Hey there folks! Been a while I know, but here's my little (late) surprise! My contribution to the My Creative Academia Discord Halloween Zine Challenge. For those interested, check out the collection this fic of the same name belongs to on AO3. This is also my declaration that writing for season 4 of AGC is finally underway! Hope you enjoy a little glimpse back to my main story (hopefully with improved writing) while I work on the first chapter proper!

As a side, this short should be considered SEMI-CANON. Sort of like the MHA movies, it COULD had happened, but doesn't affect the main story's plot pretty much at all.

That being said, hope you enjoy and I will see you for my triumphant return!

AGC Short: Angel and the Great Scare Dare

October. A time marking the gradual passing from warm summers to more cool autumn months. The trees grow vibrant with bright colors as they prepare to shed their leaves for the oncoming winter. Orchards and farms grow full of their bounty, their owners eagerly collecting the final harvest of the year.

As the nights grow darker and colder, the celebrations of the ghoulish and the macabre begin, inviting mischief and seasonal hijinks galore. And in the common room of the Yuei student apartments, a class of hopeful heroes-to-be were no exception.

Angel raised her eyes from the book she was reading from her spot on the couch and blinked. "Huh? A what off?"

"A scare off!" Hagakure repeated, drawing the attention of the whole class as she hopped from one foot to the other. "Momo and I were talking about things to do this month and that got me thinking back to the training camp! We never got the chance to scare anyone on the test of courage, so I thought why not try it again here?"

"Not that some of us would have been a part of it anyway…" Kaminari whined under his breath.

"A scare off meaning what exactly?" Ojiro asked, raising a hand.

"I was thinking it would go like this!" The invisible girl lifted a finger on each glove. "We all split into pairs. Then each couple takes turns trying to scare the other! Whoever spooks the other the biggest wins!"

Murmurs and excited whispers rose from the gathered students. Angel herself wasn't quite sure what to think of the idea. 'Who would want to scare someone for fun? Feels a little mean.'

"A scare off? Sounds a little kiddy isn't it?" Jiro hummed, tilted her head.

"I think it could be fun, ribbit. I play all kinds of these games with my siblings." Asui sighed with a smile.

"Yeah!" Kaminari jumped in. "We've been working hard non-stop lately! Some spooky fun will be a great way to destress y'know!"

"I know right?!" Ashido all but screamed, waving her arms frenetically. "I LOVE Halloween stuff, especially the scares! We should totally do it!"

"Momo, you really on board with this?" Sero asked, turning to the class vice-rep.

"Oh yes!" She nodded, bunching her fist and shimmying to and fro. "I've never got to do very many Halloween-ey things growing up, so I really want to give this a try!"

Ashido's eyes nearly shot out of her skull. "You're kidding me! You've never celebrated Halloween?!"

Yaoyorozu tilted her head. "Is that uncommon?"

"Yuh duh! You see anyone else in this class who's the same?"

Her eyes widened even further when Todoroki and Angel (latter of which with a touch of embarrassment) raised their hands.

"I'm both surprised and saddened by this news." She said in a horrified voice. "That's it! We're definitely doing it now! Scare off! Scare off!"

"SCARE OFF! SCARE OFF!" Most of the class joined in the chanting.

"Now hold on just a minute!" Iida shouted, cutting through the din. "I'm not certain that trying to upset each other with childish pranks will be a very productive use of our time! We should be studying, right Midoriya, Uraraka, Hodunk?!" He turned to said friends nearby.

Midoriya glanced away, eliciting a betrayed gasp. "I-I dunno Iida… I actually think it could be a fun time."

"Yeah!" Uraraka pumped her fist. "It's spooky season! We still gotta relax once in a while, right?" She asked, giving Angel a little nudge.

"I don't know…" The technomancer shrugged. "I'm not sure I get the appeal. I mean, I don't like getting scared, can't imagine others like it either."

"Well how are you gonna know if you like it if you've never tried it? Besides, I like to think getting scared makes you a little tougher afterwards!" Her friend countered.

Angel pursed her lips. It did make a modicum of sense when she put it like that. Besides, wasn't she all about trying all sorts of firsts these days?

"I guess I could give it a shot." She caved.

