Having safely finished the mock exams…
A few days later, on Friday.
The end of October.
From early morning, Yuzuru found himself being pestered by a pair.
“Oi, Yuzurun! If you don’t give us sweets—!!”
“We’ll prank you! Grrr!!”
He was ambushed by Ayaka, dressed as a vampire, and Chiharu, sporting fox ears and a tail.
Judging by the “grrr,” perhaps Chiharu was actually supposed to be a werewolf. She was a girl, though.
Of course, neither costume was particularly elaborate.
Ayaka wore a black cloak like something a suspicious character might throw on, along with a bat-wing headband, while Chiharu had simply attached decorative ears and a tail.
They were modest outfits…
But Yuzuru tilted his head slightly, wondering if they were even allowed under school rules.
“Why not go bother Soichiro instead?”
Yuzuru casually dropped the name of their ‘owner.’
If Soichiro knew about this behaviour, he’d probably grab them by the scruff of their necks and drag them away.
So either he hadn’t arrived at school yet, or they were doing this behind his back.
“We don’t mind if Soichiro-kun pranks us.”
“Actually, we’d welcome it. Ah, but it’d be a problem if Yuzuru-san did.”
“Oh, is that so? My apologies, then.”
…That guy—won’t he get stabbed someday?
Seriously, he should hurry up and get Nice boat-ed.
Yuzuru muttered a curse towards Soichiro in his mind.
Still, this sort of thing wasn’t new for Ayaka and Chiharu.
He’d known them for a long time.
Which was why he’d prepared sweets properly.
“Here. Your feed.”
Yuzuru pulled neatly wrapped biscuits from his bag and tossed them over.
The two caught them.
“Oh, these are from a good place. As expected of Yuzurun.”
“You really are thoughtful, aren’t you?”
Saying that, the two of them also took sweets out of their own bags.
Ayaka had made madeleines, and Chiharu had something like cupcakes.
Both had a faint yellow tint—probably because they’d used pumpkin for Halloween.
“They’re homemade.”
“Make sure you savour them.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Getting homemade food from strangers tended to make one hesitate, but Ayaka and Chiharu were trustworthy in that regard.
Despite appearances, both of them were good at cooking, so he could expect decent flavour.
And so, the early morning event passed.
Then came lunchtime.
“Here. Take these.”
Yuzuru and Soichiro received a bundle of assorted sweets from Hijiri.
They weren’t the stylish kind like Ayaka and Chiharu’s.
Just a bag filled with store-bought snacks and chocolates.
That said, the packaging itself had pumpkins and bats printed on it, decorated with a ribbon… it was surprisingly cute, almost impressively so.
Yuzuru and Soichiro exchanged glances.
“My bad. I didn’t prepare anything in return.”
“Didn’t think you were the type to do something like this.”
Neither of them bothered exchanging gifts for birthdays or Christmas—too much hassle preparing something in return.
Naturally, Halloween was no exception.
They’d assumed Hijiri was the same.
Or rather, this delinquent-looking guy hardly seemed like someone who’d prepare Halloween sweets—more like the type to scoff and say, “Halloween? What a joke.”
“Nah, I don’t need anything back. That’d just be gross. …My family hands out sweets every Halloween. Think of it as leftovers from that.”
Yuzuru and Soichiro immediately understood.
A completely useless piece of knowledge surfaced in their minds—yakuza hand out sweets on Halloween.
“Right… By the way, this chocolate—is it normal chocolate? Not some kind of code word for something?”
“There’s nothing like drugs in it, right?”
“What the hell do you think I am?”
““Yakuza.””
Yuzuru and Soichiro answered in unison.
After school.
On his way home, Yuzuru was called out by a girl.
“Wait, Takasegawa-kun.”
“Nagiri-san.”
A tall, slender beauty with black hair—Nagiri Tenka.
She held a neatly wrapped set of biscuits.
“Don’t tell me…”
“That’s right—Halloween. Oh, and you don’t need to return the favour. I’m just handing these out so it’s fair to everyone I associate with.”
Yuzuru accepted the biscuits.
They seemed to be store-bought.
“They’re store-bought. Nothing dangerous in them like Hijiri-kun’s.”
“That’s reassuring.”
Of course, Hijiri’s sweets were also store-bought.
Yuzuru didn’t bother nitpicking and slipped the biscuits into his bag.
Then he asked—
“By the way… I’m genuinely curious. Is Halloween okay for you, doctrinally?”
“Chiharu-san is handing things out too, isn’t she? And she’s a living god.”
“…Well, Kamini-shi is pretty steeped in the secular world, so she’s probably an exception.” “kamini” (神西) is an alternate readingplay on Chiharu’s surname, implying “divine west” or “godly lineage.”/
Uenishi Chiharu.
Uenishi—also known as “Kamini.”
The heir to a major shrine in the Kansai region.
Her family followed an extremely unusual matrilineal succession and had preserved a unique faith since ancient times.
Doctrinally, Chiharu herself was considered a living god, which was why she could walk straight down the centre of a torii gate without hesitation.
That said, the Uenishi family was deeply immersed in worldly affairs.
Rather than shrine income, most of their wealth came from being the largest landowners in western Japan—and from controlling tourism, industry, and even regional politics.
These days, they seemed busier entertaining foreign visitors than performing rituals.
In truth, Nagiri probably took religion more seriously.
(Though, I don’t know all the details of the Uenishi situation…)
In fact, the Takasegawa and Uenishi families had once been estranged.
About 150 years ago, Takasegawa—acting as agents of the new government—clashed with the Uenishi in a major conflict.
Since then, members of the Takasegawa family had been forbidden from passing through the torii of Uenishi Shrine—effectively banned.
That said, relations were now improving.
Yuzuru and Chiharu being childhood friends was part of that.
At one point, there had even been talk of an “engagement” between them, showing just how much things had thawed.
Though, as it stood, Yuzuru had still never passed through the shrine’s torii.
“Oh, of course… there’s absolutely no cannabis or anything in them.”
“Saying it twice just makes it sound more suspicious.”
If she were actually handing out laced sweets, her family would’ve collapsed long ago.
So it was a joke.
…At least, he hoped it was.
“Takasegawa-kun, why not join my religion? It’s quite fun.”
“My family’s technically Protestant.”
More of a funeral-Protestant situation—he was only affiliated out of obligation.
So he wasn’t particularly attached to it, nor was he completely opposed…
But there wasn’t any real reason to convert.
“Oh, what a shame.”
Tenka seemed to have been joking as well, and the conversation ended there.
Yuzuru decided he’d eat Ayaka and Chiharu’s more perishable sweets today.
And as he walked home, a thought crossed his mind.
(…I wonder if Arisa will give me anything tomorrow.)
Author’s note:
By the way, Ayaka is Catholic.
Soichiro, being a samurai, follows a Zen Buddhist sect.
