"Akira! Suoh! To me, to me!" Posing on the overturned fire hydrant, Nokoru gestured in classic hero stance toward the sky. Rain splashed invitingly over his skin; his lashes darkened by the downpour, he stood, his eyes locked onto some distant and glorious future and his mouth set in a perfect line of determination.
For a moment, no one moved.
Akira suddenly clapped his hands together and squealed, bouncing on his toes. "Oh, Nokoru sempai!" he gushed, and ran forward to stand behind Nokoru with admiration.
Suoh sighed. "All he's missing is a blood-stained scimitar," he muttered, and obediently traipsed forward to stand behind Nokoru with considerably less elan.
With perfect timing, a branch of lightning split the sky, silhouetting the three boys like ancient gods on a high mountain.
"Oh, Nokoru-sama!" cried one girl, and that set the rest of them off. "Oh, Suoh-sama!" "Oh, he's so CUTE can you believe - " " - so YOUNG to be heroes we owe them EVERY - " " - I can't BELIEVE they found the jewels so soon!"
Nokoru never missed a chance for melodrama, and this one was a real winner. There were twelve - count them, twelve - fine examples of the female of the species who'd been endangered by this particular mystery, and Nokoru was clearly reaching previously unseen heights of glory. Naturally, all of them were fawning.
Fawning or not, they sounded like a flock of squalling chickens, at least to Suoh's ears. Embarrassed, he covered his face and muttered. Akira, on the other hand, seemed to have succumbed.
"Nokoru-senpai, you're so marvelous!" he shouted right along with them, and Suoh stifled a gut-deep sigh.
Nokoru wasn't helping. "I could never have done it without... " - the mental drum roll was nearly palpable - "Suoh Takamura, grade five, student government secretary and Clamp School Detective!"
The cheers were deafening.
Of course, Nokoru was not finished. "And Akira Ijyuin, grade four, student government treasurer and Clamp School Detective extraordinaire!"
The last description had been added more for the benefit of Nokoru's audience than his accomplices, but Akira took it highly personally.
"Oh, Nokoru-sempai," he breathed with tears in his eyes, and Suoh once again rubbed his face and muttered.
At least the mystery had been solved.
Hours passed before the three fledgling detectives freed themselves from the crowd and finally made it to the crossroads leading to their separate homes. By this time, all three of them had been completely soaked through; naturally any coats, umbrellas, and tax reports had been sacrificed to spare the heads of the pretty girls-in-waiting, and thus, the walk back had been as wet as it was cold.
Nokoru peeled off down the north sidewalk toward his family's local mansion. "Night, guys. See you tomorrow at lunch." He sneezed.
"Tomorrow at nine a.m., you mean," Suoh shot back, wiping his nose. "And take some vitamin C!"
"Oh - nine, right," said Nokoru absently, and sneezed again. "See you then!" He fled without another word.
Akira gazed after him with adoration and wonder, and Suoh waited patiently until the count of ten before abandoning hope that the trance would fix itself.
"Nine?" Suoh finally asked, his tone the only thing about him that was dry.
"Huh? Oh, of course, Takamura-sempai!" Akira exclaimed, and then waved enthusiastically. He looked like he was about a hair's breadth from giving Suoh a hug. "Good night! Good night!" he cried, trotting down the east sidewalk toward his own home and waving behind him the whole way. Suoh half expected him to crash into a signpost.
"Vitamin C. Vitamin C!" he shouted after Akira, not quite sure if the younger boy heard him or not. He sighed. "Good night," he said at last, under his breath, and sneezed; and with that, slipped down the south sidewalk toward his own home.
Nokoru arrived home last. Humming happily to himself, he carefully stowed the momentos given to him by his various female fans of the evening, then took a luxurious bath and went to bed.
Suoh arrived home second. Solitary and grim, he bid his family hello, worked his way through two katas, took some Vitamin C, and then also went to bed - before Nokoru did, ironically enough. He was up again by six the next morning.
