"Ahh! What should we wear tonight?!" Amu shouted flopping down on her bed. "We've been to three stores already and we still haven't found anything that we like!"
"Why don't you just pick something Amu-chan?" Miki said looking up from her sketchbook. She was drawing the jack-o-lantern that Amu had placed on her balcony railing.
"You can't just pick anything!" Ran scolded. "This holiday only comes once a year, so you gotta make sure you wear a costume that you like!"
"What about a chef's costume?" Su suggested.
"We've been over this several times already, Su," Amu said tiredly. "For the last time, no."
Su flew away looking dejected. "But that puffy hat was so cute…"
"Why don't you just buy a costume that you want to go as?" Miki asked. "Instead of making such a big fuss over it."
"That's just it, though," Amu replied hugging her pillow. "I don't know what I want to dress up as." The girl sighed deep in thought. Maybe she should…
Before she got anywhere with her thinking, she heard a clatter and a groan. "Ouch… who put this here?" Amu sat up in a flash and looked behind her. Ikuto was picking himself up off the ground.
"Ikuto!" Amu stated surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Thought I'd pay you a visit," Ikuto replied standing up. "You know I come over often. Why'd you put that pumpkin on the railing where I land every time?"
"Okay…one, you do not come over often, and two, how'd I know you were gonna trip on it? Didn't you see it?"
"Not until it was too late, nya," Yoru said flying up near Ikuto's shoulder. "What's going on here anyway?"
"Trying to find a costume for Halloween," Ran answered.
"Halloween?" Ikuto asked tilting his head to the side.
"Yeah…" Amu stated. "It's today, people dress up, go trick-or-treating…"
"I know what the holiday is," Ikuto replied. "I meant: you actually celebrate this pointless holiday?"
"It's not pointless!" Su said. "It's fun!"
"Yet you've never really heard of it before now…" Miki muttered.
"I can't seem to find a costume," Amu sighed. "We've looked all over...and over…and over."
"Not that I'm an expert on these things..." Ikuto stated. "But to make it easy on yourself…why not just chara-nari?"
Ran slapped her forehead. "There's something we didn't think of."
"Hey! That would be fun, nya!" Yoru agreed.
"Then…which one should chara-nari with Amu?" Miki questioned placing her sketchbook down on the dressing table.
"I'm her favorite!" Ran said.
"I'm the most used in battles," Su answered.
"I'm still here, you know,"Miki chimed in. "I want to chara-nari with Amu too!"
Amu stepped in to break up her squabbling charas. "How about we take turns? Every neighborhood we go to, I'll switch to someone different. Okay?"
"I guess that's fair," her three charas agreed.
"What about me?" a light voice called from across the room. Amu turned to see Dia's egg float out of her school backpack and crack open revealing her diamond chara. "Can I join in the fun too?"
"Dia!" Ran exclaimed happily flying over to the gold chara.
"Long time no see," Amu softly said.
"Amu has a 4th chara!?" Yoru shouted. "Another one for me to tease, nya!" Before the cat chara could fly over to harass Dia, Ikuto held him back.
"Wha - ?" Yoru asked looking back at Ikuto for an explanation. The young teen simply looked away.
"So you heard everything then?" Su was now saying to Dia.
The diamond chara nodded. "I want to shine on Halloween with Amu."
Amu started laughing. "5 minutes ago, I didn't know what to pick for a costume. Now, I have four different ones!"
"What time does this 'trick-or-treat' start?" Dia asked.
Amu turned to look at her alarm clock. It read 6:14. "It starts when it gets dark out. We should leave around 7:00 to get a good amount of candy." She paused and turned around. "Why don't you go trick-or-treating with us?" she asked looking in Ikuto's direction.
"I'm not that interested in a little kiddie holiday."
"People of all ages celebrate this holiday, even adults," answered Amu. "So…are you going to go with us or not?"
"……do I have to?"
"I'd really like it if you'd come along…"
Ikuto sighed inwardly. Holidays never did interest him very much. But spending the night with Amu...that sounded good. "Fine," he finally replied.
"Great!" Amu answered cheerfully grabbing her backpack. "Just meet me down at the corner. My parents would freak out if they saw you go through the house."
Without another word, Ikuto went out on the balcony, chara-changed with Yoru, then jumped down to the pavement below.
Amu gathered her things together, made sure all her charas were following her, then ran downstairs.
"Amu, where are you going?" her mom called as she whirled by the kitchen.
"Out trick-or-treating, mom," she replied. "I'll be back soon!"
"But you don't have a - " her dad stopped as the door slammed. " - costume."
"She'll probably get one with her friends," her mom replied shrugging. "Rima, Tadase and all the rest."
Outside, Amu ran down her front steps and turned the corner. Ikuto was waiting and to her surprise he had already character-transformed with Yoru.
"That was fast," Amu commented. "Anyway, Miki's first up." The blue chara smiled and flew over to Amu.
"Atashi no kokoro! Unlock!" Amu said making the 'unlock' gesture over the Humpty Lock. In a blue flash of light, Amu and Miki had transformed into Amulet Spade.
"The world of candy awaits!" Ran exclaimed.
"Come on, everyone!" Amu called to her charas and Ikuto then started runnning down the street.
Ikuto sighed and calmly walked after her.
---------------------------------------
"Look at the boat-load of candy we got!" Su exclaimed as the group entered Amu's room via her balcony. Both Amu and Ikuto were still in their chara-nari outfits.
"One house that we went to was so spooky…" Miki stated. "It was awesome!"
Amu giggled as she dis-engaged her chara-nari with Ran. "And remember that girl that was dressed up as a fairy? She wouldn't leave me alone until I told her where I got Amulet Clover's outfit."
"I never thought getting candy could be so much fun," Dia said sitting down on the edge of Amu's nightstand.
"I'd better be going soon," Ikuto suddenly announced. Although he would never admit to it, that night was along the lines of a good time.
"Do you two have to go so soon?" Miki asked her voice sounding sad.
"Afraid so."
"Then could I…have a minute…well…you know," Miki stuttered looking at Ikuto intently.
Confused, Ikuto looked at Amu for an answer. "Dis-engage your chara-nari," she said, her voice only a light whisper.
Ikuto smirked and closed his eyes. Within 3 seconds, his chara-nari dissolved and Yoru flew over to Miki.
Amu got up and walked over to Ikuto. "Tonight…that was fun. We should…um…do activities like that more often." She suddenly had a light pink blush on her cheeks.
"I agree," Ikuto said bending down to Amu's level. He stared into her eyes for a moment then stood up. "Yoru, we're leaving." Having said goodbye to Miki, the cat chara flew over to Ikuto. Before leaving, Ikuto whispered 'good night' to Amu. 3 seconds later both of them dissapeared into the night.
"Good night...Ikuto," Amu whispered into the wind, feeling confident he somehow could hear her.