Uzaki's Strange Halloween Festival

NOTE: Despite her appearances, Uzaki is 20. She’s just a short stack. Also, while I tried to get everything right as far as what each character calls each other in the show/manga, I might’ve gotten some things wrong, so… pls forgive~.

Oh, also, writing the Japanese name suffixes like 'chan' and 'san' feels cringey in English, at least to me, so... I'm not doing that. Sorry, not sorry.

The brisk October air bit at Ami’s thinly covered arms and bare legs. What kind of sadist thought something like this was a good idea for a costume in late fall? She wished she’d jumped for her father’s idea of going as a barista to promote the cafe. Even if that was a terrible, cringey idea, it might just beat out the semi-skimpy witch costume she was wearing since she’d at least still have feeling in her legs…

“Are you doing alright, Ami? You look cold.”

“Tch.” Was the blue-haired woman’s only response. She glared over at Sakurai and gave him a resentful once over. He actually had taken her father’s advice and was wearing his work uniform. She knew it was so he could have an excuse to not put any effort into a costume, but it still ground on her that his unfairly chiseled body was hidden underneath what she should’ve been wearing while she was exposed. She looked away from Sakurai and pouted, “I’m surprised you said you’d come with me after work. It’s a festival. There’ll be plenty of people there.”

Sakurai glanced away and went to scratch his neck. “Well, it’s not like I’m busy right now since all the new games are coming out next month. Plus, Uzaki invited me, so…”

Ami’s ears twitched. The cold was the second thing on her mind now. “Oh, she did? I thought she was too busy with midterms to do anything today.”

“I thought so too. She hadn’t been bothering me lately, then all of a sudden she calls me out of nowhere and says we should go to the school’s haunted festival.” Sakurai sighed. “She just better have finished all her studying if she’s going to play like this.”

Ami’s face was the essence of indifference as she nodded in agreement, but inside she was chortling to herself. Nice work, Hana! She must have been studying her rear end off to make time to hang out with Sakurai tonight. Ami would definitely be getting treated to some unexpected and delicious sights tonight at this rate~.

The two college students arrived at the festival just as the sun was dipping below the surrounding buildings. It was a noisy, busy affair full of young college students and slightly older alumni all crowding around the various food and game stalls. The festival’s notorious ‘horrified haunted cat’ motif was displayed everywhere it could, including on masks people were wearing on the sides of their heads. Ami drank in the sights and the smells, but more importantly, she was keeping her eye out for one very important sight. That sight was…

“SEEEEE-NNNNN-PAAAAAIIII~!”

The cheerful voice of Hana rang out over the din of the festival. Then, from the throngs of people bounced the younger woman herself - and Ami did mean ‘bounce’. Hana had a massive… personality. She was loud, boisterous, gremlin-like, and cheerful. Also, she had a massive chest that made Ami’s eye twitch sometimes. Like right now, when she was running towards them and they were threatening to break free from her cutesy costume and strike down the people around her like bowling pins. Someone THAT short having boobs like THOSE just seemed like a cruel joke to all the tall, flatchested women of the world.

Hana bounded up to them and screeched to a stop just in front of Sakurai. Her cheerful expression twisted into one of mirth as she looked up and down at the man before her. “Senpai, did you really come here in your barista uniform? Do you think that you can pass it off as a costume? If you needed to shop for a costume, you should have told me! I know that loners need an escort to go shopping, so I would have been happy to go with you!”

Sakurai’s brow twitched. “You… Who are you to talk when you’re dressed like that?”

“Ehh? What do you mean, senpai?” Hana quipped. “It’s totally a costume! I’m a pumpkin!”

More like a whole pumpkin patch. Hana had on green leggings, shoes, and long sleeves under a bright orange top. The top had faint lines running down all around it and three black jack-o’-lantern faces on it - two on the chest and one on her stomach. Ami assumed it was a costume usually meant for pregnant women, but as far as the chest area went, Hana seemed to be filling out those ‘pumpkins’ just fine without any help from hormones or milk…

“A pumpkin? Really?” Sakurai said. He looked down at her and let out a single smug chuckle. “Did you forget you already wore that last weekend?”

