Liar, Liar, the Mage's Desire Vol. 3 (Return of the Oumeno)

Shuichi Saihara, Where Are Ya? (13)

   Kokichi and Himiko walked silently up the staircase, holding their breaths as they did so. They didn't know where the staircase was going to lead to, and they didn't have anything to defend themselves with, but they knew they had to press forward for Shuichi's sake. Finally, the staircase came to an end, where a door stood in front of them. Cautiously, Kokichi opened it and peeked outside. He turned to Himiko behind him.

   "It looks like a bedroom," he whispered before opening the door a bit wider. They both slowly walked through the door, Kokichi closing it behind him. As he did, he noticed that the door was actually part of the wall.

   "Nyeh...that's a weird place to put a door," Himiko said.

   "It's a secret door, dum-dum," Kokichi replied goofily as he examined the wall. "We came out of a secret room, so this door has to be hidden." He looked around at the bedroom. "I think this is Barty's room."

   "Looks like it," Himiko grimaced in disgust, pointing at a pair of dirty underwear on the bed. "I guess he doesn't clean up after himself. And, look, Kokichi! There's a pair of frilly panties on the floor! Does he wear those, too?! What does he do in here play dress up with himself?!"

   "I don't think those are his, Himiko," Kokichi said, raising his brow at her.

   "Well, then, whose panties are thos-" Himiko began.

   "Moving on!" Kokichi said, grabbing her waist with one arm and using his other hand to cover her mouth. He swung her around to turn her attention away from the bed. "Himiko, we have to find Shuichi. He could be in here somewhere."

   "Right!" Himiko said. "I'll check under the be-"

   "No, I'll check under the bed, Himiko," Kokichi interrupted, putting a finger to her lips. "You can check..." THUMP! THUMP!

   "Mmmpphhh...mmpphh!!" came a muffled sound from the closet. 

   "...the closet," Kokichi finished as he and Himiko looked at the closet door. He then looked at Himiko and put a finger to his lips, signaling to her to stay quiet. He took her hand in his and walked slowly towards the closet door to open it. Inside, they found Shuichi bound and gagged, and looking tired and hungry. 

   "SHUICHI!!" Kokichi and Himiko exclaimed. Kokichi knelt down to remove the gag from Shuichi's mouth.

   "Am I ever glad to see you guys!" he said with a weak, sleepy smile. Himiko wrapped her arms around him. 

   "Nyeh...Shuichi, you're okay!" she said. 

   "I'm also really hungry," Shuichi groaned. "Mmm...and sore."

   "Shuichi, I know you're weak and helpless right now, but tell us what happened," Kokichi urged.

   "Well, there's a secret room underneath the lighthouse that I found by accident," Shuichi explained. "I was searching around for some clues. I found Barty's construction company folder with some weird papers, but I was only able to read the first page. It had a diagram of the lighthouse on it."