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Mila Sadou loves Halloween, but not for the reasons her friends like the holiday. Her friends talk about the candy, the costumes, and the excitement of being allowed to watch spooky Halloween movies. Mila loves Halloween because of the decorations. Well, she does not care for the boring decorations. The fake skeletons, pumpkins, spiderwebs and all that is kind of silly.
No, what Mila loves about Halloween is how absolutely awesome her neighbours are at it (they decorate for most holidays, but Halloween is the best).
They moved in four years ago, when Mila was nine. Back then, when she was still a little kid, her parents did not want her going to her neighbours’ place at all. Her parents called the new couple on the block ‘spooky’ and ‘dangerous’ which is totally ridiculous cause Mila is almost as tall as one of them, so they aren’t that scary.
Anyway, last year Mila still wasn’t allowed to go to their house for trick-or-treating, but this year she is thirteen and she is going even though her parents told her not too. Her best friend, Sue, said that it would be fun and Mila is inclined to agree. Besides, her parents will be too busy giving out candy to keep track of which houses she is going to.
So, armed with her Halloween costume (she kept it simple and is going as a black cat; Sue is a witch, so they kind of match), a pillowcase, and a healthy dose of excitement, Mila sets off, calling goodbye to her parents as she leaves the house.
At 5:34pm it is hardly dark out, yet that is the point. Leaving early gives Mila ample time to walk to Sue’s house, watch a movie, then begin trick-or-treating and slowly make her way to her neighbours’ house. As she passes the house now, it is undecorated. As normal. For Halloween, their decorations never appear until later, after all the little kids have come and gone. As she has never spoken to her neighbours, Mila has no idea if they forget to decorate until last minute or if they chose to wait since their decorations are so spooky they might unnerve the little kids.
Still, staring at the undecorated house, Mila feels a rush of excitement: this year will be the best Halloween ever.
Two hours later, Mila and Sue have begun their hunt. They go door to door, smiling and repeating the same phrase over and over as parents — ones as old as her own — drop candies into their bags with warm smiles.
Sure, it’s nice, but all Mila can think about is how cool it will be once they reach her neighbours’ house. It must be on her face, since Sue pokes her shoulder as they walk down the driveway of yet another boringly decorated house, tromping over fallen leaves.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Mila smiles. “I’m just really excited to see how my neighbours decorate this year.”
“So you’ve said. Like, all week. What’s so great about them anyway? I didn’t know you were close with your neighbours.”
Mila pauses, trying to find the right words. “They’re just so… eccentric. It’s awesome. They moved in four years ago and I’m pretty sure they’re married, but they look so young compared to my parents. Mom guessed they were in their early twenties.”
“Okay, so what makes them interesting?” Sue asks.
“Well, they’re both guys. I think. And I’m pretty sure the one with red hair is secretly a superhero. Sometimes a fancy black car comes to pick him up and then he won’t be back for days. But that’s not the point.” Mila pauses to collect her thoughts. She needs to explain this correctly so Sue understands how cool they are. “So, there’s a short one and a tall one. The short one is the maybe-superhero. The tall one is a detective, which is also pretty cool. If it’s true. My dad claims he saw the guy’s picture in the newspaper once. I think it makes sense cause detectives and superheroes work together lots, like Batman and Commissioner Gordon.”
“Gordon is the commissioner, not a detective. It’s literally in his name.”
“Still. It’s close enough. Anyway, they seem to be really busy. Sometimes we don’t see them come home for days or weeks. But when they are around, they’re pretty funny. The short one yells at the tall one lots for not doing chores, which I totally get cause chores suck. But the tall one will mow the grass and shovel the driveway and stuff so I think he just complains for fun.”
“What do they do for Halloween?”
Oh, right. She is supposed to be focusing on their cool decorations.
“It’s awesome. Like usually something straight out of a horror movie. My parents always try to stop me from seeing what they do, but they are right across the street so I get to peek every year anyway. Last year was pretty mild in comparison, I think they ran out of time. But the year before was the best ever: they had dead bodies on the ground, like with fake blood and brain bits and everything. A window was broken, so they played that up and added blood to the bits of glass that were left in the frame. And if you looked in through the window, the room was a total mess too. Hinue, you know him, right? He claims he looked through the window and even saw bullets on the floor! Totally cool! They go so hard on Halloween it makes the decorations and lights other people have seem totally lame in comparison.”
