77 Hair.

"My hair is getting kinda long." It was a normal Sunday afternoon and the one complaining wasn't me but Yuuno. Cuz of course it was. She was an ungrateful little piece of-

"Yeah yeah… Your hair does grow rather quickly."

"Like it takes hours to dry and it feels really heavy in the shower." Like I said ungrateful little- she doesn't even know what people would do to get hair like hers. Or hair at all. And here she was complaining.

"Bet."

"Guess, I'll have Obaa-chan cut it again." She shrugged and my eyes immediately ran up her face and met her eyes. The yuri manga in my hand fell breaking terminal velocity.

"You sho- NO! Wait! Why would you have her cut it?!"

Yuuno had Obaa-san cut her hair when she was a kid, and that thing made her look like a sasquatch. Her bangs looked like Woody's girlfriend had a love child with a samurai and put her hair in a shredder. Luckily her hair grew back real quick but that was a travesty.

"Is there something wrong with her technique?"

"Bruh, she cut your hair like you time travelled from the Showa era. You looked like a hairstyle terrorist!"

"It wasn't thaaat~ bad." She was lying in her bed kicking her legs around.

"Believe me, it was. Instead, here's a counter suggestion. We live in a big city now. How about we head to a big hair salon and get out hair treated properly yes? You should probably visit the dermatologist too since you dyed your hair yourself. In case your hair quality deteriorated. Right? You don't want to be bald, right? Right?"

"I mean… It costs like 20k for a haircut."

"Yuuno, you peasa- I mean you already cheap out on basically everything. Just this once you should splurge a bit. Especially since high school is right around the corner."

"Still…" She got up from the couch.

"Think about it. The debut. Looks can get you respect. Respect towards you is respect towards the country, yeah." Totally. A 100 per cent.

"Ughhh. Sure! Let's do this!" I knew it. Talk about nationalism and you can play her like a fiddle.

PHEW! I hadn't ever been more relieved than now.

I wasn't kidding when I said Obaa-chan was a hairstyle terrorist. She cut her hair thin to the point even a DNA chain would be thicker. Then she went ahead and tied it in tight pigtails. She put some hair tonic on her every weekend and made the whole house smell like the hospital. And don't even get me started on the housewife life hacks for added volume. Eggs, yoghurt, avocado. She turned Yuuno's hair into some sort of inedible exotic spaghetti.

If Yuuno went to high school like that, she'd turn into an embarrassment for the entire alliance.

"Say Mao, now that I'm spending on a haircut anyway, how about I cut it real short."

"Noo! Long hair is hot. I like long hair. Long hair is the best. Don't change."

"Then what's the point of even going to the salon?"

"Trimming and stuff. You know what? At most I could compromise for mid."

"It'll grow back… It's not like I'm going to trim it to your length. Maybe I'll have it done 'til right above my shoulders."

"I dunno… I really like your hair long. And most of my time is begrudgingly spent looking at you. Hell, I probably looked at your face longer than you looked at it. You have a responsibility to please me even."

"Like I care. It would get in the way of fighting."

"It's not always about fighting, Yuuno. Sometimes it's about drip. But I doubt a troglodyte musclebrain as you can understand. Just do whatever you want! Stupid cun-" My cheeks were inflated. I didn't know I'd be so heated about this.

"Short hair it is then. Let's go!" Without skipping a beat and jumping over my emotions, Yuuno grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

"Why do I have to go?"

"You should just get your hair stuff done while we're at it too. I can act as your bodyguard while we're outside. Or do you want your mommy to take you for a haircut?" Well, if Mom takes me that would be kinda embarrassing.

"But I don't have anything to do- Oh wait." While getting dragged along I find myself looking at a reflection.

A perfect looking man, with long eyelashes, a shredded body, and a defined face. I was an idol. It was just that my hair was the colour of shit after a bad meal.

I did have something to do at the hair stylist's after all.

"Let's go."

###

Getting your hair cut was kind of rewarding.

