"Come on. You said I'm your hair inspiration, didn't you?" Ayana asked. She was smiling brightly from across the small table inside their usual lunch spot, raising one perfect eyebrow before claiming another forkful of the brownie they'd agreed to split.
"That was back when you actually had hair," Mai teased.
"I still have some," Ayana insisted. She shook her head, letting a few long locks — though only relative to the shorn left side of her head, buzzed down to about a half inch –slide forward to tease the tip of her nose and hide one of her hazel eyes. The shiny brown tresses of her asymmetric bob looked amazing, but Mai still couldn't believe her friend had traded in her legendary, waist-length black mane for the edgy, clippered look.
She seemed to love it, though, for which Mai was glad — otherwise she would have felt guilty as hell for practically daring the other woman to do it. All because she had mused aloud about cutting her own hair, a golden fall of cheerleaderesque tresses that were currently confined to a thick, French braid that fell down her back so it would stay out of her face. "Okay, I guess you do have some."
Ayana smiled and claimed another bite before setting her fork down, wiping her mouth, and using her phone to check her teeth to make sure none of the fudge had been left behind. "For now, anyway." She ran her fingers through her hair, gathering the longest locks up in something of a makeshift mohawk. "I'm thinking of getting both sides clippered at my appointment this afternoon."
Mai's eyebrows lifted. She definitely hadn't expected Ayanato take the new bold outlook on life that far.
"No! Well, actually, maybe techically." She pulled her hair up again. "I want to be able to slick it back or pull it up when I go running, and, as it is now, it just looks lopsided when I do that. I think my hair's thick enough to hide just how much I don't have. Who knows? I'll ask Miss Kejoro what he thinks."
"Kejoro is…"
"My stylist."
"Ah yes. stylist." Mai laughed at how Denise flushed.
"Does that sound snobby?"
Mai waggled her hand. "Little bit."
Ayana shrugged. "Eh. I'll be snobby. I'll take the hit."
"I think it's a matter of how good they make you look. And she makes your hair look good enough to be referred to as 'my stylist."
"Noted, and thank you." Ayana glanced at her phone, again but before Mai could ask why, her friend said, "I'm going to be honest — I had no idea short hair would be so fun."
"Really?" Mai took another bite of the communal brownie. "How so?"
Ayana toyed with the sleeves of her oversized Irish sweater. "It's just so easy to get messed up, but easy to fix again. And light and free — and you have no idea how differently people look at you."
"What do you mean?"
"I think people take me more seriously now. Not that they brushed me off before — it's not like I looked like I was 16…"
Mai grimaced overdramatically at the obvious attack. "Hey. It'l be a blessing when I'm eighty and look fifty."
Ayana smiled. Mai felt a gentle kick under the table.
"But seriously. It's hard to define, but I feel like I'm taken more seriously at school and at work."
"So you're going even shorter?" Mai asked as the bill arrived at the table. Ayana slapped down a credit card and handed the bill back to the waitress before Mai could even take a look at it, something she made mental note to pick up the tab next time.
Ayana nodded. "Well, partly. Mostly for the reasons I said before, but…" She lifted her hand up to the left side of her head and rubbed the dark pelt of her hair, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened them again. Mai raised her eyebrow again.
Ayana smiled, her cheeks reddening. "There are benefits you have to experience for yourself."
Mai made a thoughtful sound as she forked away another chunk of the brownie. "So noted, should I ever decide to shave my head."
Ayana glanced at her phone again. "Have you actually given any more thought to that?"
"To shaving my head? No — I've never given any thought to it."
Ayana shook her head, then flipped her hair back out of her face again. "No, not shaving. Cutting. Have you given any more thought to cutting that braid of yours?"
Mai hesitated … Truthfully, yes. But did she want to admit that to her newly shorn friend? Something inside told her that might not be wise. It could start a chain reaction she wasn't sure she wanted to start.
Ayana looked a little smug. "You're the one who asked whether I ever thought about cutting mine, so obviously you've thought about cutting yours. Just a matter of how recently."
Instead of answering, Mai set her fork and brownie down on her napkin. For reasons she could pin down, her stomach suddenly felt a little nervous. "Maybe a little," she finally admitted, not sure she liked where the conversation was headed.
Ayana smiled like a shark. "You and I both know that if I stole your phone, I'd find more than one picture of model's bob and bangs on it."
