After a while, he removed the helmet from her head and washed her hair thoroughly. He even dried it rapidly with another device he had commissioned. Still, he didn't show her the result yet or give her a mirror.
Patting her hair bun and covering it with a white towel, he said pleasantly, "All done! All that's left is to style it. We can now move to the styling room now. You can see the result there."
She was also curious about how it looked, so she nodded.
"I meant to ask, why doesn't this room have any mirrors?" she asked, standing up.
Renji put on a mysterious smile. "You will see in a minute, Nono. Please have some patience."
His other customers and Anko approached the separation wall from the waiting room, looking through the glass panes.
He sat her in the main chair. "Are you ready?... Lo and behold!"
In a single motion, he removed the towel and unwrapped the hair bun. Immediately, silky and shiny light brown hair twisted like a mini geyser, rapidly rotating as it came loose! The hair fell down with gravity, creating the illusion of a sparkling waterfall—tugging at the heartstrings of all the onlookers. People on Earth would definitely recognize it from one of those hair product ads!
Even Nono was stunned, watching the reflection in the mirror. "Is this really my hair?!" She touched her hair, combing through it with her fingers, watching it sparkle under the bright salon lights.
Renji observed everything, looking proud. Yes—this was the reaction he was expecting! Nono's hair had been grown with [Hair Manipulation], which had unique side effects. The new portion would always look aesthetically pleasing to even the toughest critic—it was simply magical.
Nono could feel envious eyes on her. Chuckling, she looked at Renji in the mirror. "Renji, this is beyond what I expected. My hair feels silky, each individual strand looking perfect. As for how it looks... even without styling, it's amazing! Though, it may be a bit too attention-grabbing."
"Don't worry about that, Nono! And we're not done yet! If it were just this, it wouldn't justify the price, after all!"
"There's more?"
"Of course! Before anything else, I'll style it to your liking. After that, I have a few options you can choose whether to use or not."
She looked curious. "What are the options?"
"First, I can apply a product that makes it easy to recreate your hairstyle anytime. Second, another product that stops your hair from growing for about a month. Third, —"
"Hold on—stop it from growing? Why?"
"Because, while I treated your current hair, the new hair you grow later wouldn't have the same quality. You may like it that way, or you may not. In the end, it's your choice. One benefit is that, without any external damage, your hair would look and feel this way for a long time."
Nono understood the concept and nodded. The product he mentioned wasn't new; she knew some people used it to maintain a shiny bald look, but she'd never heard of it used this way.
"Moving on, the final option—this one's long-term. For the next six months, you can come back for a free redo once a month. Otherwise, within two months, your hair will start to lose its luster, slowly returning to its usual state."
Nono was surprised. It was a generous offer. Of course, considering the price, it might not be unexpected—but she hadn't paid a single ryo!
"Uh... Renji, you don't have to do the last one for me. I didn't really pay for it, and as a simple caretaker, it would be too extravagant."
Renji smiled reassuringly. "It's your choice, Nono. I'll respect it either way. But as a professional, I hope you come by monthly—it would make me very happy to see the results of my services."
Renji had been playing with her hair the whole time, turning it into a show for the onlookers. He braided her hair, pulled it loose with a finger, made twin buns, and more. With every move, he showcased the quality of Nono's hair. His secondary objective—to display the value of his new service—was a success. He hoped more powerful kunoichi would be drawn in.
His primary objective had also succeeded. He had obtained Nono's Bonded Hair without raising suspicion. The monthly visit would let him collect energy periodically as it recovered in her new hair. Plus, if the Bonded Hair lost its identity over time, he could obtain more from Nono.
To be honest, he would have liked to make the maintenance offer last longer than six months—maybe even years. But that would be financially unviable, and might raise red flags for anyone investigating. After all, why would a business owner willingly take such a loss without reason?
Nono chose an elegant hair bun style, with long curly bangs hanging on either side of her face. She noticed Renji liked to put her hair in a bun more often than other styles while playing with her hair. Ever since their earlier moment, she had started paying more attention to him.
Looking at him seriously working on her hair, her mind drifted.
'He's quite handsome... I never noticed that before. What am I thinking?! He's almost ten years younger than me! And... I have the orphanage to take care of. Sigh, hopefully he won't notice anything.'
Renji was flustered.
'I can definitely sense what you're thinking, Nono! Damn... I don't know what to do with this. She's beautiful, kind, intelligent... I can see myself pursuing her. But I can't relax yet. There are still so many disasters coming. And, most importantly, my abilities are far too unorthodox. Stealing hair to power my abilities... I don't think she—or any woman—would look at it positively if they knew.'
From the waiting room, Anko looked suspiciously at the two.
'What is this weird atmosphere?'
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A/N: Grammar and spelling mistakes corrected using AI