“Happy Halloween~”

On the night of tricks and treats, a select few SKE members (as well as former members) had gathered at a private function hall that was rented out by a certain bird loving girl and her otaku partner.

“Ahh~ we got a good place,” Akane said proudly, looking around, “It’s so big~”

“I know, right?”

“Rena-nyan~” Jurina clung to her former fellow member, having missed her for quite some time.

“J-Jurina, stop that…!” Rena said, resisting against Jurina’s grip.

“Come on, let’s go bob for apples!”

“Okay, but stop clinging onto my arm.”

“Aww, Jurina sure has missed her, huh?” Airi asked.

“You have no idea.”

“I know someone else who’s missed her,” Akari commented as she saw Tani getting in between and causing a tug-of-war fight over the girl. “Hey, let her go, you two! She’s not a toy!”

“Exactly, I’m not a toy! Now let me go before you rip my arms off!”

The two let her go, but Rena was surprised to see a severed hand still holding her arm.

“Oops! Sorry, Rena-san!” Tani took the hand off. “That was part of my costume.”

“It’s alright. If anything, you make a very cute zombie,” Rena said as she patted the zombie girl’s head.

“Hey, what about me~?” Jurina pouted

“You’re cute, too, Juri-nyan,” Rena cooed as she petted the younger member. Jurina responded with a meow.

“Hey, Rena!” Sae called out as she and Ryouha strolled towards her, “It’s been quite a while~”

“It has. Say, aren’t those the costumes you two wore for your graduation concert?”

“Ah, you noticed?” Ryouha giggled.

“Ryouha-tan here insisted we do a pair costume, so I thought, what better than Little Red and the Big Bad wolf~”

“You two look absolutely ADORABLE together!!!” Marika couldn’t help but comment.

“Sae, make sure you don’t eat Ryouha,” Akane teased, “She’s too adorable~”

“Oh, I won’t eat her. I’m a good wolf. Besides, Tani’s more likely to do that.”

“Hey!” Marika pouted as the others giggled. “Well, at least I went all out with my costume. Matsumura just used toilet paper!”

“Not true! I also used a good amount of face and body paint!” Kaori pointed out.

“Speaking of, I have to ask, how did everyone else pick their costumes?” Jurina asked.

“I’ve been watching a few too many pirate movies in my spare time,” Akane admitted, scratching her head with a toy hook she held with her hand, “Plus I did want to get Papi involved somehow.”

As she pet her pet bird, it tried biting her finger.

“Ow! Must be hungry,” Akane said before pulling out a small, round cracker. “Papi, want a cracker?”

The bird chirped, pecking the cracker out of her hand, eating it bit by bit.

“I was going to do some cosplay,” Airi said, “But I thought it wouldn’t be fitting for Halloween, so I thought to dress up as a vampire.”

“I literally thought of my idea at random,” Akari said. “Besides, I’ll look cute in anything I wear.”

Akane coughed sarcastically, “Yeah sure,” that was responded with some of the others giggling.

“Oi.” Akari glared at her fellow members. “What about you, Rena?”

“I guess it was a bit like Akarin. I thought of what I could wear, and when I saw this outfit, I thought it’d work best for the party.”

“Hey, speaking of,” Kaori chuckled. “I got a scary story to tell~”

“Ehh? Scary story?”

“Come on now. Tis the season.”

“Alright then! Lay it on us, Kaotan,” Sae said.

Kaori got out a flashlight and turned it on under her.

“This is the story of the Halloween Treat Trickster~” she said in a spooky voice.

“Treat Trickster?”

“It’s been said that every year on Halloween night, the ghost of a little boy will visit houses and play tricks on people. He likes to take people’s candy and no one is ever able to catch him.”

“What kind of tricks does he play?”

“It varies each time. So no one is ever sure of what he’ll do to them.”

“Let’s try and catch him!” Akane announced.

“What?!” The other members looked to the pirate girl.