Mai wished she could say Ayana was wrong, but damnit… it was a cute style! And, frankly, The model was a beautiful woman. But focusing on the bob and bangs… it was a gorgeous style, and Mai thought her thick, perfectly-straight hair would look amazing if cut the same way. But, for one, that would mean getting bangs for the first time in her life, and she had no idea whether she could pull them off, and, two, she was so close to finally having waist-length hair. Her Brown hair had always hovered around her bra strap in length, but now she almost attained the length her friend had taken for granted up until a couple of weeks ago.
"I like my hair."
"I know. But do you love your style?"
What was a valid question, not that there was an actual style to it. It was just long a blunt-cut; nothing complicated and stylish about that.
"What if I look bad with it short? It'd take years to grow back. Years."
"Honey." Ayana patted Mai's hand. "Let me let you in on a little secret — You're cuter than anyone. If the look works for others , it'll really work for you."
Mai tried to decide whether that was some honesty from Ayana, or whether she was being buttered up for something. Both options had an equal possibility.
"No pressure. I just think it'd look fantastic and might be a fun change."
"I agree on at least the second part," Mai finally admitted. "But when I said I didn't think you had the guts to cut your hair, I think we both know I really meant I don't have the guts to cut my hair."
Ayana pursed her lips around the straw of her iced tea as she took a long sip, her eyes set on Mai's. Every passing second made Mai feel more like a bunny in a hawk's line of sight, and without realizing it, she started to hug her long braid against her chest protectively.
"How about we leave it to chance?"
"Im not sure I like the sound of that."
Ayana smiled. "No, it'll be fun." She checked her phone. "My appointment is in… fifteen minutes. Let's both go there, and if trombone is free to take you, you'll get the model's bob and bangs. And if they can't… You keep your braid and wait for me or head on home. Whichever you'd like."
"This doesn't seem like an even bet."
Ayana shook her head and pointedly held up a finger. "It's not a bet. We're just leaving a decision to chance. Giving the universe the final word, if you will. What do you say?"
Mai considered the possibilities. She would be lying if there wasn't a bit fo a thrill involved in the idea of leaving her hair's fate to the proverbial toss of the coin, but at the same time… her hair!
She took up and started undoing her braid, running her fingers through her thick tresses as they slowly loosened and finally, freed from their bindings, surrounded her in a tumbling mass of thick, waves. She ran her fingers through her locks again and again, ruffling and rumpling it a bit as she thought, feeling its weight pull against her as it flowed and swayed with her movements.
Mai looked at the mirrored wall of the cafe, at the twenty-two year old woman with the Brunette hair was getting the cut.
"You're the worst."
"That's debatable."
"The. Worst."
Ayana smiled and grabbed her bookbag. "Shell we head over?"
Mai considered her reflection again, and sighed as she doomed her hair to its possible fate. "Fine."
Ayana let out a gleeful giggle and grabbed Mai's hand, leading her through the shopping plaza and around a corner. She almost had them running there, moving at a hybrid between a skipping and a brisk walk. After being forced to behave all morning, Mai's hair bounced wildly around her, getting into her face and eyes and looking like a living being when she saw its reflection in the front windows of the stores they passed.
She started to hope the salon wouldn't be able to fit her in.
Eventually Ayana dragged her through the front door of a very sleek, modern looking boutique of a salon. It was dancing along the edge between being adorable and being cool, and… she kind of dug it.
Ayana had just finished saying hello to Chisato and Mai heard the Chisato ask, "Do you have appointments?"
"Yes, at two o'clock."
Mai stepped forward to awkwardly say no and ask if there was anyone free and then slink out of the place in awkward rejection when rebuffed, but instead Ayana answered for her.
"And she's also getting at two, too."
"What?" Mai didn't even recognize her own voice, it came out so low and monotone.
Ayana smiled. "Oh, didn't I tell you? I made an appointment for you when I set mine up last week."
"You… what?"
Ayana stepped forward to cup Mai's cheeks in her hands; they were so cold against her hot skin. "We agreed you'd get your hair cut if someone was free to do it. And they are. It's just… more by design than you might have expected."
"That's just diabolical." Her beautiful hair, about to be lost to cold, calculated betrayal. "It was supposed to be left to the universe."
