“Hakura, comb my hair!” Leen said.
“Huh?!”
In the end, we stayed for Sharney’s wedding and enjoyed the festivities that followed. We had just gotten back to the inn and were heading to our rooms when Leen sprang this sudden request on me. With the comb I’d given to her in hand, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into her room without letting me reply.
Even though the layout of her room wasn’t much different from mine, I’d found myself unwilling to come in here. Before I could swallow my awkwardness, Leen lined two chairs in a row and urged me to sit down in the one behind.
“Okay, take it away. Please be gentle as you go,” Leen said as she handed the comb to me.
“Are you being serious right now?”
“What do you mean?” Leen asked with round, confused eyes. Seriously?
“If it had a handle, it would be different, but a crescent shaped comb like this makes it difficult to comb every spot,” Leen said.
Well, she had a lot of hair, and it was long, so she had a point, but...
“And you gave it to me so that you could comb my hair, no?” she went on.
Of course I didn’t! I almost quipped, but kept to myself. Leen had finally cheered up, so I didn’t want to ruin her good mood so quickly. I decided to be a pragmatic adventurer and chose to commit to her request.
I sat on the chair behind Leen and lifted a lock of hair with trembling hands. I’d thought that her hair was like golden thread when I first saw her—it truly did feel like I was touching spun sugar. If I put in even slightly too much strength, I could easily rip her hair out again—such was the evanescent beauty that it evoked. With care, I placed the comb near her scalp and slowly drew it through her hair.
I was following the hair down, so naturally it wouldn’t be a difficult task, but it was frightening to see just how little resistance there was.
“Hey, you’re not bad, Hakura,” Leen said.
“I’m literally so terrified right now.”
Despite how nervous I was, Leen was utterly relaxed and seemed like she was having fun. As she hummed a little tune, I wondered how she could remain so calm. Wasn’t she scared to let me comb her hair after what I’d done to it only a few days earlier?
Each time the comb reached the bottom of her hair, a sweet scent tickled my nostrils. With each brush, I felt her hair grow smoother and less tangled. To my own surprise, I found the task growing easier as I went, and I completed it with relative ease.
“Hakura?” Leen said in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry for being mean. I know you didn’t do it on purpose and I know you were trying to apologize.”
I couldn’t see her face, but I could tell she had a terribly apologetic expression.
“No... I’m the one at fault this time.”
“Well, yes, but I really was so mad that I didn’t ever want to forgive you.”
“Uh-huh...”
“But that’s why I was so happy to see that you got me a comb. I realized that it really had been weighing on your mind.”
“I did get a lot of hints along the way.”
I wouldn’t have reached this answer without help. In that sense, I felt like I’d cheated somehow. This guilt was probably the biggest reason I hadn’t been able to give Leen the present sooner.
Leen swung her legs and spoke as if she could read my mind.
“Don’t you see? I’m happy that you put your head to the task all for me.”
“Is that right?”
“It is. You truly don’t understand a young maiden’s heart.”
I didn’t, and I doubted I ever would. That was a difficult task at the best of times and doubly so when dealing with Leen.
“By the way... You’ll help me comb my hair from here on out, won’t you, Hakura?”
“Excuse me?” I said after falling momentarily speechless.
I’d heard yet again something utterly incomprehensible. Why? How?
“I told you that I can’t comb all of my hair with this comb, didn’t I?”
I couldn’t reply.
It was true that I did really want to apologize, but I began to wonder if I’d chosen the wrong gift after all. All the same, that didn’t matter at this point. They said that a girl’s hair was as valuable as her life, so doing that was a small favor when I thought about what I’d done.
As I ruminated over this, the little orange gemstone embedded in the comb seemed to glitter in the light of Leen’s room as if communicating to me that I didn’t need to be so scared.