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When Mitsuru approached her asking for help with her Halloween costume, Yukari instantly said yes.
“What are you thinking of going as?” Yukari asked.
Mitsuru’s face burned red, and in a soft voice, she gave her answer. “Lovely Dove?”
Like it was a question. Like Yukari had any chance of saying no when little Mitsi wanted this just as much as big Mitsuru. So Yukari easily agreed. And then, as quickly as she could, she got to work.
It would be easier if Yukari had her resources, but she can hardly rip out Lovely Dove pages for reference when she already gave the books away to Mitsuru. With how Mitsuru takes care of her books, Yukari is sure Mitsuru would faint if she saw Yukari doing that.
So instead, she makes photocopies at the library and prints them out, creating a perfect reference page for Lovely Dove.
Now, since Lovely Dove is a manga character, her design is simple, so Yukari will have to get creative. It’s hard, making a costume of a simple character design, while also making it look cute, while also not proclaiming Look how little I am! The costume has to simultaneously be sleek enough for older Mitsuru and cute enough for little Mitsi—a remarkably hard balance to strike.
So Yukari starts small, using her amateurish sketching skills to get a rough idea. First things first, Mitsuru needs a skirt. Completely non-negotiable. Yukari has spent time with Mitsi since their initial encounter, and Mitsuru is always pulling at her skirt. Yukari envisions something simple but layered, that way Mitsuru can have something to tug on without messing with her outfit.
And of course, Mitsuru has her own notes. It’s clear she’s struggling against her own shyness in either headspace, but more than anything, she wants her costume to be accurate, not just to Lovely Dove, but to actual doves too.
Doves have short, slim beaks, Mitsuru informs Yukari, multiple times. Their plumage is thick and dense, but not glossy like other species. Doves have a special wing shape, so can we include that too? Their tails have twelve feathers. Did you know that a dove’s voice box is called a syrinx?
Yukari doesn’t know how she’d begin to incorporate half the things Mitsuru tells her, but she chalks it up to Mitsuru being excited and works to include what she can.
In the end, she puts together something halfway between an ice skater’s costume and a ballet dancer’s. It has multiple layers of skirts, the top layers sheer, the bottom layers as thick and feathery as Yukari could make a bunch of ruffled cotton. It’s topped off with a cardigan, styled to look like bird wings. Finally, a sash around Mitsuru’s waist that hangs low with—yes—twelve individual “feathers.”
She gets Mitsuru in for a proper fitting one week before Halloween, so Mitsuru can see the final version and Yukari can make sure it fits alright.
Yukari doesn’t know if Mitsuru was small when she first came into Yukari’s room, but once she sees herself in the mirror, there’s no doubt where her head is at.
Mitsuru smiles at her, the biggest, most beaming smile Yukari has ever seen out of her, and before Yukari can say anything, she’s being swept into the biggest, tightest hug of her life. Even her own mother never hugged her this tightly.
“I take it that you like it?” Yukari asks, half-chuckling.
“It’s my favorite thing ever,” Mitsuru says, squeezing Yukari for emphasis.
Yukari preens. The hardest part of taking care of Mitsi, she’s found, is coming out on the other side without a massively inflated ego. Mitsuru has a way of making her feel like a superhero. “Aww, don’t mention it. You’ll have the best costume, I just know it.”
And whether Mitsuru believes it or not, her face turns a delighted shade of pink.
With Mitsuru’s costume finished—with about a week to spare, mind you—Yukari doesn’t have a lot of time to put together her own.
Not that she minds that much. Yukari likes Halloween, she likes dressing up, but in her humble opinion, making Mitsi happy is much, much more important. The costume shop has a nurse’s outfit within her budget, so Yukari smothers it in fake blood and calls herself a zombie nurse. Hopefully some good makeup will help sell the idea.
SEES is having a special Halloween party, so Aigis can get a feel for the holiday and Ken can pretend like he’s not trick-or-treating. They’ll walk around town for a bit, look at the decorations at the mall, then come home with candy and cookies and gorge themselves until they feel sick. Not the most extravagant of plans, but perfect for their group, seeing how hard it is for all of them to be in one place.