“Churi, you know there’s a chance this ‘ghost’ might not even be real, right?” Rena pointed out. “Kaotan could’ve easily had made it all up.”

“Come on, isn’t it fun to think of actually catching a ghost?”

“That is true, but think about it, you stupid bird,” Airi said, shaking her head.

“Hey, I’m not stupid!”

Just then, they heard a knock at the door. The members were confused, so Akari and Marika walked up and opened the door. They saw a little boy wearing a skeleton mask.

“Trick-or-treat!” the boy said.

“Aw~ how cute!”

“Hold on, I’ll get some candy,” Akari said as she walked to a bowl, filled with candy. “Here ya go!”

After giving the child some candy, he walked away happily.

“Well, that was… odd,” Kaori commented.

“Hey, tis the season. That’s what we said earlier. Right, Tani?”

Tani didn’t answer and just stared blankly at the ground.

“Tani?”

“Oi, Tani! What’s wrong?”

Tani let out a low groan and started limping towards them.

“Raaaaagh…!”

“T-Tani?! What the heck?”

“What’s with the zombie act all the sudden?”

“Caaaaandyyyyy…” she groaned, reaching out for the candy bowl in Akari’s hands.

“You want candy? Fine, here,” Akari handed her the bowl.

Marika smiled and buried her face in the bowl, munching on the candy.

“Hey, don’t eat all of it, okay? We share!”

“Raaaaaagh!” Marika roared again, making the two jump.

“What’s gotten into her?” Rena wondered.

“Beats me.”

“Alright, Tani, we get the joke,” Sae said, pulling down the candy bowl. “You can cut the act now.”

Tani growled and bit Sae’s hand. The girl yelped as Tani advanced towards her.

“Hey, Marika!” Ryouha held the girl back. “Stop acting like a zombie!”

“Rrrrrryouhaaa…. Me want candyyy~”

“I mean it, snap out of it!” Ryouha slapped Marika’s cheeks, making the girl wince.

“Ow~ What was that for, Ryouha-tan?!” Marika held her cheeks in pain. “That seriously hurt.”

“Now apologize for biting Sae-san!”

“Eh? Biting Sae-san? What are you talking about?”

“You know what you did. Now apologize!”

“W-wait, I really don’t remember!” Tani insisted.

“Wait…” Jurina approached the girl. “Do you remember where you were acting like a real zombie?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You were acting like a candy crazed zombie!”

“I was?”

“You really don’t remember?” Rena asked. Tani just shook her head.

“Okay, this is getting weird.”

They heard a knock at the door again, making them more confused.

“A Trick-or-Treater again?”

This time, Sae and Ryouha went to check who was at the door and saw a boy dressed as Frankenstein.

“Trick-or-treat!” He said, holding out his bucket of candy.

“Hey, a tiny Frankenstein!” Sae giggled as she knelt down to his height.

“I’ll go get the candy,” Ryouha said as she went and checked the candy bowl. “Boy, you really gobbled up the candy, Tani.”

“Jeez, I’m sorry, okay?! I really don’t remember doing anything.”

“Well, we still got a good amount left.” Ryouha walked back to the door, handing the kid some candy. “Happy Halloween.”

“Thank you, nee-chan! Bye bye, doggy~” he said as he left.

“Haha, doggy? But Sae-san’s a--”

“Ruff!”

“Eh?” Ryouha looked down and saw Sae looking up at her with puppy eyes. “Sae-san?”

“Ruff ruff!” Sae barked, holding her hands up like paws.

“Oh, I get it. Cuz of the doggy thing, right?” Tani chuckled. “She’s like a wolf puppy.”

“No, Marika… Something’s strange. Sae-san wasn’t acting like this before.”

Sae started whining, as if begging for something.

“What’s the matter, Sae-san?”

Sae’s hand pointed to the bowl of candy that Ryouha was holding.

“You hungry?” Ryouha got down on the floor and took out a few pieces of candy, holding them in her hand. “Here.”

