THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"It's beautiful, right?"

After the children ran to her mother and start crying in her arms, the heroes come to me. I thought they would say some bullshit about how I should have told them or something but thankfully, there is nothing of the sort. Actually, only Farner is in the mood. The others seem a bit out of place like their minds are somewhere else.

I wonder, would Rebecca and William…Would my parents have received me the same way if they recognized me? Would they have embraced me and kissed me like that as well?

"Fufufu…Bullshit, right?" Like they could have!! Bastards who abandoned me, forgot me, and betrayed me would never shed a tear, not even if I died. Besides… "The dragon of Tatradum is already dead."

"You okay?" Farner touches my shoulder with a worried look on her face. I didn't even notice she came in front of me.

"Y-yeah." This uncontrollable heart of mine.. Why do you have to act like this in front of her?!

I take my coat on the ground and go. There is nothing more to see here.

"K'nor, let's go."

"Woof!"

K'nor somehow gently shakes off Excia who was patting him and comes next to me. I can still hear people whispering but I did what I had to. My role is over.

***

I didn't hear Frankher's decision but seeing everyone coming back to the dorm with such large smiles and happy laughs can only mean they obtained the outcome they wanted.

"Did you see his face when the headmaster told him his punishment? He went so green you could have thought he was a watermelon!"

"AHAHAHA!! Oh, please, my stomach!! Stop it!!"

"It was so funny I almost burst laughing in place!"

They all sit on the couches that people brought yesterday. They got replaced pretty quickly. I was really surprised to find them in the living room this morning.

I have brought K'nor back to the pet's house. I have even taken a bath and changed my uniform as well. Which makes me realize it took them quite the time to get it done with. I wanted to use the machine a little bit before they could come back. Too bad.

"It seems it went well."

"It went more than well. It was fantastic!"

Cordel comes to me and raises his hand. What does he want?

"Was it that great?"

You guys rejoice about other's misfortunes and you pretend to be saints? Even if that guy had it coming, I don't see why you would be so joyful about it. In the first place, his plan could have worked.

"Of course!! Punishing evildoers is really gratifying, you know!!"

"Ohh yeah!!"

Everyone shouts after Cordel, showing how much they believe what he said is true. So naïve they are.

"Well, I hope you will punish me one day as well."

I leave them and go upstairs. I always feel out of place here.

***

As the night starts falling, somebody comes and knocks on my door. I had already woken up but still, I don't really want to be disturbed right now. Especially because I heard more than one person coming.

"He went out again?" Of course, it had to be Farner. What does she want this time?

"Well, that's good. We can do this another day then." Lanuvel? What is she doing here?

"No, I want to get this done with as soon as possible." Even Esteressa is here? What are they planning? Maybe I should really-

"Rah!!" Farner obliterates my door out of nowhere and some fragments hit and break my window.

"Get out of here." 

"So, you were here? Why didn't you answer?"

"Cause you were going to break my door either way." Sometimes, I wonder if this girl even thinks. And why won't my heart stop beating like a madman when I see her?!!

"See. There is no reason why we should-"

"Lanuvel, we already talked about this."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts, you said you would do it."

"Tch."

"Kevin. We want to cut your hair."

"I don't need it. I told you last time."

"Last time? I thought you said it was a sur-"

"N-no, it's nothing, Lanuvel. He must be hallucinating."

Farner grabs my neck with both hands and starts strangling me. I can read 'shut your mouth!' in her eyes.

"I don't need-"

"Oh, yes. You need it."

She applies even more strength, preventing me from talking or breathing completely. A vein even pops out on her forehead while she shows me a devilish smile. Sigh... this girl and her anger issues.

I lightly tap on Farner's hands until she releases me.

"Do you really have to be that violent? You could easily kill people like that, you know?"

"Considering you aren't normal to begin with, I don't care. And you are the only one who forces me to act like that anyway."

"Eh? Why?"

"...Anyway. Girls, to our scissors." Why are you blushing? 

