After finding out where Mikan was, you quickly stopped at the Supermarket and picked up a couple of items. After that, you made your way over to the cottages.
You walked up to Mikan's cottage and knocked on her door. After a few seconds, she opens the door.
"A-Ah, Y/N..." she relaxed once she saw you. "I-Is something wrong...?"
"No, I was just hoping we could have that "talk" I was talking about before?"
Her eyes avoid yours as she looks around you. "U-Um..."
"It's okay if you don't want to."
"I— Um... O-Okay..." she said as she opens the door for you to walk inside.
Once inside, you notice that her room is fairly tidy, almost as if no one was staying in there.
"I-I'm sorry if it's a mess!" she suddenly says from behind you.
"What? It's perfectly fine, Mikan. Hell, it might be tidier than mine!" you chuckled as you set down the bag of stuff you got from Supermarket onto a nearby table.
"Now, anywhere you'd prefer me to sit?"
"U-Um... the bed is f-fine..."
You walked over to her bed and gently sat down, patting the spot next to you. She hesitantly sits down next to you.
"Are you sure this is fine, Mikan? I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"
"N-No!" she nearly shouts out. "I-I'm just s-shy and nervous is a-all..."
"Mikan." you looked her in the eye. "Why are you always scared? Always nervous?"
"H-Huh?!" she exclaims in surprise. "U-Umm... no reason... I-I'm just a shy person is all...!"
"Okay, that's fair. But... Why are you always apologizing, even if it's not your fault? Why are you always saying I can hit you if you deserve it?"
"B-Because... U-Um..." she freezes up.
"Mikan?"
"U-Umm... I—"
You got up and walked over to your bag and pulled out a pair of scissors. "Mikan, do you trust me?"
"H-Huh...? Yo-You're not gonna k-kill me are you...?!"
"What?! God, no! It's just... I notice your hair is uneven, and I just wanna make it better..." you softly said. "I used to cut my cousins and nieces hair all the time back then, so I know my way around this. The thing is, do you trust me to do so?"
"Wh-Why...?" she choked out as tears started to form in her eyes. "Why are you s-so nice to me...? I-I'm horrible! T-Trashy!"
"You're none of those things, not even close." you said as you walked up to her and hugged her. "And I want to help you get better. You shouldn't have to apologize for existing, you shouldn't have to flinch when someone raises a hand, you shouldn't have to assume someone is always going to hurt you. I want to help improve your confidence, so please, can I cut your hair?"
"Y/N...!" she cried out. "O-Okay... I trust you..."
"I promise, I'll do my best to make it look good. As long as you don't mind it being short." you joked.
"I-I don't mind..." she said as she sat in a nearby chair. You got behind her and started cutting. There was an eerie silence between you two, the only sound was the snips of the scissors.
"Hey, Mikan. I get that you don't wanna tell me about anything deep. But do you think you can tell me why your hair is so uneven?"
There was a brief moment of silence before she sniffled.
"B-Bullies would always c-cut random pieces of it o-off... N-No one c-cared... N-Not even my parents..."
"Not even your parents? Jesus Christ..."
"I-I always tried to f-fix it myself... but no m-matter good I made it l-look, no matter h-how long it g-got... they w-would just c-cut it off again... so I-I stopped bothering..."
"Jesus... so no one cared..."
"N-No one..." she confirmed. "Th-They hit me... w-write on me... verbally abused me... sexually abused me... e-every day... every minute..."
"E-Every minute...?" you choked out. "S-So your parents..."
"Y-Yes... they were apart of it..."
"I-I'm so sorry, Mikan... No one deserves that, not even someone like you..."
If I ever find her parents or those bullies...
"I-It's how I came upon n-nursing, ya know...? S-Since no one c-cared... I would always have to f-fix up the i-injuries..."
"Unfortunately, that makes sense..."
"A-And... the only time people a-actually liked m-me... is when I w-would be healing them..."
"God, that sounds so rough... I wish things could've been different..."
"I-I don't..."
"Huh?" you asked in shocked.
"I-If all of th-that didn't happen, then m-maybe I would've n-never met you..." she said as she briefly looks up at you and smiled.
"M-Maybe, but I'm sure we could've met without you experiencing all that..."
You couldn't help but blush at that as you finished up cutting her hair.
"Okay, I think I'm done." You walked around her and lightly grabbed her face, causing her to blush. You tilted her head a bit to both sides.
"Yeah, I think I'm done. Sorry I couldn't much for your bangs. I didn't want to cut too much of them off." you said as you walked over to the bag and grabbed a handheld mirror.
"What do you think? I still got it?" you handed her the mirror. She takes a good long look before she smiles and let's out a giggle.
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(Sprite edit is not mine, obviously.)
"I-I like it!" she exclaimed happily before she jumps at you, wrapping her arms around you. "Th-Thank you very much...!"
"Heh, glad to see I still got it." you said as you returned the hug. "Why don't you go show off? I'm sure Mahiru and the other girls'll like it! Maybe they'll let me cut their hair too..." you muttered that last part.
"O-Okay...! Hopefully H-Hiyoko will have something nice to say..."
"Well even if she doesn't, don't listen to her, okay?"
"O-Okay, I promise...!" she happily exclaimed as you both exited her cottage.
"Th-Thank you again... I-It means so much to me...!"
"No need to thank me, Mikan... I'm just happy to help when I can."
And with that, you both parted ways and you returned to your cottage.
