(Standard disclaimer applies.) This fanfic is written purely for entertainment purposes only. No disrespect, etc. is intended, and no profit had been/ is being/ will ever be made. Don't hunt me, don't sue me, and don't hurt me in anyway And please kindly acknowledge that Shizumi is my character, so don't use her without asking for my permission first! (XD) Also, I disclaim any ownership of the poem featured in this chapter – it is borrowed from R.L. Stine's Superstition.

This section (Green with Envy) is dedicated to my little sister, and Meryl Lynn Pestano - the first reader who actually sent me a comment on this story ^^ Words could not express how thankful I am for your encouragement and support! *big hug*

Author's memo: The Clamp Campus Detectives are in the junior high division (and Utako and Nagisa are in the elementary division) when the events in this story happened.

Priceless Treasures

A Clamp Campus Detectives fanfic

By Apus

Chapter 3 – Green with Envy (Part B)

"Alright, out with it, Shizumi-san. What have you been hiding for the past few days?" Utako questioned, hands crossed in front of her chest – the first sign of an on-coming tantrum.

Silence.

"Can't you tell us? We are your friends." Nagisa coaxed.

No answer.

"During our investigation, Tsuya-sempai had told me that you were waiting for something to happen'." Suoh said in his monotonic voice.

"Were you referring to this morning's incident?" Akira asked timidly.

An annoyed glare that clearly spelt No'.

Utako and Nagisa had immediately called upon the Clamp Campus Detectives when they heard what happened at the theatre, and forced Shizumi to come to this meeting at the Open Theatre Café. The six of them sat at a round table, trying to work out who the culprit was. However, they had no leads and Shizumi's silence was not helping at all.

"Can you show me all the threats that you have received since Monday?"

All faces turned to regard the speaker. Even Shizumi looked up from her teacup for a moment.

"You were not yourself at all since Tuesday morning." Nokoru said, "But you were still alright when I saw you before the afternoon roll-call on Monday. Therefore, it would only be logical that the first threat came after school on Monday. But you ignored the first threat, and so the rest came in on a daily bases, thus explaining your unusual behaviour for the rest of the week."

As whenever she was interested, Shizumi set an elbow on the arm of her chair and leisurely placed a delicate hand under her chin. "Go on." she prompted.

"The threats must have involved yourself only, because if it involved anyone else, you would have stayed close to that person and try to protect them. But instead, you have been staying away from everyone else for the past week. The incident this morning only goes to support my idea."

Shizumi's eyes danced with amusement as she nodded in agreement with Nokoru's deduction. For the first time since the 'accident', she opened her mouth.

"Admirable detective work, Nokoru-san." she said, "But what if I say that I had been withdrawing myself simply because, for the past few days, I had been feeling nervous about starring in a Shakespearean play for the first time – playing the lead role, nonetheless? "

"That it is not a plausible conclusion, reason being everyone on the Campus knows that you are more professional than that. However, the most important reason is that it does not fit in with my first deduction, and I know that my deductions are correct. You are only trying to divert our attention away from the threats."

"Aren't you being a little too confident about yourself, Nokoru-san?"

"Aren't you being a little too ignorant of our abilities, Shizumi-san?"

Shizumi answered Nokoru with a pair of defiant emerald eyes. Nokoru returned with a piercing sapphire glare. At the sight of those sharp eyes, Shizumi knew her cause was lost - but she gave it another go anyway. She pleaded:

"You know my principles, Nokoru-san. I don't ask anyone for help unless I cannot handle the matter. In this case, the matter is something I can handle, so please don't trouble yourself."

The glare remain unwavered, if not more intense. She gave a defeated sigh and obediently pulled out an envelope from her school bag.

"All of them, from Monday afternoon until this morning." she said, handing it over to Nokoru. The rest of the gang gathered around Nokoru, who had taken out the little green memos inside the envelope and began to piece them together on the coffee table. They formed a poem:

"Sneeze on Monday,

sneeze for danger.

Sneeze on Tuesday,

kiss a stranger.

Sneeze on Wednesday,

sneeze for a letter.

Sneeze on Thursday,

something better.

Sneeze on Friday,

sneeze for woe.

Sneeze on a Saturday,

a journey to go.

Sneeze on Sunday,

your safety seek,

for the devil will have you

the rest of the week."

