Here is where all the story segments for Tweedledraws' Hallowink will be placed, hopefully updated in as daily a manner as possible.
One – Autumn
A cold breeze sways the leaves on the trees, making them fall to the ground below. Fall is fast approaching, and the view from where I’m having my lunch is beautiful. I’m having some ramen and soda to warm up such a nice and cool sunset. The leaves scatter on the ground dotting a warm hue onto the gray concrete of the-
“Hey!” Ryu calls me out, pointing a rake at me. “I know you’re enjoying the view from there, but I’m not, so if you can please stop looking at me like that.”
Then he returns to raking the leaves. So much for all that.
Dos – Stitches
“You guys have never seen my scar before?” I ask the trio sitting next to me as we kill some time before they perform on stage.
“Keisuke’s told me you have one hiding under your choker.” Takahiro answers. “We didn’t exactly believe him.”
I give Keisuke a look, and he subtly nods back. Guess it’s time to show the other two something they won’t forget. “Sure, I can show it to you.”
Without so much as a warning, I take my head off, surprising both Juro and Takahiro, while Keisuke tries to stifle his laughter. Still trying to deadpan it, I take off my choker and reattach my head, my scar now in full view.
“You could’ve warned us!” Juro punches Keisuke in the arm. “I won’t be able to unsee that shit now.” He looks at my neck and visibly winces. Takahiro reacts the same.
“And that’s where it, er, separates?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would you hide that, though? Scars always look cool.”
“It sticks out too much for me, and I don’t really want a constant reminder of… what happened to me.”
“You weren’t always like that?!” Juro’s eyes widen.
“No, and I was just as surprised as you are when I found out.” I do the same process but for wearing my choker.
Trois – Mask
I step out of my apartment building, already dressed for the occasion. Two kids in costumes standing by the sidewalk take notice of me.
“Nice costume, sir.” One of them comments. Taking a better look at the two I notice they’re both wearing costume masks.
“Thanks, and so are yours.” I reply with a smile. “And those masks look great, just like mine.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s on me. Look.” I lay my hands on my face like and pull my head off like it’s actually a mask.
“Aaaaaaah!” The two back off a bit. The other one pulls up his mask and sputters, “Is that really your head?
“It is.”
“That’s the most realistic headless horseman costume I’ve seen!”
“Thanks,” I reattach my head.
“How did you do that? It looked so real”
“It’s a secret, it’s better off a secret at least.” I pause a bit with a smirk. “And it is real.” I take my head off, holding out my head with one hand.
Their faces turn pale yet they still look fascinated. Someone from the corner seems to call them out, and immediately I put myself pack in one piece. “See you later, mister!” They run to their group.
I look at them go with a smile and start walking to my destination.
ארבע – Forest
“Ready… action!”
Renji enters the frame. “Okay guys, we’re in this forest where people say an angry spirit lives. There are rumors that the spirit of a man whose head was sliced off during the Meiji era appears on this exact spot here.”
The man behind the camera, Kyotaro, responds, “Do you really believe that crap? You didn’t tell me about this when you asked me to be your cameraman.”
“But they say it’s true, there’s even video of it…”
With that being my cue, I appear from the tree I’m hiding behind, carrying my head around my arm, and start approaching the two.
“Wh-What’s that behind you?”
“Huh?” Renji turns to me, screams, and throws a rock over me as rehearsed. What wasn’t rehearsed was the rock hitting a different tree, disturbing a beehive and angering its tenants. The bees swarm for us and we start bucking it.
The recording ends.
-----
“We’re fortunate we didn’t get stung or anything.” I say, while we get our bearings together inside a convenience store.
“What are we going to submit now?” Renji shakes his head.
“Did it record?”
“I think it did.” He checks his phone, and sure enough the entire gaff is on video. We can’t help but laugh in the end.
“Yeah,” Kyotaro says, “that’s what we should submit!”
“Are you serious?”
“We can’t let this go to waste, with only two days left we can’t do a retake, so send it!”
