Snip, snip, snip.
The hairdresser evened out the layers of damp black hair on the head in front of him. "You know darling, you should condition more often." The man started the conversation casually as he would with other customers, "It'll soften your hair and keep it healthy, not to mention that the curls won't tangle as easily."
"I'll need to buy some before I go home then," Shion agreed, his hair was rather damaged. Absently he mumbled to himself in his western tongue, "It can get quite naughty." He chuckled to himself. Surprisingly the hairdresser heard and understood it from how he burst out laughing.
"Now that was a good one." The hairdresser blew some bangs out of his eye and grabbed a clip. He ran a fine-toothed comb through Shion's damp hair and stopped. "Oh, well look at that, there's one now." There was a throaty sound from him as he had a dirty joke come to mind. Shion saw the man frown, the phone had been ringing for a while now and he shouted over his shoulder, "Kizuna! Phone! Stop sleeping on the job!"
From the front desk, Shion heard a clatter and a thump, a sound of fright followed, "Ah–Y-Yes! Hello, this is the Kakoiishi hair salon, how may I help you?"
Shion had to complement the man on his multitasking skills. "You're fluent in English." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah, lived in Canada for most of my life—tilt your head down please—I was adopted and well, here I am." Shion could see his grin in the mirror and had to wonder how he could say something that personal so lightly.
Drying his hair was the fun part for the hairdresser as it was highly amusing to see the curly hair start to gain volume and frizz up in front of him. After putting in a hair treatment solution, he straightened the hair and started trimming it to get rid of some bad split ends. Moving to his bangs he noticed something. "Your eyes are quite pretty you know, it's a shame you hide them," the man said to him.
He usually covered his blue eye with his hair, but sometimes it wouldn't cut it. Occasionally the wind would blow his hair around, or if he rubbed his head it would move, so he closed his eye whenever he thought someone might be able to see it.
"You don't have to be shy darling, it looks nice and it's unique," the hairdresser smiled.
"It causes unwanted attention," Shion said a bit harsher than intended. The man didn't delve further into the topic, if it was personal he wouldn't pry.
• • • • • •
"Yes, thank you, it looks great," Shion thanked the hairdresser. He had done a wonderful job, his hair was straight and shiny, a complete change from his regular unrestrained curly fury. He couldn't help but run a hand through his hair in fascination at the smooth feeling. With it completely straight as it was now he noticed that it was longer than he thought. It was resting at the base of his neck, just around the collar bone. "Excuse me. May I use your restroom?"
"Of course darling, go ahead!" His hairdresser was already working with another customer and chatting away happily.
With the go-ahead, he grabbed his bag and changed in the washroom. He had the clothes he got ready the previous day in his bag. Shion looked himself over once and nodded, he wouldn't recognize himself in a mirror if he didn't know any better—though that was with his glasses off.
Putting the frames back on, he sighed. I just knew I needed these... He really didn't want to wear them. They were uncomfortable.
Contacts.
The task was grudgingly painful and he ended up poking his eye when he flinched, but otherwise got them in. His green eye stung like a bitch and looked red though.
Shion left the restroom and went to pay for the haircut, but wasn't recognized without his glasses apparently. The secretary thanked him for not walking out without paying, for none of the staff or the hairdresser, realized that he was a finished customer. He gave him vanilla spice shampoo and conditioner at a discount for his honesty. Shion gave him a nice tip.
"Thank you, darling!" The hairdresser called, "Please come again soon."
Shion decided to make that salon his regular place.
After grabbing a bite at the Japanese equivalent of a Tim Hortons, he returned to his apartment to get his stuff and change. "Hmm..." a thought came to mind and Shion smirked. It was around ten-thirty so Haruhi would probably still be at home.
He approached her door and got into a role he thought of to go along with his new look. A man in their mid-twenties who had this air of sexuality. He added to it with a lowered voice so it came out somewhat velvety. He was glad that his lower register came in handy for acting too, for he had a good range of voice and could do it consistently. The low, slightly husky voice, suit his character. He relaxed his posture and knocked on the door.
"Hello?" Haruhi opened the door and looked at the person that she didn't know. Shion observed her for a moment and he almost smirked in victory when a look of confusion came across her features. He masked the smirk by raising an eyebrow, making it look like he wasn't expecting a girl to open the door.
"Hmmm... Well, you certainly aren't Shion..." He shifted his weight over to his other leg and tapped his lips in thought, "I wonder... Did he give me the wrong address?" He took out a blank ripped piece of paper from his pocket.
"Ah, if you're looking for Shion's place, he lives next door."
