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Genya fiddled with the collar of his costume, looking over his reflection in the bathroom mirror. It looked fine… he had ironed it before putting it on, so there were no wrinkles. He adjusted the bolo tie, sliding the “fake metal” plastic piece in place. Opened his mouth, inspected the plastic fangs. Quickly adjusted them so that his tongue wouldn’t catch on them every time he tried to speak. He ran his fingers over his scar, frowning. Vampires… didn’t have scars. Should he-
“Hey-” a loud knock on the bathroom door startled him. “Gen, how long you gonna be in there?”
“Sorry, ‘Nemi!” Genya called out, giving the teeth one final adjustment and stepping out. Sanemi was waiting outside, wearing his usual scowl and half unbuttoned suit.
“Took you long enough,” he grumbled, stepping past him.
“Eh, how does my costume look?” Genya asked, trying to lock eyes with him.
“Fine, fine,” Sanemi said without even looking. Genya hung his head in disappointment. “Have fun at the party or whatever.”
“You’re not coming?” Genya asked.
“Nah, have math tests to grade. Don’t stay too late, because I know for a fact you haven’t done your homework yet.”
“Oh,” Genya tried to hide his disenchantment, twiddling the ends of his cape between his gloved fingers. “But, I hoped-”
“It’s fine, you have fun.” The door shut behind him.
Genya tried to put on a smile.
“It’s fine. I’ll still have fun with all my friends. I… don’t need him.”
He couldn’t even lie to himself. With a sigh, Genya walked to the front door, stopping only by the candy bowl Sanemi left on the kitchen table. After a second of fishing through it, he found a few watermelon flavored konpeito. He smiled to himself, popping one into his mouth and stuffing the other two in his pants pocket. He stepped outside and locked the door.
The walk to campus was quick. They only lived ten minutes walking distance. Most people seemed to be indoors, enjoying various costume parties or Halloween movie specials. Sometimes, Genya would spot someone wearing a costume walking down the street. People of all ages, moms with kids, teens, everyone. That made him feel a bit more comfortable in his vampire getup, knowing he wasn’t the only teenager dressed up.
Someone tackled into him from behind. Genya screeched and whirled around, almost tripping on his cape. Inosuke, with his face smothered in face paint and wearing a headband that resembled two screws, grinned at him. Zenitsu, standing a bit behind him and dressed as a giant inflatable pumpkin, groaned and rolled his eyes.
“What do you think of my costume, Ganta?!” Inosuke proclaimed. “It’s the most fearsome monster in existence! Frankenstein!”
“Technically, it’s Frankenstein’s monster, and I think the scientist was the real monster,” Zenitsu said with a deadpan expression.
“Hah?” Inosuke did not seem pleased with Zenitsu’s interjection and headbutted him. Zenitsu yelped and fell over, flailing his arms.
“A little help?!”
Genya sighed and reached out a hand, helping Zenitsu to his feet. “Did any of you see the others yet?”
“Got a text from Tanjiro and Nezuko a bit earlier,” Zenitsu said. “They’re running a bit late, but they’ll be there. Kanao is probably there already. Dunno about Muichiro.”
“Hi.”
Zenitsu screamed as he fell over again as Muichiro suddenly appeared behind them dressed in a simple but cute yurei costume. Instead of helping him, Inosuke cackled and dogpiled on top of him.
“Hey, Mui,” Genya said. “You’re brother not coming?”
Muichiro shrugged. “He said it was dumb.”
Genya sighed as his shoulders slumped. “Same on my end.” Muichiro gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
Zenitsu finally struggled to his feet and scowled at both Muichiro and Inosuke. “Let’s just go already.”
The remaining five minute walk was mostly uneventful. Genya passively listened to Muichiro’s tales about the latest national shogi match while Inosuke attempted to and failed at stealing Zenitsu’s home brought candy.
Kanao greeted them at the school gates, wearing a simple white cloak that resembled a ghost. The dress underneath showed more intricate embroidered designs resembling flowing spirits. It seemed to be home made, so either she or one of her sisters had designed it. Her mysterious smile seemed to show a glitter of happiness.
“It’s a nice costume, Kanao,” Muichiro commented. She bowed her head at the compliment and waved her hand, ushering them inside. The small group followed after her.
As the only second year in their group, Kanao paused outside her classroom door, looking towards the others.
Maybe we should go to our classroom,” Zenitsu suggested. “Since most of us are first years.”
Kanao nodded and let Zenitsu lead the way. Inside the classroom, there were a few other students, all grouped up, dressed as various monsters. Their group of five gathered around Zenitsu’s unoccupied desk, and spent the next few minutes admiring each other’s costumes.
“Kanao helped me with my makeup, so she already knew how cool I’d look!” Inosuke gloated. “Did a pretty swell job, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Zenitsu said, poking through his candy bag and digging out a pumpkin shaped chocolate.
