Momo: A Jinx in Pure Heart

Chapter 11: Back to School

Back in the attic of the ramshackle house, Adorabat and Badgerclops were starting to get stressed out. They had both been helping the little quiet ghost decide what costume to wear, but so far, the ghost didn't quite seem to agree with their choices. At this point, the bat and badger felt like they had gone through the entire wardrobe, with almost no part of the attic remaining unturned.

"Grr! Are ghosts always so indecisive?" Badgerclops grunted in frustration, clenching both sides of his head as he reached the breaking point.

"Just when I thought ghosts look good in anything," Adorabat groaned, sitting on the wooden attic floor as she no longer had the energy to even fly after all that work. Despite her aggressive frustration, she tried to resist her urge to scream at the spectral being when she turned to talk to it, though she still sounded quite loud. "Why don't you like any of these costumes!? What is it you wanna wear!?"

The ghost still flinched from Adorabat's outburst despite knowing it wasn't as intense as it was at the beginning, but couldn't speak its reasons, unfortunately. All it could do was drift back to the crayon drawing that still hung on the menacing ghost painting. The ghost gestured with its noodly arms on the two drawn Sweetypies that were on either side of the drawn version of itself.

Adorabat watched the presentation carefully, slightly tilting her head in moderate confusion. From what she could see from the crayon drawing, the ghost wanted to be outside with the Sweetypies, desiring to be friends with them and live alongside them without fear. But Adorabat then noticed another detail in the picture. The drawn version of the ghost was positioned between the two drawn Sweetypie kids, but it was not in a costume – it was shown to be simply the way it was, a ghost. That's when it clicked:

"Badgerclops!" she turned to the badger whose name she just called, "I think I figured out the costume!"

Badgerclops threw his hands up and let out a growling sigh of relief. "Finally! A choice had been made! I was just about ready to just slam a costume on that ghost and be done with it!" Badgerclops felt like he was there forever; though it was only for a few hours, he thought for sure he was going to be late for pie. But knowing that a solution had finally been realized and there was still time before the pie-event to make it there, Badgerclops was finally able to relax. "So what's the verdict?" he asked Adorabat about the final costume decision.

Adorabat didn't answer right away. Instead, she focused her attention on the ghost while holding a dusty white bedsheet that appeared to be crudely stitched in some parts. "Hold still," she politely told the ghost in front of her. When she was sure the ghost was doing as she asked it, she then tossed the bedsheet over the spirit, letting the piece of cloth fall on it until the ghost was completely covered by the sheet.

Badgerclops appeared to slump, seemingly feeling a little let down at how overly simple this 'costume' was. "Really?" he remarked, "What's that supposed to be?"

"It's a ghost," was Adorabat's complete answer, "some of us dressed as ghosts before, so this fits perfectly." She smiled and put her wings on her side, feeling proud of her realization. The ghost seemed to agree, lifting both its arms in joy which lifted corners of the cloth with them.

Badgerclops, on the other hand, didn't look that impressed. "Of course, they're a living Harvest Moon decoration. Who would've thought?" he muttered like he heard what he heard a million times already. But nevertheless, he went along with Adorabat's recommendation, approaching the now-shrouded ghost and converted his arm into a toolset needed to fix it up.

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Meanwhile back on the streets of Pure Heart Valley, Mao Mao and Momo, plus the two accompanying Candy Cup Witches, were making the trek back to the school. It only made sense to return there since that place was the scene of the toilet paper crime, the scene of where said crime was allegedly perpetrated by a ghost.