-----
At the end of the school film festival, the trio’s short video wasn’t exactly critically acclaimed, but it did get a special prize.
ห้า – Undead
Another recording session has ended, and while everyone else starts cleaning up for the day, the three young idols pack up. Takahiro starts a conversation.
“Keisuke,” He opens, “one of your teachers is Jun Kakuji, right?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“I found this old story about him; apparently he survived an accident in his high school.”
“What?” Juro butts in, looking at the article on Takahiro’s phone screen. “Hey, that’s Keisuke’s teacher… wait… he got WHAT?!”
“Apparently so. But he survived, in one piece. Then there are the stories about him being able to remove his head.”
“Unless he’s actually a zombie or whatever that can’t be true. Right, Keisuke?”
“Uh,” He shifts his gaze. “Taka’s right, I’ve seen him do just that.”
“Really now, have you seen him do, that?”
“He’s known in school for exactly that ability.”
Juro’s face remains ever doubtful. “If he can really do what you say he does, why isn’t he, I dunno, famous?”
“He hated the attention back then, he tells us.”
“I want to see it for myself. Our next Halloween gig is the one by Gyokusho’s hosting, yeah?”
Keisuke nods.
“Let’s invite Kakuji over backstage, then we’ll see it for ourselves.”
“I prefer it when your scar’s showing.”
“Really?” I smile a bit. “So if you had a scar like this you’d show it off?”
“Definitely, not sure about the head thing, though.”
“Why not?” I tease him a bit.
“Think of it this way, Juro,” Keisuke chimes in, “you can do the same thing Kakuji-sensei did to you.”
“Won’t I scare my fans off?”
“On second thought, it’s not a great idea to make your head a piece of memorabilia.”
Sechs – Candy
Before the park event starts Yu, Akashi and I scour the places around the area for anyone willing to give some treats. As the venue is a bit far from town, the people mostly likely won’t know about my detachability.
“Here’s the plan,” I start out. “So you’re going as-“
“A Giants batter.” Yu answers.
“Then you’re a Tigers batter. Why must I have the fanciest getup? So there’s this stretch of stores around the venue that we can start with, then we just work outward from there.”
“Are we going for it as a team? It’s a heavy mismatch.”
“Don’t remind me, but if you want, you two can go while I fly solo; I’ll still have a free hand to hold a basket.”
“Let’s go with that.”
“And no baseball bats.”
With everyone dressed up, we start collecting ourselves some goodies. My trek around town as the horseman catches everyone’s attention, especially when they look at my head around my arm. I get so much goodies that when my basket got full at a cake shop, the manager handed me a paper bag with a small cake inside it.
“How come you get cake?” Akashi exclaims as I pull said cake out as we start pooling what we have, finishing off with pouring all the candy out. “And how come you get more?!”
“We all get a share, even with the cake.” The contents almost spill off the tray the fast food place has for our orders. “Let’s see what you guys managed to get.”
Yu pours out his paper bag, half-filled with candy. Akashi’s bucket seems full, but the way he strains out the candy, hand inside and all, is unusual.
“Can’t you just take those out first?”
He does, he pulls out a handful of baseballs.
“Where the heck did you get those?”
He points to a spot from afar.
“That’s Tokyo Dome, don’t tell me you barged into there and got those in the middle of a game.”
“But that’s what I did.”
“How in the…” I decide not to bother. I take one of the baseballs. “Wait, these are signed. You’re probably the one with the better haul here.”
“You’re not getting any of those.”
“Like I can eat this anyway.”
Επτά – Lantern
“Hello?”
“Hey, Ryu! Just in time, I just finished cutting these lanterns you ordered.”
“Thanks, let’s see…” He looks at one stretched out on a vice.
“I’m sketching the writing you want, but are you serious about the other sides?”
“Other sides? You mean the designs at the back?”
“These jack-o-lantern faces, I don’t think I could do both in one lantern.”
“In what sense?”
“The carved faces are too wide and the calligraphy is too tall.”
“Couldn’t you have tried a more, uh, square lantern?”
“That… didn’t work. It looked horrible on an andon.”
