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"Nyeh…"
Himiko awoke to the sound of fluttering and rustling, fluffy feathers against metal bars. It was a sound she'd grown used to over the last few weeks, ever since they'd set up a proper home for Okosan in her room. Even still, she could tell it was the sound that had awoken her. The weight in her limbs and the numbness in her face told her she wasn't ready to be awake.
An insistent coo joined the cacophony, forcing her to open her eyes. She glanced around the simple hotel room. It seemed safe, and they were allowed to stay as long as they wanted, even with Okosan accompanying them. To their fortune, the eccentric owners were seemingly delighted to see a pet among their newest tenants.
The only downside was that they didn't have the option to customize the rooms the way they wanted. Aside from Okosan, the only sign that she was staying there was her pile of folded clothes on the dresser, her hat dangling from a bedpost, and a small notebook full of spells she had written down from memory.
It was a shame, but if someone decided to look for them at the hotel, there would be no point in hiding if their rooms so much as even whispered their identities to an observer.
After shuffling out of her twin bed, she first approached Okosan's cage and pulled back the white fabric that covered it. She shivered as she tried not to let it remind her of the similar sheet that had once concealed the truth of her friend's fate from much more innocent eyes. Like a magic trick, the earnest aikido master had disappeared, alive, beneath a white sheet, leaving a silent corpse in her place…
She shook her head roughly to clear the imagery, the way she had been practicing. No matter how hard she tried not to think about it, it never stopped hurting. She knew the others had to be suffering too.
Fortunately, the white sheet in her hands only revealed a very angry-looking Okosan, sitting on the floor of his spacious rectangular cage. He bristled when he saw her. As if to demonstrate his problem, he flapped his wings and tried to perch on what so far seemed to be his favorite branch. To his disdain, he seemed to be having a hard time keeping his grasp, and ended up back on the floor of the cage. Looking fed up, he lifted a foot and preened the long feathers between his toes aggressively.
Himiko couldn't help but giggle, earning her what looked like a withering glare from the bird. "Nyeh, okay, okay," she reassured him, reaching in to pet his feathery head and neck. "Just lemme get dressed, then we'll figure out how to help you."
Yawning, she turned her attention to the dresser beside the cage. She momentarily ignored her clothes and slowly picked up the notebook instead. It was old and wrinkled, with creases in the black cover. Several of the pages had been carefully torn out by the previous owner, but there were plenty left. The purple pen beside it stuttered and skipped occasionally as she wrote, but the ink was vibrant and bold.
She flipped through it with an uncharacteristically pensive expression that made even Okosan forget his own worries and hop to the edge of his little home. Ever since they had escaped the killing game, her reality, her identity , had often felt as flimsy as the pages of the notebook, so easy to rip away and forget, to start over from nothing. If she were able, she'd have made her room look like a true Ultimate Mage's lab, a space created just for her, like Okosan's cage. A place to exist in her most honest form, to prove to herself and others that she was real .
She'd had a particularly terrible nightmare only a few nights after arriving at the hotel. Unlike the jumble of bloody, explosive images that typically caused her restlessness, it had been overall fairly uneventful. All she could remember was that she couldn't remember. She couldn't remember her master, or Tenko, or Angie, or anyone who had escaped the killing game with her. She'd been given new clothes, a new talent, a new name. Her new self hated magic. Nothing remained of Himiko Yumeno, because, of course, everyone else had forgotten too.
She'd left her room with Okosan on her shoulder, crying, trying to stay as quiet as possible, yet silently begging for someone else to be awake. Someone, anyone, to acknowledge her existence. There had only been one person out of their room at the time, but he had been unexpectedly helpful…particularly once she had mentioned her master. An unusually serious expression had crossed his face before he'd given her the notebook and pen.
She hadn't needed to ask any questions. She already knew why he understood how important it was. Of course he knew the value of writing down what you didn't want to forget. The only question she wished she had asked was why he'd been awake in the middle of the night…but once she thought about it, she realized she could guess that answer too.
With another shake of her head, she set the notebook back down in its place and reached for her clothes. After getting dressed, she brushed her hair, then fastened her jeweled clip into her bangs and placed her hat on top, like a bow on a present. She then carefully pulled Okosan into her arms and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Everyone was already sitting around a cozy table near the kitchen when she arrived. Shuichi and Kaito were casually discussing the pros and cons of various houseplants. Maki sat on Kaito's other side, silently reading the newspaper with narrowed eyes. She didn't seem interested in sharing the contents of her reading, and no one seemed inclined to ask.
