Stay frosty :)

Otterly adorkable: Well, we shall see about Sumi. Stay safe and healthy too.

starrat: Thank you as always.

Stefnato: Und heute kommt schon wieder eins. Für dieses Kapitel kam ich richtig in fahrt. Tja, jeder trifft mal neue Leute und Toshi gehört halt dazu. Jep, er ist schon alleine. Mal sehen was noch so auf ihn zu kommt.

DaddysLiitleGirl: Thats good :) Uh, someone is sensing trouble? Who knows how this will play out.

dersoccer: You will just have to wait and see.

OTriyz: Oh no, poor thing :(

aeviou: Indeed!


"I can't do this anymore, Izumi." Tamiko grumbled. "Hearing him is one thing but I want to see him. That's all I want."

Tamiko was lying on her friend's bed in her new home while Izumi was drawing. Izumi's university course as a manga artist was in full swing and she was drafting some ideas. A few months have passed and summer was slowly approaching. The days were getting warmer and the trees now wore their full plumage of green leaves. The girls were feeling the heat on that day. With cool drinks they had tried to cool themselves off. Now they sat in the firing line of the fan and the air conditioning was roaring.

"I know it's tough, Tamiko-chan. But I'm sure he feels the same way."

Izumi evaluated her piece of paper and then placed her things on the table. Tamiko, who had become a regular visitor, pouted and dropped back onto the bed, hugging the cat pillow tightly.

"I just want to hold him," she admitted.

"I get it," Izumi said. "You miss him. You complain about that every time you visit me."

"I'm sorry," Tamiko sighed.

"Don't get me wrong," Izumi interjected. "It's good that you miss him and you should. But it would be nice if we can talk about fun stuff instead of," she gestured at her friend, "that, you know?"

"Yeah you're right," Tamiko admitted.

"Maybe we should go out to town," Izumi suggested. "Shopping for example. We can get you some cute new outfits. Now that you have a boyfriend that you will visit one day you should dress to impress."

Tamiko blinked. Dress to impress? She had never thought about her clothing. Her wardrobe mostly consisted of simple things that didn't stand out. Onecoloured tops, no dresses, nothing fancy. She tried to picture herself in Izumi's attire and scrunched up her nose.

"No," she heard Izumi say. "My style doesn't suit you. We will have to find out what suits you best."

Tamiko looked at her friend who wore a huge mischievous grin. The student homes for the university weren't that close to the city centre with its shops, so Tamiko was dragged to the closest bus stop. It had been a while since Tamiko had last ridden on a bus. It was a simple thing to do. You got on in the back and pulled a small piece of paper out of a metal box. The number was displayed at the front with the yen price climbing the further you went. As you got off, you paid the driver. Simple as that.

The girls got off the bus right next to the big mall. Since it was starting to drizzle they quickly sought refuge underneath the glass canopy. This mall housed a lot of shops and restaurants under its roof. One of Tamiko's favourite shops was here too. A bookstore that was decorated with old-looking shelves and the occasional sofa to test read. But she had no chance to escape there.

"Oh no, you don't," Izumi said and grabbed her wrist. "We're going there first."

Tamiko looked ahead to where she was pointing and gulped. It was a clothes shop that had a big reputation for being ahead for popular fashion. Izumi wanted to start big and Tamiko already grew worried. It wasn't the first time she had gone clothes shopping with her, but then it was Izumi looking for clothes. She knew how frustrated Izumi could become when it came to matching her top with her trousers or vise versa. Hopefully if she went shopping for Tamiko's clothes Izumi would be a little more relaxed.

Tamiko hated clothing shops specifically for women. The ships that sold for women, men and children seemed to be more organised with their wares. In this shop the clothes were all over the place. A table with trousers and jumpers was placed in front of a shelf with dresses. They weren't even sorted by colour. Wasn't order a human necessity? Didn't humans crave objects to be there where you could easily find them? This didn't seem to be the case here.

"Alright, try these on first," Izumi said and shoved a pile of different tops, dresses and trousers into Tamiko's arms.

"They all look hideous," Tamiko remarked.

"Process of elimination," Izumi answered. "If these don't suit you then this shop is ticked off our list."

Encouraged to have a ticket out of here Tamiko headed to the changing rooms. She was a little reluctant to try on the dress. The textil just felt strange. Luckily Izumi one had to look at her once to say that she should take it off again. And so they returned the clothes and headed to the next shop. This went on for a while. Every time they walked out of a shop they could hear the thunderous patting of the rain on the glass roof. A rumbling stomach brought them to a ramen restaurant. They didn't even have to wait outside. It wasn't as full as they thought and were shown to a table right away.

"It's just as I suspected," Izumi huffed as she joined her at the table. "You're the mature type so no motives and no ripped jeans."

"Thank god," Tamiko mumbled.

Her friend giggled when a waitress came. Both ordered their food and returned to their conversation. Meanwhile the rain was letting up, only tapping with feather light touches on the glass above them. The water fountain close to the restaurant was now the more dominant source of noise. Apart from that, there were the murmurs of other shoppers surrounding them. The girls both observed some of the other girls and women who passed, discussing their looks, since this was the current subject. The topic of clothes soon shifted to make-up. Izumi could explain how a certain look could be created with make-up, although Tamiko seemed less interested.

"Getting you into make-up is still a no-no I guess?" Izumi asked when the food arrived.

"Don't you dare," Tamiko grumbled. "It takes time putting it on and is a pain to get off."

"Fair enough," Izumi said. "You have very clean skin anyway so there is no need. Your lashes could be a bit thicker though."

"No, nope, never," Tamiko said. "Leave my lashes alone."

"Don't worry," she laughed. "But maybe a new haircut would be refreshing, don't you think?"