“Wha-” Hana froze. Her eyes wavered and red crept up her cheeks. She scowled and jabbed a finger at Sakurai’s chest. “And you wore this TODAY! At least what I’m wearing is seasonal!”

“Sure, sure,” Sakurai brushed off Hana’s attempts to squabble easily while walking towards the festival. The short woman stayed right at his side, still mouthing off at him. Then there was Ami. Forgotten, but not the least bit sad about it. She reached up and mixed her glasses on her nose. She grinned. This was the perfect chance to watch these two in a new situation. It honestly couldn’t get more perfect than this!

Ami made sure to keep up with the two lovebirds in denial while not getting close enough to ruin their mood. It wasn’t hard to do - Sakurai’s height and Hana’s sharp voice let Ami find them even if they dipped out of her sight into the college crowd. She followed them to a candy apple stand, where Hana got herself an apple, then to a cotton candy stand. Ami grinned as she noted that Sakurai was paying for the cotton candy. She couldn’t hear what they were saying over the din, but from the grimace on his face and the smug smirk on Hana’s, Ami could guess what was going on all too well.

Hana tore through the sweets, all the while laughing and poking at a tired-looking Sakurai, then dragged the man over to a takoyaki stand. More food already? Ami took a second to glance around the festival. There were a lot more food stalls here this year than there had been last year. In fact, from where she stood, she could only see a couple of attractions that weren’t selling one kind of treat or another. Strange. She’d recently found out that the area was home to a lot of foodies, but that couldn’t be the reason for this unbalanced Halloween spread, could it…?

Shoot, she’d fallen behind while looking around! Ami scuttled after Sakurai and Hana, this time risking getting closer so that she could hear the two talk. Right now, Hana was saying, “So yummy! Seriously! You need to try this!”

“Really? I’m not a big fan of takoyaki, but…” The tall man reached over and grabbed the toothpick from Hana. He speared one of the octopus balls, then helped himself to the whole thing. His eyes widened while he chewed. Meanwhile, Hana was staring at him - or more specifically, his mouth and the toothpick. Her face was reddening. “Oh, you’re right - this is good,” The oblivious man said aloud. Sakurai wiped off his mouth with a thumb and put the toothpick back in Hana’s tray. He stopped walking and stared at the pumpkin-dressed woman. “Are you feeling alright? Your face is-”

“I-I’M FINE!” Hana interrupted loudly. She snatched up the second, unused toothpick she had, hurriedly crammed all the rest of the takoyaki into her mouth, then pointed at a nearby yakisoba stand. “Tha’ eck, ‘enpai!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full- Uzaki, slow down!” Sakurai pleaded while getting dragged along yet again. Ami giggled salaciously. A one-sided indirect kiss, then sudden handholding that neither of them seems to notice? Delicious! Maybe they would share a noddle with this yakisoba…

While Ami’s desire to see a shared noodle fell short, she did get to see Sakurai catch Hana after she almost tripped. That led to plenty of blushing and Hana hastily filling her mouth with fried noodles while saying how good they were to move on from the moment. Honestly, Ami wasn’t sure how Hana was even still hungry by this point after so much food. The capacity of the short woman was no joke - though Ami was starting to see a bit of a bump showing under her tight orange shirt.

FINALLY, the two went to something other than food. It was a haunted house… for couples. Naturally, those two didn’t notice the ‘for couples’ motif and went in anyways. Ami went to follow but got stopped for being single. A small knife wrenched into her gut as she stepped back. So what if she was single!? Maybe she just liked watching other people better! Was that a crime!? Huh!?

Instead, Ami just waited outside for them to finish. After about ten minutes (in the middle of which, she swore she could hear a particularly sharp screech come from inside), the two came back out… and Hana had a candy apple shaped and colored like a rotten heart. There had still been food! Why!? At least Hana seemed to be enjoying it despite it being her second one. Also, Sakurai seemed a little pale…

“Oh, Ami! Hey!” Hana called out. She detached from Sakurai’s side to bounce over to her. “Why’d you wait out here?”

