"The Key is to Avoid Halloween"
by stalactice
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Free!' or anything related to it and don't claim otherwise. Please support the official release. The cover image is from Adobe Stock.
Before you read: This is a oneshot that branches off from my multi-chapter story "Sea Foam Stuck on the Rocks," so I recommend at least reading a couple chapters of that if you haven't already. There are OCs, so if that's not your thing, this might not be the story for you.
Also, this was a challenge from my wonderful friend petalsofivory to write a oneshot in a thousand words or less for Halloween to see if I was actually capable of writing something without the word count running away from me. Excluding the title, disclaimer, this message, and the author's note at the end, this oneshot is exactly a thousand words (phew!). Now that that's out of the way, I hope this is up to my usual standard and please enjoy.
Halloween had a bad reputation at Samezuka. There were too many incidents to count in the academy's history that happened around Halloween for superstitious athletes like them to be comfortable.
Naturally, Hamasaki had to host a Halloween party the weekend before the date-that-shall-not-be-discussed.
"It'll be fun," she said with a spring in her step when she gave him the information. Despite hating the date, Seijuurou had to admit Ikagara threw great parties.
At the event, Hamasaki's head appeared over the gaggle of people and used her hands as a megaphone. "Gather around, everyone!" There was a mischievous glint in her eyes that only spelled trouble for the rest of them.
After a few minutes of rearranging of chairs, Hamasaki announced, "Halloween - no matter how it's viewed in the rest of the country - has always had a place at Ikagara. Sure, we don't do the trick-or-treating thing like westerners, but it does still make for a great time and our personal favorite: a ghost story competition."
Silence fell across the room.
"Told 'ya they wouldn't like it, captain."
"Well, it's not my fault they didn't like my introduction."
"I think that's exactly why."
Hamasaki relented, "It doesn't necessarily have to be a ghost story. It could have been something that frightened you as a child, a piece of folklore, whatever."
Several Samezuka members shifted uncomfortably.
"Now," she turned, plopped into her seat, and smiled, "who wants to go first?"
Another smothering pause.
Seijuurou noticed Zolno slipping slowly in her chair, trying to hide her face behind her hand and a chunk of hair. Hamasaki's gaze just landed on Zolno when Uozumi raised his hand.
"Um…" he said as he stood from his spot leaning against a windowsill.
Hamasaki smirked and waved Uozumi to continue.
Uozumi shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, when I was," he clicked his tongue, "six - maybe seven - my parents and I took a trip to the Okayama prefecture to visit family. We were walking back from dinner since it wasn't too far from my uncle's and aunt's place. There was a footpath that cut through the 'forest' - or I guess 'brush' is a better way to put it."
Seijuurou propped his elbow on a crossed leg and cradled his chin in his open palm. With a quick glance over at Hamasaki bouncing her foot like a metronome, he could tell she was getting antsy.
"Since I was the youngest of the kids, I was kind of left behind the group even though I did my best to keep up." Uozumi explained. "I called out for my cousins to slow down, but I thought they couldn't hear me. Just as I lost sight of them, the last light in the sky set." Uozumi fidgeted.
Seijuurou narrowed his eyes. Uozumi was rarely this worked up.
Hamasaki leaned forward, finally intrigued.
Uozumi babbled, "The-Then I heard a rustling in the trees. At first, I thought it was the w-wind an-and that's what I kept telling myself as I tried and catch up." He raised his head and blathered, "All of a sudden, something swung down from a branch and roared this close to me!" Uozumi held his hand some twenty-odd centimeters apart.
"What'd you do?" Minami piped, pushing himself further into the windowsill.
Uozumi blinked blankly. "What do you think I did?! I bolted! I thought I was safe after I passed my family and hid under my futon, but… I was wrong…" Uozumi shook his head. "The weirdest part, though, was I woke up the next morning with a freakishly high fever!" He pulled aside the collar of his T-shirt and showed the Ikagara girls the extra pale splotching that went across the right side of his clavicle and over his shoulder. "This is the scarring from that. The doctor called it Fifth's Disease, but he had no clue how I managed to get it. To this day, I still think it was that thing that swung down from the tree."
Seijuurou swore he heard Hamasaki whistle a spooky tune gleefully.
"A sagari*?" Matsuoka asked after a pregnant pause.
"A what?" Uozumi parroted back in the same tone.
Matsuoka scratched the back of his neck and said, "It's a youkai."
Zolno mimicked, "A youkai?"
"Is it just me or is there an echo in here?" one of the Ikagara bases snorted.
Seijuurou sighed. Never a dull moment.
Matsuoka ran a hand through his hair. He faced Zolno. "Youkai are monsters, but they act a lot more like spirits so people usually can't see them." He turned back to Uozumi. "My mom's from Okayama. Sagari supposedly look like rotting horse faces from horses that were left for dead on the road. They can give people fevers."
Uozumi 'Oh'ed while Hamasaki hummed and awarded both him and Matsuoka with applause. "Very nice!" She directed her attention to Zolno who looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole. "Now it's our turn! Zolno, if you will."
With a pained expression, Zolno stood. "I am sorry my Japanese is bad… In Russia, there is a legend about creatures called Fiery Serpents*."
Seijuurou watched Hamasaki beam and realization washed over him. Samezuka would lose this competition they did not even agree to.
"Fiery Serpents sometimes look like comets, but to…" she glanced at Hamasaki, "windows?"
"Widows," Hamasaki supplied.
"To widows, they look like their husbands. The women go mad, because they think their love is back and kill themselves."
Matsuoka choked on his drink and had a coughing fit. Nitori snivelled, "K-Kill themselves?!" Uozumi and Minami, along with a large number of their fellow teammates, looked to Seijuurou for guidance.
Seijuurou glanced between a satisfied Hamasaki and a reluctant Zolno and deadpanned, "You win," before making a beeline for the door, his team a stampede following without complaint.
Another reason to hate Halloween. Great.
(There was no way he would tell Hamasaki how many calls and messages he got that evening with warnings of fiery serpent sightings.)
Author's Note:
*If you want to learn more about sagari and youkai, there's a really cool website called yokai . com. For sagari specifically, I recommend starting here: yokai ? s = sagari
*Unfortunately, the Fiery Serpents don't come with a handy website like youkai. They're a little more complicated and nuanced than what Katya says here, but I hit the word limit. There are variations of these stories across Eastern Europe. If you would like more information, try here: en . wikipedia wiki / Fiery _ serpents
For those that are waiting for the next update of "Sea Foam," I have no clue when it'll be complete, but I am working steadily on it. Thank you for your patience.
I hope everyone enjoyed this slight reprieve from the regular angst of my fic. Feel free to leave a comment or a PM.
Thank you for reading and until next time.