With a Little Help from my Friends

4 | A Conspiracy

Mondo had never felt as much pain as he did when a certain pop star's metal brush tore through every knot in his hair. A bit melodramatic, yes, but something about the tugging at his scalp was excruciating.

Over the years of styling it the way he did, his hair had become heavily damaged by dyes, sprays, and gels. It wasn't an easy style to maintain, and he was now paying a hefty price. It had been decided that a portion of it was so damaged it would have to be cut off entirely.

"Shit, could you be any rougher?!" He whined.

Hagakure had him pinned to a chair. He had his arms wrapped around Mondo's and clasped in front of his chest to keep him from thrashing about. Leon and Naegi each sat on one of his feet to keep him from kicking. Behind the group, a small girl observed them with her phone held out in front of her, taking the occasional progress picture.

"It's all going to be worth it in the end, I promise! Maizono-san is going to show you how to do a few different styles, too, once she's done fixing the hair itself," the tiny girl said.

The idol in question smiled at that, pausing her torturous movements for a moment to take a step back and admire her handiwork. The pompadour had been raked out, and she was now in the process of correcting and relaxing Mondo's curls and removing the many thick knots.

"You're just lucky the damage is still fixable, Oowada-kun. You should really take better care of your hair! It's gotten terribly dry, and you have split ends everywhere!"

It was difficult to hear something like that from Saiyaka Maizono. Her hair was soft and shiny, and her skin was like porcelain— even someone like Mondo could see that she took good care of herself.

"I'm surprised Taka has never scolded you about it," the smaller girl added. Mondo snorted. Kiyotaka was rather uptight about hygiene. His hair may have looked spiky, but it was incredibly soft to the touch and impeccably clean.

"That's just cuz I never let 'im touch it. He'd just about die if he knew. Say, Chi, do ya... Do you think that he likes me? I mean, ya know—"

"I know what you mean," the girl interrupted. Chihiro Fujisaki was often the third person in a trio that included both Mondo and Kiyotaka. She knew the prefect better than anyone else in the room (with the exception of Mondo, of course). "And yes, I do believe that he does."

"Really?"

"Really. Now sit still, Maizono-san still isn't finished."

Maizono slathered some kind of lotion onto her hands and then stuck them in Mondo's hair, which at the moment was sticking out in every possible direction. She applied the mixture everywhere, and then started spraying his hair with a water bottle.

"Hey, if we're talkin' fashion, why didn't we ask Enoshima?" Leon asked obliviously. Everyone else in the room only shuddered at the thought.

"Because I wanna get a date with Taka, not with fuckin' death," Mondo grumbled vaguely. Leon sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get a straight answer out of anyone.

Maizono tore through the last of the knots in Mondo's hair, which had been softened by the combination of the product and the water. He now had a damp multicolored mop of curls atop his head that fell past his eyes in front and well down his back (Mondo thanked the stars that Chihiro had thought to remove his jacket first, or it would be covered in stray hairs and water by now). Maizono wet the hair thoroughly and then pulled down on the ends. She stuck her tongue out a bit as she closely studied the damage.

"I think I can work with this. I'm going to start to cut it, okay? You'll look better when I'm finished, I promise. You have nice wavy hair, you know."