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How did he always manage to get himself into messes?
His life has been one pitfall after another, and recently it had gotten to the point where he could hardly blame the world. Now, he almost wondered if it was something in his personality that caused it. Surely, it couldn’t be? When he pricked his finger with the needle this time, he didn’t cry out or even instantly clean it. It hadn’t caused him to bleed and so there was no point in worrying about it. That was what made him question his nature as a mess-magnet.
As Kazuki continued sewing the last minute costume, he didn’t even bother to take a moment and look around. He knew that even if he did, neither Rei nor Miri would be in sight. They had gone out to buy some last minute treats earlier. After hearing the phrase “its costumes or treats” the two had decided the older man would spend his precious hours making their costumes.
Kazuki would have, of course, made both costumes and treats if not for lack of time. Even when Miri realized she’d forgotten to give her fathers the all important Halloween costume party invitation, there probably would have been enough time. He was quite upset she had delayed the invitation’s delivery, but didn’t dwell on it—she was lucky they didn’t have odd work hours anymore.
It was simple, while Kazuki got ingredients, Rei and Miri would look at costumes. Sadly, life with this family wasn’t that simple. He’d hardly begun looking at the meats, let alone the produce, when the two returned to his side claiming to have found no costumes. One embarrassing public argument later and he’d learned there were actually plenty of costumes nearby, but none were what they wanted.
Just when he was about to tell the two it was not the time to be picky and if they wanted specific costumes then they’d need to be on top of invitations and know sooner, Miri pulled out her deadly sad eyes. Kazuki, ever weak to those eyes, had said that fine, they’d look for the costumes at a few more locations. Many useless trips later and he now found himself in his current predicament: piecing together two homemade costumes right before the party.
The invite had come from one of Miri’s friends from daycare. It claimed to be a large and fun Halloween party—with costumes required. Normally, Kazuki and Rei would simply see Miri off to a play date or party with one of her friends, but this time was different. Kazuki and Rei had apparently, somehow, become friends with the parents of this friend. Kazuki recalled getting along with the mother well, but hadn’t thought they were super close. Fortunately—or rather unfortunately in this situation—the couple had expressed that they’d love for Kazuki and Rei to come along and catch up.
With a particularly upset Miri and a childishly gloomy Rei on his hands, Kazuki had done the only thing he could do. He offered that ultimatum. If they wanted specific matching costumes then by god he’d make those costumes. He was, sadly, not a seamstress, and although he’d gotten better at using a needle and thread in the past year or so, he was still far from any intermediate level. As such, this project was a little too advanced for his current set of skills.
Internet searches also wielded very little videos or guides on how to make these particular costumes. You’d think making costumes from such a popular game would be more common! Countless hours of research, and testing, and first aid pauses, and complete failures later and he still hadn’t finished.
Kazuki wouldn’t say he was uncreative, but it did appear his creativity was mostly limited to the kitchen. Crafting simply wasn’t his thing. Still, he’d tried his best to produce decent looking costumes, or, at least, recognizable costumes. He didn’t even know the names of the characters—its not that he didn’t pay attention so remembering them must have not been at the top of his priority list—so it was also hard to tell just who there would even know the characters. Nevertheless, Rei and Miri would still, at the very least, look like they matched.
He knotted the thread and snipped it. He honestly thought he may have heard angels sing. At long last, he’d completed them. Holding the pants he’d just altered like a holy man with a ceremonial object. At long last, the dreaded wolf and….honestly he didn’t know what the other one was but both were done. He took a moment just standing there to relish in his victory. By the time he heard the door opening, he was scooping up the costumes to present his work.
He couldn’t see the two behind the clothes he held up, but Miri’s squeal of delight was all he needed to hear to know he’d done well. He felt a tug on the pants in his right hand and momentarily lost his balance. He lowered it so Miri could look at it, but did not let go.
“It’ll wrinkle if you grab it like that. Go to your room, I’ll help you put it on.”
