Maya stares at herself in the mirror. She sees her own face, stuck in a deadpan. She sees her straight brown hair and her royal purple eyes, and then the stray drops of water dripping down her cheek and the tip of her nose.
She blinks, and she puts a hand to her face as she wipes the water away.
The bathroom door opens with a click, and Hikari walks in. He shoots Maya an inquisitive look as he pads over to the sink next to her.
“You look really sullen, Tendou-san.”
Maya continues to stare at her reflection in the mirror. I really do look sullen, she thinks, just for a moment.
“I’m thinking.”
Hikari pulls his toothbrush out from the cup he’s holding. He doesn’t question Maya’s thoughts. “You’re not crying, aren't you?”
Maya shook her head. “No, I wasn’t. I just washed my face.”
Hikari only gives her one last nod before going to brush his teeth. The sound in the bathroom is reduced to only the constant scratch of the black-haired girl’s toothbrush, as both women are left in tense silence.
Hikari finishes brushing his teeth, splashing a handful of water on his face before walking out. Maya spares him a glance, and he catches it. He stares for a moment.
“You can always tell us if you have any problems, you know. Just telling you.”
He doesn't wait for a response, closing the bathroom door behind him, once again leaving Maya alone with whatever thoughts she had.
Maya’s eyes flit to her hair, and she blinks again.
“Maybe I should get a haircut.”
…
Maya busies herself with her notes. Her hairstyle notes, to be more exact. Her phone is open beside her notebook, with pictures of potential hairstyles that she likes. She notes down the ones she likes, opting not to draw them lest someone ever sees her catastrophically bad drawing prowess.
Her brows furrow slightly as she taps her pen incessantly, trying to think of something. It’s the feeling of knowing something, but not knowing what it is at the same time. A nagging feeling. Like she’s grasping something just centimetres out of reach; like it’s there sitting at the back of her head.
She adjusts her glasses, and she scoffs gruffly.
She hears the knock on her door, and she drops the thought, takes off her glasses and walks over to answer the door.
She finds Saijou Claudine on the other side.
“Saijou-san?”
“Hikari told me you had problems. Spill it, Tendou Maya.” Claudine answers. She stares right into Maya’s eyes (and soul, perhaps) and Maya almost wants to shudder from how it burns into her.
Kagura-san, you really didn’t have to do that.
“I–” Maya coughs. “-do not have any problems of any sort.”
Claudine stares at Maya for a moment, shifting her weight over to her right leg as she folds her arms in front of her chest. “Are you sure?”
“...Yes.” Maya answers, tentatively, carefully. She’s sure Claudine will catch on, but that is the least of her problems, she thinks.
Claudine does catch on. She frowns this time, and sighs.
“I’m not going to press on. If it becomes something much bigger than a Tendou Maya can handle, knock on my door and tell me, okay?”
Maya watches as Claudine turns away from her door and disappears into the common room. The brunette wandered back to her table, gave the notebook one look, gave one glance to the pair of glasses on her desk, and booked for her bed.
This is a first. Why am I fussing over a haircut?
…
Maya sips her cup of tea quietly as Nana makes banana cupcakes on the common room counter. She hums as her blonde-haired friend puts the muffins into the oven, imagining the fragrant banana smell that will soon fill the room in minutes.
“Well, the muffins are gonna be ready in 20 minutes!” Nana sets the frog timer on the counter, cranking the number up to 20. “You think you can wait that long, Maya-chan?”
Maya laughs. “Of course I can. Despite my…penchant for food, I have the capacity to wait.”
Nana grins, taking off her banana-yellow apron and rolling it to tuck safely inside a drawer. “Good! You get an extra muffin when the batch is done, then!”
Maya chuckles, looking at the deep reddish-brown of her black tea. “Speaking of which,”
“Hm?”
“I’m thinking of cutting my hair.”
Nana had to blink twice. “Oh? What kind? Where?”
Maya had to think for a few seconds. She realises she hasn't thought about it.
“I have not thought about where, actually. The only clue I have as to what haircut I want is perhaps the André Grandier wig I wore for ‘Youths – Rose of Versailles’.” Maya says, looking into the now empty mug she holds in her hands.
“Oh, that one!” Nana nods in agreement. “That one’s pretty. It’s the mullet, isn’t it?”
Maya pauses for a while, looking at nothing in particular before nodding slowly. “Perhaps.”
