Doorway Accídentay

[The Day of the Halloween Party!]

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[Vampire] | “Hikariiiiiiiiii!!! How are you always so cute every time I see you~!”

“EEEK!” Heidi’s surprise hug from behind forced a high-pitched squeal out of Hikari. Her reaction was, in all honesty, surprisingly cute. “H-Heidiiiiiii… Stop squishing me…”

“Yeah, leave her alone, you bully.” Rush chuckled at his own underhanded comment. “She hardly looks any different today than when we last saw her a few days ago.”

“Rush, you’re no fun! And you didn’t even dress-up!”

“Didn’t feel like it.”

“Party pooper! If you’d put in even the slightest bit of effort, your silly, what’s it called, ‘Snor-Buddy’ outfit, or whatever, would’ve worked just fine! But you know… you’ll never beat Hikari in a battle of cuteness, especially if you’re competing against her infamous and overly adorable bunny sweater~”

“Y-You’re embarrassing me!”

“I wear that jacket for one day—” Rush didn’t dare finish his sentence and instead let out a long-winded sigh. “You’re never gonna let me hear the end of it, aren’tcha.”

“Nope~”

“Tch, great… Anyway, where the hell is everyone? They’re all late.”

“Nah, you two are just early. Last I heard, NZ and Cutie are changing into their costumes as we speak. As for the rest, I’ve got no idea! I’m not worried one bi—”

DA-NUN-DA-DA-NUN-DA-DA-NU-NUN-DA!!!

Heidi’s obnoxiously loud trumpet fanfare for a doorbell ring abruptly cut her off. Unfazed by the sudden outburst of sound, she happily ran over to her front door and opened it.

“Aha! Speak of the devil—ahem, I mean vampire! And lookie here! Frankenstein’s Monster’s come to play too!”

Heidi, dressed as a typical witch, was more than excited to be in the company of NZ and Cutie, who understood the assignment—unlike a certain someone—of properly dressing up for the Halloween party.

NZ’s costume consists of a fitted, black-and-orange, mixed-wrap mini dress with shoulder pads, adorned with a bat symbol on the chest, orange sleeves, black fingerless gloves, and a choker. This, without taking into account the outfit’s biggest feature, added a nice, dramatic flair that fit well with the spirit of Halloween. But to top it all off, primarily because this costume was designed by Cutie herself, large, glossy bat wings were integrated into each arm, expertly complementing her vampiric appearance.

Cutie, playing into this planned classical monster theme, is dressed in a patchwork Gambeson Tunic—reminiscent of a more fashionable take on Frankenstein’s Monster—which consists of a navy blue, turquoise, and light green color-scheme over a paler green undershirt. The top section of her tunic is adorned with bright, golden-yellow lacing, stylishly shining in the darkness. Dangling chains can be seen from where the tunic meets her ankles. The bottom of the undershirt and the edges of the open coat are purposefully tattered, adding to her undead appearance.

Cutie, getting even more into character, painted her hands, and face to have a contrasting green-yellow and grey color palette, while also including fake piercings to act as stitches. Her shining silver armbands, connected to the truncated cones around her wrists, emanate a stylish, holographic lightning bolt. Her patchwork, tricolored leggings—consisting of neutral, light, and dark grey, and midnight-black patches—appear to be attached to a pair of dark blue and grey boots.

All in all, the head count now totaled five. However, only three people—four, if you technically count Hikari—have dressed up so far.

“Ha ha ha! Dearest Heidi, you’re looking rather enchanting in that witch costume today! How your beauty remains unnoticed to the eyes of a certain dim-witted bonehead is certainly beyond me…” Rush responded to the latter half of Cutie’s provocation with a cold, harsh, tongue click, making direct eye contact with her the entire time. She had to suppress a small laugh before continuing her act. “Anyway, you may refer to me as ‘Franken-Cutie’ on this bone-chilling evening! With all that said and done, let’s get ready to party!”

“Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talkin about~!”

