Ficlet Series (ES21)

Half the guys he was friends with didn't even notice when he chopped off all his hair, which was to be expected, but to Sakuraba it had been a huge change. After all, he had worn his hair in that certain way since those days when his mother had still cut it. It's not like he cared what his hair looked like, and then he had always been too lazy to change it, and his agency... no, former agency... had liked the look. Which was, he supposed, what spurred him to finally cut it all off. Still, without all that hair he felt almost naked, and he was almost even self-conscious about his new look.

The girls didn't exactly help, when their reactions ranged from shocked gasps to fevered whispers. Takami had told him he looked good, and Ootawara had given him a friendly slap on the back (from which he had almost fallen over) while proclaiming he looked like a man now. Which made him feel just a little bit insulted... what exactly did he look like before? Still, there was something about the way they said it, and it bothered him, even if he pushed it to the back of his head until after practice.

"Shin," he asked later, as the two of them were walking home, "tell me the truth. How do I look?"

Shin stopped from his brisk pace beside him, looked up, eyes lingering on the mustache and goatee Sakuraba had grown out. "You look like a backstreet boy."

Sakuraba sighed as they continued on their way home. He could always trust Shin to tell him the truth... even if he didn't like the answer.

.end.