“Of course. When will they be done?”
“Is Thursday fine for you?”
“Yeah, just before October.”
-----
“Nice display you have there.” Is the first thing I say to Ryu as I visit his restaurant. “But isn’t it fall already? Why do you have an entire summer festival on there?
“You’ll see.”
I hang out a bit, along with the team I’m tutoring games with, then I notice Ryu walking toward the display.
“Everyone,” He calls on. With all of us watching, he tugs on a rope and his summer diorama quickly turns into a spooky one.
“What do you guys think?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty great.” I nod. “Funny-looking pumpkins, though.”
“It worked, Jun. It worked. By the way, I just finished making the karaage you guys ordered.” He gets back into the kitchen and comes out with the food, the chicken in an unusual bowl.
“Why is the chicken in an andon?”
“Reject.”
Oito – Spider
“As a little prank, I put a fake spider in these boxes before giving them to our teachers.”
“How did it go, Renji?”
“Well:
Mikoshiba-sensei immediately threw everything to the ground when he saw the spider.
Maejima-sensei flicked the toy off the box after opening.
Gyokusho-sensei just left the box on his desk before going back to what he was doing.”
“Lame. But what about Kakuji-sensei?”
“Oh yeah, I was about to get to that. He did open it, flinched, then after a while he picked up the spider, but Maejima-sensei grabbed it, snuck behind Gyokusho-sensei and dropped it under his jacket. There he is.”
“I’m going to get you for this, Yusei!”
Naŭ – Coffin
“This looks comfy.”
“It looks a bit stiff, don’t you think.”
“It looks comfier than my bed, that’s for sure.”
“Your bed’s certainly bigger.”
“I sleep alone, Jun, something this small isn’t a big change in my eyes.”
“You’re walled in when you sleep on that, though.”
“All the more peaceful, no one’s gonna disturb me when I sleep on this.”
“Sure, but these things are only meant to be used once, you know.”
“Not if someone like me uses it. There he is now, we’ve been waiting for you, Ryu.”
“I had some unexpected matters on my way, Yusei. Say, what’s that you’re looking at- you two have been talking like that about a casket?”
Sampu – Headless
Oh look, the prompt says headless, and I have a character who’s technically headless. You’d think I’d have a field day with this one, right? That’s the thing, though: I can’t think of anything. Oh woe is me, the very prompt added to this roster partly thanks to me, and I can’t even dedicate anything for it! For thirty other prompts I write a scene featuring my characters while for this one the best I can give is this little rant by the author, pathetic little thing that I am. Imagine that, the headless prompt doesn’t even feature the headless guy, terrible.
Одиннадцать – Wings
With one last finishing touch, the three boys finally finish a project they’ve been working on for a few days.
“All we have to do now is to bring this to the mall tomorrow.” Renji marvels at the rig they’ve made.
“Isn’t it next week?” Michio scratches his head.
“It’s tomorrow.”
“Shit, how are we gonna bring this?”
“There’s only one way now, the train.”
“Will they even allow this?” Kyotaro asks as he wipes his brow.
“Yes.” Answers Renji. “Let’s hope it’s not crowded by then.”
Michio brings the prop wings to the train station the next day.
“Oh, it didn’t fall apart.” Kyotaro says mildly surprised. “Where’s the place, anyway?”
“It’s just outside… here.”
“Oh no…” Michio sighs.
“The less we complain, the faster we’ll get there, let’s move.” Kyotaro says and the three move out.
They carry their large piece of luggage together as they walk single file to the turnstile, now they have to find a way to carry it through the train doors. With the train arriving, they have little time to plan anything and instead they just go for it as best as they can. Renji enters first, while the other two carry the prop into the train. No one else in the train dare ask for the duration of the journey.
More awkward carrying after reaching their station and it’s only a matter of walking to the mall, then into the events place.
“Keisuke!” The three finally arrive.
“Guys!” He giddily welcomes them. “Just in time. Is it working?”
“I’ll have to assemble the rest of it first.” Renji adds the folded extensions. “There.”
