Author's note: This is based in Clamp's Clamp Campus Detectives.
This story contains Shounen Ai (two guys in love). If you find that icky or otherwise have problems with that, that's between you and your sexual identity issues. Don't bother me with it, you've been aptly warned.
This is a sequel to the challenge fic "Ringmaster" (which is in the Cardcaptor Sakura section). I loved my little OCs so much I couldn't resist using them again. I'm actually thinking of using them in something entirely original I like them so much.
The original stipulations to the challenge was to make an OC that had three of a list of "sue" traits, but not be sues. I decided to go for broke and make three OCs which between them all they fit every trait on the list.
Feel free to start with this one or go read "Ringmaster" first.
Oh and of course I own none of these characters, save my three terrors. If I did, I wouldn't be posting here now would I?
"Thank you, thank you. Betting is now closed," Kumi said quickly as Tamae unbuttoned his top shirt button. Jun'ko slipped his well-worn notebook into his satchel just as a teacher walked past but paid them little attention. Either way, the tournament was about to start.
As they took their seats, Jun'ko, a rather tall, average-looking young man, watched Kumi lean back and watch the crowd, running a hand through his short, black hair. Kumi, as ever had the look of a lord overlooking his vassals and his angled features and lean build caught the eyes of a few passing girls, but as Kumi was working, not even they could draw his attention. Over all, he said he felt they were settling in nicely and he usually had a smile in his dark face. The university that he and Tamae went to was definitely top shelf and the money flowed reasonably well. It was slower than it had been at Seijou High but they had only been in classes a month, so Kumi had anticipated a lull in profits and had planned accordingly. Business was always slow at the beginning of the school year anyway. He was patient at reestablishing himself at his and Tamae's new school, and at Jun'ko's too.
To Kumi, the Clamp School was a wonderland: a vast field of ripe possibilities begging to be picked, or so he kept telling him and Tamae. As promising as his own school was, Jun'ko's Clamp School was the focus of his every dream. They'd spent the first month of school carefully watching the workings of it and now, halfway through May, they had started work. "How are the numbers laying on this?" Kumi asked as they watched the archery match.
"Not good," Jun'ko replied, tapping his well-worn notebook on his chin. The numbers were falling invariably with the public and not with them.
"I'm afraid profits will go at a loss for anything that Takamura san competes in," said the smallest of the three, leaning forward to sit with his chin propped up, with his elbows on his knees. As he did the wind caught Tamae's longer hair slightly and played softly with the auburn strands. "It looks like he wins practically everything physical wise and he's liked by nearly everyone, so no one will bet against him."
Kumi huffed, clearly not happy, but Jun'ko piped up again. "The only plus we have is that he doesn't compete very often, if ever. From what I've heard he only still competes in the archery tournaments; apparently, he feels it's unfair for him to enter."
"Ah," Kumi said and shuffled in his seat and scanned the crowd, his near black eyes narrowed in thought. "How sporting of him. That'll be good for most endeavors, but its a shame he's so fair or we might be able to offer him an incentive to throw a match. Events are always much more organized when you know who will win."
Jun'ko nodded while Tamae laughed lightly, a welcome, bright sound to his ears. "I think we'll have a problem 'organizing' events here, though. There's a definite overriding feeling of 'fair play' in the air," Tamae stated, crunching up his lightly freckled nose.
Kumi shuddered and began to rub his arms dramatically. "Is that what that feeling is? It's making my skin crawl."
As Jun'ko shook his head, Tamae continued over his own snickers. "And from I hear no one cheats on their tests and everyone believes in doing the right and noble thing, helping little old ladies across the street and volunteer work and all that."
"Dear gods, stop it. I'll have nightmares for weeks," Kumi begged, getting more distressed as he went. "That's just sick."
"Tamae, quit teasing him," Jun'ko said in a long-suffering voice.
"Okay, okay," the giggling psychic managed, patting Kumi's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Kumi. I promise that's all just hype, the people here are just as perfectly flawed as they were back home, don't worry." Kumi began to settle a bit and Tamae draped an arm over his shoulders and giggled into his shoulder.
Again, Jun'ko shook his head at them. Tamae loved to tease and Kumi was always happy to play along, that and it helped Kumi's image of being oh-so-evil. As the match ended Jun'ko made notes of the payouts in his notebook as he followed his smaller companions off the bleachers.
"There's another issue for operating here," Jun'ko started.