“Woah.” Sue’s eyes are wide. “Do you think they were like real dead bodies? If one of them is a detective, maybe he brought them from work.”
“Ew! No way.” Mila screws up her face. Bringing real dead bodies is too disturbing even for Halloween. “Whatever, I’m just excited to see what they do this year. It would be so cool if they had, like a real ghost.”
“Ghosts aren’t real, Mila,” Sue snorts. “Now come on. Let’s go get more candy.”
While her eyes are drooping and her shoulders are getting sore from holding her pillowcase full of candy, Mila is determined to continue. It is almost nine at night now, which means her parents will be expecting her home soon. This is her chance. It is finally time to go meet her neighbours.
Sue, ever energetic once nighttime comes, is still walking along with a small hop in her step, feeding off Mila’s energy and equally excited. It helps that only the big kids are out now. That means the streets are less crowded and they can walk on the sidewalk without having to slow for the little kids or weave around strollers.
They turn the corner, entering Mila’s street, and there it is.
Her jaw drops.
“Woah,” Sue breathes.
“This. This is amazing,” Mila gasps.
She called it. They have a ghost. Mila wasn’t sure what she expected from a ghost, but this is everything she ever wanted and more. The ghost is a huge floating woman encased in an eerie glow. She has a katana sheathed at her hip and her face is blank save for two glowing yellow eyes. She is huge and cool and Mila totally wants to dress like that for Halloween next year.
Of course, the ghost is not the only attraction.
Besides the ghost, there are three witches flying above their house on brooms, going around in circles. They glow red, outlining their frames against the dark night sky. A few pumpkins line the doorstep, but these are no regular pumpkins. They are lit from within with a strange green light and are carved so masterfully it is clear many hours went into these projects — save for the one smaller pumpkin shoved behind the rest which has a basic and poorly done triangle-eyes-and-mouth design.
Honestly, there is not that much for house decorations. As in zero. But the ghost, witches, pumpkins, and the costumes her neighbours have more than make up for it. The tall one is wearing a long beige coat. His dark hair is slicked back and looks sticky even from here, as if he ran his hands — that look like they are covered in blood; even his coat cuffs are darkened — through it. The shorter man is wearing dark pants and has bandages wrapped around his otherwise bare torso, but what makes his outfit look really cool is the hilt of a knife that looks like it’s sticking out of his shoulder. It looks like blood is dripping from the fake wound. Bloodstains are on the bandages too in certain spots, almost like a polka dot pattern.
It looks like his costume was too realistic for one mom since there is a tall redhaired lady arguing with him and pointing to his ‘knife wound’. She is dressed cool too, wearing a really pretty floral kimono and her hair is in an elaborate twist.
As they approach the house, Mila realizes that there is another decoration she missed: on their garage door is some kind of cool portal: the surface is warped and ripples as if it can move on its own (Mila is too old for that; she knows it’s a trick of the wind). It is black and red and seems almost sharp when it moves a certain way. Plus, standing near the portal is a creepy vampire: the guy is dressed all in black, incredibly pale — enough so Mila suspects he found the good face paint before it sold out in stores — and has an air about him that makes he seem old and gothic and cool.
When they get closer, the taller man waves to them with a cheery grin, cutting off the arguing between the shorter guy and the angry mom.
“Hey there! Happy Halloween!”
Mila smiles back. “Happy Halloween! I really love your decorations!”
The taller man frowns and squints at her. “You look familiar.”
Mila hears the vampire guy mutter, “Not every cat looks like the weretiger.” She doesn’t really get that, so she pretends not to hear.
“No, no. I mean really familiar. Have we met?”
Mila shakes her head. “Not yet, but I’m your neighbour!” She smiles wider. “I’m Mila, it’s nice to finally meet you!”
“Oh! That’s it, our neighbour! How fun!” The taller guy flails around a bit, patting his pockets. “Do we have candy? Chuuya?”
“I don’t fuckin— I don’t know,” the shorter guy growls. The mom-lady has grabbed the hilt of his shoulder-knife and his face twists like in real pain. Wow, he’s good. Must be all that acting from pretending to not be a superhero.
“Akutagawa!” At the call, the vampire appears at the taller guy’s side so fast it seems like he traveled through the shadows. That is so cool. “I have a mission for you. Go to the nearest store and get candy.”
“Sir?”
“It’s Halloween. And I think we forgot to get treats.” He tsks. “And we all know whose job it was to pick up the candy this year.”
