Vol 2 Chapter 1 – You’re Perfect the Way You Are!【Volume 2: The Flirting-All-Over-the-Place Second Semester Arc】

The first place they dragged him was a hair salon.

The consensus had been that the first order of business was dealing with his unstyled, just-rolled-out-of-bed hair situation.

“S-So, what kind of look are we going for today…?”

The stylist had a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead as he tried to process the situation — one quietly plain-looking young man, escorted in by five very enthusiastic gyaru. Setting that aside, however —

Sandai was at a complete loss. He’d had no intention of coming here in the first place, so he had no idea what to ask for.

That said, he was in the chair now regardless. He had to say something.

He sat there, thinking.

At that point, all five girls grabbed the men’s fashion magazines lying around the salon and started sharing their individual opinions with absolute confidence.

“This one, please — shave down the sides real sharp, nice masculine two-block.”

“No, no, no. Fujiwara should do this one — the barley-tea prince mushroom cut. It’s way cuter.”

“Personally, I’m pushing for something international, like this buzz cut.”

“Oh, here we go, the shaved-head girl strikes again. Shino would actually kill him if he went bald. …I like this one. A slight perm, wolf cut. Let’s do this one.”

“Wait, hold on — wouldn’t a center part be better? It’s trending this year, and it’s got that whole smoldering vibe.”

He wanted it on record: he was not a toy.

Sandai directed a look at the group that communicated, as clearly as he could manage, please stop playing with me like this. All five of them picked up on it immediately and, without missing a beat, pivoted.

“I mean, the most important thing is whether Shino’s going to like it.”

“True, true.”

“We might’ve gotten a little carried away. Sorry about that, Fujiwara.”

A purely ceremonial apology — and yet the phrase whether Shino’s going to like it got Sandai’s attention despite himself.

He had mixed feelings about being dragged here like a hostage.

But.

If the result made Shino happy — he supposed he couldn’t exactly refuse on principle, either.

“So what does Shino actually like?”

“Shino’s so bad with guys that whenever anyone tries to ask her what type she’s into, she just changes the subject completely.”

“No data.”

“But she picked Fujiwara, so… maybe she likes the understated look?”

“In that case, the only thing we can really tell the stylist is ‘clean and put-together, nothing too out there.'”

“It’s not exciting, but that’s probably the right call.”

He had no idea if Shino would be pleased, but at least it seemed like they weren’t going to do anything weird to him.

Sandai accepted the proposal with a quiet “Well, if that’s the plan, then.” With the group finally united on a direction, the stylist — who had been staring in bewildered distress through the entire exchange — exhaled visibly in relief.

The hair portion of the makeover wrapped up neatly enough — but of course, the makeover itself was far from over.

After that, he was hauled around to shop for clothes, then shoes, then more.

By the time he checked his phone and registered that it was nearly 9 PM, it was finally done.

☆

Sandai’s appearance had changed considerably, and the five gyaru were studying him with the critical, evaluating eyes of judges at a competition.

“Mmm. The vibe is different.”

“Not flashy though.”

“That’s because we were trying for understated-hot, so it can’t be helped.”

“Pulling off ‘low-key but good-looking’ is harder than it sounds.”

“I think the effort paid off, though. He’s got a young actor kind of feel now. Or like — the least flashy guy in an idol group.”

Sandai could feel that something had shifted. There was a vague… young-actor quality to him, maybe. In terms of atmosphere, at least.

“He’ll be fine at the mixer at this rate.”

“Definitely.”

The mixer was a problem for later. What mattered for now was — would Shino like this?

The thought made him restless, fidgety. All that was left was to head home and wait for her to show up after her shift, and judging by the time, that would be soon.

Sandai started checking his phone every few minutes.

Then all five girls broke into matching grins.

“Hey, Fujiwara. So here’s the thing — we actually messaged Shino a little while ago. She should be just about done with her shift. She said she’d come right over. …Oh look, there she is.”

They’d called her.

Sandai turned around — and there was Shino, running toward them, slightly out of breath.

She threw herself at Sandai, latched onto him — and immediately, with a half-teary expression, started furiously messing up his hair with both hands.

The careful styling the hairdresser had spent time on was reduced to chaos in seconds.

“Sh-Shino…?”

“No! You can’t get handsome! Other girls will come after you! I don’t want that! And you all — stop giving makeovers to someone else’s boyfriend without asking! He was perfect before! He’s perfect the way he is!”

So rather than being happy that her boyfriend had gotten better-looking, Shino had gone straight to the possibility of other girls noticing him.

Objectively speaking, the makeover had made Sandai somewhat more presentable. But he’d been an ordinary, unremarkable guy to begin with — not exactly someone in danger of being stolen away — and yet…

Well. There was really no other word for it. Anyone watching could see, clear as day, that Shino was completely, utterly, head-over-heels for him.

The five gyaru who had been so breezy and in control all afternoon now stood there watching Shino’s almost-crying face and the words tumbling out of her, their own faces flushing red as they simultaneously looked away.

Even they, apparently, could be embarrassed by a love this unguarded.