“It’s the gender…something. Thing?” Nana taps her chin, leaning on the counter. “The feeling you get when you get something done to your appearance and it makes you happier at yourself. I don’t know. You know what I mean?”
“I’m not sure.” Maya sets her mug down. “Perhaps a feeling of a similar sort.”
“Gender affirmation, maybe? Is that what it is?” Nana says, deep in thought. “Maybe I should get a haircut, too. I could get Junna-chan to do it for me, maybe? Or Kuro-chan–”
“Ooh, I smell with my little nose, the fragrance of Nana-han’s banana muffins! And maybe a little sprinkle of drama.” Kaoruko sashays in the common room, alone, to their surprise. “What’s this about haircuts, you two? Thinking of getting crew cuts?”
“Kaoruko-chan! It’s not like that!” Nana replies. “It’s just that Maya-chan wants a haircut, and it got me thinking if I wanted one, too! We just started talking about who in the Starlight Hall could actually cut hair before you went in here.”
Kaoruko lets out a little ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ before opening the fridge to stare at its insides, seeing if she wants to grab something.
“If we’re talking about the best barber in the house, it’s either me, Mahiru-han or Kuro-han, and that’s me being absolutely honest here. Karen-han and Kagura-han are absolutely catastrophic at cutting hair, Junna-han strikes me as someone who can only cut bowl cuts and hime cuts, and Futaba-han..let’s not talk about that.”
“You’re actually being serious here? I’m sort of surprised.” Nana exclaims.
“It is rare to see you so serious for once, Hanayagi-san.” Maya adds.
“Well! You two are getting haircuts! And you two are my friends! I look out for friends. Especially because this is about haircuts. It’s important that you two get good haircuts, I do not want my friends to look like clowns.” Kaoruko responds dramatically, throwing her arms up in the air.
“I appreciate the worry, Hanayagi-san, but we’ll be alright, I assure you.” Maya chuckles.
“Of course you will! I will make sure of that.” Kaoruko huffs. She pauses, deep in thought, before lighting up, a sinister look gracing her face. “Ah! Oh.”
She gives one look at Maya, turns to Nana, grabs her tall friend’s arm, whispers into her ear, and proceeds to drag her away. “I will discuss with Banana-han about her haircut. You, Tendou-han, will stay here. Just wait~”
“Wait! Kaoruko-chan, my banana muffins!” Nana exclaims, running back to the oven to take the first batch of her banana muffins out, placing them on the counter before running back to Kaoruko. “Okay, we’re set!”
“Good! I have many things to finish!” Kaoruko drags Nana out of the common room and to who-knows-where, leaving Maya alone with herself.
In approximately half an hour, Kaoruko comes back with a…Nana. With an undercut. An undercut, and the banana tails gone.
Maya had to do a double take.
“Daiba-san? That’s Daiba-san?” Maya blinks, stunned.
“I had approval from Junna-chan! It’s okay if I lose the banana bangs, she said.” Nana smiles childishly. “Now I have an undercut!”
Kaoruko nods proudly, clearly happy with her work. “It’s nice, isn’t it? Even if Nana-han looks slightly off without the banana tails.”
“Ah. That was what’s off, yes.” Maya nods sagely. “The banana tails will be missed dearly.”
“They can grow back!” Nana replies. She shakes her head for a bit, feeling the loss of weight on her head for a moment before grabbing one of her own banana muffins.
“Speaking of which!” Kaoruko coughs, getting the attention of the other two in the room. “Tendou-han. I have assigned Saijou-san to give you your haircut.”
Nana let out a large and loud “Hah??”, while Maya resorted to just sitting there in stunned silence.
“When did you tell her? You were with me the whole time!” Nana says, her banana muffin half-eaten on her hands.
“On the phone, of course. I bet a banana muffin she’ll be storming in this room in five…”
Everyone hears that telltale scream followed by a set of very quick, heavy, and angry footsteps, and Kaoruko shoots Maya a shit-eating grin. Maya visibly flinches.
“Should I be scared?” Nana asks, apparently voicing Maya’s exact concerns.
“Well–”
“-Kaoruko!” Claudine storms into the common room, wearing an angry frown that could bring even Kaoruko herself to her knees. Nana visibly stiffens, holding onto the marble counter for dear life. Maya stays on the sofa, rooted to her spot in tense anticipation.
“Did you really just assign me to be Tendou Maya’s barber? On God?” Claudine barks.
