Today was the day.

The beginning of what was to be a very busy week for us students at Tsukiji High. Although we were holding the Trick or Treat event at school on a Friday— when the actual Halloween holiday was on Sunday— it didn't stop students from going into max-energy mode.

Decorations were put up outside and inside the school building. Fake spider webs were stuck to the school gates, ghosts hung from the windows of classrooms on the second and third floors, and cardboard cutouts of monsters leaned against the wire fence on the rooftop.

Inside the building, students were already playing pranks on each other as if it were April Fools. Some put jack-in-the-boxes in shoe lockers to spring out as soon as they were opened. The braver students went to spook faculty, only to have their tricks turned on them because adults were much smarter.

Students walked around in masks or full body costumes. Our school as a whole was so decked out and gung-ho about the Halloween spirit, we could put American schools to shame.

Although… some of us were a lot bolder than usual.

"Mio… Hana… I really don't think this was a good idea after all," I said, clutching my school bag tightly as we walked into the building under the gaze of hundreds.

"You're freaking out too much. No one has a single clue," Mio assured me.

"Ooohohohoho. Shexshy shuccubish!" Hana raced ahead and snapped pictures of us coming in.

Boys clenched their legs as soon as they saw us. Girls gasped and squealed at our costumes. Some of the faculty at the gate wanted to have a word with us, but they were quick to get into an argument whether our costumes were allowed or not.

Why?

Because we were dressed in— you guessed it— our succubus outfits.

Mio would not take no for an answer. She walked right out of the house in her succubus form without a care in the world. Apparently, she and Hana were planning this all along. I should have known, seeing as that damn trickster stayed over last night without notice.

Of course, I protested as much as I could.

The two of them, however, succ-shamed me into going along with their whims, calling me out on my recent sexual escapades and accusing me of being a succu-racist. Whatever that meant.

And so, I dropped my human form before leaving the house. To make matters worse, Hatsumi even encouraged me to do it, too. Likely, so that Mio and Hana could get more pictures of me in my succubus form for her.

We three were essentially half-naked, dressed in what might as well be lingerie.

We were also the center of attention at school now.

"Saeko, Mio, Hana… is that really you?" a third-year girl, dressed in a much more normal costume of an angel, asked from behind. "It's really… ahem, erotic."

"You got that right." Mio shook her tail and flapped her wings.

"Stop that!" I punched her arm.

"Wow! They look so real!" the female student said. 

Hana stuck her nose in the air. "That's because they are—"

I clamped a hand over Hana's mouth to shut her up. "An electronics system controls them through an app on our phones! Technology's gotten really good. You know how it is!"

"Ahh, I get it. I get it. Kinda like how cosplayers take their costumes to the next level with all the tech?"

Luckily, she and anyone else around us who heard me bought my lie.

Unfortunately…

"MIIIOOOOOOOOO! HAAANNAAAAA" An enraged voice echoed throughout the corridor, followed by heavy footfalls that shook the building.

Hitomi stomped her way downstairs. The cape of her vampire costume fluttered behind. Rika struggled to catch up as the bandages from her mummy costumes kept coming undone.

"Yo, Prez!" Mio threw up a peace sign which only served to further enrage the student council president.

"Don't 'yo, Prez' me! Ya got twenty seconds t'explain why the fuck ya wearin' those," Hitomi demanded. Normally, she would grab the collar of Mio's uniform when confronting her. But none of us had enough clothing on to be grabbed anywhere, so she grabbed Mio's horn instead.

"Kyaaa~ Prez! If you wanted to play rough, you only needed to ask nicely!" she squealed.

"Think ya being funny, hahh? Explain yerselves!" the yakuza schoolgirl snarled.

Hana tried to sneak away, but a quick hand caught her horn. Hitomi forced both of them onto their knees.

"Guooh! The iron grip of the law hurts!"

"Ow— Owowowow! Holy shit, why are you still this strong?! You'll rip 'em off! I give! Uncle, uncle!" Mio cried.

Because they were both too incapacitated by pain, I answered in their stead. "Mio and Hana wanted us to dress up as succubi for Halloween… We'll go get changed in the restroom!"

"Huh? I don't want you guys to change out of that," Hitomi replied, her voice returning to normal.

"Eh?"

"The four of you make for perfect eye candy, swinging those assets around. It's not often I get to see this," she said.

