Disclaimer: I don't own Matantei Loki Ragnarok. I wish I did. But I don't, and since getting enough quarters to do my laundry in the dorm laundry room really taxes my cash flow, wishing is about the only thing I can do.
All Hallow's Eve Fun
By LokiGirl
Chapter 1: Pumpkins
October 30th
The weather was getting cooler and the leaves were beginning to change colors on the trees. The wind at night had a definite silvery chill to it, but the mid-afternoon still vainly held onto the last dying traces of summer's glory, or at least it was that day. Wearing only a light fall jacket over her summer school uniform, Mayura skipped through the piles of leaves on the ground until she was at the gates of a tall European style mansion—Loki's mansion. It was hard to believe that such a young child, Loki only being nine or ten years old, could be the master of such a grandiose place, but nevertheless he was. She hadn't believed it at first, thinking that Yamino-san was the owner and detective of Enjaku Detective Agency, but she had learned rather quickly not to be deceived by Loki's young age—especially after he saved her from an evil possessed doll on the first day that they had met. It was then that she had decided to become a part of his detective agency. After all, all detective agencies needed a beautiful and sexy female detective right? But besides that, Mayura was positive that she would find more mysterious mysteries hanging around Loki-kun then she would searching for them on her own. So with nothing more than mild complaints from the young detective which she quickly swatted away, Daidouji Mayura had become the newest member of Enjaku Detective Agency.
Mayura stopped at the gates and opened them slowly, starring at the house before her. It had been exactly six months ago that she had first walked through those very same gates, changing her life forever. Mayura couldn't even imagine her life without Loki-kun in it. He was such a big part of it. When she had first started coming over to the agency, it was to see all the strange cases that she knew a detective would get, but now... Now the cases didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that she would be able to see Loki-kun. Sure the mysteries were fun, mysteries were her passion, but Loki-kun was more important. She loved Loki-kun. It was something that she had learned all too painfully a month before when he had all of a sudden mysteriously disappeared. But he had come back, and she intended to never take his presence for granted. Shaking her head in an attempt to clear such deep thoughts out of her head, Mayura dashed down the sidewalk and ran into the mansion like she did everyday.
"Yamino-san? Yamino-san! Have you gotten them yet?" she asked dropping her school bag off on the couch before heading into the kitchen. Opening the door slightly to peek inside, Mayura spotted Yamino-san taking out several trays of freshly roasted pumpkin seeds from the oven.
"Come on in Mayura-san," he replied not taking his eyes off the hot trays. "I'm just taking the seeds out of the oven, but I made sure to leave the pumpkins intact liked you asked." Placing the last tray onto the stove, Yamino-san turned around to face Mayura. "What are you intending to do with all those pumpkins though Mayura-san?"
"I'm going to make jack-O-lanterns!" she replied happily, "and then use them as decorations." Mayura skipped around the kitchen table and pulled out several different sized knives from Yamino-kun's woodblock before sitting down at the table.
Curious, Yamino-kun leaned over Mayura's shoulder to get a closer look at what she was doing. "Is, is that a jack-O-lantern Mayura-san?"
Mayura leaned back in her chair to get a better look at her finished work. It was a very simple jack-O-lantern, having the traditional triangle eyes and toothy grin. "Yup, that's it. There's just one last thing to do," she added, rummaging into a plastic bag at her feet. Taking out a small votive candle, Mayura placed it inside the pumpkin and laid the top back on.
"What's the candle for?"
"Oh! Well after dark on Halloween, the candle will be lit to scare the ghosts and spirits of the dead that roam free. See Halloween is the last night of the old year according to the old Celtic religion and on that night the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead weakens. It's also time a chaos and disorder," Mayura rambled on sagely to Yamino-kun.
"Do you still need those pieces Mayura-san?"
"No, I was going to throw them away. Why?"
"Well, I thought I could make a pumpkin pie for dinner if there were enough scraps." Yamino smiled dreamily like he did every time he had a new food to cook or bake Loki-sama.
Mayura bounced happily in her chair. "And will you make pumpkin pie after Halloween with all the other pumpkins? Oh, and pumpkin cookies too! Please Yamino-kun?"
Yamino-kun laughed. "I promise Mayura-san."
Quite happy with the prospect of pumpkin pie for dessert later that night and pumpkin cookies after Halloween Mayura went back to diligently carving her jack-O-lanterns.