They’re all in the main room, with costumes of varying effort. Junpei’s a toilet paper mummy, Akihiko is a priest, the twins are clowns. Fuuka has a surprisingly complex dress, layered with spiderwebs, and from the looks of it, she designed the top hat herself. Yukari can’t help but feel overwhelmed.
“Is Mitsuru-senpai not ready?” Ken asks. Try as he might to play mature, he’s itching to get going. Then again, it’s hard to play it cool when you’re a cute little pumpkin.
Aigis tilts her head. She found it deeply amusing to pick a classic robot costume, with rusted joints and red antenna. “Should I retrieve her?”
Almost on cue, the pitter patter of footsteps echoes from the staircase. And when Mitsuru hustles down the stairs, two things become readily apparent.
First, Mitsuru is the cutest thing that Yukari has ever seen.
Second, she is absolutely, undeniably small.
Mitsuru has done her hair up in ribbons, her ringlets styled so they resemble the ruffles on a dove’s wings. Having her hair up accentuates the feathers on the shoulder straps. More than that, though, she clearly loves her costume. The happiness radiates off of her in waves.
Yukari glances around, trying to see if anyone else has noticed, but no one says anything. There’s an odd satisfaction in being the only person who knows her well enough to tell where her headspace is. Yukari tries not to bask in that glow too much.
“Whoa, cool costume, Mitsuru-senpai!” Junpei says. “So uh… what are you?”
Mitsuru gives him a brief look, her cheeks puffing out in annoyance. “I’m Lovely Dove.”
“Oh, is that a cartoon or something?”
Yukari is about to roll her eyes, but a thought stops her short. Is it a cartoon? Mitsi would be over the moon if they had a show they could watch together—even if she clearly prefers books. But if a show is on the table, then that means merchandise is on the table, and that makes gift shopping for Mitsuru a whole lot easier.
But Mitsuru only shrugs, and the fact that isn’t a dead giveaway to her headspace is shocking. Yukari doesn’t know why she was holding her breath; if she didn’t know, there was no way Mitsuru did. Something to look into later, maybe. “It’s a manga.”
“Oh, that’s cool. I didn’t know you read manga.”
Mitsuru pulls at her skirt again, confirming that, yes, the multiple layers were a good call. “Sometimes. With Yuka-san.”
The name drops like a brick in the middle of their conversation, and Yukari can’t staunch her own surprise. The honorific, as if Yukari is her senior, is irrefutable proof of how small she’s feeling, even to people who have never seen her regressed before. More importantly though, how long has Yukari had a special nickname without realizing?
“Oh. Oh. Hey, Mitsuru-senpai, are you… regressed right now?” Junpei says the word with the same stunning lack of grace he employs in English class, stretching the word in all the wrong places until it tumbles out malformed.
But it works like a spell. Suddenly all heads are snapping in her direction, and Mitsuru shrinks under the influx of attention. No one had noticed beforehand. No one but Yukari.
“That’s okay!” Akihiko stumbles over himself to speak first. “I’ll keep you safe, Mitsuru. Don’t worry.”
It’s clear Mitsuru has no idea what to say, so she says nothing. Her eyes stay on the floor, her hands wound into her skirt. It’s the attention, yes, but it’s also the name. Mitsuru never had the chance to tell them her baby nickname, and she’s probably feeling too awkward to correct one of her oldest friends.
Yukari wants to keep secrets. It’s one of those things she wants just for herself, something special between the two of them.
But she knows she should share.
If only for Mitsuru’s sake.
“Mitsi,” Yukari corrects him. “She likes to be called Mitsi when she’s small.”
“Oh…” Akihiko offers her a wave, a display of hesitance she’s never seen from him. “Hi, Mitsi.”
Mitsuru waves back, pink dusting her cheeks. “Hi, Aki-san.”
Oh. She has special names for all of them.
