A hungry werewolf devouring his third serving of pumpkin pie, a scantily clad angel refilling an overdressed vampire's glass with cranberry juice, a witch in a crooked hat smearing green paint across a zombie's face as they make out, a ghost in a bedsheet showing cute pictures on her smartphone to a mummy wrapped in toilet paper.

The merry chatter of the Halloween party went quiet when a new guest arrived.

Rin wore black tights, a black dress, black gloves — even the iconic bow in her hair was replaced with a black variant. But it was not her clothes that struck everyone with awe. In her hands she held a severed head — and not just any head, but that of her dear brother Len. Her inseparable twin, her irreplaceable other half, now rested lifelessly in his sister's delicate hands as an accessory to her outfit. His gaze, which had always radiated unconditional love for Rin, now stared meaninglessly into nothingness forever, as she caressed his dead head like her most valuable treasure.

"Do you like it?" Rin smiled slyly through her tears. She brought Len's lifeless head to her face, rubbing her hot, blushing cheek against his pale coldness with sublime devotion. "This is my costume. A mourning sister."

As she turned her gaze back to the audience, the profound loss in her eyes was enough to drown in. And she showed it off proudly as her most brilliant Halloween idea. It wasn't about dressing in black. It was about the unquenchable sorrow, the irreplaceable absence, the unfillable void in her soul where her brother used to be. All real. All part of her costume.