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

Putting On A Show For Himiko (4)

    "Oh, are you a ventriloquist?" Himiko asked Seven. Seven didn't respond. She merely kept her soul-piercing gaze fixed on Himiko. Her lips were pursed tightly together, which made her look rather ominous. Himiko felt a chill run down her spine. She leaned over to Kokichi to whisper to him. "Is she a ventriloquist?" she asked him. 

   "Weeeell..." Kokichi replied, rubbing his neck. Before Kokichi could say anymore, Seven's puppet's eyes opened suddenly, and its head turned towards Himiko. 

   "So...you think I'm nothing more than a mere puppet, hmmm?" the puppet asked. Himiko froze in fear. The puppet's voice sounded like a little girl, but it didn't match Seven's deadpan voice at all. It didn't even sound like Seven was doing a fake voice for her puppet; the puppet's voice was too high-pitched and sweet, but with a slight sinister tone. Himiko's eyes shifted to Seven, who was still tight-lipped and fixated on her. "If that's what you think, then you must not know my name." The puppet narrowed her eyes at Himiko. "Do you...know my name?" she asked in a low voice. Himiko shook her head, too afraid to speak. The puppet smirked at her. "No matter," she said. "Soon, you will know my name. After all, everybody knows my name. Heeheeheeheeheeheee. Wanna hear a stoooory?"

   "Um...sure," Himiko gulped. 

   "Make sure you open your ears reeaaal wide, and keep your mouth...shut...okay?" the puppet said. Himiko nodded her head and grabbed Kokichi's hand out of fear. "This is the story of a little girl who lived during the Second Great War. She, her family, and schoolmates lived in constant fear of air raids, but the worst fear was yet to come for the little girl. This little girl was always picked on by a particular classmate of hers for being afraid of air raids. Why wouldn't you be, though? It's not so strange you would be, riiiight? But, the little girl's classmate thought differently. One day, the little girl's classmate told her that she knew a place to hide, should an air raid occur. She took the little girl up to the third floor of the school and into the girls' bathroom. She then took her to the third stall, and...do you know what happened next?"

  "Um..." Himiko mumbled, her lip trembling. Suddenly, Seven flew off her stool as if being dragged by her puppet, and stood right in front of Himiko. Seven's expression hadn't changed since she'd started performing, but her puppet looked different. The puppet's face contorted with anger; its dark eyes glinted red, its eyebrows were pointed down, its nostrils were flared, and its teeth were bared at Himiko.

   "I said...DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!" the puppet repeated. 

   "N-No!" Himiko whimpered, practically burying herself into Kokichi's arm. No matter how close Himiko scrunched up next to Kokichi, the puppet would inch closer to her every time. Then, she started screaming in a fit of rage.

   "THE LITTLE GIRL FELT A HAND ON THE BACK OF HER HEAD AND HER FACE BEING SHOVED INTO THE TOILET!!" the puppet screeched. "THE MEANIE-HEAD CLASSMATE KEPT THE LITTLE GIRL THERE UNTIL THE LITTLE GIRL STOPPED FLAILING HER ARMS AND LEGS IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO GET OUT OF THE WATER..." The puppet became calm again. "...then, the next thing the little girl saw...was pitch...daaaarkness," the puppet's head spun 360 degrees as she spoke. Himiko shivered as she realized who the puppet was.

   "You're...Hanako-san," she said. "The spirit who haunts the toilets in the girls' bathroom."

    "THAT'S RIGHT!!!" Hanako-san screamed with fury again. "MY NAME IS LEGEND!! MY STORY IS LEGEND!! EVERYONE FEARS ME...and they should, too, because when they knock on my stall...I DRAG THEM DOWN WITH ME INTO THE FIERY PITS OF THE UNDERWORLD!! THEY SHOULD KNOW THE PAIN AND SUFFERING I HAD TO ENDURE JUST FOR BEING A...'ScArEdY CaT!!' Now, they're the ones who are afraid of me!! ISN'T THAT CUTE?!?! Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeeee!!" Himiko looked up in horror at Seven, whose facial expression still hadn't changed. She'd wondered if Seven had been doing Hanako-san's voice at all. At the thought of this, she turned over to Kokichi.

   "Make her stop, please!" she begged him. 

   "Nee-heehee...woooow, Himiko! You lasted a lot longer than I thought you would!" Kokichi said. "Okay, Seven, that's enough."

   "Seven isn't he-eeere!" Hanako-san sang out to Kokichi. 

   "Oh, no!!" Four cried. "Hanako-san possessed Seven!!" 

   "No she hasn't, Four," Kokichi said. He turned to Seven with a stern expression and crossed his arms. "Seven, take Hanako-san off your hand, now!" Finally taking her eyes off of Himiko, Seven blinked and pouted. 

   "Okaaaay," she replied, and removed Hanako-san from her hand, and casually tossed her into Ten and Six's prop box.

   "Hey! Don't put that creepy puppet in my prop box!" Ten said, jumping out of his seat to retrieve Hanako-san.

   "Are *you* going to get her out of there?" Seven asked without facing Ten. Ten froze as if he were having second thoughts.

   "Actually...nope! I'm not going anywhere near that thing!" he said, backing away. "But, please get her out of there! I don't wanna have to look at her longer than I have to."

   "I think the feeling is mutual," Seven replied in her usual, dry manner. She sighed as she picked Hanako-san up from Ten's prop box and placed her near one of the clown statues. Then, she went back to Himiko and clasped her hands expectantly in front of her. "So...did you like my performance?" 

   "Um...yeah, yeah, I did," Himiko lied, trying to be polite. Seven looked displeased.

   "Either you're lying, or I didn't perform as well as I thought I did," she said.

   "Oh! Um...are you saying that you *didn't* want me to like it?" Himiko asked. 

   "I wanted it to fill your soul with dread, to make your blood run cold, to make your skin crawl," Seven said. "To make you feel like Hanako-san did during her...final moments." 

  "Nyeh...well, you don't have to worry about that because I felt nothing but horror!" Himiko assured, still clinging to Kokichi. Seven's tight-lipped mouth slowly became a sinister grin.

   "Excellent," she replied.  

   "Welp, now that that's out of the way, Eight, you're on next!" Kokichi said.