As she heard the familiar tune of 'O Sole Mio,' Fia reached her hand out to her nightstand and groped for the phone to shut off its alarm. That accomplished, Fia rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. It was already Halloween; the last few weeks had flown by quickly with midterms nipping at their heels. Pulling off her covers, she hopped out of bed and got ready for the day.
Fully dressed and purposefully passing a package from her mother that was propped up against their door, Fia went into the kitchen to make breakfast. She was surprised to see that Karma was already awake and busily making caramel apples in the kitchen.
"Well, good morning, Tsu-chan~" he called.
Fia approached with a smile, pleasantly surprised that Karma was in a good mood so early in the morning for once. She was startled and stopped in her tracks when a rose was brought close to her face. Looking from the rose to the redhead, Fia cautiously leaned forward to smell the fragrant flower. Before she knew it, however, the rose had been swapped out for a bat that had begun clinging to her face.
Olive eyes widened to their full extent and the girl's body instantly became still in fear. She wanted to scream instinctually but Fia didn't want to hurt the fluffball on her face either. Opting for flailing her arms instead, Fia tried to get Karma to take the crawling creature off.
Karma only clutched his sides as he cackled at her. "Trick or cheat, Fia. There aren't any other options!"
Fia glared at him as she coaxed the black bat off of her face and onto her chest. She protectively cradled the cute creature, afraid of what would happen if she let Karma get ahold of him again. "Where did you even get this little guy?" she whispered harshly, both angry - more like embarrassed - at falling for Karma's tricks and worried about the bat.
"He flew into me this morning," Karma said with a shrug. "I took him inside to make sure he was fine and I wanted to let him go, but then you woke up and I thought it would be a perfect prank!"
"You've been up since before dawn?" she asked incredulously.
"Of course," Karma replied. "It's Halloween. The only day no one has any excuse to stop me from having my fun~" he grinned sadistically, much to Fia's dissatisfaction.
"You've got something in your hair," Fia said as she reached her hand up towards Karma's head.
"I do?" he asked.
"Yeah," Fia gleamed. "HORNS!" She ruffled his hair quickly and ran off, baby bat in hand, laughing.
Nagisa and Haven stared at the apples sitting in front of them at the table.
"Are these for us?" Nagisa asked his white-haired companion.
"No idea," Haven shook her head and grabbed one.
"Well, Karma is asleep, so maybe Fia made these for us?" Nagisa surmised as picked up an apple. "Cheers?"
"Cheers," Haven took a bite of the apple and instantly spit it out. "WHAT IS THIS?!"
Nagisa had a very similar reaction except his mouth and tongue were turning red and swelling. He choked up his apple and ran to the sink where he started drinking directly from the faucet. A particular redhead's laughter resounded through the hall.
"AKABANE!" Haven screamed at the red head. "Don't give me a reason to hack the grade book again!"
"Man, I didn't think you'd have that reaction," he laughed as he entered the room. "I could hear you guys all the way from the bedroom. Was the sriracha-wasabi combo really that bad, Nagisa? Or was it the chili powder and mustard?" Karma inspected the apple in Haven's hand. "Oohhh, you got the bitter melon and lemon combo." He laughed again. "I'm not too worried about that," Karma said. "I already talked to my professors about watching my grades because of a 'glitch' in the system. They promised to check daily." The redhead paused. "Where's Fia? I want her to try one of these babies out for herself!"
"Tsu-chan, don't touch the apples," Haven yelled a warning to her best friend.
"I know," Fia said as she came in through the front door. "I meant to warn you earlier but I was seeing off my mio amico."
Karma raised an eyebrow. "You mean the bat?"
She scowled. "No, Bacio my plush - Of course I mean the bat! He's fine no thanks to you!"
"What bat? Did I really miss seeing my favorite animal?" Haven exclaimed.
Nagisa removed an ice pack from his swollen lips. "Bat?"
