The Library Chronicles: Jacuzzi Crashes a Halloween Party

A/N: So here I have another story set in The Library. This one's about Jacuzzi Splot (HA!) from Baccano! and his hilarious misadventures in this Library on Halloween night. I decided to have him interact with Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion because I felt they had quite a bit in common, characterization-wise, though their stories are very different. This story is at least part thought experiment: I'm looking to see if I can convert my own feelings about Halloween into something entertaining to outsiders. I OWN NOTHING!

When Jacuzzi Splot came to the library one day, he noticed that it was different from what he expected. It was mid-fall, when he and all his friends and enemies usually came to set up camp—but they had never come across a library space so garishly-decorated as it was now. Black things hung from the ceiling, orange-and-black banners lined all the walls, spiderwebs clung to all available corners, and Jacuzzi could swear he saw a thin tendril of black smoke coming from underneath one of the doors on the other side of the room he was in. He began to feel uneasy almost immediately, and became downright terrified when he realized that he could see no other Baccano! characters anywhere, not even Nice, his best friend and lover, whom he hardly went anywhere without.

For awhile, Jacuzzi just sat there, analyzing the situation and trying to calm himself down. "Maybe Halloween's over and they just haven't taken down the decorations yet?" he mused. However, the golden tinge to the light shining in through the window disproved that theory quickly: if it were nightfall on November first all decorations would have gone down. Besides, other Baccano! characters who had come to the library before him in years past hadn't reported anything about needing to take down decorations.

His worst fears were confirmed when he took a good, hard look at some of the other people in the library, none of which looked familiar and all of which looked forbidding. One of the first groups he laid eyes on included a man, surrounded by many beautiful women and girls of various ages. Their hair was either black, brown, or pink. Some of these girls, Jacuzzi noted with puzzlement, seemed to have what looked like cat ears on their heads. They looked almost friendly, despite their weird hair. This rapidly proved to be wishful thinking as the first one to notice him was a little pink-haired girl, who said: "Look everyone, it's some new man! Can I kill him?"

"Honestly, Mariko," said an older girl with brighter-pink hair, "You know we can't kill anyone here!"

"That's laaaame," the girl called Mariko groaned.

It was all Jacuzzi could do to keep himself from screaming. These people weren't friendly at all! He tried desperately to yank his eyes away from their bright-pink hair. In Baccano! everyone Jacuzzi knew had modestly-colored hair, either brown or red or blonde or black. By no means were these the only hair colors he had ever encountered; he had seen some weird hair colors in the cast of Cowboy Bebop, for example- but bright pink hair? That was new to him. Mariko was still staring hungrily at him. She reminded him, uncomfortably, of Ladd Russo.

A new group of characters seemed to be arriving now: three boys and one girl. The first boy in the group had short brown hair; the second, long black hair that reached past his shoulders. The third, smallest boy, had short black hair; and the girl's hair was short and pink. All four of them wore black body suits covered with patches and buttons. "Just what are they wearing?" Jacuzzi muttered through clenched teeth, careful not to attract their attention. "There you folks are," growled the boy with the short black hair.

"This time we're gonna get you, aliens!" the brown-haired boy interjected.

"We are not aliens!" protested the girl with the short pink hair, "We're Diclonius!"

"Nana's right-nyuu!" interjected the older pink-haired girl, who was now speaking in a completely different voice from before.

"Bah, you are aliens," said the girl dressed in black.

"Guys, please!" said the long-haired boy, "Can we try to keep this pleasant, just for once?" Jacuzzi sighed and turned away from them, not understanding.

Next came a whole motley host of characters, which reminded Jacuzzi somewhat of the large gangs back at his home; but they regarded him with a flighty nervousness quite unlike anything he expected from his warmhearted friends (or foes). The woman who led them carried a creepy pink plush dog, and rounding out this pack was a boy carrying what looked like a bent baseball bat.

Now two men and a woman arrived to mingle with the rest. One man was huge and muscular, with a big sword, while the other was tall and slim, with long bluish-white hair. The woman was thin and slight, with dark skin and hair. Just the intense, vaguely mournful looks on their faces made Jacuzzi cringe.

Just then, four characters approached him, among them a woman in her late twenties, dressed in red, with dark-blue hair; and three children: a brown-haired boy wearing a white collared shirt, a light blue-haired girl with red eyes, wearing a green-and-white dress, and a third girl, attired similarly to the other but with long red hair and blue eyes. "W-who are you?" Jacuzzi stammered.

