Author's Note: Hey everyone! Here you have it! I've decided to make a TCR Halloween special! Yeah, the idea was floating around in my head ever since I saw episode 21 of Pandora Hearts (which was awesome!), so I kind of felt like doing something like this. Don't worry! I'm still working on Snow Princess and Peach Princess (No, NOT the character from Super Mario! My story!). By the way, there are some instances where some names are mentioned that aren't in the actual story. There's a reason for this! The characters that are mentioned just don't appear in the story yet (but will soon!), so just go with it. Anyway...I present to you all, the very first TCR Halloween Special! Spooooooky! Is anyone gonna dress up in costumes, go trick-or-treating, get some candy, and scare people? Let's all get into that spooky Halloween spirit! Read and review please! NO FLAMES!!! Happy reading! By the way, some characters that haven't appeared in the series yet do appear in this story. There's a reason for it! Just go with it!

Note: I didn't put the day of the week this story takes place in on purpose. I'll explain why later. Just go with it.

CHAPTER 0: The Illusionary House

October 31, 2035

The blackened night was dim and tempestuous. The myriad of white stars shone in the blackened sky like diamonds and pearls, with the exception being the moon, as white, round, and full as a pearl. The small grey clouds were a harbinger that they were going to block the moon's majestic presence and make the night even more like a black, bottomless abyss. The shining stars and the pearl white moon were as lucid and pristine and white as the eye can see, as if they were to provide concord for those who are perturbed by the somber darkness. But today was October 31 and this was a very special yet spooky day for all the citizens in Kisara. Why? This is because...

October 31 is Halloween!

This is the day in which children go around dressing up in whatever costumes that pique their interest, amble around in the dark, go to random houses, receive whatever insidious candy they can grab, and scare whoever they please. The trees around them were a vivid dark green in response to the dark night beckoning them. The tree barks look even more black than brown in response to this tenuous, beckoning night. The streets and grass were darkened also, dark green and dark grey, due to the blackness of the sky. Even the stars and the moon could not do justice in terms of providing light to the world below. Thankfully, other lights came to that rescue. The lights of yellow lanterns, small orange pumpkins which had faces lit up the night, decorations on houses in various colors such as yellow, orange, red, grey, and blue scattered all over town, providing small amounts of artificial light to combat the darkness.

Children of various ages scattered and ambled all over the darkened streets in a whole myriad of costume varieties. Skeletons, witches, pumpkins, fairies, princesses, princes, anime characters, video game characters, comic book characters, cartoon characters and all! All the young lads and children held onto their little plastic containers and bags as they went to many houses and received whatever delicious treats and candy that they could get. "Trick or treat!" they called out as the residents of the house opened their doors to find children dressed in costumes requesting for generosity. The residents munificently give whatever candy they have and try to satisfy the children as much as they were able. After all, Halloween is rather bittersweet. And by bittersweet, we mean a combination of sweet in terms of receiving candy and gaining pleasure from going around in the night, and bitter as in awaiting something to happen that will make us so scared that we would never bother to celebrate Halloween ever again!

Black bats, black cats, orange pumpkins, skeletons, black witches with brooms and green faces, scarecrows and birds as black as the raven's wings consumed the entire town in their voluminous numbers to make the town the perfect place for a frightful Halloween celebration! But the place where children gather the most is Central Park, which is a very semi-large park containing a large, hidden meadow in the woods. Nobody goes into the meadow, but the trees and bushes are perfect places for children to try and scare others. This is the case for two young individuals. One person looked to be about 13 years old and has long, yellow hair, possibly a girl. This person is wearing a long-sleeved, orange shirt with a picture of a pumpkin on it along with long, black jeans and black shoes. This person was also wearing a large, round, pumpkin mask with beige-colored horns on it with pointed eyes and a crooked mouth. The person next to her looked to be about 15-16 years old in age and has short, midnight blue hair, possibly a boy. He is completely consumed in entirely black clothes, with the exceptions being a long, blue scarf, brown combat boots, what appears to be a furry purple tail with a silver, moon-shaped hook at the end, and a midnight blue, battered snow hat with white strings coming from the sides. He is wearing a black, square-shaped mask with yellow eyes, a crooked, dark green mouth with blood dripping down from it (obviously paint), long wrinkles, and an X-shaped scar on it.

Their eyes shone in the dark as they were discreetly glancing at some children who were walking down one of the paths of Central Park. They were obliviously walking into their path. One child was a vampire, another was a lion, and the final one looks to be dressed in the form of Disney's Snow White. They were talking and having a Halloween-related discussion.

"Hey! Didja hear the rumors? I hear there's a haunted house up on the other side of town!" The vampire boy asked.

"Rawr! Really!? Is it spooky? Is it scary?" The lion boy asked with curiosity.

"This one kid told me he and his friends went in there and it looked like a rich person's house, then all these scary creatures appeared! One of them looked like a cheap knock-off of Jack Skellington, but with a ruffly collar, a cape and a top hat! Two of the other ones looked like knights in frilly girl clothes and such!" The vampire boy explained.

"Knights in frilly clothes! Oh, I would love to see that!" The girl dressed as Snow White exclaimed happily.

"They had swords, staffs, and everything! Plus, he said that stuffed animals were moving around too!" The vampire boy proclaimed as he was cleaning his fake vampire teeth with his red and black cape.

"I always wanted to see stuffed animals moving around!" The Snow White girl said.

"Well, why don't we go check it out?" The lion boy said.

"Yeah! Let's do that--" the vampire boy exclaimed, when suddenly...

"BOOOOO!!!"

The two figures hiding in the bush literally leaped out and jumped right in front of the bushes.

"Gyaaaaaaah!!"

The three children, including the girl, were literally scared out of their wits. They couldn't help but run away from the scene. Then, the two people finally removed their masks and laughed away. Their eyes are finally revealed. The yellow-haired girl's eyes were two different colors. Her right eye is aqua green while her left eye is a pure, sapphire blue. The man in black with the blue scarf, hair, and hat has eyes as crimson and as red as blood. His eyes were rather big, like he was angry, but he wasn't. He has small, vampire-like fangs in his teeth. They were laughing their heads off. Then, the girl calmed herself down and started to speak.

"Hahaha! I love Halloween! What do you think, Honcha-kun?" The girl asked the teenager next to him, whose name was Honcha. Honcha let out a vampire-like laugh.

"Hahahahahaha! Ah, this is really quite delightful!" Honcha exclaimed in a voice that sounded like a vampire's, but with a touch of British accent.

"I wonder when Tajin-kun and the others are gonna be here?" The girl asked. Honcha looked at his wrist, which contained a watch. The watch read 5:49 PM.

"It's 10 minutes before 6, so they should be here soon, Konata" Honcha explained to the girl, whose name is Konata. She sighed a little, but she smiled soon after.

"I wonder what those kids said was true. Is there really a haunted house around here?" Konata asked, clinging to her pumpkin mask.

"There's lots of fake haunted houses in Halloween this time of year. It's probably just a grandiose gimmick" Honcha explained.

"But they said that knights and stuffed animals moved around. I wonder if we should go and check it out" Konata said, when suddenly...

"Konata-saaaaaan!!"

"Ni hao, Oneechaaaaaaaan!!"

Two children arrived on the scene. One boy and one girl. The girl referred to Konata as her older sister.

"Tajin-kun! Kagami!"

Fujioka Tajin and Yoshino Kagami are friends of Konata and Honcha, though Kagami is Konata's younger, fraternal twin sister. They are both 13 years old. Tajin has long, brown hair tied into a low ponytail and has eyes that are as gold as the sun. He is wearing a long-sleeved, dark green shirt along with matching dark green pants with footings under a big, square-shaped light green shawl that goes to his knees with a white collar, a blue jewel in between the folded collars, a white line going around the corners and the rim, and a picture of a red rose surrounded by gold vines in the center. He is also wearing a large light green hat with a big, purple feather dangling from it. On his feet were metal, silver spurs that are often seen on cowboy boots. The spurs are round and small, but the edges are terribly pointed and sharp.

Kagami has short yellow hair with a little bit of split ends with red strings on both sides of her head tied into ribbons while being supported by small, white hair clips shaped like wings. Her right eye is sapphire blue while her left eye is a lucid aqua green. She is wearing a long-sleeved, red shirt with white buttons and yellow shoulder pad-like things with strings coming off of them (I don't know what they're called! Sorry). The collar also has a gold line going across the rim. She is also wearing white pants and black shoes, along with carrying a sword in a brown case with golden writing on it, like Tajin is also carrying a sword. She looks to be dressed up as a member of the Japanese Imperial Navy, only without a hat and with a sword.