Fia waved her hand dismissively. "Sorry, Angel, but I couldn't endanger the cutie by letting THAT ONE get any closer to him than he already had!"
Karma laughed when he saw Nagisa. "Who are you going to kiss with those lips, Nagisa? Want me to call Kayano?"
Nagisa turned slightly pink. "Karma!"
"What? You do know what day it is, don't you?"
"Oh, no. It's Halloween," the bluenette looked defeated by his own words.
"That's right~!" Karma cheered loudly, much to the girls' shared annoyance.
Nagisa and Fia found Karma sitting on the couch, building contraptions as he movie-marathoned a bunch of horror films playing on the tv.
"He looks awfully satisfied with himself," Fia whispered to Nagisa.
Nagisa nodded. "He's definitely up to no good. Do you have the goods?"
Fia nodded and handed the package to him. Nagisa looked in the paper bag and gave Fia a thumbs up. With that, the operation began. Stealthily stepping little by little closer to the back of the couch.
Karma was already a goner.
The redhead's instincts kicked in and he tried to jump out of the way but he noticed a second too late. Before he knew it, Nagisa had him pinned down and was messing with his hair. Karma reached for Nagisa to retaliate but the bluenette jumped back.
"Fia, I got him!" Nagisa called.
Fia rushed over and, mimicking Karma's style, began taking a barrage of photos on her cellphone. She checked her screen and grinned. "Nagisa! I got him!"
Karma's eyes widened and he reached for his head. "W-what the hell are these?!" he yelled as his cheeks turned red and his expression became angry.
Nagisa and Fia high-fived. "Ribboned cat ears and a super glue of Fia's own creation! Good luck removing those," Nagisa said cheerfully. Fia curtsied next to him, proud of her chemical prowess.
"What's going on?" Haven asked as she walked into the room. "I could hear you guys from down the hall. Akabane, are you wearing cat ears? That's HILARIOUS!" Haven disappeared behind one of the couches because she was laughing so hard.
Karma's cheeks flushed as he tried to yank off the cat ears, but, true to Nagisa's word, they wouldn't come off.
"Happy Halloween, Karma," the bluenette said, satisfied that he had gotten his revenge.
"I wish I had been around to help!" Haven got to her feet. "I'll just have to pull my own trick on you later." She went to her room to scheme, laughing all the way.
Fia sighed. "Now I only wish we had given him a tail. It'd be so cute, flicking around in frustration!"
Jumping to his feet and clenching his fists, Karma looked as if he was about to start a fight. "Alright, you got me good. Now, seriously, is there a way to remove these?"
Fia smiled and she nodded, pulling a small bottle from her pocket. "This should neutralize the glue." Karma smiled as he reached for the bottle, but Fia pulled it back at the last second. She ignored the angry glare she was receiving. "You think you could say 'please'?"
He grumbled, annoyed that the girl was looking at him so earnestly. "Please." Karma was frustrated to see that the girl hadn't budged one bit. "What now?" His tone screamed embarrassed and frustrated.
"Can you say it in cat…?" Fia asked, tilting her head.
Karma mentally cursed. She was serious. "No friggin' way am I - " He remembered that the girl held his only option in her hands. "N-nya…" he sighed begrudgingly. "Now give it."
Fia stared up at him with sparkly eyes. "That… That was so cute!" she squealed. Pushing the bottle into his hands to free her own, Fia reached up to grab at his cat ears. "Too cuuuuuuutteee!"
It took some time for Karma to pry the squealing girl off of him, but as soon as he had, he shot Nagisa a malicious grin. "Thanks. I admit, you guys really took me by surprise, but don't think you'll be able to sneak up on me again. You hear that, Nagisa?" he smirked. "It's on."
