For An Introvert, A Hair Salon Is Pretty High Barrier

On a certain day off, Takumi was summoned to Kotori’s room.

“…”

“…”

Facing each other in silence across a rugged low table that prioritized utility over style, sat Takumi and Kotori.

Although Kotori’s outward appearance had become glamorous thanks to her high school debut, her stay-at-home clothes were the same unstylish tracksuits as always. Her hair was tied back, and she wore glasses.

Having recently become acutely aware of how cute Kotori had grown after her image change, Takumi secretly felt relieved by this familiar look that didn’t particularly emphasize her femininity.

Now, what was her business with him today?

This time, there was no stretching cat sticker; her message had simply read, «Please come over for a bit.» It didn’t seem to be the usual routine.

Although he and Kotori had been acquainted since early childhood, they didn’t usually hang out casually. He couldn’t think of a reason why he had been called over.

Looking back, the only time he had been called over for something other than the routine was when she wanted him to help draft script lines for booking a hair salon appointment before starting high school so she could change her hairstyle.

Speaking of hair salons, that too was an unexplored realm for Takumi.

His image of a hair salon was limited to a grueling place where staff members constantly tried to engage in small talk. He remembered working terribly hard to come up with a strategy back then.

By the way, their plan back then settled on a simple, one-sided delivery of essential information without letting conversation start—just stating her name and desired date and time (a slightly distant date to ensure a guaranteed reservation).

Though when she was about to make the actual call, she chickened out and ended up needing to perform the routine first after all.

Now, as for Kotori herself, she was extremely tense, completely frozen in place.

Thinking things wouldn’t make any progress at this rate, Takumi let out a sigh and broke the silence.

“So, what is it today?”

“D-Day duty is… coming up soon…”

“Day duty… Ah, I see.”

Takumi grasped the reason behind Kotori’s tension.

Day duty tasks—erasing the blackboard, leading class greetings, replacing vase water, filling out the class log, and occasionally opening, closing, or moving equipment for specialized classrooms—were nothing particularly difficult.

However, doing it as a male-female pair was a major obstacle for both Takumi and Kotori. Back in middle school, having the girl paired with him burst into tears was a minor trauma that still lingered.

Day duty was that kind of depressing event where one was forced to realize their own social standing through their assigned partner, whether they liked it or not.

While Takumi wore a bitter expression, Kotori opened her eyes wide, leaned forward over the table, and proclaimed loudly with a trembling voice:

“For this upcoming day duty, I’m going to complete it properly… with the guy in my pair!”

“Ooh…”

Takumi involuntarily let out a voice of admiration.

During Kotori’s past day duties, her partners would call her gloomy, creepy, or a bad draw, dump all the work on her one-sidedly, and leave her to quietly finish everything without anyone ever knowing.

Now, however, thanks to her image change, the boys’ evaluation of her was entirely different.

Kotori narrowed her eyes with deep resolve, clenching her fists tightly as if to spur herself on.

“M-My goal… is to prove wrong the guy who did that fake confession to me, after all…!”

“Become a normie, make friends and a nice boyfriend, and live a sparkling high school life… right?”

“Yeah. But I haven’t unlocked the achievement… of talking normally with a guy yet.”

“That’s true.”

Strictly speaking, even when guys talked to her, she didn’t know what to say and ended up just glaring, or even if she answered, it was only blunt responses like “Hmm” or “Is that so.” As a result, it only accelerated her reputation as an aloof ice princess.

“Day duty without talking… is too tough…”

“I see. So you want to consult about how to talk to the guy in your pair before day duty comes?”

“Yeah…”

Takumi crossed his arms and let out a low groan.

Being terrible at interpersonal relationships himself, Takumi had no clue what to do.

Kotori couldn’t fully hide her weakness, her clenched fists trembling, yet she was still trying to challenge this high-difficulty achievement.

Knowing Kotori’s past, Takumi couldn’t bring himself to brush off her determination.

“By the way, who’s the guy?”

“Toba.”

“…Seriously?”

This time, Takumi looked up at the ceiling.

Toba belonged to the upper caste group—a bright, somewhat foolish mood-maker in the class. He talked a lot, chatted frequently with classmates, and brought energy to those around him. He was the exact opposite of Kotori, who struggled with speaking.

If they went into day duty like this, it was easy to picture Toba constantly trying to talk to her while Kotori struggled to respond, creating an increasingly awkward atmosphere.

Kotori must have realized that too. That was why she had brought this consultation to him.

“…”

“…”

A heavy air weighed down upon the room.

Two socially awkward individuals sat face-to-face brainstorming strategies, yet no clever ideas came to mind.

In fact, if they knew such methods, they wouldn’t be loners in the first place.

How on earth did ordinary students handle such difficult tasks?

With that thought, he reflected on how other people handled day duty—and suddenly realized something.

“Hey, the goal this time is just to get through day duty with Toba without any issues, right?”

“Yeah. Because up until now, I’ve always been all by myself.”

“I was thinking, wouldn’t it mean you don’t necessarily have to hold a conversation?”

“…What do you mean?”

Kotori asked with a puzzled expression.

Takumi wore a villainous smirk, twirling his raised index finger while explaining his thoughts.

“Look, people doing day duty usually aren’t chatting happily while working, right? They just talk about dividing up roles—like asking to erase the blackboard for the next class, asking to handle the biology room key at dismissal, or offering to write the logbook. They only talk about how to handle the work, don’t they?”

“Ah! I see, if we decide what to say beforehand, we won’t struggle with conversation!”

As Kotori brightened into a smile, clapping her hands and speaking rapidly, Takumi nodded deeply.

The reason Kotori usually got tongue-tied was partly that she never knew how to respond when spoken to out of nowhere. Therefore, if they prepared lines in advance, that issue would be resolved.

Fortunately, day duty didn’t involve too many tasks.

Simulating a few scenarios and preparing responses for them was a realistically achievable line.

Seeing a path forward toward unlocking the achievement, Takumi suddenly felt floating with excitement.

However, Kotori suddenly realized something, lowered her tone, and pointed it out with a serious expression.

“I just tried simulating it in my head, but… wouldn’t it mean fewer total exchanges if I initiate the conversation myself?”

“Yeah, and if the current Kotori asks him, Toba would find it hard to refuse, making it easier to complete the goal of day duty.”

“But… how do I even do that…”

“Guh, that’s…”

Takumi choked on his words.

If they could initiate conversations on their own, they wouldn’t have been loners in the first place.

Knowing full well how high that psychological hurdle was, he found himself unable to say anything.

They both understood that they were merely flinching from the challenge.

An indescribable atmosphere hung between them.

While stuck in a deadlock of thought, Kotori stared intently at him for a moment before suddenly murmuring with a curious look on her face.

“Come to think of it, I can talk normally with Takumi. Why is that?”

“That’s… because we’ve known each other for a long time, and you’re used to me, right?”

Kotori had casually said something quite rude to Takumi. However, since that was the norm between them, neither of them even noticed.

Seeing Takumi look stuck once again, Kotori argued with a look of realization.

“Then all I need to do is get used to talking to Toba before day duty comes.”

“Kotori, that’s…”

Then, standing up, Kotori passionately and grandly declared:

“I’m going to get used to greeting Toba before day duty!”