If I recall correctly, the general noble assembly was held over three days.
As it was a eting being held at the palace, the professors of Tilette also had to be away from the Academy for a while. It was because they, too, were nobles who had received a title before they were an educator.
As such, the Academy was quiet. It was the perfect day for self-directed learning.
Yet here I was downtown. As I walked along the campus streets, the sky was clear without a cloud in sight.
It was good weather for taking a walk. I took leisurely steps with my hands in my trench coat pockets. After a while of looking between the sky and horizon, my eyes shifted to the side.
There stood a girl with red hair.
This girl had crimson eyes that burned more fiercely than her hair color, shining like a well-cut spinel gem. It was evidence that she wasn’t your average smart kid.
The na of this clean-cut lady was ‘Lotte Saliere’, a dear friend who was the first one I’d made after falling into this world.
“Hum, huhum, hum~”
Whatever got her so happy, Lotte was humming like a kid who was visiting an amusent park. Then the song that had been stretching on and on like a taffy stopped abruptly. Lotte had beco conscious of my gaze.
Her head turned my way slightly. And as she glanced at , a smile drew across her lips.
A benevolent smile like that of a saint.
“I’ve been wanting to go on a date with a friend like this.”
Those words ca at like a punch thrown by a trained boxer.
Huuh, a date. I nearly made an awkward face at that.
‘Date’, a word that would have my fellow guy Verl fainting if he had heard it. Because in Korea as well the elf country to which he belonged, ‘date’ ant an outing between romantic partners.
But in the western world of Earth or here in the Empire, the aning was a little different. Simply put, the ‘date’ that Lotte had suggested was an outdoor activity that could be done between friends and family as well.
How I knew this was surprisingly simple.
Thanks to that, it had led to a not-so-funny misunderstanding a mont ago. If it hadn’t been for the characteristic poker face of the Golden-Eyed, we would’ve ended up making things awkward for each other.
I shook off those thoughts with the fall breeze. ‘Outing’ also had the definition of ‘clearing one’s mind while getting so fresh air’,1 and this was one of the tis when that aning was applicable.
While walking downtown, I was suddenly curious about sothing. Glancing at Lotte, I spoke lightly to her.
“So why did you want to co downtown first?”
“Hm?”
Lotte’s head turned this way completely from its slightly twisted position, and I saw directly a flawlessly smooth, white face.
Her beauty was more neat and modest than glamorous. In other words, she was an innocently pretty girl.
“What do you an why....”
And that face turned disapproving in a flash.
“You said I could do whatever I wanted.”
Yeah, that much was right.
From the first ti I t Lotte until now, I’d been thinking that I’d received from her more than I’d given. And so I’d been intending to do sothing for her by using the fact that I’d caused worry by returning late to the dorm as an excuse.
It was the best I could do, since Lotte wouldn’t be in need of money as the daughter of a noble.
And this was a plan that I had been thinking about since before. It was only that it kept getting delayed.
“That’s true, but....”
“Then what?”
The point of my question was slightly different.
“There’s a lot of other things, too. Like free tutoring, borrowing for you a book that you want from the library....”
Being a bookworm, I thought she’d ask sothing along those lines. But contrary to those expectations, Lotte seed like she wanted to take to the marketplace and shop together.
A person predicted the future based on past behaviors, and I had a particularly strong tendency to do that. For sure I thought that was what Lotte would do.
Unable to figure this out, I quirked my head. On the other hand, Lotte brought a hand to her forehead and pretended to stumble back.
“Aether.”
Calling my na, Lotte halted in her steps. She let out a deep sigh.
It wasn’t a common reaction for her. Having failed at predicting her pattern, I pursed my lips while watching her eyes.
She was about to say sothing, but then closed her mouth in the end. Instead, she took out a small hand mirror from her inner pocket. A girl’s face was soon reflected in the mirror.
It was a gold-eyed girl with eyes revealing the whites and shadows around them. Her charcoal black hair was twisted and tangled all over like a pig’s tail.
“When did you last brush your hair?”
“Good question.”
“Have you slept more than eight hours recently?”
“Nope.”
“What? Then what about more than six hours?”
“I pro... bably did? Uhh.... maybe not?”
Lotte swept both hands down her face. Another sigh escaped her lips.
“When did you last go to the hairdresser?”
“I haven’t.”
“You haven’t?”
“I don’t think so?”
Why would I go to a hairdresser.
“See the mirror with your eyes.”
