"My hair's getting a bit long. I think I should probably get it cut soon..." Misaka stated as she blew her bangs out of her eyes.
It was a cold, windy December day; Misaka, Kuroko, Shokuhou, Saten, and Uiharu were all at one of their usual diners just hanging out.
The other four turned their attention towards the electro master and considered her statement.
"Have you ever thought of growing it out Misaka-san?" Asked Saten, imagining the other girl with long flowing hair. "I bet you'd look really cute."
"Maybe, but part of Misaka-san's charm is her tomboyish nature." Shokuhou reasoned, "If you gave her long hair it would clash with her personality."
"Are you saying I'm not girly enough for long hair?" Misaka seethed at the blond and her innocent little smirk.
"I completely disagree." Kuroko said as she wrapped her arms around the electromaster and began groping the girl's modest chest, "Onee-sama may have boyish charm, but she's all woman underneath and long hair would help bring that out."
One charred teleporter later Misaka turned back to Saten and said, "I just prefer having shorter hair, no real reason. It's been like this since I was a kid."
"Speaking of which," Kuroko said, recovering as quickly as ever from her chastisement, "you've had the same hairstyle since we first met Uiharu. Have you ever thought of changing it?"
Uiharu opened her mouth to answer but Saten beat her to it. "Tsk Tsk Tsk." the level zero tutted, "Don't be so silly, Shirai-san. Uiharu doesn't grow hair, she grows flowers. One day her whole head will be a beautiful garden of roses."
The level one puffed up her cheeks and weakly pounded on her friends shoulders with her fists, "That's not it at all Saten-san, don't tease me!" She huffed before turning back to Kuroko, "It's not that I don't want to change my hair, it's just that I can't grow my hair very long for some reason." Uiharu very much wanted to change her hair, wishing to have hair long enough to grow into the elegant hime cut style she so admired on all those high class Ojou-sama's. It was why she had her bangs cut the way she did.
"I know this one," The Queen chimed in happily, "there's a girl in my faction who wants to be a beautician. She says that hair has a growth stage called Anagen that lasts for 2-7 years depending on the person. The length of your anagen period determines how long your hair can be. You probably have quite a short one."
"You mean I can't ever have long hair?" Uiharu asked, her dreams crumbling before her eyes.
"Well you could use hair tonics and things like that, this is Academy City after all, pretty much anything is possible." Misaka said, trying to cheer her friend up.
"It's hardly worth the hassle anyway," Shokuhou sighed, running a hand through her blond hair, "long hair is such a bother. All the treatments and care you need to keep it looking nice, going to salons three times a month..."
"I know what you mean, if I let mine get longer than mid-back it gets difficult to take care of as well," Saten nodded, "shorter than that it's easy enough though, perhaps you should get yours cut as well, Shokuhou-san."
"No," came the simultaneous protest from that side of the table. One voice in particular stood out, not for the strength of it's declaration, but rather from its source. The four turned to look at Misaka, who only now realized she had spoken out, to which she reacted in her normal manner of blushing and taking a sip of her drink, hoping her hardest that she would suddenly discover a second ESPer power that would let her turn invisible.
A pleased smirk descended upon Shokuhou's face as she said, "As you can see, certain people find my hair is to be pretty as is. And looking good is worth a little bit of extra work."
Saten nodded in understanding, "I'll admit, it does look good. Is that really your natural color?"
"Mhm," the blond confirmed gesturing towards her blond eyebrows, "my family has some Scandinavian roots, which is why I have such beautiful pale skin that glows like moonlight and hair that glitters like spun gold." The poetic beauty of the statement was somewhat dulled by the fact that it was a narcissistic ode.
"What about you, Shirai-san?" Uiharu asked, "I remember you had shorter hair when we first met, and in those pictures of you when you were younger as well."
"Ah, well I prefer longer hair but," Kuroko sighed and tilted her head to the side, grabbing one of her pigtails at the end and pulling it up slightly, "shorter hair doesn't hurt as much when it's tugged, so when I was living with Onii-chan spending half my time dangling by one pigtail or the other it was better that it was short. Now that I've moved away I can grow it out to my desired length."
"If your pigtails always caused you so much trouble why do you always wear them?" Saten asked.
"Now that I think about it, it does seem like that style would cause some problems if it can be grabbed onto so easily," Misaka said, "but I've only ever seen you take them off for bed."
"You even wore them to the beach." Uiharu recalled.
"And they do make you look a bit childish," Shokuhou admitted, "perhaps a bit of variety would be better."
"Ignoring the fact that Ojii-sama wouldn't appreciate it if I changed my hair," Kuroko sighed, "the fact is none of you have much variety either." She fixed her gaze at Uiharu, "You wore your flowers to the beach. Frankly, I don't even know why you're bugging me about it, I'm the only one whose hair has actually changed even slightly in the past couple years."