"Well! You two are certainly looking rather...medieval! You two look great!" Konata exclaimed.

"I ask dad if I could borrow these for Halloween and he said yeah...even though I feel bad for the damage I caused for the shirt back in June" Kagami said.

"It wasn't your fault. Ueno shot you in the chest with those darts, and if you pulled them out you'd bleed to death" Tajin told her.

"Yeah, you're right" Kagami said, when suddenly...more people showed up.

"Salutations, nyu!"

"Hey everyone!"

"Hiya!"

"Happy Halloween!"

"What a damp night this is. But nevertheless, greetings everyone"

6 people showed up. Kagami was ecstatic.

"Ayu-chan! Yoru-kun! Fusa-pyon! Akane-chan! Bara-chan! Toki-kun!" Kagami exclaimed.

Okazaki Ayu, the Kunikida brothers Toki and Yoru, Tsuyuri Fusako, Kobayashi Akane, and a girl named Bara all arrived. They were all friends with Kagami, Tajin, Konata, and Honcha. Ayu is 11 years old and has short and straight violet purple hair in a bob cut, along with eyes as light and as blue as the day time sky. She is wearing a big, tan fluffy coat with white fur on the sleeves that goes above her legs along with blue pants, brown shoes, a big light blue ribbon on the back of her head and a tan-colored hat with cat ears, brown stripes, and a small little face on it. There was also a white flower on one of the pointed ears. She is apprently dressed as Puchiko from the anime Digi Charat.

Toki has long, light blue hair, longer than Tajin's, but his bangs have dark blue ends. He also has matching sky blue eyes. He is wearing a long sleeved, dark brown shirt along with a beige vest and a red scarf along with black jeans and white shoes. He certainly isn't wearing a costume this year. His brother, Yoru, has short, midnight blue hair but his has small strands going over his ears. He also has sterling silver eyes. He is wearing a long-sleeved, dark green sweater along with dark blue jeans that almost seemed black, along with white sneakers, a light yellow scarf, a maroon-colored hat and brown gloves. He also wasn't wearing a costume. Toki is around 14-15 years old in age while Yoru is about 12-13 years old in age.

Fusako is 9 years old and has very short, raven black hair that makes her look like a boy. She also has eyes as green and dark as evergreen trees. She has a small, light pink ribbon in her hair and is wearing a white, soft, full-body costume with a light blue ribbon on the chest part along with a hood that has tall bunny ears on it. She is also wearing brown shoes and the costume has a small, fluffy tail on the back too. Akane is also 9 years old and has hair as red as a cardinal and has emerald green eyes, lighter than Fusako's eyes. Her hair is tied up in two braids going down to her upper back and is wearing a long-sleeved brown dress that goes a little below her knees along with black stockings, dark brown boots, and a yellow hat with a green ribbon tied around it. She's obviously dressing up as Anne Shirley from Lucy Maud Montgomery's famous book Anne of Green Gables. Akane is pretty much the spitting image of her right now.

Bara is also 9-10 years old and has extremely long, blonde hair tied into long pigtails with curled ends. Her left eye is a bright ruby red while her right eye is a pristine, oceanic sapphire blue, just like Kagami's eye. She is wearing a grey wool double-breasted coat with cuffed sleeves along with a matching wool belt with a functional black buckle. She is also wearing white stockings, black boots, and a cashmere maroon hat and black mittens. In her hair are two dark purple ribbons supporting her pigtails. Kagami immediately screamed in delight.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!! Fusa-pyon YOU'RE SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!" Kagami squealed loudly as she hugged the little bunny girl and spun around in a frenzy. Tajin laughed a bit.

"Kagami, don't suffocate her! And keep your voice down!" Tajin told her.

"Hey Tajin-kun, is Chiaki not with you?" Konata asked.

"Nah, she's at home. She's almost at full term and she can't walk around too much, so she's just giving away candy to trick-or-treaters" Tajin explains.

"I wonder if it'll be a boy or a girl?" Yoru exclaimed.

"I wanna know too" Tajin said.

"Us too!" Kagami and Fusako proclaimed in unison.

"Ooh! Ooh! If it's a boy, you should call it Teito! Or maybe Haruto or Rikuto! If it's a girl, maybe you can name her Mariko or Misaki or Saki or Noa!" Yoru exclaimed happily. Everyone was confused.

"Teito Klein(1)?" Kagami asked.

"Yoru-Niichan! We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet!" Akane exclaimed.

"Well, we should at least be happy that a new life is being born within Chiaki-san's body" Bara said.

"Yep! You're right, Bara-chan!" Akane said.

"Oh, by the way, have you kids heard anything about a supposedly haunted house on the other side of town?" Honcha asked.

"I heard some kids talking about that earlier, but I don't believe it. It's probably another Halloween farce" Toki whispered bluntly.

"So!? Who cares if it's a Halloween farce!? This is Halloween, it's supposed to be scary! I say we check it out!" Yoru exclaims when suddenly...yet another voice permeates the Halloween darkness!

"Hallo jeder, und einen glücklichen Halloween(2)!"

The young boy voice spoke in German, and the person speaking it appeared. The boy has a full head of raven black hair along with amber eyes like the Bengal orange sunset. His skin is quite white, but he's most certainly not albino. He is the same age as Tajin and everyone else his age (except for the smaller kids and Honcha). He is wearing a cream-colored coat over a darker tawny vest along with a white shirt under that and a red tie. He is also wearing matching cream-colored pants and brown shoes. He is also wearing a pair of round glasses.

"Hey, Leon-kun!" Konata exclaimed.

Leon, or Leonhard Ravid Grünewald, is a boy whom Tajin and Kagami met as they were both walking home from school a few months ago. He and his family are from Germany and they moved to Japan because Germany had been suffering some problems. He is also Jewish. He comes from a well-to-do family, though his mother is a little strange.

"Leon, I noticed your tyrannical little sister isn't with you. Why is that?" Ayu asked bluntly. Leon laughed at the sharp comment.

"Hehehe, Maddie's trick-or-treating with some friends, which is good for me. I don't want to put up with her yelling at me all the time. Es ermüdet wirklich(3)" Leon explained as he rubbed the back of his head of raven black hair with his hand.

"Now who might you be dressing up as today?" Ayu asked, with a touch of curiosity.

"Atticus Finch(4), obviously! Harper Lee's novel is great! Er ist einfach überwältigend(5)!" Leon exclaimed loudly.

"I agree, he IS an exceedingly wonderful lawyer. Now if only he were a real person, but it is only fiction and fiction does not come alive" Ayu replied innocently.

"You saw the movie, didn't you? Gregory Peck(6) was great as Atticus! The guy doing Tom Robinson was great too!" Leon exclaimed. Ayu smiled and they began talking about things related to the character that Leon is dressed up as. Honcha sighed in disbelief. Tajin decided to walk up to them.

"Hey Leon, is it true there's a supposedly haunted house on the other side of town?" Tajin asked, curiously.

"I was at the other side of town yesterday, but I don't think I saw it. But some kid did tell me he was scared out of his wits when he went inside. I wonder if we should check it out?" Leon replied.

"I think we should go check it out!" Konata exclaimed.

"But wait! What about Hikaru-kun and Florian-san and Naoya-kun and all them?" Kagami asked.

"Hikaru-san told me he can't do Halloween this year because he has to study for a spelling test" Bara explained.

"Shouko-chan told me she can't come because she has to help take care of Shiori-chan" Akane explained.

"And I heard from Naoya saying he's supposed to come, but I haven't heard much else" Yoru explained.

"Oh! Speaking of Florian-san, yesterday he told me to give this to you, Kagami" Tajin told Kagami as he presented to Kagami a gold letter with a red sticker on it along with a pristine, blue rose in full bloom taped to the letter. Kagami opened the letter and she read the letter's contents.

Kagami! Ma plus belle et très chère fleur(7)! I have longed to see you for the past week now. Unfortunately, I am not able to because I have to attend lessons held by my grandfather. Plus, grandfather and I are obliged to attend the seminar at the house where the Resistance Alliance reside. I am afraid I cannot attend your fightful Halloween celebration and adventures. But worry not, my beloved maiden! Under the noblesse oblige(8) oath, I shall return and witness the awakening of your smile, bright as the yellow sun and as beautiful as the blue flower you hold in your hand! I hope to see your beautiful eyes, hair, and face again, my dearest Kagami! Adieu!

Best regards
Florian A. Traverse

Everyone was shocked and in disbelief with what the contents of the letter had to say about Kagami.

