My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

I wasn't very well-versed in many sorts of traditional events around the world as I held no particular interest in them. This meant I knew close to nothing about such rituals or practices that most people took part in during these times.

The same can be said for customs such as "Trick-or-treating".

Once I had asked the Measurement of Truth about it, I had gathered that it was a traditionally odd thing where people would go around to others' houses and demand confectionery from them in return for not bringing them misfortune.

In other words, extortion.

It was a rather frightening prospect, and I certainly couldn't understand why children would find such a thing nothing more than entertaining.

If you could scare someone enough with threats, you would be rewarded?

I first wondered why I, of all people, had never known about such a thing before, but then moved on to wonder why kids were being taught such destructive values in the postmodern world.

I suppose it's more of a game to them than anything, but extortion doesn't seem like the typical thing you would want to teach your child.

Well, not like I care about that type of thing.

In some places, it dates back to a time of rampant religion and in others, it was simply cultural, but there appeared to be similar customs in many areas of the world.

It was confusing, but not something I would reject per se. I didn't get the idea behind celebrating and rewarding kids who go around threatening people, but the concept itself is not something foreign to me.

Anyway, I wasn't sure why I had to dress up as something scary when the most effective way to threaten people was often to appear completely harmless at a glance rather than a monster.

The art of fear and intimidation is one in which I am a veteran, so I should know.

At the end of the day, neither Sana nor Sona was happy until I looked at least somewhat scary, so I ended up putting on my mask.

Shortly after leaving the house, we wandered around the neighbourhood bustling with kids and parents alike, all dressed up and screaming.

The area we lived in, Tree Jewel Boulevard, was a place consisting of many rich and powerful families. So, many of the kids were wearing exorbitantly-priced costumes―the likes of which you would only expect to see in grade-A professional films and movies.

Put bluntly, they were putting way too much effort in.

"Ciphy, there. Look..."

"Over there. Ciphy, look..."

...Though I can't say much, as these rascals are also wearing tens of thousands worth of cosmetics and material.

They each tugged on one of my arms and pointed to a house in particular.

It was a house exhibiting dozens of fancy and overdone decorations like flaming skulls, flashing red lights, animated wallpapers posted up and scary noises playing from a set of speakers hidden in bushes around the place.

There was even a smoke machine making the house look like it was shrouded within this mysterious, creepy fog.

I then realised that the kids' costumes were not the only thing to show off.

I imagine that, during this time, there would be many smug and affluent parents looking to flaunt their wealth and houses by decorating to the extreme.

Many of the kids around us were afraid to step near the abode that appeared straight from a C-tier horror flick, but of course, my twins were different from the rest.

On the contrary, they appeared attracted to the daring house.

Well, ghosts don't exist in the first place, but these two had experienced much worse than whatever could possibly happen to them here, so they rightfully had nothing to fear.

Knock knock-!

Approaching the house, Sophie and I stood silently behind the girls as they bravely knocked on the front door.

"Kyaaaaaah...!"

We waited for an answer, but instead of someone opening the door, a loud and spine-chilling scream reverberated from within the house.

"...!?"

"..."

Sophie might've flinched at the surprise, but otherwise, there was no reaction. The sound was obviously one played by a speaker, so I wondered if that was the owner's attempt at scaring us away.

Knock knock-!

They knocked again, and this time, the door slowly opened with an awful, dragged-out creak.

Beyond the ajar door, nothing but darkness could be seen.

A pair of crimson lights appeared before a voice sounded from within the void-like darkness.

"What brings thou~?"

It was clearly an altered voice that bore a resemblance to nails on a blackboard or a fork scratching on a plate, but it wasn't quite that unbearable.

""Trick or treat?""

The girls called out and asked, with Sona jumping a little to emphasise her zombie costume and Sana waving her arm to make more swishing noises of fluttering fabric.

"I choose..."

The dubious voice answered.

"Trick...!"

With a sudden yell, a gust of wind shot from within the door as it slammed shut right in our faces. In the next moment, a bucket of something black dropped on us from the porch canopy above our heads.

"Kyiieehk--?!"

It was a surprise to the four of us, but only Sophie reacted so violently as to shriek before grabbing onto me.

"...Get off. What are you so afraid of, huh?"

"Ah... Ahem, t-the hell d'ya mean, "afraid", hm?!"

Her arms were subtly trembling as she quickly let go after realising what she did, and though it was a little difficult to make it out, I could vaguely see her face flush with embarrassment at being the only one to scream.

I picked up one of the small black things that fell onto our heads and shoulders and held it between my thumb and index finger.

"Look. It's just a fake spider. Were you really scared of this?"

"Shut up."

"We don't even get poisonous spiders around here, what are you afraid of?"

"I said shut up, asshole!"

