Liar, Liar, the Mage's Desire Vol. 1 (A New Oumeno)

That Time When Kokichi Helped Himiko Find Her Missing Diary (End)

      Himiko went through most of the day without trouble. Some of the students still laughed at her, though, not as much. Others left her alone for the most part. She maintained her confident demeanor which made her FEEL a bit more confident. She thought it was weird, kind of like putting on a mask. Even in music class, the others left her alone, either out of respect or disdain, the latter being felt by Hifumi and Leon. 

   It was lunchtime, and Himiko sat with Tenko and Angie who were listening to her intently as she told them what had happened that morning, since they had missed out on it. 

   "Wow, Himiko! That was amazing!" Angie applauded her. "I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself! I hope Hifumi learned his lesson. Better to learn it from you than Atua."

   "Yeah! That degenerate male had it coming to him!" Tenko agreed.

  "Nyeh...so, you guys don't think that I went too far?" Himiko asked them.

  "I don't!" Tenko said. "He stole your diary and sent you a threatening message! Even if he didn't actually harm you, he still threatened you. I think he got exactly what he deserved!" 

  "Nee-heehee, for once, I agree with you, Tenko," Kokichi said, appearing out of nowhere. He was carrying a lunch tray and he sat down right next to Himiko. Before Tenko could object, Angie pulled her arm and stood up.

  "Ooh, look at the time, Tenko! We must be going," she said. 

  "Fine, okay," Tenko grumbled, getting the message and walking grumpily away with Angie  while Angie winked at Himiko. Himiko didn't want them to leave; she was too nervous to be around Kokichi when he wasn't helping her solve crimes.

  "Soooo, HimiCocoa Bean," Kokichi began. "That was an impressive display of mage-y queenliness this morning!" He lightly punched her arm. "How's your day been so far? Anybody threatening you, or bullying you?" 

  "Nyeh...it's been good," she replied. "It did feel good to be the one in charge, for once." Kokichi gave her a small, sympathetic smile. "I...did feel a bit bad that I broke Hifumi's figurine, though," Himiko admitted quietly. "And I'm afraid that I might have lost some friends because of that." Kokichi shrugged nonchalantly.

  "I knew you'd feel that way," he replied. "But the ones who are truly your friends will still be your friends. You're not a heartless person like I am, and the others know that, so you don't have to worry about losing friends." His face suddenly turned serious. "Sometimes, though, you have to do uncomfortable things like what you did to Hifumi to get your point across." Himiko let out a small laugh.

  "I suppose you're right," she replied. Then she turned to smile at Kokichi. "Thanks for slipping his figurine into my pocket. That was very sneaky." He smiled back at her. 

"No problem. I went into his room to get it while you were pounding Leon's face in," he said. They both giggled. 

"It did do the trick, though, using that figurine to get Hifumi to do what I wanted," Himiko replied. "Weird how something like that can make him weak."

  "Yeah?" Kokichi smiled, liking what he was hearing. "You like having power over people, huh?" Himiko gave Kokichi a lopsided smile.

  "That's a very supreme leader-y thing for you to say," she replied. Kokichi smiled and raised his eyebrow at her expectantly. "But...yeah, it did feel kinda...good," she continued, shrugging sheepishly. "I don't want to have to have control over people like that all the time, though."

  "You don't have to do it ALL the time...just when you need to," Kokichi replied. "And when you know that, you'll be a force to reckon with, mage queen..." he winked at her. Himiko smiled and tilted her head away.

  *Don't blush, don't blush!* she thought to herself

  "...with A-cups," Kokichi finished. Himiko looked at him with an incredulous smile and swatted at him.

   "Kokichi!" she exclaimed. Laughing mischievously, he avoided her swat and pulled the brim of her hat down over her eyes. "D'ooohhhh," she muttered. When she pulled her hat back up, she saw Kokichi walking away, still laughing and waving goodbye to her. She smiled and scrunched her nose at him. It was odd, she thought. Kokichi had helped her to become confident, which is something he wouldn't normally do, at least, not in a normal and kind way. But she decided to look at it as a blessing anyway. She wondered if he was like that, as well, putting on a confident facade when he was really the opposite. If so, then she felt like she understood him a bit more. She wanted to find out more, but part of the reason why she liked Kokichi is because of his enigmatic personality. So she decided to leave it alone and turn her attention back to her lunch with a happy smile on her face.