Shiho Sugiura's Silver Diamond Volume 2: Master & Servant

Rakan, the teen with amazing plant growing powers, now has two men from another world living with him, Chiguse and Narushige. And both are bound and determined to protect him.

We learn more of why Chigusa wanted to kill the Prince, and why both Chigusa and Narushige want to replace the Prince with Rakan: Chigusa's problem is that he sees too well, and he could see how the Prince was sucking... something dark out of the desert land. Also, the world they come from doesn't have a sun, and so people rely on the Sanome, whose plant powers can grow food even in the absence of a sun.

But Sanomes have become very rare indeed. And Chigusa is something even more rare, for when he is wounded, his blood becomes bandages that bind his wounds- that is why he is effectively immortal.

When Rakan is summoned to his mother's grave by an urgent message from the priest-caretaker, he is shocked to find it so overgrown with weeds that the stone is in danger of being damaged. But Narushige doesn't let him pull the weeds- with Rakan's Sanome powers, it is likely the weeds will come back even worse. And the weeds effects are likely due to the powers of his mother, who had to be a Sanome for him to be one as well.

Chigusa and Narushige continue guarding Rakan, attracting the attention of his schoolmates. But when a formerly-blind assassin tries to take out Rakan at his school, it's up to Chigusa and Rakan to take him out, as the assassin has wrapped himself in mirror-vine, and only they can see him. But what will they do with him now that they have him? What's to stop the Prince from merely sending more assassins?

I found this to be an interesting series. The difference between the two worlds is stark and almost frightening, as is the young man who is the Prince of the other world. He's just as pretty as Rakan, but doesn't talk, and always wears gloves, which is pretty creepy, not to mention how he's always smiling- which is pretty creepy in and of itself.

The abundance of male eye-candy in the series reminds me a great deal of Saiyuki. So far, all the guys are... pretty. Pretty in a "young man" (Biseinen or Bishounen) way which could men Yaoi or Shounen-ai hijinks further down the road, or perhaps it just gives the reader license to imagine that it could.

This is an interesting series, with a premise that could lead to so much. It's obvious at some point that Rakan is going to go to the alternate world, what with Chigusa and Narushige wanting to confront the Prince, and possibly replace him with Rakan. But who knows? Obviously, it's not going to be easy, whatever comes. Recommended.