The airship was quiet today. As far as anyone knew, only one member was onboard. Little Nai was busy preparing props as everyone else was setting up in the streets. Today is Halloween and Circus had decided to host a 'Spook Fest'.
Nai was sat in a room, making some props for the decorations. He had been told to prepare the jackolanterns and was making great progress. It was a hard start though. When he was told they were using fireflies in the pumpkins, he began to freak out. He felt like he was doing the fireflies wrong by trapping them in the pumpkins. However, with a lot of sweet talking from Gareki and Yogi, he agreed. As long as they released them later.
He held the next pumpkin upside down so he could put the firefly in and watched as it dropped to the bottom. His face dropped as the fly rolled around the pumpkin. "Hey little firefly, what's wrong?" Nothing. He shook the pumpkin a little bit, in hopes of jostling the fly. Again, nothing.
He was at the point of tears when he decided to closely check on the fly by sticking his head into the pumpkin. "You ok little fly?" When no reply came, he let out some tears. "Poor little fly. I'll bury you in the garden." He put his hands on the bottom of the pumpkin and pushed up. Nothing.
He felt a little bit of panic set in as he tried time and time again to take the pumpkin off but to no avail. More tears spilled as he realised he was now trapped. He sat there for around twenty minutes, crying to himself as the others worked on the ground.
After his eyes felt too dry to cry anymore, he shakily got to his feet. He couldn't stay like this. He promised Gareki he would help. He made his way out of the room and wandered the halls for a while. He had a small flame of hope that someone was back onboard.
He wandered and wandered with no luck. It was dark inside the pumpkin and Nai was scared. He didn't like the dark. Things could get him in the dark, like they did with Karoku. His eyes became wet again as tears strolled down his cheeks.
He heard a faint clang in the distance and sniffled. Hope reborn as he charged forward.
He reached a lit up room and smiled past his tears. He went to push the door and came pumpkin to door frame. He staggered back a little before shaking his head and trying again. And again, he was met with the door frame.
"Will whoever that is please stop it." Nai's eyes widened as yet more tears fell. "Doctor Akari-San!" Silence. "Nai?" Nai nodded, then he realised the door was still closed. "Doctor Akari-San! Please help me!" His voice wavered as he began to panic again.
The door suddenly swung open and Nai was pulled inside. "Nai, what happened? What's going...on? What is on your head?" Nai sniffled before tackling the doctor and hugging him. "Nai, please clam down and tell me what happened." The pumpkin moved up and looked at him. "Please, so dark..."
Akari clicked instantly and moved the boy so he was sat down. Then he grabbed a knife and carefully cut the pumpkin, aiming to not hit Nai's head.
Once the pumpkin was off, Nai dived on Akari and sat sobbing on his lap. Akari sighed, not having the heart to push the boy away. He patted his head and waited for him to calm down. Which, annoyingly for Akari, took longer than he hoped.
When Nai calmed down, Akari began his questioning. "Nai, why was your head stuck in a pumpkin?" Nai looked at him, eyes red and puffy. "I promised to make the, pumpkin decorations, and, I was putting the firefly in but, it didn't move." Akari waited patiently as Nai continued. "So, I stuck my head in to check, but it still didn't move, then, before I knew it, I was stuck, and it was so dark..." Nai trailed again, tears at the corners of his eyes once more.
Akari sighed again, gently ruffling the boys hair to calm him down again. "Was it still in the pumpkin?" Nai froze a moment in thought before nodding. Akari nodded his head before putting Nai on the examination bed and digging through the pumpkin remains on the floor.
Once he found what he was looking for, he eyed it carefully. "Nai, can you show me where you got the firefly from?" Nai nodded before hopping off the bed and taking Akari's hand, leading him back to the room where he was making props and decorations.
When they arrived, Nai pointed to the jar he got the last firefly from. Akari went over and eyed the jar. "It doesn't look like it contains fireflies..." He said to himself. He spun the jar around to check the label and froze. His eyes slowly shaded over in anger. The label read - 'Yogi's Marbles!' "I'm going to kill that man."
"Yogi, what's wrong?" Yogi shook his head, trying to erase the shiver that just erupted. "I feel like I've just been targeted..." Tsukumo looked around for any signs of threat but saw none. She shrugged, "Must just be Yogi..."
"Hey Nai! Where are you?!" Nai's face lit up as he span on the spot. "Gareki!" He tackled the taller raven boy and hugged him tight.
Akari sighed as he stood up, feeling his work was done here. Gareki looked at the man after checking over Nai. "Hey doc, why does Nai smell like pumpkin?" Akari pinched the bridge of his nose. "Because of Yogi, Nai got his head stuck in a pumpkin. When he made it to my office, he was crying and it took me ages to calm him down."
He looked from Gareki to Nai and smiled. "And don't worry Nai. It was just a marble, not a firefly." Nai looked overjoyed at the news. Meanwhile, killing intent began to leak out of Gareki. "I'm going to kill that moron."
"Yogi, are you sure you're alright?" Tsukumo looked at her friend worried. "So, much, killing intent..." Tsukumo sighed and continued her work. "Just Yogi being Yogi again..."
Akari nodded. "Indeed, now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." Gareki nodded as Akari began to leave. However, he stopped when a small hand grabbed his sleeve. "Thank you Doctor Akari-San!" Akari smiled gently at the white haired boy before leaving the room.
"Ok, how about we finish these stupid things so we can go enjoy the festival?" Nai bounced where he stood. "Yay!" So, the two began working. In a very short amount of time, the two had finished and managed to unload the last of the decorations.
Once the festival was set, the show began. Everyone had a great time, even Akari showed up. Which greatly shocked and pleased Hirato. The night went on and everyone had a blast. Except for Yogi. To him, the night was an extremely bad dream. One that haunted him in more ways than one.