“All that’s left is to put it on me.” Luckily fitting the rig onto Keisuke is only a one-man job. “Perfect, we’re up next so thank goodness you made it!”
“No problem!” Kyotaro says as Keisuke prepares to get on stage.
The three boys then head to a spot where they can watch the performance.
“Good thing we don’t have to bring the thing back home.”
“Of course you’d say that, Kyota.” Says Michio.
Dece-duo – Doll
Circumstances led me to watching Akashi pick a bag big enough for me to fit. Disassembled.
“This one should work.” He lugs out a suitcase.
“Looks like I can even fit in there without trying.”
“Yeah, but it’d be great if it were smaller, then again you’re not light luggage.”
“Alright, skinny boy, if this is the best we have then I’ll go with it.”
"Nice, now all we gotta do is find a way to put you in here. Do you want me to get you something else to change into for this?”
“So first we… oh man.”
“Anything wrong?”
“I just realized, I’ve mostly seen you take your head off. How far can you take yourself apart?”
“Not too far, really. I can obviously do this.” I take my head off and set it on a chair. “Then I can do this.” I sit on the couch, split myself in half, then fully disassemble my lower limbs. “Finally my arms, starting with this.” I detach my left hand, “then here and here.” Next to go are my forearm and the remaining part also goes. “Same goes for my left, but you should probably do the honors.”
“Wow, that ain’t few.” He says as he finishes off with my left arm. “Maybe the legs go at the bottom…”
After a couple of hours of cramming and forgetting that he’s dealing with a human, Akashi finds an arrangement that works. He reassembles me after all that, with some help from me.
“Before we do this tomorrow, I only want to ask one thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Do I have to be shirtless for this?”
“Just for you, no.”
The next day, Akashi, with me being luggage, arrives at wherever it is he’s thinking of doing this skit. He’ll mostly do all the work, all I have to do is pretend I’m not alive.
After some turbulence and whatever else, he opens the suitcase, and on the spot starts assembling me. Even with what seems to be a good number of people watching I have to pretend I do not see. Once I feel that I’m fully whole, that’s where I open my eyes and clothe myself as quickly as I can.
The crowd’s astonished, but I could muster a polite bow before signalling Akashi to bail.
“You did pretty great.”
“Being in that suitcase was one of the weirdest things I had to experience.”
“Says the guy I just assembled a while ago.”
“And you put my hands on backwards.”
“Give me a break, I’m not good with assembling fake people, let alone real ones.”
ᓂᐢᑐᓵᑊ - Chainsaw
The school’s field has a few trees around its perimeter, from time to time they need some trimming and when classes are over maintenance folks do the noisy hedge work.
Watching over baseball practice for someone who had to deal with a different matter, I spend the time doing that and planning the next lessons.
Ryu approaches me. “Here are the grades you’re asking for.”
“Thanks.”
“Why are you here, anyway?”
“Coach had to do something. Oh, they’re about to start trimming the tree again.”
The machine revs up and during this loud interim I notice one of the guards waving at us. By the time everything is silent again I speak up.
“What is it?”
“Someone’s looking for Gyokusho.”
“Who is it?” Ryu takes it from there.
“He says he’s your sister’s boyfriend.”
Silence, then Ryu goes close to the workers by the tree and grabs the chainsaw. “Yeah, I’ll talk to him.”
“What are you- stop it!” I yell as everyone within ten meters tries to disarm him.
Fjorton – Tarot
“Cool deck of cards you got there.”
“Finally got it from a pal who promised me he’ll bring me some stuff from his travels.”
“These are bigger than the ones I used to play with.”
“I almost forgot you used to do tricks, can you try something with this?”
“Darn these are hard to handle.” I try to fit the deck in my hand, a hard task. “Okay, pick a card.”
He cooperates through the whole routine. “Struggling a bit?”
“Yeah, that’s the best one I can do with this. What do you play with these?”
“I found some games on the internet, but I need at least two more, and you know what that means.”
A few days pass until the usual four are in one place; we decide to eat out by the park.
