“Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a nighttime festival held every year on October 31. Customs include decorating with jack-o’-lanterns made by hollowing out pumpkins or turnips, and children dressing up as witches or ghosts and going around to nearby houses to receive candy.”
“...Huh. A festival, huh. Come to think of it, I vaguely feel like there may or may not have been events like that in the game...?”
Unfortunately, the VRMMO she had originally played, <World of Space>, had been designed in a hardline style, and in its setting, so much time had passed since humanity left Earth that all history had been lost.
That was the premise, at least.
So Earth-derived holiday events had been completely irrelevant there.
Of course, things like that had existed in the real world, so she knew what season it belonged to.
“By the way, is October 31 itself what matters?”
If you thought about it on a cosmic scale, though, an event tied to a calendar date did not really mean much.
After all, there was no guarantee that a year would be 365 days long.
On that note, one year on this planet was 380 days, 7 hours, and 12 minutes, and when measured by Earth standards, one day was 26 hours, 3 minutes, and 12 seconds long.
So how exactly was the date October 31 supposed to apply here?
“According to the literature, the festival began on the evening before November 1, which was regarded as the start of winter. In other words, since <The Tree> is located in the Northern Hemisphere, it would be correct to begin at sunset on October 32, the day before November 1.”
“I seeee.”
“Winter, huh. Winter...” Eve murmured, then took a sip of the cider in front of her.
The ice clinked softly, and a bead of condensation on the glass fell and dampened the table.
Today was October 32.
The weather was perfectly clear.
The outside temperature was 31°C.
Humidity was 72%.
The word winter did not suit subtropical <The Tree> at all.
“People once believed that on this night, the boundary of the world grew indistinct. A gate would appear between this world and the next, allowing the spirits of loved ones, evil spirits, and fairies all to come and go freely. Therefore, the living disguised themselves as demons, evil spirits, and fairies so they would not be taken away by evil things. At the same time, because the spirits of relatives and close friends also returned, they were welcomed in grand fashion inside the home.”
“Oooh. I’d never looked up where it came from, so I didn’t know any of that. You really do know a lot, Akane.”
Praised by Eve, Akane puffed out her chest ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) proudly.
And then Eve had an idea.
Since Akane had gone to the trouble of looking it up, why not celebrate Halloween?
That said, it was an event Eve herself had never had much to do with.
She had no idea what exactly she was supposed to do.
Well, if she did not know, she could just look it up.
And if it came down to it, she could always just make something up.
There was no such custom as Halloween in this world anyway.
“All right. Ringo, let’s do Halloween.”
“...Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”
◇◇◇◇
They decorated with jack-o’-lanterns, and while they were at it, prepared dolls and stuffed toys that looked the part.
Using candles and lanterns for the lighting gave it quite a convincing atmosphere.
Beyond that, there were ghosts, bats, spiders, spiderwebs, and skulls, which were not bad either.
Still, anything too gruesome was simply scary, so more comical designs were preferred.
Black, purple, and orange seemed to be the right color scheme.
The details of that part were left to others.
And then, the crucial thing was the costumes for the participants.
When you said Halloween, you meant costumes.
“A ghost outfit is... too plain. Something else.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”
A witch.
A zombie.
A devil.
A bat.
A skeleton.
A black cat.
That was probably about the range of standard costume cosplay choices.
“Hm... If we’re doing this, I’d rather go with something cute. Zombies and Frankenstein’s monster aren’t very interesting even if you make them scary... Aren’t those guys just there to make the others look better, in a case like this?”
That was hard to affirm, since opinions varied on the subject.
“Let’s make some rough designs and have everyone choose.”
So Eve promptly gathered the sisters and announced that Halloween would be held.
“Akane told me about this festival called Halloween, so we’re going to celebrate it!”
“Oh? Halloween?”
Asahi, who looked like the sort who would know a lot about events like this, reacted first.
“That’s right. We can’t really go around collecting candy the way the real festival does, but I think dressing up and having a party should work just fine!”
“Are you dressing up too, Big Sis?”
“Of course!”
And if Eve was participating, then naturally the sisters would too.
If each of them were simply allowed to pick whatever costume they liked, then with the exception of Asahi it was obvious they would all choose to match Big Sis, so after each picked out the costumes that interested them, they decided to draw lots.
“All right then! Asahi, number one, draws first!”
Asahi, who had raised her hand immediately, gleefully plunged her hand into the lottery box Ringo was holding, rustled it around, and pulled out a slip.
To prevent anyone from predicting and selecting deliberately, Ringo, holding the box, manipulated it with exquisite control and forced a truly random draw.
It was a splendid display of super-high-performance AI.
“Ohhh... A little devil, huh.”
Asahi got little devil.
Akane got witch.
Ichigo got black cat.
Utsugi got devil.
Erika got bat.
Olive got little-devil maid.
Ringo got fallen angel.
“Black-cat... maid?”
And Eve ended up doing a kitty maid.
Well, she had drawn it, so it could not be helped.
If she got the role, she had to commit to it.
She absolutely did not have to, but still.
“A maid, huh! I wonder if that means I should make tea or something!”
“...I will provide support.”
Naturally, there was no way Eve, who had never done any housework in her life, was capable of that.
Chattering excitedly, the eight of them changed into their respective costumes, and in the end they all decorated the party venue together.
The decorations were printed out by general-purpose fabrication printers, and the food was produced by automatic cookers.
While they made their preparations, the sun went down, and before long it became exactly the right time.
““““““““HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!””””””””
At the same moment all of them shouted together, the lights in the observation room slowly dimmed.
The sun, having sunk below the horizon, dyed the world a dark orange.
Ringo lit the candle in her hand with a small click of flame.
“Here.”
“Ohhh, I’ve never used a candle before.”
Eve carefully, almost timidly, brought the candle in her own hand toward the one being offered.
Her hand trembled a little, but the flame just barely caught, and with a soft glow, the light increased.
“...Woooow.”
Eve, who had never seen light created by fire before, seemed utterly entranced by that tiny flame.
In the meantime, the other sisters also took their light from Ringo.
Asahi, delighted, got her own candle lit and then immediately charged toward the stack of jack-o’-lanterns arranged around the room.
Apparently, she had wanted to light them herself.
By the time every candle and lantern placed throughout the room had been lit, Eve finally came back to herself.
“Oooh... Wow, this really does change the mood a lot...”
“You look beautiful, Big Sis...”
““Ooohhh~~””
“............”
Bathed in orange light, the room looked completely different from how it did under artificial illumination.
Faced with this unfamiliar scene, the sisters seemed to be getting more and more excited.
“For now... shall we begin?”
A projected display drew large letters in the air.
““““““““TRICK OR TREAT!!””””””””
In time with everyone’s voices, sparkling effects danced through the air together with the crack of party poppers.
“Ah... wow, so this is what a party is...”
““Kyaa!””
“Ooh!”
In that glittering space, Utsugi, Erika, and Asahi, all completely wound up, broke into a run, while Eve nodded to herself with deep feeling.
Apparently, it had struck a chord in her heart.
And so, the eight girls spent a wonderfully enjoyable time striking cute poses and meowing like little black cats.