Shizumi outlined the details. "Each of the verses came in correspondence to the days of the week. I received the first verse on Monday afternoon, and the last verse came in this morning. All of them were found inside my shoe-locker. As you might have guessed, the poem is a pretty old one regarding European superstition. Rather meaningless, if you ask me."

"Nevertheless, quite effective as threats." Nokoru said as he studied the memos. "I trust that nothing dangerous had happened since the first threat?"

"No. Nothing dangerous had happened – except for this morning's accident."

Nokoru looked up from the memos, and stared at Shizumi's face. Shizumi looked back at him questioningly, but he was not fooled for a second.

"You already know who the culprit is." His voice was understandingly quiet and gentle. "And you know the reason behind the threats too." He paused to contemplate. "You don't want to get her into trouble, so you want to stop our investigation."

Shizumi gave him a guilty smile. "I already told you, Nokoru-san. The matter is not something I need help with; I can handle it."

"But the matter is already out of your control. You may have blindly believed in her virtues."

Shizumi closed her eyes and leaned back into her chair. "She may not be a very nice person, but still..." She paused. "So you know who that person is too."

"Well, the memos are written in a lady's handwriting. Besides, she is the only one who has the most likely reason and opportunity to harm you." Nokoru said.

"Ah, yes. I had forgotten about that database in your head." She opened her eyes again, staring at the sky above. "Please don't let the reason be what I think it is," she said quietly to no one in particular.

"I think it's time to find the culprit." Suoh broke in. He and the other three had been quietly listening to Nokoru and Shizumi's conversation, and they were all losing their patience.

Nokoru obliged. "The Clamp Campus Detectives will go." He turned to the girls. "The culprit had gone as far as trying to hurt Shizumi-san, so I think it might be better for you ladies to stay here instead of coming along. Especially you, Shizumi-san, because you are her target." The girls were about to protest, but Nokoru shook his head firmly. "We don't know what she will do when she finds that her game is up."

"It's not like I would be safer here anyway." Shizumi challenged. "If she has set her mind to hurt me, she can do it anywhere. Even here, she could just throw a baseball at me." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"On the contrary, you will be a lot safer here, because this is a popular café and there will be more people, especially older students, who can help you should anything happen." Nokoru retorted. Shizumi gave him one last glare before turning her head, silently fuming, as though saying she has been defeated and will let the detectives help her.

