his birth-father.
- Richard is also implied to have one as episode 6 reveals that he used to scam people before meeting Ranasinghe, whose name he's currently using, and his dislike for scammers stems from his own actions as a scammer. It’s later revealed that his family is still fighting over the inheritance his great-grandfather left behind. Richard fell out of his family, was betrayed by a friend, and was forced to break up with his girlfriend as she was afraid that she would end up choosing the money over him. Richard had no choice but to comply as he felt that persisting too much would only make him look more pathetic.
- Destroy the Evidence: In Act 2, this is one goal of the Claremont Estate stewards. Richard’s grandmother kept records of less-than-legal gem and jewelry dealings she made to earn the favor of the English nobility, and the estate wants to track them and the copy of those records down before the current Earl Claremont passes away.
- Domestic Appliance Disaster: Richard is a Lethal Chef not only to people trying to eat his cooking, but to the poor kitchen he tries to cook in.
- Do You Trust Me?: Richard says this to Seigi throughout most of Tanzanite in volume 6/episode 12. Fortunately, Seigi does, and lets Richard help him.
- Embarrassing Voicemail: In volume nine, when Saul meets up with Seigi, he plays four increasingly panicked voicemails from Richard worrying about what trouble Seigi, a fully grown adult man, could get into in the six hours it would take Richard to fly there from Australia. Saul ignored all of them, despite Richard's desperate pleading for an immediate response and the fact that he was already looking up plane tickets.
- Everyone Can See It: In the novels, Seigi and Richard are often mistaken to be in a romantic relationship. The list of people who think this include Tanimoto, Homura, some of Étranger's customers, strangers, and even Seigi and Richard’s own family members. Both of them take turns to clarify that they're Just Friends.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Seigi asks Richard to repeat something in French because he likes how Richard says it.
- Extremely Dusty Home: Richard gets a gets a spiderweb in his hair trying to clean the villa in volume 8.
- Fake Relationship: Seigi pretends to be Richard's lover in front of Jeffery in London. Jeffrey had already made this assumption himself, but Seigi decided to go along with the charade.
- Flash Forward:
- In volume six, the Sinhalite case brackets the novel and shows Seigi and Richard years later living together in Sri Lanka with two dogs, and Seigi is fluent in a number of languages he was not in the current timeline. This flash forward happens after the events of volume ten (but before the volume ten epilogue).
- There is also a much briefer, less significant one, in episode seven, opening with a scene that happens after the midpoint of the episode.
- Food as Bribe: How Seigi gets Richard to do what he wants Richard to do, always with sweets.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Jeffrey is outed as gay in volume ten due to issues with the line of succession in the Claremont family. Henry does it as gently as possible and Richard and Henry both comfort and protect him after it's over.
- Found Family via Work: The Ranasinghe Jewelry Company and everyone who has worked with them end up making a found family: Seigi and Richard as "partners", Saul as some sort of adopted Team Dad, Maia, a jewelry designer who teasingly sends Richard tea he hates, and Vince also attends the company parties even while studying abroad. Seigi even comments the company party is basically a family party.
- Friendship Trinket: Seigi and Richard exchange sapphires and promise to return them to each other one day, and until then need to keep in contact, cementing their relationship.
- Gemstone Motifs: Most of the chapters/cases have jewels in their names. The anime does the same with episode titles. The more major characters also tend to have jewels associated with them.
- Seigi is pink sapphire and "justice for the weak" which is carried through even in his name, which means "justice" in Japanese, and Tanzanite from the "Tanzanite of Rebirth" case.
- Richard is white sapphire, for insight and clarity, which he gives to Seigi often.
- Jeffrey, the mysterious cousin of Richard who never seems to let anyone know his true self and indeed has more than one, is alexandrite, the color-changing gemstone.
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: In volume nine, Seigi considers what his life would be like if Richard got married to his ex and adopted her kids, coming to visit Seigi at Étranger and allowing the kids to eat Seigi's pudding, and he gets so jealous and miserable he starts crying and realizes that crying is a very strange reaction if he's not in love with Richard.
- Heirloom Engagement Ring: Lampshaded. Seigi gives the pink sapphire engagement ring his grandmother stole to Richard in exchange for Richard's white sapphire. Richard mentions this seems like an engagement, but they aren't engaged. Or are they?
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: In Sinhalite, Seigi switches to Sinhala to speak with Richard so the outside narrator can't understand their discussion.
- I Don't Pay You to Think: Partially subverted. Richard repeatedly tells Seigi not to worry about learning the gem business, as Seigi was only hired for odd jobs and not to concern himself with customers, but he frequently enjoys teaching Seigi the business and his insights anyway. Of course, after Seigi officially becomes his apprentice, Seigi is being paid to think.