"Wow, he sure has the hots for you" Leon says.

"He even called you a flower in French, nyu" Ayu murmured.

"I keep telling him I'm not worth loving and that we should just be friends!!" Kagami screamed.

"But he likes you, doesn't he? Why do you say you're not worth having a guy fall in love with you?" Fusako asked innocently.

"Yeah! I think it's cute! How romantic!" Akane retorted cutely.

"Who would want to fall in love with a 13-year-old incompetent, utterly stupid, clumsy, scatterbrained autistic otaku with atrociously bad sentence construction!?" Kagami shrieked.

"Alright alright! Let's go find that dumb house before we get into a big brouhaha" Toki rebuked and decided to walk away. Everyone else was confused, but they decided to follow suit.

For about 15 minutes, they walked toward the other side of town. In the process, they went to other houses to receive candy and get themselves frightened by spooky things that were around. Kagami was happy because she got orange kit-kat bars, which she had never seen before. She immediately ate a small pack. Bara and Toki remained silent and they did for quite a voluminous amount of time. They found no need to associate with other dressed up children or participate in Halloween activities. But as they were about to cross the final street away from the supposedly haunted house, a familiar voice echoed out to them.

"hellooooo everyone!"

A teenaged boy appeared from a tree and immediately leaped from it. He looked to be about the same age as Honcha. He is tall and has short, messy brown hair with two long strands going across his ears and going to his chest. He also has a set of dark crimson/maroon eyes. He is wearing a red coat over a grey vest along with a white ruffled scarf coming from his chest. He also has matching red pants and black shoes. He smiled down at Kagami, who was the first to notice him.

"Naoya-kun! I haven't seen you in a long while!" Kagami exclaimed joyously.

Kaburagi Naoya was once a disabled boy with Down Syndrome who spent 5 years kidnapped and confined to a mental institution which was more likely a slaughter house. Kagami and the gang saved him and "accidentally" destroyed the institution, but a cruel man shot the human Naoya and killed him. But Ayu took a sample of his blood and the gang used it to make him into a catalyst. This is the catalyst Naoya that everyone sees now: tall and healthy. Down Syndrome Naoya was once very short with crooked eyes, a tongue that looked pruney like a raisin, pudgy fingers, slightly overweight, and without two toes on both of his feet. Now it's a different story with him now.

"I asked my mother if I could dress up for Halloween tonight, and here I am as Miles Edgeworth(9) the prosecutor!" Naoya exclaimed.

"Ooooh!! I LOVE Phoenix Wright(9)!! I have the first game and I love it to death!" Kagami yelped happily.

"We're going to visit a supposedly haunted house on the other side of town. Wanna come?" Tajin asked.

"Sure! I like haunted houses" Naoya replied with a smile. He decided to go with all of them to the haunted house.

A few minutes later, they had finally arrived at the other side of town. Tajin, Kagami, Konata, Ayu, Akane, Bara, Toki, Yoru, Honcha, Fusako, Leon, and Naoya finally arrive at the supposedly "haunted" house the kids were talking about. To their surprise, there was a voluminous amount of other children standing near and around the big house. The house looked to be 2 stories high and the walls were a dark beige color. One of the windows was cracked a little bit, but the other windows were perfectly fine. The roof and the porch were all a violent and dark shade of dark gray. The door looks like it could be made out of wood. There was no chimney at all. If that were the case, then it would be likely if there were to be a fireplace in the house. But since there's no chimney, there's likely to be no fireplace. A small piece of light blue cloth was hanging from one of the windowpanes. The house's dark and grim external appearance simply matched everything on this Halloween night.

"So this is the haunted house everyone is talking about?" Tajin asked.

"Yep, this is it. I can tell" Toki said. But as Akane was looking around, she decided to ask someone about the house. Fusako followed her in a slightly fearful state. Akane immediately ran up to a girl who was dressed in a long-sleeved orange outfit with purple horizontal stripes and fake light green bug wings, along with some antennae hanging from her dark brown head of hair.

"Is this the haunted house that's scaring people away?" Akane asked innocently.

"Afraid so. Some kid told me that there was a really big puppet thing with big chattering teeth, a red outfit and top hat, and a really big ego that pops out from the ceiling and talks like a drunk person and walks like a peg-legged pirate!" The girl in the bug-costume said. A boy next to her started speaking too.

"My friend said that he was chased out by that very same thing! But there were these little moving dolls accompanying it!" A boy dressed in a black and white tuxedo and sunglasses said.

"What were the dolls like?" Fusako asked innocently.

"Nothin' much. Just a bunch of stuffed animals and some of those really fancy girly princess dolls from the Victorian Age and from some of those frilly gothic movies like Alice In Wonderland or other random ones" The black-tuxedo boy asked.

"My cousin said that he was scared away by that red puppet with the top hat! He said there was also these people dressed like handsome butlers and were throwing knives around everywhere!" A girl dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz(10) exclaimed fearfully.

"I wonder what's gonna happen after this? I don't wanna go in. What if something bad happens?" A boy dressed as Spider-Man murmured. Tajin and the gang were quite worried now.

"This isn't exactly the most quaint little house I've ever seen" Ayu said.

"Well, we're gonna solve this haunted house mystery and achieve success in doing so!" Konata exclaimed.

"Yeah! We're gonna infiltrate it and find the source of the mysteries!" Leon proclaimed loudly.

"Hopefully this won't be a colossal waste of time" Bara murmured bluntly.

"You're telling me" Toki replied.

"Let's go in! We're soooo not gonna get scared!" Yoru retorted happily as he punched his fist into the cold air, when suddenly...

"Hmph! You all are, like, totally a bunch of pathetic little idiots! The only one who will, like, solve the mysteries of this haunted house is the all bright and beautiful and little popular me!"

A prim, arrogant voice of a girl echoed in the air and interrupted Yoru's claim. A girl appeared before their eyes. She looked to be the same age as Tajin, Kagami, Konata, Yoru, and Leon. She has semi-long bright red hair, almost the same shade as Akane's with the exception of having some maroon highlights. Her bangs are part down the middle and she also has light brown eyes. Apparently she is dressed as a stereotypical wicked witch, with a crooked and pointed black hat, a black shawl over a black shirt with long sleeves, green stockings with horizontal purple stripes, black high-heels, vampire teeth, and a broom in all. She had a scornful look on her face along with a mischevious smirk plastered all over it.

"Ugh! It's Asahina Ayaka!" Konata exclaimed with disgust. It seems that Ayaka is the girl's name.

"I'm the only one who's going to, like, totally solve the haunted house mystery! You're all just a bunch of fraidey (is that spelled right) cats! You're totally lucky that I'm not like you group of losers!" Ayaka proclaimed with pride.

"We're not scared! We just got here, you moron!!" Toki exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah! Maybe you're the one who's scared, you big priss!" Konata yelled. Ayaka was disgusted.

"Ugh! Now you're throwing insults at me!? How, like, totally filthy! Well, if you're so brave why don't you all come with me!?" Ayaka proclaimed loudly.

"Fine! Let's do that!! Since you think you're so tough, you'll have to follow us and see it through!" Tajin told her. But Kagami, who was right next to him, was not happy.

"No...I'd rather go in the house by myself than do it with this valley girl!" Kagami murmured under her breath. But then Ayaka caught a glance at Akane and was disgusted.

"Like, ewww! Your hair's all ugly and red! That's totally ugly! No boy will ever want a wicked thing like you!!" Ayaka exclaimed with scorn and disgust. Akane got mad at the comment.

"Your hair's just as red as mine!!" Akane yelled. But it seems Honcha got tired of the fighting.

"CAN WE JUST GET INTO THAT (Censored D word) HOUSE ALREADY?!?" Honcha screamed angrily and literally grabbed everyone and dragged them into the house. Kagami, Fusako, Toki, and Bara were the only ones left alone. Fusako walked up to Kagami and clenched to her hand.

"Kagami-chan...I'm scared. Will you stay with me?" Fusako asked shyly and innocently. Kagami was confused as she looked down at her, but then she smiled.

"We'll be fine. I'm a little scared too, but I won't want that stupid girl rubbing it in our faces. Let's find the mystery to this house together" Kagami told her reassuringly.

"Hey! Can we come too?" The boy in the tuxedo and shades asked. Next to him were the girl in the bug costume, the girl dressed as Dorothy, a boy dressed as Brainiac 5(11), a boy dressed as a lion, and the spiderman boy.

"Of course you all can come!" Kagami exclaimed as she and the other kids finally decided to go inside.