"Yay!" Uraraka wrapped her in a sideways hug.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Iida grumbled, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

"Think of it this way, Iida. This could count as hero training, you know, for anticipating and setting up ambush maneuvers on targets. Does that make sense?" Midoriya elaborated.

Iida opened his mouth only to pause, the rest of the class holding their breath as they watched the gears turning in his head. "That… actually sounds like it has some merit. Very well!" He stood up straight and raised his fist. "I will participate with earnest commitment!"

The class broke into raucous cheering. Thus the 1-A Heroween Scare Off was born.

Despite his sudden enthusiasm, Iida stood firm on the challenge being organized and rules declared at the very least. After much communal discussion, it was decided that each member of the class would be assigned another "contestant" by random draw, forming ten pairs. Each individual had until the end of the month (less than four weeks) to scare their assigned target. As to prevent any problems with Aizawa, no scare attempts were allowed to be made during class or training exercises. Anywhere else outside of private hours was fair game. Additionally, if any physical harm or property damage should occur, the scarer in question would be disqualified.

The communal contract was drawn up and signed, with the exception of Bakugo who refused to participate(no matter how much Kirishima needled him) and Aoyama, who claimed he was "too sparkly" to take part (whatever that meant).

Then came the drawing of the names. The ballots were pulled one by one from a hat and put in brackets on a scoreboard. With each pair made came the rubbing of hands and poorly hidden smirking as rivalries were formed and plans began to take shape.

"Oh you're going down man! Time for some payback for the festival!" Sero jeered and jabbed his thumbs down playfully.

"We shall see." Todoroki answered simply.

"May we meet on the battlefield of dreadful anticipation and terror." Tokoyami muttered with his usual amount of dark gravitas.

"Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeh! We're gonna get ya!" Dark Shadow spit out his tongue.

"Don't cry when I scare ya, kay?" Uraraka gave the sentient silhouette a kind smile whose sincerity was undercut by the air of malice that surrounded her.

"Dammit!" Mineta whined, pounding the floor with his fist. "Why couldn't I get to scare one of the girls?!"

"Prepare yourself my friend…" The dwarf yelped as the considerably taller Iida loomed overhead, shadows cast across his face and light bouncing off his glasses. "I will bestow upon you a nightmare that will be whispered among your distant descendents as legend."

"I think I've lost already." Mineta squeaked, his knees knocking together.

Angel watched her friend's excitement with a mix of bewilderment and apathy. Chalk it up to the usual reason of "locked away from society for most of my life", but what was so fun about scary things?

Then again, perhaps she could find out, considering who she had been paired with.

"Oh this is going to be so awesome, right Angel?" Ashido leaned over the back of the couch.

Angel shrugged. "I guess. Not really sure where to start though. I've never tried scaring anyone before."

'At least not when I was ordered to blackmail someone.' She reminiscenced grimly.

"Don't worry about it, let's just let loose with this you know?" Ashido grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "Just no hard feelings when I win, cool?" She boasted and danced away, giving a wink.

Angel's eyes followed after her. "What does that mean?"

"It means you got a tough opponent in Mina." Kirishima answered, walking over as he watched his friend shimmy and slide out of the common room, humming loudly. "She's a super big fan of scary movies and stuff, so she's kinda used to spooky pranks. No one back in middle school could get her."

"Is that right? Guess she's the exact opposite of me, because I don't know any of this stuff." She replied.

"Well you better learn quick, else she's gonna tease you until Christmas. Anyway, see ya, I got to get to work on thinking something up to scare Toru. How the heck am I going to see an invisible girl coming?" He groaned as he left.

The class continued their scheming, not paying Angel attention as she returned to her book.

"I just don't get it."

It didn't take long for first blood to be drawn. The very next morning Kaminari attempted to scare his target Asui by leaping out from around a corner wearing a rubber zombie mask and won a startled "RIBBIT!" for his troubles. He strutted around looking very proud of himself until later that day when Asui swung down inches from his face from her perch on the doorway overhead, making him let out a high pitched shriek.

From there it was all out warfare (within the confines of the rules of course). In the halls, at lunch tables and in the dorms, yelling and screaming echoed through Yuei. The members of 1-A constantly had their heads on a swivel, sneaking impish glances and wary looks alike at their scare targets. The air was rife with anticipation on who would get who, when and how, creativity celebrated with handshakes and howling laughter from victims and spectators alike.

