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For the past two or three years, Tsukasa had never really bothered to get his hair cut. When it eventually grew to his shoulders, he decided to cut his bangs. Other than that, no thought was put into his haircut.
So when Saki saw him come home with short hair the day before he started his second year, she didn’t really know what to say.
“Tsu..kasa?”
“I felt it was time for a change.” He played with a strand of hair, an odd expression on his face.
“I guess I’ll miss it, though.”
“Yeah..” Saki was bewildered, why had he chosen to cut it now, and not when he first started high school? Why cut it at all? It looked good on him, yes, but it didn’t make sense.
“I’m going up to my room now, shout if you need anything.”
“Okay.” Saki decided to brush it off.
“Wow wow wow, Tsukasa-kun!! Your house is so big!”
“Indeed it is! I wouldn’t expect any less from our star, of course.”
“It’s annoyingly bright, kind of like Tsukasa.”
“Hey!!! Was that an insult or a compliment?!”
Emu, Rui and Nene had come over to Tsukasa’s place, mostly to discuss their next show. They still had yet to come up with a concept for it, and since Saki was out with her girlfriends, they decided to brainstorm at Tsukasa’s place. Or rather, that’s what Tsukasa thought was going to happen.
“Hey, does Tsukasa-kun have any baby photos?” Emu jumped off the sofa, deciding this was much more important than brainstorming right now.
Tsukasa closed the fridge, and looked at her. “Baby photos? I don’t think so. Plus, that’s not what we’re doing right now!” He walked over, a little tray of snacks in hand.
“Oh, but Tsukasa-kun~! We want to see how cute you were as a baby!” Rui looked at him with the most innocent expression he could muster. Tsukasa took a step back.
“Eugh, I can’t imagine him being cute as a baby.” Nene muttered, before shoving some food in her mouth.
“Nene..!! Whatever! Not important! Brainstorming time!”
“Awww…” Emu sat back down, defeated.
After an hour or so, Tsukasa stood up.
“I’m gonna quickly go to the bathroom.”
“Okay! We can continue brainstorming no problem without you!” Ignoring how Emu phrased that, he nodded his head and left upstairs.
“Emu-kun….” Rui nudged Emu.
“Yeeaahhh??”
He pointed to a shelf. On that shelf, there was a framed photo. Looking around, she spotted several more photos. Emu and Rui shared the same smile, and ran straight to one of the photos. Nene, despite showing disinterest earlier, walked up to them to take a peak.
The first picture they looked at showed a young Saki throwing herself onto a young Tsukasa with a big grin on, very possibly knocking them both over.
“Awww!! That’s so cute!” Emu squealed.
“Hehe, they were definitely adorable as kids.”
“Haha, they’re going to fall though. I wish I was there to see that.”
They moved on, Emu picking up a new photo. This one showed Tsukasa and Saki, again as kids, sitting on the bench at the piano. Their smiles were so bright, and you could almost hear their giggles through the photo.
Emu squealed at the photo again, while Nene looked back at the piano across the room.
“Hmm, so he’s been playing since he was a small child?” Rui hummed.
They moved on again.
They kept looking at different photos of them, before they came across one certain one. Tsukasa and Saki were significantly older in this, but still rather young. They were in the hospital, and it looked as though they were celebrating a birthday. The thing that stood out the most, though, was Tsukasa’s hair. It went past his shoulders, and it was tied in a half up-half down hairstyle. There were small bags under his eyes too, barely noticeable.
“Woahh!! Tsukasa-kun had long hair?” Emu stared at the photo with sparkly eyes.
“Emu!!”
Emu jumped out of her skin, almost dropping the photo.
“Hahaha, Tsukasa-kun!! You’re back..!” She laughed nervously.
“What are you hiding behind your back?” Tsukasa approached her slowly.
“Ehahaha…” She laughed nervously again, before shoving the photo in his face.
“You had long hair??”
Tsukasa grabbed the photo, startled at first. He looked at it clearer, and smiled softly.
“I remember this..” He speaks softly. “It was Saki’s birthday.”
“Tsukasa-kun is so pretty with long hair! Why did you cut it?” He stared at Emu, before thinking back.
He wasn’t too sure what to say.
He didn’t particularly want Emu to know about it. He didn’t particularly want the rest of his troupe to know about it at all, to be honest.
He closed his eyes and put his hand on his chin as he remembered. He remembered not caring how his hair looked anymore. He remembered having no time to go to any hairdressers around, spending all his time on Saki, trying to make her smile.
He remembered the weird looks from his classmates he got when he came to school with his hair done up.
He remembered the relief he felt when he finally chopped it off.
“I guess… I decided it was time for a change.”
“Hmmmm…” Emu looked at him thoughtfully.
“Anyways! We’re wasting time just standing around here. Does anyone want their drink refilled? More snacks?” Tsukasa snapped his eyes open, desperate to change the topic.
“Ooh, me! Me!!” The group walked back to the sofa, Tsukasa taking their cups to the kitchen.
“I’d like a refill too, Tsukasa-kun!”
“Somehow, you have decent taste in snacks. Can you bring more?”
“Nene..!!”