“I would’ve loved to come in, but…” Ami couldn’t stop a coy smile from spreading on her face. “It was for couples only.”

“What? But senpai and I aren’t-” Hana froze. Her cheeks started to turn red again. She glanced over at Sakurai, then ferociously gnashed through her apple. She swallowed her last bite and angrily grabbed Sakaurai’s arm. “Y-You’re gonna buy me more takoyaki since you scared me in there! And because you ate one of mine!”

“S-Scared you…?” Sakurai said absently, but already they were in line. Ami’s coy smile widened. She really wasn’t sure why there was so much food at this year’s festival, but it was making for some tasty, tasty moments, so… it wasn’t an issue~. Actually, Ami was feeling a little peckish herself and Hana had made the takoyaki sound pretty good…

While eating (Hana hadn’t been exaggerating - the takoyaki really was great), Ami kept trailing after the close pair. Sakurai had another taste of the Takoyaki (using the second toothpick this time, unfortunately) and pondered aloud, “I wonder how this is made… Do you think your mom could teach me after we finish with udon?”

“Hm?” Hana said sharply after swallowing the last of this second serving of takoyaki. Sheesh, was she done already? How was she still so hungry? The short woman asked suspiciously, “Why are you bringing up my mom all of a sudden?”

“What? I was just asking if-”

“Hey, you ate some of my takoyaki again!” Hana interjected angrily. She turned pointedly from the tall man and seethed, “You’re gonna have to get me more now, senpai!”

Sakurai frowned. “You offered it to me. You offered the first time too.”

“I- I just said they were yummy, not that you should have some!” Hana stuttered.

Sakurai rolled his eyes, but to Ami’s surprise, went off to get more takoyaki. Meanwhile, Hana’s fire faded. She sat still and twiddled her fingers together, seemingly lost in thought. Oh boy. Hana had changed gears from obnoxiously flirting after Sakurai had mentioned her mom, which meant… that misunderstanding was still going on somehow. Ami wasn’t the biggest patron of that particular meal, but it was still spicy enough to make her not want to try and resolve said misunderstanding. No, more importantly…

“Hey, Hana? Aren’t you getting full yet? You’ve already had a lot to eat.”

The short-stack started at Ami's voice. Then she pursed her lips and put her hands on her stomach, which was definitely looking a little round now. “W-Well… I’m already full, but there’s nothing else here, and if we’re not doing anything, senpai will want to go home already, so…”

Ami’s brain did a tailspin. Ok, wait, wait- focus! You can get more out of this, Ami! “R-Really? Nothing else? I’m sure there’s at least a fortune-telling booth somewhere.”

Hana shook her head. “No, there’s not. I already checked everywhere and it’s all just food.”

Again, weird, but at this point, Ami wasn’t going to protest. “So you’re just going to keep eating?”

The shorter woman’s cheeks turned a light pink. “Uuh… I-I think I can keep going for a little while… for senpai, of course! To make sure he doesn’t just veg out at home like his usual loner self!”

Ami plastered a vague smile on her face and said, “Ok, but try not to overdo it.” Meanwhile, internally… yum~. This was one of the weirdest setups the two not-lovers had had so far, but it was still good as far as Ami was concerned~.

“Alright, I’m back.”

Hana turned at Sakurai’s voice, saying, “Finally! What took you so-” Then she froze, her eyes wide. Ami couldn’t blame her. After all, Sakurai was holding two jumbo-sized trays of takoyaki. “Umm… senpai? Why did you get so much?”

“I got tired of you making me get more and more, so…” Sakurai admitted. He gave one to Hana, then helped himself to a fried ball from the second. “I also wanted to have some without you getting mad at me.”

“Oh. R-Right. Uh… s-sorry…”

“What was that?”

“Oh, uh- th-thanks, senpai!” Hana stammered. She picked up a toothpick, then Ami saw her grimace a tiny bit before cramming her mouth full of fried octopus once again.  Ami nodded in sympathy. Sure, it was good takoyaki, but it likely didn’t taste that great anymore after two full servings of it. Fight on, Hana! Fight on for your heart~!

