[POV Liselotte]

  The road leading north of Whirikal had always been a pce of silence and mystery, but that particur night breathed with a different energy. The air carried scents of damp wood, withered leaves, and a mist so dense it seemed to possess a will of its own.

  “This pce doesn’t appear on any official map,” murmured Leah, holding the magic ntern firmly as we walked along the mossy stone path. “And such cartographic omissions never announce anything good.”

  “What if we discover an abandoned tavern that offers free cake?” I replied, with a pyful glimmer in my eyes.

  Chloé, walking beside me, sniffed the air with visible skepticism.

  “I detect no scent of cake,” she grumbled directly into my mind. “I perceive the smell of imminent trouble.”

  The forest enveloped us completely with its dancing shadows when, suddenly, a strangely strong gust of wind blew, extinguishing Leah’s magic ntern.

  The fog closed around us like a living veil.

  “Lotte.”

  “I’m here.”

  “Chloé.”

  “Also present—but I do not like this situation in the slightest.”

  Before I could respond, an electric blue fsh engulfed us entirely. The ground vanished beneath our feet. I experienced that peculiar sensation of free fall—light yet seemingly endless—until the world regained its stability.

  When I cautiously opened my eyes, we were no longer in the dark forest.

  We weren’t even within the domains of Whirikal.

  We stood in an ancient-looking vilge illuminated by paper nterns shaped like smiling pumpkins, stylized bats, and bck cats with gleaming eyes. The houses were built of dark wood and vishly adorned with orange and purple ribbons. A breeze scented with burnt sugar and cinnamon floated through the air.

  “What kind of phenomenon just occurred?” murmured Leah, scrutinizing our new surroundings with disbelief.

  It was then that I saw her clearly.

  And well… I also saw myself.

  “What in the world am I wearing?” I excimed, staring at my reflection in a fogged-up shop window. I had fox ears, nine golden tails, and a short red kimono embroidered with golden patterns.

  It was undeniably a kitsune costume.

  Leah stared at me with an expression caught somewhere between surprise and restrained ughter.

  “Lotte… you look absurdly adorable.”

  “Adorable?! Look at yourself!” I pointed dramatically.

  She gnced down at her outfit and gasped.

  She wore a bck pointed hat, a tightly ced violet corset, and a multi-yered skirt that swayed with every movement. In her hands, she held a wooden staff topped with a glowing pumpkin.

  She was the perfect image of a storybook witch — and quite a convincing one, I must admit.

  “This cannot be actually happening,” she decred, her cheeks visibly flushed. “It must be a high-level illusion spell.”

  And then we both turned our attention to Chloé… and what followed was pure, unrestrained hirity.

  The wolf, now reduced to a much smaller size, with noticeably chubby paws and dressed in a white sheep costume complete with golden horns, gred at us with absolute indignation.

  “If either of you dares to ugh out loud, I swear by all the deities that—”

  “Baaa~” I imitated, doubling over with uncontrolble ughter.

  “LOTTE!” she roared inside my mind, though her current appearance stripped her fury of all credibility. Leah too succumbed to ughter, politely covering her mouth.

  After several minutes spent regaining some composure, we decided to explore the strange vilge.

  The ground was carpeted with orange leaves that crunched musically under our steps, and from the houses came ethereal ughter, mysterious whispers, and the rhythmic sound of distant drums.

  “It seems this vilge is celebrating some sort of festival,” I observed.

  “A celebration I am entirely unfamiliar with,” Leah commented, studying the ornate nterns. “But it has a decidedly festive air. It doesn’t feel hostile.”

  Chloé snorted skeptically. “Festive or not, I detect multiple presences. And numerous ones.”

  Her warning manifested swiftly.

  Suddenly, from the corners, colorful figures began to emerge — skeletons wobbling comically, scarecrows with glowing red eyes, semi-transparent ghosts, and a whole assortment of cartoonish monsters. All of them roared or shrieked in obvious attempts to frighten us.

