"Oh, Monkey Buns! I'm ba-aaack!" Kokichi called as he and Kaito walked through the door. In Kokichi's hands were some plastic bags full of snacks. He went to the kitchen to put them on the counter. When Himiko didn't respond, he called out to her again. "Hi-mi-koooo-ah!" Silence. "Hmph! Where is that girl?" He marched over to the living room to find Maki sitting on the couch.
"Maki! What did you do with Himiko?" he demanded. "Did you kill her?" Maki rolled her eyes at his joke.
"No," she answered testily. "She went to a party." Kokichi's face became serious.
"Koji's party?" he asked in a low voice.
"I guess," Maki shrugged. "She didn't say whose party, just that she was going to one." Before Maki finished speaking, however, Kokichi was already out the door.
***
"There's her house," Koji whispered to Himiko. He, Himiko, Jun, and the other delinquents stood across the street from Ms. Kazunari's house, hiding behind some bushes and a tree. Himiko could see in the front yard lots of brightly-colored flowers planted everywhere. For such a crabby old woman, she sure liked having her lawn appear cheerful, Himiko thought.
"And there's her flowers," Jun said. She turned to Himiko. "All you have to do is pluck some flowers from her lawn."
"B-But...she has so many," Himiko stammered. "How will she even know the difference?"
"She's very attentive when it comes to her flowers," Koji explained.
"Now, hurry up and go steal some!" Jun ordered. "Unless you're too scared...baby! " The others began to taunt Himiko with baby noises and baby talk. Himiko's eyes stung. She definitely didn't want to cry in front of these kids. She figured she'd walk to the other side just so they wouldn't see her cry.
"Okay..." she said in a barely audible voice. She slowly stood up and crept to the other side, looking around her all the while. The others snickered as they watched her.
"You got your phone ready?" Koji whispered to Jun. Jun grinned and took her phone out.
"Sure do," she replied. Himiko tiptoed across the lawn and peeked inside the window. She saw an old woman sitting on a couch, her face turned away from the window. Her gaze was focused on the television in front of her, which relieved Himiko a little. But only a little. She still felt terrified. She looked behind her at the others, who were waving at her to hurry up. Himiko gulped as she knelt down and reached for some flowers.
Meanwhile, Kokichi made it to the old, abandoned house, where a few remaining teenagers were hanging out. He barged through the door.
"Where's Koji?" he demanded.
"Heh, heh...he's at ol' Kazunari's house," one of the delinquents explained.
"Yeah, he and Jun dared some new, wimpy-lookin' girl to steal her flowers," another chimed in.
"Shit!" Kokichi muttered, rushing back out the door.
As Himiko had reached to pick the flowers, her hand stopped. She started shaking, and her hands became sweaty.
"Dude, she's punkin' out!" one of the delinquents whispered to Koji and Jun.
"You think she's gonna go through with it?" Koji asked Jun.
"Please...this bitch is about as harmful as jelly on toast," Jun scoffed, rolling her eyes. "But...that's not gonna stop me from callin' the cops." She dialed 911.
"911 operator, what is the nature of your emergency?" asked the dispatcher on the other end.
"Yes, I'd like to report a robber-...HEY!!!" Jun exclaimed when her phone was suddenly snatched from her hands. They all looked up to see Kokichi with Jun's phone in his hand. He put it up to his ear.
"Sorry, wrong number! I meant to call pest control! It seems I have a serious problem with vermin!" he said with a smirk as he eyed the delinquents meaningfully. "Looks like they're everywhere nowadays!" Then, he hung up. Jun snatched her phone back from him.
"And to think I used to have a crush on you," she muttered.
"Nee-heehee...at least you have good taste!" Kokichi replied. "I'll give you that!" He looked across the street to see Himiko still hesitating to grab one of the flowers. "Himiko!" he called over to her. Himiko looked up and rushed over to him.
"Kokichi...!" she began. Kokichi held up his hand to silence her, then turned to Koji.
"Koji, this is low, even for you!" he said. "How dare you guys make Himiko steal flowers from Ms. Kazunari's lawn!"
"Pffft! Are you kidding?!" Koji scoffed. "She didn't even steal one flower! Your girl is wack!"