In the middle of it all, Angel studied the proceedings with a vested interest, trying to answer her own question of how any of it was enjoyable.

So wrapped up in her musings she didn't give her own plans much thought, nor was she prepared when it finally happened to her two weeks in.

"I heard you finally got Tokoyami last night." Angel stated as the girls started changing out of their hero outfits after the last training class of the day.

Uraraka smirked. "Heh, yeah. Dark Shadow made it tough, watching his back all the time. Didn't see me floating outside of their window coming though. I never heard a bird scream before."

"And they didn't get mad at you for that?"

"No, they actually congratulated me! Bet they are going to not open their blinds ever again though. Not that they ever did before anyway, hee~."

Angel sighed, shaking her head as she pulled her visor off. "I just still don't get it though. How can people enjoy being scared?"

"Well maybe in the moment it isn't, but it's more of the AHAH moment right after and finding out it isn't real. Then comes the fun part…" Her innocent smile darkened. "...plotting revenge!"

Angel shrugged. Was that the appeal? She couldn't easily imagine it, not being much of a vengeful person. "I don't know. Maybe if I had grown up with this I'd be more into it."

Uraraka fixed her with a pitying look. "Your childhood gets sadder the more you tell me about it."

"More than I'd like to admit." She grimaced and gripped the handle to her locker.

A loud twang and the next thing she knew, something green and sporting WAY too many legs shot out from inside and latched onto her face.

Letting out a muffled scream, Angel fell backwards onto the ground and in the next instant she grabbed the attacker, ripping it off and throwing it across the room to a chorus of startled shouts from the other girls. Heart racing in her chest, she struggled to catch her breath.

"W-Wha-what?!"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, got ya!" Ashido slid around the corner from where she was hiding, phone up and recording. "Good work Mister Huggy!"

Blinking, Angel whirled back around to the creature. Eyes focusing, she finally realized that it was just a stuffed plushie of some kind of alien spider thing with an elastic band.

"Welp, I think my work here is done!" Ashido chirped, scooping up the toy and heading to the door. Not before she looked over her shoulder. "Anyway, its your turn Angel! So try to scare me… if you can!" She laughed and left.

"Angel, you okay?" Uraraka knelt down and waved a hand in front of her face. The stunned girl didn't react, a tidal wave of emotions washing over her. The lingering shock and terror was swiftly carried away, as proven by the burning in her cheeks and narrowing of her eyes.

Oh.

So it was like that..?

Mina LOVED Halloween and the whole spooky season! From the scary movies, to the overabundance of free sugary treats and especially the pranks? It was all a rambunctious horror movie fan could ask for!

Mina herself preferred science fiction horror as evidenced by her first choice in hero name, which was rejected(grr!) With her pinkmentation(badmp tss) and antenna looking horns she couldn't help it. Not to say that she didn't appreciate the other genres. She would never turn down sitting in front of a classic slasher film with a bowl of popcorn that would more than likely get upended and lost in the couch cushions.

Point being, scary stuff was fun (when you knew it wasn't real, the inter-school training exercise ending with a mini zombie outbreak or the various invasions from the LOV didn't make her list). She enjoyed the slow crawling of fear rising up her spine, building up like a storm until it finally exploded out into one big scream! Such a rush!

So when Hagakure came up with the idea Mina leapt on it like a cat with a toy. A whole month of her friends spooking each other? Sign her up! It had been a blast so far seeing what everyone came up with to get one over their targets. They were so creative! Mina didn't even know half of her friends even had it in them. Jiro hid some speakers inside of the pantry, so when Sato opened the door, he was immediately surprised by the loud shriek, leading to him being covered in flour. Midoriya had went pale as a sheet when Koda had summoned a swarm of mice to explode from his backpack while they were outside. That one was pretty awesome. And Uraraka using her anti-gravity to float up to Tokoyami's window? Classic.

Eventually Mina couldn't sit and watch anymore. It had taken a while for her to think of an idea to get her friend Hodunk. She had been rewatching one of her favourite movies (Sternum 'Sploders 4, Ribrattler's Revenge) when it finally came to her.