Saten grinned a grin that was all too familiar to the others, "Well then, there's only one thing to do."
…
"And, done." Saten said, drawing back to see the results of her work.
Kuroko's mid-back length hair was now drawn up into a tight bun on top of her head in a very elegant style that one would normally see on upper class women or when people wanted to dress up for a festival.
In the bun, in place of the traditional ornamental hairpins, were stuck several nails. The same nails that Kuroko kept on the bands on her thighs. This gave the bun a more informal but undeniably Kuroko-like appearance. A spiraling lock of hair dangled in front to add to the elegance of the style.
Kuroko sighed, having accepted the styling (or at least resigned herself to it and stopped struggling) about a third of the way through. She got out a compact from her bag to inspect the design herself as the others at the table did the same.
"Wow... you actually look like an ojou-sama." Uiharu said, startled by the drastic change in her friend's aura given such a simple change in appearance.
"Implying I do not normally look like one?" Kuroko glared at Uiharu as she snapped the compact shut.
"Oh, you certainly look like one. You have the same haughty arrogant air that radiates more elegance than sense that most of the other girls at our school have," Misaka said, "it's just that your personality shatters any illusion of that elegance."
Kuroko's head hit the table hard at the sudden and terrific blow to her pride.
"If it makes you feel better you still have plenty of that haughty arrogance." Shokuhou fake-comforted.
Kuroko's head hit the table a few more times before she miraculous recovered from the blows to her self confidence a couple seconds later.
"Hmm... it's still missing something," Saten said, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Kuroko looked at her reflection once again and figured out what it was. She reached into her bag and drew out a fan with a simple, flowery, and somewhat familiar, design, unfolding it in a single fluid motion and covering her face so that just her eyes could be seen peeking out from over it, "Missing something? A commoner like yourself dares imply that a lady of my status could possibly lack anything?" She scoffed, her speech taking on a highly exaggerated, and again somewhat familiar, tone of wealth and arrogance.
The others were stunned slightly at the sudden change but they quickly burst out laughing. Behind the fan Kuroko frowned, though her eyes twinkled with just a hint of amusement, "Stop laughing this instant you uncouth louts! Don't you know who I am?!"
Finally it clicked for Misaka who stopped laughing just long enough to look at the fan, "Is that Kongou Mitsuko-san's fan[1]? Are you doing an impression of her?"
"Haughty, arrogant, with more elegance than sense." Kuroko repeated the level five's words from earlier, "It described her so perfectly, I thought she'd be a good person to imitate. And yes it is her fan but in my defense she kept hitting me with it. I told her I'd take it if she did it one more time and she still did it again." Kuroko sighed and even the exhale sounded high class with the voice and attitude she had adopted.
After the laughter had died down Shokuhou turned to Saten with a similar grin to the one the level zero had had on before. "Your turn!" the telepath announced as she slid over and began her styling.
…
"Done," Shokuhou announced, handing a small mirror for the girl to examine herself.
Saten raised her eyebrow as she inspected her new hairstyle. Her hair was done in two long braids, each sticking out to the side with pink ribbons at the start and end of each braid. It was an exceptionally childish look that seemed very out of place on the head of a middle schooler with the second largest bust of the group. "I don't think it really suits me." she said, to which the rest silently agreed.
Then Shokuhou leaned over and whispered something in Saten's ear and the other three saw as the skeptical look on Saten's face turned into one of mischievous glee.
As the telepath drew away to sit back in her own seat, Saten turned to Uiharu. The level zero's eyes went as big and round as possible while her lips curled into a cute, albeit childish, pout as she ballooned her cheeks slightly to give her face a more rounded appearance.
Uiharu immediately felt slightly uncomfortable at the look she was being given. But the deep crimson blush didn't come until she heard Saten's voice, high pitched and sounding every bit as childish as her appearance, say to her, "Flower-chan! Flower-chan! Tell Saten-chan a story Flower-chan!"
The three Tokiwadai girls laughed again. Shokuhou's giggle was unrestrained and highly amused, while the other two at least tried to stifle their laughs at the level zero's surprisingly good impression of Nadeshiko-chan and the odd effect it seemed to be having on Uiharu.
"W-W-W-W-W-Wha-What are you doing Saten-san!" The flower headed girl stammered, trying to back away.
"How about a kiss for your girlfriend, Flower-chan?" Saten continued, slowly advancing on the embarrassed level one, her lips puckered and making kissy sounds.
Uiharu's face was as red as a sunburned tomato as her back hit the end of the booth, trapping her in the path of the ever advancing predator. Suddenly Misaka was sitting behind Saten, putting a hand on the level zero's shoulder, "I think that's enough Saten-san." She said, still sounding as if she was trying to hold in laughter.
"Aww..." the level zero pouted , "I thought that the lolicon was just starting to enjoy it."
