Kayori Hibiki had recently graduated from business school and was applying to the top multinational corporations in Tokyo. As she entered the office, she noticed that all of the employees were dressed neatly, and she noticed that the women in the office had short hair. All the women were staring at her long hair tied in a bun as she walked towards the meeting room.
When she entered the interview room, she noticed a lot of other candidates who were boys, and she realized she was the only girl among the candidates chosen to work for the company.
After a few hours, the candidates were given a tour of the office. As she walked around, she noticed bobs, pixies, and buzz cuts and wondered how any woman could wear her hair so short.
Kayori was taken to the manager and knocked on the door after the candidates were assigned to different fields.
The door was answered by a middle-aged woman with a short bob hairstyle.
"Ah, Miss Kayori, welcome to MLC, and please allow me to be the first to congratulate you."
"Thank you, Ma'am; I'll do my best." Kayori made a bow.
"Alright then, let's go through the rule and regulations"
"Yes" said Kayori as was eager to know her role
"Firstly, you will start working from Monday this coming week, the timings are 7:00 to 17:30. You will work under our President as his secretary and be supervised by me."
"Understood Mam"
"And our company is all about discipline, so you should dress properly with proper attire, and I especially need you to do something about it."
"Please forgive me. What exactly is it? "she inquired
"Our company won't let you have long hair here because it bothers you while working, so men and ladies keep your hair short here," the manager says, pointing to her hair.
"But, Ma'am, I've grown for seven years," she explained.
"There are no buts... go get your hair cut or we will not hire you."
"Mm... okay ma'am," she said as she attempted to leave the manager's room. Kayori was upset and later began combing her long tresses as she went to the entrance and returned home as the family celebrated her job.
As she went to the temple to thank the gods for letting her get the job, she heard the Wooden Sandle making noise. As she turned, she saw the woman with black hair cut till her shoulder and wore a black kimono. She was carrying a white parasol in one hand and a package wrapped with cloth in the other. She looked pale but looked beautiful. She was on the otherside of the shrine as she walked inside the forest.
As Kayori was curious as to why she was going inside, as she stopped near a candy shop, she inquired
"Do you why the lady with a beautiful black kimono walked inside the forest"
The old storekeeper smiled, "Shes Katsumi Kejoro, a barberette. She owns a hair salon on top of the hill and the forest is the entrance"
" You mean she does hair" she said astonished and realize that she needed to get the cut or otherwise she won't be able to join the company. With a big gulp, she crossed the street and walked inside the forest where she climbed the steps and found the Wooden built shop. As she slided the door, the Kejoro turned and bowed and said
"To the Winds of flower, to the stream of the river, Katsumi Kejoro at your service"
"Greetings, my name is Kayori Hibiki, I would like to have a haircut"
"Certainly, Please remove your jacket and place it in the stand and follow me to the sink"
As she was instructed, Kayori put her jacket and went to get her hair washed. After that she was taken to the rolling chair.
As Kayori sat, The Kejoro asked, " What kind of hair cut would you like"
" This is my first haircut after ten years and as per my job, I was told to spot a short haircut"
" Are you a hard worker?" the Kejoro inquired
she nodded
" Then I know the perfect hairstyle which will help to feel light and would look beautiful"
"Really... then please suprise me, Miss Kejoro"
" Certainly, I will do my best"
" Then, I am under your care"
The Kejoro rolling her kimono and wearing the stash, She deliberated her hair and untangled them . Her lengthy mane was bundled over the back of the chair and a sleek white cape was swirled around her and tied tight around her neck with a tissue and then kicked the pedal of the seat which took her up.
Barely after the cape had settled, The woman sprayed her hair and a comb was being run through her hair, a pair of scissors in the Kejoro's other hand.
"Are you going to cut a lot?" Kayori squeaked out, though she already knew the answer.
"Yes, you're going to love it miss . Something suitably professional for a young lady like yourself." She tilted her head towards her lap, then went back to combing her hair again.
"Head down, Miss" said the Kejoro
Her haircut proceeded without delay. The comb scooped up a thick section at the back of her head, then the scissors swiftly snicked away more than half a metre of her black silk.
It crashed loudly to the floor, then the next combful was lined up and similarly hacked off untidily. Every fast snip of the sharp blades made Kayori weep, but Kejoro continued wordlessly, shearing away the bulk so quickly that the blades practically sparked as they clicked together.
The Kejoro was rough, tugging through her hair and constantly pushing her head in different directions as she searched for more unharmed strands to execute. It was unpleasant enough when she was cropping the locks at the back of her head, but it became ten times worse when it came to the sides and the top due to the debris being left in her line of sight. It piled up rapidly, soon leaving a mountain in her lap that only grew with each new snip.
