“I-is it here…?”

Touka stood alone in front of the hair salon Tomoka, Kazuto’s older sister, had picked out for her.

But since she had never once set foot in a hair salon in her life, she could only pace back and forth in front of the entrance, unable to bring herself to step inside.

“Oh! You must be Touka-chan, right? I’ve heard all about you from Tomoka-chan!”

“H-hya!?”

It seemed her behavior had been completely obvious, as a short-haired blond stylist suddenly called out to her.

Before she knew it, Touka was swept along and guided into the salon.

“So, Tomoka said on the phone to just leave it to us. Are you really okay with that?”

“I-if possible… I’d like it to not change too much…”

“Got it! So you want a noticeable change!”

“Whyyyy!?”

Apparently, that reaction was exactly what Tomoka had predicted.

Since she’d come in for an image change, no change at all was off the table—that was the logic.

That said, the stylist had also been instructed to make use of Touka’s hair texture and length.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I won’t do anything weird.”

“Aaaah… I might actually die…”

“Fufu, you’re funny, aren’t you?”

(She’s way too extroverted—I’m gonna dieee!!)

Touka sat down, her underarms damp with sweat from the tension.

However, as she felt the pleasant sensation of the shampoo and the steady, rhythmic movements of the stylist’s hands as the cut progressed, a sense of comfort gradually set in, and a few minutes later, she had completely fallen asleep.

“Touka-chan, it’s done~”

“Fugyu!?”

Touka jolted awake as her shoulder was lightly tapped.

Only then did she realize she’d drifted off.

“Look, you’ve gotten super cute. Even I’m surprised~”

“Feh…?”

Adjusting her glasses, she cautiously looked into the mirror.

Reflected there was a version of herself so refined she could hardly believe it was her.

The makeup alone had already made her look like a different person, but the power of the hairstyle surpassed even that.

“E-eh…?”

“Those glasses have really thick lenses, you know~ You should definitely go to school wearing contacts instead~”

Putting her glasses on and taking them off again, Touka stared intently at her reflection.

A long wolf cut with soft, airy curls.

Her bangs were lightly thinned, just brushing her eyebrows.

The large eyes that had been hidden in shadow until now were finally released into the world.

There she was—a new version of herself that looked almost like a model.

“You had great features to work with, you know? Honestly, even I didn’t expect you to change this much! I’m impressed!”

“A-ah, ah… thank you so much!!”

“It’s easy to use a curling iron. Tomoka-chan can show you how later.”

“Y-yes!”

And so, still basking in her beautiful transformation, Touka set off for Kazuto’s house.

◇◇◇

It was already nearly seven o’clock.

It had gotten a little late, but the three of us were still waiting together for Kokonoe to return.

―Ding-dong.

The intercom rang, and I headed for the front door.

“Coming.”

The moment I unlocked it and invited her inside…

I gasped involuntarily.

“…No way.”

“That’s… Kokonoe-san, right?”

“Heheh. I did introduce her to that stylist, after all. This much was only natural… but even so, it’s impressive.”

The transformation exceeded even my sister’s expectations.

The Kokonoe standing before us was so different that it was hard to even remember what she’d looked like before she left.

“Ah… um… w-what do you think…?”

“Kokonoe, you look incredibly cute.”

“Yeah, even I was surprised…!”

“With this, you’re guaranteed to be popular. That’s great, isn’t it?”

“I-I’m not trying to be popular… b-but… I did hope I could become cuter…”

Seeing just how much she’d changed, I was once again struck by the sheer strength of her natural potential.

The skills of the stylist and my sister had drawn out Kokonoe’s best qualities to their absolute limit.

“At least school should be interesting tomorrow.”

“S-school…!”

“Oh, and one more thing. The stylist told you, right? That I’d show you how to use the iron.”

“Y-yes!!”

After that, Kokonoe carefully learned how to use the tools and how to style her hair from my sister, and before we knew it, the evening slipped into dusk.

◇◇◇

“Sorry. It’s already late today, so we’ll continue talking about men tomorrow.”

“…N-no, that’s fine. I don’t mind, but… um…”

“Hm? What is it?”

Standing by the front door, Kokonoe fidgeted, clearly struggling to get her words out.

“There’s a place I want to show you in the library…”

“The library?”

“I have library committee duty tomorrow… and I close the library at six. Could you come at that time…?””

“Sure. Got it.”

I didn’t know what she had in mind, but for now, I decided to go along with what she was asking.

—I wonder what kind of faces everyone would make when they saw Kokonoe at school tomorrow…

That thought alone made me feel a little excited.