I purposefully neglected to mention how even the twins were completely unaffected by the jumpscare to avoid more abuse from Sophie, but I did think it was a rather cheap trick.

Anyhow, we stood outside the door for a while after that, but...

There were no sweets?

"Hey, ain't we supposed to get somethin' after all that?"

"...I thought so too."

Sophie agreed.

When the girls realised the owner of the house wasn't going to give us anything after the whole ordeal, they all looked at me pleadingly, their pumpkin-themed candy baskets hanging sullenly by their waists.

My gaze found the cobweb-covered camera that observed the entire front porch, upon which my eyes narrowed.

Glancing at each of the girls' faces which seemed to be imploring me to solve the situation, I sighed inwardly and whispered to them.

"Give me a moment."

Taking a step towards the door, the three girls moved cautiously behind me.

Knock, knock-!

"..."

I knocked on the door twice with the back of my hand, but nothing happened. Was this a sign that the owner of the house wanted us to leave?

...This bastard.

Trying to waste my time, are you? Does he think he can mess with me like this and get away with it? I'll show you.

Knock, knock-!

I knocked again, and nothing happened as I expected. Moving my masked face inches away from the camera on the door, I spoke in as cold and intimidating a tone I could muster.

"You better come out with some rewards soon or you'll see what a real 'trick' looks like."

I placed the briefcase that was part of my costume down and opened it, revealing an all-silver Desert Eagle in mint condition inside.

Big, intimidating, and heavy in the case of close combat.

If we were talking about looks and practicality, then this would have to be one of my favourite handguns there was.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite a weapon that was useful in situations where I would prefer things to be quiet, as in the case of the Ruger MIV-S, but outside of that was a different story.

I heard noises from inside the house as if someone was rushing about, and before long, the door opened.

"Uh?! What, you guys are still here?"

A young woman with glasses appeared, dressed in casual clothes without a scary costume, and flinched at our appearance.

Her purpose appeared to be to fix the trap that triggered to drop the fake spiders on us, but she didn't expect to find us still waiting there.

Staring at us awkwardly for a moment, she waved her hand dismissively while picking up the spiders on the floor.

"Shoo, shoo. I don't have anything to give you guys, so go away already."

The four of us looked at her as she continued on with her own business, ignoring our presence. Eventually, she finished, but when she finally looked back at us, jolted back in surprise.

"Ah?! H-hey, I said I don't have anything, alright?"

Her eyes flickered between my own and the Desert Eagle in my hands which aimed at her excuse-spewing face.

"So?"

I replied, to which she faltered.

"...Sorry?"

"I said, if you don't reward us, I'll show you what a real trick looks like. Do you still have nothing to give?"

A moment of silence passed, after which she gulped and adjusted her glasses.

"It's a convincing costume, but I'm not here to give out free stuff."

"Really? I think you'll be surprised just how convincing it is."

She stared at me in disbelief.

"Are you... That's not just a prop... Is it?"

I smiled.

"Do you want to find out?"

She gulped, but then shook her head and frowned at me.

"You asked if it was a trick or a treat. I said trick and thus gave you a trick. That's how it goes, so don't cause trouble and leave my property, please.

That's not how I thought it works, though.

What I gathered from Truth was that I am the one offering the trick, not you.

Even if that isn't the case, you wasted my time and so I am wanting something in return.

"Is that not just fair? You got your trick off. So, how about you just give us the confectionery, yeah? Believe me when I say that choice will save you a lot of trouble later on."

Emphasising the gun in my hand, the woman closed her eyes with furrowed brows as if she had a headache all of a sudden. Seconds later, she heaved a sigh and shrugged.

"Fine. God, I hate persistent people like you who can't take a joke..."

Retreating into her house as she complained, she soon returned with a huge basket containing myriad sweets and treats and divvied them into each of our own buckets.

"There. You happy? Now go, please."

I didn't carry a bucket, but the other three were evidently very satisfied as they buried their heads in what they had just received.

Nodding my head, we left the property and continued trick-or-treating for about two hours until 8 pm.

Similar things happened at a few houses where the owner required a little bit of 'coercion' in order to be persuaded to give us our reward, but there were also houses that left buckets of treats out in the open for people to take freely.

When we returned, the twins showed off their yield to me with great gratification and pride.

"Ciphy, look."

"Ciphy, so many sweeties..."

I recalled the moment Sana used her Temperature Manipulation ability to send a chill down the property owner's spine and the moment Sona used her Telekinetic Self-Enhancement to grab another kid's bag of sweets from out of his hands.

By the end of the night, they had collected so much more than their baskets were initially able to hold that all of the confectionery gathered had to be stored in a separate room.

To the two of them, I smirked and patted their heads.

"Hm, indeed. Well done."

Naturally, such a thing could only be accomplished by those who worked hard to deserve it.

A bountiful harvest.