What is Gouhou Drug?
Gouhou Drug (or "Lawful Drug") is a recent series by the popular mangaka group CLAMP. It currently has three volumes published, and was most recently running in the monthly shoujo magazine Asuka (although whether it will still be running in it is unclear at the moment). The story focuses on a seventeen-year-old boy named Kudou Kazahaya, who collapses outside in the freezing cold snow one Christmas evening. He is resuced by another boy named Himura Rikuou, and brought to the Green Drugstore where Rikuou works and lives. Kazahaya becomes employed by Kakei, the enigmatic owner of the drugstore, in exchange for a room and board. Day by day, Kazahaya and Rikuou work together and live at the drugstore with Kakei and Saiga (a friend of Kakei's that always seems to be sleeping somewhere around the store) and do many odd side-jobs that Kakei offers them for extra cash as well. Usually, these jobs involve retrieving some strange item, and run-ins with the supernatural that sometimes require Kazahaya and Rikuou to use their special powers (which are empathic abilities for Kazahaya and the ability to blow things up for Rikuou). These jobs can seem rather ridiculous and just plain strange, but some of the jobs reveal clues about Kazahaya's and Rikuou's mysterious pasts...

Why "menthol condom"?
It all started out with two insane Gouhou Drug fangirls named Len and Hissori, who took a Which CLAMP series' random item are you? quiz made by Let-kun. And being the insane GD fangirls they were, they both obviously got the menthol condom result. Len and Hissori were both immensely amused by this, and the idea to make a clique dedicated to Gouhou Drug fans called "The Menthol Condom" soon entered their minds. So after much consideration and procrastination on the idea, here it finally is!

Why Gouhou Drug?
Well, why not Gouhou Drug? GD is an awesome series with an interesting plot (although the "bigger picture" is still slowly being unraveled), pretty bishounen, and lots of fun shounen-ai hints between the four main guys. XD What's not to like about it? If you're reading this right now and you haven't read Gouhou Drug yet, there's only one thing that we can say to you: GO READ IT NOW! (Some scanlations can be found at Remedy.)

Layout
Version 1.0 of the Menthol Condom Clique features the menthol condom itself from volume one of the manga, and Kazahaya and Rikuou from a shitajiki that came with the February 2003 installment of Asuka. The layout was kindly both made and coded by the wonderful Emily, because Len and Hissori were lazy procrastinators that just couldn't find the time and energy to make a layout themselves. ^_^ Thanks so much Emily! If it weren't for you, this clique probably wouldn't be up for another year or so! :p