Hello everyone! Happy Halloween!

This story is a (sort of) side story of 10 Things I Hate about Niou Masaharu. There's no connection between the two stories though and you can still enjoy this story without even reading/remembering the previous one. I hope you like this story and please read the first story too in case you haven't.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.

Sorry for bad English and typos.

Trick or trick~

Another Thing I Hate about Niou Masaharu: Halloween Special

I Hate Him Wearing That Costume

October 31th… it was Halloween! It was originally a western culture, but everyone in the world celebrated it in the past few years. Yes, everyone included the Rikkaidai regulars.

Well, not all of them were into it but their second year ace Kirihara Akaya was really excited about it.

"It's Halloween! Happy Halloween, senpai!" The seaweed-haired boy greeted his seniors as he walked into the clubroom before the afternoon practice began. The older boys who were changing their school uniforms to tennis uniforms looked up from their perspective lockers. Some of them smiled back, some of them just grinned, and the rest frowned.

"Happy Halloween, Akaya." Yukimura was the first one who greeted him back.

"Happy Halloween, Buchou! Trick or treat!" Akaya said with an ear-to-ear grin.

The bluenette chuckled. "I'd prefer treat, but sadly we should postpone this until the practice end."

"Eeeh? Why?" Akaya asked in shock. "Why not now? Why should we wait?"

"We'd discussed this before you came. We were afraid that it would interfere with the practice if everyone started asking for candies now so we decided to hold the event after the practice end." Yanagi explained to him.

Akaya pouted. Yanagi was right, but he wanted it like… now.

Anyway, there was nothing he could do. He knew if he whined about this, he might get a hard bitch-slap from someone who was scary enough even without any Halloween-themed costume.

"Too bad, for you, brat." Niou said with his signature smirk plastered on his face.

Akaya glared at the silverhead. "Shut up Niou-senpai! Or else you'll get the worst trick I've prepared today."

"Oh, I'm so scared." Niou mocked the younger boy. Beside him, Marui burst out laughing while Jackal and Yagyuu just exchanged glance and shook their heads.

Akaya's face reddened in wrath. He pointed at Niou. "You'll definitely pay for this!"

The trickster closed his locker and casually leaned to it as he crossed his arms. His face was as full of confidence as ever. "We'll see about that."

Just whom this brat thought he was challenging?

The practiced ended faster than usual thanked to a certain boy. He had been really pumped up during the practice, causing his fellow second year friends suffering from fatigue. Once Sanada announced that the practice ended, he ran at full speed to the clubroom.

"Say, what do you think Akaya is planning?" Marui asked his double partner as he, Jackal and the rest of the regulars walked to the clubroom.

"No idea." Jackal replied. He put his hands behind his bald head and mused for a while. "Anyhow, I believe it won't be as bad as what Niou will do."

The redhead blew a green bubble as he looked around. The said trickster was nowhere to be found. "You got the point."

Not bothering to join the conversation the double players were having behind his back, Sanada grabbed the door knob firmly and turned it. The door swung opened and…

A boy was waiting for them with a white mask under his curly bangs covering his face.

A bubble popped.

'What the hell is that white thing?'

'That's not even a costume! He still wears his jersey!'

'Why did he only wear a mask?'

'I didn't expect he'd only wear a mask.'

'Oh, it's the Phantom of the Opera's mask.'

'Hmm… Nice mask.'

…were what each of the boys in yellow thought.

The masked boy smirked at them.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Trick or treat!" He exclaimed happily.

'Oh, Akaya….' The boys rolled their eyes and sighed as they walked in. The masked Akaya watched them went to their lockers and decided to go to the captain first.

"Buchou, trick or treat!" He said again.

Yukimura smiled. He didn't mind the fact that Akaya had said that phrase for about the third time already, instead he found it amusing. He opened his locker and took a pack of candy then gave it to the boy. "Here, I promised you this, didn't I?"

"Yay! Thank you!" The masked boy cheered as he received it and put it into his bag that had been clinging onto his left shoulder from the very first time. He then looked around and went to Yanagi.

"Senpai~" He said as he approached the brunette.

"Trick or treat.That's what you're going to say." Yanagi calmly said.

"Wow, you're so cool! How can you read my mind? Are you an esper?" Akaya said as Yanagi handed out a small box. He peeked inside the box; it was a cupcake with green frosting. The data master then told him that he had specially ordered it from a friend who loved to cook.

"Even the genius me know what he was going to say." Marui whispered to Jackal. The half-Brazillian just chuckled in replied. So true.

After finishing his little chit chat about what flavor the cupcake was with Yanagi, Akaya looked at Marui and Jackal. His blue eyes flashed as he walked toward them.