“I got some new stuff from a friend, including this.” He shows the cards.
“Those look familiar, you’re fortune-telling now?” Akashi asks.
“No, and they’re not those kinds of cards.” He shakes his head.
“Tell me what my fortune’s gonna be.”
“All I’m predicting is pain from me beating you guys in this game.”
Dek-e-kin – Crystals
“Do you have any other earrings?”
“A few, I really only use this one pair, though.”
“You should wear something else for this new getup.”
“There’s nothing wrong with this one, though.”
“You gotta change things up a bit, Jun, especially with something like this.”
“You don’t say that when I wear my other- oh wait, that gives me an idea.” I disappear into my room and return with a box. “How can I forget about these?”
“Huh?”
“I bought and wore these earrings on my first anniversary date with Kasumi,” I take out the stud earrings. “They’re emerald, so I don’t want to hear about it being the wrong color or anything.”
“I guess, sure.”
I change my earrings and look at the nearest mirror from where I’m standing. “It doesn’t even look obvious.”
Someone knocks on the door, and I’m the one to open it.
“Jun!”
“Hey, Kasumi.” I rub the side of my neck. “Didn’t expect you to drop by.”
“I have some chocolate cake I made.” She shows the box with a transparent lid for the cake. “Oh, you’re wearing those earrings.”
“Yeah, Akashi here suggested I wear something different for this costume.”
“Is that a new one?”
“No, it’s been a while since I last wore this, though.”
“Hmmm,” She tilts her head a bit. “You looked better in that suit, to be honest.”
“I didn’t expect I could use that horseman costume for that date, you know.”
“What’s wrong with what he’s wearing, doesn’t he also look dateable in it?” Akashi interjects.
“Well, it’s not really something one should wear on a date.”
“Okay, but doesn’t he look great in it anyway? Heck, he’s already got some features on display-.” Akashi gets an elbow from me.
“You do have a point, though, but I’d rather not comment.” She giggles a bit.
ᖁᓕᑦ ᐱᖓᓲᔪᕐᑐᓪᓗ - Cat
Walking across the school bleachers I notice a cat following beside me, walking across the seats. I stop and turn around, to see it looking at me. I crouch down a bit, and try to pat it; to my surprise the cat accepts my proposition. I withdraw my hand, thinking it’s over, but it seems that the cat did not like me stopping as it suddenly lunges at my face, and a bit of a scuffle ensues that ends with me toppling to the ground on my back. The cat stops after scaring itself from accidentally detaching my head.
Cats are weird.
Sytten – Raven
“And here is the rooftop.” I show Kasumi the rather unassuming rooftop as we finish our upstairs climb. “It’s not much for now, though I think they’ll place at least a store here.”
The sun is setting, and Kasumi notices it of all things. “The view of the city from here is nice, just look at the horizon.”
“You think so? I’ve never really been here often.”
A few birds land on one of the tables.
“Look at those ravens, Jun.”
“I didn’t expect to see crows at this part of town.” An idea comes into mind. “Wait, let me try something.”
I approach the small group, find one that catches my attention, and after a few attempts, I have it on the palm of my hand.
“Wow, how did you do that?” She says as I come back with the bird for her to admire better.
“Must be a regular.” I point to the ribbon on its leg.
Tetëmbëdhjetë – Carnival
Back in my college days, I was slowly getting used to my detachability, and while I was not as casual about it as today I didn’t hide it either. That brings us to that one incident.
“Since we’re here anyway let’s have a bit of a bet while we’re at it.” A friend dared me when we were visiting a small theme park. “500 yen for who can stay that haunted house the longest.”
“Deal.” I said, not minding that that’s also why my ears have holes in them now. “Who goes first?”
“I’ll do it, since you sound like you’re stalling.” He disappeared into the attraction that practically no one is in line for. While I waited I had some takoyaki from a nearby stall.
At about 20 minutes, he returned, rather shaken but smug. “Your turn.”