  I simply watched them, unsheathed my improvised staff (where had that come from?), and struck the first one hard enough to turn it into an explosion of multicolored confetti.

  Leah, half surprised and half amused, raised her magic wand.

  “Confetti?”

  “I don’t think they’re an actual threat,” I said between ughs.

  She cast a controlled wind spell, sending half a dozen zombies soaring into the air where they burst into a shower of brightly colored candies.

  Chloé pounced on a fleeing vampire and smmed it into the ground—only for it to dissolve into sweets as well.

  “…Am I experiencing a lucid dream?” she asked uncertainly.

  “If that’s the case, don’t wake up yet,” I replied cheerfully.

  We spent a considerable amount of time wandering through the enchanted streets, dodging harmless scares and ughing each time a monster turned into a pile of treats.

  We found houses decorated with smiling carved pumpkins, shadowy cats that purred when petted, and a gigantic orange moon hanging in the sky like a celestial ntern.

  Finally, at the end of the main road, a massive door rose amid the lingering mist. It was tall, built of bck wood, with a sign that procimed in an unfamiliar nguage: “Trick or Treat.”

  Leah looked at me with elegantly arched eyebrows. “Trick or treat? What does that phrase mean?”

  “Oh, it’s a tradition from my world,” I expined, scratching behind my fake fox ears. “During Halloween, children visit houses asking for sweets.”

  She sighed, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “Your world has some truly peculiar customs, Lotte.”

  “You say that as if it bothers you,” I teased with a pyful smile.

  “I never said that,” she replied, with a look that sent more shivers down my spine than any monster had.

  I pushed the door open with determination.

  Beyond it, we were greeted by a warm, welcoming glow — and a seemingly endless mountain of candies.

  Chocotes, caramels, decorated cookies, vibrantly colored bars, and hundreds of shiny wrappers. Everything gave off an aroma so tempting it was impossible to resist.

  “Earth candies!” I excimed with genuine excitement, recognizing brands from my home world. “This is absolutely incredible!”

  Leah looked at me in sheer horror. “Earth? You mean from your original world? How could they have gotten here? They could be contaminated or poisoned!”

  But it was already too te for caution. My cheeks were stuffed with chocote, and I had a handful of candies in each hand.

  “Too te for boratory analysis,” I decred with my mouth unfortunately full.

  “LOTTE!” cried Leah, snatching one of the candies from me and sniffing it suspiciously. “This seems composed primarily of sugar. And artificial components.”

  “That’s what pure happiness tastes like,” I said between ughs. “Try one.”

  She gave me a look caught between annoyance and scientific curiosity, then finally took a small bar wrapped in golden paper.

  She took a cautious bite.

  Her expression slowly shifted from distrust to surprise, and then to genuine delight.

  “This has a remarkably delicious fvor.”

  “Told you so.”

  She sighed, fixing me with a mock-severe gaze. “If I die poisoned by this, I’ll hold you legally responsible in my royal testament.”

  “I’ll take note when you become a ghost and come to haunt me.”

  “I could start that task right now,” she murmured with an intriguing smile, stepping closer than strictly necessary.

  “Leah.”

  “Yes?”

  “Can I cim all the leftover chocotes as personal loot?”

  She rolled her eyes skyward and ughed, giving me a gentle push on the shoulder. “Only if you solemnly swear never again to accept suspicious candies from dimensional portals.”

  “I swear to try resisting the temptation,” I answered, winking exaggeratedly.

  Chloé, zily sprawled atop a pile of candies, let out a long yawn.

  “Wake me when this nonsense regains logical coherence.”

  Leah and I exchanged knowing gnces.

  And simply ughed without restraint.

  Beneath the gigantic orange moon, surrounded by impossible sweets and shared ughter, for one magical night they forgot their shadows and their worries.

  And the mysterious mist, satisfied with its dimensional prank, faded gently into the night air — leaving behind only the lingering echo of our ughter and the sweet, enduring taste of a mystery we never tried to expin.