"You're going to look amazing," she insisted as her right hand slipped down to play with a windblown lock of Mai's hair. Maybe the last person to do so. "Forgive me? I figured the universe might need a little help making the decision."
Despite the growing swarm of butterflies in her stomach, Mai decided to do Ayana one better than forgiving her. "Technically there's nothing to forgive." She scrunched up her nose and furrowed her brow as deviously as she could, though she assumed it wasn't very threatening. "But I will get you for this, Ayana. Someday, when you least expect it. It is known."
Ayana patted Mai's cheek. "That's fair."
"Greetings"
Mai linked, turning to the young woman who was approaching her with a hand out. She had the same black getup with a silver belt , but it fell against her curves in a much, much different way. Soft, doe-like red eyes looked at her from under heavy bangs. The rest of her hair was piled back in a loose, casual bun, with just a few locks spilling free to tease a long, slender neck.
Mai forced herself to take a deep breath — her little bisexual heart could not take this place.
"Hi! Me Mai." She shook her head. "Mai is me. Mai be me." She sighed, finally just pointing to herself.
"Mai."
Katsumi Kejoro smiled brightly. "I figured. Nervous?"
Absolutely. Though for so many different reasons. "Maybe a little."
The smile turned warm, and Katsumi took Mai's hand in her own. "Come with me. Do you want some barley tea?" She asked as she led Mai back to her station leaving Chisato to take care of Ayana. She patted the seat, and Cara set her book bag down and let herself slide into the chair, her heart beating a little faster — maybe to make up for the skipped beats earlier.
After giving her a drink, she felt relaxed and handed over the empty cup. Sitting Katsumi asked if she wanted some cookies she had baked at home.
"No, I'm fine, thanks."
"Okay."
The lady started running her fingers through Mai's hands, smooth, gentle motions that started with soft caresses of her scalp and then sifted down through her tresses' voluminous length. The tension Mai had been feeling slowly slipped away, and she wondered if it was an option to just have this done for a few hours before moving on with her day.
"So, what were you thinking of having done today?"
Mai took a deep breath and pulled out her phone, scrolling through the images on it. "I want you to give me this," she declared, thrusting her phone toward Rebecca, showing off the model in all of her bobbed glory.
Katsumi Kejoro considered it for about half a second, her beautiful eyes flitting between the screen and the mirror before she took on the appearance of a store clerk who had to tell a kid their nickel wasn't enough to buy the piece of candy they wanted.
"Oh, sweetie, if looking older is your goal…"
"Not this style?"
Katsumi shook her head. "It's the bangs. A cute bob and heavy bangs will not make a woman with features as adorable as yours look older."
Mai couldn't count the number of times she wanted to kick people for saying she looked adorable, but the way it rolled off Katsumi's tongue… She could live with adorable.
Katsumi gathered Mai's hair back, and motioned its her hands right at Mai's jawline. "I'm thinking here, with sideswept bangs, if you're willing. That should take you out of the cute girl category and get you into the … Well, I'm not sure what the word is. But we'll make sure you fit in whether you're looking to pick someone up or get a new job. Sound good?"
Mai considered her reflection of more time, watching the women behind her play with her long, thick, nearly waist length crowning glory. Had Ayana been this nervous when she lopped off all of her hair?
"It sounds good!" ayau play shouted as Chisato was guiding her from the shampoo sinks to her work station. "Go for it!"
"Isn't it a pain when they can't make a decision?" Chisato teased with a wink, though Mai wasn't sure whether she was teasing her.
"Okay," Mai finally said. "Let's do it."
Katsumi squeezed Mai's shoulders. "You're going to look great. Trust me." The lady moved around her, picking up a pair shears from her station and turning back to Mai. "I'm going to wash that glorious mane of yours, but there's a lot of it we don't need, so, before we get to that, would you mind if I lightened the load a little?"
Mai shook her head, and sat quietly as a cape was set loosely around her shoulders. Katsumi ran a large comb through the brown hair for a long moment, and then gathered them back into a loose ponytail. "Okay, ready?"
Mai closed her eyes and nodded, feeling the pressure of Katsumi's hold on her ponytail as she did. A loud crunching began to sound through the salon, paced with gentle tugs on Mai's ponytail. She sat with her eyes scrunched shut, her heart racing and her palms becoming sweaty as the crunching just kept going and going. She could imagine the scissors chewing through her treasured hair, almost choking on her ponytail's girth as they worked, and wondered where Rebecca was cutting it — how short would her hair be when her ponytail was chopped off? Would it be long enough for her to back out and try to grow it out? Or would there be no going back even if she hoped to?
