Chapter 19: Trick or Treat (Halloween special)
This chapter will be shorter compared to the previous ones, so enjoy as much as you want!
A week after that day in the movies and the museum, Hiro and Zero Two announced their plans to everyone, whom were happy to see the couple make another big step in their relationship. After that, the rest of their R&R went smoothly without any inconvenience. However, today they just received two important notifications: 1- The deadline of their R&R was set after "the Halloween holidays". And 2- To the surprise of everyone, Titus and Ikuno's R&R was cut short for this day. Everyone was confused at the last one, until Goro remembered that the two of them still had a "disciplinary sanction" pending for completion. At this, anybody guessed that maybe that was the reason the vacations of those 2 were cut short.
"What is this 'Halloween' festival anyways?" asked Zero Two confused. The squad was sitting together on the breakfast table having jam and bread except for zero two who already had a whole jar of honey just for herself.
"Well, it's just a festival for fun where you dress up like a ghost and run around to ask for candies at everyone's door steps." Said Hatake taking a bite of his bread.
"Well," said Zorome, "that's kind of crazy and embarrassing for us though…"
"Nah you don't have to do it," said Hatake, "it's for kids! Although you can do it too if you want to." He said as he grinned slightly remembering something, "And also if you don't get scared from just a movie- AH!" he screamed as Seraphine pinched him from behind with a slight but creepy smile on his face.
"I guess, I don't need a festival…" thought Hatake looking at her, "She is scary enough..."
"I see…" said Hiro, "What do we us adults do on this festival then?"
"Let's see," said Hatake, "usually everyone enjoys their drinks till late night, but what we used to do in the old times was to lit up a candle in a dark room and tell each other scary stories or have some... let's say 'adult' fun."
"Oh... well the first part sounds fun!" said Kokoro.
"Yeah," said Hatake, "You all can let the kids have their fun followed by their sleep afterward."
Then they heard knocks coming from the entrance door and Hatake went to answer.
"Yes?" he said to a man with a few boxes with him.
"Pardon my intrusion," said the man, "I'm here to deliver something on the order of the president."
"Orion's delivery?" asked Hiro.
"Yeah," replied the person, "Orion said its for the kids, that's all I know. If you could sign here please..." Hatake did so and once done, the messenger said, "I got more errands to run, bye!" he said as he left in a hurry.
"What might it be?" asked Kofuku as she opened the box.
"Ah they are here already!" said Nana as she entered the room.
"What is it?" asked Ichigo.
"Halloween costumes for the kids." Said Hachi, "Orion said you guys don't know much about the festival. So, it might be a pain selecting costumes for the children, so he sent them." He said as Kofuku unboxed every single one of the costumes. There were different costumes and small props to complement each one of them.
"He really does know how to entertain children," said Hatake, "Alright that's it I guess, everyone, enjoy the day as usual. The fun starts at night!" he said as everyone went ahead roaming the city as usual.
Slowly the day gave way to the night, meaning that it was the time for fun and spookiness for the children ran all over streets asking candy at every doorstep, giving away cheerful and happy laughs, sometimes mixing some screams of fear when being surprised by some childish scares. Soon enough, it was starting to become midnight, meaning that the children around the city started returning home, while the adults and teenagers started looking to have some fun for them. In the bar "Lucky 13" was a good example of it, with many men and women taking advantage of their holiday leave to have a good time boasting about their achievements and progress in the war, while the unluckier ones were serving them drinks and food, and certain pair of pilots fell into that category...
"I hate this… I'm getting tired and I just wish to sleep already..." cried Ikuno as she sat down at a table taking a little break. The discipline punishment administered to her and Titus was to serve in the bar during the holiday break, which were known to have heavy shifts at all times. And to make it a little more embarrassing, she was wearing a costume of her own Franxx Chlorophytum that made her aware of how much skin it basically showed. Titus was also wearing a male variant of it, but he was luckier of basically having a literal costume of it meaning he didn't have any skin to show. Not that she wouldn't mind...
"Not a chance, lady." said Mihaly, disguised as a butler from the bar stool, "Its Halloween! It's going to be busy here up till the early morning, and we can't handle all of this alone. Next time think better if you're planning to disobey orders from higher ups again..."
"Arggghhh..." she groaned as she glared at the old man when Titus came over to her and started head-patting her...