Kiibo, meanwhile, seemed to be struggling through an attempt to make breakfast, while Kokichi 'helped.'
"Ugh, this is taking forever . Don't you have a whisk you can attach to your hand or something?"
"I will not lower myself to the role of an appliance for your convenience!"
"Well you had no problem elevating yourself to the role of chef , now did you?" Kokichi reminded him, eyeing the pan on the stove with contempt. "Even though you can't even eat . Maybe you should get a garbage disposal feature too, so you can at least pretend."
"That's too far, Kokichi!" Kiibo declared angrily. "You assured me that you wanted to help, but all you've done is assault me with your usual robophobic comments! Please go sit down and wait to be served!"
"What?" Kokichi whined. "Don't lie, Keeboy, I totally helped! You almost served scrambled eggplant because you thought it was just vegan eggs!"
Kiibo's metallic skin almost seemed to flush. "I was following your suggestion!"
"That was your first mistake~!" Kokichi sang as he joined the others at the table. He pulled out a chair beside Himiko and sat down cheerfully. "Good morning Okosan!" He greeted the bird first, but frowned slightly when he looked closer. "Uh-oh! Himiko, why does he look so mad? Make sure he knows that I made Kiibo ask nicely for every egg!"
"Nyeh," Himiko glanced down at the fantail pigeon in her hands. "I think he just needs a haircut. He's got all these feathers on his toes that are making him lose his balance."
"Hey, that sounds easy enough!" Kaito chimed in. Kokichi's concerns had attracted everyone's attention to Okosan. "Just gotta give the little guy a trim, right? Saw some tiny scissors in the ba–"
"Woah!" Kokichi cut him off with a disappointed look. "You can't just go cutting a bird's feather's off, ya know! Some of their feathers are full of blood, so if you cut those , he'll bleed to death."
"Oh come on," Kaito scoffed. "I ain't gonna believe that."
"Look it up," Kokichi instructed, examining his fingernails with a bored expression.
Himiko nodded, a hint of worry creasing her brow. "Nyeh, he's right. Okosan needs a real doctor."
"Breakfast is served!" Kiibo announced proudly, bringing plates of bacon and eggs to the table. He set down a plate of food in front of each of them before taking his own seat.
Kokichi glanced around at the plates. His face split into a mischievous grin. "Ha! Good work Keeboy! Now no one knows which one is poisoned!"
As the table reacted to the startling declaration, it occurred to Himiko that there was a time, not even that long ago, where at least a few of them would have believed it, or at least been worried. Instead, Kaito laughed, while Maki rolled her eyes. Shuichi simply shook his head with an exasperated smile.
Only Kiibo seemed suspicious, and not without reason. "I knew you were adding ingredients without my knowledge! My visual receptors are not malfunctioning, thank you!"
"That was pepper , bolts-for-brains." He shook his head impatiently. "I poisoned one of the plates. Duh." He lifted a forkfull of eggs to his mouth and chewed carefully. "Looks like I got the poison this time, though, that's no fun. Oh well!"
Himiko giggled. "Nyeh, it must have been a magical poison that doesn't work on the person who brewed it." As she spoke, she glanced at him, a hint of unease creeping into her mind. It was obviously one of his usual jokes, but it wasn't a topic she'd expected him to bring up so casually. She couldn't tell if it was just her imagination, but his smile looked strained, and the usual glint of excitement and mischief had faded from his eyes. He'd been chewing the single bite pensively for far too long.
A glance around at the others reassured her that she hadn't imagined it. Shuichi and Kaito still had their eyes on him, and even Maki snuck the occasional glance over the top of her newspaper.
Carefully, she placed Okosan atop Kokichi's head, freeing her hands so she could eat. Still unable to properly perch, the bird nestled into his messy hair until he had a makeshift nest.
Kokichi ignored him, although his smile and posture seemed to relax, just slightly. "Hmmmm, not quite! I just spent the last two years building up an immunity to Iocane powder, so it can't hurt me!" He took another bite of his breakfast, as if to demonstrate, but then grimaced. "As long as I don't die from Keeboy's cooking, anyway…"
"Do not mock me!" Kiibo demanded. "I worked very hard to feed everyone, and I haven't received a single indication of gratitude!"