Finally, the cutting stopped, and Mai felt her soft, silky locks nuzzling against her ears. She opened her eyes, her brow furrowing when she saw the same reflection as before looking back at her. But then Katsumi held her severed ponytail in front of her, letting it dance as she swished it from side to side with one hand as her other hand flipped Mai's hair in front fo her shoulders, or at least what was left of it. Just a few moments ago, her hair would have tumbled almost into her lap, covering her chest and most of her stomach and hiding her neck and ears and collarbones in a flood of blonde silk…
But now, not so much. It was all gone, with only the longest bits of her shorn locks resting against her collarbones.
"Oh. My. God." She reached up and ran her fingers through what little length remained, her jaw hanging slack as the strokes ended so much more abruptly than they used to.
Katsumi giggled — a really cute giggle at that — and took hold of the new ponytail as she set the shorn one down in front of her mirror. "See? Look how good you'll look without all of this hanging in your face."
Mai felt her cheeks warm and looked down to the floor as the cape was pulled away. Katsumi Kejoro took her hand again, inflicting more flutters on Mai's overworked heart, and led her to the sinks to be shampooed. Katsumi's fingers worked their magic again, and Mai, for the most part, kept her eyes closed and just enjoyed it. But occasionally — every once in a while — she'd open her eyes too see Katsumi looking down at her.
Maybe Mai was wrong, the woman would probably look amazing with something short. But judging by its volume and the way the locks that had fallen loose twisted and curled, Ayana probably had some amazing hair after… you know..
Somewhere in the distance, a low hum began to rumble, a sign that Ayana was getting the not-a-mohawk she'd been considering. And, as Katsumi led Mai back to her station, that most definitely was the case. Chisato's brow furrowed as she concentrated, running a set up clippers up the Ayana's nape and peeling away her soft brown pelt, leaving behind almost nothing in their path. It reminded Mai of the summertime crewcuts her brothers used to get, save for the relatively longish mop atop her friend's head.
Mai retook her place at salon, and Katsumi pinned her remaining hair up out of the way as she put the cape back in place, this time tightening it around her neck as she fastened it in place. She let Mai's hair down, letting it fall around her shoulders as she combed it out. Mai couldn't believe how short it was already, shorter than she'd had it since middle school or maybe even longer. But she still looked like a teenager trying to play dress up; it was the same style senior girls got in high school to proclaim that they were now young women.
No one believed them then, and no one would believe Mai now. At least not yet.
"How are we feeling?" Katsumi asked. She began pinning sections of Mai's hair up, baring her ears and shoulders once again.
"Nervous," Mai replied as her head was tilted down. Katsumi's comb teased her neck, and then the stylist's warm, gentle touch replaced the teeth of the comb, pinching and lifting the loose locks away from Mai's nape and replacing them with nervous goosebumps. She knew if she wanted to save the remains of her ponytail, she had to speak up n—
Katsumi's blades crunched softly through Mai's hair — not loudly as when they stole away her ponytail, but softly and gently. The comb teased her neck again, and then the lady's fingers, and then more soft crunching that trimmed away Mai's "little girl" hair. As Katsumi let more hair free from the clips atop Mai's head, her fingers were no longer touching her nape when they cut and chopped. Mai was of two minds for that — she certainly wouldn't have minded Katsumi's continued touch, but she wasn't sure she could handle the cropped style that would have resulted. This was already big for her. Heck, it was huge. She couldn't imagine what people would think, what they would say. Mai who'd always had the long, tumbling mane of golden blonde suddenly having a short, short…
Mai's eyes widened when Katsumi took hold of the locks on the left side of her head and sheared them away level with the corner of her jawline...suddenly having really, REALLY short hair!
"Oh my," she gasped.
Katsumi looked at her in the mirror, raising one eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"
"I..I didn't realize you meant that short when you said jaw length. I thought more… maybe mid-jaw?"
Katsumi gave another of her comforting shoulder squeezes. Were they patented? She should probably patent them. "Trust me. It's going to look fabulous."
Mai nodded, biting at her lip before she closed her eyes and felt Katsumi continue to work, so, so very close to her ears with every sharp, crunching snips of the shears sounding so very loud.