The others take turns greeting her, offering little smiles and waves, calling her Mitsi, and keeping their distance. By the time it’s Junpei’s turn, they’ve almost made a game of it, and Mitsuru looks notably less agitated than she did a few minutes ago. Something grumbles in Yukari’s chest, that it took her multiple nights what took the rest of the group five minutes, but she won’t let the thought linger. Mitsuru is getting comfortable being small around their friend group. That’s an indisputably good thing.
The twins talk quietly, working out a game plan in case regressed Mitsuru doesn’t want to walk around so much. Yukari wants to tell them not to worry, but those thoughts are cut off as someone presses into her back. With the attention off of her, Mitsuru slunk toward her one safe person—which just so happened to be Yukari. And if that isn’t a massive ego boost, Yukari doesn’t know what is.
“Hey,” Yukari says. She always keeps her voice soft when talking to little Mitsuru, but now, she pitches her voice even softer. The last thing she needs is to accidentally draw more attention.
“Hi.” Mitsuru bites her lip, tugs at her skirt. “You’re a really scary zombie.”
Yukari giggles. It’s jarring to hear Mitsuru call anything scary. “Thanks! And you’re a very lovely dove.”
Mitsuru’s cheeks burn. Tug, tug, tug. The extra skirt layer was the best thing Yukari could’ve done for her costume. “Thank you.”
“Are you having fun?”
Mitsuru thinks on it, then nods. “Our friends are nice.”
“They’re very nice,” Yukari agrees. “Just stick close to me, okay?”
“I like being with Yuka-san.” Apparently saying it out loud has given her enough courage to say it again.
“I like being with you too. Let me know if you need to hold my hand or anything, alright?”
Mitsuru’s eyes brighten at the proposal. She makes no effort to hide her excitement. “We can hold hands on the train?”
“Absolutely.” In fact, why waste time? If Mitsuru is that excited to hold hands, then Yukari will save them some time. She wraps her hand around Mitsuru’s, shocked at how cold the other girl’s hand is.
It does not escape Yukari’s notice this will be Mitsuru’s first time regressed in public. Or at least, she hopes it is. She doesn’t like the idea of Mitsuru being tiny and in public with no one to help her. “It’s kinda scary with all those people, huh?”
With only one free hand, Mitsuru presses her thumbnail against her lip, wedging it between her teeth. That’s… a new habit, or at the very least, one Yukari has never seen before. She won’t say anything, but she hopes Mitsuru doesn’t hurt herself.
The group piles onto the train, and automatically, they create a protective ring around Mitsuru, leaving no room for strangers to get close. A good idea, considering how packed the train is. The discomfort is written plainly on Mitsuru’s face, especially when she chews on her lip a little more fervently, so Yukari gives her hand a reassuring squeeze and hopes that’s enough.
Fuuka shuffles in on Mitsuru’s other side, her poofy dress putting extra space, not just between her and the other riders, but between her and Mitsuru. “Your costume is so pretty, Mitsi!” she says. “Did you make it yourself?”
Mitsuru shakes her head. Her free hand migrates from her chin back into her lap. “Yuka-san.”
The more Yukari hears that name, the more she swears she’ll never get sick of it.
“Oh, Yukari helped you? That was really nice of her!”
“Yuka-san is really, really nice,” Mitsuru agrees, her head bobbing emphatically. “We read together.”
“You read Lovely Dove, right?”
Yukari is surprised Fuuka remembered that passing comment, but Mitsuru lights up. “She let me have her copies.”
“Is that so?”
Mitsuru nods seriously. “Really, really nice.”
And that’s when it hits Yukari that Mitsuru is bragging about her.
“That is really, really nice,” Fuuka agrees. “What else do you like to read?”
“We haven’t gotten that far yet,” Yukari explains. Every other time Mitsuru has approached her small, it’s been with her two volumes of Lovely Dove bundled in her arms. At this point, Mitsuru has read them more in a month than Yukari did in a decade.
“If you wanted, I can look at my collection when we get back!” Fuuka offers. “I’d love to share some of my childhood favorites with you!”
“Are we picking out books for Mitsi?” Junpei asks. He inches closer, and he’s not the only one. Their group has steadily been moving inward, creating a tighter circle—not out of necessity, but out of interest.
