Katawalloween [~75% complete]

I wake up to the sound of my cellphone ringing.  I consider ignoring it, but since I hadn't received a call in a good month or so, I decide I'm curious enough to reach to my nightstand for the source of the noise.

I pick up the call and the face of none other than Kenji, a person I haven't spoken to in more months than I can count, appears on the display, concealed in what could only be a ninja suit.  I give my head a soft smack to make sure I'm not still dreaming.

The image makes a few jerking movements as it speaks behind a veil of black cloth.  "Hisao!  I'm glad you picked up, bro.  I got some shocking news!"

I take a moment to glance out the window, to the coming sunrise, before turning back to my phone.  "Kenji?  What's with this all of a sudden?  Why a video call?  And why are you dressed like a ninja?"

"It's gotta be video, I gotta see your face man, I can't trust phones without it."

"I can't see your face," I return to him with a frown.

"I'm a ninja.  Dude.  Don't you even read up on your history anymore?  Anyway that's not the point.  Someone planned a mini-reunion at Yamaku.  I saw the attendance list and a majority of the names are..."  Kenji stops talking suddenly, turning his head left to right, "uh, wait, umm, she's probably there, go to another room, quick."

As I grudgingly pull the covers up and get out of bed, I feel a familiar presence next to me move.  The form, buried in covers and dark hair, turns over to look at me, likely awoken by the commotion contributed by Kenji.

"H... Hisao?  What is it?" Hanako mutters to me, her voice carrying a tone of grogginess.

"Just a call from an old friend," I respond, with as little volume as I can manage.

"Oh, okay."  Hanako sits up a little, trying to take a look at the screen, "C-could you tell them to keep it down?"

The speakers on my phone blare out in a shrill voice, without warning, "FUCK YOU I'M A NINJA!"  I look back just in time to see Kenji's hands come up in a defensive maneuver, and as he does, he ends up dropping the phone.  The last thing I hear is a loud bump before the call cuts out entirely.

I put away my phone and look at the clock.  Already seven.  Late enough to be up, even if it's a day off.  With that in mind, I get up and stretch out.  Apparently Hanako feels similar to me, getting herself out of bed with a soft groan.

As I sit next to Hanako at the dining room table, sipping a little bit of tea with her, I think about Kenji's call, and his odd get-up.  If he was worried about anything that much, it would probably be related to feminism, though I thought he'd be over that now.  Even in that case, however, a ninja outfit seems a little extreme.

The idea of having a re-union so soon seems odd, as well.  It hasn't even been a year since graduation.  Aren't these usually 10-year deals or something like that?

"Hey Hanako," I ask as I raise my eyes to meet with hers, "did you hear anything about a reunion at Yamaku?"

She shakes her head.  "No, not at all.  Is that what the call was about?"

I scratch at my hair, "yeah, sorta.  I'd heard nothing about it either, so it's got me wondering."

Feeling increasingly curious, I grab a quick breakfast and call Yamaku's main office on my phone.  The office assistant's vaguely familiar voice confirms that there is, in fact, a small re-union being planned, and today, no less.  I also ask off-hand if it's still possible to attend, and she says it is.  I return to Hanako and tell her as much.

"W-well... that's sudden, and this is an odd day to have it on," Hanako remarks after a moment of thought, "with it being Halloween and all."

Halloween... well, that would explain Kenji's choice of dress, looks like he's already in the spirit of the season.

With our schedule for the day perfectly clear, and Yamaku only an hour's drive away, I propose an obvious idea to Hanako, "So, wanna go?  It'd probably be nice to see if any of our old friends are there."

Hanako's eyes shift around for a few seconds.  Just as I'm worried she'll get too anxious to do it on short notice, returns my question with a smile.  "Yeah, s-sure.  Sounds fun."

As I make myself busy helping Hanako clear our breakfast from the table, she adds, "H-hey, should we get costumes?  I wonder if anyone else will be dressing up."

The thought hadn't struck me until she mentioned it, but perhaps there would be something Halloween-themed going on at the reunion.  I consider calling the office back and asking if that's the case, but I decide to wing it, not wanting to ruin any part of this fun outing with Hanako, even if we were to arrive in awkward outfits.  Admittedly, I'm curious what sort of costume she might want to wear.

We get dressed and I drive her out to the city, not far from our home, the same city we used to visit during our off-time at school.  I pull up and park in front of a Halloween-themed costume store, conveniently set up in a portable tent.  I open Hanako's door for her as she gets out of the car, and we step inside together.  However, we soon decide to split up for a while, Hanako heading to the girl's costume section as I turn towards the men's.