There was a barely-stifled squee, and Mai opened her eyes to see Ayana's reflection just behind her own, her hands clasped in front of her mouth and she bounced up and down. Her hair looked immaculate, as always, without any evidence of it having been cut at all save for when she turned her head to say something to Chisato up front. That was when it became obvious what the clippers had done, shearing away almost all of the hair on her sides and at her nape, leaving just a few stylized lines angled this way and that peaking out from under her thick, luxurious swoop of dark brown locks.
Mai looked back to herself, hoping she could pull her new look off with so much confidence. The black cape ensconcing her held a massacre of shorn blonde locks, with more and more falling to join their fallen brethren. Inch after inch was sacrificed in the name of style and appearances, with Katsumi free longer sections from Mai's crown and then shearing chunks away. She picked and snipped at the ends of each lock, rendering the edges just haphazard enough to look as though Mai had received the cut a couple of weeks ago, layering and thinning her massive mane almost as much as outright cutting it.
"What I love about your hair," Katsumi said as she worked, combing forward Mai's still-long bangs and slicing them away at about lip-length.
Katsumi spun her scissors around in her hands, tucking their blades against her forearm, and ran her fingers back through Mai's hair. Again, there were head rubs and Mai's eyes closed all on their own as she leaned into the gentle touch.
When the touching stopped, Mai opened her eyes. Katsumi moved behind her, leaving Mai to see what had become of her hair — gone was the thick, heavy braid, and gone were the wild, windblown tresses she had walked in with.
Most importantly, gone was a teenage-like appearance she'd never been able to shake. In its place, was a refined, confident, young adult, a sharp looking woman with a beautifully rounded bob, shaped to hug her jawline and rise up from her nape without being shorn too close. It was a gorgeous symphony of layers, with sweeping bangs that threatened to hide her left eye and a mass of soft locks that rode the style's volume to tease her right cheek.
The bangs begged to notice her eyes, while the jaw-length locks demanded you pay attention to the perpetual pout of her lips.
"See?" Ayana asked. "Was I right, or what?"
Mai grinned, and forced her genuine reaction down inside. "It's not bad."
Mai blinked. "Not bad?"
Maicouldn't hold back her laughter, and, although she wished it hadn't, it did in fact turn into a bit of a squeal. Once Katsumi pulled away the hair-strewn cape and flowered the floor with Mai's former mane, Mai slid to the edge of the chair and shook her hair, squealing again when it fluttered back into place perfectly. She ran her hands up the nape of her neck, and although it didn't have the same feel as Ayana's buzz, it just felt so amazingly different — a short, soft covering that erupted into a mass of silken lengths.
"I love it!" She finally blurted out. "I was really scared I'd look terrible."
"Yeah, that's not a problem," Ayana told her.
"Definitely not the case," Chisato insisted.
"Not even remotely," Katsumi assured her.
Even standing felt different, without the weight fo her long hair or the sensation of her locks swinging behind her when she turned around. It all really was gone — no more braids, no more ponytails or fun buns. Just… grown-up Mai , with a really cute bob.
"I could really get used to this," she told herself as she strutted toward the front to catch up with Ayana. She reached for her wallet, but was quickly waved away by her friend.
"I've got this. You shouldn't have to pay since you were set up," she teased.
"Hardly necessary, but I'm not going to argue."
Katsumi Kejoro caught her eye, her brow slightly furrowed. One eyebrow lifted in curiosity. "Set up?"
Should she explain? Eh, why not. "She made the appointment for me without telling me, and then suggested we leave whether I get my haircut to chance by seeing whether you guys could take a walk-in."
Chisato laughed. "So, you weren't planning on looking this good when you woke up this morning?"
Mai's blush hit her so hard she wasn't even sure how to answer the question. After a long moment she did manage to shake her head, though. "No, I guess I wasn't."
Katsumi looked to Ayana, but it was hard to tell whether her expression was one of disbelief or admiration. "That's absolutely diabolical." She tapped the Chisato's shoulder. The way her curls bounced as she turned to face her might have caused a bit of jealousy a few hours ago, when Mai was the girl with long, straight hair that couldn't hold a curl like that, but… not so much anymore.
"Make sure to come again soon," Katsumi told her as she glanced back to the exit with Ayana.