Miri did not need to be told twice. With an excited giggle, she ran to her room. Kazuki lowered the costumes, a proud smile on his face. He may have gotten very little sleep and poked his fingers to numbness, but it was all worth it for Miri’s excitement. His eyes moved from his scurrying daughter to Rei.
Ever since Rei’s final…departure…from his family, the three of them had been slowly opening Rei’s shell. Plenty of family trips and missed childhood activities had made the man a lot softer and happier. So, seeing the excitement on Rei’s face—no matter how subtle it may have been—only brightened Kazuki’s smile. He held the costume out to Rei, prompting him to take it. Rei grabbed it carefully with his free hand, the other still holding bags from their shopping.
“Set the bag on the counter for now. You can get dressed while I help Miri. You shouldn’t need my help too.” With a cheeky wink, Kazuki followed after their daughter.
It took a little longer than anticipated to dress Miri. She followed directions for the first couple of minutes, but as Kazuki fumbled with the pieces to make them fit and close, she got antsy. It began with a bouncing knee. Then, her whole body began to bounce. Soon enough, she was practically jumping around the room.
“Miri, calm down. I can’t get this buttoned if you aren’t still.”
Miri calmed down, but still wasn’t as still as earlier. With a little tugging and maneuvering around the excited movement of a child, Kazuki finally managed to get her in her costume.
“There, all done.”
Miri giggled as she gave a happy twirl, admiring the striped dress that had caused her father far more pain than it should have. Hands on hips, Kazuki gave out a tired, but proud, sigh. At last, his work was done. Except, Miri didn’t seem to think the same.
“Papa!” Kazuki looked down to see Miri grabbing her hair with both hands. “I need the ponytails!”
“Okay.”
“And a nose!” Miri’s finger left her hair to press the tip of her nose.
“Alright.” Miri was rocking on her feet. “Go grab your brush and some ponytails. I’ll grab some makeup.”
Miri nodded and ran to grab the box they kept her hair accessories in. Meanwhile, with far less pep in his step, Kazuki went to the room where he knew he’d stashed a bunch of their old disguise supplies. If he remembered right, there was some basic makeup inside. It took a bit of rummaging, but he eventually pulled the box out of where it had been tucked away. As he opened the lid, he gave himself a little pat on the back. He was glad he was the organized type. The makeup was sitting on top and although there wasn’t much there, it would be just enough to make some kind of animal nose. With the small plastic bag in hand, he left the office space.
Before he could reach Miri’s room, the young girl had run straight into his legs with the sticker covered box. He grimaced as he felt the sharp edge of the box hit his shins. She held it up higher.
“Thank you.” Kazuki took it from her.
Now free from the box, Miri held up a fist. He shifted the box of hair supplies under his arm so he could hold out a hand.
“What’s that?”
Miri opened her hand like a claw machine with the prize from it being some of the pink ribbon scraps from Kazuki’s frantic costume making. He raised an eyebrow.
“She has bows!”
Kazuki nodded in understanding. He could picture the character, but clearly not detailed enough. Miri didn’t give him a second to think, for when the ribbon dropped, she immediately ran to the couch. He followed behind and set all the supplies on the coffee table. First, he pulled out the makeup and began to give her a little black nose and rosy cheeks. He was eternally thankful for his wife and her insistence he learn the basics of makeup application.
A few minutes later, he was sitting on the couch with Miri in his lap, adjusting the pigtails on her head until she said they looked perfect. He could see her face, scrunched in concentration, reflected in the handheld mirror she held up. She’d made a complaint about the lack of waves in her hair like her favorite Morio Kart character, but Kazuki had told her there was nothing they could do about that. He didn’t own a curler let alone a straightener. He didn’t need one to style his hair and Rei rarely even styled his hair. From the look on Miri’s face, he could sense it wouldn’t be long before it became a holiday gift.