Sae immediately started munching the candy from Ryouha’s palm, acting more like a dog.

“Okay, anyone else think this is weird?”

“This is just like what happened to Marika.”

“Who’s a good girl~?” Ryouha pet her senpai’s head as she cuddled up against the younger girl. She asked for more candy, opening to let Ryouha feed her.

“I’m starting to sense a pattern…” Jurina said.

“A pattern?”

“Every time a kid comes to the door, one of us starts craving candy and acting like what we came dressed up as. If that ghost story of the Treat Trickster is real, this may be his prank on us.”

“Seems pretty harmless, though,” Akari said. “He just made Tani turn into a candy-loving zombie and Sae-san into a loyal candy eating wolf puppy. I don’t think it’ll be that bad.”

“Still, who knows what could be next.”

“Speaking of Sae, maybe it’s time we bring her back to reality,” Airi said.

She walked up to the wolf girl and clapped her hands loudly in front of her. Sae jumped, looking up at the others.

“Huh? Why am I on the floor?”

“Aw~ I kinda wanted to play with puppy Sae more,” Ryouha pouted.

“Huh? ‘Puppy Sae’?”

“Yeah, you were acting like a puppy.”

“I was?” Sae raised a brow as she got up. “How did that happen?”

“We suspect it’s the Treat Trickster.”

“Next time he comes, we’re gonna catch him,” Akane proclaimed.

“We’ll see.”

“Maybe we should be a little more careful,” Rena said. “Let’s have more people at the door, just in case he does strike again.”

“Right. Churi, Jurina, you guys stand at the door with me and Rena once he comes.”

Right as she said that, the door knocked again. They opened it and saw a white sheet with two black holes.

“Boo!” The ghost said. “Trick-or-treat!”

“Well, hello, little ghost. You want some candy?”

“Yup!”

“Alright then. I’ll go get it,” Jurina said as she went.

“So, can we see the cute face under that sheet?” Akane asked.

The child uncovered his face and saw that it was the same boy from before. He giggled and looked at them with orange-and-black spiral eyes.

“What the…?” Airi and Akane’s eyes started to mirror his, forming spirals.

He covered his face once again as Jurina then came back with the bowl of candy and gave him some of it.

“Thank you~” he said before leaving. Once the door shut, Airi and Akane’s eyes turned back to normal, but were much duller in color as the hypnosis had taken effect on them.

“Okay, you two, anything weird happen?”

“Arrr! Keep your mouth shut!” Akane said as she raised her plastic sword.

“Eh?! What the heck, Churi?!”

“Quiet! Give me that candy you be hiding!” Akane demanded, pointing the sword at Jurina.

“Airin! You gotta calm her down!” Rena shouted at Airi, who just looked at her and smirked.

“Bleeeh!” She opened , running to Rena. She grabbed the witch girl and bit her neck as Rena groaned in pain.

“Ouch! Airin, let me go!”

“Give me candy, or I drink your blood~” Airi said in a Dracula-esque voice.

“You guys want candy, fine! Banzai~” Jurina threw some candy up in the air, making the two crawl on the ground to grab the pieces scattered on the floor. Once they ate everything, the two of them stood up, anger shown clearly on their faces.

“You landlubbers better be kinder than that or else you’d be walking the plank!”

“There ain’t even a plank here!” Kaori said.

“Shut it! No one talks back to--” Jurina then walked over to Akanei and held her face, giving her a smooch. Once she backed away, Akane’s face turned bright red. “J-Jurina..?!”

“I’ll explain later. Can you help Rena sort Airin out?”

“Oh! Right!” Akane ran up to the vampire girl and pulled her off Rena. “Alright, you dorky vampire, time to wake up!”

She kissed her on the lips, making the girl shocked.

“E-eh?! Churi? Did I..?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, I was hypnotized, too.”

“Alright, it’s settled then. This is that ghost boy’s doing. Now we know not to look into the boy’s eyes or else we’ll become what we’re dressed up as!”

