Introducing the Halloween one-shots!

Inside the dark forest, all was dead and quiet except for one being. A young man with avocado coloured hair and eyes, panting, leaning against a tree trunk for support. He was muddy, covered in grass stains, and his favourite shirt had just recently lost half a sleeve to a gnarly low-hanging tree branch.

Taking in his surroundings, he began to try and calm himself down by talking.
"Ok Rantaro," he said in a slow and steady voice, "so maybe you were being a little dumb by accepting Nagito's dare. But, hey, you did it. You got into the haunted forest at night without getting caught."

Which led to his newest problem...

"How the hell do I leave now?"

There were only bare, uniform dark tree trunks with thousands of twisted branches for the eye to see. Every step he took looked the same as the one before, and the one before that. It was like he was a character in those Halloween stories he used to read when he was younger. He was going to eat all of Nagito's bagels if he ever got out of this alive.

Rantaro took out his phone, seeing if he could get any service from within. He'd call anyone: the police, Nagito, Shuichi, even his parents if worst came to worst. Of course, he was in a forest, so there was no service.

"There's got to be a way out." Rantaro declared, continuing on deeper into the woods.

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"My lady, it seems that a stranger has wandered into your garden."

"Ah, is that so? Who is it? I swear if it's another pesky nymph or werewolf I'll-"

"It is a human my lady. He appears to be around your age. You know what that means, he cannot tell anyone about this place."

"I know, Maki. Go get him and bring him to me."

"Yes, milady."

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Rantaro found himself in a part of the forest no one had ever mentioned before. Ever since he was a child, no one had ever mentioned that someone may be living inside the haunted forest.

He was definitely in a garden. Shrubs and trees were pruned to form odd animals and gargoyles. The roses were of every colour he could think of, even colours like mahogany were there. A cold stone bench with odd designs stood at the top of a small bump, where Rantaro decided to sit and rest.

At the end of what seemed like a very large maze, there was a black gothic style mansion, looming over, with a large stained glass window that appeared to have a large clock. It was currently 9:30 at night.

"Maybe I could ask whoever lives there for help." He said, figuring that they must be able to reach the outside in some way. Even if they used messenger pigeons it was better than his useless cellphone (which also conveniently lost power too).

He noticed a shadow approaching him from the back. Something about it just didn't look... right. Whoever it was was walking with a bit of a limp.

Something gripped firmly against his shoulder as he turned around to see the stranger. A pale girl with long dark pigtails and hollow red eyes faced him, with a neutral expression. "You are lost. Come with me."

With that, she turned around and started to walk into the maze, not waiting for the boy to follow her.

Rantaro hurried to catch up with her. As he trailed behind her, he noticed all the beauty of the garden. Was this all a joke? Was he walking in private property? Was that why no one had ever talked about this place before? It was a mystery, that's for sure.

He didn't even notice that he had made it to the front entrance until he bumped into the door. It was then that he realized the girl was gone, vanished completely. It was just him now, and the only thing he knew to do was knock.

However the knocker started to emit a strange coloured fog when he touched it and he backed away in surprise. The gargoyle's eyes began to glow and the door slowly opened, groaning loudly as it opened wider for him to enter.

Rantaro wandered in, green eyes widening, taking in the design of the place. It was so strange and enchanting. Almost as if he had stepped into one of those fairy tales that he used to read to his sisters years ago.

Music suddenly caught his attention. It was a tune that he had heard before, from where, he couldn't remember. The sound came from the back of the mansion, where he found his legs moving on their own towards the source, almost in a trance.

He found himself in the piano room, the door suddenly slamming shut, leaving him alone with the pianist. Golden hair with bangs swept to the side. Pale pink eyes which matched the lace ballgown dress and nail polish. She was Rantaro's definition of beauty, especially while the moonlight shine down on her from the wide window to her back.

"Isn't it a lovely piece?" She asked Rantaro, as he finished staring. Suddenly, he remembered the piece that the girl was playing.

"Clair de Lune," he breathed, "by Debussy. It's such a masterpiece, you played it beautifully."

The blonde girl stopped playing, and looked at him. "You know Debussy?" Her eyes would have sparkled, had they not been so dull and lifeless.

She stood, and walked towards her visitor. She was probably a couple of inches shorter than Rantaro, yet the height difference was barely noticeable for some reason, possibly the heels that she was wearing.

