Liar, Liar, the Mage's Desire Vol. 2 (The Oumeno Strikes Back)

The Case of the Missing Pop Star (9)

    While Shuichi and Kokichi were talking to Michiko and Yui, Himiko searched for Hibiki, who was in the mansion's library, studying on her laptop. 

   "Nyeh...hi, Hibiki," Himiko said shyly. Hibiki looked up from her laptop and smiled.

   "Hi, Himiko," she replied, waving to Himiko. Himiko sat in a chair next to Hibiki. 

   "What'cha doing?" Himiko asked. 

   "Oh, just schoolwork," Hibiki sighed, showing Himiko her laptop. 

   "Nyeh? Schoolwork?" Himiko asked, looking at Hibiki's laptop, which had math equations typed all over the screen.

   "Yeah, while Mai-Mai goes to Hope's Peak Academy, the rest of us are stuck doing our schooling online," Hibiki explained. 

   "Ohhh...I see," Himiko replied, nodding. Hibiki gave Himiko a naughty grin. "To be honest, I'm a bit of a procrastinator," she admitted. "A lot of times, I find myself going back to my book."

   "Oh, my! You wrote a book?!" Himiko exclaimed. 

   "Well, I'm in the process of writing it," Hibiki said. "I have 140 pages written down, so far. Here, I'll show you!" Hibiki minimized the tab her schoolwork was on, and opened up a Word document. As soon as she opened it up, she began scrolling down, showing Himiko the amount of pages. 

   "Wow! That's really cool, Hibiki!" Himiko said. 

   "Thanks!" Hibiki replied, smiling sweetly. 

   "What's the name of it?" Himiko asked. Hibiki scrolled up to the title, which read: "Better To Give Than To Recieve." 

   "Ooo, I like the sound of that," Himiko cooed, observing the title with admiration. "Is it a Christmas story?"

   "Yeah, actually!" Hibiki replied, smiling.  "How'd you guess?"

    "Nyeh...I know that saying is mentioned a lot around that time of year," Himiko replied. "Are you ever gonna publish it?"

  "Hmm, I'm not sure," Hibiki admitted. "I'm not very good at planning things, so I'll probably mess up my writing career before I have the chance to get it started. Plus, I've got my whole idol career being in the way, and all."

   "Nyeh...that's too bad," Himiko replied. "The title is a good lesson that everyone should keep in mind."

   "Yeah, I always keep that phrase in mind when I'm around my friends," Hibiki responded. 

  "Um...speaking of your friends," Himiko said. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that night of the incident. Are you okay telling me what happened?" Hibiki gave Himiko a grim expression. 

   "It was definitely one of the scariest nights of my life," she admitted. "But I'll try my best to help you."

   "Nyeh...what happened right after the culprit broke in?" Himiko asked. 

   "Hmm, well...the crashing sound woke me up," Hibiki explained slowly as she tried to remember each detail. "I admit that I was kind of scared, so I sat there, frozen in fear until Michiko turned the light on. Mai-Mai screamed for Izumi because she was nowhere to be found, so we all rushed downstairs, hoping to find her there and thinking that it was safer for us to be there. I suggested that we split up to search for her because with all of us searching for her, she was bound to turn up somewhere. Yui wanted to search the garage, Michiko wanted to search the rooms upstairs, I said I'd search downstairs, and Mai-Mai said she'd search outside. As I was searching, though, I ended up feeling sick because the thought of Izumi being gone, plus the thought that a kidnapper was in our midst, really freaked me out. I...sometimes end up puking when I get really stressed out, so...you know...I went upstairs to the bathroom, and..."

   "It's okay, I understand." Himiko replied sympathetically. "You don't have to say it." Hibiki nodded gratefully. 

   "Thank you," she replied. 

   "But...if you were searching downstairs for Izumi, why didn't you use any of the bathrooms downstairs?" Himiko asked. "Why did you go to the one upstairs?" Hibiki smiled sheepishly.

   "Well...because I've always loved that bathroom," she admitted. "Since Mai-Mai is my best friend, she would always invite me here since the beginning of middle school. Because of that, I know this place like the back of my hand. But out of all the bathrooms, I really like the one upstairs. The blue walls just seem to relax me and I feel less stressed out. So, if ever I feel like, you know...getting sick, I always go there to feel more relaxed. I hope that's not too weird."

   "No, it's fine," Himiko smiled. 

   "Well, was...was that okay?" Hibiki asked, twiddling her thumbs after a long silence. "I'm sorry if I wasn't any help."

   "Yeah, I think that was helpful," Himiko replied. "Thanks for your help, Hibiki." Hibiki smiled in relief and nodded.

   "You're very welcome!" she replied. With one last smile, Himiko exited the library and ran into Kokichi. 

   "Nee-heehee...hey, Monkey Buns!" he said. "How'd the interrogation go?"

   "It was alright," Himiko replied. "But, can I ask you something, Kokichi?"

   "Shoot, babe!" Kokichi said.

   "How do you spe-" Himiko began, but was interrupted by Shuichi greeting them as he came up the stairs. 

    "Hey, you two," he said. "Did you get some answers?"

   "Yup!" Kokichi and Himiko responded. Shuichi huddled close to them and lowered his voice.

   "Let's discuss what we've found out in Sayaka's room," he said. They walked into Sayaka's room, which was soaked from the rain still pouring outside from Tyhpoon Traidora. But nothing could have prepared them for the even bigger mess that was awaiting them.

   "What happened?!" Shuichi exclaimed as he, Kokichi, and Himiko looked in disbelief at the sleeping bags, which had been moved from their original positions, and sprawled in random positions on the floor. Kokichi grabbed a flashlight before running to the shattered window and looking out of it for the music box.

   "SHIT!!" he exclaimed in frustration. He turned back to Shuichi and Himiko. "The music box is gone!"