Published at 31st of August 2019 2:16 am

SPECIAL BOOKLET, “A HALLOWEEN THAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED”

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“A Halloween That Might Have Happened”

A certain day in October, in a room of the campus dormitories bathed in the warm sunlight streaming in.

“So…it’s time for that Western holiday of fanciful dress again, huh…”

At these words from Yatogami Kuroh, Isana Yashiro corrected him with a bemused laugh, “Yeah, but most people these days would just call it ‘Halloween’.”

“That does bring back pleasant memories…” Kuroh didn’t seem to be paying Yashiro one whit of attention, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head back as he stared up at the ceiling. He squinted, as if drifting back through memory to the days of yore. “Ichigen-sama was extremely fond of this day, you see; he celebrated this one day with such pomp once every year. It was a grand event, on par with Buddha’s Birthday, even.”

“Buddha’s Birthday?”

“What’s this?” Kuroh responded to his obvious confusion with no small bit of censure. “You mean to say you don’t even know Buddha’s Birthday? April 8th, of course. The day on which the Buddha was born.” Beneath the explanation came the unspoken accusation ‘and you call yourself Japanese?’

After falling silent for a moment, Yashiro amended, “No, I mean–well, I know of Buddha’s Birthday, of course–but that’s the sort of thing they usually celebrate at places like temples and such, right?”

Putting it rather overly simply, Buddha’s Birthday was akin to Christmas for Buddhists, but Yashiro was quite sure that the reason it lacked the notoriety of Christmas was because it wasn’t exactly the sort of holiday associated with families having feasts together or putting up decorations, and certainly there were no presents delivered by jolly old men in red suits. There were many ‘hooks’, as it were, available with Christmas making it a rather easy holiday to familiarize the masses with.

All Buddha’s Birthday had associated with it was some sweet hydrangea tea you might be treated to should you visit your local temple on that day.

But, he supposed, there were always exceptions.

“In the village I used to live in, the elderly would hold grand parties that lasted throughout the night, and Old Man Numaga would dress up like the God of Wealth and walk around passing out gifts to all the children.”

‘…Who the heck is “Old Man Numaga”?’ Yashiro wondered.

Kuroh released a sigh of longing. “Enjoying gamefowl stew and confections with everyone, the sight of the bamboo thickets illuminated with decorations… I’ll never forget it.”

Was that supposed to correspond to turkey and cake–and a fir tree? Yashiro felt like there was a lot off in this recollection. “Hey, Kuro…” he started, worry tinging his voice. “Have you…ever heard of this holiday called ‘Christmas’? It’s celebrated every year, around year’s end…”

Kuroh’s expression shifted to one of abject offense. “Are you mocking me? Who in this day and age in Japan could possibly not know what Christmas is? Although–” His expression clouded. “…I will admit that it’s not a holiday I celebrated much while with Ichigen-sama…” Yashiro waited for him to continue–and at length, he went on, tone somewhat oblique, “You see, the…senior apprentice wasn’t very fond of the holiday.”

Yashiro’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “‘Senior apprentice’? You mean you weren’t the only one studying under Ichigen-sama?”

“W–well, that is to say, he was like a senior apprentice.”

It was a rather evasive response, rare from Kuroh, and Yashiro’s curiosity was well and thoroughly piqued. “Mmm, I wonder what could’ve possibly been his reasoning for not liking Christmas…”

At this, Kuroh responded, “It seems he had some…relationship problems associated with it in the past. But well, he struck out on his own quite some time ago, so I can’t say I’ve ever heard the particulars.”

“I see…” Kuroh had shifted to face away to the side now, giving off an air that clearly begged Yashiro not to prod any further–an unspoken request with which Yashiro complied, sensitive to his feelings, but couldn’t help the way his curiosity rose when Kuroh added in a mumbled whisper he really was a strange man…

“Which reminds me–why did you bring up the Western holiday of fanciful dress in the first place?” at Kuroh’s unexpected shift in conversation, the door to their room burst open, and in piled Neko–decked out in a costume akin to a ‘nekomata’, a mythical twin-tailed monstrous feline.