Something about not looking like a coward compelled me to get in there anyway. The dimly-lit interior while adding to the scariness was also a pain to traverse through. So while I tried to brave through the scares I kept checking whether I’d hit something.
And something did. I missed a low clearing and hit my head on it, sending it off my neck to the floor. It wasn’t too long until I found it, but I almost lost it when an employee appeared.
“Who dares enter- what the-” She stared at the head in my hands. “Ack!”
“Hey, you went off-script, what’s wrong?” An operator went in to me just about to put my head on. He turned on a switch, and everyone within eyeshot stared at me.
I somehow cleared the place before I can reattach my head. I exited, my friend staring in awe as to what happened.
“You owe me 500.” I extend a hand.
“Sure, but you owe them an explanation.” He points to the staff looking at me in trepidation.
उन्नीस – Beast
“Wow, that sounds terrifying!” A student says while they hang around the park’s sanctioned bonfire.
“I bet you can’t find anything scarier than that.” Kyotaro says with a smile.
“I can.”
“Mikoshiba-sensei, um,” he stammers in surprise. “were you listening to us?”
“Yeah, and while your large wolf-thingy’s one scary creature, it’s got nothing on what I actually dealt with personally.”
“You’ve seen something worse?” Asks Renji.
“Yeah, and I kept having to confront this creature on a regular basis.”
“Wow, it sounds like you even saw it face-to-face.”
“Even fought it, always ended in injuries.”
“Why do you keep fighting with it? Is it strong?”
“Oh this thing can hurt, and it wasn’t easy to vanquish this enemy I had the misfortune of meeting.”
“What’s it called, then?”
“My ex.” Akashi’s face turns somber. “Watch out for shapeshifters, guys, they’ll hurt you.”
Dua puluh – Fairy
The stage stands on the field, plain as ever.
“So who won this design contest again?”
“3-A.”
“That’s enough talking, we have to get this done before the week ends.”
With the other employees putting up stands that require more work, we teachers have this milder job at hand to deal with.
“Are you sure everything has been made for this?” I ask. “This plan looks rather elaborate.”
“I’m sure it has, all we’re supposed to do is assemble everything into the stage.”
One of the pieces needs to be placed at a rather high part of the wall backing the stage. As expected, someone approaches me about it.
“Can you put this over there? All the ladders are used.”
There’s no need to guess what I’m supposed to do, even if I hate doing it when I’m wearing my usual sweater. “How high should it be?” I detach my left arm at the shoulder in preparation.
“Right above there, they’ll stick out above the edge of the wall.” He gives me the first piece to place.
“What the heck’s the theme of this thing, anyway?” I ask while I hold a cardboard cutout of a fairy in mech armor with my left hand, which is then what my right hand is holding.
“Some sort of fantasy futurepunk, that’s literally what the description said.”
“It’s definitely something else.” I say as I place the cutout to the spot until the guy stops adjusting. This continues on until a ladder becomes available for use.
“Thanks for the help.”
“No problem, I’ll just go for a bit to put this arm back on.”
The stage is eventually complete, with a lot of elements jutting out beyond the limits.
“Not bad, the place just stands out, don’t you think?” I say.
“Just imagine what 3-A would do if they had the entire field to themselves.” Ryu comments.
Eenentwintig – Monster
“So,” Someone approaches me while I tidy up my costume backstage. “Do you count as a monster boy?”
“A what?”
“It’s, um, those men who aren’t exactly human… like that trending anime. You can do that thing with your head, right?”
“I do, so?”
“How does that not stop qualifying you as human?”
“I didn’t die; I think that’s enough to count.”
“But humans can’t be headless without dying, can they?”
“Do I look like undead to you?”
“No. My point still holds, though.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m human, even with the weird thing I can do.”
“So, what do the girls think about it?”
“It’s a mixed bag, but generally terrified.”
“That’s a surprise, you don’t look too shabby and you’re so nice.”
“Thanks, but I guess that’s just how it goes for me.”
“Hey Aki,” Ryu comes into the scene. “The guys at the restaurant need your help.”
“Yessir.” She leaves. “See you again, monster guy.”