She managed to set up her trap a couple days later, using a combination of rubber bands and her Sternum 'Sploder plushy Huggy hidden in Hodunk's locker. Mina wasn't the type to plan things out, heavy thinking wasn't usually feasible with her attention span. But the sight and sound of Hodunk screaming as she tried to yank the toy off her face? Priceless!

Now it was her turn to be on the receiving end, she couldn't wait!

'Well…' Mina took a quick glance from her spot on the couch at her friend at the back of the kitchen. '...if she ever tries.'

It had been three days since she had scared Hodunk and she hadn't seen a single sign that her friend was even putting in any effort into the game. She hadn't even talked to Mina about the scare or anything related since then, instead acting as if it was just another day at Yuei.

Mina almost moaned. 'Come on girl! I'm dying of boredom here!' Guess there was always that one stick in the mud who just couldn't clue into the festivities. Not that Mina could blame her, she supposed. It was no secret in 1-A that the resident technomancer had a sheltered upbringing. Perhaps her little plush ambush had been too much for Hodunk and she just quit?

Mina sighed and leaned on her fist, idly scrolling on her phone. She felt like a crappy person for blaming her friend if she really did drop out of the game, she knew horror wasn't for everyone. Still didn't stop the well of disappointment from opening up.

"See you Mina." She looked up to see Hodunk giving her a wave as she zipped up her hoody, dressed in her running shoes and pants.

"Where're you going?" Mina asked, playfully narrowing her eyes in suspicion. Hodunk rolled hers.

"Just a jog. Trying to appreciate running outside before winter comes, yeah?" She answered simply, stretching her legs.

Mina sagged. "Yeah, I get that. Have fun."

"Thanks, bye!" Her friend waved and quickly paced out the room.

Shaking her head, Mina decided to return to her mindless internet entertainment, flicking through her video feed, filled with clips of cheesy scary movies(naturally). All her other classmates were already turning in, leaving Mina free to loaf all she wanted with her feet up on the couch without fear of Iida coming in and telling her to put them down. She was just about to press a video about a haunted baseball field when she got a text.

Her thumb opened it out of habit, only for the user id to come as an unknown number. She raised a brow. A part of her wanted to just block the number, phishing was sadly still a thing in this day and age.

But hey, she was known for being the "curious cat" sort.

She opened the text and read the message.

"I like your eyes."

Mina frowned and typed.

"Who are you? Do I know you?"

She had barely just pressed enter when another message came right after hers.

"Your eyes are so pretty."

Mina sat up and typed some more, her fingers tapping rapidly on the screen.

"Seriously, who is this? How did you get my number?"

Again, another message immediately after.

"You are lucky. I want eyes like yours."

Detecting that she was getting nowhere, Mina did what she should have done from the start. A flick and she had blocked the number. She let out a little breath and leaned back into the couch.

Then another blip, another message. Unknown number.

"Wha..?" Mina gaped.

"You have such nice eyes. Want to see mine?"

Before she could even process the request the TV suddenly switched on, making her jolt. It let out a loud hiss as static danced across the screen.

Skin officially turning to gooseflesh, Mina stood up and cautiously crept closer to the TV. She glanced down and saw the remote on the table.

"O-Okay, heh, weird." She muttered to herself, picking it up and pressing the power button. Nothing happened. The following five increasingly frantic button presses yielded the same results.

"Come on… ugh. Did Denki drain the batteries?" She grunted, leaning down to press the button on the TV itself. But as she got closer to the screen, she paused.

The static was beginning to bend, coalesce even. The black pixels started to gather in the center of the screen into two dots, slowly growing in size until they were the size of grapes. More pixels moved around, stretching into thin shapes in a downwards line.

"I-S-E-E-Y-O-U"

Mina's breath caught in her throat. The tv sputtered and finally shut off, followed immediately by the lights. Mina yelped, the sudden darkness doing nothing to assuage her nerves. Her mind raced.

"O-Okay… calm down. Everything is fine! Just because someone is sending me weird messages on my phone… and on the TV… and shut off the lights, that doesn't mean I'm in-" She perked up. "Angel! Yeah! She controls electronics and stuff! This is totally her doing!"

