The Halloween 3
We went out looking for a place to have lunch.
Since neither Nana nor Sia had ever been to this area before, I wanted to check nearby restaurants using my phone.
But Sia insisted otherwise.
“Don’t go to places that other people have already written about in reviews. Let’s go out and find one ourselves.”
Her words made sense, so we set off walking in search of restaurants ourselves.
The downtown area we had originally been in was packed with people and lacked good dining options anyway.
Sia and I walked slowly, scanning the surroundings as we headed toward the outer edge of the district, when we spotted a restaurant.
It specialized in bowls of rice topped with various ingredients, and after walking for a while we both felt hungry enough to eat a proper meal.
The shop was almost empty inside, which was a bonus.
Sia and I ordered from the menu and took a seat to chat for a bit.
Of course, our conversation quickly turned to this year’s Halloween party.
“This is the first time we’re throwing a Halloween party.”
I hadn’t celebrated Halloween with Sia until now.
To be precise, we had done it once, back in kindergarten.
But I figured that was way too far back to count, so I just said it was the first time.
“We did it when we were in kindergarten, so it’s not the first time.”
Sia corrected me right away.
The firm way she said it made me realize she was cherishing those old memories, and I felt incredibly grateful.
I tried to correct my own statement, but Sia interrupted again.
“Then this time, it’s the first Halloween we’re sending each other off with.”
My words made Sia’s face flush bright red in real time.
She looked like she hadn’t understood my meaning at all, so I quickly tried to clarify, but…
“Here’s your food.”
Just then the food arrived, and I lost my chance to correct her.
Still, I thought maybe I should fix it right now, but the mood was already too good to spoil it.
So we started eating right away.
I had ordered spam rice bowls, which I figured would be safe and mild.
But the taste was way better than I expected.
Sia had chicken tenders on hers, and her sparkling eyes told me she was enjoying it too.
We quietly filled our stomachs in companionable silence.
After we finished the main dishes and ordered a side, we sat at the table again and sipped water.
Once we were done eating, I figured it was time to decide what to do next.
We had just been wandering around without a plan so far.
“Sia, what do you want to do now? Is there any place you want to go?”
“Me…?”
“Yeah. I’m fine with anywhere you want to go, so just tell me. No pressure.”
“Um… Then there’s one place I want to check out, but is it okay?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Yay!”
“But what should we buy there?”
“Um… We can look around first. I don’t even know what I want anyway, so I’m just going to scout.”
“Alright, no problem. Let’s go look and decide.”
“Yes!”
After leaving the rice-bowl shop, Sia and I started walking side by side.
Of course I had the map app open on her phone so we could follow it together.
Instead of the big street we had seen earlier, we took the side alleyway that branched off it.
Unlike the main road, this one had a lot more interesting stores, so it felt great to walk.
We moved slowly until we reached a store entrance… and right in front of it…
“Mannequins? A clothing store?”
“Yes! Let’s go in quick.”
Sia said that and disappeared inside in one swift motion.
I had no choice but to follow her, and the moment I stepped inside I felt my eyes go wide.
It was a regular clothing store, so why was I so shocked?
But once I realized it actually sold cosplay costumes, the whole picture changed.
“What is this place…?”
“This is where you can buy cosplay outfits offline!”
“Wow…”
I had only heard of cosplay before, never seen it in person… but now I understood why it was so impressive.
The clothes were basically bright and colorful right off the bat.
The colors were varied, and every outfit had different designs or accessories… not limited to just clothes.
They also sold shoes, hats, and even things that looked like weapons.
I didn’t know much about them, but I could definitely tell they were amazing.
While I was distracted by the store, a random thought popped into my head.
Why had Sia brought me here all of a sudden?
Of course she had said she wanted to look around herself, but based on everything I knew about her so far… she was definitely planning something.
Right now she was staring at the costumes with wide eyes, moving around and checking every detail.
But if I looked closer, the corners of her mouth were curled up ever so slightly.