But they all went inside and it was insanely dark. Literally nothing could be seen. Only a few pieces of furniture and things on the floor could be seen. Everyone became a little frightened but not to a point where Ayaka would notice it and insult them about it.

"Is there a light switch around here?" The tuxedo boy asked.

"I'll try and find one" Tajin said when suddenly...SLAM! The door closed behind them! This scared everyone. Leon was the one who first tried to walk to the door and open it. But it wouldn't budge at all. He kicked it, pulled on it, and pushed it with all his might, but to no avail the door did not open.

"How the flip did this thing get locked!? It won't budge no matter what I do!!" Leon shrieked.

"Hold on. Lemme try a little something" Honcha screeched quietly as he walked up to the door. He didn't do anything, but behind him were two very long and very green sets of vines which looked like plants. These are called frenzy plants and they're the most common ability that catalysts possess. Honcha smacked the door with 8 of them, but even that much would not make the door budge at all.

"What!? Even my frenzy pla--!!" Honcha nearly screamed but Leon successfully manages to cup his mouth shut with his hands. Everyone looked around to find a light switch, but it was so dark people were tripping. Even Ayaka was scared a little, but she would abdicate anything to make sure nobody saw it. Then, Tajin suddenly tripped and the room became brightly lit! But what they saw was...bizarre.

Even though Ayu claimed that this house isn't the most quaint thing she had ever seen, she was suddenly proven wrong by what the inside of the house had to show! The room was big and wide, and the walls were covered with a dark orange paint. There were two large, white sets of stairs that led to upstairs. The floor was green, the couches were big and red, there was even a brightly lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There were even old painting of famous historical figures wrapped in gold frames hanging on the walls! Everyone had succumbed to the voluminous amount of shock that had consumed them when they saw how refined and aristocratic the house looked. But that was what was so bizarre. Why would a house like this be haunted?

"I never knew such a place like this existed! How very exquisite! It looks like the big villa my uncle Kenzo owns in Minamiashigara!" Ayu proclaimed loudly. But Ayaka was the one who was smitten.

"Waaaah! Like, how fan-taaaaabulous is this place!? Now I would certainly love to live in this place whether it's haunted or not!!" Ayaka exclaimed happily and in lovey-dovey mode. This irriated Konata, Kagami, Akane, and Fusako a bit. Tajin was looking around with his golden eyes succumbing to curiosity.

"Wow, this is such a nice-looking house, why would anyone want to call this haunted? I don't see anything scary around here" Tajin said to himself.

"Now why don't we check upstairs? Shouldn't there be something here?" Bara asked.

"You're probably right, Bara-san. Let's check upstairs immediately!" Ayu edicted in a lucid voice. Everyone else followed suit, except that Ayaka was too busy rambling about how aristocratic the house is.

"Oh my goodness! This bust here is soooo fan-tabulous! I would like, totally ask my mother to make something like this one day! And those paintings, beautiful and fan-tabulous!! And this fan-tabulous wallpaper!! I should like, totally ask my dear father if I could have such a fan-tabulous wallpaper!!" Ayaka kept on rambling about the house as she followed Tajin and the other children upstairs.

Unfortunately, even after they finally got upstairs and found a single door leading to an unknown room, Ayaka's incessant rambling continued to belabor for the entire time. It most certainly was exacting to put up with her incessant rambling and valley girl talk and hearing the non-existent word "fan-tabulous" every single minute. Even Tajin was getting choleric and annoyed, but it seems Kagami was about to explode in a fit of rancor any second. Many of the children began to feel a little tenuous when they saw the big white door in front of them. This was probably the harbinger that the "source" of the strange happenings in this house was behind that door. Unfortunately, it seems all the children, including Toki, found the house rather grandiose and gaudy and simply wanted to leave. But they couldn't. The only door that led outside was locked by an unknown thing, possibly for ulterior motives.

The children who wanted to leave felt rather somber and perturbed, not just because of the house's strange and grandiose feel, but that Ayaka's incessant rambling and belittling of them left them somber and dejected. Fusako clung to Kagami as she herself was becoming perturbed and somber. Akane tried to keep her cool and ignore her, but she was also feeling perturbed. But nobody dared to open the big white door in front of them. Nobody bothered to condone the act just yet. Not even Ayu or Honcha asked to condone it. The strange sounds they heard in the house followed some kind of cadence, but everyone was too scared to bother about it. Some kids feared a specter might appear from the door, but some didn't think something like that had a lot of credence and credibility, especially Toki, who didn't really believe in Halloween farces and gimmicks in the first place. The door looked like it could be rather pliable, but nobody dared to touch it. Nobody wanted to start a big strife or brouhaha. Ayaka was becoming much too verbose for even her own girl, but she was blatantly oblivious to this. Tajin finally gathered the mettle to speak.

"So...who wants to open the door?" Tajin asked.

"I...I don't want to open it. Spider webs might be on it" The girl in the bug costume said.

"N-Not me, I washed my hands this morning" The girl dressed as Dorothy replied.

"Uhh...the knob might be kind of moldy, so I don't wanna get any mold on my hands" The tuxedo kid said.

"I don't wanna get paint on it" The Brainiac 5 kid said.

"No way! I'm too cowardly!" The lion kid exclaimed. This apparently confirmed he was dressing up as the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz, blatantly.

"I just remembered I'm not fond of things behind doors that I don't know of" The Spiderman kid said. But it seems Ayaka was determined to belittle them again.

"Hmph! You all really are a total bunch of patheic losers! Now, why don't you all let the fan-tabulous Asahina Ayaka-sama do the--" Ayaka proclaimed arrogantly, but right when she said "fan-tabulous" an umphteenth time...Kagami finally lost it. She exploded in a fit of anger.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! I'VE FLIPPING HAD IT WITH YOU!!! All you've done this whole time is belittle everyone in here and ramble about how you want this house for yourself!! First off, there are young children here who are scared outta their wits and wanna go home, I wanna go home, fan-tabulous is not a word, and all you've done this whole time is act like a total flipping priss!! If you're so brave why don't YOU see what's behind that door, you arrogant, wicked, potty-mouthed fat-head!!!" Kagami screamed with her voice full of rancor. She managed to cover Fusako's ears in order to protect her from her own yelling. Ayaka found Kagami's tirade repulsive.

"Ugh! How dare you! You're the one who's a wicked and filthy thing!!" Ayaka screamed at her as she felt that she was not going to concede to Kagami's tirade.

"FINE!! I'LL FLIPPING DO IT SINCE YOU'RE TOO PRISSY AND SMART-MOUTHED TO DO IT YOUR FLIPPING SELF!!!" Kagami screeched angrily which shocked everyone. Kagami finally abdicated and turned the knob and flung the door open.

"Is anyone in here?!?" Kagami yelped. As she finally became quiet, all the other children decided to follow her inside. Like before, the room was rather dark, but it wasn't as dark as the previous time. This time, the rooms were a dark maroon color and there were chairs that are lined up in 2 rows, almost like the way a church would arrange them. There is a big painting hanging on the wall over a very large and gold chair with a magenta-colored pillow on the seat. The floor below them was green and the walls also had gold lines on the bottom of each rim and corner going all around the room. All the children, with the exception of Ayaka who continued to be verbose with her incessant rambling, were quite attentive to this house. Nobody was in this room but them.

"Hm. I guess it was all a farce then" Toki murmured.

"I wouldn't be so quick to judge just yet, Toki-san" Ayu told him sharply.

"This house may be pretty, but something's bothering me" Leon whispered.

"Yeah...I can feel something" Honcha whispered quietly.

"Yeah...I can feel...someone's here or something. I feel a sense of...abandonment, loneliness, and...a lust for love in this house" Kagami whispered.

"You're right. I'm feeling a bit tenuous just being here" Tajin said.

"Should we leave and find a way to escape?" Fusako whimpered faintly.

"The doors are locked, and the windows are still full of glass. We don't wanna get cut, now do we?" Kagami told her reassuringly.

"I-I don't like it in here..." The girl dressed as a bug said.

"Somethin's fishy in this place" The tuxedo kid said.

"There's a strange feeling about it. Could this be...?" Naoya murmured to himself. As the children were about to inspect the room, all of a sudden...out of the blue...

"Who dares to trespass onto my precious domain!?"

The voice of a girl echoed in the room. Then, the room suddenly blacked out! Everything was dark! Some of the kids began to whimper and start to cry a little. But Tajin, Honcha, Toki, Ayu, Bara, and Leon were keeping their guards up.

"Who's there!?" Tajin cried out hotly.