“Nyaaa~!” Decked out in white Japanese-styled clothing, atop her head sat a headband decorated with fluffy cat ears, and the area around her eyes had been thoroughly shaded in. She had crooked her fingers into the shape of talons in an effort to appear more menacing and opened her mouth wide in an expression of, “WAH!” from behind Yashiro’s back.

While it was clear she’d been going for a rather classical monstrous feline look, the fit of her clothing was a bit off, and with her thighs bared for all to see and breasts starting to peek out, she didn’t give off an air of terror so much as sexiness.

“Well–Neko apparently found a bunch of costumes in the storeroom for the theatre club, and I thought it might be fun to try some of them on~” Yashiro explained with a grin, not bothering to turn around and take in Neko’s appearance.

After fixing a good three-second-long stare on Neko, Kuroh allowed, “…I see. That being the case, then, I could be convinced to go along with it.”

Neko pursed her lips, a bit miffed. “Kurosuke–you’re not scared of me?”

Kuroh fired back instantly, “This is hardly all that different from your usual attire.”

Neko just puffed out her cheeks in irritation, grumbling.

_______________________________________________________________

Kukuri was the first to catch wind that there was to be a Halloween party in Yashiro and Kuroh’s room, promptly announcing, “I’ll come too! You’re gonna cosplay and have fun, right?? It sounds like a blast! Let’s do it!!”

At this, Inaba stepped in with an assured expression, “Then that means I’ll have to join you as well.” She ran a quick glance over Kukuri–before seeming to slip into some imaginary fantasy and clapping her hands over her cheeks, flushing darkly.

Mishina piped up as well, throwing the group a thumb’s up and announcing his participation with strange phrasing: “Yeah~! Let’s get down!” It was clear both he and Inaba were merely tagging along in the hopes of catching Kukuri in cosplay, but neither Yashiro nor Kuroh could find any reason to turn them down, understanding that events such as this were more fun the more people participated.

On the appointed day, their room was grandly turned out, as Neko and Yashiro had been in charge of putting up decorations. Chattering giddily, they’d hung up Christmas tinsel and strung imitation New Year’s pine decorations they’d pilfered from the storeroom, utterly out-of-season decorations all over the place.

It wasn’t entirely clear whether or not Neko eve understood what exactly Halloween was in the first place, but Yashiro seemed to be enjoying the act of decorating as well as how happy Neko seemed with the work, regardless. They laughed and giggled between themselves, the very picture of a pair of close siblings as they dressed up the room.

In the kitchen, Kuroh was hard at work preparing the meal together with Kukuri. Scooping a bit of the broth up with a ladle, Kuroh brought it to his mouth for a quick taste-test. “Mm, I think the taste is coming along quite nicely.” He nodded to himself, mien serious. He had pumpkin simmering on the stove in a sweet, sugary broth, a dish he’d firmly sworn absolutely had to be enjoyed on this “Western holiday of fanciful dress”.

There was always the chance that Kuroh as well didn’t quite understand just what Halloween was in the first place. But he was also preparing sweet skewered rice dumplings, rice balls coated in sweet red beans, and sweet bean jelly, explaining, “Well surely we must have sweets on this holiday, yes?” Apparently he’d passed out such Japanese confections to neighborhood children before–together with a costumed Ichigen-sama.

While there were plenty of points to make snide commentary on here, before Inaba, Yashiro, or Mishina could pipe up, Kukuri chuckled, “That certainly sounds like it was a fun Halloween!” bringing the scene to a conclusion.

Kukuri, wearing a deep red apron over her school uniform, was standing at Kuroh’s side, peeking over his shoulder at his hands as they moved about the kitchen area and commenting in admiration, “You really are amazing, Kuro-kun! Your movements are so skilled!” Kukuri was no slouch in the kitchen herself, but Kuroh was just that much better, on par with professional chefs.

A smile grew on Kuroh’s lips, and he held out the ladle for her, seemingly suggesting she taste the broth as well. She took it and brought it to her lips. “Mm, delicious, Kuro-kun! As expected!” She tossed him a thumb’s up and winked. Kuroh gave a nod, satisfied.

With nothing to do themselves, Inaba and Mishina sat at the low tea table and watched this exchange. “…Don’t you kinda feel left out over here, Mishina-kun?”