I pass by rows of flimsy-looking cloth, not paying close attention to them as I try to even think of what I might want to dress up as.  I do notice a whole section of thin garbs that look like the ninja suit Kenji was wearing.

Many minutes pass, and I'm still just as unsure as I was at the start.  I'd never been a very big fan of this halloween thing, outside of the free candy.  I decide to go see if Hanako's picked something out yet.  Maybe I could just get something to match hers.

As I walk along the girl's costume section, I spot Hanako walking out of the dressing hall, though I barely recognize her.

She's wearing a long, black dress that accentuates her figure well, torn up near the bottom, fishnet stocking barely visible at her ankles.  Her arms and face are covered with white make-up, accentuated with dark tones of black around her eyes, seemingly dripping down from them.  Her lips are also black, easily showing the two white fangs that are peeking between them.

She really went all-out with it... did I really take that long trying to think of a costume?

"H-hey Hithao," I hear, Hanako catching me look her over, "do you l-like it?  It'th a... f-fampire."

I chuckle at her words, which are guessably being garbled by the set of false teeth she's wearing, and give her a nod.  "Yeah, I like it.  You look really nice."

"You... did you pick somefin out?"

"Nah, couldn't really decide."  I glance back towards the men's section, then return to her.  Even with Hanako's costume being revealed before me, I can't manage think of anything that would match a vampire, besides maybe another vampire.  "I was thinking maybe you could help me out."

Hanako's face lights up with a level of giddiness that I rarely see from her.  "Y-yeah!  That'd be great!"  She takes my hand and near-drags me back to the section of costumes I was at.  She looks them over, a lot more carefully than I did, running her fingers through cloth, lifting masks, considering her options.  She claps her hands together in what looks like a moment of realization, and leads me to the end of the aisle, picking out a few facepaints.

...Orange and black?

"Come on!" Hanako calls to me as loud as she ever would, ushering me to the dressing hall.  She pulls me into a booth and sits me down, laying out the paints.  I want to ask her what she's planning on painting me up as, but decide to trust in her intuition.

She starts on my arms, rubbing orange paint onto my skin with careful movements of her fingers.  After my arms are covered, she does the same to my face, with even more care, making sure not to get any near my eyes.  Then, she opens up the black paint, and I watch her make dark, somewhat jagged stripes along my arms.  I take it as an obvious clue to what she's trying to make me into.

"A tiger?"

Hanako nods.  "Y-yeah, I really l-like thigers.  These stripeth are a bit off though, I think."

I keep my face as still as I can as she begins applying the black paint to it, "it looks good so far."

"Y-you know..."  She remarks as she starts adding white highlights, lowering her gaze between strokes, "I haven't done anything like thith, sinth... L-Lilly... I'd alwayth help her with her makeup, I th-thon't know if I told you."

I give Hanako a pat on the head, "You miss her, huh?"

"Yeah... I really do."  Hanako looks a little crestfallen after thinking about her friend, but finishes the makeup job without delay, urging me to get up and take a look in the mirror.

Well, it's nice.  She certainly took time on detail.  Even the whiskers, done in quick strokes of black and white, stand out almost as if they were real.  Still, I don't have the facial structure of a tiger, so the end result can't help but look a little less impressive than the real thing.

"I look like a kitty cat," I say, trying to act disappointed.

Hanako steps between the mirror and I, and puts a final spot of black on the tip of my nose.  "A big kitty cat.  M-my big kitty cat," She says with a reassuring smile.

I resist the urge to squeeze her in my arms right then and there, deciding to save it until the paint dries, at least.

The drive to Yamaku goes as smoothly as it should.  I pull into the guest's parking lot, getting out and helping Hanako with her door as I take a look around the place that I ended up calling home for one short, but amazing, year.

Everything looks the same.  Even Rin's mural is still displayed on the wall in front of the dorms, a little more faded than I remember, but still a bold symbol of the times I'd spent here.

I take notice of other students, wandering the grounds, looking no less nostalgic than I.  A good number of them were dressed in costumes.  It looks like Hanako made a good call there.

With no obvious events being conducted outside, I try my luck entering the main school hall, with Hanako right next to me.  As I make my way in, I immediately notice the flyers directing visitors to the cafeteria.  I walk along their path and come to the cafeteria room door, with a large banner over it reading 'Yamaku Halloween Reunion', and a desk parked directly next to it.  I immediately recogzine the person sitting at the desk, though I'm surprised to see it's Yuuko.  She's dressed in a fairly nice-looking dress, but nothing flashy enough to suggest a costume.

Hanako is the first to speak up, breaking   "H-hi Yuuko.  It's nice to see you here."  I can tell by her voice that she's removed the teeth, tired of the obstacle.