"Hey calm down..." he said to comfort her, "It may be heavy but this kind of punishments aren't that bad. Let's just endure this for a few more hours and it will be done..."
"Tsk! Fine!" she said pouting in anger. Then Mihaly told her: "By the way, table 5, the big one, has just been filled, better get to it."
Ikuno just huffed and walked towards such table, and her eyes went wide when she found out who was there...
"Hey Ikuno, nice costume btw." Said zero two sitting on the table.
"What are you doing here!?" said Ikuno as her face went red,"I thought you were sleeping back at home!"
"We decided to give a visit to you and Titus to see how you were doing." Naomi said, "I think is needless to say that this job is quite messy..."
"It is also filled with a lots of perverts," said Ikuno annoyed, "and from both sexes nevertheless!"
"Can't blame them, I mean, just look at yourself with that suit." Said Naomi with a smirk as Ikuno blushed a deeper red before she was joined by Titus.
"Hey guys, how was your experience of Halloween so far?" asked Titus.
"We had fun!" said Kokoro, "The kids enjoyed their costumes along with the candies they had gotten. It took some works to keep them from eating too much of it."
"Glad to hear that," said Titus, "so what do you want to order?"
Just as they were about to say that, loud noises came from the entrance and a big group of disguised people started entering the bar.
"Oh, I was wondering when they would show up." Said Mihaly looking at the door.
The squad soon recognized many of the faces of the newcomers: they were the squadrons that had helped them defend Milstinteinn! And one of them was very familiar with our guys...
"Hey, if it isn't Jian Squad!" said Trigger, "You're here to celebrate too?"
"Emmm... kind of?" said Goro confused.
Then another less expected voice sounded near them, "Considering that two of your squad are dressed to serve, I would say they are here to enjoy the show..." said the voice
It was Miranda! The squad was not expecting her in here but then Titus said, "Oh hey Captain Miranda. Following tradition again, I see..."
"Tradition?" asked Futoshi.
"Considering this is your first time working with us, let me explain." Said Miranda "Every time a special operation like the one we just did at the new District ends in success, the units that participated on it reunite in different bars to celebrate and commemorate the battle. We also use it to boast our kill counts, best moments in the battle, exchange tips, info or just chill around talking about our daily lives. However, one thing always takes the spotlight..."
"Which is?" asked Hiro.
Miranda smirked, which put Ichigo suspicious, and soon said, "You will soon see..."
"What is exactly that 'spotlight'?" Ichigo, not content with that answer, whispered to Trigger.
"It involves about the performances of the participating squadrons during the operation." Said Trigger, "The general rule is that the best performing groups get to do a request to the worst performing group. It's like some sort of funny punishment."
"Oh." Said Ichigo.
Just then, Mihaly shouted, "Okay everyone! The performance results are in! Get ready because nobody knows who will be the best or the worst!"
Everyone cheered and a holographic screen appeared in the bar counter. Mihaly put some glasses and started reading it, "Alright, we will start with the starfighters squadrons! Best performing one award belongs to... Mobius Squad!"
Miranda's group cheered at this while she said, "Was to be expected."
Ichigo just grumbled...
"Now, for the worst performance award goes to... the Striders!" said Mihaly
"Oooooooooooooh!" screamed Trigger and his squadmates.
"Dammit!" said Daichi, "I thought we actually did better than that!"
"Sorry kiddos." Said Mihaly, "But this was your first official operation as part of the ACES club and they have a more critical judgement."
Everybody else in the bar was giving them sympathetic looks over their misfortune when Mihaly continued, "Alright! Now we move into the Franxx Squadrons, best performance award goes to... the Razgriz!"
"Wohooo! We won this time against you Galm's!" Nova said as mentioned squad cheered.
"Just wait till the next operation and we will see who will be laughing then!" said Pixy.
"Now," continued Mihally, "for worst performance, the award goes to... Jian Squad!"
"WHAAAAAT!?" shouted everyone in the table.
"There must be a mistake!" objected Miku, "We took down some big targets there!"
"Unfortunately," reasoned Mihaly, "big targets don't mean 100% effectiveness when operations have many different objectives kids. Focus too much on one and you may lose the whole operation."
"Come on!" said Zorome, "We already know that lesson old man! We have been fighting Klaxosaurs before!"
"Yeah, the whole Federation knows, remember?" asked Mihaly.
