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It’s a quiet evening in tonight. Mafuyu’s been using the time to catch up on his work for the week. He’s alone at the moment, having already finished his night routine.
The creak of the bathroom door makes him look up from his desk. Seems like Kanade’s done with her bath, but when she comes out, her hair looks stringier than usual. It’s still far too wet.
“Kanade, your hair’s wet,” he says, glancing at her.
She settles into her chair. “It’s fine… I’m so tired. It isn’t that bad.”
“You’re going to get water everywhere.”
“Just where I’m sitting… And my bed, I guess, but it can dry…”
She knows she’s losing. Even though this is what it takes for her to get the most basic self-care done, Mafuyu can’t very well let it go.
Sighing, he puts his pencil down, getting up from his chair. “Here. Come sit on the bed for a second.”
“What?” she asks, but he’s already rummaging in the closet for a few towels. He sets them down on the bed next to him.
“Come over here. I’ll do it for you.”
She stammers. “Huh? I’m not— it’s fine, you don’t need… to…”
Mafuyu’s stare grows more piercing with every word that leaves her mouth, and she wilts, trudging over to sit at his feet. “Thanks…”
“Not a problem,” he replies, gathering the pile of hair into his lap. It’s pretty tangled, too… She really neglects taking care of it, given the sheer amount she has. Well, it’s his job now. He sticks an arm into her nightstand for her hairbrush, and begins running it softly through the ends.
Kanade is alarmed, squirming immediately. “Wait… you don’t have to do that much… It’s really tangled, so it’s gonna take a…”
Now, Mafuyu usually doesn’t have much patience for her when she’s being difficult. But he also remembers that when he was little, the nightly hair-brushing ritual would repeatedly bring him to tears from the pulling. So it feels like a small matter to make things comfortable for her.
Always hold the hair at the base when you’re brushing through the ends; it helps prevent any force from tugging the scalp. Go slowly, making short, small strokes, gradually moving inwards from the ends. Carefully work through each snag.
Okay, this is definitely way gentler than Mafuyu brushes his own hair. Sometimes, if he wasn’t feeling well, his mom would brush it gently like this. It felt wonderful. Guess there’s just a part of him that wants Kanade to feel nice, too.
Now she’s quieted down. Nudging her with his knee, he says, “Is this so terrible?”
She hunches, embarrassed. “…No…”
“That’s what I thought.”
For a while, he works in silence. Her hair is straight, so he assumed it would be a lot easier to take care of than his. Well, it would be, but she neglects it so much that it gets far more tangled than his hair ever does.
He catches himself humming. Maybe he’s been thinking too much.
“Why’d you stop?” Kanade asks.
His hands pause. “Hm?”
“I meant your humming. I’ve told you, I think it’s really nice…” She coughs. “You can keep doing it. If you want.”
“Oh.”
For some reason, he finds himself reluctant to start again. It feels strange.
Her hair is getting fairly neat, and he’s gotten far enough that he reaches over her shoulder for a big chunk of hair in front. Pulling it back, his fingers brush against her ear. She jumps.
“Sorry.”
“No,” she says. Fidgeting. “I got startled. It’s not bad or anything.”
This section is a lot easier than the rest. Maybe it’s because she has it hang in front, so it doesn’t get mussed from friction against her pillows or anything.
Other side. Pulling the hair back, his hand brushes her skin again. Not like there’s anything significant about that.
“Your hair is nice and smooth,” he tells her. “You should take better care of it.”
“But it’s been fine until now, right?”
Mafuyu squeezes her hair with a towel. “It’s not going to stay pretty if you keep letting it get fragile enough to break.”
“Oh.”
Going over each section, he wrings the water out. It’s not like his nagging could actually cause her to treat her hair well; or treat herself well, for that matter; but it’s wrong not to at least try .
“You think my hair’s pretty?” she asks.
He dwells on it. “…I guess so. Everyone says it is, at least. I’ve always liked it.”
It’s frustrating that she has to be facing away. Mafuyu isn’t sure if he said something strange. With no way to read her reaction, he has no idea.
Running his fingers through her hair, it’s finally nice and tangle-free. “It’s done, by the way.”
“Oh, wow. Thank you…” She reaches back to touch. “It’s nice. Sorry. I don’t know why I don’t do this myself more often.”
“It takes a little time to do it right.” He finds himself sympathizing, somehow? “So you might not always have the energy.”
“…Yeah. Yeah, that’s exactly it.” Kanade stares in surprise. Huh. Normally he doesn’t really understand how she operates. So he supposes that’s to be expected.
He doesn’t really know what to say, and so she hops up on the bed with him. “Thank you.”
“It’s not a problem.”
She shakes her head. “No, it really helped me. I should be able to do it on my own, but I don’t know. I just don’t. So it’s… it’s good, is what I’m trying to say. It means a lot.”
Mafuyu finds himself fidgeting. That made him feel… feel happy. More than he expected.
Words come out of his mouth. “I can do it again, if you want.”
“You don’t have to.” She smiles to herself. “But thank you. You’re too good to me.”
Those words are all wrong. He doesn’t know how to say it, but they aren’t… they aren’t good.
Standing up, suddenly, he shakes his head. “It’s not that. I like it. Doing things for you.”
She looks lost. “…Seriously?”
The rush wears off, and he feels silly. He sits back down. “Yeah.”
The truth is, he can’t stand to hear her talk about things she doesn’t deserve. She doesn’t like to let herself be happy.
She leans contentedly against his shoulder. “If you want to, then I’d like that.”
Mafuyu thinks to himself that he’s won.