The tension fled her body and she let out a laugh. "Man, she had me going there for a second." She pulled out her phone and dialed the perpetrator immediately.

A couple seconds later: "Hey Mina, what's up?"

"Oh, like you don't know?" Mina grinned, stepping out to the hallway. "I gotta say, the trick with the TV was pretty neat, but you didn't get me!"

"Uhhh… Mina, what are you talking about?"

"Pff, still playing dumb. I get it! Nice try Angel, but the jigs up! You can come out now!"

There was a brief pause. "Mina, I'm halfway across campus right now."

Mina froze. "Nah, you're still messing with me right?" She asked, voice cracking a little.

"Are you near the window downstairs?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Look outside."

Stepping closer to the glass, Mina gazed out into the campus yard towards the forest, the grounds dark except for small pools of illumination cast by the lamps along the walkways. A small flit of movement drew her attention. Almost a hundred meters away was a familiar shape, who waved a hand.

Mina stumbled back. "W-Wait… if you are out there, then that means-"

"Mina? Mina! What's going on?! Is something wr-ZZT!" Mina flinched away from her phone as Hodunk's voice was cut off.

"Angel?! Angel?! Hello?! This isn't funny!" She cried into the device, but the line was dead. She swallowed. Hard. "A-Alright, creeped out now."

This had to still be Hodunk, right? That was the only explanation why she was suddenly starring in a horror film right now. Except Mina wasn't sure if she was fortunate enough to be the final girl in this scenario.

A chilling thought slunk in. What if this was real? What if this was really some kind of villain trying to get her? The League of Villains had broken through Yuei's defenses before, was it so crazy to imagine someone had done it again?

"N-No!" She shook her head vehemently. "J-Just have to stay calm! This i-is just a prank! It's not real! Not real, not real!" She repeated over and over, the mantra being the only thing keeping her from running off to wake her friends or barricade herself in her room.

Then an upbeat tune jingled, making Mina yelp and nearly jump out of her skin. It took her a moment to recognize the sound. It was her ringtone. She glanced down at her phone.

Unknown Number

Her skin was clammy, small drops of sweat and weak acid running down the front of her head. Shaking, she swiped the green phone and lifted it up.

"He…hello?"

The voice on the other end came out low and distorted. "I want your eyes Mina-chan… I'll be there soon…"

They hung up.

At that moment, only one thing was in Mina's head: run!

She barreled down the hallway to the stairs, no way she was waiting on the elevator! Reaching the steps, she climbed as fast as humanly possible. Her chest pounded and ached with the beat of her racing heart, her skin burning yet chilled from the air.

Who knew being in a horror film wasn't fun?!

Reaching the first floor, she struggled to catch her breath. 'Need to wake people up, need to get help!'

She ran down the hall, reached the first door on the left and lifted a hand to knock. Then froze as she recognized the name placard.

Mineta

'Not that desperate!' Mina shivered and leapt to the next room.

Midoriya. Much better choice!

"Midoriya! Open up! There's someone after me!" She called out, repeatedly slamming her fist on the wood.

Several agonizing seconds later… no response. Was he out training again?!

"Midoriya! This isn't a joke! Lemme in!" She pounded the door again ever more frantically, hard enough to make the side of her hand sting and jostled the knob.

Again, nothing.

Mina cursed, running her nails through her thick curls.

She was just about to try Aoyama's room when there was a short pop and the lights blinked out, leaving Mina in the dark, shaking and painfully alone.

Taking scattered breaths, the trembling girl pressed herself against the wall. "This can't be happening! This can't be happening!" She muttered over and over. Hands smacking against the wall, she tried to get a hold of Aoyama's door.

Another electrical buzz and the light at the end of the hall flickered, drawing Mina's eyes. Her blood turned to ice.

Standing at the end of the hallway was a person, a girl in a white blouse. Her long black hair hung over her face like a curtain, hiding her features from view. That in itself was only mildly concerning. The entire front of her chest and blouse was splattered with red. It glistened in the lights, running all the way down her left arm.

And the spoon grasped in her hand, chipped and bent out of shape.

Oh god. This is really happening, isn't it?

Mina didn't dare move, her feet feeling like they were mounted to the floor. She starred at the girl, her vision palpitating and blurry from her rampant heartbeat.