"Show yourself!" Ayu cried out sharply. Then, a screeching, witch-like laugh echoed in the room. Most of the scared children huddled up together.

"Kihihihihi...you children surely are noble and brave to trespass onto my perfect domain. But you will certainly not be able to escape the wrath of my perfect illusions!!" The voice sneered mischeviously. The creepy laughs began to echo in the room. Then, out of nowhere, the lights turned back on, but unsuspectingly...

A large, strange, puppet-like thing appeared in front of them! It was big and plump, and it was dressed in an entirely red outfit. A red top hat with a purple bow around it, a red tuxedo, red shoes, a red cane, and a red mustache with the exception of having big, googly green eyes, black hair, a black goatee, a white shirt under the red jacket, and a black bowtie. The puppet's teeth were quite big, like those of a large beaver. This left the children scared out of their wits.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

"LET'S, LIKE, RUN OUT OF HERE!!!" Ayaka screeched fearfully as she and many other children dashed for the door, but it slammed shut right in front of them! Everyone tried to break through it, but like the entrance, it wouldn't budge at all! Ayaka continued to bang on it while Kagami, Konata, Akane, and Yoru decide to confront this strange puppet, which was moving around in a crooked manner. It's mouth was moving while it talked too.

"My, aren't we a refined kin of noble knights and pawns tonight! But I will announce that there is no way you peasants will be able to penetrate my perfect illusions!" The puppet announced in a young female voice. Soon, everyone saw a large army of Victorian Age Gothic Lolita dolls under the large puppet along with 5 long, large, pine green plant vines, which are commonly known as frenzy plants. Ayu, Tajin, and Kagami were the first to see them.

"Frenzy plants?" Kagami asked herself.

"N-No! It can't be!" Tajin exclaimed.

"Could this be the work of...a catalyst?" Ayu asked herself fearfully. The red puppet struggled around and pointed it's cane at the children.

"NOW! Onward, my beloved minions!!" The puppet edicted loudly as the army of dolls and frenzy plants finally charged at the children. The frenzy plants swung around wildly, attacking anything they could without stopping. Unfortunately, all of them hit the seven children who accompanied them, including Ayaka. Thankfully, Fusako was saved by Naoya and his quick thinking.

"Oh no! The children!!" Naoya exclaimed as the seven children who accompanied them were all unconscious.

"Everyone! I'll make sure these children are protected! Find the source of these moving dolls and put this entire brouhaha on hiatus!!" Naoya edicted loudly and hotly as he hugged Fusako tightly in order to protect her. Everyone nodded and decided to fight.

Tajin and Kagami drew their swords, Toki and Yoru made their arms glow with green and blue sparks of lightning, Honcha prepared some of his frenzy plants, Akane manipulated the air into her own personal sword made of lucid, transparent air, Leon brought out a small fake knife, and Konata brought out a small light stick she took with her. Everyone prepared for the new battle that was about to commence.

Tajin and Kagami were the first ones to charge in after the army of Victorian Age dolls. Tajin first drew his sword and attempted to slice up some of the dolls. Unfortunately, they could fly and they avoided every slash of his sword...until he finally manages to slice and dice two dolls in half. But as they were sliced, they turned into particles of purple and black light and disappeared into thin air. Tajin then realized something.

"Wait a minute! These dolls...they're...!!" Tajin nearly said when a frenzy plant was about to smack him! Luckily, a green bolt of lightning shot from Toki's arm and paralyzed the vine completely.

"These aren't real! They're just illusions created by whoever's making them! This could very well be a catalyst we're dealing with!" Toki exclaimed hotly. Tajin nodded and they decided to work together.

The battle finally started. Tajin, Akane, and Kagami continued to try and slice and dice all the illusionary dolls that came out after all of them. Akane had a bit of a rough time as some dolls caught her on her arms and legs, but she successfully manages to remove the dolls from her body with her frenzy plants and slice them in half, causing them to disappear into thin air. Toki and Yoru tried their hardest to try and permeate the illusionary dolls with their lightning bolts, but the number of dolls and stuffed animals appearing were much too voluminous for them. Thankfully though, Leon, Ayu, Konata, Naoya, and Honcha helped them out. Of course, Ayu helped out by simply manipulating the dolls into following her until the right time comes for various frenzy plants appeared and killed them. Ayu is apparently very good at sliding through various places in various ways and making people follow her lead. Leon and Konata were the ones having the hardest times. Leon's knife was fake and he only managed to successfully permeate only about 5 dolls, while Konata retaliated by smacking them away with her light stick, which certainly wasn't a good weapon.

Honcha, on the other hand, was having the time of his life here. He has 24 frenzy plants that can reach about 10 meters, which makes it very easy for him to slice and dice many illusionary dolls and make them disappear into thin air. He was already on a roll and having a fun winning streak. Everyone was quite happy about this. The red puppet began to struggle around and move around in a frightening and crooked fashion, which seemed bizarre to everyone in the room. The other children, including Ayaka, were still unconscious while Naoya was fighting off the dolls and at the same time clenching tightly to Fusako, who couldn't do a thing other than cling to Naoya. The foreign frenzy plants came right at them, but Bara and Akane manage to try and hold them off, even though both of their vines were moving around much to quickly for the eye to see. Soon, all the dolls were gone. The puppet was choleric now.

"What!? You permeated my perfect dolls!?" The puppet exclaimed.

"I guess you should be called The Queen of the Haunted Dolls!" Yoru retorted happily.

"I am the master of this illusionary house of mine, and I'm not finished just yet! I still have a few tricks up my sleeve! Cain! Anthony!" The puppet exclaimed, with her voice sharp and loud, as two large lights appeared before the large group of children. One light was light green, the other light blue. Soon, two life-sized men appeared before all the children. Even though they were only illusions, they astonishingly resemble real life men. The first illusionary man has maroon/brown hair that goes to his neck and has grey eyes. He is wearing a big green coat over a black vest over a white shirt along with a white ruffle scarf and matching green pants. He also wore white socks and black shoes. The man next to him has straight, raven black hair in Fusako's style and has purple eyes. He is wearing the same outfit, except the jacket and pants are a navy blue, the boots are long and silver, he's wearing a strange sailor hat, the vest is a light beige, he is wearing no tie at all, and is wearing a dark red winter scarf around his neck.

"Cain! I command you to go first! And Anthony, attack the blue boy and the brown-haired boy with the rabbit!" The puppet edicted loudly as she swung the cane around. The illusionary knight in green is Cain while the blue one is Anthony. A new strife began to commence.

"Oh no! She wants to hurt Naoya-kun and Fusa-pyon!" Kagami edicted fearfully.

"I'll go protect them while you hold off the green guy!" Yoru exclaimed happily as he decided to defend Naoya with his frenzy plants and his lightning bolts.

Everyone else decided to try and fight off the knights while Toki simply dived in and tried to attack the puppet and find out it's true identity. Tajin, Kagami, Leon, Konata, and Honcha tried to fight off Anthony with whatever they had, but whenever they would try and charge at him, he would always leap away, like he was flying. He danced as if he were a kabuki performer whenever he drew his sterling silver sword. Toki and Konata were getting more obstinate by the minute. Toki, on the other hand, tried to subvert the identity of the puppet by firing his green thunderbolts at it, but, like Anthony, it would always move away even though it was attached to strings. Toki's green thunder bolt accidentally hit the wall. But what Toki noticed was that as it hit the wall, the wall began to pulsate. Then...POOF! The wall disappeared! But the true wall is revealed to be a broken, grey, ripped wall with a broken window on it, and the wallpaper was clearly falling off. Toki finally realized something. The puppet, however, was choleric. Cain and Anthony stopped in their tracks.

"WHAT!? You...you permeated my illusions!! You blue-headed freak!!" The puppet screamed, with it's voice full of rancor as it tried to charge toward Toki. But right at the very last minute, Toki quickly raised his hand, pointed his pointer finger at the red puppet, and...

FLASH! CRACKLE!

A large, green thunderbolt shot from his fingertip right at the puppet. The lightning bolt shot at the red puppet as quick as the speed of light and made a hacking, sizzling sound as it hit the red puppet and made it hit the other side of the wall. The puppet was still alive, but it was clearly burnt and there were a voluminous amount of small green sparks popping out from it. Literally everyone, including Cain, Anthony, and the puppet itself, was surprised.

"Wow!! Toki you did it!!" Tajin exclaimed happily.

"Everyone! This whole thing isn't real! It's all an illusion! Look at that wall over there! It became all drabby when I hit it with my bolt!" Toki exclaimed as he pointed at the wall. Ayu walked up to it and observed it for a short minute, then decided to speak.