Like a summon, scissors and brushes appear in all the girls' hands.

"Shit." What have I been embarked in?

***

"Hey, that's my side you are cutting!!"

"You are too slow! Have you never done this before?!!"

"Watch out! You almost cut his ear!"

"Yeah, I am looking! Dammit!"

Five minutes in and those girls still aren't finished. Why the fuck did I even accept this? Not only can I not move, but I also have to stay with my eyes closed as well. They brought a big mirror with them but I can't look at it until they are finished.

"Aren't you guys finished?"

"Shut up! Let us work in peace!"

"Lanuvel…"

"What?"

"Sigh…Good grief. You have a worse temper than Esteressa, you know."

"What?!"

"What?!"

"How can you compare us?!!"

"How can you compare us?!!"

Is this some kind of comedy going on now? Those two keep talking at the same time.

"In the first place, you are worse than us!!"

"Yeah!!"

"What?!!!"

I suddenly hear a cutting sound that didn't sound normal compared to the others.

"Oops."

Yeah, as I thought, she just cut something she shouldn't have.

"What have you-"

"D-don't move.!" Farner grabs my head and maintains it in place.

"Guys, hold him for me!!"

"Fufufu. Why should we? Don't we have a bad temper?"

"Yeah, you do it."

I am tired of all this.

"Okay, that's enough." I try to stand up but, abruptly, someone holds my shoulders and sticks me back on the bed.

"I said not to move!"

"Fuck." I open my eyes to see why she wants me to stay like this so bad. When I meet my reflection in the mirror, a big part of my left ear is missing. There is blood spurting out a bit as well and my shirt is stained with it.

"Can't you at least put a cloth on it? The blood is staining your dress and my bed." I don't want the first bed I have been given after so long to smell like blood. 

There is no use asking her how she managed to cut my ear. I don't think she would be able to answer it anyway.

"Ah! why did you open your eyes?!!"

She covers my eyes with her hand but I already saw what I had to.

"You guys apparently don't know how to cut people's hair." I have never seen my hair look this bad. To think that's the result after five minutes. I am afraid of what would happen if they are given more time.

"What? You think you can do better than us?!!"

"Like men would know how to do that!! Hmph!!"

Gnoll two and three don't look like they even regret how badly they messed up my hair. Well, I don't care either. But I don't want to leave it like that.

"Give me the scissors."

"Ohh…You are serious? Take it then." Esteressa hands me the scissors. Then I remove Farner's hand from my eyes and look at the mirror.

"Wait, let me heal your ear first!"

"Hurry up then."

Farner places her hand on my ear then a dim green light appears. She can use a healing script without chanting then. Well, she is a hero so it's not really surprising.

After a few seconds, she removes her hand and my ear is back to normal.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to cut it."

"It's the intent that counts so don't worry."

"Eh?"

"What?" Why do you look so surprised?

Anyway, I start cutting my hair, following the lines they have tried to create, and rectifying them as much as possible. They have cut too much hair on the side of my head so I will need to remove almost all of it. Leaving only the upper side.

Selene taught me how to at least keep my head clean so I know what I have to do to shorten them. Though she taught me with a knife. But a scissor is basically a knife so it's not a problem.

In less than five minutes, I am done. I hand over the scissors to Esteressa but her mouth is open agape. Not only her, gnoll one and three as well. Seriously, what is their problem?

"Hey."

"W-what?!!"

"Your scissors."

"Y-yeah, thanks."

Esteressa takes back her scissors with trembling hands. She keeps glancing at my hair, just like Lanuvel.

"What? You got something to say?" Do they think I did a bad job? I handle it the best way I could so even if you laugh at me, I don't care.

"N-no, you look…"

"Really…different."

"You look cool. No, not cool, that's too much. Let's say you look okay."

"Thanks, Lanuvel."

"Eh? Wait, you are thanking me? No, wait, you can say thanks?"

"As you can see. Now, please, get out."

"Idiot." Farner smacks my head. What have I done now?!