Suddenly, a beautiful young man with long white hair appeared near the couch where little Yue was curled up, sleeping peacefully.
The boy smiled. Though, considering his cracked face, cracked neck, and really, cracked everything, it probably wasn't a very comforting smile.
"Ah... I look like shit."
He said that while staring at himself in the mirror.
Time hadn't passed here since he left, because the place where he'd been fighting existed outside of space-time itself.
Still, his hair, which hadn't been long before, now reached his shoulders. That was because, even if no time had passed here, it could've been just a few seconds there... or hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
"Maybe just a few decades?"
Ignoring his wounds, he ran a hand over each crack. Wherever his fingers brushed against the damaged skin, the cracks closed up.
Fighting against the abstract concept of nonexistence... yeah, that had been a pretty rough battle.
But Yuu felt it was worth it. The universe itself had been updated and evolved after he transformed the Void That Devours All into something nourishing for the universe.
Basically, he turned poison into fertilizer.
Now, this universe was a little tougher than before. The Void That Devours All would take a lot longer to try corrupting it again.
In fact, he could've gone further, turned the Corrupted Evolution entirely into a type of Evolution that nourished living beings instead of corrupting them.
He could've done that. Humans would've gained superpowers.
But he didn't.
"That'd be troublesome."
Humans would become corrupt and greedy for power. That was their nature. Give someone power, and you'll see their true character.
And honestly, most people failed that test.
Yuu saw himself as a selfish, greedy being who didn't care about others. He only wanted his cute followers to have power.
You could call that pretty hypocritical, but he didn't really care.
For Yuu, it was better that they handled the mutant monsters anyway. After all, he hadn't completely wiped out the rot of darkness in this world. He'd left some of it intentionally, so his followers could grow stronger by fighting the monsters.
'Eh. Suddenly I feel like a terrible master.'
By that point, he was fully healed. The corruption hadn't spread far, so his life had never been in much danger.
Still, his head had hurt like hell. Any being, even a god, would've gone insane just seeing that rotting darkness, let alone stepping into it and coming back alive.
He walked back to where Yue was sleeping.
She looked small, curled up on the couch like a fragile kitten trusting her owner completely.
Yuu sat down beside her, watching her peaceful face.
No worry, no fear, no sadness. Just calm, quiet peace.
'Must be nice, sleeping like that.'
He reached out and gently stroked her golden hair.
Then, from deep within his heart, he felt something strange.
"This..."
The act of stroking her hair didn't feel fake this time.
In fact, it felt real, because it was something he actually wanted to do.
"Ah."
He froze for a moment.
'I want to stroke her hair. I really do.'
It was such a small feeling compared to the emotions normal people experienced daily.
But, combined with the things he'd started to feel recently, it was monumental for someone like him.
He kept caressing her hair through the night. He watched as moonlight filtered through the windows, casting soft shadows over her peaceful face. He listened to the crickets sing until they gradually fell silent. And he watched as the sun rose, painting the sky in warm colors.
He never got tired.
After everything he'd been through, and all the time he'd lived, this kind of quiet life was something he was starting to appreciate.
He didn't want to lose it.
"Yuu-oppa! What happened to your hair?!"
The next morning, as the girls greeted each other, Jin-ah shouted those words with such surprise that she nearly woke every zombie within five kilometers.
Soon, all the girls surrounded him where he sat on the couch. He felt cornered under their stares, like a rare specimen under observation.
Rei approached, moved behind him, and took a few strands of his white hair between her fingers.
"Your hair... it's so long. Yesterday it wasn't like this, but now it's down to your shoulders."
Rei was surprised by how soft it was. Smooth and incredibly fluffy. Like cotton candy made of silk. And judging by her expression, she clearly wanted to keep touching it.
"Is it a wig?" Saya said that, unceremoniously pushing Rei's hand away so she could touch it herself.
Yuu's hair was...
"Saya-chan, you're making a dumb face right now."
"I—I am not!"
Saya protested at Shizuka's casual remark. Even so, she didn't let go of his hair.
Yeah, she was definitely smiling like an idiot.
Saeko tilted her head slightly, a gentle smile on her lips.
"Yuu-sama, how did your hair grow so much in a single night?"
"Ah, sometimes that happens."
A total lie, of course. But he wasn't about to tell them he'd spent decades fighting a cosmic entity. That'd be way too complicated, and it would surely worry them.