She didn't dare raise her head to look in the mirror for fear of how she would react, but that only made her more and more anxious as her head became lighter and lighter with every passing second.
Within a few minutes the vast majority of her crown had been robbed from her, and she was finally sat up by the woman in kimono to get a good look at her reflection.
Kayori had to bite her tongue to avoid yelping at the image in front of her, her once pristine mane now crudely cut down to a shaggy crop. The evidence of the crime was strewn across her body and the chair, as well as out of sight on the floor.
Before she could mourn, The Kejoro shook out the cape to send the sheared hair down to Kayori's feet.
She watched it slide away, then her eyes met the Kejoro's in the mirror as she stared the woman's red eyes and her pale skin. She heard stories about the yokai Kejoro but she had short hair but during her childhood, she heard that the Kejoro had became a normal lady and hides her identity. This made her realize that the woman is the Kejoro herself and staying here tending people's Hair. She pretend to forget it and let the woman finish what's done.
Kayori said nothing, which the woman took as her cue to continue, and she ran the comb through the uneven mess that had been left. Rather than the usual graceful flow that she found so gratifying, her hair now flopped after it left the comb's teeth and nothing more.
Her displeasure must have shown, because the Kejoro said as she handed the tissues to her. "Don't worry, there's plenty more cutting to do yet. I'll get you looking prim and proper in no time."
With her head pointed back at her lap, the comb ran from her neck up to her crown.
The first couple of passages it was unaccompanied, but by the third the scissors started to click over the top of the plastic. They chopped through her hair so easily it was as though it was liquid, and the debris rained down to pitter-patter against the cape. This part of the process seemed to take much longer than the brutal shearing that had started the experience, as Kejoro trimmed the hair at the back of Kayori's head shorter and shorter, the continuous open and close of the blades as a backing track.
It was minutes until the back and sides had been cropped suitably short, by which point the cape was more black than white.
The yokai dusted her off again, then moved onto trimming what length was left at the top of Kayori's head. Thankfully she was merciful enough to leave it a little longer than the rest, though it was still a shock to see her hair so short.
The Kejoro examined herfor a while, occasionally brushing through the pixie cut she had shaped. Her expression was not entirely satisfied, and eventually she ran one hand up the back of Kejoro's new, short hairdo and caught her eye in the mirror.
"Miss, looking at this, it might look like you will return sooner, To keep your hair steady, I'd better go shorter."
Shorter than this? she thought. How much shorter can it get?
Her silent question was immediately answered with a click that activated a continuous hum. Once more her head was pushed down, then the set of clippers scraped up the back of her head with a loud buzz. The motion repeated over and over, leaving more and more short clippings on the white cape as the clippers wandered around her head. Just as she sat up when they had been clicked off for a few seconds they came back to life, now with an even shorter guard, and she was forced to endure the same unpleasant sensation of being shorn like a sheep.
Finally it stopped, for good this time, and her head was tilted back to examine herself in the mirror again and was more shorter. Any closer cut than that and she would have been scalped entirely.
"Shorter on top too?" The woman asked.
The question couldn't have been meant for Kayori as she returned to cutting before she could say otherwise. She scooped up the hair at the top of her head with the comb and brought it between her fingers, then snicked them together as close to the roots as her fingers would allow.
By this point Kayori knew she could do nothing anyway; another few inches shorter would barely make any difference given how much had been taken from her already.
As she had become accustomed to, the pile of cuttings grew in size as her feminine pixie cut became a masculine short back and sides. It was not a change that she was particularly happy about, but she didn't protest as the hair continued to fall. What good would it have done anyway?
The Yokai barberette was firmly set on cutting her hair as short as possible without giving her a buzzcut.
Finally, the scissors and comb were put back where they had started.
"Miss, this concludes your haircut." the Kejoro shook the cuttings away once more, then undid the cape and finally let Kayori go free.
Kayori brought her fingers to her short back and sides. The prickly feel of the clippered sections made her flinch, and the marginally longer top was no consolation. For now she sucked the tears back into their ducts, but the lump in her throat was enough to stop her speaking. No doubt when she got home the first thing she would do would be to tear down the dam and cry for hours.
"You'll get used to it," the woman said as she started to sweep up the mess she had made. "Once you do, you'll never go back to long hair."
Kayori offered a bow, which was about all she could do without blubbing. As she thanked theady and went out the door, she finally got to her feet.
She continued to sweep up rather than meet her there, and she shook her head.
With that, Hibiki Kayori made her way back out of the small barbershop into cold air outside. She felt fresh as she prepares herself for her job.