Author's Note: This extract work with the idea that Chinami actually got kidnapped by Junpei and the others and ended up got her hair cut. As Akira helps her to deal with the aftermath, he began to re-examine his relationship with Chinami and reaches a new understanding about himself..

Since he first began to date, Akira had to make sure that his father would not find out. Therefore, it was a very novel experience to have his father hand him a large bundle of money along with the instruction of: "Take Chinami-chan on a date. Do whatever you can to cheer her up."

"I will." Akira said as he took the money. "I appreciate this but I would have done this anyway."

"Akira, you actually quite like her, don't you?" there was more then a little surprise in his father's voice. "I knew that you would eventually agree to this engagement, but I never thought that you would be so…willing."

"I...I quite like being in her company." He said before he leaves his father's study. What he said was the truth, but he felt that it was not just because of that. He was sure that he would have been upset if the same thing had happened to Tsukushi, but the anger he felt due to discovering what happened to Chinami greatly surprised him. He always prided himself in possessing great self control, but if Soujirou had not grabbed hold of him, he might have charged there himself. (1)

When alone in his room, he took out his cell phone and was just about to ring her when he suddenly realised that he still added a –chan in his address to her, if not a –san at times. Perhaps he should change this. She still called him Akira-san, but she was younger then him by a year.

"Date?" Chinami examined out in surprise before she laughed. "Akira-san, there is no need to be so worried. I am not a little girl who feels that my hair being cut is the end of the world."

"I know this, but I know that you are still upset at what happened. Any girl would." He pointed out. "Besides, my dad told me that I should take you out on a date."

"Ah, is that so." At this her laughter became rather sad. "As I said, it is alright. Neither you nor your father has to be so worried. Besides, I am actually thinking about getting a hair extension. Although I might just go with this new image."

Even though he could not see her, he was sure that she was probably standing in front of the mirror and looking at her now much shorter hair.

"It is true that I like having long hair but…my aunt said that I look like a Japanese doll when I am wearing a furisode with my hair down. I am not sure whether I wish to appear like that. After all, a doll is still a doll regardless of whether she is a Japanese doll in a furisode with long straight hair, or a Western doll in a frilly dress with long curly hair."

The latter was a very accurate description of his mother and two little sisters. However, he felt that the former description was not quite right…

"I am sorry, Akira-san, that I am bothering you with all this. It is just that…"

"A person won't just become a doll just because they dress like that." He told her firmly, although he felt that a grown woman who dressed the way his mother does could only look more childish. However, a girl wearing a furisode was different. "It is also how they behave."

"But surely a grown woman wouldn't complain about her hair like this. I am afraid that you rang me at a bad time, Akira-san, I am really tired right now." she said softly. "Can you ring me back tomorrow?"

"I understand." He told her grimly, but he could not help adding the following. "Chinami-chan…don't think too much."

"Don't think too much? What do you mean- " However, he pretended that he didn't hear her and still hung up. Despite his advice to her, he had much to think of.

Chinami knew that she was behaving rather childish about the whole thing, but like any girl with long hair, she had been very proud of it. Therefore, it hurt to have her waist length hair being reduced to shoulder length due to the accident. It had been so unexpected so she had cried.

However, she was cheered up by the photos that her fiancée brought for her when she was still in the hospital, since her head also received some blows. The photos made her laugh out aloud because not only were the guys responsible beaten up, Akira also personally shaved off the right half of their hair.

"Which means that they have to shave the other half themselves!" she had laughed out even as she regretfully glanced at the remaining half of her hair that was still waist length- what she had to cut off.

Due to her uncle's wealth, having hair extension to make her hair into its original length would be as simply as buying some new hair accessories. When her aunt first told her about it, she had been very enthusiastic at the idea, but she now wonder whether she was making too much fuss about this whole thing.

Most of all, what would her fiancée think of her? She was being like a little girl who needed to be cheered up just because her hair got cut. Perhaps she was no better then his two little sisters!

She stared hard at the reflection in the mirror of her dressing table and reasoned that this new look was not that bad. Having hair at shoulder length was still regarded as having long hair. In addition, the hairdresser did trim her hair in a way to make her look much older.

"Chinami-chan! Akira-kun is here!" her aunt announced as she slid open the door. Upon seeing what her niece was doing, she immediately frowned, "Chinami-chan, we can go to the hairdresser whenever you want."

"No, it is not that. I was just brushing my hair." She said as she quickly grabbed her hairbrush and began to brush it through her hair at a very rapid speed that made her appear all the more guilty.

"Well, I will leave you two alone." Her aunt said.

"I wasn't crying over my hair!" Chinami immediately said guiltily.

"I'll do it for you." Akira said as he took the brush from her. He actually began to brush her hair and much to Chinami's surprise, he applied just the right pressure and force.

"But your hair is sort of long for a guy." She said out aloud.

"No, it is not because of that." Akira corrected her. "It is because I often end up brushing my sisters' hair for them. If I brush and do one of their hair, then I have to do the same for the other."(2)

"It seems that you have a lot of work." She commented.

"Yes, but the truth is that it is not always forced on me." he admitted. "Sometimes it is because our maids are not there, but others time I do this due to my own choice. I am fond of my sisters, but it is just that they can be a bit too much… the problem with children is that they don't know when it is too much."

Keeping one hand on the brush, he used his other hand to grab a hair ribbon and began to plait it into her hair. At this, Chinami had to force herself to sit very still and not fidget as she suddenly felt very tense due to having his fingers braiding her hair and occasionally touching her scalp.

Akira was glad that his fingers were occupied as that allowed him to not say anything. Once again, he thought of how unusual the circumstance was. Touching a woman was nothing new, but his current actions could almost be described as chaste!