“So, if we can’t look at him, how will we catch him?”

“We’ll have to think of something. And we better hurry before--” Her planning was interrupted by more knocks at the door. “Not again!”

“Alright, I’m gonna go this time!” Rena said as she marched forward.

“Wait, Rena-chan! He’ll hypnotize you into a real witch!”

“It doesn’t matter as long as I can distract him long enough for you guys to catch him.”

She opened the door and saw a little boy with a Phantom of the Opera mask.

“Trick-or-treat!”

“Why hello, again,” Rena grinned. “We found out your little trick, changing costumes to keep getting more candy.”

“Yay! You’re smart, onee-chan!”

“Now, since I figured out your trick, why don’t you tell me who you really are?”

The boy simply giggled, removing his mask as his eyes turned into spirals.

“Rena-chan, no!”

“Hey, onee-chan, I want candy~”

Rena started cackling like a witch, startling everyone. She turned around, giving them a wink the boy couldn’t see.

“She’s faking!” They all thought.

“Come here, my little black kitty~” she said to Jurina.

Jurina her acting switch and walked forward. “Rena-chan? What are you doing?”

“Don’t be afraid, onee-chan,” the boy said, comfortingly. He stared at Jurina with his hypnotizing eyes. “I just want candy. Now be good, kitty.”

Jurina fell to her knees, mewing like a cat.

“Not Jurina-san too!” Marika said, getting in on the act.

“Hey, Treat Trickster, we know it’s you!” Akane said. “Tell us what you want and let our friends go!”

“Just having fun~” the boy chuckled as he started to float.

“Better hand over the candy, my pretties~” Rena cackled. “Or I’ll put a hex on you!”

“Not if we have anything to say about it!” Akari ran up and grabbed the ghost using her scarf, pulling him towards them. He was about to hypnotize her when she covered her eyes. “Oh no you don’t, little trickster~”

“Aw~ you girls really are smart.”

Rena dropped her witchy act and helped Akari pull him down. They tied him to a chair to make sure he wouldn’t get away.

“Hey, wait… if he was really a ghost, shouldn’t he be able to phase through?” Airi then pointed out.

“Then, that means…”

“He’s not a ghost?!”

“Kouta!” Just then, Aya walked in and smiled. “There you are!”

“Aya-chan?!” Everyone stared at her shocked.

“Hey, guys.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for this little prankster of a brother,” she looked over at the boy. “Why is he tied up?”

“Uh…. It’s kinda complicated.”

“No it’s not!” Kaori said. “He was pranking us!”

“Also, he’s your little brother?!”

“Yup.” Aya untied her brother, who just giggled. “Now is this true, Kouta? Were you pulling pranks on my friends?”

“Maybe a little.”

“What did you do?”

“I kept changing costumes to get more candy.”

“Well then how were you able to float earlier?” Akane asked.

“Wires.”

“And how were you able to hypnotize us?”

“Eye contacts.” He showed them a pair of orange and black spiral colored eye contacts.

“Okay, Aya-san, no offense, but your little brother is some kind of an evil genius,” Marika said.

“Alright, you cute little troublemaker, let’s go home.”

“Okay~ Bye, everyone~” he waved goodbye to the girls.

“Well, we didn’t catch a ghost, but we did experience quite the Halloween trick,” Akane said as she stretched her arms.

“Nyaa~”

They then noticed Jurina still acting like a cat.

“Eh?! Is Jurina really hypnotized?!”

“She shouldn’t be!”

Jurina then giggled. “Just kidding!”

Everyone then sighed.

“Jeez, don’t spook us like that, Jurina!”

“Sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

“Jeez, you and Rena are too good at acting!” Akari said.

“That’s exactly why I want us to do a drama together~” Jurina hugged Rena tightly, cuddling with her. “Rena-nyan~ I love yoooouuu~”

“Mou, Jurina!”