"Ummm... mom? "
"Ara, feeling nervous are we?"
"...."
"Fufufu, don't worry I have done it many times here. You can also trust this kind lady."
They were in a hair salon. Kiyotaka was convinced by 'his mom' to get rid of his ponytail. According to her, even though it looked good on him it would not make a good impression to his potential future employer. Apparently running a hospital had become a business too and those people would stop at nothing to snatch up ideal future star doctors and thesis writers. As the top scorer in the country, he would definitely be observed.
'First impressions are very important as they tell a lot about that person's personality before you even meet them.'
These were the words that convinced him. It wasn't the only instance of her giving him good life advice. She had previously explained the education system to him too,
'Schools and universities don't teach you so that you can make money, they teach you so that you get a job and take your place in society.'
Though childish at times, she seemed to have deep knowledge on practical topics. Kiyotaka wondered whether she was just a deep thinker sharing her knowledge sharing her thoughts or an experienced parent enlightening him and widening his worldview.
"Darling, you don't need to worry. Just relax and leave it all to me.", the hair stylist said to him. That was exactly what worried him. She was on old woman who tried to hide her wrinkles under excessive makeup and failed miserably to do so. Her hairstyle was the old-fashioned curls type. Why couldn't he have the more fashionable looking woman who sitting in one of the seats reading a magazine?
He gave another look at the woman who convinced him into this situation. Woman are scary. She smiled at him and gave a thumbs up. He sighed, closed his eyes and put the fate of his hair in the woman standing behind him.
▢▢▢
It was simple common sense. If two barbers did their hair for each other obviously the one with the worse hairstyle was the better stylist.
His hairstyle right now was like his hair when he joined ANHS but it was super soft. He did not know what shampoo the woman used after the haircut to wash his hair but it felt as soft as a Kei's hair.
He was currently in the changing rooms of a dress store wearing a black tuxedo. He had already told Kei's mother that he would be paying for the dress. She was currently waiting for him outside, and would give his opinion on his his appearance.
The tuxedo was supposed to be worn by all the members of the orchestra while they were performing. Shiromeguri-senpai had made it very clear that they had to look immaculate on the days of their performances.
The tuxedo was selected by his mom. It was a standard white shirt with a black jacket on top.
He called out from inside to the woman who was sitting outside, "The pants are a little too big."
"Ahh, don't worry they will take your measurements, and tailor it later. Just tell me if you like the cloth and the color."
"Yeah, I'll take this one I guess.", he said as he came out of the dressing room with a double breasted tuxedo and slightly oversized pants . If they were any bigger they would've slid down his legs and embarrass him. Luckily he had a belt that was holding it up tight.
His mom looked at him from top to bottom with a finger under her chin looking at him as if he was a painting she had to review. After the scanning, she looked back at him with a smile oh her face.
"It's good but-", she walked closer to him. "now it's better." She had a gold color tie in her hands and had put around his neck by herself. He just stood there comprehending the situation as she tightened the tie around his neck.
She put her hand on top of his head and ruffled his soft hair and said, "Its brings out your eyes more. You have beautiful eyes."
"Is that so.."
This was the first time anyone had called his eyes beautiful. Everyone else used adjectives such as deep, dark or even scary but never beautiful.
It feels....nice.
"Get your measurements taken and meet me and the counter. I'll pay for the tie because its my gift to you."
"Fine", he sighed. He had learnt long ago that no one could change this woman's mind once she decides she wants to do something.
He went into the tiny room and took off the tuxedo and wore his clothes.
"Make it quick Kiyotaka, let's get ice cream on the way home!"
He almost ran to the tailor after coming out of the changing rooms.
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They were walking home eating their ice-creams. Kei's mother had chosen golden ice-cream. A good choice.
The golden ice-cream was a swirl of vanilla and chocolate with a layer of caramel between them. Kiyotaka being the ice-cream connoisseur that was, had internally critiqued it as 9.2 out of 10 ice-cream. Perfect blending of the 3 flavours made it a blast for the taste buds.
Only reason it wasn't rated higher was because there was simply better flavours. Like his, the one-and-only butterscotch ice-cream. Chocolate chip and golden ice-cream had no problems but butterscotch had one major positive that separated it from the rest. That was the frozen nuts. 10 out of 10. No doubts.
After finishing their ice-creams they went towards the opening of an alley where a trash can was present. After throwing away their cups, they started walking away when they heard the sound of someone crying. Both stopped and looked at each other with a questioning expression. They turned around to see a small boy with blue hair and in a uniform that said, 'Sunshine Daycare'.
