Chapter 16: Image Change
At the usual clubroom after school.
Kyouya was first to the clubroom today. Since no one else was in the room, Kyouya started reading a light novel while waiting for the others.
“Sup.”
The door opened with a rattle, and the first person to arrive was Mao.
“Oof.”
Mao leapt into her usual seat.
Coincidentally, her feet flew up when she sat down.
“Huh?”
Kyouya glanced at Mao from the corner of his eyes. He felt something was off and turned towards her.
Normally, Mao would let her hair down, appearing almost doll-like. Today, however, her hair was up in a ponytail.
Tied up at the top of her head, her hair flowed down in one straight line.
Kyouya stared wide-eyed at her—
“What? What are you staring at?”
Mao asked while she put her hand over the exposed skin on her neck.
“No, I’ve only seen ‘that’ for the first time.”
“What do you mean by ‘that’?”
“Um… I mean… that thing.”
Kyouya said fl.u.s.tered. He was nervous and panicked over his words, but Mao just thought it was weird. She was more confused than angry.
“Geez, if you have something to say, say it out loud. Or else I’ll bite you.”
“N-no, it looks nice… but why?”
“This? I’m trying to change my image.”
With that, the confusion disappeared and Mao returned to her confident self.
“How is it? Isn’t it great? Girls can do image changes easily. Because you’re a guy, in order to change your image, you have to become a skinhead. You should feel jealous.”
“You seem to really like skinheads. Also, didn’t you say I wasn’t really a guy?”
“Yup, I’m biting you. Don’t move.”
“No, wa—ow ow!”
Kyouya tried to escape Mao chasing him with her ponytail swinging about.
“Oh Mao! …what are you doing?”
The room quieted when Shion entered, asking her question as she put books on the table.
“Hehe, I’m trying to change my image. I’ve heard it looks nice.”
Mao stood straight with an arrogant smile. Even thought she was going into a familiar pose, she still looked like a completely different person.
“Oh.”
Shion responded without much interest as she sat on the chair.
Kyouya put the books that Shion had returned to him back on the shelf in the corner of the room. Shion recently began conquer the “Forbidden Catalogue” bookshelf, starting from the top and going down one book at a time.
“Shuuji Ninomiya has already stopped writing. But he also wrote under a different name…”
As Kyouya turned his head to look back while putting a book back on the shelf, he was surprised at the current scene.
“What are you doing right now Shion-san?”
“Ah, I’m doing an image change… I think.”
Shion changed her hairstyle by taking two ribbons and tying her long hair up into a left and right portion.
Girls in light novels and manga often did this kind of hairstyle. However, in reality, they rarely tied their hair in this fashion. It’s become a representative hairstyle of the fict.i.tious world.
“H-how is it?”
Doing up a twintail hairstyle, Shion smiled stiffly.
“Good mooorning.”
“Kirara. Arrived.”
“Ah, Shion-san, that’s cute!”
Megumi jumped at Shion.
“What, even I could do something like twintails. See?”
Mao turned her ponytail in twintails.
“I’ll go borrow some wigs and hair extensions! Be right back!”
Megumi bowed and energetically walked away with a club token tight in her grasp.
The club then became hectic. Kyouya simply gazed at the girls’ “transformations” in front of him.
Shion in a bob-cut looked like a young girl.
Kirara in long, silky black hair looked like a quiet ojou-sama.
Megumi in a pouf hairstyle, saying the lines of a queen like, “If they don’t have bread, let them eat cake!” and sending people to the guillotine, strangely fit her well.
And then Mao became a young girl with braids. She became a quiet young girl, completely different from her usual self.
To think that a simple hairstyle change could lead to such a huge transformation in image!
Within that one day, Kyouya met 48 different girls.
Mao: Let’s do an image change. Kyoro too. He should become a skinhead or shave all his hair.
Kyoro: Why do you like Skinheads so much?
Mao: Takochu~1
Translator’s Notes:
1. Noun for making an octopus face. Similar to a duck face. I honestly don’t know how to translate this.