The three continued to walk through the festival. Ami watched as the two in front of her ate while they walked. Sakurai seemed to be enjoying himself, but Hana was having a very different experience. Still, despite the bulge growing beneath her bulging chest, Hana did manage to polish off the whole jumbo-sized serving of octopus. She even did it before Sakurai finished his, much to everyone else’s surprise.

“S-*hic* Senpai, Senpai!” Hana said after narrowly stifling a burp. She pointed over at a shooting gallery. “W-Win me a prize, senpai!”

Sakurai stared over at the gallery. “I’m still eating.”

“Ehh? You don’t need all that!” Hana said pointedly. She snatched the tray from him and grinned up at him. “Come on, senpai! Show me that those useless muscles of yours are good for something after all!”

Sakurai rolled his eyes but still allowed himself to be roped into picking up the cork musket. Meanwhile, Ami was watching Hana worriedly. The orange-clad woman had picked up one of the four remaining octopus balls and was eyeing it wearily. “Uh, Hana?” Ami asked cautiously. “I’m still a little hungry, so I could help you with those if you want me to…?”

Hana side-eyed Ami. Then she grimaced. “No, I… I need to do this myself…” She let out a soft burp into her hand, then shut her eyes and forced in the takoyaki. Ami watched the fried food travel down her throat, disappear past her collarbone and her massive chest, then eyed her gut. It was a genuine food baby now - a sizable lump that was starting to make good on the jack o’ lantern’s face plastered across it. Hana sent a second takoyaki ball down after that, then the third and fourth. She belched into her hand again, this time louder and wetter. Ami bit her lip. She loved seeing Hana and Sakurai make fools of themselves around each other, but maybe this was going a little far this time…

Although, hey! This was a shooting game, which wasn’t food! Hana had been wrong earlier! Now she could have a break while-

Nope. Ami’s eyes glazed over as she looked at all of the prizes. It was all food. Carious candies waiting to be knocked down, some bags of popcorn that looked like they’d rip if they were shot, and even a heavy-looking placard that would be exchanged for a whole pumpkin pie. This was getting ridiculous. Still, Hana had a chance so long as Sakurai missed his shots…

“Winner, winner!” The boothman yelled out just as Sakurai planted a cork square into the placard and tipped it over. “Congrats, young man! Here’s your prize!”

Sakurai beamed as he took the pie. Then… he turned to Hana. “I won you something just like you asked. Is this good enough for you?”

“Oh… uh… y-yeah, to- *urp* -tally!” Hana responded, though her voice sounded anything but happy. She took the pie and just stared at it. She glanced up at Sakurai. “I-I don’t want to be too selfish, so you can have some too!”

“And have you demand that I win another one? Pass,” Sakurai said bluntly. He turned away from Hana and started walking while saying, “It would suck to walk around with a whole pie, so we can sit down over here while you eat.”

The two women followed behind Sakurai. Hana turned and gave Ami a pleading look, but… “S-Sorry, Hana, but I really can’t stand pumpkin pie…” Ami said regretfully. Hana’s eyes fell and she once again looked at the pie in her hands. She swallowed hard.

To Hana’s credit, she did still eat the entire pie. It took thirty whole minutes of strange, pregnant silence while she struggled with the rich pie, shoving forkfuls down her throat every time her mouth was empty. Ami was painfully aware of how hard it was for Hana to keep eating, but if Sakurai noticed, he didn’t show it. He just sat there and waited.

Then… the end was signaled by plastic clattering on aluminum and a loud, unrestricted *hUUUuuuooooorp* that ruffled Ami’s hair. Hana hiccuped and panted while setting the empty pie tin down next to her. She held her belly and moaned plaintively while rubbing it. Ami winced. Her belly was almost poking out as far as her boobs now, which was a monumental feat. Also, Ami had apparently been right when she’d offhandedly thought that Hana’s costume had been made for pregnant women. It had stretched perfectly while Hana’s tum had grown, not revealing a sliver of skin despite how much more it had to contain now. That leering pumpkin face on her belly also looked a lot happier now, the cheeky bastard.