- If I Do Not Return: Seigi has a version of this in volume four. He schedules a text to his mother to tell her to assume he's dead, assuming he'll be arrested in London for the rest of his life for trying to destroy Richard's inheritance.
- I Have This Friend: When Seigi has trouble deciding whether he should stop Tanimoto from marrying or not, Richard aids him in his decision by quoting Machiavelli and narrating the story of a "certain man in England". Unbeknownst to Seigi, said "certain man" in the story is nobody but Richard himself.
- I Kiss Your Hand: In volume ten, Seigi does this to Richard, complete with kneeling in front of him, and Richard returns the gesture. Or did he?
- Jeweler's Eye Loupe: Richard is a jeweler, after all. He has one of these that comes out from time to time.
- Language Fluency Denial: Richard does this in the Diamond case, when Seigi asks him to come to a store with him to study diamonds. He is not interested in talking to salespeople and pretends not to speak or understand Japanese for the duration of the visit.
- Late Coming Out: Jeffrey is outed in book ten when he is well into his thirties.
- Long Last Look: Seigi gives Japan one of these before leaving for Sri Lanka.
- Manly Tears: Seigi, a lot:
- In episode 1 after he makes peace with the owner of the ring that his grandmother stole as he realizes that the misdeeds she committed were for her family's sake.
- In episode 5 after his last conversation with Hase-senpai. After he sits inside Richard's car, he breaks down in tears, saying that he's no hero, and that he's not right at all. Richard comforts him, telling him that his kindness is something he admires and at times, even envies it.
- In episode 10 after Richard confronts him over his reckless acts and tells him the people Seigi loves want him to be happy.
- Twice in volume 9: once after he speaks with Tanimoto and he allows himself to give up on her, and once at the thought of Richard getting back together with Deborah.
- In volume 10, Seigi breaks down into tears thinking he's ruining Richard's life by wanting to be in it, and again after Richard comforts him and tells Seigi that they're a part of each other now.
- In volume 10, Richard also has a tearful moment after Seigi tells him he'd be happy if Richard could be the place Seigi belongs and can always return to.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: Saul trains Richard, who trains Seigi.
- Meaningful Echo: In volume 4, Seigi tells Richard he loves him so much, and that’s why he’s angry with him. This line is repeated by Richard to Seigi in volume 6; for some reason, only this latter line was kept in episode 12 of the anime.
- Meaningful Name: Richard's grandmother's hometown, Ratnapura, means "City of gems" in Sinhala.
- Meaningful Rename: Richard's assumed last name was gifted to him by his mentor. Saul also offers it to Seigi in volume nine.
- Memento MacGuffin: Seigi's pink sapphire ring is an heirloom from his deceased grandmother, and that is what kickstarts his relationship with Richard.
- Mistaken from Behind:
- In volume four/episode 9, when Richard is in London and Seigi is looking for him. Turns out to be a random blond stranger.
- This also happens in volume eight, however, Catherine was doing that to Seigi intentionally.
- Moment Killer: In volume ten, Seigi is upset at the thought that he is negatively impacting Richard’s life. Richard leans incredibly close to his face and tells him that he has two ways to convince him otherwise: One with words, the other much faster without them. Seigi says he likes listening to Richard talk, so Richard pulls back very sulkily and tells Seigi how much he means to him verbally.
- Non-Idle Rich: Richard and his cousins all have jobs, despite the immense wealth their family passes down to them. In fact, Jeffrey works so much he qualifies as a Workaholic.
- Now, Let Me Carry You: Somehow, Seigi and Richard both manage to do this for each other!
- After three volumes/8 episodes of Richard providing Seigi with knowledge and advice and emotional support, Seigi rushes in to help Richard deal with his family and his Dark and Troubled Past.
- After Seigi helping him through his difficulties in London and most of six volumes of Seigi acting as Richard's loyal assistant, Richard is furious when Seigi doesn't ask for help dealing with his biological father and intervenes to force Seigi to accept his help.
- Old Flame Fizzle: Episode five/volume two. His old friend Hase-senpai turns out not to be the person he missed and hoped to see.
- Only the Knowledgable May Pass: This happens a few times in the series:
- Saul testing Seigi's knowledge of gemstones with Richard's acrostic ring.
- Richard leaving vague clues for Seigi based on conversations they had previously about gemstones.
- In volume nine, Vincent asks Seigi everything he knows about coral as a gemstone.
- In volume ten, Octavia sets up a riddle game with Seigi and Richard to test Seigi's knowledge of gemstones and Richard's knowledge of ancient Japanese literature.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Seigi keeps doing this to Richard. Richard also replies with this sometimes, telling Seigi is he "precious" to him. Though the platonic part is debatable.
