While the Kiryu brothers and sisters followed Danzi to the second-hand bookstore, Shigeru Ikeda walked into the hair salon he often went to.
"Shop manager, I want to cut a crew cut and dye my hair back to black by the way."
The store manager who was arranging the hairdressing equipment glanced at Shigeru Ikeda, curled his lips: "Well, it's this time of year again."
"Huh?" Shigeru Ikeda looked at the manager suspiciously, "When is it?"
"Every time the new school year starts for about a month, guys like you, Amao, will come over one after another. They want to dye their hair back to black and flatten their hair." The store manager said while cleaning the hair that had just been disassembled and cleaned. The clippers were reinstalled.
Shigeru Ikeda was surprised: "Every year... are there many people like this?"
"Yes." The store manager nodded, glanced at Shigeru Ikeda, and fiddled with the hair hanging down to cover his eyes, so the scar next to his eyes was exposed.
The store manager told Ikeda and other little boys that the scar was taken off by juggling with scissors at leisure, but no one believed it.
Ikeda Shigeru asked suspiciously, "Why?"
"what why?"
"It's just... this time of year..."
"Ah, this." The store manager came to the place where Ikeda was sitting, covered Ikeda with the apron in his hand, and tidied it up, "School is starting, maybe the class will change, there will be a new homeroom teacher, and we will meet All kinds of new opportunities, and then someone slapped his head and asked the prodigal son to turn around and change his mind, this kind of thing is very common."
"Is it... common?"
Ikeda's expression darkened.
The store manager looked at his expression through the mirror, and snorted: "Don't say that you are different from them, to tell you the truth, every time I complain like this, the young man who is complained will emphasize that he is different.
"As a result, many people came to me to dye their hair back after a few months."
"Is that so..." Shigeru Ikeda seemed to want to refute, but in the end he couldn't say anything.
The store manager continued: "By the way, summer vacation is the peak season for hair dyeing. There will be many new faces coming to dye their hair. I look forward to changing their looks in autumn and debuting in high school."
"Really?"
"Really, if you come to work with me, you will see that during the summer vacation, sometimes a person with yellow hair can come in two days. By the way, the reason for many people is that they were dumped.
"Because if you get dumped, you have to change yourself, and if you dye your yellow hair, you can start a new life. It's really cheap for young people to change."
After the store manager finished speaking, he maintained the posture of holding the electric clippers, and asked solemnly: "So, Amao, are you still cutting?"
Ikeda Shigeru said without hesitation: "Cut. Whether my thoughts are superficial or not, I honestly don't know. How long can this impulse last? How can I know such a thing.
"But if...if I don't start, there's never a way to know how far I can go."
The store manager sneered: "Huh, it's good to say beautiful words. But every sentence is bullshit. Rather than cutting your hair here, how about returning the money you extorted to the sufferer? Don't mess with it for a long time, and give it to me later." What they got was the dirty money that was blackmailed."
"I paid it back." Shigeru Ikeda said angrily, "This is the first thing I did."
The store manager stopped what he was doing, looked at Shigeru Ikeda suspiciously, and asked, "Then what are you going to pay me for today?"
"I also have pocket money."
"Really? Just the situation in your house?"
"Oh, hurry up and get me a crew cut, it won't cost you any money! Now that I have this golden jet head, no part-time job will hire me."
"Of course, recruiting unscrupulous teenagers into the store is not the same as putting a potential robber and thief in the store?"
The store manager said in a joking tone.
"However, you can still go to places like nightclubs, right? There are also those operated by Jidao..."
"I want to do a decent job." Shigeru Ikeda interrupted the manager, "Use the money you earn dignifiedly to live dignifiedly."
The store manager raised his eyebrows and sighed, "Is that girl so beautiful? It's taken your soul away."
"Just say it's not a girl! What's the matter with a girl? I just saw a real hero, so I want to follow in the hero's footsteps."
After hearing Ikeda Shigeru's words, the store manager frowned and thought for a few seconds before hesitatingly saying:
"... Do you want to play Kamen Rider?"
"I don't!"
"Damn it, don't turn around suddenly!"
"Oh, my hair!"
A few seconds later, Shigeru Ikeda looked at himself in the mirror with a "ring belt" on his head out of thin air, and he wanted to die.
The store manager was obviously holding back his laughter, and it took a lot of effort to suggest smoothly: "How about... I'll get you a samurai head?"
"Do you want me to be the laughing stock of the whole school tomorrow?"
"What's the matter? It just so happens that you also want to start over. Isn't it appropriate to have a samurai head to highlight your determination?"
Shigeru Ikeda pursed his lips and glared at the store manager indignantly through the mirror, but in the end he didn't lose his temper as before. He said, "Forget it, shave my head bald, just to save money on hair dyeing."
"you sure?"
"It's better to have a bald head than a samurai head! And many sports clubs will shave their heads to show their ambitions, so it won't be too obtrusive... probably."
Shigeru Ikeda said the last sentence without confidence.
The store manager put away his smile, and reconfirmed with a serious face: "Then bald, are you sure? Are you really sure?"
Ikeda Shigeru nodded.
So his golden hair was removed bit by bit, leaving a bare head.
After finishing the work, the store manager commented while brushing the electric clippers with a brush: "That's right, after shaving, the brightness of my entire store has more than doubled."
Shigeru Ikeda looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath.
Then he raised his hand and touched the smooth marinated egg.
It feels okay.
He stood up and took out the last bit of money he had on him-of course he didn't lack money for a haircut, but the situation was different now.
If you can't find a part-time job, the days when you can only eat the cheapest bread at school at noon are coming.
The store manager returned the money to Ikeda Shigeru.
"I just paid for the electricity, and this time it's free for you. Of course, if you want to come back in a few days to dye your hair back, then I'll charge you double."
The store manager paused, and continued before Ikeda Shigeru thanked him: "It is difficult for a prodigal son to turn around, your past, the karma you have done, will not let you go just because you changed your mind.
"They will follow you wherever you go.
"What's even more frightening is the prejudices of the world. Soon you will find that no matter how many changes you have made, in the eyes of others, you are still the bad boy Ikeda Shigeru with blond hair.
"This is much more difficult than being a demon king in chaos.
"You were a delinquent in school, then you became a bosozoku, and finally you joined the Yakuza as a bottom-level hit boy. Although you are a heinous bastard, although you may die at any time, and after you die, everyone will applaud and celebrate. But you'll be happy until you die."
Ikeda Shigeru listened to the manager's words and looked at the bald head in the mirror.
He was silent for a while, then suddenly asked: "Then how did you turn around, manager? How did you do it?"
"Me?" The store manager showed a wild smile, "I have never looked back. I am just old and forgotten. I can only guard this small shop and quietly wither away."
Shigeru Ikeda turned his head to look at the store manager with an unusually complicated expression.
Finally, he bowed to the store manager, turned around and strode away.
The store manager took out a cigarette, lit it for himself, came to the door of the hair salon, looked at the lonely night scene of the remote alley where the hair salon was located, and smoked quietly.
The Edo River flows quietly not far away, and on the other side of the river is the feasting and feasting of Tokyo.