“A-All done!” Hana panted. She patted her stomach and gave Sakurai a weak smile. “I-I’ll let you decide where to go next, s-senpai! J-Just don’t *uurp* ask me to pay for anything!”

“Really? Then…” Sakurai stood up and pointed at a big crowd that had grown a ways away. “I think we should participate in that.”

Ami had no idea what ‘that’ was, but apparently, Hana did. Her eyes widened and she looked green. “H-Haha! That’s a good one, senpai, but we can’t! O-Only people in costume can do that, and we’re not-”

“This is a costume,” Sakurai interrupted. Then his eyes glittered coldly. “And so is yours… isn’t it?”

Hana’s expression froze. She couldn’t argue. It was Sakurai’s total win. Hana groaned mournfully, then forced herself to her feet. Ami almost swore she could hear the contents of the smaller woman’s belly shift and gurgle when she stood, but chose to ignore it. Then, while following Sakurai over, Ami asked, “So? What is that, anyway?”

“It’s…” Hana stopped to burp, her face turning red as a few passersby’s turned to stare at her. “I-It’s… the speed-eating contest…”

Of course it was. “Hana, you’re not really going to-”

“I-I’m not! Really!” Hana belched out. She groaned and rubbed her swollen belly. “Th-They won’t let me in anyways since I’m not in costume! I’m safe! SA-FE!”

Uzazki was, in fact, not safe.

Ami stared despondently up at the stage, where Hana was standing tearfully behind a table alongside four men and three other women. None of those men were Sakurai. He was standing next to Ami. The blue-haired woman glared up at him. “Why aren’t you up there with her!?”

Sakurai shrugged. “I’m not wearing a costume. Uzaki is.”

Ami sighed. This had gone too far. “You know, Hana really shouldn’t eat anymore. You haven’t noticed, but she’s seriously stuffed-”

“No, I’ve noticed.”

Ami froze mid-sentence. “Come again?”

“I’ve noticed,” Sakurai repeated, still looking up at the stage. Ami looked in horror as Sakurai’s serious face donned a grim smirk. “I wasn’t going to come, but Sakaki told me beforehand. The school board made a fuss about using the school budget for a festival for Halloween since it’s not celebrated here, so now it’s a ‘harvest’ festival -but it was so short notice that everyone just switched to food or added food in.”

The piercing man continued, “Uzaki was planning on keeping me out all night at this festival. She told me that if I didn’t go to every stall here at least once, then I would be nothing but a worthless shut-in in her eyes forever. So, since I knew what every stall was going to have…” His smirk grew as the contest announcer waved a hand and the eight people onstage started eating - Hana included. He looked at Ami and she flinched. “I haven’t made her do anything. I’m just letting her teach herself a lesson.”

“Y-You…” Ami said, disgusted. She looked up at the stage. It was speed-eating, so while there was a lot of food, it wasn’t as much as it could have been. Still, Hana was both tiny and already overstuffed. She was forcing herself to eat, but it was painfully clear how much she regretted each bite. Ami watched as candies and cider pouted down Hana’s throat and into her rounded tum, which was just barely visible over the table. How was she doing this? This was too much, wasn’t it? How could her tiny belly fit this much in it? Oh God, was she too stubborn to stop at all? Was she going to keep going until she popped? Ooooh, Ami couldn’t watch!

“And in third place, we have the pregnant pumpkin patch - Hana Uzaki!”

Ok, maybe Ami could watch. She stared up at the stage at Hana, who was slowly waddling away from her spot on the table, which was now miraculously empty. ‘Waddle’ really was the right word for Hana’s movement now, though - all of the pep in her step was gone, replaced by slow and pained movements revolving around keeping her middle as stable as possible. Her giant, engorged middle that stuck out a good inch past her prolific chest. In fact, her chest was even resting on top of her belly now, making it look even bigger.