- The Power of Language: A central theme throughout the novels, although the anime touches on it a bit less. The novels even have long descriptions of a sea of words a person can drown in when they're fluent in too many languages.
- Pygmalion Plot: A played version. Richard loves being a teacher and takes Seigi under his wing to teach him about not only gemstones, but culture, manners, literature, languages as his apprentice in ways that are compared to cutting and polishing a gem...and he truly loves the person Seigi is becoming.
- Relationship Labeling Problems: Seigi and Richard have a great deal of struggle naming their relationship with each other.
- While others have plenty of suggestions over the series (mostly "lover" or "boyfriend"), the first time they even feel comfortable calling each other friends is after a conversation about it in volume 8 and they deny any other facet of their relationship other than "boss" and "employee" even after that's long past relevant.
- In volume 9, they have a conversation about what the difference between their relationship and dating even is (and come to the conclusion the answer is...not much).
- In volume 10, they have another conversation trying to settle on what their relationship is and end on "person that I like," until they finally, finally settle on "partners" in the epilogue. Because of course that couldn't mean at least seven different things.
- Relationship Sabotage: Jeffrey offered a bribe to Richard's ex to convince her to dump him.
- Relationship Upgrade: Seigi and Richard's relationship goes from customer/shopkeeper to employee/employer to friends in volume eight, to "partners" in volume ten.
- Replacement Pedestal: Seigi experiences a Broken Pedestal for his former senior in middle school and the karate club, whom he admired as a big brother and a mentor, when it turns out his mentor hasn't turned out nearly as well as Seigi has and no longer wants to see Seigi again. However, he's already met Richard, who he's begun to latch onto as a mentor, and whom his respect for grows immensely after the resolution of the situation.
- Reunion Vow: In episode ten of the anime, Richard states he doesn't know what he's going to do after finally resolving his family inheritance drama, but he and Seigi exchange sapphires and promise to return them "the last time they ever meet." This plays out differently in the novels, as Richard and Seigi both know Richard will be returning to Japan as soon as possible.
- Rule of Pool: In the short story "Sympathy for the Devil" about Jeffrey, he is at a rich man's birthday party when he winds up in a pool.
- Secondary Character Title: While Seigi is The Protagonist, the title of the series refers to Richard.
- Secret Ingredient: Seigi has to puzzle out Chieko's pudding and experiment to discover it tastes unique thanks to muscovado so he can use it as a clue to Richard.
- Secret Test of Character:
- Richard does this to Seigi in episode one. He knows the gemstone Seigi is showing him is stolen and is trying to figure out if Seigi knows that it's stolen and is trying to sell it regardless.
- Saul does this to Seigi a couple of times. Usually, the premise is asking him questions about gemstones or other knowledge and turns into Saul approving of his moral choices and giving him the information he needs to proceed.
- Secret Underground Passage: In volume eight, Catherine's villa turns out to have one, though it's mostly inaccessible due to collapses. Seigi and Richard manage to get stuck in it anyway.
- Series Fauxnale: When originally publishing the volumes, the author and editor believed volume four would likely be the last one published, and so it was written to serve as a conclusive end to the series if it was not allowed to continue. Fortunately, the series proved popular enough for the author to continue.
- This carried over into the anime adaptation, as episode ten feels very much like a finale despite the series continuing to twelve episodes.
- Shed the Family Name: Both Richard and Seigi get rid of their original last names, Richard with taking on his mother's and his mentor's, and Seigi taking on his stepfather's.
- Sherlock Scan: Richard does this to a client in episode 4/volume two. In fairness, she asks him to do it, and he admits he's just guessing.
- Significant Name Shift: Richard has called his mother by her first name for over twenty years because she didn't like being called "Maman" (they're French)—it made her feel old. But she's forgotten this incident entirely and is now hurt by the distance between them. Once they work through their relationship, Richard calls her "Maman" again, which inspires Seigi to call up his own mother and change from calling her by her first name "Hiromi" to "Mom."
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Seigi and Vince engage in this frequently, much to reader's delight, as Seigi usually isn't snarky with anyone else.
- Snooty Haute Cuisine: Wealthy Blue Blood Richard adamantly refuses to drink any tea that comes in a bottle, claiming it has "died" and the soul is gone—which means making fresh tea from expensive leaves imported straight from Sri Lanka, every time. He also refuses to let Seigi buy sweets on sale, on the idea that buying sweets with an eye to price is less meaningful and disrespectful to the people they will later be served to. Of course, he also frequently takes Seigi out to fancy dinners together—and then orders himself strawberry parfaits.
- Spiteful Will: Richard's great-grandfather set up an exceedingly difficult will On One Condition that falls on Richard and leaves the family fighting over the inheritance.