“Oh fuck you,” the redhead snarls. “This is all your fault.”
“My fault?” A gasp. “How is this my fault?”
“I bought candy last weekend and it’s all — fuck, just leave it, Ane-san. I’ll deal with it later — gone cause of you!”
“Nuh uh, I hate sweets.”
“I know you used it to bribe Ranpo into doing work, Dazai. Don’t play coy.” The taller man, Dazai, apparently, laughs.
“Aw, you got me! I meant to get replacement snacks on my way home, but then silly Chibi had to go and get himself in trouble, needing his brave, strong—”
“Annoying.”
“—prince to come save him.”
Mila and Sue exchange a glance. Is this part of a play? Some kind of Halloween theatrical? If so, it’s working. They are not the only kids lined up on the grass, waiting for free candy to be dropped in their bags, but equally enticed by the ongoing dramatics.
“Lad, I insist you come to the hospital—”
“It’s barely a scratch,” the shorter one, mutters, shoving the lady’s hand aside when she reaches for the knife again. “It’s fine.”
“If ‘fine’ means Chibi stabbed himself with a knife then it’s totally fine.” Dazai snickers.
“Oh shut up! It was an ability. Besides, it’s not like you didn’t shoot yourself in the foot that one time in England.”
“I don’t remember any of that.”
“Cause you were drunk off your ass.”
“Shh, there is no proof of these events ever happening.”
Mila wishes there was some kind of proof so she could follow the story better. It’s getting confusing, but the redhead keeps swearing and Mom says she shouldn’t say any of that stuff so it’s kind of cool. Plus she wants to hear the story till its end. And get candy. And maybe figure out why the cool-looking garage portal disappeared at the same time the vampire left to go get snacks.
“This is ridiculous. If you will not care for your own health, then I will simply force healthcare upon you.” The fancy lady folds her hands in the long sleeves of her kimono, then the coolest thing ever happens: the ghost shifts to stand at her side and flexes her long, ghostly fingers.
“Come off it,” knife-guy groans, “you’re making a scene.”
“Get in the car and there will be no scene.”
“Fine. You’re on.” Then all of a sudden the air around him glows red and the three witches that were flying above the house suddenly fly down and attack the ghost.
Mila and Sue — and the other kids watching — both gasp, delighted, as the ghost and the witches begin an epic battle. The ghost slashes the witches apart with her katana, but the witches, while they fall into smaller pieces, continue to glow red and fly at the ghost with gusto, like they are trying to stab her with their brooms or pointed noses.
“Go Chibi go!” Dazai cheers, clapping his bloody hands happily. Seconds later he ducks and dances away as the ghost lady’s katana swings at his head.
“Ane-san! Cut it out!”
“I don’t understand how you put up with that bothersome man,” the pretty lady grumbles.
Watching in awe, Mila and Sue stare as the ghost slowly beats down the witches, crushing them into so many bits and pieces that they look more like flying blobs of rubble than Halloween decorations anymore. Then, just as the ghost raises her katana for a final attack and the witches rally themselves against her, a small cough draws their attention to the garage. The portal is back and the vampire with it. He holds out two large bags.
“Do you think he came through the portal?” Mila whispers.
“There’s totally no way.” But Sue’s eyes are wide. “There must be some kind of door in the garage he snuck through.”
“Maybe.” No matter how the vampire came back, he brought candy.
The candy serves to stop the fight between the decorations. The ghost disappears between one blink and the next, drawing shocked gasps from the crowd of teenage onlookers, and the witches stop glowing red, allowing them to fall apart and become broken pieces on the driveway.
“Well done, Akutagawa.” Dazai takes the candy bags as the vampire preens at the praise. “Okay, kids! Line up for candy!”
Now that the candy has arrived and the cool show is over, they all file into a line and await their turn for the treats to be dropped into their bags. When they get to the front, Mila is pleased to see that she and Sue get two handfuls of treats instead of one. Her neighbour winks at her. She smiles back so wide it hurts.
She waves goodbye to the pretty lady, the vampire, and the shorter of her neighbours. Only the vampire gives an awkward half-wave back as the two redheads are busy arguing with each other again. Maybe they really are siblings; Sue and her brother argue like that whenever Mila is at their house.
Walking across the street to go to her house and sort through their candy, Mila and Sue grin at each other. That was by far the best Halloween display ever.