'Oh, come on! You can't tell me you're actually enjoying this! It's a disgrace! A disgrace to everything halloween stands for! Where's the fear factor? Yomi's a carrot, you're a shark and I don't even know what Osaka's supposed to be!'

'So? It's not like you told us to wear scary stuff. Besides, you're not even wearing a costume!'

'Psh. That's what you think, but I'll have you know I'm dressed up as the scariest thing I can imagine – with this uniform, these glasses and this big swollen head, I'm a dead ringer for Yomi! I guarantee you everybody's gonna be terrified!'

'…Did you tell her that's why you stole her glasses?'

'Of course! She said nobody'd notice 'cause my head's already a million times bigger than she is, and I'd just look like an idiot wearing glasses. Then I said that at least I'm not dressing up like the diet I wish I could stick to, and she admitted I was smarter than her and begged me to help her pick a better costume!'

'…That was one o' those, right Tomo-chan?'

'One of those? One of what?'

'Y'know. It's like…when ya think of the thing you wanted ta say, but not 'til after it's already way too late ta really say it.'

'What? No! I -'

'Like, this mornin' the lunch lady asked me if I wanted chopsticks or a knife 'n fork, an' I didn't know what ta say on account of I never ate with a knife 'n fork before, so I was gonna say chopsticks, but then I thought that people are always tellin' me that if I try new things, I might find somethin' I'm good at. An' I thought maybe what I'm good at is eatin' with a knife 'n fork an' I spent all my life limitin' myself to chopsticks. An' if I kept doin' it I might never find out what I'm supposed ta do! But by then, all the food was gone. It's like that, right?'

'…You follow that, Kagura?'

'I think she's saying there's no way you said that to Yomi, you're not that quick a thinker. Or maybe you are, and that's where that bruise on your forehead came from.'

'Shut up! I don't have to take that from a stupid shark and a… gah! What the heck are you!?'

'Hanshin.'

'…Hanshin?'

'Yeah. Hanshin.'

'…Hey Kagura, Yomi's been gone a while.'

'Yeah. Maybe she got lost.'

'It's a straight driveway. You can see the door from the sidewalk.'

'Maybe your costume upset her.'

'Nah, that can't be it. I've done way worse stuff than this. She's used to it. Right?'

'…'

'Right, Osaka?'

'Yeah. You're a real jerk, Tomo-chan.'

'See? Osaka agrees with me.'

'I'm not sure that's something you should be happy about.'

'It's fine, it's fine. Yomi'll be back with Sakaki any second now. And I bet Sakaki's got a costume that'll blow all you idiots out of the water. I mean, I should probably've expected that your costumes wouldn't be as cool as mine, but you're not even a good shark! Your fin's made out of cardboard!'

'Ya mean real sharks aren't made of cardboard? That's a relief. I was kinda worried, on account o' bein' a cardboard shark'd be terrible. Ya couldn't breath outside the water 'cause you'd be a shark, but if ya got in the water you'd get all soggy an' fall apart! Either you'd run outta air an' suffocate, or you'd have ta deal with big clumps of your body fallin' off! You'd be doomed! No matter what ya did, you'd die for sure. Just like a human being.'

'…I think I was wrong about Osaka not being scary.'

'I don't think it counts if she's not doing it for Halloween. And it's not like I wanted to wear this! You can't call us up half an hour before you want to go, tell us to get costumes and expect them not to suck!'

'Yeah, I guess. Where'd you get it, anyway?'

'The weird kid who lives down the street from me. She's got all kinds of neat stuff. I think she's a scientist, or something.'

'Isn't she like, five? There aren't any five year old scientists, idiot.'

'Yeah, I guess. Maybe she was just dressed up for Halloween, then.'

'I bet her costume was better than yours.'

'Shut up.'

'Make me.'

'Nah. Too much work. We should go get Yomi, before it gets dark. Chiyo's waiting.'

'Heh, think she's getting scared? Poor little kid, afraid of the dark. Only little kids are afraid of the dark.'

'I'm afraid of the dark.'

'…Yeah, me too. Little kid.'

'Yeah yeah. Are we going, or not?'

'I bet they got swallowed up.'

'…Huh?'

'Swallowed up. Y'know, like…like eaten. I hear Halloween's like that.'

'Really?'

'Yeah. It's like if you or me only got ta eat once a year. We'd be real hungry. It's like that.'

'…Kagura, Halloween doesn't really eat people. Right?'

'Of course not. That's stupid.'

'Y-yeah. But we should go look for them, just in case.'

'…Yeah.'