“And now we wait for Tanjiro and Nezuko?” Mui said absentmindedly, fiddling with his headband.
“I guess so,” Genya said. “We shouldn’t start the activities without them.”
And so they waited. Twenty minutes passed, and most of the other students went off to do activities. Eventually, Tanjiro and Nezuko walked in, each carrying a bundle in their arms.
“Sorry for the wat!”
Tanjiro seemed to be wearing a very simple puppy costume with floppy ears and a floppy tail. Nezuko’s was the same, but with a cat theme instead. Her usual loaf of French bread was replaced with a taiyaki cookie.
“Took you long enough, Monjiro!” Inosuke yelled.
“Sorry, sorry,” Tanjiro said with a smile. “We got held up decorating the bakery, and we wanted to make extra sweets for you all.”
Nezuko mumbled something akin to agreement through her cookie, hoisting her bundle over her head.
“That’s sweet of you,” Genya said, scratching at his cheek. “What’ve you got?”
“Various Halloween themed goodies!” Tanjiro set his bundle down on Zenitsu’s desk and unfurled it. “Help yourselves.”
Inosuke wasted no time launching himself at the sweets as Zenitsu yelled at him to leave some for the rest of them. Genya managed to snatch a few for himself as Kanao and Muichiro hung back, waiting for the chaos to die down.
“These are amazing,” Genya said through a mouthful of a sugared cookie shaped like a ghost. “Thank you, Tanjiro, Nezuko.”
“It’s no problem,” Tanjiro said. “I just wanted to make something special for all my friends.”
“So, what now?” Zenitsu asked as he munched on a pumpkin shaped cookie, ignoring Inosuke’s taunts of cannibalism. “There’s a whole bunch of activities planned out. There’s the costume contest, the dance party, the-” he paused, a look of dread coming over his face. “Th-the haunted house!”
“Haunted house!” Inosuke roared. “I’m not scared of no haunted house!”
“Maybe we should save that for later,” Muichiro suggested.
Nezuko nodded in agreement.
“How about the costume contest?” Tanjiro suggested. “We can all enter for fun.”
“I dunno,” Genya murmured, running his finger across the rim of his collar. “I don’t think my costume is that good.” Sanemi’s uninterested expression came to mind.
“Nonsense,” Tanjiro exclaimed, grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the room with a determined expression on his face. “Let’s go!”
Genya had little choice other than to let Tanjiro drag him towards the costume contest, the others trailing after him. The cafeteria was already packed tight. Shinobu, dressed as a witch, was running the photo booth as part of the council committee. Still, the students tried to shove past each other in their attempts to rush through the process. Tanjiro managed to guide them to the line.
“We can all take pictures to enter the costume contest, and a group photo for all of us,” Tanjiro suggested, Nezuko nodding vigorously in agreement. The rest of them offered up their own sounds of compliance.
As crowded as it was, the line moved at a rapid pace. Within only fifteen minutes, the group found themselves at the front of the line. Shinobu quickly took their individual pictures and let them gather for their group photo. She was clearly biased to Kanao, as she let her take two pictures.
“Go down to the photography room before you leave tonight!” She called to the group. “They’ll get your photos developed for you!”
“I think Kanao is going to win the costume contest,” Tanjiro said, munching on a small cracker. “It’s homemade, and it looks so pretty.” Kanao smiled bashfully at the compliment.
“So, the haunted house next?” She suggested, pointing to the darkened hallway.
Zenitsu squeaked. “Ma-may-maybe w-we sh-should j-ju-just skip the ha-haunted h-house,” he said, his teeth clattering with every word. “I-I bet it-it’s not sc-scary at all!”
“Then let’s go!” Inosuke shouted, running forward, breaking away from them.
“Wait, Inosuke! We should stay as a group!” Tanjiro yelled after him, breaking into a run. Nezuko gave chase after him.
“W-wait!” Zenitsu shouted, but the three of them were already gone within the unlit hallway, virtually hidden from sight.
“Should we go?” Muichiro asked. “I gave Nezuko my candy bag to hold during photos and she hasn’t given it back. I can’t let her steal my candy.” With that, he disappeared into the darkness as well, not waiting for any of them to reply to his proposal.
“Yeah- we… should go catch up with them,” Kanao murmured, taking a few hesitant steps forward. She turned around, looking at Genya and Zenitsu. “Are you two coming?”
Zenitsu was sniffling and crying at this point, desperately clinging to Genya’s sleeve. “I’ll go- I’ll go- But Genya has to protect me! He’s big and strong and has to protect me!”
“Okay, okay!” Genya exclaimed, trying to pry Zenitsu’s fingers from his arm. “I’ll protect you or whatever, just stop clinging to me!”