Nokoru looked at Shizumi. Something within him gave a jolt as he noted her unusual childish behaviour, and he could not resist the urge to reach out a hand and ruffle the girl's hair, then quickly made an exit with Suoh and Akira as she jumped up from her chair with rage (Nagisa and Utako trying in vain to calm her down).

~~~~

"Here we are!" Nokoru announced cheerfully as the detectives stopped in front of the theatre of the Drama Department.

Akira slammed the base of his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Of course," he said in the manner of a child that had just discovered something new, "the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime!"

"True. However, in this case, the culprit had not left the scene of crime at all," Nokoru said off-handedly, "because she had to stay behind to do some fixing up." He paused, then added, "Even though she might be reluctant."

Fixing up? Suoh and Akira gave each other a blank look as the three of them entered the building. The moment they were in the theatre, ecstatic shouts and sighs can be heard echoing around the place. Usually, Nokoru would have at least stopped to have a little chat with his admirers, but with more important business on hand, he chose to ignore them with a polite smile and pushed through the crowd to reach the stage.

The detectives found the stage buzzing with activities as the stage crew tried to resurrect the ruined set for the balcony scene. Hammering, shouting, heavy footsteps Everyone was moving about busily. Nokoru scanned the crowd, and quickly found the person they were looking for.

She was a tall woman, perhaps a university student, with a slim figure and a messy brown ponytail. Her face was filled with a mixture of frustration and concentration as she stood in front of the construction, shouting out directions, pointing at different bits of the set every now and then. Suoh and Akira stood at the side of the stage, while Nokoru made his way to the girl.

"Good afternoon, Kinogawa Fumie-san," Nokoru said as he approached the elder student.

The girl turned around and gave a yelp when she saw Nokoru, but she quickly recovered and said with a fake smile, "How may I help you?"

Nokoru got straight to the point. "I have some questions in regard to Nijikawa Shizumi-san and I require your assistant. Can you spare a moment?" He looked at her knowingly, and Fumie quickly caught onto his meaning. She gave him a curt nod, shouted a few more instructions to the slaving stage crew, then followed Nokoru to where Suoh and Akira were waiting. The younger boys looked at the new-comer, and shivered inwardly at the sight of her raging eyes.

Nokoru addressed the girl. "You are the one who had been sending threats to Shizumi-san for the past week, aren't you?" Fumie clenched her fists, but remained silent. "You are also the one who caused this morning's accident, correct?" The girl still remained silent.

Akira asked earnestly, "Nijikawa-sempai is a very nice person. Why do you hate her?"

"To the extent of ruining the drama production in order to harm her?" Suoh added.

At that moment, Fumie lost all her control. "What is she anyway?!" she shouted, her shrill broke through the heavy noise in the background. Everyone else in the theatre turned to look at what's going on at the side of the stage. "She shouldn't have appeared in this school at all!" Fumie continued, "My parents are members of the School Council here, I am suppose to be the star! But a meaningless little orphan just comes along and out-shines me! She reduced me to the insignificant stage crew! This sort of thing should not have happened at all!" She broke down in tears.

Whispering began to go around as people heard the news: "Fumie-san was responsible for the accident"

"I think we can take over from here on," a firm voice cut in. It was Tsuya Makiko, president of the drama department, trying to take control of the situation and save her department from further embarrassment. She was addressing Nokoru. "On behalf of the drama department I thank you for solving this mystery and apologise for the inconvenience."

"It is our mission to help ladies in distress." Nokoru said with a bow.

"We will not trouble you any further," Makiko said, "The Drama Department and the University Division Student Council will follow on and come to a conclusion to settle the matter. Please send my regards to Nijikawa." She gave them a bow, and asked the vice-president to show the boys out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I am surprised, kaichou." Suoh commented as they walked back to meet the girls. A light breeze had stirred up, ruffling the detectives' coats.

"About what?" Nokoru asked.

"I had expected to see you comforting Otohoku-sempai like you did to all the other girls that had tried to harm you before, not letting her get punished."

Nokoru explained, "You have missed the important point, Suoh. The only reason I had forgiven the other ladies was because they knew that they had done something wrong and were sorry about it. However, Otohoku-san wasn't. You saw her Suoh. She did not regret what she had done for one single moment – she thought that she was right and Shizumi-san was wrong. If I had let her walk off without any punishment, the same thing will only repeat again."

Suoh did not make any further comments after that, and the trio simply walked on. A few minutes later, the detectives were back at the Open Theatre Café.

"Well, did you find the culprit?" Utako demanded, as the three boys moved towards their coffee table.

Nokoru sat down and relayed the results to them. Occasionally, he would glance at Shizumi, who had eased back into her chair with closed eyes. It was as though she was trying to block out the reality but at the same time wanting to find out the truth. This made Nokoru worry, but he continued his report.

"How did you know that it was Otohoku-sempai?" Nagisa asked Nokoru.