He looked at the woman beside him who suddenly went up to the child who was in the alley. It was definitely not a place where a child should be, much less alone without any parents. Mom walked up to the crying boy slowly careful not to scare him.
At first the boy seemed scared but the longer Kei's mother whispered something to him the less scared he got. Kiyotaka took out his phone and searched for 'Sunshine Daycare.'
It was a fairly common name but the closest one seemed to be a few blocks away. He looked up to see the boy and his mom walking towards him. The toddler was hiding behind the woman. His mother reassured the boy and said that Kiyotaka was a friend. With small steps, he came to Kiyotaka and stretched out a small out, "Nice to meet you. My name is Raku".
Do kids not use their full names anymore? He seems too scared to be disrespectful.
"Nice to meet Raku, my name is Kiyotaka.", he responded shaking the boys hand with a smile which the boy returned. He immediately went back to Kei's mother after that.
Kid's don't like me huh. That's a little sad. I can't be bothered about it though.
He told his mother that the kids daycare center Raku belonged to was few blocks away so they decided to take him there. Raku was holding onto his mother's hand. This baffled Kiyotaka. Didn't they just meet?
After a while, the boy took out a fancy ornament which seemed to have been into a necklace and started swinging around his finger.
Mom noticed this too and asked him with a curious voice, "Ehhh? Raku that's a nice pendent you got there. Why is so so big?"
"Huh?"
"Oh this", he said as he stopped spinning the necklace. "Its from-"
"YOUNG MASTER!"
Kiyotaka lifted his head and looked towards the source of the noise while they other two jumped at the loud shout. He found a group of burly looking men running towards them, all of them in traditional attire.
A woman nearby screamed, "Yakuza! Run!". Yakuza were bad news. He couldn't believe people like them even existed but there they were right in front of him.
Before anything could happen, Raku walked a few steps forward and in annoyed and embarrassed voice said, "Stop it! These people helped me when I got lost. They aren't kidnappers. You better thank them not kill them."
The men looked at the visibly scared woman and the teenage boy who was probably doing a good job at keeping his shaking knees. All of them bent forward ninety degrees and shouted, "Thank you for helping our young master!".
Mom was speechless at what was happening. There were people recording the whole incident. He hid his face from the cameras by looking away from them at the wall of a store making it look like he was embarrassed.
Raku turned towards them, " My name is Ichijou Raku. Sorry for not telling my full name earlier. I try to live a peaceful life not attracting attention. Thank you for your kindness, I'll take my leave now."
Kioytaka found some sense of camaraderie with the young boy in front of him, After all, their goals were more or less the same.
After bidding good bye, they started walking to the Karuizawa household. His mom was walking beside him with a dazed expression on her face.
"We almost lost our lives today huh? Hehe, thank god that kid spoke up.", she finally said.
You wouldn't have. I couldn't have taken them all but threatening them with the kid would have been enough.
"C'mon mom, you're exaggerating."
She laughed, "I guess so but listen", she suddenly had a serious face. "Never get involved with them. They're dangerous and nothing good ever comes out of it."
"Yes, I know."
▢▢▢
Dear Diary,
Its been a while since I've written here. Sorry for that I guess.
Work has been hectic recently, and during the summer it gets even worse. On top of that, I found out about my son. It's been too much, I feel like I could drop at any moment these days.
I saw a video on social media yesterday. It was titled 'Yakuza show their thanks in their own scary way!'. To my complete surprise Kiyotaka was in it! Of course I could recognise the back of his head. No matter what you say I am still his mother!
Speaking of which, there was that other woman beside him. Frankly speaking(or writing hehe) I hate her, though it seems illogical to do so when she seems to be taking care of him. I should be thanking her, but I still don't like her.
Why should I like her? She went shopping with him yesterday at the mall and even went with got ice-cream with her! I was jealous of her and it was perfectly reasonable.
I want to meet him soon. I want to hug him.
Goddamnit I'm crying again.
Author's Note-
1. Ayanomama aka Akane Kyouko, knows what's happening in his life only when he is in a public space. Other than that, she doesn't even know that Haruno knows who Kiyotaka is.
2. Pretty good foreshadowing in the last few lines of the Raku incident I would say. But the incident happens far in the future.
3. Nisekoi- mwah! God-tier manga. Only harem rom-com which was acceptable to me coz of an amazing mc. It has the best ending and confession scene of all time in all of harem manga. Fight me I dare you.
First manga I've ever read. Live action movie is on youtube and its pretty good too.
That's it y'all. Cya.
Peace.