Mai hadn't talked to her stepmother in 4 years. Her father had died and Mai had traveled to Tokyo for the funeral. Now it was her stepmother who had died, and her kids were having a memorial service in Shinjuku for all their friends and family. Even though I never liked the woman her parents brought their kids up to be respectful. At the service Mai was reunited with her stepsister and her brothers, it rekindled a whole lot of memories, not many of which were good.
It was just before my 14th birthday when Mai's birth mother died of a heart attack. Her older siblings were both already in college, so, it was just her and her father. Mai's father just did not know how to go about raising a teenage girl by himself, so within a year of her mothers passing he began dating a divorced woman he had met through work.
None of her family members cared for her, but the father was really just looking for help with Mai. So, in the summer before 10th grade they got married by registration without any wedding celebration. Mai and her new family moved in to a big house with her and her daughter Takina, who was a year younger than Mai.
That summer was one Mai would love to forget when her parents went on a trip , so she decided to have some friends over for a little fun. Things were going good until Takina and her friends showed up and raided Mai's dad's liquor cabinet. The neighbor got mad about the noise and called the cops. Mai's older brother was called by one of the cops who knew him, then the party was broken up. Mai never even got to give her side of the story to her dad before she was told she was grounded by my stepmother for getting Takina into trouble. Even though Takina's brother had been gotten Takina out of trouble with the locals on many occasions.
The rest of the summer just went by. Mai was not allowed to see any of her old friends and had to stay and do housework while Takina went to the mall almost every day. When it came time to start shopping for the start of the next school year, she was told that whatever clothes she needed would be bought by her stepmother.
About a week before the school year started, Mai was told that they were going for haircuts the next day. Her hair was half-way down my back and all she ever had done was my sister would trim the ends every 6 months or so, when she was home from college. Mai tried to ask her father about having to get her hair cut but he told that all those decisions were up to Ichika, Mai's stepmother.
The next day her stepmother, Takina and she went to the shop near the shrine where she was told by some women she met.
Both Mai and Takina were scared as they moved around the dense forest as they climbed the stars and the reached the shop made of thick bamboos.
Mai recalled that she had only been in a beauty salon once with her mother before she died, so the whole thing was new to her.
As we entered, out came the Kejoro as she introduced herself as Katsumi Kejoro and was smoking her pipe .
"To the Winds of flower, to the stream of the river, Katsumi Kejoro at your service"
"Greetings Miss Kejoro, I woukd like to have my kids get their hair cut"
As there were only one chair, and the Kejoro said to wait as she was cleaning the scissors.
As Mai was sitting and looking around at the surroundings, She asked mother that she should have her hair cut like she usually gets. Mai did not like the sound of that since Takina's hair has been above her shoulders since she met her 6 month's ago. Mai started to speak up to her mother about how she wanted my hair cut, but, she stopped her right away, telling me that she will decide what she need.
Upset, she sit nervously awaiting her fate when Takina starts rambling on about how much she will love short hair. Just then the Kejoro calls over to Ichika to send whoever is first. Both were afraid of the looks of the pale look of the black kimo woman.
Without hesitation, Mai stood up first as the Kejoro escorted over to the station and caped her.
The woman looks straight past Mai to her step mother and asks what she wants.
Ichika replies "Cut her hair till the chin and shave the nape".
Mai got afraid and knew in her heart that hair would be short, but she thought if it was cut to her shoulder like Takina 's she could live with that.
The lady bowed and never spoke to her , she just began to cut off the bottom 18 inches of hair. As much as Mai wanted to keep her long hair, maybe a fresh style would be good to meet new friends at her new school. After the initial chop, the lady sectioned ofher hair, pinning up the top then combing the sides and back.
To her shock, she then took her scissors at the side of her head and started cutting at her hairline, up and over to her ears. Mai was shaking in the chair as she continued across her nape, then over to the other ear. Mai started to pull up in the chair, when she was pushed back down in the seat, the lady warning me not to upset mother.
