Capítulo 116: Veiling Concerns (Asahi: Part 6)
The morning sunlight streamed through the clear windows toward a comfortable, crimson bed that had the healthy body of a white-haired boy, resting peacefully among the soft mattress.
After the incident that happened last night, Asahi's body was fully healed by one of the maids, of whom used her own magic to do so.
Toivo was preparing his "reward" for Asahi while Kendra and the other maids were rushing around and doing their morning chores from the house.
He slowly walked up the stairs and held a small black box that contained something special in it. Toivo entered through one of the glass doors, pulled out a wooden chair, and placed the box on the table.
He gasped with surprise as he noticed Chloe sitting next to the bed with a different chair.
"How come you are here? Aren't you supposed to be busy with lessons?"
An uneasy silence answered him. It was obvious that Chloe couldn't understand him--
"I just want to take a break." The girl surprisingly answered with the language.
Toivio's eyes flared with surprise.
"Wow, so it appears you have learned quite a lot from your tutor, huh?"
Chloe nodded silently. A radiant smile beamed from his face, confident about the tutor's success. He resumed as he tried to say the easiest words he could think of for the martini-haired girl to understand.
"That's nice to hear. Now, if you could be so kind…" The blue-haired old man pushed the chair on the other side of the bed, pressed his cheeks on the wooden seat, then placed the small box near Asahi's hand. "I must commend that boy for being so determined and strong for defeating those zombies."
Chloe's brown eyes rounded.
"Z… Zombies?!"
Toivo released a sigh of annoyance and nodded his head.
"Yes. Don't worry, it was only a test. I…It's illusion magic." His eyes made a grin-shape. "Haha, if those were real zombies, then I would have slaughtered each and every one of them. Fortunately enough, those are just dummies and weaker-versions of their old selves."
Chloe gave a suspicious sneer at the man as she imagined what it was like for this place to be infested with zombies, let alone… the reasoning for why Toivo would choose such a place to put up a costly establishment such as the mansion.
After the man sat himself down and fixed his collar, Chloe bent over and asked with a genuine tone.
"What do you mean versions of their older selves?"
The man chuckled. "What I mean is that many years ago, this place was a huge graveyard for the wicked. A few corrupted mages were supposed to resurrect the fallen castle buried underneath, but accidentally triggered an event where instead of them being resurrected, the mages themselves were transformed into zombies."
A chilly expression formed in the girl's cold face when he saw the frightful stare that came from Toivo's eyes.
"Don't worry about it. It is rumored that one of the mages formed a barrier to stop the zombies and created a routine at which only when it strikes night, the zombies would emerge."
As he grew immersed and invested into his own thoughts, a loud shuffle sounded out from the soft bed sheets.
Chloe quickly sprung up and raced to Asahi, worried about him despite having met only a day ago. Goes to show how much people could change when one would help.
"Asahi? Are you okay?! What happened?!"
He scratched his head and flinched. It seemed to him that moment with the zombies had triggered his fight-or-flight senses, but luckily enough he was welcomed back into the comfort of a soft, warm room.
Toivo slowly nodded his head and grabbed the tiny box. He said as the man placed it gently atop Asahi's open palms.
"This is for you."
Asahi raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What do you mean? What is this?!"
"Just open it."
Before he could even reach over to Chloe, Asahi forced his solid but fragile fingers over the tip of the box and slowly lifted it open, revealing what looked like a thin black tie laced and looped atop an fancy red cushion.
He could already assume that the man who owned this mansion was extremely wealthy, and at the same-token, as his fingers fondled on the sleek black string tightly, Toivo made an attentive cough and spoke.
"This is your reward for successfully completing the challenge given to you. Although I admire your charismatic and pleasurable actions, there was one thing in you that made me concerned and distracted." He pointed to Asahi's long, messy, and silky white hair.
"Your hair. It's as long as a horse's tail as far as I'm concerned. Almost like a mop! Heh, I can already see that you have trouble, knowing that one of your eyes is covered so…"
Toivo reached over, grabbed the black hair tie, and called in one of his maids inside the comfy room.
Surprisingly, it was the same powder-blue-haired girl Asahi met outside of the mansion. But instead of the disappointed frown in her face that he saw before, Kendra's face was plastered with a brilliant, exuberant, and shocked smile.
"Yes, what is it that you need, Mr. Toivo?"
The man pointed to Asahi.
"Do you know any sort of aesthetics and methods of fashion?"
Her glacial blue eyes sparkled in excitement.
"O-Of course I do! What do you want me to do?! I… I'm willing to do ANYTHING!" She asked as she looked over to Asahi's red face. "Do you want me to tidy up that young man?"
Toivo released a sigh of embarrassment and pried open Kendra's hands. He lent her the black hair tie and ordered as he pushed the maid a little closer then Asahi had anticipated.
"Yes, yes… I guess you can fulfill your desire if you so please. Just do your job and fix up his hair, will you? Do anything, I don't care. As long as it doesn't get in the way, I'm fine with it."
Kendra's face flushed in red as she saw Asahi's gray eyes anchored right on her face.
"Yes sir!"
