We were standing in the middle of a disaster zone. There were hordes of people, many of them confused and upset. There was colorful paper all over the ground, and stranger still were the hundreds of rolls of unfurled toilet paper. It was as if everyone in the hotel had thrown their toilet paper on the street, but that still didn't account for the confetti. And the glitter... It was as if an enormous glitter bomb had exploded in the middle of the neighborhood.

But, what shocked me most of all were the zombies. 

A woman wearing a new track suit was holding onto my sleeve like she was one of the children I'd just been entertaining, but she was definitely older than me. She'd lost her purse in the chaos that had preceded us. Cops were milling about, talking to various people. There definitely weren't enough to go around. Were the cops necessary for this? The cops were taking statements, and though our guests were upset, none of the zombies were crying or complaining that I could hear.

Zombies... It could only mean one thing. It made me want to shove this woman's hands off my arm and take a run myself. The woman walked with me, still trying to tell me what happened.

"They came out of nowhere! We were running and we turned a corner and they- why, they started attacking us! They came at us for no reason, yelling and hollering, spraying us with things, hitting us! They were crazy! Something must be done about it! Why- Where did they come from? Why was this allowed?! Is it something young people are doing, some kind of flash mob?!"

Attacking? Surely not. Not if this was what I thought it was. 

We came upon a small group of zombies, looking perplexed themselves. One of them was holding a roll of toilet paper casually, talking to his friends. 

"This is what I'm talking about!" The woman released me, marching over to them like there was someone in pursuit of her. She ripped the toilet paper from the guy's hand, and he stared at her like she was crazy. "They were throwing this at us! Are you going to throw more?!" She turned her attention to him now. "Were you planning to throw this at a child?! There are children here! What are you, insane?! Look what you did! Look- you- you-"

I came between them. My hand was on the toilet paper before I knew it, and I yanked it from her just like she had from him. 

"Why, I never!" She yelled at me. "What is your name! I'll report you, too! Who's side are you on?!"

My own anger was welling up. Who did she think she was, taking this from him like that? She had no right. I handed it back to him and he gave me a small bow, and I bowed in kind. She went away in a rage. 

"God, who the fuck does that bitch think she is?" Asked one of the girls in the group, dressed amazingly in a caution tape dress, complete with caution tape coming from her head in long pigtails. Her complexion was pale as paste, and there was bright green alien blood all over her. 

I lowered my voice. "I completely agree. Hello, my name is Gyeong-Wan. Can you tell me what really happened here?"

They were thoughtful for a moment. The boy holding the toilet paper, dressed in an all white outfit with a long skirt and tank top with neon yellow netting for arms and multi-colored tubes as a long wig with more green alien blood all over him, tossed his toilet paper in the air a few times, aiming it at the woman's back and then straightening back up as his friends laughed, responded to me.

"We were minding our own business. Tch." He sneered at her receding form. His other friend nodded with him rapidly, and I couldn't take my eyes off his full gas mask painted in neon colors. "We wait for Zombie Walk all year. You see the tables set up? The owners all ran off once the cops came, but we weren't fast enough. I don't think anyone's going to get arrested, though. We didn't do anything wrong. We've been going to this for the past six years. They have a permit for this. The city knows about it. These runners were the ones making trouble. We saw one of them push a girl. We weren't going to take that shit. These runners were bad news. Nikki the Mouth was on the loudspeaker telling us to let them pass, but once we saw that-"

"Nikki the Mouth? Wait, I know him."

"Yeah. Hey, are you from the hotel?"

I paused, staring at them. The one in the gas mask looked like he wouldn't be uncomfortable wielding a baseball bat as a weapon and that it might even look good in his hand. But, strangely, I wasn't scared of them. No, because... This was Zombie Walk, they were Kazuya's friends.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not from the hotel."

"Oh, okay. Well, are you a reporter? We saw some news vans, and-"

"Ohhh, shit. Okay. Thank you for telling me that. I have to go!" I started running off in the other direction. 

The Modern loomed in front of me on the left as I jogged up the street. Despite the cold weather, I was definitely breaking a sweat now. As I passed by, I saw my general manager talking to a reporter, a camera in his face. He saw me, too, and he waved, trying to get me to come over.

No way in hell.

"Park-san! Gyeong-Wan Park!" My general manager called to me, but I didn't stop. As he called my name, I rounded the corner, and I was gone. 

The Christmas lights of French Cup were on, and I didn't hesitate at the door this time. Through the show windows, I could see where the zombie horde had gone. Every chair was full, and they were lining the walls. There was no doubt he was here. 

Out of breath, I burst through the door. My eyes scanned the room, but I didn't see Kazuya. Was he in the kitchen? As I huffed and tried to catch my breath in the doorway, still holding the doorknob, a familiar voice rang out over the the bustling people.

"Gyeong-Wan!" 

I desperately searched worse, but didn't see him. My hand came off the doorknob, and I looked down at it, wondering what to do. The news vans-

"Oof!" More breath was knocked out of my lungs as a familiar shape collided with me, his arms going around to my back. My arms went around him, too, but when I caught my bearings- "What- who-?!" I gasped. 

The stranger's face went up, and my eyes almost popped out of my head. 

The beautiful stranger had light orange curls, wearing a white maid cap. The black maid dress was tight, the waist impossibly pinched more than what was natural. It was made of a highly shiny, smooth material that felt like plastic. There was a wound on her neck, big and bloody, with white remnants coming out of it. It looked like glue. And her face...

I knew my eyes were boggling out of my head, because staring up at me was the impossibly beautiful face of Kazuya, but female. Familiar, but so...cute. My own face turned fire engine red.