"I'm not a lolicon!" Uiharu shouted again, so tremendously embarrassed at what had just happened, even more than when Saten flipped her skirt in the middle of a crowded street.
Shokuhou cleared her throat to get rid of any remaining giggles that might have been lodged there before putting on an apologetic look, "Sorry, Uiharu-san, I didn't think she'd go that far. If it's any consolation I'll let you do my hair." She said as she sat in front of Uiharu, her back to the flower headed girl as she looked at Saten, holding up 9 fingers and giving the level zero a wink and grin that Saten returned.
Uiharu was a bit flummoxed. Whereas both Saten and Shokuhou had experience in styling their own hair, Uiharu had always had short hair that didn't need styling, so she had no idea what to do.
She looked at Kuroko, who was glaring at her with hate in her eyes due to what the flower headed girl could only assume was her close proximity to the teleporter's girlfriend, and remembered how the telepath had called Kuroko's style immature. So the level one decided that, if the blond was going to tease her with an immature hair style, then she would do the same with the blond.
Unfortunately, Uiharu had no idea how to tie a ribbon, so she used scrunchies instead.
The end result, Shokuhou decided as she looked in the mirror, wasn't all that bad. Her blond hair was now in long twintails that reached her thigh, giving her an immediate idea as to what personality she should adopt.
"Not bad," Kuroko admired, smirking beneath her fan as her eyes glowed with admiration.
Shokuhou cleared her throat again, and then blushed deep red, "W-what are you talking about? It's not like I'm trying to look good for you... baka..."
This time it was the lower levels that laughed at this. "Oh, I get it, you're doing Misaka."
"What?! I don't sound like that!" Misaka cried out in a huff.
"What?! I don't sound like that!" Shokuhou repeated in a creepily perfect imitation, even adding the little huff at the end.
The electromaster glared at the other level five, "Don't copy me." Misaka seethed.
The telepath grinned, falling back into her own facial expression for a moment, "But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Misaka-san~" she cooed as her grin turned once again into that little embarrassed pout that reminded the others of Misaka once again. "Not that I want to flatter you... Baka..."
After a glare and a few warning sparks the black haired girls' laughter was cut short. Saten and Uiharu shared a glance, they knew they should probably move onto something else to distract everyone. "I think it's your turn now Uiharu." Saten said.
"There's less you can do with short hair though..." Kuroko pointed out.
"Not without cutting it or going to a salon at least." Shokuhou agreed.
Saten considered it then suddenly had a burst of inspiration. She reached into her bag with a grin.
…
"Saten-san, what is this!" Uiharu cried out in surprise as she tugged up the item that the level zero had crammed onto her head. She could hear the laughter of the others.
"It's a wig." Saten supplied helpfully, holding up a mirror for Uiharu to inspect herself.
"An Afro?!" Uiharu gasped in horror as she saw her reflection, "Why in the world did you put this on me?!" She shouted as she ripped it off and threw it towards the other end of the booth.
"Gomen, gomen," the level zero apologized, "it was the only one I had on me."
"Why exactly did you have that with you?" Kuroko asked.
"Funny story," Saten said, "but aside from the point. If you don't want an afro, Uiharu, I don't know what I can do for you. As I said that's the only wig I have and with your short hair there isn't any other way to style it."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Shokuhou chimed in, pulling a remote out of her handbag and waving it around, "Master of Illusion remember? Misaka-san won't be able to see it because of her ability, but I can make it so you look like you have any sort of hairstyle you want, no matter how short your hair actually is."
"Really?" Uiharu asked, her attention now fully on the blond, "even a hime cut?"
"Even a hime cut." the level five verified pressing a button on the remote and showing her a mirror that displayed a reflection of Uiharu with the full, dazzling hime cut of her dreams.
"I look... I look so elegant!" She practically squealed in delight.
"You actually do." Agreed Kuroko, speaking again in her Kongou-impersonation, "It's amazing to think that you're still just a commoner."
For some reason, Saten-san, who had been holding her hand tightly over her mouth let out a loud, "Pfft" before devolving into full blown laughter, ten times louder than any other that afternoon. She looked at the telepath and gave her a thumbs up, "100 out of ten!" she declared. She would have hugged and kissed the blonde out of sheer admiration if she didn't think that Kuroko would teleport her to the moon for daring to do such a thing.
The thing about Shokuhou's power was that the illusions it let her conjure up existed in the mind of the person seeing them, and whereas Uiharu and Kuroko were seeing an elegant hime cut, and Misaka was seeing nothing out of the ordinary at all, Saten and Shokuhou were seeing a massive green afro covered in flowers atop the head of the level one.
The laughter was so loud that the restaurant owner actually asked them to leave, but Shokuhou took care of that with her ability as well while Saten settled down again.