Kaoruko tries her best not to cave. She shoots Claudine her most sweetest smile. “Well! This is an opportunity for you two to have a one on one, isn’t it! I just set you two up for a date!”
“This can't be a date! Giving Maya a haircut does not count as a date, Kaoruko!” Claudine rolls her eyes, hands on her hips.
“Sure, but I’m sure you want to try cut her hair, don’t you?” Kaoruko, who has regained her cool, waggles her eyebrows at an increasingly annoyed Saijou Claudine.
Claudine could not come up with a rebuttal, stares daggers at Kaoruko, before turning away and shouting exasperatedly.
“Okay, fine, you got me! What can I say,” Claudine looks at Maya’s long brown hair, “Her hair is extremely pretty to look at. Who wouldn’t want to work on it?”
“You sound like an actual barber, Saijou-san.” Maya stifles a giggle. Claudine catches that, and she scoffs lightly.
“Might as well fake it till you make it.” Claudine walks over to Maya, leaning on the sofa backrest, finally getting a good look at Nana, who had relaxed and was eating her second banana muffin. “The undercut is nice, by the way.”
“Thanks, Kuro-chan! Kaoruko-chan gave me a haircut.”
“One of the only nice things Kaoruko has ever done, honestly.” Claudine laughs, earning a frown from the object of conversation herself. “What? Am I wrong?”
“I have done way more nice things, Kuro-han!” Kaoruko argues. “Giving Banana-han a nice haircut is just one of them!”
“Of course, Your Royal Highness.” Claudine replies coyly, tapping on Maya’s shoulder and motioning for the brunette to follow her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have a haircut to give.”
Maya follows Claudine out of the common room, giving one last look at her two other friends. Nana gives her a thumbs up. Kaoruko just lifts her chin in a motion for Maya to go, giving her a silent word of good luck. Maya turns away to jog after Claudine who had gone several metres ahead of her.
They walk to the bathroom, and Maya watches as Claudine pulls up a wooden stool.
“Okay. Maya you sit down here,” Claudine motions to the stool, “And stay while I get my stuff. Think about the hairstyle while you’re at it, and take off your barette and bow. Even better if you give me some visual reference.”
The ash blonde then leaves Maya to her thoughts, padding her way to her room to get everything she needs. Maya opens a picture of her in André’s wig. She sees that the picture was taken just recently, and she was smiling. She realises that Nana took this picture and sent it to her. She chuckles to herself, remembering bits and pieces of memory from all their rehearsals.
Claudine came back to a smiling Maya, and she almost wanted not to disturb this rare moment of reverie. She had to give the bathroom door a little knock for Maya to snap herself out of her thoughts before she walks in.
“Decided on a hairstyle?” Claudine asks, preparing for the haircut. She pulls out a pair of scissors, a comb, and a hairdryer.
“I have. I’ve got a photo for reference.”
Maya shows Claudine her own picture in André’s costume, and the ash blonde nods.
“Ah yes, André. I can work with that.” Claudine ties her own hair up into a ponytail, and Maya almost blushes at the sight of her nape. Claudine turns towards the mirror, and that image is gone in an instant. “I’ll have to wash your hair after it’s done, you know. Hope you know that!”
Maya just nods as she feels the fabric of the apron come to sit on her shoulders. Claudine takes the scissors and the comb off the counter and gets to work.
…
Claudine meticulously and carefully does her work. She slowly nips off pieces of Maya’s hair until it gets shorter, shorter, and shorter, just enough for a mullet: and she starts trimming. Maya feels the weight on her head get lighter and lighter, but the only thing she’s actually focusing on is how pretty Claudine looks hard at work. The same look Maya sees during those little practice sessions in the evening, or when she’s running forward to win the sprint test. It’s that kind of look that Maya finds so endearing, especially coming from her rival and her equal and her girlfriend, maybe, if Maya ever finds the courage to confess.
Maya feels the soft tap of Claudine’s hand on her shoulder, and she blinks herself away from the pleasant daze. She sees herself in the mirror; and her hair looks considerably shorter. She feels better, strangely fulfilled. She takes a few moments to look at herself, and oh, she doesn’t really recognise herself anymore.
Claudine smiles softly, looking at her hard work (and how beautiful Maya looks, but she wouldn’t tell the world she’s doing that.) She chuckles, noticing Maya’s wide smile.
“Like it, eh? Unfortunately, we’re not done yet.”
