The phone rang.
Japan, who was doing some paperwork at his desk, swore under his breath as he dropped his pen. It was fall, and he never expected many calls during this time. He sighed and picked up the pen, then answered the persistently ringing call.
"Hello?"
"YO, JAPAN! WHAZZUP!!!"
Well, Japan could tell right away who it was; who else talked in all capitals over the phone?
"America-san, please. I thought you would figure out how to use a telephone correctly; after all, I designed that telephone with the volume control."
"Sorry! Anyway, I just wanted to ask you if you could come to my Halloween party. It's at my house! I even managed to convince England to come!"
"Amer-"
"And I didn't invite any of the weird people, like France and Russia, either!"
Japan didn't bother to mention that he thought that America should count as one of the "weird" people. Though he had to admit that America wasn't a perv like France or scary like Russia."
"But-"
"I won't take no for an answer! Just show up at 5:00 tomorrow at my house and dress up as something scary!"
So that was why everyone was coming. Even England couldn't squeeze in a simple "no" when America was filling every nanosecond he had with chatter.
"What?" Finally, Japan had time for one word.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot! You don't know much about western traditions, do you? Well, just get a scary costume and come! There will be food, and no McDonald's, I promise! Just be something that will scare the heck out of everyone else!"
And America hung up.
Japan sighed. Well, he had to come now, because he didn't decline. He decided to finish the rest of the paperwork first.
I should probably get started on that costume, he thought. What do I know that's scary?

America was wearing a ghost costume, waiting at his house for the guests to arrive. England, of course, was always there first. Though not in the way America expected.
"A ghost? Seriously? How original," commented England when he walked in.
"Yeah, that should be a compliment from you, Iggy," sniggered America.
"I'm not Iggy." And at the same time, England walked through the door.
As America stared horrified and bewildered at the two identical Englands standing by the door, the first England ripped off his head.
America nearly screamed, but then the second England began laughing and Prussia popped out.
"Hah, the only reason I went was for the practical jokes! You can't deny awesome!"
Hungary, wearing a kitty headband, stepped out from behind the wall with a camera and laughed. "Wow, I even got a picture of that!"
England smirked. "That's the 78th time in a row I've beaten you at this."
Austria and Germany straddled in a few minutes later. Neither had bothered to dress up.
The two Italy brothers came next.
"Oh, hello, how are you?" asked England.
"Where's that potato freak? Don't tell me I brought a box of tomatoes and a pasta spoon for nothing!" Southern Italy yelled. Apparently Spain had forced a little bunny hat on him.
"What the...?" Austria mused.
NorthernItaly,who was skipping around, singing, walked up to Austria and said, "Romano is in an exceptionally bad mood today."
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, you idiot."
"DON'T CALL MY BROTHER AN IDIOT YOU POTATO FREAK!"
Germany picked up a platter and used it as a shield against Northern Italy, er, Southern Italy's tomatoes.
"Thanks for reminding me to bring this, Prussia, I was wondering why."
"Hey, I gave them that idea! Just a thought; imagine what would happen if you ran after the wrong one."
"Shut the hell up."
No one even noticed that Canada showed up.
Finally, China came, accompanied by Shinatty-chan.
"For the sake of Saint Peter, you're supposed to be the person dressing up as something scary!" shouted England.
"SHINATTY CHAN RULES AND IS NOT SCARY!!!" yelled China.
"On second thought, where's Japan? I know I invited him!" America suddenly yelled.
"He's going to come. You said five o'clock; we still have ten minutes."
But when five o'clock came, Japan still didn't show up.
"Guess we'll just have to start without him! He's probably late because he's making his own costume rather than buying it."
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, in little monster costumes, nodded in agreement. "Did you really have to insist upon these costumes, America?" asked Lithuania.
"They look good on you. Anyway..."
But America was interrupted when the doors burst open and Russia came marching in.
"RUSSIA?! HOW'D HE GET HERE?"
"YOU GIT, YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T INVITE THAT CREEP!"
"I DIDN'T!"
"WAAAH! I'M SCARED! GERMANY GERMANY HELP!"
"YOU IDIOT YOU MADE MY TOMATO MISS!"
The Baltic brothers all dove under a table, but China was already there.
But Russia sat down and said,
"I didn't realize Russia had become this intimidating."
He pulled off the mask which revealed...Japan. Japan kicked off Russia's boots to reveal some two-foot tall stilts.
"JAPAN?!" everyone yelled in unison.
"Well, America-san said to dress up as something scary!"
"You git, now I can blame you if I get a heart attack!" England said, slapping America.
Just then, Russia stood up and took off his shinatty-chan/hello kitty hat.
"I didn't realize I had become so scary either."