Tamiko was silent for a moment, chewing on her noodles, but then she remembered. Her mother had given her a coupon for a hairdresser which she still hadn't used yet. Maybe it was time. She glanced at the shopping bags next to her. Then she glanced up at Izumi. Their eyes met and Izumi raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"My mum got me a coupon for a haircut," she revealed. "And I have been thinking of cutting it this short.

Tamiko held her hands up to her hair and looked to Izumi. She was squinting a little with a finger on her lip still chewing. That was when Tamiko reached the point of no return. Once they were done eating Izumi dragged her home and picked up the coupon, headed back to the hairdresser and sat down in the waiting area. While they waited Tamiko was fiddling with her fingers, watching every hairdresser attend to their customer. She tried to weigh and guess who would be done first to cut her hair. It was a waiting game.

"So, which one of you is next?" a lady asked.

Izumi pointed at Tamiko and she stood, following the lady to a seat in front of the mirror. She named her wish, exchanged her coupon and then the lady went to work. It was a few silent hours until she was done. Her hair had been washed and her head massaged. It may have been just her imagination but she felt a little lighter. Looking at the hair spread all over the tile floor strengthened that feeling. She got up and met up with Izumi, who had returned to her home in the meantime.

"Wow," Izumi gasped. "Just wow."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it!"

Izumi walked up to her and pulled her to her bathroom. In front of the mirror she looked at her new haircut from behind. Her wavy hair now just brushed her shoulders. Bubbling with excitement she began to do her signature squeak. But Izumi wasn't done. After asking for its whereabouts she placed Tamiko's glasses on her nose. After glancing in the mirror Tamiko was surprised how much older she looked. She didn't look 19 at all but rather 25.

"Ushijima is gonna love it," she said.

"You think so?"

"Of course," Izumi declared. "Now it's very easy for him to get to your neck."

Izumi grinned and Tamiko grew bright red. It got even worse when Izumi told her about how sensitive the neck was and what could be done with it in a sexual way. Now Tamiko regretted it but then again would Ushijima really do that? He had far less experience in that field than her. At least that's what she thought or rather hoped. There had been a few little things that he had done that have surprised her. Like kissing her knuckles. Oh, that made it even worse. Tamiko hid her flushed face for a long time until she decided to head home.

When she got home her mother was also pleasantly surprised about her new look. While Tamiko helped her prepare donner, Shiyori told her about her own change she underwent back in the day. It was similar to her daughter's experience. A good friend took her shopping but Shiyori was more open to make-up. When dinner was ready and Tobio joined them he froze for a moment when he saw his sister's new look. After the dishes were done Shiyori pulled out the old photo albums.

"When you were little you had your hair like that as well," she told her.

The photos showed her during that hard time of her life. Now she sat next to her mother, looking back. Her brother also joined them remembering the past. It was a pleasant family evening. Shiyori even told them how she met their father, back when she still loved him. It became a little emotional but both siblings went to bed early to rise early.

The next day in uni was going like always, only now Tamiko got a few second glances from her fellow students. It already started at the parking lot with a boy's stare seemed to linger on her. Tamiko shook her head. Maybe she was just imagining all the attention. It was probably because she looked different that she looked around more to see what the people were doing. It had probably always been like this even before the haircut. Although she did look very different with short hair. It was noticed by many. Her seat neighbour also noticed the big change.

"Looks great," she remarked.

"Thank you," Tamiko answered.

The lectures went by slowly today. Not only was her look new but she felt like a different person, like a stranger in her own skin. It was something to get used to. Her habit of railing her hair through her fingers now felt different. Sadly it was a bit irritating. The last lecture of the day spic d this up a little bit. The reason? Partner projects. It was the first one so far and Tamiko, like her fellow students, listened closely to the instructions.

"For this project I want you all to work in pairs. I have prepared a question for each pair to answer in a presentation in 2 weeks. You have 5 minutes to find a partner." the professor announced and then added. "Try to find someone you have never worked with before. It might be an advantage."

There were a few with whom she had never worked with before. Her seat neighbours were out of the question. She had already started a small study group with them, where they evaluated notes taken during lectures. While she looked around to find a potential partner she was already approached by one. One of the boys came up to her. He was a "middle" since he was one of the middle rated boys when it came to looks. It was a rating some of the girls had started to rate the boys from the course. But looks were always an objective thing. The saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" wasn't out there for show.

"Hi, I'm Ito Hiroshi. Shall we work together?" he asked.

"Uhm, sure," she said.

They exchanged contact details and Tamiko went home for the day. After a cooling shower she turned her attention to her notes from the lectures and the project question she had to answer with her partner. They had agreed to first do individual research before comparing their findings. After browsing some of her books for an hour her alarm notified her about the time. She grabbed her phone and dialed the number that was always at the top.

"I had a haircut," she bursted.

"You did?" Ushijima asked.

"Yeah, it's shorter now.

"It should be," he noted. "A hairdresser can't make them longer."

"I know but it's much shorter now."

"I see," he answered. "I can't wait to see it."

"You will when I visit you," she reminded him. "Anyway, when I come down to Tokyo I would like to stay at least for a few days. If you have to work I can maybe accompany you."

"I will ask the coach. As for staying over; I will have to get a foldable bed since I only have one."

"Isn't that bed big enough to share?" she asked. "I mean, we did share my bed before."

"I'm sure you can agree those were different circumstances and it was only one night," he told her. "I want you to get a good night sleep and we both wouldn't get that when we share a small bed."

"Yeah, you make a good point," she admitted.

"I will get all the things you will need," he promised. "Do you know how many days you want to stay?"

"Six days, maybe even seven," she said. "I can't wait to see you again."

"Me neither."

Tamiko smiled, knowing he was smiling too. Now she had to discuss with her mother when it was best to go and if she could join in on the training. It was a day to look forward to.