Claudine pulls Maya to stand, and leads her to one of the sinks. She pulls out shampoo from her bag.
“We’re gonna have to wash your hair first. After this, I’ll blow-dry your hair, and we’re done!”
Maya looked at the bottle of shampoo, at Claudine, then at the bottle again.
“Is that why your hair always smells like roses?”
Claudine blinks, momentarily stunned. “It’s my shampoo, of course my hair smells like roses! I’m more surprised by the fact that you knew this.”
It took Maya three seconds to register what she just said. Maya feels blood rushing to her cheeks, and she looks away. “You have never heard that from me, ever.”
Claudine laughs. “Okay. That’s okay. I’ll need you to bend so I can wash your hair, you know. Unless you want to wash it yourself?”
Maya blinked owlishly. “I have a choice?”
“Yeah? It’s not like we’re in a real hair salon, you know.” Claudine shook her head in slight exasperation and intrigue. She smiles, anyway. “Eh, I’ll do it for you. It won’t take long.”
Maya quiets down once Claudine starts, feeling the water run down her hair, the growing soap suds from the shampoo, and the feeling of Claudine’s hands massaging her scalp. She feels the water wash down her head again just minutes later.
“You can stand properly now–” Claudine gets splashed by droplets of water, absolutely not expecting the gorgeous sudden hairflip. “-Maya!”
Maya turns towards her, just as surprised. “My apologies, I did not mean that!”
Claudine shook the water off her face and laughed. “God, I absolutely did not expect that.”
She turns on the hairdryer and shoots the air at Maya. “Take that, you silly goose!”
Maya turns away laughing, trying to avoid the hot air hitting her face. “Saijou-san!”
Claudine jogs at the brunette with the whirring hairdryer pointed at her, a big grin on her face. She tackles Maya, shaking the hairdryer on her other hand on top of Maya’s head so that the wind dries her hair. Maya lets herself sway to the ash-blonde’s momentum, feeling the hot wind in her hair in an instant. She smiles and giggles as she feels the heavy yet comfortable weight of Saijou Claudine set behind her back.
They stay like that for a while, the only sounds in the room reduced into the soft whirr of Claudine’s hairdryer. Maya’s hair puffs out, and Claudine stops the hairdryer.
Maya had to blink twice. Her eyes widen as she sees herself, now with a mullet and fluffy hair.
“This is me?” She whispers. Claudine catches that.
“That’s Ma Maya, alright.”
Maya feels herself blush at that statement, and she looks down to hide her face. Claudine laughs and turns her around. Maya still looked down, afraid to know what she’d see if she looked up. Claudine forces her to look up, lifting her chin with her finger so she’d be eye to eye with her ash-blonde captor. Maya sees magenta in Claudine’s eyes, and she thinks that look almost looks hungry.
Maya doesn’t move.
“Speaking of which. Is our relationship unlabeled right now?”
Claudine laughs.
“We could change that. Can I kiss you?”
Maya gulps down a breath she didn’t know was lodged in the throat. She nodded slowly, and Claudine chuckled. She feels Claudine’s lips upon her own, and she closes her eyes and she returns the kiss, trying to push herself up from the edge of the sink.
Claudine didn’t let her go. She pushed Maya back down to the counter and they made out for five minutes.
Maya breaks away first, out of breath. Claudine does too. Maya had to search for her scattered thoughts before she talked, stuttering.
“Y– I– ..I didn’t know you were a good kisser.” Maya managed to say. That didn’t come out right.
Claudine shrugs. “I didn’t know either.”
“Are we dating now?”
“God, you silly goose. I just kissed you! We made out for five minutes! Think for yourself!”
Claudine rolls her eyes, and it’s Maya’s turn to laugh.
“I could kiss you again.”
“We are not doing that right now. You have to help me clean up.”
Claudine motions to the pile of brunette hair on the floor and the utensils on the counter.
“I’ll get the broom.” Maya says, heading out the door.
“Wait, one second,” Claudine jogs over to Maya and gives the brunette a chaste kiss on the lips. “There. You can go now.”
Maya just watched Claudine walk back to the counter to tidy up in stunned silence before she realises that ‘Oh, I need to get the broom.’
Maya runs to get the broom in the laundry room, and runs back to the bathroom to help clean up.
(She didn’t realise that Nana and Kaoruko were hiding behind the bathroom door.)
