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

Maki's Secret Crush? (End)

     "Kokichi? Are you out here?" Himiko called out in the darkness. She shivered as she tried to shield herself from the drizzle under the trees in the front lawn. 

   "I'm up here," a voice responded from above her. She looked up to see Kokichi hiding in the tree directly above her. Himiko climbed up to join him.

   "Did you have a nightmare about Maki?" she asked him. Kokichi shrugged and looked away from her. He looked out onto the misty fog surrounding the houses, making it look like they were floating above the ground. "Kokichi?" Himiko reached out to tug his sleeve, but abruptly stopped when he began to speak. 

   "I'm sorry I made you go into everyone's dreams," he said so suddenly as he looked straight into Himiko's eyes. She just stared at him like a deer in headlights. 

   "I...I don't understand," she replied. "Why are you apologi-"

    "I'm sorry for making you go into their dreams, and it was wrong for me to want to know everyone's secrets, and to make you use your magic to do it," Kokichi interrupted. 

  "Kokichi, why are you saying this now?" Himiko asked. 

  "It'd be better if I didn't know what I do now about the others," he went on, ignoring Himiko. "I should have just left it all alone. Now I got what I wanted, and what did I end up with? The person I despise likes me and will probably try to kill you to get to me."

   "Stop it, Kokichi!" Himiko said, grabbing his shoulders. "I don't know what your problem is right now, but you are going to snap out of it, mister! You know who you remind of right now? Me, when I used to have my pity party bouts." Kokichi locked eyes with her, giving her his full attention. "And to be honest, I don't like Pity Party Kokichi! Believe it or not, I like Regular Kokichi much better! Sure, he's a lying, manipulative brat, but he's also very smart and he taught me that I have the power to make my life and other people's lives better! And you also know what? I'm glad we went into their dreams because knowing their secrets helped me to make a difference in my friends' lives! Because of Regular Kokichi, their lives have changed for the better!"

   "You did that," Kokichi replied quietly. 

   "Because it was all YOUR idea in the first place," Himiko pointed out. "I wouldn't have thought to go inside everyone else's dreams to find out their secrets on my own! It may have been a bad idea to invade their privacy, but because you said that I have the power to choose and to make a change, I CHOSE to turn a bad idea into a good one! That's a thing that YOU do, right? You have good intentions, you just have a twisted way of showing it."

   "I didn't have good intentions when I suggested invading their dreams, Himiko," Kokichi argued.

   "Maybe, but you didn't use any of their secrets against them," Himiko countered. "I mean, you could have done something to Tsumugi's...so-called 'wig,' but you didn't!"

  "Because you told me not to," Kokichi said.