Liar, Liar, the Mage's Desire Vol. 4 (The Oumeno Menace)

Tsumugi's Anime and Manga Lesson (2)

   "Well, maybe if you told me what you'd like to read about, I'd find you a better manga! " she growled through gritted teeth. 

   "You know, Tsumugi, Himiko and I will talk to her," Kokichi said. "You just wait here." Before Tsumugi could protest, Kokichi quickly dragged Kiki and Himiko away to the area of the library where people sat at tables to work on their studies, or just read. The three of them sat down at a table with four chairs. 

    "Jeez, would it kill her to let this go?" Kiki mumbled in annoyance as she plopped her head onto her palm. "Because if the answer is 'yes,' she needs to hurry up and let this go so I can go back to my art lessons with Angie." Kokichi snickered.

    "Nyeh...if you want, I can help you pick out a manga," Himiko offered. 

    "No, that's okay," Kiki muttered. "I think I'll just bash my head against this table until I lose consciousness."

    "Okay, little Miss Overreact," Kokichi said, placing his hand on Kiki's shoulder. "Don't lose your head over a manga. Come on, you can handle it!"

   "Yeah, I can, but that doesn't mean I want to," Kiki said. 

   "Then, why did you agree to this in the first place?" Kokichi asked. 

   "Well, because everyone was all like, 'yOu jUsT gOtTa tRy iT!' and so, I don't know..." Kiki replied. 

    "But you still didn't have to do it," Kokichi pointed out. Kiki shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably. 

   "I don't know...maybe..." Kiki began. 

   "You really wanted to, but you didn't wanna admit it?" Himiko guessed. 

  "Well, no...it's not that..." Kiki said. "It's just..."

   "Are you thinking what Tsumugi said is true about you not being truly Japanese?" Kokichi asked. Kiki remained quiet. She fidgeted as she fiddled with her pink tie. "I see," Kokichi said, Kiki's silence confirming his thoughts. "Kiki, I thought you didn't believe that."

   "But...what if she's right?" Kiki asked quietly. "I thought about it a lot in bed last night, and I do feel kind of...weird. Anime and manga are really popular, right? When you don't follow what's popular, you just feel so...alone, like you're not like everyone else...I guess." 

    "Nyeh...I know the feeling," Himiko said sadly. "Everywhere I go, I see a lot of girls around me with big, huge-"

   "That's not what we're talking about, Himiko," Kokichi interrupted firmly, shooting her a warning look. "Kiki, lemme tell you something. You wanna know what makes you Japanese? Your DNA. The fact that you have Japanese parents, and Japanese blood coursing through your veins. That's what makes you Japanese. Nobody can take that away from you, okay? Any foreigner in the world can watch anime, or read manga, but does that make them Japanese? No. You're Japanese because it is in you, and Tsumugi is a dunderhead because she actually believes that anime and manga are what makes a person Japanese. And the fact that you, a seven-year-old little girl, told her that that isn't true, shows me that you have way more brains than she does." Kiki brightened a little. She smiled, and Kokichi smiled back at her. 

   "You really think so?" she asked hopefully.

   "I know so, Chibi-Kichi," Kokichi replied, ruffling her hair. 

   "Thanks, Kokichi," Kiki said. Kokichi nodded at her.

   "So, are you gonna go tell Tsumugi that you're not reading a manga, then?" Himiko asked. 

   "Well...I'll read just one," Kiki decided. "Just to see what all the fuss is about. If I don't like it, I can at least say I've tried it out."

   "If that's what you want, we're right behind ya all the way, kiddo!" Kokichi said, giving his cousin a hug.