Maya sweeps her own brunette hair into the dustpan. She remembers her long hair for a moment. Before she realises it, the floor was white and clean. She clears the dustpan out and gives herself one last look in the mirror before heading into her room.
Once Maya got to her room, she instantly went to her table and opened the second-lowest drawer. She pulls out a glasses case. She takes the glasses out and opens her wardrobe to see herself in the mirror.
Oh, I like this, Maya thinks. She smiles, satisfied.
She hears the knock on her door, and she opens it, forgetting that she has glasses on. She was greeted by the sight of a very, very surprised Claudine, with the brunette’s periwinkle bow in her hand.
“Y–you forgot this.” Claudine hands Maya her bow.
Maya accepts it, still confused at Claudine’s behaviour. “Is there something wrong, Ma Claudine?”
“You’re wearing glasses, ma chére.” Claudine replies, motioning at Maya’s face.
Realisation hits Maya like a splash of cold water(and a truck) and she quickly takes her glasses off.
“My apologies–”
Claudine is having none of that. She raises her hand up, and Maya gets the signal, stopping.
“You don’t need to apologise for that, silly. If you need to wear glasses, wear them.”
Claudine pulls the glasses away from Maya’s hands and puts them on the brunette herself. She smiles, brushing a stray strand of hair away from Maya’s face.
“You look pretty either way, you see.”
Maya smiles so gleefully, so joyfully and carefree that Claudine wants to take a picture of her smile and frame it in a corner of her room. Maya says ‘thank you’, and Claudine shuts her up with a kiss.
“Okay. I need to show you to Nana and Kaoruko now. Everyone else can find out later.”
Maya chuckles, enamoured. “Whatever you wish, ma belle princesse.”
“Oh, here comes the flurry of petnames.”
Claudine takes hold of Maya’s hand and drags her to the common room where Nana and Kaoruko were absent. The banana muffins have been stripped clean, leaving an empty tray with crumbs.
“Where are they?” Claudine says, looking around. “Did they go around?”
Then they hear Nana and Kaoruko’s voices outside.
“You got that on camera?” Kaoruko asks.
“Yeah, I di–” Nana answers, stopping upon seeing Claudine and Maya. “Oh my God.”
Kaoruko blinks twice. “Oh my God?”
Claudine grins proudly, a smiling Maya beside her. “My girl’s pretty, isn’t she?”
Nana nods. “Yeah. Very pretty.”
Kaoruko nods as well. “I have a girlfriend, but I could take her.”
“She’s mine, back off.” Claudine pulls Maya closer to her, placing a protective arm around the brunette.
“I know!” Kaoruko answers on cue.
Claudine furrows her brows.
“Hey, I didn’t even tell you we’re dating. How’d you even know?”
Nana stiffens, and Kaoruko places a hand over her mouth.
“Oh. Oh shit.”
Claudine releases her hold over a now bewildered Maya and inches closer to Nana and Kaoruko, slowly, sinisterly, and eerily.
Kaoruko freezes, grabs Nana’s hand and runs.
“FUCK! BOOK IT, BANANA-HAN! WE’VE BEEN FOUND OUT!”
“COME BACK HERE, YOU TWO! I KNOW YOU’VE GOT FOOTAGE!”
Maya could only stare bewilderedly as her now-girlfriend chases the living hell out of her two other friends around the perimeter.
…
Claudine manages to coerce Nana into sending her a picture of Maya, in the end. She prints the photo out and keeps it in her wallet.
Maya couldn’t wear her periwinkle bow on her head anymore, so she ties it to her arm instead.
When the rest of her classmates saw Maya’s new hairstyle, they reacted very positively. Hikari in particular cheered so hard that Mahiru had to tell him to tone down the fawning. “See what I told you!” he said.
Maya feels much better, now. She doesn’t feel the sullen and grey atmosphere whenever she stares at herself in the mirror anymore. Regarding her glasses; ever since Claudine said she likes Maya either way, the brunette has brought her glasses to school every day. She does only wear them in academic classes, taking them off wherever they have practical classes. They’re reading glasses, anyway.
“They’re reading glasses?”
“Yes, Ma Claudine.”
“Why do you wear them outside of reading, then?”
“I like them in particular. You do like me wearing my glasses, do you?”
“Maya. You’re pretty even if you wear glasses. I thought I told you this?”
Maya laughs.
“I wear them so only you can see my true face when I take them off.”
“Maya, that is not a very good pick up line.”