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When Syo opened the small package, he noticed a small brochure of some sort sticking out. He carefully slides it out and opens it up, reading it as carefully as he could. If skimming counts as reading carefully.
“The color changes based on your mood?” he reads. “Huh, like those ring things?” Syo picks one up and examines it carefully. Its pure white color doesn’t really say much about it. “White is. . .” He looks back at the brochure and finds the color codes. “Neutral. Alright.” After changing from his regular pins to these new ones. He slides from his top bunk and moves to the mirror. Along with his bright smile, the color of his newly put-in pins has shifted to a nice yellow. It reminds him of Natsuki.
Speaking of, Natsuki walks into their room and notices how happy Syo looks. “Oh! I see they finally arrived.”
“Yep!” Syo turns to face Natsuki. “And I’m pretty satisfied with my choice.”
“Wow!! They’re such a happy color!” Natsuki beams. “They make you look so cu—cool! They make you look very cool!”
‘He’s still doing that?’ Syo sighs. “Natsuki, you don’t have to keep on calling me cool now. I’ve kinda gotten used to you calling me cute. You’re not the only one anymore.”
“B-But,” Natsuki stammers, but decides not to push his limits. He puts on another one of his smiles. “Okay.”
He doesn’t seem to be okay though. His hair falls down in front of his face. Syo goes back up to his bed, grabs a couple pins, then comes back down next to Natsuki. He carefully slides them in to reveal a pair of crestfallen eyes.
Watching as the pins turn from their neutral white to a soft blue, Syo speaks up. “Hey, Natsuki.” Green eyes meet blue. “It’s okay. I don’t really care what you call me. Sure, I get a little agitated, but you mean no harm from what I know.”
“S-Syo-chan. . .” An immediate change of emotion. Blue turns to what seems to be lilac.
‘Embarrassment? I didn’t think Natsuki could feel such a thing.’ Syo smiles. “Tell you what: I’ll let you keep those pins in your hair.”
Natsuki’s eyes light up. “Really?”
“Sure! I got a lot more anyways. It’s nice to share what you got with others, isn’t it?”
And, just like that, that typical smile of his returns as those pins change to yellow. “Thank you so much, Syo-chan!!”
Syo chuckles in response. “Hey, I got an idea. Why don’t you help me hand out some of my hair pins to the others? It’d be nice to see everyone wear them, wouldn’t it?”
Natsuki’s eyes shine brightly. “I’d love to help!!”
~~~~~
“Wow!! These are so cool!” Otoya exclaims. “Hey, Tokiya! I wanna put some in your hair!!”
“Otoya,” Tokiya says, the pins already in his hair a green color, “I can do it myself.”
“Aww. . .” Otoya wilts a little. His pins go from yellow to blue.
Tokiya takes notice to this and sighs. “Here, you can put one in.” The pins are now that same lilac from before.
In a flash, Otoya’s pins go from blue to orange to yellow. “Tokiyaaaaaa!!”
‘Green and orange. Haven’t seen those colors appear yet,’ Syo thought. ‘If I remember, green is a form of disgust, right? And orange is either surprise or shock.’ He smiles. ‘Heh, cute.’
“Ah, Syo!” Otoya grins. “Thanks for the pins! I’ll make sure to wear them whenever I can!”
“I’ll plan on doing that too,” Tokiya adds in.
“No problem, you two!”
~~~~~
“Jinguji, what are you doing?” Masato asks, his pins a very clear green. “We shouldn’t be disturbing Kurosaki-san when he sleeps.”
“I know, but I’m not waking him up.” Ren slides a pin into the sleeping Ranmaru’s hair. The two watch it change to a soft blue violet. “Nice.”
Masato sighs. “Jinguji. . .”
Ren laughs. “You can be so uptight sometimes, Masa.” The other stays silent, but the red pins speak for themselves. “Now now, there’s no reason to be upset. It’s all in good fun!”
“Aww!!” Natsuki says. “You two are such good friends. I’m honestly jealous that you’re so close.”
Masato and Ren glance at each other, then towards Natsuki. “Make sure to tell Ochibi-chan my thanks, alright Shinomi?”