“Let me guess, she asked about what you are?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t mind it, she’s played a few too many otome games, I’m guessing she’s luckier in those than in real life.”
二十二番 – Eyes
“Has anyone ever told you how lovely your eyes are?” Kasumi speaks up as we wait for our food to arrive.
“No, I don’t even think I’ve heard anyone else but you say that.”
“Well, I guess it’s easy for me to say that, since I can just do this.” She places her hands on my head and takes it off. “Now I can take a closer look.”
“You really enjoy holding my head, huh?” I smile as she holds my head at eye level.
“I just find it cute.” She hands it back to me.
“Yours are also pretty.”
“How sure am I that you haven’t said that to someone else before?” She says jokingly.
“I never had the chance to say it, once my head came off that’s usually where interaction ended.”
“Alright, I believe you.”
இருபத்தி மூன்று – Ghost
Evening. Amakusa is desolate at this time, but its peace is about to be disturbed by a group of teenagers armed with flashlights.
“Did you really have to bring those two with you, Keisuke?” Renji asks once they arrive at the meeting place.
“They wanted to join and aren’t taking no for an answer.”
“I’m surprised you don’t have a cameraman with you.” Kyotaro snickers.
“So what’s gonna happen?” Juro says with crossed arms.
“Hunt for ghosts.” Renji answers.
“Makes perfect sense. How are we gonna do it?”
“I have a list of places on my phone where they say you can find the spirits. We should start with those.”
The six boys sneak through the unguarded entrance with no issues, and the limited lighting around the school combined with the cold winds add to the scary aura the boys are looking for. After a few searches with mixed results, Renji suggests they go inside the faculty room.
“Are you crazy? The place is locked!” Kyotaro exclaims in a whisper
“Doesn’t hurt to try, right? Let’s do it.” And off Renji goes. The rest can’t help but follow.
The door is ajar, and through the opening they notice a soft light glowing.
Slowly they open the door and point a light to the source. Someone yelps.
“Who the heck is that?” The man appears, dazed and staring at the shocked teens.
“Maejima-sensei?” The three students shout.
“Do I have to guess what you guys are up to?” Yusei sleepily asks.
Kaksikymmentäneljä – Pumpkin
“So the October special is soup?”
“It’s all I could offer, Yusei. I don’t need a lot on the menu.”
“Fine, we’ll try that.”
While we wait for that order to come, I overhear a table nearby.
“Oh, can you spice this up a bit more?”
“That’s going to be a lot, no?”
“To me it just a bit bland, I can’t believe you can taste anything in that.”
“It’s probably just you, this is pretty average for pumpkin soup.”
“Let me just check this message I got.” The guy looks at his phone just as the soup returns. He places his phone down, brings the bowl closer and returns to his texts, but a slight slip brings the phone down into the soup. As a reflex the guy quickly tries to salvage his phone.
“There, that should add flavor to your meal.”
Dudes-sinco – Fangs
“So consider this,” Akashi tells the small crowd. “You know how vampires bite the necks of their victims? Like, is that even possible?”
“What are you getting at?” I intercede for the confused.
“I’m gonna show here how much bite is needed to achieve that.”
“If you were doing this in class we’d be investigated in no time.” I comment. “How did you get those teeth?”
“I scoured dental suppliers, how else? So here’s the average mouth, the control. We’re going to make this thing bite to this thing here.” He does the first bite. “See, this one can’t even do it without going for the big bite.”
“You convinced a denture maker to carve you new teeth for this.”
“They said they were fine with it. Just look at this one.” He pulls out a false set of teeth that look like a prop.
“That’s actually pretty cool.”
“If things go well, this would go through the cavity I put in this jelly.” He does another bite, and it looks just like in the movies. “Of course, this is no longer within human range. Now who wants to see the ridiculous ones?”
ستة و عشرون – Potion
While Ryu’s place is doing well with the amount of customers enjoying their time, it does lack a little something, or at least that’s what Ryu thinks as he brings out some bottles on his counter.
“The sun hasn’t even set.” I comment as he clears out an area at the counter.