"I know, Keeboy, I was there," Kokichi replied boredly. "But you know what they say, 'the road to food poisoning is paved with good intentions!'" Despite his criticisms, he continued to eat.
Himiko tried her eggs tentatively. They were somewhat dry, and imperfectly seasoned, but they weren't bad.
"Um, what powder?" Shuichi asked, after a moment of silence. "That isn't something I've heard of…"
"It's not a real poison," Maki explained calmly, buttering a slice of toast. "He made it up."
"Nah, Maki-Roll, don't give him the credit!" Kaito chuckled. "He got that from a movie."
Kokichi blinked at him. He almost looked impressed, but he disguised it by shaking his head. "Sailor Moon and princess movies? You're really out of character, you know? What kind of himbo hero archetype are you?"
"Man, who cares?" Kaito scoffed. "Can't have a princess story without a big adventure to go save her! That's my kinda movie!"
"There are plenty of stories where the princess saves herself, or someone else," Maki pointed out.
"Those too!" he amended, his mouth suddenly full.
The chatter around the table was lively and fairly pleasant, but one member of the group seemed unaffected by the positive atmosphere. Refusing to be ignored, Okosan fluttered his wings suddenly, brushing several locks of Kokichi's hair into his face. " Ruuuude !" he whined.
Himiko giggled, although her brow was slightly furrowed with worry as she picked the bird up again. "Nyeh, like I said, he needs a haircut. He's just making sure we don't forget."
"But I'm supposed to be his favorite, " he insisted, brushing back his hair to reveal an exaggerated pout.
"Hey! Nuh-uh!" Himiko insisted, matching his expression. "Okosan loves all of us the same! But he likes my room because it's closest to the nearest source of mana."
"Sure," Kokichi sniffled. "I never expected this level of betrayal from Okosan , of all people… Lord Pudi has forsaken me !" he wailed, summoning an impressive well of tears to his eyes.
Shuichi chuckled softly. "I'm sure he'll be in a much better mood once we get his feathers taken care of," he reasoned. His smile faded as he glanced nervously at the newspaper. "But I'm not sure we should risk finding a vet right now…"
Kiibo's face brightened. "Actually, I think I may be able to assist! My upgraded vision should give me the ability to perform incredibly precise tasks using lasers!"
Himiko eyed him with a frown. "Nyeh, lasers?" She held Okosan slightly closer to her body.
"Keeboy, why are you only okay with being used as an appliance when it's not helpful?" Kokichi interrupted, rolling his eyes.
"Excuse me, but a machine capable of such delicate operations can hardly be dismissed as a simple appliance!" Kiibo posed smugly, resting his fists on his hips with a soft clang .
"Uh, no offense, but until I see you crack an egg without turning the shell into powder, I don't even trust you with Operation: the board game." Kokichi hesitated, pondering his own words for a moment. "Actually, that's a lie. I don't care if you're offended."
Before Kiibo could argue, one of the two owners of the hotel entered from a back hallway. She was a pale and slender woman with hair the color of a white sandy beach. She always seemed to float ethereally into the room, whether she was wearing outdoor work clothes or a formal gown. Today she wore a simple black vest over a thin white dress shirt, and a long black skirt.
"Good morning, everyone." Her smile seemed to sparkle as she greeted them. "May I ask what has all of you behaving so animatedly?"
"Good morning!" Kiibo's proud grin returned. "I've just finished making breakfast, would you like some?"
"Oh no, who installed Simp.exe?" Kokichi shook his head. "Keeboy, did you forget to update Norton like I told you?"
"Hm? Oh, no thank you." The owner smiled sweetly at him. "My husband and I usually take our breakfasts separately, out on the patio. He can be rather particular about fresh ingredients."
Himiko held Okosan out to the woman, pouting deeply. "Nyeh, excuse me, Okosan needs a haircut and we aren't sure what to do. Can you take him to the vet for us?"
The woman's delicate brow furrowed with concern. "Oh my!" She leaned down to examine the bird, using one dainty finger to stroke his feathery head. "I can see what you mean. These feathers here, is that correct?" She pointed to the overgrown white fluff sticking out between his talons. "He does look quite frustrated, doesn't he?" She straightened her posture and adjusted her vest primly before patting Himiko on the shoulder. "Please do not worry, little Himiko. Birds are not his specialty, but I believe my husband will be able to take care of poor Okosan."
