Walking hand in hand together, Maki and Nico of the school idol group Muse made their way to the school grounds on that chilly October night, dressed as a demon and a vampire respectively for Otonokizaka's annual Halloween party. It was Maki's first time going and only Nico's second; she'd skipped the party during her first year out of childish spite, but had since eased up. Nico reached into her mouth and readjusted the plastic fangs clinging to her upper teeth, trying to get them to keep from slipping out. She was dressed like an older depiction of a vampire, with the black cloak and ruffled cravat. Instead of her usual pigtails, Nico had gotten Kokoro to use hair gel to mold it, making her pigtails resemble makeshift horns.

Maki made a face seeing Nico's dripping saliva get all over her fingers. "That's gross. Don't stick your fingers in your mouth."

"I'm trying to fix these damn fangs! It said on the box that they are supposed to fit snugly! This isn't 'snug' at all! If I'm not careful they're going to drop into the dirt, and then I'll have wasted 320 yen!"

"Why don't you just ditch the fangs? You don't need them. Just tell everyone you're dressed as a vampire's thrall or something. They're not going to question it."

"But I wanted to be a vampire! And I don't even know what a thrall is!"

"I'm sure your fangs will be fine if you stop fiddling with them." Maki shook her head. "Whether you're a vampire or a thrall, you're still too cute to actually terrify anyone."

"M-Maki!" Nico looked deeply touched, her eyes practically sparkling with little stars all around them.

"I was just making an observation, idiot! D-Don't get all sappy about it...!"

Nico shrugged. She looked over her girlfriend's attire; in spite of being so wealthy, the redhead had chosen a rather ordinary idea for a costume. A pair of black horns atop her head, a red jumpsuit, a slender forked tail and cute little wings on her back. It was as typical a look of a demon as anyone could manage to think up. Maybe she had gotten help from her mom with the design, because it certainly looked like it had a parent's touch to it.

Nico sniffed. "You look pretty cute in your get-up too."

"Hmph...thanks..." Maki puffed out her cheeks a little. Nico thought that was adorable too.

The two of them both sighed. They really should have asked Kotori for pointers on how to make their costumes better. Dressing up for Halloween shouldn't have been nearly on the same level of difficulty as deciding outfits for a new Live, but apparently they were situations on a similar wavelength. Still, Maki and Nico hoped to impress. As they approached the school, they could see the lights were on and the gates were opened. People were spilling in, dressed in a variety of costumes, some as characters and monsters from their native homeland, or from cultures abroad. This party was open mainly to students of the school, but friends and family were also allowed to attend as guests.

"You should have brought your siblings! They would have probably had a lot of fun!" Maki remarked.

"Are you crazy? I couldn't bring them here! My mom would have a fit if they were out past their bedtime! Besides..." Nico squeezed Maki's hand a little. "I wouldn't want them to have to distract me from you."

"Maybe it's good I don't have any siblings to drag along myself..."

The pair slipped inside, excusing themselves past the line of guests waiting at the gate. The party itself was already in full force when they entered the modified gymnasium. There were people dancing, people chatting, people drinking punch and eating bat and pumpkin-shaped cookies prepared by the baking club. There were orange and purple lights on a stage set up near the eastern end of the room, but no one was performing yet. Nico led Maki along, holding her hand the entire time, as they searched for the other members of Muse among the crowd.

"Maki! Nico! You made it, nya!"

Rin and Hanayo spontaneously emerged from within the waves of people and ran over to Nico and Maki.

"Wow, your costumes look really cute, nya! Your hair looks great, Nico! And Maki, we can practically see your boobs in that thing, nya!"

"Ah!" Maki threw up her hands to her chest; she knew she'd forgotten something to complain about when her mother made the outfit.

Nico took a defensive step in front of her lover. "Hands-off, Rin!"

"Ha ha ha ha! I was just kidding, nya! Anyway! What do you think of OUR costumes, nya?"

Nico looked them up and down. "Yeah...what are you two supposed to be, anyway?"

Rin jabbed a thumb at the cat ears on her head and then at the colorful water gun she held in her hands. She wore a dirty white t-shirt and roughened blue jeans as well. "Can't you see, nya? I'm the cat-girl who's gonna save the space colony from the evil alien menace! Bang, bang! I wanted to be a cat-girl, but I thought of putting a neat twist on it, nya!"