“For third place, Hana Uzaki wins a prized pair of sake bottles! They won’t do much for her now, but we hope she enjoys them thoroughly with her partner after their child is born!”

Ami’s glasses fogged over. She put her hands to her mouth and silently screamed into them. This. Was. IT! Quick- Hana’s reaction! She was beet-red and couldn’t even manage to speak well enough to tell the announcer she wasn’t pregnant! Now Sakurai! He had his face buried in his hands, but his burning ears told Ami that he was just as red-faced as Hana! Back to the shortie! She had snagged the sake and was waddling as fast as she could off the stage! She couldn’t even LOOK at Sakurai right now! This - Was - Too - GOOD! Ami wanted to feel bad for how obviously mortified and uncomfortable Hana was, but it was TOO. TASTY!

“Oh- eh? Eh, wait- hey! Stop!” Ami protested as Sakurai grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the crowd. She pulled herself free and sighed while following the fast-paced man over to a quiet bench a short ways away. She frowned, but… she understood. Hana’s punishment time was over. Time to pack it in.

After a little while, Hana managed to shuffle all the way over. She was completely out of breath and belching every other second by the time she arrived. Also, Ami could now definitely hear Hana’s belly gurgling and churning even over the sound of the festival around them. The tum noises seemed extra surreal while looking at it since the stretched, distended face of Hana’s belly jack o’ lantern stared back at Ami right below the two grinning faces on her boobs. So much for filling out only part of her costume. At this point, Hana might actually end up stretching it out…

“S-Senpaaaaaiiiii…” Hana moaned as she got close. She sniffed loudly, then wailed, “M-M-My tummy hurts… and it’s your fault…”

Sakurai’s cheeks were still blatantly red. He cleared his throat, then sighed. “I… Yeah, ok, it is. I took it too far. Sorry, Uzaki.”

Another sniff. Tears started to form at the corners of Hana’s eyes. “I-I-I can’t go home like this! Wh-What am I g- *HuUOooOOrp* gonna tell m-mom and d-dad? Y-You b-better take responsibility for this, s-senpai- *uUUURP*!”

Sakurai’s lips wavered. It seemed like he didn’t know where to look right now. He held out his arm to Hana while staring into the distance. She immediately latched on and they started walking slowly toward the festival’s exit. “F-Fine,” he finally said. “You can… You can stay over at my apartment tonight so you can digest everything.”

Ami didn’t follow. Instead, she sat down on the bench and watched the two leave. A loud *HuuuOOOOOoOOOORP* that drew in dozens of eyes echoed back to her, as well as a piercing demand of, “I-It hurts, senpai! Y-You better rub it when we get home to make it - *HHuuuOOOO-UUUURP* - feel better!” This was followed by Sakurai frantically looking around and frantically demanding something from Hana quietly, which was then followed by a small nod and Hana clutching Sakurai’s arm even more tightly.

There, on the bench, Ami decided to take a moment. She took off her glasses and carefully placed them on the bench next to her. She folded her arms across her front and leaned back. She closed her eyes. She ran through all of the events of that night, dwelling particularly on the spectacular finale she had just witnessed.

That… was… delicious. Thank you very much for the meal~.

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So... I was late with my late post. Whoops. Work left me super tired, so no writey, and then it was Thursday. But hey, at least it's done now, right? Ha. Haha.

This fic actually turned out really good in my opinion! Sure, it's not as long as some other fics, but I think I really nailed the flow and comfy atmosphere! It could've used some more intimate tum moments, perhaps, and maybe a bit more detail in the stuffings... but I kinda felt like this was a scenario that should focus way more on the mood and characters than the tum. Call me a fool if you must, but I don't think I'd change a thing about this fic even if I had more time to work on it~.

Also, I think I'm gonna start doing more of the above where I let y'all in on a little of my mindset one each fic, just to give a little extra look into ye ol' creative process. Hopefully y'all appreciate it at least a lil' bit.

The monthly character post will be up later today since I finally have last month's character fic up, and the poll will be up in two days after that!