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

Himiko Befriends Miu (End)

        Later that evening after dinner, Miu was in the backyard doing her assigned chores of raking the leaves out in the front yard. Himiko thought this would be the perfect time to talk to Miu alone. She took a deep breath and headed out the front door.

    "Nyeh...Miu, can I talk to you?" she asked her. Miu looked up at her in annoyance and rolled her eyes. 

    "What now, Fish Face?!" she spat. "Can't you see I'm busy?!"

    "I just...wanted to ask you why you were so upset about what happened earlier," Himiko said. Miu glared daggers at her.

   "It's none of your business, Table Top!" she said. "I wouldn't tell ya even if ya begged me to!" She went back to raking. Himiko took another deep breath. 

    "Look, Miu, I just want-" she began. Miu turned furiously back at her.

   "No, YOU look, midget!" she growled. "I'm not tellin' you NUTHIN!' Why do you even care, anyways?!" Himiko was about to give up. She was beginning to think this whole plan of hers was moot. Then, she remembered seeing Miu as a little girl again, crying and hugging herself after being bullied by that Etsuko girl. She didn't want to give up on Miu. Though she didn't want it to come to this, she took Kokichi's advice about being harsh with Miu and walked up to her, snatching the rake from Miu's hands. "Hey! What are you-" Miu started.

    "You listen to me, Miu!" Himiko said. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to you insult me! If I hurt you, I'm sorry! I just want to know how I hurt you so I can make it up to you, okay? If you tell me, I'll leave you alone if you still want me to! Just...tell me what I said or did wrong!"

   "Eeeeeeeeee!!!" Miu squealed, cowering in fear. "Okaayyy, you don't have to yell at me," she whimpered. 

    "I didn't want to," Himiko said softly. "I just want to know why you were bothered by the name 'Etsuko.' Who was she?" Miu huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms.

    "She was a bully who used to pick on me," Miu said. Himiko had mixed emotions; one part of her was excited to find out that Etsuko was confirmed to be a real person in Miu's past, but the other half of her felt bad for Miu , which is why she wanted to be useful and try to help Miu feel not so alone in the world. "Back when I was in elementary school, she'd torture me all the time; she'd call me names, shove me into lockers, mess up my inventions...whatever. You know, the usual bully stuff." Himiko nodded.

   "I...I'm sorry you had to go through that," she replied. "I never thought that would happen to someone like you." 

   "Yeah, well, now you know, so go away," Miu grumbled. 

   "Is that why you pick on everyone else?" Himiko pressed. Miu rolled her eyes and sighed with frustration. 

   "Yeah, yeah, whatever!" she said. 

   "But you're doing to everyone else what Etsuko did to you," Himiko said. "If you bully everyone else, you're just like her." Miu advanced angrily towards Himiko. Himiko backed up in fear.