The day started like any other — except for the faint buzz of excitement that even Rin couldn’t ignore. Halloween.

  Suzu burst into the apartment around noon, wind in her hair and arms loaded with bags that rattled suspiciously.

  “Emergency meeting!” she declared, kicking off her shoes and nearly tripping over them. “We’re doing Halloween. No arguments, no excuses, and no pretending you’re too adult for it.”

  Mika peeked over the top of her book, one eyebrow raised. “We?”

  “Yes, we,” Suzu said, dumping everything onto the floor — glittery fabric, plastic pumpkins, fake fangs, and candy bags the size of small pillows. “You, me, Rin, and mystery vampire.”

  Rin looked up from where she was seated on the couch, laptop half-open. “We’re really doing this?”

  “Absolutely. You’ve all been walking around like you’re in a tragic indie film lately. We need sugar. And chaos. Preferably both.”

  Aurenya, sitting at the table with a cup of tea, blinked slowly. “Sugar and chaos?”

  Suzu pointed dramatically. “Exactly! See, she gets it.”

  Within an hour, the living room looked like a costume store had exploded. Ribbons, capes, and face paint were everywhere. Mika was trying to detangle fairy lights while Suzu wore two mismatched wigs and insisted it was a “statement.”

  Aurenya sat quietly at the edge of the chaos, observing.

  “So…” she began carefully, “humans disguise themselves as monsters and… knock on doors for food?”

  “Candy,” Suzu corrected. “Not food. There’s a difference. This is about the spirit of begging for sugar in ridiculous outfits.”

  Aurenya tilted her head. “And this is considered… fun?”

  Rin grinned. “It’s an excuse to not take yourself seriously for a night.”

  Aurenya thought about that for a long moment. “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”

  Suzu draped a cape around her shoulders anyway. “You’ll learn.”

  By late afternoon, the group had formed something resembling costumes.

  Rin, after much teasing, settled on a simple witch outfit — long dark sweater, ribboned hat, and a charm bracelet Suzu insisted made her “authentic.”Mika wore a black blazer with a small painted star beneath one eye. When asked what she was, she just said, “Existential crisis with eyeliner.”

  Suzu went full theatre mode: vampire cape, fake fangs, dramatic red lipstick, and a plastic bat hairclip she claimed was haunted.

  “I call her Geraldine. She approves of this chaos.”

  And Aurenya… didn’t dress up at all. Or so they thought.

  When she finally stepped out from her room before sunset, conversation stopped.

  She had shifted into her adult form — tall, poised, ethereal — her presence enough to turn heads without a single drop of makeup or glitter.Her eyes glimmered faintly crimson when she smiled.

  “You said I needed no costume,” she said softly. “So I didn’t bring one.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Suzu clutched her fake fangs in despair. “That’s cheating. Literal cheating. You can’t just be the costume.”

  “I can’t help it,” Aurenya replied, amused.

  Rin, trying not to stare, murmured, “You… look incredible.”

  “So do you,” Aurenya said quietly — and Rin forgot how to breathe for a moment.

  The streets glowed orange and gold beneath strings of paper lanterns. Children darted past in sheets and masks, adults trailed behind with smiles, and the smell of caramel and roasted chestnuts hung in the air.

  Suzu was in her element, greeting strangers and announcing their presence to anyone within earshot.

  “Trick or treat, mortals!” she yelled at a group of college students, who stared at her like she’d escaped from a theatre troupe. Mika muttered an apology on her behalf and tugged her back by the cape.

  Rin and Aurenya followed a few steps behind — quieter, matching pace without meaning to.

  “You’ve never seen this before?” Rin asked softly.

  Aurenya shook her head. “I’ve read about celebrations. But none like this. On my world, there were days of remembrance — not… play.”

  Rin smiled faintly. “Sometimes pretending helps us deal with what’s real.”

  Aurenya’s gaze lingered on a group of kids dressed as ghosts. “Maybe that’s why it feels familiar.”

  They joined the small stream of students and families winding through the residential streets. Suzu’s energy could have powered a small city.

  “Three houses, and I’ve already got six chocolate bars,” she said proudly. “If I die tonight, tell my story with honour.”

  “I’ll tell them you were killed by sugar,” Mika replied.

  Rin shook her head, laughing, but the sound softened when she saw Aurenya’s expression — curious, almost reverent, as she watched people move through the night.

  “They hide to be seen,” Aurenya murmured. “They wear masks to feel safe.”

  Rin tilted her head. “And you?”

  “I’m the opposite,” Aurenya said. “I hide to survive. I take off my mask to disappear.”

  Her words lingered in the air.

  Suzu, oblivious to the mood shift, ran ahead shouting something about “free candy diplomacy.”

  Rin smiled quietly. “Then tonight, don’t hide at all.”

  Later, when the streets thinned out and the laughter drifted to the edges of town, they ended up at a small park dotted with paper lanterns. The wind was cool. The world smelled faintly of pumpkin and smoke.

  Suzu and Mika wandered toward the vending machines at the park’s edge. Rin and Aurenya sat on a bench near the trees, the moon spilling across their shoulders.

  For a long time, neither spoke.

  Then Aurenya said softly, “I think I understand this night now.”

  “Yeah?” Rin asked. “What did you figure out?”

  “It’s not about fear. It’s about permission — to be strange, to laugh, to not explain yourself for one night.” She glanced at Rin. “It’s a night where you pretend to be something you’re not, until it feels safe to show what you are.”

  Rin’s smile was quiet but real. “And what are you tonight?”

  Aurenya looked toward the lanterns. “Both.”

  Back at the apartment, they dumped their candy bags across the table — a mountain of wrappers, chocolate, and sugar. Suzu immediately took charge of sorting by “vibe” instead of type.

  “Chocolate — mysterious and tragic. Gummies — chaotic neutral. Hard candy — evil alignment.”

  Mika rolled her eyes. “You’ve lost it.”

  “I never had it.”

  Aurenya picked up a wrapped caramel after Suzu insisted she had to try one.

  She bit it. Chewed once. And grimaced. “This tastes like glue pretending to be happiness.”

  Rin burst out laughing. Mika almost fell off her chair. Suzu declared it “quote of the night” and wrote it in a notebook she labelled Aurenya’s Wisdom for Humanity.

  They spent the rest of the evening in a blur of laughter and sugar. Someone put on music. Suzu danced with a pillow. Mika filmed her and threatened to post it. Rin fell asleep half-curled against the couch.

  Aurenya sat quietly amid the chaos, the faintest smile curving her lips. For the first time in a long time, the ache inside her wasn’t sharp.

  Later, when everyone else had fallen asleep, Aurenya stood by the window in her adult form again, watching the city lights flicker below. Her reflection stared back — calm, content, almost human.

  She whispered, more to herself than to the reflection, “I think I could stay like this. Just for a little longer.”

  Her reflection didn’t argue.

  For one night, no one ran, no one hid, and no one was afraid. Just laughter. Just sugar. Just a monster who didn’t need a mask.

  Thank you for reading this chapter of What We Don't Say.If something in it stayed with you — a moment, a line, or even just the mood — I’d love to hear what.

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