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

Fast and Feisty: Drifting In Tokyo (12)

    "Get some sleep, Chibi-Kichi, 'kay?" Kokichi said, leaning out the passenger side window. Kiki nodded silently at him in response. Kokichi smiled gently at her and stroked her cheek. "See you tomorrow?"

   "Okay," Kiki replied. "Bye, Kokichi."

   "Hey! Aren't you gonna say bye to me, too?!" Kaito yelled. 

  "Hmmmm..." Kiki groaned testily and rolled her eyes. Today just wasn't her day. "Bye, Kaito," she grumbled.

   "See you tomorrow, Chibi-Kichi!" Kaito replied. "And don't worry! Tomorrow, you'll be feeling shiny and brand new, like a shooting star, whizzing across Earth's atmosphere!"

   "Yeah! And when you finally fall to Earth, maybe you'll land on Kaito and crush him!" Kokichi added with a cheeky grin. Despite her crankiness, Kiki burst out in a fit of giggles.

   "Tch...shut up, Kokichi!" Kaito scoffed. Kokichi fist-bumped Kiki.

   "Later, Cheebs!" he said. 

   "Bye, Kokichi. Bye, Kaito," Kiki said, waving her hand. Kokichi and Kaito waved back before driving away and disappearing around the corner. 

    ***

   12:53 a.m. That was the time Kiki saw on her chibi sumo wrestler alarm clock when she opened her eyes later that night. After a long nap, she realized that she had been sleepier than she thought, and that the boys were right. She sat up in her bed and stretched before contemplating her next move: go to sleep, or try her bike again. She knew the boys told her not to go out at night to keep riding her bike, but she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe tonight would be different. She sighed and laid back down. Maybe she was being silly. However, the feeling crept through her whole body, making her tingle from head to toe. Kiki sighed and climbed out of bed, unable to shake the feeling growing inside her.

   "Okay, okay, fine...I'll try again," she huffed to herself. She sprang into action. Maybe the boys had been right after all. All she need was some rest because she now felt alert and wide awake, instead of tired and cranky. She threw her helmet and pads on, and crept silently down the stairs. She was dismayed to hear voices downstairs; her parents were still awake. She groaned to herself and rolled her eyes as she headed back up to her room. She sighed heavily, but not in defeat. She thought to herself other ways out of the mansion. 

   "Duh!" she whispered to herself as her eyes fell onto her window. She piled some pillows under her blanket to make it look like she was sleeping, in case her parents checked in on her. Then, she stepped out onto the small balcony outside her window. A few feet away from the balcony was a large tree that swayed gently in the midnight breeze. She stood on the stone rail of the balcony, balancing herself with caution, and looked down from the second floor. 

  "Oooo-kay, time to not die here," she muttered to herself as she carefully moved along the railing to find a good angle to jump on the tree. The closest branch required her to jump a few inches. It looked easy, but the branch was so thin that Kiki had to catch it just right, or risk missing it and making her way to the emergency room. She gulped and took a deep breath.

   "Here goes nothing...or possibly my life," she said with a wry grin before taking the leap of faith. She grabbed the branch, but she didn't expect the branch to swing her directly towards the tree trunk. She gasped, but managed not to scream. Instead, she stuck her legs out in front of her to keep her whole body from smacking into the trunk. Still gripping the branch, she slowly trekked down the trunk like a mountain climber. When she felt safe enough to let go, she released the branch and fell a few feet to the ground. After waiting for a few seconds and realizing the coast was clear, she bolted towards the front yard to grab her bike.