“Y-Yeah! What Cutie said! A-And you can c-c-call me—call me…”

“You can do it girl!” Cutie cheered NZ on as she ran over to where Rush and Hikari were, effectively abandoning her by the still-open doorway.

“I… You… VAMPIRE PRINCESS NZ IS MY NAME TONIGHT, AND DON’T YOU DARE FORGET IT!!! A-And, if you’re worrying about the blood, it’s fake; s-so don’t worry…”

No sooner had NZ gathered all her willpower to say a line—a rehearsed one, for that matter—as embarrassing and outlandish as that for her grand, dramatic entrance, than she was startled by the overlapping sounds of clapping and wolf-whistling from somewhere behind her.

She turned around—as a blushing mess, mind you—and saw Red, dressed up in some sort of stylized firefighting outfit with bright blue patches over the front leg, pelvis, wrists, and forearms. Exo, on the other hand, who, being cut from the same cloth as Red, dressed up as a dual-wielding swordsman clad in all black; save for the silver plate donned on the left side of his black trench coat. Both were obvious references to anime that NZ had never seen, but her main concern involved finding out the identity of whoever dared to try and cat-call her.

“Did… Did you guys see that?”

“See what? We were lost and just barely managed to get here. Were it not for Cutie’s earlier over-the-top announcement, we probably would’ve never found this place.”

“No way bro, don’t be lying.” Exo nudged Red’s right arm with his elbow and gave him a smirky grin. “We were here the entire time! And I’ve gotta say, NZ, you’re looking awfully sexy in that—”

NZ reflexively foot-dived straight for Exo’s face, having enough force to launch him through the iron bars of the front gate. Heidi, still at the door, burst out in a fit of laughter. Judging by how hard she was laughing, if this oddly hilarious and unnecessarily violent altercation continued any longer, she would essentially laugh herself to death.

In a way, such a fate befitted her.

It was weirdly appropriate, given that this is all happening on Halloween…

NZ, close to tears, shifted her angry gaze towards Red, who, naturally, took a cautionary step back away from her.

“Okay. Look. Yes, we did see—A-uh-uh! Chill and hear me out, okay? Compared to you and Cutie, Exo and I are just a couple of weebs dressing up as our favorite anime characters! Would I have known about the theme and how drop—” he gulped, “—dead… … …Ah shit, it’s all over for me isn’t it…”

He shifted his gaze toward the ground. After carefully considering his options, Red let out a sigh, looked NZ dead in the eye, and boldly told her the truth.

“Okay, here goes: The whistle was all Exo; there’s no doubt about that. However, while I may have clapped along in support of you, I—” He suddenly froze. “NZ, YOU LOOK SO HOT IN THAT VAMPIRE COSTU—OOOOMFPH!!!”

NZ, blushing so profusely to the point that she resembled a ripe tomato, held nothing back and unleashed a powerful uppercut on Red, the sheer display of strength far surpassing her earlier foot-dive against Exo. With the speed of a rocket, Red was sent flying into the air. But, as the saying goes: “What goes up, must come down.” And indeed, he did—crashing headfirst onto the grass below, opposite his dead friend. This scene was, once again, very fitting for Halloween…

“YOU TWO ARE A BUNCH OF DUMBASSES!!!” Yelled NZ before running inside.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!! You sure showed them!! I think you might’ve gone a bit too hard on poor Reddy though. You two will never get anywhere like this, AHAHAHA!!!”

“OH, PLEASE, JUST STOP!”

“Not on your life, Ms. Luvstruck~!”

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Partway into the night, say, a couple of hours after NZ’s “accidental killing”—to which nobody was really surprised—Matrix showed up to the fray as a wandering skeleton knight, and Enyx dressed up as a blue-garbed, masked ninja-assassin. Beddy—being last in the original head count—arrived in tow with Roberto, Luna, and a group of classmates, who, unlike a certain stick-in-the-mud and everybody’s favorite bunny-sweater-wearing and introverted artist, all arrived at the Halloween party in costume and with the right spirit.

The night ended with laughs, cheers, and everyone forgetting about Red and Exo; appropriately decorating Heidi’s front yard with corpses on this spooky night.

End