Akira arrived hom before the other two did, but in the end, it didn't really help him. The moment he walked in the door, chaos wrapped around him like a shrunken sweater.
"Akiraaaaa!" two women dressed in dinosaur costumes cried at once, and with no further warning, they both pounced him.
A romp of giggles resulted, puncuated by much tickling and exclamations of that particular breed of joy that only comes from family members who love each other. By the time they were finished, Akira was a mess, and both dinosaur costumes had been discarded in the corner.
"Akira-chan, we're hungry!" "Yes, you've been gone so long - we're so hungry!" they both whined, one after another, and gasping, leapt to his feet.
"Oh, no! It's so late, I'm SO sorry, I forgot!"
His mothers gave him puppy-dog eyes.
"I... I'll make cake! I'll make you lots of chocolate cake! I'm so sorry, I won't forget again!" Akira exclaimed, and rushing to don his apron, hurried into the kitchen and began baking.
He cooked for the next two hours; a feast with seven courses was the least he could do for his parents, at least in his own mind, and so after he finished and they finished, he had another two hours' worth of cleaning up. It was nearly midnight when he finally, finally hung his abused apron on the peg by the door and wandered back out toward his bedroom.
Mother A attacked him. "Look! LOOK, it's so lovely - "
"Ack! What?" Akira jumped, and blinked when a full color magazine article was thrust in his face.
"Isn't it beaaaaaaautiful?" crooned Mother B, and Akira pushed the magazine a couple of inches away from his nose so he could focus.
A sword splashed elegantly across a two-page spread, glinting sharply in the whatever artificial light the photographer had provided. The design was absurdly intricate; its guard - at least, from what he could see in this picture - seemed to be the horns of a red-eyed creature, the body of which twisted to create the elongated hilt. Wirey, lined striations crisscrossed it at various intervals, and a red jewel dominated both the pommel and shoulder. The whole thing gave him the willies.
"You... you want that?" he choked, staring at the eye-jewels that seemed to stare back even from a 2-D photograph.
"Eh? Oh, yes, eventually, but we don't want that today. Today, we want this!" Mother B pointed at another image which Akira had not noticed, a small one, thumbnailed in a vertical list of thumbnails down one side.
It was just an ordinary dagger.
Whew, Akira thought, snatching the magazine for reference before his mothers could spot something else they wanted and change their mind. "It says it's at the museum," he noted, reading the tiny side panel.
"Yes, and it's a MURDER one!" Mother A squealed with delight, and both women hugged each other and jumped up and down.
Akira scratched his head. "Does it have to be now?"
"Tomorrow, you have to get it tomorrow!" Mother A exclaimed. "Yes, because they'll be taking it to China tomorrow in the afternoon, so you have to get it in the morning," added Mother B.
"The morning?" asked Akira, slightly hollow-eyed.
"Here!" Mother B said, and thrust another piece of paper into Akira's face. Blinking, he leaned back and eyed it.
Tomorrow at 6:00am, 20 Masks will appropriate the Hisamitsu Dagger from the CLAMP campus museum.
Akira stared. "But - "
"We delivered it this morning after you were gone, so don't worry, I'm sure the police know!"
"But - "
"Oooh, you look so TIRED, Akira-chan! Go to bed, go to bed and sleep so you can get our - " a squeal - "Dagger of BLOOD!"
"But - "
"No arguments! Off you go!" And with that, both mothers hurried him down the hall and to his room. Biding no protests, they stripped him, bathed him, re-clothed him in very warm and snuggly pajamas, and tucked him into bed.
"Good night! Good night!" they cried, and shut the door behind them. And in the wake of silence, Akira lay and stared at the ceiling, wishing he'd had more time to plan and more time to sleep. 6am was only five hours away.
But there's no helping it... they want it, and I love them, so the only thing I can do is get it for them.
With no other options in his eyes, Akira rose from his bed, padded to his small desk, and began sketching out a plan.