It was a busy day for Katsumi Kejoro as she attended a bride dressing and later had to attend some houses and in afternoon she attended four to five clients when suddenly it was was night and closing time.
As, the shrine family had to go to Hokkaido for a visit, the Kejoro was all alone. Before she closed the store, she heard a soft knock at the door. Turning her head to investigate, Katsumi did a double take as she saw a woman standing in the open doorway. She wore a purple dress that went to just above her knees. She seemed to be around 30 or so, looking mature.
"Hello! How can I help you?" Kejoro asked as she slowly slided the door. The woman looked at the red eyed woman nervously, fidgeting and shifting her gaze around the shop.
"Um, hello. I, uh, I would like a haircut, please. If you're, um, not closing?"
"Well, I'm actually going to close now but since you're here you may come Miss!"
The woman smiled and she seemed to become more at ease.
"Come in! " Miss Kejoro left the chair and motioned for the woman to be seated on the other. The woman hesitated, then slowly stepped over the threshold and sat herself in the chair. She seemed to wearing an inappropriate dress code as she wore a expensive tight fitting dress with huge loops of rings in her ear. Before inspecting the hair, Katsumi stood behind the chair and addressed the woman through the mirror.
"To the Winds of flower, to the stream of the river, Katsumi Kejoro at your service"
The woman opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and began again.
"I'm Nagisa, Nagisa Yoshida."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Nagisa"
The woman began to fidget again as she stared at the floor in front of her.
"Well, what kind of haircut would you like?"
The question hung in the air for a moment, as if the woman was too nervous even to address the issue. She continued to gaze at the floor before she answered, not looking at her.
"Something shorter, please. My hair is very long at the moment."
"May I?" Katsumi inquired, indicating the substantial bun. Nagisa nodded her consent, and Kejoro began to work at the mass of hair, slowly finding weaknesses to exploit. After several moments and carefully pulling out hair ties, the bun finally came loose and spilled over the back of the chair. The huge bun unfurled like a magnificent dark golden brown hair falling behind the chair and settling on the floor, where it coiled somewhat.
"My goodness, that's quite a lot of hair!" Katsumi exclaimed, running her hands over the softness of the waves. The texture was almost straight, on the wavy side, and the feeling was amazing.
"Yes, it is very long." Nagisa conceded. No, long was to mid back, or waist length, Katsumi thought.
"When was your last trim, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I'm just 33 now, I had my last cut 12 years ago, though I've only ever cut the ends off since then."
Kejoro raised her eyebrows. That was a huge amount of time. Evidently, she had been busy. The hair was marvelous, but far too much to deal with.
"Something shorter, you said," Katsumi continued, feeling the weight of the hair in his hands. "How much are we talking?"
Nagisa bit her lip, evidently reluctant to reveal her true intentions.
"Well, um, actually, something like around here." With her hand, Nagisa indicated a spot just at her shoulders.
"Shoulder length, please. All one length." She spoke with more confidence now, as if the point of no return had been reached and passed.
"I see…" Kejoro trailed off, touching the hair at shoulder level. Nagisa was less nervous now, and she smiled as she imagined her hair stopping at her shoulders, where the lady's hands rested.
"I've had long hair for most of my life," she explained, sensing Katsumi's unease. "I've only had a few haircuts before, so this is a new experience for me."
"If I may ask, what made you decide to cut it short?" Katsumi asked. Nagisa thought about it for a moment before answering.
"You see, my long hair has been part of my identity for so long. My peers in school called me Rapunzel, even then. My hair at the time reached my butt. I'd cut a few inches, here and there, but my only major haircut was right after college, when I cut a foot and a half off. That was a wild day!" For a moment, Nagisa seemed lost in reverie.
"But I haven't really had it cut since then," Nagisa went on. "I don't know why, I guess I just assumed I liked long hair and didn't want to change. But the other day, I realized that I have never had short hair. And I am not getting any younger. So, after a lot of thinking and plenty of frayed nerves, I resolved to get it shorn."
She finished her story with finality, emphasizing the word shorn.
"Interesting." Katsumi Kejoro responded to the incredible story with a massive understatement. Nagisa looked at her through the mirror, her face full of anxious anticipation.
"Well,Miss, if you'd like to get started, I suggest that we do this soon."
Nagisa nodded eagerly, and Katsumi took that as a sign to continue. Katsumi was little upset about the inappropriate dress that she told. " Miss I take you are wearing a expensive tight dress, right"
"Oh yes, I just came from the party" she said smiling
" I see, but I think it would look uncomfortable for you when sitting while I take care of your hair" Katsumi said as she went to the cupboard asn pulled out a black gown. " You may change into this, if you might"
"Oh yes, thank you so much" said Nagisa as she went to the storage to change and came out wearing the gown with nothing inside of her and her hair touching the floor. She was then again paraded to the chair as she was told to remove the hoops from her rings when she removed and out it in the table.
Letting the hair remain where it was for now, Philip grabbed a plain white cape from the station and threw it over Nagisa's body, letting the fabric settle and drape over her frame. The caped client looked ready, but still a little tense.
Katsumi couldn't blame her for feeling nervous, and it would take some time to get rid of the length before trimming the rest. Katsumi struggled to snap the cape under the mass of brown hair that fell to the tiled floor. At long last, she succeeded in clasping the cape in place, ensuring that it was snug enough to keep Nagisa in her seat.
"So, Miss, let's begin." Kejoro Katsumi announced, and Nagisa grinned in response. Holding the hair in herhands, Katsumi pursed her lips in thought.