The girl lifted her head slightly.

Buzz. All the light's began to flicker en masse, quickly becoming increasingly chaotic. The hall was briefly cloaked in darkness, then illuminated just as fast, then just as short again.

Then the girl moved. Every time the dark returned then vanished, she was one step closer, staggering forward in space like a flipbook of freeze frames. Inhumanely.

Mina's breath hitched and finally felt strength in her legs, her socks shuffling backwards.

"W-Who are y-you?! W-What do you w-want from me?" She stammered, continuing to retreat and make distance between her and the apparition.

It said nothing, only drawing closer bit by bit.

"N-No! Stay away! I'm w-warning you!" Mina swept her arm out, sending a limp spray of weak acid at it. The clear droplets passed through its gown, hissing on the floor behind it. It kept advancing unbidden with every flash of darkness.

"N-N-No! Go away!" Mina pleaded, but it paid her no heed.

"I-I-yeep!" Mina yelped, the acidic cold sweat pooling in her socks robbing her of surface tension, slipping backwards onto her rear. All the while the figure flitted closer and closer, only mere feet away now.

In her desperation, Mina's feet kept trying to backpedal away but only getting so far as the spirit loomed near.

"Somebody, HELP!" She called out, throwing her arms out in front of her, turning away and squeezing her eyes shut!

Then the buzzing stopped. The lights blinked back on.

Prying an eye open, the terrified girl peeked past her fingers.

The spirit was gone.

Her gaze flicked about in disbelief.

Was it over?

"W-Wha… what was… ohhh…" Mina moaned, leaning back on her hands and letting her head hang back with her eyes closed as all the air vacated her lungs. "...thank gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawd…"

She was alive… it was okay now. She still had her eyes. Still had her-

-a shadow passed overhead.

"Mina~"

Her eyes shot open. Leaning down inches from her face was a pale visage, a wide pearly smile stretching across it. A black pulpy mass of scar tissue mottled the right side.

"Found you…" The ghost hummed, lowering the bloody spoon down to Mina's eye.

"EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mina let out an ear piercing scream!

Then promptly passed out.

The spectre stood there for a moment before parting the bangs draped over her good eye.

"Uh… s-surprise?" She sputtered. Mina only gurgled, foaming at the mouth.

"Mina? You there?" She waved her spoon over her victim's face. Said girl's eyes were rolled back as she lay on the floor, unresponsive.

The ghost pursed her lips, then pulled out her phone. She dialed a number and held it up to her ear.

"It's me…" She said, waiting a second. "Yeah. Yeah, I got her. M-Maybe just a little… too well. Yup. You should probably get over here. Call Momo, I'll drag her to the couch."

Suddenly the door at the end of the hall creaked open and a surly faced Mineta entered the hall, rubbing his ear.

"What the heck is going on out here? Can't a guy enjoy his magazines in peEAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He hollered at the sight of a bloody woman kneeling over his classmate's limp body and slammed the door.

Angel blinked at what just happened.

"Do… do I get points for that?"

"Snnrf…snort…ab-WAH!" Ashido sniffed and snorted as she woke with a start. Angel and the few members of her class who had awakened from the commotion upstairs watched Yaoyorozu leap back to avoid her patient and her skulls from hitting each other.

"Who-what-where?! What just happened?!" The pink girl coughed, looking every which way.

"It's okay Mina. Just breathe." Yaoyorozu instructed her calmly, capping the bottle of smelling salt.

Ashido rubbed her nose as she calmed down. "Oh man… you guys wouldn't believe the crazy dream I just had. There was a ghost lady and she was calling me on the phone and she wanted to scoop out my eyeballs and-and…" She frowned at the knowing smiles surrounding her. "Why are you all looking like that?"

A round of snickering and chuckles went around the room.

"What-I… ohh man…" Ashidoe groaned, smacking her forehead. "I got got, didn't I?"

The crowd promptly parted, revealing Angel wearing a stained blouse in the back. She gave a nervous wave and a smile. "This is where I say gotcha, right?" She laughed with unease.

"Seriously?!" Ashido caught herself from toppling over the couch, jumping and running over to her friend, marveling at her appearance. "How the heck did you do that Angel?! That was a movie level performance right there! And this costume! I didn't know you knew how to do this?"

