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

The Creepy Carnival (1)

    "Nyeeeeh..." Himiko groaned as she plopped her head onto her desk in frustration. She was in the middle of doing homework, or at least, trying to do her homework, but she found it hard to concentrate. Ever since that weird dream she had a few nights ago, she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately, making it really hard for her to concentrate on her schoolwork. She even felt crabbier due to lack of sleep. She looked out her bedroom window to see that once previous sunny sky had been replaced by an overcast one, which made her feel worse. 

   Frustrated with her homework, she decided to shove it aside for now and focus on something else. One of her newfound interests was listening to podcasts. After a mishap at one of her recent magic shows, she felt horrible. To make her feel better, Kokichi had sent her a link to a podcast about magicians who had messed up in their own magic shows, as well, which helped Himiko a lot. Since then, Himiko had found many podcasts that piqued her interest. One particular podcast, Supernatural Circus, was one that caught Himiko's attention. It was about strange, paranormal occurrences happening at carnivals and circuses. It especially captivated her, due to her bizarre nightmare. Himiko plugged her headphones into her laptop and began listening:

   "Hey, everyone! Glad you could make it to the show! I'm Ryan," said one of the hosts.

   "And I'm Bryan," said the other host.

   "Get your clown suit on!"

  

   "And your ghost-hunting net!"

  "Because you're here at the bone-chilling big top known as the Supernatural Circus," they said in unison. Himiko smiled. She always enjoyed hearing Ryan and Bryan's introduction.

  "What's the big story for today, Ryan?" Bryan asked. "Whatever it is, I hope it's...in tents! Haha, get it? Intense, in tents? Because, you know...circus tents? A-hahahahaha!!!" Himiko smiled and rolled her eyes. Bryan was, of course, the class clown of the Supernatural Circus. 

   "Way to go, Bryan," Ryan said sarcastically. "You probably scared half our fans away with a joke scarier than our actual content."

    "Hey, I can't help it if I'm a circus balloon-atic," Bryan said. Himiko heard the popping of a balloon, followed by Bryan's laughter. 

   "I swear, Bryan, one day, you're gonna get...popped for your jokes someday," Ryan said with a smile. Himiko facepalmed and shook her head.

   "Heeey, now you're gettin' into it!" Bryan said. 

   "Yeah, we'd better stop. Your jokes are apparently contagious, and I really don't wanna catch what you have," Ryan said. "Well, today we're gonna talk about the incident, or should I say...incidents that happened at the Twilight Carnival, like...decades ago."

   "Whoa! That sounds cool!" Bryan said. "What happened at the...Twilight Carnival, Ryan?" he asked dramatically. 

   "Well, okay, so, apparently, a bunch of kids went missing," Ryan explained. "And it wasn't just one time. Twilight Carnival is a travelling carnival originating from the Big Apple that, you know, pops up in various parts of the world at certain times of the year."