"Isn't this being too contradictory?!" I retorted

"Ahaha… What Hiichan's trying to say is, walking around is bound to cause trouble with the school. It should be fine if you at least wrap a skirt around your waist," Rika explained, trying to keep her laughter in check and eyes from wandering too much.

Hitomi nodded. "As it stands right now, your plump asses are hanging out a little too much. You might as well be wearing g-strings. If you don't want me to sic the disciplinary committee on you, then cover up your lower body."

"We'll go ask Yuriha for something we can use," I said, a satisfactory enough answer that she released Mio and Hana from her vise. "Also, so said four? Who's the fourth?"

"Yumi." She sighed. "Dressed in her nurse's uniform with all the features of a succubus."

We went to the tailoring club where Yuriha was overseeing her members working overtime. Culture Festival was in a few days after all; the deadline was fast approaching. Too bad the moment we entered the room, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us.

"I don't even need to turn around to know who came in, but if you lot keep staring behind me and not focusing on your work, there will be hell to pay with sewing needles going under your fingernails," the club president threatened, and it was all it took for the club to face their heads down and return to work.

"Yes, ma'am!" they exclaimed.

"This club is starting to look a lot like a sweatshop." Mio cackled.

"It feels like I'm seeing you three a lot lately. If you're here for the last two costumes, they aren't done yet. As you can see, we might have to stay the night to finish it all," Yuriha said.

"But my parents are making curry tonight!" one member said.

"Then you better ask them to deliver it to school with a sleeping bag."

"Yep. This is definitely looking like a sweatshop," I added. "It's fine if you're not done yet. We just came by because we, uh… need something to cover our lower half."

Yuriha turned to face us at last. Her eyes went wide. She buzzed around us, inspecting the outfit we wore. Even going as far as tugging on the straps that might come loose if she pulled any further.

"The make of your costume is impressive. It doesn't look like a store-bought outfit. Custom-made? Foreign? Where did you get something like this?" she asked.

Her club members were having a hard time focusing on work because of what she was doing to our outfits, throwing glances our way and wincing as they were pricked by sewing needles.

"It's… Y-Yes, it's foreign! But forget about our costume for a moment," I said, trying to cover myself with my schoolbag.

We explained to her what we needed after the encounter with the student council at the shoe lockers. Fortunately, Yuriha did have something we could use. She produced three black sarongs, not much unlike the one I wore during the Okinawa trip, for us to wear.

Lightweight and breathable, the fabric wrapped around my waist and covered me down to my knees. Even though staring at it long enough, one could easily tell it didn't belong with the rest of the outfit, I didn't mind as long as it wouldn't incur Hitomi's wrath upon us a second time.

After thanking Yuriha, Mio and I split ways from Hana to head to class. If we hadn't caused enough of an uproar already, entering our class ignited a wildfire of cheers from our fellow classmates.

"Saeko and Mio in succubus costumes? I can die happy!"

"They look so cute! I wish I was brave enough to dress like them!"

"Hey, hey! Let's take some pictures together!"

While they crowded around us, I was searching Kana, who was nowhere to be seen. Was he skipping today?

"Okay, everyone! Please, settle down! We have to prepare for our Halloween event since we're tricking." Rika clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.

The door slid open. Kana stood there, red up to his ears, dressed in a pink nurse costume with a hat and everything. Everyone oh'd at how cute he was being embarrassed by his own costume. He hurried to his seat and covered his face.

"I'm surprised you actually dressed up," I leaned over to him to say.

"I didn't want to… then I ran into Yumi who said she had the perfect outfit for me…" he groaned, then raised his eyes to see what I was wearing. "Y-You're… what?!"

"Aha… It was Mio's idea," I whispered and put a finger to my lips.

The class rep read off a list of names of the people who were on the first shift to handle our class' tricking event. Among them, Mio and I were called. Rika didn't mind managing both shifts.

"Any questions?" she asked.

"Can we make a last minute addition to our trick event to make it more interesting?" Kameshiro raised his hand to ask.

"Like what?"

"How about we set up a photoshoot booth. People who win at the apple bobbing game get to take a picture with the class mascot?" he suggested.

A chill ran up my spine as he threw a glance my way. I knew then that he probably wanted to take advantage of that to get close to me again.