"I had a little help from Moxxi." She admitted, tying her long hair back into its ponytail and removing the lump of plaster from her eye socket. "She's a makeup master, helped me come up with the costume."

"Tell her she has a promising side hustle as a costume artist." Ashido praised then paused. "Wait, you were outside, how the heck were you in two places at once?"

"Easy…" Another voice called out and the audience parted to let another girl dressed in Angel's workout clothes step forward and pull off their hoodie.

"Et tu Kyoka?!"

The punk rocker chuckled. "Nothing in the challenge rules said we couldn't help each other out. Thought it would be fun."

"Then you were the one waving at me from outside!" Ashido gasped, stomping her feet astonished. She turned back to Angel with burning curiosity. "Oh man, I KNEW it was you! You were messing with my phone, the lights and the TV! But then how did you appear like that in the hallway and come up behind me?"

"Easy!" Angel lifted a black box shaped contraption off the table. "I borrowed some projectors from the support course. Hatsume was all too happy to give them to me. I'm just glad they didn't explode!"

Ashido's eyes boggled and she leaned back in awe. "Holy… Angel, are you just a mastermind or something? That whole thing felt so real! I thought I was going to die!"

Angel bit her lip at that comment and glanced away nervously. "Sorry…"

"What for?"

"W-Well I scared you half to death right? But after you scared me, I just got so angry and really wanted to get you back, you know? I just-urgh!" She grumbled, kicking herself. "I went too far, I knew it, I knew I couldn't do this right, I don't get Halloween!"

Angel turned away, mumbling her frustrations. So wrapped up in her vexations, she didn't notice that her victim had gotten closer until the finger bounced off her forehead.

"Ack!" She stumbled back, rubbing her head.

"Are you kidding me Angel?! That was the coolest thing ever!" Ashido cheered, bouncing around in front of her.

Angel blinked in confusion. "You… you're not mad?"

The pink girl planted her hands on her hips and snorted. "Jeeze, for someone so smart you really are a mess when it comes to being a kid. Of course I'm not, I can't prank you and be a bad sport about it when you finally get me back! Honestly, I was getting worried that you just gave up."

"But… I scared the hell-sorry, heck out of you! How did you enjoy any of that?"

"Oh sure, in the moment I wasn't, but now that I know it wasn't, I'm totally cool! It was a game, not real life! Besides, don't tell me you didn't have fun leading up to this. Plotting, scheming… then your anticipation builds up as you get ready to pounce!" Mina smiled mischievously while wiggling her fingers around. "Then BOO! You liked that, didn't you?"

Angel pondered that for a moment. Forming a plan and putting it into motion had always given her a sort of satisfaction she couldn't deny, something left over from her days masquerading as an AI. There was also a certain… electricity when she was stalking Ashido from the shadows.

Her eyes widened.

"You're right." She muttered softly. "So I shouldn't feel bad for scaring you?"

"Heck no!" Ashido laughed. "You did it because you wanted to scare me back, not because you wanted to hurt me! There's a difference you know. This is what this whole game was about! This is the time for goofy, spooky shenanigans! We all do ridiculous, crazy stuff then poke fun at ourselves for getting scared by that stuff! It's a celebration of things gross, scary and surreal!" She threw her arms out and grinned. "THAT'S Halloween!"

Angel glanced about to her friends. "Is that true?" She got a series of nods and shrugs.

Her cheeks flushed, but Angel couldn't help but smile. She had been annoyed with Ashido after the locker incident, but in hindsight? It was kinda funny that she had gotten spooked by something so innocent as a stuffed toy.

'Looks like I still have a lot to learn.'

"Then does that mean I won?" She asked.

"Pssh, yeah! You serious?! That was the craziest scare I've ever had!" Ashido pulled her into a sideways hug and grabbed her phone. "I gotta take a picture while you're still in costume! Man, I can't wait to do this game again! I hope next year we get to team up! That will be SO much fun!"

"Mina?" Angel said.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No problem girl!" Ashido lifted her phone up with the camera ready. "Everybody get in the picture! Say, Happy Halloween!"

As the rest of the group crowded into frame, Angel could only laugh as she threw up her hands into claws.

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"

~Fin~