A tsunami of thoughts and possibilities of hairstyles erupted in her mind as she sat on her knees behind the young man, fiddling and messing with his soft and fluffy white hair. An pleasing aroma rose up from Asahi's hair.
One that smelled like the pleasing and sweet scent of vanilla.
Her eyes watered with anxiety as she slowly wrapped up his long, thick hair and whispered to the young man.
"So, do you care… f-for what hairstyle do you prefer?"
Asahi gave a careless shrug and replied.
"Not really. Just give me anything."
The carelessness Kendra felt from him boosted her excitement even more. She never even questioned how that sweet, tingling, vanilla scent had come from the young man, and was only focused on tying up his hair.
After seconds of silence, a crimson-haired maid walked into the room and focused her lavender eyes straight at Chloe's presence. She alerted as her footsteps resounded over the wooden floor.
"Hey, are you ready for your next lesson?"
Chloe, who was still overly focused on Asahi and the others, gave a thumbs up and walked away from the room while she waved goodbye.
"Okay, see you later! Please don't let Asahi get in any more trouble."
Both Kendra and Tovio replied with an unsure smile.
"We will!"
* * * * * * *
As a group of droplets slid down on the clear window, Toivo explained as he noticed Kendra had applied her "final touches" on Asahi's new hairstyle, while also nearing closer to him without thinking.
"Do you know the reason why I'm doing this, Asahi?"
The young man raised an eyebrow.
"No, not at all."
"Well, that's because your appearance possesses an extraordinary beauty. One so, as it could obstruct your focus if you are not paying attention. I don't want your beauty to veil and cover your fleeting emotions of combat."
Toivo chuckled and fixed his hat, noticing the gray clouds emerging from the window.
"I've had previous troubles with some of my visitors who had hair length such as yours. It was so tedious, that when I was to start their next lesson, it was so horrendous that they almost killed me because they couldn't see what they were doing. That is why I either give them a haircut or…"
He directed his gaze to the blue-haired girl tying Asahi's hair.
"I will do something special, like tying your hair."
Asahi nodded his head as he heard a downpour tremble the window behind him.
"Ah, I see."
Before he even knew it, Kendra decided to make Asahi's hair come up as a messy, but highly adjacent ponytail.
Although his messy shoulder-length hair was tied up mostly, there were still a few loose hair strands framing his face beautifully like the curtains in front of the window to the left of him.
Kendra daydreamed as she fell in love with the hairstyle she came up with Asahi and quickly turned away from him, trying to hide her blush.
"Wow… so handsome."
Toivo spat out water from his mouth in surprise and quickly pushed his chair out. Even he couldn't absorb the absolute radiant beauty that shone within his hair.
"By the heavens almighty, although I am a man, I do have to point you that your hairstyle not only helped your vision, but made you look even more attractive than before! I respect that."
He nudged Asahi's shoulder with an urging grin as Kendra tried desperately not to faint.
"You're into women right? Young women, girls…?"
Asahi scratched the back of his neck and his face warmed up with embarrassment and anxiousness. He never knew that a question like that could be given so suddenly.
"U-Um… y-yeah."
A smug smile came from the old, but wise man's face.
"Heh… heh… yeah you do. As expected from you. So… What's your type?"
Rain continued to rain down.
Asahi never had felt so uncomfortable before, feeling pushed and forced into such a situation like this.
He noticed the maids outside the room catch sight of him standing next to Telos. All four of them shivered in amusement.
"Ooo…"
It was disappointing for Tovio to realize that all his maids peeked at the young white-haired man behind a wall and disregarded their duties, just to view him like people who mindlessly stare at an stagnant art piece for hours on end.
Their eyes found both his sharp and long eyelashes which glittered from the ceiling light. They trembled, seeing his exposed tattoos on both his legs, torso, and face illuminated with a hopeful, yet anxious look.
Asahi looked so cold from the maids' point of view, yet his face seemed so bright as an angel at the same time. Despite the irritation that bloomed in Tovio, he pushed it aside and waited patiently for the young man's answer.
Not long after, as the maids continued staring, Asahi replied confidently to Tovio
"If you REALLY want to know, my preference for love is a hopeful, positive, and energetic one with a big heart."
He scratched his head and looked over to the ceiling, imagining the silhouette of his ideal type of figure.
"I want one who has a beautiful voluptuous body that doesn't overtake her personality. One who doesn't care for her appearance, but for her personality."
Toivo gave a respectable look from his eyes and caged his fingers, interested to know more.
"Hmm, interesting. So you are interested in the ones with a lot of energy huh? Trust me, there's a lot of those types out there."
Asahi's face warmed up heavily.
"What?! I mean… yeah… but-- I don't want the woman to have JUST that. I want her to have a good personality too. One that can match and link perfectly to mine. One that is selfless and caring."
The man nodded his head and patted the boy's back, whispering as Kendra blushed immensely.
"I see, I see. So you're into the more well-developed and complex types. Well, dude. I respect that vision. Honestly, I'm the man who just goes for the figure, nothing else. But you, you're a special type of man. I hope you DO find your ideal type in the future."
Asahi gulped and looked over to the door.
"Thanks."
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder