All right! Here's the Halloween chapter! Now, this chapter is a bit short, but that's because I'm concerned if Hurricane Sandy will knock the power out. Please enjoy the chapter! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
*Boys' Dorm Room, Tokyo University Duel Academy*
It was night and Shroud had just started doing his homework for today.
"Finished!" Shroud exclaimed to himself. Now, what to do?"
"Ssshhhhrrrrroooooud!"
A creepy, high-pitched wail came from the dorm hallway.
"Ssshhhhrrrrroooooud!"
Shroud slowly opened the door and looked around to see that there was nobody there. Just then, the lights in the hallway short out and made the entire hall dark.
"All right!" Shroud tried to call out. "I know what's going on! Some Halloween hijinks!"
Suddenly, the sounds of a ghastly moan, chains rattling and a witch's cackle filled the halls.
"A ghostly moan, the rattling of chains and the cackling of witches. Wow, that's original."
Unoriginal it may be, but Shroud WAS getting anxious and nervous.
"Ssshhhhrrrrroooooud!"
Shroud turned around a corner to see blood dripping from the wall.
"And yet another cliché! I know how to do that, you know!"
As the blood dripped from the wall, it revealed a message on the wall, written in blood. It said 'SEE YOU IN HELL SHROUD'.
"'See you in Hell Shroud'. The only scary thing about that is the missing comma!"
Out of nowhere, a slowing skeleton comes out and Shroud was startled by it and exclaims a bit.
"Okay! I admit that was a bit clever! You can come out now!"
The lights turned back on and Naoto and Camaru came out of hiding and gave each other a high five, laughing all the while.
"Man, you should have seen the look on your face!" Naoto chuckled.
"Yes, nothing like the widened eyes of mildly startled." Shroud mocked.
"Come on! Admit that we got you!" Camaru told him.
"I wasn't surprised because it is Halloween and I am much smarter than you, able to predict your actions." Shroud explained.
As Shroud was talking to them, he was unaware that a person wearing a man-serpent head was standing behind him.
"You know what?" Naoto said. "He's right."
"Yeah, we'll never get you, Shroud." Camaru followed up.
Shroud turned around and screamed like a little pansy.
"AAAAAAHHH!" Shroud fell to the floor and curled up into a fetal position.
The man-serpent mask was removed, revealing him as Spiral and he, Naoto and Camaru burst into laughter.
"Did he just faint?" Camaru asked.
"I was hoping he'd pee his pants." Naoto said.
"Uh… I think everyone's a winner." Spiral stated as he continued to chuckle.
The janitor came by and saw the mess the boys made.
"I'm not cleanin' that up." The janitor just continued to walk past them.
The next morning, Halloween had arrived and everyone was having lunch.
"What are you guys plan to do for Halloween?" Aura asked.
"Well, last night we pulled a hilarious prank on Shroud!" Naoto smiled.
"Yes, it was absolutely hilarious!" Shroud said sarcastically.
"Yeah, but considering you fainted and pissed your pants, that pretty much defines hilarious!" Spiral chuckled.
"That was mean." Aura told them.
"It was a harmless prank." Spiral responded. "There are meaner pranks out there."
"I've witnessed meaner pranks." Asuka stated.
"Is there anything else you guys plan on doing?" Momo asked.
"I was gonna go to the orphanage and take Etsuko out trick-or-treating." Spiral answered. "It's a holiday, so I thought I should spend time with her since she doesn't have any other relatives."
"Can I come with you?" Hikari requested.
"Of course." Spiral agreed.
"Bitch…" Momo muttered under her breath quietly.
"I have a suggestion for you guys that would be perfect for Halloween!" Hikari proclaimed. "There is supposed to be an apartment somewhere in Shibuya. It's haunted by a poltergeist… but that's only rumors."
"... Sounds like a plan." Shroud said. "To prove there are no such things as poltergeists."
"Said the kid who fainted and peed in his own pants." Chan made fun of Shroud.
"So it's settled!" Hikari announced. "Spiral and I are going to take Etsuko trick-or-treating while you guys go to the 'haunted' apartment!"
Before sunset, Spiral had finished dressing up in a grim reaper costume, complete with a black cloak and a plastic scythe. There was a knock on his door and Spiral opened it to see that it was Hikari dressed in a black witch costume.
"Are you ready?" Hikari asked.
"Yeah, I just need a flashlight and the jack-o-lantern." Spiral answered.
Spiral went back to find those things and Hikari stepped inside.
"Spiral, do you mind if I tell you something?" Hikari asked.
"Go ahead." Spiral said as he got the jack-o-lantern and searched for the flashlight.
"This is my first Halloween." Hikari stated. "You see… my life… wasn't as good as it is now. My father was a drunk, so he'd always come home and beat me and my mother."
"Hikari, that must have been so sad… What happened after? Like how did the Oracle take you in?"
"… I… don't think I can talk about it yet." Hikari looked sad. "The only one I've ever told this to was the Oracle. I'm telling you because I feel like I can trust you with this."
"You can always rely on me, Hikari." Spiral told her. "Remember that."
"Thanks, Spiral."
After Spiral had found what he needed, the two started walking down the hallway and ran into Shroud, Momo, Naoto, Aura, Camaru, Lee, Asuka and the twins.
"You guys here to bid your final farewells before the poltergeist steals your souls?" Spiral jokingly asked.
Shroud mockingly laughed at Spiral's comment. "Hehehehehe! I'm just getting some of my provisions from my room before we 'embark on the journey into the hallowed walls within the house of the haunted'."
"Great, let me know how it goes." Spiral simply responded before he and Hikari left.