Nagisa smiled but his eyes were cold and determined. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
It didn't take long for the boys to draft a declaration of war with regulations, concessions, and victory clauses. The prank war would last from noon to six, pranks limited to spaces within the apartment and to nothing explosive or hazardous to one's physical health. Each housemate begins with a clean slate. At six, the housemate with the most successful pranks wins, is dubbed king/queen for the night, and may have the remaining housemates fulfill any one request. In the event of a tie, the prize of victory is split. Alliances are permitted; Breaking one's alliance is punishable by prank. The breaking of any rules will result in immediate elimination - and the rule breaker receives a job on the cleaning crew with the rest of the losers. The victor may, at any time, change those situated on the cleaning crew. Signing their names at the bottom of the printed document, the four shook hands, Haven and Karma begrudgingly, and all ran off to prepare with the last two hours they had.
As the campus' clock tower struck its bell twelve times, Fia became the first victim. She opened the fridge to see that it was leaking what looked like blood. The red liquid cascaded from shelf to shelf and began pooling in refrigerated drawers. "MY FOOD!" she screamed in dismay and, devastated, sank to her knees. Point 1 fell to Karma.
Karma couldn't believe this. He had gone to the bathroom to wash his hands after setting up his fridge trap, but the last 15 minutes of holding the soap under the water hadn't yielded a single sud. This was one of the many reasons he hated nail polish, along with the manicures he had periodically received from a particular teacher during his middle school years. Karma had looked around but all of the liquids from the shampoo, conditioner, and liquid soap containers had been neatly switched. With all the bottles there, he really had no clue which the soap could be in. Staring at the red dye staining his hands, Karma growled angrily. Point 2 was Nagisa's.
Nagisa chuckled as he heard Karma frustratedly going through the bathroom cabinets. He knew he had to be on guard from Karma, who was both clever and thorough. He avoided the kitchen and didn't sit down on the couches, taking precautions against whatever might be waiting for him. He attempted to enter his room while Karma was preoccupied but, when he opened the door, a chalk eraser fell and bounced off his head. Coughing, he dusted himself off and inspected the eraser. It was definitely from the chalkboard Fia used for writing out chemical equations. Point 3 was Fia's.
Fia came running to her bedroom as soon as Haven called out to her. Fia couldn't believe that Bacio had fallen victim to the prank war too! SHE WOULD NOT STAND FOR SUCH AN INJUSTICE. She swooped into her room and looked for Bacio, but she was completely horrified by what she saw. There were an array of black, insect-looking things crawling over her plush. "MY BABY!" she screeched. It took, at least, ten minutes for Haven to calm her roommate down and show her that the black bugs were only hexbug nanos connected to computer. Hugging Bacio tightly and protectively in her arms, Fia conceded Point 4 to Haven.
Haven felt bad as she rubbed Fia's back comfortingly. The girl looked like she was about to cry, if her teary eyes and sniffling nose were any indications. Haven really hadn't thought Fia would react that badly considering that Fia seemed to have no trouble capturing spiders and letting them out. She supposed that it was because the hexbugs were crawling on Bacio that the girl had panicked so much. She got up and went to the kitchen to retrieve a can she knew was rigged. Sighing, she sat back down next to Fia.
"Here, we should eat something," Haven said flatly. She unenthusiastically opened the lid, only to have a bunch of fabric snakes jump out at her. Forcing a horribly fake surprised face, Haven monotonously cried, "Oh, no. You got me Fia."
"R-really?" she asked, wiping her eyes with a smile.
"Really." Haven sighed in relief, glad that her friend was feeling better. Point 5 was given to Fia.
Karma was more than a little annoyed. He had tried to turn on the tv to watch the presidential debate, but once he had turned the tv on he found that it only had one channel: one that repeatedly played Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up.' To make matters worse, the remote had stopped functioning and the tv's manual buttons were jammed. He couldn't figure out how to turn screen let alone get it to shut the hell up. "HAVEN!" he yelled angrily. Point 6 was Haven's.