"Hmmm...I would speculate that this is the true identity of this house. Whoever's responsible for this clearly made the house into whatever pleases her best. Since now the puppet is electrocuted and barbecued, why don't we politely ask for her true identity?" Ayu explained stoicly with a nonchalant look. Ayu clearly isn't the gullible type. But the puppet, even though it was shocked at a very high degree, began to amble toward the children. The other seven, including Ayaka, were still unconscious.

"No...No mortal has...ever...surpassed my perfect...illusions...ever..." The puppet sneered quietly.

"Alright, you! We've penetrated your so-called "perfect" illusions! Now reveal to us your true identity!" Tajin exclaimed hotly. The puppet then stopped ambling.

"I guess...I have no other options, now do I? But this brouhaha is NOT over just yet! Not in my book!" The puppet edicted with a high voice. Then, the puppet began to glow and it became a small red light. Soon, the light moved away from the area where it was thrown against by Toki's thunderbolt and flew onto the big gold chair in the back of the room, with the painting above it. The red light became bigger until it finally disappeared. But it seems the puppet's true identity, and the one responsible for all the illusions...

...is a young girl.

The girl looks to be about 14-15 years old in age. She has long, bluish black hair that goes all the way to her knees, which is tied up in a long ponytail with a gold ribbon. Her eyes contradict each other as they are two different colors. Her right eye is a lucid, sterling silver while her left eye is a lucid, light violet, almost lavendar like the serene and delicate lavendar flowers in Hokkaido. She is wearing over her head a fluffy cotton black hat with a small orange bow tied around it along with a cotton black jacket and a long, matching cotton skirt that goes slightly above her feet, with a white line going around the hemline. The cuffs to her small jacket are white and have a single black line going around them. Her skin is quite white, like snow, but she certainly isn't albino in any way possible. She is also wearing a black shirt under the small jacket and long skirt along with an orange bowtie around her neck. The black shirt is clearly attached to the long skirt. The jacket sleeves are puffed at the shoulders but are straight on the forearms. She is also wearing a brown belt around the skirt along with black tap shoes and long white socks.

"So you're the one making up all these illusions!" Kagami edicted loudly.

"That's right. I am known as Rikaritta Memphis Soletta. I am the master of this House of Illusions. No mortal has ever managed to surpass my illusions like this, so I guess this means you all have managed to pass this test of courage I myself have created. It's been a diversion of mine for about a long time now. This house is mine and I wish to create whatever I please in this place, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. If you are here to destroy my bliss, then I will not show you all any mercy, nor will I abdicate!" The girl, who finally introduces herself as Rikaritta Memphis Soletta, edicted nonchalantly.

"Ummm...Rika-chan? We're not here to cause you trouble. Since it's Halloween, we heard that there was a haunted house on the other side of town, so we felt like finding out if the rumors were true or not. I mean, Halloween is supposed to be scary yet fun, and you seem to be doing a real good job at that. Oh, by the way, you're a catalyst, aren't you? You created these illusions yourself and you have frenzy plants?" Kagami explained carefully. Rika decided to let Kagami talk. Kagami clearly explained that they are not here to cause any trouble for her at all. But Rika kept her stoic expression.

"Catalyst? I am afraid I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about" Rika replied, with her voice sounding rather perturbed. This left Kagami and the others very confused. This girl created illusions and has frenzy plants. How could she not know that she is a catalyst?

"Ummm...you don't know what one is? You have frenzy plants and you make your own illusions, which I think are very neat. They're humans with mysterious powers and are misunderstood a lot" Kagami told her.

"Well, it is true that I do not seem human, and that I am rather misunderstood, which is why I use my perfect illusions for my own pleasure and as a diversion only. I will not have you mortals ruin this opportunity for me" Rika edicted clearly.

"B-But Rika-chan! We're not here to cause you trouble. You seem lonely, am I right? Some of us here are catalysts, and we'd be more than happy to--" Kagami tried to explain, but then Rika suddenly became angry out of the blue.

"Silence!! You mortals are here to destroy my pleasure! I'm not gullible! I've already had my pleasure destroyed before and I will not have it destroyed again!!" Rika edicted with rancor.

"R-Rika-san! We're not--!!" Tajin tried to explain, but then she shouted again.

"Cain!! Anthony!! Drive these hooligans away from my blissful house!!" Rika edicted hotly. Then, Cain and Anthony finally started to move again and they attacked anyone they came into contact with. Thankfully, Naoya and Fusako were not being attacked. Naoya and Fusako tried to get out.

"Dangit! This door won't budge at all! How do we get out?" Naoya exclaimed as he tried to make the door open, but this door was quite obstinate and did not budge at all. Fusako seemed rather somber.

"Nao-Niitan. Can't you feel it?" Fusako asked.

"Feel what?" Naoya asked, confused.

"That girl. Rika-tan. Do you think she feels sad and lonely?" Fusako asked with a stoic expression on her face, which seemed rather abnormal for a cute little girl like Fusako.

"I don't know. Why do you think that?" Naoya asked, curious.

"I can feel it. I can feel her emotions in her actions. I wonder if maybe she simply wants attention? Or wants to be loved? I heard that she said that people already destroyed her happiness before. I wonder what happened?" Fusako whispered. Naoya became curious, but then saw Kagami fly over to them. She ended up overhearing the conversation by accident.

"You're right, Fusa-pyon. I can feel this feeling of loneliness in her too. I wonder if maybe I can coax her into initiating a memory transfer with me. Maybe if I look into her past, maybe we can reach an understanding and break through her" Kagami explained.

"We can do that. But don't memory transfers happen if you're asleep?" Naoya asked. What he said is true. Memory transfers are usually indigenous to people who are sleeping soundly.

"Let's just say that I managed to experience a few while I was awake. Now! I better do this quick, or else I might become swiss cheese!" Kagami edicted to herself and decided to try and approach Rikaritta. But Rikaritta leaped from her throne and landed straight in front of Tajin, who didn't even bother to draw his sword at her. Then...WHAM! Rikaritta punched Tajin so hard in the mouth that a small amount of blood spilled from his mouth onto the floor. Everyone was shocked.

"HEY!! How dare you, you wicked thing!!" Honcha screeched angrily as he tried to charge at her, but a lasso appeared out from the ceiling and roped Honcha against the wall. Light pink strings wrapped themselves around Toki, Yoru, Bara, and Akane, disabling them from doing anything.

"I-I can't move! These must be her doing!" Bara exclaimed hotly as she struggled to break free from the ribbons wrapped around her. Leon and Konata tried to charge at her, but black strings wrapped around them and made them hang from the ceiling. Kagami tried to apprach her, but she was knocked out by Rikaritta, but not to the point of being unconscious. Then, Rikaritta began to approach Naoya and Fusako, who were both struggling to break the door down. Rikaritta ambled past the seven other children who are still unconscious. But what she did not know was that Kagami was slowly but quietly crawling up to her, trying to be as quiet as possible. Tajin pushed himself to try and stand up while Leon manages to use his fake knife to cut through the black strings and set himself free. He decided to free Konata afterward. He tries to approach Toki, Yoru, Bara, and Akane, but Rikaritta threw a frenzy plant at him and he flew against the wall, rendering him unconscious.

"Leon!!" Konata cried out. She became choleric and turned to Rikaritta, who was slowly approaching Naoya and Fusako. Ayu came to Konata's aid. One of Konata's sleeves was torn off.

"Rikaritta!! Why are you doing this!? We're not here too--" Konata asked in a screech, but Rikaritta cut her off again.

"Shut up! You idiots! You all will never understand why I must create my illusions! You never will!!" Rikaritta edicted angrily as she tries to kill Naoya with a frenzy plant. But just as she was about to unleash one on him...

Kagami quickly grabbed her hand.

"Stop it right now, Rika-chan!!" Kagami edicted loudly. Everyone was shocked. Even Rika was shocked to a point where all the illusions binding everyone, including Cain and Anthony, completely disappeared into thin air! But as Kagami and Rikaritta were connected to each other, a bizarre feeling began to envelop them internally. They couldn't speak to each other at all. Then, the two of them began to feel lethargic. They began to wobble around and then...they both fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Kagami!!" Tajin screamed as he saw this event and ran up to her. Honcha, Konata, Naoya and Fusako came to Rikaritta's aid. Rikaritta was gently cradled into Naoya's arms as she was trapped within a dormant state. Kagami was wrapped within Tajin's arms.