"You've been watching too many American movies," Nico shook her head.

"What about you, Hanayo?" Maki asked.

Hanayo had this sort sheepish wince on her face. She was dressed like some sort of Greek goddess, complete with toga and a wreath of olive leaves on her head. In one arm she held a plastic model of a wooden bucket filled to the brim with white rice. "I'm...I'm the Goddess of the Harvest...well, of grains...okay, I'm supposed to be the Goddess of Rice!"

Maki and Nico stared.

"I-I know it's kind of...of uncool, but I really like rice, and I had wanted to dress up as something cute, but I knew a giant rice grain or a rice-ball would look stupid, so I did what I could think up, okay?"

"We're not judging you, Hanayo." Nico replied.

"Yes, that's right! You look rather cute in that toga, but it must be rather chilly walking outside in that." said Maki.

Hanayo rubbed her arm. "Y-Yes...it is a little...cold out tonight, isn't it...? Oh, I should have just gone as an alpaca..." She had really wanted to be Elsa most of all, but she didn't have the long hair for it, and the wig would have been too itchy.

"Have you seen the others anywhere?"

"Eri and Nozomi are over by that table getting some snacks, nya. I don't think Honoka, Kotori or Umi are around yet, but Hanayo said she got a text that they'd be here soon."

"Hmph. Always making us wait, that girl! Maki, do you want to go see Eri and Nozomi?"

"Sure. We'll be back in a little bit!" Maki waved to the other two first-years as Nico took her hand and led her away. "Hey, hey, don't be so rough..."

"I'm not being rough. I need to see what costumes those two are wearing!"

"Why? What's the big deal?"

"I...I don't want to look like the one with the worst costume!"

"You already have a better costume than Hanayo or Rin, and why does it matter?"

"It's a girl thing, you wouldn't understand." Nico said, and before Maki could protest, she continued, "And it's my fellow third-years that I consider the real threat in this contest!"

Maki's thoughts wandered away from that bit of foolishness and began looking to the future, namely the time tonight that she would finally confess to Nico. She wondered if she was doing the right thing, planning to go through with it tonight of all nights. She had been meaning to tell Nico for so long, and she wanted to tell her when it was most appropriate, and looking as she did right now, it seemed like the most appropriate time for a number of reasons. Maki reached up and nervously thumbed one of the horns on her head; she needed to know what Nico would think of her if she knew the real her. The person that she actually wasn't.

"There they are!" Nico said.

Eri was holding a cup, alternating between sipping it and eating a cookie she held in her other hand. Nozomi was saying something to her, but within the din of sound surrounding them on all sides, her words were unable to be heard. Nico and Maki approached them, and Nico was the first to tap on the Half-Russian blonde's shoulder.

"So what are you two supposed to be?"

Eri's blonde hair, as it so happened, was hidden underneath a wig, a red, messy bob-cut, and she wore a form-fitting black jumpsuit and a gray utility belt along with it. "I was told that my grandmother once dressed like this, even wore a wig similar to this one when she first came to Japan. I wanted to emulate her as when she was younger, because I respect her so much."

"Then it's not really a costume, is it...?"

"A costume can be whatever you want it to be, Nico. There's hardly any rules." Eri shook her head.

"What do you think about me, Nicochi? Do I look sexy enough?" Nozomi cackled. Nico gasped, placed her arms instinctively over her chest, and ran behind Maki for protection. Nozomi shook her head, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Using your girlfriend, your YOUNGER girlfriend, as a shield, Nicochi? Bad form. Bad form."

"W-What are you? A zombie or something?"

Nozomi grinned. "No, a Chinese Vampire! A Jiang-Shi!" The purplette reached up and slipped a hand out of her long, decorated sleeve, tugging at the piece of paper dangling from her cap. "I'm dressed as a Chinese monster! I always thought of them as one of my favorite parts of spooky Chinese myths. You must have seen one of these in an anime or something before, right, Nicochi?"

"I...I have...but why would you want to dress as something like that? And I'm a Vampire too! We can't have TWO vampires in our group!"

"Heh heh heh heh, I'm not your average vampire, Nicochi!" Nozomi made groping motions in the air with her fingers as she slowly approached the two girls, "I don't hunger for blood or even brains...I hunger...for boobs!"