"Would you like to keep any of the hair, Nagisa?" Nagisa shook her head, looking serious all of a sudden.
"No." she said forcefully, then she continued in a softer tone: "No, thank you. I don't want any more memories of my hair. Keeping it would just remind me of everything I told you. I want you to throw it all away."
Katsumi raised hwr eyebrows in surprise. Over four feet of hair, silky, and lustrous, all tossed in the trash like threadbare rags. There wouldn't be enough room in the can in the shop, so Katsumi figured she would have to take it all at once to make the wigs she weeved. It would be a shame to waste all of Nagisa's lovely hair, but those were the breaks. Resigning herself to it, Kejoro sighed and nodded.
"Alright then, let's cut off this length." she retrieved a pair of scissors from the table and snipped them a few times. Nagisa flinched a little, but her face looked resolved. Katsumi picked up a section of hair, holding it up in the air; the length under her fist dangled to the floor. Taking another deep breath, She slipped the open scissors between the hair just above his fingers. After an agonizing half second, Katsumi closed the blades.
The scissors made a small dent into the hair, leaving some of the strands loose in Katsumi's hand. She went at it again.
The thick hair put up a good fight, but She was determined. Nagisa looked calm, but as the hair was cut, her mouth slowly curled into a slight smile. Katsumi finished off the thick section, and with a final snip the hair came loose in his hand.
Katsumi held up the long tress of hair higher, marveling at the length. Dutifully, Katsumi dropped the magnificent hair onto the floor. The hair coiled on the ground as it fell, making a thick spiraling pile that contrasted with the black and white tile of the floor.
Nagisa's smile remained after seeing her long hair cut off and held up in the air like a trophy on display. Katsumi blew out his breath and began the process again. Another section was grasped, shorn, and deposited swiftly on the floor.
"Have you told anyone that you're doing this?" Katsumi asked as she seized another swath of locks and began to see into them at shoulder level.
"No one, actually. Not even my sister knows, and she lives just a few blocks from me." The scissors continued their grim work, shortening Nagisa's hair by quite a bit. "If anyone knew, they'd probably try to talk me out of it. Everyone else has."
Katsumi paused slightly before slicing the last little hank of the section she was working on. More lovely locks fell to earth.
"I'm sorry about that, Miss."
"I hate it. I am more than ready to have all my hair cut off short, I've never wanted anything more in my whole life."
Katsumi had heard something like that before. Many women were choked with expectations from others, especially those close to them, about their hair. Each snip of the scissors was more severing of Nagisa's obligations to others and one step closer to being free.
Katsumi clipped the portion of hair in her hand, and threw it on the ground close to Nagisa's feet. By this point, half of Nagisa's hair was cut to her shoulders, the ends already curling slightly. Katsumi Kejoro moved onto the next section. Piles of hair lay strewn on the floor.
Nagisa's hair was no match for the woman's sharp shears, and they made quick work of long locks. The piles grew in size and thickness, and Nagisa became even more happy with each snip of the scissors. Kejoro was wading in thick hair before she finally reached the last section still left untouched.
Katsumi paused again, savoring the moment. It was far too late to go back, so the pause was not due to indecision, but rather Katsumi relishing what had just occurred.
"Cut it all. Finish it." said Nagisa
Katsumi almost yank the last section of hair and it came off in one savage blow. She grinned with delight as Katsumi tossed the hair into her lap, where it settled heavily. The four foot length lay draped over the cape .
She moved her hand underneath the cape and the hair fell to the floor, joining its comrades on the tile. Katsumi exhaled, tired after the effort.
"There! Now that's the length gone."
"I love it already!" Nagisa looked delighted with the results. Katsumi looked down at the floor, and saw Mountains of brown hair littered the floor, surrounding the chair like an archipelago of sand.Nagisa looked down at the hair and laughed a little.
"That all used to be mine." Nagisa seemed nonchalant about the loss of her tremendous hair. Katsumi decided to take care of the hair first, to make sure she wouldn't trip.
She collected all the hair into a bag and put it inside as she would use the following cut hair to make wigs .
Stowing it safely in the back, Katsumi walked back inside to Nagisa. The woman beamed at herself in the mirror, and she looked over at Katsumi ass he walked back in.
"Clean me up" Nagisa declared. Katsumi's face reddened a little as she got his scissors and comb and began to clean up the length. Despite her abundance of hair, Nagisa's new shoulder length hair was nice and blunt, but too thick or boxy.
She seemed to love it, and Katsumi did as well. The next several minutes passed uneventfully as Kejoro trimmed, snipped, and adjusted the length as necessary, all while Nagisa smiled broadly. The transformation from timid to jubilant was astounding to Katsumi..
At long last, the fantastic haircut came to an end. Small snippets of hair littered the floor, a far cry from the mountains of long locks from before. Katsumi dusted Nagisa's shoulders with a brush to do the final clean up. she unsnapped the cape and threw it off Nagisa's body. She tossed her head back and forth, enjoying the swinging of the hair.
"Thank you so much, I absolutely love it!" Nagisa jumped up, running her fingers through the freshly cut hair. She turned around and hugged Kejoro, taking the barberette by surprise.
"Um, my pleasure. " she gingerly extracted herself from the embrace, and Susan giggled a little.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You don't know how much this means to me."
After a final thank you, Nagisa skipped out of the shop like a schoolgirl a fraction of her age. Her purple dress fluttered in the breeze, and her adorable long bob swung from side to side with every movement. Katsumi looked on after her, following her movements until she rounded a corner out of sight.