“The same for me as well.”
Ranmaru gives Natsuki a grunt, still very much asleep.
Natsuki laughs. “I’ll remember to do that for you three!”
~~~~~
“Aaaaahh!! Nattsun and Syo-tan are so kind!” Reiji gushes as he checks himself out in the mirror donning three yellow pins. “Letting ol’ Rei-chan wear something so cute!”
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Reiji.” Ai stares at the clips in his hands.
“It’s alright, Ai. I think they look good on Reiji-senpai!” Syo slides a fourth pin into Cecil’s hair. “There we go!”
Cecil moves next to Reiji to see how the pins look on him. “Woah, they changed colors!” He exclaims. “Fantastic!!”
Reiji chuckles and ruffles up the top of Cecil’s hair. “Cesshi does look so cute with them on!”
Ai sighs as he puts in his last hair pin. He stands up and looks in the mirror as well, seeing no change. “Oh.”
“Hm? Ai-chan, what’s wrong?” Natsuki asks.
“I was hoping to see the change of color in these, but I guess I wasn’t able to.” Ai turns away from the mirror. He doesn’t notice the pins turning lime, but the others do.
Reiji laughs once more. “Oh, Ai Ai. . .”
‘Ai’s really disappointed with his result, isn’t he?’ Syo couldn’t help but laugh along. ‘If only he was still looking when it happened.’
~~~~~
“Alright, that was everyone, right?” Syo asks himself as he walks back to his room. Natsuki’s already left for an appointment of his, so Syo’s been left to think about what he’s been doing. “I think I’m missing someone though. . .”
Right when he was about to get there, Camus walks in front of him. He seems to have something on his mind.
“Ah, Camus-senpai!” Syo calls and runs over. Camus turns his way, his expression his typical straight-faced one, but his eyes giving a slight hint of interest.
“Kurusu,” he says, “what’s gotten you so energetic?”
“I could say the same thing about you.” He can’t really actually. Looking at Camus at face value, he is anything but energetic. But, those words just kinda slipped out. Syo tries to push away the fact that he may or may not have made a fool of himself. “Anyways, what’s on your mind?”
Camus looks out one of the huge windows around the halls. “I was recently given a role that I believe have never played before.” He crosses his arms. “A boy who likes to accessorize, especially when it comes to his hair. I’ve thought of a couple styles I could attempt, but to no avail.” He sighs. “I’m not sure on what I should do.”
“Maybe I can help,” Syo proposes. “I kinda style my hair a lot. I’ve never really styled hair longer than mine, except for Ai. Actually, I’ve always wanted to style your hair. It looks very nice to touch.” Oh God. Did he say that out loud?
Camus scoffs. “Usually, I wouldn’t allow someone of your status to even try.” His stiff demeanor softens a bit. “But, I don’t see why it isn’t worth a shot.”
Camus sits on a chair in the lounge area, and Syo gets to work. He takes off the scrunchie he had around his wrist and wraps it around Camus’ hair, making a side ponytail. ‘I’ve never seen him with this kind of style. Maybe it’ll be a good touch.’ He slides some pins into Camus’ hair as well. He made sure to add a good amount; too many would break the entire look. “And. . . Done!!”
Camus lightly runs his fingers through the side ponytail. “I never had this look before.”
“I wanted to see you with something new and fit the role you’re playing.” Syo smiles. “And I gotta admit, it looks pretty nice on ya!”
Camus’ expression doesn’t change, but the pins do. Another instance of lilac. Syo tries his best not to give himself away.
‘So he does get embarrassed?’
“I’ll be taking my leave now.” Camus stands up. “Kurusu. . .” He turns to Syo, a small smile barely visible. “Thank you.”
Syo’s eyes widen as Camus walks away. His pins changed to a color he hadn’t seen at all today.
They were pink.
Syo tries to think back to the brochure and color code, but couldn’t remember what it was. He quickly rushes back to his room and finds it on his bed, right where he left it. He grabs it and flips to the color code, trying to find that pink. When he does, his eyes can’t believe what he read.
“Love?”