"Why thank you, Koneko-chan," He leaned over and pat her head, winked and waved goodbye with a smile.
Haruhi stood there for a moment and watched. He looks like a relative of his... I can't place who it is though.
Shion went and knocked on his own door, waited for a beat and sighed, "Hmm, I guess he isn't up yet," then he took out his keys and entered, "Well, sorry Shion, but if you don't wake up... I'll just have to drag you out!"
Then the door shut behind him and he sighed in relief. If Haruhi didn't recognize him nobody else would. Probably... Kyoya seemed to be the type that would be hard to deceive.
Shion lounged around for a while to kill time. He wanted the times to be set up so he would have a higher chance of the club running into him. Looking at the time, it was half-past eleven. Shion grabbed his electric guitar, a small amp and a portable extendable mic stand along with the much-needed microphone, and just in case be brought an extension cord. Everything fit in his guitar case besides the amp. He would have to carry that by hand. Thankfully he hadn't bought the larger model as the one he had was smaller and more suitable for travelling. It was relatively the size of his satchel, though too big to fit in it.
He put the strap of his guitar case on his left shoulder overtop of his carrier bags strap. It was a different bag that he didn't take to school so the others wouldn't recognize it. He carried the amp with his free hand.
My shoulder's going to be sore later, Shion noticed with the strain he felt. All the weight was on that shoulder, but then again, it was the easiest way to carry it around.
The hustle of the park beside the mall was lively. There were no other street performers so he would get the attention he would need to form a crowd. It would be fun and highly amusing if the host club actually approached him.
He set his stuff down close to the pond. The man-made pond was surrounded by a low stone wall for those daring to walk on. Shion was tempted to stand on it and perform but decided against it due to his expensive equipment. It was precious to him. Searching around, Shion found an outlet and plugged in the amp to a socket that was hidden on a nearby lamp post.
Taking his guitar out he sat down on the stone wall and went to tune it. "..." He looked through his case, "Don't tell me I forgot my tuner..." Shion sighed, he would just have to tune it by ear.
It took longer than he wanted, but he got all the strings to the correct pitches. He plugged his MP3 into the amp and set up the microphone. He started performing after testing that the electronics were working as they should be—but before anything, he had to put his open case in front of him. There would be no point in doing this besides being a devious bastard by disguising himself to toy around with the host club otherwise. He liked seeing people's reactions. Though this all started because he just didn't want to get in trouble with the school for earning money, though that was temporarily forgotten as the prank took more precedence.
He stood by the mic for a moment, fixing his hair a bit as a strategy to get some eyes to stray his way. Shion started with a song he named, Sugar Song and Bitter Step. He and a friend made the song back in America, but his friend couldn't sing for his life, so Shion just ended up having the song.
It began with a rhythm that was drummed on the body of the guitar, then the guitar came in. It had a happy feel to it with the intro. His fingers moved on the frets of the neck expertly as he strummed or picked the strings as need be. The people who were walking by slowed to a stop to listen. Shion smiled into the mic—it was time to sing.
He transposed the song's key down to suit a lower pitch so he wouldn't blow his cover with his neutral voice. The lyrics flowed out mellow and cheery in tone. They reflected on how life was a roller coaster, there were its ups and downs. You would question yourself and reflect on what you do, but you had to make the best of it. Roller coasters were supposed to be fun and thrilling. But people were all different—they each had their own unique qualities, their own rhythm. There were hard times, but once you got through it came the fun once again.
The song ended on a happy note and the people around clapped politely. He bowed and gave thanks as they threw extra change into his case. People left and some people stayed. While getting ready for the next song, he noticed that there was a child who looked up to him with a great smile. He smiled at the mother with a courtesy noss and knelt down to the kid's level.
"Hey kiddo, what type of song would you like?"
"Rock!" the child's loud voice reached the mic he was holding and it was amplified through the park.
Shion chuckled at how enthusiastic the child was, "Happy, sad?"
The kid brightened, "Crazy!"
"Hmm..." he thought for a moment, "Then I think I have the perfect song for you." He ruffled the kid's hair.
He changed the guitar an electric setting and strummed a chord to make sure it sounded right. He started with high pitched pings from his guitar before counting, 'one, two, three, four,' In English. Then came in the guitars melody and the MP3 took care of the other parts he couldn't play, like drums and the second guitar part along with the keyboard. His leg started to bounce as he kept count.
The song was called Matryoshka. The lyrics had no meaning at all and would be interpreted as insanity. That's exactly why he chose to play it, the kid asked for crazy, so he got crazy.
The tune caught a lot of attention and a crowd formed.