"Eep!"

Eri shook her head. "Honestly, Nozomi..."

"M-Maki, come on, let's go back to Rin and Hanayo! I'm sure they won't try to molest us or anything!"

"Uh...okay..."

Suddenly, before the situation had any chance of becoming more heated, a third voice entered the fray. "Hey! Hey hey hey! I found you guys! Hey! Wow! Your costumes look great! Whoa, you make an awesome goat prince, Nico!"

Honoka lifted the face section of her helmet and flashed the other girls a weary grin. "H-Hey...sorry that I'm late...hope I didn't miss much."

"Honoka, that costume..." Eri stared.

"Heh heh heh, it's not all that much, but it looks really cool, doesn't it? I bought this mask from a toy store, by the way." Honoka took a little twirl. She wore a dark red trench coat that hung down to the floor, and simple white shirt and black pants, men's clothes that were a tad too big for her. What truly stood out was the mask, something a little mixed between sci-fi and steampunk, with red glass eyes that seemed like they would fire off a pair of lasers at any moment. It probably would have made Hanayo tremble in fright once she saw it. Honoka reached up and pulled the face plate back down.

"...You've been watching too many American movies too. What's with all of you guys? In case you have all forgotten, we're Japanese!" Nico shook her head, utterly dismayed at the stupidity of a girl only a year younger than her and apparently the centerpiece of their idol group. But she was also talking about Rin, and to a smaller extent, Eri too. She was pretty sure the blonde's statement about her grandmother was just an excuse to dress as another American super-hero. Then again, Nico shouldn't have talked; she wasn't exactly displaying her roots any more than they were with her costume.

"It felt a lot more like one of our shows to me. Didn't you hear how much they talked about friendship?" Honoka replied.

"I didn't go see it! Why did you?"

"I thought the Japanese dub looked interesting! Even I can enjoy a foreign film now and then, Nico!"

Umi and Kotori followed up close behind the leader of their little trio. Umi's hair had been changed from blue to a dark red that became gradually brighter the further along the locks it went, and her skin was a bright shade of green all over, and her uniform, which seemed to cling to her body like a second skin, did not help matters for the normally introverted young woman. She was clearly unnerved by her costume, moving one arm up and down over her chest like she was rubbing at a stain, afraid someone in the crowd might accidentally catch a glimpse of the very tiny amount of cleavage she was forced to show off. Kotori had painted her face so that it resembled a raccoon's markings, along with wearing a headband that made it appear that she had animal ears. She wore a black and orange jumpsuit and carried a fake sci-fi gun in her hands too.

"You guys too?" Nico arched an eyebrow. "Man, and I thought Nozomi's costume was bad..."

"Nicochi!"

"I-It was Honoka who wanted us to dress like this! She insisted!" Umi cried in her defense.

"Oh, but you still went along with it, Umichi! How sweet of you!"

"Guh..."

"I had fun making the costumes, even if they didn't require as much effort in the little details as I thought!" Kotori spoke up, just so she could get a word in. She wiggled her nose, making the illusion that the 'whiskers' on her face were moving as well. Honoka flipped open her toy mask over and over while Nico just silently stood there and fumed, like she wanted to reach out and slap the second-year across the face. Instead, she swiped the mask's face plate, causing the idol group's center to shriek.

Maki squeezed her lover's hand. If she didn't say something soon, they'd never get the chance to be properly alone.

"Nico!"

"Eh? What is it?" Nico tossed Honoka back her plastic mask and turned to the redhead. "What's wrong?"

Maki heaved a sigh. "I want to talk to you privately."

"What? Private...ly?" Nico's eyebrows looked like they were about to take off from her brow and go flying into space, from how high they raised. She was obviously over-thinking Maki's relatively innocent statement, but then again, that was what hormones did to some people.

"Yes, just for a little bit."

Nico's cheeks burned hotter than a jack-o-lantern's candle. "You...you want to go...into one of the empty classrooms, then?"

"That would be fine."