Once the last of the laughter had died off, with three of the five members of the table still unsure what had caused it, they got back on track with the conversation.
"It's your turn now, Onee-sama." Kuroko began, teleporting behind the electromaster. After Uiharu's flagrant disregard of the fact that Shokuhou was her girlfriend and therefore the blond's hair was hers to do, Kuroko was determined not to let anyone else do her other girlfriend's hair as well.
Misaka thought about protesting but decided that she might as well go through with it. After all, everyone else had. She felt Kuroko's hands go through her hair, her fingers running through the strands and stroking the scalp in an oddly soothing massage.
This lasted about a minute and a half before deep sniffing sounds made Misaka realize that Kuroko wasn't styling her hair. Rather the teleporter seemed too busy feeling it and smelling it like a-
"Damn pervert!" Misaka yelled, a blush taking over her face, "Don't smell my hair!"
For the second time Kuroko was left charred. Shokuhou grinned, leaning over the teleporter and tapping her nose with a finger. "Baka~. Pervert~." She cooed teasingly.
"Saten-san, please do it properly." Misaka said to the level zero. She had done the best, most complex style so she clearly had talent and she was less likely to do something as embarrassing as Kuroko had just done.
Saten paled slightly, not exactly eager to go next after what the electromaster had just done to Kuroko. Then she realized it was an interesting opportunity, one she doubted she'd ever have again.
Misaka had more hair than Uiharu but still not quite enough to style in any major way. Saten did have an idea though. Again she reached into her bag and pulled out a hairband, which had another funny, but irrelevant, story behind it. She slid it into place on Misaka's head, pushing her bangs back and to the side and baring her forehead.
After sorting out a few more stray locks of hair she leant back and examined her work. Not as good or complex as Kuroko's but certainly satisfactory. Misaka looked in the mirror and was similarly satisfied, but not amazed.
"The only question is who you should imitate." Saten wondered.
"Hair can be used to express yourself but that doesn't mean that every single style of hair necessarily expresses things about you," Misaka said, "Hair hardly encapsulates your personality."
"Exactly, Misaka-san," Shokuhou chimed in, "if people were so simple that you could figure out their personality by hair alone then they would be so very boring."
"Especially when some people can't even grow their ideal hair cut." Uiharu sighed, knowing her beloved hime cut was, after all, simply an illusion that would disappear quickly.
"And can you imagine what getting a haircut would be like? It would be a whole personality transfer each and every time." Saten said.
"Yep. It's good to know that if Onee-sama comes out of the barber's shop with long hair or no hair at all she'd still be the same Onee-sama," Kuroko concurred as she sat behind Shokuhou, groping her and nuzzling the telepath's blond hair both to make it even between the two level fives and because she really enjoyed it. The telepath herself didn't seem to bothered by it either.
Misaka sighed, a massive vein throbbing in her forehead as she used her ability to magnetize the nails in Kuroko's hair, pulling her away from the blond and sticking her head to the wall.
"And no matter what haircut you have you'll always be as big a pervert as ever won't you?"
Kuroko just frowned as yet another hairstyle was turned against her.
Shokuhou giggled then looked to Misaka with a grin. "You might be the same person regardless of hairstyle but I think you should get it cut pretty similar to before. After all," the telepath began as she got out her phone and slid to the end of the booth, "in the words of a certain scientific railgun..." She hit the call button and Saten's phone began issuing an all too familiar voice saying 'You have pretty hair' over and over again.
It took only a second for Misaka to recognize it and turn beet red. She glared at Shokuhou with pure hatred in her eyes. The blond simply winked and took off running, giggling all the while. Misaka's glare then settled on Saten, causing her to pale.
"I... Uh..." The level zero began, then she too was gone, running in the same direction as the telepath with the electromaster following hot on their heels.
Uiharu and Kuroko, now free from the wall, stayed in the restaurant. There was a look of deep concentration on the teleporter's face that suggested she was off in her own little world at the moment, a fact the flower headed girl used to slip out unnoticed and leave her colleague to pay the bill herself.
As the level one left she heard a single sentence from the teleporter, "Hmm... an Onee-sama ringtone..."
[1]: I seems that in both of my universe's I give Kuroko some kleptomaniacal tendencies... I know she's a very moral person (minus the stalking and invasions of privacy...) so it may seem a bit against character, but I just don't see anyone having that power and not making a few things disappear into their bag every so often... Kuroko is only human after all.
Author's Note: With this I'm caught up to where I was before. I'm happy that I've gotten more reviews for it this time, and I hope that trend continues.
The new content starts in less than a week. So be ready for it my faithful readers.
Anyway... this chapter was an interesting little idea I had that turned out better than I could have hoped. I got some fun conversations in as well as another chance to show the interaction between Shokuhou and Saten, who have a great little dynamic going that I really enjoy writing.