- Stalker without a Crush: Seigi's biological father doesn't have a crush on Seigi, but he follows him around and gives Seigi PTSD from it.
- Stepping Out to React: After Seigi goes too far complimenting Richard in volume 1, Richard steps into his office to beat up a couch, then emerges and insists he only wanted to practice his boxing.
- Strictly Professional Relationship: Richard claims this a few different times:
- Volume one, when he insists he wouldn't be upset if Seigi quit to take a different job.
- Volume three, when telling Seigi to pursue Tanimoto, and that Seigi is projecting his affections onto Richard because Richard is safe as he has no special feelings for Seigi. Seigi insists, regardless of how Richard feels, he's very fond of Richard.
- Volume four, to Jeff, when Jeff assumes Richard and Seigi are dating.
- The Summation: Occasionally, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard remembers that it's nominally a mystery series. There are two of these:
- The Emerald Case in volume two, related to Seigi after Richard has already explained it to the cops away from him.
- The end of volume seven, performed while Richard plays poker.
- Surprise Santa Encounter:
- In one of the short stories, Seigi rushes to a store on the way to Richard's Christmas Eve birthday party to get a quick Santa disguise, which stuns...well, everyone.
- Richard returns the favor by showing up as Santa to give Seigi a birthday gift for Seigi's birthday in May.
- Take a Third Option: Seigi's career choice. Instead of pursuing his original goal of civil service or deciding to become a jeweler, he decides he wants to be Richard's secretary, as all other options would require him to prioritize something above Richard occasionally and he couldn't bear to do that.
- Tea Is Classy: Richard is so rich, classy, and just plain weird that he's obsessed with his royal milk tea and serves it to his wealthy, upperclass clientele.
- That Came Out Wrong: Seigi does this a lot. Especially in the early books, he rarely thought about what effect his words might have before he said them, and he is so sincere and straightforward he doesn't think about implications.
- There Are No Coincidences: Richard tells Seigi at the end of the first episode and first case, their meeting must be something like fate because of a series of coincidences that led to Seigi having a ring from his grandmother with a stone that came from the homeland of Richard's grandmother, that was refined in Europe and eventually made its way to Japan, much like Richard has an ancestor from Sri Lanka, was born in Europe, sort of refined in Sri Lanka, and found himself in Japan. Of course, the pink sapphire is more meant to represent Seigi, in the end. Seigi also compares his first meeting with Richard to meeting a destined lover if only Richard was a woman.
- There Is Only One Bed: Averted. There's only one room, but it has two beds. Of course, since Richard doesn't like sharing bedrooms at all, this is still a vulnerable moment for him.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Subverted with prejudice. Seigi and Richard are both inclined to thinking this way, but the series repeatedly emphasizes that this mindset is harmful and not very smart. It's most notable in volume six/episode twelve during the Tanzanite case.
- Time Skip:
- Two years pass between the bulk of volume six and volume seven.
- Volume ten also has one potentially indicating another, as the epilogue skips another two years into the future.
- Tracking Device: Jeffrey slips a cellphone onto Seigi when they're both in London in order to find him later and Richard with him.
- Trail of Bread Crumbs: Richard leaves a series of receipts from their dinners at Shiseido Parlour for Seigi to find in the London museum. One has a clue on it to help Seigi meet up with Richard so they can escape from Jeffrey.
- Unknowingly in Love: After Saul's Armor-Piercing Question to Seigi asking him if he knows he's romantically in love with Richard, Seigi spends days questioning his own feelings, having never considered them love at all. In the end, he comes to terms with the fact that he does love Richard (even if he's still not sure it's romantic).
- Unknowingly Possessing Stolen Goods: Discussed. Seigi knows the ring he inherited from his grandmother is stolen, but Richard isn't aware of that when Seigi asks him to appraise it, and after discovering the theft himself, is unsure if Seigi is ignorant of the origins or trying to scam him.
- Unwanted Assistance: Seigi, when he shows up in London to help Richard, who ends up having to rescue him from Jeffrey. Richard tries to send him home immediately to get him out of harm's way. Also an Unwanted Rescue.
- Wham Line: Homura to Seigi at the end of volume 3/episode 8: "Isn’t Étranger going to be closed for a while starting tomorrow?" coming out of nowhere, as it was information Seigi was entirely unaware of, and is followed up with Richard's number being unreachable.
- Woobie of the Week: Though not every week, the first part of the series is episodic stories that each deal with a different customer and gemstone, in which Seigi and Richard find out the reasons behind why their customers come to their store, which is usually more complicated and tragic than at first glance.
- World Tour: In volume nine, Seigi travels to four different countries on two continents in the span of a week.
- You Are Not Alone: Seigi and Richard both need to be told this in act one, and these situations end up creating a Meaningful Echo.
