I Teach Kendo in Tokyo Chapter 16: Never looked back, just forgotten

While the Kiryu brothers and sisters followed Danzi to the second-hand bookstore, Shigeru Ikeda walked into his frequented hair salon.

"Manager, I want to cut my hair flat and dye my hair back to black."

The manager, who was sorting out the barber equipment, glanced at Shigeru Ikeda and pouted: "Well, it's that time of year again."

"Huh?" Shigeru Ikeda looked at the store manager suspiciously, "When will it be?"

"Every time the new school year starts a month or so, guys like you, Ah Mao, will come one after another. They want to dye their hair back to black and flatten their heads." Disassemble the cleaned clipper and put it back together.

Shigeru Ikeda was surprised: "Every year... are there many such people?"

"Yes." The store manager nodded, glanced at Shigeru Ikeda, and fiddled with the strands of hair that fell down to cover his eyes, so that the scar beside his eyes was exposed.

The store manager told Ikeda and these little Maotou that the scar was poked off by juggling with scissors when he was idle, but no one believed it.

Shigeru Ikeda asked suspiciously: "Why is this?"

"What why?"

"It's... this time of year..."

"Ah, this." The store manager came to the seat where Ikeda was sitting, put the cloth in his hand on Ikeda, and sorted it out, "The school is about to start, the class may be changed, and there will be a new head teacher, There will be all kinds of new opportunities, and then someone will slap their heads and ask the prodigal son to turn back and reform his heart. This kind of thing is very common."

"Is it... common?"

Ikeda's expression darkened.

The store manager glanced at his expression in the mirror and snorted: "Don't say that you are different from them. To tell you the truth, every time I complain like this, the young people who are complained will emphasize that they are different. .

"As a result, many people came to me to dye their hair back after a few months."

"Is that so..." Shigeru Ikeda looked like he wanted to refute, but in the end he couldn't say anything.

The store manager continued: "By the way, summer vacation is the peak period for hair dyeing. There will be many new faces coming to dye their hair. I look forward to making a new face in autumn and debuting in high school."

"Really?"

"Really, if you come to work here, you'll see it. During the summer vacation, sometimes you can come here for two days to dye yellow hair. By the way, many people's reasons are to be dumped.

"Because if you get dumped, you have to change yourself. If you dye yellow hair, you can be a new person. The changes of today's young people are really cheap."

After finishing speaking, the store manager maintained the posture of holding the electric clipper, and asked solemnly: "So, Ah Mao, are you still cutting?"

Shigeru Ikeda said without hesitation: "Cut. Whether my thoughts are superficial or not, I honestly don't know. How long this impulse can last, how can I know such a thing.

"But if...if I don't start, I'll never know how far I can get."

The store manager sneered: "Hmph, it's a good thing to say pretty words. But every word is bullshit. How about returning the money you extorted to the sufferer instead of cutting your hair here? Don't do it for a long time, later I'm still getting dirty notes from extortion."

"I paid it back." Shigeru Ikeda said angrily, "This is the first thing I did."

The store manager stopped what he was doing, looked at Shigeru Ikeda suspiciously, and asked, "Then what will you pay me today?"

"I also have pocket money."

"Really? Just like your family's situation?"

"Oh, hurry up and flatten my head, you won't lose any money! Now I'm wearing this golden airplane nose, and I won't be hired for part-time jobs."

"Of course, recruiting a bad boy into the store is not the same as putting a potential robber and thief in the store?"

The store manager said in a mocking tone.

"However, you can still go to places like nightclubs, right? There are also those operated by the poles..."

"I want to do a serious job." Shigeru Ikeda interrupted the store manager, "I want to live a decent life with the money I earn."

The store manager raised his eyebrows and sighed, "Is that girl so beautiful, she has taken your soul away."

"It's not a girl! What's the matter with a girl? I just saw a real hero, so I want to follow in the footsteps of heroes."

The store manager frowned after hearing Shigeru Ikeda's words and thought for a few seconds before hesitatingly said:

"...You want to play Kamen Rider?"

"I don't!"

"Fuck you, don't look back suddenly!"

"Ow, Lao Tzu's hair!"

A few seconds later, Shigeru Ikeda looked at himself in the mirror with a "band" on his head out of thin air, and he wanted to die.

The store manager was obviously holding back his laughter, and it took a lot of effort to open his mouth and suggest: "How about... I'll get you a samurai head?"

"Do you want me to be the laughing stock of the school tomorrow?"

"What's the matter, you just want to start over, isn't it right to get a samurai head to show your determination?"

Shigeru Ikeda pursed his lips and stared angrily at the store manager through the mirror, but in the end he didn't panic like he used to, he said, "Forget it, shave my head, just to save money on dyeing. ."

"Are you sure?"

"Bald heads are better than samurai heads! In addition, many clubs in the sports department will shave their heads, so it won't be too abrupt...probably."

The last sentence Shigeru Ikeda said was unfounded.

The store manager put away his smile and reconfirmed with a serious face: "Then it's bald, are you sure? Are you really sure?"

Shigeru Ikeda nodded.

So his golden hair was removed bit by bit, leaving a bare skull.

After finishing the work, the store manager commented: "Yes, after shaving, the brightness of my entire store has more than doubled."

Shigeru Ikeda looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath.

Then he raised his hand and touched the smooth marinated egg.

Feels okay.

He stood up and took out the last of his money—of course he didn't lack for a haircut, but now it's different.

If you can't find a part-time job, the day will come when you can only eat the cheapest bread for lunch at school~IndoMTL.com~ The store manager returned the money to Shigeru Ikeda.

"I'll just pay for the electricity bill. This time it's free for you. Of course, if you come back in a few days to dye your hair back, I'll charge you double the money."

The store manager paused and continued before Ikeda Shigeru thanked him: "It's very difficult for a prodigal son to come back. Your past, the karma you've done, won't let you go just because you changed your mind. /

"They will follow you around.

"What's more terrifying is the prejudice of the world. Soon you will find that no matter how much you have changed, in the eyes of others, you are still the bad boy Ikeda Shigeru with blond hair.

"This is much more difficult than being a demon king.

"You were a bad boy at school, then you became a mob, and finally joined the jidao as the bottom fighter, although you are a heinous bastard, although you may die at any time, and everyone will applaud after you die. , but you'll be happy until you die."

Shigeru Ikeda listened to the store manager's words and looked at the bald head in the mirror.

He was silent for a while, then suddenly asked: "How did you turn around, the store manager? How did you do it?"

"Me?" The store manager showed a wild smile, "I've never looked back, I'm just old and forgotten, I can only guard this small store and quietly wither."

Shigeru Ikeda turned his head to look at the store manager with a very complicated expression.

In the end, he bowed to the store manager, turned around, and strode away.

The store manager took out a cigarette, lit it for himself, came to the door of the hair salon, looked at the lonely night scene in the remote alley where the hair salon was located, and smoked quietly.

The Edo River flows quietly not far away, and on the other side of the river is the feasting and feasting of Tokyo.