"Okay, you guys, Maki and I are going to go check out the rest of the party!" Nico quickly told the other Muses, a rushed excuse to be sure, but a successful one, as they all immediately bought it and resumed chatting among each other. Nico and Maki hurried off, practically swimming their way through the violent currents of people that surrounded them. Maki continued to hold Nico's hand; she could feel the beads of sweat already beginning to form. Maki smiled. Her Nico really was quite cute, a real handful too. She was feeling exceptionally generous tonight, she realized. She would indulge in her girlfriend's whims for a little while before springing the truth on her, if it would help make a more comfortable atmosphere to divulge secrets.

"Honoka, you guys came! Why didn't you text us, nya!" Rin and Hanayo hurtled themselves past a pair dressed as Gundam robots and landed on their feet in front of the rest of the crew. Kotori gave them a clap of applause in appreciation of their outfits, and the two first-years bowed their heads in gratitude.

"This is becoming more like a cosplay event than a costume party!" Eri joked.

"Don't you think the two are actually quite similar?" asked Nozomi, taking a sip from her cup.

"Hmm...I suppose you might have a point..."

Rin was especially fascinated by Honoka's and Umi's outfits. "Wow, so you really did dress up as them, nya! You weren't joking around!"

Honoka beamed. "Nope!"

"I really don't know what Honoka was thinking, suggesting a get-up like this. This was a whole different level from simply putting on a dress like for our Lives. It took a very long time to cover myself green like this, although it's not everywhere. I'm actually still normal-looking underneath all of these clothes." explained the former bluenette.

"That's cute that you would dress up like that together, almost like a couple, nya!"

Honoka and Umi glanced at one another, and the temperature within their faces seemed to increase by a multitude of degrees, to the point where any careful observer could have potentially witnessed the thin wafts of steam that was gushing out of their ears as a result. Tearing their eyes away from each other seemed to take actual, physical effort beyond simply turning their heads. Kotori, wearing a particularly eerie smile, stepped up behind them, appearing into view like an esper, materializing out of thin air.

"What are you three talking about?" she inquired to know.

"N-N-Nothing, Kotori! Nothing at all!" Umi cried, and Honoka repeated her in agreement. Kotori continued to smile, but it was an empty smile, as fragile as glass, yet her true emotions were still completely hidden to everyone around her, although they had a pretty good idea what her mood was.

Suddenly, any and all further conversation was stopped and forgotten as the lights above began to dim. In fact, all of the lights in the gymnasium did, except for those over the stage. Soon enough, all of the lights converged into a single shining circle in the center of the stage. That was when the music began to play, a familiar melody that grew louder and louder over time, and Honoka let out a gasp. She definitely recognized that song. Everyone in Muse did.

"That's...That's Start Dash, isn't it? That's one of our songs!"

"Do they expect us to start performing right here and now? We didn't even know this would happen!" Umi exclaimed, and she whipped her head in Kotori's direction. "Did your mother tell you anything about this, Kotori?"

Kotori shook her head. "No, she didn't say a word! I...I don't know why she would allow this...!"

"Wait a minute! Look! Someone is on the stage already!" Nozomi remarked, pointing at the three figures that had emerged from behind the curtains.

It was Honoka, Umi and Kotori.

Or rather, at first glance, it appeared to be very similar to them. The same hair and even the same outfits from that Live, but the eyes and the faces, the bodies themselves, were completely different. Umi was taller and lankier than she'd ever been, Kotori had even softer features than how pillow-like she already was, and Honoka was the shortest of the trio, despite that being far from the truth in reality. They said nothing to the audience, but instead offered them a courteous bow. This mysterious green-eyed Honoka was holding a mic in her hand, and when she started to sing, swaying gently back and forth in rhythm, that Honoka and the others understood.

"It's A-Rise...!" Eri cried.

"They...they dressed up as us for Halloween...and now they're singing our very first song...?" Kotori asked aloud.

"They already know all of the words, and they probably know the dance moves as well." Hanayo sounded like she was witnessing an act of unfiltered, uncontrolled violence before her very eyes.

Rin threw her hands in the air. "Game over, nya! Game over!"

"Honoka, this is going too far, don't you think?" Umi asked as she looked to see their leader's reaction.

Honoka, however, was completely enthralled with the performance. She looked as if she were close to weeping. "A-Rise...dressed as us...singing one of our songs...this has got to be the greatest day of my life..."

The green-eyed Honoka's gaze met with the real Honoka, and she gave her a playful wink. It made Honoka's heart go aflutter, while Umi looked about ready to pounce.

"Damn it, Honoka!"