Apparently, there’s supposed to be a jack-o’-lantern contest somewhere downtown the last week of October. Flyers advertising the contest claimed to welcome all attendees and their pumpkins so long as they behaved while attending. Sounds easy enough.

Two weeks ago you had bought and carved out your own pumpkin, creating details and carving out the openings where the candles would glow. You were proud of your artwork, so you enrolled yourself and your jack-o’-lantern into the contest. Even if you didn’t win, at least you put your pumpkin to good use before it eventually got to rot.

However, upon arriving at the contest you noticed the competition was fierce. Many other contestants had wonderfully decorated and detailed jack-o’-lanterns, far more impressive than your own. Despite that, you remained optimistic. Maybe the judges were looking for simplicity? Maybe you still had a shot of winning this contest?

But just as you were about to go and place your work onto its stand, someone clearly in a hurry bumped into you— Hard. You stumbled, your jack-o’-lantern went flying, and right before your eyes it smashed and fell apart on the concrete. All you could do was stare at your hard work, which was now a pile of orange mush, with its candles covered in pumpkin guts.

“I’m… So sorry.” A voice to your right said. It was the person who bumped into you. He wore a traditional white fox mask, his oversized outfit darkly clothed to match. “I didn’t mean to… Wow, that’s…”

He seemed to be looking down at your pumpkin carnage, but you couldn’t make out his expression behind his mask. There was a beat that passed before he looked back at you, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Heh, sorry… Hey! How about I treat you to the best caramel apples in town? You’ll like them, trust me.” He turned slightly, waving his hand for you to follow. “My name’s Heizou, by the way. Come on!”