When he finished, Chinami had to admit that there might be some advantages to having shorter hair. She was sure that he would not be doing this for her if her hair was its original length, as he would probably get too tired half way through.

The effect was certainly surprising. When she realised that he was going to braid both sides of her hair, she thought that the effect would be a slightly childish hairstyle. This didn't really surprise her since he said that he often braided his sisters' hair, and his two sisters were the age where they suited pigtails. However, the overall result was nothing like that.

"Akira-san is really good." She told him sincerely.

"Then let's go now." he told her. "Your hair is done so we can go out now."

"What? What are you talking about?" she began, but he already grabbed her hand.

"On a date." He told her simply.

"But…"

"I want to go on a date with you. Simple as that.' He told her steadily. "Where do you want to go?"

"We actually have never been on a proper date before." She realised. "Whenever we have been on dates before, it was because we happen to see and meet one another. But Akira-san, where do you usually go?"

Even though she did not say it, she implied that he would know where to go since he had so much more experience then her.

"Chinami-san, I am asking you where you want to go. Not where I usually go on my dates." Part of the reason that he asked her was because he was not sure where they should go, as he often selected a date place with the intention of sleeping with the woman at the very end.

"I…I want to go to Tokyo tower." She declared out.

"Why Tokyo tower?" he finally asked her.

There was a slight wind and her hair was loose, but the plaits on either side of her hair prevented her hair from being tangled.

"Do you really want to know?"

"If I didn't want to know, then why would I be asking you?"

He felt that her tendency of repeating herself was not really due to a hesitation at expressing her opinions, but a way for her to think of the best thing to say.

"My parents met in Tokyo tower." She said simply, gazing at the scene in front. "And their first date was in Tokyo tower. When I first went to Tokyo tower for a school trip, I actually secretly wonder whether I might meet anyone. Quite foolish really, but then I was only in my first year of Junior High school."

"It was very different, wasn't it?" he stated instead of asked.

"It was a very normal public school. It was not as if my family was fully normal in the first place due to my dad but I didn't know about any of that then. So I naturally thought that I would one day get a boyfriend and then marry like my mum."

"Do you regret it then? Not refusing your uncle when he told you that you didn't have to agree to being engaged to me." Akira asked, recalling what he had overheard when he was in her room, sleeping on her bed no less.

"You were awake?" she asked before she suddenly blushed due to remembering what else she had said that night.

"I was awake…I remained awake as well." That was probably what was more important to her. "I heard what you said about me and I feel that what you said is really accurate. I actually do secretly pride myself as being very mature but the truth is that I am very childish at the same time as well. I want attention, but there are times when I will suddenly not want it.

"I have been thinking," he continued, "And while I admit that you can probably fulfil that role, I don't really think that would be a good solution. If you really do that, then you will just end up being like me. One day, you will be the one who sit alone on the swing. Being angry at me and yet feeling that you can't let me know.

"I have been in a lot of relationships before but they have never been proper ones. However, our relationship will be different since we are engaged. I do know one thing, Chinami…it is not going to work if you are the only one who puts the effort in."

He actually reached out his hand to touch her check and once more, he thought that it was so funny that he had been rather uncertain of doing so when he had done much more imitating actions with so many other women.

"I am really sorry about what happened," he began, referring to the events that leaded to her having her hair cut. "Yet I must admit that something good did happen, as it made me understand myself a bit better, although I really wish that it was due to another reason. But I realise that you are important to me…No, I realise that I want to help you as well. I don't just want you to be the one who support me, I want to do it too. I want it to be…mutual."

"Mutual?"

Taking a few steps forward, he allowed the already short space between them to disappear and he actually hugged her rather tightly.

"I want to be there for you, just as you want to be there for me." Akira stated and he actually grabbed the end of her now shorter hair. "Chinami, if you want to cry about your hair then you can do so. I won't think of you as being childish or anything."

However, when she began to cry, he knew that it was not just due to what had happened to her a few days ago. She was also weeping due to the mere relief of being able to cry.

"You actually made me change many of my views." He muttered. Despite what he said, he actually felt a bit awkward as he had not been really in such a situation before. His relationships almost never have such a result, while he was too used to the tantrum that his mother and sisters would display.

"You mean going out with a girl that is younger then you?" she laughed between her tears.

"Not just that." He said.

Before, he had thought that it was enough to understand a woman you have a relationship with by sleeping with her, but now he realised that it would not be a true understanding. It would certainly not be enough. (3)

"Who would believe that I am thinking about such a thing?" he said to himself as he kissed her on the forehead, a very rare gesture.

However, he has realised that Chinami was different.

(1) I got this idea from the NDS game, in regard to the skiing incident.

(2) In the DS game, he does say that he often do his sisters' hair for them, as he would offer to do the PC's hair for her.

(3) He and Soujirou both said this in the original story.

Author's Note:I feel that Chinami's reaction in regard to her hair being cut is very normal, I think most girls would be quite upset if they had very long hair that is suddenly cut off. In addition, she has always really liker long hair. After all, she is still a young girl of only seventeen.

Chinami feels that in order for her to be able to be with Akira, she has to be really mature due to her believe that he likes older woman as he is sick of having to look after his mother and his two sisters. Therefore, she feels that she can't let him know about how this is upsetting her.

Yet in this story, Akira also realise that if he just let Chinami do this, then this won't work out. You need both parties to contribute and in this case, this is a serious relationship so he can't just play around. I hope that I show how Chinami has become special to him in this story.

I really want to thank mysterymy for her encouragement and I really hope that you enjoy reading these two stories.