It was quite shameful to admit, but I did have kinda long bangs. Not because I was emo, or because I didn't want to make eye contact. My bangs were there because I wanted to avoid Obaa-chan touching my hair.

So usually I would just wear a hair tie and when I didn't, my hair would cover my eyes and give me a headache.

And in accordance to that, I got myself a good haircut too.

You can only imagine how much better I looked with my hair as it is now. Sharp, strong edges. Light trim around the sides and the back. Golden eyes were now clear to anyone willing to see them. The eyes that coincided with the ones from my previous life.

The only thing that was different was the colour.

I got up from the chair and headed outside after payment.

The little establishment was unisex but it still had two separate sections for men and women. My entire process lasted for about an hour and a half.

The door split open and the fresh smell of the doughnut stall in the mall greeted my nose.

A large-ginormous, glass dorm of capitalism that rung you dry of any money. Through the reinforced glass you could see vehicles flying outside.

I remember when I first came to this era I was unimpressed to see no flying carriages. But 16 years is a long time. Now not only do they exist, but seeing one is commonplace. I had outlived my former self.

Oh well, the star of the show was the sweet aroma of a doughnut. And I knew for certain- there was someone who would be unable to resist that aroma.

I speed-walked towards the scent and moments later saw a familiar yet foreign back. Bouncy short hair that formed a field around her head.

Then, sensing my presence, and like a scene out of an old kdrama, Yuuno turned her head. I swear, I saw this one scene from three different angles and in three different instances. Bangs that covered her forehead. A gloss that reflected all the lights of the mall. Motion that made me catch a glimpse of the neck I hadn't seen in years.

Hell, for a moment I thought that I was the vampire, looking at that neck. No wait, I'm getting a little too excited there. Proud demons don't simp.

I continued walking towards her as her eyes continued to be wide in surprise.

"Short hair it is." I was judging her hair from inches away. "You're never going back to full length again."

A compliment went by with no response so I turned to her face.

Her trembling fingers let go of the doughnut in her hands as it fell back into the doughnut box.

"Wh-Wh-WHY THE HECK IS YOUR HAIR COLOUR PINK?!"

"I mean, it's better than the poop coloured hair." She was about to put her sugar-coated fingers in my hair to examine it, but I grabbed her hand and took her to a bench.

"Wasn't your whole schtick not to stand out?!"

"No? It was to remain weak. You don't have to look ugly to be weak. Look at Risa-nee." I pointed at her, who walked out of the girl's section of the salon. She was getting her hair done too apparently. And so was Hime-nee.

"But still! You look like a friggin pretty boy idol!"

"Oh, thanks." I ruffled the back of my hair.

"That's not a compliment! Everyone is looking at you. You stand out wayyy too much."

"I mean, that's just because I'm straight up hot." I catch my reflection in her eyes. Kachow.

'Sheeesh… Gotta thank Mom and Dad for making this masterpiece.'

I couldn't tell why Yuuno was this surprised. I might have gotten hotter, but I was still not quite as hot as her entire family. Well, maybe... I don't know.

I sat down next to her and took a doughnut out of her box.

"Mao, we can still fix this. Just dye it black or something."

"Nah. Pink really suits my skin." Unlike Yuuno, who was almost pale, my skin was rather pink. And so were my lips. So pink hair was just a matter of fact. I was born to be an idol, what can I say?

More than that I was sick of having monotonous hair colour. In my previous life when all of my subordinates had cool colourful hair, I looked like I came out of an isekai manga. Well, playing the role of that one Japanese katana warrior woman. Since my hair was long and all.

So I put on armour to hide my boring self.

Now that I think about it, my hair did kind of look like Yuuno's before she got a haircut.

Anyways, this look served another function. If things go south and I can't gather enough capital, I'll use Risa-nee's connections to get into the business and make some hard cash that way.

Yuuno sighed before picking her doughnut up.

"By the way, are you sure you didn't dye your hair pink because that was my hair colour in my last life?"

"I DIDN'T!"

"Woah, that's a strong refusal. But I have to say, the hues do look kinda similar."

"I didn't."

I did.