“Please, what do you even read, Stupei?” Yukari asks. “If you even think of showing Mitsi your dirty magazines, I’ll end you.”
Mitsuru blinks. “His magazines need cleaned?” It’s unclear if her confusion is from baby brain taking the wheel, or if Mitsuru really is that clueless.
Thankfully, Fuuka sweeps in first. “I’ll explain back at the dorms.”
Whether she means it or not, there’s a high likelihood Mitsuru will forget, and Yukari glares at Junpei for getting them on this track to begin with.
When they arrive at Paulownia Mall, the Halloween decorations are in full force, and every shop and some street vendors are giving out candy, though whether SEES counts as “kids” or just “annoying teens” is a toss-up. Some adults very pointedly give candy only to Ken while glaring down their nose at the rest of the party. Others clearly have to get rid of their supply before their shift is over.
Mitsuru sticks to the back of the party, probably antsy about being small in public. And while Yukari would love to point out no one’s noticed a thing, she thinks that would only make Mitsuru more nervous, so she keeps her mouth shut and keeps holding Mitsuru’s hand.
It’s hard to say if Mitsuru is having fun. She’s kept the lip-biting and skirt-tugging to a minimum, but she also hasn’t been the most talkative. The most she manages are small thank-you’s when vendors give her candy, and the occasional “I’m okay” when Yukari checks in with her. Thankfully, they’ve hit up every place they could, and no one seems in the mood to go anywhere but the dorms. Ignore that it’s barely past eight. They’re all vaguely aware they have a baby to watch out for.
The train isn’t as crowded on the way back. More moms and kids, sure, but more space, which Yukari is infinitely grateful for. Mitsuru is giving her nothing to work with, but she suspects Mitsuru couldn’t handle another crowded train so soon.
“Here, Mitsi.” Akihiko sits next to her, offering what little candy he’s gotten. As the tallest and buffest, he’s been afforded the least leeway as a teenage trick-or-treater. “It’s all yours, okay?”
Mitsuru’s eyes go wide, but she doesn’t have the words to argue. “Aki-san’s,” she says.
“And I’m giving it to you.” He leaves no room for protest as he dumps all his candy into her bag, ignoring the shocked look on her face. “Happy Halloween.”
“Oh, Mitsi can have mine too!” Junpei says. His haul is slightly larger than Akihiko’s, if only because he swiped second helpings whenever he could get away with it. He drops his candy in her bag and winks. “Pretty cool, right?”
“I would also like to give the little one my candy.” Aigis sneaks up next, dumping the contents of her candy bag in one fluid motion.
The twins are quick to follow, and soon Fuuka does the same. Yukari hates to be outdone, but Mitsuru already looks overwhelmed by the attention. She looks to Yukari for guidance.
“Wow, that’s a lot of candy, Mitsi!” Yukari takes Mitsuru’s hand in her own and squeezes. “What do you say?”
“Thank you,” she mumbles, eyes on her shoes. She gets a series of scattered your welcome’s in response, but the conversation dies there. It’s clear Mitsuru can’t handle so much attention.
Yukari is zoning out when she feels it. A soft tug at her sleeve.
“What’s up?” Yukari asks.
“Wanna share my candy with you,” Mitsuru mumbles, purposefully keeping her voice low. If the others catch anything, they pretend not to hear.
“Why don’t we go up to my room after and we can sort through it together?” Yukari gets the feeling Mitsuru could use some one-on-one time after a big outing. She pulls a silly face. “I don’t know about you, but I hate candy corn. Blech.”
It works like a charm, and Mitsuru giggles. “I’ll take your candy corn.”
“You’re the best, Mitsi.” She gives Mitsuru’s hand a squeeze and lets it drop.
A minute passes before Yukari feels another tap on her shoulder. This time, it takes a moment for Mitsuru to gather her courage, and when she does, her eyes skate along the floor, never meeting Yukari’s. But Yukari waits patiently, and what she hears absolutely melts her heart.
“Best Halloween ever. Thank you.”