"Sen-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Marui cut. "Don't worry, my share will definitely be given… by Jackal."

"Why me?" Jackal comically protested as usual.

"I don't have anything to give." Marui shrugged.

Jackal frowned. It was a lie! Just look inside his locker! "Don't you have plenty of sweet?"

The redhead placed his hands on the hips. "I do have plenty of them but I have none to give away." He said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever, senpai. Just give me a treat already!" The second year complained.

'Just who decided to give you a treat?' Jackal mentally grumbled. Nevertheless, he gave Akaya two boxes of cookies.

"Next~" Akaya hummed as he looked to the left and saw… Sanada was glaring at him. Owwie…

"I don't follow any western tradition." The vice-captain declared.

"But fukubuchou…"

"No."

"Fukubuchou…"

"I said no."

Knowing how stubborn the vice-captain was, Akaya turned to Yukimura to ask for help.

"Buchou, fukubuchou's being mean to me!"

Sanada gulped.

"Sanada…" Yukimura said. He was still smiling but everyone could notice that he was slightly unamused.

"No. It's a western tradition." The said guy tried to be as composed as he could.

"Sanada."

"I said no."

"Sa-na-da."

"…"

In three seconds…

Three.

Two.

One.

"Alright." Sanada groaned in frustration as he acknowledged his lose. He searched for any sweets he could find in his bag. However, Akaya ended up getting a rice cracker from him because a Sanada never had any sweets in his bag.

Akaya stared at the rice cracker in his hand. He sighed. Well, better than nothing. He then turned to the last person in the room: Yagyuu.

"Just don't eat them all at once, okay." Yagyuu reminded as he gave the younger boy a can of crystal candies.

"Yes, Sir." Akaya replied. He put the last present into his bag and zipped the bag close. Everything was safe and sound there. "Now then, I'll be leaving."

"Huh? Don't you want to wait for Niou?" Marui questioned.

"Oh about that-" Akaya's word was cut as he quickly looked at the door and narrowed his eyes as if he was concentrating on God-knew-what. Everyone was wondering what's wrong with him when he mumbled softly. "He's coming…"

"Huh?"

"I really really have to go now. Bye everyone! Thanks for the treats!" He waved to them then quickly ran leaving the room.

"What's wrong with him?" Jackal asked.

"I think he is running away from something… or someone. I guess it's Niou he's avoiding." Yanagi stated his prediction.

Marui scratched his head. "But why? I thought he was going to face Niou."

"Maybe he is preparing something for Niou-kun right now." Yagyuu said as he pushed his glasses.

"Trifling." Sanada huffed as he looked back to his locker and continued preparing for leaving. Everyone followed him and did the same though they were still wondering what both Akaya and (especially) Niou were up to.

Suddenly the door was wide opened with loud bam.

"Trick or treat!"

The boys looked at who's coming.

"Akaya?" They exclaimed in unison. Their eyes were wide opened, yes, including Yanagi's because he had never predicted that the second year boy would have come back in… a tiger costume.

"Yes, it is me." Akaya replied. He was slightly confused by his seniors' reaction. "What do you think about my costume? It's really cool, isn't it? It took some time to get this."

"Just when I thought you'd at least come back with a bucket of water…" Marui said sarcastically. Everyone had been expecting him to come back with some trick for Niou yet he just came wearing another costume (though the previous one couldn't be called as a proper costume) and said the same trick or treat phrase again.

Akaya blinked. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"No. It's just… we were thinking that you were planning some trick for Niou instead of getting another costume." Yukimura explained.

"No need to worry about that. I've prepared something for him." Akaya grinned as he posed a peace sign. "Anyway, buchou, didn't you promise me a treat?"

Yukimura tilted his head. "Huh? Didn't I just give it to you?"

Akaya also tilted his head. "Huh? But you said you would give it after the practice ended which is now."

Yukimura opened his mouth but closed it again. He seemed to have lost his words. The rest of the team behind him could only face-palmed as they realized what was happening.

"It was Niou, wasn't it?"

A certain silverhead stiffed his laughter as he peeked inside the clubroom through a window. It seemed that everyone but Akaya had realized his trick.

Wasn't it too bad, brat, that everyone had run out of sweets now?

Niou played with the little box of cupcake Yanagi had given him earlier. After thinking for a while, he decided to leave it in front of the clubroom's door especially for the poor Akaya. (Afterall, he didn't want to eat it in fear that it had been made by Inui.)

"Zannen munen mata rainen. Puri."

Zannen munen mata rainen = Too bad, no regrets, see you next year. It was a next year because Halloween is an annual event.

Regarding the title, that costume refers to Niou's costume (or impersonation) as Akaya.

Wow, it's been a long time since the last time I wrote story like this. I hope you like it. Please review!