Nagisa glared at the toilet. He didn't know how Karma had done it, but the arrogant redhead had stolen his notebook, stuck it in a ziplock back with a couple of rocks, and set it to sink in the toilet. Doing that was one thing, but the fact that Karma had dyed the toilet water electric blue was highly unsettling to Nagisa. He knew that if his skin made contact with the vile looking liquid, it would definitely stain. Nagisa gingerly placed his hands on the toilet seat for support and leaned over, but he was startled when the toilet seat began became unstable under his hands and made a loud array of popping noises. The bluenette raised the toilet seat to see that Karma had also lined the toilet seat with bubblewrap. He facepalmed. Points 7 and 8 went to Karma.
Standing outside the bathroom door, Karma smirked as he heard Nagisa attempting to get his notebook from the toilet. He put his hands in his pockets and made his way back to his room to prepare for his next attack. When he opened the door, an avalanche of black and pink balloons poured out from his room and pooled all around his feet. Karma, annoyed, stomped his way inside, popping as many balloons on his way as he could. Glaring around his room, Karma growled. He recognized the balloons as the ones from Haven's birthday. "NAGISA!" Point 9 was totally Nagisa's.
The bluenette sighed as he grabbed paper towels from the kitchen. Fia stared at his forearms which were completely blue. He quietly and quickly began wiping his arms and then the ziplock that held his notebook. Once he'd freed his paper pal, Nagisa slipped it back into his vest pocket with a sigh. Their gazes met and Nagisa walked over to where the forlorn Fia was curled up in the living room. He sighed and sat down on the couch next to her only to hear a long, slow release of flatulence.
Nagisa facepalmed. "Really, Fia?"
She blushed. "I forgot that I had put the whoopee cushion there, to be honest…"
Smiling warily, Nagisa reached over to give Bacio a friendly pat. "Well, I guess the point is yours anyway." With that, Fia won Point 10.
Glancing at the time, Fia and Haven nodded to each other. The last three hours had gone by slowly, but they knew that the boys were likely to kick things into high gear now that their time was more than halfway up. Fia smiled, knowing that Nagisa's prank was about to hit Karma hard. The redhead tore down the hallway, scratching at his inflamed skin. He ran to the kitchen sink only to find that it had been turned into a gigantic fishbowl. Warily eyeing the swimming silver fish that had come from who knows where, Karma reached to turn on the faucet, which resulted in him getting a strong spray of water to his face. The girls started laughing. Points 11, 12, and 13 were happily split among Nagisa, Haven, and Fia.
Everything went to hell after that and, by the time six o'clock rolled around, the four housemates found themselves sitting back to back on the floor of the living room, mostly because nowhere else in the apartment could be considered safe. The television was turned towards the wall and the couches had been flipped upside down while their respective cushions had been glued to the floor. In the kitchen, the table seemed to be missing all four of its legs while the chairs were all attached to the ceiling. More than one sink was spewing water like a miniature fountain and the toilet was unbearable to look at. All the clocks in the house were set to different times, most of them ringing, and all of the lightbulbs across the apartment had been replaced with Christmas lights. Those were synchronized to Michael Jackson's 'Thriller,' courtesy of Haven's laptop. The floor looked like a psychedelic lava lamp as if to mimic the colorful light display.
The housemates themselves didn't look as if they were in much better shape. Karma coughed on the downy feathers and flour clinging to every inch of his body just the same as Nagisa was still ripping duct tape and confetti from his clothes. Haven's hair was an atrociously obvious neon pink, which seemed to make her skin look even paler than what was normal. Fingertips to elbow dyed bright blue, Nagisa was also colored and looking none too happy about it. Fia had managed to escape the ink war that had broken out, but her bra was frozen and full of plastic ants, and her legs were still tangled in too many layers of plastic wrap, which wasn't much better in her opinion. It meant that she couldn't scoot away from Karma, even when his feathers began clinging to her instead.
Karma proudly smiled as he declared, "I believe I'm the winner!"
Fia and Haven simultaneously groaned, concerned about what the redhead would demand from them as his consolation prize.
Nagisa gave the three a bewildered look. "Are you sure? I thought Fia was the winner."