“…Yeah, this is bad…!” he agreed, and the pair frowned worriedly at one another.

_______________________________________________________________

With the room finally decorated and the food prepared, it was now time to draw lots to decide who’d wear what costume, as suggested by Kukuri. They had, in total, six costumes counting those borrowed properly from the theatre club: a witch, a nekomata, a ghost, a black full-body skintight suit, a wall spirit, and a heavenly nymph.

The group were to draw lots for these costumes–and would have to wear whatever they drew, regardless of gender. Given the very real possibility that they might be forced to wear a costume meant for a girl, the boys initially were against the game but wound up being forced to participate by Kukuri, Neko, and Inaba, who were thoroughly enjoying themselves now.

Mishina and Yashiro eventually gave in amicably, chalking the situation up to part of the fun of having a party in the first place–leaving Kuroh alone still rather put-out.

The rules were simple–all of the costumes would be placed into separate bags so that the contents couldn’t be divined from the outside and labeled with a number using magic marker. Participants would then draw lots for these numbers, take their appropriate bag to the changing area, and return to the room in full regalia.

Kukuri prepared everything and then sat with her back to the room until it was her turn to draw lastly, leaving her unaware as to what the others were wearing until all had returned.

The first back to the room was Yashiro, dressed in the white kimono and triangle-shaped hood of a classical Japanese ghost. He’d managed to avoid having to dress in women’s clothing, and his costume wasn’t even all that much to tease about. He was about as safe as it was possible to be, all things considered. One could even go so far as to say that the costume suited his pale complexion.

The next to draw was Mishina–returning to the room dressed in the cloak and tricorne hat of a witch. He, too, had lucked out by drawing a rather reasonable outfit. Inaba was the third to return, and she took in the sight of the two boys before her, muttering, “…Well that‘s boring.” She herself had drawn the nekomata costume, and with the white robe draped over her body and cat ear headpiece, she looked quite cute–sexy, even.

“Aww, I wanted that one!” Neko moaned, the fourth to return, as she glanced at Inaba. She’d drawn the ‘skintight bodysuit’, the most monochrome piece in the lot, but with her superbly styled body and the fact that the bodysuit was a tad too small for her, the line from her breasts down to her legs was clearly visible to all, making for a rather lascivious image little better than her being completely nude, and Yashiro frantically scrambled to settle a blanket about her shoulders.

The fifth to return–exerting great effort to make her way through the door–was Kukuri, decked out in the costume of a wall spirit. Only her face could be seen sticking out of the center of the large, rectangular costume. “Th–this was a nightmare to put on!!” At this, a loud roar of laughter erupted from the group; even the way her slender legs, wrapped in white tights, jutted out from the bottom of the costume was funny.

“It’s so cute, though! You look adorable, Kukuri!” Inaba assured her, wiping away the tears of laughter from her eyes.

Yashiro as well was going to great lengths to hold back his laughter. “Y–yeah, it actually…looks really good on you.” Kukuri merely flushed and pursed her lips in irritation.

But the embarrassment Kukuri experienced here couldn’t even begin to compare with that aroused when Kuroh entered at last–as he was the only boy to have drawn a girl’s costume.

He entered draped in frilly layers of pink and orange cloth, wearing a long black wig, and at Kukuri’s insistence, had painted a red line across his lips using the lipstick included in the costume bag. Flushing darkly, he snapped, “D–don’t stare!”

But Kukuri’s and Inaba’s reaction was quite the opposite of that Kuroh had been expecting, and both girls began to cheer, “Oh my gosh, you look beautiful, Kuro-kun!!”

“Wow, you look amazing! Really! I think I’ll have to change my opinion of you, in more ways than one!” The pair positively bounced around him, eyes glittering as they drew in closer. Kuroh, however, decidedly unused to such excited attention, attempted to ease away.

Neko simply gaped in shock, and Mishina murmured to himself in a low voice, “Oh crap…that’s actually kind of…”

And Yashiro, seated alone with a strange half-smile on his features, merely delivered the comment he was expected to: “Gross!”

The group then enjoyed a delicious feast and played games, thus passing their Halloween night.

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