Yuuko's wandering glance down the opposite end of the hall is broken by the voice.  Her head whips to us, her glasses nearly falling offwith the movement.  "Who's that?  Oh!  That's... Hanako, right?"

Hanako nods in response as I give an accompanying wave.

Yuuko's expression calms down at the sight of her old friends.  "I thought so, I still recognize that voice.  And it's nice to see you as well, Hisao.  Very nice costumes from the both of you, I might add."

I give Yuuko a small bow, as does Hanako.  "So, how's the evening going here?  It all looks pretty impressive."

"Yes," Yuuko agrees with a bob of her head, "I'm amazed by the amount of work put into it.  The Student Council and Shizune really pulled through."

My eyes light up, as well as notice Hanako taking a small step back.  "Shizune?  She's here?"

"Yes.  She spearheaded this event, from what I hear.  She must've had some time off, I can't imagine her being this busy on top of whatever she's doing now."

I look past Yuuko for a moment, through the windows of the cafeteria.  There's quite a few people dancing and talking in there already, subtle party lights flashing all around them.  I take a step to the front of the desk, returning my glance to Yuuko.  "So, can we still enter the party."

"Yes, of course."  Yuuko looks through a small stack of papers and pulls one out, pushing it towards me along with a pen.  "Just sign your name here."

Hanako and I do so, and we're shown the door to the cafeteria.  The room is darkened, cast in orange and purple lights from above.   A few people are dancing to some music.  I notice a good amount of non-students among the participants.   Looks like a lot of people brought dates.  For the first time in this sort of event, I'm glad to be among them.

As I debate asking Hanako to dance right now, I spot Shizune past the crowd, looking over everything with watchful eyes, behind a black mask and under a black flat-topped hat.  Her outfit is complete with an equally dark coat and cape.

Misha doesn't seem to be around, that's not hard to spot.  I hope she managed to make it to the party.

With that in mind, we make our way over to Shizune and give her a wave.  She looks back at us, smiling, not wasting any time with signing.

"Hisao, and Hanako, this is a surprise, we weren't expecting you," speaks a voice next to Shizune, a girl I don't recognize, wearing a simple set of cat accessories over a Yamaku uniform and dark hair.

The unfamiliar girl looks at us with a soft smile.  "You look confused.  I'm Keiko, co-president of the Student Council, I'll be Shizune's interpreter for tonight."

She politely holds out her hand, and I give it a shake.

Satisfied enough with the introduction, Shizune starts moving her arms and hands again.

"It's good that you're here, I could use some assistance, if you don't mind," Shizune says through Keiko.

Keiko seems pretty calm and collected, and speaks with a gentle voice, almost a complete contrast to Misha's demeanor.  With this thought striking my interest, I interrupt Shizune's possible request.  "Where's Misha?  She couldn't make it?"

Shizune frowns a little after watching Keiko's signs, looking downwards for a moment.

"She couldn't make it.  She's too busy with school overseas.  She's doing well, however, and wants to come down for Chistmas, when she has some time off," Keiko states with clear integrity.

Shizune continues to make signs, not wasting time reverting the subject.  "Anyway, I need assistance.  Lilly should be arriving any time now, I was going to-"

"L-lilly's coming!?"  Hanako pipes, getting the courage to butt in.

"...was going to pick her up," Shizune and Keiko continue, both of them visibly bothered by the interruption, "but since it's you two, maybe it's better if you go.  Will you?"

Hanako nods with enthusiasm.  "Y-yeah!  We'll go, right, Hisao?"

I agree.  Shizune tells us she'll be at the bus stop in front of the school.

Hanako and I make our way there with haste, eager to see Lilly again.  Well, I definitely am, but it still probably doesn't compare to Hanako's excitement.  She's skipping alongside me, the biggest smile on her face.  In all the time we've spent together, I've never seen her so happy.

We arrive at the bus stop before long.  The sky is darkening and the autumn air is getting colder.  I should've gotten something warmer, but I figured I'd have a costume.  I'd rather have a real tiger's coat on, that's for sure.

With no sign of Lilly, we wait.  About twenty minutes pass, as well as a bus, and we start wondering what's taking her.  Shizune seemed in a hurry, so we assumed Lilly would arrive soon, or be waiting for us at the stop.

"Oh!"  Hanako yelps out, "Look!  Over there!"  I turn to where she's pointing and see a cane laid across the sidewalk.  It looks like the same one that Lilly always used, and we confirm it by walking over and picking it up.

"This is definitely Lilly's," Hanako says almost under her breath as her fingers stroke the cane, "but... wh-where is she?"