Spiral and Hikari had just picked up Etsuko and were outside the orphanage. They dressed Etsuko up as a pink cat.
"Spiral, what's 'trick-or-treating'?" Etsuko asked.
"It's when you go from house to house or home to home and ring the doorbell. When they open the door, you shout 'trick-or-treat' and they give you candy. Or in the case of Charlie Brown or Shroud, rocks. However, this is Japan and I'm not sure how things go here on Halloween, so if we can't find any candy, we'll take you out for candy. How does that sound?"
"Yay!" Etsuko cheered.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"She's adorable, Spiral!" Hikari smiled.
The group arrived at the 'haunted' apartment building, which looked more like it was dilapidated and abandoned than haunted. They went in and saw that the lobby was a little worse for wear, covered in dust and cobwebs.
"Whoever the caretaker is must be reeeally lazy." Shroud felt disgusted by the filth.
Chan and Chun were in front of an elevator door, but it looked like the elevator was not there.
"I wonder if this elevator is like the one from that movie…" Chun said.
"I wouldn't test to see it if I were you." Chan told her sister. "On the flight here, you almost tried to test if opening the plane door would suck everybody into the atmosphere."
"I was joking!" Chun clarified.
Chun then pressed the elevator button and nothing happened.
"Yep, that thing is broken beyond repair!" Chun said.
Naoto noticed that a television set was on for some weird reason.
"Uh huh… uh huh… I don't know… I don't know…" Naoto stood in front of the television. "I know, right!"
All of a sudden, a ghost hand came out of the screen and grabbed Naoto by the throat. Naoto was making choking sounds and Camaru saw this, so he tried to get it off of Naoto. But he couldn't touch it, so Naoto pointed to the TV and Camaru tried to turn it off, which didn't work, so he just smashed the TV and the ghost hand vanished, causing Naoto to breathe again.
"*huff* puff* What the hell was that? !" Naoto was shocked.
Meanwhile, Momo was looking in a mirror and suddenly, her tongue became a snake that came out of the mirror and wrapped itself around her neck. Asuka walked in and took the snake off of Momo's neck, then ripped the snake's head off.
"*huff* Thanks, Asuka." Momo said as she tried to catch her breath. "This place is starting to get real creepy, real fast!"
"I hope the others are okay."
Spiral, Hikari and Etsuko entered an apartment building (one that wasn't abandoned or cursed) and went up the stairs. Spiral knocked on one of the doors and the person opened it partway, showing a part of their face.
"What do you want? !" It was a crazy old coot.
"Trick-Or-Treat!" Etsuko held up her Jack-o-Lantern.
"What's that? ! Some kind of secret code? ! Drug reference? !"
"Wha… No!" Spiral responded. "It means give her candy… or a rock."
"You ain't getting' my candy! You freakin' addicts!" The old coot slammed the door and left everyone confused.
"… What just happened?" Etsuko asked Spiral.
"Oh nothing, just some crazy old man spouting paranoid nonsense." Spiral answered.
Later, some kids had gathered, showing each other their candy and Spiral, Hikari and Etsuko were about to walk right past them.
"I got a cookie!"
"I got sugar sticks!"
Etsuko came up to them. "I got a rock!" Etsuko pulled out a rock from her Jack-o-Lantern.
"It's been a strange night for us." Spiral explained to the kids.
Spiral and Hikari had returned to the front door of his dorm room, after dropping off Etsuko back at the orphanage.
"It might have been weird, but I had a good night." Hikari told Spiral. "I think Etsuko had a good time, too. She really likes spending time with you."
"I think it's because we're both technically orphans… and I'm such a good role model." Spiral explained his thoughts. "Although, she actually got to know her parents for a few years… I don't even remember my parents. I heard that I lived with my mother for two years from Momo's family, but I don't remember what she looked like."
"I enjoy talking with you, Spiral." Hikari expressed. "You always say something interesting… you know, that we all understand."
"Yeah, Shroud doesn't always make it easy to understand something."
Spiral was about to turn to Hikari after unlocking his dorm room when he accidentally tripped over his cloak. Hikari managed to catch him and the two had a starry-eyed moment.
"Um… are you okay?" Hikari asked while blushing.
"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine." Spiral responded, also blushing. "I-I should…"
"Oh, okay." Hikari said as she helped Spiral regain his footing. "See you tomorrow."
Hikari left the boys' dorm, leaving Spiral somewhat lost in thought for a moment.
"U-Um." Spiral mumbled before walking into his dorm room.
Upon entering the room, Spiral was greeted with screams.
"AAAAHH!"
Spiral saw Naoto and Shroud hiding under the table.
"Oh! It's you!" Naoto sighed in relief.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Spiral asked.
"… We don't want to talk about it." Naoto simply answered.
"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as Northeast America was when Hurricane Sandy hit." Spiral commented as he went into the restroom.
As Spiral was looking at his face in the mirror, something was squirming around in the toilet… THEN A HAND APPEARED!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
English Voice Cast
Todd Haberkorn Spiral
Laura Bailey Hikari
Maxey Whitehead Shroud
Yuri Lowenthal Naoto
Monica Rial Momo
Stephanie Sheh Etsuko
Caitlin Glass Asuka
Alexis Tipton Aura
Kyle Hebert Camaru
Preview
Spiral: Halloween might be over, but there's more excitement coming in the next chapter!
Hikari: We all go on a field trip and spend a crazy night at a club!
Spiral: And 'crazy' should be highly emphasized here.
Hikari: Next time on Awakening of the Soul! Club Hijinks! We'll see you then!