"Well, the writing on the memo papers were a dead give away. However, the most important piece of information is that Otohoku-san was in charge of the stage crew. Only she has the power to design and direct the construction of the sets. This means that she also has the most likely opportunity to mal-construct the balcony set and send Shizumi-san to doom." He paused to take a seep from his tea, then continued. "Also, she is the one with the most plausible motive. If you study the credits section on the programs of our past school productions, you will see that before Shizumi-san came, Otohoku-san still starred in the productions, playing the lead role most of the time. However, since Shizumi-san came, she seemed to have faded into the background, playing the minor roles, until her name completely disappeared from the Cast list and began to appear in the Backstage list. Combining this fact with other bits and pieces, one can safely conclude that Otohoku-san has developed a strong jealousy against Shizumi-san. I suspect that her jealousy had finally grown out of control and she developed a lust for revenge" Nokoru trailed off. He was looking at Shizumi again. She still had not opened her eyes, and her mouth remained shut. The others had seen the problem, but conveniently chose to keep quiet. An uncomfortable silence followed, until Utako loudly declared that it was time for her and Nagisa to go home. Suoh and Akira quickly got the message and hastily said that they will walk them home. The four of them said goodbye and left the café together.

Only Nokoru and Shizumi remained. The boy waited for the girl to speak, but she never opened her eyes, nor her mouth. There was nothing he could do whilst she remained reluctant to talk, so he ordered another pot of tea to help him past the wait. Halfway through his third cup, the girl finally spoke.

"Leave me alone." she said bluntly, eyes still closed.

"No one can be left alone – they will get lonely." Nokoru replied with a gentle smile.

"Funny that should come from you." Shizumi retorted, her voice again sarcastic. "Aren't you the one who always distance yourself from everyone else?"

"I am certain that you know the reasons." Nokoru said patiently. "But we are getting off the topic here."

Shizumi opened her eyes. Nokoru's heart gave a start when he saw the dull, green circles that looked at him. His pain grew even more as he assessed her face. Somehow, without the fire inside her emerald orbs, Shizumi looked fragile and wounded.

She spoke again, her voice deprived of any emotions, "Isn't it funny how the world works? You may be jealous of a person but the joke is on you. You are probably being jealous of a person who is jealous of you..."

"I never thought you are an easily-jealous person. You seem to be quite satisfied with what you have now." Nokoru mused.

"I am sure that everyone has been jealous of someone at one stage or another – even you, Nokoru-san," Shizumi said, "Perhaps at some stage you had been jealous of children who have had the freedom of moving through life without a care in the world? Anyway, I have always been jealous of children who have their powerful parents by their sides" She paused, closing her eyes again, "to support them, guide them keep them safe..."

Nokoru took a seep from his tea. "Yes," he admitted, "at one stage, I had been jealous of others for their freedom. However, at the same time, I had learned to appreciate what I have already got, thus maintaining the balance in my mind." Then his voice dropped lower. "It was most unfortunate that Otohoku-san could not do so."

Shizumi remained silent for a while. Then said quietly, "Logic tells me that Otohoku-sempai deserves whatever punishment she is going to get, but still I can't help feeling guilty" She tried to grope for the right words. "It is as though I had somehow unknowingly forced her into a dead end, and she had no choice but to hurt me in order to survive"

With that sentence, Nokoru saw the problem. He understood why Shizumi had hoped that the reason for Fumie's hatred would not be as she had thought: jealousy. If it had been some other reason, then Shizumi can rest with the knowledge that she was Fumie's victim. However, if the reason was because Fumie was jealous of her, then her knowledge will conflict with the idea that she is partly responsible for the whole incident; she will blame herself. Satisfied that the situation is now within his understanding, he calmly poured himself another cup of tea. He knew how to heal Shizumi.

"Surely you do not think that it is right to harm anyone?" he asked with fake astonishment.

"Of course it is not right to harm anyone" Shizumi trailed off, and a little smile began to form on her lips. She got the point: No matter what the reason was, Fumie should not have harmed her in the first place.

"Besides, it is not your fault that Otohoku-san couldn't control her jealousy," Nokoru added, "She should have learnt to find her balance long ago." He looked across the table, and was relieved to find that Shizumi had recovered from her reverie. The emerald sparks had returned to her eyes. She gave him a grateful smile, one which Nokoru returned with a charming smile of his own.

In the distance, the clock tower sounded five. Nokoru paid the bill, then stood up and offered an arm to Shizumi. "Shall I walk you back?" he asked.

A blush was evident on Shizumi's face, but she accepted the offer without second thought.

It feels nice to spoil yourself and accept other people's assistance once in a while.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Free-talk:

In my opinion, Nokoru can be so forgiving sometimes that it is enough to make the audience want to burn the VCDs or reap up the manga. Therefore, I have decided to write a section where Nokoru is, for once, stone-hearted' and sends a lady to doom.

I know that this section/chapter probably sounds rather confusing because there were too many ideas and thus the main point was not distinctive enough. However, the basic idea is about how to overcome our jealousy. Like Nokoru had said, we should learn to appreciate what we have got. If you can do this, then your jealousy level should be under control – you are still maintaining the balance; also learn to think that no one should have anything to be jealous about, because we all have something that other people don't have.

And yes, I know that the ending sentence does not really fit in with the title, but it is to emphasise a minor point in the story: only ask for help when you need it. Trust me, it is a good and useful principle. Don't ask someone to help you unless you can't solve the problem on your own!

Finally, as to what happened to Otohoku Fumie and the drama production, I will leave that to your imagination ^^

That's all for now! Did you enjoy the story? C&C are appreciated, so please send them to apus000@yahoo.com.au

Thanks ^^