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

Emotionally Detached (End)

    After Kokichi and Himiko finished speaking, Kokichi suggested that she have a talk with Tenko and Angie, as well, since they had been wanting to know what was going on with her, too. So, she went upstairs to have a heart-to-heart with them. In the weeks that followed, Kokichi, Angie, and Tenko all pitched in to help Himiko out with her homework. Kokichi would help her with math and science, and Tenko and Angie would help her with everything else. Himiko's grades started to slowly, but surely, improve. As a reward, Tenko and Angie would often treat Himiko to ice cream at the ice cream parlor. Kokichi wanted to reward her in a different way, however.

   "Nyeh...where are we going, Kokichi?" Himiko asked with a spring in her step. That day had been a good day at school, so she found herself feeling rather jovial, something she hadn't felt in a long time. 

   "Nee-heehee...it's a surprise!" Kokichi said, holding Himiko's hand as she skipped along. They walked up a grassy hill where they were met with an empty playground. Himiko gasped with delight. The playground had a seesaw, swings, slides, a merry-go-round, basketball and tetherball courts, and a small castle where kids could sit and play in. But what really caused Himiko to gasp was the tire swing sitting at the far end of the playground.

   "A tire swing!" she exclaimed. "My mommy used to spin me around on that when I was younger!" Kokichi smiled kindly at her.

   "Go ahead," he said, nodding his head towards it. Himiko grabbed Kokichi's hand with both of hers and pulled him to the tire swing.

  "Haha, spin me, Kokichi!" she said as she climbed in. 

   "Hahahaha, sure!" Kokichi replied. He twirled the tire swing until it couldn't be twirled anymore. "Ready?" he asked.

   "Uh-huh!" Himiko squealed with anticipation. Chuckling, Kokichi kissed Himiko's cheek and let go of the tire swing. The swing began to twirl. Faster and faster it went until it came to a halt. "Again, Kokichi!" Himiko shouted. Kokichi spun her again and again until Himiko was too dizzy to continue. He helped her off the tire swing. She was laughing so hard and stumbling from dizziness so much that she resembled someone who was drunk, which made Kokichi laugh. In a burst of pure joy and happiness, Himiko jumped into Kokichi's arms and kissed him. He carried her to an empty space in the grass where they laid down next to each other, giving each other small, happy kisses. Himiko sighed happily and inched closer to Kokichi until her head was next to his chest. Kokichi leaned over to wrap his arm around her.

   "Kokichi?" Himiko said softly.

   "Hmmm?" Kokichi asked. 

   "Mmm...this might be a weird thing to say, but...I'm feeling really happy, right now," Himiko said. Kokichi smiled, thinking about Happy's yellow glow suddenly appearing around her.

  "That's not weird at all, Himiko," he replied.

  "Um...Kokichi?"

  "Yeah?"

   "I love you."

   "I love you, too, HimiCocoa Bean." Kokichi kissed her one last time before they both looked happily up to the blue sky and watched the clouds roll by.