"Oh?" Kumi asked looking up at him. "No matter, whatever it is I will crush it beneath my mighty boot. All shall fall before me!" he proclaimed, spreading his arms wide and making Tamae giggle all over again.
"Right..." Jun'ko commented flatly, unimpressed by the dramatics. "Well, from what I've heard, while the student body isn't perfect, the trio in the university student counsel is: shining beacons of perfection, all three of them. Takamura san, back there is one of them."
Kumi huffed. "No such thing as a perfect person, everyone has their vices. Some just hide them better."
"Well, then they hide them really well," Jun'ko stated, not seeing the worth in an argument. "Either way, I think the Kaichou will take offense as us working on his campus."
Tamae looked up at them, "Maybe we should just focus ourselves at our school, Kumi."
"Why?" the ringleader asked as they sat down on some secluded benches. "Do you feel something bad about this?" For the first time in this discussion Kumi looked serious. Jun'ko's worries were educated guesses but damage management was Tamae's job.
His pretty, exotic, hazel eyes narrowed as he thought for a moment, his auburn brows knitting. "No... not exactly. Well, yes, but... but it's jumbled." He let out a sigh and leaned back, staring at the branches above. "This place is very odd, very active."
"Active?" Jun'ko asked, watching the psychic struggle a bit.
Tamae nodded. "It's not so much like the woods back home were active, that was just a natural occurrence. This... This isn't natural. It almost feels like we're inside a giant machine..."
"A machine? For what?" Kumi asked, drumming his middle and forefinger on his knee nervously.
Tamae paused, closing his eyes again. "I... I don't know. It's like it's too big for me to see the whole thing, just a few moving parts." He shivered and sat back up, wrapping his arms around himself. "I can almost hear the gears moving into place..."
Jun'ko got up from his seat and moved to sit next to Tamae, wrapping an arm around his small shoulders. "It's all right." It worried him to see the fragile empath upset.
"Yeah," Kumi said, leaning forward. "Don't focus on it, it's not important to us." Kumi sighed and rubbed his chin. "Tell you what, for the most part we'll steer clear of this school and just hit the major events. That combined from what we get at our school should be enough to keep us rolling."
Tamae shook his head. "No, no. I'll be fine. You're right, it's not about us and there are tons of profits to be made here. I'll just keep focused and I'll be fine." Though Tamae smiled brightly, Jun'ko didn't like it and looked to Kumi for a verdict.
Again Kumi considered and shook his head. "Alright, we'll pursue the major and semi-major events here, but keep our time on campus to a minimum." As Tamae started to protest, he continued over him. "Because if this place bothers you this much, it's best to avoid it lest it short circuits you or something," he finished with a laugh and stood up to stretch. As he did, his uniform shirt pulled taut across his toned form and Jun'ko couldn't miss the way Tamae watched before quickly looking away. "Now come on and lets get some lunch, before we're all any later to class."
Akira pulled open the doors with his, arms loaded down with a plate of cookies and tea. "I have snacks for us." As Kaichou jumped up and grinned (even Takamura sempai looked up from his papers), the smallest of the three walked over to the couches and sat the tray down. "I made lemon cakes and strawberry gobs. I even left a two of the gobs without the icing for you, Takamura sempai... Kaichou?" Akira had looked up to see the Kaichou halfway around his desk, but stopped in the process of coming to stare at a paper. Kaichou had been working very quietly at his paperwork all day (though Akira didn't think the pile was getting any smaller).
"Kaichou?" Takamura sempai stopped, too, to look questioningly at the Kaichou; he always ran to get Akira's sweets.
"What? Oh yes." Kaichou sat the paper back down and came over. "I'm sorry, I got distracted."
Takamura sempai rolled his eyes, but still questioned. "Do I dare ask what could distract you from Akira's cooking?"
"Su-oh," the Kaichou admonished. "You make it sound as if you see our work as some sort of an inconvenience. Why since we established the Detectives we've done great things for women everywhere. We've saved women's homes, marriages, returned prized possessions, and saved them from dastardly villains! Now, what would you call all that!?" he demanded with a look of burning passion, fanning himself dramatically.
"An inconvenience." Takamura sempai stated flatly, deflating his charge.
"Su-oh..."
"And I have a feeling I'm about to be inconvenienced again soon. What were the letters you've been reading instead of doing your work?"
