Reika Shichijou, a member of a Japanese idol group, Nogiziki32. Was 5"6 ft girl with hair till her hip. She always wore twin tails as the director and her fans loved her style. She appeared in many shoots and promotions but today was something she had never witnessed.
In all honesty, Reika Shichijou wasn't sure to expect when she first showed up for her biggest challenge. It'd been something of a last minute booking her manager had arranged before heading off on vacation, with something to do with office tropes and archetypes.
She had barely felt the need to ask for details once her manager mentioned Yokosuka Nobi, an incredible photographer, who picturized models who had a way for a new relationship between Western fashion photography and Japanese art, developing the ornate and atmospheric beauty that inspired a new generation of fashion photographers. He had a style of traditional photography is infused with strikingly conceptual visuals, that are dreamlike and disturbing in their beauty and ethereal darkness. This was a big opportunity for Reika Shichijou.
Aside from local ad campaigns when she was in high school, Reika hadn't done many full promotions like present. Most of her full-on professional work in the two years since she moved to Tokyo had been for sweet and electronic products. But her main promotion was hair products as many chose her to promote.
As she was chosen to shoot with Yokosuka Nobi, he had directed her that he wants her hair to be restyled into something new as he told her the marketers were growing because of her and of which sought to take full credit for the beautiful, silky, dark brown hair that fell halfway down her back. Its lush fullness made it more than easy for her manager and most bookers to ignore the fact that she was a few inches shy of the preferred 5-foot-ten height requirement . Once they saw how talented she was when it came to flaunting her mane's liveliness when it came time to twist and turn this way and that.
On set, Reika was quickly directed to deposit her cellphone and backpack into a personal locker, along her her clothes. Wearing just a white strapless gown, she found herself sitting in a stylist's chair, tended to pale white skin lady, Katsumi Kejoro. An artist of her own renown, she was kind off famous as she did hair to each famous celebrity, so getting to be her muse was considered a privilege. The stylist stood behind Reika, gathering all of the thick, dark locks back and turning Reika's head this way and that, humming thoughtfully to herself as she looked at the brightly lit mirror before the girl.
With a final check, the stylist then let Reika's hair fall free, its length swirling around her shoulders and face in long, gentle waves. "Chisato, when you have a moment, could you bring over my tablet?" She stepped in front of Reika as she made the request, brushing the thick locks back from Reika's dark eyes as she did. She ran her left thumb along Reika's left eyebrow, tracing its thick, elegant arch and, again, humming softly.
Unable to help it, Reika furrowed her brow.
"Don't worry," Katsumi insisted. From the side where Chisato had been fashioning another model's thick, red curls into an updo, Then Chisato handed Katsumi an iPad.
"I just want to check your contract real quick."
"Why?" Reika asked. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Not at all. I just want to see what you agreed to." A mischievous smirk wrinkled her cheek.
"And yes, I realize how bad that sounds. It's just that two of the girls we booked today are running late, so we have some time to kill. I'd really like to give you just the barest hint of bangs and face-framing highlights, if you'd be up for that. We'd have to amend your contract, though."
Reika winced. "My manager is on a plane to Hokkaido this morning."
Katsumi nodded. "I understand. Contract stuff can be tricky. But if you're up for it, there'd be a few bucks in it for you, and we'd just be adding some typical boilerplate language to the contract. Nothing unusual."
Reika chewed her bottom lip. "How much is a few?"
Katsumi told her, "few" would be enough to cover Reika's share of her rent for the month by itself.
"Just for 'a hint of bangs' and a few highlights?"
Reika
nodded. "They'll barely be noticeable."
"Okay."
Reika smiled brightly.
"Perfect! Let me just get this set up…" She tipped and tapped at her tablet screen for a few minutes, and then held it out toward her. "I just added the standard clause that lets us adjust your hair length and color. But, like I said, we're just doing light bangs and highlights."
Reika read over the details of the new contract wording, and then signed, resigned to losing the pure brown shade her hair had always held since the day she was born.
Within moments, Reika found herself capped in a white sheet. Her hair was carefully dampened and meticulously sectioned, with the vast majority being pushed behind her ears to fall down the back of the styling chair in which she sat.
Gradually, Katsumi began to pull some of Reika's long locks forward, carefully selecting them with her comb and gathering them between pinched fingers in front of Reika's nose. Cross-eyed, Reika watched as a pair of silver blades rose to the twisted lock, rising to the level of Reika's eyes, and then snipped away most of its length. Her new bangs sprang free, and with concentration wrinkling her forehead, Katsumi combed them into place.
Reika blinked a few times, her lashes teasing the ends of her shorn locks. And then her eyes widened when Katsumi started combing more of her hair forward, gathering almost as much as before. Again, the locks were gathered and twisted, and then mercilessly snipped just as short as the previous lock. Reika held her breath until Katsumi took a step back, and felt her heart starting to race as she wondered whether she misheard the phrase "barest hint of bangs."
"Okay, they're a bit thicker than I originally planned, but that's all I'm going to cut. Let me shape them a bit, and they'll be super cute. Trust me."
said Katsumi
Reika nodded, realizing she didn't really have a choice. Katsumi moved in close with her scissors again, chipping away at Reika's new bangs until they fell in an even line just below her eyebrows. Despite her momentary panic, they turned out not to be very thick at all – within a few months they be long enough to blend right in with the rest of her hair if she parted them in the middle. Odds were that the highlights would have a more permanent presence than the fringe.
Fortunately, Katsumi stayed true to her word when she said the highlights would be just a few face-framing ones. And since the third model, a young woman with a gorgeous mass of one-length raven-hair that swirled past her shoulders, hadn't even shown up until the foils were being pulled from Reika's hair, there was plenty of time for Reika to admire her new look in the mirror. With the last foot or so styled into gorgeous, bouncy curls, Reika found herself repeatedly lifting and dropping her mane, feeling its silky weight fall against her neck and brushing against her cheeks, with the new, soft bangs and highlights drawing attention to her dark brown eyes.
"That looks absolutely gorgeous." She looked at Yokosuka Nobi's reflection in the mirror, smiling as he took a few photos of her admiring herself. To say he was handsome was an understatement; she could only imagine the hordes of women he probably had throwing themselves at him after shoots. But for that reason, she's already promised herself to not even give a hint of flirtation toward him. Sure, that could be how modeling careers were made, but it could also be how they were ruined.
"Thank you," she finally said. "Miss Katsumi gets all the credit of course."
He grinned. "Not all of it. Now give me one more lift and drop, and then we can get started."
Reika, did as requested, gathering her hair up atop her head before delivering a coy wink and letting it all fall around her, shaking it out and running her fingers through its glorious length.
"Perfect," Yokosuka Nobi whispered. "Don't ever cut it."
Reika Shichijou enjoyed her new bangs and did some photoshoots. She kept the look like that and perform idol shows with the new look. After few months, she again received a contract to shoot, she blindly signed the papers as she knew she was one step closer in joining the big leagues and asking to step in as an actress or do her solo performance.