"Huh?" she looked at him in confusion before beginning counting on her fingers. "One, two, three, fo - You're right~!" Fia exclaimed gleefully.
"Congratulations, Fia," Nagisa said with a smile.
"Wait, how?" Karma protested. "There's no way Fia pulled better pranks than I did!"
"Well, no…" Fia started, "But I did have the highest number of successful pranks."
Nagisa shook his head. "Karma, you and I were so occupied with trying to take each other out that we didn't notice any of her pranks."
Karma sighed. "Those can hardly be called pranks. Where's the creativity or class?"
Haven replied with an unamused tone, "Since when are you classy?"
Giggling, Fia poked the sweat-dropping Karma. "I got Nagisa with the chalk and the whoopee cushion, Haven with the can of snakes and fake spiders, and you with good old-fashioned bucket-over-the-door and made-you-look." His face reddened as he got annoyed. "Not only that, but I got all three of you with banana peels and the hand-shocker thingies! Karma, I can't believe you fell for that~!"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Karma sighed. "So where does that leave us?"
Nagisa thought for a quick moment. "Fia won with 28 points, you follow with 23 points, and Haven and I both tied at 17 points. Fia, as the winner, you are now the Queen of Halloween! What would you like?"
"As they say, slow and steady wins the race. Good job Tsu-chan," Haven smiled wryly.
Fia laughed happily. "I guess so. Well, first, I'd like for us to clean up so I can whip us up some dinner. I do, however, dismiss Haven from her position on the cleaning crew in fear of what may happen to all that she touches. Stay out of the kitchen, Angel."
"Just let me get my fish first," Haven went and grabbed the silver fish from the kitchen sink before slinking back to her room.
Nagisa stared after the pink-haired girl. "Did she say 'fish'?"
Surprisingly, it didn't take Karma and Nagisa long at all to clean up everything. After correcting the entirety of the apartment and taking quick showers, the boys walked into the kitchen and joined Haven at the table. It had gotten its legs back, but it was still slightly off balance. Fia dished out a pizza decorated with a cheese spider web. She also brought out pumpkin pie and white-chocolate-dipped strawberries that looked like ghosts. The four had a relatively peaceful dinner, laughing - and cringing - as they reminisced about the day's prank highlights.
Fia smiled as Haven carried their empty plates to the kitchen sink. "So, for my victory prize," she started carefully, "I would like us all to dress up for Halloween."
Nagisa looked from the dark landscape through the window to Fia. "It might be a little late to go out and buy some costumes," Nagisa said, "and I didn't exactly think to bring any here."
Sighing heavily, Fia rested her face in her hands. "To tell you the truth, my mom sent me some costumes for the four of us and she insists that I send her pictures."
Karma raised an eyebrow. "I can't say I mind, but how did your mom get our sizes?"
Fia smiled bitterly. "Mami is the type who can measure you up with only her eyes. So, shall we try them on?"
A few moments later, each person re-entered the kitchen fully clad in their costume.
Karma strolled in confidently, completely comfortable in his black tuxedo. A heavy rifle was strapped to his back and Karma grinned from under his fedora. "I have to say, this outfit isn't half-bad."
"Speak for yourself!" Nagisa exclaimed. The bluenette was struggling to pull down a pleated skirt that was situated under a black vest and collared shirt. To make matters worse, his thigh-high stockings seemed to be falling as he struggled to stay balanced in the heeled shoes.
Karma burst out laughing and began taking photos immediately.
Haven sighed as she saw the two. "You can switch with me, Nagisa," she offered. In contrast to Nagisa's outfit, Haven had been given actual pants. They were held up by pink suspenders that crossed over the back of her black, long-sleeved button down shirt. Haven tightened the pink tie around her neck and adjusted the hat on her still-pink hair.