"Really?" Himiko looked hopeful.
Before Sonia could answer, there was a low voice from the hallway where she had entered. Her lovely smile widened with pure joy as she watched the door. A moment later, a man with long, dark, silver-streaked hair burst into the room, his purple scarf trailing behind him. He was carrying an elaborate salad in one of his bandaged hands. "Breakfast has been prepared, my lady," he announced, presenting the bowl of chopped vegetables to his wife as though serving a queen.
Sonia giggled, her pale, pristine skin flushing slightly. "Hello Gundham. You're here just in time!" She raised her arm heroically. "Little Okosan is having a bit of a problem with his plumage."
Gundham's eyes widened dramatically as he whirled toward Himiko. "Present the creature to me!" he demanded.
Despite his intimidating demeanor, Himiko giggled as she held the bird out to him. Okosan seemed to feel the same way. His disgruntled expression gave way to one of curiosity as he hopped into Gundham's open hands. "Nyeh, he already likes you!"
The old man nodded, looking satisfied. "Many creatures possess an inherent sense for those who mean no harm," he explained. He held Okosan up to his face with surprising tenderness. "You shall be returned to your companion soon enough, beast of the skies."
" Finally , someone shows Lord Pudi the respect he deserves!" Kokichi nodded his approval.
Gundham set Okosan gently on the table. He pulled a black, leather case from the pocket of his long coat, and placed it beside his patient. He unzipped it and laid it open, revealing a series of miniature grooming implements, ranging from tiny nail clippers and files, to a brush with a head the size of a coin. After selecting a pair of sharp, precise scissors, he got to work examining the bird's affected talons.
As Gundham trimmed the feathers with impressive care and dexterity, Okosan uttered soft coos, as though comforting himself. The old man nodded, as though listening intently. "Okosan wishes to express his gratitude to the one known as 'Himiko' for her care and attentiveness through his plight."
Himiko's brown eyes sparkled. "Nyeh, really?"
"Ooh! Heyyyy Gundham! Ask him who his favorite is!" Kokichi demanded excitedly.
"Do not project your petty human competitions onto a creature in distress!" Gundham snapped, causing Okosan to flutter his wings in surprise.
" Fineee ," Kokichi whined. "I'm still pretty sure I'm his second-favorite, though. I guess he likes Himiko more."
Finally, Gundham sat back in his chair with a sigh. "The operation is complete," he announced. He lifted Okosan into his arms and faced the group. "Now! You shall all follow me, to witness the rebirth of your familiar!"
Kokichi and Himiko obeyed with childlike excitement, scurrying out the door after the old man. Kaito, Shuichi, Kiibo, and Maki exchanged curious glances before joining them. Sonia followed them out, smiling pleasantly.
Once outside, in the clearing behind the hotel that was obscured by a line of trees, everyone gathered around Gundham. He was speaking to the bird in hushed, urgent tones. Finally, he spun to face the group, grinning intensely. "Your time has come!" he bellowed. "Like the mighty phoenix from the ashes! Young Okosan, reclaim your rightful place above us all!"
With a flourish, he tossed the bird into the air. There was a chorus of gasps as he started to fall, but the gasps morphed into cheers as Okosan spread his wings and flew in several large circles. The pure white form, gleaming in the morning sunlight, was the perfect representation of freedom. It was as though their source of hope had been pulled down to the ground, waiting for permission to fly freely once again. 'Rebirth' truly was the perfect word for the feeling.
Gundham nodded reverently as Okosan descended and landed deftly in Kokichi's hair. "Even the most majestic of creatures can grow accustomed to its own limitations, and may need assistance in restoring its capabilities. I appreciate the opportunity to assist."
Sonia's eyes sparkled with admiration. "Gundham! You're a hero!"
Himiko nodded excitedly, tears in her eyes. "Nyeh, thank you!"
The old man blushed deeply and looked away, subtly pulling up his scarf. "Yes, well," he cleared his throat. "I'll be glad to assist whenever needed."
Kokichi laughed as he carefully picked up Okosan from his head and held him close. "See Keeboy? We didn't need lasers ." He leered at Kiibo's hurt expression. "But I guess we can trust you to keep making us breakfast."