He was tying the ribbon into bows around her pigtails when he saw Rei enter the living room. He was too focused on his task to actually stop and look, but Miri’s cheer assured him that Rei looked good. When Miri’s enthusiasm caused her to rock on his lap, he whined at her to stop. She, once again, complied just long enough for him to finish the second bow.
“All done.”
She hopped off his lap and hurried over to Rei. His eyes followed her. Honestly, Rei didn’t look too much different than usual. The wolf character for his costume and his regular wardrobe were very similar. The addition of sunglasses and a clip on earring Kazuki had luckily found were about the only major difference. Miri jumped excitedly at her papa’s legs and began to demand he get a nose just like her.
A quiet chuckle left Kazuki. Unlike the joke he’d made about Rei not needing his help, it was clear the other had. The outfit was sitting correctly and he’d gotten it zipped up, but his ears and tail were a little crooked in addition to the egregiously ruffled hair. Kazuki stood up and motioned to Rei. The man shuffled over, like some kind of embarrassed child.
He forcibly turned the man so he could pull at the belt to move the tail. That task went quickly, so soon Rei was turned back around. Kazuki ran Miri’s brush—there was no point in leaving to grab a different one—through Rei’s hair. He then combed it into a nice style that fit both the character and Rei. The man’s eyes fluttered closed as Kazuki’s fingers brushed the bangs around his forehead. As Kazuki’s hand lowered, Rei’s eyes opened again.
“The nose!” Miri called from their feet.
“Alright.”
Kazuki leaned down, grabbed the same eyeliner he’d used on Miri’s nose earlier, and began to carefully draw one on Rei. Rei’s eyes had once again closed as Kazuki held his chin still. Soon enough, Rei and Miri both looked quite like their favorite Morio Kart characters.
“And you’re all done too.”
Another squeal left Miri as she—unfortunately—stepped on Kazuki’s toes to get a better look at her papa. Kazuki looked both of them up and down, a proud look on his face. They both looked fantastic.
“Thank you!” Miri hugged his leg and Kazuki no longer minded his slightly pained toes.
He reached down to pick her up, hugging and spinning her around in the process. She giggled as he pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek—away from the makeup of course. The moment after he set her back on the floor, his smile fell. Sudden dread filled his face.
They looked great. They had wonderful costumes. He didn’t. He wanted to scream as he stared at his red and white pajamas with wide eyes. In his panic to make Miri’s and Rei’s costumes, he’d completely forgotten about his own costume. With his hands on his cheeks, he could only imagine he looked like that one famous western painting.
How could he, of all people, not have a costume. He was the disguise guy. Well, they left that life behind, but the point still stood. Once the disguise man, always the disguise man. And this disguise man had failed to put together his own disguise. He was utterly horrified. Utterly crushed. Utterly defeated.
He could pull something out of that disguise storage bin, but everything would look so basic and plain and last minute. He’d look like he didn’t care, especially next to Rei and Miri! He was filled with dread and panic as he tried to figure out what he could do. They didn’t have enough time or resources to even try and produce a cool makeup look. Putting dedication into makeup rather than a costume would be acceptable, but he couldn’t even do that! He was about ready to fall to his knees, asking the gods why they had forsaken him when his family spoke up.
“Miri, go grab it.”
“Oh!” Miri hurried away, but Kazuki didn’t have time to process it.
He heard the rustling of bags and then what sounded like a few objects falling to the floor before once again hearing the pattering of small feet. Miri now stood in front of him, holding up a plastic bag.
“Papa Rei said you didn’t have a costume so we got one for you!”
Kazuki felt the tears welling in his eyes change from distraught to joyous. He once again squeezed Miri so he could pick her up and spin her around. He had such a wonderful family. He set Miri down once again, taking the bag in one hand while using the sleeve on the other to wipe at his eyes.
“Tell him! Tell him!” Miri cheered, clearly wanting Rei to expose the rest of the secret so she could focus all her attention on watching her Kazuki’s reaction.
