The Village That Smells Like Hair Grease

Nakaibito was the kind of village that made you stop walking just to stare.

Paper lanterns swayed above cobblestone streets. Cherry blossom petals drifted past wooden shop signs. And tucked between a rice cake stall and a sandal repair stand sat the neatest little salon anyone had ever seen — pink curtains, a spinning barber pole, and three names painted in cheerful letters on the window: **Maki. Yuki. Yuko.**

Inside, Maki swept the floor with a hum. Yuki polished her scissors until they winked in the light. Yuko arranged her combs in a row — small, medium, large — perfectly straight.

Outside, five boys slouched past, hoods pulled tight, hair flopping over their eyes like tired seaweed. Ren bumped into a vegetable cart. Riku walked into a lamppost.

Maki pressed her nose to the window.

"Are those boys," she whispered, "or sheepdogs?"

Yuki squinted. "Both, maybe."

Down the road, something glinted — green and black, tall and sharp.

The Boy Who Glinted

That glint down the road moved closer.

A tall boy strutted around the corner like he owned every cobblestone. He wore a green and black shirt with a skull on it, blue jean shorts, and heavy black boots that clomped loud enough to rattle the lanterns above. On top of his spiky black hair — streaked green — sat a crown. Green and black, slightly crooked, very smug.

Over his shoulder rested a pair of scissors so giant they could trim a hedge. Or a whole person.

"That's Ryusei," Yuki said flatly.

Behind him walked two other boys — Daiki, stocky and grinning, and Sato, thin with sharp eyes. They were watching the five shaggy boys shuffle up the street.

Ryusei spotted the hair. Long. Greasy. Flopping everywhere.

A grin spread across his face.

"Well," he called out loud enough for the whole street to hear, "look at all these pretty girls walking around."

Ren stopped. Riku stopped. All five of them froze.

An elderly woman selling rice crackers from a nearby cart squinted up at the boys and then said, without missing a beat — "I thought they were girls too."