"Seriously! She's such a wuss that she couldn't even follow through with the dare!" Jun agreed. The others murmured in agreement, as well. "I can't believe you picked her over me! " Himiko's lower lip quivered and her throat became tight as she tried not to cry.
"Oh? Well, what about the old, abandoned house you guys vandalized?" Kokichi asked, crossing his arms. "I'm sure she smashed a few stuff in there!" Himiko looked at him strangely. There's no way he thought she'd ever do such a thing.
"Puh-lease! She didn't do any of that, either!" Koji exclaimed. "She's way too babyish to do that!"
"Yeah, that was all us," Jun said. "We're the ones that smashed everything in that house."
"We even took some stuff for ourselves," another kid snickered. The others laughed along with him.
"Face it, Kokichi, this little girl of yours is just that: a little girl," Koji said. "She's pathetic!" Himiko couldn't help herself. Tears began streaming from her eyes, which caused the delinquents to laugh at and mock her.
"Hey!" came a commanding voice. The teens turned to see some police officers emerging from their cars. The one that spoke up walked up to them. "We received a call about some kids vandalizing an abandoned house. Are you those kids?"
"That's them, officer!" Kokichi said, pointing at his juvie buddies with that cheeky grin on his face.
"What?! " Koji cried.
"W-What about her?! " Jun exclaimed, pointing to Himiko. "She was stealing Ms. Kazunari's flowers!"
"Nyeh! N-No! I wasn't!" Himiko cried in fear, and pointed to Jun and the others. "Th-They made me do it!"
"Y-You can't prove that, you bitch!" Jun spat nastily.
"Ohh...but I caaan," Kokichi said with a sly grin as he reached behind him and pulled out his phone from his back pocket. He had been recording their conversation the whole time, and showed the officer the recording. Koji, Jun, and the other kids' eyes were wide with fear, while Kokichi smirked triumphantly at them. Through her tears, Himiko stared at Kokichi in awe.
"Let's book 'em," the officer said. One by one, the delinquents were handcuffed and placed into the cars.
"You snitched, didn't you?" Koji growled to Kokichi as an officer cuffed him.
"Well, aren't you a smarty-pants!" Kokichi said. Koji shook his head in disappointment.
"You used to be cool, Ouma. Tuh...until you met her," he scoffed, nodding in Himiko's direction.
"You're right! I used to be cool, but now I'm amazing!" Kokichi replied, placing his hands behind his head. "Besides, you mess with her, you mess with me, too!" He leaned closer to Koji with one of his creepy smiles. "And we don't want that, do we?" he said in a low, ominous voice.
"You're pathetic," Koji spat, though for a brief moment, he seemed unnerved by Kokichi.
"Maybe...buuut, at least I'm not going back to juvie!" Kokichi said. "Have fun! Oh! And give Takanobu a kiss for me! Nee-heeheeheeee!" After Koji was seated, the last of the police cars drove away, leaving Kokichi and Himiko alone. Kokichi turned to Himiko with arms crossed. Himiko hung her head in shame.
"I'm sorry, Kokichi," she said softly. "You were right...and I was wrong. Thank you for helping me." Kokichi softened a bit.
"Well...no harm done, I guess," he said with a shrug. "Except to those guys, anyway! Hahahaha!" Himiko nodded. Kokichi wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. "C'mon, Monkey Buns. Let's go home."
"Okay," Himiko replied. It was mostly silent on the way back. Himiko couldn't help but giggle. Kokichi turned to her and smiled.
"What?" he asked.
"Nyeh...I just thought it was cool how you brought out your phone because you recorded everything," Himiko answered. "You were getting them to say all that stuff to make them admit what they did, weren't you?"
"Whaaaat? Noooo! I'm not smart enough to do thaaaat," Kokichi replied with a sly grin and a wink. Himiko smiled gratefully at him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I love you, Kokichi," she sighed.
"Nee-heehee...can't say I blame ya!" Kokichi replied. Still leaning on his shoulder, Himiko giggled. Kokichi pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, Himiko...dweeb."
"Nyeh...but I'm your dweeb, remember?" Himiko said, fiddling with his scarf.
"Yes, you are," Kokichi agreed, taking the hand that Himiko used to fiddle with his scarf, and gently kissed the back of it. "Nobody else's but mine."