"Are you okay? Are you..." I couldn't get the words out. What that guy had told me, that destroyed street. What had happened? "There's news vans outside of the Modern. There's police. What- what happened? Are you okay? What..." My cheek went to his cheek, holding him in my arms tightly. He was trembling.

"No, I'm not okay. I'm not okay. I know there's news vans. It's all over the news! This is terrible. People are getting arrested, they're-" He was about to break down.

"Whoa, whoa, it's okay. No one's getting arrested. I was just there. What's going on?"

"Okaaay." He whined a little, about to cry, vulnerable. I didn't want to let him go. "Come with me to the kitchen. There's a small TV in there. We're watching it. It's on live. They're saying it's some kind of disaster, as if people got injured. Did people get injured? I'm- I'm too scared to go back. Did we do something wrong? Did we cause this?" 

"No, no. Everything's going to be okay. No one's hurt. I promise. I didn't see any ambulances."

"Okaaay." He sniffled. I held his hand as he led me to the back, and I squeezed it as he did, hoping it might make him feel better. 

As soon as the kitchen door swung open, surreality set in. The TV was on, set in the middle of his work table. Stools were set up, and there were a bunch of people that I didn't recognize in there. However, they did seem vaguely familiar...

"This is such bullshit!" Nikki's voice came out of a girl wearing black and white, her hair a fiery red. "They're saying we're the ones who caused this! It was those runners! They came out of nowhere! Ruining our day!"

"Shh, let's see what..." I didn't hear anything else Hanako said, he was speaking too low. I paused in the doorway just like before, taking him in. He actually looked pretty, what an amazing transformation. He looked like a Greek deer goddess, maybe Artemis since her symbol can be a deer.

"No, he's right," Chidori's voice came out of a young man wearing an outfit straight out of a fairy tale about French royalty. "They're blaming us. This is such bullshit. We didn't do anything wrong. We had permission. The city knows that, but the media's going to turn this into some anti-LGBTQ bull-"

Hanako hugged her sideways and she fell silent. All of their eyes were glued to the TV. The only person I recognized in there was Miyuki, who looked like the bride of Frankenstein herself, accurate down to the last detail. None of them acknowledged us coming in except for Nikki, who patted a stool next to him that was away from the edge of the table. They'd been waiting for Kazuya, but I was an extra. It made me feel awkward. 

He sat down, and I found a few milk crates to stack and sat next to him, barely seeing the TV, but it was enough, because what faced me was worse than nightmares.

"Yes, we are working on the situation," my general manager was saying. "We want to find out the facts. We need to know what happened here. Some of our guests are injured-"

"Injured," Kazuya said in a half sob, his hand going over his mouth. I took it away, holding it in my hand. Cradling it on my knees. 

"That's some more bullshit. Nobody got injured. It was fun. We were all having fun. You know how they are! They exaggerate everything!" Nikki was going off, too loud over the people on the TV.

"Shh, calm down," Chidori hushed him, her finger over her lips. "We have to hear this. This is what they're saying. We need to know their side of it."

"I don't want to know their side of it."

"Shut up, damn," Chidori hushed him again.

"No, you don't get it. You and Hanako are going to fly to Hokkaido tomorrow. This doesn't affect you! This is still our neighborhood! What's going to happen now?! People are going to be scared to come here! It's going to affect our-"

"Shh! Shut up! They've got people from our side talking now!" Chidori hissed, pointing at the TV. Nikki did shut up.

A goth girl in a long Victorian dress and a bloody fake knife stuck in her nearly bare and lily pale chest was talking to the camera. "We had permission. It's called Zombie Walk. The event's been being held forever. It's not well known, but... It's been being held in this neighborhood for a long time, every December."

"Why in December? Why not near Halloween?" The reporter interrupted her. 

"It's a protest against Christmas, of course. They turned this Pagan holy day into commercial crap. So, we're protesting it." She snapped her gum at the camera.

"I want to marry this girl," Miyuki said, finally breaking her silence.

The feed went to another camera, this time a runner. Everyone in the room moaned, having been hanging onto the girl's every word. 

"We were so scared," a woman with big glasses and a Yeti water bottle was saying. "I saw people fall down. They were yelling at us to get out. We had every right to be here. We were at a 5K event for children. It's for the children," she reiterated. 

"Oh, save the children! Will someone please think of the children?!" Nikki imitated her perfectly, throwing his arm over his forehead like he was fainting. Everyone started snickering, even Kazuya. I squeezed his hand encouragingly, and he was finally smiling. He squeezed my hand back, and I interlaced our fingers.

"Where are the ambulances?" The woman in the screen was saying. 

"Do you need an ambulance?" The reporter asked, sounding concerned.

"No, I don't, but someone might need one. It's really irresponsible. Why weren't they called yet? I'm sure there's injured people here."

"I'm sure they're on their way. Back to the newsroom..."

We turned to each other, eyeing each other. So, it was true. No one had been injured. Nikki sighed hugely, rolling his eyes. "The truth is going to come out. The more they interview them, the more their story will fall apart. Anybody want some coffee?"

"Matcha frappe!" Chidori raised her hand.

"I said coffee, not dessert."

"Asshole."

This made everyone laugh, the tension breaking in the room. I found I could breathe, too. I turned to check on Kazuya and he was already looking at me. It made me jump, but he was smiling. Preciously smiling again. 

"Do you want some coffee?" He asked me, and I was struck again by how pretty he is in drag. 

"Yeah." I smiled back to him, and he visibly relaxed. 

He squeezed my hand again, and I grinned, so happy that he was okay again.