Unfortunately for me, the rest of the class expressed interest in it, too.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Rika exclaimed. "We could set it up with spare materials in the room to make a private photo booth, too. Then how do we go about deciding who the mascot is?"

"Here! Right here!" Mio shouted, pointing directly AT ME.

"What?!" I screamed.

"You ain't doing it alone. We'll take turns! It'll be fun as hell." She winked, making it too obvious she had a plan brewing in that succubitch head of hers.

"We won't force you, Saeko. We can bring someone else instead, but it seems like a lot of people would like to take pictures with you," Rika said.

"I'll… do it…"

At the front corner of the room, Kameshiro silently pumped a fist into the air. He had another thing coming if he was scheming something.

With the entire class' help and generosity from the drama club, we managed to use some black curtains and PVC pipes to raise an enclosed booth at the back corner of the room. A classmate who was a member of the photography club got them to lend us a camera and stand to take pictures with.

Everything was coming together nicely, and by the time class began, those who were on the second shift left to begin exploring the other class' trick or treat events.

We on the first shift prepared apples to dangle above students' heads. Five students were led in at a time and randomized to choose from a row of five apples dangling above them. Four of the five had wasabi smeared underneath the caramel layer, and the one who picked the properly caramelized apple would win a picture with me or Mio.

"We're ready to open up!" Rika declared to us.

The first five students were led in, and among them was Kameshiro. That bastard. He definitely has something up his sleeve. Only one student was in the Halloween spirit, but all she wore was a silicone monster mask.

"Rika, is it really okay to let students from our class play?" I asked, worried about how this might turn out.

"Of course. It would be wrong not to," she said.

Our class rep was too pure-hearted and innocent to suspect foul play could be going on with the trick event.

From the corner of my peripherals, Kameshiro had a shit-eating grin as he spoke to some of his friends who were part of the first shift. Now I was beginning to see what he was up to. Those two boys he was talking to were in charge of managing the caramelized apples.

We had them separated into two boxes— one smeared with wasabi and the ones that were not. That way, no one could confuse them, ensuring there would always be four losers and one winner.

Mio leaned against the window next to me biting into an apple. My nose wrinkled at the pungent and mustardy smell of wasabi.

I pinched my nose shut. "Are you seriously eating that?"

"It tastes good. Clears my sinuses, too." She ravenously crunched down to the core. "Want a bite?"

"As if!"

Kameshiro and the four students lined up in front of a shoddily-built scaffolding made from PVC pipe and clotheslines. They were blindfolded, and shuffled around by five of my classmates. Like they planned, Kameshiro's friend was the one moving him around and seemed to have put him in the right place.

I held my breath, hoping they made a mistake along the way. Five of them bit hard into the apples, but only four of them gagged while the fifth, Kameshiro, chewed happily into his untampered, caramelized fruit.

"Cheater," I muttered.

His prize was both a small bag of mixed candy and a picture with someone of his choice.

And surprise, surprise… he chose me.

"Rules are rules, Saeko. I want a nice picture so that I can frame it above my bed." He grinned, his words sending the disgusting kind of goosebumps creeping across my skin.

"I'll help take the picture!" Mio volunteered.

Sighing, I went inside the private booth with Mio and Kameshiro. We positioned ourselves in front of the camera. He stood a lot closer than I'd like, so much that our shoulders were touching.

His hand stroked the back of my ass. "Come on. At least pretend you like it."

"I got a better idea," I began, tightening my aura around him. "After the picture, you're going to ask your friends for five wasabi apples so that you can eat them all yourself."

"I… I'm kind of craving some wasabi-smeared apples…" he said absentmindedly.

"Kahaha! Doubt his ass won't be happy about that when the charm wears off." Mio cackled.

No other suspicious shenanigans occurred after Kameshiro. Everyone played our trick game fairly. After three hours, the second shift returned from enjoying the event to tag us out. Kameshiro dragged his feet back to class, clutching his stomach in agony.

"Ugh…My stomach feels like shit..." he groaned.

"Well, my day can only get better from here." I nodded to myself.

Mio grabbed my hand and pulled me out of class. "I heard Hana's class is doing something cool. Let's check it out!"

"I don't like that sound of that!"

"It's either that or a fucking spree. The choice is yours," she said.

"Those aren't choices at all!" I retorted.