"Sorry about that," Fia apologized. "My mom thought you two would look better in the other gender's clothing." The Italian girl sighed as she tried to squeeze her collared, gray pinstripe jacket closer around her, but to no avail. The jacket's neckline was conducive to showing off everything every curve Fia did not want noticed. To make matters worse, her jacket split at her hip, creating a long slit that revealed lacy garters and tall boots. Her tie seemed stuck in her cleavage and her cheeks seemed to be stained a brighter shade of pink than Haven's hair.
Karma wolf-whistled at her jokingly and Fia shot him a very nasty glare. "Oh, Tsu-chan finally got some attitude," he laughed.
Shaking their heads, knowing that an impending argument was about to ensue, Haven and Nagisa left to switch outfits.
Fia scowled and made her way over to Karma. Grabbing him by the collar, she yanked him down to her height and pressed the icy barrel of a gun against his cheek. "It's only a prop, but it's realistic, right?" Fia smiled, mimicking Karma's behavior from the first night they met. Too surprised by her change in demeanor to react, Karma froze. Fia let go of Karma suddenly. "Wait a minute! Those guns from when you first moved in weren't props at all, were they?!" Fia's face flushed and it appeared as if she were back to her normal self.
Karma recovered quickly. "Nope~!" he responded cheerfully.
"SO YOU PUT A REAL GUN TO MY FACE?!" Fia cried in dismay.
He laughed. "The safety was on and it wasn't like they were loaded - "
"KARMA!"
Grinning, he poked her cheek with a finger. "So, you learn that trick from Ms. Bitch, or what?"
Crossing her arms, Fia looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"
Nagisa sweat-dropped as he walked back into the kitchen. "Fia, what's with the mafia motif? Isn't your family trying to keep that a secret?"
Fia sighed. "This is her way of being ironic and reminding all of us that we better keep our mouths shut," she explained.
"You know, Nagisa. I think the other outfit suited you more," the redhead commented as he turned towards the front door.
Haven ambled into the kitchen with a thoughtful expression. "I think he looks nice."
"Shut up, Karma. Wait, where are you going?" Nagisa questioned. He tried to suppress a blush.
"To terrorize the children, of course~" he replied with a sadistic grin.
"Like hell, you will!" Fia snorted as she grabbed the back of his jacket. "I still need to get one picture for my family and, as Queen of Halloween, I declare that we have to go trick-or-treating! Or at least play one good game of Ghosts in the Graveyard!"
Nagisa: (panting) Is it over?
Fia: Yeah, but I regret asking Karma to be the ghost. HE'S A DEMON!
Haven: (flatly) You just noticed?
Karma: Aw, c'mon, guys. We were just starting to have some fun.
Nagisa: No offense, Karma, but most people don't consider terrorizing and harassing to be fun, let alone some of their specialties.
Fia: Karma… When did you have time to carve all those pumpkins?
Karma: (twirling a knife) What can I say? I'm quick on my feet and good with my hands, you need that to be an assassin.
Fia: And… this is how he vanquished his enemies, beheading them and carving his mark into their faces.
Nagisa: (pulling at Fia's sleeve) Did… Did someone give Haven candy?
Nagisa, Fia, Karma: … (deadpan)
Haven: What's wrong, Tsu-chan~? (happily holding a bucket full of candy to her chest)
Karma: (starts walking away) I'm not dealing with this shit.
Fia: Wait, Karma! (chases)
Nagisa: (stares as Haven began biting the heads of some Swedish Fish gummies) So… Haven?
Haven: Yes, Gisa?
Nagisa: What was with that fish from earlier? You know, the silver one?
Haven: It was a robot. Wally had fun taking on the perspective of a fish. Would you believe me if I said it was my robotics project?
Everyone: (sweat-drops) Not really...
Haven: Well, Wally, did you have fun?
Wally: Yes, Haven. The experience was novel and enjoyable.
Narrator: Who replaced my mint toothpaste with wasabi?! (sighs) Next time, twelve hours in an elevator? Haven, are you sure you want to go through with this?