Rei gave a slight scratch to the nape of his neck, avoiding Kazuki’s gaze for only a moment before speaking. “It should match ours.”
Kazuki felt like he’d burst into tears again and this time he squeezed Rei into a hug. The man was stiff, but not because he didn’t like the hug, but simply because he hadn’t prepared for it. He couldn’t return the hug only because Kazuki was squeezing his own arms into his sides. Miri giddily joined the hug but wrapping her arms around their legs. After a long moment, Kazuki pulled back and fanned his eyes with one hand, trying to will back the tears.
“Go get dressed!” Miri was thrilled to see her Papa in the costume she had helped pick out.
He gave her a pat on the head, his happy and proud smile having returned. “Thank you, both. You’re so thoughtful.”
When Kazuki exited the bathroom, he was not excited. His own lack of enthusiasm was not reflected on either of the other’s faces. Miri’s smile was practically glowing while Rei had that constipated from holding back laughter sort of look. This probably wasn’t a joke, Miri was too innocent for that and Rei wasn’t mischievous enough, so he was rather disappointed to find out a cheap banana costume was what they thought matched their painstakingly crafted ones.
“And how exactly does this match?” Kazuki was thankful he no longer had to look at himself in the bathroom mirror.
“It has bananas!” Miri shouted.
“Uh-huh.” Yet another cruel joke by the world?
He could see Miri tug on Rei’s pant leg. He cleared his throat, looking a little giddier than Kazuki appreciated.
“Bananas are one of the items you can get from mystery boxes in the game. They cause your opponents to slip.”
Kazuki let out a long sigh, one hand on his hip and the other rubbing his forehead. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice. He didn’t really have another costume. Besides, the longer he wore it, the more his embarrassment was overwritten by the joy on Miri’s face. Even Rei’s happiness was making him feel a little soft.
“Then I guess we’ll all match.” Miri cheered as she and Rei high-fived. “It’s almost time to leave so put away your box and grab everything you need, Miri.”
As the girl ran to her room, Kazuki moved to the bag still on the kitchen counter, trying hard not to look at the costume beneath him. He picked up the few things Miri had caused to fall earlier—luckily nothing breakable—and began to pull the store-bought treats out of the bag. The two had gotten more than they were supposed to, that he’d anticipated, but he wasn’t in the mood to give them grief over it. Maybe getting this costume, no matter how embarrassing it was, was their method of buttering him up. Either way, it had worked. Rei had followed him into the kitchen and began putting what Kazuki decided they wouldn’t bring away.
“At least you’re the banana.” Kazuki briefly glanced at Rei. “There’s also a curling stone item in the game.”
A single laugh of disbelief left Kazuki. “I guess I am lucky then, although I’m not sure a banana is much better.”
Rei was looking at him, so he stopped moving. Noticing the way the man had stopped, he offered a warm smile with the tilt of his head. It was an honest and genuine smile.
“Don’t worry. It might be a little embarrassing, but I’m happy your guys thought of me. And hey! We can still say we all match.”
Rei gave a small nod with the hint of a smile and went back to work. They’d come a long way from where they once were. Some time ago, neither Miri nor Rei would have noticed his sacrifices to make their little family work. Now, even if their result was a little weird or silly, the two noticed and acted. He’d gladly wear an embarrassing banana costume if it meant his loved ones had given it to him out of love.
He heard Miri’s little feet pounding on the floor once again and, soon enough, she was jumping in the entryway, urging the two of them to hurry up. She had her backpack on and was working on her shoes when Kazuki and Rei made their way to her. The two of them shared a look and began to put on their own shoes. Their family had been through a lot and was far from perfect, but it was the moments like these that made them thankful for all the work they’d put in. Domestic moments like these, walking—or skipping in Miri’s case—hand in hand wearing silly little Halloween costumes on their way to a costume party.