I look around.  There's nothing but forest on this side of the street, but right behind where Lilly's cane was lying, there appears to be a dirt path going through the forest, the way darkening as the foliage thickens further in.

I touch Hanako's shoulder and motion in the direction of the path, "Maybe... she went down there?"

"N-no... why would she do that?" Hanako responds, her eyes glancing around everywhere, "B-but, then... where is she?"

After a few more minutes of standing there, looking around, Hanako turns to me.  "O-okay... let's um... check the forest real quick, and then go b-back to the school."  Her eyes are shifting to and from the path in a nervous manner, and she seems to be stuttering more than usual.

I wrap an arm around her, for both comfort and warmth.  "Let's get it done, then."  Hanako nods in compliance and we make our way down the dirt path.

As expected, everything around the forest gets darker as we walk further down.  Before long, the only light around is the dim illumination of the moon through the cloudy sky and dense leaves.

We hear a rustle.  Hanako jumps in my grip, causing me to jump a little as well.  "Wh-what was that?" she pipes as quietly as she can.

"Probably just an animal."  I look her over for a second.  She looks beautiful in the moon's light, but scared.  I squeeze her against me.  "Don't act so frightened, you probably got the Halloween jitters or something."

"I'm j-just worried about Lilly!" Hanako protests, looking annoyed.

"I'm sure she's fine.  This is no good though, maybe we should have brought a fl-"

I'm interrupted by another rustling sound.  Not far from us, and continuous, forceful, like a person's.  Hanako grabs me tightly, squeaking out an 'eep!'

"Lilly?" I call out into the darkness.  No answer.  I look down at Hanako.  "It's probably just a large raccoon," I whisper, trying to reassure her again, though I'm starting to need a little reassuring as well.

With some hesitation, she nods, and we continue down the path.

We remain calm enough, until we hear a voice.  A deep, feminine muttering that I seem to recognize but can't place.  "Why are you here?"

Hanako shrieks and clings to me tightly, her face and knuckles white, even in the dim light.  She's shaking, as well.  Or is that me?

The rustling movements continue, the entity seeming to circle us.  "It's good... you're here... I was needing something."

The movement continues, quicker, branches and loose leaves being flung about the ground just at the edge of our vision.  In our momentary distraction, it stalks right behind us, the movements of its footsteps more audible than before.  Hanako and I whip around in an instant.

What we see is an illuminated silhouette of a person who looks to be wearing a suit.  I can't make out their face, almost as if a linen sock had been pulled over their head.  I can't see any arms, what I see instead is wavy tentacle-like appendages, seeming to reach towards us.

It suddenly says, in a loud, commanding voice,

"Give me twenty dollars."

Hanako, already halfway to sprinting in the opposite direction, nearly trips over her steps in surprise.

The light behind the entity fades, its tentacles lower.  "Did it work?"  It asks while tilting it's head.

"Did what work?" I return to it.

"Do you have twenty dollars?"

"I don't even know what type of 'dollar' you mean.  And no, I don't have any."  I sigh, growing impatient.

Hanako speaks what I'm thinking before I get the chance.  "Wh-who are you?"

"I see.  Without a face, I can't be recognized.  That part worked, at least.  Y'know, I wanted to give myself a face, just paint it right on, I told Emi I could reach it with my feet easily, but she wouldn't allow it, said it was 'against the folklore' or something.  Who are these folks?  I'd like to meet them.  How boring, but maybe it'd be interesting.  I dunno."

I let out another sigh.  "Long time no see, Rin."

She looks taken aback, even with her face hidden.  "How'd you know it was me?"

I make a grin, but I don't know how well she can see it under that sock.  "Lucky guess."

"Luckier than me," Rin remarks, "I'm still twenty dollars short of my goal of twenty dollars.  Emi said if I got twenty dollars, she'd give me a foot rub.  Can't pass that up."  She waves her arm towards the general presence of the trees.  "I even saw that blind blonde giantess and she didn't have any.  I figured she might, I mean she's part white-something like American or Ukrainian, I think, so there'd be a chance-"

Hanako takes a step forward, cutting in.  "Y-you mean Lilly?  You saw her?"

Rin nods.  "Yeah.  She looked lost.  Didn't get scared though.  I think it's because she's blind.  Unfair."

"We were actually out here looking for her," I say, trying to steer Rin's mind in the right direction, "Do you know where she might be?"

Rin stands perfectly still for the better half of a minute.  I'd guess she's looking contemplative, but her costume hides whatever might lie beneath.  "That way," she says, not pointing in any particular way, but walking off in what looks like a random direction.