"How fascinating..." She murmured, appearing to take in the boy's features, in particular his neck. Her hand was reaching out, almost as if she were trying to grip onto him.

Then she realized what she was doing and stopped, "oh my, forgive me for staring. I assume that you lost yourself in the forest yes?" Without waiting for a reply, she continued on. "Unfortunately our phone lines are not working at the moment, and a recent storm broke our internet connection."

She clasped one of his hands with her own and smiled, "The least I could do as a proper host is let you stay the night. That's why I had Maki bring you here."

Rantaro noticed that two of the girl's teeth were a little longer and sharper than they should have been. He thought nothing of it however, and nodded his head. "Yes, that would be appreciated. Ms... Uhh..."

"Kaede." She replied, "you can call me Kaede. It is an honour to have you over tonight Mr. Rantaro."

"How did you..."

"Now then, you must be hungry and tired after tonight. I'll have the maid cook something for you and prepare your room. Kirumi!" Kaede called to whom was supposedly the maid.

As if this was all some well rehearsed play, a tall young woman in a formal maid outfit stood outside the door. "You called, milady?"

Kaede nodded and gestured towards her guest. "Please lead him to the kitchen and prepare something for him to eat. The poor thing was found lost in the yard."

Kirumi bowed and brought Rantaro into another area of the mansion. "I do hope you did not catch a cold. Milady hates it when her guests are sick. Their energy just doesn't... settle with her too well."

As they walked down the hall, Rantaro began to notice some of the ornaments which adorned the auburn walls. Like the multiple wolf heads that had their jaws wide open. There were so many of them, that he started to wonder if Kaede's family were famous hunters.

He saw numerous display cases filled with an assortment of wings. They were not butterfly wings however, and they had odd names too, like the Nymphis Spartis.

"Kirumi," Rantaro stammered, "if you can tell me, where are Kaede's parents?"

The maid stopped, but didn't turn around. "Lord and Mistress Akamatsu are very busy with work. They are international businesspeople, and only come home about once a year." With that, she walked towards the stairway and pointed to her left, "the dining room is in there. Sit anywhere you like. I will cook up the food that milady has every guest eat."

Rantaro sat down to the side of the long clean table, seeing that the chair was already pushed out. He looked around the room, seeing an antique cupboard with old teapots and wine glasses. The floors were made of oak, complimenting the pure white walls, except for an odd stain facing him.

Curious, Rantaro inspected it. The stain was a rusty red, and smelt oddly of iron. 'Blood?' He thought, hearing footsteps coming in his direction.

Quickly, he returned back to his seat in time to see Kaede enter the room and sit down across the table from him.

It was silent until Kirumi appeared with two stuffed dinner rolls. One had deep red stuffing while the other one was yellow with odd green dots throughout it. Kirumi gave the red one to Kaede and the yellow one to Rantaro. Then she went to the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of wine, pouring it into two glasses and serving it to them. When she was finished, she bowed and shut the door, a firm clicking sound following it.

Kaede held up the wine glass, and Rantaro copied her, looking into those dull eyes. "Cheers, to this fateful night." Kaede exclaimed, clinking their glasses together and sipping the wine. The boy also drank, although he made note not to tell his parents about this.

When he bit into the roll Rantaro tasted something funny. The food was nearly tasteless, except for an odd irony taste that slipped down his throat when he swallowed one of the green pieces.

Seeing the face he made, Kaede stopped eating, and stepped towards him. "What's wrong, Rantaro? Feeling a little... ill?"

Rantaro started to feel his head spin a little, and gripped onto the table for support. His fingers brushed against some paper that was pressed against the underside of the teakwood table. Ripping it off, he saw only one word in capitals.

RUN

Then he felt something grab his neck. Opening his eyes, he saw Kaede. Her arm was outstretched and was the thing restricting his breathing. He noticed that her eyes were now shining, covered over by what could only be described as.... bloodlust.

"Normally I would kill my victims right now, but you have my interest. I think I'll keep you for a little longer." She grinned widely, revealing those two pointy teeth, which Rantaro realized were fangs.

He tried to fight her back, but was too weak too do so. His arms were roughly pushed away as he felt a sharp pain pierce through his aorta. It was enough I make him black out, but not before he heard Kaede again:

"You were the first to know who Debussy was."