Zenitsu did not stop clinging, but he was capable of walking on his own, at least. The two of them trailed after Kanao.
It was so dark in the initial span of the hallway that Genya’s eyes had trouble adjusting. Eventually, dim lights began to pop up to guide the way, but visibility was still low. If he strained his ears, he could hear Inosuke cackling wildly somewhere up ahead. Zenitsu whimpered and tugged at Genya’s sleeve.
Their homeroom teacher, Gyomei, dressed in mummy bandages, greeted them at the official entrance to the haunted house, wishing all of them luck.
“Zenitsu, you know this charade,” Genya said, rolling his eyes. “It’s just going to be a few jumpscares. It’s probably some of the teachers and a few older students running this. You’re on the student council committee, so you should know what’s going on.”
Zenitsu sniffled and clung on tighter. “The fact that I know just makes it worse. The anticipation is killing me!”
A sudden hissing sound filled the air. Zenitsu let out a pathetic squeak as Genya swiveled his head, trying to get a sense for the sound. It seemed to be coming from every direction. Were they using speakers?
The pot, almost hidden in the corner of the hallway, shuddered violently. Genya took a cautious step forward, hoping to avoid the jump scare and move forward. Alas, he was unlucky. With a hissing screech, the pot’s lid burst open, revealing Obanai in a serpentine costume. Zenitsu screamed and yanked on Genya’s arm, pulling him forward.
“Slow down!” Genya yelled, having not even been given enough time to process his own fright.
“I’m done I’m done I’m done!” Zenitsu yelled. “I’m getting through this as fast as I can and then I’m done!”
“Slow down!” Genya repeated, knowing full well his pleas would fall on deaf ears, ironic considering how good Zenitsu’s hearing was.
They seemed to blitz right past Kanae and Kyojuro, dressed as a giant hornet and jiangshi zombie, respectively. Genya barely missed their perplexed and amused expressions. He felt his face redden. This would be the top embarrassing story of the school by tomorrow, the tough delinquent-esque Genya being dragged around by a screaming hall monitor. He was never going to live this down.
Finally, Zenitsu slowed down as he sputtered and whimpered. Genya reassuringly patted his back. “There, there,” he said, looking around awkwardly. Tanjiro would be better at comforting him, but he had run ahead.
“Let’s just- finish this,” Zenitsu said, wiping at his eyes.
“Boo.”
Any semblance of confidence within Zenitsu left in that moment as Giyu in a grim reaper costume walked up behind them, saying “boo” in the most monotone voice imaginable. Zenitsu began scrambling away again, leaving Genya alone this time. He and Giyu locked eyes for a moment before he awkwardly backed away.
“Well, I’m probably almost done, since we skipped basically half of the hallway,” he thought to himself, walking forward. Now that Zenitsu wasn’t dragging him down in his fright, Genya had time to admire the craftsmanship of the haunted house- er, hallway. It might have been only for a school fair, but they really went all out with it. He could appreciate the chilling atmosphere. Not that he had long to enjoy it.
Genya could see the hallway begin to get lighter ahead of him. So, he had probably made it through all the jumpscares-
Genya picked up the sound of low growling. He froze. So, there was still something else. He strained his ears. As with the hissing, the snarls seemed to come from every direction with the aid of the speakers.
The growls were getting louder. What could it possibly be-
A loud, snarling scream right behind him. Genya shrieked and stumbled forward in an effort to get away. He whirled around as his adrenaline spiked, only to be met with-
“‘Nemi?”
“Got you,” his older brother chuckled. Much like Tanjiro, he was wearing a canine costume, though his seemed to resemble a wolf more than a puppy. Still, it was oddly adorable by haunted house standards.
“But- I thought-”
“Wanted to surprise you,” Sanemi said. “Haven’t pranked you like that since-” he broke off, eyes shining with nostalgia. “Anyways, sorry for being cold earlier.”
“It’s fine,” Genya brushed it off, chuckling to himself. “You… got me pretty good.”
“Not as good as your friends,” Sanemi replied with a smile. “Most of them almost cried when they heard me.”
Genya couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I just- didn’t expect you to come out.”
“I’m a teacher,” Sanemi said with a quick roll of his eyes. “Kinda mandatory. Surprised Agatsuma didn’t tell you that.”
“... oh….” He suddenly felt very foolish.
“Well, I’m glad you’re having fun,” Sanemi said, readjusting his ear headbands. “Now go catch up with your friends. Think Hashibira said something about the dance party next.”
“Alright. Thanks!”
Genya started to run past him.
“Genya?”
He turned around to hear what his brother had to say.
“The costume contest… you’ve got my vote.”
Genya felt one of the biggest smiles ever come over his face. “Thank you, nii-chan!”
He took off in a sprint to catch up with his friends.
