~ Day 20- Pretty Black Hair ~

Lately, it had become more apparent- the split ends and signs of frizz. The somewhat oily and greasy part right at the roots every second day.

Takane had really pretty hair. Really, really pretty hair. That's why Haruka was somewhat upset when she had stared neglecting it as of late.

She's always had had it up in her pigtails, but at least she had been trimming the ends occasionally and washed it every day. For the past two months or so, though, she had apparently washed it less frequently and hadn't cut it either. Her fringe was growing into her eyes already.

Haruka liked her hair, still. It was long and elegant, several shades darker than his own. Black hair such as Takane's was entirely normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. And yet, he liked it a lot- found it attractive.

Other girls had dark hair, too. Ayano had dark brown hair. It suited her well and maybe it was cute, but it wasn't the same as with Takane. Takane's tresses seemed to be the loveliest of all. The bounce of her pig tails as she walked briskly past everyone. Her crooked hair-line. The perfect length and thickness.

That was, when she had been taking care of it. But right now, she wasn't, and that made the boy feel a bit on edge.

One day, it was unkempt and messily tied. That day, Haruka found it adorable. The little stray strands sticking out in strange angles as she didn't seem to notice had been fun to count, poke or just look at. But then, it had stayed that way.

Sometime, it just stopped being cute and the neglected state of Takane's hair made Haruka worry. She wasn't even able to comb her hair anymore? Was she having trouble at home? Was she stressed? It wasn't usually like him to worry, but Haruka was bothered by these thoughts whenever he looked at the girl's hair.

And then, after a long time, he just snapped. Well, snapped as much as Kokonose Haruka knew about 'snapping'. Which, in this case, translated to: "Takane, you look awful lately. Are you doing okay?"

Takane looked up at him and rose an eyebrow. "Huh?", she hummed intelligently and crossed her arms. "Of course I'm fine! And don't you tell me I'm looking awful!"

Haruka scratched his neck. "Ah, that's not what I meant...", he muttered and averted his eyes shyly. "But, you see, Takane, your hair is usually very pretty! And yet, lately, it looks bad! It's not as shiny as it used to be and- well..." He went bright red and Takane mirrored that.

Then, she cleared her throat. "I'm really okay. I just...", at that she looked at her feet. "I just broke my alarm when I was angry the other day and since then, I've been oversleeping since my granny wakes me up later than usual."

Haruka sighed at that, somewhat relieved, and smiled. However, then, he furrowed his brows and pouted. "But why didn't you use your phone then? It has an alarm and all", he said.

"It does?", Takane asked and got her phone from her pocket, staring at it. "It doesn't! There's no 'Alarm' app in here", she insisted and shoved her phone into the boy's hands. Haruka swept his finger across the screen a few times before some Visual Kei song came on after a minute.

"There", he said and gave it back to the girl. "It's under your time settings."

Takane blushed at that in embarrassment but nodded and put her phone away.

The next day, her hair was, despite the split ends and outgrown fringe, back to its usual, pretty state.

Haruka rejoiced.