Kokichi slipped in and out of sleep every few minutes as he held Himiko close to his chest. He allowed her to sleep while he would stay up in case the creature came back. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity as he waited for the night to come to an end. Finally, the living room began to glow from the approaching dawn. Kokichi gently placed Himiko down onto the large heap of fluffy pillows.
"Mmm...Kokichi..." she mumbled sleepily.
"Ssshhh..." Kokichi whispered softly, lulling her back to sleep. He silently covered her with her blanket before peeking out of the fort to make sure that the coast was clear. When he felt safe enough to leave, he cautiously exited the fort and looked around. Everything seemed to be normal so far. He remembered the sounds coming from the kitchen and headed there. What he saw made him open his mouth wide in shock and horror. The walls and the floor of the kitchen were stained with food and various liquids. Glass was shattered everywhere. There were giant claw marks on the walls. Kokichi looked at the mess and wondered how nobody besides him and Himiko had heard the noise. He pulled out his phone and started taking pictures of the evidence. Avoiding the glass shards, he headed out of the kitchen towards the backdoor where the creature had exited the house. The door had been knocked off the top hinges, making it look like it was hanging onto the doorway for dear life. The doorknob was hanging off the door and swaying from side-to-side like a pendulum of a grandfather clock. Kokichi could also see claw marks where the doorknob used to be. Kokichi breathed in bewilderment and horror as he took pictures of the door, as well. He went back to the fort to wake up Himiko.
"Himiko," he said quietly, but firmly, trying to shake her awake. "Himiko, wake up."
"Nyeh...?" Himiko rubbed her eyes and blearily looked up at Kokichi. "What's going on?" Then, she remembered the events from the previous night, and her eyes widened with fear. "Is it back?" she asked in a terrified whisper.
"No...I think it's gone for now," Kokichi replied. "But you might wanna take a look at this." Kokichi took Himiko's hand in his and led her out of the fort and into the kitchen. Instinctively, Himiko grabbed Kokichi's arm, and her lip began to tremble with fear.
"I thought it was just a nightmare," she whispered in a quivery voice. Tears streamed from her eyes. Kokichi looked at her and felt her hands trembling. He put his hand on hers to calm her down.
"It wasn't a nightmare, Himiko," he said firmly. "That thing, whatever it was, was real. And we need to find out what it is." Himiko looked at Kokichi as if he were the creature himself.
"Why?!" she asked. "Why can't we just leave this place and go somewhere else?!"
"Where would we go, Himiko?" Kokichi asked.
"Anywhere!" Himiko replied in a teary voice. "My hat is a teleportation device, remember? You and I can just leave here forever and not deal with that...that...*thing!*" Kokichi shook his head.
"We can't leave here, Himiko," Kokichi said sternly. "We can't just decide to live somewhere else on a whim, and besides-"
"I have magic!" Himiko pointed out, interrupting Kokichi.
"You said it depletes if you use too much of it," Kokichi also pointed out. "If we run away and rely solely on your magic to survive, we probably wouldn't last long." Himiko opened her mouth to argue, but no words left her mouth. "We have to stay here and find out what that thing is," Kokichi continued before Himiko could say anything else. "Besides, nobody else knows about it but us. If we leave, it could attack the others."
"Since when do you care about them?!" Himiko asked incredulously.
"Maybe I don't, but you do...right?" Kokichi said, staring Himiko in the eye. "What about Tenko? Angie? Tsumugi, and the others? Do you or do you not care about them?" Himiko began to sob quietly. She knew Kokichi was right. She had to stay and help him uncover the mystery of that sinister creature.
"Okay..." she finally said, sniffling and wiping her tears. "...you're right. I'm just...I'm so scared, Kokichi." Kokichi sighed. He didn't like admitting that he was afraid, but if it helped Himiko feel better about not being the only one who was afraid, it might ease her worries a bit and help her focus on the task ahead. He firmly gripped her shoulders.
"Look, Himiko, I'm scared, too," he said. "But if we let our fear control us, we might as well be waiting for that creature thing to come back and eat us, or maul us, or whatever. I don't know about you, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'm not going to run away, or cry, or hide out in any corners, or anything like that. If you don't want to help me, you might as well say so now because if you're with me on this, there's no turning back. So, are you with me, or not?" Himiko took a deep breath. She was very much afraid, but after hearing Kokichi's speech, she couldn't help but feel emboldened. She did her best to muster up a smile and, with a shaky hand, saluted him.
"Nyeh...yes, sir, Supreme Leader, sir!" she replied in her best brave voice. Kokichi smiled at her and kissed the back of her hand.
"Understood," he said. "Don't worry, Himiko, we're gonna figure this out, okay?" Himiko wiped away her remaining tears and nodded at him. Kokichi took Himiko's face in his hands and gently pulled her in for a kiss. They both then took a deep breath and focused their attention on the kitchen.
"What do we do, first?" Himiko asked.
"Clean this place up," Kokichi replied, looking at the filthy kitchen around him. Himiko looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Nyeh? But, this is evidence," she said. "Why would we clean it up? Shouldn't we show the others?" Kokichi shook his head.
"No," he said. "Nobody would believe us, especially after what that dum-dum Kaito said about not believing in monsters. If anything, he'd just find a way to pin all this on me, and he'd end up slowing things down for us. Besides, I took pictures of all this on my phone already, so the evidence is there if we need it."
"Well...how are we going to get this all cleaned up before the others wake up?" Himiko asked. Kokichi gave her a sly smile.
"Hop to it, mage," he said, pointing his thumb towards the mess. Himiko looked at him with confusion.
"Nyeh? What do you mean?" she asked.
"Use your magic," Kokichi replied. Himiko put her hands on her hips.
"You just told me *not* to use magic," she said.
"Nooo, I said we're not going to use your magic to run away," Kokichi said. "I also said that using too much magic depletes it. But it doesn't take much magic to clean this kitchen up. In fact, you can do it in just a *snap,* riiight?"
"Huummm..." Himiko grumbled, and snapped her fingers. In a flash, the kitchen became exactly the way it was before the creature had made a mess of it. Kokichi made sure everything was back the way it was, checking the fridge and cupboards, and nodded to Himiko.
"Now, let's do the back door!" he said.
"The back door, too?!" Himiko exclaimed.
"Yup! Check it out!" Kokichi led Himiko to the back door where the broken door still hung open from the doorway. Himiko's eyes bugged out.
"Did you take pictures of that, too?" she asked.
"Yeah!" Kokichi replied. "We can review the pictures later, though. So, let's go outside and see if we can find more clues."
"But...what if it's out there?" Himiko asked in a quiet voice.
"Well, it's daylight now, and I don't think that thing comes out during the day," Kokichi said. Of course, he had no way of knowing that, but he said it to ease Himiko's mind.
"Okay...you're probably right," she said, feeling a bit relieved. "Fix the door?"
"Fix the door," Kokichi confirmed, nodding his head. Himiko snapped her fingers, and the door was fixed immediately.
"Nee-heehee...man, it's like I'm living that show 'Bewitched!'" Kokichi said, smiling at Himiko.
"Nyeh...if only that were true," Himiko mumbled before she followed Kokichi out into the backyard.