With Rin's somewhat haphazard guidance, and both Hanako and I calling out Lilly's name, we eventually find our long-lost friend, wandering just off the path, turning at our call.

"Is that... Hanako?  And Hisao?"

"LILLY!" Hanako calls out, dashing towards her, nearly falling over a tree root but righting herself just as she makes another fall, a purposeful one, into Lilly's arms.

"It is you, Hanako," Lilly responds, confirming by running her hands along Hanako's hair and back, "my, my, this is quite a surprise, I didn't know if you two were gonna arrive."

"Y-you know we don't live far away..." Hanako mutters, burying her face halfway into Lilly's chest, "Why didn't you try to contact us?"

"I could only do that on short notice.  I caught a break and made a vacation deal and was able to show up.  I tried contacting Hisao, but..."

"But I had my phone turned off for, reasons," I finish for her, thinking back to Kenji's call and wondering where he might be now.  Maybe turning my phone off was a rash response.  "Guess I'm sorry about that, Lilly, if I knew..."

"It's fine," Lilly reassures me, "I'm just happy that you two are here."  She gently releases herself from Hanako's grasp, and dusts herself off.  "So, are you two dressed for the occasion?"

It's at this point that I realize Lilly's wearing a costume.  A flowing, plush pink ribbon surrounds her in a spiral pattern, hung off a rather skimpy pink outfit, not even attempting to hide any part of her midriff.

I love Hanako to death, I'm devoted to her and would even like to marry her someday.  This, however, is just plain hard to divert my eyes from.  Lilly's always had that effect on me.  I try to keep my eyes as straight as possible, knowing it would only be worse if I directly looked away.

"Yes," Hanako speaks up, "I'm a vampire, and Hisao's a... c-cute tiger.  What about you?  F-flamingo?"

"Not quite, Hanako," Lilly answers as she twirls her ribbon a little, "belly dancer."

Is cold weather as effective as a cold shower?  I'm about to find out.

Reserving the expression of any thoughts about the current... visual matter, I sweep my eyes around the forest, seeing nothing but trees everywhere.  "So... anyone know how to get back?

Rin shrugs, Hanako does as well.  Lilly, still in close enough proximity with Hanako to feel it, also parrots the action.

Rin mostly leads the way, using her backlit costume to help us see what's ahead of us, and responding to our constant mentions of familiar landmarks with some confusion.  During the trip, Lilly, Hanako, and I catch up on each other's lives, Lilly telling great stories about her time in Scotland, and Hanako covering most of what's went on between me and her in the past year.

Somehow, we manage to find our way out of the forest and back to the street near the school before too much time has passed.

As we make our way to the gates, Lilly speaks up.  "By the way... would any of you happened to have seen my cane?  I had dropped it while waiting at the bus stop, and tried looking for it, but... I guess I got lost.

I look over at Hanako.  She's hiding the cane behind her back, as if the act of doing so would even matter.  "N-no, we haven't seen it, Lilly."

She continues to slide her fingers along the cane as she holds it there.  Rin and I can clearly see it.  Before either of us can make a comment, we hear another rustling sound nearby.  A figure jumps out of a nearby bush.  A ninja.  A very paranoid ninja.

"Hi Hisao, who are those- YAAAAAGH!"  Kenji screams as he notices the girls around me.  "Shit, bail!"  He's completely out of sight before any of us can speak a word in response.

We return to the school grounds, the interior of the cafeteria still lit up, the music even louder than before.  We greet Yuuko again and enter.  Shizune immediately sets her eyes on us, bounding in our direction and waving.  Her face is scrunched up in that slight way that I remember from all our past debacles.

"You!"  Keikopipes as loudly as she can, not hesitating to start translating for Shizune.  "What the hel-... heck, took you so long?  I was about to send out a search party."

Shizune takes a step forward and shoves me in the shoulder.

"Just as unreliable as ever," Keiko scolds in a gentle voice, even translating the 'feeling' of the shove with a cute grunt.

Shizune continues to scold me, and Lilly, as well, both of us taking it with enough grace.  Soon enough, the conversation shifts in various ways, Hanako talking among Lilly and Shizune as well, Keiko tirelessly translating for all three of them while keeping her gentle demeanor, Rin wandering off without saying anything.  Even though one of these ladies is my girlfriend, I suddenly feel like a third wheel, not being able to think of much to say or do.

I glance around the room.  Things are just as active as before.  I spot the DJ, still surrounded by a crowd of attendees dancing together.  The notion I had earlier comes back to my mind, and is intensified as suddenly as the music softens, sending a 'slow dance' influence to the couples.  Seems like a good time to ask Hanako for that dance.