Zorome stood there dumbfounded while everyone, including some of his squad, laughed their ass off.
"You just got roasted kid!" said a random man.
"Kid," said Blaze, "VIRM fights in a different way than the klaxosaurs. But don't feel bad, many of the squadrons sent there to defend your home were literally the best of the Federation. It makes sense you ended up last."
"He is right on that guys!" added Mihaly, "Just give it time, practice and we will soon become good enough to avoid last!"
The squad smiled at this but then Hans said, "Alright, so now that we have our losers, no offense, what punishment shall we give them all?"
"I have the perfect idea." Said Miranda.
She then went with Blaze and both whispered between themselves while our squad of unfortunate losers waited nervously for their doom. Eventually, both leaders went to Mihaly and whispered to him. Once they were finished, the old man had a look that sent shivers to the future victims. He then said, "Can everyone please help the Mobius and the Razgriz put all the members of both losing squads into the "staff uniform" of this bar?"
Needless to say, chaos endured suddenly and Jian and Strider squad were taken to the changing rooms...
Sometime later...
"I wonder what is taking them so long?" said Hatake slurping his smoothie, "They said they were only going to visit Ikuno and Titus..."
"Probably taking advantage of it." Said Seraphime, "After all, who would reject a chance for some drinks?"
"They never drank alcohol, to be fair." Said Hatake as they entered the bar, "That reminds me, I need to keep you out of reach from alcohol"
"Did you say something?" asked Seraphime as Hatake just laughed.
"Maybe they decided to try it for the first time," said Oniria, "and therefore are late?"
The trio of royal blood were walking towards the "Lucky 13" in search of their friends. They eventually arrived and the place was beaming with partying people, most of them showing effects of being intoxicated. However, one of the few that recognized him turned out to be Hatake's idol...
"Your majesties!" said Blaze, "Quite a surprise to have you here!"
The rest of his squadron stopped their drinking and saluted them to which Hatake responded, "At ease gents. We're just passing by to know what happened to some friends of mine."
"Does it happen to be Jian Squad?" asked Blaze to which Hatake nodded, "Then get ready a camera because this will be a golden opportunity for you..."
Just as he said this, Mihaly just announced, "And now ladies and gentlemen, I present you Jian and Strider squad on service!"
At this, the victims appeared to the public. All of Strider squad was wearing knight costumes that were honestly cool. However, the gems of the party were Jian squad: each one of the women were wearing costume versions of their Franxx which left a lot to the imagination of a perverted mind while the boys had all male costumes that basically killed off the anticipation of many perverted women in the bar. Once Hatake, Seraphine and Oniria saw them? He ended up wheezing in laughter at the table, while Seraphine was trying REALLY HARD to not laugh (resulting in a lot of giggles) and Oniria smiled smugly and pulled out a camera out of nowhere and started recording.
"As part of their punishment," announced Mihaly, "our servants will now proceed to dance to this song!"
Someone activated the music which turned out to be the song "Caramelldansen". One thought came to the mind of the victims: "It's going to be a long night..."
"How could you finish a whole bottle of vodka all by yourself?!" asked Hachi as he walked with Nana alone on the street. Nana was fully drunk with her legs trembling, her hand rested on Hachi for support.
"I'm not drunk!" said Nanain a full drunkard voice.
"Yeah I can see that." Said Hachi as he stopped walking and turned his back towards Nana with an embarrassed face, "H-Hop on."
"Hmmm?" asked Nana with a smug, "A piggyback?" she asked, "why not carry me in your arms."
"Just get to it already!" said Hachi as she got on his back.
"You are such an idiot, you know?" said Nana after a while.
"Says the drunkard." Answered Hachi, "This wouldn't have happened if we went to Lucky 13 with the squad."
"I did this because I wanted us to spend some time alone…" she whispered.
"What was that?" asked Hachi.
"N-Nothing…" she said as she clinged tighter to his back and thought as they once again walked the streets alone, almost near their quarters, "Although, this isn't that bad either." She said as a slight smile came on her face and went to deep sleep.
"Just an idiot," said Hachi as he slowly kept her on her bed and looked at her with a smile, "don't worry, I'll be yours, and only yours… Forever." He said as he kissed her on the forehead.
Now, before u guys say anythings... Yes I know we are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy late for a Halloween Special. So yeah my apologies.
Also, thank you all very much for your reviews!