Sia showing that kind of expression could only mean one thing: she was up to something.
I could have told her about my suspicion and stopped her plan, but instead I chose to play along.
“Hey Sia, that one over there looks interesting too.”
“Where?”
I had fallen for it completely.
It was just Sia, so it didn’t matter what she was planning anyway.
I stayed right by her side while we continued looking.
“Ah! This corner must be for Halloween costumes!”
Sia found the special Halloween section and pulled me along with her.
When she grabbed my arm and started dragging me, I followed obediently…
“Uh… Sia…?”
“U-um?”
“Is this…?”
“T-that’s right…! Of course it is…!”
Right in front of us was… a normal-looking cosplay outfit.
Well, it had the classic zombie and Dracula cape vibes, so that made sense.
Of course, the sizes were extremely small.
There were six massive racks, and they had only used about a third of the space on one of them.
So what about the rest of the racks?
Everything else was tiny outfits meant for children.
They weren’t completely exposing the private areas, but most of them were basically tiny pieces of fabric.
Anyone could see the target market, and it was obvious this wasn’t what Sia wanted, so I tried to pull her toward another section…
But oddly enough, Sia didn’t move at all.
“…Sia?”
When I noticed something was off and looked at her face, it was flushed red…
“I’m totally fine with it. You don’t feel that way?”
Sia suddenly put on an innocent act and fired a challenge at me.
The way she acted like a little kid pretending to be an adult was both adorable and strangely tempting to give her a playful smack on the head.
After thinking about how to respond, I decided the best move was to play along and act like nothing was weird.
After all, Sia was clearly embarrassed too.
“I’m fine with it.”
“T-then… pick one out for me.”
“What? Clothes?”
“….”
Sia didn’t answer with words, but her even redder face said yes loud and clear.
I was stunned that Sia had gone this far.
But if I took back my earlier words, something would feel off, so…
“Wait a second…”
I told Sia to wait and turned my attention back to the racks of cosplay costumes.
The best way to deal with this awkwardness was to just say it didn’t look right on me and leave quickly, so I started looking around in a hurry.
The slow, careful scan gave me a much better idea than the quick glance I had taken earlier.
There were plenty of good options on the side racks too.
Angel-themed clothes, and even the seraphim outfits we had worn as sports tees before.
Of course there were some bikini-style pieces that were basically just fabric, but there weren’t many of them.
Now that I was getting used to it and felt more relaxed, Sia stopped in front of one particular outfit.
It was… a nurse costume.
Of course it wasn’t a real nurse uniform… just the kind of thing people imagined when they thought of a nurse cosplay outfit.
Nothing weird about it, just a normal-looking outfit, but the sudden thought of Sia wearing it made my body twitch.
But then I moved naturally again, so maybe Sia hadn’t noticed… probably.
“Park Siwoo has been quietly looking at the clothes for a while now.”
I was staring at Park Siwoo with intense eyes.
The shy look from earlier had completely vanished, and now all I could do was stare at him with both eyes wide open.
More precisely, I was focusing as hard as possible on his gaze so I could figure out exactly which costumes he was looking at.
That way I could discover what kind of clothes he liked.
The reason I was going this far was simple.
I had received one important tip from Kim Jieun, and the tip was this:
‘Guys love it when you put the clothes they like on them. Halloween is coming up soon, so why don’t we aim for that?’
It was cosplay.
There was also the perfect excuse of it being Halloween.
I had been thinking about how nice it would be to have a party at home instead of studying, and to appeal to Siwoo, so I quickly took in Kim Jieun’s advice and put it into action.
Of course, searching online would have been easier, but there were so many age-restricted items on internet shopping that I decided to come to a real offline store.
From my perspective, the finish line was right in front of me, so I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head at that moment.
Then I noticed something strange about Siwoo.
And right away I checked what he was looking at.
Sia’s eyes were sharper than any predator’s when she was examining the clothes.