As Akira giggled at the displays and poured their tea, the Kaichou recovered. "Actually it's something very much the duties of the student counsel and I haven't been slacking at all," he announced proudly though Takamura sempai was clearly unimpressed and only raised an eyebrow. "Honest, look..." Though he was nearly twenty-one, the blonde man pouted like a small child with Suoh and quickly retrieved one of the letters and held it out for his secretary.
Blandly, Takamura sempai took it and scanned it over. "What's this?" His aggravated expression quickly shifted to confusion and mild concern.
"Huh?" Akira leaned over to look at the paper, too.
Now vindicated, Kaichou sat proudly in his chair, fanning himself casually. "According to a few students, it seems that someone has been taking bets on certain events."
"Bets?" Akira blinked, not quite sure what that meant. People bet things of each other all the time. Kaichou was always betting Takamura sempai that he could get his work done on time.
Lowering the paper, Takamura sempai explained. "It means that say someone thinks one baseball team will win a game. They give the money to someone and say they're 'betting' on that team. Then if their team wins, they make money, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little."
Akira considered this and nodded. "What happens if the team looses?"
"They don't get anything and they loose the money they gave the man to place the bet," Kaichou finished. "Hence why gambling is wrong. People can loose enormous amounts of money to it and it can damage their well being forever. I've seen more than a few strong companies crumble because the person in charge lost all the profits and more to gambling. We've never had serious gambling on campus, nothing more than students betting with each other." He took back the letter from Takamura sempai.
"But according to these letters, certain people have started an organized set up for it, and I gather their doing quite well."
"They?" Takamura sempai asked.
Kaichou nodded. "They. Seems there are three of them at this, though only one is a student here, the other two have skirted our admittance checks by seeking weekend work on campus."
"Well, maybe we could just talk to them and explain why they can't do it," Akira started, dropping the many sugar cubes into Kaichou's tea. "I'm sure they'd stop when they understand why it's wrong."
Takamura sempai rubbed his temples, while the Kaichou blinked. "Well... maybe that would work. You never know."
Satisfied that the problem would be easy to fix, Akira handed the Kaichou and Takamura sempai their teas (careful not to mix them).
"Hello," came a light voice in front of Jun'ko. The number cruncher looked up to see a small blonde man with two others to either side of him. "How are you, this evening?"
"Very fine, thank you," replied Kumi to Jun'ko's left. "And how are you, Kaichou Imonoyama and I believe this is the secretary Takamura san and the treasurer Ijyuin san?"
"Very good, thank you, and your companions are Kameko san and Dubhain san, I believe," the blonde countered with as his companions inclined their heads.
On queue, Jun'ko dipped his head and Tamae smiled happily and waved. "Hello. Most people have a problem with my name, but you said it perfectly."
"Thank you," Imonoyama answered with an equally genuine smile. "I've met a few Irishmen and we have a couple enrolled at this moment, I believe."
Tamae smiled widely. "You have a very nice school. I can see why people would come from so far to attend."
"I'm glad you like it. Have you been enjoying your classes here, Kameko san? Students rarely join us so late in their schooling. With your file I'm surprised you didn't join us long ago."
Jun'ko's normally passive face tightened very slightly and his eyes darted to the table, his only reply a shrug. Trying to keep the flush from his face, he felt Tamae's small hand lay over his under the table.
Kumi suddenly jumped in. "Nah. Then he would have had to leave all his friends behind as we're not super geniuses," he announced, patting Jun'ko's shoulder heartily. "As it is, now we go to Murakai Academy so it's a short jaunt to and fro. Works nicely."
"So I see." The chairman's smile wavered only a little at Jun'ko's reaction. "I hear that the three of you have become quite popular around campus."
"Well, what can I say," As Kumi answered again, the chairman was quickly getting the idea that trying to talk to Jun'ko (the only Clamp student there) was a lost cause. "We're just popular people." Jun'ko was always happy for Kumi's ability to draw attention to himself.
Imonoyama simply nodded to that. "Especially at sporting events, I hear."
"Of course, that's where all the fun is. The excitement, the noise, the tension and uncertainty." Kumi shivered to make a point, making Tamae giggle lightly. Jun'ko almost smiled at that light sound but not quite.
"Quite. Sporting events can be fun, but one must always remember that it is only fun."
Kumi's ringmaster smile broadened to full force. "Why of course, and I always have fun."
Unable to help himself, Tamae giggled again and Jun'ko even smiled a bit while shaking his head.