"What in the world was that!?" Yoru exclaimed.

"That sure was scary!!" Akane exclaimed fearfully.

"I wonder if Kagami activated a..." Tajin murmured until Ayu suddenly completed his sentence for him.

"Memory transfer? I speculate that seems to be the case. I wonder what Kagami-san and Rikaritta-san are seeing?" Ayu told them with a cold and nonchalant look. Kagami began to take a trip down to a black, bottomless, yet imaginative abyss called memory lane...or, in this case, within Rikaritta's mind.

(flashback 1)

There was absolutely nothing to be seen. Everything was black. This whole area was simply a purely black, lucid, bottomless abyss containing nothing in it...except a series of voices echoing in the vast abyss.

"I'm sorry, Miyabe-tachi(12). We believe your daughter, Hina, has autism"

The voice of a middle aged man was the first to quietly echo in the darkness. Soon, more voices began to appear.

"What will we do? Our little Hina's not going to be like other children! How will she live? We'll never live normal lives! She might get ostracized by everyone we meet or know! What's everyone else going to think?" The voice of a worried, crying woman echoed in the abyss followed by the voice of another man.

"Don't worry! We can do this! We can raise Hina together! We can help her live normally!" The young man's voice exclaimed.

Soon, the black abyss began to fade and pictures began to appear.

(end flashback 1, begin flashback 2)

A very young Rikaritta at about 5-6 years old has succumbed to shock and despair. Two large corpses, one man and one woman, were right before her eyes in a puddle of blood. A man dressed entirely in black, save for a brown scarf, brown cowboy hat, a maroon belt, and a gold nose ring, stood before the bloodied corpses and the scared little girl. Then, the man began to amble toward her. Rikaritta tried to run away, but the man became mad and grabbed her right before she could high-tail it. He then slapped her so hard in the face that she fell unconscious and could not move. He then pulled out some ropes and tied the unconscious girl's hands to the legs of a small table. He tied the girl's feet to one of the feet of a couch that was right next to them. The man began to remove his shirt while still wearing his black ski mask and he soon began to remove his maroon belt.

The girl soon began to wake up. Lucid, crystalized tears streamed down her face as she saw the repulsive specter of the murderer right above her innocent, heterochromic eyes. She was wistful for her parents, who were murdered before her very eyes, and quickly struggled to try and break free. But the man then held up a bloodied knife and used it to tear her clothes off starting with her shirt. As the man removed her clothes with the murder weapon entirely, he then grabbed her face and laid himself upon her, with his black pants being half off along with a pair of brown boxers almost being off (you will NOT see this! Don't worry!)

("Her...parents were murdered and...she was...she was...!?" The somber and perturbed voice of Kagami echoed in the memory of oblivion that was soon to fade into another.)

(end flashback 2, begin flashback 3)

Rikaritta, or Miyabe Hina as she's finally known, stood in front of a small, mauve-colored house surrounded by small flowers in varying colors such as purple, yellow, orange, and white. A woman stood next to her and Hina was holding a light purple backpack on her back as she clung to a little doll to her chest tightly. The woman next to her knocked on the door. Soon, a young couple appeared and answered the door.

"You must be the Kashino family. I've brought Hina-chan here for you" The woman said. The man looked to be in his mid-30's and has slightly spiked light brown hair and grey eyes. The woman looks to be in her late 20's and has short, straight blond hair, brown eyes, and is wearing light pink lipstick.

"You must be Hina-chan! Aren't you adorable! Come on in! We've been expecting you" The woman exclaimed happily as she munificently invited the slightly scared Hina into the house. Hina slowly ambled into the house and saw it was quite quaint. She then saw the dining room, which the table was full of food that's already prepared. Hina immediately ran to the table and saw her plate, which contained chicken, corn, broccoli, a yellow hash brown, a small green tea cake roll containing azuki beans, and a small cake with pink frosting and a red flower on it which read in white frosting "Welcome, Hina-chan!". Hina was quite confused.

"We made this especially for you, since you'll be our new daughter from now on" The woman told her with a magnanimous smile on her face.

Hina was quite confused, but she decided to take a bite out of her dinner. A few minutes later, she finally finished her dinner and decided to take a bite out of the green tea cake roll. The roll slid and melted into her mouth and all of a sudden, a big smile formed all over her face, brightening her up greatly.

"It's...good!" Hina exclaimed cutely.

"We read that you love hashbrowns and green tea cake rolls, so we got this one from Minatsuki, the little confectionary store down the street" The man told her kindly.

"Th-Thank you..." Hina whispered.

"Hina-chan? Would you like to see your new room? I've decorated it myself" The woman asked, with a congenial expression on her face. Hina finished eating pieces of the welcome cake and decided to check out her new room. She followed the woman while still clinging to her doll. She entered the room and was immediately smitten. The wallpaper was yellow with a red and purple flower print. The windows were big and were hidden by lucid, white curtains with flowers. Her bed has blue sheets and white pillows along with an orange teddy bear with a green ribbon sitting in between the pillows. The floors were a quaint mahogany and she immediately leaped on the bed. The man and woman, her new foster parents, watched congenially as the little girl admired her new room.

"She's so adorable. It's a shame what happened to her and her parents" The woman whispered to her husband.

"Let's love her as much as possible. She may need it. Plus there's her disability to deal with. Her speech is still kind of off" The man told her.

"It'll be alright. We finally have a child now and I'll make sure she lives a normal, happy life" The woman explained.

("My mother and father were murdered by the man in black...and I was violated repeatedly. I was sent to live with the Kashino family, and they were incredibly kind to me. I felt like I had my life back. I loved them so much! They did so many magnanimous things for me! I...They understood me and loved me and cared for me and supported me no matter what! Then...that rotten specter came and did it again!!" The voice of Rikaritta, or Miyabe Hina, echoed in the blank memory which faded into yet another one.)

(end flashback 3, begin flashback 4)

("That rotten thing came and murdered them!! Then he took me from my home and placed me with that witch!!" Hina exclaimed loudly.)

Hina is now 13, but she was struggling to break free from the grasp of the man in black, aka the same one who murdered her original parents 7 years before. He's officially ripped her apart by killing the Kashino family members, who did a voluminous amount of munificent and magnanimous things for her. They arrived in front of a brown house and Hina was thrown into the house like a piece of trash. The man in black walked away, but Hina was now standing in front of a middle-aged woman with shaggy dark grey hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a grey, long-sleeved dress under a white apron with blue stripes along with long white socks and red shoes. She showed blatant signs of aging as confirmed by the wrinkles and lines on her face. As she smiled, one of her teeth looked like it was horridly chipped and broken.

Unfortunately, this woman was the one who made Hina snap terribly.

This woman was absolutely atrocious. Right when Hina was thrown into her door this volatile woman abused her, beat her, and violated her repeatedly for no good reason. This woman didn't even refer to Hina by her own name. She always called her "bad girl" or "rotten thing" or "wicked beast" on a regular basis without stopping. The volatile woman, confirmed to be schizophrenic, inserted objects into Hina's body such as a button hook and a fishing lure, forced the girl to drink laxatives such as bleach, refused to let her go to the bathroom at all for any reason (which resulted in Hina having frequent accidents, which also resulted in her being thrown into the basement and beaten and violated for voluminous periods of time), suspended her from the ceiling, choked her, left her in a corn crib to smother, beat, and whip her with a myriad array of objects and permanently scarring her entire body everywhere, even the privates (you will NOT see all the abuse! Don't worry!), and other atrocious, horrendous acts performed on the autistic girl.

Hina was appalled, traumatized, and confused. She lost two families who cared for her and was now being treated like she wasn't even human. But she soon came to realize that she was never human at all.

(end flashback 4, begin flashback 5)

"P-Please! D-Don't hurt me!!"

Hina, now 14-15, tried to run away from the volatile, shaggy-haired woman who was chasing after her with a rusted, silver button hook partially covered with a spec of blood. The volatile woman had a choleric look on her face full of rancor as she screeched as she spoke.

"B-Bad girl!! Bad girl!!" The woman screeched dangerously. Hina tried to escape from the windows, but they were all nailed shut. She tried to reach for the doors, but they were all locked. Unfortunately, she was cornered as she reached the kitchen. The tenuous, dangerous woman slowly approached her with the button hook.

"When are you doing to understand, you wicked, naughty little beast!? When will you not be such a bad girl!? How dare you break my beautiful glass horse!?" The volatile woman sneered.

"I-I didn't do that! You did that!! You tripped and it fell on the floor!! You're the one who--" Hina tried to retaliate, but the dangerously mentally ill woman wouldn't let her finish a sentence at all.