Following what Lotte said, my head leaned forward. The girl in the mirror also stuck her head out like .
It was an imnsely beautiful girl with white jade-like skin. Apparently all Golden-Eyed looked like this. Co to think of it, Rosemary also wasn’t your average beauty.
“Do you feel anything?”
“I look pretty handso.”
“Don’t say sothing weird!”
I responded jokingly but all I got in return was a look full of concern. It was then that I quickly realized what Lotte’s intention was.
I matched Lotte’s steps without thinking and before I knew it, the entrance of a large hair salon was awaiting .
Without realizing, I went ‘uhh, uhh’.
The reason was simple: I fucking hated places like this.
Salons to were ‘barbershops that took a long ti’, no more, no less. I couldn’t be spending a lot of ti trimming my hair. I should be reading more books in that ti.
But unable to read minds, Lotte didn’t seem to understand these feelings of mine. No, even if she knew she was planning to take inside anyway.
“Take a day to get so rest and clean yourself up. That way when you graduate later and beco a noble, you can behave with dignity.”
“No, it’s not that....”
The words ‘I’m probably going to make a run for it without graduating’ ca up to my throat but I swallowed them back down. Because if I told this to Lotte, it was going to be a disaster in its own way.
Instead, I ca up with a different excuse. Waving my hand, I spoke.
“I like my current hair.”
“It’s too long. Look here.”
Lotte’s hand touched my tailbone. It was a sudden move.
Suddenly choking, I coughed. But Lotte paid no mind and spoke with an upset voice.
“Just how long didn’t you cut for.... Now it goes past your waist down to your legs.”
“About four years?”
“Four years?”
“About that.”
“You must be crazy.”
Saying ‘this won’t do’ repeatedly, Lotte pushed my back. Disjointed exclamations of ‘uhh, uh’ spilled from my mouth.
The sound of a bell jingling. The characteristic sll of a salon tickling my nose as soon as I stepped inside. The greetings of sociable staff.
Unfamiliar information entered through all the senses besides touch. It felt like I was going to have an allergic reaction all over my body.
Disgusted, I turned around. Even after reading my horrified expression, Lotte shook her head firmly.
“No. You said that I can do whatever I want today and tomorrow.”
“Uh.... I did, but.”
“So today, I’m going to make a human out of you.”
Hearing that, strange goosebumps broke out all over my body.
My god, she was saying that this wasn’t it.
[Good luck. I’ll be back after eating.]
I had to swallow down the desperate cries trying to burst out of my throat as best I could and sit down in the chair.
Then what happened afterwards was as expected. The person assigned to complinted that my eyes were pretty, then Lotte and the lady were talking about what hair style I should do. It took ten minutes up to this point.
“Long hair with c-curls is also popular these days.”
“I think a glam perm would be okay for her as well.”
“Mmm, since her hair is naturally curly, how about going straight?”
The hell are they saying?
“It wouldn’t be bad to mix with s-curls.”
“It might look better if we straighten it halfway through.”
“Ah, you an as double2, right?”
Listening to the two won talking reminded that I was a man. No. Was it sothing that people would know even if they were a guy? I didn’t know.
“We should also ask your friend. How do you want it, sweetie?”
The hairdresser asked while combing my hair, but I could only stiffen up like a rock on the spot. Not only was it my first ti coming sowhere like this, all the terms I was hearing were new to .
“Okay. Let’s start with a trim, then we’ll give it so light curls.”
My hair isn’t a vector.
While telling this joke that was neither funny nor moving to myself, I followed the hairdresser to the hair wash station. Apparently they washed hair like this first because you weren’t allowed to wet it for about two days after getting a perm.
A warm towel was put over my eyes. The towel covered up to my ears, and so the noise outside sounded a bit muffled.
The hairdresser gathered my hair into a large sink.
Then I soon heard the shaaaa of water. I could sense a trace of mana.
Co to think of it, the lady in charge of had blue eyes. She must be operating it by charging mana into the everyday-use scroll within the faucet herself.
Soon my hair grew heavy, feeling warm. It ant that my hair was starting to get wet.
The hairdresser asked in a cordial voice.
“How’s the water temperature?”
“Yes.... it’s utopic3.”
“No, I an how’s the water temperature....”
Ah.
I want to go back to my dorm.
Footnotes
1. In terms of the Chinese characters 消風 in the raw2. Double winding perm, presumably3. Pun where 'water temperature' (mul ondo) and 'utopia/paradise' (muruengdowon) have similar sounds
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