“I’m not planning on emptying these in one night. Don’t worry.” He starts doling out proportions into the shaker.
“How did you learn that?”
“Youtube. You can find almost anything there.”
Eventually some patrons notice and approach the stall.
“What’s that you’re making?” One asks.
“A rum and cola. Want some?”
“Make that two.”
“Can I request something from ya?” Akashi asks after a while. “Can you do a Bloody Mary?”
“Sure, I’ll even make it special for you.” Ryu disappears for a bit. “Could you put these in the blender for me, Jun?”
“Special? What’s he gonna add?”
“Beats me, I don’t drink.” I say while loading the blender.
Ryu comes back with a bowl. “Let’s add this ramen soup to the mix.”
“What the hell, man?!” Akashi flinches.
“It’s great, trust me.”
Dwadzieścia siedem – Clockwork
For his birthday, Ryu receives an interesting gift.
“I made you this clock.” Akashi shows him the automaton.
“You made this yourself?”
“I bought the movement, but I built the stuff around it from scratch.”
“Stuff around it?”
“Press the button.”
And he does. Safe to say the reception to the small performance isn’t raving. Ryu leaves and returns with a hammer.
“At least this will be good for spare parts.”
“No fair, man!”
스물 여덟– Full moon
As with every date, I spend the approaching night together with Kasumi as we stroll through the markets downtown. After a while, though, we grow tired of walking around and settle on a bench at a plaza.
“You sure did enjoy yourself.” I say while I pull out the items I bought.
“Why, did you not?” She pouts.
“I did, I even bought a new shirt in a while.”
“Is this how you make sure you have enough money for our dates?” She asks with a slight giggle.
“I don’t want to cheapen our dates.” I answer.
“It’s fine, you don’t have to be too hard on yourself for me.” She looks up. “Oh, look at the sky right now!”
I look up, it’s a lunar eclipse. “The shadow’s about to start covering the moon, let’s go somewhere higher.”
The closest highest point we can find is an office building offering its rooftop to viewers who are way more prepare about this than we are. So far only a few enthusiasts have started preparing to watch.
“Maybe I should have bought a telescope for this.” I comment.
Քսանինը – Bones
“Hey, what’s that bump over here?” A student notices something on the field just as staff prepares to mark the baseball field.
Another student steps on it, and the mound doesn’t budge.
“Can you please dig this part here?”
The employee armed with a shovel does so and finds an otherwise shallow grave of bones. Everyone is concerned about it.
“Did we just dig up a grave?” The first student asks.
The employee picks up a bone. “I don’t think so, this is a cow leg, so is every other one in the pit.”
Out of nowhere a dog appears and snatches the bone from the guy’s hands and puts it back into the pit.
“I think we found his stash.”
Harminc – Fright
Getting used to suddenly being able to detach was not an easy thing, after all the mere idea that you can literally lose your head was not a situation I want to see myself deal with in public.
But on my way home from school one time I saw some new food stalls around the stores and went there for a snack. As I was close I tripped and landed to the ground forward, my head popping off onto the sidewalk. As fast as I could I picked my head up and as I stood up a couple of strangers saw me cradle my head. They stepped back before quickly walking away from me.
All I could do was stare as I slowly reattach my head.
Enogtredivte - Costume
Wearing my horseman getup, I judge some students joining the costume contest along with a few other teachers sharing a table.
“This is making me feel so old.” I say as I try to make heads or tails with the names on the roster.
“Do you even watch anime?” Yu says.
“Of course I do, but none of these titles are familiar.”
“Don’t worry too much about it.”
Keisuke comes in with his cosplay.
“And who are you dressed up as?” I ask.
“A mage in Battle for Limonia.”
“Is that a new one?”
“Yes.”
“I can vaguely remember the game before that.”
Keisuke is still showing off when a different student approaches.
“And your costume is…?” One of the teachers asks.
“Kakuji-sensei.” He answers. “I couldn’t do the head part, though.”
I find myself laughing at that. “Don’t even try.”
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