"SHUT UP!! You wicked, wicked girl!! I've told you time and time again! Why won't you listen to me!? You're such a bad girl!! You know what happens to naughty, wicked little beasts who defy me!? Oh wait! You don't need to know because I've told you this time and time again yet you refuse to listen to my ways! It's time for your discipline, you rotten beast!!" The volatile woman screeched with rancor as she ambled toward the fearful girl. Hina tried to run away, but the woman grabbed her and pulled her so hard, some of her clothes got ripped and came off.

"Now! Take off your undergarments! Now you bad girl!!" The woman screeched.

"No!!" Hina retaliated.

"I guess I'll do it for you since you won't listen to me, you wicked thing! Nobody will ever love you! You're a beast and nothing more!!" The woman screeched angrily.

But...Hina finally snapped.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Hina screamed at the top of her lungs. In fact, she screamed so strongly and so loudly that frenzy plants appeared, tearing through the floor and wrapping themselves around the schizophrenic woman. Then, mysterious creations appeared from thin air and surrounded the woman. One resembled Jack Skellington, but with a cape, a top hat, stitches on it's mouth, and card symbols on it's chest. Another was a rabbit that stood on it's hind legs wearing a red tuxedo holding a black and white candy cane. Another one was a woman who dressed in attire that resembled those of a woman from the late 1700's but holding a silver cleaver that shone in the artificial light. The final ones were Cain and Anthony. All five of them surrounded the woman and drew their weapons at her. Then, finally...

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!"

They finished the job. Now the woman was nothing more than a dismembered corpse spilling blood on the kitchen floor. Hina was shocked, but finally realize that all five of them were her own creations, her illusions. Her expression of fear finally became malice and pleasure.

She left the house and found an abandoned one on the other side of Kisara. She practiced creating illusions, eventually becoming good at it to a point where she would rearrange the house and make it look like something entirely different. She did not want anyone realizing her identity, so she finally found the pseudonym Rikaritta Memphis Soletta and thus began her reign of attracting people to her "House of Illusions" and scaring them out of their wits.

(end flashback 5)

Rikaritta and Kagami both finally awoke from their dormant states. Kagami was fine, but Rika seemed rather tired and confused.

"Wha...what happened? What were those...images?" Rika asked.

"Those were...memories, that we sent to each other" Kagami told her.

"Y-You! I saw you! You were being beaten by an older girl, and you were being called names like slut and skank and prostitute and the H word and the W word and--" Rikaritta tried to explain what she saw, but she couldn't find the right words for them until Kagami held onto her small, tender, white hand, which made her stop speaking.

"Miyabe Hina. That's your real name, isn't it? You've lived a hard life. Your family was killed, you were raped by the murderer, your foster family was killed again, and you were terrorized by that cruel woman. I saw you too. You just want someone to love you and stay with you forever, not to hurt you and to accept you for who you are, don't you? I know how you feel. In fact, you're surrounded by them" Kagami explained gently and politely. Hina looked around and saw everyone looking at her with somber smiles on their faces. Hina finally realized that she caused trouble to them and tears began streaming down her face. She whimpered and cried.

"I-I-I'm so sorry! I-I've brought trouble to you all! I-I'm such a retard!! I'm not human!! How can I live this way!?" Hina cried heartfully. She was about to scream, but Kagami hugged her, which made her silent.

"You don't have to live in fear anymore. There are people like you in this world. And please, don't hurt anyone. It's not nice. I know for a fact that you're actually really kind and gentle and sweet. You're just insecure because of all the traumas you went through, right?" Kagami told her quietly and softly. Hina finally cried on her shoulders.

"Y-Y-Yes..." Hina whimpered, conceding to Kagami's magnanimous words.

"You're more than welcome to be friends with us. We know a good place where people like you live peacefully. We can take you there, and we can visit you and play with you and hang out and do stuff together. How's that?" Kagami told her.

"Th-Thank you so much...I-I'm sorry for being such a danger to you all...!" Hina whimpered.

"It's alright. That's actually normal for your kind, being a little cautious to the extreme because of trauma. I can understand" Kagami told her.

Soon, the illusionary house finally faded and it revealed the true identity of the house: abandoned, crippled, broken, and unwanted. The walls were ripped, lots of things were on the floor, windows were broken, glass was all over the floor, but strangely, everyone went through the entire thing unscathed (not literally). The seven unconscious children finally woke up.

"Wha...what happened?" The girl in the bug costume murmured.

"Ugh, I feel like I just got attacked by a vaccuum cleaner" The boy dressed in the tuxedo and shades said (Note: He is dressed as Andy Samberg from The Lonely Island).

"Ow, my back hurts" The boy dressed as the cowardly lion murmured. Soon, Ayaka was finally awake. But as she was fully awake, she was immediately scornful and disgusted.

"EWWWW!!! This house is, like, totally disgusting!! And you all, what are you freaks doing in this dreaded rathole!? Weren't we, like, inside the haunted house earlier!?" Ayaka screamed scornfully. But everyone laughed heartfully at her instead of trying to get angry at her. Even Hina laughed. She laughed like she had never experienced a laugh in her life.

Everyone decided to leave the house. The mystery was finally solved and the group was praised for their noble, valiant deeds. This was certainly a truly frightful Halloween to remember for everyone.

But the next day...Hina disappeared. She left no trace of where she went.

"Where do you think she disappeared to?" Tajin asked.

"I'm not sure. I cannot speculate" Ayu replied.

"I wonder if maybe...she wanted to start over from scratch? Start a new life or something?" Kagami asked as she looked up at the light and blue sky being basked by the sun's light.

"You may be right, Kagamin!" Konata said.

"I wonder if Hina-chan will be happy?" Fusako asked curiously and cutely.

"I think she will be. She's finally realized who she is, after all" Kagami told her.

'Then again, I saw in her memories that she likes green tea cake rolls. I love those too! I wish I could've told her we could share a yummy green tea cake roll together. The ones with azuki beans, like the ones in Yumeiro Patissiere(13) and such' thought Kagami wistfully but with a smile as she stared up at the new November sky, imagining herself sitting with Hina eating green tea cake rolls. Both of them smiling in the dream.

"Kagami! Fusako! Are you coming!?" Tajin yelped.

"Yes! Wait for us! Come on, Fusa-pyon!" Kagami edicted happily as she held onto Fusako's hand and decided to follow the group back home.

Author's Note: YEEEEEEESSSS!!! I have officially completed this special TCR Halloween story! Sorry if it's a bit graphic, but I censored some parts and didn't go into really big detail about it (I'm not good at that anyway). How do you like it? Scary and frightful and thought provoking, huh? I believe so! Oh, by the way, expect more chapters of Snow Princess coming up! Maybe I'll work on Firefly's Enchantment and Stargazer a little too! I think I'm getting ideas for them now! I'll also make more TCR chapters which will introduce some of the characters you saw in this. Don't worry! I won't leave you all hanging around! My TV is fixed and next weekend my family and I are going to Ohio to see relatives! I better go now. I have to work on my formal lab report for science class! See ya! And a Happy Halloween!!

Footnotes:

1. Teito Klein is the name of the protagonist of the popular manga 07-Ghost, made by Amemiya Yuki and Ichihara Yukino.

2. Hallo jeder, und einen glücklichen Halloween - German for "Hello everyone, and a Happy Halloween!"

3. Es ermüdet wirklich - German for "it's really tiring"

4. Atticus Finch is the name of a famous fictional lawyer and a character from Harper Lee's famous novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". He is considered one of the greatest fictional moral heroes of all time.

5. Er ist einfach überwältigend - German for "He is simply awesome!"

6. Gregory Peck is an actor who is famous for portraying Atticus Finch in the movie adaption of "To Kill a Mockingbird".

7. Ma plus belle et très chère fleur - French for "My most beautiful, dearest flower"

8. Noblesse Oblige - French for "obligation of noblility" (sort of)

9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, aka Gyakuten Saiban in it's original Japanese, is a popular courtroom game about a defense attorney. Naoya is dressing up as Miles Edgeworth, the prosecutor in the game.

10. The Wizard of Oz, originally titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is a famous book published in 1900 by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow. It was made into a highly known movie in 1939.

11. Brainiac 5 is the name of a character from Legion of Superheroes, is a cartoon based on the DC Comics series.

12. -Tachi is a suffix used, by Japanese people, which commonly refers to a group.

13. Yumeiro Patissiere is the name of a manga authored by Natsumi Matsumoto. An anime is being made for it and is airing.