• • • • • •
"This commoner's burger is quite good," Tamaki said while eating. The whole host club was sitting at a table in the park after they've had their fun in the mall.
"Hmm, I like the fries better," The twins chorused, finishing the package that they were sharing.
They had just visited WcDonalds for the first time and the more... energetic members of the group were hyped. They ended up causing a scene and Haruhi brought up the idea of eating outside in the park. That way she wouldn't have to be in such a crowded place where they could embarrass her further.
"If only they had cake!" Yes, the restaurant had dessert, but cake wasn't on the menu. Even if they had cake, it wouldn't be very good. Fast-food cake probably wasn't up to Hani's standard.
There was an odd silence as conversation died down when they each started hearing the distant sound of music.
"Hey guys, do you hear that?"
"Yeah, sounds like music." Was the obvious and sarcastic observation of Kaoru.
"Come on! Let's check it out!" Tamaki pointed in the direction it was coming from with the last fry from his container.
As they circled around the pond, they passed some trees and a crowd came into view. The song was getting louder as they approached the crowd, and by the time they reached the area, the song had already finished. The deep voice of the performer could be heard through the mic as he talked to a child.
"Happy, sad?"
"Crazy!"
The man mused for a moment, "Then I think I have the perfect song for you."
It was a new type of music to the club members, and only Haruhi knew the genre of music by name—alternative rock.
Halfway throughout the song during an instrumental part, Shion noticed the host club off into the distance of the crowd. Hani was a dead giveaway since he was on Mori's shoulders. He paid it no mind until he finished the song. People clapped, with a few even whistling, and they approached him to give him change once again.
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
"Is this what you would call a street performer?"
"Yes, Tamaki. I believe so." Kyoya fixed his glasses. Though he couldn't help but think that the man seemed familiar. The others looked like they thought the same.
"Where have we seen him before?"
"I think he is a relative of Shion's," Haruhi spoke up, "He came by my place looking for him earlier today."
"Ah, that explains the resemblance between the two."
They stood there for the next few songs before Shion announced that he was going to take a break and resume performing soon. The crowd dispersed while the host club remained, curious about this street performer.
Shion got his case and gathered the money into his bag. While he was doing that he pretended not to see the host club out of the corner of his eye. He thought of an idea, it would help keep them from connecting that he was Shion. He reached into his bag and took out a lighter and a metal case for cigarettes. Taking one out, he put it to his mouth and moved to lit it, but snuffed it out when he looked up to see the group.
"Is there anything you need?" He blinked and put his cigarette back in its case, not wanting to influence any children to smoke. After all, he was currently around twenty or so years old in this role he created.
"We were just observing your performance, and I have to say that you're quite talented," Kyoya commented.
"Glad to hear that you liked it," he smiled and blinked as he saw Haruhi, "Ara, why if it isn't Koneko-chan. I thank you for the direction earlier." He looked each of the club members in the eye before smirking, "So... which one of these fine young men is your lover?"
Tamaki's face immediately turned to a bright shade of red and Haruhi looked taken aback at the comment. One of the twins seemed to stiffen at the question—he still couldn't really tell the two apart. Shion had a hunch that Tamaki liked Haruhi, but his reaction just cemented it. He wanted to tease him so badly.
"Oh, relax," Shion drawled, "I'm only teasing, Koneko-chan." He put his hand on her head to pet her and looked to the boys briefly with a smirk, "Though, if you aren't taken..." his hand moved against her face to cup her chin and looked her in the eye, "I'd gladly take you out sometime." His suave smirk widened as he saw Haruhi's cheeks tinge to a pinkish colour. Aha, there it is. She can be quite cute sometimes. He laughed heartily at the reaction.
Tamaki broke out of his astonishment and raced to Haruhi and pull her away from Shion. "Only her daddy can do that to her!"
"Daddy?" Shion raised his eyebrow, "You're making it sound like some kind of taboo relationship." Tamaki blushed at the implications. He really shouldn't be saying that without thinking.
"Are you a relative of Hakuba Shion?" Kyoya asked, changing the topic for the benefit of his friend.
"His cousin, yes."
"May I ask for your name?"
Crap. He hadn't thought of a name to go by. Shion bought some time to think and skirted around the issue, "Well... It's quite rude to not introduce yourself first, is it not?"
"Apologies, I am Ootori Kyoya. It is a pleasure." The others followed suit and introduced themselves. It was reminiscent of their introduction when he first met them, but on a less... grand scale.
Probably because we're in public.
With enough time to bullshit a response, he said the first name that came to mind. It wasn't influenced by the season, not at all. "My name's Akito."