I Won't Let You Wilt

New city, new haircut, new life

Sunny examined his face in the mirror. His hair had grown long, covering his eyes if he didn't part his bangs or comb them back. He missed wearing hairpins and flowers, but he was starting to get used to seeing himself without an eyepatch. Wearing eyepatches was cool, but since that accessory instantly gave him away to his pursuers, he'd have to make do without one for now.

Basil had started wearing flowers in his hair again as long as they were inside their room. He picked them from a flower field on the edge of town that took quite a few hours to walk to.

I love seeing those flowers in your hair.

It's too bad that my mom certainly would've told the detective to look for a blond boy with a flower in his hair alongside the boy with an eyepatch...

These days, he didn't ask Basil for any flowers to put in his own hair as they were now scarce in supply compared to when they lived with their own garden.

He had to do something about his own hair since it kept getting in his eyes. Maybe he'd tidy his bangs with hairpins again, but the detective had seen him wearing hairpins before.

It wouldn't be a dead giveaway like wearing an eyepatch was; still, he felt averse to taking that risk. Alternatively, he could cut his hair, and having short hair would help make him look less recognizable.

Sunny didn't like cutting his hair too short. He got all his haircuts from his mom back when he lived with her and he hated how she always cut off more than he wanted her to.

I could learn to cut my own hair, but without any practice it'd be difficult to make it look good, and I also don't want to spend any money on a barber.

The remaining option was obvious.

"Basil, do you cut your own hair?" Sunny asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Wanna give my hair a trim? I don't want it to be too short and I don't trust myself with a scissor."

"Oh...I could give it a try."

Sunny smiled. "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

They gathered the supplies into the bathroom and moved a chair in front of the bathroom mirror. Sunny sat down in the chair but discovered that they were lacking a barber's cape or a piece of a cloth that could function as one.

He decided to go ahead with the haircut anyways.

"I'll sweep the bathroom after," Sunny promised.

"I can handle it," Basil said, smiling.

Not giving you the chance to do all the chores around here!

"Let me take care of it," Sunny insisted.

"Okay..."

Basil picked up a pair of scissors and a comb. He sprayed Sunny's hair with water and began combing back his frontal bangs.

Sunny closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Basil's fingers pulling and tugging on his hair. But he grew a little sad thinking about the one time Mari tried to cut his hair. He'd really wanted her to do it and she was excited to try. It didn't turn out very good, and his parents had gotten mad at them both for attempting it. His hair had ended up being cut unevenly, but he didn't care; Mari had tried her best and that was all that mattered to him.

Why did it matter so much to my parents that I had an even haircut?

It's not like we're living in some kind of dictatorship where it's expected of everybody to maintain a uniform appearance...