Hours later Mayura was finishing up her third to last pumpkin. It was one of the larger ones and she had decided to carve the image of a hissing cat. All she had to do was place the votive candle at the bottom. From outside the kitchen she heard a young anxious voice. "Yamino-kun, have you seen Mayura today? It's rather late for her to show up even if she had classroom cleanup and detention. Do you think..." Loki-kun's voice suddenly trailed off as he opened the kitchen door and saw Mayura at the table.
"Hi Loki-kun!"
"What are you doing Mayura?" he asked confused. Why hadn't he known she was here in the mansion? She must have been there for a very long time if the number of mutilated pumpkins was any clue. He knew that the house wards were working quite well, the surprise visit from Heimdall earlier that morning demonstrated that aptly enough. But he let it slide, thinking that he must have been busy when the wards had told him of her arrival and had just failed to notice it. It had happened before after all.
"I'm making jack-O-lanterns for the Halloween party Loki-kun."
"What Halloween party?"
"The one we're having tomorrow night silly," replied Mayura as if this was obvious.
Loki raised an eyebrow. "We're?"
"Umhmm..." replied Mayura as she lugged the large pumpkin off the table and onto the counter with the other finished ones. "I've already invited Narugami-kun and Kotaro-kun, and Kaitou-san and...." Mayura paused to think, "Oh and Reiya-chan too. I would have invited Kazumi-kun, but I never see him and couldn't find his address."
"No that's okay Mayura," answered Loki quickly. "Ah... he, he doesn't like parties. He um... freaks out whenever he gets a party invitation." Loki held his breath, hoping that Mayura would buy it. If he had to host a Halloween party, which it seemed like he was going to, he at least didn't want Heimdall to be on the guest list.
"I'm glad I didn't send him an invitation then. I wouldn't want to upset him." Sitting back down, Mayura pulled another pumpkin towards her and picked up a medium sized knife.
"Mayura, why are you mutilating pumpkins?" Loki asked coming to sit down in the chair next to her.
"I'm not mutilating pumpkins! I'm making jack-O-lanterns!"
"Looks the same to me," he replied indifferently leaning his head against the palm of his hand.
"I think they look really nice Mayura-san. I'm sure they'll really liven up the house when the candles are light," added Yamino in Mayura-san's defense.
"Have you ever made a jack-O-lantern Loki-kun?"
"No," replied Loki as he lifted up his head. Before he knew what had happened, Mayura had moved around behind his chair and grabbed his right hand in hers.
"I'll teach you then. We'll do the basic one first okay?"
Loki stiffened. Perhaps it was the way she held his hand, or perhaps it was the way Mayura's chin rested delicately on his shoulder, but Loki couldn't help but consider their position to be intimate. Her breath tickled his ear. "Wha, what's the first thing to do?" he asked, not wanting her to move away.
"First you cut out one triangle for an eye, and then another," she instructed carving the pumpkin with the knife in Loki's hand. "After that you cut out the simile like this." Mayura pulled back a little. "Wasn't that fun Loki-kun?" He shook his head affirmatively. "Would you like to do another?" Loki just nodded his head again. "Would you like me to help or do you want to try on your own?"
"Help me."
"All right. So, what do you want to carve this time?" she asked politely. "A ghost or a cat maybe?"
"A witch?" he asked, guessing that it would take a long time to carve one.
"Okay Loki-kun. But it's going to take awhile. Is that okay?" she asked, her breath once again tickling his ear.
"Umhmm," he sighed. Mayura had no idea what she was doing to him, and he had no intentions of letting her stop any sooner than necessary.
Hours later Loki was getting ready for bed. Loki yawned in bed as Yamino was about to turn off the lights. "Loki-sama, aren't you excited about tonight?"
"No, why should I be?" he replied lying down onto the soft pillows of his bed.
"Well it being mischief night and all, I would have thought..." Yamino didn't finish his sentence.
"Mischief night indeed," snickered Loki. "Tonight's not a mischief night." He sighed. "Every year it's the same thing. Teenagers go out and teepee trees, or throw eggs at cars. It's so predictable. There's no originality. Now April Fool's Day is a day to get excited about," he finished pulling the covers over his little body.
"I see," said Yamino-kun, not exactly sure what April fool's day was. He was sure however that Loki-sama or Mayura-san would explain to him what it was later. "Well, good night Loki-sama."
"Good night Yamino-kun."