Just when she was settling back down, the Kejoro holds up something unfamiliar to her and turns them on with a loud whirring sound. Mai start getting upset again, not knowing what she is about to do. She raises them to the side of her head, and Mai's mouth drops open as she begins to buzz the hair from the side of mher head. This was the late 70's, and girls with clippered haircuts are still several years away. The Kejoro buzzed to within two inches of the top and continued all the way around to the other side. She then let the top down and to Mai's horror, started cutting off what was left of any length she had left a full inch above her ear.
Mai sat stunned as the Kejoro went around her head to the other side, only to be brought out of her trance to her Step Mother who tell her to clip the bangs good and short so they will stay out of her eyes until the next haircut. As the Kejoro finished up, Mai stared at her reflection in the mirror, wondering want kind of friends she could possibly get with a haircut would normally see on an elementary school girl. Mai looked kind of relaxed seeing her new look and stepped to the seat as Takina was taken next. Thinking that she will soon not be the only one with a bowl cut she was as Takina is seated in the chair. To her shock, Takina tells the Kejoro that she wanted to look more mature and is going to keep her hair longer. The Kejoro looks to Mai's mother who, to her disbelief, tells the woman that Takina is old enough to decide for herself how she wants to look.
Mai still couldn't believe what had just happened as we went to home. When She got home, Mai went to her father thinking that he would be on her side in this matter. Mai had been picking out her own clothes and keeping her hair as she liked for the last 2 years and should be able to keep doing it as she started high school.
To her dismay, her father told her that Ichika felt that she needed this so she would be forced to focus on her studies instead of partying and boys.
Lets just say I was a bit of an outcast at the new school. Mai then made a few friends and had average grades. She maintained a version of that bowl cut for her entire time in high school and by the time she was in 12th grade, it was almost in style. She the moved out of her parent's house soon after she graduated. After a week. Mai got a job in an office which she did not mind as it gave her enough to live away from the mother who treated like the step mother from the story Cinderella
After many years, Here she was in her step mother's memorial service. Mai made her husband and her kids go with her to keep herself calm.
She had not seen Takina or her brothers in years, as they couldn't be bothered to pay their respects when Mai's father died, and still held a deep-rooted hatred for all of them.
None of Mai's children or her husband had ever met Takina, or her brothers and she was surprised when her youngest daughter Chitose started talking with Takina.
When they finished talking, I asked Chitose how she knew Takina.
Chitose works at as a waiter and tells Mai that Takina is a regular and she sees her there every week .
Mai never spoke about my step family to her kids, always choosing to forget about that part of her life, but now Chirose wants to know about them.
She then proceed to tell her about her ordeals with Ichika and her kids, and Mai could see Chitose starting to get angry over what they put her though.
As they get in the car to leave , Chitose tells her that she knows just what to do to repay Takina. Mai tell her daughter that it is all in the past and she don't ever have to see them again. Chitose said okay, but she could tell by her grin she had a plan.
As they drove across they stopped near a shop, Mai noticed the shrine and thought whether the Kejoro was still there. As she climbed with Chitose following her, To her shock, the woman was still there and the shop was still the same as before.
" Hello, have you come for a cut"
" Umm.." before she could tell, Chitose said, "Is this the shop where you had your hair cut"
Mai nods
" Oh are you the young girl who came with your step family."
" Yes"
" I see, when I saw you that day, I felt bad as you got a very short hair but your sister didn't, as a apology, please come and have a hair treatment before you leave"
She said no, but Chitose insisted as she pushed her mother to the shop after treating her just as she left, the Kejoro gave a bottle to Chitose and whispered to her ear which shocked her.
As days passed, at the instructions from Kejoro, Chitose gifted her so called aunt a shampoo which she accepted. Takina kept on using the shampoo as I carried fresh aroma.
Three months later Takina is now almost 50 pounds heavier, and her once shiny long hair is now a thinned dull mess. As she went to check saloons, all were closed and then realised the shop near the Shrine. As Takina went to the shop, There the Kejoro with a bow said she was waiting for her.
She tells Kejoro that she said her hair had just grown massively. To which the Kejoro looks at her head and tells her with as bad as her hair is right know she needs to cut off the damaged hair to get back to the healthy bits.
Takina tells her to do whatever she needs to. The Kejoro escorted Takina into the chair. The Kejoro tells her, "I know the exact cut you need." as she slowly slides the door. That was the last time, Takina was heard and never came back.