Both Saeko and Yue, who had quietly woken up and was watching from the side, refrained from touching his hair. They simply observed the scene with calm expressions.
Both were thinking the same thing. They could have him to themselves later, in private.
Apparently, they were on the same wavelength.
At that moment, Jin-ah raised her hand with a cheerful, "Anoo~"
"Should I cut your hair, Yuu-oppa? I know a bit about styling."
"Absolutely not! I think Yuu looks handsome like this!" Saya crossed her arms immediately, then realized what she'd said and turned bright red. "I-I mean, not that I care how you look! I'm just saying, objectively, it doesn't look bad. That's all."
Rei smiled at her.
"You're quite the tsundere, Saya. But I agree with you. Yuu-kun looks pretty handsome with long hair."
"Hah?! Don't call me a tsundere!"
Shizuka ignored the two noisy girls, watching Yuu with her lazy yellow eyes gleaming softly.
"As long as Jin-chan doesn't do anything naughty with that hair~"
The way Shizuka looked at him... she definitely seemed hungry.
But not for normal food. And she wasn't a vampire like Yue, so...
"Yuu-sama, what do you think? Do you want to cut it or not?"
Yuu considered Saeko's question for a moment.
Honestly, long hair was a pain. It sometimes got in his mouth, got tangled in stuff, and the girls wouldn't stop touching it.
Though, that last part wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"Alright, go ahead and cut it."
Saya let out a small huff of disappointment. Even though she turned her head to hide it, everyone heard, and laughed at the pink-haired tsundere.
Jin-ah struck a victory pose with a big, radiant smile lighting up her face.
"Yes! Yuu-oppa, uh... can you make the tools for cutting hair?"
She looked a bit embarrassed. In this apocalypse, finding those tools wasn't exactly easy.
Yuu summoned a pair of scissors, a comb, a cape to cover his clothes, and a few other items, even ones he didn't know existed, creating them as Jin-ah described them.
He sat on a chair while Jin-ah stood behind him with determination.
Uh... why did she look like a surgeon about to perform a complex operation?
The girls watched from the side with interest.
Jin-ah began cutting carefully. Her hands moved steadily over Yuu's head, the soft snip snip of scissors filling the room. Her face was focused, working confidently, even though she'd said she only knew "a bit."
When Yuu asked where she'd learned, she simply said:
"Ah, since my mom's always asleep and can't move, her hair grows a lot... sometimes I go to the hospital to cut it for her."
Her voice grew sad as she spoke. The girls, who'd already heard her story the night before while Yuu slept, looked at her with gentle encouragement.
After a few minutes, she finished cutting his hair. It was now layered in a deliberately messy yet stylish way.
The kind of haircut Jin-ah had seen in fashion magazines back in her world.
Jin-ah stepped back with a satisfied smile.
"All done!"
The girls immediately rushed over to see the result.
And all of them widened their eyes.
"Umu?" Yuu blinked, confused.
"Yuu-kun..." Rei's cheeks turned rosy as she looked at him.
"You look... uh... I mean, I was against it before, but I guess it didn't turn out bad." Saya adjusted her glasses, blushing as her heart started to race.
Shizuka had her hands pressed to her cheeks, a dreamy look on her face.
Yuu was starting to suspect that this sensei might try to pounce on him in the middle of the night.
Even Saeko, calm as ever, had a serene expression, but her violet eyes were filled with admiration.
"Do I really look that different?"
Yue approached quietly and touched his freshly cut hair.
"Nn. It looks good. But Yuu always looks good."
"Thanks, Yue. That was unexpectedly sweet."
Jin-ah practically glowed with pride.
"I knew I could do it! Yuu-oppa, do you like it?"
He ran a hand through his hair. It felt lighter, and judging by the girls' reactions, it looked way better too.
"Yeah, I like it. Thanks, Jin-ah."
She blushed and smiled even brighter.
"You're welcome, Yuu-oppa!"
Yuu was already the most beautiful existence the girls had ever seen. But thanks to Jin-ah's haircut, that beauty had somehow gone up another level.
They even felt like looking at him was bad for their hearts.
With slightly flushed cheeks, the girls exchanged glances, then dragged Jin-ah to one side of the room.
You did a great job, Jin-ah.
That's what the girls told her.
×××
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