"My name is Misato," explained the woman, "And these are Shinji, Rei, and Asuka." The woman indicated the boy, blue-haired girl, and red-haired girl in turn. The three young teenagers merely eyed Jacuzzi suspiciously.

"Who are you?" Asuka sneered.

"M-my name's J-Jacuzzi S-splot," Jacuzzi explained. "Normally my friends and I come here after Halloween's over but… I guess I just came here early." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"We're from Neon Genesis Evangelion," Shinji put in, "and… where do you come from?"

"I'm from Baccano!" Jacuzzi replied. "So… what h-happens on Halloween here, anyway?" At that question, the Neon Genesis Evangelion group fell silent, and started looking at one another strangely. "W-what?" he stammered.

"Oho, if you have to ask," Asuka snapped, an impudent smirk spreading across her face, "You just wait! You're gonna be scared out of your mind!"

"N-no… no, I…,"Jacuzzi began, close to tears. "Oh, this is awful!" he screamed, "Stuck in the library on Halloween night…!"

"Well…, if it makes you feel better," said Misato, "You won't be in physical danger. You must know that in this library no one ever dies."

"Yeah, but they'll trick you into thinking you will fast!" Asuka interjected.

"Asuka, be polite," Shinji whispered quietly, not facing her. But Jacuzzi was already frightened. What did Asuka mean, they would make him forget he couldn't die? He'd faced physical danger many times in Baccano! He had stood up to Ladd Russo, been in a train disaster involving a lunatic, and even gotten himself a permanent facial tattoo for his friend. He was used to danger, so surely this would be easier. But… he was a scaredy-cat. And everyone knew it.

The last traces of sun were just visible over the horizon now. One of the latecoming groups was fronted by a tall, thin man dressed in a long, red coat and large red hat; a woman dressed in a gray suit and glasses with dark skin and light hair; and a much smaller woman, with bright orange hair and a blue uniform. The very last group to arrive was yet another boy, surrounded by girls. The girls had some of the wildest hair colors Jacuzzi had ever seen: green, blue, light-purple, orange, and bright-yellow.

Jacuzzi was happy to see that this last group, at least, appeared friendly. "Hello!" said the boy, "My name's Keiichi! What's yours?"

"My name's Jacuzzi," said Jacuzzi, nervous by this sudden burst of attention.

"This," Keiichi went on, "is Mion, Shion,"- he indicated the two green-haired girls- "Rena,"- he indicated the orange-haired girl- "Satoko, Hanyuu, and Rika." He indicated respectively the yellow-haired, purple-haired, and blue-haired girls.

"You're not from around this time, are you?" asked Rika, the girl with blue hair.

"I… no," said Jacuzzi, "I sorta… got stuck here."

"Oh," said some of the girls, who suddenly started whispering and eyeing him nervously.

"W-what?" Jacuzzi stammered.

"Oh, just… we've never had anyone else come by here," said the orange-haired girl, "This should be… interesting."

Jacuzzi wondered if he dared to ask what she meant by that. But at this point, other characters had noticed him, and were staring and muttering under their breath. He gave an involuntary shudder.

"You seem surprised by all these people," Asuka observed.

"Well, yeah, they're…" Jacuzzi watched in morbid fascination as the brown-haired boy in the black suit started asking some of the girls for sexual favors. "Nothing like I've ever seen before."

"See, that's the problem with not getting here on major holidays," Asuka continued, "You've probably never seen anything except boring, undistinguished Baccano! characters inside the library or out…."

"That's not true," Jacuzzi protested.

"Oh, really?" said Asuka.

"Yeah," said Jacuzzi, "We've met the Cowboy Bebop cast; they frequently come along towards the end of our run. And occasionally we've stayed out the winter solstice and hung with the casts of Pumpkin Scissors, or Fullmetal Alchemist…."

"Boooring," Asuka interrupted.

"Asuka, you don't need to do that," whimpered Shinji.

Jacuzzi looked out the window and gulped when he saw the very last flicker of daylight just above the horizon. In fact, all the characters were watching the window now, in anticipation so thick it could be cut with a knife. The scary characters radiated pent-up excitement and energy; Jacuzzi felt as though his insides were falling through his stomach. He thought for sure he would throw up. He could practically feel his face turning green. His heart beat so fast the entire chair he was sitting in began trembling.

After what seemed like ages, the sky grew completely dark.

Bum bum buuuuuuummm…!

Sorry if this comes across as a bit random and disjointed. I felt I had to introduce the characters and set the scene. The story will get better, trust me