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

Himiko Forgets (End)

      With Himiko's hand in his, Kokichi ran to his room and grabbed a piece of paper. He searched frantically for some colored pencils. "Crap! I don't have colored pencils!" he shouted. "But, Angie does! C'mon, Himiko!" He ran upstairs to Angie and Tsumugi's room. 

   "Why, hello, there, Kokichi and Himiko," said Angie in a cheerful voice. "May I ask what you two are doing here?"

    "Angie, I need to borrow your colored pencils," Kokichi replied.

    "Nyahaha...of course, of course!" Angie happily replied. "Help yourself! They are over there on my desk!" She pointed to a can of colored pencils on her desk. Kokichi ran over to the desk, sat down, and began to draw and color away. 

    "Here, Himiko, sit next to me," Kokichi told Himiko. He didn't want her out of his sight, in case she forgot him. Himiko grabbed another chair and sat next to Kokichi. Tsumugi and Angie peered curiously over Kokichi's shoulder. 

   "Um...what exactly are you drawing, Kokichi?" Tsumugi asked. 

   "Almost done," Kokichi mumbled. "A-ha!!" He showed the three girls his drawing of a clown costume. "Tsumugi, I need you to make me a clown outfit exactly like this one, 'kay?"

    "Why?" Tsumugi asked. "That's just plain weird."

    "Please, Tsumugi," Kokichi pleaded. "It's really important! It might help bring Himiko back!" 

     "Well, okay...if you say so," Tsumugi replied with uncertainty. "I'll have to take your measurements, first, though." Kokichi agreed, and Tsumugi did just that. "Okay, I'll have it ready as soon as I can!" Kokichi left the room with Himiko to let Tsumugi get to work on the costume. An hour later, Tsumugi came into Kokichi's room with the clown costume. "How's this?" she asked.

   "Perfect!" Kokichi replied with a satisfied smile. He took the costume from Tsumugi, put it into a bag, then grabbed Himiko's hand. "C'mon, Himiko!"

    "Where are we going, now?" Himiko asked. 

   "You'll see," Kokichi replied with a mysterious smile. He led Himiko far away from Casa V3, following an old set of railroad tracks until they came across an abandoned train station. In one of the train tunnels, lay a secret trapdoor on the ground. The trapdoor led into a long, narrow, dark hallway. At the end of the hallway, they climbed a ladder straight up and opened a door to reveal nothing but a forest. 

    "Where are we?" Himiko asked.  

     "We're nearly there, Himiko," Kokichi said, being oddly cryptic about where they were headed. They walked through the forest until they stumbled into a clearing with the old, abandoned insane asylum that served as D.I.C.E. headquarters. 

    "Please tell me we're not going in there," Himiko groaned. 

    "Oh, yeah, we are!" Kokichi smirked at her. He led her inside. "Nine! Nine, I need you!" Kokichi's clown associates were in the main lobby turned living room of the asylum, playing video games. Nine, the long-sleeved clown, was reading a book on the couch.